BoB - Kevin v Swift

[K.Pooley]

Turn 15 (I muddled the dates before) - Planning

Now that most of my bomber crews are at least reasonably rested, the time has come to step up the tempo of ops again.

[1] Radar sites. As usual, hit all bombed sites that show signs of rebuilding, and recced those that need it. About 60 recce missions in all, including AFs and some inductrial targets.

[2] 11 Gp AFs
0916 Hornchurch 45 x '111s (+72 x '109s) at 6,000' (No HAA)
0929 Biggin Hill 66 x '88s (+64 x '110s) at 10,000'
0924 Westhampnett 22 x Stukas (+41 x '109s) at 13,000'
0924 Tangmere 50 x Stukas +93 x '109s) at 13,000'
The odd timing of these four raids is to (hopefully) put them over their targets at exactly the same time.

[3] Little 'Piddlers'
This worked so well last time I thought I'd try it again. Small, low-level raids using good crews and lots of recce.
Several ARMs, plus STEEL, EP and Cresswall RADAR in an attempt to make Newcastle more exposed.

[4] Night Missions
Lots of raids (15-65 bombears each) against mainly industrial targets, scattered over the map. I've never done much with night raids so this is a bit if a shot in the dark (pun intended).

[K.Pooley]

[/quote]


I think it was 1.01, we started in the first week of December.

[/quote]

What am I talking about? [&:] We started at the end of September.

[K.Pooley]

Up to the end of Turn 8 (played about 10th November) total kills by my bomber units were 52, exactly the same as they are now after 14 turns.

[K.Pooley]

Turn 15 Post-Mortem

[1] Radar Sites
Dreadful result, here, as Dunkirk and Bawdsey (CH) and Dunwich (CHL) all have 48% damage, just low enough to operate effectively (see screenshot below). One spectacular success, however, was that involving a staff flight of 3 x Ju 88s (Exp:90) which totally destroyed Flamborough Head RADAR in a daring raid, flying in across the North Sea at just 300'.

[K.Pooley]

[2] 11 Gp AFs
As the chart below shows, there was very little change in the picture here, but reconnaissance needs to be stepped up, as several AFs do not have current photos.

[K.Pooley]

[3] Mixed success with some damage to factories, while the important Cresswell RADAR was not even damaged.

[4] Night Missions
Intelligence received (OK, Werner couldn't resist telling me!) indicates little damage done to the large number of targets visited during a busy night, most being missed entirely.

[K.Pooley]

Turn 16

A lot to do, and most bomber gruppen will be flying two mission to make it happen.

[1] Radar
The 17 targets marked in ORANGE need to be hit today, while the GREEN ones are ok to be left. In addition, Staxton Wold is to be knocked out to open a large gap in the network on the North Sea coast, which should make fresh industrial targets around Sheffield available. So important, two separate low-level raids two hours apart.

I think I may have reached (or more likely gone beyond) the point at which I have to expend more effort keeping RADAR stations down than I have left to attack anything else with. After all there's no point in knocking out radar stations just to make it easy to attack radar stations! A more sensible solution might be to a) maintain a smallish area completely clear of functioning radar (e.g. SE England), b) concentrate on CH and benefit from the greatly reduced detection range or c) concentrate on CHL and benefit from the ability to slip raids in under the CH coverage. Out of curiosity I think I'll carry on as I am, and see if/when it becomes untenable.

As usual, I will use the Stukas for as many RADAR targets as possible, since there's not a huge range of targets they can reach.

Recce Notes: Walton, Bromley and West Prawle will all require PR early a.m.(no current photo), as will the three stations that have come back online, and all 37 RADAR on the list will need to be recce'd at the end of the day.

[2] 11 Gp AFs
Strikes on:
North Weald, because there are lots of fighters, it's relatively undamaged, and good photos
Biggin Hill, targetting the whole sector, with additional strikes on:
Lympne
Hawkinge
and Detling as these three SECAFs have good photos and lots of aircraft.

Major recce of all AFs in group, every AF at least once plus any pre-attack recces needed for raids taking place today.

[3] North Sea Coast Targets
Since my plan is that the RADAR strikes should have created a gap in the coverage around what I'm already thinking of as 'The Sheffield Gap', Werner will probably be expecting me to pile foolhardily in with some hefty unescorted bombing raids (like I usually do). Thinking this, I intend to do nothing much all day on this front and then late in the afternoon fling as many bombers (Ok, so that's not going to be very many) as I can everywhere else, in low-level attacks on targets on/near the coast. Hopefully a lot of FC will then be on the ground having spent most of the day patrolling The Gap to stop me hitting the big targets.

As extra 'show' I'm throwing both flights of recce birds from Aalborg at the big (hopefully exposed) industrial targets, at a variety of altitudes and times. Might work!

At the same time I'll be sending several strong fighter sweeps across SE-England.

[4] Night Raids
Just two raids, 60-80 bombers each, against the very large Scunthorpe steelworks and Prince of Wales power station.


Bomber Force Available:

Counting all full gruppen with MOR of 40 or more I have just:

7 x Ju 87B-2
7 x Do 17Z-2
8 x He 111H-4
12 x Ju 88A-5

But of course the level bombers can fly up to twice a day. As usual I've got too much going on, trying to cover everything at once, but interesting to see how it turns out.

[K.Pooley]

[1] Radar
A good day's effort, although with some disappointing results. As the AR chart below shows radar targets were attacked with considerable effects. However, the three I was most counting on were failures:

Dover & Dunkirk were both total misses, and as a result the whole of the SE and most of East Anglia was left covered by British radar. The failure to even damage the Staxton Wold site is to be much regretted.


[2] 11 Gp AFs
North Weald Considerable damage to the airfield and (possibly?) some a/c losses.

The attack on the Biggin Hill sector went especially well, with BH getting hammered, and Lympne, Hawkinge and Detling all taking heavy damage.

[3] North Sea Coast Targets
'The Sheffield Gap'
As mentioned above, failure to hit Staxton Wold radar caused my 'cunning plan' to fail. Maybe I should have just dropped turnips on them.

Elsewhere along the northeast seaboard, Montrose SECAF got hit hard, as did several Scottish RADAR stations.

[4] Night Raids
No apparent successes.

[K.Pooley]

Group 11 Update

[K.Pooley]

Turn 17

As it is essential against a human opponent to change tactics from time to time, instead of going after industrial targets I will instead be pounding the other sector airfields in 11 Group, as well as two of the three in 10 Group + 1 of 12 Gp, going for an extra AS point hopefully They will go in from about 1330+, with lots of recce of course. The Debden, Hornchurch and Northolt raids will be synchronised for a 'starburst' effect, so that British radar will show about 600 aircraft incoming, splitting for their separate targets a few minutes after crossing the Essex coast.


[1] Radar
At least yesterday's efforts did a good job of knocking down most of the RADAR sites. The only ones that need hitting today are West Prawl (75%) and High Street (74%) plus of course the three missed on Tuesday (yesterday, 27/8/40).

Since the last three are so important I will task two raids against each, to increase the chance of getting them. Altogether these make up raids 8 to 17.

[2] AFs
Debden, Hornchurch, Northolt, Tangmere, Wittering, Middle Wallop and St Eval (Raids 1 to 7).

[3] Major Targets
See [2] above, as they are the main targets for today.

[4] Minor Targets
A few coastal targets along the south coast, mainly industrial targets not hit recently, to keep them 'topped up'. Aim is to send them in after the Radar raids have disrupted FC patrols a little.

[5] Night Raids
A number raids hitting airfields.

[6] Recce
Pre-Raid:
Seven PRIAFs from [2] above (7).
Five RADAR stations from [1] above (5).

Post-Raid:
The remainder of 11 Gp AFs (22) + all other Sector Airfields in 10 or 12 Gps (6).
The rest of the damaged RADAR stations (which I make 39).

This gives a total of 67 recce missions, or about 100 allowing about 50% overlap for some redundancy. This is very manageable, with plenty of spares to update other targets as required.


Bomber Force Available:

Counting all full gruppen with MOR of 40 or more I have only:

7 x Ju 87B-2
8 x Do 17Z-2 +1 compared to last turn
9 x He 111H-4 +1 compared to last turn
8 x Ju 88A-5 -4 compared to last turn

As a result of this small decrease in serviceable crews, coupled with no decrease in my demands for more sorties, I've broken my own regulations and thrown in some bomber gruppen with MOR of 30-39. Where I've needed to do this I have tried to use them to make up the numbers, and have avoided putting them in the more exposed positions.

The sixteen main raids (not counting Nether Button RADAR off-map):

[K.Pooley]

Main Raid Details:

[K.Pooley]

Turn 17 – Post-Mortem

"...an extra AS point hopefully"
Well I did at least get that! The 11 Gp table shows how.

[1] Radar
Radar is looking good (see map below) giving me considerable freedom of action, with six to be hit tomorrow because of signs of effective repairs, and three because of out-of-date photos, out of a total of 39 sites out of commission at the moment. It certainly appears that maintaining such a large proportion of the system 'down' is feasible.

[2] AFs
Debden (50%), Hornchurch (60%), Northolt (50%), Tangmere (60%), Wittering (30%), Middle Wallop (53%) and St Eval (82%), plus see 11 GP below as usual, for more detailed results.

[3] Major Targets
See [2] above, as they were the main targets for today.

[4] Minor Targets
Some light damage to a few scattered targets.

[5] Night Raids
A number raids hitting airfields.
One of the problems with the way the game presents Action Report data is that if you perform a recce at 0800, a raid at 1200, another recce at 1600 and a night raid at 2000 you only get one figure for damage, and not one at each stage. Because of this it is difficult to estimate the contribution of the separate raids.

[K.Pooley]

11 Group AFs Chart
There are several things worth noting on this today.

1] 16 fighters seem to have moved from Hawkinge to Gravesend. Fair enough you might say, but how do I know that happened? I've maintained reconnaissance on Hawkinge so it makes sense that I know they have left there, but I didn't get a successful recce over Gravesend, so how did I know that that's where they went? Faced with a lack of hard info as to their whereabouts, have my staff just 'guessed' that's where they are? Or do they have sources of intelligence the player knows nothing about? I know this game is detailed, but surely it doesn't really model the actions of the little old lady in the cottage at the end of the runway, whose grandfather was German, and who keeps a secret wireless set in the attic?

2] Related to 1], the total number of aircraft in 11 Group appears to have levelled out, as for the last few turns it has been increasing. Maybe this is because Swift thinks this is all he needs to beat me, or just maybe it's because he can't afford to move anymore into the area.

3] Flak levels seem to have remained static today. This could be true, or it could be because of the fact that I now fly fewer low-level recce missions that I was doing. This is due to Swift taking a rather negative view of my planes going in for a closer look, although I can't imagine why. Now I'm not short of planes, in fact I have a surplus of replacements for all my recce types. Also, it's not because of morale problems. The simple fact is that I don't need my pilots to be brave, I need them to be careful. Unlike a bombing mission, which can be a great success despite massive casualties, the blokes taking the pictures need to get them home.

[K.Pooley]

Turn 18 (inc. post-mortem)

I didn't get the chance to post for this turn before sending it off to Werner, so this combines both the before and after posts for the day.

Main Raids
Today is to be a rest day - sort of. Four PRIAFs are targetted in the morning (raids 1-4 and on map) and three random industrial targets by night (36-38). Apart from the 'maintenance' raids on RADAR (5-11) everything else is recce missions.

Of raids 1-4 only the one on Kirton in Lindsey seems to have met with any success, but this was a good one, 72% damage to a previously untouched AF without one of the 84 bombers being lost.

Note to self: Remember to recce the three night targets in the morning.

[K.Pooley]

Turn 19

I've got a bit more spare time this turn, so here goes. Since damage to Sector Airfields is the major component in gaining AS points I've been running some trials to get an idea of the best tactics. As a result this turn is going to be all about bombing them, and they are going to be the main targets for the day.

The table below shows the current situation, as far as my staff see it anyway. I have highlighted the airfields by Group, with 10 Group in Green, 11 Group in Blue and 12 Group in Red. Non-Sector Airfields are greyed out. This shows very clearly, and not altogether surprisingly, that 12 Group is most in need of the LW's attentions today, although I intend to allocate gruppen to the lower eight AFs, the further down the list the more planes.

[K.Pooley]

This table shows the RADAR situation and shows which need attacking, according to my usual formula.

RED to be attacked because recce is 3days+
YELLOW to be attacked recce is 2days and damage <90%
GREEN to be attacked because recce is 1day and damage <80%

[K.Pooley]

As usual I will allocate raids firstly to the main targets for the day, then the PRIAFs, followed by the RADAR and finally all the necessary recce missions.

The resulting list of raids is below (shown without the recce missions to make the list a bit more manageable). Despite my good intentions it has not been possible to attack everything I would have liked. In particular 12 Group is difficult to engage heavily due to the fact that most of the LWs forces are deployed facing the south coast of England.

[K.Pooley]

Also, the RADAR sites in the far north of England and into Scotland, as well as St Twynells in West Wales, have had to be passed over due to a shortage of suitable units. This shot shows the RADAR and PRIAF raids south of Scunthorpe.

[K.Pooley]

If you have any comments, questions, suggestions etc please feel free to chip in at any point.

[K.Pooley]

Turn 19 - PM
Kept the lid on all the radar sites, with no surprises.

A good strike against the PRIAFs, with AS up to 10 for a short time!

Coltishall 28% up to 63%
Northolt 49% up to 82%, and even better,
Middle Wallop 53% up to 94%, and
Tangmere 59% up to 95%

Now, because repair rates are tactical for AFs it is necessary to keep wearing away at them to take this into account. Also, because the way the AS score is calculated is very sensitive to the number of fighters FC has I need to be giving some thought to reducing these numbers. Because of the problem of bombers not being unable to damage interceptors this is made more difficult than would otherwise be the case.

The other thing is of course that the more badly damaged the AFs become the harder it gets to damage them even more badly (the law of diminishing returns). The obvious answer is to diversify and go for other sources of points. Since I have not already started a campaign of bombing urban areas the obvious answer is to build on the damage I have caused to IND targets.