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Here is north China. Sorry about the lack of mark ups on the map this turn. It was very late and I was getting tired while making these shots.

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Ground combat at 87,41

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 14021 troops, 112 guns, 69 vehicles, Assault Value = 407

Defending force 7899 troops, 61 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 181

Japanese adjusted assault: 138

Allied adjusted defense: 124

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker: leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
205 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled


Allied ground losses:
446 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
37th Division

Defending units:
43rd Chinese Corps
61st Chinese Corps
8th Group Army
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Ground combat at 93,34

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 6519 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 192

Defending force 5913 troops, 43 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 121

Japanese adjusted assault: 288

Allied adjusted defense: 73

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
196 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled


Allied ground losses:
1615 casualties reported
Squads: 73 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 38 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade

Defending units:
11th Chinese Corps
17th Group Army
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Ground combat at 71,56

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 15104 troops, 105 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 503

Defending force 10120 troops, 33 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 158

Japanese adjusted assault: 832

Allied adjusted defense: 55

Japanese assault odds: 15 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Units pursuing 1


Allied ground losses:
5181 casualties reported
Squads: 126 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 182 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
124th Infantry Regiment
22nd Recon Regiment
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade
4th Ind.Mixed Regiment
15th Naval Guard Unit

Defending units:
52nd Chinese Corps

Lastly, I wanted to remark about a couple of ground combats on the Russian front.

First off, this marked the second turn where I had overwhelming odds against a static fortress unit (like 9 to 1) yet failed to destroy the unit, force a surrender, or force a retreat (I guess static units can't retreat). You would think that this unit would be done already....

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Ground combat at 113,43

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 15340 troops, 128 guns, 30 vehicles, Assault Value = 427

Defending force 3153 troops, 118 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 45

Japanese adjusted assault: 394

Allied adjusted defense: 41

Japanese assault odds: 9 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
117 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
1064 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 88 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 21 (3 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Assaulting units:
24th Division
7th Ind. Engineer Regiment
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion

Defending units:
111th Region Fortress

Next, Okha continues to be a stalemate. I have battleships on the way to bombard, but it will be a bit before the troops arrive to finish him off.

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Ground combat at Okha (128,37)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 255 troops, 24 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 308

Defending force 13391 troops, 206 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 415

Japanese ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Allied ground losses:
41 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
113th Infantry Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
56th Engineer Regiment
56th Recon Regiment
16th Infantry Regiment
28th Shipping Engineer Regiment
56th Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
101st Rifle Division
Sakhalinskaya Rifle Brigade
VVS Outpost Base Force

At Petropavlovsk, he came out of his positions and attacked me. Evidently he thought that he had me on the ropes there but found out otherwise.

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Ground combat at Petropavlovsk (141,44)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7120 troops, 150 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 141

Defending force 2762 troops, 10 guns, 36 vehicles, Assault Value = 85

Allied adjusted assault: 133

Japanese adjusted defense: 181

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
119 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (0 destroyed, 3 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
289 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Assaulting units:
Petropavlovsk Naval Fortress
198th Rifle Regiment
Kamchatka Command
428th Howitzer Regiment

Defending units:
2nd Engineer Regiment
I./4th Infantry Battalion
2nd Recon Regiment

My commander there (Von-Paulus-Son) says that it is colder in Petropavlovsk than Stalingrad. They keep losing their riceballs in the snow. When it's this cold, the food no longer melts in your mouth.

Seriously, fighting in the northern zones is very tough. Often planes will not fly due to the weather. Much more than in other zones.

Plots were sent early this morning to my opponent and I should have the next turn done later today.

Steady progress against the Russian naval and air forces it seems. They have few replacements, so days like these with more even losses will be hurting him.

That is some vicious fighting in nothern areas.

Definately wise move to include KB in russian operations. Without it you propably would have had time supressing his airpower.

Looks like we shall soon see few major ground battles vs russians.

Nice going and a lot of action!

ORIGINAL: Smeulders

Steady progress against the Russian naval and air forces it seems. They have few replacements, so days like these with more even losses will be hurting him.

I am hopeful that this will be the case. My orders for next turn included mostly sweeps with many of the bombers standing down to rest, refit, and repair. They will re-engage with mostly Sallies while I rotate the Nells and Betties to rest. I have to watch the losses on them since they are my primary naval strike arm.

I am considering bringing in more Ki-48 Lily bombers since they are faster and therefore more survivable. As it is, the Sally Ic is considerably slower than the Sally IIa and has taken much heavier losses.

I have also suspect that he is chasing my carriers with subs as I have had several suspicious objects in the water around the KB but no confirmed sub sightings to prosecute.

ORIGINAL: aztez

That is some vicious fighting in nothern areas.

Definately wise move to include KB in russian operations. Without it you propably would have had time supressing his airpower.

Looks like we shall soon see few major ground battles vs russians.

Nice going and a lot of action!

I absolutely agree that failure to commit the KB would result in my failure in this theater. I have had to commit more airpower for limited results in this theater than I have had to commit in any of the other theaters. I do not know why his losses are not higher but I am hoping that it is FOW and that I am actually hurting him quite a bit.

You are right, the major ground battles will be coming soon. I expect clashes exceeding 1000 AV per side.

Turn 26: January 01, 1942.

The first thing that I want to comment on is the weather. During the turn resolution you can count on 60-80% of the bases being overcast to stormy. This is especially true in the northern weather zone where many of your missions do not even fly each turn due to weather in the individual base or target hex. It is having a very pronounced effect on my plans vs. the Soviets as I have to take this into account each turn. You can see this in the snapshot below of Honshu and also on some of the air combat snaps that happen to show the korea/Russia area of the map.

I mentioned last turn that I was suspicious that there were subs stalking the KB. Accordingly I moved them 2 hexes NW into a shallow water hex instead of either staying in the same hex or moving just one hex. My hunch turned out to be correct, as the first combat resolution of the sequence involved a Soviet sub.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jan 01, 42
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ASW attack near Sovetskaya Gavan at 122,44

Japanese Ships
CA Tone
DD Urakaze
DD Kasumi
DD Arare
DD Tanikaze

Allied Ships
SS L-17



L-17 bottoming out ....
DD Kasumi attacking submerged sub ....
DD Kasumi loses contact with SS L-17
DD Arare fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Tanikaze fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Kasumi fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kasumi fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kasumi fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kasumi fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kasumi fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

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ASW attack near Sovetskaya Gavan at 122,44

Japanese Ships
CA Tone
DD Urakaze
DD Kasumi
DD Arare
DD Tanikaze

Allied Ships
SS L-17, hits 2



L-17 bottoming out ....
DD Kasumi fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Arare fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Tanikaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tanikaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tanikaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tanikaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Tanikaze attacking submerged sub ....
DD Tanikaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

Elsewhere, my battleships continued their attrition of enemy positions with the Yamashiro at Okha and the Hiei & Kirishima at Tarakan.

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Naval bombardment of Okha at 128,37

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
I-15bis: 1 destroyed on ground
SB-2: 2 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro
CL Kitakami


Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


Runway hits 7

BB Yamashiro firing at Okha
CL Kitakami firing at 101st Rifle Division

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Naval bombardment of Tarakan at 67,91 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

7 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei
CL Abukuma
CL Nagara


Allied ground losses:
22 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)


BB Kirishima firing at VII KNIL Battalion
BB Hiei firing at Tarakan Coastal Gun Battalion
CL Abukuma firing at VII KNIL Battalion
CL Nagara firing at Tarakan Coastal Gun Battalion

Notice that bombardments do not do near as much as they did in stock, however you also do not shoot 50% of your ammo per attack either.

In the air, my determination to continue pounding Bikin began with sweeps early in the morning air phase.
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Morning Air attack on Bikin , at 117,42

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9



Allied aircraft
I-16m24 x 25


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
I-16m24: 6 destroyed



Aircraft Attacking:
2 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 23000 feet

Somehow I felt like the U.S. Carriers that sat off the coast of Vietnam during that conflict only the KB didn't have the restrictive rules of engagement.

As soon as the sweep was through, the main KB bomber package came in weapons hot and bombed the airfield.

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Morning Air attack on Bikin , at 117,42

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 200 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 66 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 62
B5N2 Kate x 83
D3A1 Val x 80



Allied aircraft
I-16m24 x 1


Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 4 damaged
D3A1 Val: 28 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
I-16m24: 1 destroyed
I-16m24: 1 destroyed on ground
SB-2: 1 destroyed on ground



Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 38

Up north, I swept Borzya with Oscars.

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Morning Air attack on Borzya , at 106,26

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 4



Allied aircraft
I-153 x 14


No Japanese losses

No Allied losses



CAP engaged:
9 IAP-PVO with I-153 (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 0 scrambling)
10 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 1 minutes


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Morning Air attack on Borzya , at 106,26

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 13



Allied aircraft
I-153 x 10


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
I-153: 2 destroyed



Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-43-Ia Oscar sweeping at 16000 feet

CAP engaged:
9 IAP-PVO with I-153 (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 8 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 37 minutes

He continued his raids on Hailar, but my Oscars did a much better job than the Nates of defending against the raid.
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Morning Air attack on Hailar , at 107,30

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 11



Allied aircraft
I-153 x 13
SB-2 x 17


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
I-153: 1 destroyed



Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 8

Aircraft Attacking:
17 x SB-2 bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 100 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
59th Sentai with Ki-43-Ia Oscar (2 airborne, 6 on standby, 3 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters between 16000 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes

Morning Air attack on Hailar , at 107,30

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 4



Allied aircraft
SB-2 x 7


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
SB-2: 4 damaged



Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x SB-2 bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 100 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
59th Sentai with Ki-43-Ia Oscar (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 16000
Raid is overhead

After his raids I continued with one more Oscar sweep.
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Morning Air attack on Borzya , at 106,26

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 13



Allied aircraft
I-153 x 10


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
I-153: 2 destroyed



Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-43-Ia Oscar sweeping at 16000 feet

CAP engaged:
9 IAP-PVO with I-153 (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 8 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 37 minutes


Here is the sitrep in Mongolia

On the ground, I continued to try and dislodge his fort unit north of Rybilov. For the third turn I had overwhelming odds yet I have failed to destroy the unit. I guess I must kill everyone in the unit since it is static and can not retreat. This is much different than stock and makes border fort units much tougher than before.

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Ground combat at 113,43

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 15288 troops, 128 guns, 30 vehicles, Assault Value = 420

Defending force 2436 troops, 115 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 28

Japanese adjusted assault: 181

Allied adjusted defense: 36

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender:
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
260 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
108 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 4 (0 destroyed, 4 disabled)


Assaulting units:
24th Division
22nd Ind. Engineer Regiment
7th Ind. Engineer Regiment
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion

Defending units:
111th Region Fortress

I will continue to tackle this unit using deliberate attack since I can't advance until my huge stack arrives in the hex anyways and it is still about three turns away.

For next turn, I will move my KB at high speed south, around the subs. I can't move through the subs since unlike stock, I would run the risk of mid-ocean intercepts. The KB will then strike the enemy bomber concentration (0 fighters, 68 bombers) at Spassk-Dalniy AF east of Rybilov. After this strike I will retire the carriers to port for rearming and also to rest the aircrew. All of the squadrons have several aircraft down for maintenance after several days of combat and pilot fatigue is 22-26 at the start of the day. If I don't rest the crews, then the fatigue will increase my combat losses.

I will also use the rest period to bring in some more destroyers for the KB and to split the KB into single or CARDIV task forces of no more than two carriers. It struck me that I am flirting with disaster by leaving the whole KB in the single TF that it starts the game in. Smaller task forces following the flagship TF works much better.

Also, to combat the subs, I have moved several floatplane units up to the bases west of Ominato and also moved a crack Mavis ASW unit up to cover the area in which I know there are subs. In addition, I will have several ASW task forces sailing from Ominato this turn and they will cover the southern part of the KB's transit path.

My air raids will focus on Rybilov this turn (except for the KB aircraft as already mentioned) in hopes of further attritioning his fighter strength. The bombers (mostly Sallies) will go after ground units instead of the airfield since I need to start disrupting his large stack prior to combat.

I have several Betty and Nell units based in Japan. These will make daylight strikes at Bikin to keep the runways shut down. These raids will be unescorted but I do not feel that he will be able to mount much opposition here.

Here is a summary of aircraft losses during the turn. In addition to the action mentioned, my ground attacks in China and Malaya continued as did my zero sweeps over Singapore and Manila.

Here are what my replacement pools look like. Fighters and bombers first.

DB and TB

If you noticed, I only have one Betty in the pool and I have lost more than I have produced. This is a problem.
As I dig into the matter further, I can see that there is a shortage of the engine needed for Betty and Sally. I have burned through the 100 that I started the game with and production has not kept pace as planned.

Here is the engine pool

The factory assigned to make HA-32 is located at Gifu, with seconday ractories in two other cities. I discover that the GIFU factory has not repaired at all.