Amphibious Force makeup

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS

Trouble with trying to make jokes here. No-one seems to get the funny part.

+1

[LGKMAS]

Back to the serious part.
it seems to me that all are suggesting Amphib assaults should use multiple TFs all loaded with the same LCUs in APAs or LSTs. with Bombardment TFs, Minesweeper Tfs , ASW TFs and lots of TFs loaded with Naval support and some with only with supplies. With immediate BFs and Engr units, all with the ability to pull the assault units out asap.
And preceded by lots and lots of recon. As well as prep for that atoll/island/whatever.
Anything else we should be adding to the mix? Which at the moment looks like nothing I could put together in mid 42. Am I being too aggressive in Mid 42 in suggesting I could do an amphibious assault?

[rockmedic109]

When you start to make multi-divisional landings, you will not be able to cram them all onto one Amphib tf. TF size will not be big enough. I am currently sending 5 divisions {with ART, ARM, ENG} to invade Luzon. The entire number of ships allocated to this operation is over 300. This includes about 85 in covering force {carriers and surface combat}. In order to land the entire force, I had to pull all of the British and Australian LSLs. This is my biggest landing to date. I've landed three division forces in Marianas and Truk. Luzon is big enough that I think I can land a smaller force and then reinforce the landing but I decided to go all in.

In mid 42, you can get away with small invasions. Maybe even a division size landing. I would suggest landing at an atoll in the Marshalls or Gilberts. Something close enough to other islands that you can begin using 2E bombers on them. You'll gain experience in what you need and in coordinating follow on support troops. You will also have to deal with Max troop size limits for a smaller island as well.

[Ian R]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: Mundy

Probably wouldn't hurt to have some ASW groups accompany the invasion. Was going to say minesweepers, but was mentioned already.

I like embedding battleships with the invaders. Others like bombardment groups.

ASW units can be switched to surface combat task forces if needed. Use BBs in both the bombardment and invasion task forces. If you have a relatively safe base nearby, have AEs/AKEs and ADs handy to resupply those ships and keep cycling the bombardment task forces as needed.

At least a cruiser in your amph landing TF is a must - apart from providing suppressive fires, they tend to absorb a lot of shore fire from low calibre weapons that don't even scratch their paint - but would obliterate a landing barge.

[Ian R]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Against the AI, if you are planning to take Tokio then you might want to bypass as many units as is possible and not destroy them until much later.

Yes, good point. I am currently digging 900+ IJ units out of the rubble. There was a fair bit of FOW in this report though, the shock part was limited to a number of mostly tank formations. After 2 weeks rest my guys were back at 80k plus AV again. Most units and HQs are at 100 prep, the rest are close to it. Maybe next time I'll get a better die roll on that.

Also, it takes my new computer 2 hours to process the attack.

Ground combat at Tokyo (114,60)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 2202040 troops, 35114 guns, 57300 vehicles, Assault Value = 84118

Defending force 1041371 troops, 6580 guns, 5072 vehicles, Assault Value = 26895

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 8

Allied adjusted assault: 45839

Japanese adjusted defense: 23013

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 8)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 8

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
89941 casualties reported
Squads: 857 destroyed, 3862 disabled
Non Combat: 540 destroyed, 1894 disabled
Engineers: 269 destroyed, 1053 disabled
Guns lost 728 (127 destroyed, 601 disabled)
Vehicles lost 566 (177 destroyed, 389 disabled)
Units destroyed 32

Allied ground losses:
230694 casualties reported
Squads: 1841 destroyed, 17640 disabled
Non Combat: 146 destroyed, 5098 disabled
Engineers: 737 destroyed, 4786 disabled
Guns lost 3660 (629 destroyed, 3031 disabled)
Vehicles lost 5254 (452 destroyed, 4802 disabled)

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: LGKMAS

Trouble with trying to make jokes here. No-one seems to get the funny part.

+1

You want to see something funny? How about a picture of the TOP of my foot when it was healing an open wound 5.5 cm by 4.5 cm. [;)]

The funny part would be if Zorch took a selfie video when he first sees the picture . . . [X(]

[CV10]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

I like embedding battleships with the invaders. Others like bombardment groups.

+1 to this: when I landed in the Marianas against a hard Japan AI, embedded battleships took a ton of CD gun hits that would have crippled my landing ships. PoW suffered something like 70 points of sys damage.