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One thing to think about with the Japanese is sub transport. I'm not sure what is moveable by it, but with all his other options rapidly disappearing he might use them to evacuate troops from the lower Solomons. Once you start pushing him back a bit more and get a bit more safety from air attacks, you might want to redeploy some good sub hunters (the DE/PF ?) to patrol those bases. It's not guaranteed, but it might allow you to make a small dent in his sub forces.

another thing, is that the classic 'island-hopping' strategery must be revised a bit. sure it's a good thing to press on in your line of advance, but one must still pay attention to the enemy bases that you've bypassed - you've got to run suppression ops against bypassed enemy bases, so they don't suddenly host sneak-attacks against you.

your new-arriving airboys & DD TFs can gain useful training/experience by targeting them.

Ah, my Reek, riddle me this. Isn't it more fun to kick the bully in the arse than to be kicked in the same by the bully?

I assume you are reconning some of these bases before deciding to strike. Just one possible change to your Solomons hit parade. Could you forego Munda (I suspect this is strongly held) and go for Buka or Green Island? Always nice to by pass those pesky Moat Catlin places, you know. The troops and their love ones appreciate it and all.

Nice word of advice from your friend, jmalter. I would pay heed to that, Reek.

Have a nice day flaying those LYBs and feeding them to the fish and crabs.

ORIGINAL: princep01

Ah, my Reek, riddle me this. Isn't it more fun to kick the bully in the arse than to be kicked in the same by the bully?

I assume you are reconning some of these bases before deciding to strike. Just one possible change to your Solomons hit parade. Could you forego Munda (I suspect this is strongly held) and go for Buka or Green Island? Always nice to by pass those pesky Moat Catlin places, you know. The troops and their love ones appreciate it and all.

Nice word of advice from your friend, jmalter. I would pay heed to that, Reek.

Have a nice day flaying those LYBs and feeding them to the fish and crabs.

My Lord,

Munda has only 17,000 men and i have 3 divisions and 3 tank units, along with a Corp HQ, a Amphib Corp HQ and a Command HQ 100% prepped...enough i'd say...also because i'm pretty sure that, at the moment i'm writing, the only base really fortified in terms of LCU strenght is Shortland (50,000 troops)...mainly becuase all the troops he has being evacuating in the last weeks are first directed there...but he's also evacuating from Shortland too...he's leaving behind only fragments of units...naval guard units and nothing more... at Shortland i think the only fighting unit is a mere Regiment.....and there are no CD guns there... once we have the controll of the skies over there we can safely land.

The troops that has just conquered Rekata are now prepping for Green Island and Torokina...i've seen that moving with 100% preparation is the key to keep on moving cause my guys really suffer few casualities during the landings.

So i think i'll grab Munda. The problem won't be the LCUs but the air and naval situation.

Here's how i divided my forces:

1- Munda: I° Corp Amph HQ (2nd Marines, 1st Cav, 25th and 7th Division + 2 tank BNs + various eng, arty etc...)
2- Choiseul: I° US Corp HQ ( 24th and 32th Division + 3 Tank BNs)
3- Torokina: XIV° US Corp (4th Marines, 22nd Marines RGT, Americal and 6th Divisions, 1 US Regiment + 3 tank units)
4- Buka: V° Amph Corp HQ ( 1st and 3rd Marines, 3 indipendent regiments, 22nd African Bde + 2 tank units)

And i still have a full corp (3 divisions) that i have to decide which target to prep...

There is a major advantage of leaping past the Shortlands then back filling: if you control both Torokina and Buka, I don't think the Japanese will retreat from the Shortlands if you take that base. If you take the Shortlands while leaving a retreat hex open, you will be forced to either leave a defensive force behind or trudge into the jungle to eliminate them

Agree Vettim...
 
However...i'm growing too optimistic recently...i have to keep my mind focused on the fact that the KB is intact and is there...operating in addition to a possible 1200/1400 LBAs that Rader has in the area (even if now he's fully defending NG)...so the more we advance towards Rabaul the more the threat of a KB+LBA vs allied CVs become a reality...

Which is why you need to be positioned to bring your own LBA into action when the time comes - of course, since he does seem to just be throwing troops in front of you & then mass-evac'ing when push comes to shove. This creates a lot of disarray (meaning he may have lots of troops available, but not a lot of them would be very effective).

I suggest that he's trying to scare you with "numbers," and not really applying a truly effective defense against your more organized push. He's already suffered severe losses to his AF (as witnessed by his less than stellar pilots). If you can keep up the momentum, you will break him.

My Reek, have you been afflicted with writer's block or some malady called WORK? Few postings today. Why CR's crew of merry posters may catch up at any moment.

You are close to 44. 1/44 you should have enough Marine 44 sqads and army 44 Sqads to start to upgrade your divisions. That types give you another huge combat boost. And as soon as they are available start to add some army HQs too to your Unit composition. You need an Corps HQ 100% prepped and an army HQ 100% prepped for full combat effect. And the Amphib HQs should be in an AGC inside the fleet (not shure if it needs prepping, i do it anyways).

I got almost double the unadjusted AV in an deliberate attack in 6/44 with corps HQ and Army HQ (actual the Area HQ which replaced it) with 100% prep. 44 Squad types in the divisions and Shermans in your armored forces really start to kick japanese units.

It's been a bloody turn...and i'm not satisfied about how my air crews performed today....we started to play more offensively and we got our butts kicked [:(]

We sent 50 P-47s, 50 P-38s and 36 between Corsairs and Hellcats over Lae from PM. The idea was to break his CAP there so that the 4Es could follow up from Cooktown and smash the base, opening up the path for 52 Beauforts from PM that should have attacked his transports at Lae unloading the 1st Guards Div escorted by a CA TF...

Our Sweeps got butchered...the 49th Squadron...a veteran unit with lots of aces...has been simply destroyed...coordination was terrible (with every single squadron going in separated) and even our smartest aces got smashed down...

Result? 100 planes lost, not a single ship attacked (our beauforts didn't take off...only 12 did and got annihilated)...and, above all, 70 pilots KIA or MIA...at least 20 of them were aces with more than 5 kills...lost 5 pilots with more than 17 kills...[:o][:o][:o][:o]

Our 4Es did attack but didn't close the AF as i wished and his CAP, the next day, was strong as it was before...

He has massed 20,000 men at Salamua and more 20,000 are moving from Lae to Salamua. Seems that he will stand a fight in Buna...

KB remains near Rabaul while our, while his evacuation keeps on going...i intercepted some more mavis today but cannot LRCAP every single base he has south of Shortland...

Moreover he attacked Milne Bay today with many mission of Frances heavily escorted from Rabaul...i had a RAAF squadron of 16 Kitty IV...they did terribly against 30 zeros...lost 8 of them along with 7 pilots[X(]...a DD was torpedoed and will prob sink next turn... I think we're slowly reaching a new statlemate...Rader has been able to relocate his forces very quickly due to his controll over his skies and waters...i'm not able to seriously interdict his interior lines of communications and the presence of the Kb and of so many LBA fighters simply nullify the ability of my LBA bombers to stop his movements... so now he has let me the controll of souther Solomons and gained that time in order to fortify NG...the slap i took today over Lae is a clear evidence that his air force is far from being defeated and it's still a dangerous defensive weapon...

Japs paras took back Treasury and Ontong Java....


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 23, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Lae , at 99,126 ...Gosh...look at the numbers...
Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 37,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 24
A6M3a Zero x 60
A6M5 Zero x 8
N1K1 Rex x 23
N1K1-J George x 11
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 14
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 59
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 20
Ki-100-I Tony x 38



Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 18


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
N1K1 Rex: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 4 destroyed




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Lae , at 99,126

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 42 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 18
A6M3a Zero x 55
A6M5 Zero x 10
N1K1 Rex x 20
N1K1-J George x 10
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 8
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 55
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 18
Ki-100-I Tony x 36



Allied aircraft
F4U-1A Corsair x 18


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1A Corsair: 2 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Lae , at 99,126

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 23 NM, estimated altitude 40,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 11
A6M3a Zero x 40
A6M5 Zero x 6
N1K1 Rex x 19
N1K1-J George x 4
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 4
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 40
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 14
Ki-100-I Tony x 33



Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 22


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 3 destroyed



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Lae , at 99,126

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 20 NM, estimated altitude 39,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 8
A6M3a Zero x 33
A6M5 Zero x 6
N1K1 Rex x 15
N1K1-J George x 3
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 3
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 30
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 13
Ki-100-I Tony x 31



Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 23


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 4 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Lae , at 99,126

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 23 NM, estimated altitude 36,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 8
A6M3a Zero x 28
A6M5 Zero x 5
N1K1 Rex x 15
N1K1-J George x 1
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 3
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 21
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 11
Ki-100-I Tony x 23



Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 25


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38H Lightning: 3 destroyed


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Lae , at 99,126

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 34,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 8
A6M3a Zero x 27
A6M5 Zero x 4
N1K1 Rex x 13
N1K1-J George x 1
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 15
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 9
Ki-100-I Tony x 18



Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 25


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38H Lightning: 1 destroyed


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Lae , at 99,126

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 6
A6M3a Zero x 17
A6M5 Zero x 3
N1K1 Rex x 9
N1K1-J George x 1
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 14
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 9
Ki-100-I Tony x 13



Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 112
B-24J Liberator x 49
P-40N5 Warhawk x 14


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 9 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 7 destroyed on ground
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged
P-40N5 Warhawk: 5 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
52 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled



Airbase hits 38
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 86

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Milne Bay at 101,133

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 71 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 15
A6M5 Zero x 3
N1K1-J George x 12
P1Y1 Frances x 9



Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk IV x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
P1Y1 Frances: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk IV: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
DD Harrison, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Ringgold

.

ORIGINAL: paullus99

Which is why you need to be positioned to bring your own LBA into action when the time comes - of course, since he does seem to just be throwing troops in front of you & then mass-evac'ing when push comes to shove. This creates a lot of disarray (meaning he may have lots of troops available, but not a lot of them would be very effective).

I suggest that he's trying to scare you with "numbers," and not really applying a truly effective defense against your more organized push. He's already suffered severe losses to his AF (as witnessed by his less than stellar pilots). If you can keep up the momentum, you will break him.

My LBA is waiting to have PM at level 9 AF ( now 8 and 20%)...but don't think that 200 4Es can break alone the CAP Rader is able to put togheder...he's a master of using multiple mutual-supportive bases and what happened at Lae today is what is waiting for me in the nearby future...yes, i can win battles...and i can probably gain temporary local superiority...but i cannot sustain these kind of losses for more than a week...while he can take these losses forever...

Anyway...we'll keep on pushing.

In about a week we'll be ready for the Munda operaion...i'll probably move my 4Es back to Lunga in order to support it...need to close Bouganville AFs first.... and also consider that our HRs prevent the use of the 4Es on Naval attack...so his LBAs will surely be stronger than mine..at least for what concerns air vs naval...

Seems to me like in terms of fighter combat, the results were something like 1-1. Which isn't bad, considering that you were the one sweeping and that your guys were often horribly outnumbered. Even if his pilots are worse, he had massive numbers. Of course, he can afford 1-1 losses better. So maybe you should try to keep doing what you have been, and advance with ships and men where he has to attack into your CAP instead. He can sweep better due to the fact that he's got more of the same plane types, less nationalities to work with etc. So force him to come to you. It might not matter so much if you can close his airfields so long as you can butcher his attacks when they come.

Stark is right (as hard as it is for Bolton to say that), Reek. Stop moping around and wringing your digitally challenged hands. You did okay over Lae. Just go at him harder next time. He had a large concentration of AC in his favor. Smack him in the face!

Are you Flying Recon over his bases prior to sending in your Air Attacks? Since you get the "last move", so to speak, as the Allies, you should be able to decide on the most favourable targets before you send your attacks in.

It looks like this line off approach has had a block put in the way, time to look at going around it again.

ORIGINAL: beppi

You are close to 44. 1/44 you should have enough Marine 44 sqads and army 44 Sqads to start to upgrade your divisions. That types give you another huge combat boost. And as soon as they are available start to add some army HQs too to your Unit composition. You need an Corps HQ 100% prepped and an army HQ 100% prepped for full combat effect. And the Amphib HQs should be in an AGC inside the fleet (not shure if it needs prepping, i do it anyways).

I got almost double the unadjusted AV in an deliberate attack in 6/44 with corps HQ and Army HQ (actual the Area HQ which replaced it) with 100% prep. 44 Squad types in the divisions and Shermans in your armored forces really start to kick japanese units.

The 43 to 44 upgrades for the Americans is nice but not a deal breaker. (Well 44 marines are monster). The big help is getting the Indian army up to 44 TOE. All of a sudden these guys get really tough. The armor upgrades help a lot too. I like the looks of the 45 USA army divisions. They all add 24 Pershing tanks to their TOE....

Sorry guys...really a bad day of work and little time for playing or updating the AAR...

We did another turn...i made a couple of mistakes that costed me 3 DDs near Torokina (sweeping mission) and 1 AK at Milne...along with 10 Avengers and 5 SDBs (these guys took off from Milne Bay - i sent them there trying to protect the base - ...they didn't go against the enemy CAs that sunk the AK, while they attacked a bait TF (xCM) and got bucthered by the LRCAP Rader ordered there...

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be back on track...

In about 2 weeks we'll start the Munda operation...

Just don't go on any vacations, GJ.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Just don't go on any vacations, GJ.

It's saturday and i've been stuck in office since 8:30 a.m. ....now it's 20:14 local time...and i'm still here... no vacation for me...chinese food delivery and the nightmare of an saturday night spent in office...with stinky empty cups of coffea and Tylenol pills...[:o]

No more vacations for me...[:-]