LoBaron + Robbrennan vs Offenceman, allied secret AAR

[LoBaron]

If I plan a genuine invasion the quieter the better, the invasion itself should trigger a response.

If its a diversion I´d need to make more noise, a diversion via Wake and approaching from the SE could be an option to do this. Remember: Wake never left Allied hands,
so I could sell it as "trying to keep under the air umbrella".

The decision what of the two it will be is not yet made, it depends on a couple of other decisions which together should simplify the plan. Alfred was right for sure
when calling the plan (too) complex.

Thats nothing bad though, usually my plans start out very complex and then get reduced slowly when I notice that I cannot handle the complexity with the timing and
forces available anyway. Always has been like that.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Quick update .. Sans piccie.

Saumlaki still holds ! despite more Japanese forces landed at ruinous cost to the men and AP's (the CD guns did take a toll on a few nice big AP's ) damaged if not sunk.

Allied LR-CAP to deter the daily Helen raids was a disappointment with Oscars damaged a pile of air frames for 1-2 dead japs, frankly not worth the ace pilots in these crates.

KB never re materialized oddly enough but japans taking an interest in Christmas island now and daily bomber runs are unopposed by the allies because the big plane units in cocos cant reach Christmas island (hurricane naval planes - no drop tanks) and the few kittys would get killed by the daily sweeping zeros. must try and come up with a new plan to halt this.

Aussie plans to invade horn island (as a prelude to try and get PM back) in conjunction with the Americans is well underway , all troops 100% prepped at townsville and AP's and small escorts assembling at Sydney harbour.

huge allied transport efforts into Burma using every available bomber and transport is slowing making Mandalay a bit better off supply wise (2,500 today) .. given the massive airlift I'm surprised its taking so long tbh. FYI we are flying into mythilinka and kathka (both level 5 airfields) and allowing the rail lines to move it south so we avoif any japanese fighters.


all else pretty quiet apart from one heavily damaged Chinese corps that wandered into the open by mistake. my error.

TTFN ..

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: FatR

The big problem I see with demonstrating towards Wake and only then turning in the direction of Markus is that the opponent might become suspicious about the purpose of these careless maneuvers. Still, I guess this is sligtly better than just going for Markus, because an approach resembling actual attempt of a suprise invasion will create only a very short diversion. Within 2 turns the diversionary nature of the move will be clear (due to invasion not actually happening).

This is only relevant up to a very limited point.

A successful maskirovka requires a lot more skill than most people accord it. It is one of the many things which the West has not properly accorded the Soviets the proper credit for their performance in the Great Patriotic War. Nemo can wax much more lyrically on the subject of Soviet doctrine and performance or the psyhcological aspects so I will limit myself to the following few comments.

There are essentially two approaches to make a maskirovka credible.

(1) the enemy is aware of their own weaknesses and is concerned that one of those weaknesses is being targeted.

(2) the enemy is aware of both the key strategic positions and those positions which are really not important strategically for both sides.

To make a maskirovka credible you must prey on the opponents mind and convince him that your maskirovka operation falls into one of the two conditions. If the intendend maskirovka is aimed at either a position which the opponent is not already concerned is inadequately defended, or which is not important for either side, then unless the opponent is a fool irrespective of how it is presented he will see through the charade. On the other hand if the maskirovka operation meets one of the the fundamental conditions, the subjective assessment of the opponent will take over.

In this instance, LoBaron has expended a considerable amount of effort to sell the idea that the Allies are interested in Marcus. Hence if the opponent believes that Marcus is weakly held or is of the view that it is important that Marcus not be captured by the Allies, there is a reasonably chance that the maskirovka will be successfull provided it appears to be genuine.

OHOH, if Marcus is well defended or the opponent does not believe that it matters much should it be in Allied hands, then it is most unlikely that however it is structured, any maskirovka against Marcus could be sold successfully.

Alfred

[LoBaron]

Exactly this.

Just to comment on why I believe Marcus Island is more important than obvious on first glance, and why reinforcing the belief it is of interest to
the Allies will yield fruit:

With Marcus Island and Wake in Allied hands the Japanese player loses his early warning bases for Bonin and the Marianas, the two key
island chains guarding the convoy routes east of the Phillipines to the important southern defense bases Truk and Rabaul.

The posession of the island itself puts you in naval search/recon range of these island chains, and denies the use for the IJN as an EW/Sub base.

As a Japanese player I would see not reacting to a threat to Marcus as a deliberate exposure of my eastern flank.

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

Exactly this.

Just to comment on why I believe Marcus Island is more important than obvious on first glance, and why reinforcing the belief it is of interest to
the Allies will yield fruit:

With Marcus Island and Wake in Allied hands the Japanese player loses his early warning bases for Bonin and the Marianas, the two key
island chains guarding the convoy routes east of the Phillipines to the important southern defense bases Truk and Rabaul.

The posession of the island itself puts you in naval search/recon range of these island chains, and denies the use for the IJN as an EW/Sub base.

As a Japanese player I would see not reacting to a threat to Marcus as a deliberate exposure of my eastern flank.

Holding Marcus would be a virtual impossibility without some form of 'Midway' and as we all know that just doesn't happen in-game (or maybe it does but vanishingly rare). BUT if Japan does lose Marcus then imo the entire SW Pac theaters esp the gilberts and Marshalls become backwaters with the very real possibility of turning the solomons and Truk into the same state of irrelevance . And thats why imo Marcus is so important that Japan cant really assume its a maskirova because if its real then Japans forced into re taking it at the expense of doing much anywhere else.

Just my 2p on the US plans.

Game wise ..

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 08, 42


Japanese Subs have been infesting the waters off Perth . today they bagged an AK just before the transports merged with the ASW Corvettes sent to meet them.. Yesterday Japan killed and empty AMC , real shame as i love AMC's and next game I wont be so cavalier in their use as their speed is lovely for shipping air-units round the map.

Submarine attack near Perth at 47,147

Japanese Ships
SS I-11

Allied Ships
xAK Anglo Indian, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires SANK


Tomorrow a small AKL and AM amphib supply TF will reach Christmas island , Japans been bombing here far too much of late so time to see if any anti shipping AC are in the mix. IF we lose the ships then the last Brit CV will escort a much larger supply laden TF in a few weeks to make sure Christmas does not run low on supply for the foreseeable future.

Madeoin Java is still holding out with 25k supply left but Japan has been upping its bomber raids so the supply will drop quicker now. Still its done its job well as the longest lasting speed bump in history [;)].

Burma is quiet as a church mouse these days , allied high command is planning a fighter sweep of Japanese bases soon just to test the waters , so to speak. Meanwhile the airlift continues and Mandalay slowly increases supply by 500, Swebo remains resolutely at 20 supply points but is now slowly building up to fort level 2. (given how long this has taken , we will stop at 2 ).

China , Japans bombers are back ! .. and allied ac in Chungking need just a tad more supply for drop tanks to be available for a LRCAP mission. As Burma's so quiet the P38's and P40's will remain in china for a while.

Piccie of the current contested hex in China.

PS the Chinese reinforcement unit did not arrive this turn , its 43/44 so should arrive tomorrow , the cut off corps rebuffed a jap attack at 1-5 even with naff all supply. hopefully japan will attack again next turn and face 2 corps with much better supplies.


Ground combat at 79,51

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5605 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 199

Defending force 9190 troops, 37 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 360

Japanese adjusted assault: 194

Allied adjusted defense: 1030

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 5

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), supply(-)
Attacker: leaders(+)

Japanese ground losses:
258 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
100 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade

Defending units:
94th Chinese Corps






EDIT ------- ignore this picce as its obsolete , sorry.

[LoBaron]

Preps are going on nicely.

Ndeni received the first 2 squads Lightnings today, they will be part of the CAP plan for the invasion of Lunga.

The carrier divisions are now in the south pac passing Sydney Island to meet with the reppers.

Ndeni and Luganville are growing fast, they will have the main mission to act as support bases for the invasion
and provide a credible offensive punch. Enough that my carriers can retreat to a protected area in case I lose a battle
and have KB in pursuit. The attack elements will consist of LowN trained medium bomber squads and their escort fighters
plus naval search coverage.

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 12, 42

Not much to report these 2 days.

Commonwealth AKL Amphibious supply TF reached Christmas is. and unloaded with no problems at all. Given this Australia has released another brigade and a small tank force prepping for Christmas island. These will sail to cocos and anything that's non air transportable will be shipped by AKL to Christmas island. Supply here went upto 22k with the safe convoy. I just wish cocos had a bigger troops limit like Christmas island but c'est la vie.

Japanese Netties attacked an American TF at Ndeni today , not sure what the yanks are upto here but the CAP bagged a few and managed to put the rest off that no attacks were successful , although i suspect LoBaron was a bit worried when the animations popped up [;)]

Morning Air attack on TF, near Ndeni at 120,143

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 160 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 56 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 17



Allied aircraft
P-38F Lightning x 17


Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed, 2 damaged


Allied Ships
CA San Francisco
CA Vincennes
xAK Steel Mariner



Aircraft Attacking:
12 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo


In Burma , Japan resumed its heavy bombing of Mandalay with huge 100+ plane fighter sweeps , the RAF was ofc not there and tomorrow will launch big sweeps of their own (with new Canadian kitthawk III'2 and Hurricane Mk. XII's) against Magwe in the hope we can catch the older but horribly dangerous Nicks without Tojo support. Even with Japanese bombing Mandalay supply again increased by 700. After asking Andy Mac in his AAR I'm going to really concentrate on building up the Indian bases near the border and the small (ex-dot) ones in Burma as this appears to help supply flow into the area. Indian See-Bee's would be nice as i only have 2 dedicated Eng units in the area. air HQ's are now repositioned to cover the gap made by the loss of the US Xth bomber HQ (now en route to Australia) which will allow torps in Darwin (eventually).

China , The Allied Corps arrived safely in the 'trapped hex' and both are now free to withdraw , albeit slowly with heavy jap bombing. P38 and Chinese AF ambush failed to connect today and stood down , the P40's are in Sian and will cover a new Chinese advance, the intention of which is to worry our opponent and maybe get him to transfer more units to the Sian front.

TTFN.

[LoBaron]

Yes this attack came a bit out of the blue. [;)]

Ndeni is already level 2 AF, going to 3 and currently hosts 3 Squads: 15th FG/45th FS and 70th FS, both flying P38F plus VMF-111 equipped with the last of the F4F-3.
I did not upgrade them because performance wise the F-3 is superior to the F-4 models when it comes to CAP defense and I need the F-4s for the carriers anyway.

Since the attack was expected, but not this early, I only set the Lightnings on high altiutude CAP and let the Marines complete their defensive training which is still a bit lacking.
Next turn they will join the CAP patrols around Ndeni.

The positive effect of Mikes Betty strike is:

- Now I know for sure (expected that before but this is the final confirmation) that Munda can supply torpedo attacks.
- He now knows about my advance along Espirito Santo and Santa Cruz Isl., so there is no need to stay silent anymore.
Every action now undertaken within limits of looking defensive in purpose could just be a reaction to his strike and will not let him conclude at once what my intentions are.

This enables me to start operation XmasTree.

Operation XmasTree is nothing else than from now on conducting max effort naval search as far north as possible, starting recon flights over Munda and the landing zones
in force and make as much noise in general as possible using Catalina, B17 and B24 units in the area.
It will look a bit like overreacting to the Betty attack, focusing his attention to the south while my preps for Marcus Island are close to on final.

I will continue to commit forces to the support and buildup of the forward bases, but only so many I could afford to lose in case he tries a preemtive action with KB.
Meanwhile ASW efforts will continue around Auckland and Noumea, more or less routine but dangerous for subs staying in vincinity.

The single annoyance this turn was the elusive I-169 which entered Ndeni Harbour, fired 1 salvoe at CL Trenton and 2 at DD Balch, both part of the cover group for amphibs,
only receiving minor damage in return. The Brits are much better killing Japanese subs at the moment.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Another day, another headache for India Command,

RAF sweeps over Magwe were a disaster and horribly uncoordinated, I'm going to assume its the extended range that went so horribly wrong here as all else is pretty much the same as usual.

On both Days the Hurricane C's managed to turn up one squadron at a time while the kittyhawks did similar too. The Model B's managed a coordinated sweep on both days (inc the XII Canadian version , same plane diff registration). Time for a rebuild on some badly shattered British fighter units, fortunately we do have deep pools of good pilots for the RAF thanks to some vigorous on map training..

In china , allied sweeps/LR CAP failed to connect but as im doing it on rotation now, we'll use the Lightnings for another go tomorrow. then i have a feeling we might need them back in India forthwith.

Australian coast watchers (or actually listeners in this case) heard some almighty big bangs off to the east today , i think the USN finally arrived in the war effort [;)]. New Guinea and Solomon island Coast Watchers continue to mistake brushwood and fallen tress for Japanese shipping !, who thought that giving them radios was a good idea ? surely they were a bit more informative IRL as opposed to the schizophrenic paranoids that abound in game [;)]

Expect an update from Admiral LoBaron - watch this space (well actually the space below this one [;)])

Today's horrible air losses for the RAF

[LoBaron]

16th Nov. 42

Well, Admiral LoBaron has to nurse a couple of damaged ships back to Auckland.

While eyes were turned to the huge air battles over Burma, in the night from 15th - 16th the IJN sent a
large combat fleet to Ndeni to disrupt the USN Amphibs unloading.

A formidable force consisting of Kirishima, the cruisers Kingusa and Furutaka plus an escort of six DDs.

Because of the exposed position of Ndeni and the events of the last turns I developed the habit of guarding
my ships there with battle groups, so the scene was set for the first major naval engagement between the
Japanese Navy and the USN.

Divided into two groups the US forces taking part in the fight were West Virginia, CA San Francisco, the light cruisers
Leander, Trenton, Detroit and Phoenix and four destroyers.

Untrained in night battles the USN dealt as good as it got, heavily damaging Kirishima while losing Phoenix. West Virginia was
moderately damaged but her valiant fight is responsible for Kirishima seen slowly retreating north on fire.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Ndeni at 120,143, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
     BB Kirishima, Shell hits 6,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
     CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 6
     CA Furutaka, Shell hits 2,  on fire
     DD Yudachi
     DD Yamakaze
     DD Kawakaze
     DD Yugure
     DD Hibiki
     DD Shikinami

Allied Ships
     BB West Virginia, Shell hits 16,  on fire
     CL Detroit, Shell hits 3,  heavy fires
     CL Phoenix, Shell hits 19, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
     DD Balch, Shell hits 4,  heavy fires
     DD Allen, Shell hits 2,  on fire
     DMS Hopkins, Shell hits 2
 
 
Night Time Surface Combat, near Ndeni at 120,143, Range 8,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
     CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 6,  on fire
     DD Yudachi
     DD Yamakaze
     DD Kawakaze
     DD Yugure

Allied Ships
     CA San Francisco
     CL Leander, Shell hits 2
     CL Trenton
     DD Cummings
     DD Perkins, Shell hits 2,  on fire
 
 
Night Time Surface Combat, near Ndeni at 120,143, Range 11,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
     CA Kinugasa, Shell hits 2,  on fire
     DD Yudachi
     DD Yamakaze
     DD Kawakaze
     DD Yugure, Shell hits 3,  on fire

Allied Ships
     DD Monaghan, Shell hits 3
     DMS Wasmuth
     xAP Santa Paula, Shell hits 5
     xAK Admiral Halstead, Shell hits 2,  on fire
     xAP Klipfontein
     xAK Skagerak, Shell hits 4,  heavy fires
     PG Soerabaja, Shell hits 4
     DD La Triomphant, Shell hits 3,  on fire
     AM Muritai


I believe that Kirishima is hit bad. In the tradition of "hunter becomes hunted", Vincennes, San Francisco plus
DDs will rush north and northwest to deliver the coup de grace. Godspeed guys.

[LoBaron]

18th Nov. 42

Several engagements came out empty for both sides, maybe except for retreating CA Kingusa
which was hit 2-3 times by 8 inchers and DD Bancroft also collected a couple of bullets.

I will try to catch damaged ships with a couple of subs in the area, we will see.
Rob thinks that BB Kirishima is sunk, I hope he is right. She will be out of action for the invasion phase and thats the most important.
I am not interested in long time damage to the IJN yet, but for the next few weeks I have to be able to achieve local naval superiority.

In PH the Soldiers of the 1st Marine Corps board their transports. [;)]

[LoBaron]

18th -19th Nov. 42

Ok finally the USN and IJN decided that enough is enough, the Japanese cruisers departing north while my force split into two groups,
the ships with only superficial damage returning to Noumea, 3 DDs - which will take a bit longer to repair - to Vavau.

The subs I sent in the way of the retreating Japanese ships got a hard contact which leaves open some question marks:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Ontong Java at 116,125

Japanese Ships
DD Sazanami
BB Mutsu
CA Nachi
CA Haguro
CA Myoko
CL Tenryu
CL Kitakami
DD Makigumo
DD Akebono
DD Arare

Allied Ships
SS Guardfish


Mutsu? On course SW? Which means in the direction of Lunga.

This is something to think about. If you are aware of heavy USN presence, would you expose another 4 major combatants and 2 light cruisers without
additional recon of the southern area?

Yes, probably, if KB is right behind them. Hm.

My CV group is south, a 2 days travel from Noumea. I feel the time for a couple of tough decisions coming...

On another end of the map, at PH, the amphibs finished loading and the order to depart is only hours away. No spying subs were sighted to the NW
over the last couple of weeks but still the first run to Midway will be quiet. At Midway the fleet will turn WNW and then aproach Marcus Island from the NE.

[LoBaron]

20th Nov. 42


Ok just a short question:

What do you guys think this implies?



840 Troops, 1 Gun.
5 Units?

I got explanations but what is the most likely? Please note that the intel stayed about in the above range for a couple of turns now.

- FOW, recon level is high but not high that the numbers are extremely reliable. In truth there are more troops on Marcus than I see.
- FOW, in truth there are less units there than I see. The troop count is more or less valid.
- Fragmented troops to avoid troops loss in case of conquest.
- A number of very small Japanese units (are there some? I believe yes, but it does not make sense to me to put em on one island)



Anyway, operation "Right Jab", the invasion of Marcus Island, has been launched. Its a genuine invasion, not a fake. I pondered long about whether
I should do this, but I do not believe Mike will fall for a cheap fake, and if he decides that it is I want some benefit out of the op.

TF composition looks like this:

Invasion force carrying the 1st Marines:
Flag: BB Oklahoma
1CL, 4DD, 1DMS, 3AP, 1xAP

Escort Group:
Flag: CA Chicago
4DD, 1DMS

Escort Car Div:
Flag: CA Quincy
CVEs Nassau, Altamaha, Copahee and Prince William
5 DD

Mine sweeping Group:
3 YMS

Supply Group:
5 AK

Supporting the invasion about 15 fleet submarines departed Midway today and form patrol barriers N, SW and S of Marcus island.

2 days befor the invasion begins I will start with additional recon flights over the Marshalls to decept the deception...

The invasion fleet under command of RADM Fechteler will head Midway, refuel there and then move to attack.

[Rob Brennan UK]

If that intel is wrong , there would have to be a huge margin of error to deter the invasion. but only a fragment ? that seems a very odd choice to deploy there imo. Unless Offenceman is so deeply involved in china and Burma he hasn't done anything about the 'inner defense' zone and is relying on the outer solomons/marshalls etc. I which case i hope the invasion succeeds beyond our wildest dreams (ie take the place with minimal losses and no KB involvement).

Commonwealth involvement for the upcoming event is the invasion of Horn Island with the possibility of hitting PM and Milne Bay. Milne seems to be void of enemy troops and PM not held by much. However its all Australians prepping/prepped for these targets so we don't have a huge hammer and limited air power. It'll be much more intuitive rather than planned if we hit these targets (bar horn island which is certain). Japanese response will really dictate what happens next. The RN is en route to Perth (2 days) and will assist in E Australia until we lose our last CV to withdrawals in December.

wish us luck ! , as i fear we might need a large dose [;)]

[EUBanana]

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

20th Nov. 42


Ok just a short question:

What do you guys think this implies?



840 Troops, 1 Gun.
5 Units?

I got explanations but what is the most likely? Please note that the intel stayed about in the above range for a couple of turns now.

- FOW, recon level is high but not high that the numbers are extremely reliable. In truth there are more troops on Marcus than I see.
- FOW, in truth there are less units there than I see. The troop count is more or less valid.
- Fragmented troops to avoid troops loss in case of conquest.
- A number of very small Japanese units (are there some? I believe yes, but it does not make sense to me to put em on one island)

A couple of tiny Japanese engineering units? They have plenty of those - shipping engineering battalions, IJNAF companies, etcetera. Lil baseforces with 8 aviation support and half a dozen engineers each. Maybe a 15 AV naval guard unit.

Recon is very very dodgy in this game though, I hardly ever believe a word it says.

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: EUBanana

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

20th Nov. 42


Ok just a short question:

What do you guys think this implies?



840 Troops, 1 Gun.
5 Units?

I got explanations but what is the most likely? Please note that the intel stayed about in the above range for a couple of turns now.

- FOW, recon level is high but not high that the numbers are extremely reliable. In truth there are more troops on Marcus than I see.
- FOW, in truth there are less units there than I see. The troop count is more or less valid.
- Fragmented troops to avoid troops loss in case of conquest.
- A number of very small Japanese units (are there some? I believe yes, but it does not make sense to me to put em on one island)

A couple of tiny Japanese engineering units? They have plenty of those - shipping engineering battalions, IJNAF companies, etcetera. Lil baseforces with 8 aviation support and half a dozen engineers each. Maybe a 15 AV naval guard unit.

Recon is very very dodgy in this game though, I hardly ever believe a word it says.

Thanks EUBanana, good suggestions.
If I had to decide I´d vote for the small BF plus some CD and/or nav guard unit. The fact that I sighted the single gun at all could simply
mean well hidden and fortified arty pieces.

Until now I noticed quite some underclaiming on ground intel - which would be historical, so in fact I like it.

Still, there are ok chances the 1st Marines can handle the task. Crack troops and Vandegrift is a nice combination I heard. [;)]
They are 100% prepped.


Currently I think there is only a high chance of the mission going awry in case KB shows up. And he will need the carriers soon in the south
except if he likes to lose Guadalcanal and open the door to island hopping.
So either he smashes "Right Jab" it and gobbles up fuel and airframes before the really deciding invasion starts, or I take Marcus.

Both situations can be turned into advantages.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Hello readers , no updates for a few turns as the games gone a bit slow both in game and IRL where several players have rather hectic schedules.

However hers whats been happening upto the 26th Nov 1942.

China

To try and reduce the attention that chikikang (south china) has been receiving from Japan, the Chinese communists have marched east from Sian and are at 2-1 in AV against the Japanese forces shown in the piccie below. There is a large BUT coming ofc. 2-1 is not good enough in this terrain given we are facing a stack of pure Japanese troops and no fragile 'allies' from the warlord or Manchurian contingents. and once again supply reared its ugly head in the ~Sian area as soon as Japan started hitting us with heavy bombing runs. Chinese and American bombers from Chungking hit the japs with recon SBIII's flying from Sian to provide targeting Intel (the Chinese AF has been recon trained for just this contingency and lack of dedicated recon planes in china). Japan has the foresight to fly some Oscar CAP and bagged 4 A29's for one Oscar shot down by a Chinese A29, first bomber kill for Chinese airforce. With Sian dropping to naff all supply, Chinese fighters cannot fly into the area to help. So the bombers have been tasked with supply runs to Sian and the Recons moved to N china (where there is supply) for a nose around for any weak spots there. The infantry has been ordered to withdraw one hex West. Overall , a waste of time and supply , but never the less it keeps Japan honest with his defenders.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Burma

I have been keeping track of supply levels in Mandalay for a past few turns and for interest here is the results.

16/11 5172
18/11 4133
22/11 5675
24/11 3114
26/11 20

Let me elaborate a bit :-

Swebo has its usual 20 supply stuck in the usual starvation levels and i the troops went foraging (IE moved out one hex) to pick up some supplies on the 18th (hence the drop).

On the 24th I switched on fort and airfield building in Mandalay and Swebo (as a test) .. Mandalay did get a few points in both while Swebo gained all of 1% on fort levels (its been on fort 1 for months now) I would dearly love to get its airfield up so it pulls in better supply but its nigh on impossible to built it up. Even with over 800AV and an HQ in it. all construction has since been halted.

On the 26th Japan launched its bombardments again , this hammers my supply levels even though 1/2 the dedicated arty is back in Mythilinka and Kathka on rest orders to try and regain some morale (v v slow improving these puppies.

FYI :-

In Mythilinka on rest (1972 supply)

2/9 Field artillery, 49 Morale.

In Katha on rest (3604 supply) with eastern army HQ commanded by vinegar Joe Slim (insp 72 and prepped for Mandalay 100% , in range)

8th Medium Regiment 33 Morale
2/11 Field regiment 32 morale
2/23 field regiment 43 morale
102 RAF Base force 10 morale (new commander assigned with 59 inspiration and 64 admin)(was 44/56)

In Mandalay, The Burma Corps HQ is down to 39 morale and no effect leaving it on reserve. With a range of 1 I am unhappy moving this HQ out, but with General Alexander in charge I'm suprise its morale is so bad. Other poor morale units in Mandalay are the Base forces from 24-35, all combat troops are at least 50 with the 17th Indian /C division on 52. The bigger formations are all quite happy on 80+ Morale. But we are now supply short on 3 units , one AA gun regiment , the 17th Indian /C and the 5th Chinese Corps. Its quite amazing how the supply goes on counter bombardments.


Ground combat at Mandalay (59,46)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 675 troops, 59 guns, 45 vehicles, Assault Value = 3385

Defending force 96447 troops, 1534 guns, 1692 vehicles, Assault Value = 3472

Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 11 (3 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 28 (3 destroyed, 25 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
31 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Even with a good number of arty guns away from Mandalay the counter fire was still effective.


Flying supply in from Ledo / Dacca and now Dimapur (to Katha and Mythilinka to avid Jap LRCAP )are :-


AC Number Capacity

B18 18 2200
C-33 13 2400
C-47 119 6000
DC-3 12 6000
Hudson 11 1400
Wellington 26 4500
Blenheim 16 1000
Liberator II 28 8000
B17E 40 6800
B25C 16 4000

Thats a total of 299 a/c flying in supply ..

Totaling up all the Transport capacity results is = 1,545,200

I cant find much in the manual about how this translates to supply points , the most relevant is

Supply Transport – The unit will fly supplies to their DH, which does not
necessarily have to have an airfield (thus allowing the ability to airdrop
supplies to ground units in the field) The unit must have a friendly unit set
as the destination in order for the Mission to be flown. Transport Missions
may be flown to destinations that are within half (50%) of the Maximum
range for base supply, or within Normal range for airdrop supply. The
amount of supplies carried is dependent on the capacity of the transports.

But says nothing about how capacity translates to in game supplies, I thought it was 1000 supply = 1 supply point , but would love to get confirmation of this please.

If so then im flying in 1,545 supply per day , which is a goodly amount, but it never lasts and i have no idea if /any gets pulled into Burma across borders.

Now i'm beginning to wish i had a spreadsheet on this puter [;)]

Thank you all for reading my diatribe ..

[kfsgo]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK


AC Number Capacity

B18 18 2200 - 36/day
C-33 13 2400 - 26/day
C-47 119 6000 - 357/day
DC-3 12 6000 - 36/day
Hudson 11 1400 - 11/day
Wellington 26 4500 - 78/day
Blenheim 16 1000 - 16/day
Liberator II 28 8000 - 112/day
B17E 40 6800 - 16/day
B25C 16 4000 - 32/day

-> 720 s/day; 1 supply point for every 2000lb of load capacity, rounded up (as far as I'm aware)

My understanding of the supply situation: You do get movement across the border from India - problem being that as the supply movement cost increases (as it will in the jungles) you get less supply movement events per week - so, if we pretend base X can draw 500 points per 'event', you can either get 500 points per week from India, or more (I think the max is 4*week, so 2000) if the trace distance is shorter. Have you built up Warazup, the dot north of Myitkyina, beyond making it not a dot? You should in theory be able to shuffle several 0000t of stuff through there per week from Ledo, which should then flow down into Burma relatively easily on the rail.

[Alfred]

It is definitely 1 supply point per 2000 lb cargo load.

IIRC, the only rounding up is for transport planes with less than 2000lb cargo capacity which get rounded up to 1 supply point. Otherwise such low capacity planes would be basically worthless. I'll have to do some searching to confirm that bombers do not get rounded up.

Therefore I think you are only flying in daily 531 supply points.

Alfred