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An example of the 'clear advantage' (IMO) of strategic bombing rather than city bombing. In 2 days of industry bombing over Hamamatsu I achieved 600 Strategic points vs the 400 I achieved over Gumma for 7-10 days city bombing..........

Hi all,

A 2 day update here.

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Siam/Malaya -

Japanese IndoChina has been cut in half. British Armour reached Hue today on the east coast cutting off 2 Japanese units in Camranh Bay. Allies are 60 miles west of Camranh Bay at present.

Heavy bombing of Japanese positions at Singapore and in Siam.

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SRA -

P51D's have continued to see out the enemy over PI. 65 enemy planes (George/Frank/Zeke) were shot down over Leyte for the loss of 12 P51D's. Very soon allied ships will leave Jesselton to venture into PI waters.........Submarines are continuing to move into position in the PI and near China/Formosa.

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CentPac -

The most successful Strategic Bombing raid to date occured over Shimuzu, Japan.

193 x P51D engaged enemy fighters shooting down 80 (Jack/Nick/Frank) for the loss of 9 P51D's.

385 x B29 then pummeled enemy industry damaging approx 290 of 320 Nakajima/Mitsubishi engine production[:)]

We rest tomorrow before going for Tokyo's many industries.........

Tulagi has been successfully re-captured with no enemy opposition present. CVE's remain on station whilst we load up again for Guadalcanal.

All in all a good couple of days for CentPac.

Hmmm, those are some surprisingly high Mustang losses over the Philippines, compared to the kill ratios you achieved over the Home Islands...

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Hmmm, those are some surprisingly high Mustang losses over the Philippines, compared to the kill ratios you achieved over the Home Islands...

Rather easily explained, IMHO. The penguin had Nicks over the HI, and Georges over the PI.

Incidentally, many thanks to Speedy for his report on the effectiveness of strategic bombing versus city bombing. Is this the choice LeMay should have made, or is the game not modeling long-range bombing correctly?

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Hmmm, those are some surprisingly high Mustang losses over the Philippines, compared to the kill ratios you achieved over the Home Islands...

Rather easily explained, IMHO. The penguin had Nicks over the HI, and Georges over the PI.

Well, Speedy achieved 10-1 kill ratios against a Nick/Tony/Frank combo over the Home Islands, so that's not entirely correct.

Hi all,

Hi T/Capt. - I can only assume that the pilots over Leyte were some of the last veterans that Faber has? Also my pilots from Jesselton are about 10 Exp points lower than the Iwo Jima aces.

Capt. - as for Strategic bombing I personally think it's a game thing rather than RL. IMO you can pound and massively damage industry in WITP easier than in RL. Secondly, Fire bombing is less effective in WITP than IRL IMO since the fires are VERY quickly put out and you need to obtain massive fire levels to significantly damage industry.

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Siam/Malaya -

Usual bombing in Siam and Malaya,

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SRA -

SS I-180 was hunted by 2 x DD, 1 x DE and 2 x SC throughout the day. She was confirmed sunk late afternoon 120 miles NW of Borneo.

2nd and 3rd Australian Divisions are embarking at Darwin for transportation to Jesselton and then to wherever is needed.

In 2 days time the fleet leaves Jesselton for the PI.

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CentPac -

A fairly quiet day here with men and amchines resting at Saipan and Iwo Jima. Recon flew high over Tokyo spotted over 100 enemy fighters around....time for a party.

B29's will target Tokyo's HI, Resources and the Shipyards tomorrow whilst P51D's sweep the air of enemy fighters.

Well, Speedy achieved 10-1 kill ratios against a Nick/Tony/Frank combo over the Home Islands, so that's not entirely correct.

I'm not sure I follow you. Nicks, being slower twin-engine fighters, should be easier prey for Mustangs, shouldn't they? And even if the other fighters do a better job, the falling Nicks will skew the overall loss ratio.

Hi all,

Siam/Malaya -

Allied forces have reached Camranh Bay and will assault the place tomorrow.

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SRA -

It's time to move into PI waters........1 x CV, 1 x CVE, 3 x BB TF's will escort a supply train to San Jose. Over the next few days Commandos will ferry paratroops onto 2 more Islands west of Luzon as well.

I hope Faber reacts to this since I want him to bleed more forces. I have sufficient air protection IMO. I have 206 x P51D at Jesselton and approx 100 x Corsair IV and 54 x Hellcat in my CV forces. I also have 48 x F4U1D's at San Jose to provide local cover[:)]

As the attached screenshot shows I have 30 submarines that are about to deploy (from the 3 TF's to the north, NE and centre.)

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CentPac -

Brutal air battles are fought over Tokyo with 146 x P51D engaging 152 enemy fighters (Zeke, George, Jack, Irving, Tojo and Tony). 134 enemy planes were shot down for the loss of 10 x P51D's.....my guys really are veterans now (Av Exp of P51D groups is 88.....)

Unfortunately bad weather means my B29's didn't fly.

Also (bad for Faber and for the Japanese player as a whole) my recon has shown that 650 enemy fighters have now flown into Tokyo. It is tempting to sweep the skies and go for them but instead i'm bombing industry in Nagoya tomorrow.

Speedy,
 
It is a tough choice.  650 new plane arrivals to Tokyo potentially represents 650 VP if you combine sweeps with airfield strikes.  You have to destroy a lot of industry in Nagoya to get a similar return from a single raid.
 
Alfred

Hi all,

Hi Alfred - long time no hear. Good to see you[:)] It was a tough choice and i'm now wishing I had targetted Tokyo. I had (by mistake) forgotten to turn off a B29BG from bombing Tokyo. 11 x B29's met about 220 enemy fighters over Tokyo. If I had swept there my P51D's wiuld have had a field day!

So be it.

The raids on Nagoya didn't go to plan. The rendevous with the P51D's failed and 367 B29's flew on un-escorted. They were attacked by 18 x Nick, 11 x Tony and 19 x Frank. I lost 29 x B29 to 9 enemy fighters. My boys pressed on and hit various industries in Nagoya with varying results (e.g. only 54 out of 300 resources were damaged but 50 out of 75 Armament were damaged).

The P51's then arrived on the scene and punished the Japanese fighters for interfering with my plans. I lost 4 x P51 for 6 x Nick, 12 x Tony, 18 x Frank and 9 x recently arrived Randy's.

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IndoChina/Malaya -

Camranh Bay feel easily today as a few thousnad ragged JApanese troops were annihilated by my massive army. AK Nittyu Maru, so heavily damaged she couldn't leave port, was scuttled. We are to take a breather here now to allow vital supplies and support personnel to catch up with the army before we advance on the new Japanese bastion - Hanoi.

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SRA -

I'm looking forward to this hopeful melee here. Enemy recon spotted my ships heading east towards San Jose. P51D's are flying CAP aswell as Hellcats and Corsairs over my ships........

Several of my subs reported Grace's flying overhead today NW of PI........

Para's will take the empty enemy base Bacolan - west of Letye tomorrow.

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CentPac -

USA men will leave Tulagi tomorrow for the short hop across to take an empty Guadalcanal.

Hi all,

Well here we are. The last day of 1944 and the first time i've played a long campaign into 1945...............

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It was also another glaring example of the difficulties of playing stock WITP with large air battles. I'm going ot focus on the SRA region since there has been a lot of action here and this is where the main action may occurt over the next few days.

My transport fleet is now but 120 miles away from San Jose but during the day of 31st December Allied ships were attacked by over 500 enemy aircraft from PI!

Unfortunately for Faber about 85% of the planes he sent against me were bombers = lambs to the slaughter. For example:

Day Air attack on TF at 40,54

Japanese aircraft
D4Y Judy x 27
G4M1 Betty x 51
G4M2 Betty x 17
P1Y Frances x 32
Ki-67 Peggy x 5

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 26
Corsair IV x 51
P-51D Mustang x 32

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y Judy: 27 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 50 destroyed
G4M2 Betty: 17 destroyed
P1Y Frances: 31 destroyed
Ki-67 Peggy: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Corsair IV: 7 damaged
P-51D Mustang: 1 destroyed, 26 damaged

The following post will show total air losses but Faber lost 451 planes to my 17 in A2A combat[X(][X(][X(][X(] It truly saddens me seeing this since it can't be fun on the receiving end of this[:(]

The short of it is about 5-8 planes got through my CAP but didn't hit any of my ships.

The IJN is coming as you'll see from the map below. I have all my fighters on CAP and have stood down my TBM's. I don't have the numbers on my ships to defend and attack successfully at the same time. If after tomorrow I successfully defend my ships from further attacks I MAY pursue.

My poor penguin friend..............

The submarine war is also back on (glad to be playing this cat and mouse game again[:)])

SS Mingo blew up PC PC-28 with 2 torpedoes 120 miles SE of Hong Kong but was sunk in return by 2 x DC hits and 6 x DC near miss.

SS Dragonet missed part of the Combined fleet when her torps missed DD Mochizuki 180 miles WSW of Takao.

SS Bluegill missed DD Kuretake 120 miles SW of Hong Kong. In return she received 6 x DC near miss - 18/36/0. Back to Kuching for repairs.

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Other news:

Lunga will be taken by the allies tomorrow.

A massive P51D sweep is planned over the skies of Tokyo tomorrow.

Air losses[X(][:(]:

Air losses:

I'm astonished Faber had that many Betties to lose!

Hi all,

Points:

Japanese: -59
Allied: +6242

Bases:

Japanese: -17 (-769 points)
Allied:+17 (+747 points)

Planes:

Allies lost: 579
Japanese lost: 1893

Troops:

Allies lost: 123 points
Japanese lost: 872 points

Ships:

Allies lost: 1 ship (10 points)
Japanese lost: 22 ships (274 points)

Strategic points: +2610 points

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A telling month and it's clear to see the massive downward slide the Japanese are on now. I feel for Faber here not sure if i'd enjoy this if I was in his shoes. He is fighting a gallant battle. The loss of Saigon was crucial in terms of point allocation for the Allies and against the Japanese.

Strategic bombing is also having an increasing effect. I expect even more points in this category next month.

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Air losses:

I'm astonished Faber had that many Betties to lose!

I think, compared to some games, our air losses arent that high overall. As such I think Faber will have a reserve of some planes. The flip side to that is I think my submarine and bombing campaign must have created shortages in the Japanese economy. Only Faber will know for sure I guess[:)]

Hi all,

Another massive day of combat around PI.................

During the morning a lot of my submarines reported combat with enemy surface vessels. Unfortunately they either attacked and missed or were attacked first!

SS Dragonet was lightly damaged by 4 x DC near miss NE of Luzon..

SS Scamp received a heavy pounding with 1 x DC hit, 9 near miss and then a hit later in the day by a Jake FP - 66.86.0. She may not make Jesselton.

SS Hake missed DD Kawakaze with 4 torpedoes and received a DC hit - 12/38/0.

SS Taurus was sunk with all hands by 2 x DC hit and 2 x DC near miss west of Luzon.

SS Sturgeon missed PC PC-7 with 4 torpedoes 120 miles WSW of Hong Kong and received 1 x DC hit in return - 4/49/0.

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After Sunderlands reported the location of the enemy TF's just off Luzon the British Commanders on the scene decided to sail my CV's 120 miles north of San Jose.

I'm fairly happy with my decision to keep my fighters on CAP and my TBM below decks. Examples of the carnage:

Day Air attack on TF, near San Jose at 41,53

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 90
D4Y Judy x 108
B7A Grace x 36

Allied aircraft
F4U-1D Corsair x 38
P-51D Mustang x 98

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 90 destroyed
D4Y Judy: 70 destroyed
B7A Grace: 27 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51D Mustang: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 41,52

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 3
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 3
Ki-84-Ia Frank x 4
Ki-67 Peggy x 9

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 23
Corsair IV x 32

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K1-J George: 3 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 3 destroyed
Ki-84-Ia Frank: 3 destroyed
Ki-67 Peggy: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Corsair IV: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 41,52

Japanese aircraft
G4M2 Betty x 6
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 9
Ki-84-Ia Frank x 11
Ki-67 Peggy x 9

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 23
Corsair IV x 30
P-51D Mustang x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M2 Betty: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 9 destroyed
Ki-84-Ia Frank: 11 destroyed
Ki-67 Peggy: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Corsair IV: 1 damaged
P-51D Mustang: 2 damaged

I did forget to keep my DB's below deck though. LOL:

Day Air attack on TF at 42,49

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 81

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 30
Corsair IV x 45
Firefly x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 80 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Corsair IV: 5 destroyed, 3 damaged
Firefly: 4 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Hiyo
BB Kongo, Bomb hits 1
CVE Kaiyo, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Firefly bombing at 2000 feet
3 x Firefly bombing at 2000 feet
2 x Firefly bombing at 2000 feet

As such tomorrow is the time to strike. The Japanese losses have amounted to 900 planes over 2 days in PI (434 today). My CV/CVE's will move 180 miles NE tomorrow but I expect the Japanese to withdraw. If not I expect to sink the blighters.

Meanwhile more men and material are disembarking at San Jose and Bacolod.

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Lunga fell today.

Bad weather prevented sweeps over Tokyo but we try again tomorrow and my B29's will hit Nagoya again.

ORIGINAL: Speedy


I did forget to keep my DB's below deck though. LOL:

Day Air attack on TF at 42,49

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 81

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 30
Corsair IV x 45
Firefly x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 80 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Corsair IV: 5 destroyed, 3 damaged
Firefly: 4 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Hiyo
BB Kongo, Bomb hits 1
CVE Kaiyo, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Firefly bombing at 2000 feet
3 x Firefly bombing at 2000 feet
2 x Firefly bombing at 2000 feet

The Firefly is a DB? I thought it was a Fighter-Bomber. Whatever, it seems to have produced very satisfying results. If I were the penguin, I'd head for home with my tailfeathers between my legs.

Hi all,

Hi Capt. - you're right they are FB's but I use them as 'DB's'....the 1000LB were the factor.

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The Japanese Empire suffers further 'setbacks' today............

British CV/CVE's + US CVE's operating NW of Luzon located Japanese ships fleeing north to Hong Kong and NE towards Formosa. Unfortunately, for them, not all of them were out of the range of Allied CV airpower come daybreak.

Day Air attack on TF at 45,48


Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 18
Corsair IV x 31
Firefly x 10
TBM Avenger x 14
Avenger II x 28


Allied aircraft losses
Firefly: 2 damaged
TBM Avenger: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
Avenger II: 12 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sagi
BB Hyuga
CL Naka, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA Maya, Torpedo hits 2, on fire

This devastating attack pummelled Yamashiro into a wreck.....further follow up raids spotted the ship sinking to port within 35 minutes of the first torpedo strike........

Other raids throughout the day caught CVE Kaiyo liping back towards Hong King. 2 torpedo hits left her dead in the water.........

CA Kumano also took a torpedo north of Luzon.

ML Hoko was blown to bits with 3 torpedoes outside of Manila Harbour and MSW Hinode Maru #20 was sunk by a Firefly bomb.

Enemy airpower is pretty weak on PI now after being decimated for the past 2 days. Only a few stragglers from Canton attemtped to attack my CV's they were swiftly dealt with.

The only enemy 'success' came today when 5 x PC craft damaged SS Puffer with 2 x DC hit and 1 x DC near miss -36/68/0. Returning to Kuching.

Even though the enemy has been blooded his main force is back at Formosa now. This is too deep to risk with my mediocre CV force in theatre. Recon has already identified 350 planes at Hong Kong and god knows what at Formosa.

My force will retire to San Jose where my transports are unloading vital men and material every day.

Follow up convoys are embarking Eng/Aviation support and supplies at Jesselton. These will head to Bacolod and San Jose. I believe I am already well on the way to being able to gain air supremacy over Luzon.......

Allied LCU's attack the Japanese bastion in Siam again tomorrow..........

----------------------

CentPac -

Allied men are embarking at Lunga for the other empty Japanese bases in the Solomans chain............

A massive air battle was fought over Tokyo today between 197 x P51D and 315 x Japanese fighters (14 x Zeke, 78 x George, 43 x Jack, 75 x Tony and 105 x Frank). The battle was hard fought but my veterans won through destroying 292 enemy planes for thel oss of 39 x P51D..............

309 x B29 hit Nagoya. The small Japanese contingent of 22 fighters performed well and viciously forced almost 100 x B29 to return home[8|] Nonetheless heavy damage was caused to further factories. We go again tomorrow with P51D support............

woah intense stuff!

Wonder if he is struggling for airframes or engines yet....

Are you finding you are getting plenty of P51s to cover your losses?

keep up the good work

Hi all,

Firstly all - apologies for the delay i've been extremely busy at work this week and been in Belfast for 2 days and then London for 2.

Hi lyceum - nice to hear from you[:)] I have no idea on the state of Faber's industry but i'm certainly going to try to push it to the max and stretch him everywhere as much as I can.

As for P51D's no problem. I have lost 339 since August 1944 but have produced nigh on 1000...........

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More crazyness in Siam when the final Japanese forces there were attacked. Craxy crazy crazy and can't think of any reason for this. I am in great supply, rested, well led where as all of the opposite must be in effetc for the Japanese:

Ground combat at 31,36

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 129149 troops, 509 guns, 457 vehicles, Assault Value = 2894

Defending force 127487 troops, 16 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2059

Allied max assault: 2807 - adjusted assault: 192

Japanese max defense: 1536 - adjusted defense: 253

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
1298 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

Allied ground losses:
6501 casualties reported
Guns lost 53
Vehicles lost 3

Pretty pissed off with that all in all. If I could nuke and blow up troops I would nuke those bastards........

Usual bombings at Singapore and men are resting IndoChina with Aviation support moving to the front lines..........

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SRA -

The Japanese airforce has evacuated more from PI. Just a few active airfields remain there. I'm not even attacking the bases much but the sheer threat of my nearby airforce is enough[:)]

CV's are back at San Jose now and no sign of any approaching Japanese ships.

Most of the action in this region was caused by subs today. 2 sub laid mines caused heavy damage to DD Hokaze at Takao and AP Haguro Maru at Haiphong[:)]

SS I-166 was chased off by CV escorts north of San Jose. No real damage reported.

SS Dragonet was heavily attacked by ASW ships NW of Luzon - 3 x DC hit, 6 x DC near miss - 49/64/0. Back to Kuching.

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CeanPac -

Nagoya took a battering today by 300 B29's targetting industries. P51D's shot down 15 enemy planes for the loss of 1 friendly. We rest tomorrow.