Taming the Bear - Rader (J) vs. jzanes (A). A jzanes-free zone.

[rader]

January 26, 1944.

The evacuation from Burma is proceeding smoothly - the allies don't even seem to be contesting it. They aren't bombing the Japanese columns and don't seem to be in pursuit. They're probably happy to see us go, which makes me wonder if it's a good idea. But I do think it is the prudent move. I just hope the extra supplies China gets once the Burma road is open don't open up that theater too much [:(]. He'll enjoy those supplies when flying B-29 raids out of Changsha for sure...

They are still bombing airfields in Burma. We just moved our bombers before their strike came in, and it was a good turn in the air today (after 2 consecutive bad ones). We shot down almost 80 Thunderbolts and a nice pack of N-24s to boot!

Today was first action for the J2M Jack (any type). We skiped the J2M2 and went straight to the M3 model because of its 2 service rating. It did fairly well, but no better than the IIc Tojos, and funnily enough, it seemed to do better against the Thunderbolts than against the B-24s (which the Tojos do nicely against). The J2M was supposed to be the 4E intercepter par excellence - go figure.

[CapAndGown]

Who killed all the Thunderbolts? And more importantly, how?

[Captain Cruft]

I was wondering that too ...

[rader]

The Tojos and Jacks!

I'm not really sure how, but they seemed to down one after another in a row. It was really strange - the Tojo IIc performance had been decent before, but not *better* than the P-47s. Here, it seemed their performance was better. I think it might have been luck and/or maybe he didn't have great pilots in them? I had really good ones. But their performance here didn't seem consistent with earlier performance.

[Captain Cruft]

OK thanks. It gives hope anyway ...

[d0mbo]

WHere they stationed at radar equiped bases? There are some mentions of getting the dive time after time when that's the case. Not sure if that's true.

[rader]

Yes, I believe the fighters were at radar equipped bases and so was the hex under attack (the fighters were at Moulmein and the battle was over Pegu, 2 hexes away).

[rader]

February 4, 1944.

Lots of action today!

The allies are closing in on New Caledonia and Luganville, and they've started to bomb Lunga too. Today I withdrew the fighter units just in time to avoid the 300+ bomber strike, preceeded by a healthy sweep. Whew. Well, it's only a matter of time. I just want to make him fight for it, and trade space afor time (and sunk allied ships, hopefully).

Once he breaks through, let's see how long the Solomons hold him up. I'm hoping the 4-base star around Lunga will be a hard nut to crack. (AF sizes shown).

[rader]

But the real action was around Northern Australia, where the KB decided to pay a visit again. We kept getting reports of 3-4 CVEs in Port Helland, and a supply convoy to boot made this too tempting to pass up.

This time, we preceded the visit with some destroyer raids. Good ol' Hibiki & co. managed to catch the convoy unloading (hard to read, but that's Hibiki firing)...

[rader]

And then the KB came in (and with some long-range Betty strikes), finished off what was left of the convoy (not much actually, Hibiki did really well), and attacked Port Helland. We can confirm at least one CVE sunk, and possibly 2 based on todays ground losses (~27 avengers and ~27 Hellcats - does that mean 2 CVEs sunk)? Only 1 showed up in the combat report. Too bad, our intel consistently showed 3-4.

Flak losses were rather heavy (~50-60 strike a/c lost), but I still think it was worth it. The biggest catch was my opponent's namesake, the USS Jason...

[rader]

Ship losses today. Not shown: the CVE... but I'm pretty sure...

[rader]

February 15, 1944.

Well, with the KB near Australia, the Allies decided to end the Japanese occupation of New Caledonia once and for all. I had previously evacuated most of the troops, so there wasn't too much left. Over about a week, the first major allied amphibious operation of the war went exceptionally smoothly. All Japanese airfields in the vicinity were shut down by allied 4E bombers.

3 full Marine divisions plus loads of supporting engineers and tanks were landed with only light casualties and disruption. They rapidly pushed inland, and after a couple of deliberate attacks, we expect them to secure Noumea within a couple more days of fighting.

It appears that many (maybe most/all) allied CVs are in the area, and most of the 4E bombers too.

[Captain Cruft]

Why is he fighting you there?

[rader]

I think to build up airbases to move up the chain to the New Hebrides and then Solomons. He can do that without his CVs, so he can open this theater up and then concentrate his CVs somewhere else (either the DEI, Kuriles, or Marianas would be my guess).

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

Why is he fighting you there?

[rader]

February 16 - March 6, 1944.

We just had our 1 year game anniversary (we started this game 1 year ago real time).

The war slowed down considerably over christmas, but now we're back at it. Actually, not much has happened in the last half a month or so. All Japanese forces on New Caledonia finally surrendered, minus Lt. Hirigashi who is wandering the jungles waiting for an opportunity to strike back at the Western Imperialists.

Efate is now well and truly cut off, and is facing a daily bombardment by air and sea. An invasion is expected in the near future.

The Japanese have completed their withdrawl from central Burma and are now defending the Burma panhandle and Thailand (see map).

But all these are likely a sideshows. The allies are doubtless building up for a major strike somewhere. Will it be aimed at the perimeter, or will it be a deep thrust aimed directly at the Marianas or the heart of the DEI, supported by his by now massive carrier fleet? Time will tell. One thing is certain. Reading Cap_and_gown's AAR made him cautious about facing the KB prematurely. But throughout 1944 and 1945, the Allies will grow in strength so much that they may be unstoppable. April 1944 sees the first B-29s and next-generation Thunderbolts. We're not looking forward to those...

[FatR]

I think, Allies failed to move decisively for so long, that now you can hold into 1946 just by preventing an Allied jump to Kuriles or Ryukyus or breakthrough into Indochina. Remember, any invasion without 70+% preparation is going to suffer huge disruption and will have hard time taking the target. This inevitably slows down amphibious operations.

[rader]

Yes, I think the plan on both sides is to slug this game out until 1946 and see who wins then.

I'm expecting Jet on Jet battles in this one...

[rader]

March 7 - March 26, 1944.

The Allies took Luganville today. It only took them 2 days to take the place, whcih was rather alarming considering it had an AV of 300+. But he just dropped ~6 division equivalents on it and vaporuized it. The Allies took minimal losses.

We sent out A6M3as and Betty attacks on the invasion fleet, but it was a fiasco: droves of Japanese aircraft lost for not a single hit. The Great Hebrides Turkey shoot? [X(]

[Smeulders]

The plane losses are heavy, but at this point in the war this kind of operation is a Japanese victory. Luganville is useless for a drive straight to Japan and 6 divisions were tied up for some significant time. 

[FatR]

I think you should build A6M5b instead of A6M3a... The range doesn't help if the plane can't actually fight.