Spanking Lowpe (NJP72 vs Lowpe (A))

[Lowpe]

I could swear the combat reports showed the 40th Div/B landing too![&:] EDIT: Duh, that is my 40th Div/B. Actually, I probably shouldn't have mentioned this, because I prevented somebody from making a cheeky comment and me looking like a bigger idiot.[:D]

[Lowpe]

hmmm...this is when you would counterattack at sea hitting all those ammo depleted task forces and merchant shipping returning to port on a very predictable path....but, India and the islands are on their own. Just hoping that Japan commits more here on the very edge of the map, almost as far, far away as you can get.

[Lowpe]

Not stellar decision making back in India...

[Lowpe]

Warning: Big map! Control plus mousewheel if you aren't blessed with a HD monitor![:D] First attempt, and my picture is too large...2nd attempt, still too large...3rd attempt worked, but I mangled a bit of the graphics on the eastern edge...hopefully you can make do.[8|] That yellow squigly thru the warships wasn't supposed to happen either...oops.

Tabby could be a real pain to take...and fighting here slows down the pace of the American offensive...Japan has basically given it away and hopefully it won't take long to take...certainly it is almost neutralized right now with the only threats being float fighters.

Japan has 11 units on the island, but never even built a point of port.[X(]



Hey, look, he never pulled his troops out of Howland, 1 unit, 1640 men spotted...have to go back and find out what they were...all AV I am sure.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

September 3rd, 1942

In scenario 1, Abemama is also an SPS (1) port.

[BBfanboy]

Your bombardment of Tabituea destroyed a decent number of devices. I expect that means there is lots of disruption in the 50% range in his units. Lookin' good! [:)]

[Lowpe]

Sept 5, 1942

Lots of Hurricane and P40 sweeps of a base that held 50 enemy fighters (Tojo), amazingly all but one ftr squadron went in first and then the 2E bombers followed up. I am guessing it was primarily distance, as the 3E bombers had 3-4 more hexes to go.

I have health fighter pools, and the P40K[:)] is producing now, so I should use up my E's -- right?

No flak on the combat replay...I was hoping the enemy fighters were LR CAP Lashio or somewhere.

First sweep always takes it on the chin:

Morning Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 43 NM, estimated altitude 30,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 41
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 28

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 2 destroyed

CAP engaged:
87th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 5 on standby, 18 scrambling)
(9 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 33000 , scrambling fighters between 27000 and 35000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 12 minutes
11th Sentai with Ki-43-IIa Oscar (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 21 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 14 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 33000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes

[Lowpe]

Japan is stubborn, I wouldn't attack with a division that had 50% disablements.

Ground combat at Lashio (62,46)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 33144 troops, 357 guns, 135 vehicles, Assault Value = 805

Defending force 13430 troops, 48 guns, 186 vehicles, Assault Value = 401

Japanese adjusted assault: 360

Allied adjusted defense: 760

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
1778 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 152 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 19 disabled
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
530 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 55 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (2 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
25th Division
18th Division
5th Amphibious Brigade
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
1st Burma/C Division
75th Indian Brigade
BFF Brigade
254th Armoured Brigade
45th Indian Bde /2
Burma Corps
102nd RAF Base Force
1st Burma Auxiliary AA Regiment
103rd RAF Base Force

[Lowpe]

I will call this day a success, I think:

[Lowpe]

Intel reports a sunk Iboat here, to a 500# bomb...still a hairy moment when Hornet was targeted by an Iboat.

Sub attack near Nikunau at 139,135

Japanese Ships
SS I-170, hits 1

Allied Ships
CV Hornet
BB Warspite
CA Astoria
CA Chester
CA Portland
CL Trenton
DD Case
DD Worden
DD Cassin

SS I-170 launches 4 torpedoes at CV Hornet



Baker Invasion one hex away:

Night Naval bombardment of Baker Island at 149,136

Allied Ships
CA Minneapolis
CA Louisville
CL De Ruyter
DD Selfridge
DD Porter
DD Morris
DD Duncan

Japanese ground losses:
163 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 8
Port hits 8
Port supply hits 1

CA Minneapolis firing at Baker Island
SOC-1 Seagull acting as spotter for CA Louisville
CA Louisville firing at 82nd Naval Guard Unit
CL De Ruyter firing at Baker Island
DD Selfridge firing at 61st Naval Guard Unit
DD Porter firing at Baker Island
DD Morris firing at 61st Naval Guard Unit
DD Duncan firing at 61st Naval Guard Unit

[Lowpe]

Sept 6th, 1942

Diego Garcia falls today...but we did knock down another IJA Div pretty badly. Our CD guns kept firing until the end.

CD guns should arrive at Socotra tomorrow.

[Lowpe]

Despite the badweather and long range, with no AA and no night time CAP, our bombers did really well here and it bodes great for future night bombing of the IJ.

I think Liuchow is down to 50% of their starting Light Industry, in fact all the LI around is at least somewhat damaged...

[Lowpe]

Took Abemama in the Gilberts, screwed up our Baker invasion...they will go in tomorrow (just clicked on the wrong hex).

Our large bombardment task force of Tabby didn't move, orders were good I guess they didn't like something, they did spend op points rearming though.

Started loading the Markus Invasion forces today.

Bombed the 4th Guards Division in Burma today...got to use my Airacobra. Will assign 5 squadrons tomorrow -- I only sent in one sqdrn today to assess the AA. No clue what the TOE of the 4th Guards is, but it isn't strong as the 2E bombers that hit them higher up faced no AA.

Morning Air attack on 24th Infantry Regiment, at 59,45 (Shwebo)

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
Hurricane I Trop x 3
P-39D Airacobra x 22

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
22 x P-39D Airacobra bombing from 100 feet
Ground Attack: 1 x 500 lb GP Bomb

Looks like another 6 units heading into Lashio...moved the transports to start flying in one of the large Chinese Corps from Chittagong. They are air mobile and expendable and good on defense.

[Lowpe]

We held off the IJA Tank Army of the Apocalypse again. Moving troops forward to cycle them in and out...we shall see what happens.

Ground combat at 80,50 (near Changteh)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 21395 troops, 525 guns, 1467 vehicles, Assault Value = 842

Defending force 38390 troops, 138 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 635

Japanese adjusted assault: 572

Allied adjusted defense: 985

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
606 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 10 (1 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Vehicles lost 21 (2 destroyed, 19 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
811 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 92 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Division
1st Tank Division
17th Tank Regiment
Guards Tank Division
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
13th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment
11th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
11th Army
4th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
7th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
8th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
13th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion

Defending units:
18th Chinese Corps
7th Chinese Corps
70th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps

[BBfanboy]

I think most IJ units in 1942 have 7.7mm MGs which can be overflown at 3K feet - but not by a fighter on low ground attack at 1000 feet. But fighters are small and fast - hard to hit. And Airacobras are pretty robust against small bullets. You should have minimal losses.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I think most IJ units in 1942 have 7.7mm MGs which can be overflown at 3K feet - but not by a fighter on low ground attack at 1000 feet. But fighters are small and fast - hard to hit. And Airacobras are pretty robust against small bullets. You should have minimal losses.

I agree![:)] I was worried they might have a bunch of 20mm rapidfires...I think the unit is a scenario 2 addition from Iron babes.

[Lowpe]

I was looking at the all the juicy upgrades I am currently forgoing, (which is pretty easy to do by sorting the overdue upgrade page in Tracker by min yard) the first one is upgrading AMC Westralia to LSI but a 130 day delay so not now, after Marcus.

But the one that caught my eye, was the CL Leander which turns into a pretty solid point blank AA platform:

[Lowpe]

I think what hurts here, is that the 40th B was a complete fragment, which cannot be brought back I think (also with just a few more units, we could have held much better, but then Japan might not have been tempted to fight at the extreme edge of the map):


Ground combat at Diego Garcia (11,62)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 9265 troops, 102 guns, 36 vehicles, Assault Value = 192

Defending force 6547 troops, 81 guns, 71 vehicles, Assault Value = 132

Japanese adjusted assault: 63

Allied adjusted defense: 14

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Diego Garcia !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
489 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
7446 casualties reported
Squads: 222 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 393 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 26 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 89 (89 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 88 (88 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 3

Assaulting units:
38th Division
7th Ind.Tank Bde /1

Defending units:
44th Indian Brigade
40th Infantry/B Division
Diego Garcia RN Base Force

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Japan is stubborn, I wouldn't attack with a division that had 50% disablements.

What's amazing to me is that they suffered only 7 combat squads destroyed! With so many disablements I would have hoped for more.

[Lowpe]

September 7, 1942

As a JFB, I don't have a lot of experience invading Atolls past the Japanese Amphibious bonus period. I think I have done it twice...and only after very long periods of bombardments.

I included one unit with only c50% prep to see the effect...must have been a good dice roll, or Marines are simply vastly superior to dogfaces....however the Marine commander was 9 points less aggressive if that did anything.