January 22, 1942 -
This was another unlucky turn for the Allies. You know that a turn is starting out poorly when right off the bat a Japanese sub torpedoes an ASW ship that is hunting it. And as if to rub salt in the wounds, most of the Allied bombers in India flew today; too late to affect the outcome of the battle for Myitkyina. Things continued to roll in the Japanese favor on the ground, as Japanese forces took Lashio today too, again with a 3:1 victory and actually taking a fair number of casualties. It didn't look as if the Japanese had enough troops to take the base, but they did. So as happened historically, albeit at an earlier date, I'll be throwing Chinese troops into the fray that are probably too little and definitely too late.
Rain was the story of the day again everywhere as all nine regions once again were rained in. The Advanced Weather Lock-In seems even worse in this game than in other PBEMs that I've played. Both sides did get some air attacks off, however none did much damage other than the Japanese fighter sweeps which are slowly reducing the remaining Dutch fighters to nothing.
A Japanese reinforcement TF came to Lautem today. It was protected by a Japanese carrier TF. When some Australian Hudsons flew in to try to attack it turned out that the Soryu is in the TF. Treespider has stopped fooling around with CVEs and CVLs and brought the "Big Boys" in to keep my carriers at bay. In any event, my CVs need replenishment, reinforcements and repairs, so they won't be raiding much in the immediate future.
In other action, Wuhan, Singapore and Manila were bombarded again. Treespider is being more patient now that he has so many of his other strategic targets safely in his hands. And Japanese troops captured the unoccupied bases of Wewak and Aitape in New Guinea.
The question now is where will Treespider go next? I'm guessing that he sets up to grab Noumea soon, and I still get the feeling that he may try for Hawaii. It doesn't appear that he will attempt an early attack by sea on India because he has over a dozen units in Burma and a dozen and a half besieging Singapore. However, once Singapore falls I wouldn't be surprised if some of those troops didn't set sail for India. With the road system in India, and the movement rules, it is essentially impossible to stop the conquest of India once troops get ashore.
Dave Baranyi
A Canuck in the Pacific - ADavidB vs Treespider
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
-
anarchyintheuk
- Posts: 3958
- Joined: Wed May 05, 2004 7:08 pm
- Location: Dallas
RE: Still Not Meant to Be...
ORIGINAL: ADavidB
The Advanced Weather Lock-In seems even worse in this game than in other PBEMs that I've played.
Dave Baranyi
That's saying something. Don't think you were too thrilled in the PzB aar either.
RE: Still Not Meant to Be...
ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk
ORIGINAL: ADavidB
The Advanced Weather Lock-In seems even worse in this game than in other PBEMs that I've played.
Dave Baranyi
That's saying something. Don't think you were too thrilled in the PzB aar either.
I'm more sensitive to it this time and I have more realistic expectations of what I will be able to do because of it. I only wish that Don and gang would fix it and that the fix could be retrofitted.
Dave Baranyi
Time to plan for the future...
January 23, 1942 -
The story this turn again was rain. Of the nine map regions, 7 had heavy rain, Central Pacific had rain, and only South Pacific had "clear". I checked bases all over the map and found that anywhere there was "heavy rain" had thunderstorms over the bases. It didn't matter if the bases were Japanese or Allied. Here's where my theory of "experience" gets more support; Japanese bomber attacks flew from a number of bases that had thunderstorms while only a couple of Allied bomber attacks with my most experienced, best morale and lowest fatigue pilots flew, and they didn't accomplish much. So I've sat down the bulk of my air units for the upcoming turn. There is no point accumulating operational losses and fatigue under these conditions.
The Japanese air attacks were strong and quite effective over Singapore, Manila, Soerabaja and Koepang. Soerabaja and Koepang were the only bases where I was trying to defend using Dutch and British fighters. Crack Zero and Oscar air units were used to attack both places, so my CAP was beaten badly on both occasions. I am deliberately holding back the US Army Air Corp P-40s in order to allow them to rebuild a bit and to rest up. It's pointless to try to stop the Japanese juggernaut at this time; Treespider is so far ahead of "History" that the rules have totally changed and there are no reasonable forward defensive lines that can be held.
I am still doing some "nuisance" attacks. For example, Dutch Hudsons surprised a TF at Kendari and bombed another Japanese AP. But the Zeros on CAP decimated the Dutch escorts. Never-the-less, it is worthwhile continuing for a while with some hit-and-run attacks, particularly since Treespider has left Allied bases in the center of the Philippines and DEI untouched while he grabs valuable forward bases. Two more previously hit Japanese APs sunk this turn; one at Kendari and the other in Borneo.
In the ground war Treespider is taking a bit of time to consolidate his gains. Wuchow received an artillery bombardment again. It appears that Wuchow will be the next serious Japanese target in China. A Japanese deliberate attack at Singapore achieved 1:1 odds, reduced the fortification level by 1, and caused numerous casualties. It appears that Singapore won't last much longer. A similar deliberate attack at Manila was repulsed with 0:1 odds and the Japanese suffered much higher casualties. But Manila isn't destined to last much longer either.
The question that is first and foremost right now is: what will Treespider's strategy be in the immediate future? Will he consolidate and pick up what is left of the Philippines, DEI and PNG/Solomons? Will he push harder towards Chungking in China? Will he make an early grab for Noumea? Will he attempt to drive through the jungle bases in Burma to attack India, or will he attack India directly? Or will he do all the above at the same time?
Right now I'm in pure "triage" mode and am trying to figure out which important areas I can reasonably hold, and which I can't. The DEI is definitely a write-off. I could try a few more nuisance raids with my US CVs, but Treespider can now combine crack LBA with good CV air units to negate the power of my CVs. Anyway, my CVs and their escorts all need some rest and repairs; for the most part the ships have operational damage in the low teens and with that, the resulting increase in detectability. So I'm sending the Lexington and Enterprise to a rendezvous in Southern Australia for R&R.
That fits in with my current defensive strategy. I have set the Hawaiian Islands and South Eastern Australia as my primary defensive priorities. India is my second defensive priority, only because I don't believe that I can successfully defend it if Treespider attempts a serious naval invasion. The Japanese expansion into Malaya, Burma and the DEI was way too fast for me to be able to get significant land forces out and to India. I was able to get some units out, but India is so vast, and the road and rail network is so immense, that I can't cover all of it. I have just barely been able to do my normal redistribution of minimal forces to cover all of the various ports, let alone build up any useful defense in depth.
And this is the truly catastrophic problem with the Advanced Weather Lock-In; when you get thunderstorms 6 days out of 7, week after week, month after month, you can't fly the sort of ground and base attacks that are necessary to slow up a land assault. Once Treespider gets the first base on the Indian coast under his control, he can run wild. And the additional "whammy" of the rail bonus for attackers then comes into play.
So I've got the RN sitting in various naval bases in India, awaiting a Japanese invasion. That is also why I've got to keep the AVG at some level of capability; I need to provide air cover against the KB if a naval invasion occurs. The Brit fighters will be useless until the summer when I can covert them to Spitfires, and even then, if Spits are outnumbered 2 or 3 to 1 by Zeros the Spits will be wiped out quickly too. So my worst case scenario is that Treespider starts an invasion of India in early February, just after Singapore falls. If he does that he will probably be able to conquer India by mid-summer 1942.
Despite this fear, I am not going to try to rush forces into India. The additional Australian and American forces that were in India in the game against PzB in mid-1942 did nothing to slow down the tide and only contributed in the end to victory points. I'm certainly also not going to throw away additional forces in the DEI. And with the change to non-malarial bases in Northern Australia, I don’t even believe that Northern Australia can be defended any more. I'll use the bases there to harass the Japanese in the DEI as long as I can, but if invasions come, those Northern ports are toast. Instead, I am going to focus my forces in South Eastern Australia for now. Reinforcements come in that region, there are a number of mutually supporting bases there, and it is a long way from the main Japanese supply lines.
The South Pacific is in the same boat as Northern Australia as far as I am concerned. I am improving the existing bases, but I am not moving troops in at this time. Instead I am building up the Hawaiian Islands as much as possible and making certain that I have forces on all of the existing semi-built up bases. I don't want to give Treespider an opportunity to do an invasion like Admiral Laurent did in his game. Fortunately, Treespider's focus on the Far East has allowed me the time to start to build up my forces. I can now stop any nuisance invasions; give me another game month and I'll be able to cause big problems for any serious invasion. The question will continue to be - will Treespider give me that time?
I am also building up Anchorage with the Northern Pacific forces. Treespider has ventured to Alaska twice already; he may well come back later in the year when his other objectives are under control. I want to turn Anchorage into a serious base from which I can contest all but the biggest Japanese invasions of the Pacific Northwest. Also, in the long run, if Treespider captures a larger-than-historical portion of the Far East and South Pacific, the northern route may turn into my best opportunity for counterattack.
And although I realize that there is a very slight chance of a Japanese attack on the Pacific West Coast, I am not removing any US West Coast forces, nor any Canadian forces, other than a couple of the Canadian naval search plane units that I've moved to the Alaskan panhandle. I want those West Coast bases to be safe, secure and built up, and I have no intention of allowing a Kamikaze attack on "United States" to give an autovictory to Treespider.
Dave Baranyi
The story this turn again was rain. Of the nine map regions, 7 had heavy rain, Central Pacific had rain, and only South Pacific had "clear". I checked bases all over the map and found that anywhere there was "heavy rain" had thunderstorms over the bases. It didn't matter if the bases were Japanese or Allied. Here's where my theory of "experience" gets more support; Japanese bomber attacks flew from a number of bases that had thunderstorms while only a couple of Allied bomber attacks with my most experienced, best morale and lowest fatigue pilots flew, and they didn't accomplish much. So I've sat down the bulk of my air units for the upcoming turn. There is no point accumulating operational losses and fatigue under these conditions.
The Japanese air attacks were strong and quite effective over Singapore, Manila, Soerabaja and Koepang. Soerabaja and Koepang were the only bases where I was trying to defend using Dutch and British fighters. Crack Zero and Oscar air units were used to attack both places, so my CAP was beaten badly on both occasions. I am deliberately holding back the US Army Air Corp P-40s in order to allow them to rebuild a bit and to rest up. It's pointless to try to stop the Japanese juggernaut at this time; Treespider is so far ahead of "History" that the rules have totally changed and there are no reasonable forward defensive lines that can be held.
I am still doing some "nuisance" attacks. For example, Dutch Hudsons surprised a TF at Kendari and bombed another Japanese AP. But the Zeros on CAP decimated the Dutch escorts. Never-the-less, it is worthwhile continuing for a while with some hit-and-run attacks, particularly since Treespider has left Allied bases in the center of the Philippines and DEI untouched while he grabs valuable forward bases. Two more previously hit Japanese APs sunk this turn; one at Kendari and the other in Borneo.
In the ground war Treespider is taking a bit of time to consolidate his gains. Wuchow received an artillery bombardment again. It appears that Wuchow will be the next serious Japanese target in China. A Japanese deliberate attack at Singapore achieved 1:1 odds, reduced the fortification level by 1, and caused numerous casualties. It appears that Singapore won't last much longer. A similar deliberate attack at Manila was repulsed with 0:1 odds and the Japanese suffered much higher casualties. But Manila isn't destined to last much longer either.
The question that is first and foremost right now is: what will Treespider's strategy be in the immediate future? Will he consolidate and pick up what is left of the Philippines, DEI and PNG/Solomons? Will he push harder towards Chungking in China? Will he make an early grab for Noumea? Will he attempt to drive through the jungle bases in Burma to attack India, or will he attack India directly? Or will he do all the above at the same time?
Right now I'm in pure "triage" mode and am trying to figure out which important areas I can reasonably hold, and which I can't. The DEI is definitely a write-off. I could try a few more nuisance raids with my US CVs, but Treespider can now combine crack LBA with good CV air units to negate the power of my CVs. Anyway, my CVs and their escorts all need some rest and repairs; for the most part the ships have operational damage in the low teens and with that, the resulting increase in detectability. So I'm sending the Lexington and Enterprise to a rendezvous in Southern Australia for R&R.
That fits in with my current defensive strategy. I have set the Hawaiian Islands and South Eastern Australia as my primary defensive priorities. India is my second defensive priority, only because I don't believe that I can successfully defend it if Treespider attempts a serious naval invasion. The Japanese expansion into Malaya, Burma and the DEI was way too fast for me to be able to get significant land forces out and to India. I was able to get some units out, but India is so vast, and the road and rail network is so immense, that I can't cover all of it. I have just barely been able to do my normal redistribution of minimal forces to cover all of the various ports, let alone build up any useful defense in depth.
And this is the truly catastrophic problem with the Advanced Weather Lock-In; when you get thunderstorms 6 days out of 7, week after week, month after month, you can't fly the sort of ground and base attacks that are necessary to slow up a land assault. Once Treespider gets the first base on the Indian coast under his control, he can run wild. And the additional "whammy" of the rail bonus for attackers then comes into play.
So I've got the RN sitting in various naval bases in India, awaiting a Japanese invasion. That is also why I've got to keep the AVG at some level of capability; I need to provide air cover against the KB if a naval invasion occurs. The Brit fighters will be useless until the summer when I can covert them to Spitfires, and even then, if Spits are outnumbered 2 or 3 to 1 by Zeros the Spits will be wiped out quickly too. So my worst case scenario is that Treespider starts an invasion of India in early February, just after Singapore falls. If he does that he will probably be able to conquer India by mid-summer 1942.
Despite this fear, I am not going to try to rush forces into India. The additional Australian and American forces that were in India in the game against PzB in mid-1942 did nothing to slow down the tide and only contributed in the end to victory points. I'm certainly also not going to throw away additional forces in the DEI. And with the change to non-malarial bases in Northern Australia, I don’t even believe that Northern Australia can be defended any more. I'll use the bases there to harass the Japanese in the DEI as long as I can, but if invasions come, those Northern ports are toast. Instead, I am going to focus my forces in South Eastern Australia for now. Reinforcements come in that region, there are a number of mutually supporting bases there, and it is a long way from the main Japanese supply lines.
The South Pacific is in the same boat as Northern Australia as far as I am concerned. I am improving the existing bases, but I am not moving troops in at this time. Instead I am building up the Hawaiian Islands as much as possible and making certain that I have forces on all of the existing semi-built up bases. I don't want to give Treespider an opportunity to do an invasion like Admiral Laurent did in his game. Fortunately, Treespider's focus on the Far East has allowed me the time to start to build up my forces. I can now stop any nuisance invasions; give me another game month and I'll be able to cause big problems for any serious invasion. The question will continue to be - will Treespider give me that time?
I am also building up Anchorage with the Northern Pacific forces. Treespider has ventured to Alaska twice already; he may well come back later in the year when his other objectives are under control. I want to turn Anchorage into a serious base from which I can contest all but the biggest Japanese invasions of the Pacific Northwest. Also, in the long run, if Treespider captures a larger-than-historical portion of the Far East and South Pacific, the northern route may turn into my best opportunity for counterattack.
And although I realize that there is a very slight chance of a Japanese attack on the Pacific West Coast, I am not removing any US West Coast forces, nor any Canadian forces, other than a couple of the Canadian naval search plane units that I've moved to the Alaskan panhandle. I want those West Coast bases to be safe, secure and built up, and I have no intention of allowing a Kamikaze attack on "United States" to give an autovictory to Treespider.
Dave Baranyi
RE: Still Not Meant to Be...
ORIGINAL: ADavidB
ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk
ORIGINAL: ADavidB
The Advanced Weather Lock-In seems even worse in this game than in other PBEMs that I've played.
Dave Baranyi
That's saying something. Don't think you were too thrilled in the PzB aar either.
I'm more sensitive to it this time and I have more realistic expectations of what I will be able to do because of it. I only wish that Don and gang would fix it and that the fix could be retrofitted.
Dave Baranyi
Dave, I know that you personally are suffering from the weather, but based on my experiences of 20 odd years on and off as a serviceman , and as a part time pilot, I feel the weather protrayed is pretty good
I find it really adds flavour to the game, and for me -is a great addition to planning ect.
I think we need more info on how others feel about the weather before we start asking to look at it
I , for one love it.
respectfully just another opinion
PS, really enjoying this AAR, like the reports and your thoughts, I hate great lists of combat reports to scroll through.
herbiesan
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
-
ny59giants
- Posts: 9902
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 12:02 pm
RE: Time to plan for the future...
Since my games are only rookies vs rookies, I don't know what advise I could give you that you haven't already thought of. [&:]
India, there is the problem of defending Malaya as long as possible, but also the need to evac some LCU's back to India for defense. A tough balancing act for most. [&o]
Australia is one that the long time to move LCU over land means a division leaving Sydney for Darwin will take about 1 1/2 month to get there and by then it could be too late. Northern Oz and Perth are not really defensible against a good Japanese player. The Luzon, Davoa, Kendari, Darwin axis is too easy to take quickly and place you in serious jeapordy early. Which you now have.
I think your plan to defend Hawaii and then SE OZ is sound. Hopefully, some supply convoys from San Fran are reaching OZ/NZ to help you build up your defense and rebuild some of your units. [:)]
India, there is the problem of defending Malaya as long as possible, but also the need to evac some LCU's back to India for defense. A tough balancing act for most. [&o]
Australia is one that the long time to move LCU over land means a division leaving Sydney for Darwin will take about 1 1/2 month to get there and by then it could be too late. Northern Oz and Perth are not really defensible against a good Japanese player. The Luzon, Davoa, Kendari, Darwin axis is too easy to take quickly and place you in serious jeapordy early. Which you now have.
I think your plan to defend Hawaii and then SE OZ is sound. Hopefully, some supply convoys from San Fran are reaching OZ/NZ to help you build up your defense and rebuild some of your units. [:)]
[center]
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[/center]RE: Still Not Meant to Be...
ORIGINAL: 1275psi
ORIGINAL: ADavidB
ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk
That's saying something. Don't think you were too thrilled in the PzB aar either.
I'm more sensitive to it this time and I have more realistic expectations of what I will be able to do because of it. I only wish that Don and gang would fix it and that the fix could be retrofitted.
Dave Baranyi
Dave, I know that you personally are suffering from the weather, but based on my experiences of 20 odd years on and off as a serviceman , and as a part time pilot, I feel the weather protrayed is pretty good
I find it really adds flavour to the game, and for me -is a great addition to planning ect.
I think we need more info on how others feel about the weather before we start asking to look at it
I , for one love it.
respectfully just another opinion
PS, really enjoying this AAR, like the reports and your thoughts, I hate great lists of combat reports to scroll through.
herbiesan
I appreciate that weather plays a big role in war, and I spent nearly 20 years designing and building equipment for the Mil/Aerospace industry with extreme weather a continuous reality for everything I touched. But the Advanced Weather in this game is not working properly:
- It is supposed to provide a level of randomized weather ranging from clear to thunderstorms
- Instead it cycles to a situation of near continuous bad weather nearly everywhere
Places like Southern California should not be under continuous thunderstorms, day after day, week after week, month after month. That doesn't model reality in any way shape or form.
Vancouver should not be under continuous blizzard conditions day after day, week after week, month after month.
The Monsoon Season in South Asia is very well defined and very regular in when it comes. And when it isn't Monsoon Season much of India is hit by terrible droughts.
The tropical cyclone season is very well defined in the Far East, when it comes, it comes, and when it isn't there, it isn't there.
Hawaii gets hit with tropical storms, not months on end of torrential rain and thunderstorms.
Essentially, if the weather stayed random, as it starts out, it would be acceptable. But the fact that it quickly settles into a totally unrealistic and unjustifiable pattern tells me that the program has a bug there. Yes, we can work around the bug, but we shouldn't have to.
I want to see more realistic weather, good and bad. Weather affects the Game, and if the weather routines aren't working, the Game is affectly negatively, and that shouldn't be allowed.
Sure, I'm passionate about this, but that's because I've been trying to get it fixed for a long time. We all deserve a game that works well because then we can all enjoy it more.
Thanks for your comments and your compliments.
Cheers -
Dave Baranyi
RE: Time to plan for the future...
ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Since my games are only rookies vs rookies, I don't know what advise I could give you that you haven't already thought of. [&:]
India, there is the problem of defending Malaya as long as possible, but also the need to evac some LCU's back to India for defense. A tough balancing act for most. [&o]
Australia is one that the long time to move LCU over land means a division leaving Sydney for Darwin will take about 1 1/2 month to get there and by then it could be too late. Northern Oz and Perth are not really defensible against a good Japanese player. The Luzon, Davoa, Kendari, Darwin axis is too easy to take quickly and place you in serious jeapordy early. Which you now have.
I think your plan to defend Hawaii and then SE OZ is sound. Hopefully, some supply convoys from San Fran are reaching OZ/NZ to help you build up your defense and rebuild some of your units. [:)]
Treespider has really used the non-historical start very effectively. I've never had my options reduced so quickly in previous games. I only got a fraction of the units from Malaya to India that I am usually able to do. If Treespider attacks India the RN will have to "save the day".
In certain ways, I wouldn't mind too much if Treespider did invade northern Australia. The units that he would have to tie up there wouldn't be available to bother me elsewhere.
As far as supply for Oz goes; I try to bring it out of India until Sumatra and Java are captured. This has two benefits:
1 - I save the North American ships and supplies for bolstering the Eastern Pacific
2 - I reduce the number of ships in Karachi that can be trapped by the Japanese.
But which ever route I chose, it is still a long haul, particularly when the Japanese player moves early into the main Allied shipping lanes.
Thanks for the comments -
Dave Baranyi
Weather Wars...
January 24, 1942 -
Weather continued to be the main opponent for both sides. I took the trouble to check all bases in most of the major regions and found the following results:
All Allied bases in China, India, the DEI, the Philippines and Australia were under thunderstorms. This situation hasn't changed in the past 4 or 5 turns. All Allied bases in the Soviet Union were under blizzard conditions. All Allied bases in Alaska, the Aleutians and Canada were under "snow" conditions, which is an improvement over the blizzard conditions that had existed there for the previous game week. All Allied bases in the West Coast were under rain conditions, which is an improvement over the thunderstorm conditions that existed there for the previous game week. Only the Central Pacific had cloudy but non-stormy conditions. Once again, no region of the map had "clear" conditions.
As you might guess, I've stopped trying to fly any air missions in those regions other than Naval Search, which, for some reason, flies even when other missions won't fly. This is also affecting the Japanese air attacks and only the highly experienced Japanese air units are flying combat missions, and those are fairly short range missions. One interesting Japanese mission was a Zero strafing attack on Malang of all odd places. There were also a fair number of Japanese bombing runs against Singapore and Manila, with the Japanese planes taking a fair number of losses due to operational damage and flak. And a bombing run of Bettys and Zeros hit the airfield at PM, but did little damage.
On the waves, I tried my luck at sending a US PT boat against a Japanese Transport TF at Lautem, but the Transport TF's escorts made short work of the PT boat. Never-the-less, it's always worth the try; for example, the second Japanese PG that was badly damaged at Jolo in a PT attack finally sank this turn. Otherwise, the only other naval activities were Japanese spy subs continuing to cruise at will most anywhere they wish, and my ASW forces continuing to be unable to find them.
The land war also continued to be fairly quiet. Japanese troops started to land at Madang, but the only other actions were artillery bombardments at Manila and Singapore.
Dave Baranyi
Weather continued to be the main opponent for both sides. I took the trouble to check all bases in most of the major regions and found the following results:
All Allied bases in China, India, the DEI, the Philippines and Australia were under thunderstorms. This situation hasn't changed in the past 4 or 5 turns. All Allied bases in the Soviet Union were under blizzard conditions. All Allied bases in Alaska, the Aleutians and Canada were under "snow" conditions, which is an improvement over the blizzard conditions that had existed there for the previous game week. All Allied bases in the West Coast were under rain conditions, which is an improvement over the thunderstorm conditions that existed there for the previous game week. Only the Central Pacific had cloudy but non-stormy conditions. Once again, no region of the map had "clear" conditions.
As you might guess, I've stopped trying to fly any air missions in those regions other than Naval Search, which, for some reason, flies even when other missions won't fly. This is also affecting the Japanese air attacks and only the highly experienced Japanese air units are flying combat missions, and those are fairly short range missions. One interesting Japanese mission was a Zero strafing attack on Malang of all odd places. There were also a fair number of Japanese bombing runs against Singapore and Manila, with the Japanese planes taking a fair number of losses due to operational damage and flak. And a bombing run of Bettys and Zeros hit the airfield at PM, but did little damage.
On the waves, I tried my luck at sending a US PT boat against a Japanese Transport TF at Lautem, but the Transport TF's escorts made short work of the PT boat. Never-the-less, it's always worth the try; for example, the second Japanese PG that was badly damaged at Jolo in a PT attack finally sank this turn. Otherwise, the only other naval activities were Japanese spy subs continuing to cruise at will most anywhere they wish, and my ASW forces continuing to be unable to find them.
The land war also continued to be fairly quiet. Japanese troops started to land at Madang, but the only other actions were artillery bombardments at Manila and Singapore.
Dave Baranyi
Some Odd Attacks...
January 25, 1942 -
The thunderstorms eased up a little in some parts of the map, giving way to rain. So I'm going to try some air attacks again this coming turn. Treespider is getting too casual about his attacks on Java, so I've pulled together all the remaining Dutch bombers and fighters into Soerabaja and I'm attempting one big attack on Banjarmasin. I'm also sending some B-17s against Mandalay again; Treespider is piling troops up there for some reason.
Otherwise, this was another relatively quiet turn. Japanese troops continued to land at Sarmi and Madang, and captured both bases this turn. There were also a lot of Japanese air raids on Singapore, Manila and, for some reason that I still don't understand, Malang in Java. Maybe he is hoping to shut down the air base there so that it is more difficult for me to move short ranged planes out of Java?
In another odd move, a group of unescorted Nells flew in from Kendari to attack Wyndham. But I have an ex-Philippine group of P-40Es there and the bomber raid quickly because a costly rout.
In the ground war, Singapore survived another deliberate attack, but the odds were 2:1 and the fortifications were reduced to Level 3, so time has just about run out for the Brits at Raffles.
The situation in China has really become quiet. Treespider has now pulled back all but four units from Changsha and all of the other Japanese positions have remained quiet and constant. I don't see any signs of attempts to outflank me some more, so I have no idea of what he is planning. Oh well, I can use the time.
Dave Baranyi
The thunderstorms eased up a little in some parts of the map, giving way to rain. So I'm going to try some air attacks again this coming turn. Treespider is getting too casual about his attacks on Java, so I've pulled together all the remaining Dutch bombers and fighters into Soerabaja and I'm attempting one big attack on Banjarmasin. I'm also sending some B-17s against Mandalay again; Treespider is piling troops up there for some reason.
Otherwise, this was another relatively quiet turn. Japanese troops continued to land at Sarmi and Madang, and captured both bases this turn. There were also a lot of Japanese air raids on Singapore, Manila and, for some reason that I still don't understand, Malang in Java. Maybe he is hoping to shut down the air base there so that it is more difficult for me to move short ranged planes out of Java?
In another odd move, a group of unescorted Nells flew in from Kendari to attack Wyndham. But I have an ex-Philippine group of P-40Es there and the bomber raid quickly because a costly rout.
In the ground war, Singapore survived another deliberate attack, but the odds were 2:1 and the fortifications were reduced to Level 3, so time has just about run out for the Brits at Raffles.
The situation in China has really become quiet. Treespider has now pulled back all but four units from Changsha and all of the other Japanese positions have remained quiet and constant. I don't see any signs of attempts to outflank me some more, so I have no idea of what he is planning. Oh well, I can use the time.
Dave Baranyi
Dark Clouds over Singapore...
January 26, 1942 -
Treespider has parked sub I-162 at Broome. I tried to send the already damaged Evertsen from Koepang to Broome, but the sub nailed it and put it under on the way in. I've got a couple of MSWs on their way in ASW mode to see if they can find the sub. So far I've been unable to hit a Japanese sub in an Allied port with an ASW attack.
The weather was back to "generally lousy" most everywhere this turn. A Japanese bombardment TF was able to get in and hit Koepang without being seen either coming or going, despite the fact that I've got a half dozen bases within range that have multiple air units on naval search. The lousy weather grounded my planned air attack out of Soerabaja and messed up a number of Japanese air attacks which either missed their targets or were broken up.
A number of Japanese fighter sweeps went out but most of them missed. It would have been interesting to see those three Zeros that went to Wyndham run into the USAAF P-40Es on CAP, but the P-40E pilots instead had to wait and greet some more unescorted Nells later on in the day. Zeros also tried to sweep Akyab, but fortunately missed; I had some of those silly Indian trainer-style pseudo-fighter/bombers there and I quickly replaced them this turn with Hurricanes.
I sent one of my B-17 squadrons in to hit Mandalay this turn despite there not being any Japanese air units there yet. There are five Japanese land units in Mandalay, so Treespider is obviously preparing for something. The B-17s took some flak damage because they came in fairly low, but still caused some damage on the ground. Next turn I am resting this squadron and sending in the other squadron in at a higher altitude. I won't bother with Rangoon until I get a couple of bomber groups in India.
In the ground war the Japanese besiegers of Singapore did another deliberate attack this turn, achieving 1:1 odds but reducing the fortifications down to 2. Singapore ought to fall at the next attack. Manila received another artillery attack, Butuan was captured against no opposition, and Tulagi was occupied automatically. Treespider has a couple of TFs just north of the Solomons again. I wonder if he is just sending more troops into the region or is planning to go further south?
The situation in China is getting a bit more complicated. Treespider is holding back on direct assaults on my bases and instead is trying to cut off Changsha across country. Fortunately I moved troops into position ahead of time and a Japanese shock attack just north of Changsha failed. I will now try to keep those Japanese troops off balance and disrupted via artillery and aerial bombardments. However, I haven't had much luck getting my Chinese bombers to fly recently with the constantly bad weather. It's too bad that bad weather doesn't affect ground movement too.
Dave Baranyi
Treespider has parked sub I-162 at Broome. I tried to send the already damaged Evertsen from Koepang to Broome, but the sub nailed it and put it under on the way in. I've got a couple of MSWs on their way in ASW mode to see if they can find the sub. So far I've been unable to hit a Japanese sub in an Allied port with an ASW attack.
The weather was back to "generally lousy" most everywhere this turn. A Japanese bombardment TF was able to get in and hit Koepang without being seen either coming or going, despite the fact that I've got a half dozen bases within range that have multiple air units on naval search. The lousy weather grounded my planned air attack out of Soerabaja and messed up a number of Japanese air attacks which either missed their targets or were broken up.
A number of Japanese fighter sweeps went out but most of them missed. It would have been interesting to see those three Zeros that went to Wyndham run into the USAAF P-40Es on CAP, but the P-40E pilots instead had to wait and greet some more unescorted Nells later on in the day. Zeros also tried to sweep Akyab, but fortunately missed; I had some of those silly Indian trainer-style pseudo-fighter/bombers there and I quickly replaced them this turn with Hurricanes.
I sent one of my B-17 squadrons in to hit Mandalay this turn despite there not being any Japanese air units there yet. There are five Japanese land units in Mandalay, so Treespider is obviously preparing for something. The B-17s took some flak damage because they came in fairly low, but still caused some damage on the ground. Next turn I am resting this squadron and sending in the other squadron in at a higher altitude. I won't bother with Rangoon until I get a couple of bomber groups in India.
In the ground war the Japanese besiegers of Singapore did another deliberate attack this turn, achieving 1:1 odds but reducing the fortifications down to 2. Singapore ought to fall at the next attack. Manila received another artillery attack, Butuan was captured against no opposition, and Tulagi was occupied automatically. Treespider has a couple of TFs just north of the Solomons again. I wonder if he is just sending more troops into the region or is planning to go further south?
The situation in China is getting a bit more complicated. Treespider is holding back on direct assaults on my bases and instead is trying to cut off Changsha across country. Fortunately I moved troops into position ahead of time and a Japanese shock attack just north of Changsha failed. I will now try to keep those Japanese troops off balance and disrupted via artillery and aerial bombardments. However, I haven't had much luck getting my Chinese bombers to fly recently with the constantly bad weather. It's too bad that bad weather doesn't affect ground movement too.
Dave Baranyi
Unplanned sabatical...
January 27, 1942 -
Treespider is back after an OS problem caused him to eventually have to clean his HD down to "blank" and start over with everything. So now we are both trying to remember what we were doing, and more importantly "why". I'm also quite mixed up because of my game against Yank.
Appropriately (thankfully? [:D] ) this was a fairly quiet turn. Neither of us was trying very much, and the heavy rains over most of the map kept our air efforts out of commission for the most part too. Treespider continued with his aerial bombardments of Manila, Singapore and once again Malang. I can't understand why he is going after Malang; maybe he is planning a fast transport invasion there.
Most of my planes didn't fly, but some Hudsons out of Darwin did fly and hit an AP that was retiring from Lautem. Then S-38 put two torpedoes into a little Japanese MSW in the same area, sinking the luckless ship almost instantly.
China was surprisingly quiet. My Chinese bombers got off the ground but didn't hit anything. Treespider may be taking a breather, or else he is facing up to the ugly realities of movement off of the rail system in China.
The only serious land attack was at Singapore where a deliberate attack achieved a 2:1 result and lowered the fortifications to 1. It looks as if Singapore will fall next turn. Manila only received an artillery bombardment. And some Japanese troops started to land at Biak.
Dave Baranyi
Treespider is back after an OS problem caused him to eventually have to clean his HD down to "blank" and start over with everything. So now we are both trying to remember what we were doing, and more importantly "why". I'm also quite mixed up because of my game against Yank.
Appropriately (thankfully? [:D] ) this was a fairly quiet turn. Neither of us was trying very much, and the heavy rains over most of the map kept our air efforts out of commission for the most part too. Treespider continued with his aerial bombardments of Manila, Singapore and once again Malang. I can't understand why he is going after Malang; maybe he is planning a fast transport invasion there.
Most of my planes didn't fly, but some Hudsons out of Darwin did fly and hit an AP that was retiring from Lautem. Then S-38 put two torpedoes into a little Japanese MSW in the same area, sinking the luckless ship almost instantly.
China was surprisingly quiet. My Chinese bombers got off the ground but didn't hit anything. Treespider may be taking a breather, or else he is facing up to the ugly realities of movement off of the rail system in China.
The only serious land attack was at Singapore where a deliberate attack achieved a 2:1 result and lowered the fortifications to 1. It looks as if Singapore will fall next turn. Manila only received an artillery bombardment. And some Japanese troops started to land at Biak.
Dave Baranyi
Chinese Mystery...
January 28, 1942 -
Something funny is going on in China. Treespider has slowly been disengaging his forces in most locations. He has only left a serious number of units at Wuchow. Japanese troops have never engaged at Homan, the number of Japanese units at Changsha has dropped to a handful and he seems to have stopped trying to outflank my forces. Japanese air attacks in the region have also stopped. When I look at the "Js and As" I don't notice any new expansion. Why is he taking a break, and where are those units ending up?
There wasn't a lot of other news this turn either. Sure, Hansa was occupied automatically, and Japanese troops captured Biak, but the only other ground actions were an artillery bombardment at Manila and a deliberate attack at Singapore that surprisingly enough failed.
Maybe the weather is bothering the Japanese efforts more than I thought. Eight out of the nine regions had rain again, and only a few air attacks flew on either side. So, for example, Japanese planes attacked Soerabaja, but my Dutch bombers at Soerabaja didn't fly in return.
The one unexpected result of this turn was that when the first of my SEA Chinese units moved into Myitkyina it had to do a shock attack and was beaten back badly. I forgot that the river protected Myitkyina (at least from the South). Oh well, now Treespider knows that he needs to keep troops in Myitkyina and Lashio. The more Japanese troops that are tied up in the jungle, the better.
Otherwise, I am continuing to take advantage of the relative lull to move supplies, fuel and forces forward to my main defensive positions.
Dave Baranyi
Something funny is going on in China. Treespider has slowly been disengaging his forces in most locations. He has only left a serious number of units at Wuchow. Japanese troops have never engaged at Homan, the number of Japanese units at Changsha has dropped to a handful and he seems to have stopped trying to outflank my forces. Japanese air attacks in the region have also stopped. When I look at the "Js and As" I don't notice any new expansion. Why is he taking a break, and where are those units ending up?
There wasn't a lot of other news this turn either. Sure, Hansa was occupied automatically, and Japanese troops captured Biak, but the only other ground actions were an artillery bombardment at Manila and a deliberate attack at Singapore that surprisingly enough failed.
Maybe the weather is bothering the Japanese efforts more than I thought. Eight out of the nine regions had rain again, and only a few air attacks flew on either side. So, for example, Japanese planes attacked Soerabaja, but my Dutch bombers at Soerabaja didn't fly in return.
The one unexpected result of this turn was that when the first of my SEA Chinese units moved into Myitkyina it had to do a shock attack and was beaten back badly. I forgot that the river protected Myitkyina (at least from the South). Oh well, now Treespider knows that he needs to keep troops in Myitkyina and Lashio. The more Japanese troops that are tied up in the jungle, the better.
Otherwise, I am continuing to take advantage of the relative lull to move supplies, fuel and forces forward to my main defensive positions.
Dave Baranyi
-
Jim D Burns
- Posts: 4001
- Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2002 6:00 pm
- Location: Salida, CA.
RE: Chinese Mystery...
ORIGINAL: ADavidB
Something funny is going on in China.
My guess is he is going to mass them into one large 20-30 unit stack to hammer you with. He'll keep them out of your view (allied recon sucks!) and surprise you with them once he has his uber stack together.
That or he is trying to sucker you forward to make surrounding you easier by pre-positioning some of his forces off road.
Jim
RE: Chinese Mystery...
ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns
ORIGINAL: ADavidB
Something funny is going on in China.
My guess is he is going to mass them into one large 20-30 unit stack to hammer you with. He'll keep them out of your view (allied recon sucks!) and surprise you with them once he has his uber stack together.
That or he is trying to sucker you forward to make surrounding you easier by pre-positioning some of his forces off road.
Jim
Hmmm - a "land deathstar" eh? He does seem to be pulling a number of units back into that base to the east of Changsha. Maybe he is resting them and planning to send a huge stack against Changsha in a while.
As far as "going forward" is concerned; there's no chance that I am going to try that, particularly since the Burma Road is cut. I'm just happy to sit back and build up base fortifications at this time. [&o]
BTW - one of my concerns is an offshoot of the Burma Road and supplies situation. Now that China is cut off, he might just let it sit and pull out good units to use against India. He has committed a lot of troops already to Burma, and he will have those troops in Singapore free soon. Maybe an blitz of India is being planned...
Thanks for the comments -
Dave Baranyi
More Mysteries...
January 29, 1941 -
This was another somewhat "mysterious" turn. Sure, bad weather affected things a lot, but on the whole Treespider appears to be doing, or preparing to do, some very "sneaky" things:
First off, China was quiet-as-dead again, and it appears that more Japanese troops are being withdrawn from the front lines and may be on their way towards the Chinese Coast. I'm certainly happy with this state of affairs because I am gaining the time I need to prepare good defenses, but I would really like to know where those Japanese units will be going to next. [&:]
Next, SIGINT reported that a Japanese parachute unit is preparing for an attack on Soerabaja. That ties in with the recent regular Japanese air attacks on Soerabaja, although those air attacks have not been as large as one would expect. As it is, I have plenty of troops in Soerabaja, and the scale of the recent Japanese air raids isn't enough to wipe out my CAP, so I'm not sure why Treespider is planning this.
Finally, SIGINT reported a radio reception from 74,90 which is about halfway between the Solomons and the Marshalls. Is this just a transport on its way to the Gilberts, an invasion TF heading for Nauru Island, or the KB on the prowl? I don't have much "at risk" in that region right now, but at the same time I am also unprepared for a Japanese thrust into the South Seas. That possibility has been worrying me for some time. There are a lot of bases in the area between Nauru, Canton, Pago Pago and Suva which could be developed to be mutually supporting, would very effectively cut off travel between North America and Australia, and would be difficult to recapture at a later day; particularly with the KB supporting them. Fortunately I have some subs in the area and I am sending them out to try to find out more.
Speaking of subs, Treespider has given his harassment of the West Coast a rest, but now Japanese subs are showing up in or next to ports all over the place. It is a real pain that the subs can sit quite happily in a port hex without any ASW ships being able to find them.
Okay, as far as action goes, as I mentioned above, there was yet another Japanese air attack on Soerabaja:
Day Air attack on Soerabaja, at 22, 65
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 23
Ki-21 Sally x 10
Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 7
Brewster 339D x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 7 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Brewster 339D: 1 damaged
Martin 139: 1 destroyed
Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 3
So this was definitely not a "killing blow", but it does keep me occupied. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, for the fourth day in a row my Dutch bombers and escorts refused to fly from Soerabaja against Banjamasin, the home base of the Japanese planes. Sure, the weather was lousy again, but why do the Japanese planes get to fly every day and the Dutch not at all? [8|]
In a somewhat surprising move, the Japanese besiegers of Singapore took a break and did an artillery barrage this turn instead of another ground attack. I guess that Treespider wants to rest his troops a bit before the final push. The only other ground attack was another artillery barrage at Manila. Otherwise, the only gain on the Japanese side was an automatic occupation of Dagua.
BTW - an "aircraft" symbol appeared at Mandalay this turn, so I've set the B-17s and AVG in Dacca to attack the air field at Mandalay. The weather in India is rain, (as it is most everywhere else) so there is a good chance that my planes won't fly, but since they've been resting for a while, I decided to try it anyway.
Dave Baranyi
This was another somewhat "mysterious" turn. Sure, bad weather affected things a lot, but on the whole Treespider appears to be doing, or preparing to do, some very "sneaky" things:
First off, China was quiet-as-dead again, and it appears that more Japanese troops are being withdrawn from the front lines and may be on their way towards the Chinese Coast. I'm certainly happy with this state of affairs because I am gaining the time I need to prepare good defenses, but I would really like to know where those Japanese units will be going to next. [&:]
Next, SIGINT reported that a Japanese parachute unit is preparing for an attack on Soerabaja. That ties in with the recent regular Japanese air attacks on Soerabaja, although those air attacks have not been as large as one would expect. As it is, I have plenty of troops in Soerabaja, and the scale of the recent Japanese air raids isn't enough to wipe out my CAP, so I'm not sure why Treespider is planning this.
Finally, SIGINT reported a radio reception from 74,90 which is about halfway between the Solomons and the Marshalls. Is this just a transport on its way to the Gilberts, an invasion TF heading for Nauru Island, or the KB on the prowl? I don't have much "at risk" in that region right now, but at the same time I am also unprepared for a Japanese thrust into the South Seas. That possibility has been worrying me for some time. There are a lot of bases in the area between Nauru, Canton, Pago Pago and Suva which could be developed to be mutually supporting, would very effectively cut off travel between North America and Australia, and would be difficult to recapture at a later day; particularly with the KB supporting them. Fortunately I have some subs in the area and I am sending them out to try to find out more.
Speaking of subs, Treespider has given his harassment of the West Coast a rest, but now Japanese subs are showing up in or next to ports all over the place. It is a real pain that the subs can sit quite happily in a port hex without any ASW ships being able to find them.
Okay, as far as action goes, as I mentioned above, there was yet another Japanese air attack on Soerabaja:
Day Air attack on Soerabaja, at 22, 65
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 23
Ki-21 Sally x 10
Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 7
Brewster 339D x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 7 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Brewster 339D: 1 damaged
Martin 139: 1 destroyed
Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 3
So this was definitely not a "killing blow", but it does keep me occupied. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, for the fourth day in a row my Dutch bombers and escorts refused to fly from Soerabaja against Banjamasin, the home base of the Japanese planes. Sure, the weather was lousy again, but why do the Japanese planes get to fly every day and the Dutch not at all? [8|]
In a somewhat surprising move, the Japanese besiegers of Singapore took a break and did an artillery barrage this turn instead of another ground attack. I guess that Treespider wants to rest his troops a bit before the final push. The only other ground attack was another artillery barrage at Manila. Otherwise, the only gain on the Japanese side was an automatic occupation of Dagua.
BTW - an "aircraft" symbol appeared at Mandalay this turn, so I've set the B-17s and AVG in Dacca to attack the air field at Mandalay. The weather in India is rain, (as it is most everywhere else) so there is a good chance that my planes won't fly, but since they've been resting for a while, I decided to try it anyway.
Dave Baranyi
Treespider Takes the Lead (the easy way)
January 30, 1942 -
Treespider jumped ahead in the score in a big way this turn with his capture of Singapore. Singapore is always a problem for the Allied player; unless the Japanese player does something fairly silly, there is no way to keep Singapore very long. Sometimes I try a quick retreat, other times I try to stand and fight, as I did this time. I'd say that I will probably go back to a quick retreat in future games.
Treespider was busy in other places too. Troops started to land at Sansapor and Macassar. Treespider didn't send a bombardment TF in to Macassar so my troops there did shoot back at the landing party. I've also set the Dutch bombers in the region back to "Naval Attack" after they finally did an air raid on Banjarmasin and caused some damage, but not a lot.
There are also a number of Japanese TFs on the go around New Britain. It appears that Treespider is off to expand upon his existing gains in the area.
Treespider is also casting his net further a field. A Japanese spy sub has been sending a Glen to recon Palmyra. That will be a real pain if Treespider grabs that base, but there isn't anything I can realistically do about it right now if there is a Japanese lunge with the KB in support. I'm still working diligently to build up my bases in the Hawaiian Islands and I don't intend to interfere with that buildup.
The stillness continues in China. However, SIGINT reports that several Japanese LCUs are preparing for an attack on Changsha, so maybe Treespider has pulled back his troops to allow them to prepare for an attack in a location where they have more supply.
BTW - despite the rain, which interfered with air attacks everywhere for both sides, my B-17s did bomb Mandalay this turn. Unfortunately, only 3 AVG P-40Bs went along as escorts and so missed a chance against the dozen Nates that were on CAP. I'm sitting everyone out for a few more turns just in case the weather improves.
So right now I need time more than anything else, and it will be interesting to see if Treespider gives me any.
Dave Baranyi
Treespider jumped ahead in the score in a big way this turn with his capture of Singapore. Singapore is always a problem for the Allied player; unless the Japanese player does something fairly silly, there is no way to keep Singapore very long. Sometimes I try a quick retreat, other times I try to stand and fight, as I did this time. I'd say that I will probably go back to a quick retreat in future games.
Treespider was busy in other places too. Troops started to land at Sansapor and Macassar. Treespider didn't send a bombardment TF in to Macassar so my troops there did shoot back at the landing party. I've also set the Dutch bombers in the region back to "Naval Attack" after they finally did an air raid on Banjarmasin and caused some damage, but not a lot.
There are also a number of Japanese TFs on the go around New Britain. It appears that Treespider is off to expand upon his existing gains in the area.
Treespider is also casting his net further a field. A Japanese spy sub has been sending a Glen to recon Palmyra. That will be a real pain if Treespider grabs that base, but there isn't anything I can realistically do about it right now if there is a Japanese lunge with the KB in support. I'm still working diligently to build up my bases in the Hawaiian Islands and I don't intend to interfere with that buildup.
The stillness continues in China. However, SIGINT reports that several Japanese LCUs are preparing for an attack on Changsha, so maybe Treespider has pulled back his troops to allow them to prepare for an attack in a location where they have more supply.
BTW - despite the rain, which interfered with air attacks everywhere for both sides, my B-17s did bomb Mandalay this turn. Unfortunately, only 3 AVG P-40Bs went along as escorts and so missed a chance against the dozen Nates that were on CAP. I'm sitting everyone out for a few more turns just in case the weather improves.
So right now I need time more than anything else, and it will be interesting to see if Treespider gives me any.
Dave Baranyi
More Surface Sub Attacks...
January 31, 1942 -
This was yet another odd turn as the Porpoise attacked a Japanese AK on the surface near Rabaul!
Sub attack near Rabaul at 61, 88
Japanese Ships
AK Tatuno Maru, Shell hits 10
Allied Ships
SS Porpoise
Japanese ground losses:
82 casualties reported
Now why couldn't they finish that AK off with a torpedo?
The air war picked up a bit despite generally bad weather in most regions. There was a sizable attack of escorted Sallys on Chungking, but the Chinese CAP fought them off fairly well and there was no damage to the base:
Day Air attack on Chungking, at 43, 32
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
Ki-21 Sally x 47
Allied aircraft
I-16c x 6
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 4 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
I-16c: 3 damaged
There was also a big air attack from Kuching on Soerabaja, but once again the Dutch CAP did reasonably well, although there was some damage:
Day Air attack on Soerabaja, at 22, 65
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
G3M Nell x 58
Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 7
Brewster 339D x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 4 destroyed, 9 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
Brewster 339D: 2 damaged
Martin 139: 1 destroyed
Allied ground losses:
48 casualties reported
Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 4
Despite this attack Dutch bombers from Soerabaja flew to Pontianak and hit two APs there:
Day Air attack on TF, near Pontianak at 25, 58
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 4
Brewster 339D x 2
Martin 139 x 23
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
AP Kaiko Maru
AP Hakka Maru, Bomb hits 1
PG Kozan Maru
MSW Seki Maru
DD Asakaze
AP Haisho Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
49 casualties reported
I don't know where that TF was going, but this attack slowed it down a bit. The only other air attacks were on Manila and they didn't accomplish much.
In the ground war, Manila received an artillery bombardment, deliberate attacks on Macassar and Cagayan failed, and Sansapor was captured without opposition. Treespider continued to reconnoiter all over the place, which masks his true intentions quite well.
Dave Baranyi
This was yet another odd turn as the Porpoise attacked a Japanese AK on the surface near Rabaul!
Sub attack near Rabaul at 61, 88
Japanese Ships
AK Tatuno Maru, Shell hits 10
Allied Ships
SS Porpoise
Japanese ground losses:
82 casualties reported
Now why couldn't they finish that AK off with a torpedo?
The air war picked up a bit despite generally bad weather in most regions. There was a sizable attack of escorted Sallys on Chungking, but the Chinese CAP fought them off fairly well and there was no damage to the base:
Day Air attack on Chungking, at 43, 32
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
Ki-21 Sally x 47
Allied aircraft
I-16c x 6
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 4 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
I-16c: 3 damaged
There was also a big air attack from Kuching on Soerabaja, but once again the Dutch CAP did reasonably well, although there was some damage:
Day Air attack on Soerabaja, at 22, 65
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
G3M Nell x 58
Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 7
Brewster 339D x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 4 destroyed, 9 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
Brewster 339D: 2 damaged
Martin 139: 1 destroyed
Allied ground losses:
48 casualties reported
Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 4
Despite this attack Dutch bombers from Soerabaja flew to Pontianak and hit two APs there:
Day Air attack on TF, near Pontianak at 25, 58
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 4
Brewster 339D x 2
Martin 139 x 23
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
AP Kaiko Maru
AP Hakka Maru, Bomb hits 1
PG Kozan Maru
MSW Seki Maru
DD Asakaze
AP Haisho Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
49 casualties reported
I don't know where that TF was going, but this attack slowed it down a bit. The only other air attacks were on Manila and they didn't accomplish much.
In the ground war, Manila received an artillery bombardment, deliberate attacks on Macassar and Cagayan failed, and Sansapor was captured without opposition. Treespider continued to reconnoiter all over the place, which masks his true intentions quite well.
Dave Baranyi
Feb 1 Status - Intel Screen
I'm going to try to post some screen captures of the status as of February 1, 1942. I haven't tried this with the revised Forum S/W yet, so we'll see how it goes.
First the Intelligence Screen. I'm quite happy with the ships lost, but I'm not so happy about the Air losses. Treespider is playing quite smart and is not losing a lot of planes to Operational damage.
First the Intelligence Screen. I'm quite happy with the ships lost, but I'm not so happy about the Air losses. Treespider is playing quite smart and is not losing a lot of planes to Operational damage.
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- FebIntelScreen.jpg (105.5 KiB) Viewed 247 times
Feb 1 Status - Burma & China
Okay, that worked well, so I'll post more. Here's Burma and China:
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- FebBurmaChina.jpg (247.64 KiB) Viewed 247 times