Burns vs. Yubari, CHS scenario 158 version 2.08c

[Jim D Burns]

14 June 42

Not a good day for allied sub ops today. Both the S-36 and the Grouper are subjected to ASW attacks and both subs get hammered. The Grouper is far from base and probably won’t make port.

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ASW attack near Cairns at 48,102

Japanese Ships
APD Patrol Boat No. 35
APD Patrol Boat No. 34
APD Patrol Boat No. 33
APD Patrol Boat No. 32

Allied Ships
SS S-36, hits 5
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ASW attack at 64,45

Japanese Ships
AK Raizan Maru
AK Hokutai Maru
PC Ch 24
PC Ch 23
PC Ch 19
PC Sonan Maru #6

Allied Ships
SS Grouper, hits 4, on fire
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Two small allied air raids hit the 3rd AA regiment at Townsville today.

Japanese planes hit the 2nd Burma Rifles brigade in the river hex northeast of Moulmein.

Japan conducts a land bombardment at Townsville today. Tomorrow the US tank battalion will arrive in the hex adding 71 tanks to my defense there.

Nothing else of note occurred today.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
You might want to look at your disposition of Aviation Support. I sent a large Avaition Rgt from SE Asia to Oz and was able to evac most of my large Aviation units from Java and PI to Oz. They are now rebuilt (except the infantry for the British ones). There is a lot of Aviation Rgt (270 support) and large BF (90 support) in India/Burma that may be more than you need while Oz will be hurting for it until late 42. Having excessive (2 Aviation Rgt would be nice) will aid your 4e bomber recovery time at Rock or Brisbane. [;)]

I’ve got an aviation regiment already at Rockhampton, so there’s plenty of support there for my 4E bombers. I also have the two large Dutch aviation regiments in Oz, both are about 2/3rds rebuilt now. One is heading to Charter Towers to join the 3 baseforces there (total of 240 support when all 4 units fleshed out), the other will remain at Brisbane with the two baseforces there (total 210 support when fleshed out).

I only sent one US baseforce from the PI to Oz, it's rebuilding in Sydney. I sent 4 others to China, they are rebuilding along with an engineer regiment (one of the ones with 20 bulldozers in it’s TO&E) at Chungking.

I may send one of the Indian aviation regiments down as you suggest, as I could use more support at Alice Springs (only 60 support there). I’ll look into the reinforcement tracks, if nothing large is arriving for ANZAC command, Australia Command or SWPAC Command that I can use at Alice Springs in the next month or so, I’ll send the regiment that just arrived at Aden this turn. Thanks for the tip, I hadn’t thought of sending stuff from India.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants
Your opponent may continue to move west along the north coast of Australia and cut off any flow between India and Australia. Thus, you may need to plan ahead now and move excessive AK/AP down to Australia and eventually USA along with any LCUs before this happens. Thankfully, my game has a HR that allows me to move along the west map edge to near Australia without being attacked.

I sent most of the long ranged AK’s and AP’s to the US early in the game. But a lot of stuff has arrived since then, I’ll do another sifting of ships as you suggest and send the long endurance stuff to the US. I want to keep enough AP’s though to ensure I can combat load (less than 400 load points of troops on any single ship) at least one full division for offensive options.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

15 June 42

Allied sub ops today saw an ASW attack near the Home Islands and a sub attack at Cairns. Both attacks missed their targets.

Japanese bombers hit Townsville today. Only 7 Helen’s flew escorted by 70 zeroes, so damage was light. Looks like my opponent is trying a strategy of wiping out my airforce with large numbers of fighters at the expense of his ability to bomb my troops.

Japan also flew 2 air attacks on my troops across the river near Moulmein. The 13th Indian Brigade and 1st Burma Rifles Brigade were hit.

Allied bombers hit the 18th and 38th Divisions at Townsville. Luganville was also hit today, one port hit and 1 port supply hit were scored.

At Townsville Japan launched a deliberate attack today. As you can see from the below screen capture, his AV of 2573 only dropped to a max AV of 2268 today where last time it dropped from 2200+ to about 1000. I guess my opponent rested up his troops a lot and disruption was a lot less this go around.



The good news is my forts held even though I took heavier losses than him this time. The 6th AIF Division is about 5 hexes south of the base, so I’m confident it will arrive in time now. The 7th AIF is 7 hexes south.

Japan also crossed the river at Moulmein with a division and a tank regiment, which initiated a shock attack. Amazingly my four remaining chewed up brigades held their own and Japan only achieved a 1-1 odds attack.

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Ground combat at 30,33

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 12298 troops, 56 guns, 72 vehicles, Assault Value = 349

Defending force 9541 troops, 16 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 239

Japanese max assault: 382 - adjusted assault: 121

Allied max defense: 167 - adjusted defense: 67

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
387 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
108 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
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All 4 brigades now have 45 miles accumulated towards the NE, so they should leave the hex before another attack can be launched.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

16 June 42

A very busy day today for sub operations. The net effects were several allied subs were damaged and one Japanese sub was damaged. The BB Ise ate a torpedo at Kendari and at Efate one of my AK’s bringing supplies to the currently offloading troops was hit.

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Sub attack near Cairns at 48,102

Japanese Ships
APD Patrol Boat No. 32
APD Patrol Boat No. 35
APD Patrol Boat No. 34
APD Patrol Boat No. 33

Allied Ships
SS Porpoise
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Sub attack near Kwajalein at 81,84

Japanese Ships
AK Tatsukami Maru
DD Shiokaze

Allied Ships
SS Grenadier, hits 4
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ASW attack near Kwajalein at 81,84

Japanese Ships
DD Shiokaze

Allied Ships
SS Grenadier
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Sub attack near Kendari at 33,71

Japanese Ships
BB Ise, Torpedo hits 1
DD Oshio
DD Natsushio
DD Oyashio
DD Yugumo
CVL Zuiho

Allied Ships
SS Seal
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ASW attack near Rabaul at 62,90

Japanese Ships
TK Kaijo Maru #2
PG Unkai Maru #1
PG Tosho Maru
PG Taiko Maru
PG Shosei Maru

Allied Ships
SS Trigger, hits 1
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ASW attack near Kendari at 33,71

Japanese Ships
DD Oshio
DD Natsushio
DD Oyashio
DD Yugumo

Allied Ships
SS Seal
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Sub attack near Efate at 72,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-169, hits 3

Allied Ships
AK Rhesus, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DMS Chandler
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The Ise appears to be part of a small CVL task force. The question raised is what is Japan doing sending a CVL to Kendari? I assume either he’s going to raid the map edge between India and Australia, or he may possibly be setting up for landings at Perth.

I guess he could simply be getting ready to provide air cover for landings at Broome as well since I have a squadron of Hudson’s there. I’ll suspend convoys from India for a while just in case.

At Charter Towers Japan flew a recon mission escorted by 48 zeroes. 11 Kittyhawks rose to defend the skies and 2 were shot down. 1 Zero was downed as well in the engagement.

Japan also hit the 13th and 16th Indian brigades near Rangoon today.

Allied bombers hit the Japanese 21st Division at Tennant Creek. I had been trying to hit the Japanese units moving to Tennant Creek along their road march, but for some reason my bombers didn’t fly until now. With Japanese unit in the hex, I doubt I’ll have time to work them over much from the air before he attacks.

Luganville was also hit today and 1 port supply hit was caused. Intel hasn’t spotted a land unit at Intel for quite some time. I’m starting to wonder if my opponent hasn’t evacuated the Island.

I’ll try a ground attack mission after resting my bombers to see if there are any units left at the island.

At Tennant Creek Japan launches a land bombardment and our comparative AV’s don’t look good. I doubt my troops can hold against this much Japanese force.

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Ground combat at Tennant Creek

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 21475 troops, 99 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 976

Defending force 13007 troops, 109 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 228
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I’ll retreat from Tennant Creek if the level 3 forts start go down, or if my losses really chew up my units.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

17 June 42

Sub ops today consisted of 2 Japanese ASW attacks on allied subs. Both attacks missed.

83 Allied heavy bombers hit Moulmein airfields today and cause heavy damage. At Tennant Creek my Hudson’s from Alice Springs flew two separate missions and hit both the 2nd and 21st Japanese divisions. A third Japanese unit is spotted 1 hex from Tennant Creek, but I think it’s probably just a baseforce unit.

11 Japanese Helens hit Townsville today and cause light damage. 6 Japanese Nells appear over my task forces unloading at Efate and attack my shipping. Thankfully they were out of torpedo range and no hits were scored.

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Day Air attack on TF, near Efate at 72,114

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Alaskan
DMS Chandler

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x G3M Nell bombing at 7000 feet
4 x G3M Nell bombing at 7000 feet
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I’ve ordered my 11 ready P-38F’s at Noumea to fly LRCAP over Efate. Hopefully they will prevent any further small raids like this from launching at such extreme range.

Other than Japan’s land bombardments at Tennant Creek and Townsville, nothing else of note occurred today.

The 7th AIF Division has moved with lightening speed towards Townsville. It is now just 90 miles from the base, having out-distanced the 6th AIF Division by three hexes even though they both started moving from Brisbane on the same turn.

As you can see from today’s screen capture, Japan has at least 2 more units north of Townsville, so the 7th is arriving just in the nick of time. I have no idea if these are the two divisions that accidently moved off-road, or if these are two other units.



Another 9 Japanese units are spotted at Cairns. I’m starting to think my opponent is bringing the entire Japanese army to Australia! [X(]

I think I’ll take next turn to peruse the map and look for some possible counter-attack options. With so much strength in Australia, he has to be weak somewhere. Any of you JFB’s know exactly how many divisions Japan should have available for use right now?

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

18 June 42

Sub ops today had a couple of Japanese subs hit by ASW, but one of ours was too. Damage was heavy to our sub and it’s ordered to Townsville to try and reach the port to stop the 50+ flooding. An allied AO was hit today near Pago Pago. I’ve attacked several Japanese AO’s and never scored a hit on one. But Japan seems to never miss, that’s two AO’s hit this month and both are the large capacity ones. I need better skippers.

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ASW attack near Efate at 72,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-32, hits 1

Allied Ships
MSW Rail
MSW Turkey
MSW Tanager
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Sub attack at 95,116

Japanese Ships
SS I-10, hits 4

Allied Ships
AO Platte, Torpedo hits 1
AO Neosho
DD Clark
DD Patterson
DD Monssen
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Sub attack at 48,97

Japanese Ships
APD Patrol Boat No. 34
APD Patrol Boat No. 35
APD Patrol Boat No. 33
APD Patrol Boat No. 32

Allied Ships
SS Tarpon, hits 4, on fire
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ASW attack near Efate at 72,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-32

Allied Ships
MSW Rail
MSW Turkey
MSW Tanager
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In Burma I had my medium bombers hit the port at Moulmein. I’ve caused massive damage to the airfield, so I decided to hit the port to help keep the base closed and make repairs that much harder. Allied bombers also hit the Japanese 2nd Division at tenant Creek.

Japan conducted a fighter sweep of Townsville and engaged 2 leaking CAP from Charter Towers. No planes were lost however.

Japan’s land bombardment at Townsville shows casualties caused to the allied troops are increasing.

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Ground combat at Townsville

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 125720 troops, 439 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2705

Defending force 53279 troops, 291 guns, 275 vehicles, Assault Value = 990



Allied ground losses:
256 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
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Hopefully the 7th AIF Division will march into the base tomorrow before Japan can launch another attack and reduce my level 6 forts. I’m 80% of the way to level 7, it would suck for him to pull down a level right before I go up.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

19 June 42

Lots of sub activity again today, most of it conducted by US sub SS Grampus at Saipan. Grampus ends up sending torpedoes into two of the three ships in the small task force it intercepts while sustaining one minor hit in return. With only 2 system damage, Grampus shall remain in Japanese waters searching for new prey.

At Efate Japanese sub I-32 launches two volleys of 6 torpedoes at a MSW group conducting ASW in the hex and misses with all 12 torpedoes. The I-32 sustained one hit, which was probably minor.

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Sub attack near Saipan at 64,64

Japanese Ships
AK Nanman Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PG Kyo Maru #10
PG Kyo Maru #8

Allied Ships
SS Grampus
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ASW attack near Saipan at 64,64

Japanese Ships
PG Kyo Maru #10
PG Kyo Maru #8

Allied Ships
SS Grampus
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Sub attack near Saipan at 64,64

Japanese Ships
PG Kyo Maru #10
PG Kyo Maru #8

Allied Ships
SS Grampus, hits 1
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Sub attack near Efate at 72,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-32

Allied Ships
MSW Rail
MSW Turkey
MSW Tanager
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Sub attack near Saipan at 64,64

Japanese Ships
PG Kyo Maru #8, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PG Kyo Maru #10

Allied Ships
SS Grampus
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Sub attack near Efate at 72,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-32, hits 1

Allied Ships
MSW Rail
MSW Turkey
MSW Tanager
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At Tennant Creek, allied bombers hit the 48th Heavy AA Battalion and the 2nd Division today.

With the arrival of the 7th AIF Division at Townsville today, I was happy to see the new comparative AV’s during Japan’s land bombardment. Even with 7 divisions, 1 tank regiment and 2 flak battalions in the hex now, Japan barley has a 2-1 advantage in core AV.

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Ground combat at Townsville

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 135475 troops, 503 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2814

Defending force 68795 troops, 412 guns, 276 vehicles, Assault Value = 1338



Allied ground losses:
334 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
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The 6th AIF Division is only a few days south, once it arrives I think I’ll be able to hold for sure. Especially since the forts should go up to level 7 this turn.

The empty base of Rangoon fell today. I now have over 1,000 AV at Mandalay behind my level 9 forts there. With so much power in the hex, I think it’ll be safe to evacuate one brigade back to India at a time for refit. Once it arrives at Mandalay (75 miles to go) I’ll send the brigade with only 21 morale back to India first.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

20 June 42

Today allied sub ops score a nice little victory. At Kendari where a Japanese BB was hit a few days ago, the SS Seal spots a Japanese AO and sent a torpedo into its side. Finally after many missed AO attack opportunities we get a little payback for our recent AO’s hit by the Japanese.



Japan conducts two ASW attacks on the S-47 at Shortlands and the sub suffers 3 hits.

16 unescorted Helens attack Charter Towers today and the Kittyhawk pilots finally extract a price for japans audacity of repeatedly attacking the base without escorts. 5 of the bombers are shot down with no loss to our pilots, though 4 allied planes are destroyed on the ground.

At Tennant Creek allied Hudson’s again hit the 48th AA regiment and the 2nd Division.

Japanese troops continue to pour into Townsville. Today I note the arrival of 2 more tank regiments and three artillery units. More Japanese troops are seen north of the base as well. Here’s today’s comparative AV’s.

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Ground combat at Townsville

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 139844 troops, 596 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3009

Defending force 68622 troops, 409 guns, 277 vehicles, Assault Value = 1341



Allied ground losses:
811 casualties reported
Guns lost 21
Vehicles lost 3
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Other than a land bombardment at Tennant Creek, nothing else of note occurred today.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

21 June 42

Today US sub SS Sailfish sends a torpedo into a Japanese tanker at Balikpapan. Japan makes 2 ASW attacks on the SS Seal at Kendari, but the skipper manages to evade damage.

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Sub attack near Balikpapan at 31,64

Japanese Ships
TK Nisshin Maru #2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
PC Ishigaki
PC Kunashiri
PC Hachijo
DD Suzukaze

Allied Ships
SS Sailfish

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At Tennant Creek allied bombers hit the 48th AA regiment and the 2nd Division for a third day in a row. At Townsville allied bombers hit the 8th Tank Regiment and the 56th Division.

Japan sends a strike of 15 Nell’s to Efate today and hits an AK and its escort. Damage to the ships is moderate and they’re ordered to Noumea to repair damage.

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Day Air attack on TF, near Efate at 72,114

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 15

Allied aircraft
P-38F Lightning x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38F Lightning: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
DMS Chandler, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Rhesus, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x G3M Nell bombing at 7000 feet
<snip>
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For some reason my P-38F’s morale level was in the tank (low 30’s), so as soon as one of the planes was damaged in air to air, they broke off and failed to press an attack on the bombers. I guess all those escort missions to Luganville had really damaging effects on their morale. I’ve stood them down so they can begin to recover, I’ll keep them stood down until they’re in the 80’s.

In Burma Japanese troops capture Meiktila today. Japan conducts land bombardments at Tennant Creek and Townsville.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

22 June 42

US sub S-38 torpedoes a loaded Japanese AP east of Cairns. Looks like the flood of Japanese troops into Northeastern Australia continues unabated.

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Sub attack at 49,101

Japanese Ships
AP Shofuku Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PG Shoei Maru

Allied Ships
SS S-38

Japanese ground losses:
11 casualties reported

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71 allied heavy bombers hit Rangoon today. Damage to the base is moderate.

Both the 6th and the 7th AIF Divisions are now located at Townsville. But Japan continues to bring more troops to the party. This turns screenshot shows just how many Japanese units are now located at Townsville. There are 8 divisions, 1 brigade, 3 tank regiments, 1 artillery brigade, 3 artillery regiments, 1 AA regiment and 1 AA battalion currently in Townsville.



Recon spots another 4 Japanese units at Cairns and then there are the unit/units aboard the task force I just torpedoed this turn.

At this point I have nothing else to send to Townsville without causing a major break in my coastal defense along the east coast of Australia. However the US 32nd Division is scheduled to land in Sydney in a couple of days and I may send it north if it isn’t too disabled.

Also I’m considering bringing the 1st USMC Division to Noumea now instead of later. I was going to leave it in San Francisco to flesh out its strength. It still needs about ½ of its tanks and 2/3rds of its 50 cal machineguns, but at this point I think I need the Americal Division in Australia as soon as possible.

So next turn I’m going to embark the 1st USMC Division for Noumea to replace the Americal Division which will go to Australia.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

23 June 42

At Townsville 2 allied air raids are intercepted by zeroes flying LRCAP over the base. 7 allied Kittyhawks are lost in air to air today while only shooting down 3 zeroes in return.

The bombers get through for the most part however and cause some pain to the newly arrived Japanese Guards Division.

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Day Air attack on Guards (2nd) Division, at 46,105

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 24

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 26
Beaufort V-IX x 26
B-26B Marauder x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed, 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 5 destroyed, 16 damaged
Beaufort V-IX: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged
B-26B Marauder: 1 destroyed, 23 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
158 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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Day Air attack on Guards (2nd) Division, at 46,105

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 19
B-25C Mitchell x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 2 destroyed, 15 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
58 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Hudson I bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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In Burma Magwe falls to a Japanese brigade.

Other than land bombardments at Townsville and Tennant Creek, nothing else of note happened this turn.

I should note that all allied troops in Burma are now behind the level 9 forts at Mandalay, except for the Assam Rifles battalion and 3 baseforces, they are at Myitkyina building up fort levels and guarding against a para drop.

With just over 1100 AV at Mandalay, I should be able to hold the base for quite some time. In about 3-4 days the first Chindit brigade to arrive on map will finally have reached Ledo and I’ll air lift it to Mandalay.

I’ll then pull out one of the SEAC brigades at Mandalay. Turns out I cannot air lift out most of the brigades because they are attached to India Command which is a fixed HQ, so just a couple of the brigades are eligible to leave via air lift for refit in India.

In another 2-3 months, more of the Chindit brigades will have arrived and I’ll then consider marching out the more decimated India Command brigades that have such low morale levels.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

24 – 25 June 42

24 June is a very quiet day. Allied bombers hit Magwe in Burma and Japan conducts land bombardments at Tennant Creek and Townsville.

25 June has two allied sub attacks that miss their targets. Both subs evade the escort’s counter-attacks.

In Burma, allied bombers hit Meiktila but cause no damage to the base. I’ve switched all medium bombers to ground attack missions, since they aren’t doing enough damage to the bases to make any difference.

Allied heavy bombers in India are busy upgrading to B-24D’s, so I’ve stood the groups down that aren’t upgrading so they can recover a little morale while waiting for the other groups to repair their air frames.

A Japanese mixed brigade captures Taung Gyi in Burma today. It’ll be a month or so before that unit can march out of that hex.

Townsville and Tennant Creek are both subjected to land bombardments again today.

Jim

[ny59giants]

I would send your LCUs from Mandalay to Imphal and then back for rebuilding. They will move to the hex next to Imphal and then take about 30 days to move along that stretch of 60 miles at about 2 miles per day. Afterwards, its a quick march back to Dacca/Calcutta.
&nbsp;
I had the SE Asia HQ at Calcutta and the India Command HQ at Dacca with both prepping for Mandalay to help with its defense (their range is long enought to do so). Then,&nbsp;I send LCUs to the correct HQ for rebuilding.&nbsp;

[Jim D Burns]

26 June 42

Two more allied sub attacks miss their targets today. The SS Porpoise NE of Cooktown gets hit hard by the ASW counter-attack and is ordered back to port. With 49 float damage, it’s not guaranteed she’ll make it.

Japan just completed a level 2 airfield at Daily Waters last turn, so this turn I switched my Hudson’s at Alice Springs to attack the airfield. This was a mistake, as Japan launched a deliberate attack at Tennant Creek and blew away my defenders with a 4-1 attack. I doubt the Hudson’s could have saved the base, but had they bombed one of the attacking divisions, it may have prevented the retreat and allowed my units a chance to flee.

With all my units 100% prepared for Tennant Creek, I have no idea why my adjusted AV was cut in half. All the units had 60+ experience and no fatigue or disruption to speak of, except for one or two units that had been affected by the land bombardments. The Cavalry division and about half of the independent companies were in near perfect condition.

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Ground combat at Tennant Creek

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 43820 troops, 212 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 983

Defending force 12888 troops, 104 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 230

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese max assault: 852 - adjusted assault: 432

Allied max defense: 217 - adjusted defense: 105

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Tennant Creek base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
676 casualties reported
Guns lost 30
Vehicles lost 3

Allied ground losses:
480 casualties reported
Guns lost 23


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
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Japan conducts an air raid at Charter towers today. 8 Helens are escorted by 42 zeroes and only 14 Kittyhawks fly to defend the base. 2 Kittyhawks were destroyed in air to air and 1 marauder was destroyed on the ground. No Japanese planes were lost in the raid.

Allied medium bombers from Rockhampton hit the guards division at Townsville today.

Rockhampton is now a level 6 airfield and 8% of the way to completing level 7. Once it reaches level 7, I’ll move the allied heavies in and start hammering Cairns and Cooktown again.

I’ve recently done some reorganization and upgrading of allied air squadrons. Soon I’ll have 7 squadrons of B-24D’s (84 planes) and 4 squadrons of B-17E’s (48 planes) to put in Rockhampton when the airfield is finished. That’s 132 heavy bombers that I can use to pound Japanese troops and airfields with every day.

The B-24D’s will hit Cairns every day from Rockhampton (normal range of 11 attack). The B-17E’s will hit the ground troops at Townsville every day, and the allied medium bombers will all base out of Charter Towers and hit Cooktown every day.

Even though Japan has over 100 zeroes in Australia now, I don’t see him being able to withstand the daily raids for long. Eventually I’ll close his airfields and then I can focus the majority of the air power on his massive land army at Townsville.

If I had to guess, I figure it’ll take about 1-2 weeks to finish the level 7 airfield.

Japan conducted a land bombardment at Townsville today, but the casualties reported were unusually low. He’s been getting reports of several hundred or more casualties a day, so I find it odd that so few casualties were reported today.

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Ground combat at Townsville

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 147657 troops, 725 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3643

Defending force 86177 troops, 522 guns, 278 vehicles, Assault Value = 1657



Allied ground losses:
71 casualties reported
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I’m about half way to completing level 8 fortifications at Townsville. I think it was a real mistake for my opponent not to bring more bombers with his airforce. 100 zeroes guarantee he currently dominates the air in Northeastern Australia, but that is all it accomplishes.

I think 50 zeroes and another 50 bombers would have been a better force to bring if his air support is limited to 100 or so planes. Of course then I may have a chance to penetrate his CAP then with my medium bombers and their small escort, so I don’t know, perhaps the fighters were a better choice.

It prevented me from seriously damaging his fleets as they brought in the troops. It also eventually drove me out of Townsville and Charter Towers for a while. I’m back now, but I dare not attack his bases yet with so many fighters flying CAP over them.

But if I manage to get to level 9 forts, his Australian gambit may be a bust. Unless his land army manages to pull down the forts now that it is so large. I’m really dreading his next deliberate attack.

I’m also sending both remaining squadrons of LB-30’s to China this turn. One from Brisbane will rebase through Broome before that base falls. The other from India arrived in Chungking in one flight.

With an extended range of 16, these two groups can interdict all the sea hexes in the Formosa straight all the way to Luzon’s northern tip. They can also conduct port attacks and strategic attacks all over the place while being relatively untouchable at Chungking.

Chungking is a level 8 airfield now and I have 132 fighters there, 72 of which are the AVG and their P-40B’s, so I think this redeployment will soon be causing my opponent all sorts of headaches.

I evacuated 4 of the US baseforces from the PI to China and they are all in Chungking now slowly rebuilding, so I have plenty of air support for all these planes in Chungking.

I paid the full political price to change the units to SEAC command so I could ship them out of the PI, then I paid to change them to China Command once they landed. They are now rebuilding in China spending supplies in China, so I feel I’ve not gamed the system by sending these units (along with 1 large engineer regiment) to China so soon.

I’ll change the two LB-30 squadrons over to China Command as well. Basically anything I send to China will be paid for in political costs. It’s not a house rule, but I feel it should be one, so I’ll play using that self-imposed limitation.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

I would send your LCUs from Mandalay to Imphal and then back for rebuilding. They will move to the hex next to Imphal and then take about 30 days to move along that stretch of 60 miles at about 2 miles per day. Afterwards, its a quick march back to Dacca/Calcutta.

I had the SE Asia HQ at Calcutta and the India Command HQ at Dacca with both prepping for Mandalay to help with its defense (their range is long enought to do so). Then, I send LCUs to the correct HQ for rebuilding. 

I have a similar setup as you, though SEAC is at Dacca and India Command is at Calcutta. I started air lifting in the Chindit brigade last turn, so once it arrives I'll pull out one of the SEAC brigades.

I want to keep at least 1,000 AV in the hex to prevent Japan from taking it too easily. Remember these troops are all very low experienced and have very low morale, so pulling more than one brigade out at a time right now could cost me the base.

Once another Chindit brigade arrives, I'll be able to pull two at a time out and then I'll start marching to Imphal as you suggest.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

27 June 42

Japanese troops begin landings at Pinrang on the Celebs. This is the last allied controlled base in the SRA, which some Dutch remnants managed to retake several months back. Looks like Japan is just getting around to mopping them up now.

With Tennant Creek in Japanese hands, I’m able to assign my Beaufighter VIF night fighter squadron to an airfield attack, and it adds its 100lb bombs to the Hudson’s attack. I’ll make this raid a daily raid from now on.

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Day Air attack on Tennant Creek , at 34,95


Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIF x 15
Hudson I x 62
F-4 Lightning x 4


Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 16

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x Hudson I bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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Allied medium bombers from Rockhampton hit the Guards Division at Townsville again today. Recon spotted a Japanese task force approaching Cairns, so I’ve set the medium bombers at Charter Towers to Naval attack. Hopefully they won’t get shredded by Japanese CAP if they fly this turn.

14 unescorted Helens hit Charter Towers this turn. 13 Kittyhawks were flying CAP and only managed to shoot down one bomber. No allied planes were lost on the ground and only 1 runway hit was scored.

The US 32nd Division is ashore at Sydney now and as you can see from the screenshot, it’s still in pretty bad shape. I’ll leave it at Sydney until it is fully repaired.



Jim

[Jim D Burns]

28 June 42

Not a good day for allied sub ops. Japan launches two ASW attacks and the one near Milne Bay is conducted by the uber ASW APD’s. US sub SS S-39 goes to the bottom under a relentless hail of depth charges.

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ASW attack at 21,47

Japanese Ships
AP Izumo Maru
AP Ginyo Maru
AP Tatsuta Maru
DD Harukaze
DD Uranami

Allied Ships
SS Truant
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ASW attack at 56,97

Japanese Ships
APD Patrol Boat No. 35
APD Patrol Boat No. 34
APD Patrol Boat No. 33
APD Patrol Boat No. 32

Allied Ships
SS S-39, hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
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The Truant manages to evade its pursuers, but spots several AP ships in the fleet. Being south of Port Blair, this leads me to wonder if perhaps an invasion of the tiny island isn’t afoot. With just a little over 80AV on defense, he can probably take the base with just a couple of NLF/SNLF's.

A quick perusal of the island shows my units are well prepared for the base, but forts are only up to level 2 and the airfield isn’t capable of supporting aircraft. So it looks like the only thing I have that can oppose the landings are the almost 2,500 mines I've managed to recently lay around the base.



I also have the Dutch surface fleet at Colombo, but it is pretty banged up from all the high speed supply runs to Port Blair it has been making, and it is just going into port now for some yard time.

The majority of the British Fleet is sitting at Anchor at Bombay. I’ll dispatch a few task forces next turn, but I doubt they can reach the island in time to oppose anything. If there is any sign of KB, I’ll withdraw back to Bombay.

Japan conducts an unescorted raid over Noumea with 8 Nell bombers against allied shipping unloading at the base. 8 P-400’s rise to defend the base, but don’t even engage a single bomber. My P-38F’s have been stood down recently for morale recovery, so only one squadron was flying CAP.

No ships are hit, but I decide to evacuate all extraneous shipping at the base to Auckland just to play it safe. The Australian surface fleet had also been at anchor at Noumea, but with Luganville recently abandoned by my opponent, I decide to send it south as well. No sense getting them blasted by Nells for no real gain.

I discovered two air groups on the west coast that can upgrade to the P-38F’s recently (the ones that start the game with the Chinese fighters). Both are aboard ships now headed to Pearl Harbor and will rebase the rest of the way to Noumea from there.

Once I’ve got three squadrons of P-38F’s to defend Noumea, I’ll feel comfortable basing shipping at the base again.

I now have about 1,000 AV on New Caledonia at the three bases combined. So when the fighters arrive I’ll put together a small invasion to retake Luganville with one of the RCT’s from Noumea.

Japan’s land bombardment at Townsville today causes 500+ casualties with the same attacking AV, so perhaps the low casualty report before was FOW or something.

Nothing else to report this turn.

Jim

[Gen.Hoepner]

Jim, Port Blair is important but not decisive. Don't waste any important force there...It's too easy for him to take it at this stage...
&nbsp;
Above all i'm confident about Townsville...i really think he has fallen into his own trap in Eastern Oz...now he cannot anymore break your defences there[8D]

[Jim D Burns]

29 June 42

Dutch subs make two attacks today, one at Palembang and one at Singapore, but both attacks miss their targets. The Dutch skippers manage to evade any counter-attacks.

Allied bombers hit Tennant Creek today and cause moderate damage to the base. Allied medium bombers from Rockhampton also hit the Guards Division at Townsville again.

Two allied air strikes occur against Japanese shipping today. The first is launched a few hexes north of Broome by the single defending Hudson squadron there. Amazingly one hit is scored by the relatively inexperienced squadron, but damage appears very light.

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Day Air attack on TF at 24,80


Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 12


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Hakone Maru
AP Baikal Maru
DD Fuyo
AP Takachiho Maru, Bomb hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Hudson I bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
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Looks like my opponent is going right for Broome, I’ve reduced the squadrons bombing altitude to 2,000 feet to hopefully help accuracy a bit more tomorrow. Brome has a small intrinsic garrison in the baseforce with about 25 or so AV. I doubt it’ll hold but who knows, perhaps my opponent expects no AV at all and only brought a construction unit or something.

The next attack was a big one, launched by my medium bombers at Charter Towers to attack the fleet currently at Cairns. 36 Escorting Kittyhawks engaged 51 zeroes and 10 Rufes flying CAP over the base.



Amazingly my boys held Japan to just a little over a 2-1 kill ratio in air to air fighter kills and all of the bombers managed to slip through. 10 of the bombs dropped found their targets and 4 Japanese AK’s suffered under the allied bombs. That should put a crimp in my opponents resupply efforts for a bit.

Unfortunately with no Kittyhawks in the reserve pools, I was forced to stand down these squadrons, so no follow-up strike will be launched tomorrow. Man I can’t wait until I get some more fighter squadrons to send to Northeastern Australia, the three Kittyhawk squadrons simply can’t stand the strain even though all 40 of the production fighters go to those three squadrons each month.

When the three P-38F groups arrive in another 10 days, I’ll pay political points right away to change them to SWPAC command and get them to Australia ASAP. So in about a month the fighter game in Northeastern Australia should shift enough to allow me to conduct strikes like this more often.

The 14th Chindit Brigade arrived in Karachi today. I’ve ordered it to march to Ledo, where it will be air lifted to Mandalay to join the 77th Chindit Brigade which is about 2/3rds lifted into Mandalay now.

My subs in the Malacca straights spot another Japanese task force heading north towards Port Blair this turn. Both spotted task forces are just east of the Northern Sumatra base of Kuala now. I predict landings will commence at Port Blair in three or four turns.

At Bombay I created three British task forces. Two are 15 ship CV task forces and one is a 12 ship surface task force. The two CV task forces have two CV’s each if you’re counting the CVL Hermes as one of the four, one fleet has 90 combat aircraft the other 74. The surface group has 3 BB’s, 1 CA, 5 CL’s and 3 DD’s. So pretty much the entire British navy is now afloat with orders to head to Colombo.

If KB still hasn’t been detected in the area and the Japanese fleets are still around when the British reach Colombo, I’ll refuel the fleets and then send them on a full speed hit and run mission, to try and bag some Japanese shipping.

I also rebased 96 Blenheim IV’s to Akyab this turn. It turns out they have an extended range of 10, so they can just reach Port Blair from the level 4 airfield I just completed at Akyab recently. With 105 aviation support and a requirement of 128, I may be able to fly several good missions against his fleets.

I don’t expect Port Blair to hold for long, but if it can hold for a few days, I may be able to pull this off. Unless of course KB shows up and puts the kibosh on the entire operation.

Jim

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Gen.Hoepner

Jim, Port Blair is important but not decisive. Don't waste any important force there...It's too easy for him to take it at this stage...

Above all i'm confident about Townsville...i really think he has fallen into his own trap in Eastern Oz...now he cannot anymore break your defences there[8D]

Hi G.H.,

I wrote off those units at Port Blair the day I based them there. I guess I could do an emergency airlift and pull some of the units out, but at this stage I'm pretty strong in India, so I prefer to stay and fight to the last with what I have there.

I agree with you about Australia. With the US 32nd Division recently landed and the Americal Division soon to arrive once I replace them with the 1st Marine Division, I’m confident I can hold Australia even if Townsville falls before I can get those two American divisions into the line.

By falling back to Rockhampton, I then add the Australian division defending there to the front line, which will make it 4 Australian divisions and 2 US divisions, along with all the other small stuff currently at Townsville.

I simply don’t see Japan making headway against that force with the 7-10 divisions he has in the NE now. Townsville and Charter Towers may yet fall though. I’m not quite as optimistic as you with my current force levels there, one more division should do it though.

But (there’s always a but), I’m really weak in central and western Australia. Should he land a 4-6 division force and come fast on either of those two axis’, I’d be in real trouble and would probably be forced to abandon several coastal bases and use their garrisons on the new threat axis.

But I don’t know what he has available right now, perhaps 10-12 divisions is his max effort. I’d also be able to spare a division from SPAC if he made that move, so my options continue to grow while his do not.

Jim