A Norwegian CiC Allied Forces - No Roy2008!

[terje439]

December 17th
Speech by PM W.Churchill on radio
We shall fight the Japanese with all available force, we shall put increasingly harder pressure on him, and he will eventually crumble. I am very confident that CiCPac Terje439 is more than up to the task despite himself claiming there is little he can do at the moment to stop the Japanese steamroller. While I would desiree to increase the number of troops, planes and ships available to him, other theaters of war has to have priority. We are fighting an Iron Axis, and while we do not worry about defeat, we have to prioritize were to send our troops. Germany must and will be tackled before we head for Japan.
Newspapers have printed maps stolen from CiCPac's offices, and this will not do. While defending themselves with freedom of the press, such actions surely can only be of aid to the enemy!

[terje439]

December 18th 1941
Newsreel on the cinemas
Narrator: Onwards to victory!
When learning that the Japanese are continuing to advance in the Kuriles, and with their carriers and battleships accounted for, CiCPac has decided to let lose the riegns of war. After refueling at Dutch Harbour, the USN Colorado with a strong escort of destroyers have been given orders to hunt down the enemy transports and sink them.
As the enemy draws nearer to Hawaii CiCPac has decided to try to fight a delaying action with two taskforces made up of the so called PT-boat. These small crafts are fast and nimble, and in the upcoming fight their main role will be to delay the enemy landing long enough for our bigger ships to arrive on the scene. Our fine submariners has spotted the enemy carriers, and report that they have been stationary just off Johnson Island for some time, and should pose no threat for our surface fleet.

[terje439]

December 19th 1941
Broadcast on the radio on the Hawaiian islands
This is not a test!
All able men are to report to your nearest police station, please bring any weapons you might possess.
The Japanese carrier fleet has been spotted closing in on the Hawaiian Islands, and so is a convoy of Japanese transports. We can only guess that they intend to land on Hawaii!
All able men are to report to your nearest police station, please bring any weapons you might possess!

[terje439]

December 20th 1941
Friegthened citizens on Hawaii gathered outside CiCPac HQ
citizen: what will the navy, army and airforce do to the Japanese fleets located at our southern Islands?
CiCPac: our airforce has allready heavily damaged four of their transports carrying troops, and our PT boats managed to score a gun hit on one of their destroyers. Unfortunately without our carriers we cannot send in all our ships, as they are likely to be sunk by the enemy carriers.
citizen: what happens if they get ashore?
CiCPac: then we will fight them, bomb then and bombard them. This is not a position they will be able to hold too easily. As another mean of defence our submarines are now being deployed to the islands at all possible speed in hope of scoring enough hits to scare the enemy away. But at this moment I am afraid it is all thouch and go! We will not however give up Hawaii without a heavy fight. The navy has even offered to launch what might almost be described as suicide missions against the enemy fleets. However atleast two enemy carriers are located to the south and another to the north of Pearl, so we hope to avoid having to send the fleet. Hopefully our B17s and Bolos can scare the enemy away!
CiCPac: I would also mention our recent success in the Aleutians as a sign that we have not given up, up north the enemy lost two transports, and our surface fleet is now on their way to bombard an enemy airfield. In the NEI the enemy is wasting his efforts bombing empty locations, only closing down airfield they themselves could use if they had just invaded. So although things are looking rough here in Hawaii, the enemy is not in for an easy victory. We will fight on, and we will defend Pearl Harbour to the last of our ability!

[Commander Stormwolf]

It is suggested to have the allied carriers organized in a single giant mass.
If any of the marine fighter squadrons have been saved from Wake / Midway, they
can be placed upon the carriers.

It should be considered that in terms of survivability and staying power, the allied fleet
is far superior to the enemy provided that numerical parity can be achieved at the point
of contact. If a battle could be organized between 4/5 USN CV and 3 enemy CV, a favourable outcome should result. For early months, the best arrangement for the US Carriers is

1 x Squadron Marine F4F (24)
1 x Squadron Navy F4F (27)
2 x Squadron Navy SBD (36)
1 x Squadron Marine SBD (16)

--> Total 103 planes per carrier


- for late 1942 -

1 x Squadron Marine F4F (24)
1 x Squadron Navy F4F (36)

+ Combination of SBD / Avengers (43 total)

With Sixty fighters for each of the five main US CVs,
enough assets can be preserved for both offensive and defensive purposes.

[terje439]

Well....That might prove somewhat difficult since two of my flattops went blob-blob on Dec 7th and Dec 9th [:@]

*edit* this was not ment as a harsh reply to Commander Stormwolf, and if experienced as such, I do greatly apologize. This was merely an observation of my own failures so far in the game.

[terje439]

December 21st 1941

Headlines in all major newspapers
Japanese forces land on Kona!
Despite valiant effort from our PT boats to disrupt the enemy transports, the Japanese managed to land troops at Kona. The landing zone is heavily defended by the Japanese, with two carriers, two battleships as well as several cruisers and destroyers. Our bombercrews stationed at Pearl Harbour flew two sorties each last night, scoring several hits on the enemy transport ships as well as on some of their smaller armed vessels.
CiCPac Terje439 yesterday claimed that he would risk alot to keep Pearl Harbour safe, and today he announced that the time of desperation is at hand. After several hours of contemplating he finally accepted the USN's suggestion of massing enough surface vessels and go in to kill the enemy task force currently located north of Pearl Harbour. The fighting will be hard, and the outcome is nowere guaranteed, as the enemy taskforce is known to contain atleast 2 carriers, 3 heavy cruisers and 1 destroyer. Against this force the USN has deployed 3 individual task force which combined has the following ships - 6 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 7 light cruisers, 47 destroyers, 2 patrol crafts and one patrol gunboat. So tonight our prayers go out to the brave men aboard all those ships. The fate of Pearl Harbour is now in their hands.

Japanese troops sighted in Manilla!
A few Japanese combat units have been spotted in Manilla, all our forces present are now going on the offence to force the enemy back out of the city.

Japan continues to bomb the empty city of Batavia.
CiCPac claims that he has no issues with that, the city is empty and all the Japanese are currently doing is destroying the airfields they themselves could operate out of.

Keep an eye out! For submarines!
The enemy seems to use a tactic were his submarines will go into a port and lay mines a week or so before he launches an invasion, so if you spot what you believe to be a submarine, tell the authorities!

[Commander Stormwolf]

The keys to victory are infinite planning and patience

A possibilty is to have all Dutch + British torpedo planes consolidated at a single
base and used as a force against the enemy invasion fleets in the DEI / Burma.

Essentially, in the early stages, it is essentially that strategic dispositions are
organized in such a manner where the scarcity of materials can be mitigated.

Usually a concentration of force against piecemeal attacks in a *strategic defence*
posture is usually effective. Assets that are seen as expendable, such as supply vessels
and other auxillaries may be compromised without much long-term complications
(for example may be wise to send a large mass of convoys to Pearl Harbor) in single ships task forces on a one-way resupply effort.

The remaining carriers should perhaps be conserved in whatever way possible,
either having the carried-based aircraft re-position to Oahu and leaving the carriers in dry dock on the west coast (such as San Diego) and have them surrounded with all AA battalions on the west coast consolidated in that city. Otherwise, these can be used in other theatres as a nuissance raiding force, or finally sent against the Hawaii Invasion force.

[terje439]

Yes, I agree to your post above, the problem was that my opponent had plans of his own [:D]

At this early stage, my targets are as follows;
1. Hold PH
2. Hold Tricomalee
3. Hold Dutch Harbour
4. Hold Noumea
5. Hold Brisbane
6. Hang on/hold Port Moresby
7. Hang on as long as possible in Manilla
8. Hang on as long as possible in Soerebaja

And due to my opponents moves, several secondary objectives have been added;
a) do something clever in China...Not sure what, or how, but his forces are steamrolling through my northern cities, so I might have to regroup in China "interior". And it would help if those Chinese airplanes would actually take off, preferably with bombs, which they hopefully would drop on the enemy...So far, 0 sorties by the Chinese airforce.
b) Strenghten Burma and retake Mandalay (held by 2 Japanese Para brigades and a "mixed regiment", my forces atm 4 base forces, one CD unit and one INF brigade(?)), enroute from Karachi by sea is all Commonwealth armour that starts in Karachi.
c) end the threat to PH, this will be difficult, phase one is in place with my surface fleets doing a gung-ho attack on a fleet with two CVs, hopefully enough hits are made (these two CVs are the ones allready hit on Dec 9th, so hopefully they allready have some SYS damage). Pasrt two will be to threathen the CVs south of PH,, and either sink them or drive them away. This will allow me to land some engineers on Lihu to expand the AF there to size 4.

As stated earlier, this is my first game against anything but the AI, and so far I've been hit with one surprise after the other. I've decided that I can no longer afford an all out Sir Robin defence, as that just allows him to swallow up the entire Pacific before I am anywere near a counterattack. So, in the Aleutians my surface fleet sunk two APs which were island-hopping with a small unit just capturing bases, and now I'm trying to make him protect his CVs, and force him away from Hawaii.
Atm I hope to keep my remaining CV afloat, so she is kept behind, so are my MSW and DM/DMS. I've lost probably close to 60 ships by now (poor Penguin was not sunk at day one, but kept a steady corse for PH before being sunk by enemy CVs on Dec 16th just off PH...[:(])

If todays action gives me something like;
2CVs+1CA sunk for 4BBs and 3CAs I will consider it a success
1CV+1CA sunk for 4BB and 3CA is ok
0CV+Anything sunk for 2BB+ I will consider a failure.

A hard wait this one [:D]

[khyberbill]

A few thoughts.

Holding the cities you mentioned is always a good tactic. Now and then a quick strike force of CL+DD from Soerabaja, Noumea, Dutch Harbor etc will make the difference if he doesnt escort the landing. I always try to send small SAG's to these areas. I doubt if he would try for Brisbane this early. More likely Darwin or other northern City. Send some of those Aus armored units and cavalry north. Note that there is a bug in land movement in Australia if you try to send troops to far at once. I rarely send them more than 300 miles at a time.

PM is almost impossible to hold early in the game. The Japanese player can just bring too much pressure to bear on that city. Be prepared to evacuate your base forces.

Please also note that it is very rare for surface combat to get to CV's. I think the way the game engine looks at it is that if your BB's show up on one edge of the hex, the engine moves the enemy CV's to the opposite edge to mimic real life. There was a thread about this a few months ago.

Good luck, happy hunting

[terje439]

And right you were.
His CVs has far longer legs than my surface ships..

December 22nd 1941
Message broadcast at Pearl Harbour
The entire Island is under blackout! Stay home, do not stay outside!
The enemy has captured Kona. The island is under blackout, stay home, do not stay outside!

Message recieved by CiCPac Terje 439 from allied surface fleets
Attack failed. Stop.
2 heavy cruisers and 1 Patrol craft sunk. Stop.
Enemy losses none. Stop.
Awaiting new orders. Stop.

Orders from CiCPac Terje439 to all allied surface vessels near PH
From CiCPac to all surface vessels. Stop.
Attack enemy shipping at Kona. Stop.
Enemy forces known to be 5 heavy cruisers, 1 battleship, two carriers and two transport fleets. Stop.
Goodspeed. Stop.

Newspaper headline mainland USA
Success in the Aleutians!
Our brave fleet today attacked a Japanese base and destroyed 10 planes on the ground and damaged the airfield. This should show the Japanese that we are no pushover!

Radio braodcast in all allied nations
The brave defenders at Manilla failed to throw the Japanese back out of the city. The 80.000 defenders did not have enough force to push out the 45.000 Japanese soldiers allready in the city. We all wish them the best!

[terje439]

December 23rd 1941
Heated arguement between President Roosevelt and CiCPac Terje439
Roosevelt: the entire world demands action. You are allowing the Japanese to move around our biggest base without trying to interfere. This will not do!
CiCPac: With all due respect, without any carriers to protect my surface vessels it is going to be a slaugter. Just and hour ago several of our battleships were attacked by divebombers and torpedoplanes. Two of them are heading for Pearl Harbour with heavy damage. But all our forces are trying to engage the enemy carriers at Kona. Our PT boys paid a heavy price with four of our PTs sunk for one enemy minesweeper.
Roosevelt: Then why do you not use your planes?
CiCPac: Because our fighters simply fall from the air the moment an enemy Zero-fighter shows up, and our bombers seems incapable of hitting anything. During the last 48 hours our landbased bombers have dropped some 500 bombs over the enemy taskforces, and scored 2 hits. That is how bad our bombing is, and that is just by carpetbombing. If they were to try to hit anything in peculiar our hitrate would be even lower.
Roosevelt: Something must be done!
CiCPac: then give me more carriers and trained pilots!!

[terje439]

December 24th 1941
Message from CiCPac to all allied surface vessels around PH

To all surface vessels. STOP
Return to PH. STOP
Enemy carriers have linked up. STOP
Destruction to be left to PTs, land based bombers and subs. STOP
Two more friendly battleships damaged. STOP
Keeping of a surface fleet vital. STOP
Betty and Nell bombers now operate off Johnson Island. STOP
Two enemy transports sunk by bombers off Kona. STOP
One enemy PG sunk by PTs off Kona. STOP
Merry Christmas. STOP

[terje439]

December 25th 1941
Headline in all the newspapers based in Hawaii
Enemy carrier fleet turns back!
The enemy carrier fleets that have been making the waters around Hawaii inot a no-sail zone are reported to have turned back. We estimate that this is due to low levels of supply, all is not rosy red however, as our secret agent within CiCPac's office reveals that Johnson Island has been built up. The harbour there is now just as extensive as the one at Pearl Harbor. This should indicate that the enemy will continue with keeping Pearl Harbour under heavy surveilance and the threat of the enemy carriers is likely to persist for a long time. Our agent also informs us that all our subs around PH are being withdrawn from their tours. Rumors has it that these submarines will now lay mines at the port at Johnson Island in the vain hope of scoring a few hits on the enemy ships there.
Reinforcements are reported as being on their way to Pearl Harbour, this increase of the local garrison is reported to consist of two AA-brigades and a unit of heavy costal guns to help prevent an enemy invasion. Also promised are several ships filled with all sorts of neccessary supplies. Let us just hope these ships will arive before the enemy carrierfleets are back!

[terje439]

December 26th 1941
Washington Post front page
Our employers have managed to get hold of a CiCPac map of the area around Pearl Harbour. The map contains alot of information that made everyone at this newspaper very much afraid when it comes to the safety of Pearl Harbour.
See for yourself. The comments are made by personell at the CiCPac HQ.

[terje439]

December 26th 1941
Washington Post last page
Our brave men continue their valiant efforts.
At Pearl Harbour our fighter squadrons reports to have shot down 6 B5N Kates that tried to assault the harbour.
And most notably, our lads in their small PT boats continue their success (see image below for a picture taken by one of the men fighting on the northern-most PT!)

A minor setback was the fact that Japan finally realised that Batavia was an open city and occupied it, but CiCPac Terje439 claims this to be no big issue as the choice not to defend the city was taken long ago.

[terje439]

December 27th 1941
Headline in major newspapers
DISASTER IN THE PACIFIC!
In a serious of attacks, the Japanese has scored the following successes:
-Bataan, Moulmein, Munda and Canton Islands were all captured by the Japanese
-Madang and Kunga have been invaded with enough Japanese troops to ensure that they will fall tomorrow
-Pearl Harbour the victim of two vicious air attacks. This resulted in 16 Japanese planes shot down versus 65 of our own, a 4:1 ratio! The enemy bombers then followed up with scoring a number of hits all over the island, shutting down the airfield completely due to heavy damage, as well as scoring 12 bomb hits on 10 different ships in the port. For some reason the port itself was practically undamaged. Of the remaining fighters on the Island, 24 F4-F Wildcats are damaged and alot of these must be eexpected to be destroyed on the ground tomorrow.
-An enemy task force of 15 minesweepers was detected off Batavia, clearly with the aim of clearing the port of mines. Unfortunately our Dutch allies did not manage to score any hits even when they scrambled almost 40 bombers against those ships.

When trying to get a report from CiCPac Terje439 as to what he has ordered, all he replied was that the submarines in Pearl Harbour is under orders to place mines at Johnson Island as well as Kona, and that his only asset against the enemy carrier fleet is the PT boats.

[terje439]

Update of my "to-do"-list

1. Keep reinforcing Soerebaja. Silly me had it expanding its defences and not its port. Reaching lvl 9 port gives me access to mines...Order changed to expand port (forts at lvl 5)
2. Keep pounding the few Japanese forces in the Kuriles. I now have 3BBs as well as a few DDs and two PGs (with long legs) in Dutch Harbour, these will continue to bombard the enemy bases. If nothing else it will destroy some planes on the ground.
3. After realising that Japan is NOT showing in force in the southern parts of the Pacific, the available forces in Noumea and Brisbane will form two small surface TFs and head out hunting for Japanese transports
4. British armour has been offloaded in Burma and will then drive on to help our units at Mandalay to retake that base
5. PH...Now this is whats keeping me hit my own head with an oversized hammer all the time. AF closed. Heavy surface ships damaged. Subs not able to hit anything if they were to launch a torpedo. Only units that seem kapable of doing anything are my PTs. However supplies are running low at PH, and with the KB living around the base I cannot get any ships in...And with Johnson Island a lvl 9 port and lvl 4 AF, I'm in a thight spot. It seems my opponent is going for PH, if so I am truely bad off. And it aint even -42 yet [X(]
6. Manilla. I am not able to push the enemy out, nor is he able to take the base. But every day shows him bombing and using his artillery to have a go at the base. Supplies will soon be an issue here as well.

Summary - at this point it seems a Jap auto-victory might show its ugly head in mid-42. It seems at the moment all I have going is two simple facts:
a) I'm too stupid to realise I'm beat in every single way
b) I'm too stubborn to give up just because he is sinking everything I own that floats, killing anything I have that stands on firm ground, and shooting down anything I have that is in any way airborne. (good luck I do not own a parrot I suppose)

[terje439]

December 28th 1941
Headline in major newspapers
THE DISASTER IN THE PACIFIC CONTINUES!
Today Pearl Harbour was once more the target of aerial attacks, the result was devastating;
-8 Japanese planes shot down to our 24 lost in the air and on the ground.
-The ships in port took a total of 15 bomb hits and 4 torpedo hits, this resulted in the sinking of the USN Pennsylvania,
and the scuttling of the USN West Virginia and the USN California.
-Lunga, Biak, Madang, Merak and Taiping fell to Japanese assaults.
-Russel Island reported of being invaded and doubted they could hold out longer than untill tomorrow.

Our offensive actions did not go as planned as some PTs on their way from Manilla to Soerebaja ran into several smaller Japanese carriers, resulting in one PT sunk. On the good side however is the fact that one of the Japanese carriers of type CVL or CVE (unknown as our PT captains could not recognise her) was trailing smoke.
25 Dutch bombers based at Soerebaja attacked the enemy task force of minesweepers operating at Batavia, without hitting anything but fish.

And a friend of our female reporter in Hawaii tells us that 9 Dauntless dive bombers of the VSMB-232 have been relocated from Pearl Harbour to Lahaina. Orders is supposedly also given to anything that remains afloat in Pearl Harbour to make a run for San Fransisco. Apperently CiCPac estimates the situation to be so dire that Pearl Harbour at the moment is unsuitable as an anchorage.

[Commander Stormwolf]

Greetings,

An inventory of remaining Allied Fleet Assets would be most useful --> how many CVs and Battleships are in fighting condition,
as well as possibly an inventory of LBA availability.

Despite the circumstances, plans could certainly be made for an interdiction of enemy forces that have become over-extended.

If possible, the British fleet could be sent across the pacific for combined operations with the USN CVs, otherwise the USN CVs could be dispatched for combined operations in the Australia/South Pacific Region.

If the 3 remaining USN CVS can be combined with the British Fleet, and a battle can be fought under friendly LBA co-ordination, then damage to the enemy force can certainly be inflicted.

Also use of the British / Dutch torpedo planes in the DEI can be quite devastating on convoys that are unprotected by LBA air cover (and even so, a large escort of Buffalos / Etc can be sufficient for an adequate penetration by Swordfish planes.