Matrix Games Forums

July Industry

Would be content with this if it wasn't for the Java lodgement that is likely to lead to a rapid loss of oil production.

Saving 2,000 fuel and 6,000 supply per day.

August 1st 1943

A lot of Escorts are being refitted with 6 x Type 2 DC and an A/S Mortar, hope this will help a bit. Some are getting radar fitted as are some sub-chasers.

Off the North-West Cape, I-22 attacks CM Terror twice and puts a total of 5 torpedoes into her, she sinks[:D] I-22 is damaged to the tune of 27/37/0 and will need some repairs.

An Escort puts a good Type 2 DC hit (Internal Explosion) on SS Hake off the home isles. Probably, not enough to sink her.

Something Allied sinks during the turn but looks like only 1 VP worth.

Allies are bombing Buka heavily even though it is out of supply, I think this is just for training purposes.

SS RO-109 arrives.

Ki-48-IIc becomes available, slightly better guns but not yet convinced of the value of the Army DB anyway.

E15K1 becomes available, much better range over the E13A1 and much better survivability but SR 3. Will try rolling this out.

ORIGINAL: Spidery

An Escort puts a good Type 2 DC hit (Internal Explosion) on SS Hake off the home isles. Probably, not enough to sink her.

I have been told that 2 Type 2 DC might sink a sub, but that it really takes 3. I think a sub I nailed with 2 good hits was sunk on the surface several days later. Hard to know for sure with fog of war.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: Spidery

An Escort puts a good Type 2 DC hit (Internal Explosion) on SS Hake off the home isles. Probably, not enough to sink her.

I have been told that 2 Type 2 DC might sink a sub, but that it really takes 3. I think a sub I nailed with 2 good hits was sunk on the surface several days later. Hard to know for sure with fog of war.

My reading is 2 with a bonus damage is a 50/50 proposition. 4 normal are needed for a reasonable chance of success and I have never got that. Hoping that I can do better now some of my escorts have radar. I think I had one case of 2 + a few near misses forcing to surface.

August 2nd 1943

CA Suzuya takes 2 torpedoes as she tries to move to somewhere safer than Soerabaja. At 61/86/66/2 and 2 hexes to reach Makassar is not looking good.

Various Allied subs are damaged but nothing serious.

Allies try a small sweep at Merak by Hellcats and leaking CAP from Batavia does well against them.

Allied attack at Bandoeng collapses:

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 27952 troops, 484 guns, 466 vehicles, Assault Value = 1079

Defending force 33319 troops, 280 guns, 22 vehicles, Assault Value = 1003

Allied adjusted assault: 181

Japanese adjusted defense: 1954

Allied assault odds: 1 to 10 (fort level 2)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
541 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
4332 casualties reported
Squads: 94 destroyed, 381 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 74 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 28 disabled
Guns lost 78 (10 destroyed, 68 disabled)
Vehicles lost 95 (29 destroyed, 66 disabled)

Assaulting units:
24th Infantry Division
766th Tank Battalion
7th Infantry Division
193rd Tank Battalion
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
767th Tank Battalion
226th Field Artillery Battalion
Sixth US Army
249th Field Artillery Battalion
183rd Field Artillery Battalion
181st Field Artillery Battalion
208th Coast AA Regiment

Defending units:
110th Division
I./143rd Infantry Battalion
41st Infantry Regiment
52nd Division
4th Ind.Mixed Regiment
79th Garrison Battalion
56th Const Co
22nd Ind.AA Gun Co
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
26th Fld AA Gun Co

Enemy troops are heading out from Tjilatjap in all directions.

Chungking airfield expands to 9, useful few VP.

Ki-46-III KAI Dinah to 8/44

August 3rd 1943

Massive naval raid at Tjilatjap goes horribly wrong as forces arrive all in the wrong order with the cruiser forces arriving last. No forces manage to bombard. Losses:

Yamato, Mutsu, 3 CA, 3 CL, 11 DD, 4 E, 2 PB

Kongo and another DD are doomed and will be scuttled.

Confirmed sinking:

Mississippi, California, Dorsetshire, 3 Mahan class DD, 2 PT boats

VP loss suggests may have also sunk another BB, either Arizona or Massachusetts. 7 Kingfisher and 1 Walrus lost on the ground I think confirms this.

Try some ground bombing of the troops at Benkoelen but no hits scored from 10000 feet and lose 2 Helens to flak.

Sweeps over Tjilatjap, the N1K1-J do okay but the Ki-84a are not performing. A lot of the Allied fighters are older models, P-39D, F4F-4.

Strategic Assessment

There is no chance of controlling the air over Java, I can't fight the Thunderbolts. That means there is no chance of pushing the Allies back. I have enough troops on Java to hold for a while so my main concerns now are a second attack. Possibilities:

1: Landing at Loemadjang to force a way around the East of Java and then a jump over to Indo-China
2: Push through the middle of the South DEI, Makaram etc.
3: Landing on Sumatra or Malaya
4: Advance from Kavieng towards the Southern PI
5: Attack at Mariannas, Kuriles or Hokkaido

The fuel/oil situation is that I will gradually lose production to night raids. I'll have lost Java, Balikpapan/Samarinda and Palembang by the end of November. I may lose Magwe and Medan soon after that.

Plan now then is to send no more troops to Java and evacuate back towards the PI. I also think it is time to start evacuating Burma. All my damaged ships are heading back to the Home Isles where they will remain in dock conserving fuel. By fuel and supply economies I hope to be able to keep going into spring 1945.

I know if Nemo were here, he would attack ...

Washington

Forget the Frank and build the Oscar IV and Tony 100. Slightly poorer performance than the Frank but have centerline 20MM guns and more critically a SR of 1. Once a Frank is damaged it will die on the ground.

How far are you from night fighter production? You should be just about ready with J1N1-S Irving iirc.

August 4th 1943

Allied carriers move up close to attack my retreating forces. Fighters from Tjilatjap launch telling sweeps over Batavia while refusing to fly over Tjilatjap. The air strikes put significant more damage on the Haruna, damage the Oi, sink an AK and 5 smaller xAK. Nothing too serious.

A sub claims an APD near Balikpapan, fortunately empty.

ORIGINAL: setloz

How far are you from night fighter production? You should be just about ready with J1N1-S Irving iirc.

Start at the beginning of next month but unless I am missing something there is only 1 group on the map that can upgrade to use it, Yokosuka Ku T-2, 20 planes. Followed by 321 Ku S-1 (18 planes) as a reinforcement mid October.

251 Ku S-1 I may be able to upgrade at a PP cost, not sure how that works, it is planned to change to NF with the J1N1-Sa.

ORIGINAL: Miller

Forget the Frank and build the Oscar IV and Tony 100. Slightly poorer performance than the Frank but have centerline 20MM guns and more critically a SR of 1. Once a Frank is damaged it will die on the ground.

I've not been losing many planes on the ground so far but the situation may be changing.

The problem between the Frank and the Oscar doesn't seem that simple. Against an "average" Allied fighter or a bomber the Frank performs better than the Oscar but against a Hellcat or Thunderbolt the Frank just can't stand so I may as well use Oscars. Or, as soon as I have stopped needing to send ships into Java, nothing.

ORIGINAL: Spidery

ORIGINAL: setloz

How far are you from night fighter production? You should be just about ready with J1N1-S Irving iirc.

Start at the beginning of next month but unless I am missing something there is only 1 group on the map that can upgrade to use it, Yokosuka Ku T-2, 20 planes. Followed by 321 Ku S-1 (18 planes) as a reinforcement mid October.

251 Ku S-1 I may be able to upgrade at a PP cost, not sure how that works, it is planned to change to NF with the J1N1-Sa.

You can look at my table here - post #256. tm.asp?m=2859328&mpage=9&key= I think you are right - Endo, Yokosuka and 321 are the first 3.

August 5th 1943

I-24 puts a TT into CVE Suwanee and is damaged and RTB.

I-21 is damaged

E W-8 is lost to SS Grunion.

Allies sweep and strike at Batavia and this time I lose some more valuable transports, an E, and some support troops of the 71st Division.

Allied forces have cut the rail line East of Tjilatjap dividing Java in half.

Mitsubishi Ha-43 advances to 8/43 and enters production, these need expanding quite a bit. Original plan was for 450 to cover Ki-83, J7W1 etc. but not so certain now, may go for fewer. I convert an Aichi Ha-60 factory over and expand them so won't need to make a decision for a month or so.

Tjilatjap is now at level 8.

SC CHa-50 arrives

August 6th 1943

Hellcats sweep Manus, the only defense left are N1K1-J and the Allies come off worse 2::11 in my favour.

A few minor damaged xAKL sink and some minor sub action but otherwise quiet.

Allied forces have entered Cheribon. Reports as 46,000 troops present. I have the 1st Tank and 71st infantry plus smaller stuff present. However, there is a distinct shortage of support units because I lost a lot of 71st support at sea.

J1N1-S to 9/43

SS RO-104 arrives

ORIGINAL: Spidery

ORIGINAL: Miller

Forget the Frank and build the Oscar IV and Tony 100. Slightly poorer performance than the Frank but have centerline 20MM guns and more critically a SR of 1. Once a Frank is damaged it will die on the ground.

I've not been losing many planes on the ground so far but the situation may be changing.

The problem between the Frank and the Oscar doesn't seem that simple. Against an "average" Allied fighter or a bomber the Frank performs better than the Oscar but against a Hellcat or Thunderbolt the Frank just can't stand so I may as well use Oscars. Or, as soon as I have stopped needing to send ships into Java, nothing.

The Frank can hold it's own against anything but the P-47, but still will take out more of those than anything else the Japanese have in the mid-war period. The Oscar IV and Ki-100 aren't good against Allied fighters, period.

To use the Frank well you have to have big bases and lots of support, plus nearby recovery bases where groups can be switched out and sent to get new airframes. This is also true of the George and jack, but you simply have to have them as they're so much better than the alternatives.

Once the Ki-44r arrives you'll notice a big difference, and the J2M5.

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Spidery

ORIGINAL: Miller

Forget the Frank and build the Oscar IV and Tony 100. Slightly poorer performance than the Frank but have centerline 20MM guns and more critically a SR of 1. Once a Frank is damaged it will die on the ground.

I've not been losing many planes on the ground so far but the situation may be changing.

The problem between the Frank and the Oscar doesn't seem that simple. Against an "average" Allied fighter or a bomber the Frank performs better than the Oscar but against a Hellcat or Thunderbolt the Frank just can't stand so I may as well use Oscars. Or, as soon as I have stopped needing to send ships into Java, nothing.

The Frank can hold it's own against anything but the P-47, but still will take out more of those than anything else the Japanese have in the mid-war period. The Oscar IV and Ki-100 aren't good against Allied fighters, period.

To use the Frank well you have to have big bases and lots of support, plus nearby recovery bases where groups can be switched out and sent to get new airframes. This is also true of the George and jack, but you simply have to have them as they're so much better than the alternatives.

Once the Ki-44r arrives you'll notice a big difference, and the J2M5.

I agree the Oscar IV and ki-100 will perform poorly against the later Allied fighters, but they will be worth their weight in gold when the 4E strikes come in before the sweeps......Franks just cannot operate on the front lines unless the damaged ones can be railed out the next day, and that is not possible in a lot of areas.

ORIGINAL: Miller

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Spidery




I've not been losing many planes on the ground so far but the situation may be changing.

The problem between the Frank and the Oscar doesn't seem that simple. Against an "average" Allied fighter or a bomber the Frank performs better than the Oscar but against a Hellcat or Thunderbolt the Frank just can't stand so I may as well use Oscars. Or, as soon as I have stopped needing to send ships into Java, nothing.

The Frank can hold it's own against anything but the P-47, but still will take out more of those than anything else the Japanese have in the mid-war period. The Oscar IV and Ki-100 aren't good against Allied fighters, period.

To use the Frank well you have to have big bases and lots of support, plus nearby recovery bases where groups can be switched out and sent to get new airframes. This is also true of the George and jack, but you simply have to have them as they're so much better than the alternatives.

Once the Ki-44r arrives you'll notice a big difference, and the J2M5.

I agree the Oscar IV and ki-100 will perform poorly against the later Allied fighters, but they will be worth their weight in gold when the 4E strikes come in before the sweeps......Franks just cannot operate on the front lines unless the damaged ones can be railed out the next day, and that is not possible in a lot of areas.

By mid-war I tended to use the IJN groups in the DEI/So Pac areas with J2M3 and N1K2 with their service 2 rating, and have A6M groups for the lower CAP levels and escort. The IJA filled in with some Tojo IIc groups, which still function okay until mid-44, and then only a few Franks, mostly for sweeping or specific periodic missions, not daily use.

In Burma you have the rail and lots of interlocked bases, and this is where the Frank was most useful. Later though, in the PI and China, and in Home Island defense, it's the best you've got.

I'm with obvert on the Frank and how to use it. The "b" model is the best for me, but a separate line to RnD and that is a killer.