Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

My plans in China are limited.

But he doesn't know that. The sad fact is that Japan cannot handle threats from multiple axis. They require great quiet swathes of quiet areas...

Have you started recon flights over western Honshu or are you holding off? I am not sure what is in you plane pools and inventory right now. Perhaps it is still too far away?

[apbarog]

I did recon of Nagasaki. It had been the cargo hub, with over 200 ships in port, but it had just a few when I looked. OPilot knows that southern Japan is in range now. He's made Okinawa into the same form as what he did at Truk: maximum number of troops, lots of mines, over 100 fighters, and a battleship group sitting there. I'm still going there after China. What worked at Truk won't work for him here. At Truk, I was unwilling to send all of my carriers from north of Australia back to the east to take Truk. With Okinawa, I'm sending everything, and it's all in the area already.

[apbarog]

30 Jan 44

Bonefish hit xAKL Saiko Maru with a torpedo near Truk. A probable sinking. Pompano was hit by 2 depth charges from sub chaser Ch 15 near Shanghai, in shallow water. Pompano is badly damaged and will limp back towards Formosa. 71 FLOT damage. Batfish's torpedo hit xAP Teirfu Maru near Manus. Another probable sinking.

Another good cleanup attack at Taiping. Some B-24s were lost here though, when Franks appeared on LRCAP.

Just when I was talking about the strong enemy stack at Canton, China...

[Lowpe]

The timing of the push on Wuchow seems inexplicable to me. [&:]

Have you checked to see what the runways are built up to north of Amoy. Normally, I would max out Kukong and the two bases directly to the east to help protect the Swatow to Foochow beaches.

But Kukong has no rail line anymore, and you get constant recon from the troops there so I think you are relatively safe.

[apbarog]

Southern Chinese Bases

[apbarog]

31 Jan 44

Battleship New Mexico bombarded Pescadores with its almost nightly bombardment. The Peng Hu Fortress got a shell hit on the battleship that increased its SYS damage from 8 to 21. New Mexico will now retire to Manila for repairs. The fortress had already damaged 2 cruisers, forcing them to head for repairs.

Thresher hit xAKL Kaijo Maru #2 with a torpedo near Babeldaob.

Sallys with Tojos from Okinawa attacked Miyako-Jima's port. AVP Robin was there and OPilot saw it. A bomb hit caused heavy damage. It will try to flee to Formosa with SYS 57/FLOT 49-31/ENG 9-4/FIRE 3. No CAP there. If I put fighters there they'd just be hit by the enemy battleships at Okinawa.

Another cleanup attack at Ambon. 1905 enemy casualties and units are being destroyed. It will be cleared very soon.

Allied troops captured Taiping, on the west coast of Malaya. The enemy unit retreated to Georgetown before the battle.

The Chinese invasion armada is headed to Formosa.

[Sardaukar]

If he makes mistake not to leave troops/enough troops SE of Wuchow, he is in danger to get encircled in Wuchow if you move troops from West over the river to SE of Wuchow. Might have to shock attack over river if he leaves troops there, so might not be worth it, depends on forces.

[apbarog]

Welcome Sardaukar. We'll see if the enemy leaves Canton or not. This will be very interesting.

1 Feb 44

Thresher missed xAKL Yamashimo Maru with two torpedoes east of Babeldaob. Sub detection levels imply that carriers are near Yap.

Franks and Peggys hit Taiping. No CAP there, yet. Base forces moving to Taiping.

Allied bombers hit Woodlark Island, northeast of Milne Bay. Showing renewed activity in an area where I don't plan much.

Another good cleanup attack at Ambon. 1081 enemy casualties. Just a bit of the enemy's 48th Division still to eliminate.

Nothing notable for new aircraft this month, but I'm looking forward to next month. I'll be getting 175 P-47D25s a month, instead of the 56 P-47D2s that I'm getting now. In this PDU OFF game, I rely heavily on my P-47s. They stand up to the Franks that have elite pilots. Most of the rest of the inventory does not. But my pool of Thunderbolts has always been low. That will change in March.

The invasion of coastal China east of Hong Kong will occur today. The invasion armada is just south of Takao. Only one of the many task forces was sighted, and it contained only destroyers. So surprise should be achieved. There are other troops transports on the way, between Manila and Takao, but most of the assault forces will land from APAs today.

I'm making a big air effort in China also. The B-24s in Rangoon were moved to China. B-24s will strike from Luzon and Formosa. Main targets are Canton and Hong Kong, where there have been lots of enemy fighters. Fighter sweeps from the carriers are ordered. Just Hellcats, but lots of them. And lots more in the pool. Other nearby airfields will also be hit.

[apbarog]

No turn today. I think the Japanese have some extra work to do in China.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

No turn today. I think the Japanese have some extra work to do in China.

I think you have done this a couple of times...

It is one of the worst feelings for Japan, being attacked on a vector that you hoped would remain quiet. I can see from the nice graphic you posted that Japan has not prepared to fight on this ground and is now going trying to figure out what to do.

There are worse feelings for sure. Rebuilding and replacing air units after losing 3000 planes in a vain attempt to hurt the deathstar. Sudden carrier loss syndrome to the Allies once Hellcats appear. Watching Tokyo and Osaka burn before April of 44.

How well does Opilot like fighting with his back against the wall. For some it is invigorating, others a nightmare...

[apbarog]

This is the furthest OPilot has gotten in a game, so some of these feelings are new. He has the right attitude, but it's still tough to be in a generally impossible situation as the Japanese and play a year or two real time in that mode. It's rough. I'd played mostly as the Japanese until a few games ago, when I switched sides. The Allied side is so much easier to play, mentally. You know it's rough for awhile early on, but you can try to save what you can, knowing that reinforcements are on the way.

In this game, we've never really had a knock-down drag-out fight in the air. We've had some big battles here and there, but they have been brief. I've felt that the Allied fighter pool has always been low of the best planes. This is a PDU OFF game. The air battles tend to still have the best fighters for both sides, but with lower numbers than a PDU ON game would have. I make use of my older planes but they don't stand up to the latest Japanese models, and that is what I run into on the front.

I know that OPilot wants to see the end-game, as do I. A landing in Japan is going to be very difficult, and I can tell that OPilot is preparing for that. China is just a difficult place for the enemy now. I could have landed anywhere on the coast from Saigon to possibly Shanghai. Having Formosa is making this a lot easier.

I appreciate OPilot's efforts. He doesn't complain and appreciates a competitive yet friendly game. I've already agreed to switching sides after this one is over.

[apbarog]

2 Feb 44

Amoy, Chaochow and Swatow were invaded. More troops are on the way. Follow-up troops await a conquered base to land on, without disabling the units from not being prepared. A 75mm gun battery and an 8cm/40 T41 DP battery got 4 hits on an LST at Amoy.

Lots of air action. Most of the US carrier aircraft came from the CVEs near Amoy. The big carriers didn't move into position as planned and didn't fly to their targets.

23 Hellcats from the CVEs swept Hong Kong, finding 63 Zeros. About equals losses, around 9 for each side. Note that the CVE pilots are generally adequate to good in quality. The very good pilots are on the big CVs. 18 Corsairs from the CVEs swept Canton, finding 36 Oscars. The Oscars got the better of the Corsairs, but losses were light. Another 18 Corsairs arrived at Canton next, and they did very well, downing about 10 for no loss. Apparently better pilots. 42 P-38s from Formosa swept Hong Kong, and destroyed another 15 or so Zeros.

Canton and Hong Kong were bombed heavily. Weather was poor at Hong Kong. Other airfields in China were bombed. Pakhoi, Kanhsien, Nanchang, Wuchang. In the afternoon, naval bombers on Formosa hit enemy troops at Amoy and Chaochow. Combat reports listed to show relative strengths.

Ground combat at Amoy (83,61)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6733 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 261

Defending force 15778 troops, 163 guns, 197 vehicles, Assault Value = 329

Japanese ground losses:
29 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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

Assaulting units:
17th Ind.Mixed Brigade
Amoy Special Base Force
32nd JNAF AF Unit
3rd FF Const Unit
107th JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
1st (Spec) Cavalry Division
I US Corps
Aus II Corps
3rd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion

and

Ground combat at Swatow (81,62)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 4808 troops, 16 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 156

Defending force 15855 troops, 207 guns, 421 vehicles, Assault Value = 446

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

Assaulting units:
7th Ind.Infantry Brigade
54th JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
37th Infantry Division
4th USMC Tank Battalion
4052nd Port Construction Battalion
773rd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
1st AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
1/593rd Boat&Shore Engineer Battalion
Sixth US Army /1

and

Ground combat at Chaochow (81,61)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 424 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 7

Defending force 16388 troops, 210 guns, 144 vehicles, Assault Value = 374

Japanese ground losses:
222 casualties reported
Squads: 22 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
1st RGC Route Brigade

Defending units:
33rd Infantry Division
I Marine Amphib Corps
2/533rd Boat&Shore Engineer Battalion
24th Port Maint Engr Bn /1

Total air losses for the day were 36 Zeros, 17 Oscars, 3 Topsys, 3 Helens, 2 Jakes, 1 Peggy, 1 Dinah and 1 Frances, for the cost of 10 Hellcats, 9 Corsairs and 5 Thunderbolts. The enemy transports, bombers and recon were destroyed on the ground.

The large enemy stack that was moving to Wuchow is the biggest threat to the troops now in China.

[Lowpe]

Were your fleet carriers spotted?

[apbarog]

Yes, at least some of them were spotted.

[apbarog]

3 Feb 44

Landings continued at Swatow, Chaochow and Amoy. LST 11 grounded heavily at Swatow and has 72 FLOT damage. Two battleships bombarded Swatow, and another two hit Amoy. AKEs at Takao continue to support.

An Australian brigade landed at Cebu in the Philippines, hoping to clean up one of the last enemy bases in the area. The enemy 14th Garrison Unit is strong there, though, but it may be low on supply. The Aussies were only somewhat prepped for Cebu, and will need to rest a bit before attacking. Destroyers from Jolo are bombarding, and there is some air support.

Sailfish hit AK Azumasan Maru with a torpedo near Chichi-jima. The ship was carrying troops. No indication of it sinking.

Triton spotted enemy ships east of Shanghai. Torpedoes missed destroyer Yamakaze.

ASW attack near Saishu To at 98,57

Japanese Ships
DD Yamakaze
BB Ise
BB Mutsu
BB Nagato
CL Oi
CL Kitakami
CL Natori
DD Murasame
DD Suzukaze
DD Kawakaze

This is a potential threat to the many Allied ships on the Chinese coast.

After yesterday's heavy US air attacks on Canton and Hong Kong, OPilot had the choice of pulling his air out or reinforcing. He reinforced. 40 Hellcats from a big carrier swept Canton and found 41 Tojos and 42 Franks. The Hellcats held their own against the Tojos, but the Franks were more than a match. The Hellcats had elite pilots. More Hellcats were lost. Georges reinforced Hong Kong, and they feasted on sweeping P-38s. B-24s did sink 2 ACMs at Hong Kong. Another ACM is suspected to still be there.

The story of the day was at Ankang, in northern China. I had moved a couple of US P-40N5 squadrons there a couple of days ago, and they tried to guess where some Sonias would bomb next in the area. They guessed wrong and were spotted, so I ordered the units back to Chungking. One Warhawk was damaged and remained at Ankang. Today, the Warhawk was fixed, and I apparently had not ordered it to rest. 2LT O. Flowers was the pilot. 32 unescorted Sonias appeared over Ankang, and he dutifully intercepted them, shooting down 6 Sonias to become an "Ace in a Day". 2 LT Flowers now has 8 kills.

Total air losses were 23 F6F3s, 11 P-38Hs, 13 B-24s and 5 P-51As. The enemy lost 13 Franks, 9 Tojos, 6 Sonias, 5 Zeros, 4 Topsys, 4 Frances, 4 Bettys, 3 Jakes, 2 Sonia-Bs, 2 Georges, 1 Helen, 1 Oscar and 1 Judy. 18 of those planes were destroyed on the ground at Hong Kong and Canton.

High fort levels prevented Swatow from being captured, but just barely. It should fall today.

Ground combat at Swatow (81,62)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12518 troops, 221 guns, 231 vehicles, Assault Value = 449

Defending force 5270 troops, 23 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 132

Allied adjusted assault: 216

Japanese adjusted defense: 39

Allied assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

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

Japanese ground losses:
1435 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 103 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 12 disabled

Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
37th Infantry Division
4th USMC Tank Battalion
773rd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
1/593rd Boat&Shore Engineer Battalion
4052nd Port Construction Battalion
Sixth US Army
147th Field Artillery Battalion
1st AmphTrac Engineer Battalion

Defending units:
7th Ind.Infantry Brigade
54th JAAF AF Bn

The enemy's 1st RGC Route Brigade was routed at Chaochow. It was destroyed. The enemy is stronger at Amoy, but Amoy will fall too, with tanks to participate today.

Ground combat at Amoy (83,61)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10547 troops, 179 guns, 130 vehicles, Assault Value = 463

Defending force 12414 troops, 82 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 251

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Allied adjusted assault: 282

Japanese adjusted defense: 453

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)

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

Japanese ground losses:
724 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 77 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled

Allied ground losses:
129 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
762nd Tank Battalion
1st (Spec) Cavalry Division
2/9th Armoured Regiment
I US Corps
Aus II Corps
1/543rd Boat&Shore Engineer Battalion
226th Field Artillery Battalion
3rd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion

Defending units:
17th Ind.Mixed Brigade
Amoy Special Base Force
32nd JNAF AF Unit
3rd FF Const Unit
107th JAAF AF Bn

Apologies, I misspelled Chaochow more than once on my graphic.

[apbarog]

4 Feb 44

Unloading continued at Swatow, Chaochow and Amoy. 6 B-24s dropped mines at Shanghai, but nothing hit them during the daytime, and enemy minesweepers immediately got to work cleaning them up. A US cruiser force bombarded Swatow. US battleships bombarded Amoy and adjacent Tsinkiang.

Sub Pintado hit and probably sank xAKL Nichizui Maru near Rota.

Hellcats swept a small number of Franks covering the huge enemy stack north of Canton. Lots of US bombers hit the enemy troops in clear terrain. Casualties from the strikes were 328, 97, 149, and 41. Slowing down the enemy movement is important, as this stack is the biggest danger to the Allied troops now in China. I will try to seal them off from the east.

P-40N5s from Sumatra swept Alor Star. I keep trying to use older model aircraft, but the result is always the same. The 42 Franks at the base shot down many of the Warhawks. Remember, this is a PDU OFF game.

Sallys and Tojos from Okinawa bombed Miyako-Jima, between Okinawa and Formosa. It is the easternmost US base, with a size 1 airfield now. No CAP there. It's an easy target for the enemy and not worth defending at the moment.

Total air losses were 17 P-40N5s, 6 B-24s and a P-38 for the downing of 8 Franks and 2 Tojos.

Allied troops captured Georgetown in Malaya. The enemy had just left, pulling back east into the jungle.

Swatow and Amoy were captured, with 1898 and 2220 enemy casualties respectively.

An Allied artillery unit in the Burma theater crossed south into Uttaradit by itself. I was showing movement with no intention to actually move, but I forgot about the unit. It crossed the river and ran into 22,000 enemy troops. The artillery unit should have been eliminated, but because it attacked with a bombardment attack, it wasn't. Then it retreated automatically back across the river, in the face of overwhelming odds. I remember reading something about this long ago, where someone used such an attack as recon. Now I understand what that was about. Very gamey. The unit should have been eliminated.

[apbarog]

5 Feb 44

US cruisers bombarded Wenchow, doing some moderate base damage. Suppressing what airbases that I can near the invasion area. Battleships hit nearby Foochow and did moderate damage there also, and others hit Tshinkiang, doing minor damage. Two more battleships hit Pescadores, keeping that base's damage maxed out.

4 Vals flew from Wenchow to attack a three destroyer ASW task force northeast of Formosa. 9 Hellcats were protecting, and shot down all of the Vals. I honestly don't know why there were Hellcats over those ships. I didn't have any LRCAP going on, and the ranged CAP nearby was limited to one hex, and this was at least three hexes away. Don't know how it happened but I'm happy that it did.

Balao hit E-boat Wakamiya with a torpedo east of Okinawa, sinking the ship.

22 P-47s swept Alor Star and found 42 Franks. The Thunderbolts took the worst of it.

B-24s from the Philippines hit Hong Kong, but it had been reinforced, and had 43 Georges waiting. I didn't sweep Hong Kong today, and the bombers went down in droves.

South of Mindanao, at the island of Talaud-eilanden, a small New Zealand unit had captured the empty base a few days ago, but all of the unit hadn't landed. I brought back the ships to land the rest of the troops, but they got hit from Babeldaob.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Talaud-eilanden at 79,97

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 27
P1Y1 Frances x 27

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
xAP Van Landsberge, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP S'Jacob, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Kajang, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
KV Auricula, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Ipoh

Allied ground losses:
Vehicles lost 5 (5 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x P1Y1 Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp

Massive explosion on KV Auricula

Some motorized support was lost. If I remember right, these were small Dutch transports that had escaped from Java at the beginning of the war. I find these ships very useful. They can carry small units, and being smaller ships, I take more risk with them. And lose them occasionally.

Total air losses were 13 Georges, 6 Franks and 4 Vals for the cost of 12 P-47s and 21 B-24s.

The Chinese attacked at Kukong, which is southwest of Changsha and northeast of Canton. A Chinese victory here would help the linkup with the Americans coming from the coast.

Ground combat at Kukong (79,57)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 44543 troops, 157 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1533

Defending force 13247 troops, 102 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 419

Allied adjusted assault: 1132

Japanese adjusted defense: 387

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
644 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 56 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
961 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 143 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Assaulting units:
65th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
86th Chinese Corps
100th Chinese Corps
7th War Area
12th Group Army

Defending units:
116th Division

The Chinese now have to wait to be resupplied. And speaking of supply, today was the day. Supply miraculously flowed, in great quantities, from the US bases on the Chinese coast. Supply went from barely adequate to plentiful all over China. There are some holes in the enemy line, but not a way to trace supply between bases on roads or rail lines. Chungking went from about 20,000 supply to over 50,000 supply. Several Chinese bases in the south went over 10,000 supply. I was careful to stockpile 20,000 supply at each of the conquered bases on the coast, and there's still more than that at each. With so much supply in China now, Ledo is now shut down. The many transports there will rest and then redeploy. Many will go to the Philippines to help out with the eventual landing on Japan proper. Others will support the many Indian para units in Malaya. Other fighter and bomber units are moving from Burma into China. And many more Chinese ground units should start upgrading from 1941 squads to 1943 squads.

[apbarog]

6 Feb 44
Skate sank subchaser CHa-66 near Fukue-jima.

OPilot noticed that I had moved a small number of fighters to Changsha. 35 Oscars swept today, finding 16 Spitfire VIIIs. The Spits shot down 9 Oscars for no loss of their own. Tomorrow the Franks will probably show up, and the result will be different. I moved a squadron of Chinese fighters in also. Maybe they can draw some fighters down to low level and help the Spits out.

[apbarog]

7 Feb 44

4 US destroyers went to Hong Kong looking for patrol boat sized targets. Nothing found. Previous spotting were probably subs. No mines hit but they are undoubtedly here. 4 YMS's to move to Hong Kong today, and a battleship TF to stand off to the east, covered by CVEs.

Tsinkiang was bombarded by 4 slow US battleships. Almost 800 enemy casualties. Ground forces attacked and got 2 to 1 odds, and reduced the forts to 0. The base is about to be taken.

Big enemy bomber effort against the 762nd Tank Battalion north of Amoy. The armor is moving to close off the enemy to the west. Woods prevented losses but the armor was slowed out of movement mode. Infantry will try to catch up.

68 Franks at Canton. Some B-24s arrived before the sweepers and got chewed up. Then 17 P-38Hs arrived and got chewed up. 25 P-47s arrived from Swatow and did very well. 50 P-40N5s swept from Kweilin and destroyed a few more Franks. They were fortunate that only a few remained when they arrived. Total air losses were 33 Franks for the cost of 13 P-38Hs, 8 B-24s, 7 P-47s and 3 B-25s.

More enemy reduction at Temuloh in Malaya. 1 to 1 odds and 466 enemy casualties. The enemy 1st Division is completely pinned there, far behind enemy lines now. Just a matter of time.

Near Kanhsien, Allied armor attacked a (fortunately) small enemy unit.

Ground combat at 81,58 (near Kanhsien)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 1725 troops, 3 guns, 157 vehicles, Assault Value = 97

Defending force 180 troops, 0 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 18

Allied adjusted assault: 103

Japanese adjusted defense: 5

Allied assault odds: 20 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
Vehicles lost 24 (11 destroyed, 13 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
2/5th Armoured Regiment

Defending units:
8th Armored Car Co

xAK Edward Paine sank northwest of Noumea. It was part of a supply convoy headed west to Australia. No mention of what caused the sinking, in the replay or any of the reports.

With such a large enemy stack at Canton, and potentially now moving east, it will be difficult to contain. A couple of divisions, in clear terrain, probably won't hold them. If OPilot keeps the stack together, and flees to the east right now, they will probably bludgeon their way through. Trying to isolate all these units became a secondary goal. The primary goal is still to take Canton and Hong Kong. It's a difficult position for OPilot. He can save his troops but lose Hong Kong. Or defend Hong Kong and Canton and hold them for quite a long time, but in isolation. Of course, OPilot may come up with a way to do both.

Lots of units coming from Singapore are now passing Jolo headed north. Most will go directly to China. I still want Hong Kong and Canton, opening up an easy supply line to the Chinese, and then pull out the US units for future use in a landing on Honshu.

[apbarog]

8 Feb 44

US cruisers bombarded Wenchow, causing moderate base damage. Similar story at Cebu in the Philippines.

The meat grinder of an air war over Canton continued. 20 P-47s swept and found 35 Franks. I think every Thunderbolt was shot down, with just a couple of Franks downed. Terrible. Next more P-47s and some Warhawks from Wuchow arrived. 8 or 10 lost on both sides. My top pilot, LT. R.D. Keator of the 23FG/75FS, who had 17 kills, was KIA over Canton. My top 3 pilots on the kill list are all KIA now. There were 2 more engagements over Canton with similar aircraft and similar results. P-38s came late and did a bit better. Total air losses were 20 P-47s, 13 P-40N5s and 2 P-38s for the downing of 18 Franks. The Thunderbolt pool is about dry, again. It may be 1944, but the pool is not deep for the best Allied aircraft. That will change next month, with the better and far more numerous version of the P-47 arrives.

Tsinkiang, on the Chinese coast, was captured.

Ground combat at Tsinkiang (84,61)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4491 troops, 48 guns, 91 vehicles, Assault Value = 145

Defending force 7512 troops, 65 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 81

Allied adjusted assault: 175

Japanese adjusted defense: 18

Allied assault odds: 9 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Tsinkiang !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2685 casualties reported
Squads: 44 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 123 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 21 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 10 (10 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 4

Allied ground losses:
104 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
111th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
2/9th Armoured Regiment
Aus II Corps

Defending units:
17th Ind.Mixed Brigade
2nd RGC Route Brigade
Amoy Special Base Force
32nd JNAF AF Unit

No advance planned further east from Tsinkiang. The push is west and north.

More reduction at Temuloh. Several probing artillery attacks in the Sian area of China. None of the locations have enough Chinese to attack. No enemy retreat seen in northern China.

YMS's went to Hong Kong and didn't sweep any mines. I had them on patrol, just in the Hong Kong hex. I've run into situations where sweepers don't find mines that are there, and I suspect this is an example of that. I changed their orders today, with a destination of Hong Kong and set to remain on station, and we'll see if any mines are found. But sometimes if the ships are already at the destination, they don't find mines. Regardless, I'm sending in battleships today. Could be ugly. I neglected to set a bombardment range for the battleships. May or may not influence getting mine hits. That's what happens when you finish your turn at 4am.