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What do you have at Alice Springs?? If you lose that base then the whole western part of Australia is at risk and thus he could cut you off from India (See John 3rd vs Canoerebel AARs).
 
SeaBees should be coming on line in increasing numbers, so building of forts and AFs should be a lot easier for you. I have so many now (end of 12/42) that some are building up rear areas. [:D]

30 June 42

The last day of June proves to be an eventful one. The Sturgeon makes a sub attack on a Japanese AP at Soerabaja, but misses. Then three Japanese ASW attacks are conducted, and the Dutch sub KXVII at Singapore gets hit for minor damage. I decided to leave it on patrol.

Allied bombers hit Tennant Creek again today for minor damage to the base. The two Japanese units at Townsville are hit.

Japan conducts two air raids today. 54 Nells hit Port Blair causing no damage, one Nell is shot down by flak. Brome is hit by 19 Nells and 15 Bettys, but only 2 runway hits are scored. One Nell is shot down by flak.

Japan then commences to land troops at Derby today and the baseforces 2 small CD guns cause lots of damage to the invaders task force.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coastal Guns at Derby, 24,85, firing at TF 137
TF 137 troops unloading over beach at Derby, 24,85


127 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
PG Choan Maru #2, Shell hits 4, on fire
AP Yamura Maru, Shell hits 1
PG Uji
AP Nissen Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sanae, Shell hits 2
AP Hokuriku Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
AP Fukko Maru, Shell hits 6, on fire
DD Arashi, Shell hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
392 casualties reported
Guns lost 4


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then to make their victory complete, during the land movement phase, the baseforce marches southwest out of the hex, thus preventing Japan from forcing their surrender when the base falls. The unit had only been making 5-10 miles a day, so the timing here was absolutely perfect, it has to tweak my opponents ire. [:D] [:D]

There is a task force one hex north of Broome as well, so it looks like he’s going for both bases at once. For some odd reason my Hudson’s at Broome failed to launch any air strikes today. The effectiveness of my CD guns at Derby helps offset this a bit, but they should have launched with two invading task forces so close to their base.

Then in a completely unexpected move, Japanese troops begin unloading at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians. Up until about 1 week ago I had been keeping a PT boat squadron stationed at Amchitka to oppose just such a landing.

But since Japan had made no moves into the Aleutians, I had assumed all his efforts were directed to the south in Australia and no invasions were imminent. So I pulled the PT’s back to Dutch Harbor to repair some of their system damage.

This time it was Japan’s timing that was perfect. Had he come just a week sooner…

Anyway I formed my PT’s into a squadron and gave them full speed orders to run to Amchitka. It’s only 8 hexes from Dutch Harbor and they show a 6/6 movement speed, so I’m hoping they catch the Japanese unawares this turn. With my luck though, they’ll stop one hex short and he’ll be able to get away.



I recently landed a RCT at Adak Island, and Umnak Island is already a level 2 airfield. I’ve toggled off all other construction at Umnak, this should allow me to base bombers there before Japan can complete a bomber base at Amchitka.

Adak doesn’t have an engineer unit yet, it’s sitting at Victoria awaiting the convoys that took the RCT to Adak to return to pick it up.

KB or a portion thereof is spotted heading northwest out of the Malacca Straight into the Indian Ocean. I’ve recalled the British task forces and ordered all ships form Ceylon to sea, with orders to retire to Bombay. Allied naval air across India is placed on naval attack.

Britain requests another BB and 2 x DD’s this month. I’ll have to send them because all my political points have been spent on West Coast units. That’ll leave the British with just 2 BB’s in theatre.

Looks like July is shaping up to be a busy month.

Jim

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

What do you have at Alice Springs?? If you lose that base then the whole western part of Australia is at risk and thus he could cut you off from India (See John 3rd vs Canoerebel AARs).

SeaBees should be coming on line in increasing numbers, so building of forts and AFs should be a lot easier for you. I have so many now (end of 12/42) that some are building up rear areas. [:D]

Take a look at the image I created on the previous page, its linked in the first post on the page. It shows my entire Australian deployment as of one month ago.

But to answer your question, once the retreating units from Tennant Creek arrive and the last independent company arrives, I'll have about 600 AV or so. I can also send the 61st Reserve Philippine Division north from Adelaide if need be.

I managed to evacuate through Timor onto Australia a good chunk of that unit from Kendari after the retreat there. So unlike the other Philippine units that all have about 20-30 squads, this unit has over 100, so it can add some AV to the battle if I’m desperate.

But with morale in the 30’s and a similarly low experience level, I prefer to keep it rebuilding if I can. Once it’s fully fleshed out and trained itself up into the 45-50 experience range, then I’ll send it as part of the permanent garrison. It needs about 100 more squads or so and gains 3-6 per week, so it’s a couple of months or more at least from being combat ready.

Jim

1 July 42

Sub ops today consist of two separate allied ASW attacks on Japanese sub I-30 operating near Rockhampton. The sub evades the first attack, but gets pounded in the second. It’s nice to get a little payback for the recently sunk S boat.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 48,115

Japanese Ships
SS I-30

Allied Ships
MSW Townsville
MSW Mildura
MSW Lithgow
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 48,115

Japanese Ships
SS I-30, hits 8, heavy damage

Allied Ships
MSW Townsville
MSW Mildura
MSW Lithgow
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Allied medium bombers from Imphal hit Meiktila today and score 3 hits on the resource there. Then in an apparent attempt to make up for the lack of missions yesterday, my lone Hudson squadron at Broome flies three separate raids on Japanese shipping in Northern Australia.

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Day Air attack on TF, near Broome at 22,85


Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 9


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Brazil Maru
AP Tango Maru
AP Kogane Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Hudson I bombing at 2000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Derby at 24,85


Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 3


Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Miike Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Hudson I bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Broome at 22,85


Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 12


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
PG Heijo Maru
AP Hakone Maru
AP Baikal Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Fuyo

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Hudson I bombing at 2000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Only 3 bomb hits were scored in the three raids, the two ships hit were previously damaged AP’s heading north away from Derby. With Japanese troops landing at Broome this turn, I’ve rebased the air squadrons at Broome to other bases.

20 Japanese Nells and 16 Bettys hit Broome but only score 1 runway hit.

Both Derby and Amchitka fall to unopposed Japanese assault today.

Jim

2 July 42

Sub ops today consisted of a Dutch sub attack at port Blair which missed its target. The Dutch sub suffered 2 hits from escorts and is ordered to return to port. Also an allied ASW attack near Auckland failed to hit Japanese sub I-29 about 5 hexes northeast of the base.

At Port Blair Japan conducts two naval bombardment attacks today with a cruiser force and causes heavy damage to the base. Almost 2,500 mines in the hex and the bombardment force isn’t touched… [8|]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Port Blair, at 23,34


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
Do 24K-2: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Kinu
CL Natori
CA Myoko
CA Chokai
CA Tone


Allied ground losses:
820 casualties reported
Guns lost 10

Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 63
Port hits 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Port Blair, at 23,34


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
Do 24K-2: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Kinu
CL Natori
CA Myoko
CA Chokai
CA Tone


Allied ground losses:
190 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 6
Runway hits 27
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later in the turn Japanese troops begin to unload and the minefield begins to make itself felt. A total of 9 mines hit 5 separate ships (Izumo Maru was hit in both phases) in the two unloading phases conducted today. Additionally 1 DD is hit by CD gunfire, probably fired by one of the brigade’s 6pdr AT guns or 25pdr artillery pieces as I have no dedicated CD guns at the base.



With 2,404 mines left at the base, I’m hoping the coming days see similarly successful results.

KB and probably mini-KB as well are detected 4 hexes WNW of the base. 2 subs nearby are ordered to the hex. My medium bombers at Akyab failed to fly today, so KB must have a pretty sizable LRCAP over Port Blair right now.

Allied bombers hit Tennant Creek today and cause moderate damage to the base.

At Broome Japan launches a 7-1 deliberate attack with a brigade and a tank regiment, overwhelming my small baseforce garrison. Almost 5,000 Australians march of to POW camps. Guess I should have ordered this unit to march across the outback as well.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Broome

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10044 troops, 4 guns, 70 vehicles, Assault Value = 221

Defending force 3797 troops, 23 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 28

Japanese max assault: 203 - adjusted assault: 99

Allied max defense: 28 - adjusted defense: 13

Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 4)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Broome base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
367 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 5

Allied ground losses:
4771 casualties reported
Guns lost 12
Vehicles lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both Attu and Kiska Islands fall to Japanese assaults today. That makes three island bases in the western Aleutians now under Japanese control.

Jim

Mines are a strange thing...i think it's better to have many different and little minefields than few and bigger ones...
&nbsp;
Anyway, Port Blair in the hands of the japs won't change much your strategical situation in India...so don't bother too much![;)]

I am really enjoying this AAR, thanks for putting it on! Great read!

Port Blair doesn't seem that important for Japan; it's a seaplane base, and nothing more. I could be wrong. It is important though for the Allies as a springboard to a landing in Thailand later in the game.

It can't be used offensively by the Japaneses, but CAN be used by the Allies.

I would say Port Blair is important for the japanese because of two things....
1: it's important to the allies
2: at least in CHS it can be build to level 4 AF and with that his nells and bettys can reach out and touch....

3 July 42

US sub SS S-31 torpedoes a loaded Japanese AP at Cairns today. The skipper then surfaced and fought a short gun duel with the AP and they scored 2 hits and received 1. Damage to the sub was light, she’ll remain at Cairns.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Cairns at 48,102

Japanese Ships
AP Teiryu Maru, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1

Allied Ships
SS S-31, hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
47 casualties reported
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My first long range bombing mission flown from Chungking launched today and hit the resource at Taihoku on Formosa Island. Several hits were scored and I noted there is now Japanese air power stationed at the base this turn. One of the Chinese bombers was shot down by flak, I’ll have to increase their altitude to match the heavy bombers in the future, since there are only a few of these bombers in the replacement pool.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Taihoku , at 49,44


Allied aircraft
LB-30 Liberator x 24
IL-4c x 12


Allied aircraft losses
LB-30 Liberator: 2 damaged
IL-4c: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Resources hits 4

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x IL-4c bombing at 6000 feet
6 x LB-30 Liberator bombing at 15000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I plan to hit any strategic target I can within 12-16 hexes from Chungking that has no fighters stationed at the base. Once I’ve forced my opponent to station fighters at his rear area bases, I’ll switch these bombers to port attacks and naval attacks.

Allied bombers also hit Tennant Creek today. My recon spots 1 Japanese unit one hex SW of Tennant Creek this turn. Looks like he’s pursuing my retreating units, but they are already two hexes away and should all move a third hex this turn, so I think they’ll make it to Alice Springs before he can force another land battle.

Today’s land bombardment at Townsville shows there are now just 6 Japanese divisions at Townsville. My recon spots a Japanese division one hex northeast of Townsville, so it looks like he’s doing one of two things. Either he is withdrawing from his attack, or he intends to move west and try for a move west through the jungle towards Charter Towers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Townsville

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 136126 troops, 757 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 3073

Defending force 84298 troops, 521 guns, 279 vehicles, Assault Value = 1656



Allied ground losses:
143 casualties reported
Guns lost 7
Vehicles lost 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I will probably send the US 32nd Division to Charter Towers next turn, to guard against just such a move. Charter Towers currently only has about 30 AV in the hex, and the Dutch armor unit is heading there to act as garrison as well. That’ll only give the hex 60-70 AV though, so I’ll need some sizable reinforcements in case he tries marching through the jungle.

Japan launches a deliberate attack at Port Blair today and gets a 2-1 odds attack. The assault also pulls down a fort level, so it looks like the base will fall tomorrow.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Port Blair

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5825 troops, 16 guns, 85 vehicles, Assault Value = 168

Defending force 9635 troops, 39 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 94

Japanese max assault: 172 - adjusted assault: 180

Allied max defense: 82 - adjusted defense: 73

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1


Japanese ground losses:
202 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

Allied ground losses:
486 casualties reported
Guns lost 10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KB has moved northwest away from Port Blair towards Madras, so I switched my medium bombers at Akyab to ground attack this turn in hopes they’ll finally fly a mission. If they can disrupt tomorrows attack, they may be able to save the base for a while, since Japanese shipping has already headed south.

That means if I can cause tomorrows attack to fail, he probably won’t have enough supplies left to launch another attack until he brings in a resupply fleet. That’ll give me time to pull out the Indian brigade with my float planes

The bad news is my Dutch mine laying fleet (along with my 2 British Auxiliary minelayers) is currently trapped in port at Madras. I had been trying to get them west of Ceylon when KB appeared, so they ran into port at Madras. I’ve stationed 72 P-40E’s at Madras to try and save the ships from KB, but my guess is the next couple of turns are going to be painful for my Dutch minelayers and my P-40E’s.

My high speed British Abdiel class minelayers are safely tucked away at Bombay, so I’ll have some decent mine laying ability still, even if he manages to sink all of the Dutch minelayers.

Jim

Hi Q-Ball and tlkiilerich,

Thanks, and you’re welcome, glad you’re enjoying the read. Welcome to the thread.

I agree Port Blair is important and once Japan has that level 4 AF, the entire area along the east coast of India and Burma will be off limits to my shipping until I can spare enough heavy bombers to keep Port Blair suppressed. Akyab will be the key base from here on forward, as it will allow my heavy bombers to fly normal range missions to Port Blair if I can hold onto Akyab.

My gaming instinct means I would very much like to fight for Port Blair now, but the reality is anything I send there will be lost eventually. It’s simply too early in the game to contest an isolated island base like Port Blair, especially since Japan’s land based AF’s give him complete air dominance in the area.

The reality is if Japan wants it Japan gets it in 1942 when it comes to island bases. And Japan would never allow me to continue to hold Port Blair now that he’s moved into Burma. He needs it to secure his naval route into Rangoon, so even if I dumped both British divisions on the base, Japan would bring 8-10 divisions to oppose them eventually.

Once I have sufficient heavy bombers in India though, I can quickly start to turn the tables and soon thereafter it will be one of my first counter-attack targets.

Hindsight being 20/20, I think I should have simply pulled all my troops out of the base when I had the chance. I had hoped to catch my opponent unawares, but he always seems to bring enough strength to the party to assure he captures the bases, so I’ve just wasted a brigade and some good air support units by trying to pull off this failed little surprise. As soon as he started moving into Burma, I should have left, as I knew he then had to take Port Blair too.

If my Blenheim IV’s launch this turn, hopefully it’ll buy me some time and I’ll have a chance to save something, if not all three units are goners.

Jim

4 July 42

Today’s sub ops consist of a Japanese ASW attack against the S-31 at Cairns. The subs skipper then turns the tables on the attackers and conducts his own attack on them and scores a hit on a DD. It cost him however as the 2 hits scored on the sub in the counter-attack cause heavy float damage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Cairns at 48,102

Japanese Ships
DD Yuzuki
DD Minekaze

Allied Ships
SS S-31
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Cairns at 48,102

Japanese Ships
DD Yuzuki, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Minekaze

Allied Ships
SS S-31, hits 2, on fire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luckily Townsville is nearby and the sub begins the turn already only 2 hexes from port. With 11 sys and 45 float damage I may be able to save the sub inside Townsville’s level 5 port.

Allied medium bombers from Alice Springs hit Tennant Creek today. Medium bombers from Imphal hit the resource at Meiktila and score 4 hits. Also 85 of my Blenheim IV’s from Akyab finally fly today and meet no Japanese LRCAP over Port Blair. The Japanese 14th Tank regiment is hit and damage appears to be heavy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 14th Tank Regiment, at 23,34


Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 85


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
183 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 2

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Blenheim IV bombing at 2000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The big news for allied air today is near Townsville. With several Japanese task forces sighted in the area around Cairns last turn, I again switched my medium bombers at Charter Towers to naval attack and seven strikes were flown today.

Only two of the strikes were large strikes, the rest saw 6 or fewer bombers in each strike. My opponent informed me he had forgotten to assign LRCAP over all of his fleets departing Cairns, so several strikes were unopposed. Cairns however had 77 fighters flying CAP over the base and I lost 6 Marauders and 4 Kittyhawks in air to air today. Another 4 Beauforts were lost to operational causes.

As you can see, my losses don’t jive with the losses in the below reports, so some FOW is present in today’s reporting. Only the Tone Maru is confirmed sunk today.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 48,101


Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 18
Beaufort V-IX x 17
B-25C Mitchell x 11
B-26B Marauder x 31


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Toko Maru
AP Tamaki Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Chinko Maru
AP Hasuna Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AP Daigen Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Yamatsuki Maru
AP Teiryu Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 48,102

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 13
A6M2 Zero x 64

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 3 destroyed

Japanese Ships
AK Tone Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage sinks a little later

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 6000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 48,102

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 13
A6M2 Zero x 64

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 2
B-26B Marauder x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 2 damaged
B-26B Marauder: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Yuzuki, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 6000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 48,102

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 13
A6M2 Zero x 64

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 8 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Tsuga

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 6000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 48,101


Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 23
B-25C Mitchell x 10
B-26B Marauder x 21


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AP Toko Maru
AP Tafuku Maru
AP Yamatsuki Maru, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
AP Tamaki Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AP Chinko Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 49,99


Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 3


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Nansin Maru

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 6000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 48,101

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 31

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 18
B-26B Marauder x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 3 destroyed, 9 damaged
B-26B Marauder: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Daigen Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Teiryu Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 6000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KB headed SE from its position last turn and flew to ground strikes on Port Blair today. One hit the 8th Indian Brigade, causing heavy damage and disruption, the other hit the base itself causing moderate damage to the base.

Japan then launched his deliberate attack at Port Blair but only achieved 1-1 odds. He tore down my last fort after the battle, but I’m hoping today’s attack used up his spare supply reserves and no further land attacks will be made for a while.



I’ve rebased all my float planes in India to Diamond Harbor and ordered the airlift to begin. I’ll pull out the two base forces first and then the brigade.

Jim

Did you save the MAF Aviation Rgt from Malaya?? I hope so. It is nice and ligth to air transport.&nbsp;It could be used to move around within China to support ambushes (150 Aviation Support). I use it occassion to send fighters to Sian if your oppoenent is making training runs in the northern part of China.&nbsp; Just a thought I had.

Yep, it's currently at Ledo helping to keep the 100 transport planes there in the air. Once I get a replacement for it, China is its ultimate destination. But with another 64 transport planes that recently arrived at Sydney in the reappearing Dutch bomber squadrons, that are now on route to India, Ledo will be where it sits until a full aviation regiment becomes available for the base.

Jim

5 July 42

Sub ops today saw a Japanese MSW task force in the Malacca Straight slammed by the Dutch sub KXVI. 2 torpedoes hit the Asashi Maru and blew her to bits sinking her in the narrow straights. Looks like my opponent is bringing up some MSW to clear the way at Port Blair for a probable supply fleet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 21,49

Japanese Ships
MSW Asahi Maru #2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Mejima Maru
MSW Bisan Maru

Allied Ships
SS KXVI
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Allied bombers hit Tennant Creek today, where another Japanese unit is spotted now only one hex north of the base. I hope this is just an engineer unit and not the beginnings of a new offensive buildup. My B-25 Mitchell’s from Imphal hit Meiktila’s resource again today and scored 8 hits.

KB moved one hex southwest of Port Blair today (just out of reach of my Blenheim IV's that were/are on naval attack now) and launched a strike on the base. Damage was moderate, but the biggest affect is none of the 1st ISF baseforce unit was air lifted out. Looks like my units are trapped if float planes can’t even get a piece of them off the island.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Port Blair , at 23,34

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 31
B5N2 Kate x 66

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged


Allied ground losses:
41 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 23

Aircraft Attacking:
25 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
<snip>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other than Japan’s routine land bombardment at Townsville, nothing else of note occurred today.

Jim

6 July 42

Another month has gone by and it’s time once again to look at the air to air fighter losses.

578 Allied fighters have been lost in air to air combat so far, 38 of those occurred this past month. Japan has lost just 133 fighters in air to air combat at this point, 15 of which occurred this past month.

So for the month of June, Japan achieved a 2.5 – 1 kill ratio in air to air fighter combats. For the game Japan is enjoying a 4.3 – 1 kill ratio in air to air fighter combat.

Sub ops today consist of two allied sub attacks against AK’s, one at Palembang and one at Kwajalein, both miss their targets.

At Port Blair Japan brings in another task force and unloads a fragment of the tank regiment that is already ashore. Several mine hits are scored on the Japanese ships.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 107 encounters mine field at Port Blair (23,34)

TF 107 troops unloading over beach at Port Blair, 23,34


Japanese Ships
DD Harukaze, Mine hits 1, on fire
DD Uranami, Mine hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP Hikawa Maru, Mine hits 1

Coastal Guns at Port Blair, 23,34, firing at TF 107
24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My LB-30’s from Chungking launch a strike on the resource at Peking today and score 2 hits. 35 Liberator III’s (first war mission for air frame) from Calcutta launch an attack on the airfield at Moulmein and are intercepted by 12 zeros and 6 Oscars. No planes are lost in the air to air battle, but the interceptors break up the raid and damage to the base is very light. 72 heavies from Dacca (including 24 B-24D’s flying that planes first mission of the war) then strike Rangoon and cause light damage to the airfield there.

9 Japanese Helens hit Townsville today, but cause no damage to the base. KB then hammers Port Blair and causes moderate damage to the base.

Japan landing the fragment over the beach at Port Blair made the difference, as I assume it caused my defenders AV to be halved even though no allied land bombardment attack was launched. The base fell to a 2-1 attack and 13,000 allied prisoners are marched off to POW camps.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Port Blair

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5228 troops, 7 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 151

Defending force 8687 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 73

Japanese max assault: 99 - adjusted assault: 158

Allied max defense: 56 - adjusted defense: 53

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Port Blair base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
47 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
12988 casualties reported
Guns lost 18
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I expect this to be the last big allied land unit surrender for the game, I took a look at the victory levels today. Japan now has a 2.90 – 1 victory point lead. Not quite the fabled 3 – 1 and a long way from the 4 – 1 needed for auto victory in 43.



What I found striking is the comparative air frame losses. After Japans bloody Malaya and Philippine Islands campaigns, our relative air losses were virtually the same (less than 100 losses difference at the time). But now that allied flak isn’t wreaking havoc on Japanese bombers anymore, Japan is quickly pulling far ahead in air frames destroyed.

On 12 April air frame losses were 1,432 allied and 1,374 Japanese. So in the past 3 months since the bombing raids at Singapore and Manila ended, the allies have lost 759 air frames while Japan has only lost 362. So I am now losing more than twice as many air frames as Japan is. This is going to give Japan quite a victory point lead in the air losses category after another 6 month to a year of this.

Of course I attribute this to one thing, Japanese fighter air is so dominate in this mod it can’t be touched and it is now starting to show as my losses accelerate ahead of Japanese losses at the rate of over 100 more allied planes lost per month.

I can only hope the B-24D’s allow me to start catching a lot of Japanese planes on the ground at bases further back from the front lines. Otherwise I don’t know how I’m going to slow down the growing disparity in air frame losses.

We’re not playing for the auto victories, but it’s the principal of the thing. I want/need to keep it below the auto victory for my own feelings of achievement.

Jim

Chittagong to Hanoi and then to Bangkok for your B-24's. Usually you can get in one of these before preventative measures are taken. [:D]

Of course I attribute this to one thing, Japanese fighter air is so dominate in this mod it can’t be touched and it is now starting to show as my losses accelerate ahead of Japanese losses at the rate of over 100 more allied planes lost per month.

This is CHS, right? Aside from the utter fantasy Japanese production model and design assumptions like coordinated strikes, comparable flak and cap capability, naval replenishment equality and all the other whitewashed generalizations that benefit Japan (for the dubious drive for playability) which made it into the product and are irreversable by the modder through the lovely hard coding I don't see how this mod is pro Japan in terms of air combat. The more modern a/c the Allies start getting soon should help alter the current Japanese advantages.

ORIGINAL: Ron Saueracker
I don't see how this mod is pro Japan in terms of air combat. The more modern a/c the Allies start getting soon should help alter the current Japanese advantages.

Look at post 116 on page 4 for a side by side of fighter stats. This is nik mod + CHS and nik gives Japanese fighters 8-10 points of maneuver advantage for the entire game. He also halved air speeds, so it is definitely WAY over the top in favor of the Japanese in air to air. I can't even kill a Nate if they are rested with no fatigue. My only real air to air successes have been vs. heavily fatigued fighter squadrons or vs. LRCAP fighters.

My conclusions so far are this particular version of nik mod basically makes allied fighters useless. I’m tracking losses every month on the 6th to keep a record of things to see if this opinion is justified.

So far it is more than justified.

Jim

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Chittagong to Hanoi and then to Bangkok for your B-24's. Usually you can get in one of these before preventative measures are taken. [:D]

Hanoi is covered already since my Chinese bombers hit it. I'll check Bangkok next turn, but I think it's covered as well. Chittagong is only level 4 so far though, so they'd have to fly from Calcutta or Dacca.

Jim

7 - 8 July 42

Sub ops for 7 July consist of a US sub attack at Kwajalein that misses its target. Japan then conducts two ASW attacks, one at Kwajalein and one at Palembang, both fail to damage my subs.

US heavy bombers from Dacca hit Rangoon again today and cause moderate damage to the airfield.

11 Japanese Helens then hit Townsville, and are intercepted by 2 Kittyhawks which are bleed-over CAP from Charter Towers. No Helens are shot down and they fail to cause any damage at Townsville.

Japans land bombardment at Townsville today reveals he’s brought back the division that had moved north of the base. He’s also brought another division (he now has 8 divisions in the hex) and some engineer units to the party now.

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Ground combat at Townsville

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 137702 troops, 772 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 3935

Defending force 90129 troops, 594 guns, 278 vehicles, Assault Value = 1661



Allied ground losses:
150 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
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Japan also conducted a land bombardment at Nanchang today. I mention it because he hasn’t been bombarding me in China, so this may be the beginning of a new offensive move in China. I’ll keep a close eye on things. As far as I can see, he still has 17 units in the forest hex east of Changsha and 11 units at Nanchang, so nothing has changed on the ground yet.

Sub ops for 8 July consist of 4 Japanese ASW attacks on allied subs. I only saw three in the replay, so the second reported attack on the Rover in hex 21, 47 may be a duplicate print of the same attack. Damage to the Rover was moderate with just 22 float damage, so I think it is a duplicate of the same attack.

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ASW attack at 21,47

Japanese Ships
DD Murasame
DD Hagikaze
DD Ikazuchi
DD Mutsuki

Allied Ships
SS Rover, hits 3, on fire
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ASW attack at 21,47

Japanese Ships
DD Murasame
DD Hagikaze
DD Ikazuchi
DD Mutsuki

Allied Ships
SS Rover, hits 3, on fire
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ASW attack near Lunga at 67,101

Japanese Ships
AK Taimei Maru
PC Ch 20
PG Kaikei Maru
PG Daido Maru
MSW W.9

Allied Ships
SS S-27
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ASW attack at 22,46

Japanese Ships
DD Inazuma

Allied Ships
SS Rover
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48 Blenheim IV’s flew to Moulmein today in an attempt to hit the resource there. 18 Oscars intercept and though no bombers were shot down, 29 were damage. The strike failed to achieve any hits and the bombers will be down for quite some time to recover disabled air frames and lost morale.

45 Blenheim IV’s hit Rangoon’s resource today and these bombers were not intercepted, they managed to score 9 hits on the resource. 2 bombers were lost to flak.

Japan’s Helens flew to Townsville again today and this time they caused some damage to the port. I had forgotten I had sent a sub into port there to repair float damage, it looks like he’s been trying to nail it for the past few turns.

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Day Air attack on Townsville , at 46,105

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49 Helen x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 2 damaged

Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 18000 feet
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 18000 feet
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Even though the sub still has 11 float damage left, I decide to send it south to Rockhampton before Japan gets lucky with these small port attacks.

After weeks of buildup Japan finally launches another deliberate attack at Townsville. My level 8 forts do their job and Japan gets 0-1 odds and takes about twice as many casualties as my troops do.



Unfortunately Japan has about 4 times as many pure combat troops as I do, so that means I actually got hurt worse than Japan did when it comes to how the combat elements fared. My AV in the hex last turn was over 1600, today it’s barely 1400.

The US 32nd Division is on the way north, but it is only 2 hexes north of Sydney right now, so it is at least two weeks away. It is also still in pretty bad shape with about 1/3rd of the elements disabled still.

The good news is the forts did not get pulled down and I’m 45% of the way to completing level 9 forts at Townsville. I wonder if the fact I have over 200 engineers in the hex has anything to do with preventing Japan from pulling down fort levels.

Being the top unit in the stack, the 7th Australian Brigade will have to be pulled out soon as it's been hammered by bombardments and attacks, it has suffered under the pressure. As you can see its AV was 0 when this attack was tallied for final odds.

Jim