The War Effort

[Steven Utley]

5-24-42: Damn Halsey's nerve!

Off the coast of Bougainville, making for New Caledonia with his two needlessly damaged carriers, Halsey got word of a group of eight troop transports somewhere in the vicinity of Woleai Island, and off he went. Didn't even sink all of them when he found them, and now he's creeping along the Papuan coast, within easy range of Rabaul and Kavieng.

I'm going to beach the bastard. After I keel-haul him.

[ December 24, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Steven Utley]

I concede the latest game to the Japanese AI, as, on due reflection, I think Halsey's recklessness spells doom for the USN as surely as Nagumo's hesitancy at Pearl Harbor and Midway hastened the IJN's. By the 5-10-42 turn, Allied flyers and submariners had begun to inflict the sort of shipping and aircraft losses which the Japanese would have found insupportable in time -- but at present the IJN has more than enough undamaged warships to roll over anything the Allies can put in their way.

Well, if nothing else, I have learned that I must always reset reaction ranges when issuing orders to aggressive naval commanders.

[ December 24, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[iancollins]

I concede the latest game to the Japanese AI, as, on due reflection, I think Halsey's recklessness spells doom for the USN as surely as Nagumo's hesitancy at Pearl Harbor and Midway hastened the IJN's.

---

Steven........ I can't believe you did this.! For the past two days I've waited for news. All through the Christmas turkey I've wondered: did Halsey make it back to base?...did his damaged CVs survive to be repaired and to fight another day? And now, when the family is finally comatose and I can sneak a look, what do I find? The Allies have surrendered.........? It can't be!

[Steven Utley]

"Once more into the breach ...."

Or is it "unto"? Well, I don't have my Shakespeare at hand and, so, can't look it up in Henry V, but you get the idea. The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor yet again! This, as Bugs Bunny was wont to say, means war!

Actually, I experimented for a bit, fast-forwarded through the historical 12-7-41 first turn a few times before settling into a new game. I'd read, somewhere on these message boards, complaints to the effect that the air raid on Pearl Harbor "always" inflicted more damage at Battleship Row than had been the case; in my own experience, the U.S. lost two or three battleships and spent months repairing the others. In the first experimental run-through, the Japanese sank six U.S. battleships. (As though to compensate for the loss, Force Z out of Singapore suffered barely more than scratched paint.) The second run-through, the Japanese damaged all eight U.S. battleships but sank none of them -- it was the oilers and troop transports that caught hell. In the game I'm now playing (I promised myself to play it through before starting Turn 1), two battleships were destroyed: back to average.

December 1941 saw the Japanese make all their expected moves in the Southern Resources Area. They did not have things entirely their own way, however. American and Filipino troops repulsed the first assault on Clark Field and have stopped a second dead in its tracks. In the Central Pacific, the Japanese took a diversionary swipe at Wake Island, then tried to grab Palmyra, athwart the supply line to Australia. This caught the U.S. flat-footed -- Halsey's three aircraft carriers had been sent to Wake Island to cover a relief expedition -- but, though leaderless and without air support, the Marine defense battalion on Palmyra butchered an over-optimistic Special Naval Landing Force. Halsey missed the four Japanese carriers providing distant cover for the assault but pounced succulently upon the fleet train. Undeterred, the Japanese tried again the following week, with exactly the same results. And, just to put the icing on the cake, Marine dive-bombers from Wake mauled a transport group.

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Steven Utley]

Gosh, Ian, I'm sorry; I didn't know. <img src="redface.gif" border="0"> If I were a more skilled player, or a more masochistic one, I probably would have tried to get those crippled carriers to safety, and to mount, somehow, a defense without them. With no means of projecting airpower beyond the range of land-based bombers, the U.S. might have quickly lost Wake Island, Midway, New Guinea, the Solomons, and more. In light of comments made by more experienced Pacific War players, I imagine that if I had been playing against one of them and not the (generally unimaginative) Japanese AI, the sons of Heaven would march into Seattle along about Independence Day, 1942.

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Doug Olenick]

If you wish to be an aggressive Allied leader and wipe out the Japanese Empire early the trick is, as stated by several other posters, to hold either the Philipies or Java/Sumatra.

When I go this route I move the transport group heading to Singapore that contains the 18th British Infantry to either the PI or Batavia. I then start using these few APs (guard them like gold) to shuttle in some more units from Ceylon. It is much easier to defend the Dutch East Indies, but in the long run by holding out in the PI you will kill more IJN units.

At the same time I move every SBD to the areas to be defended. I strip them out of Hawaii and every new squadron that comes into being on the West Coast I ship to Australia then hop them up to the front. Nothing kills ships better than a Dauntless and its thousand pounder. I also move the Flying Tigers down from China to Clark and change the fighters to P-40s ASAP to add their 500 pounders to the bag.

If you can hold Clark and Manila and stock them half with fighters and half with bombers you will wreck the IJN supply convoys as they come into Lagaspi. These units will get slaughtered by Zeros, but who cares as long as the supply lines stay open.

The same holds true around Batavia. I have found that the US/PI forces fight much better than the ABDA forces, so while it is more difficult to fight from the PI it is worth the effort.

By holding up the IJN you throw the game into a great deal of confusion and it will do its best to take these back area bases. Even when it would be smarter to just give up. I have seen the Japanese send everything into Lagaspi to get eaten up by the Allied air units. Pretty cool.

I do not recommend using this strategy against a human opponent as it leaves your rear area bases devoid of air and ground cover.

[Blackhorse]

I'll confess that I was also slightly disappointed when Steve's game terminated as a result of Halsey's . . . er, enthusiasm. While it's likely true that under these circumstances a veteran Pacwar player would push you back to the west (east?) coast, against the A.I. this kind of disaster only sets the stage for a much more compelling comeback. "Phoenix rising from the ashes" is a far more readable plot than, "we threw them into the sea at Lagaspi and Kuantan," don't you think?

Regardless, one of my New Year's wishes is for Steve to continue to post game updates. They are entertaining and informative -- a rare enough combination. I'd enjoy reading other game reports as well. I've got a friend lined up for a PBEM game after the v2.3 patch comes out, so I'll follow in Steve's footsteps and promise to post an in-game account as well.

[Major Tom]

The USN can come back from losing all of its carriers, battleships, heavy and light cruisers, as well as all destroyers. Why? Your Carriers, Heavy/Light Cruisers and Destroyers (when sunk) come back in 30-50 turns as NEW vessels (Essex, Baltimore, Cleveland, Fletcher).

LBA can hold off the IJN until mid 1943 when your fleet is back to strength. LBA is pretty powerful, in fact, they can be seen as unsinkable carriers (a level 6 air base can hold enough aircraft to equal the number of planes in 3 carriers).

Carriers are important, but I think that they are overrated. They are great for making headlong advances into enemy territory, but without carriers, but with strong LBA you can not only defend, but advance as far as your CAP. You move slower, but different routes. The Central Pacific is pretty much out of the question, but New Guinea, South Pacific and the East Indies are great areas of advance without carriers (since there are a lot of land territories).

Even against a human player, the USN losing all of its carriers this early would not spell the end of the game. Sure, it would be tougher, but would be much more fun (instead of fighting and winning all of the time, it is more realistic winning without doing everything perfect).

[Steven Utley]

The next time Halsey's enthusiasm runs away with him, I just may seize the bull by the tail and look him straight in the eye ....

For now, which is to say the end of February 1942, I shall have all I can do to keep Admiral Yamamoto from steaming around Oahu. Intelligence reveals that he is headquartered at Kwajalein and has designs on Johnston Island, Palmyra, Midway, Wake Island, or all of the above. He's definitely up to something: all of the big Japanese aircraft carriers and at least some of the small ones have been stationed at or near Kwajalein for weeks, as have Yamato and other battleships.

Following two unsuccessful assaults on Palmyra in December, the Japanese landed on Christmas Island the following month. They're no trouble at all; in fact, they occasion useful target practice for land-based bombers and the battleship Colorado out of Palmyra. Meanwhile, the four islands on Yamamoto's itinerary have been reinforced with troops and aircraft, Halsey is at Johnston Island with the U.S. carriers, and submariners are busily culling the merchant ships in the Marshalls and Gilberts.

In the South Pacific, the Australian garrison at Gasmata was evacuated under fire and delivered to Milne Bay. The Japanese got to Guadalcanal a step ahead of a large troop convoy from Pearl Harbor, but the island is lightly held, and there's a whole U.S. Army division cooling its heels at Espiritu Santo.

In the Southern Resource Area, the Japanese easily took Borneo and Celebes but have had a much more difficult time on Luzon and at Singapore and Mandalay. The battle for Clark Field lasted through January, inflicted heavy losses on both sides, and can be best described as a slog. The Japanese finally captured Bataan and Singapore in late February but have yet to clear those areas of Allied troops and are deadlocked at Mandalay. In the meantime, Java and Sumatra have been reinforced with every available aircraft, Port Blair is being built up, and those old British battleships continue to earn their keep by lambasting Rangoon every couple or three weeks.

And now, like Halsey at Johnston Island, we can only await developments.

P.S. In recognition of his heroic efforts in the defense of Luzon, Wainwright has been promoted to Lieutenant General.

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Steven Utley]

During the first week of March 1942, a Japanese submarine sank a battered Colorado-class battleship en route from Pearl Harbor to the repair yard at San Diego, several useful British vessels (including R-class battleships) were withdrawn from the Eastern Fleet, and resistance finally ended at Singapore when the Australian troops surrendered. It's only a matter of time, and probably not much time, before the beleaguered American and Filipino units at Bataan, Cagayan, and Panay follow suit.

As well, Akagi, Kaga, and the other big carriers moved to Borneo, leaving only Zuiho-class small-fry at Kwajalein. Perhaps Yamamoto decided that Midway, Johnston Island, and Palmyra are thornier propositions than he likes; I don't know how good enemy intelligence is (or how crafty the Japanese AI is), but I suppose that's possible. More likely, though, the Japanese timetable for conquest of the Southern Resource Area is off. Whatever the reason for Combined Fleet's retreat, I let Halsey vent by having him bomb those poor devils on Christmas Island, the systematic softening-up of which continues pending the arrival of convoys bearing troops and aircraft from the U.S.

Meanwhile, American soldiers and engineers at Espiritu Santo await the arrival of aircraft from Pearl Harbor and an Australian cruiser force from Broome; then it's on to Guadalcanal, which the Japanese seem to have abandoned immediately upon seizing. Perhaps they're as strapped as the Allies. Still, I don't intend to send troopships anywhere without air cover and screening units. There isn't a whole lot of Allied firepower available between Port Blair and Samoa -- Colorado, in fact, is the only currently operational Allied battleship east of Ceylon. The heavy cruisers Exeter and Houston and some smaller vessels got themselves bunged up by enemy bombers and are now in Australian repair yards. So, it's scrape and scrabble in the South Pacific. My version of Operation Watchtower, like the original, is going to be an Operation Shoestring.

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Steven Utley]

Mid-March 1942: Good news for the folks back home, and about damn time, too.

Supported by the Colorado battle group and Halsey with Lexington and Saratoga -- Wild Bill is on a short leash for the time being -- the U.S. 41st Infantry Division retook Christmas Island, incidentally annihilating the 8th Sasebo SNLF.

En route to the South Pacific, McCain's Enterprise and Yorktown air groups raided the southern Gilberts, sinking four big troop transports and shooting down a number of enemy fighters and bombers from Kwajalein. Enterprise suffered very minor damage from an aerial torpedo.

Supported by McCain's flattops and Crace's cruisers, the U.S. 41st Infantry Division and 1st SB Engineers landed unopposed at Guadalcanal.

Off Palembang, the Allies' ragtag collection of Vildebeest, Martin, Blenheim, and Hudson bombers sank ten ships in two different Japanese transport groups. Then Doorman's cruiser force from Batavia ploughed into the survivors in one group -- three destroyers, four patrol craft, and eight merchant ships -- and badly damaged them. The cruiser DeRuyter was torpedoed but remains afloat.

And the Battling Bastards of Bataan are still giving as good as they get, and sometimes better.

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Blackhorse]

A belated "Christmas" present for the folks at home.

Carry on!

[wflarry]

If you can hold Batavia, early victory is yours. The AI will beat itself to death against it if you can hold it...

[Steven Utley]

April 1942 got off to a shaky start for the Allies. Panay fell, and the Japanese began their southeastward creep along the coast of New Guinea. Three U.S. battleships, wrecked at Pearl Harbor and repaired at San Francisco, were joined by New Mexico and Idaho for their return to service -- and Japanese submarines damaged the two newcomers just east of Hawaii. Worse, notwithstanding the rough handling given their transport groups (see Mid-March 1942, above), the Japanese landed at Palembang, overrunning the airfield (97 aircraft lost!) and pushing the British and Dutch back to Oosthaven with almost contemptuous ease. Some of these troops were evacuated across the Sunda Strait to Batavia, but land-based Betty bombers savaged the light cruisers and destroyers accompanying the transports. The battered survivors limped to Broome while Admiral Doorman withdrew his few undamaged ships to Soerabaja.

Allied fortunes began to take a turn for the better when Hornet joined its four sister carriers at Espiritu Santo. Halsey promptly led them north to raid Rabaul, where F4Fs considerably thinned the local contingent of Zeroes and Bettys while SBDs and TBDs sank 46 of the more than 100 cargo ships and auxiliaries in the harbor.

At Bataan, a curious stalemate has developed. Lt. General Maruyama's 21st Infantry, in a high state of readiness but relatively inexperienced, can make no headway against the American and Filipino troops, who are in a low state of readiness, leaderless and out of supply, but also the most experienced Allied troops in the Pacific theater.

Following operations at Chungking, the Flying Tigers and three intensively trained Chinese bomber groups raided Haiphong harbor, sinking a big troop transport, damaging others, and, I trust, disrupting routine at 17th Army Headquarters.

The month ended with ABDA bombers ripping into enemy shipping at Oosthaven and four of Yamamoto's big carriers coming down from Kwajalein to see what the problem is in the South Pacific.

[ December 29, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Steven Utley]

During the first week of May 1942, ABDA bombers based at Tjilatjap and Soerabaja continued to litter the bottom of Sunda Strait with enemy cargo ships and escorts. Despite these losses, the Japanese landed in force at Batavia, where they encountered stiff resistance from Dutch, British, and Australian troops. Other Japanese landing parties quickly overcame opposition at Medan and Cagayan. Throughout, Hiryu, Soryu, and the two Zuiho-class aircraft carriers hovered menacingly off Kuching, but took no part in operations.

As it appeared that Admiral Yamamoto was sending the carriers Akagi, Kaga, Shokaku, and Zuikaku south from Kwajalein, Halsey's five flattops remained in the Coral Sea to cover the transfer of the 25th Infantry Division and the 46th Engineers to Milne Bay. (The 41st Infantry Division and the Seabees remained at Guadalcanal.) As before at Christmas Island, when the Japanese made their move, it caught the Americans flat-footed: the sea west of Johnston Island was suddenly thick with enemy ships that had somehow steamed right up to the atoll under the noses of the patrol wing stationed there. The first intimation of trouble the garrison had was a bombardment by Yamato and other heavy units, followed by air attacks from carriers.

The week of May 10th opened with Halsey's carriers steaming hard from Espiritu Santo to Johnston Island. Incredibly, the Japanese began withdrawing to the west even before Halsey reached the area -- but the slow transport groups, which could not keep up with Yamamoto's carriers and battleships, were still well within range when Halsey did arrive. Thus, U.S. ship- and land-based bombers gave them a proper smashing. Losses for this week alone, from all causes, included:

Japanese -- 98 squads, 158 aircraft, 42 ships (sunk by aircraft in Sunda Strait, off Johnston and Wake islands, and at Haiphong, and by submarines in the Southern Resource Area and off the Home Islands).

Allies -- 336 squads (chiefly in the Dutch East Indies), 121 aircraft, two ships.

Meanwhile, the issue at Batavia remains in doubt, the contending forces at Mandalay and Nanning appear to have achieved total stasis, and Bataan's Battling Bastards continue to embarrass the Japanese Army.

[ December 30, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Steven Utley]

May 1942 ends with the Allies finally pushed out of Batavia, another dozen or so Japanese ships sunk in Sunda Strait, and the enemy's 4th, 16th, and 21st Infantry Divisions sent in to help the 56th Brigade deal with those troublesome American and Filipinos at Bataan. Admiral Yamamoto has moved his headquarters to Marcus Island.

A British paratroop unit has been posted to India. How does one manage an airborne assault in this game?

[Steven Utley]

Aiee! Nothing but calamity to show for the first week of June 1942. Resistance at Bataan finally ended, and Indomitable, Formidable, and Hermes have been sunk off Java by land-based bombers. I'm going to be sick.

Six months to the day after the dastardly and unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy has lost no ship larger than a Sendai-class light cruiser -- and only one of those, sunk by aircraft off Johnston Island. Other IJN losses are 15 destroyers, five destroyer escorts, four patrol craft, 55 troop transports, 142 cargo ships, 12 tankers, and two submarines. The Allies are down three aircraft carriers, four battleships, a battlecruiser, three light cruisers, an anti-aircraft cruiser, 14 destroyers, 10 patrol craft, a destroyer transport, an oiler, five troop transports, 40 cargo ships, two tankers, and four submarines. I'm going to be sick, I tell you!

[ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>

[Blackhorse]

Originally posted by Steven Utley:
A British paratroop unit has been posted to India. How does one manage an airborne assault in this game?

---

Airborne assaults, sadly, are beyond the ken of mortal men: not coded in the game.

Don't worry overmuch about your lost British flattops. From my experience they haven't the CAP to defend themselves, nor the offensive punch to damage anything more than a small cargo task force.

[Steven Utley]

Point taken about the British carriers. I had hoped to launch a night torpedo attack against Japanese shipping in Sunda Strait, but the Swordfish and Albacores obstinately sat on deck and refused to budge. In day combat, of course, they're easy prey for Zeroes. And the Fulmar must be the second-most-useless aircraft in the entire Allied inventory, after the Blenheim IF "fighter."

Another question about the game: two of my B-17 groups have been reduced to three and four aircraft, and replacements do not seem to be forthcoming whether I station the units at a headquarters or on either U.S. coast. Is there any way to get these units back up to strength? They're so useful for pasting enemy airfields.

And yet another: I'm playing the Rising Sun scenario against the Japanese AI, using, as ever, the even-steven setting. How long does this game go on? Till the Japanese control all their historical objectives from Mandalay to Wake Island? Till the end of 1942? Till one side or the other has an insurmountable lead in points?

[Steven Utley]

The second week of June 1942 opened with the Japanese launching another assault on Johnston Island, whose PBY crews once again failed to notice all of those enemy ships swarming eastward from the Mandates (perhaps a tour of duty in the Aleutians will sharpen their eyesight!) -- and with Halsey's carriers yet again out of position, shepherding a convoy to Wake Island. It fell to Army and Navy pilots on the atoll to blunt the initial attack. Forty-six Army fighters rose to meet 255 Japanese carrier planes and destroyed or damaged 80 of them, at a cost of 13 of their own number. Then SBDs and B-26s counterattacked, and a single thousand-pound bomb turned one of the "Heavenly Sisters," either Shokaku or Zuikaku, into a blazing wreck.

Nevertheless, the men and officers of the Japanese 20th Infantry Division got ashore, where Marine Defense Battalions and a full infantry division waited to receive them. After some bloody fighting, the invaders scrambled back aboard their transports.

Week two of the second battle for Johnston Island found the waters around the atoll thick with enemy transports and escorts -- but no air cover. (A PBY from Wake Island later reported a burning fleet carrier far to the west, crawling home to Japan.) A convoy from Pearl Harbor delivered fresh troops just in time to help the garrison repulse the Japanese 51st Infantry Division, which, like the 20th Division before it, took heavy casualties before retreating to the transports -- which were then set upon by land-based aircraft and by the air groups from Halsey's five carriers, just arrived from Wake Island, and the Wasp, just arrived from the West Coast. We draw a merciful veil of silence over that which ensued. Suffice it to say that by the time these two weeks of slaughter ended, both sides had lost hundreds of aircraft; the Japanese, however, had also lost more than three dozen ships, against the Allies' six, and an admiral, Hashimoto.

With six big carriers at his disposal, Halsey swept westward, hoping to overtake the Combined Fleet. F4Fs shredded Zeroes and Nells attacking from Eniwetok, but no one else obliged by coming out to fight. The first week of July, Halsey (undoubtedly reflecting my own exasperation with the elusive IJN) went for broke, plunging straight down into the Mandates from the north to raid Kwajalein. The F4Fs completed the destruction of Japanese land-power in the area, and the bombers made short work of two Taiyo-class escort carriers, destroyers, and auxiliaries. A Navy press release quotes Halsey as growling, "It's a start."

In other news, ABDA forces continue to hold at Tjilatjap, Timor has been reinforced with the one Australian unit I was able to pry loose from the homeland, and huge air battles rage over Burma and China.

[ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: Steven Utley ]</p>