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Look, Joc is a redneck!! [;)][:D]

I always thought Sweden was a "hot" country for other reasons ... [;)]

ORIGINAL: Cpt Sherwood

Look, Joc is a redneck!! [;)][:D]

Bread dough ain't that white!

White ain't that white! [:)]

Yeah, but did you notice how he has adapted his tire chains to jewellery so that they will always be with him?
Clever people these Swedes!

3rd-4th September -44

More action these two turns.

Mindanao
On the 3rd Erik orders some massive sweeps of Cotabato. I think he was hoping that I would still have a lot of planes on sweep. No such luck. His sweeps does horrible and he loses some 200 planes for almost no allied losses. I lose an ace and get a triple aces wounded. But gain quite a few new ones! On the 4th there are no new sweeps. Eriks surface forces doesn´t to very well either. He sent in a small SCTF of 4 DDs that manages to sink 5 empty LCT but in return getting sunk the following day. Every DD counts... [:)]

I don´t really understand the timing of it. Cotabato is already 8.51. There is simply no way he is going to be able to close it. Same thing with naval intercepts. Had he done them the days after I captured Cotabato it could have put me in a pickle. Feels like I for once are one step ahead of Erik. I like that feeling! [:)]

DEI
Eriks battle fleet show up in 3 different TFs. A BB TF, CA TF and CL TF. Again its one day too late. The AF is open and I´m flying in everything I need. I can´t oppose his SCTF with anything but air power right now though.

Marianas
Supply is starting to get thin. Erik continues to bomb from the air. AF was actually closed a few turns back. The troops will have to hold out for another two months.

Burma
Some VERY interesting developments. Erik "Eastern stack" has withdrawn and my amour has already caught up. Rest of the troops arrive tomorrow. More on this in a separate post.

Erik has left town for the weekend. I´ll do a theatre by theatre rundown with maps and stuff during the weekend. I might have a golden opportunity in Burma...

PS. You guys are hilarious... [:D]

Maps and stuff coming up tonight hopefully. Still renovating the little ones room but should be done today freeing up some time!

If you keep moving the chain down by the same amount each time, you will have the perfect "tiger stripe" suntan.

ORIGINAL: Encircled

If you keep moving the chain down by the same amount each time, you will have the perfect "tiger stripe" suntan.

Will the ladies like that? [:D]

Mindanao Area

Here is a screen of the current situation. After the initial push into the Moluccas and the landings at Cotabato things have become quiet with 1944 standards. This is mostly because I´m forced to wait up for base building. I´m severely hampered by the lack of a level 9 airfield to put the 4E hive on. Right now the SOPAC 4Es are sitting at Darwin doing very little besides training. Once Cotabato reaches level 9 in 5 days they will redeploy and pound everything in sight into rubble. Starting with Jolo....Together with the 2Es I will have 500 bombers working here soon!

I´m also expecting Manado to be secured within 2 weeks giving me another level 9 AF (potential) in the area. This will become the B29 hive capable of reaching most Japanese oil assets. Once that happens it will begin the downward spiral for the Jap economy.

This will continue to be the allied main push. I havn´t counted the exact numbers but right now I think right now I have some 6000-7000 AV in the area. Once the Marianas is secured the total AV will probably reach some 15.000 AV. This will be focused into a very big hammer falling on a target yet to be revealed! [:D]

This area also have the vast bulk of the allied air power. Yet I lack numbers to cover everything. I´m continuing to lose shipping to scattered strikes. But everything important gets LRCAP and so far I have lost only barges, LSTs and some xAKs. So far...

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Encircled

If you keep moving the chain down by the same amount each time, you will have the perfect "tiger stripe" suntan.

Will the ladies like that? [:D]

Lady tigers.

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: JocMeister

ORIGINAL: Encircled

If you keep moving the chain down by the same amount each time, you will have the perfect "tiger stripe" suntan.

Will the ladies like that? [:D]

Lady tigers.

Rawr? [:D]

Marianas

Since landing on Tinian the Allied has sat and watched while about 100 Jap bombers have been trying to close the AF. They finally succeeded last week after almost 2 months when supply started running low. [:D] I´m quite happy with this as I never had any intention of placing aircraft on Tinian and I think the 100 bombers could have tipped the balance in the CV clashes. The troops on Tinian will have to hunker down for a while more. Saipan invasion is due in about 2-3 months. Until then they are on their own.

Interesting enough I recently spotted a big TF on Saipan. I wonder what its doing there. Reinforcing? Supply drop? Withdrawing? Hopefully reinforcing. Then again the Marianas has lost its significance since the Allies has landed on Mindanao so Erik could be withdrawing.

DEI

With the allied landing on Barbar we will slowly advance towards Java. This will be done under LBA and not given very high priority right now.

Burma

Now this turned really interesting the last 3 turns as Erik withdrew his "eastern stack" from Toungoo. I´m not sure why he chose to do this right now but the 60(!) supply captured at Toungoo might be a good indication his supply situation has deteriorated to unsustainable levels? I managed to catch up with him with parts of my forces. About 3000 AV while another 4000 AV will reach the hex next turn.

Now the big question is. If he is still in the hex next turn, do I try an attack or do I take my chances and try and catch him in the open? If I can catch him in the open I´m certain I can inflict some serious casualties on him. But its a gamble as I might miss him and he can reach Pegu and the relative safety of the presumed heavy forts there.

I´m leaning towards waiting and try to attack him in the open. Worst case he escapes to Pegu but that might be weighed up by the pounding he will take from the air when moving over the open hex. Last time he did so he lost some 3000 troops in a single day. Given the opportunity I will even use the B29s to hit him in the open.

His western stack has showed movement for quite some time now. Don´t know if its fake or not but they are being pounded right now.

Ground combat at 55,51 (near Prome)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 127787 troops, 1705 guns, 712 vehicles, Assault Value = 5574

Defending force 82540 troops, 954 guns, 464 vehicles, Assault Value = 2683

Japanese ground losses:
432 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
85 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled

This situation is certainly grave for Erik and I´m betting its causing him some worry. If I can finally get a break in Burma and everything goes my way Erik could lose 5000 AV in the coming weeks. That is certainly a best case scenario though and everything has to go exactly my way. The key is his eastern stack.

I´m thinking his "eastern stack" is fake moving and he will try to hold there in the jungle hex until his western stack can withdraw to Pegu or Rangoon. Troops moving NE from Pegu seems to confirm this. If so I guess it comes down to wether or or not he can hold the hex or not. Its 7000 AV vs 2500. My forces are pretty fatigued by now but so should his be after moving south under constant air attack. The forces moving from Pegu will be destroyed once they hit the open hex. And the allied units are VERY good and has lots and lots of armor.

Might also be a big feint and he will try and run for it. If he hasn´t moved next turn I will know for sure.

What do you guys think of the situation? Am I interpreting this correctly or am I missing something?

You know your opponent better than we do. If he is sneaky enough to try the fake movement you mentioned, you are correct that you should not try to attack in the jungle hex with tired troops. However, if you wait until he gets to the open hex and you bomb him, you will certainly catch up with him and be able to attack. Trouble is, you only get one initial attack and then his retreating forces are in Pegu, where you do not want them to be.

On the other hand if your opponent sometimes panics when under a lot of pressure, both Western and Eastern stack will be running for cover in Pegu and Rangoon. In that case a deliberate attack in the jungle hex would catch them in movement mode and inflict casualties before they retreat to the clear hex or the city forts. You have more opportunities to inflict casualties in this scenario, and any disablements before they get to the clear hex will be dead meat for the bombers when they hit them.

If lots of your AV is armour and he has shown poor anti-armour defences [no A/T guns] you could try using only your armour in the jungle hex and putting the rest of the troops on reserve.

BTW, I really like your move on Babar to provoke a reaction. Looks like there is a lot of IJN shipping brought to the area already! [:D]

Man, I need to hire a professional *bumper* or something! I head out for 3 days and I´m right back to page 2! [:D]

Turned out Erik wasn´t "fake moving" and his stack minus five units are now in the clear hex! Needless to say every fighter in Burma is set to sweep the hex and every bomber set to bomb. If I can catch his stack even with my armor only I will try for it!

Proper update coming later or tomorrow.

6th September -44

Erik has been extremely slow i returning turns lately. Judging by one of his emails he thinks I should enjoy summer more and play less AE. [:D]

Mindanao area
Erik sends in a MTB TF into my LOC between Morotai and Mindanao. These MTBs are proving almost impossible to sink. Its actually starting to turn ridiculous. I have fighters on strafe, attack bombers on Low Nav and DBs. All refuse to fly. To top that off I have six 4 ship DD TFs attacking his MTBs 3-4 times per turn but they just "evade combat" time and time again. If not that my TFs waste all their ammo without hitting a single MTB. Grrr! [:@] I lose 3 empty LSTs.

Cotabato AF reached 8.64. Soon, soon!

DEI
Eriks TFs withdrew towards Java after busting some 10 PTs at Babar. I´m hoping to unload some BFs and engineers this turn.

Burma
As I said earlier Erik didn´t "fake move" but is indeed withdrawing towards Pegu! Last hex my armor managed to catch up with him but not the main force. Its 900 AV worth of armor. If I can catch up with him I´m going to give it a go. With his troops now exposed in the open every bomber in Burma is set to attack. Hopefully my fighters goes in sweeping before them. Its very likely Erik will try and oppose the bombings. Last time he went through this hex I devastated his troops. If he really does oppose my bombers it will be the first time in months he does something in the air over Burma.

I continue to bombard the "Western stack". This is bloody business but I´m hoping Erik will have more problems then me recoveringing from it. My losses are almost exclusively suffered by the soft Chinese.

Ground combat at 55,51 (near Prome)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 127805 troops, 1705 guns, 712 vehicles, Assault Value = 5584

Defending force 82427 troops, 954 guns, 464 vehicles, Assault Value = 2674

Japanese ground losses:
403 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
317 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 14 (7 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Whatever happens in the coming days Erik will be forced to make a stand at Pegu or he will get his "Western stack" cut off. This is of course fantastic news for me as Pegu is in a clear hex. Unfortunately I don´t have a HQ combo set for Pegu. The command HQs available was/is set for Rangoon and Moulmein. I will probably reprep the one set for Rangoon for Pegu and hope for the best...I also sent in a naval bombardment at Pegu to see what the forts might look like. Judging by the bombardment forts are high. Going by the rest of Burma its probably level 6 at least.

I think Erik made a mistake here by not pulling out his Western stack first. Having to make a stand at Pegu is not ideal for him I think.

Surprise at Singapore
After our CV clash in the Celebes sea I got whiff of a CV/CVL/CVE moving west towards Singapore. Its quite likely Erik was moving a damaged ship to the repairyard at Singa. This was some time ago. I have been waiting for an opportunity to strike at the port. Assuming Erik moved all airpower in the area to Burma to cover the clear hex I ordered the B29s to go for it. Hopefully there won´t be a CAP up. Its 34 hexes so they are going in with reduced load. Its still over 700 500 lb bombs! Fingers crossed we get something juicy! [:)]

Here is a screen of Burma!

7th September -44

Not the results I had expected...

Mindanao area
I finally manage to get to some of those pesky MTBs. They were all smoking in the replay so I´m guessing the reacted too far out burning all the fuel. One of the reasons I avoid using react as much as possible...6 MTBs are reported sunk.

A big reinforcement TF reached Cotabato. I have two Corps artillery units landing that will help suppress Cagayan and bring it to its knees. I also have a division flanking Cagayan that just secured the base in central Mindanao.

First deliberate attack at Manado in a long time shows promise!

Ground combat at Manado (75,99)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 37014 troops, 684 guns, 956 vehicles, Assault Value = 1376

Defending force 21897 troops, 215 guns, 29 vehicles, Assault Value = 627

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Allied adjusted assault: 566

Japanese adjusted defense: 653

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2687 casualties reported
Squads: 76 destroyed, 119 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 53 disabled
Guns lost 32 (14 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1157 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 123 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 33 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 17 (1 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Vehicles lost 39 (1 destroyed, 38 disabled)

DEI
BFs landed almost unopposed. A sub managed to slip through the screen (84 ASW value) in the shallows of Babar and nail a APA... [8|] BFs are onshore though and soon I will begin the next jump.

Burma
In a stroke of insane bad luck both the 2Es and 4Es rained in. [:(] So this turn no movement was hindered. That might be enough to make good the escape. CRAP! [:(] My forces are in pursuit though and managed to catch so of Eriks arty lagging behind.

1086 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 112 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 15 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 43 (42 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 57 (38 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Units retreated 2
Units destroyed 1

Defending units:
5th RF Gun Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
68th JAAF AF Bn

I really hope the weather clears tomorrow. We did have a small aerial battle over the hex as my fighters taking of from central Burma did take off. Got roughly a 3:1 advantage. 13 Pilots KIA but no aces lost. 8 new gained. [:)] P51s did really bad due to high fatigue but the 3x18 Corsairs did fantastic considering the pilots were very fresh.

Perhaps Erik has burned his candle in the air war. Either that or he is saving up for something. My pilot pools are fantastic right now. I have 600 trained navy fighter pilots for example. And get this. The LOWEST experienced one has 72 EXP and 2 kills. [:D]

Singapore strike
While I can´t complain the results wern´t what I had hoped for. No CAP up as expected. I guess if nothing this raid will force Erik to keep a daytime CAP up over everything 35 hexes from the nearest Allied base that he doesn´t want sunk. Mowhaha!

E Hashidate, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CM Katsuriki, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Itukusima Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS I-171, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
TK Ayagiri Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS I-9, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
SS I-11, Bomb hits 1
TK Kuremente Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
CM Katsuriki, Bomb hits 1, on fire
E Sanae, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Tatuharu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AG Kaishi Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
TK Manshu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Arima Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS RO-41, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AKE Kashino, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Kitano Maru, Bomb hits 1
TK Daijo Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CMc Kuroshima, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AV Kamikawa Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Sado Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
TK Manei Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
TK Toyohi Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Nothing exciting to write home about. But perhaps this will have a big psychological impact.

No interesting screen to show. Let me know if you want me to post something or have any questions and I´ll try to get it for you. [:)]

Erik and I have been really out of sync with the turns lately only managing one per day. Hopefully it will sort itself out eventually.

This has been a really fun read, I'm especially enjoying the drive thru to the Philippines, you're making excellent headway!

Lurking from afar

Jon