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Well, as far as Patna goes, keep putting units on the rails behind him every couple of days to mess up any strategic rail movement.

It is in the open, so bombing the airfield and then the units is a good option. Doing so may mean the destruction of all those units.

Try to capture Anasol as it is on the direct line to Calcutta then you can rail there and move on. If you units stop short but are in a good spot, then consider getting off the rails there and moving somewhere else. Especially if they are blocking the railroads to/from Patna.

You are correct.....if I wanted to force him out of this position - I want him to stay where my air can pound him

Sooooo it will take a week to re concentrate 2 Armies - in that week I need to NOT scare him away I want him to stand at Patna rather than Calcutta

So I will take leaf out of Monty's strategy at Buerat Tarhana/Homs - Calcutta with that force or a large chunk of it would be a very difficult nut to crack - Patna I know I can win if i concentrate so lets try to get him to fight at Patna - so no flanking no complex manouvers until I concentrate - I need to induce him to stay put !!!

OK well its interesting

I have cut off South India by seizing the critical rail junction at Bezwada with 50th Gurkha Para bde

This means anything left in South India or Madras cannot evac by rail

My next objective is Asanol I have IV Indian Corps and 1 Australian Corps heading that way on the main road

And I am reconcentrating 77th and 111th Chindit Bdes as they need to be concentrated to drop and they have lost about a Bn each so fair in failed drops so will take a couple of days before I am ready so its a race between my lead armoured units and paras to see who gets 1st crack at Asanol

I am satisfied with progress so far but would have preferred if he tried to make stand reality is he is running faster than I can advance

I sense a series of big air battles looming I think he is concentrating fighters in Calcutta

At some point soon I will need to capture the base.

My recon assets are paying dividends now my detection levels are rising so if he leaves bases unguarded I will attempt more para operations - 1st USMC Para Bn is at about 50% strength and is resting but will be available soon

50th Gurkha has captured the road rail junction at Bezweda and will hold until I can get some support into them

Bombay should fall in a few days which leaves Madras and Calcutta as the danger spots

OK day of attrition over Asanol my fighter and his locked horns and it was a draw

77th Chindit tried an assault landing and walked into a full IJA Div and were wiped out - so the Bde now has 2 of its 3 Bns out of action and will need a long period of recuperation its done well been spearhead across the map but after its next drop to take an abandoned base it will be moving into Army reserve to prepare for its next op in a couple of months

111th Chindits are at full strength but defacto the days of paras are probably over for a bit as I have compressed the Japanese back to such a small area that every base will be well guarded.

IV Indian Corps Armour continues to close on Asanol with 1st Australian Corps not far behind

XXXIII Corps continues to pursue the withdrawing Japanese 2nd Area Army but is not strong enough on its own to tangle with 9 Concentrated Divs in 2 IJA Armies

Basically the plan continues

After securing Nagpur/Indore/Bhopal/Jubbelpore I am shifting much of my strength to the NE Coast of India and getting ready for the battle of Calcutta

14th Army when shifted will hand over remaining forces to 6th US Army who will take over mopping up south India and Bombay/Madras.

In essence I will have 4 Corps facing off to 2nd Area Army and 2 weak Corps mopping up

Andy

Andy

In other words, while the other Armies/Corps do the dirty work the US 6th Army will do the janitorial duties. Oh well.[;)]

Good work though, keep it up.

I am in the middle of a complete realignment of resource when its done I will put up new Army boundaries and strengths !!!

Andy

Eagle Day has come

Over Calcutta the Japanese have 300 CAP Fighters - I have to assume mostly Tojos and Zeros

I am sending 300 Fighters on sweep 200 Heavy Bombers with 60 Close Escort Fighters

And at night both RAF Night bombing wigs c 100 Bombers are going to hit the AF

He has elite pilots so this could be bloody

My 300 Mediums are being held back from the 1st wave and will go in tomorrow.

This is gonna be a hard couple of turns given co ordination I have to assume my casualties wil be heavy

In the meantime I am concetratign c 20 Divisions at Asanol to create a large hammer to crack Calcutta once I have air superiority

There is a way to increase the odds of the sweeps going in first. [;)]

Tell me !!!

OK a tough 4 day battle is coming to an end (I hope)

Day 1 none of my bombers flew and only about 1/3 of my fighter - catastrophic losses 60 for 10 - ouch
Day 2 everything flew 250 losses for 80 Japanese again ouch but most of my losses were in fighters my bomber force was essentially intact 50 damage to AF
Day 3 everything that was left flew - 90 for 40 better exchange rate and again my bomber force is intact - AF is closed 100% damage
Day 4 going in again 600+ bombers targeting AF/port and Diamond Harbour - this is the killer day have I worn him down ?

If yes I can keep both bases supressed and rebuild my shattered fighter groups

RAF will be out of action for months I have no Hurricanes in pool and it will take months to rebuild

Basically I will have to retire the entire RAF to rear area duties as my pools are exhausted - If I cann keep the AF closed the butchers bill has been worth it as even 400 aircraft losses can be replaced - eventually

I think Tojo has a high service level and will likely have a lot of aircraft off line or underperforming in action from aircraft and pilot fatigue. What you haven't said is whether he could have pulled in some groups from elsewhere to cover.

Either way, you have invested so much now that a huge bomber follow-up is justified by the potential return on that investment. I count on the 4E bomber durability and 2E bombers being scheduled later in the day.

Yup it worked day 4 was decisive my bombers plastered the AF and started working on Calcutta port (important because he needs to repair the port 1st before the AF)

I also hit Diamond Harbour and will continue to hit it tomorrow

Over the coming days I will be redeploying to allow mediums to keep the bases suppressed and using the heavies to fight through

Only issue is George or Tojo IIb cannot be far away and they both have big cannon armament good for taking out 4E

The key raids of the day

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Feb 28, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 3
Hurricane IIc Trop x 8
B-25C Mitchell x 7
Beaufighter Ic x 3
B-17D Fortress x 6
B-24D Liberator x 61
B-25C Mitchell x 40
B-25D1 Mitchell x 3
B-26 Marauder x 3
B-26B Marauder x 13
DB-3M x 3
SB-2 x 3

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 5 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 3 damaged

Airbase hits 16
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 28


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Diamond Harbour , at 52,38

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 37
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 11

Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vc Trop x 12
P-40K Warhawk x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Spitfire Vc Trop: 5 destroyed
P-40K Warhawk: 1 destroyed




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Diamond Harbour , at 52,38

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 31
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 43
B-24D1 Liberator x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 31 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 7 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 7 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M3a Zero: 2 destroyed on ground
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 9 damaged

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

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 27
Port hits 4
Port fuel hits 1

The plan over the next few days will be to use 16/17k high blenheims, wellingtons, marauder and mitchells and 10k altitude IL2's to keep the bases suppressed and start reducing supply whilst my fighter strength slowly rebuilds

I call this a victory albeit a bloody one

I suspect the battle to retake Calcutta will be a tough and costly one

I need to pursue him into Assam as well after I assess the strength he has in Calcutta

I would really like to turn forces towards Madras sooner rather than later I will re organise all my Armies and Corps after I assess the strength of Calcutta

I am very weak and really running a bluff in the West of India at present 6th US Army has really only got 3 Div equivalents only one of them a properly set up Div the rest are bits and bobs ie an RCT a Chinese Div the 3rd Special Force Bdes and some armour

Most of my strength is concentrating for the mayhem to come.....

Thats 19 Divisions plus attached armour and as much arty as I can scrape up all concentrating for a joint crossing into Calcutta.

I have deliberately left a way out to the East only covered by light armour I would really like him to run and not force me to destroy the cities industry or at the very least make it easy on me - I do not want to wreck my army on Calcutta

Quite weak in the west..