The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

Interlude in honor of Bullwinkle, the Forum's pet moose, and Poultry Lad, man of a thousand trips abroad, both of whom reside in the State of Perpetual Chill Factor:

While walking the route of advance taken by Manigault's Brigade up the flank of Snodgrass Ridge during the Battle of Chickamauga, my daughter and I came upon the striking 2nd Minnesota Monument at the crest of the ridge.

[Canoerebel]

Thinking over that SigInt regarding 38th Div. heading for Horn Island. That's pretty odd. Typically, Horn Island is too advanced, with the potential for isolation, to commit - or potentially maroon - a division there. You'd expect a division to go to Merauke or Port Moresby or Milne Bay...but not Horn Island. So John is either making a big mistake or he has a very specific notion about what I'm up to. Worth mulling over.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Interlude in honor of Bullwinkle, the Forum's pet moose, and Poultry Lad, man of a thousand trips abroad, both of whom reside in the State of Perpetual Chill Factor:

While walking the route of advance taken by Manigault's Brigade up the flank of Snodgrass Ridge during the Battle of Chickamauga, my daughter and I came upon the striking 2nd Minnesota Monument at the crest of the ridge.

Nice piece. Looks very well maintained.

See that satchel there on the ground? A scarf and some lefse from home . . .

[Canoerebel]

9/27/42

Bay of Bengal: Those IJ raiders are now far SW (true) of Diego. John knows they've been sighted by Allied patrols, so I don't know what he's doing. Probably feeling around for Allied carriers. Damaged Allied ships continue to make good progress to Colombo, where 100 fighters are based. CL Helena is the first ship to head back to the front. No Japanese sweeps or other molestations of Akyab, and the bombing raids vs. Ramree are week. Tomorrow, the Allies will offer CAP over Ramree for the first time in weeks - partly to ambush enemy bombers, partly to provide protection for a couple of troop ships bringing in part of an AA unit and part of a Gurkha unit.

Burma: An IJA division completed the move back one hex along the Akyab road, permittig the Allies to advance and have a more contiguous line. 41st USA Div. and a couple of UK infantry units are now together and advancing further south to a hex held by at least four IJA divisions. This Allied stack will soon be joined by 1st USMC Tanks. I don't know the enemy strength yet, but this is a hex to fight for.

China: I'm not certain yet whether John will advance out of Changteh. Long ago, he declared his intent not to advance into Central China. We'll see if that's still his plan or not.

Pacific: No menacing SigInt or basebuilding info today, but an IJN sub south of New Zealand sank an xAK loaded with supply (not troops, thank goodness). I want to take on 38th Div. if that's kind of an isolated move, but over the next two weeks I should have a better feel whether John is "all in" for New Guinea or not. Tomorrow, Lex and Sara join the other four USN carriers at Tahiti.

[Canoerebel]

Here's the exciting (to me) skinny on the current status of the New Guinea operation:

The Allies will likely begin loading transports in ten days or less. D-Day perhaps 20 to 25 days away. At the moment things are still "a go."

I've gotten the SigInt of 38th Div. and a base force inbound to Horn Island. To this point, this seems like an isolated rather than chronic development. I haven't had any other disturbing SigInt nor has there been base building beyond what I would consider routine.

I would love to strike powerfully at an exposed enemy division, so if things remain "stable," the plan is to go. However, if there are great "disturbances in the force" in coming days, I'll scrub the mission.

I consider it a given that the Allies will at some point in the operation - sooner or later - face the KB. I don't mind doing that if (1) I can do so on reasonably equal terms and closer to my good ports than he is to his; (2) in the process of fighting a carrier battle, ensure that the main mission of taking most or all of Merauke, Terapo, Port Moresby and Horn Island succeed. If I become to uncertain about ability to achieve those objectives, the missions will be scrubbed. In that event, I'd stand down, probably leave troops and ships in place, and try to create another sizeable force that could threaten an island group somewhere in the Pacific. It's possible that John's attention in SWPac could cool (just as his attention did in NoPac), permitting the operation to continue at a later date.

[Canoerebel]

9/28/42

Bay of Bengal: BB Royal Sovereign has rounded Ceylon and will make directly for Capetown. Most of the other damaged ships are repairing at Colombo, with but a few trailing (Bosie and Pensacola) and two heavily damaged ships (Ramilles and Mauritius) that will remain at Chittagong for some time. Allied CAP over Ramree has a nice day - downing 60+ enemy fighters and bombers. The Allies lose one xAP to Bettys. John will probably sweep heavy tomorrow, so I've stood down all CAP at Ramree, kept Akyab as is, and will target all 4EB to hit Magwe (with P-38Fs sweeping). A few 2EB will hit an IJA brigade up near Katha prior to a ground attack by 7th Indian Div.

Burma: As noted, 7th Ind. Div. will attack a dug-in brigade up the rail line. This won't succeed unless supply is critically low for Japan. Let's see. My Marine tanks that spent weeks traversing the jungle and were 44 of 46 miles towards exiting into the plains? Well, it teleported backwards and ended up on the coastal road. Man, there are some screw movement glitches going on in Burma right now.

China: Looks like John's next vector of attack will be Kweilin. That will suffer the same fate as Changteh, eventually, but I'll hold for as long as possible.

Pacific: No worrisome SigInt or base building. An IJ sub SE of New Zealand's south cape does get a 6/6 sighting of a big troop convoy. That's a major development. Lots of enemy subs working this region. About half of the Allied transport TFs have transited this passage now, but that means half remain. The six USN carriers to depart Tahiti tonight.

[Paladin1dcs]

Considering that John's aware that the Allies get a lot more SigInt than the Japanese player does, and considering that sending an entire ID to Horn Is. doesn't really make the most sense, isn't it possible and even likely that John's trying to pull a fast one here?

The SigInt that you've gotten about this base force and the 38th Division, was it specific about those units being loaded on a transport and bound for Horn Island or was it a planning intercept?

Another thought occured to me, what if John is using Horn Island as a staging area for a quick response force that can cover PM as well as other locations back towards Ambon? Would the 38th be a good unit for that type of tactic? I have no idea what the 38th TO&E looks like, so I don't know if that's a workable idea or not.

[Canoerebel]

38th Div. to Horn Island could possibly be a decoy, but unlikely. The SigInt report is of part of the unit on a maru bound for Horn. That's a really strange place to go, IMO. If John wanted a rapid reaction force, he'd be more likely to use Merauke, PM, or Milne Bay. The picture hasn't cleared yet, so I'm not ready to make predictions about what he's doing or thinking, but that one really seems odd to me. Odd. Odd. Odd.

[Paladin1dcs]

Yeah, it does seem odd to me as well, but a reaction force is about the only thing that does make any kind of sense at all, even if Horn Is. isn't the best location for it due to the smallish port size.

I don't see it being an offensive deployment, due to the fact that there hasn't been any indications of any other units building up for an offensive in the area, so it's got to be either a defensive deployment or there's something else going on.

Have any of your units started planning for their eventual targets? I ask because I wonder if John may have gotten a massive windfall and gotten a SigInt break of his own.

[Canoerebel]

All of my units are prepping for their targets - some for many weeks, others for many months. If John got SigInt, that would be incredibly unusual, right? If he did, I'm screwed. But, if he did he'd be garrisoning alot more than Horn Island. All of his spidey senses would have tingled to the point of climax. He'd be loading up every base. But things are pretty quiet except for Horn Island. Very odd.

[Chickenboy]

CR,

A screenshot of P/NG and surrounds with your anticipated forces deployed would be useful. Similarly, your information about his garrisons in the area would also be useful.

[Canoerebel]

Andre, I'll post some screen shots later today although they won't reveal anything in particular. In the meantime, here's the skinny on what's going on:

1. I know PM is garrisoned by 144th Regiment. There's probably more there, but I don't think a division is posted there. No SigInt of troops there or going there in many months (other than 144th RCT). The airfield went from level four to five a few weeks ago. That's the only base building I've seen on New Guinea in the past two months.

2. Horn Island is held by a small force but may be getting 38th Infantry Div. (according to SigInt). The airfield went to level two a week or so back.

3. Merauke is quiet and the base facilities undeveloped.

4. Milne Bay is developed substantially and probably has a mixed brigade and possibly has a division, though I haven't seen any SigInt since early on (when I got reports that 2nd Div. was going there, but that unit was committed to Luganville for many months, though I haven't "seen it" since the island fell back around June).

5. I've had troops prepping for Milne Bay and offshore islands since early in the game, including Americal regiments. I haven't added any troops to Milne prep since the first of the year.

6. Tons of Allied troops are prepping for Horn Island, Port Moresby, Merauke, and some of the Gulf of Carpenteria bases and islands, for months. Many of these troops are currently located in Sydney and Hobart, with more aboard marus inbound.

7. It's unlikely John is getting SigInt of my troop prep, but it's certainly possible he's been picking up radio traffic ("signals") emanating from my many troop transports making the long, long journey to Hobart, right?

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
7. It's unlikely John is getting SigInt of my troop prep, but it's certainly possible he's been picking up radio traffic ("signals") emanating from my many troop transports making the long, long journey to Hobart, right?

I think this is a fair generalization-that Japanese SigInt sucks ('troop X prepping for location Y' or 'troop X aboard ship Y heading for location Z'), but "Huff Duff" (Radio frequency direction finding / tracking) comes up with a few surprises.

Whether or not this is the case in your game, I cannot say, as I am reading both AARs.

[Canoerebel]

For nearly a year, I've been working on a set of five poems - accompanied by brief prose and photographs - for a tribute to the Battle of Chickamauga sesquicentennial this year. This has been one of my favorite places since my first visit as a young teen back in 1974, so the project has been a labor of love. Each of the five poems is nearly finished, though some tweaking remains to be done. Here's one of the five - written about a Union officer who performed remarkably at Snodgrass Hill on the second day of the battle. (Note: This is not the layout for the magazine; I'll leave that to my designer, who knows what he's doing. This is just my own layout to visualize how I think each poem might "work.")

Hopefully, a JPEG will be legible. Also, poetry is a rather unique form of art. Some people just hate it. Others hate certain kinds of poetry. Badly written poetry is an abomination and an embarrasment. I've worked hard on this and I like it, but I'm dipping into a form of art I'm not very familiar with.

[Paladin1dcs]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

All of my units are prepping for their targets - some for many weeks, others for many months. If John got SigInt, that would be incredibly unusual, right? If he did, I'm screwed. But, if he did he'd be garrisoning alot more than Horn Island. All of his spidey senses would have tingled to the point of climax. He'd be loading up every base. But things are pretty quiet except for Horn Island. Very odd.

I had assumed as much, considering your impending D-Day schedule, but wasn't sure and wanted to confirm.

I agree that a SigInt hit would be incredibly unusual, but I'm just throwing ideas around to see what feels right. Right now, nothing does and that's what has me confused about the SigInt on 38th Div. Is it possible for SigInt to be wrong? I mean, we have FoW in everything else, do we know if SigInt is subject to FoW as well or is it considered to be filtered already?

I've got too many unanswered questions about the situation, but one thing does come to mind and that is that John seems to suspect that something is up. PM only having a single INF unit garrisoning it is either incomplete intel on the Allied part or John is trying to create a honey trap, with 38th Div acting as the hammer.

[Canoerebel]

My experience is that SigInt is dead accurate. When I get a report of "Kaga at xx/yy" or "38/c Div. on Glockenspiel Maru moving to Sticky Island," I take them for gospel.

[Paladin1dcs]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

For nearly a year, I've been working on a set of five poems - accompanied by brief prose and photographs - for a tribute to the Battle of Chickamauga sesquicentennial this year. This has been one of my favorite places since my first visit as a young teen back in 1974, so the project has been a labor of love. Each of the five poems is nearly finished, though some tweaking remains to be done. Here's one of the five - written about a Union officer who performed remarkably at Snodgrass Hill on the second day of the battle. (Note: This is not the layout for the magazine; I'll leave that to my designer, who knows what he's doing. This is just my own layout to visualize how I think each poem might "work.")

Hopefully, a JPEG will be legible. Also, poetry is a rather unique form of art. Some people just hate it. Others hate certain kinds of poetry. Badly written poetry is an abomination and an embarrasment. I've worked hard on this and I like it, but I'm dipping into a form of art I'm not very familiar with.

What magazine would this be CR? It looks like something I'd see in The Stainless Banner.

[Canoerebel]

I'm not familiar with The Stainless Banner , but this will appear in the autumn issue of Georgia Backroads magazine (unless somebody I work with tells me, "Whoa! This is an embarrassment!"). Of the five poems, two pertain to Union officers and three to Confederates.

[Chickenboy]

By and large, I liked this. I would ask your opinion about a stylistic difference, Dan. I enjoy word play and language and think that I'm better than average in manipulating words to suit my ends.

With that in mind, I ask about the use of the word 'infraction'. It's such a technical term and has an unromantic hard 'k' sound to it. I was wondering what your opinion would be of the use of the word 'charge' here. One can be brought up on false charges or charged with something. Of course, there is the other meaning-that of a military unit 'charging' a point. I'm omitting the electrical term as that alternative definition / alliterative has no use here.

Would you consider using the word 'charge' in place of 'infraction' here? You could insinutate 'repulsion of many charges' and let the double entendre hang with the reader. Just a thought. [:)]

[Canoerebel]

Great suggestion, Andre. After lunch, I'll look at this again with that in mind. I hadn't even considered the "harshness" of the pronunciation of infraction, but now that you point it out, it's obvious. (In one of the other poems, one of my assistants urged me to change "plug a gap" to "close a gap" for similar reasons.