Elouda (Japan) versus Dennishe (Allies)

[jeffs]

Between the mini-KB and Betty`s the DEI can be nasty...Very nasty. For the mini KB the A-24s are nice to have around..If one of them manages to get through, it can cripple or even kill a CVE or CVL..Especially the CVEs as they are easier to hit (and the A24s will have crappy pilots). But even if an attack fails an IJN opponent with half a clue will make sure they are at least 5 hexes away from potential a24 attack spots...

[dennishe]

The A24s are underway to the DEI. I was planning to leave them at PM, but since there are not supplies enough, I decided to move them. I was hoping that the swordfish would penetrate through the Japanese cap. So far they didn't and since there are only 4 swordfish available, I decided to move them and use them to attack AKs and APs, where they actually have a change. The problem is that I'm not dealing with miniKB. It is reinforced with at least the Hiryu. It has a cap flying with over 80 zero's. My planes do not have a change. In addition, the Hudsons and Martins still don't hit anything. I'm actually thinking about putting them on ground attack missions.

[marky]

concentrate ur boats denny!! get all ur ships into soerbaja or 1 port if u can and concentrate ur fighters there. 

[dennishe]

His air strikes are too powerful. My fighters don't stand a change. All ships in port are doomed. I'm withdrawing my ships from Soerabaja hoping that some can escape. So far 50% of the ships are coming through. Especially the fast ships have a pretty decent change. Slowly I'm withdrawing my P40s to Kupang. There I have B17s and LB30s stationed. From there I will continue to fight and eventually withdraw to OZ........

[marky]

send them in different directions, he cant sink em all, i just pulled that trick on Bruno

i sent my less valuable ships North from Midway to Dutch Harbor, and the transports and warships to Pearl

he stayed north and killed the Bantha Fodder [:D]

and trading a cpl dozen fighters for a bunch of KBs bombers is ALWAYS a good trade [;)]

[dennishe]

In the round I posted above, he came without an escort. That has costed him 9 Kates and quite a few pilots. He won't make that mistake again.

[dennishe]

Soerabaja port is blokked by a Japanese surface fleet. No ship is getting out now. Two DDs that tried didn't make it, but did put a torpedo in the Fuso. I have sunk little of his capital ships yet, but damaged quite a few now. It would be nice if I can keep this up. The Dutch fleet is almost destroyed though.....
 
Night Time Surface Combat at 24,67
 
Japanese Ships
BB Fuso, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 1
CL Yura, Shell hits 1
CL Kinu
DD Minegumo
DD Oboro, Shell hits 1,  on fire
DD Sagi
DD Kari
DD Kiji
 
Allied Ships
DD Piet Hein, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
DD Van Ghent, Shell hits 16, and is sunk

[dennishe]

The Chitose went down today. I hit it with the mighty swordfish torpedo planes a few weeks ago and figured that it would be in bad shape after hits of two torpedo's. Apparently, she made it into Palau port before she sunk.

Elouda started out great in his offensive, but lately it is quit on the fronts. He is planning for something or he is first going to finish off Malaya and the Philippines before he is going to advance further. This might give me some time that I desperately need.

Southwest Pacific: Rabaul, Kavieng and the Admiralty islands have been taken. KB-1 has been spotted here a few days ago. An invasion of Lae was successfully repulsed, mainly by A24s sinking an entirely invasion force.

Pacific: Little has happened yet as the Japanese only took Makin, Tarawa and Nauru.

DEI: The Japanese landed on Borneo and except for the south have taken the entire island. KB-2 and surface TFs have destroyed my fleet at Soerabaja. Some ships I got out though. Now a surface TF is blokking Soerabaja port. I brought in the Swordfish torpedo planes to possibly hurt him. Kendari and Amboina are also fallen in Japanese hands.

Malaya: It is doomed. However, my troops are holding on great at the northern approach of Singapore. If I can keep them out of Singapore for a while this will give me the time to increase the fort level and stall him even longer

Burma: His advances stopped at Tavoy. The 18th UK division will land at Rabaul within a few days. I'm planning to put up a tough fight here. Further, preparations are being taken to defend Port Blair to all costs. I'm mining the place with a ML and MLE there. From here I can easily withdraw the British air units from Singapore and the DEI.

The Philippines: There is only heavy fighting at Lingayen. Clark Field, Bataan and Manilla are still mine. I'm planning to withdraw to Manilla in the very end. Fort levels are being increased. Manilla gives me a slightly better opportunity to supply it, since ships that make in unload faster. However, his bombers are superior and so far sank pretty much everything that tried to escape from the Philippines. I'm not sure whether I'm going to send any blokkade runners to the Philippines as I promised MacArthur.

[dennishe]

Since I'm waiting on turns I developped my strategy for the rest of the war. The war has
been only one and a half month old, but I think that keeping a long term strategy in mind
is always good. Inspired by Stalins strategy in 1945, where he let Zhukov, Rossovsky
and Konev compete for taking Berlin, I devided my troops into five main fronts, which all
have the orders to hold position and eventually fight a way back into Japan. Fronts that
will be falling behind will not longer receive units and carrier support and will be
reassigned to support other fronts. Time will tell, which one (if any at all) will reach Japan
first....

YELLOW FRONT (Central Pacific Command): This involves the most direct route to
Japan (invasions of Wake, Marcus, Saipan and Iwo Jima). Naval superiority is required
and these operations will not be carried out until the beginning of 1944, when my carrier
fleet matches his and have Hellcats, Helldivers and Avangers on board. I'm not worried
about the land war, since we have negotiated stacking limits for atolls.
For now, it means that Midway, Johnson Isl. and PH must be hold at all times or have to
be retaken.

GREEN FRONT (South Pacific Command): This involves the
northern "historical"route to Japan. The green front will be a difficult one, if Elouda
pushes for territory far in the Pacific. Pago Pago will be the main starting point for the
race to Japan. Currently, it is under Central Pacific command, but I will transfer it to
south eventually (when I have enough PP). To keep Pago Pago supplied also Tonga
(route from Panama) and Palmeyra (route from PH) must be hold. I placed the latter one
under central command since it is relatively close to PH and easier to defend from there
(also cheap on PP). South Pacific command will also be in charge to hold NZ and its
supply route. We have to keep our allies in the war as much as possible. Depending on
the situation (closeby island hopping possible or carriers required), operations can start
between the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1944.

ORANGE FRONT (Southwest Pacific Command): This involves the
southern "historical" route to Japan. Also the orange front will have a very tough job.
First OZ must be hold. Reading a lot of other AARs gives me the impression this will be
very difficult. Further I need to keep foot on the ground in the Solomons and/or New
Guinea. From there it is Island hopping to the Philippines or the Marianas. Since "plan
orange" will probably be most difficult and I expect to be fighting at this front troughout
the entire war directly from the start, I will use all troops for active operations and leave
the supply issue to South Pacific command.

RED FRONT (Northern Pacific Command): The red front will take the shortest
route to Japan, but due to the cold weather and lack of good bases when getting close to
Japan make this approach less desireable. Bases on Saklahin (or something that sounds
like this) are OK. For now it means that Dutch Harbor, Umniak isl. and Anchorange must
be hold. Amchitka island is also very desirable. I will not commit to much troops here if
Elouda decides to take the Aleoutins.

PURPLE FRONT (Southeast Asia command and India command): I will fight for
Burma. The 18th division will arrive at Rangoon within a few days. Keeping the Burma
road to China open is very desirable. Burma and China are perfect locations to make
Japan bleed in a very long war, which will cost him a lot of planes and armament. India
will not be defended at the coast. This will not work since there to many bases and planes
can be taken out by coastal bombardements. I will build up a response force in the
middle of the country from where I can strike back within days in case of a Japanese
invasion. Victoria Point, Georgetown and the tip of Sumatra are excellent bases to start
an offensive besides going for the frontal attack in Burma. This, however, will never be a
route to go for Japan directly and will focus on taking back the SRA or cutting Japan off
from the SRA.

Carriers are very valuable for these operations. I noticed this in a current game
(currenlty at May 1943), that a lack of carriers makes things really tough. Since I never
won a PBEM carrier battle in WITP, this means that I will not commit any carrier if
it is not absolutely necessary. Fighting back and stalling the Japanese advances from day
one is absolutely the to follow strategy. Don't know yet how these contradicting orders
will be put to play....

[marky]

fascinatin, gotta love the long range war planning [:)]

though it may be better for you to maintain a "strategic defensive" situation in Alaska and the Aleutians, since the weather is usually horrendous for most of the year, and planes arent that useful, so it may be better to commit some of those forces to other fronts and go for the jugular with your augmented forces

the SwPac is always a great way to cause an attrition war that japan cant afford

also an invasion of Java while hes tied down in other places, perhaps along with the Celebes

1 time against the AI i trapped the Jap Army in Burma and destroyed 80000 of them, including the Imperial Guard, then i liberated Malaya and Indochina and went up the coast of China, as far as Shanghai

all the units had about 98 exp [:D]

was an unstoppable juggernaut and i had about 500 planes supporting them

by the fall of 43 i was bombing mainland japan

concentrate those subs at choke points and in the SRA and along the oil routes!

and dont be too worried about carrier battles, theyre not so hard when ya get the hang of things [;)]

[marky]

also if u push hard on the yellow front, you can cut him off from the SRA, and just as importantly, be able to forward base all those boats youre gonna get, and be able to get em hitting the convoy lanes harder, and faster

[dennishe]

The American subs will be used for mining enemy bases until they stop using duds. Dutch and British subs will be used for sub patrol. I will use my carriers if the odds are in my favor. 
 
The weather at the "red front" (see figure above, I do not mean the Russian front) is tough, but it is very close to Japan. Further I have quite some regiments in Panama and at the West Coast, that I can reassign to the other fronts. Further, I'm rulling my troops as an absolute dictator and will make changes to the troop assigment whenever necessary for the greater cause.
 
Further, I think the "race for Japan" is not just a cool story for my AAR, but will result in massive fighting all over the Pacific. A battle he eventually will loose on the numbers (resources, planes, armament, ......). The stacking limits of troops on atolls will be in my favor. I can take islands briefly (compared to islands unhistorically guarded by 5 divisions) all over the pacific, resulting in a sort of "Blitzkrieg", whereby I'm not planning to take every island, but will force him to defend his empire everywhere. However, this strategy will only work if I have absolute air and naval superiority at the end of 1943.
 
I'm very open for further suggestions or concerns.........

[dennishe]

also if u push hard on the yellow front, you can cut him off from the SRA, and just as importantly, be able to forward base all those boats youre gonna get, and be able to get em hitting the convoy lanes harder, and faster

 
Problem with operations in the Central Pacific ("Yellow front") is that islands are far apart and that I probably can't start operations before the end of 1943 (the carrier odds have to be in my favor otherwise I run the risk of my invasion fleet being destroyed by KB). Logical further moves for both yellow and green is to take the Philippines, Okinawa or Formosa to cut off the SRA. I left these arrows out, since these operations are very far ahead.

[marky]

indeed

dont forget the s-boats have the mark 10 fish that actually work

[dennishe]

KB-1 is hunting for my carriers. Clearly Elouda does not read my AAR. I do not care about Noumea. It is a death trap. The French are on their own. The Lexington is the only carrier in the area and it is located a little south of PM close to the OZ coast. The Saratoga is located near Pago Pago, escorting the 2nd marines division. The Yorktown and Enterprise are at PH. Brisbane is a logical next target where I expect KB-1 to strike. I clearled its port and have 3 squadrons of B17s on naval search. These were originally en route to Southeast Asia.

[dennishe]

Since nothing is happening at the fronts I'm going to post the status of the different fronts. This is the Burma (PURPLE) front. I moved in the 18th UK division and the Chinese divisions that are attached to Southeast Asia Command. In the mainland in India I'm building up response force that should counter a possible Japanese invasion. I do not expect one within two months. In the near future I plan to transfer some US regiments from Panama (no Japanese troops allowed here by house rules) to guard India and support the Burma front. If I transfer these regiments to southeast asia command in CHS, do they reappear after 60 days in Adan or Karachi? First I have to wait for more political points. I ran out....

[dennishe]

End january 1942: It has been awfully quiet in the Pacific. Besides air strikes at Java little is going on. [>:] Both on the Philippines and at Singapore, the Japanese are starving my troops and don't push to take Clark Field or Singapore yet. And apparently, he is using all his troops to do so, since he is not pushing on any fronts at the moment. This is a perfect opportunity to set up a defense further down the road. The 18th UK division is already at Moulmein and this place will be fiercely defended. This is the situation in the Southwest Pacific. The Japanese have installed a base at Rangoon, where he has lots of Betty bombers but so far did not push further. An invasion of Lae has been repelled. Mainly by A24s, who sunk almost the entire unescorted invasion fleet. I now have small AK TFs reinforcing Port Moresby. Here I'm going to fight back. I'm transporting P40s from Java to Cairns (It is amazing to see how little spare fighters I have. I think I'm going to disband some units on the West Coast for a while). I have upgraded several RAAF Hudson squadrons to Dakota I's. The Hudsons don't hit anything and I will need the Dakotas to keep PM supplied and to fly in reinforcements. Don't care about AKs being sunk, but not if they are loaded with troops. The 1st OZ division is underway to Cairns (split up in A B and C compagny and shipped seperately in case KB shows up) and will from there fly to PM.

[dennishe]

My transports were just unloaded, when suddenly KB showed up. It was a total carnage. I just moved my escort TF including the Saratoga a few hexes away just a few days ago, since there was a submarine in the vicinity. The same submarine probably notified KB of the whereabouts of a large Allied TF and a CV. Fortunately, no ground troops or CVs were harmed and only APs and AKs were sunk/damaged, although I'm really running out of these....

Day Air attack on TF, near Pago Pago at 96,113

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 37
D3A2 Val x 134
B5N2 Kate x 100

Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 3 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F2A-3 Buffalo: 7 destroyed

Allied Ships
AP Ruth Alexander, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP Mariposa, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Exceller, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
AK Idaho, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP President Polk, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP President Fillmore, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Exchequer, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Wharton, Bomb hits 2
AO Kaskaskia, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP President Monroe, Bomb hits 5, on fire
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Admiral Cole, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Shooting Star, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Cushing, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Morris, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
AK Coast Trader, Bomb hits 4, on fire
AP Chateau Thierry, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Exiria, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Henderson, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Hoegh Merchant, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Day Air attack on TF, near Pago Pago at 96,113

Japanese aircraft
D3A2 Val x 67
B5N2 Kate x 60

Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 1

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
AP President Fillmore, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Hoegh Merchant, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Admiral Cole, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Etolin, Bomb hits 4, on fire
AK Exiria, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Exchequer, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Henderson, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Idaho, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Excelsior, Bomb hits 4, on fire
AP President Garfield, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
AK Exceller, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Wharton, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Coast Trader, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Day Air attack on TF at 99,112

Japanese aircraft
B5N2 Kate x 21

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
TK Alfred Clegg, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
TK H.T. Harper, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
TK Solana

Day Air attack on TF, near Pago Pago at 96,113

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 38
D3A2 Val x 24

Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F2A-3 Buffalo: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
AK Ensley City, Bomb hits 4, on fire
AK K.I. Luckenbach, Bomb hits 3, on fire
AK Dorothy Luckenbach, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Henry S Grove, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage

[2ndACR]

Ouch.......that really sucked. I would have ceased everything moving anywhere if I knew KB was even in the area.

[dennishe]

The attack of KB came as a total suprise. I had no clue where it was. The transport TF was covered by a CV, but I moved it back, because there was a submarine in the area. Fortunately, it was not detected and the Saratoga did not react and did not attack KB spontaneously. Anyway, I know where it is now, which makes it a bit easier to move the 1st OZ division around. Tomorrow, I'm going to suprise the Japanese at Adak island. They just landed there and I have a bombardement attack planned with the Warspite and 4 DDs. Hopefully, the invasion fleet is still there. Otherwise, the Japanese troops at Adak will just get a warm welcome in the cold of Adak island....