Rumble in the Southwest witpqs-A vs Andav-J 2011-11-29 to 2017-02-08

[witpqs]

1944 September 17

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:


There were Imperial amphibious or airborne operations at:


There were Allied amphibious or airborne operations at:


Imperial Naval Bombardments


Allied Naval Bombardments:



Our subs had no fun.

Quiet in China. Mengtze airfield expanded to size 1, which I hope will allow much greater airlift of supply into that base.

Surat Thani is being systematically reduced.

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Sabang at 45,71, Range 30,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Tone
DD Yudachi

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales
BB Howe
BC Renown
DD Quickmatch
DD Tjerk Hiddes
DD Paladin
DD Quilliam
DD Relentless
DD Roebuck
BB Richelieu

Reduced sighting due to 0% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 0% moonlight: 2,000 yards
Range closes to 28,000 yards...
Range closes to 26,000 yards...
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
Range closes to 22,000 yards...
Range closes to 20,000 yards...
Range closes to 18,000 yards...
Range closes to 16,000 yards...
Range closes to 14,000 yards...
Range closes to 12,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 11,000 yards
Range closes to 10,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese radar detects Allied task force at 10,000 yards
Range closes to 9,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 9,000 yards
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
Range closes to 7,000 yards...
Range closes to 6,000 yards...
Range closes to 5,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 5,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese radar detects Allied task force at 5,000 yards
Range closes to 4,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese radar detects Allied task force at 4,000 yards
Japanese TF attempts to evade combat
Range increases to 5,000 yards...
Range increases to 6,000 yards...
Range increases to 7,000 yards...
Range increases to 8,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 8,000 yards
Range increases to 9,000 yards...
Range increases to 10,000 yards...
Range increases to 11,000 yards...
Range increases to 12,000 yards...
Range increases to 13,000 yards...
Range increases to 14,000 yards...
Range increases to 15,000 yards...
Range increases to 16,000 yards...
Range increases to 17,000 yards...
Range increases to 18,000 yards...
Range increases to 19,000 yards...
Range increases to 20,000 yards...
Range increases to 21,000 yards...
Range increases to 22,000 yards...
Range increases to 23,000 yards...
Range increases to 24,000 yards...
Range increases to 25,000 yards...
Range increases to 26,000 yards...
Range increases to 27,000 yards...
Range increases to 28,000 yards...
Range increases to 29,000 yards...
Range increases to 30,000 yards...
Range increases to 30,000 yards...
Japanese Surface Combat TF evades combat


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Ground combat at Surat Thani (51,68)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 14780 troops, 300 guns, 323 vehicles, Assault Value = 984

Defending force 13872 troops, 126 guns, 63 vehicles, Assault Value = 245

Allied adjusted assault: 165

Japanese adjusted defense: 367

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

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
290 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
91 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
26th Indian Division
20th Indian Division
5th Indian Division
3rd (Special Force) Division

Defending units:
11th/A Division
112th Infantry Regiment
11th/C Division
32nd Field AA Battalion
29th Army
2nd INA Gandhi Regiment


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The 5th attack alone today and will rest tomorrow, while the 20th and 25th attack. Enemy has been seen pulling out since yesterday, apparently trying to tie up the rail line because the road would be their axis of retreat in combat. Perhaps we can push them out before they succeed? Armour is still several days away. The 81st West African Div is building fortifications at Sabang and waiting for support troops to occupy the base before moving out. Further supply delivery by an LST convoy was interrupted by the departure of Tone. Grrr! Near Chiang Mai our assault forces will all have made contact with the two remaining pockets by tomorrow and will commence reduction the day after.

North of Saigon the situation continues to stabilize further.

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Ground combat at 62,66 (near Pakse)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3033 troops, 46 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 187

Defending force 2019 troops, 5 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 23

Assaulting units:
11th Airborne/A Division
11th Airborne/C Division

Defending units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade
33rd Division


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One Rgt will move to the NW tomorrow, putting two Rgts in the path of the remaining bugger loose in the jungle. In a few days the additional armored unit (on loan from the Takao invasion) will join with others on the road south of Siem Reap and destroy that pocket. All three will then move around (on the road) to the other pockets and help destroy them.

Imperials are now seen moving NW from their position E of Hanoi, obviously meaning to thwart our river crossing. The B-24 groups and 2EB groups will join striking them tomorrow to slow their progress. Our 5x infantry divisions all made either 23 or 24 miles in move mode on the day, barely adequate to make the remaining mileage in combat mode the next two days. The crossing in two days might wind up being a mixture of combat mode and move mode. The armor all begins moving tomorrow in combat mode, in theory a two-day roll.

There is only one armored or infantry unit, an infantry Bde, at Hanoi that is not crossing. While supported by a mass of artillery and various rear area units, I don't want to chance a counter attack across the river into Hanoi. The armour and infantry recovering at Vinh is being brought up by rail to R&R at Hanoi, which will be better on account of the HQ units there. The last of the 4x divisions for the crossing E of Haiphong has arrived there and needs two days to transition out of strategic movement mode.

Ternate holdouts.

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Ground combat at Ternate (78,102)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4423 troops, 178 guns, 101 vehicles, Assault Value = 101

Defending force 3417 troops, 9 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 51

Allied adjusted assault: 74

Japanese adjusted defense: 4

Allied assault odds: 18 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
18 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
31st Infantry Regiment
131st Field Artillery Battalion
205th Field Artillery Battalion
148th Field Artillery Battalion
147th Field Artillery Battalion
260th Field Artillery Battalion
134th Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
12th Garrison Unit


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The 31st will rest tomorrow to recover some disruption (15%) but the artillery will keep up the pressure. Movement from Iloilo to the NE (Roxas) is now seen on Panay, and San Jose (W of Iloilo) has fewer troops than previously. Preparations will be made for a landing at San Jose so the bases on Panay can be built.

The great shuffle is mostly complete. Now the task is to figure the assault shipping needed versus what is available, much of which is still en route to Guam. This time is also being used to repair minor damage to ships and upgrade carrier fighters to the best available.

Indochina.

[witpqs]

Malay Peninsula & Sumatra.

[witpqs]

Borneo - with an oddity. The Imperial unit that was just SE of Brunei was moving E for many turns. We placed a unit in front of it to hold it there. This turn, what seems like the same units has appeared to the SE (not E) of its former position. I assume what happened is that the destination is set as Sandakan, and when enough miles were accumulated to make the next hex, the routing algorithm chose the SE because E would no longer get the unit there (or was no longer the shortest route).

[witpqs]

Here is the road structure around that river crossing site NE of Hanoi. With air support and the head start our troops have we should be able to make the crossing before the Empire can reinforce the defenders.

[witpqs]

The current locations of all units assigned to the two targets on Okinawa.

Nago
670th Tank Destroyer Battalion <--- Almagan
10th USMC Field Artillery Battalion <--- Anatahan
11th USMC Field Artillery Battalion <--- Anatahan
4th USMC Field Artillery Battalion <--- Anatahan
8th AmphTrac Engineer Battalion <--- Pagan
111th(Sep) Infantry Regiment <--- Tinian
77th Infantry Division <--- Pagan
5th Marine Division <--- Anatahan

Naha
1st USMC AA Battalion <--- Rota
193rd Tank Tank Battalion <--- Pagan
194th Tank Tank Battalion <--- Pagan
710th Tank Tank Battalion <--- Anatahan
716th Tank Tank Battalion <--- Anatahan
766th Tank Tank Battalion <--- Almagan
767th Tank Tank Battalion <--- Almagan
1st USMC Tank Tank Battalion <--- Pagan
2nd USMC Tank Tank Battalion <--- Guam
3rd Arm Amphib Tank Battalion <--- Guam
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion <--- Tinian
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion <--- Tinian
XIV Corps Engr Grp <--- Anatahan
3rd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion <--- Almagan
Sixth US Army <--- Rota
XIV US Corps <--- Almagan
III US Amphib Force <--- Guam
Pacific Ocean Areas <--- Iwo Jima
25th Infantry Division <--- Tinian
40th Infantry Division <--- Guam
41st Infantry Division <--- Almagan
43rd Infantry Division <--- Rota
6th Infantry Division <--- Rota
2nd Marine Division <--- Agrihan

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

I was worried about the IJA troop losses you have inflicted so far, especially the huge pocket. Do you have a breakdown of what units you destroyed there?

Still, the last scoresheet post has only 11K IJA land losses which isn't all that super high. At least I don't think so....but I worry that another pocket, isolating all those northern Chinese units will be the final nail in the coffin.

I don't have a tally of that, I would have to go through combat reports and compile it. Walter did say that some very experienced units got trapped in Burma. That makes sense by how little damage many of the units have taken against overwhelming odds and with no supply. There are (still!) a little over 30,000 troops among the two units in the north, and another >7,000 in Indochina. I really can't trap any of the units near Lang Son unless he chooses to let them fight it out there. With the plan of encirclement I will present that choice - pull back or be destroyed in place.

The Allies will take land casualties for sure, of course, but the operations in Indochina/China and Malaya/DEI should be very heavy on Imperial losses and light on Allied losses. Okinawa and then the Home Islands will be a different story. I am bringing a big hammer to Okinawa in hopes of minimizing losses.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Borneo - with an oddity. The Imperial unit that was just SE of Brunei was moving E for many turns. We placed a unit in front of it to hold it there. This turn, what seems like the same units has appeared to the SE (not E) of its former position. I assume what happened is that the destination is set as Sandakan, and when enough miles were accumulated to make the next hex, the routing algorithm chose the SE because E would no longer get the unit there (or was no longer the shortest route).

In my game I am blocking quite a few beat-up Japanese units with no AV left. When they march into a hex that I have troops in they retreat the 46 miles out of the hex without any combat taking place. Sometimes they exit on the opposite side of the hex I have troop in if that is toward their biggest base. [8|]
There is a screen message at the end of the Land Combat phase saying they are retreating but nothing shows in the Combat or Ops reports.

[zuluhour]

I would have thought they would draw swords.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

I would have thought they would draw swords.

How? They have no paper or pencils left. [&:]

[Lowpe]

So, 40K troops left to destroy that will add a few points.

Good luck at Lang Son, but you don't really need it since you have manufactured it for yourself. Still, I have seen crazy results from river crossing...so you never really know.

[witpqs]

I have the replay but a comm SNAFU gave me the wrong turn file, so waiting to see fully.

The Imperial troops E of Hanoi were covered by CAP stronger than I figured, and our escorts of P-47D25 for the 2EB were weaker than I figured. It looks like several dozen of the 2EB went down (combat report tallies 19 2EB there to all causes, figure that doubles to > 3 dozen). That included pretty heavy flak on those low flyers.

The bigger surprise: a recon bombardment on the 29th Division near Chiang Mai shows that it still has 302 un-adjusted AV! Those guys are monsters!

Turn file arrived...

[witpqs]

1944 September 18

The Empire captured:


The Allies captured:


There were Imperial amphibious or airborne operations at:


There were Allied amphibious or airborne operations at:


Imperial Naval Bombardments


Allied Naval Bombardments:



Our subs have (along with air search) spotted what might be a surface group centered on a CL just west of Hong Kong. A 2x CL TF is leaving Cam Ranh Bay to patrol from 1 hex E of Quinhon to 1 hex E of Hue.

Quiet in China.

Surat Thani is doing the slow crumble.

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Ground combat at Surat Thani (51,68)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24467 troops, 413 guns, 281 vehicles, Assault Value = 989

Defending force 13484 troops, 126 guns, 63 vehicles, Assault Value = 218

Allied adjusted assault: 362

Japanese adjusted defense: 541

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
750 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 38 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 22 (5 destroyed, 17 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
111 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Assaulting units:
26th Indian Division
20th Indian Division
5th Indian Division
3rd (Special Force) Division

Defending units:
11th/A Division
2nd INA Gandhi Regiment
11th/C Division
32nd Field AA Battalion
29th Army
112th Infantry Regiment


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Ground combat at 60,51 (near Chiang Mai)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 10457 troops, 238 guns, 141 vehicles, Assault Value = 494

Defending force 11308 troops, 54 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 302

Assaulting units:
23rd Indian Division
17th Indian Division

Defending units:
29th Division


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Switching off again at Surat Thani, the 26th and 30th will rest while the 5th attacks tomorrow. The first armour could arrive in two days. The IJA 29th Division is unbelievably strong for so much time in the jungle, harried, out of supply, and retreated so many times! We did not recon by bombardment the 53rd Division to the south, but we should have. All forces are in position to attack both so two battles up there tomorrow.

The LSI(L) convoy is at Victoria Point and ordered to load the base forces that have been preparing for Sabang. The additional support units (embarked at Calcutta) are in the Andaman Sea, two days out from Sabang and will probably arrive first. Minesweepers are one day out to clear the known mines and find any others.

Time moves slowly in the jungles near Saigon.

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Ground combat at 62,66 (near Pakse)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3033 troops, 46 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 93

Defending force 1981 troops, 5 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 23

Assaulting units:
11th Airborne/C Division

Defending units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Brigade
33rd Division


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But time is also a problem near Hanoi. Our river crossing force is moving too slowly. The infantry divisions have made 34, 36, 34, 34, and 35 miles. At that rate only one unit is likely to make the crossing tomorrow, one might, and three likely not. The armor is doing no better: 22, 23, 23, 23, 23, 22, 22, 23, 22, 24 miles. I'm mulling over what to do and I might change my mind while writing this post. Current thinking is (calling units by their miles made) 36 and 35 infantry stay in combat mode, the other three go to move mode. All 23 and 24 armor stays in combat mode, the rest go into move mode. Current opposition is seen as 3 units (unchanged) 9,680 troops and 65 guns.

One more day for the final infantry division at Haiphong to transition out of strategic movement mode, then all four head E. The troop count there is 3 units (unchanged) 12,680 troops, 39 guns, and 7 AFV.

Ternate thunder.

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Ground combat at Ternate (78,102)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1020 troops, 126 guns, 85 vehicles, Assault Value = 98

Defending force 3382 troops, 9 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 48

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

Assaulting units:
31st Infantry Regiment
131st Field Artillery Battalion
260th Field Artillery Battalion
205th Field Artillery Battalion
147th Field Artillery Battalion
148th Field Artillery Battalion
134th Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
12th Garrison Unit


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Next attack at Ternate tomorrow, and our troops have caught the ex-defenders of Singkawang, Those will be attacked tomorrow as well. Fighters from Taytay will sweep Manila tomorrow. There are 75 fighters at Manila and 132 at Clark. We'll be sending 25x P-47D25, 25x P-38H, and 25x P-38J.

It will be at least a week to a week and a half before the remaining available APA are at Guam. More LST and smaller landing ships are also on the way. Only the faster LCI and anything that both has the range and can keep up with the LST will be used. The distance is simply too great for troops to be combat ready otherwise. Hellcat F6F-5 and Corsair F4U-1D production keeps chugging along, so our fighter quality will just keep improving. All the B-29 groups, minus about 19 airframes undergoing repairs at Moulmein, are back in the Marianas. We will have to move a number of other groups off of Guam so that some B-29 groups can operate there, allowing us to fly all at the same time.

Indochina.

[witpqs]

Malay Peninsula & Sumatra.

[witpqs]

The infantry crossing NE of Hanoi.

[witpqs]

The armor crossing NE of Hanoi.

[witpqs]

Today's air losses. About as expected from the replay but less than feared. IIRC I only had to stand down three groups. I've reshuffled some fighter assignments and moved some medium bombers from Burma to Thailand to help out.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

So, 40K troops left to destroy that will add a few points.

Good luck at Lang Son, but you don't really need it since you have manufactured it for yourself. Still, I have seen crazy results from river crossing...so you never really know.

Good instincts. This turn weather was better so recon was better. Somewhat north of 40,000. Maybe above 42,000 but that's about the upper limit. Nearly 31,000 of that is divided between the two units in the north, more than 9,000 in the south. I am hoping that (adjustments aside) AV will plummet pretty quickly once the assaults begin.

[BBfanboy]

Aren't LSTs very slow - like 11 kts? Seems to conflict with your desire to move units from Guam quickly.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Aren't LSTs very slow - like 11 kts? Seems to conflict with your desire to move units from Guam quickly.

Yes. If I have enough lift to do it without them I will. The thing is that they unload completely in one phase, so all on D-Day for sure. Not sure if I have enough AKA to get all the tanks and artillery ashore that quickly, and those units take up a lot of equipment (cargo) space. At least they have great range and do not need to refuel en route like many of the smaller beaching vessels must.

And if I can do it without LST (or with only some) then I can load a bunch of LST with supply for use as fortitications on the beaches! [:D]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

The armor crossing NE of Hanoi.

That is pretty fearsome...what kind of tanks are they driving?