There should be a lot of islands in the Solomons that are much easier to take with that many naval Guard units at Pago Nam. But then I forget that you might not even need to hit the Solomons as you can just go right to Borneo!
Nice work.
Tokyo Rose was a Hussy! Chez (J) vs. Canoe (A)
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RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
Early action in China may have forced Chaz to commit several divisions (which we just haven't seen yet) in a more defensive posture. There is still a lot of Japanese ground power not accounted for at this time - but no obvious signs of where it is going to be committed - very interesting situation. I don't think Chaz has gone turtle, but his lack of decisive action in areas where he does commit his naval forces (NORPAC & CENPAC are the two obvious spots, besides Pago-Pago) doesn't lead to believe any sort of decisive stroke is in the offering anytime soon.
Never Underestimate the Power of a Small Tactical Nuclear Weapon...
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
He might be building a Maginot Line in the Marianas and Phillipines?
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RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
ORIGINAL: JeffK
He might be building a Maginot Line in the Marianas and Phillipines?
too early for that...CR, if he manages to succeed in his DEI early campaign will be able to bypass completely the PI and the Mariannas and land his US forces in southern China to join the chinese army...
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Canoerebel
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RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
Steve is keeping most of his divisions hidden. There are two at Padang, two at Magwe, and I believe he scrambled to get more to China after the Chinese spring offensive beat up so many IJA divisions.
The Allied "worst case scenario" worries about a major IJ invasion somewhere critical are fading as we near September and as the KB remains committed in a theater of no strategic importance. Here's how I rate the main IJ strategic objectives at this point:
India: Safe. Can't be invaded without the KB. Moreover, autumn reinforcements, good forts, plenty of air power, and good buffer (Port Blair and upper Burma) mean nothing's going to happen here. The Allies are already stripping the sub-continent and moving troops forward to Sumatra and Burma.
Oz: Oz is still vulnerable. No reinforcements have been sent here, but I rate the chances of a continent-threatening invasion, which is the only thing that might worry me (NW Oz or NE Oz wouldn't be a concern), as very low. In the event a 15-division invasion were to hit Townsville or Brisbane or Geelong at this very late date, the Allies would counter by ramping up pressure elsewhere. IE, Oz will continue to stand on its own. P.S. The Allied carriers aren't that far away if they were really needed.
Hawaii: Who cares? Hawaii is of far less importance than the DEI, so I'd welcome a major Japanese operation there.
New Zealand/Aleutians/Anywhere Else in the Pacific: See Hawaii.
China: The Chinese have done a good job mauling about eight to ten IJA divisions over the past four months. With a good MLR in place and troops that now have decent experience levels, I believe China can handle anything except a 100% commitment of power here. If that were to happen, the Allies would simply increase pressure in NoPac and the DEI.
Russia: I don't expect a move on Russia and can't do anything else about it anyhow. The Russians have been building forts and training since the first week of the war, so they are as ready as they can be. But Steve seems to be a "simulator" rather than a "gamer," so I just don't think it's in his DNA to do something this off-the-wall.
The Allied "worst case scenario" worries about a major IJ invasion somewhere critical are fading as we near September and as the KB remains committed in a theater of no strategic importance. Here's how I rate the main IJ strategic objectives at this point:
India: Safe. Can't be invaded without the KB. Moreover, autumn reinforcements, good forts, plenty of air power, and good buffer (Port Blair and upper Burma) mean nothing's going to happen here. The Allies are already stripping the sub-continent and moving troops forward to Sumatra and Burma.
Oz: Oz is still vulnerable. No reinforcements have been sent here, but I rate the chances of a continent-threatening invasion, which is the only thing that might worry me (NW Oz or NE Oz wouldn't be a concern), as very low. In the event a 15-division invasion were to hit Townsville or Brisbane or Geelong at this very late date, the Allies would counter by ramping up pressure elsewhere. IE, Oz will continue to stand on its own. P.S. The Allied carriers aren't that far away if they were really needed.
Hawaii: Who cares? Hawaii is of far less importance than the DEI, so I'd welcome a major Japanese operation there.
New Zealand/Aleutians/Anywhere Else in the Pacific: See Hawaii.
China: The Chinese have done a good job mauling about eight to ten IJA divisions over the past four months. With a good MLR in place and troops that now have decent experience levels, I believe China can handle anything except a 100% commitment of power here. If that were to happen, the Allies would simply increase pressure in NoPac and the DEI.
Russia: I don't expect a move on Russia and can't do anything else about it anyhow. The Russians have been building forts and training since the first week of the war, so they are as ready as they can be. But Steve seems to be a "simulator" rather than a "gamer," so I just don't think it's in his DNA to do something this off-the-wall.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
About Little Vietnam aka Pago Pago
...
Am I understanding right that your guys are now down to 50 supply?
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Canoerebel
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RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
I just double-checked. PP has 113 supply. All units are currently fully supplied, but that will change rapidly now. I'm not worried about it for these reasons:
1) The Japanese army at PP is in complete disarray, shedding AV daily. I believe the Japanese troops are low on supply or out of supply.
2) A Japanese attack now would fail - AVs are similar and the Allies are behind four forts.
3) Japan hasn't tried to reinforce or resupply in more than a month. Allied CD guns were too tough.
4) The Allies have about ten supply xAKs just east of Pago Pago in dispersed and small TFs. I'm trying to get some fighter cover to PP's airfield in hopes that I can land some supply.
5) Most importantly, though, I get the distinct feeling that Steve has "mentally given up" on PP and has turned all his hopes and efforts towards the Gilberts. I think his plan is to allow his base at Savaii Island to "cauterize" PP - make it impossble or difficult for the Allies to make gainful use of the base. This, in turn, suits me fine.
1) The Japanese army at PP is in complete disarray, shedding AV daily. I believe the Japanese troops are low on supply or out of supply.
2) A Japanese attack now would fail - AVs are similar and the Allies are behind four forts.
3) Japan hasn't tried to reinforce or resupply in more than a month. Allied CD guns were too tough.
4) The Allies have about ten supply xAKs just east of Pago Pago in dispersed and small TFs. I'm trying to get some fighter cover to PP's airfield in hopes that I can land some supply.
5) Most importantly, though, I get the distinct feeling that Steve has "mentally given up" on PP and has turned all his hopes and efforts towards the Gilberts. I think his plan is to allow his base at Savaii Island to "cauterize" PP - make it impossble or difficult for the Allies to make gainful use of the base. This, in turn, suits me fine.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
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Canoerebel
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RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
8/25/42
NoPac: The operation to resupply and reinforce Paramushiro begins tomorrow. A host of transports are just to the east and northeast. No detection levels showing, but it seems impossible that Steve hasn't been monitoring the obvious approach vectors for Allied shipping. Two PT-boat TFs will arrive tonight, as will the CA Quincy TF and a DM minelaying TF. Air cover will be provided by 40 fighters, with 20 more set to arrive the day after tomorrow.
CenPac: CA Ashigara leads a TF that bombards Baker Island in a show of muscle that just doesn't mean anything. Carrier air sinks a lone xAK at Tabituea.
SoPac: In two days, the Allies will be able to put up 25 fighters to CAP Pago Pago, so we'll see if some supply ships can make the run and gets some goodies ashore before getting obliterated.
SwPac: The two TFs carrying engineers to PM and Milne will arrive tonight. Two Kittyhawk squadrons staged forward from Cairns to PM to provide CAP. The ships don't report detection levels. The Allies hope to evade attention.
DEI: More IJ troops are moving toward Sibolga overland, but the size and nature of this threat hasn't been ascertained yet. Recon and bombers will try to sniff out the units tomorrow. No matter what, any units taking the overland yellow road system are weeks away from Padang. A Glen has been snooping around Cocos Island for better than a week now.
Burma: The Happy Stalement at Magwe continues.
NoPac: The operation to resupply and reinforce Paramushiro begins tomorrow. A host of transports are just to the east and northeast. No detection levels showing, but it seems impossible that Steve hasn't been monitoring the obvious approach vectors for Allied shipping. Two PT-boat TFs will arrive tonight, as will the CA Quincy TF and a DM minelaying TF. Air cover will be provided by 40 fighters, with 20 more set to arrive the day after tomorrow.
CenPac: CA Ashigara leads a TF that bombards Baker Island in a show of muscle that just doesn't mean anything. Carrier air sinks a lone xAK at Tabituea.
SoPac: In two days, the Allies will be able to put up 25 fighters to CAP Pago Pago, so we'll see if some supply ships can make the run and gets some goodies ashore before getting obliterated.
SwPac: The two TFs carrying engineers to PM and Milne will arrive tonight. Two Kittyhawk squadrons staged forward from Cairns to PM to provide CAP. The ships don't report detection levels. The Allies hope to evade attention.
DEI: More IJ troops are moving toward Sibolga overland, but the size and nature of this threat hasn't been ascertained yet. Recon and bombers will try to sniff out the units tomorrow. No matter what, any units taking the overland yellow road system are weeks away from Padang. A Glen has been snooping around Cocos Island for better than a week now.
Burma: The Happy Stalement at Magwe continues.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
CR, how big is your port at Pago and do you have one of those port service units there? How you can get some fiddles to the chaps there. They have put up a heck of a fight.
Watch the chow lines at Pago as the LYBs are fond of coming out of the hills and standing in the chow lines with our guys. A co worker of mine was a Sea Bee on Biak Is in the Pacific. The starving Japanese soldiers would frequently do just that. The Allies had to post armed men near the chow lines to keep them at bay. Kind of comical until I learned that he actually shot several of them doing that.
Watch the chow lines at Pago as the LYBs are fond of coming out of the hills and standing in the chow lines with our guys. A co worker of mine was a Sea Bee on Biak Is in the Pacific. The starving Japanese soldiers would frequently do just that. The Allies had to post armed men near the chow lines to keep them at bay. Kind of comical until I learned that he actually shot several of them doing that.
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
8/25/42
SoPac: In two days, the Allies will be able to put up 25 fighters to CAP Pago Pago, so we'll see if some supply ships can make the run and gets some goodies ashore before getting obliterated.
Be wary of your bombardments using up all the base's supply before the ships arrive. IIRC the fighters need supply to fly and repair.
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Canoerebel
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RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
Do fighters need supply to fly CAP? I don't think so, but I could be wrong. I thought they needed supply to repair disablement or damage, but that those that are airworthy can fly CAP without supply. If that's not the case, then Paramushiro and Pago Pago are really going to be tough to supply.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Do fighters need supply to fly CAP? I don't think so, but I could be wrong. I thought they needed supply to repair disablement or damage, but that those that are airworthy can fly CAP without supply. If that's not the case, then Paramushiro and Pago Pago are really going to be tough to supply.
15.4 .. "Mission types (search, CAP) expend 1/3 of a supply point per plane per Mission" (p. 252)
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Do fighters need supply to fly CAP? I don't think so, but I could be wrong. I thought they needed supply to repair disablement or damage, but that those that are airworthy can fly CAP without supply. If that's not the case, then Paramushiro and Pago Pago are really going to be tough to supply.
Well - can you get a single ship in before the main effort to give you a little reserve for flight ops? I find aircraft rarely launch against solo merchants - adding even the slightest escort changes that, but single ships seem to get around ok. Submarines are a danger, of course...
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
Or, you could give your CVs a little break from watching Sumatra and swing them over to Pago for a nice surprise bash on his airfield at Sauvii. Then, you could sail the merchants in quickly while the field was suppressed and supply away. All this could be done before more than a small fraction of the remanents of the KB sailed into town. You could tarry a bit to see if you got another shot at a piece of the KB or just sail immediately back to the IO. You know where his carriers are and Palembang Fortress can surely protect itself while the CVs are away. You could even set a big sub trap (a torpedo might actually explode about now) and see if he will run the CVs over them. Lots of fun could be had.
But, the single ship idea will work in all likelihood. You could even sail two single "blockade runners" in simultaneously. Both could make it. (Civil War southerner types know all about that. Some rum runners do too) That would enable you to get the CAP up anyway.
All this sitting around in the IO is cool and all, but you could make an opportunity of this. Don't let that old fortress mentality tie your hands.
But, the single ship idea will work in all likelihood. You could even sail two single "blockade runners" in simultaneously. Both could make it. (Civil War southerner types know all about that. Some rum runners do too) That would enable you to get the CAP up anyway.
All this sitting around in the IO is cool and all, but you could make an opportunity of this. Don't let that old fortress mentality tie your hands.
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
And how long does it take to move from the DEI to PP??
And while the CV are away maybe Chez has plans, he also could be planning diversionary operations.
? Ae there any bases you can build up south of PP to provide support (or a sally port)
And while the CV are away maybe Chez has plans, he also could be planning diversionary operations.
? Ae there any bases you can build up south of PP to provide support (or a sally port)
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Canoerebel
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RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
My carriers are staying right where they are! No way I'd move them from the key theater for a mission to a theater that is irrelevant (except that for months it kept drawing Japanese forces like a vortex of sublime irrelevancy).
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
Jeff, it will take about a month to sail them there and back again depending on how fast one chooses to sail. In the meantime, the old rum runner trick can be tried and will probably work enough to supply the base.
CR, of course it can be made relevant if your 6 CVs engage a pair of KB stalwarts and sink them all the way to Davey Jone's Locker. You know Chez has the perchance to move about in CV divisions as he is currently doing around Tarawa. You know where he is. He does not know with certainty where you are. It is not saving Pago that is the goal, but attriting his navy even further. It looks like an opportunity, and one that will surprise him while not unnecessarily risking the Fortress as he is highly unlikely to land without some CV support in the area.
Just a thought. If it does not fit your plan, then the rum runners will probably do the trick of getting enough supply to Pago to keep your AF viable there.
CR, of course it can be made relevant if your 6 CVs engage a pair of KB stalwarts and sink them all the way to Davey Jone's Locker. You know Chez has the perchance to move about in CV divisions as he is currently doing around Tarawa. You know where he is. He does not know with certainty where you are. It is not saving Pago that is the goal, but attriting his navy even further. It looks like an opportunity, and one that will surprise him while not unnecessarily risking the Fortress as he is highly unlikely to land without some CV support in the area.
Just a thought. If it does not fit your plan, then the rum runners will probably do the trick of getting enough supply to Pago to keep your AF viable there.
RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
Man I had to google tarry, I did'nt realise Webster was a southerner.[:D]You could tarry a bit
CR have you hurt his sub fleet?
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Canoerebel
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RE: Das darf nicht var sein!
Upon being told that there was no such word as "cooter" in Webster's Dictionary, a Confederate private said, "I have as much right to make a dictionary as Mr. Webster."*
*From Company Aytch, by Sam Watkins, 1st Tennessee Infantry. (Great book about the Civil War by one of those who participated in the fight.)
I haven't hurt Steve's sub fleet.
Princep, I think Steve's fondest hope is that his activity in the Pacific might draw the Allied carriers so that he wouldn't have to deal with them in Sumatra. Whether that's his hope or not, though, I wouldn't dare remove that force from the locus of by far the most important battle that will be fought in this match. To get them to SoPac and back would be a four to six week excercise with no promise of anything meaningful accomplished, while they guarantee Allied naval superiority in the IO until Japan brings the full KB back. They are playing a critical role right now.
*From Company Aytch, by Sam Watkins, 1st Tennessee Infantry. (Great book about the Civil War by one of those who participated in the fight.)
I haven't hurt Steve's sub fleet.
Princep, I think Steve's fondest hope is that his activity in the Pacific might draw the Allied carriers so that he wouldn't have to deal with them in Sumatra. Whether that's his hope or not, though, I wouldn't dare remove that force from the locus of by far the most important battle that will be fought in this match. To get them to SoPac and back would be a four to six week excercise with no promise of anything meaningful accomplished, while they guarantee Allied naval superiority in the IO until Japan brings the full KB back. They are playing a critical role right now.
"Rats set fire to Mr. Cooper’s store in Fort Valley. No damage done." Columbus (Ga) Enquirer-Sun, October 2, 1880.