Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy(A) vs KenchiSulla (J)

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
That's sorta the plan at this point.

I still think you should just leave Calcutta alone for the remainder of the war. Let the Japanese have it. If you take the base after a long protracted battle those Japanese units will just respawn and be ready to defend the inner perimeter. But if you bypass them, they will basically be out of action for the remainder of the war.

I say ship them somewhere else. I know you said that you didn't have enough transports ships but you clearly had enough for a landing at Chittagong. It's gonna be a long war and you've already lost a few important American LCUs; you're gonna need all the infantry divisions you can get in the Pacific. I say use these Indian divisions to open up a new front against the Japanese while they are focused on your CentPac advance. Might take a while for them to get them prepped and in position to open up a new front but it's gonna be a long war. In the end I think it will be a far better use for them than trying to take Calcutta or advancing by land into Burma.

[Mundy]

It is tempting to just let them stew.

I'm just wondering about supply in general in India. I know I had lots of shortages there after Calcutta fell, and I assumed the Industry there was necessary to keep it up. I haven't been into the game this far before to have supply issues here, and am thinking maybe that's just the natural state of affairs there.

If I just take the time to get all my units healed up fully, I can probably take it, in concert with lots of bombs.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
If I just take the time to get all my units healed up fully, I can probably take it, in concert with lots of bombs.

Just out of curiousity, can you post the result shock attack into Calcutta? That should probably help the readers understand just how strong the defenses are.

Your statement might be correct but the key is really in how much time and how many bombs. Surely there is a point where the cost is too great even if it is theoretically possible, right?

[Mundy]

Here it is. His AV has hit about 3,200 right now, which is where I'm at. I think troops from Diamond Harbor moved in.

As I stated, my guys were coming in under two groups and one outran the other.

Ground combat at Calcutta (52,37)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 72712 troops, 1221 guns, 812 vehicles, Assault Value = 1969

Defending force 110058 troops, 1329 guns, 1286 vehicles, Assault Value = 2859

Allied adjusted assault: 457

Japanese adjusted defense: 27773

Allied assault odds: 1 to 60 (fort level 7)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
838 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 57 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Vehicles lost 19 (2 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
10492 casualties reported
Squads: 175 destroyed, 785 disabled
Non Combat: 89 destroyed, 165 disabled
Engineers: 22 destroyed, 147 disabled
Guns lost 204 (29 destroyed, 175 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
503rd Parachute Regiment
25th Indian Division
102nd(Sep) Infantry Regiment
7th Indian Division
26th Indian Brigade
475th USA Regiment
19th Indian Division
41st Infantry Division
14th Indian Division
Nowshera Brigade
85th Medium Regiment

Defending units:
2nd Tank Division
53rd Division
2nd Guards Division
21st Division
Yokosuka 3rd SNLF
18th Division
55th Division
34th Division
2nd Raiding Regiment
7th Ind.Tank Brigade
8th Field Construction Battalion
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
7th JAAF Base Force
29th Fld AA Gun Co
Southern Army
12th JAAF Base Force
85th JAAF AF Bn
92nd JAAF AF Bn
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
151st AA Regiment
62nd JAAF AF Bn
10th RF Gun Battalion
3rd Air Division
26th AA Regiment
5th Mortar Battalion
76th JAAF AF Bn
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
91st JAAF AF Bn
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
41st JAAF AF Bn
31st Field AA Battalion
30th Fld AA Gun Co
16th AA Regiment
54th Field AA Battalion
48th Field AA Battalion
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
50th Field AA Battalion
15th JAAF AF Bn
27th JAAF AF Bn
44th Ind.AA Gun Co
21st JAAF AF Bn
96th JAAF AF Bn

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

ORIGINAL: Mundy
If I just take the time to get all my units healed up fully, I can probably take it, in concert with lots of bombs.

Just out of curiousity, can you post the result shock attack into Calcutta? That should probably help the readers understand just how strong the defenses are.

Your statement might be correct but the key is really in how much time and how many bombs. Surely there is a point where the cost is too great even if it is theoretically possible, right?

After seeing the details, I wouldn't have attacked in the first place. Or if I had, I certainly wouldn't have been contemplating additional amphibious landings to dissipate my strength. At this stage of the game, and considering your position, I think you need to start thinking in terms of using a sledgehammer against your target. Make sure you have enough to do the job or don't attack it at all. It's a lesson I'm learning myself. Try and do things on the cheap and they come back to bite you in the ass.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 72712 troops, 1221 guns, 812 vehicles, Assault Value = 1969

Defending force 110058 troops, 1329 guns, 1286 vehicles, Assault Value = 2859

Allied adjusted assault: 457

Japanese adjusted defense: 27773

Allied assault odds: 1 to 60 (fort level 7)

I guess my estimate for the adjusted Japanese AV being near 30,000 was almost dead on!

In my opinion Calcutta is just far too heavily defended. Even heavy air and naval bombardment are going to do almost nothing with level 7 forts and heavy urban terrain. Since it's upriver you cannot use battleships to bombard the base which is another handicap. To take the base you would probably need around 8,000 AV with fully prepped units and HQs. Do you even have that much AV available?

I think you really need to take a step back and try to figure out what are your goals in India and how you are going to reach them. This approach of campaigning without a clear strategy just will not work against a very capable foe like KenchiSulla. Here was your stated strategy when I asked you earlier:

ORIGINAL: Mundy
I guess my endgame is simply to try and disrupt things there. Overall, I do regard it as a sideshow.

What exactly are you trying to disrupt? I would have to assume you mean to disrupt Japanese plans in India. And what are the Japanese plans? Seems pretty clear to me the Japanese plan is to turn Calcutta into a fortress and make you pay with blood and steel to take it. By attacking Calcutta you aren't disrupting the Japanese plans; you're playing right into them. And if it really is just a sideshow, then wasting squads, bombs, planes, ships, etc is going against your greater strategic plans. If you want to disrupt those plans then just leave Calcutta alone and let the Japanese whither away while you're going after more important targets.

I think what's going on is that you aren't sure exactly what you want to accomplish in India and instead have this general idea of attacking the Japanese wherever you find them. As SqzMyLemon pointed out, you are conducting divergent operations that aren't cohesive steps towards a concrete strategic goal. If you want to succeed in this game you need to come up with a clear strategy and organize your operations to support that strategy. In the CentPac I think you have a much clearer idea of what you want to do and how to do it which I think is a big reason why things are going better there than in India.

[Mundy]

For the most part, I was simply trying to survive in India. The absolute collapse at Ranchi frankly took me by complete surprise, so I'm trying to figure things out.

For the most part, I'm now content to let his troops rot at Calcutta. I'll give more details below, as things are moving a bit. In about three weeks time, he'll have other things to worry about.

11 September 1944

All my troops are out of Calcutta and are now advancing on Howrah. I've got abotu a 3-1 ratio of AV on him there, so I should be able to crush them. My goal is to wipe them out and then keep KS contained at Calcutta.

The 11th PAVO tank regiment has reach Rangpur and is advancing on Tezpur. I'm hoping to clear things out all the way to Kohima. An infantry regiment is following behind, trying to catch up.

Out west, I have a unit about a day or two from Cocanada. It looks like that and Vizagapatnam are both unoccupied. I should be able to scoop them up fairly quickly. Some troops will head north to Raipur to secure that base also. I'm trying to round up all these little resource centers in the country.

Out east, my lead light armor reaches his retreating troops in the hex NE of Chittagong. I should be able to deal with them and roll up the coastline.

Calcutta may hold out, but I'm taking the rest of the country. If I can get Kohoma and Imphal set up and supplied into major bases, I can create all sorts of havoc further east. Maybe I can even entertain para drops into China to make them a factor again. I'd like to recon Chungking to see of he's skimiped on security there. If that were to fall, it could open up a whole new front with all the Chinese units held in limbo. It'll probably be well into 1945 before anything like that starts to happen, and if the Russians decide to cross the line by then, things will go to crap for him there quickly. I have plenty to contain him where he is. I just need lots more supply. If these new bases can't get functional, any fancy plans will go nowhere.

Out by Victoria Point, I nail an APD. Sure... leave the clumsy cargo ships and attack the little nimble ship.

ASW attack near Victoria Point at 50,65

Japanese Ships
APD T-1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
E Okinawa
E Sanae
APD T-8
LSD Nigitsu Maru
LSD Akitsu Maru
AK Kaga Maru
AK Hirokawa Maru
xAP Kobayashi Maru
xAP Kachidoki Maru
xAP Palau Maru
xAP Kowa Maru
xAP Baikal Maru
xAP Ussuri Maru
xAP Montevideo Maru
xAP Haruna Maru
xAK Durban Maru
xAK Asosan Maru
E W-39
E W-11
E No.7

Allied Ships
SS Escolar, hits 2

SS Escolar launches 4 torpedoes at APD T-1
Escolar bottoming out ....
E W-39 attacking submerged sub ....
E W-11 fails to find sub and abandons search
E No.7 fails to find sub and abandons search
E W-39 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-39 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-39 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-39 fails to find sub, continues to search...
E W-39 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

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

Submarine attack near Victoria Point at 50,65

Japanese Ships
APD T-1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Escolar

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

APD T-1 is sighted by SS Escolar
SS Escolar launches 4 torpedoes

Hancock arrived two days ago. She'll probably reach Pearl by the time I kick off things. Do I want one massive carrier TF, or two halves co-hex? I'm not sure how well they'll coordinate, though they should be better than early war.

[BBfanboy]

Large naval TFs (over 15 ships) tend to have lots of collisions .... I rarely go over 12 ships in a CV TF, but some swear they need bigger for all the AA and ASW they can cram into it.

I would try to make up historical CV TFs - they knew what they were doing back then. Two or three CVs with two CVLs is plenty for any TF. A fast BB to guard the TF rear (a favourite approach route for bombers), a CLAA and a couple of CLs to round out the flak and the rest DDs.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Maybe I can even entertain para drops into China to make them a factor again. I'd like to recon Chungking to see of he's skimiped on security there. If that were to fall, it could open up a whole new front with all the Chinese units held in limbo. It'll probably be well into 1945 before anything like that starts to happen, and if the Russians decide to cross the line by then, things will go to crap for him there quickly. I have plenty to contain him where he is. I just need lots more supply. If these new bases can't get functional, any fancy plans will go nowhere.

Given the high garrison requirement in Chungking, that seems just about impossible. I can't KenchiSulla would take VP hits by skimping on security when he's sitting comfortably everywhere else. At minimum he's gotta have around 400 AV if my memory serves me incorrectly. Once the Soviets get into play it will definitely draw a lot of LCUs from China, but even so I'm not sure an advance through the mountains from Burma into China will be fruitful. Just too much heavy terrain, too few axes of approach, too long of a distance to travel before you reach important objectives. If you're going to continue to leave the LCUs in the region, makes more sense to me to go after IndoChina where you can attack along multiple axes and then start threatening those vital shipping lanes between Singapore and Japan.

ORIGINAL: Mundy
Hancock arrived two days ago. She'll probably reach Pearl by the time I kick off things. Do I want one massive carrier TF, or two halves co-hex? I'm not sure how well they'll coordinate, though they should be better than early war.

Massive CV TFs are a bad idea in my experience. In 1944, the chance of uncoordination doubles if you have more aircraft than 200 + rand(200). But from what I've seen, planes of different TFs in the same hex are able to coordinate pretty well. Furthermore, a CV TF is limited to 25 ships. Which means you can't pack all those fast CVs, CVLs, and BBs in one fleet. I generally shoot for CV TFs around 200 to ensure that I'm never getting that penalty for doubling uncoordination. Until you have defeated the KB, it would be prudent to stack those CV TFs with as many 5 inch AA guns as possible. More CV fleets means more room for surface ships with AA guns. In my decisive battle against the Japanese CVs, my AA ended up shooting about as many planes down as my CAP did because I included so many surface ships with heavy AA. Of course you also have to dedicated SCTFs to cover your carriers as well; generally I form them with the ships with the worst AA ratings. A covering SCTF force doesn't have to beat enemy SCTFs; they just need to disrupt them so they can't reach the carriers.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
I would try to make up historical CV TFs - they knew what they were doing back then. Two or three CVs with two CVLs is plenty for any TF. A fast BB to guard the TF rear (a favourite approach route for bombers), a CLAA and a couple of CLs to round out the flak and the rest DDs.

You should also look at the Baltimore class CAs to include in your CV TFs. Those are really the ultimate AA platform IMO. They carry 12 5 inch guns while an Iowa class BB has 20 even though they are worth 5x as many VPs. And they also have ridiculous numbers of 40 mm bofors as well (40 of them). They are FAR better in an AA role than in an SCTF role.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
I would try to make up historical CV TFs - they knew what they were doing back then. Two or three CVs with two CVLs is plenty for any TF. A fast BB to guard the TF rear (a favourite approach route for bombers), a CLAA and a couple of CLs to round out the flak and the rest DDs.

You should also look at the Baltimore class CAs to include in your CV TFs. Those are really the ultimate AA platform IMO. They carry 12 5 inch guns while an Iowa class BB has 20 even though they are worth 5x as many VPs. And they also have ridiculous numbers of 40 mm bofors as well (40 of them). They are FAR better in an AA role than in an SCTF role.

I thought of the Baltimores but you only get a couple of them in 1944 and thought they would be the nucleus for a SCTF. The Cleveland CLs also have 12X 5" guns and are quite numerous, so I mentioned them as AA ships for the CVs.

[Mundy]

12 September 1944

Calcutta's airfield is now over 90% damaged. Howrah has healed a little, so bombers at Delhi are taken off their rest to hit that base.

I focused my B-29s' attention on Calcutta's port this turn. I took a bunch of ships out, mostly MTBs, but the less of them, the better. I suppose he can just buy more on a whim.

Morning Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Allied aircraft
Liberator B.III x 3
Liberator B.VI x 13
B-29-1 Superfort x 24

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator B.III: 1 damaged
Liberator B.VI: 3 damaged
B-29-1 Superfort: 9 damaged

Japanese Ships
MTB G-13, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-552, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-546, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Teihoku Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MTB G-548, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-840, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-538, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Port fuel hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Liberator B.III bombing from 20000 feet
City Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
13 x Liberator B.VI bombing from 20000 feet
Port Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 20000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 20000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 20000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 20000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 20000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 20000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb

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

Morning Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 74 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 23

Allied aircraft losses
B-29-1 Superfort: 23 damaged

Japanese Ships
MTB G-551, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-227, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-549, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Teihoku Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
MTB G-550, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-542, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-844, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-11, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Port hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
4 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
4 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb

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

Morning Air attack on Calcutta , at 52,37

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 12

Allied aircraft losses
B-29-1 Superfort: 7 damaged
B-29-1 Superfort: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
MTB G-545, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-543, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-540, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Teihoku Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Port fuel hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
2 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
2 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 15000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb

My lead armor reaches Cocanada and will take that unopposed next turn.

I wear down his forces near Chittagong. This won't last much longer.

Ground combat at 56,40 (near Chittagong)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 480 troops, 0 guns, 94 vehicles, Assault Value = 54

Defending force 1024 troops, 8 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 21

Allied adjusted assault: 22

Japanese adjusted defense: 15

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), fatigue(-), morale(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
217 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Guides Cavalry Regiment

Defending units:
19th Ind Engineer Regiment
Yokosuka 1st SNLF

10 more subs depart Colombo. Half of them are USN subs, bound for oil choke points in the DEI. The RN ones will hug the Indian/Burmese coast.

One 100k convoy is two days out from Karachi. Four more will be on map anywhere from 4 to 12 days from now.

[BBfanboy]

Like the Allied PTs, I think there is a limit to how many MTBs can be bought in a given period. By the number you hit I would say he likely used up his MTB budget for a month or two so he will be short of them for a similar period.

[Mundy]

I hit again this last turn. It looks like the port was emptied out this time.

All bombers are tasked to troops at Howrah now. Even Jugs are helping.

[Mundy]

15 September 1944

My big mass of troops moving from Calcutta to Howrah are having a long slog. They're only making about 6-8 miles a day, despite being on fairly open ground.

Lead armor reaches Dimapur. I deciding whether to finish up the bases to the east or head south. It'll be a few days before the backup infantry makes it there.

The Monkey was telling me this:

1944-09-14 1/53rd Ind.Mixed Brigade is loaded on xAP Hoten Maru moving to Guam -

They'll have to get through a bunch of subs at this point, so hopefully luck will help me out here.

Monkey also said this...

1944-09-14 10th Division - - is planning for an attack on Bombay -

No idea how genuine this reading is. Here's the last location report.

1944-01-28 10th Division - - is located at Kiamusze 113,40

He'll have to get through about a million medium bombers to pull this off, if he were to come by sea. But if KB wants to escort them there... feel free.

All new LSTs showing up in East USA or Panama are getting routed to Cape Town now. I don't need any more at Pearl, and don't plan on using them in the initial lift of the invasions, due to their 11 kt speed.

My African division and armor regiment which were meant for Chittagong are unloaded at Colombo. They're both at about 80%, which is better than I thought they'd be. I'll be in that hex from the north in a day or two anyway. I still have transports I forgot about waiting there to unload supply when I take the base.

[Sangeli]

What are you going to do with LSTs in India? LSTs are great for dropping off supply for invasion forces. I don't think the Indian Ocean is the right place for them to operate.

[Mundy]

They'll be handy shipping quick supply to Chittagong. They can offload more quickly despite the port size. I have an extreme surplus of those ships right now.

16 September 1944

HMS Activity shows up...in England. She's routing to Cape Town and from there to Colombo. I may task my spare division and armor in Colombo to the Andaman Islands. I've built up an excess of xAPs at Cape Town and some of them are moving to Ceylon also. If I have to use those ships to invade here, I want a bunch of extras to get more troops unloaded quickly.

The only interior occupied base in India is Raipur, and I have some fast armor on the way from Vizagapatnam, which I've just taken. Infantry at Cocanada is able to directly rail to Jamshedpur, which is handy now.

As slow as my guys are at getting to Howrah, I notice some of his forces at Calcutta on the move -- probably to reinforce Howrah. I'm in a quandry whether to let him and run back to Calcutta or not. I may send my two token units NE of Howrah in to recon by bombardment to see when they arrive.

I bag two tankers 3 hexes N or Saipan. I've never had a sub attacked by a CL before.

ub attack near Almagan at 109,90

Japanese Ships
TK Eiwa Maru #4, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Tadeyame

Allied Ships
SS Bonefish

SS Bonefish launches 2 torpedoes at TK Eiwa Maru #4
Bonefish diving deep ....
DD Tadeyame attacking submerged sub ....
DD Tadeyame attacking submerged sub ....
DD Tadeyame is out of ASW ammo
DD Tadeyame is out of ASW ammo
DD Tadeyame is out of ASW ammo
DD Tadeyame is out of ASW ammo
DD Tadeyame fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tadeyame fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tadeyame fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


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

Sub attack near Almagan at 109,90

Japanese Ships
TK Tamon Maru #15, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
TK Eiwa Maru #4, heavy damage
CL Sakawa

Allied Ships
SS Bonefish

SS Bonefish launches 2 torpedoes at TK Tamon Maru #15
Bonefish diving deep ....
CL Sakawa fails to find sub, continues to search...
CL Sakawa fails to find sub, continues to search...
CL Sakawa fails to find sub, continues to search...
CL Sakawa attacking submerged sub ....
CL Sakawa fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[Capt. Harlock]

I've never had a sub attacked by a CL before.

Well, the IJN did equip some of their light cruiser with depth charges, but IIRC the Sakawa wasn't one of them. (Though I believe the Agano class was equipped for minelaying.)

[Mundy]

Yeah, I've heard of such things. I think even the Atlantas were originally set up with ASW capability.

[Mundy]

18 September 1944

Marianas kicks off in about 5 days. Due to it's crappy airplane complement, I'll probably stick CV Victorious with the CVE pool

My first Silveplate B-29 squadron shows up at Wendover Field, the 509th CG/393rd BS. They're training for Nuke attack. I'll probably get them staged out at Roi-Namur. The B model has a nice extra 4-5 hexes in its range. They can also haul 36 500 lb bombs instead of the prior 20. I'd almost (almost, I said) be tempted to visit Truk with them. I saw the Nuke selection available and got excited, but it was only for training. No A-Bombs in the pool yet.

The 11th PAVO reaches Jorhat and will secure it by next turn. Then they're off to the last base out east before returning and going south.

Cargo's unloading at Chittagong. Not a lot, about 25k, but that should suffice for those troops.

Troops may cross the river to Howrah next turn. They're 42/45 right now. I've been tracking IJA troop populations there and at Calcutta to see if anything moved. Not much yet, and I hope I beat them. Once Howrah wraps up, one way or the other, I'll send all the Paras to NE India for work in Burma or China. I have to establish bases first and get recon going before I decide on anything.