West Wind, Clear - Rybka (J) vs. Skipjack (A)

[Capt. Harlock]

no duel precipitates with U.S. CVs - instead a strike from Emirau hits a IJN CVE.

Too bad the KB wasn't a hex closer. (In other words, within Beaufighter torpedo range.) A squadron of TBM's might be helpful there.

[Skipjack_]

1/30/44:  130+ Jap aircraft strike the Admiralties from Wewak, F4Us shoot down around 37 ... Corsairs sweep Jap fighters from the skies over Rabaul, 50+ lost in one duel over Green Island ... Strikes from Port Moresby on Hollandia destroy 70 AC for the loss of 23 ... 105 AC destroyed at Siapan for the loss of 28 U.S. AC [8D]

Upon reviewing the state of Truk force, they are found to have landed in fairly good order with supplies, so CINCPAC aggressively orders follow-up attacks west towards Biak and Noemfar.

TF move phase - KB spotted off Hollandia, Corsairs from the Admiralties boldly strike and wear down it's CAP at extreme odds ... TF50 arrives off Biak with it's CVs and raids Hollandia ... undefended bases at Biak and Noemfar are taken by 1 Division each ... Task force Tenimbar arrives and bombards the island, disrupting the Kure, Sas and 33/16 Rgts defending ... IJA Tac bombers from Tenimbar and Ambon hit a few MCS, G4Ms from Timor then sinks a few, but Adm Callaghan does not abort ... 3 Divs and 1 Armoured Bde land and take the base.

KB retiring towards Palau tangles with U.S. CVs and 3 strikes are exchanged each way - it goes the U.S. way, Kaga damaged, a Chitose CVL and 2 CVEs are sunk, U.S. undamaged [X(]

Losses (Jap/Allied):

Squads  103/222
AFVs      33/16
Guns     111/38
Aircraft  801/295

[Capt. Harlock]

KB retiring towards Palau tangles with U.S. CVs and 3 strikes are exchanged each way - it goes the U.S. way, Kaga damaged, a Chitose CVL and 2 CVEs are sunk, U.S. undamaged

Sounds like the U.S. CV coordination bonus has kicked in![:D]

[Skipjack_]

2/6/44:
Commonwealth troops try to push Jap troops at Darwin back to Broome, and suffer a bloody repulse .. air battles continue over Wewak, Hollandia and Saipan ... Allied transports hauling troops and supplies to Biak hit by B5Ns from Hollandia, 1 AP lost [:(] ... Task force Tenimbar given orders to follow up their attack by striking Ambon Island, bombardment to be supplied from Truk ... The Bombardment TF apparently was terrified of the depleted KB sitting in the Philippine Sea, so they go north to avoid them; unfortunately they wind up in range of Siapan, Tinian, Palau, Ulithi - taking several air strikes and losing the CL Tromp and a Clemson DD ... it could have been much worse ... TF54 finally aborts short of Ambon, leaving the invasion without bombardment support ... end result is Ambon holds off the allied attack.

Losses (Jap/Allied):

Squads  286/445
AFVs     136/48
Guns     194/116
Aircraft   702/122

[Skipjack_]

2/13/44:
Gen Swift successfully directs mop-up operations on Emirau Island ... CA Canberra escorting supplies to Biak takes a critial hit by an I-boat off Hollandia, but somehow controls the flooding and begins to limp back towards the Central Pacific ...

Losses (Jap/Allied):

Squads  197/18
AFVs      37/0
Guns      67/20
Aircraft  330/124

2/20/44:
Bombardment of Truk conducted by U.S. BBs ... Fleet boats operating off Nagasaki sight damaged IJN CVs and claim a Chitose-type sunk ... CVs from Darwin ambush jap transports off Bali and sink nearly the entire TF [:D] ... meanwhile British BBs bombard Broome, since the airfield is only 2 factors, no aircraft resist.

Losses (Jap/Allied):

Squads   59/33
AFVs      61/4
Guns    109/18
Aircraft 345/132

[Skipjack_]

2/27/44:
Lt Gen Swift directs the successful mop-up of Truk ... large numbers (112 fighters, 30 bombers) of Jap aircraft raid the small airfield on Biak but the few Corsairs stationed there manage to shoot down 21 for loss of 5 ... A similar story plays out as Jap aircraft from Ulithi strike Woleai .. U.S. CVs raid airfields in the Marianas.

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  275/3
AFVs      79/1
Guns     194/8
Aircraft   897/267

3/6/44:

The U.S. marshalls a massive assault force at Truk and launches it at Tinian island.  Despite intelligence the base is heavily defended, it is chosen since Saipan is believed to be equally defended and Guam has no developed airfield.  It is Admiral King who notes the Marianas offensive must start somewhere (usually it's terrain of 3 would have helped also but in this game (campaign 41) it has terrain 7 [:@]).  3 CV groups, 2 BB bombardment groups and a SCTF provide maximum fire support - unfortunately 7 Divisions (1 Australian, 1 Marine) plus an armoured Bde cannot dislodge the determined Tinian defenders - 2 Divisions, 2 Bdes and the Wake SBF.  Despite this no withdrawal is ordered - the invaders dig in their beach heads and prepare for a drawn-out campaign for the island.

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  297/184
AFVs     116/9
Guns     251/27
Aircraft  737/277

3/13/44:  Mop-up operations resume on Tenimbar Island once reinforced by the 3rd Aus Infantry Division ... this effort is augmented by CV and BB bombardment ... at Tinian, IJA aircraft hammers allied troops in their beach heads, who launch no attacks this week ... U.S. CVs and BBs bombard the island as supplies are brought in ... IJN transports operating around Hollandia are attacked by allied air from Biak, Noemfar and Woleai ...

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  100/49
AFVs      49/9
Guns     169/24
Aircraft   780/253

3/20/44  The IJN chooses not to engage the Pacific Fleet in a carrier duel or surface combat in the Marianas; instead cordon lines of I-boats are stationed on the well-traveled sea lanes between Tinian and Truk, as the Japanese now know the American's routine.   ASW combat erupts as the weekly parade of TFs head for Tinian, 2 CVES and an APA are claimed by long lances but 7 I-boats are sunk and another 4 damaged.

On Tinian, Gen Swift has been given command to get the allied troops of the beaches and take Tinian's airfields - but before an assault can begin he is killed by an errant shell from the incessant U.S. bombardment ... command & control is handled by 7th Fleet as their TFs deliver fresh troops and plenty of supplies, and with the addition of the 1st Cav and the 27th Inf Division the Jap defenders finally give way, yielding the airfields to the attackers.  After 3 weeks of savage fighting, the allies have secured their first base in the Marianas.

Meanwhile on Tenimbar Island mop-up operations successfully conclude.

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  275/82
AFVs      31/25
Guns     151/22
Aircraft  633/198

[Skipjack_]

3/27/44:

Follow-up invasion of Ulithi conducted by a U.S. Rgt and the 1/1st Armoured Bde - base taken.  6th SBF, 14th SBF and the 16th Eng eliminated ... Off Tinian, another CVE claimed by I-boats ... 2 Jap APs sunk by U.S. LBA off Biak/Noemfar

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  240/43
AFVs      46/2
Guns     122/6
Aircraft  404/146

4/3/44:

Gen. LeMay arrives from the European theater to take command of American bomber efforts against the Japanese home islands - but neither B29s or the bases to use them from are ready yet.  So he is given temporary command of air operations in Ulithi - and he shows he is not a one-trick pony.  A strike of 66 P47s and 60 B24/B25s strikes Palau where 68 Jap fighters intercept (primarily Shokis) - 46 Jap fighers are shot down for U.S. losses of 8 fighters and 6 bombers - 9 additional AC destroyed on the ground [:)]  ... 5th Fleet CVs and BBs begin softening up targets on Saipan ...

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  114/0
AFVs     108/0
Guns     275/12
Aircraft  257/100

4/10/44:

Strikes from Ulithi enjoy success over Palau again - 84 Jap AC destroyed vs. 22 U.S ... troops land on Saipan and take the base, the IJA committed the 30th, 42nd and 104th Divisions plus the Jaliut Rgt to it's defense but weeks of bombardment weakened them sufficiently for the U.S. & Australian troops landing to drive them off the airfields.

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  254/78
AFVs      25/4
Guns     219/10
Aircraft  323/108

[Skipjack_]

4/17/44:
Jap airstrikes from Hollandia suffer heavily over Noemfar - 83 Jap AC lost vs. 27 U.S. ... U.S. strikes over Palau continue, 87 Jap losses vs. 18 U.S. ... First B-29 strike on the Home Islands hits a fighter factory in Nagoya (light damage) ... USN/USMC aircraft on Saipan find a rare target of opportunity - 10 Jap subs sitting in port at Pagan.  around 7 are sunk by Corsairs and Avengers [8D]

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads   94/6
AFVs      59/3
Guns     201/12
Aircraft  385/99
Ships     10/0





4/24/44:
B-29s score heavy damage on Nagoya heavy industry, they also hit an artillery factory in Tokyo ... U.S. Pacific Fleet bombards Palau along with the weekly airstrikes ... 14th Army shuffles understrength divisions to the rear and brings up fresh units to strike Ambon - base taken by the 1st Marine Division, Americal and 41st U.S. Divs, 2nd British Div, 3rd AUS Division 4th AUS Armoured Bde and the 5th Indian Division [:)] 1 Allied MCS sunk by G4Ms from Kendari.

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads 199/120
AFVs 82/8
Guns 273/29
Aircraft 325/99
Ships 0/1

[Skipjack_]

5/1/44:  U.S. ground attacks on Tinian and Siapan work on eliminating jap resistance ... U.S CVs raid jap shipping in the Bonins but it goes badly, Oriskany take heavy torpedo damage from G4Ms, only 3 MCS sunk in return.  U.S. CVs expend most of their sorties working over the air bases, significant air resistance was present.

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  108/30
AFVs      26/1
Guns     150/10
Aircraft  391/225
Ships      3/0

5/8/44:

Sorong, Waigen Island, Yap taken (all undefended) ... Allied ground forces continue to work over resistance on Tinian, Siapan and Ambon.

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  231/72
AFVs      44/5
Guns     244/18
Aircraft  154/72
Ships      0/0

5/15/44:

Lt. Gen Masuyama and the defenders of Tinian are finally crushed ... the last defenders on Ambon Island are also wiped out ... undefended base Manikowari taken ... a big Jap airstrike from Palau hits Saipan and does quite well, 33 U.S. fighters shot down and 13 aircraft destroyed on the ground (mostly B29s), japs lose 35 fighters and 17 bombers in return ... Allied BBs and CVs bombard Timor ...

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  244/34
AFVs      87/3
Guns     201/10
Aircraft  290/150
Ships      2/1

5/22/44:

6th Army troops from Tinian take Palau from the 1st & 103rd IJA Divisions, 1 DD sunk by I-boats en route ... 14th Army lands on Timor and recaputures it from the 52th IJA Division and the 2/4 Tank Bde  ... Fleet boats sink 1 MCS running supplies to the Philipines.

With Palau taken, Ambon should be in routine supply - which will help sustain an offensive in the Dutch East Indies.

Losses (Jap/Allied)
Squads  297/142
AFVs      70/4
Guns     281/10
Aircraft  519/142
Ships      1/1

[Capt. Harlock]

With Palau taken, Ambon should be in routine supply - which will help sustain an offensive in the Dutch East Indies.

Steady progress. Are there any plans to retake the rest of New Guinea, or perhaps Darwin and Brisbane are the places for SW Pacific to go?

[Skipjack_]

My plans have been restricted by lack of replacements - my overland assault in northern OZ is still haunting me [:(].  Several units are understrength - especially Indian and Australian units (US & USMC seem to get first priority on replacements).  So I have limited operations to the highest priority - every contact with the enemy has to be carefully considered.  Unfortunately all the Armor Bdes are Indian and Australian - which I really need for their offensive punch.  I have plenty of AFVs for them but when their squads fall below the mid 20s I get concerned for their survival (TO&E is 36 squads).

So (to sum up) I have bypassed New Britain, New Ireland and almost all of New Guinea - I'd like to take it back but I don't think I have the resources for that plus the Marianas, Palau, and Indonesia. I don't want to get bogged down in New Guinea at the expense of the other operations.

The good news is I have plenty of fleet support for my operations, the IJN has been restricting itself primarily to the home islands - other than sub patrols and troop movements.  The other good news is reinforcements continue to arrive - full strength in squads, but low on Artillery and AFVs (those I have [;)]).

[Skipjack_]

5/29/44:  SIGINT warns the Japanese are attempting a withdrawal of troops from Broome to Tjilatjap - Allied forces in Timor are determined to stop them.  The race to Java is on!   The 41st, Americal U.S. Divs and the 1st USMC Div land in Surabaya, and take the base from the 56th Group defenders.  The British 2nd Div lands in Tjilajtap and take it - undefended.   CVs off Surabaya strike the IJN TF coming up from Broome - 3 APs sunk.  They were the slower Seiwa Maru types.  Halmahera also taken - undefended, but 1 APD sunk by Jap LBA from the southern Philippines plus 1 AP damaged.  Mop-up operations continue on Saipan.

[Capt. Harlock]

SIGINT warns the Japanese are attempting a withdrawal of troops from Broome to Tjilatjap - Allied forces in Timor are determined to stop them. The race to Java is on!

Every now and then SIGINT comes through in spades. I wonder how much is left at Broome?

Incidentally, are you playing the game Even or using Help Japanese? The latter really restricts Allied infantry replacements.

[Skipjack_]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Every now and then SIGINT comes through in spades. I wonder how much is left at Broome?

Me too. In previous months, I occasionally sent a CA/CL/DD SCTF to bombard - to suppress supplies and gain some intelligence (since Broome only has an airfield rating of "2", there is little concern of enemy air interdiction). IJA presence in Australia is still significant - the last thing I want is to have to face those troops in Indonesia, hence my vigorous opposition to any transport operations originating from there.

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock
Incidentally, are you playing the game Even or using Help Japanese? The latter really restricts Allied infantry replacements.

We are playing "Even", so I get 120 squads a turn - the challenge is to lose significantly less then that in a by-turn average.

[Skipjack_]

6/5/44:  Batavia taken by British Infantry ... undefened base Menando taken by amphib assault, numerious air attacks from Kendari and the southern Phillipines fought off ... survivoring Japanese APs from Broome try to escape around the south side of Borneo - they are hit by P38Js from Timor, 3 more sunk ...

6/12/44: Japanese resistance ends on Palau and Saipan ... B29 raids continue on Nagoya ... Allies fight supplies through to Menando past air strikes from Kendari and the southern Phillipines, an AP and DD damaged  ... 1 IJN DD escorts 2 APs up the Macassar strait, the last survivors from Broome, they get away with no further harassment ...

6/19/44:  Kendari taken by U.S. / Australian troops, the reconstituted IJA 66th Division was quickly overcome ... resupply efforts continue towards Java and Menando.

[Rybka]

The unlucky TF should not be there at the time of the assault on Java. Unfortuantely, it was scared by allied TFs operating in the vicinity and failed to finish mission in time. The TFs, that are at the beginnig of the turn on high sea, are nearly unusable. It took 5 turns from Broome to Miri, a long time even for slow and damaged ships. Fortunately, LCUs were not affected by this horrible experience.
I don´t understand a Skipjack´s wailing over lack of squads. He has so many units with full or nearly full manpower. I´m losing over 200 squads every turn.

[Skipjack_]

ORIGINAL: Rybka
I don´t understand a Skipjack´s wailing over lack of squads. He has so many units with full or nearly full manpower. I´m losing over 200 squads every turn.

I didn't want to make it sound like everything was going my way [;)]

ORIGINAL: Rybka
It took 5 turns from Broome to Miri, a long time even for slow and damaged ships. Fortunately, LCUs were not affected by this horrible experience.

Those LCUs got away! Curses [:@] Off to man the next line of defenses, no doubt. Hopefully I will be there soon.

[Capt. Harlock]

I don´t understand a Skipjack´s wailing over lack of squads. He has so many units with full or nearly full manpower. I´m losing over 200 squads every turn.

And yet I have the feeling you have a bigger reserve than Skipjack does.[;)]

[Rybka]

I didn´t have a bigger reserve for a long time. Partially due to my effort of agument the army by dividing units. I´m not sure if this tactic was good. I divided too many units and the game disallowed me to divide more. It is easy to create a new division this way, but loss of experience can be significant.

Priority in receiving reinforcement have units, that are on top of list. For Japanese, topmost are tank brigades, than indian div, guard div., others div., etc. For Allies, topmost are US div., than Brit. div., Aus. div. and others units. It looks there is a random element influencing this rule and sometimes a privileged unit is omitted.
Bad is I have some top-rated divisions with very low exp and they still receive reinforcement. I need to stop this and give them time for training, but I can´t. On the contrary, some high experienced but less-rated units are demanding new men, but I can´t send them a single one. More control of this would be useful.

Skipjack_
Those LCUs got away! Curses Off to man the next line of defenses, no doubt. Hopefully I will be there soon.

After your attacks, the escaped TF didn´t have enough capacity to carry all troopers, but the game ignore this. I think LCUs are affected only if an entire division of ships is sunk, but fortunately it didn´t happen this time. Once, I carried two Eng on a small TF (2 DDs, 2 Seiwa Marus) and Skipjack sunk both DDs. After unloading, I realized both LCUs suffer losses. In additon, they revolted and escaped from army. Maybe because they lost their command officers on the DDs. I´m not sure, but I think they don´t work for me yet.

[Skipjack_]

ORIGINAL: Rybka
I didn´t have a bigger reserve for a long time. Partially due to my effort of agument the army by dividing units. I´m not sure if this tactic was good.

I also divided some divisions at the same time I was suffering heavy losses. A questionable decision.

ORIGINAL: Rybka
Priority in receiving reinforcement have units, that are on top of list. It looks there is a random element influencing this rule. More control of this would be useful.

Makes you want a Witp "Do not accept replacements" toggle. [;)]

ORIGINAL: Rybka
Once, I carried two Eng on a small TF (2 DDs, 2 Seiwa Marus) and Skipjack sunk both DDs. After unloading, I realized both LCUs suffer losses.

It seems the engineer units suffer the most when their transports are lost. My theory is because all the losses have to come out of squads, since their is no AFV/Artillery to absorb the load cost of the sunk APs. Here is an engineer that I loaded on 2 APs (100 lift capacity each). Not a good idea - the 1 AP sunk took 100 squads. Lost on 2/13/44, five months later they have not received any replacements. To paraphrase Jim Carrey, "If after 5 months you haven't received any replacements - just keep waiting!" [:D]