The Power of Inexperience / GreyJoy(A)-Rader(J)

[princep01]

Reek, a commendable job on switching targets and daftly handling the invasion. A job well done. I wish I could restore one of your fingers, but I'll give you credit against your next screwup. I do hope you remembered to stake a few out on the beach. Crabs need to eat too.

Onward!

princep Bolton

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Reek, a commendable job on switching targets and daftly handling the invasion. A job well done. I wish I could restore one of your fingers, but I'll give you credit against your next screwup. I do hope you remembered to stake a few out on the beach. Crabs need to eat too.

Onward!

princep Bolton

Paging Canoerebel, paging Canoerebel... Please report to Kangaroo Court, please report to Kangaroo Court.

[JeffroK]

The following day after the fall of Auki, the entire japanese army was destroyed and now 15,000 japs are in my POW camps...
 
More like 150 in your camps.

[crsutton]

Greyjoy,

You have "surclassed" yourself. Nice move, combined with some nice luck. Not a bad combination.

I see you have the F4U1 now. I think you will find it to be an excellent plane.

[GreyJoy]

Thank you guys for your unconditioned support!

[obvert]

Assaulting units:
16th Engineer Regiment
14th Garrison Unit
2nd Raiding Rgt /1
55th JAAF AF Bn
72nd JAAF AF Bn
51st Construction Battalion
108th JAAF AF Bn
70th JAAF AF Bn
45th Const Co
62nd JNAF AF Unit
34th Ind. Engineer Regiment
36th Const Co
55th Construction Battalion
36th Const Co
15th Naval Const Bn /2

That is a lot of engineer units on one island! I'm sure he's not happy to lose all of those. I guess they are cheap to buy back, but it will take a while.

My question is why are so many of these here, now? Shouldn't the construction groups be somewhere behind the lines a ways by now?

Plus the paratroop unit does not replace quickly from the pools.

[GreyJoy]

I think all those engeneers were sent there in order to build a chain of AF to strangle Tulagi and Lunga back in Jan 43...then they got stuck there when our naval and air blockade of the last months made any attempt of evacuating the front-line units too expensive in terms of naval losses for Japan...
 
 

[Dixie]

Nicely done old boy.

[Graymane]

Good job GJ! You have come a long ways especially with regards to handling tactics with ships, planes and LCUs in combination.

[GreyJoy]

Thanks guys for the kind words!

But it ain't over.

Another operation is on the way.
With the conclusion of the "Hairy Hammer" operation, i present to you the "Hairy Anvil" operation.

oct 22, 23 1943...nothing to report. Rader has given a breath to his air forces today, sending only 10 Tojos to sweep Auki...they were clobbered by my newly Auki based P-47s squadrons.

Tomorrow we'll launch the new operation...it's been a secret i had for many many months now and finally we're able to start it...

On the 24 October my CVs, along with 80 bombers from Cooktown, will launch a serie of attack towards the ground troops at PM. 150 4Es will plaster Buna AF, while in the afternoon 2 Para BNs will land at PM. The following day the entire 1st AUS Corp (nearly 700 AVs) will land at PM with 5 amphibious TFs...

Let's see if i the "feint" made in the Solomons has distracted Rader enough...

[SoliInvictus202]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

Thanks guys for the kind words!

But it ain't over.

Another operation is on the way.
With the conclusion of the "Hairy Hammer" operation, i present to you the "Hairy Anvil" operation.

oct 22, 23 1943...nothing to report. Rader has given a breath to his air forces today, sending only 10 Tojos to sweep Auki...they were clobbered by my newly Auki based P-47s squadrons.

Tomorrow we'll launch the new operation...it's been a secret i had for many many months now and finally we're able to start it...

On the 24 October my CVs, along with 80 bombers from Cooktown, will launch a serie of attack towards the ground troops at PM. 150 4Es will plaster Buna AF, while in the afternoon 2 Para BNs will land at PM. The following day the entire 1st AUS Corp (nearly 700 AVs) will land at PM with 5 amphibious TFs...

Let's see if i the "feint" made in the Solomons has distracted Rader enough...

I congratulate you that you learned to keep important missions secret - even with the most honorable opponent you never know - better make sure that OPSEC isn't breached than later regret it and pay for it with the loss of not only surprise but also a lot of ships, planes and troops!

[beppi]

Good luck for your move for PM. If you can capture it and hold it it is the key to completly shut down the entire SE Pacific. Lvl 9 Airfield works wonders in that case. In addition it is hard to attack PM by sea for the Japanese player as the approach lines are quite long. As you already experienced an overland assault can be nasty so dump a nice amount of stuff into the base, especially engeneers and supply to get the base to lvl 9 asap (if it is not already) and to bring up some solid forts. You can too drop some nice ground assault troops there as a overland assault can be nicely done from there.

It looks slow but you need around two month to mop up the reachable bases from there. And lvl 9 bases are the key to victory

as a side note, you should drop your paras during the assault stage of your ground troop as the boost your AV quite drastic. An independent drop a day early is not really effective as you paras could get destroyed in the automatic shock attack.

Ok saw in the reply that you want to cap the base with your paras, nice move and good look.

[GreyJoy]

...ok, here's the story.

Since when in December 42 we have been defeate at PM by those 5,000 AVs that marched from Buna to PM, i've been thinking about a way to get back to PM...
The full commitment of Rader in the Solomons has given me the chance to seriously think about it...
We have tried to be as silent as possible in NE OZ in the last months...no ships...no planes...no LCU movements...nothing... this has led Rader to slow down his air and naval recon in the area...only a handfull recon planes from Buna fly every day to Cooktown...so Cooktown hasn't been used for a long time as a base...instead i started to use Cairns and made some tests during the last month about his naval search in the area...i brought in several TFs of different size and none of them has been spotted...never!
So i dediced it was time to try...with a PM lightly garrisoned and with all Rader's eyes fully pointed towards the lower Solomons...
But i needed to grab his full attention and, possibly, wore him down in terms of planes before launching this operation...
...So i started to plan the advance in the Solomons...Thousands...then transformed in Auki...but the pourpose was the ssame...i needed to force him to committ in a battle that could have sucked his air reserves... We achieved it only partially, cause the KB didn't attack and so his air potential is still mighty...
However i managed to grab his attention...my CVs showed themself at Ndeni and in the waters around Karaikira not more than 5 days ago...supporting the Auki invasion...then i ordered to move back in a long course, away from his Mavis...we refueled at Noumea and we are now at Townsville...while the invasion fleet is waiting at Cairns...10 APAs, 4 AKAs, 5 LSI and several LSTs, LCIs and AKs are loaded with the 3rd Aus Division, the 1st Aus Corp HQ, the Fifth Air Force HQ, base forces for 260 aviation support, 2 combat Engeneer Regiments and 2 AUS Bde, along with 2 AUS artillery units and 3 AA units...
The only combat unit at PM is a naval guard unit...if my calculations are correct the use of 300 bombers on ground attack should tear into pieces the unit, even if behind some forts and in a jungle terrain...my paras should land and conquer the base...so that the invasion force won't have to attack...it will simply land... and on d-day+2 we could be able to base at PM the 150 fighters that are waiting at Cooktown...

Tomorrow+1 the KB will come in...and the bases in NG, today empty, will be full of enemy planes...but those planes have suffered traemendous losses in the last week as won't be at their best...however we need to get the base tomorrow if we want not to rely only on the CAP provided by the CVs...

Lots of subs are moving towards Mylne Bay...

This is very risky...everything could go wrong...bad weather that prevent to fly...a poor coordination...a sudden presence of the KB...
Risky...i know...but it's late 43...and we need to advance!

[GreyJoy]

ORIGINAL: beppi

Good luck for your move for PM. If you can capture it and hold it it is the key to completly shut down the entire SE Pacific. Lvl 9 Airfield works wonders in that case. In addition it is hard to attack PM by sea for the Japanese player as the approach lines are quite long. As you already experienced an overland assault can be nasty so dump a nice amount of stuff into the base, especially engeneers and supply to get the base to lvl 9 asap (if it is not already) and to bring up some solid forts. You can too drop some nice ground assault troops there as a overland assault can be nicely done from there.

It looks slow but you need around two month to mop up the reachable bases from there. And lvl 9 bases are the key to victory

as a side note, you should drop your paras during the assault stage of your ground troop as the boost your AV quite drastic. An independent drop a day early is not really effective as you paras could get destroyed in the automatic shock attack.

the base, especially engeneers and supply to get the base to lvl 9 asap (if it is not already) and to bring up some solid forts. You can too drop some nice ground assault troops there as a overland assault can be nicely done from there.

It looks slow but you need around two month to mop up the reachable bases from there. And lvl 9 bases are the key to victory

as a side note, you should drop your paras during the assault stage of your ground troop as the boost your AV quite drastic. An independent drop a day early is not really effective as you paras could get destroyed in the automatic shock attack.

I know beppi, but in this case the surprise is everything...and i had to keep my invasion fleet at 2 days of distance (10 hexes) from PM in order not to be spotted...but i cannot simply land tomorrow and then take the base the following turn...cause i need to get the base before the enemy can move his KB and all his LBA in NG...if i take the base (and i wanna take it undamaged) with the paras we can put there 150 crack fighters on the following turn....

it's a matter of timings in this case...

[GreyJoy]

If i manage to get (and hold) PM then the whole Rader's commitment in SOPAC will become useless...the whole NG will be open and he will have to redeploy quickly...and almost all his divisions are stuck in India...facing my advancing Eastern Army at Multan (at Multan he now has 450,000 men....[X(]).

It's a critical operation...strategically may change the war...

KB is positioned at Bouganville...so it's very close..

[soticrandy]

your operation names remind me nick names for 70's porn stars.....

great work with operation "hairy hammer"

[beppi]

Another neat trick i used to completely break a WW1 style statement in Burma with 7k Japanaese AV behind fort lvl 7-9 bases and a gazillion of AA. Rely on air transport. Same style like your paradrop/naval landings you can cap a base with paras and then shift huge amounts of troops just through air (You could consider it if KB blocks PM). You can shift with 300 - 400 transport planes half a division each turn. In addition you can pick up troops from any base in range and airlift it to your desired target, you can shift HQs, Base Forces, AA units and so on. You can shift almost everything except artillery, motorized support, radar and engineering verhicles (and not tanks and so on, but noone would airlift a tank bde).

If you airlift a division the part will automatically been converted to the main unit (so the /1 leaves and the remaining artillery, motorized squads and so on get the /1) and you can draw replacements with it. The artillery and motorized stuff can then later join, with much lower risks. If you lose 200 squads in a reinforcement convoy it hurts, if you lose 200 motorized support it is not a big deal. Could be interesting to support PM with additional units if KB blocks it and a 3-4k blob uses the overland route again and you do not have the time to ship the reinforcements by sea.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

I think all those engeneers were sent there in order to build a chain of AF to strangle Tulagi and Lunga back in Jan 43...then they got stuck there when our naval and air blockade of the last months made any attempt of evacuating the front-line units too expensive in terms of naval losses for Japan...

Good show!

[GreyJoy]

Well, in this scenario we already have PM...afaik, now with this kind of pressure on his flank in the Solomons and with his commitments in India, he won't be able to do much about PM once (IF) we get it...it's not anymore 1942...now my CVs are as strong as his own and my fighters stand a chance against everything he sends against me. The siege of Tulagi was a great lesson for me. I learnt how to resupply a base under the nose of the enemy's Air Power...and i think i can replicate the blockade runners system i used in the Solomons...

[Canoerebel]

Port Moresby will apply pressure to the Japanese flank in the Solomons, but it isn't a knife at the throat by any means. Really, Port Moresby is important in '42 or '43 because it gives the Allies an airfield that you can build up to help advance further into New Guinea - Buna, Lae, etc. But it doesn't really pose an immediate threat to the Solomons, due primarily to the fact that the New Guinea cape extends well to the east, meaning naval operations take awhile to get to and from PM.

PM is good. Go get it. But Milne Bay and Merauke would apply more pressure on rader. Point being, I don't think PM is as important at this point in the game as you think.