Threadwar 3x3 - Japanese Animal War

[BrucePowers]

Wyndham has fallen[:)]

Troops are ashore in Rangoon[:)]

Details to follow

[BrucePowers]

Wyndam fell this turn. Next turn a base force will be ashore and zeros will follow.............

[BrucePowers]

Derby is next. (I should have used just 1 image)

[fabertong]

Well done Bruce.........as we are nearing May...(3 weeks)......it is a good time to take stock at where we are.......

Bruce is, as you can see, exerting pressure on North Oz.....and also landing at Rangoon......so while we may seem behind in Burma.......this theatre should split wide open in the next 2-3 weeks......

Nomea should also fall before May......as Mike now has almost 3-1 in troop terms.......and allied supply must be on the wane.....with PM already in our hands we are ahead of Hist. in this theatre.....

Northern area force has recieved some air units and extra combat troops.....Mike will have to make do with this for the time being......as all PPs are precious with the Command/theatre/pp rule........especially Burma....where we have to create a Burma army by the time it activates....in 250 days......

4th Fleet is left with it's Ngrd units ....but needs IJN BFs badly.....and some new air units.........but this will also have to wait......

I'm still tidy-ing up the Phils.......with Devao and a couple of the smaller Islands to take........but I'm in no hurry......and will close this theatre about mid May.....the rest of the Phils are Bruce's command......

China is much how it began with a long drawn out campeign predicted.......as Mike and Bob square up to each other.......we will look to squeeze once the Burma road is cut........

Manchuria is building forts.....and I will be looking to xfer several units out as the PPs become available.....

Mike has the economy in great shape......and our pilot levels are still very good.......

We've probably lost more shipping than I would have liked....and the allies not quite enough......but the big ship losses......a CA(lost to cd guns at Soerabja)....and a CS.......are both my responsibility.....the first through stupidity.......the second a lack of much needed caution......

The sub war......is also a bit disappointing........and many of our boats which have been on patrol since war's start will now be heading home for a rest.....if I can spare any PPs....I will trade out some commanders....but this is low priority.......

[Mike Solli]

8 Apr 42
 
Reinforcements:  an AE and AK, as well as the 19th Naval Guard for the SE Fleet Area.
 
As Bruce said earlier, Wyndham fell to a well organized Japanese attack.  Actually, they tripped over each other running from the Japanese steamroller losing 113 troops to no Japanese casualties.  Banzai! [:D]
 
Our merchant shipping continues to be attacked by the cowardly Allied Air Forces, sinking 2 APs and an MSW while damaging 3 APs, and 2 AKs.  In addition, a Coronado damaged the I-9.  She hopefully will make port (fingers crossed).
 
Our Nells, flying out of Kendari, sank 2 Allied AKs about 180 miles north of Wyndham.  No clue what they were doing there.  I suspect they were fleeing Darwin.
 
The Thresher hit a mine also.
 
In Noumea, our AV rose to 864 to the stagnant Allied AV of 302.

[Mike Solli]

9 Apr 42

Reinforcements:  68 ID in CEA

Damage to Allied ships first (much shorter list [8|]).  The TK Antietam went down from damage a couple of days ago.  Also, a Lily put a bomb into the Searaven.  It was only a puny 100 kg bomb, but hopefully it was enough to send her home.

The Allied air force was rather quiet on the Australian front today.  The only attack was by 48 B-17s, 6 LB-30s and 41 Hudsons against Wyndham airfield.  Here's the report:

Day Air attack on Wyndham , at 30,85


Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 41
B-17E Fortress x 48
LB-30 Liberator x 6
F-4 Lightning x 6


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
251 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 44

They came from Darwin.  I suspect that soon there will be some fighters there to give them a warm reception. [:D] In my opinion, that wasn't a useful use of the Hudsons.  I'd have kept them on naval attack.  That damage will be easily repaired.

We lost 2 AKs to old damage.  At Rangoon, we lost 2 AKs, 1 AP and 1 ML.  We also received damage to 11 AKs and an AP. 

Bob had made a comment about how difficult it will be to take Rangoon.  Bruce currently has elements of 3 divisions there, about 30k troops.  What Bob doesn't know is that Bruce has an additional 40k troops that will land there over the next few days. [:D] 

Noumea:  My AV is up to 923 while the Allied AV is still at 302.  I'm going to try a deliberate attack tomorrow, just to see what happens.  The might of KB will assist.  Hopefully, we can conclude this invasion to free up KB.  That way, KB can get some well deserved time to repair the creeping sys damage and the Allies will lose track of our carriers.  I'd like to see KB show up somewhere to trash an Allied base and local shipping.  Dutch Island would be a good choice.  That would make Speedy have to change his shorts. [:D]  That base has been growing constantly without any opposition.

We took Vella Lavella today and landed troops at Derby, Davao and Noumea.

Oh yeah, Bob attempted to oust Bruce's Rangoon invasion force.  He lost 846 troops and 23 guns to our 441 troops and 8 guns.  I'm sure that hurt Bob much more than us. [:D]

Lastly, a small Allied TF, consisting of CA Minneapolis, CL Perth and DDs Helm, Phelps, Stuart and Le Triomphant raided Luganville.  They caught an ASW TF there consisting of a PG and 3 PCs.  They sank 2 PCs for no loss.  Just dumb luck that the ASW TF was there.  An Allied sub had been hanging around and I sent them hoping we could hit the sub in shallow water.  I'm kind of pissed that my recon forces never spotted the Allies.  I have 18 Mavis and 9 Emily in the area.  I'll try reducing the max range of the flying boats at Luganville to about 8 hexes or so to concentrate the recon in a smaller area.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Monter_Trismegistos

Hi Mike. Would it be a problem to you to show disposition of fleet in each command? Let's say CV, BB, CA and CL's?

I'm quite curious if fleet is grouped together, and how strong fleet you are keeping in inactive/non crucial theaters.

Here you go, MT:

Home Islands:
2 BB, 4 CA, 6 CL, 20 DD, 3 SS
These ships are either damaged, recently repaired and awaiting a new mission or just back from a mission and cleaning up operational sys damage.

Burma:
3 CVL, 2 CVE, 4 BB, 8 CA, 3 CL, 33 DD
These are engaged in the Rangoon operation with a few being repaired.

SRA:
2 CL, 17 DD
Primarily escorts with a few damaged ships heading to a port for repair.

Australia:
1 CL, 5 DD and 3 SS
Used for the invasion of Australia. Note the lack of combat ships. [X(]

4th Fleet:
25 SS
We're protecting the entire Central Pacific with subs and air power.

SE Fleet:
KB: 6 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA, 1 CL, 9 DD
2 BB, 4 CL, 10 DD, 15 SS
Noumea invasion and some damaged ships. One BB (15 sys damage) at Truk ready to head to the home Islands for repair.

Northern Area:
3 SS
Speedy doesn't realize we have basically no defense here. We have Attu that just reached a level 2 airfield and nothing more than float planes to guard the place. A daitai of Zeros is ready to head there, but is waiting for additional air support squads to arrive in a few days. Very vulnerable right now.

[Mike Solli]

Total known ships lost to date:
 
Type-Japanese-Allied
 
CS-1-0
CA-1-0
CL-0-4
DD-5-18
APD-1-0
AP-28-6
AK-37-53
AO-0-4
TK-1-6
SS-7-9
AR-0-2
AS-0-1
AVD-0-5
DM-0-1
ML-2-1
MSW-9-5
PG-3-10
PC-4-2
PT-0-30
SC-0-1

[Mike Solli]

10 Apr 42
 
Reinforcements:  A 20 kt (4440 pt capacity) AK, 69 Infantry Division (CEA) and 141 IJNAF BF (Southern Area Army)
 
The Allied Air Force continued to beat on our merchant force.  Today we lost 2 AKs and an AP sunk and 12 AKs, 7 APs and a PC damaged to varying degrees.  Fortunately, we can absorb those losses, but we really don't like them.  The Allies lost an AK to old damage.
 
We landed troops at Derby, Rangoon, Cotabato and Panggoe. 
 
Faber attacked Davao, getting 2:1 odds and reducing the fort level from 2 to 1 and causing 334 casualties to 105 Japanese casualties.  Davao is almost done.
 
I attacked Noumea, getting 0:1 odds and taking 1320 casualties to 521 Allied casualties.  The surprising this is that the fort level is now 6.  On 15 Mar (last Noumea attack) the fort level was 3.  The problem is that Noumea is so isolated that it's difficult to keep bombarding it (either by air or sea).  I hate to use KB to bombard constantly, due to the op losses.  I'm going to try and bombard with them on days there is no other bombardment planned.
 
On the bright side, Bruce continues to reinforce the Rangoon invasion.  He currently has 4 or 5 divisions landed (can't remember which).  Unless Bob withdraws from Moulmein, Bruce will take Rangoon and then surround the substantial Allied forces at Moulmein.  There is a huge Allied air force at Moulmein (that's what hitting Bruce's shipping).  Once he pulls out of Moulmein, much of his air power will be unable to hit Bruce.
 
Admiralty Island's port reached level 2 today.

[Mike Solli]

Bob posted the following in another thread:

"Just thought i'd let you folks know:

over the last 8 days (4-11 April inclusive) - there have been 110 Animal ships damaged with a total of 132 bomb hits, 64 shell hits, 60 torpedo hits, 2 depth charge hits, and 2 mine hits... 23 ships have sunk, and i suspect a bunch more will follow."

I agree that we've taken hits on a lot of merchant shipping.  Here's the current impact on APs and AKs.

In order for a ship to sink the flot damage has to hit 100.  I based the numbers on that.  Here are the definitions first:

Heavy flot damage: 51-99
Medium flot damage: 21-50
Light flot damage: 11-19
Minor flot damage: 1-10

AKs:

Heavy: 11
Medium: 11
Light: 3
Minor: 7
No flot damage: 586
Of those with no flot damage, only 30 have any sys damage at all.  This means that 556 of a total of 618 AKs currently on map are without damage of any kind, or 90%.

APs:

Heavy: 9
Medium: 7
Light: 2
Minor: 2
No flot damage: 240
Of those with no flot damage, only 32 have any sys damage at all.  This means that 208 of a total of 260 APs currently on map are without damage of any kind, or 80%.

Lets look at totals now.

AKs:

Total to date: 660
Sunk: 42 (6%)
No damage: 556 (84%)
Any damage: 62 (10%)

APs:

Total to date: 291
Sunk: 31 (11%)
No damage: 208 (72%)
Any damage: 51 (17%)

I'm satisfied with losses to date.  We're currently sending massive merchant TFs into the teeth of the Allied air power.  We've taken Wyndham.  Rangoon and Derby's days are numbered. 

I just love when the Allies gloat over Japanese merchant ship losses.  Let them focus on that while our naval combat forces continues to build strength.  They'll be in for a surprise later.  Our naval invasions are drawing to a close.  We have little need for all those APs.  Also, AKs are very efficient at carrying resources and supply.  We have an abundance of them also.

[Mike Solli]

11 Apr 42
 
Another bloody day for the merchant fleet.  We lost one AK to old damage and had 2 APs, 1 AK and a MSW sunk.  In addition, 8 AKs, 5 APs and an APD were damaged off either Rangoon or Derby.
 
We hit the Plunger with a depth charge off Noumea and a Nell put a torpedo into an AK off Darwin.
 
Faber took Makin and Bruce attacked Derby, reducing the fort level from 1 to 0.  Bruce also made a small air landing in Daly Waters, finding some Australian combat forces there, unfortunately.
 
Troops landed at Rangoon and Panggoe (dot base in the Solomons).

[Mike Solli]

12 Apr 42
 
Reinforcement:  136 IJN BF
 
First the good news.  Bruce took Derby easily.  Faber took Cotabato and I took Panggoe.
 
Bruce has 829 AV to Bob's 519 AV at Rangoon with more Japanese forces arriving daily.  I noticed Allied ground forces between Rangoon and Moulmein.  Not sure which way they're going but I suspect Bob's reinforcing Rangoon from Moulmein.  If he moves too many forces out of Moulmein, Bruce has the 55th ID and several tank regiments, along with supporting units poised to move into Moulmein.
 
Now for naval losses:  1 PC, 4 AKs and 1 AP to old damage.  1 AK, 1 AP and 2 MSWs sunk today and 16 AKs, 3 APs and an APD damaged today in the Rangoon and Derby areas.
 
There are about 400 Allied planes in Moulmein and Rangoon, which is the reason for the (relatively) massive damage to shipping in this operation.  I'm still not conerned with the losses.  Once Bruce pushes Bob out of either Moulmein or Rangoon (probably Rangoon first), Bob's defense of the area will collapse and he'll run.  At that point, the short range bombers Bob's using to good effect will have to withdraw and then there will be nothing stopping the fleets from reinforcing our success.

[Mike Solli]

13 Apr 42
 
Reinforcement:  18 Naval Guard for SE Fleet
 
Sorry for the delay in updating, but RL has been rearing it's ugly head....
 
The merchant fleet took another beating today, but it's losses we can afford and will ultimately break open the Burma front.  We lost 2 AKs, and an AP, small AV, and MSW to old damage and 5 AKs, 1 MSW and a PG were sunk today.  We also had 13 AKs and a PC damaged.
 
On the  plus side, the S-44 sank from old damage.  Nells damaged 2 AKs and sank another AK off Wyndham and the I-122 damaged an AK off Derby.  Still not sure what those ships are doing there, but I suspect they're fleeing Darwin.
 
Davao fell to Faber's attack.  We captured 5500 Allied troops to 131 Japanese casualties.  Mindinao is now ours.
 
We landed troops on Iloilo, Rangoon and Waigeo, and captured Abemama.
 
Bob is being a pain in the butt in China, with his Yellow Horde wandering around W of Shanghai.  A small force that moved into Shanghai was ejected as was a small force in Kanhsian.

[Mike Solli]

14 Apr 42
 
The I-122 sank the same AK it damaged yesterday.  Nells N of Australia also sank an AK they damaged yesterday.  Losses to our merchant shipping were still serious, but better than yesterday.  Old damage caused the sinking of 2 AKs, 2 APs, an MSW and a PC.  In addition, 2 other AKs were sunk and 2 AKs and 3 APs were damaged.  Bruce bombarded Moulmein and the Haruna, Kongo, Kumano and Suzuya took 5, 6, 1 and 1 500 lb. bombs each, for minor damage fortunately.
 
We landed troops at Rangoon and Iloilo and took Waigeo Island today. 

[Mike Solli]

15 Apr 42
 
We had 2 AKs sink from old damage.  In addition, an AP and AK were sunk and another AP damaged today.
 
The Rowboat corps took Pomala and Faber captured Iloilo, taking 3251 prisoners to 166 casualties.  Our forces landed on Rangoon, Broome and Sansapor.
 
Koumac's airfield reached level 2.

[BrucePowers]

We are moving along. A minefield I laid sank the Searaven today. I will post some sityation maps in a bit.

[Mike Solli]

16 Apr 42
 
Ok folks, after a very busy RL, I'm back in the AAR business.  We've been proceeding with the game, but not the AAR.  Here goes.....
 
Reinforcement:  CV Junyo - she's heading to reinforce baby KB in the IO area.
 
Allied air power continues to attempt to disrupt the landing at Rangoon as well as the bridgehead in Northern Australia.  We lost an APD and AK and had a DD, AK and 8 APs damaged.  Bruce raided Colombo damaging a ML and PG.  In addition, an Allied AK sank from old damage. 
 
We landed troops at Rangoon and Broome and took Sansapor.  The Rowboat Corps took Cotabalogon.

[Mike Solli]

17 Apr 42
 
Reinforcement:  23 Mixed Brigade at Saigon
 
As Bruce stated earlier, the Searaven went down after hitting a mine.  On our side, we lost a PC and APD to old damage, and 3 APs and 2 AKs were also sunk today.  There was also a DD, AO, 4 APs and 3 AKs damaged.
 
We took Hangchow causing 1931 Chinese casualties to 820 Japanese casualties.  We continued to land troops at Rangoon and Broome and also landed troops at Rekata Bay.

[Mike Solli]

18 Apr 42
 
Reinforcements:  86 and 88 Naval Guard for SE Fleet
 
A Jake damaged the KXI.  We lost 4 APs and an APD and had an AK and AP damaged today.
 
We continued to land troops at Rangoon and Rekata Bay.  We attacked Broome, getting 1:1 odds and reducing the fort level from 3 to 2.  There were 93 Allied casualties to no Japanese casualties.

[Mike Solli]

19 Apr 42
 
Reinforcements:  85 Naval Guard for SE Fleet and 141 IJN BF for SAA
 
We lost an AP to old damage today.
 
We landed troops at Noumea, Buru Island and Ormoc.  Bruce took Broome, capturing 624 Allies for no Japanese casualties.