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Already a handful subs operating around Perth; little activity as of recently.
But a good point indeed.

I didn't plan on stayin in Northern Oz any longer than ~43; already July so we should start thinking about
how to organize ourselves in the region with the Allies building bases in the Gulf or Carpataria.
- In due time Darwin becomes untenable and I don't plan on getting trapped there.

Upgraded a Rufe unit to the Rex float fighter this turn.
Don't have that many of them and after converting the CS and upgrading Rufes to Zero's we only got 2x9 squadrons; one which upgrades to A6M5.
Plan is to place the Rex in AV's to protect against enemy naval bombers or on small bases without airfields.
Utterly unimportant in the big picture but it's nice to have toys [;)]

I'm still musing over how many air units and support I should divert to the line islands.
We can cause heavy losses to enemy CAGs here but we need a truly strong force to be able to do it.

Our sweeps didn't find a single enemy fighter in the air...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jul 09, 43

Air Combat

Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45
Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 21 NM, estimated altitude 35,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 42

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
42 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo sweeping at 30000 feet *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Kweilin , at 76,54
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 19 NM, estimated altitude 36,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 18

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
18 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo sweeping at 30000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Kalemyo , at 59,42
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 43 NM, estimated altitude 30,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 42

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
42 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo sweeping at 30000 feet *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Kweilin , at 76,54
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 5
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 25
Ki-21-IIb Sally x 3
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 12
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 5

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 61
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Kweilin , at 76,54
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 20
Ki-21-IIb Sally x 9
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 12
Ki-45 KAIc Nick x 18
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 20

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 109

Aircraft Attacking:
20 x Ki-21-Ic Sally bombing from 9000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
9 x Ki-21-IIb Sally bombing from 9000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
20 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 9000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rex

I'm still musing over how many air units and support I should divert to the line islands.
We can cause heavy losses to enemy CAGs here but we need a truly strong force to be able to do it.

One large Zero unit, a Mavis/Emily, and a Nell unit along with an Air HQ that has a range of 1. At Canton would be a reaction force of air units that could jump in, if needed. It should just cause Andy more time to send ships closer to eastern map edge and increase travel time to and from NZ and USA. It is away from your economic assets, so I would use very little over here now. But focus on how you can make any advance into the SRA as painful as possible for Andy.

The Rex is pretty neat, but as you said, probably useless in the long run. A funny thing about it is how big it actually is. Look at the size of the canopy in the aircraft portrait compared to the size of the rest of the plane and you can get an idea that with those gigantic floats it is a pretty massive machine!

That's true, the Rex is a George fighter on floats...probably almost the size of a Jug!

Hm, I have a lot more than that in place already NY59!
Currently we have 362 bombers and fighters in the Line Islands with another 78 at Canton[:)]

Today Andy released his bomber offensive against Magwe; wave after wave rolled in.
- Not easy to fight such a force in clear terrain bases on the basin; just standing against the T-bolt sweeps would be very costly.
As soon as I move ac into bases they will also be bombed, so for now we stay at Rangoon, plotting and scheming while waiting for an opportunity to strike back or hurt
the attackers.

Yes, the SRA is the big qiestion indeed. For now Burma and Port Blair is a solid block against an enemy trust from this direction.
Sumatra and Malaya requires a huge amph landing by the enemy; this is not an option for at least another year as they will face both Jap LBA and the Combined Fleet in such strength that
they're doomed to failure.

Same with Java, it's very strong now; This leaves only one option -> the islands and gap between Java - Timor and Timor - Northern New Guinea.
This is were my key focus is at the moment. An invasion into this gap will have to happen from Darwin and its supporting bases.
I'm therefore pouring supplies and reinforcement in to build a defense in depth that will challenge such moves.

I will post a map next looking at these disposition.


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jul 10, 43

Air Combat

Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 21 NM, estimated altitude 34,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 24

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
24 x P-47D2 Thunderbolt sweeping at 29000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 44 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 14

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 29000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 64 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIf x 8
Beaufighter VIc x 16
Blenheim IV x 9
Blenheim VD x 3
Hudson IIIa x 6
Hurricane FR.IIb x 12
Liberator II x 36
Liberator GR.III x 9
Wellington Ic x 16
Wellington GR.VIII x 6
Wellington B.X x 8
Ventura GR.V x 9
B-24D1 Liberator x 15
P-40K Warhawk x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-S Irving: 1 destroyed on ground

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

Oil hits 13
Airbase hits 28
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 97
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 46 minutes

Allied aircraft
Wellington Ic x 6
B-24D1 Liberator x 3
P-40K Warhawk x 6

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington Ic: 1 damaged

Oil hits 2
Runway hits 9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Allied aircraft
Wellington GR.VIII x 9

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington GR.VIII: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 53 minutes

Allied aircraft
Hudson IIIa x 9
Hurricane FR.IIb x 12
B-17E Fortress x 16
B-24D1 Liberator x 3
B-25C Mitchell x 37
B-25D1 Mitchell x 30
P-40K Warhawk x 6

No Allied losses

Oil hits 31
Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes

Allied aircraft
Blenheim VD x 9
P-40K Warhawk x 12

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25D1 Mitchell x 9

No Allied losses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 33 minutes

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 16
B-25D1 Mitchell x 6

No Allied losses

Oil hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25D1 Mitchell x 6

No Allied losses

Oil hits 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 33 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25D1 Mitchell x 9

Allied aircraft losses
B-25D1 Mitchell: 1 damaged

Oil hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47
Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 35 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 9

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged

Oil hits 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Burma

Denying the enemy access to the SRA

What do you think about this plan?

A new CVE has joined our fleet, another will arrive in 6 days while 2 CVLs will complete their conversion within 3-4 weeks.

All remaining Tojo II factories converted to the B version without having to be repaired when I manually changed them.
- Strange that 2 factories auto-converted and the others didn't.

I also want to increase Oscar IIb production; these ac are the only long range Army fighters with armor that can escort Helen IIs at +10 hexes.
The A6M5 Zero has other tasks to attend to and range has been reduced compared to the original A6M2.
- What I'm lacking is rugged long range sweep fighter like the P-38.
Sweeping with Zero's isn't good in late 43 and Oscar's don't pack a punch.

Got a new Emily transport plane; got a load of 13500! That's quite impressive, the Mavis counterpart has a max load of 2500.

I've now completed the conversion process of naval air units; 1 fighter, 1 dive bomber and 1 torpedo bomber unit have been increased to size 72-81 ac.
These will become the KB training divisions, they will train onshore and from the light carrier Hosho.
This will allow me to release other non-restricted naval air units from training duties.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jul 11, 43

Continued heavy attacks on Magwe - about all that happened this turn!

Where are all your heavy AA units?? A sizable stack at Magwe may help the situation.

There's a nice stack of heavy AA units at Magwe but Jap AA sux when enemy bombers attack above 10k feet....
Not exactly radar guided 88 and 128mm FLAK guns around Berlin we field [:'(]

I won't let this AAR slip on to the next page... Keep up the good work magnificient viking! [;)]

ORIGINAL: PzB

There's a nice stack of heavy AA units at Magwe but Jap AA sux when enemy bombers attack above 10k feet....
Not exactly radar guided 88 and 128mm FLAK guns around Berlin we field [:'(]

Are you playing the latest beta patch ? From my feeling the flak defense in bases against high flying bombers got boosted a little bit. Still not to extreme but for example my opponent has aprox 60 units at Magwe (and i think quite a lot of flak) and it hurts a lot bombarding them on a regular basis.

A load of 13500? COuld that be a typo? 3500 sounds already impressive. Maybe someone has added an 1?
 
 

CVs launch strikes against any TF, so why risk own CVs for that? It would be better to lure strikes into areas, where some islands can leak CAP. Theory:
(1) Sneaky way: few small groups of ships with radars (possibly two DDs), at different hexes, right beside heavily CAPped base. CV captain considers the threat small, and sends only small strike packets, against any threat. CAP leaks, and kills most of planes, because strikes are so small
(2) Direct way: sending TF directly into owned, CAPped base. Strike fly into whole CAP.
(3) Hard way: enemy invades island chain, and there is few islands, which could "lend" CAP into invasion hex. Send strong battlegroup directly into invasion, and stay there (actually using also few fast combat groups, to hit&run could be beneficial). Airstrike comes directly into CAP, and leaky CAP, part of fleet is sunk, but you stayed there, and got directly to unloading ships [8D]


Nice fortified Timor area, but first, Allies must conquer northern Australia, and then mount invasion, so I do not think it will be on Allies aim in nearest future. I would guess some isolated islands.

Anyway, to decimate Allied CV groups you need fighters with both firepower, and speed. ZEROs have firepower, but are too slow for this game phase. Also armour would be nice. In 9/43 Japan gets TWO new TONY models. They are well armed, fast, and armoured, so have all benefits of Allied fighters. In that way Allies lose last advantage, which they posses.

Hi Fish, long time no see; how's things holding up on you end? [:)]

We're not using the beta, always a risk and it's annoying to have to revert and redo turns if something goes wrong.
Attached a screen of the flak units in Magwe below.

You're right; I remembered slightly wrong - it's 12400 and not 13500 [;)]
The Emily is huge, guess 13500 means 13.5 tons of payload?
The much smaller DC-10 got a really high payload as well, just Jap transports that's light and fragile in general.

Not a lot of action over the last 4-5 turns; we bombarded Akyab, blew up some Cats and started some fires.
A sub was lost yesterday and that's about it.

That's what I often try to to Inq, but enemy intentions may differ some. They come in with heavy bombardment TFs covered by their own carriers and blow up the fields before launching strikes.
Launching bombers and escorts against hundreds of defending Hellcats isn't a good idea. We often manage to cause some attrition to enemy carriers, but usually at a cost of 1-5 in ac.
The advantage of carrier groups is the ability to concentrate force and strike hard.

I noticed 2 enemy units poking their noses ahead in Northern Oz, will try to bomb them.
Not so sure it will be all to long until we got them near Darwin in full force. I can't deploy to far forward now because of the enemy 4E threat.

Yes, I think we have to decide when to fight and when not to fight. When a battle is taking place in locations favorable to the enemy we should deploy delaying tactics; when we get them into a battleground of our own liking or choice we should counterattack with full strength in the air, sea and on land.
I've already upgraded many rear base units with Tonys and Tojo IIbs; these are the best bomber interceptors. So yes, the Zero will really start to suffer against Jugs, Hellcats, Corsairs and other nasties.
We need to get the Frank into production and field Tonys, Jacks and George fighters.

A question for you; as you may remember I first learned about deploying night spotters for bombardment TFs after we hit the enemy carriers in Sydney.
- When I deploy spotters I set them to range 0, altitude 1000 feet.
The result is that the first ship in the TF always deploy spotters but not the rest.
Well there are some exceptions, at Midway the 2 first ships deployed spotters.

Why don't all ships use their spotters actively, am I doing something wrong or are there unknown factors in this equation?

Here is from the last bombardment of Akyab:

E8N2 Dave acting as spotter for BB Ise
BB Ise firing at Akyab
CA Aoba firing at Akyab
111th RN Base Force firing at CL Abukuma
CL Abukuma firing at 111th RN Base Force
CL Kinu firing at Cavite USN Base Force

Midway:

F1M2 Pete acting as spotter for BB Hyuga
BB Hyuga firing at Midway Island
E13A1 Jake acting as spotter for BB Ise
6th Marine Defense Battalion firing at BB Ise
BB Ise firing at 6th Marine Defense Battalion
BB Yamashiro firing at Midway Island
BB Fuso firing at 6th Marine Defense Battalion
6th Marine Defense Battalion firing at BB Fuso

Thx for pointing to this lurker Jim [:)] [;)]

From the developer posting on the spotter issue it's real simple - the code checks to see if the TF has at least one group with Recon orders. AFAIK it doesn't care night or day or anything else (not even if the pilots have been eating their carrots!).

I would double check your large AA units and large BFs to make sure they have upgraded to radar from visual observers. It may not be much, but every little bit helps.

So it doesn't matter how many units fly spotters, 1 is enough for the entire bombardment TF?
- Yep, got plenty of radar equipped units.

Another 3-4 turns have past; we've seen another bombing run against Magwe, the Yamato & Musashi sortied in a bombardment sortie against the Cooktown area.
The TF was spotted and long range enemy Libs naval bombers attacked; there was a clash between escorting P-38s and Jap CAP fighters with losses on both sides.
None of the Libs scored any hits. Looks like Andy has finally learned, strong use of long range recon flights in all of Oz.

We also bombed enemy units south of Daily Waters; the reaction was a strong LRCAP by P-38s. This turn we swept the hex and 10 P-38s were lost in A2A or OPS, then we hit
the enemy unitd with LBA again. I'm holding back armored units behind the front lines in Oz, driving a recon regiment ahead now in case Andy tries to capture Daily Waters.

Another enemy sub got lost and ended up in the Singapore base hex, no signs of mine hits but the sub dissappeared the next turn.
Today another escort carrier arrived; it's a slow one at 22 knots. The 2 air groups will be expanded to size 33. I'm fielding either clean fighter or dive bomber units on the CVEs.
I've also adjusted engine production, the Nakajima HA-35 will be in less demand while the demand for the HA-45 will increase (Frank ++) so I've switched some of these factories around.

Got some cunning counterstrike plans unless Andy makes a move soon, just need to finish some upgrades and repairs - lots of reinforcements in the pipeline now.
2 fleet and 2 light carriers will join the fleet within 50 days.

In the meanwhile I'm trying to come up with an Uber-scheme to inflict a crushing defeat on the Allies.
If you got a good idea (not suicidal or including massive amph invasion[;)]) I'd like to hear them.
A low-to medium risk operations with potentially high gains against enemy supply trains or fleets would be to prefer.
Alternatively we need to look at how to achieve similar results in defense.


Action in Australia

ORIGINAL: PzB

So it doesn't matter how many units fly spotters, 1 is enough for the entire bombardment TF?

Anybody could be wrong, but that's what the man with the code in front of him said! [8D]

Aww, come on. If you force us to ignore the suicidal options you take all the fun out! [:D]

ORIGINAL: PzB
<snip>

In the meanwhile I'm trying to come up with an Uber-scheme to inflict a crushing defeat on the Allies.
If you got a good idea (not suicidal or including massive amph invasion[;)]) I'd like to hear them.
A low-to medium risk operations with potentially high gains against enemy supply trains or fleets would be to prefer.
Alternatively we need to look at how to achieve similar results in defense.
</snip>

I don't know the force correlations as well as you do obviously since I'm just spectating, but I have to think this late in the ball game that the best thing for you to do is play defense. You've still got an intact carrier arm and rule the seas for the next 12 months or so. May as well play to that strength.

Seems like any offensive you could run would end up pitting you against allied LBA or ground troops, and he has a surplus of both.

I'd think he'd dearly love you to launch some sort of massive attack so he could bog it down and attrit it far from home.