Banzais Don't Make Victories - Anachro (A) vs John 3rd (J) BTS 5.7

[Anachro]

Oct 30th, 1943

Full update soon. Though the warfare in the past month or so has mostly been attritional in nature, with both John and I trading DD/CLs/CAs. Losses shown below, but the Japanese losses are probably slightly higher than what is shown. We lost the BB Indiana to long-lances off of Lae that got through my other smaller, faster CL/DD TFs and straight to my fast BBs, so that makes up for John losing the BB Nagato to a lucky mine strike the month previous. China will soon be lost, but we will most likely soon take Lae based on additional pressure being placed there and we have taken Diego Garcia in a renewed landing there to deny John deep recon ability into Ceylon and the seas around it.



The nice thing is this: As some of you remember, we had gotten a few nice sub strikes on CV Taikaku, forcing it into port at Eniwetok. We tried a small CV strike on this, but John had posted much stronger CAP than anticipated and we were forced to retreat without fully sinking it in port. Following advice and also because we needed to have our CVs elsewhere, we have moved our CVs and surface units elsewhere on the map and posted heavy sub patrols around Eniwetok and between Eniwetok and Truk. Over the past two days, subs have placed an additional 3 torpedoes into CV Taikaku as she tried to move to Truk and based on John's emails it seems most likely she will sink (no sinking sounds yet). That's 7 torpedoes in total into her so far without sinking, wow.



Most recent attack on Lae was pretty encouraging; we have our ships pulling back this turn to Buna to pickup the 2nd Marine Division 100% prepped for Lae if reinforcements are needed. Our CVs got ~10-15 hits on subs reported north off of Madang.

[Anachro]

Diego Garcia landing troops took it in 2-3 days. John contested with a CVE/CVJunyo TF as well as some CBs, etc. (I've noticed the additional CVEs he gets in this mod are pretty fast speed-wise). I managed to fight this off with 2 transports lost, but also sunk a CL and 2-3 DDs in return. I managed to intercept John's CVEs with a CL/DD TF, but they only managed to get a few shells into John's CVEs without serious damage.

[CaptBeefheart]

Great to see the update.

Cheers,
CB

[Anachro]

Oct 31st, 1943

The 31st of October, my birthday in real life but just another typical day in the war of attrition. Though I hear no sinking sounds in game or see evidence of ships destroyed on the ground (I doubt John had planes on the crippled CV), John gives me confirmation that the Shokaku-class CV Taikaku has been sunk. He can't help quipping about it being his first true fleet carrier loss too:

My count is seven hits and two duds on Taikaku. Do not worry yourself. She is done. Crazy thing is the first two TTs weren’t that bad but I felt I should put her into Port instead of returning to Saipan. HUGE mistake. This will be the first Fleet Carrier I have truly lost in this game. CARDIV1 and 2 don’t count since I didn’t care at the time thinking you were done with the game. Really wish I could get THAT back and we would have one HELL of a CV Battle right now. Ah, well…

In game, not much here. I send some DDs up towards Madang where they manage to sink a 1VP PB before running into enemy DDs that more than hold their own (this TF had Dutch DDs and they didn't do too well). DS moves up to soak up enemy LBA naval attacks that sank a CL of mine yesterday and they do their job: recon shows John's forward bases largely lacking in bombers where previously they had a decent number. Unfortunately, DS only manages to sink one xAK, with attacks on DDs and APDs causing no hits. My land attacks don't do amazing, but the casualties are 1:1 with the IJA suffering more combat squad casualties. I will bring in the 2nd Marine division from Buna as reinforcements over the next two turns.

Meanwhile, a BB/CA force appears at Horn Island, but I'm not sure if these are surface units or carriers mistaken for something else, not sure of my DL on this TF. I suspect that it's a bombardment unit destined for my HBs at Portland Roads (which I have now moved), but we'll see. I have the CV Essex, 2 CVLs, and a fast 29-knot CVE at Milne Bay undetected. They were heading to join DS, but now I might move towards Horn Island with LBA cover from Port Moresby.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Oct 31st, 1943

The 31st of October, my birthday in real life

Wow! Happy 76th birthday! And you're still enjoying this wonderful game of ours. Many happy returns. [8D]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Anachro
CARDIV1 and 2 don’t count since...

[8|]

[Anachro]

Burma - there probably be action here soon, starting with the onerous march across the mountains. Notice Akyab is taken. We are moving air support and base units to there from which to launch eventually LR sweeps on Rangoon.

[Anachro]

Nov 1-2, 1943

These last two turns were bittersweet, but overall I'm more happy and relieved as a result from them than anything else. On November 1st, we get very lucky because while we successfully anticipate that John will bombard a base, we get which base he will go after wrong. John does a massive bombardment with the BB Yamato, etc. on Port Moresby where we thought he'd go after our HBs at Portland Roads. This causes two things: 1) PM gets a nuclear bombardment that destroys ~100 planes on the ground and 2) my CV Essex TF heading north towards Horn Island to intercept manages to run into BB Yamato in the night. Luckily for me and a great source of relief given John's usual emails that imply he's done very well and is happy when I get a turn, the BB Yamato TF fails to actually intercept my CVs and my CVs return safely back to Milne Bay without incident.

So I escaped a real disaster there. The good news is that the past two days my attacks on Lae have been very positive getting 10:1 ratios in casualties each day (~1000 casualties both days for the IJA versis ~100 for me). John has been slowly placing a 2nd division there over the past month so I have the potential to kill two divisions here. I will use this operation to take Lae and resupply some other outlying bases before returning to Townsville to prepare for additional landings.

[Cheesesteak]

this is a good read

[Anachro]

Nov 3rd, 1943

In addition to numerous reported hits by my ASW/Nav search, Lae falls today with ~6,400 casualties inflicted on the enemy forces, which retreat into the hills towards Nadzab. This is probably an okay outcome considering they can't be extracted by air or fast transport now. I will pursue as thing forces attempt to fleet into the heals towards Madang, but I also want to secure Finschafen. This base falling does two important things: 1) It extends my ability to saturate Madang and nearby bases with air support and strengthens my ability to support and secure Manus; and 2) I now have three divisions I can free up to start planning for new targets, as well as various support, artillery, and tank units.

AKA/APAs and AKs will return to Townsville, as we will make a push against a new target soon with significant 100% prepped units. Before I withdraw completely, I will have my carriers cover landing supplies at Buin. I need to be careful as John is clearly trying to setup a CAP trap at Rabaul.

[Anachro]

Nov 4th, 1943

Interesting turn. I send my BBs and CAs to bombard Rabaul. Unfortunately, not all manage to complete said mission: my CA/DDs run into a DD task force in the night and manage to sink, I think, one Akitsuki-class destroyer. They then proceed not to bombard Rabaul and continue on home towards Milne Bay. Good news is that I don't lose anything: one DD takes a mine hit but the damage is not too bad. Then in the day resolution, my BB task force reaches Rabaul but is not able to bombard till at the end of the day; and Rabaul's bombers hit the BB task force instead of my carriers a few hexes away. My BBs take some bomb hits, but nothing too bad.

Interesting note is that some sort of surface force has appears at Finschafen. I'm not sure what the plans are but in a bit of good luck for me, my task forces at Lae are undetected. I have a small CA/CL/DD task force there as well that might investigate Finschafen.

[Anachro]

Air losses for day:

[Anachro]

Nov 6th, 1943

My CL TF ran into nothing on the 5th, so we decided to bombard Finschafen just to see what's there. We also bombardment Rabaul with another CA TF this turn, doing some damage to the airfield and planes on the ground. One DD took a mine hit, but it should be fine. Meanwhile our carriers are undetected as supplies are unloaded at Torokina. The supplied will be much needed for PBYs I had there that ran out supply. They are now fully in the process of repairing with about 50% operational; I'll get good deep nav search towards Truk now again. PBYs and deep nav search are really at a premium for the Allies in this mod.

I might try an air/port strike on Rabaul next turn as it's CAP has been decently degraded and its airfield is in shambles. We can destroy more planes on the ground and sink a DD in port before returning back to Townsville. Regarding future operations: I am more than inclined to skip over and isolate Rabaul and Madang, where John seems to have around 3-5 divisions between them (including those retreating from Lae). Let them rot on the vine.

[Anachro]

Nov 8th, 1943

With Lae secured and Torokina effectively resupplied, we elect to retire with all our forces back to Townsville to rest and recuperate for future pushes (and repair/upgrade while more fuel is brought in from elsewhere). Given that our carriers are not all operating together (DS has ~770 A/C with a CV at Townsville, another CV just finished upgrading in NZ, 2CV and 1 CVL at PH, and 1CV and 3 CVLs in India), we didn't want to have them stick around for too long and be subject to an in-strength Japanese carrier strike. Moreover, there aren't many targets of opportunity at the moment in the vicinity. In the mean time, we sweep the skies of Rabaul and kill more fighters than we lose, we port strike Rabaul where we thought there was a damaged DD in port with turns out to be a MTB, and a few destroys hit a small supply convoy in the night heading for Rabaul.

Over the next few weeks comes the hard task of organizing future landings. We have two large scale ones planned and the biggest task for them is ensuring appropriate air cover, having enough transports, and making sure all the relevant landing forces are in appropriate ports for organization and pickup. In contrast to these, future landings in the SoPac will be piecemeal for the moment, though we have one planned for the immediate future once we are repaired and refueled at Townsville. We will also probably send our carriers up in force towards Manus to cover resupplying to base so we can build it up.

[Anachro]

Real question: how much of a match will my CV-capable Corsairs be for John's CV-capable Jacks and Georges (and that said, I don't have the numbers to fill out all my CVs with them yet)? I've no doubt next time I see John's carriers his CVs will be fully stacked with one or the other; he seemed to let on as much in one of his previous emails bemoaning the loss of his carriers and the big CV fight he'd give me right now if he had them.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Anachro
Real question: how much of a match will my CV-capable Corsairs be for John's CV-capable Jacks and Georges (and that said, I don't have the numbers to fill out all my CVs with them yet)?

Well, that George surely outclasses your F4U-1A in everything except slight speed and durability advantage. Brace for impact
Pilot quality would matter a lot

Edit: yeah, "outclasses" might be too much They are more or less even: slight speed & durability advantage vs large maneuver advantage.

[Anachro]

I count myself very lucky that I was able to sink 4 battle carriers outright with no losses, especially as I had lost CV Ranger earlier. This is absolutely necessary in this version of the mod given what Japan can field on its carriers in the later game. I believe in John's working version of the mod he has gone back to the A7 Sam for balance and is balancing China for the Allies.

Quote from early in my AAR:

This necessitates attritional tactics in the early game, but not in a way where we can afford parity in losses. Attritional tactics must result in inordinate damage to the enemy, otherwise they will not be worth it, as later game invasions require domination of the local area. Parity of losses would fail to provide that. The Allies over the coming year must develop a way to seize the strategic initiative and force the Japanese to react in such a way as to place their forces in areas of tactical disadvantage. I feel John always likes the idea of charging in with his forces and should there be appropriate bait, he will come; it remains to be seen if he will eventually combine his carriers and always use them as such or continue to operate them somewhat separately.

I think this was prescient as the 4 CVs were sunk due to John charging in like Jeb Stuart against a stronger CV force, with CarDiv's 1 and 2 operating separately from the rest of his carriers.

[Anachro]

Carriers are back in port where two old Yorktown-class CVs will undergo the last of their upgrades for the next 20 days (CV Enterprise and CV Wasp). It is a period of hibernation of about a week or more, so little updates needed.

[Canoerebel]

Your Corsairs will perform well on CAP duty over ships. They may or may not perform well in sweep duty over enemy airfields, but I'd lean towards them being effective (but be careful - you have to ration your pools!). They won't perform well at all in the escort role over enemy airfields and only marginally better in carrier strikes vs. KB.

[Canoerebel]

John has gone dark in his AAR. He's gathering his thoughts and working on ideas. When he returns to his AAR, tighten your seatbelt. Something'll be up. And it probably won't be where you expect it (or it'll be in multiple places, including places you don't expect).