Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

[RangerJoe]

[&o]

[apbarog]

2 Apr 42

In the boldest and most successful sub operation yet, Dutch sub KXI was ordered to move full speed to Saumlaki, where 2 ships were spotted yesterday unloading troops. KXI fired 2 torpedoes at xAP Dairen Maru, hitting the ship with one torpedo. Sinking audio heard immediately after combat. Then KXI attacked again, going after the remaining ship, DMS W-17. The sub fired 2 torpedoes at the minesweeper, hitting it with one torpedo. Again, sinking audio heard immediately after combat. 2 ships sunk in one day. And KXI is no rookie either. It is credited with sinking AK Kyushu Maru at Patani on December 10th, 1941.

Pushing his luck, the captain of KXI turns the boat west and heads to nearby Babar, where 3 ships are spotted unloading today.

Sonias have continued to bomb Bataan's port, trying to finish off the damaged ACM there. Today the ACM is hit with 3 bombs, and damage is near fatal. 90 SYS with 90 FIRES. It's going to sink. But because I (almost) never give up, I order the ACM to Manila and hope for the best.

The threat to Yenan in China is growing as I start to evacuate the city. A southern push include 3 enemy divisions, with just one Chinese corp in the way. This is where the current enemy offensive in China is. There are units north, in the desert, but they don't look to be large units. More of a flanking diversion, at least for now.

Saumlaki is lost.

ARD Dewey requires 52 days in the shipyard at Pearl Harbor for repairs. But who cares? We win.

Some historical info on Dewey, which really made quite a long journey:

Laid down in early 1905 at Maryland Steel Co. of Sparrows Point, Maryland, Dewey was floated for the first time on 10 June 1905. She was christened on that date with the traditional bottle of wine by Miss Endicott, the daughter of U.S. Navy Chief of Yards Mordecai T. Endicott.

On 28 December 1905, Dewey began a journey to her station in the Philippines under tow by colliers Caesar and Brutus, stores ship Glacier, and tug Potomac. Leaving Solomons, Maryland on the Patuxent River, the convoy sailed to Olongapo, Philippines, via Las Palmas in the Canary Islands; Port Said, Egypt; the Suez Canal; and Singapore. They arrived at their destination on 10 July 1906. This constituted the world's longest tow job at the time.

[apbarog]

I didn't mean to appear full of myself with the "I win" comments. I was just so happy to have saved Dewey, over such a long period of time and with close calls on the way. I love to save the damaged ships, and getting Dewey out of Manila so late was something I'd never seen done before.

Now back to the regularly scheduled programming of pummeling the Japanese. (just kidding!)

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I didn't mean to appear full of myself with the "I win" comments. I was just so happy to have saved Dewey, over such a long period of time and with close calls on the way. I love to save the damaged ships, and getting Dewey out of Manila so late was something I'd never seen done before.

Now back to the regularly scheduled programming of pummeling the Japanese. (just kidding!)

I don't think anyone felt you were full of yourself - we all know that in addition to your attention to the routing, Dewey survived by a lot of luck. And when Lady Luck smiles on us after so much effort, we are entitled to feel gratified! Splice the Mainbrace!

[apbarog]

3 Apr 42

Dili on Timor is invaded. Enemy ships at Babar left, but ships spotted at Dili. Bombers don't fly again from Darwin, though. Some SB2Us there with adequate skills.

Sub Trout spots an xAK task force in the middle of the South China Sea between Vietnam and the Philippines. 2 torpedoes are fired at xAK Tazan Maru but miss. Trout is ordered to Batangas, where SigInt says that the 16th Army HQ that is on an xAP is headed there.

Sub Sealion spots AO Erimo west of Truk and fires 4 torpedoes at it. One torpedo hits but it is a dud. The dent in the hull does not start a fire.

2 tiny HDMLs are patrolling from Colombo to the tip of India. I-164 is there and hits HDML 1096, sinking the small ship.

The ACM from Bataan did make it to Manila, but it burned up there, probably before disbanding.

[apbarog]

4 Apr 42

Dutch sub O20 spots a big transport task force near Tavoy, either going to or coming from Rangoon. The sub doesn't get a shot and doesn't take any hits in the shallow water.

Chittagong is swept by a small number of Oscars, only about a dozen. A dozen Hurricane IIb's are on station. 4 Oscars are downed for the loss of 2 Hurri's. I've left the Hurricanes at this vulnerable base because the unit withdraws in less than a week. Use them before losing them.

Bettys return to Wake Island with their occasional bombing of the airfield. Catalinas are slowly extracting parts of the 3 ground units there. There is no supply at Wake.

The Japanese try their second attempt at taking Bandoeng on Java, but fail again. The odds are 1 to 2, and barely miss being 1 to 3. Still over 30,000 supply there, so units will recover from disablements.

Ground combat at Bandoeng (50,100)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 27887 troops, 436 guns, 244 vehicles, Assault Value = 751

Defending force 23739 troops, 226 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 492

Japanese adjusted assault: 362

Allied adjusted defense: 1075

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
1928 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 72 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 27 disabled
Guns lost 12 (2 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
713 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 67 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 11 (1 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Assaulting units:
16th Division
19th Ind Engineer Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
48th Engineer Regiment
2nd Mortar Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
48th Field Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
1st Cav Regiment
IV Landstorm Cdo
1st KNIL Regiment
2nd KNIL Regiment
Mobiele Battalion
4th KNIL Regiment
ABDA
3e-VLG-V Sup Afd
HQ I KNIL Division
Andir ML Base Force
ML-KNIL
KNI Zeemacht
A-III-Ld AA Battalion
2e-VLG-V Sup Afd
KNI Leger
VkA-1 Sup Afd

OPilot conducts a good attack at Taung Gyi in Burma, taking the base, mauling the units there including the 1st Burma Division, and kicking them out to the east. I did want them to go that direction, but not in this manner. He'll follow up to attack again. I order movement mode knowing full well that the units will be bombed and slowed. I'll still try to escape to China but it's not looking as optimistic as it once did.

Ground combat at Taung Gyi (59,48)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18575 troops, 158 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 583

Defending force 13201 troops, 107 guns, 37 vehicles, Assault Value = 434

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 462

Allied adjusted defense: 148

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Taung Gyi !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
878 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 46 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3359 casualties reported
Squads: 148 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 132 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 21 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 41 (38 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Vehicles lost 15 (15 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
112th Infantry Regiment
146th Infantry Regiment
55th Engineer Regiment
55th Cavalry Regiment
144th Infantry Regiment
I./143rd Infantry Battalion
II./143rd Infantry Battalion
15th Army
55th Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
1st Gloucestershire Battalion
BFF Brigade
1st Burma Division

No sign of enemy carriers that were south of the Solomons, nor ships near Port Moresby. Something moved past Milne Bay during the night, northbound.

[RangerJoe]

Chittagong is swept by a small number of Oscars, only about a dozen. A dozen Hurricane IIb's are on station. 4 Oscars are downed for the loss of 2 Hurri's. I've left the Hurricanes at this vulnerable base because the unit withdraws in less than a week. Use them before losing them.

I do believe that the aircraft left go into the pools unlike some other units that withdraw. Check the withdraw on the unit page, when it is RED you don't get to keep them but you might be able to relocate the unit to a larger base such as Calcutta and then keep them. But it is a good use for them. [:D]

[CaptBeefheart]

All hail Dewey! Well done! [&o]

Cheers,
CB (formerly CC)

[apbarog]

5 Apr 42

Sub Trout moved to Batangas with the SigInt report that an enemy HQ was on a ship and headed there. Trout spotted a PB and evaded its depth charges, then spotted PC Sumire and elected not to engage it. Trout then spotted huge transport xAP Argentina Maru, fired 4 torpedoes at the ship, and one hit. But it was a dud. Mission almost accomplished. Trout will move to Manila for fuel and then redeploy to Townsville.

Tobaoali is invaded. It's east of Palembang and undefended.

Hudsons from Darwin bomb Saumlaki's port, doing almost no damage. Nuisance raid.

Yenan is lost to the enemy, having evacuated it yesterday. Yenan is now a prime target for my bombers. Keeping the airfield down would help the far northern defense.

Katha in northern Burma is lost to the 6th Tank Regiment.

[apbarog]

China

[apbarog]

6 Apr 42

OPilot is still paying attention to Wake Island. 4 battleships bombard it again, causing 259 casualties and minimal damage to the airfield and port. Catalinas, and more of them, are extracting troops to Midway.

Darwin is swept by Zeros from Koepang for the first time. The Kittyhawk IAs there stood little chance. 13 Kittyhawks lost and 1 Zero downed. No point in leaving the fighters there; they move to the east coast to rebuild.

Lots of enemy bombing still at Bandoeng on Java. OPilot was bombing light industry there. He commented how much trouble he's having there, and that I should run out of supply soon. He thought that the light industry was still working, but I told him that I thought that industry stopped working when enemy troops are in the same hex. Regardless, I still have over 30,000 supply. I won't be running out anytime soon. This mountainous fortress has cost him casualties and time, as planned. I'm even taking replacements there, with so much supply.

Usual bombing in China. I did send B-26s, B-17s and A-29s to hit Yenan. There were 4 or so Oscars on some kind of ranged CAP from somewhere else. A few bombers were downed, but there were thunderstorms, and airfield damage was minimal.

In Burma, OPilot dropped paratroopers on Warazup, a dot base closest to Ledo. I had a couple of small units to the south. They will now divert into the jungle to the east to try to escape. I have a stack of units just north of Warazup, having already passed through the base on the way to India.

Tomorrow the US carriers come out of refit at Auckland, but many cruisers and destroyers still have a significant amount of time till they are done. I could deploy the carriers if I needed to, with enough escorts for probably 2 task forces. But there is no need right now.

14 units at Akyab now, so more troops continue to land. I'm still on the lookout for some units, like the Imperial Guard Division. It cleaned up Malaysia and hasn't been seen since. Whatever OPilot's phase 3 plan is, it will probably be included. He could just keep landing at Akyab to push into India. I'm defending Ceylon heavier than I have in the past, so I invite a landing there. The east coast of India is not being ignored either, but can't hold against a big landing.

I expect a landing at Darwin soon. OPilot may not be coming further in the Solomons. Still heavy activity SigInt at Kwajalein.

[RangerJoe]

He thought that the light industry was still working, but I told him that I thought that industry stopped working when enemy troops are in the same hex.

Industry works, resource production does not.

[apbarog]

Thanks RangerJoe, you are correct.

7 Apr 42

Swordfish fired 2 torpedoes at a patrol boat near Buka but missed. Naval activity in the Solomons again. Ships at Lunga.

The 4 enemy battleships stay at Wake Island and bombard again, doing about the same damage as yesterday. I turn my supply task force around and send it back to Midway. There's not much chance of sneaking it in. Bettys bomb again.

Morotai is invaded.

Combat task force of some kind east of Timor. This may be the Darwin invasion.

[apbarog]

8 Apr 42

Near Fanning Island, north of Christmas Island, I-4 fired 2 torpedoes at xAP Raranga but missed. Raranga goes without escort, relying on speed to survive, hopefully. It's faster than most transports.

Usual bomb in China and at Bandoeng and at Wake. Darwin is bombed by Bettys with Zeros escorting. Minor damage to the airfield.

I've had a squadron of SB2U-3s at Darwin for about a week. There were a few ships at Saumlaki when it was invaded, but the Vindicators didn't fly. Saumlaki is at range 7, which is normal range for the aircraft. Today they had other targets there and they flew.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Saumlaki at 78,117

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Allied aircraft
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 18

Allied aircraft losses
SB2U-3 Vindicator: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Nachi, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kuroshio
CA Haguro
CL Jintsu

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
3 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
8 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb

Nachi is hurting. I'm leaving the bombers at Darwin today, but they won't get this easy of an opportunity again. OPilot will move away or cover with air. And he'll bomb Darwin's airfield until this isn't possible again. Was nice to get a heavy cruiser though.

10 Hudsons flew to the same target but didn't hit anything.

Just north of Wuchow, on a trail in the woods, the enemy attacked but did so withou supply. Losses weren't catastrophic for the Japanese considering the odds. The Chinese are weak in the south, and the Japanese haven't concentrated here, so far. The trails should give me time to bring in reinforcements if I need to defend against a bigger offensive here.

[Bif1961]

Looks like your wind-indicators did a bang up job. They also have decent range so you can use them for local search or decent ASW with their range and bomb load.

[RangerJoe]

Looks like your wind-indicators did a bang up job. They also have decent range so you can use them for local search or decent ASW with their range and bomb load.

I agree. [:)] They can also be used to protect your shipping lanes against surface raiders should they venture to close. As long as there are no fighters around . . .

[apbarog]

9 Apr 42

Normal enemy activity: Changsha swept and bombed, Bandoeng bombed, Tsiaotso bombed, Kukong bombed (trying CAP trap tomorrow), troops near Nanyang bombed, Wake bombed.

Bettys with Zeros bomb Darwin's airfield doing moderate damage and damaging a couple of divebombers, which are sent to Townsville.

Lautem on Timor is lost. Tomorrow my stack of survivors east of Taung Gyi in Burma will get attacked. Since they lost the last attack, they'll lose this one in an even worse fashion. Hopefully they retreat. They could surrender, being far from a supply base. The 1st Burma Division, it turns out, didn't contribute much in combat. Its contribution was holding the road northeast of Pegu for awhile, stalling the enemy advance until more troops were brought into Rangoon, which then flanked the defenders using the more western road.

Multiple enemy task forces in the Lunga/Tulagi area. Enemy carriers just to the east, covering. Thanks to the Catalinas, the Allies continue to get frequent updates on enemy carrier positions. I think that OPilot has known where my carriers are for less than 10 days in the war, maybe less than 5. I may not be seeing all of his big carriers at any given time, but I am seeing big carriers, and he knows that I'm seeing them.

A second Brit carrier arrives at Melbourne from Capetown. That will make 2 Brit carriers joining the 5 US carriers soon.

Big enemy stack attacks south of Yenan, with a river crossing.

Ground combat at 88,38 (near Yenan)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 35347 troops, 262 guns, 79 vehicles, Assault Value = 1109

Defending force 22905 troops, 154 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 524

Japanese adjusted assault: 797

Allied adjusted defense: 1069

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
3021 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 309 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2257 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 148 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 33 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 18 (1 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Assaulting units:
8th Ind.Mixed Brigade
12th Tank Regiment
110th Division
9th Division
Mongol Garrison Army

Defending units:
35th Chinese Corps
3rd Prov Chinese Corps
13th Group Army
18th Group Army
12th Chinese Base Force

Heavy losses on both sides, but I see it as a Chinese victory. I have a fresh corps just to the west, so maybe I'll be able to hold off this stack. OPilot does have some troops at nearby Yenan, so he can swap out also.

[apbarog]

10 Apr 42

Just southeast of Truk, Dutch sub O23 spots a 3 battleship task force. This is probably the 4 battleship task force that has been bombarding Wake Island. The sub fires 6 torpedoes at Kongo and one hits. No damage or fires noted, and intelligence shows that this task force continued on toward Ponape.

The usual bombings, about the same as yesterday.

North of Wuchow in the woods, the enemy attacks for a second day in a row. Odds are poor for the enemy, but results are poor for the Chinese.

Ground combat at 77,56 (near Wuchow)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13036 troops, 104 guns, 24 vehicles, Assault Value = 395

Defending force 7273 troops, 43 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 187

Japanese adjusted assault: 89

Allied adjusted defense: 367

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 4

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

Japanese ground losses:
172 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
261 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
104th Division

Defending units:
62nd Chinese Corps
16th Group Army

With the trails here, no reinforcements are possible any time soon. I order B-17s to hit the enemy and move the P-40s nearby to LRCAP the combat hex.

Just south of Chittagong, the enemy probes for the first time.

Ground combat at 56,42 (near Chittagong)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 12126 troops, 118 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 423

Defending force 6680 troops, 126 guns, 284 vehicles, Assault Value = 283

Japanese ground losses:
60 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
55th Infantry Regiment
1st Tank Regiment
56th Infantry Regiment
114th Infantry Regiment
25th Army
18th Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
18th Australian Brigade
7th Armoured Brigade
20th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment

A very undermanned Indian unit is on the way to reinforce. A Brit division is waiting on the rail line east of Chittagong. I'd rather keep it in reserve in case of a Chittagong landing, but it could go to the front if needed.

East of Taung Gyi, the enemy very nearly gets 2 to 1 odds. The Allies could be forced to surrender here. One of the small units will move to the northeast out of the hex today. The other two are on the way to the southeast. I'm sending bombers to try to help today.

Another Brit carrier arrived at Capetown, and it's leaving for Melbourne to join the others in the South Pacific. I've decided not to put carriers in the Indian Ocean.

[apbarog]

11 Apr 42

Night Naval bombardment of Chittagong at 55,41 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
CL Natori

Allied ground losses:
339 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled

Resources hits 1
Manpower hits 3
Fires 1964
Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 9
Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 1

OPilot is staying out of the range of my coastal guns now. I'm going to drop off some mines just to the south of Chittagong in a few days.

Patrol craft Diligence (great name for an ASW boat) finds I-4 near Christmas Island and gets a depth charge hit. Later in the day, a Bolo claims a bomb hit on the sub.

Chittagong is swept by Oscars and bombed. Just basing recon and seaplanes there now.

I may need to do a pattern analysis on OPilot's bombing in China. I'm having poor luck guessing where he's bombing next. He rarely bombs the same location 2 days in a row. Maybe he has a pattern to his bombing orders.

The remnants of my Burma defense get kicked around again.

Ground combat at 60,48 (near Taung Gyi)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 17846 troops, 158 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 506

Defending force 8857 troops, 63 guns, 10 vehicles, Assault Value = 252

Japanese adjusted assault: 227

Allied adjusted defense: 64

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), morale(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
832 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 59 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2791 casualties reported
Squads: 54 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 86 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 8 (4 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
112th Infantry Regiment
144th Infantry Regiment
146th Infantry Regiment
I./143rd Infantry Battalion
55th Engineer Regiment
55th Cavalry Regiment
II./143rd Infantry Battalion
55th Mountain Gun Regiment

Defending units:
BFF Brigade
1st Burma Division

It is concerning to see an enemy infantry division moving north in Burma toward Imphal. Imphal will be better defended by the time it gets there, but it may not be enough. I am hesitant to commit a British infantry division here. The 2 Brit divisions are in reserve: one covering a possible landing at Chittagong by standing off at a dot base to the east in Strat mode, and the second is on the east coast of India next to Viz-something-or-another.

[jwolf]

Imphal is a bit of a problem because it is off the rail line so you can't do a really quick reinforcement. Granted it will take the Japanese a long time to go through the jungle.