AE Land and AI Issues [OUTDATED]

[witpqs]

I just remembered this, it might be useful to look at it for AE.

In current WITP there is a bug with the land units reinforcement routine. Any LCU's scheduled to arrive on 12/8/41 never arrive. I think that actually the bug is that all land units arrive a day early, so the code doesn't know what to do with units that are set to arrive during the very first reinforcement phase. Obviously the easy work-around has been to set 12/8/41 arrivals to arrive on 12/9/41 instead. Air and naval reinforcements arrive just fine (no bug noted).

[Andy Mac]

Thanks yes we have that one so we should be able to avoid it.
 
I have had a couple of PM's raising concern about the invasion reinforcements.
 
I just want to reiterate clearly.
 
Indian reinforcements only arrive if the Japanese cross a line which will run one hex south of Madras.
 
1. So the japanese will still be able to attack Ceylon, Sothern India, Bengal and even place on the West Coast this is not about stopping India invasion as a tactic it is purely about a proportionate response if they choose to go deep.
 
2. Australia Perth, Brisbane, Darwin are all still vunerable but were the Japanese to push south I think again a proportionate response is justified.
 
3. NZ its so small that a landing anywhere triggers a response.
 
Just to be totally clear all of these units will be MODDABLE - if you don't like what I have done - dont use them, if you disagree with my choice of available units at the time - change them, if you think I have underdid the reaction make em all Corps !!!!
 
The key thing is we are putting in the slots and I will use my judgement about the units that go in them in the new baseline scenarios if you dont agree - don't worry you can mod them to your hearts content !!!!
 
Andy

[Andy Mac]

Ummm I of course meant DELHI not MADRAS in above post !!!

[NormS3]

Will there be the ability to add/modify bases as there is now.

[mlees]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac


2. Australia Perth, Brisbane, Darwin are all still vunerable but were the Japanese to push south I think again a proportionate response is justified.

Andy

You don't consider Brisbane to be in the southern part of Australia? [X(]

Perth and Darwin I can see. They seem to be isolated from the other areas. But the south-east coast of Australia, from Adelaide to Rockhampton is where the bulk of the Australian population was, and should provoke an "invasion" response.

[Andy Mac]

I do but I wanted to give the Japanese the ability to hurt the allies and attack reasonable targets without dramatic responses.
 
Remember the allies recieve a force broadly of 3 Divisions in each line that is crossed so its only fair to give both sides to have some ahistoric options
 
Its one of those being reasonable things
 
 

[Andy Mac]

Also remember the Australians do get the full militia orbat at start and is probably the only nation that does because of the unique fact that most of the Australian Militia rotated overseas at some stage or another.
 
They seem to have the highest percentage of servicemen who served in a war theatre of pretty much any western allied nation - I am always amazed that forces considered among the elite of the allied armies were so badly squandered after 43.
 
It strikes me as totally nuts I often wonder what MacArthur was smoking.
 
(I wonder had the Australian Govt knew how badly they were to be treated after 43 would they have sent 1st Aus Corps back to Europe - probably not but I suspect the Australian Corps would have been far more usefull in Normandy than on Borneo !!!)
 
Andy

[mlees]

Ok, thanks.

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Also remember the Australians do get the full militia orbat at start and is probably the only nation that does because of the unique fact that most of the Australian Militia rotated overseas at some stage or another.
While the Australian Army had the structure, it was deficient in men & material. Most Militia formations should be at about 25% on Dec 7, 41 and building up to full strength in men by April 42. They were mostly still equipped with obsolete weapons (18pdr Gun/How etc). About 3 Div equivs served overseas, a similar number defended Perth, Darwin, Sydney, Melbourne and didnt move OS.

They seem to have the highest percentage of servicemen who served in a war theatre of pretty much any western allied nation - I am always amazed that forces considered among the elite of the allied armies were so badly squandered after 43.

It strikes me as totally nuts I often wonder what MacArthur was smoking. If he wasnt on Drugs , he should have been!!(I wonder had the Australian Govt knew how badly they were to be treated after 43 would they have sent 1st Aus Corps back to Europe - probably not but I suspect the Australian Corps would have been far more usefull in Normandy than on Borneo !!!)
There was talk, dont know how far it went, to send 9th Australian Div to Europe for "OVERLORD", might have been hard on the guys who enlisted in Sept 39 to be sent to Europe though. In 1944 there was a major spat about Aussie units replacing US Army forces which would be used in the PI. From memory 8 Aussie Bdes were planned to replace 4 US Inf Divs, Dougout Dug wouldnt hear of it and sucked in the 6th Div. A I Aust Corps of 6,7 & 9 Aust Divs would have been handy in the PI and for any landings in Japan.
Against this was the war wearyness of the Australian population, I had an uncle in 6th Div who enlisted in '39, been to Nth Africa, Greece, Syria, Darwin & New Guinea and walked out in '45, they had contributed heavily to the cause and I think there was a bit of if MacArthur doesnt want us we'll stay home.

Andy

[Andy Mac]

Dont worry the Australian Militia are all heavily under strength at start they are not quite at 25% strenght the actuals vary unit by unit effective stregnth incl disruption at start are on the order of 30% overall with some units nearer 100% i.e. 30th Bde when it arrives.
 

[Andy Mac]

TOE for these forces is light very light but it includes 18 poinders and vickers MG's but no Bren teams at Bn level

[Andy Mac]

Although 30th Bde doesnt arrive as one beast as its one of the broken down bdes at start that players may recombine 39th Bn at Sydney, 49th on Horn Island and 53rd at Townswille so as a Bde at start its kinda scattered

[JeffroK]

[:)]

[JeffroK]

How are you going to handle the Square US Divisions?

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

How are you going to handle the Square US Divisions?

The simple rule was to treat all US Divisions as three-regiment divisions from the start.

For Divisions that start as "square" (4-regiment), the "fourth regiment" (the one that was 'spun off' when the divisions were reorganized) is treated as an independent regiment from the beginning.

Sometimes this gets complicated. In October 1941 the square Hawaiian Division split into the 24th Division (19th and 21st Regiments) and 25th Division (27th and 35th Regiments). Two Hawaiian National Guard regiments, the 298th and 299th, rounded out the divisions. But the 299th, garrisoning the outlying islands, was detached from the 25th Division.

After Pearl Harbor, the US Army discharged all Japanese-Americans from the guard regiments, reducing their strength almost by half. The 299th was merged into the 298th, which became an independent regiment. In the meantime, two West Coast regiments that were originally designated to reinforce the Philippines, were instead sent to Oahu, the 34th (to the 24th Division) and the 161st (to the 25th Division).

How do we handle this in the game? In AE, the 24th and 25th Divisions start on Oahu with 2 regiments each. Their third regiments (34th and 161st) are in San Francisco. When they arrive in Oahu, all the regiments will combine into the full 24th and 25th divisions. The outlying islands are garrisoned by the 298th (independent) regiment.

[Blackhorse]

The one exception to the "triangle" division rule is the 1st Cavalry Division.

The 1st Cavalry has 4 cavalry regiments (equipped as infantry) organized into 2 brigades. The total infantry strength of the 4 cavalry regiments is slightly less than a standard 3-regiment Infantry division. The 1st Cav arrives in AE as a complete division, so the question of whether it has 3 or 4 regiments is purely academic.

The 1st Cavalry fought as a unique organization: under the December, 1943 TO&E as the 1st Cavalry Division (Special), which included a tank company and four artillery battalions. My TO&E standard is Stanton's "World War II Order of Battle" which does not show the Special Cavalry TO&E. If anyone has it to share, I'd be delighted to see it.

[JeffroK]

The US Army on the West Coast was far more complicated than that, a number of NG Divs which were on the WC were square and changed to the triangular structure during 1942. In addition, some Divs were mechanized for most of 1942. Added to this, a number of Rgts swapped Divisions before shipping out.
 
Given that some JFP might decide to attack "Oregon" in mid 42,  the forces available IRL should be available in AE(and should be enough to put off any JFB)

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: JeffK
Given that some JFP might decide to attack "Oregon" in mid 42,  the forces available IRL should be available in AE(and should be enough to put off any JFB)

Since you asked . . .

In the event of an invasion, the US gets about 9 Division-equivalents of reinforcements, including an infantry corps training in Corvallis, Oregon (represents Camps White and Adair).

IX Corps (Two Infantry Divisions, can grow to three) -- Corvallis, Oregon
II Armored Corps (& Patton!) (Two Armored divisions) -- San Luis Obispo, CA
7th (Motorized) Division -- San Francisco
35th Infantry Division -- Fort Ord, CA
44th Infantry Division -- Seattle, WA
125th and 140th Infantry Regiments -- Los Angeles, CA
144 & 174th Infantry Regiments -- Tacoma (Ft. Lewis), WA
28 & 107 Cavalry Regiments -- San Diego, CA

These are all forces that were stationed on the West Coast at the locations above, during the 1942-43 time frame. (Except that I moved the 7th Division to cover San Francisco). If there is no invasion, the 7th Division is available to deploy in April, 1943.

[Don Bowen]

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Although 30th Bde doesnt arrive as one beast as its one of the broken down bdes at start that players may recombine 39th Bn at Sydney, 49th on Horn Island and 53rd at Townswille so as a Bde at start its kinda scattered

Only A Coy/49th was on Horn/Thursday Island. Rest of Bde was at Port Moresby on Dec 7th, 1941.

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: JeffK
The US Army on the West Coast was far more complicated than that, a number of NG Divs which were on the WC were square and changed to the triangular structure during 1942. In addition, some Divs were mechanized for most of 1942. Added to this, a number of Rgts swapped Divisions before shipping out.

As I said, we addressed the square divisions by starting them all as "triangular" divisions, and treating the 'fourth regiment' as separate from the start. In the cases where a regiment was swapped between divisions, AE assigns the regiment to the final division it was a component of.

It was too much work for too little reward to include the Army's experiment with "motorized" divisions in 1942. The Army quickly decided it was a failure. According to Stanton, the only division that became fully motorized was the 4th, and no overseas theatre commander would request it, because it required as much shipping as an Armored Division, but only had the punch of an infantry division. All motorized divisions were returned to a straight infantry TO&E before they deployed. So although the 7th Infantry Division was part of the motorized experiment in 1942, it will appear as a straight infantry division, even if Japan invades. Again, with all the other OOB and TO&E issues, this one didn't make the cut.