GreasyLake Vs Vettim89, The Japan side

[GreasyLake]

Wow got a unit of Zeke at Tokyo and they are at 68 exp. Planning to substitute them for a 40's exp carrier wing.

Now here are my BB's and CA's. Got a lot of CL's.

[GreasyLake]

Forgot Carriers, easy to forget not many left.

[GreasyLake]

Transports left Timor, was getting ready to attack with fighters bombers and Kamikazes. Could not stand letting them sit there too long but now they are out of range. Well just that much longer I keep my fighters. After the barges and PT's now so I can sortie a SCTF. Next post when Tim moves to show what he is facing.

He should show up unexpectedly any day now. East side of Palembang land mass seems wide open. 3 Glen subs looking for a move here. Moving more air there ASAP.
Marcus seems to be hanging out there also. If the last carrier gets down to 3-4 SYS it will be time to move out there. Will try to draw his CV's after me close enough to Iwo/Saipan to hit him with LBA/Kami/everything attack. Also can work on another SCTF to use in the east (Malaya).

Hmmm gotta check if I have Ohka Betties now it is Feb.

[GreasyLake]

China, what a quagmire

[GreasyLake]

Canton secure- Div Bde ART NE enabled supplies to flow to units tied down N of Canton. 1100 guns to 3-4 hundred guns and he gets better results with bombardment attacks.

Everything seems pretty stable thanks to the poor assault value of Chinese units.

Sian industry and resources are 50% repaired generating supplies. 2 more Div and 2 Eng Reg back up to full strength and ordered east. Surrounding Yenan in order to destroy units there.
No fighters training anywhere with ground attacks. Allied fighters moved into Yenan and put an end to that latest effort.
Getting expensive to keep shipping supplies into Hong Kong due to LBA attacks but necessary to keep units supply levels up.
There is a nice juicy oil and res hub N of Kungchang but I may need to pull out units before I can get to it. Would be late 44 by then! Trying to position fighter/bomber/ TB units on Malay peninsula for TF heading that way. looks like next big bang

[John 3rd]

You don't have very much Fleet left to fight with.  What sorts of damage have you done to the Allies?

[GreasyLake]

Took a quick look on tracker anfound the following;

Ships Sunk Allied Japan

CV/CVL/CVE 8 16
BB/BC 5 8
CA/CL/CLAA/CS 26 29
DD/DE 62 75
SS 27 50

I do know that I lost a LOT of subs by throwing them under every Allied CV SCTF I could find. Also by aggressive ASW TF by Tim. Did not move my subs enough early on.

One Allied BB was scuttled when I took Singapore. Another sunk recently, last 6 months or so, by air off Malay. Unexpectedly wounded by Betties then hit again by same trying to flee.

The Carriers were all sunk near Tarawa or just a little west. The last encounter I got a newer class Allied CV and just barely escaped leaving one IJN CVL at I think Ponape to get sunk later. Taiho is just now finishing repairs from that fight. Lost practically all my fighters from all CV in one day of strikes and counter strikes.

Think I got one Allied CV rather early 10-15 hex south of Tarawa, my first lucky break.

Biggest mistake I have made is splitting KB into smaller groups and venturing too far out. And the last group of CV even a newly built one was lost to LBA just E of Kompong Son. Never even launched a strike. 2000lb bombs and gone. Was trying to hit troop and supply transports landing at Victoria Point from the safety of the other side of the peninsula. Not so safe!

If you search through Vettim's AAR you should find detailed accounts of all this with good dates and places. Trying to catch up on providing some sort of written record for him.

Lately he has soo many subs around Saipan Guam Tinian I am having good hunting for my own LBA.

[GreasyLake]

OK found this also

[GreasyLake]

First combat use of Kamikaze with very mixed results. two gorups of 27 planes from 2 different bases in close proximity. 27 of the smaller twin engine bomber max range 6 (can't think of their name right now) from Kendari and 27 Helen from Makassar? I think it is, base directly to their west. Some went in with escorts, some alone. Groups without escorts made as many through CAP as group with escorts!?

They were right about using fighter bombers to reduce AAA, not many made it through that. A barge was hit by 2 helens first. Some went after PT boats I think' great! Then lastly one 18 size Helen group unescorted went after the larger TF scoring a hit on a US CL destroying a 6 in turret and penetrating the deck armor.

Tim said he was suprised and immediately turned around at least one convoy somewhere.

The best thing to happen was each group had 3 pilots left at base. I replaced each with 24 more planes and 24 more 20-30 level pilots. Let them repair and rest and ready to crash again. I started with 7 Kami available have 5 left and 2 groups active.

Thought there might have been a carrier down there so I went for it. Had just moved 2 other bomber groups out towards Singapore to use on an impending invasion of Georgetown. It seems to have diverted to Rangoon temporarily. Maybe he is going to pound the local airfields to dust again first.

Will start to take better notes each turn, hard to do this a day later from memory.

[GreasyLake]

Quick note before supper

British CVTF spotted one day SW of Rangoon. May be coming to hit airfields ahead of landings.

Plenty of airfields on Malay peninsula with ample air support available. If CVTF continues on present course for another day will load every field with as many TB DB fighters Helens and Lily's (Kami) as possible. There is one small glitch, supply on the peninsula has become critical. Most bases are 1-2K including Georgetown and Kompong Som.

There was one DIV at Ban Don with zero supply. It supplied itself but took all the stockpiles at the base to do it. Trans TF landed at Kompong Son and was presently decimated by air over 3 days, maybe got 2-3 K off. Now have 3 convoys headed for Singapore with 20-30K each. May not be there in time. May also need oil or resources at Singapore.

There are 45K plus resources at Kuala Lumpur that I tried to get this month but was again prevented by air. I am planning on using my air assets against the CVTF, otherwise huge fighter sweeps take them out in 24-48 hours trying to maintain cover over a base.

Any successful landings south of Ban Don will spell disaster. Must prevent at any cost.

[GreasyLake]

One day of air attacks on Kendari. The invasion TF lazily sails under cover of heavy overcast unmolested by over a hundred Betties and Helens stationed within easy range, typical. Sometimes the weather helps, sometimes not.

[GreasyLake]

The clouds are not showing in this shot but they were there during the turn resolution. Going to miss those 2 experienced bomber units I withdrew trying to get their pilots into the pool. Take a look at the shape of my now distraught fighter units. Hey, I do have one navy pilot in the pool!

Meanwhile British CVTF seems to have returned to Rangoon, only a feint?

Did manage to transport some of that Inf Div from West Timor in. Now just hope Makassar launches something before it gets the same treatment.

[ny59giants]

How heavily are you using China to train up your new pilots?? After today, you will need to move your LBA around to fill in the gap that just got blown open. 

[GreasyLake]

Thought I put this on this morning, might be on someone else's

[GreasyLake]

Oh page two!!!

NYGiants China is pretty much a no-go for training. Whenever I start training with Nates, a larger group of P-40's show up there on CAP. If I try to train Tojo's, a larger CAP of p-38's shows up.

I think Vettim got really annoyed at the free training. Now I just put units on 90% somewhere safe and wait forever. Anything above 50 is front line fodder.

But until the last encounter I still had 60-70 exp units. They just got a lot less plentiful. Gotta look at somehow somewhere training up at least one or two fighter units.

[Capt. Harlock]

Whenever I start training with Nates, a larger group of P-40's show up there on CAP. If I try to train Tojo's, a larger CAP of p-38's shows up.

Well then, you need to start training Nates and then quickly switch to Tojo's -- and then move back to the HI before the Lightnings show up.[;)]

[GreasyLake]

Loaded up Makassar with Kami, fighters, and TB. Airfield attacked before first strike can launch. A6M5c cannot find target, rest has pretty dismal results. All survivors moved to Kendari and reinforced to try again. Kendari is zero damage on airfield 68% damage airfield service. Might be my last chance to mount this type of attack for awhile, running out of air assets. Leaving units in Pacific for pending action. In 1 or 2 days will launch carriers from Tokyo to try and help stem tide.

Forgot to upgrade Akagi on 1 Feb. Now upgraded but sys damage 4. Also forgot to evacuate ships from Kendari harbor, lost an AD.

[GreasyLake]

Aircraft pools after attacks. Noticed Mitsubishi engines sorta dropped off, big time. Switched some Nakajima factories. Found I had some Nakajima factories production turned off. Still have a lot of supplies around so not sure how mits engines got so low. Anyway I neeed more aircraft after the last week of attacks.

Loaded up Kendari and attacked. Kendari bombed, loaded up Makassar and attacked, Makassar bombed. By then Kendari repaired but not many planes left. Now wish I had waited till both bases loaded and attacked, duh. But did not really expect a landing in range of both, thought he might of been going a little more east. Enemy bomber range should now be to south coast of Borneo

[GreasyLake]

Just lost my last comments, something about carriers 1 day out from Saipan. Hope to draw his fleet carriers out on their own with them, give Betties a shot at the convoys. Only problem is the number of CVE's in the convoy might be enough to stop losses. I do have good size and quality TB/DB units around to help if I can draw something close enough. My 1 in 100 chance at victory.

[GreasyLake]

My fighter units have dropped off a little after the last match. Have enough (maybe) to hold Saipan/Guam/Tinian for awhile. may do some good if Marcus/Iwo goes. Gotta be Marcus any day, or Marcus and Iwo both! Enough land units on Malay peninsula to hold for no. more arriving in the next 30 days at Alor Star and Georgetown. I think the landings there were aborted when Kamikazes showed up although now I am not sure why after seeing the small effect they can have if not used by the hundreds.

Just realizing for the first time how bad Japan has it later in the war. The only thing keeping me in is ground units. No airforce west of the Philippines except for units training at Singapore and Palembang. Gotta watch for something hitting there soon also.