Forlorn Hopes: The Japanese Respond

[tocaff]

I think that in India you need to stay mobile and remain a threat for as long as possible to tie down Allied forces there.

The KB should indeed look for a kill worth having.  To take no risk now would be an op doomed to achieving nothing.  I like the idea of detaching a surface force to hit an anchorage and try to get the merchantmen to up anchor and sail into the teeth of the KB.  Will it work?  Who knows.....BANZAI!

[John 3rd]

Tocaff--Completely agree regarding freedom of movement in India. Am moving up the troops from Bangalore to join the Hyderabad contingent and then they move on to Poona. As soon as I can clear up zone-of-control to Bombay everything moves to Ahmadabad.

I will strike at Midway. It will be bloody but for second day in a row shows well over 100 ships in port (not that Midway can have a port) 8-10 TF outside of the Port, and about 110 Fighters. Will work up an Order-of-Battle presently for this mission...

Here is a bit of summary regarding the costs of Downfall to the Fleet and Merchants:

[tocaff]

[X(]  Never attacked!?!?!  Now that's lucky!  [X(]

[John 3rd]

Got that right!

All my TK are unloaded and that is a good thing.  They will now load fuel for Palau and we'll see what happens.

KB returning to Marcus, will refuel, I'll create 1-2 STF, and then will move towards Midway.

[flaggelant]

what kind of setup for the STF?

to heavy TF might run into a minefield (to light could do the same, but would matter less)
to light TF might run into an armed escort

especially the minefield sounds dangerous;
assuming dan isnt mining his mainland (china/singapore) ports since he has plenty of air power to destroy assaults.
pacific bases would be one of the few remaining bases that need mines for protection

and where are the returning transports heading?
homeland, to repairyards (and port bombardments?)
or soerabaja, which is atm relatively safe?

[John 3rd]

Great questions! This is the TF organization I am using. If anyone has a better idea please jump in. Flaggelant's comments hold a lot of merit.

I am willing to bet that the MF has degraded considerably considering how long Midway has been on the 'back line.' Of course Dan loves millions of mines to go with those impossible-to-have anchorages...

[John 3rd]

This was a possibility to hit.

[John 3rd]

Number 102 is sunk today east of Tarakan by a roving ASW TF.  The USS Trashar goes down with all hands!

[SierraJuliet]

I guess that screen shot was the harbinger of 8 Betty splash downs. What a Kamikaze flight that one was!

You'd expect that Dan couldn't possibly have CAP like that on all his bases...... could he?

[tocaff]

In war games units that were there are in the game and the unit's paper strength is also reflected.  The Allies had plenty of units with plenty of stuff.  What the games don't truly reflect is the tired  equipment that the Allies had.  Case in point was my father's B-29 had no working superchargers on the 2 inboard engines above a certain altitude and they flew that way for a long time.  Plenty of worn out planes and short on parts.

[John 3rd]

I pretty much find CAP in the neighborhood of 50-100 fighters anywhere I go on the map.  It is incredible the amount of aircraft the Allies have at this point in the war.  The reality is this is totally correct.  It simply defies the imagination!

I agree with Tocaff's comments about planes and repairs.  I know know this is something far better modeled in AE and look forward to it.

Got to run my morning turn.

[John 3rd]

12-23-44

For December 1944, I experienced an incredibly quiet turn.  Most Allied airpower stood down for the day and I enjoyed not seeing 1,000-1,500 bombers hitting various locations.  Had a good ASW Attack west of the Marianas and that was it for action.

KB moved to a position NW of Midway and will start its approach on Christmas Day...

[John 3rd]

Due to me having to run some unexpected errands Dan and I only got 2 turns in today.  Both turns were very quiet in the air and on the ground.

Biggest development is that Dan has disbanded his shipping into Midway's HUGE PORT.  There are over 200 ships in Midway Roads sitting there.  Without being able to flush the ships away from the island, I am unwilling to attack into the teeth of 125 Fighters on CAP.  With this decision the Fleet turns SW and heads for Marcus. 

I will instead strike at Eniwetok which has less then 50 planes on CAP and at least 25-40 ships disbanded in its harbor.  Once I land a punch there I will move on and find another possible target...

[John 3rd]

I think Dan might not like this posting.

Really screwed up on the December 23rd turn.  I took my normal notes, gave orders saved the file, hit turn advance into our emailing file slot, and sent it.  The moment I sent it I realized I hadn't given orders to India.  Immediately sent another email on the heels of the one just sent saying to watch the 001 but let me resend because I forgot India.  Pulled the file up and issued orders.  This took maybe 2-3 minutes, saved it and sent it with the Header of "Use THIS Turn."

Evidentally he didn't bother watching the 001 and whined about having to 'redo' his orders.  I rolled over--though I KNEW better--and let it pass. 

Well...DAMMIT...it will cost me all my units at Bombay and Poona.  I suspected a Zone of Control issue due to a unit approaching Poona.  I had noted to order my troops out of Bombay and head for Ahmadabad and the Poona troops to move into Bombay for the same move afterwards.  By one CRAPPY day that unit moved into the hex and now all my troops are frozen in place.

CRAP!

Considering what he just said in the First Team AAR I will hardly mention it.  Gawd... 

Anyone had something like this happen?

[John 3rd]

December 26, 1942
Combat Report

My little CVE Force strikes a convoy of 5 AK traveling between Noumea and Canton.  The 100 planes of the ships sink all five AK and I order the TF to move to Lunga for fueling.  There is enough fuel and supply at Lunga and Tarawa to stay down in this area for a while.  These ships are not strong enough to fight any CVs but should serve to be highly annoying!  


The KB refuels this day at Marcus and then moves on Eniwetok.  I will throw everything at that Port and see what we can bag.  Additionally I have moved 150 bombers and 75 Fighters into Truk to add some fireworks to the attack.  Might be fairly fun to watch.  There have consistently been about 40-50 fighters over the base and mine should blow through that.  The CAP for the Fleet will be set at 40% so I maximize the Escort strength.

Once this raid is done I will prabably pull back to Palau and evaluate the situation...

[tocaff]

No matter how hard we try not to miss anything after hitting that send button for the email that one more thing seems to come to mind.  It was only a matter of time, not much at that probably, till that force in India found itself pinned and brought to battle.

[FOW]

Yes it's happened to me - forgot to order some important units to move - against YOU in INDIA [8|]
Caused me some consternation at the time but just managed to extricate my units in the end, not that it will do much good in the long term....

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: FOW

Yes it's happened to me - forgot to order some important units to move - against YOU in INDIA [8|]
Caused me some consternation at the time but just managed to extricate my units in the end, not that it will do much good in the long term....

That was yours truly who made a hash of some of the land movement and allowed you to escape! Nice job getting them out.

That Bde at Poona had to be a mistake though, not sure what they were trying to accomplish, other than becoming POWs.

[John 3rd]

Just did the turn for Dec 27th and very quiet.

KB moved away from Marcus this turn.  Will position it for a run-in tomorrow and shall attack the day after.

To raise Dan's paranoia, I did a 1 day Glen Recon of Pearl Harbor.  He knows that is exactly the sort of OP I would love to try so perhaps it distracts him for a couple of days until the Eniwetok Strike.

Had a brainstorm regarding Dan using the route of Hong Kong to Iwo Jima to haul his empty TK--AK--AP and decided to move my refilled TK out of the Home Islands by the northern route.  All TK moved without interference from Hiroshima and Osaka to Tokyo and are now moving due east.  Will proceed that way fro 3 days and then head due south for Marcus. 

If I can move 150,000 Fuel out safely then this will give me 3 more potential operations worth of fuel for the Fleet.

[crsutton]

I am enjoying Dan's AAR too but your fine maps and graphics really do make a difference.

Congrats on getting the tankers home. Dan really should not let that happen. It is the little victories that make this game. Once I had a heavily damaged sub and fretted to death while nursing it back to port. It was like the rest of the war was not happening until I could get that sub home.....