Splashing the Divebomber

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

The AVG has been attrited heavily. The last two turns only had 24 Zeros appearing over Changsha so I figured Dive was being a little overconfident. I sent all of my China P-40's and P-39's to Hengchow and Ichang to LR CAP Changsha. Dive and I lost approximately equal numbers of aircraft, but his losses can be replaced this turn. My P-40's are slow in coming, and my pool is zero. For the time being, my P-40's are going to fly CAP over Chungking. Since my fighter presence in the theater ist kaput, I will gain air superiority the old fashioned way - through 4E firepower. Had the weather been better than "Precipitation", I would have launched this turn even though fatigue levels are around ten, and morale in in the low 90's. The weather being what it is, I will wait.

My Hunter-Killer groups heading for Dutch were re-routed at the last minute to a sub sighting west-southwest of PH. Vini, vidi, vici. The I-26 was atomized by depth charges and SBD bombs, but unfortunately it sunk DD Craven before sinking. A net gain of 3 VP for me. I will take it. The H-K's are moving north now, and the transport TF heading to Adak has been ordered to a holding pattern a few hundred miles short of Adak Is.

My LBA in Noumea has ridiculously low morale so they are ordered to rest. My B-17E's congregating there have fairly high fatigue levels, so they are resting for a bit.

Dive launched a couple of China land attacks and bloodied his nose - losing 13000 to my 2500. I will take that everyday.

Two subs have loaded frags of the 2nd DAF in Malang, and moving to OZ.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

I have been MIA from my AAR for a while - my apologies. RL has had me down. For example, my summer school finals are this week, but I spent the weekend moving furniture in 100F (38C) with humidity around 90%. Has anyone else ever noticed that furniture weighs more when it isn't yours? [&:]

Dive and I have continued our little air war in China with both of us losing staggering numbers of planes. My P-40's in Asia have nearly ceased to exist, but my pilot corps is fairly intact. All I need are airplanes. Hopefully Dive has lost more pilots than I due to his offensive missions and paper mache aircraft. Aircraft attrition is so severe that I disbanding the 24th FG, folding the aircraft and its 44 superior pilots into one of the AVG wings. I will resist reinforcing the two P-40E wings with replacement planes until I have upgraded the wing still flying the 'B' variant, and combine the group again. I seriously doubt Dive will come "downtown" again with his Zeros after his losses.

Foolishly, last turn I sent the Changsha 4E's attacking oil resources in the China theater. I don't know what I was thinking! They are resting this turn while thunderstorms rock the area, and will go after more profitable targets - airfields! After that perhaps resources, but a quick look at Burma leads me to believe Dive may me re-building his resources in Burma. If he is I will return to burn them once again - after he has wasted mucho supplies in the effort.

Fleet subs in PH are coming out of the yards after upgrades, and are getting Sub Minelaying taskings. Not only do they carry worthless torps, but Allied Sub Doctrine is ON. I might as well get some usage from them.

Java is a hopeless cause. Recently subs have started taking cadres from Soerabaja to Northern OZ to train Dutch refugees in the Zen of Aircraft Maintenance and Repair. Batavia fell a few turns ago I am sad to report, but the big stronghold is in Soerabaja. However "big" is relative since Dive appears to have the entire Japanese Army on Java.

Dive's Changsha attacks have apparently bogged down after his initial successes in lowering forts from 9 to 6. The last few attacks there have been costly for him, and my reinforcements are starting to dribble in. Lets hope that wiser employment of my 4E's will make things more difficult for him.

I have too many 4E's in Noumea - I overreacted some. By having 100 odd B-17's sitting there, I am just asking for a Bombardment attack, or even KB to come visiting. After they have rested and repaired, I am sending some of them back to Oz, leaving the least experienced to bomb Luganville. The rest will find employment over Port Moresby and Timor.

The Hunter-Killer group is only 2 or 3 turns from the Dutch Harbor vicinity, and I have tasked some of the ASW forces to 'visit' the hexes Dive's Glen-carriers have been haunting. An after-thought for me on the operation could prove beneficial. If SBD's and/or TBD's begin attacking Jap subs in the Aleutians, what will Dive think about carrier forces in the area? It just might set him to scrambling. [;)]





I forgot to mention: the large losses in P-40's and Zeros this turn was the result of a 100 plane Jap Zero sweep over Chungking. Yes, he lost over 40% of his planes, but I lost heavily also. I hope he doesn't get wind of how depleted my defenses are there.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

This shows how hurt I am in China. The AVG wing with 18 planes is the one I folded the 24th FG into. Sad, isn't it? Next turn the average experience for that wing should be significantly higher than seen here, especially considering there are more aces in the wing than aircraft (19 to 18).

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

I forgot to mention: the large losses in P-40's and Zeros this turn was the result of a 100 plane Jap Zero sweep over Chungking. Yes, he lost over 40% of his planes, but I lost heavily also. I hope he doesn't get wind of how depleted my defenses are there.

I have two words for the Chinese situation: Ydoolb Redrum. I hate posting CR's, but you have to see this:

Day Air attack on Chungking , at 43,32

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 103
Ki-21 Sally x 43
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1
Ki-15 Babs x 6

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 6
P-40B Tomahawk x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 20
I-153c x 6
I-16c x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 45 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 7 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed
Ki-15 Babs: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 5 destroyed
P-40B Tomahawk: 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 11 destroyed
I-153c: 5 destroyed
I-16c: 6 destroyed
LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed
SB-2c: 2 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
13 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 7

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet
11 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet
6 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet
4 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 5000 feet

Needless to say, I think Dive may be on to my weakness in fighter aircraft. I have been kicking some Mitsubishi tail so I am hoping he will lose hope with these Banzai attacks on Chungking. Therefore I am leaving my fighters there again this turn. On the chance he does attack again, my 4E's are attacking the three airfields the last attack came from. If he repeats, I am afraid I will have to relinquish the third dimension to Dive for the foreseeable future, retreating to Dacca where I have 160 Mohawks and Hurricanes.....hmmmm....hold on a second.

Change in plans: The fighters and Fighter Bombers in Dacca are now enroute to Chungking to continue the fight. I have transferred my P-40's to Ichang for the turn, and then off to another base next turn until I can combine them with the incoming hordes in three turns, or at least I think that is how long it will take to get the Hurricanes to Chungking. Sure, I am leaving Southern India bare for a while, but it is strong in AAA, and the fight is in China. Additionally, I have many Hurricanes in the pool, and one P-40.

Some ASW groups from my Hunter Killer TF will hopefully hit Dive's Glen-carrier's near Dutch next turn, and the CV's in two turns. Interestingly, he has moved his subs to within one hex of Dutch this turn after having stood off two hexes for a number of turns. All but one ASW TF are moving at top speed to hit the subs where they are now. My CV's are moving more sedately.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Dive has a Bombardment TF near Noumea, but once again my bombers there did not strike a Naval target. This is distressing.

A Marauder from Dutch reported hitting the I-28 south of the base, so I have an ASW TF sortieing to hopefully sink the the sub. Also, my Hunter-Killer group will be in range next turn so perhaps some TBD's and/or SBD's will do some damage. My TF bound for Adak Is. is once more on the move with troops. Since construction on Dutch has been maxed out, the ships are set to return there to load engineers for Adak.

My Hurricanes are laying over in Yunan this turn, and will go to Chungking next turn, as well as the surviving planes of the AVG. I noticed Dive has five units in the hex southwest of Changsha. Obviously he is planning to cut the road between Changsha and Hengchow. I have dispatched a brigade from Hengchow to the hex to hopefully cause Dive to re-start any movement orders his units there have in order to buy time for reinforcements for the road hex to get there.

My 4E's in Chungking did not fly, so this turn instead of giving orders to three different bases, they are all hitting the same one. I hope.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

The I-4 took a bomb from an SBD off Dutch this turn, which should clear the way for my transports to go to Adak unobserved, not to mention causing some head scratching from Dive as to why CV's are in the area. Anyway, the CV's will refuel at Dutch, and head back to PH, leaving a number of ASW TF's in the area.

Chungking was surprisingly lightly bombed this turn, although my 4E's blasted 29 Zeros and 10 Sally's on the ground at Wuhan. The 4E's need rest this turn, but numerous Hurrican II's, some P-40's, and a few Mohawk IV's will be on CAP over Chungking this turn, along with a few hardy remnants of the Chinese Air Force. If the Hurricanes can perform adequately, this turn could be the turning point in the Chinese Air War because my 4E's strike hard on Dive's airfields. We will see soon enough.

Dive's Bombardment TF struck Noumea as expected, but doing little damage to the facilities there. As a matter of fact, the LB's at Noumea made a counter-strike on the TF. Unfortunately all of the bombs bounced off the deck armor of the warships, but numerous non-armored equipment was shredded. The BB Hiei took 20 500# bombs alone. Nothing life threatening, but damaging nonetheless.

Meanwhile, numerous little green icons inch about the map.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Chinese scrap aluminum merchants in Chungking are doing landmark business this spring as 66 more airplanes littered the countryside. Dive sent 52 Zeros into the skies above the city on a fighter sweep, and only six returned home to tell the tale. He must be resting his bombers because none appeared over the city, although Changsha took another belting. I am keeping my fighters and fighter-bombers on CAP this turn, so hopefully we can get another performance from them. My Chinese 4E’ s rested last turn, but are hitting Wuchow’s airfield next turn.

In the Northern Pacific, my transports will make landfall at Adak this turn, and after unloading some will return to Dutch, and load superfluous Engineers to take to the island, as well as a base force.

Noumea is becoming a central figure in SWPAC. The place appears surrounded by subs, and I seem to have spotted a transport TF to the northward. Weather promises to be fair, so maybe I can blast some ships with Noumea’s air complement. Also, a few ASW TF’s have been dispatched to the base.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Poor weather marks the past two turns. My Chungking 4E's have not flown while Dive's bombers have flown. Frustrating. More bad weather is predicted in the region so all I can do is hope. At least now I have a very good idea where Dive's China bombers are based.

Dive landed on two more undefended islands in the New Hebrides this turn. While he had four AP's slammed by 1000 lbers, he will take both bases next turn. I can't believe I neglected to garrison those places. Oh well, some of my combat units will get some combat experience re-taking them. Dive can't possibly plan to put many troops on them what with my 4E's in the neighborhood.

Adak Island's troops are slowly unloading, and to my knowledge Dive is in the dark about extending my reach in the Aleutians.

Operation Strip Soerabaja is well underway. Subs are taking away fragments of the BF's at Soerabaja with great rapidity.

[bradfordkay]

Don't beat yourself about too much for not garrisoning every base there, AU. Noumea is the most important one, though it is nice to have at least one or two other developed airfields neary (so he can't shut down them all). If you try to defend them all, none will hold.

It sounds like it's too late to build up any secondary bases there, so you want to make sure that you have enough engineers at Noumea to keep the place operational. I forget, can C-47s carry in troops and supplies from Brisbane/Rockhampton?

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Noweya is fat Dumb and Hapy. (Dive sent the emayl intitled "Gettin' blown up real good!"} Sew I thowt eye shood repliy in kind.

Mye bommers in changshaa done gud an blastid his playnes to hayell an gon' en naynchayng. Th' Yankees dun nuthin' back.

Thim Torees up in canadada ai'nt nuthin. Ain'nt nuthin i tell yu!

The above was copied to the turn-mail.

Noumea is well-stocked, well-garrisoned, and well-supplied. I am in far better shape for subduing his airfields than he is mine. The engineers there have so little do to, they are learning how to play 'Bunko' and watching "Oprah" - the poor lads. If the war goes on too much longer the Noumea Defenders will give up to save the Japanese from the Hardships of surrendering to Anglo-Saxon-Italian garrison, and the public humiliation of trials from these poor misunderstood detainees.
Pleese pardun mye ignorence.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Forgive me father, for I have sinned. I haven't posted in my AAR for many days.

I apologize for the hiatus, but I have been very busy, and I went through a period of burn-out with both the game, and my AAR. I continued doing my turns, although a few times I couldn't be bothered, but I am rejuvenated now that things are changing so much in the game.

Last time we visited, Changsha was under attack by both air and land, but inexplicably Dive has abandoned his siege of the city after running the fort level down to 4. I have no idea why he gave up there because my Chinese supply situation is getting pretty poor. Perhaps he has decided to attack Ichang instead because I diverted a large number of defenders there to isolate, and wipe out some of his units north of Changsha. In retrospect, I may have screwed up badly doing so because my reinforcements to the city have the exterior lines while his have the interior (rail vs. roads). I am rushing troops there as we speak, but if he moves quickly, he will take the city. The air over Changsha has been dominated by the IJ air force until this turn. I finally accumulated enough P-40E's to upgrade the P-40B squadron to the E model, and combined the group. Now I have an excess of exceptional pilots in the group with enough planes to do some damage. This turn I shot down 21 Sally's over Changsha with no damage to the facilities, although Dive is continuing to hit Chinese airfields all over the map with second string bombers.

Where have all the Zero's gone? I am beginning to think Dive is beginning a major North Pac offensive. I had an idea he would be going after the Aleutians soon because of both SIGINT (he has troops planning for places all over the map) and the fact he hasn't probed the place yet except for subs until last turn. Also, Piramashiro Jima has been packed to the gills with troops according to Cursor Intel. This turn shows zero LCU's there as opposed to last turn where there were 13. Last turn he landed on Komandorski Island, and this turn he landed on Attu and Kiska Islands. I have minefields in both places up to about 200 factors, and none did a bit of good. Hopefully the minefields I have spread all over the other Aleutian Islands will do better. I have brought in troops to a few key locations in the Aleutians, and have some aircraft also, but if Dive is making a major effort there, I will be easily overwhelmed. As of this turn, I had a large transport TF loading the 1st Marine Div, and a few other misc. units in SF for transport to Noumea, and then Luganville. This turn I cancelled the orders, and began unloading the TF's. If Dive is making a major effort for the North, I want the Jarheads there, besides, the 2nd Div is in Noumea now, and only needs transport to retake islands, but I am keeping the training on Noumea in case the NORPAC is only a diversion.

Dive is showing some activity all over the map right now, so I am not entirely sure that North Pac is his true goal, but my gut tells me it is. Nevertheless, I am not committing Northward yet too much until I know for sure, although my BB's and a number of CA's in PH are heading for Anchorage now. If Dive is going after the Aleutians without the KB, my Surface boys can do a bunch of good. If the KB shows up, the Big Boys will head back to PH.

[ny59giants]

I'm at 4/40/42 and Manila just fell along with Soerabaja 2 days ago. Thus, my opponent now has over 7 division plus numerous SNLF/NLF and support units to go do some damage. [:(] So, I understand your dilemma. [;)] He still has Timor and parts of the Solomon chain to capture, but it is a wait and see approach for me.

The North Pacific has such bad weather, even in the summer, that use of KB or CV's in general is hit and miss. I have just dug in there and everywhere to make any non-KB invasion costly for him. Send an AS up to Anchorage or Dutch Harbor and make him run the gauntlet to get to the islands. [:D]

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Good point about the Northern weather. I now have lots of BB's heading that way from PH.

There is little to report right now other than Amchitka Island having been invaded. Dive is inching towards my bomber ranges, and I am very interested to see where he lands next. I hope Dive pauses when he hits Adak Island because I have 330 AV's there, and about 500 mines. I need an operational pause because I have an RCT nearing Umnak Island, and I need those troops there. Right now there is a small BF, a CD unit, and an Aviation Engineering unit for a total of 17 AV's. And about 250 mines. Dutch Harbor has 307 AV's, about 300 mines, and fort level 9, so that place could be difficult to take for Dive. The Northern air force is slim to nonexistent right now, and unfortunately there isn't much I can do about that right now other than to ferry some B-17's to the area.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

I will try to update the status of the war graphically over the next couple of days:

China:
Dive has pulled back from Changsha to Nunchang. (The pic below has the cursor revealing 43 units in that city). Nunchang allows road movement to a number of points, Dive has the advantage of interior roads in this part of China, so the initiative is his. Frankly I believe he has withdrawn to rest and replace troops before renewing his attack on Changsha. Had he designs on Ichang I believe he would have moved east to Wuhan. Up to now I have been attacking airfields with B-17's from Chungking to little effect because Dive is moving his planes all around the theater. From this point on I will be hitting resources - it will be a long war.

I have been tempted to counterattack, but have decided against it because most of my apparently vulnerable targets are cities, and the Chinese are pathetic on the attack, so I am keeping most on the defensive in cities where they can keep supply up, and fatigue down. I am instituting a minor attack in the south of China where I may be able to cut off the crossroads Northwest of Canton. Also, the Jap unit two hexes North-Northwest of Changsha is about to be overwhelmed by Chinese hordes. I managed to cut off the unit, and hit it from the air consistently, so its supplies have to be very low. I hope to wipe out the unit quickly, and return the troops to Ichang.

At the end of the day, I believe Dive will return to Changsha after he has accumulated, and rested his troops. My belief is reinforced by his comments in e-mails about his mistake in attacking Changsha, which leads me into Alaska (more tomorrow):

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

North Pac:

Dive is making a concerted effort to sweep the Aleutians. He has at least two bombardment TF's running about the area, several subs operating near Dutch Harbor, and probably carriers lurking about as well. He is scouting bases with long range LB air, and is apparently landing auxiliaries at Kiska Island.

Why is he doing this? Either he wants to take more bases on the map so I have more to re-conquer later on, or he intends to take Alaska. A few months ago he made some 'joking' comments to me about taking Alaska, and all along he has told me intends to invade the West Coast. Until now, I thought he was joking.

Nome: 127 AV's and level 4 forts.

Anchorage: 127 AV's and level 4 forts.

Kodiak: 125 AV's and level 5 forts.

Sitka: 0 AV's and level 1 forts. An RCT is loading in SF to land on Sitka Island because it has level 3 airfields, and is nicely located for a forward airbase for Dive.

Juneau: 39 AV's and level 4 forts. The 7th US Infantry Division and a Seabee unit are heading there. If Dive is trying to take Alaska, Juneau will be key because it resides on the road to the West Coast and is a mountain hex. If an invasion does materialize, more troops will go here.

Adak Island: 333 AV's and level 3 forts. Dive has hit Adak twice in two turns with bombardment TF's

Umnak Island: 188 AV's and level 1 forts(nearly 2). Not too long ago I discovered this base has the capability of building a level 6 airbase - 2 larger than Dutch Harbor so I decided to build it up. I have 2 EAB's, 1 RCT, 1 BF, and a USMC Defense unit there, so it should build forts quickly.

Dutch Harbor: 306 AV's and level 9 forts. This base has been fully developed and has a few bombers, mostly Canadians.

A significant surface combat TF is two hexes from docking in Anchorage, and three CV TF's are due south of Adak Island (14 hexes south) and are now loitering with a replenishment TF. If I see an opening, I will attack with them, but I am hesitant to do so until I learn the whereabouts of KB, or unless Dive provides an opportunity I can't pass up.


In China, the spoiling attack in the south is still in the works, and my troops crossed the river Southwest of Ichang into the hex with Dive's cut off Inf. Div. Hopefully I have enough strength there to wipe out the div after a few turns of rest. Nice weather in China has encouraged me to attack resources in Wuhan this turn.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Apparently Dive thinks I am “teleporting” troops via transport in I assume the North Pacific. If he only knew how few aircraft I have in the region he would know better. I have no idea why he thinks I am doing this.

Anyway, Dive’s CV’s have shown up north of Adak Island, and hit the airfield moderately hard. Needless to say, every ship in the vicinity of Dutch – AK’s, DD’s, MSW’s, and a CA are running to the southeast as fast as their boilers will allow, and my Bombardment TF is sitting in Anchorage for the moment. However, I have tasked my CV’s to dash northwest to interdict some of Dive’s shipping to the west of Attu and Kiska. It will take them 2 turns to get into position; if I lose track of the CV’s or they are moving west next turn, I will abort. I am not too worried about Dive chasing my CV’s down on their escape run because I have AO’s sitting out there in the wide open Pacific so I don’t have to worry about running out of fuel.

I have three and a half divisions in PH prepping for Wake Island, and they are going to stay there unless Dive makes a serious effort on the Alaskan coast.

My B-17’s in Chungking hit Wuhan’s resources for negligible damage. My troops are attacking Dive’s cut-off division next turn, because his troops have to be in worse shape than mine after several turns of air attacks, and no supply.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

I meant to post this pic, but I forgot to:
The yellow path marker is for submarines I am sending North.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Dive and I have shared a few emails tonight about "flying in invincible forces in a couple of days" and thereby ruining "months of planning". I am not clear as to why he thinks I am doing this, but I sent him the picture below. Too bad I was precipitous in my anger - otherwise I wouldn't have given all the free intel on Pearl Harbor. Also, now I have to fly more fighter cover into Ledo.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Where to start? Frankly last night I was outraged that Dive would accuse me of doing things I had vowed not to do again because I agreed that flying major combat units around the map via air transport was a gamey tactic given the technology at the time, until I realized that I did't remember telling him I agreed to that. I have stored all of our e-mails, and I could not find where I told him so, although I did not read them all by a long-shot. Anyway, I got extremely angry about the accusations last night without apparent cause (my fault I believe), and frankly I showed my ass a little bit. I am afraid even today the repercussions can be seen by the very short e-mail I received with the turn, rather than the braggadocios I usually receive. I hope we can get by this because I really enjoy the game.

Anyway, in South China numerous Chinese units moved into Jap hexes, lightly held ones at that, and attacks begin next turn. The isolated Jap Div suffered 3:1 odds in an attack on them, so I am continuing the same.

Alaska is a different story though, and I agonized for a few hours tonight, what do I do? Dive's CV's simply moved two hexes east, and blasted Dutch's airfield. I seriously thought about moving just within range of Kiska, and hitting the ships there with carrier air, but in the end decided not to. Here is why: The forecast weather sucks; the KB could easily move back into scouting range of my CV's; I only have three operational CV's; in 28 days, the Wasp appears; in 13 days I start to get TBM's; I have CLAA's moving towards PH along with the North Carolina; 7/42 big AA upgrades happen for at least one CV. In other words I chickened out, and moved my CV's back towards their Replenishment ships, and will probably retreat to PH to finish upgrading. I am not ready for the KB right now, although I intend to hang out for at least a turn to see what Dive does.

My SC BB TF has moved out to sea from Anchorage to provide searoom depending on which way the KB jumps, and two of my three running supply TF's are moving towards Anchorage to unload the balance of their supplies.

[ny59giants]

In Alaska, you cannot count on weather being helpful. [:(]
If you think it is bad in Burma/India, think again. [:D]

Focus on small specialized TF's to do your dirty work and dig in (forts). LBA should carry the weight vs. CV's.
Small arms tactics in WitP...[;)]

If you can afford it, ship back from Oz some small Beaufort squadrons. They could be a nasty surprise for his ships if they don't get 4 hexes away from a base. [:D]