12th-15th August -44
War is slowly grinding on. I have what I hope to be some very nasty surprises in store for Erik shortly. More on that a little later!
Burma
Erik is unfortunately continuing to send stuff south. Yet I can´t budge him despite having 4-5 times the raw AV. [:(]
New Guniea
I´ve started to shut bases down in the region. I need the AS and BFs on the Moluccas. I´m really starting to feel a shortage of them both. This led to the major decision to shut Hansa Bay down. The 850 AS will move to the Moluccas together with all the BFs there. The aircraft will for now move to Darwin to be handled by the level 9 airfield and the 1900 AS currently there. Until reinforcements arrive from the CENTPAC area the shortage of BFs in general but particularly AS will remain.
Moluccas
The Mindanao invasion will have to be postponed a few days more. Loading is taking longer than expected. This is not all bad as it has given me time to reconfigure the shipping as well as scrape up BFs to land together with the assault. If I can get a CAP up quickly Erik will be in big problems. The delay has also given me time to prepare a trap for Erik. Lets see if he swallows the bait!
He also moved some 50 fighters back to Manado. No idea why. They will be dealt with next turn. Also sent in some DDs to deal with the minisubs and MTBs he has there.
Some good news from Talud-Eilanden this turn! [&o]
Ground combat at Talaud-eilanden (79,97)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 30387 troops, 543 guns, 889 vehicles, Assault Value = 1167
Defending force 11205 troops, 139 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 330
Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 4
Allied adjusted assault: 1469
Japanese adjusted defense: 189
Allied assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 4)
Allied forces CAPTURE Talaud-eilanden !!!
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
4059 casualties reported
Squads: 116 destroyed, 192 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 29 disabled
Engineers: 21 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 78 (29 destroyed, 49 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
522 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 17 (1 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Vehicles lost 10 (2 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Assaulting units:
754th Tank Battalion
37th Infantry Division
102nd Combat Engineer Regiment
24th Infantry Division
I Corps Cmbt Engineer Regiment
5th USMC Tank Battalion
I US Corps
South Pacific
147th Field Artillery Regiment
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion
33rd Medium Regiment
Defending units:
54th Ind.Mixed Brigade
90th Naval Guard Unit
38th Ind.Mixed Brigade
49th Infantry Regiment
14th Naval Guard Unit
Maizuru 1st SNLF /3
28th JAAF AF Bn
1st Mobile Bde /3
As extra icing on the cake it looks like Erik flew in some more troops. [:'(]
At Sansapor the allies managed to catch up with the troops fleeing from Sorong.
Ground combat at Sansapor (83,107)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 12816 troops, 214 guns, 544 vehicles, Assault Value = 556
Defending force 14277 troops, 143 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 332
Allied adjusted assault: 346
Japanese adjusted defense: 901
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
1487 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 39 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 36 disabled
Guns lost 18 (2 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
210 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Vehicles lost 23 (3 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Assaulting units:
6th Infantry Division
671th Tank Destroyer Battalion
2nd USMC Tank Battalion
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
Defending units:
31st Engineer Regiment
1st Mobile Brigade
2nd Amphibious Brigade
16th Garrison Unit
8th Garrison Unit
45th Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th Garrison Unit
44th Naval Guard Unit
37th JAAF AF Bn
3rd JNAF AF Unit
13th Air Fleet /1
I´ve ordered one more attack with everything here. If the Japs doesn´t look like they will crumble I´ll start some more bombings and let the tanks do the dirty work. I want the relieve the 6th ID and use it for a strategic reserve. I´ve currently have only have the 2nd Marines as a reserve. And I think they might be needed on Mindanao.
Sidate and Talud will mean another 50.000 losses for the Empire. Even if he buys them back they will take serious time to rebuild and retrain them to be useful again.
OZ
I´m looking at the possibility to do the DEI landings without CV support. Right now the DEI landings are dumped down to 3rd or even 4th priority. If I can secure Manado I have a level 9 AF in even better position than what I would get from Timor or the surrounding islands. I´ll have to think about it. If anything I want to free the 5 IDs prepped for DEI to new targets...
But if I´m given the opportunity I would try it. At least once! [:D]
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