Matrix Games Forums

31 July 42'

USAAF Bombers
Opening the turn in tracker gave a rather big surprise, almost all the USAAF bomber units had expanded. Bomber pilots pools were nearly emptied just getting a couple of front line bomber squadrons up to strength, but I can probably pull quite a few competent pilots from training groups.

DEI
The Japanese do a new invasion in the DEI, a naval guard unit occupies a dot hex near Oosthaven, Indian Ocean side. Probably a nice search base for ASW to cover that gap.

Subs
I-6 is hunted by ASW near Auckland, she gets off the first shot and the RAN retaliates with Depth Charges, but neither side gets any hits.
Pickerel gets a dud hit on an xAKL near Sakhalin

1-3 August 42'

Burma
A cruiser group bombards Akyab, but does no damage. Japanese forces are moving away, with one unit moving South along the trail to Ramree Island and the regiment returning to the plains. It seems unlikely that Akyab will be counter-attacked by land.

China
The huge stack at Sian is still moving South, and a small vanguard is moving up towards Ankang. This seems like a manoeuvre to take the city before the refugees from Sian have made their way through the woods. Not much I can do against that though, as Ankang is again short of supply. The main blocking force will stay in the mountains North of Ankang, the refugees may or may not get out, if they get eliminated it's not that big a loss, most are woefully understrength anyway.

SW Pac
A small TF is spotted near Luganville. Either my naval search is bad again, or a small raiding force is in the area.

Baker Island
This would be my next target, ships are already moving into position and troops will finish preparing in about a month and a half. LCUs assigned to the operation are few, as I'm guessing Baker is only a lightly-guarded outpost. One RCT, one Raider Bn and a defence Bn will be thrown at the Island. However, this turn a submarine in the hex was beat up by a DD in the hex, so Joseph has at least some interest in the base. In a week a few recon flights should go over the island and I'll know more.

Subs
Gato hits a PC with a dud near Leyte, this is part of an ongoing duel between the ASW-forces and the sub. If I had any working torpedoes the winner would be quite clear though.
Pollack launches dud against a SC near Sakhalin
I-4 approaches a convoy near Tahiti, but is driven off by DD Buchanan before torpedoes are launched.

4-5 August 42'

The game was a bit slow the last couple of days, so despite the wait only a 2-day update.

China
It seems like the Sian stack is retreating further into Japanese held territory. Either intel is wrong or he is setting up for a new offensive somewhere else. Sian is still only held by a single unit, most likely a division.

Baker Island
Recon flew over the island today and only 300 infantry were reported. Due to this news the operation has been put on the fast track. The limiting factor on my speed are preparation points for the troops, which are around 65 at the moment. This gives a D-day that is a little over a month away, but if the prep goes up by 2 for a couple of days I can still speed everything up. It also means that I can probably leave the heavy part of the operation behind, the RCT will still be loaded as a floating reserve, but otherwise it will be a minimalistic operation, with only a light surface combat covering force. Even though it will be a small operation I will have to use the majority of my AP to make sure I can land the complete force in a single day.

Operation Basset
The troops for operation Basset are still advancing trough the jungle and seem to be unspotted for the time being. In about 2 days the fastest formation, a British division, will reach a hex next to the dirt track and chances of detection will go up. Recon is hard at work overflying all possible bases in middle and Northern Burma and the garrison for the Northern Jungle remains very small, with some divisions suspected in the plains.

Subs
On the 4th USS Sealion is attacked by SC of Sabang, but to no effect
The 5th finally brings new successes in the sub war, with S-42 torpedoing 2 3800 ton xAKs of Saumlaki. Both of the targets get 2 torpedoes and troop casualties are reported. Only one kill is confirmed, but it is a rare xAK that survives a single torpedo, let alone 2. The sub does get a hit from a depth charge for it's trouble, but damage is very light.
2 other subs also perform admirably, but are thwarted by their torpedoes. USS Pickerel hits a DD and USS Permit a SC.

6-7 August 42'

Subs
A couple of calm days, so it's straight to the subs.
USS Pickerel finally gets lucky and sinks xAK Nasusan Maru, a medium sized xAK.
DD ASW harasses some subs stationed of Guam, but not damage of note.

USS Lexington
Is now 3 days out from Pearl Harbour, once she arrives my complete carrier force will be completely upgraded and will carry good planes. With the earlier sinking of Hiryu the American carriers will have a force that could probably stand up to the KB, but I don't feel like forcing the issue yet though.

8-10 August 42'

Darwin
The USAAF flew to defend Darwin on the 9th, with decent results. 6 sallies and 5 zeroes got shot down, for the cost of 4 P-40E. The warhawks benefited greatly from their greater firepower and armour as they got damaged in droves, but managed to stay in the air while any zero hit generally went down. On the 10th the zeroes swept Katherine, CAP was up as retaliatory bombing raids were expected and against sweeping zeroes the warhawks performed far worse. The end result of the day was 12-5 in favour of the zeroes. The sweep came in at 17k, CAP was split over 10,15 and 20k.

Burma
A second column has come within 40 miles from the jungle trail and still the advance seems unspotted. Supporting forces have been delayed greatly as they were following a tank regiment, which for some reason seems to be far slower then expected. Other tank units, engineers and artillery all LCU are now moving independently, which meant a reset of progress, but at least they are no longer bound to the slowest unit in the stack.

Subs
I-164 torpedoed HMCS Mirimichi near Tahiti. The minesweeper was part of a Canadian ASW force near the island.

11 August 42'

The game has been patched, database change and all, let's hope we won't regret this. Joseph seems to have run into the problem of the engine change, but as we are playing PDU off he had to produce all planes and engines anyway, so it could have been worse for him. For the Allies there don't seem to be too many problems, at least I haven't noticed any problems with the subs. The loss of some British infantry reinforcements is countered by an increase in 25pdr production, so I'm not complaining. The only slight annoyance so far are the 6pdr AT guns. One of the Australian I corps divisions couldn't be reconstructed due to some brigades having 2pdrs and some 6pdrs, I had nearly assembled enough of the 6pdrs to do the upgrade (and had to stop 2 Indian divisions from accepting replacements to preserve the 6pdrs in the meantime) and now the arrival of the gun has been delayed for 4 months ... leaving me short a couple of guns.

China
The only front active today, a forgotten corps crossed a river straight into a Japanese division .... Strategically insignificant, but a stupid loss none the less.

USA Rifle squad 42
There is one reason this day is significant, the pool of the new rifle squads reached 91 today, meaning I can start upgrading regiments and divisions. Devices might not be as sexy as new plane types, but this does mean the squads improve their anti-soft by 30% and anti-tank by 133%. Ignore these upgrades at your own peril.

Convoy protection
The first Auk and Adroit class minesweepers are arriving for the USN. These have pretty decent range, meaning they make nice convoy escorts. Finally I can start releasing some more destroyers from convoy duty and start fleshing out SCTF groups. The shorter ranged SC can replace the Canadian corvettes for work around the West Coast.

It seems like it has been a while since I sent pictures from the map, so it's time for a small update with images.



The Burma offensive is still under way, the advance elements of the middle column will be reaching the trail in about 5 to 7 days. The Eastern column has had more problems with the rough jungle then anticipated and is thus delayed. Recent recon of Myitkyina does suggest that reinforcements from that direction are very unlikely. In the are of Akyab forces are building, most are there for show or for defending the area, but if I want to I could still find about a division worth of troops there to throw forward. Recon suggest very few Japanese troops in the area. Japanese recon seems very focused on Kalemyo for some reason, fine by me as that means no recon over the trails or Imphal.

The next one is China's Eastern (Northern) Front, the main army that attacked Sian has withdrawn along the large arrow, this might be a prelude to a new attack, but I am quite unsure where the hammer will fall. Changsha is heavily defended and it is easy to move large armies between the 3 bases. Changteh is an option, though with a river crossing and again close to Changsha. An attack near Kweilin is the most likely option, as that base is rather isolated and it would also threaten to cut the Changsha area off from Chungking. A smaller attack is noticed in the far North, it will sweep away the defenders of the dot hex, but will not do much more as there is a large army behind it in the mountains.

So we did run into trouble with the patch, the submarine bug rears it's ugly head. We are backtracking a couple of days to the order phase of 12/08.

12-13 August 42'

We redid some turns and are now back on track again

China
Some more battles in the area around Sian destroy a couple of Chinese cops. The units that were routed from Sian are still in the jungle, I obviously made a mistake by all setting them all to follow a single unit as progress is painfully slow.

Burma
Bad news from Sigint, a new division, the 38th, is reported in Lashio, last sighting of this formation was by Sigint in Singapore. This makes 4 Japanese divisional equivalents confirmed in Burma (3 full divisions and one in it's component regiments).
Oscars launch sweeps from the Lashio airfields over Imphal and a Chinese base. The sweep over Imphal was slightly worrying as it might lead to a sighting of my marching troops, but it seems like the DL of the base did not go up.

Subs
USS Pollack gets one DC hit near Den Passer and is retiring to Perth with moderate damage.

14-15 August 42'

China
The attack South from Lanchow consists of 3 divisions, not anything to worry my troops in the mountains. They did rout an observation unit. This attack also means that there are about 3 divisions left to defend Lanchow.

Subs
RO-60 runs into a mine at Luganville.

16-17 August 42'

Australia
Zeroes are still sweeping over Darwin, but the task of escorting the bombers has been taken over by Oscars. Every day about 40 fighters and 40 bombers fly to keep the base closed, I'm wondering if this is a good form of training for them, otherwise this seems like a waste of resources.

In North-east Australia a small convoy was sent out to resupply Portland Roads. An RAAF Kittyhawk squadron was set up to provide air cover, but were swamped by a coordinated Japanese attack. 20 zeroes first sweeped the base, taking down 3 Kittyhawks for 2 of their own but also depleting the CAP. The next wave had 20 betties and 20 zeroes, which swept aside the remaining CAP and took down one more Kittyhawk. The Betties then went on to torpedo both xAKL in the convoy, though the combat replay showed the escorting AM being hit. All in all this was a small battle, but it is interesting that such a coordinated strike, complete with fighters set up to sweep ports, was set up for such a small convoy.

18-21 August 42'

Burma
The first units have emerged from the jungle in Burma. The 39th Indian division (ex-1st Burma Division) is blocking the road leading to Katha and is being backed up by Chinese formations and Indian brigades. Katha still seems empty and a British division is advancing on the base. Though no action has been taken yet Joseph has informed me that he has sighted the troops. Recon is working overtime to check on any Japanese movements.

In the air Nicks again strafe Akyab to little effect.

China
Air attacks have been switched from the area of Sian to near Changsha.

SW Pacific
Mavis planes attack Luganville twice, the port is targeted, due to a lack of air support I can only keep a patrol squadron active there, so no CAP is present to engage these attacks.

Subs
Pompano is fighting against an ASW group and launches 3 dud attacks in the last 4 days.
Japanese subs have more luck, DD Norman is sunk while hunting I-29 near Noumea.

USS Arizona
USS Arizona leaves Pearl Harbour for the Seattle shipyards. It's the second to last cripple from the Pearl Harbour strike to leave for the West Coast, she still has 47 flotation damage, but no engine damage means the transit will be relatively quick. USS Maryland is the last BB to remain at Hawaii.

Zeroes are still sweeping over Darwin, but the task of escorting the bombers has been taken over by Oscars. Every day about 40 fighters and 40 bombers fly to keep the base closed, I'm wondering if this is a good form of training for them, otherwise this seems like a waste of resources.

Fenton is a good place to fly LR over Darwin. Right now you should be getting some P40K's and they appear to be a better plane now that they can fly at 20k.

Hey Khyberbill, nice to know people are still reading the AAR, it's a bit slow at the, but I hope Burma and the first attacks in the Pacific will make it a bit more interesting.

So far I've used Katherine for the LRCAP, though it's far from ideal at 4 hexes. I have a unit trying to build Fenton at the moment, but even though both Darwin and Katherine have enough supplies Fenton stays in the red, so this might be slowing construction down.

Try bringing an HQ to Fenton. That usually helps pull in some supplies.

It helps getting the supply requirement up, but as I'm already using the supply draw arrows that shouldn't do that much. It does seem like the supplies are relatively stable around the low level and some building is going on, so it may just work out in the end. Tracker gives a nice history of base building and if that is to be believed the ETA for a level 1 field is about 20 days (at 26% and gaining 4% a day)

22-23 August 42'

Burma
More units are arriving, the blocking force is in position, the 18th British has reached Katha and will attack tomorrow. Another 2 Australian and one British Brigade have reached the road and are advancing to Katha as well. It will be interesting to see if Mytikyina will be defended, recon suggest a cavalry or tank regiment present (100 AFV), but very little in the way of infantry or artillery. A division reported at Lashio seems to have moved out as there are only 5000 troops sighted there at the moment, it is possible that these are moving North. Mytkyina does seem to exposed anway now that Katha has fallen, it's only 1.5 jungle hexes between Bhamo and Katha.

SWPac
Mavis planes return to Luganville, again to no effect.

Subs
Subs still seem to be solely interested in ASW forces, Pompano shoots of more duds near Mindanao and I-29 misses a DD near New Caledonia. Both escape retribution.

24-25 August 42'

Burma
All the news from the past 2 days comes from the Burmese front. On the 24th Katha falls and the Eastern column reaches the Katha-Mytkyina road, the advance on Myitkyina has started. Unless reinforced or very heavily fortified the base should fall quickly. Still, a Burmese battalion is moving trough the jungle towards Bhamo. The Chinese have also started moving with 2 divisions, worth some 140 AV.

The second axis of attack would be into the central plains, but I'd rather not move into the open without some air cover closer than Kalemyo. Only Magwe seems adequately defended though, so once some aviation support has moved trough the jungle I might rush towards Shwebo and use that airfield as a forward base for the rest of the offensive. A move into the plains was not planned at the beginning of the offensive, but leaving it until Lashio falls seems like wasting a good opportunity. The lack of airbase building does indicate that Joseph doesn't plan on holding anyway.

There were some air battles over the past couple of days, mainly attacks by the Japanese air force. Bombers are striking Cox's Bazaar and Akyab, my fields closest to the plains, but Akyab is lacking aviation support for a defence. An Oscar sweep over Imphal was disastrous for the attackers, the 3 Hurricane squadrons defending claim 8 Oscars with some more going down with Ops losses. In return only 2 Hurricanes are lost with only 1 pilot being wounded.

26-28 August 42'

Burma
A Liberator squadron of the 7th Bomber Group has just arrived in Cape Town and will be shipped over to India to support the Burma front. This is the first squadron of heavy bombers that will arrive in theatre. A complete other Bomber Group is in transit to CT as well, this will make for quite a potent heavy bomber force at the end of 42.

A lot of other air news from Burma, with the USAAF making it's first appearance. Two Warhawk squadrons of the 51st Fighter Group were sent to defend Cox's Bazaar from Sally raids, but due to an unfortunate mistake  they were grounded on the 27th and lost a couple of planes to an unescorted raid which they would have slaughtered had they been in the air. On the 28th they proved their worth though, Oscars swept in 3 waves. The first one, with 33 planes was stopped with 9 Oscars down for 5 P-40E. 4 Lonely planes were then dispatched with 1 shot down for no loss. A final 22 plane raid finally wore down the CAP, but not without losing 2 of their number with only damaged Hawks to show for it. Finally 2 planes were diverted to a bomber raid over Akyab, but both were damaged for little effect. Final results will be in once I get the turn, but it looks good for the Americans.

The Brits had worse luck, after the first successful battle the Oscars swept on the 27th, the first sweep was a victory, but the CAP was seriously weakened giving the second raid an easy time, multiple Hurricanes were shot down for no loss to the attackers. Total results were 14 Hurricanes to all causes, with 7 Oscars shot down + Ops.

China
Air raids in the Changsha area are heavy and the large stacks that left Sian are still unaccounted for. SigInt is also revealing multiple units preparing for Hengyang, a base close to Changsha.
Japanese units are trying to infiltrate everywhere in the South of the country and Chinese units are manoeuvring to counter. In the North 2 small recon corps were routed by a Tank Regiment, the lack of anti-tank capability didn't seem to help.

Darwin
Remains closed down, but nearby bases are building.

Subs
Finally the subs get a couple more kills.
O20 might have become the first ace sub, she hit xAK Kinai Maru in the South China Sea, but the kill is not yet confirmed. This sinking would also put the sub in second place for tonnage.
Seadragon attacks, but misses a destroyer in the vicinity of Truk
Finally, Halibut attacks twice in shallow water near Foochow, the first attack is foiled by duds. In the second attack two torpedoes explode on target and the large xAK Hoeisan Maru is sunk