Vettim89 vs Greasylake - Reversal of Fortunes

[vettim89]

14 June 1942

Not much to report this turn. Continued training runs by various Japanese air units on fragments in NEI and PI. At Pago Pago, Enterprise is down to 26 flot. At Darwin, additional troops land including another INF Div and artillery. From the attached image you can see the TF took a beating in the process of landing these troops which took nearly 1000 casualties coming ashore. My Airfield at Chitagong has grown to Level 4 which now allows Bleheims to strike IJA troops near Rangoon. I need a Level 6 AB in the area so that my Liberators and LB-30's can fly at full effectiveness. Working on this at Dacc and Chitagong both.

[vettim89]

16 June 1942

More troops are ashore at Darwin. Larry has 2 Inf Div, an AAA unit, and a Mortar BTN. They launched a Deliberate attack which came off at 0 to 1 and did not touch the level 7 forts. Supplies are short here and I am looking for a way to move some in. I am regretting not building ups some of the central OZ AB's but what was I going to use to do this? CD did a similar job to yesterday on his TF offloading at Darwin. If some of these AP's don't sink on the way back, they are going to be in the yard for a while.

Upgraded my last Wellingtons to Liberator III's. As soon as I get a Level 6 AB, they will enter the fray. Chittagong and Dacca are both expanding and whichever one gets there first gets these units. Meanwhile Blenheims will start the counteroffensive from the air tomorrow. They were supposed to today but failed to do so for some reason (weather?)

IN the SoPac, my TF's are now just 2 to 3 days awy from New Caledonia. Can't wait to get this op finished. SWPac units are needed in OZ now.

[vettim89]

17 June 1942

More troops arriving at Darwin. More heavy CD damage. ONly a bombardment attack by both sides this turn. Now have 5 SS parked off Darwin. Hopefully they will pick off a few cripples. WOuld rather get them inbound but a dead AP is a dead AP

Situaution in Burma is worsening. Attched image shows almost 75% of the troops at Moulmein are now directly east of Rangoon. Question is will the head north or west. Time will tell.

Enterprise is down to 23 flot and New Orleans is also at Pago Pago pumping out. Sot it appears I escaped the big battle with only moderate damage to 2 CV's and a CA. That is in exchange for 2 CV's, a CVL, and a CA confirmed sunk. Have to wonder how bad Heii is doing.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: vettim89

14 June 1942

Not much to report this turn. Continued training runs by various Japanese air units on fragments in NEI and PI. At Pago Pago, Enterprise is down to 26 flot. At Darwin, additional troops land including another INF Div and artillery. From the attached image you can see the TF took a beating in the process of landing these troops which took nearly 1000 casualties coming ashore. My Airfield at Chitagong has grown to Level 4 which now allows Bleheims to strike IJA troops near Rangoon. I need a Level 6 AB in the area so that my Liberators and LB-30's can fly at full effectiveness. Working on this at Dacc and Chitagong both.

Are you certain you need a level 6 airfield? That would mean these models have a bombload of 13,000 lb+.

Alfred

[vettim89]

Yo are correct Alfred. Level 5 should do. The formula is Level 4 + (Max Payload/4000) rounded down!

[vettim89]

I forgot to mention something somewhat important. A few posts ago I mentioned that I was moving the Dutch units Larry was using as training targets towards the nearest Japanese unit so they could die thus denying Larry his targets. Well one unit moved to Medioen. Not only was the base unoccupied but the unit was one of the few that actaully had some AV left. So, the Dutch have retaken Medioen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the hex wnw of Soerobaja

[vettim89]

18 June 1942

A deliberate attck at Darwin came off at 0 to 1 and again didn't touch the forts. S-36 hit an already crippled AK and sunk her just NW of Darwin. Larry's TF now have to run the gauntlet in and out every time he moves towards Darwin.

Much to my surprise, the Dutch guerillas that took Medioen found over 1000 supplies at the base also. The hungry Dutch troops feast on dried fish and rice. I suspect Larry will be remedying this situation very soon.

The first troops have landed at Noumea. I think I will off load everything there and keep just one TF in the area to shuttle unuts up to Koumac. These seems to be the most efficient use of resourses. I have sent an Aviation RGT and 3 AV's along to support the large number of aircraft I have brought along. In addition a TF has cleared the Panama Sea Lanes with 6 squadrons of P-40C bound for New Caledonia

[vettim89]

19 Jun 1942

CBI

Japanese troops have moved into Rangoon. I am continueing my air attacks but am wondering if perhaps I would be better off attack the port at Moulmein instead. As that is where all the supply for Larry's offensive has to land until Rangoon falls. Chittagong is 26% to a level 5 AB. Liberators will soon be operation from this base. The Japanese are still trying to clear the Nanking/Changsu hwy to no avail. My units are defending in a wooded hex and troop numbers are about equal.

Australia

Another AK and an APD are confirmed sunk today. From attached image you can see my sub disposition. All the Japanese TF's are heading away from Darwin. Good news is I have about 3 or 4 more subs almost ready at Perth for Deployment to this region.

SoPac

Troops are offloading at Noumea. Should take a few more days but things are moving along nicely here. Have lots of a/c and support so this base should be defendable very quickly. I have 37th Inf Div and 1st Marine Div waiting on the WC. They are just gonna have to wait a little longer because the Aussies are screaming for help.

Misc

I downloaded the latest patch - thought I had but them remember I had an issue with the serial number. First it is so much easier to manage my air group replacements now. I have upgrades and replacements turned off on almost all the units - I want to micromanage this for now. Second is my orphaned A-24's are finally offlaoded - at PH ( for those of you who don't know these guys have traveled from Suva to Noumea to Oz and back). Then while looking at the intel screen I discovered I had a 200 Repair Shipyard at Portland that I haven't been using so far. That is about to be fixed.

[vettim89]

20 June 1942

Very little to report. Japanese started bombarding at Rangoon. Attched the conbat screen so you can see what is there. Switched Blenheims to port attack at Moulmein. The TF I sent with 2 AR's from PH to Pago Pago arived yesterday. Enterprise went from 23 flot to 3 in one day!

[vettim89]

21-22 June 1942

Its Midsummer's Night. Very slow two days. Another AK is reported sunk off Darwin. Japan sends a full Infantry Division to Medioen and eliminates the Dutch units there. Such a relief to see them surrender odd as that may sound. Japanese paratroops land and take Iloillo in the PI. Bombardment attacks at Darwin, Rangoon, and in south central china.

CV's Hornet and Enterprise plus CA New Orleans depart Pago Pago for PH under heavy escort. At Noumea, 2/3's of the transports have finished offloading and are heading back to PH via Pago Pago.

[vettim89]

23 June 1942

Larry tried a Deliberate Attack adn Rangoon which came off at 1 to 1 and reduce Forts to 3 - ouch. I am toying with the Idea of air lifting 14th Indian Inf Div in to help. Problem is cursor intel reveals addition troops have landed at Moulmein as cursor intel has jumped from 13 K last turn to 30 k this turn. There are plenty of supplies at Rangoon in the order of 70 k. Would bolstering AV help to hold off the attack or just delay the inevitable. It is an Indian unit so even if it gets chewed up, it won't draw from the British Inf Squad pool. I may do this especially since the arrival of the BF that was at Moulmein allows me to base nearly 60 fighters at Rangoon. Last turn, the Allies get the best of it with 9 Oscar, 4 Lily and 3 Sally destroyed vs. 3 Huuricanes lost. I figure with damaged aircraft and morale, the IJA air groups have to be ineffective at least for a few days. I have over 10 fighter squadrons I can rotate in and out - unfortunately two of them are still flying Buffalos. Larry tried another Deliberate attack along the Nanking-Changsu highway that came off at 0 to 1 with over 1000 Japnese casualties to 400 for the Chinese. I am moving 18th UK Div, arty, and support to Dimapur and then to Mandalay. I able able to use a route that will only involve 1 hex of travel along a brown road.

Bombardment attacks at Darwin. I have move up an Australian B-25 unit to annoy Larry's troops there. I can also use this unit to attack in bound reinfocement convoys. Troops are moving from Alice Springs to Tenant Creek now and are also approaching Conclury. I found a BF at Geelong that I can move without affecting the Av Support needs. This unit will move to Alice Springs. With 100 K troops now in Burma, I really am begining to think Australia is just a side show. Still over a dozen bases in NEI that are still in Allied hands. I can't beleive Larry is just going to leave them there.

[vettim89]

24 June 1942

CBI:

Another deliberate attack at Rangoon that came off at 0 to 1 and didn't touch forts but saw me lose 1400 to Larry's 400. Not the kind of battle of attrition I was looking for. At present 14th Indian Diviion is being transfered in to augment the defense. We shall see. The air battle was costly today. Larry ran a sweep with A6M2 and Tojos that ripped up my cap. After that, it was an even fight. Don't mind losing the Buffalos. In case you are wondering why Buffalos - the Hurricane IIb pool is empty. I moved some Mohawks in for this turn - not really better than the Buffalo but I have lots of those to spare. I transfered the AVG back to Dacca for rest and refit. Upgraded to P40E only because the Curtiss model is no longer being produced. As I have no P40E squadrons in action right now, it seemed like a good idea. Have to see how quickly they repair. Was hoping Burma could be a point where I could force Larry into a battle of attrition - well I guess I have but I am losing that battle at the moment. Larry also tried another attack along the Nanking-Changsu HWY that failed miserably.

Darwin:

Larry now has two Divisions ashore here (1Oth and 16th). A deliberate attack did not touch the forts but again we saw lopsided losses with the allies on the short end of the stick. Moving a few units to act as a blocking force to Tenant Creek but they are days to weeks off. Larry will need a lot more AV to strike deeper into Oz.

Elsewhere:

AP's are heading back to PH in droves now. I am leaning towards delivering SWPac units directly to PM under a Carrier umbrella. Should have Wasp by then which will give me 4 CV's again. Not a lot of Combat power in SWPac yet so using these units offensively in Oz is not likely going to change much. Well I have a good two monthsto decide.

[vettim89]

25 June 1942

A SCTF sneaked in and hit Rangoon hard. The AB is about shut down. My fighters are creamed. Fortunately I had transferred all my Hurricane IIb's out yesterday. I have snuck in about 1/10th of the 14th Indian Div to augment the defense here. A bombardment attack here was largely ineffective.

At Darwin again an ineffective bombardment attack. I brought up an Aussies B-25 Squadron that will at least harass Larry's shipping. He has to "swim with the sharks" to get in and out. Several subs at perth are approaching 0 damage; so, he will be facing even worse problems here very soon. Unless Larry is able to more a major force into Darwin once it falls, I think I can check Larry to here and limit him just to the north coast bases.

Japanese paratroops took Tacolban today in a shock assualt. Phillipine troops surrendered without a fight.

The battle continues in Central China. Larry is pouring all his air power on Changsu and Theunits on the highway.

[vettim89]

26 June 1942

Catabato fell today under the weight of the Imperial Guards Div. Only one base and one dot remain in Allied hands at this point. I guess its nice to see the Guards in the PI vs Burma or Oz. Its the little victories.

Larry now has fighters and likely transport a/c at Moulmein. If they start fly LR Cap over Rangoon, my airlift of 14th Indian Div will have to stop.

I was looking at the OOB for SWPac and arrival dates. Wow, poor Mac only gets 4 more US Divisions (not counting paras) and they are all a year away. I think 32nd is at Lihae right nwo awaiting some AP's. SWPac does get loads of support troops though and they will start trickling in shortly.

I will have to admit I got a bit of a high when I won the big carrier battle, but now I see its turned back to the Japanese. Rangoon will likely fall soon barring a Manila like Miracle I am less worried about Oz becasue Larry will have to bring a lot more to take anything more than the nowrthern Base. I have mobilzed 2 Canadian Bgds in Edmonton for eventual transport to Oz. We have a house rule that is Australia is invaded, the Allied player can change Canadian units to an unrestricted command and be redeployed.

It just seems like I need more of everything. I know its coming but it just seems so far off. Still hoping to start some modest offensive operations by the end of August.

[vettim89]

27 June 1942

Larry launched Deliberate attacks at Rangoon, Darwin and on the Nanking/Changsha HWY. The last two were utter failures but the one at Rangoon came off at 2 to 1 (dangerously close to 3 to 1) and reduced forts to 3.

There are Bettys back at Bangkok in force now - they had been abscent since the big battle in SOPac. This changes a lot as I was planning on a surface raid to disrupt the resupply at Moulmein.

My TRANS TF's are reassembling at Pago Pago and will be escorted back to Hawaii by my CV's.

[vettim89]

28 June 1942

CBI

Larry tried another deliberate attack today at Rangoon and it came off at 0 to 1 with no change in forts. He now has three full divisions commited here. I think there may be another Division at Moulmein (33 K troops in 5 units). I have airlifted about 20% of the 14th Indian Division into Rangoon. Reinforcements for Mandalay have reached Dimapur and are just waiting for Indian III Corps to catch up (one hex behind). Of course if Rangoon falls too quickly, these troops will end up reinforcing Imphal which is not necessarily a bad thing. Not looking forward to the long slog through the jungle from Imphal to Mandalay. At Lashio, the chinese have over 1000 AV and are 89% to level 9 forts. This is a wall I hop Larry bumps his head into. Meanwhile in China, still pressure on the Highway from Nanking to Changsha. There are 6 Japanese units just NE of Changsha. I am so hoping Larry moves in. I will then move the units north of Changsha across the river and cut them off. AN I-boat snuck right up to the Indian coast 2 hexes from Daimond Harbor and torpedoed 2 TK. Don't know if these guys can be saved. Fortunately they were empty having just dropped oof oil at DH.

Australia

BB Mutsu came a calling for minimal result last night. CD did put some dents in a destroyer. I canceled all the move orders for the BF on the northern OZ coast. Instead I am sending a modest TF around Perth and will try to evac by sea. There are two lights up in the North Church tower in Derby and Broome.

Elsewhere

CV's Enterprise and Yorktown approaching Palmyra. I will breath a big sigh of relief when these guys make PH. The 2nd Marines are loading for the short trip up the coast to Koumac. I am expanding Noumea's AB to 5 and then stopping and letting the ENG then concentrate on building Forts. I realized I have most of Larry's unrestricted Divisions located: 2 at Darwin, 3 at Rangoon, 1 on Java, and 1 in the PI. I suspect another may be in Moulmein and if that is true, that only leaves two unaccounted for and I feel realtively certain these are in the NEI. I have not seen any Japanese carriers since 11 June. I have decided (at least for now) that SWPac units will move to Cooktown where they will build up the AB for a 4E assualt on dobura. Once I bomb that base back to the Stone Age, I will then move units up to PM. From there SWPac will begin offensive operations

[vettim89]

June 30 1942

Not a lot to report today. I will keep it short as my big monthly update is due tomorrow. Huge air battles in Burma and China. While I am losing a lot of aircraft, the ones I am losing are throw aways (Buffalos and I-16) Larry meanwhile is losing Oscars and Zeros. Larry moved into Changsha and was created by 300,000 less than hospitable Chinese. I am moving 4 units with an AV of 1100 across the river directly NE of Changsha. He has two units there but they may still be on the way to Changsha. Worst case scenario, he will have to worry about getting cut off.

Enterprise and Hornet should be back in PH in 3 days or so. As they are now north of Palmyra, all SBD's and TBD's switch to 100% ASW. There are a couple of subs lurking in the area and I don't want them to pick off a nice prize.

[vettim89]

The score. The point differential remains about the same from last month. Larry will probably get a big jump in base points as he cleans up the NEI in the coming month.

[vettim89]

Ships Sunk. Obviously a good month for me on this front. For June, I lost a DMS, an AVD, and ML. Laryy lost 2 CV's, a CVL. a CA, a DD, 3 AP, 7 AK, 1 APD, 3 SS, 3 MSW, and 1 PC

[vettim89]

Top Air losses. I know Larry's Navy Pilot Pool is empty.