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On the Soviet Front

I arranged for 18 Divisions plus support to cross in a single day to spread the damage out but it was still brutal with over 10,000 casualies

All hex sides are mine but even so its a bit on the brutal side.

Ground combat at Calcutta (52,37)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 183889 troops, 3334 guns, 3766 vehicles, Assault Value = 7145

Defending force 51449 troops, 426 guns, 503 vehicles, Assault Value = 1430

Allied adjusted assault: 3949

Japanese adjusted defense: 6317

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 8)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1658 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 173 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 92 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 44 disabled
Guns lost 66 (4 destroyed, 62 disabled)
Vehicles lost 90 (21 destroyed, 69 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
10807 casualties reported
Squads: 200 destroyed, 2390 disabled
Non Combat: 18 destroyed, 396 disabled
Engineers: 38 destroyed, 250 disabled
Guns lost 512 (26 destroyed, 486 disabled)
Vehicles lost 181 (7 destroyed, 174 disabled)

Assaulting units:
27th Infantry Division
8th Australian Division
23rd British Brigade
26th Indian Division
14th Indian Division
25th Indian Division
41st Infantry Division
40th Infantry Division
20th Indian Division
2/4th Armoured Regiment
1st Marine Division
254th Armoured Brigade
7th Indian Division
23rd Indian Division
3rd Motor Brigade
19th Indian Division
268th Motorised Brigade
6th Australian Division
50th Tank Brigade
7th Australian Division
18th British Division
14th British Brigade
9th Australian Division
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
Eastern Army
205th Field Artillery Battalion
III Indian Corps
I Australian Corps
XV Indian Corps
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
85th British AT Gun Regiment
IV Indian Corps
6th Medium Regiment
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
2nd Tank Regiment
17th Garrison Unit
Maizuru 3rd SNLF
14th Garrison Unit
17th Division
16th Garrison Unit
64th Naval Guard Unit
4th Tank Regiment
88th Naval Guard Unit
56th Recon Regiment
65th Naval Guard Unit
3rd Air Division
12th Naval Construction Battalion
12th JAAF Base Force
4th Shipping Engineer Regiment
53rd Const Co
21st Fld AA Gun Co
4th JNAF AF Unit
7th Air Division
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
3rd Air Army
23rd AA Regiment
54th Const Co
19th Army
3rd Mortar Battalion
41st Air Defense AA Regiment
5th Air Division
12th Base Force
14th Naval Construction Battalion
10th Special Base Force
21st JAAF AF Bn

No question it was a difficult day but could have been worse most of my losses were disablements and by controlling all the hex sides I will now turn it into a giant POW camp.

I have not assessed which units took the brunt the plan will be to withdraw the most damaged units to Delhi to the surrounding bases to recuperate

Bring in more Arty keep bombing until I get rid of the supply and leave about a Corps to pin the Japanese in place and move the rest of my army out

I dont need Calcutta quickly and now that I have all the hex sides I will move on to other targets

Glad I used the big hammer though !!!

I will leave a single Corps HQ, Army HQ and COmmand HQ to support the siege and 3 recovering Divs and will keep pounding from the air should be good for my pilot experience

Looks like mostly throwaway units left behind although the Air HQ's surprised me

17th Div is clearly the heart of the defence but I want to let my air work on them for a while before trying again

Just getting into the hex disabled 1/3 of my army river crossings are tough

Seeking Advice my inclination is as per above leave enough of the Army behind to stop them breaking out and then pound them from the air for a few months and bring up more arty

pros doesnt break my army, air experience for fighters and bombers
cons time and lack of use of calcutta, ties down 1 Corps keeping them contained

My inclination is now I own the hex sides is to leave them to wither but I could bring in the rest of the army and fight it out just not sure how much of an army I would have after I took the base....

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Seeking Advice my inclination is as per above leave enough of the Army behind to stop them breaking out and then pound them from the air for a few months and bring up more arty

pros doesnt break my army, air experience for fighters and bombers
cons time and lack of use of calcutta, ties down 1 Corps keeping them contained

My inclination is now I own the hex sides is to leave them to wither but I could bring in the rest of the army and fight it out just not sure how much of an army I would have after I took the base....

I would vote for whither on vine. With 51K B-grade Japanese troops, in a heavy urban hex, you don't really need an Army Corps to keep them there. I would think a Division + lessor troops would be enough. VPs aren't a factor since you're already past auto-victory. There isn't any industry you need there. The airbase is nice to have, but there are plenty of others around.

On the cons, if they have any supplies they are going to be a PITA to destroy

Let them wither. Only two dedicated AAA units besides what the base forces have but lots of engineers to keep any fort building going. I would suggest attack both the airfields and the port at the same time. Keep at least one of them damaged so forts can't grow besides using supplies for the repairs not to mention the possibility of destroying supplies. I do not know if you want to destroy the HI and LI factories to end any supply production there but it will not hurt you in the long run.

Maybe even bring in some low grade armoured units that also have some artillery so they can also bombard to gain experience. It will be a nice live fire training area.[:D]

Also, the sooner that you destroy the units, the sooner that they come back unless he has grabbed a small portion to be a cadre.

In fact, too bad you can't get some of that Soviet artillery from the Vlad area working here . . .

In might be best just to build large POW holding areas instead of destroying the units themselves.

Calcutta could be a good “nursery” sector to train up lower experience Divs through bombardment practice.
ie: I Aus Corps would be wasted staying there!
Looks like the defenders have very few artillery pieces.

OK had a look now at the turn both better and worse than expected

Casualties are a bit nastier but they appear to be concentrated in 4 units with the rest relatively untouched

27th US Div is at 0 AV having taken the bulk of the damage - its about 50% disablements and destroyed devices - this was the Divs first combat op and it got hurt bad.
8th Australian Div is at 50AV but it only started at 190AV as it wasnt yet at full strength
14th and 23rd British Bdes are also combat ineffective

Most of the rest of the Divs took 5 - 10% disablement casualties that will recover quickly

So I am going to move the units needing to rest and reorg out and send them West they can recover whilst acting as garrison units - I will pull in Americal Div from the west to replace them as I am getting no resistance in the West/South.

I have decided not to pursue a quick assault I am going to bring in US Arty only now arriving at karachi with more at Capetown waiting on shipping and will leave a couple of Divs to keep them boxed in and pull out most ofr the rest of the Army - its just not worth breaking my army to take it quickly

XXXIII Corps has secured Rangpur but is holding it with light armour only - I am going to pull out 1st Aus Corps (6th 7th and 9th Aus Divs) to reinforce and dig in at Rangpur
XV Indian Corps with 2 Indian Divs will move to support as well.

I will carefully probe forward into Assam and Bengal but for a few weeks I am going to concentrate on mopping up south India and getting my air bases set up for the long bombing campaign to come - I would feel better with Dacca/Comilla and Chittagong under my control but this will have to wait until my forces have completed what I expect to be a 2 week re organisation

The plan therefore is to use the next 2 weeks to re organise (slow down the pace in the east) with shattered infantry and more of my armour/paras west to complete the mopping up, finish building up the AF's around Calcutta to allow me to disperse a little more than I am now

My worry is apart from 14th IJA Div bottled in the north and 17th IJA Div in Calcutta - most of his big LCU's escaped intact - I must not allow myself to get off balance until I positively confirm they are marching the slow road to Burma - I have NOT defeated the IJA in India - he ran to fast and he has 10 - 12 Divs intact and ready plus the others my intel picked up en route to Rangoon

I have plenty of supply and a lot of engineering assets and base forces my main concern is to rebuild my fighter force so I will rely on my massed AA to protect my AF's for a bit

Air Casualties have been very heavy in Wildcat, Hurricane and other obsolete fighters

I am getting F4U's and am not far away from the 1st Thuds and more P38's and the RAF gets Spit VIII's in 6 months as well and with my lack of carriers de facto F6F's will not be doing carrier duty - I will be waiting until I have enough Corsairs before I commit to a carrier battle in 44 so the F6F can operate on land.

So my quality of fighter aircraft will improve dramatically by the end of the year so my focus now will be on Fighter pilot training.

I would love to take Chittagong as taking that port would guarantee my security in India.

The monsoon is very close which makes it impossible to supply Assam overland from Burma - he would have to ship in supply be convoy only major port left Chittagong or pull back onto his supply net I think he is pulling back but he still has a lot of combat power (albeit the monsoon will make it tough to deal with)

Fighter strength in India
Australian 2 Sqns Spitfire Vc (16 per)
USAAF 7 Sqns mix of P39D's and P40K's (all 25 per)
USMC/USN 7 Sqns 5 Wildcats 2 Sqns with Corsairs(size varies 18 - 36)
RAF/IAF 22 Sqns of F/FB's total 200 Fighters (BUT no pool depth and using Blenheims, Fulmars Sea Hurricanes, basically anything that will fly - RAF is on its knees maybe 5 of the Sqns I would consider combat effective)
Dutch 3 Sqns 14 aircraft rear area duty only
Chinese 2 Sqns 24 Aircraft

Total 175 USAAF, maybe 200 USN/USMC, 36 Aussies, 200 RAF, 40 Dutch and Chinese - so 600 - 650 fighters mostly obsolete in India the good news is the USAAF and USN/USMC have still got good pool depth I need to rest the RAF Sqns and pull the bulk back to rear area/training duties

Well, then the RAF should be well trained by the time that they have enough fighter aircraft to fill out the units plus replacements.

Suscribed.

Good luck [:)]

Well a few days have passed for no real action

I only realised he had completely evacced Assam a few days too late to effectively pursue

I have been focussed on taking bases and resting Divisions - there is very little else I can do at present

Dont want to break my army yet on Calcutta would have zero chance in Burma having failed to defeat him in India

Hvae 2 major operations in the wings getting ready but neither will be that fast

Basically all of India will be re conquered inside of 2 weeks apart from Calcutta and my bombers are hitting it daily

So the sledgehammer I had assembled for India has swung and hit fresh air had he stood and fought he could have made it dicey for me I think he had c 14 Divs plus armour in India and I only had 20 Divs t take him on and he could have reinforced.

BUT I actually think he made the right call I dare not pursue a force that size into Burma because

a. he could land behind me and b. my air weapon s not nearly as effective in Burma's jungles and I definitly cannot supply or even if i could take a 14 Div army in Burma - simply not a winnable fight.

So Ceylon Calcutta Assam and my 2 surprise attacks are all I have for rest of 43

Pretty depressing when you consider its only March !!!

Lay minefields in Diamond Harbour if you control it - he won't see those! [:D]

Lay mines in all other Indian egress points that are where you think that he might withdraw units from India.

I control DH but cannot really use it at present

Its been a quiet few weeks as I finish capturing India

His withdrawal has upset my timetable

I am building AF's in southern India in preparation for attack on Ceylon

He still hods Chittagong in strength but not too worried about that

Taking Ledo is critical to my plans for the future and the whole point of the Indian counteroffensive was defacto to capture Ledo and the souther tip of India for my next series of offensives

I tried another attack on Calcutta today was sooo close to 1:1 but I have more arty on the way and my air power will keep it suppressed and at least I knocked the forts down will rest a few days get disruption down then try again

Ground combat at Calcutta (52,37)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 193096 troops, 3634 guns, 4242 vehicles, Assault Value = 8291

Defending force 51287 troops, 425 guns, 477 vehicles, Assault Value = 1427

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 7

Allied adjusted assault: 10954

Japanese adjusted defense: 11501

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 7)

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

Japanese ground losses:
4363 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 274 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 61 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 52 disabled
Guns lost 46 (2 destroyed, 44 disabled)
Vehicles lost 59 (5 destroyed, 54 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
10940 casualties reported
Squads: 168 destroyed, 1201 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 123 disabled
Engineers: 45 destroyed, 241 disabled
Guns lost 230 (5 destroyed, 225 disabled)
Vehicles lost 106 (5 destroyed, 101 disabled)

Assaulting units:
268th Motorised Brigade
20th Indian Division
43rd Infantry Division
6th Australian Division
26th Indian Division
25th Indian Division
2nd British Division
254th Armoured Brigade
754th Tank Battalion
8th Australian/B Division
40th Infantry Division
2nd USMC Engineer Regiment
41st Infantry Division
32nd Infantry Division
7th Australian Division
43rd Cavalry Regiment
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
50th Tank Brigade
8th Australian/A Division
7th Indian Division
19th Indian Division
1st Marine Division
9th Australian Division
14th British Brigade
193rd Tank Battalion
23rd Indian Division
18th British Division
Americal Infantry Division
1st USMC Tank Battalion
3rd Motor Brigade
23rd Marine Regiment
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
8th Australian/C Division
Eastern Army
26th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
21st Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
IV Indian Corps
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion
276th Coastal Artillery Battalion
6th Medium Regiment
24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
85th British AT Gun Regiment
134th Field Artillery Battalion
97th Field Artillery Battalion
23rd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
168th Field Artillery Regiment
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
154th FA Bn
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
III Indian Corps
India Command
29th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
205th Field Artillery Battalion
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
17th Garrison Unit
14th Garrison Unit
4th Tank Regiment
17th Division
64th Naval Guard Unit
56th Recon Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
Maizuru 3rd SNLF
16th Garrison Unit
88th Naval Guard Unit
65th Naval Guard Unit
53rd Const Co
12th Naval Construction Battalion
3rd Air Army
12th Base Force
4th Shipping Engineer Regiment
5th Air Division
19th Army
12th JAAF Base Force
23rd AA Regiment
41st Air Defense AA Regiment
21st Fld AA Gun Co
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
14th Naval Construction Battalion
3rd Mortar Battalion
54th Const Co
4th JNAF AF Unit
10th Special Base Force
21st JAAF AF Bn