See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[apbarog]

Sangeli, here's a link to fixing the Mukden garrison in the database of DBB-B version 14:

tm.asp?m=3782430

[apbarog]

12 Mar 42

Banjoewangi, Java - The Japanese invade.(Red circle) Initial landings include just an infantry regiment and two armor units. The base will fall. The Dutch will defend the mountain hex at Malang, between the landing and Soerbaja. (Green circle)

[apbarog]

13 Mar 42

Java - Invasion continues at Banjoewangi. The base falls. The Japanese lose 4 aircraft on search duty over Soerbaja. I put the Dutch cAP up this turn. I probably should have rested them for the next turn, as I expect a response. But one of these times bombers will show up too. East of Soerbaja, a 4-ship of Dutch torpedo boats tangles with CA Nachi, 2 CL's, and 2 DD's. A couple of PT boat torpedoes are launched at destroyers, and miss. No damage taken.

Near Sydney - A Dutch destroyer gets a hit on I-169 which was lurking off the coast of Sydney.

Sumatra - North of Singapore, a couple of Japanese patrol boats sweep a few sub-laid mines. No reports of the mines getting any ships, and they won't now. The base south of Medan is invaded. It is not defended.

China - At Pucheng, the defenders are bombed. This will happen every day until the base is lost. The terrain is rough here, not woods. Ground attackers approach from the east.

Clark AFB - This is the Allied highlight of the day (and the week). The Japanese attack and are very unsuccessful. Forts are lowered, but losses are high for the attackers.

Ground combat at Clark Field (79,76)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 34218 troops, 423 guns, 327 vehicles, Assault Value = 1056

Defending force 19138 troops, 286 guns, 162 vehicles, Assault Value = 627

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 821

Allied adjusted defense: 805

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2296 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 174 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled
Vehicles lost 18 (1 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
345 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 93 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

[apbarog]

14 Mar 42

Java - At least one Japanese unit has moved west toward Soerbaja, next to Malang. My defense is at Malang. More Dutch units are moving to Malang now. I hope to slow down the invasion a bit in the mountain hex there. Dutch PT boats have an instant replay turn, fighting the same cruiser force as last night. This time, one PT boat is lost for no gain. Next turn, I'm plotting to go around the island east of Soerbaja and hit Banjoewangi. The downside is if they make it in one turn, it won't be at night.

Clark AFB - Lots of Japanese bombers, and an artillery attack. The Japanese are stymied here until they bring more attackers, or Allied supply runs out.

Sumatra - Tandjoengbalai falls. Japanese units will now advance toward Medan. A number of Allied submarines are now positioning between Sumatra and Malaysia, hopefully interdicting movement to Rangoon and anything sneaking up on Ceylon or India.

India - A Brit infantry division arrived at Karachi. A welcome arrival. India continues to prepare for possible invasion. It is the middle of March. Time marches on, and that's a good thing for the good guys.

[apbarog]

15 Mar 42

Some good, some bad.

Java - Round 3 with the same Dutch TM's and Japanese crusier force. TM's were plotted to go around that hex, but didn't. Same end result. TM's do launch a couple of torpedoes, but again target destroyers with no hits. One TM lost. Later reengagement results in losing the other 2 TM's. At Soerbaja, the predictable Zero sweep arrives, and sweeps the skies clear of Dutch CAP. About a dozen fighters lost. Maybe one Zero downed.

Sumatra - Oosthaven falls.

Malaysia - Near Malacca, an isolated Indian unit comes out of the jungle and cuts the rail line north of Singapore. Irrelevant really, as there is another rail route to the north, but it is a nuisance. Japanese forces are seen to mobilize and move that direction. I won't mind losing that unit, as it will speed the combining of sister units.

China - At Pucheng, northwest of Wenchow, the Japanese get a 2 to 1 attack and lower the forts to 1. Casualties are rather even with 400 or 500 lost each. The base will fall in a day or two.

Clark AFB - Another Japanese deliberate attack, with results just slightly better than the last for the invaders. Attack is 1 to 1, lowering the forts to 0. Japanese casualties are 1630, Allied 510. I'll take that. The one good US Marine unit is moving from Bataan to Clark now. It is 2 days from arriving. Better to add to the defense at Clark now, with supply, than to die on the vine at Bataan. Also, Bataan will be overstacked if everything currently at Clark retreats to Bataan, and they will.

Burma/India - A Japanese unit, probably armor, is spotted approaching Akyab on the bad coastal trail. Akyab, cox Bazaar, and Chittagong have been reconned regularly. This turn, Dacca was reconned for the first time. This area will probably heat up soon. B-17's at Dacca move to Calcutta for now. I've had one Indian brigade at Diego Garcia. Another is about to arrive there. The third part of the division is moving up the trail toward Chittagong, where it will rail to the west coast and join up at Diego Garcia.

[apbarog]

16 Mar 42

Near Phuket - Dutch sub O24 fires torpedoes at a destroyer, and misses. It is notable that the task force consists of BB Kongo, CA Haguro, and 5 DD's. Near Phuket, Thailand, it appears to be headed toward the Rangoon area. Bases from Calcutta to Burma are put on high alert. No sign of carriers yet. The last ships in Columbo are sent north to India. Columbo will not be surprised. The only surprise will be for the Japanese when they find Ceylon minimally defended.

Java- Dutch bombers thought they'd catch a break and go after an easy ground target: a lone armor unit at Probolinggo, which was probing toward Soerbaja. No such luck. Lots of enemy shipping show up there, and a bunch more ground units appear. So the followup invasion is here, not at the previously taken base on the eastern tip of Java. Since there was a lot of shipping here, the task forces were long range capped, and the Dutch bombers suffered once again. At least a few tanks were disrupted with the bombings. My defense at Malang is strengthening, with units coming out of Strat mode this turn. It will still just be a speed bump despite more units there, as they are still Dutch units. No carriers spotted here either.

China - At Pucheng, another 1 to 1 attack lowers the forts to 0. Chinese casualties are twice the Japanese. The base isn't bombed, so I will try to get the forts up to 1, but the base may fall next turn.

Clark AFB - Japanese artillery attack this turn. The USMC unit will arrive from Bataan next turn, I believe. That should help a little. The defense will fall apart when the supply runs out. It is around 10k now, including Bataan.

Kwajalein - I've gotten SigInt a few times now showing heavy activity here. I wonder if KB is here. Could be part of an offensive move, or sitting here thinking that I may be up to something in this area while Java is hot, and India/Burma is warming up.

South Pacific in general - Christmas Island is a fortress now. It's time to start on the other bases. I played it conservatively waiting out my opponent to see what kind of surprises he likes to pull. The answer, so far, has been none. Conservative but methodical and covers his invasions extremely well. I'm starting to think that I can go out on a limb a bit more in the South Pacific. A huge task force is on the way to Pago Pago. Units have been designated for future use at Suva and Noumea, as well as Luganville. Pago Pago will become heavily defended very soon. The other bases will take a month or two. Allied carriers are in the South Pacific now, on the way to the West Coast for upgrades.

[apbarog]

17 Mar 42

I'm appreciating the few small victories at this point in the war.

Near Ceylon - PG Herald drops some depth charges on I-123 just outside of Columbo. Herald was escorting some small transports leaving Ceylon. I-123 takes one solid hit, and other minor damage. I've seen no indication of the Japanese using their minelaying subs for minelaying.

Java - 4 Dutch TM's (basically PT boats) sortie from Soerbaja and get into a landing force at Probolinggo. Despite being shielded by 2 CL's, 2 DD's, 2 DMS's, and 2 SC's, the PT boats let loose several torpedoes, and get 2 hits on xAK Akagisan Maru, sinking her, and taking a reported 38 guns down with her. 3 cheers for the Dutch Navy!

China - Pucheng is bombed heavily, and suffers an artillery attack. Forts do go up to 1 though, enough to prolong the defense a day or so, hopefully.

Clark AFB - The airfield is bombed, but only with Sonia's. An artillery attack shows AV's of 810 versus 536. There are no forts left here, and damage prevents building. The 4th Marine Regiment has just moved here from Bataan to help skew the combat numbers a bit. The Japanese commander-in-chief is very good at bringing just enough to accomplish a mission. I've made it my highest priority to try to degrade this ability as much as I can.

Near Noumea - A squadron of Bolo's, now on ASW missions from Noumea, are seeing multiple enemy subs nearby. He hasn't had much to see here so far. When I do arrive, it will be in large numbers, and I will be here to stay.

[apbarog]

18 Mar 42

Near Phuket, Thailand - SS Greenling gets a torpedo hit on a huge Japanese AO, AO Kokuyo Maru, setting it on fire. The task force was attacked in the same hex where a battleship task force was spotted recently. Both task forces appeared to be heading north. It is interesting to note that the AO that was hit was not loaded. I consider it more likely that Ceylon would be at more immediate risk if his AO's had been loaded heading north. Unloaded, they could only be going to Rangoon to load. There probably is enough fuel there now to be worth getting, but I am sure that there is a lot more oil there than fuel. Anyhow, there's serious shipping heading north. Still, no carriers spotted.

[apbarog]

18 Mar 42

Elsewhere:

Pucheng, China - A Japanese deliberate attack takes place at 1 to 11 odds, but either only the tank unit attacked, or the hex was overstacked. I think the first is true. Despite the odds, the Chinese take 83 casualties, the Japanese take none. Sure looks like an armor attack against troops with no anti-armor capability to me. But the base holds, and forts are still at 1.

[BBfanboy]

When you mentioned the empty AO my first thought was that it has already refuelled KB and the BB SCTF which are continuing to Ceylon while the AO goes back to Palembang to reload.

[apbarog]

KB could very well be in the Indian Ocean already. My only spotting ability is subs running between Sumatra and Thailand. They've spotted a battleship task force, and now an AO task force, but who knows what else has already gone north. I do have Catalina's at Columbo, but they may spot something too late there. Whatever is going on, it will unfold in the next week. I don't think he sent a battleship to guard the Rangoon area.

This is a fun time for the Japanese player, when the targets that are mostly expected to be taken have been taken, and "Phase 3" targets become tempting. I'm enjoying this part of the game also, scrambling to build defenses and trying to anticipate the next moves.

[apbarog]

19 Mar 42

More hints that India/Burma will be heating up soon:

4/5th Division is loaded on xAP Hakusan Maru moving to Victoria Point.
304th Ship Eng Coy is loaded on AMC Bankok Maru moving to Rangoon.

Burma - Near the Indian frontier, Bhamo is lost to Yokosuka 1st SNLF. A small Indian unit will cut the trail south of Bhamo in a week or so, just to be a nuisance.

China - Pucheng is bombed and has another artillery attack.

Clark AFB - Same old bombing and artillery here also.

Near Kuala Lumpur - The last Indian unit stranded in the jungle is eliminated after cutting the rail line. Its parent division can now be formed in India.

[apbarog]

Lost a nice long update...

The highlight of the turn is SigInt of another division loaded and moving to Victoria Point. That's the second one noted in just a couple of days. Stuff is moving. Burma is already secured by the Japanese, so it will be Ceylon and/or India soon.

At Java, my Dutch PT's hit an AMC today, and an S sub torpedoed it also. Both sides are stacked at Malang, now, in the mountains. Raw AV shows that the Japanese may need more troops here. But Dutch troops are weak, even in the mountains, so we'll see.

[apbarog]

21 Mar 42

Near Victoria Point

Plenty of activity between Phuket and Rangoon. Near Mergui, SS Seal takes a shot at a destroyer in a task force with BB Hyuga, 2 CA's, and 5 DD's. Seal misses and takes a light ASW counter-attack.

Having spotted a tiny AMc at Sabang, the Japanese move CL Tatsuta and 2 DD's there and finish it off.

Near Phuket, a large AO task force is spotted and attacked by SS Truant. This looks like the same AO force spotted earlier in the week. Truant gets one hit on a big AO, and it's loaded with fuel, leaving it burning. It will certainly sink. The AO task force was plotted moving north, along with everything else.

Dutch sub KXIV is then spotted by this AO task force as it proceeds north.

[apbarog]

21 Mar 42

Burma/India

Japanese units spotted moving into the jungle northeast of Swebo. Some units defend the dot base there on the rail line. It might hold for awhile. It might not.

Naval search is being performed out of Akyab, spotting task force near Rangoon. B-17's are flying out of Calcutta now, doing recon of Rangoon itself. Just southwest of Rangoon, a load of sub mines were just dropped.

An Australian unit just arrived at Diamond Harbor. If there is going to be a landing, I want to encourage one at Chittagong, or preferably, south of Chittagong, making the Japanese use the bad trail.

A minelayer CM is headed to Chittagong. It was spotted this turn, so it will be LR capped from Calcutta. It is only moving 4 hexes a turn, so it is vulnerable. I have a minelaying sub loitering between Chittagong and Calcutta, waiting to decide where to drop, hopefully just in front of an invasion task force.

I've covered a lot of the bases behind the lines in India. This is possible because so many units were evacuated from Singapore earlier.

In India, the best and biggest units are staying at Bombay and Karachi for now. In India, I have time, and space, and I hope to dictate the use of my good units. The only "good" unit at the front is the Australian brigade at Diamond Harbor now.

[apbarog]

22 Mar 42

Clark AFB - The usual air attacks. I do note that there are more units showing up in Manila than before. No doubt reinforcements are on the way.

China - 2 of the 4 Chinese units that were kicked out of Pucheng were air attacked today, slowing them down. Japanese units must be pursuing.

New Guinea - An undefended Milne Bay is invaded by a small unit.

Java - Another artillery bombardment at Malang. I'm hoping that I've thrown a wrench into the Japanese plans here. It will be resolved with either more troops here or another landing elsewhere, but hopefully this will delay things a bit.

Burma/India - Only one of the previously spotted task forces is seen this turn. Just a few ships seen, showing patrol boats and a CV. This is odd, and I've seen it for two turns. Maybe a CVE, who knows. I realign my subs to blockade the approaches to Rangoon. Still no sign of the mines outside Rangoon hitting anything. Chittagong is successfully mined with no air attack on the Allied CM. I'm still not sure what is up in this theater. I am sure that at least 2 new infantry divisions were loaded and went to Victoria Point. That could be a jumping off point for many destinations.

[apbarog]

23 Mar 42

Java - The 4 remaining brave Dutch PT boat commanders head back into the fight near Probolinggo. This time no transports are found, just cruisers and destroyers. Combat is joined at night at 8000 yards, and doesn't get closer than 7000. All Japanese shells miss, and no damage is done. At Malang, a Japanese artillery attack causes 24 Japanese casualties and no Dutch losses.

Northeast of Port Blair - 2 destroyers find S-23, but miss with all charges. This encounter was several hexes northeast of Port Blair, not on a route for ships moving up the coast. It was more out in the open ocean, possibly on a route towards Ceylon or the Indian coast near Viz. Or just a couple of destroyers on ASW duty. I've upped the search activity from Ceylon to Chittagong.

Near Cochin - 2 Brit destroyers find I-122 and get 7 hits on it, including one major hit. The ASW task force plots a course to round Ceylon, just as this sub will probably do to RTB.

3 hexes northeast of Diego Garcia - I-165 finds the big Allied minelayer Kung Wo, sinking it with 2 torpedoes. The CM was supposed to have dropped mines at Diego Garcia, but didn't. It started the turn at Diego, with a destination of Diego and a home base of Columbo, and mining set to on. I think I've screwed this up this way before. Well, the Japanese will certainly suspect mines at Diego now regardless.

Akyab - Nell's escorted by Zeros bomb the base force here. The small unit across the river may be crossing, or an amphibious invasion may be imminent.

Palembang - The always persistent but rarely successful Dutch air force trys to hit a task force at Palembang. I took a chance that maybe his fighters were elsewhere. The Zero's were gone, but the Oscars were still there. Despite Dutch fighters as escorts, 13 Dutch planes are lost with no Zero's lost, and no ships hit. Small patrol craft and a destroyer were targeted.

Clark AFB - Artillery bombardment again. Rough AV's are just about 2 to 1 for the Japanese. There are no forts here due to previous combat and ongoing base damage.

Northern Australia - somewhat near Wyndham, a Japanese armor unit catches up to a fleeing Australian base unit, and kicks it off the trail into the desert. 4 B-17's will counter-attack the armor in the open tomorrow, hopefully. Alice Springs has a size 3 airfield and is building nicely.

[BBfanboy]

Don't know how many times I have had a Minelayer go to target hex, sight an enemy ship and bug out no matter how innocuous the enemy ship is.
So what happens next? The Minelayer RTBs and .... lays the mines at home base! [:@].
Before I noticed this happening I even sent a Minelayer back out to target (not in ML TF but a Support TF, planning to change just before arrival at target), and then when I tried to give it orders for the mine drop it would not form a Minelaying TF. [:(]
At times like that I feel really stupid ... no shouts of agreement from the gallery please!! [:-]

[apbarog]

24 Mar 42

Borneo - Japanese ships find mines outside of Palembang, but don't hit any.

Australia - Now Lily's bomb the doomed tiny Aussie base force crossing the desert south of Wyndham. B-17's don't fly, were supposed to have bombed the small armor unit nearby.

Java - Malang is bombed. Minimal damage on the airfield, and it's irrelevant anyhow, as no fort building can occur with no engineers.

China - 50 bombers hit fleeing Chinese near Pucheng.

Sumatra - Troops at Djambi are bombed. Enemy troops approach.

Burma - At Akyab, paras are dropped. The Japanese paras get a 1 to 1 attack and drop the forts to 1. Allied casualties are 110, only 13 for the attackers. I thought I had enough to handle paras, but apparently not. B-17's will bomb the para unit this turn, hopefully, but a Japanese unit is showing movement across the river. The base will fall.

But the question is, where is all the activity in the Indian Ocean? It was there, and never showed up at Rangoon. Defenses continue to prepare from Ceylon to Chittagong.

CV Hornet appears at Balboa. It will join the Brit carrier at Los Angeles, which is trailing the US carriers between Christmas Island and the West Coast. Many ships will start upgrades on April 1, including the carriers.

[BBfanboy]

My money is on the Japanese going for Diego Garcia, Addu and/or Socotra for their initial IO invasions.
Once they cut off the incoming reinforcements and supply, India is in big trouble.