The Fleet the Gods Forgot: ALLIED Perspective

[Hornblower]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

This might be an interesting picture regarding the Thundering Herd.

That is very odd! Wonder if anyone had that happen to them before?

[John 3rd]

My ships get another friendly day to head towards Rabaul and Lae.

This is the action for the 14th:

[FOW]

I've always sent ships east towards Midway- saved a lot of AKs and MSWs from Luzon. Most Jap players concentrate their airpower further south so the Marianas usually only has a float plane unit - keep at least 3-4 hexes out and most single ship TFs slip past unnoticed.
You should be able to get those ships (and troops) down to Oz by sailing between PNG and Rabaul. Paul and I did [;)]

[flaggelant]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

My ships get another friendly day to head towards Rabaul and Lae.

This is the action for the 14th:

I haven't seen the US subs (jep US, not Dutch, US) miss a target since first turn...
they torped several of my ASW TF's, i lost probably 3 or 4 PG's/ MSW's in 2 weeks..

havent seen any of those fail to detonate torps for a while now ..


How are you doing at China?
i wanted to do a massed Jap offensive, but i got bogged down (moving on would have seen supply cut and the backland overrun) and the China-men are moving around and countering everywhere [X(] Any chance of such a thing happening over here to??

[John 3rd]

CHINA:
1.  In China I have troops on the move to strengthen Changsha and Yenen. 
2.  I hope to move forward to threaten something.  Am not sure what at this point. 
3.  I did forward stage the Chinese bombers to Port Cities (Woochow and one to the west by Hainan) where they have been flying the occasional harassing sorties against Japanese transports.
4. Normal move of the Chinese unit assigned to Burma moving towards Lashio.


BURMA:
1.  I have moved enough Brigades to Moulmein to make a decent stand.  Have about 350 AV stationed there and it is growing as the units begin to fill out.  Have 2 Base Force there to try raising the Forts by 1 or 2 before the Japanese arrive.

2.  Have also started building up the Forts at that town west of Taung Gyi.  Will make second stand there before falling back to Mandalay.

3.  FORT Blair:  Have decided to try something.  I've moved a Base Force, Indian Brigade, and Rangoon's CD unit to Port Blair to hold it.  I've already dropped off 10,000 supply and have another 15,000 heading there.  Nothing shorter then a large Invasion should be able to take the town if I can get 4-8 weeks time to build-up the Forts.

Have the 3 Indian TK units on ship racing towards Rangoon to support the Operations there.  Nothing else gets forward deployed.

INDIA:
1.  Have units moving to strengthen eastern India (Calcutta--Diamond Harbor--Chittagong).   Would love to get some help by the Chinese Hordes for this area stretching over to Ledo.
2.  Moving enough troops and Artillery to hold Viza pretty strongly. 
3.  Am forming a Mobile Reserve at Hyderabad and Madras in case the Japanese have designs on India.


  

[John 3rd]

Just posted this in the other AAR:

Could someone please inform Al Gore that Colorado is about to get crushed under another late-winter/early-spring snow storm?  They just came across KOA Radio as saying we COULD be looking at 12-20" of snow on APRIL 17th-18th.  HOLY CRAP.  Where is an Inconvenient Truth when you need it?  

[Q-Ball]

I am reading both AAR's, so I cannot comment directly on this one.

If the Allies had put up that kind of defense John at Port Blair in our 2x2 game, what would the result have been?

Well, probably this:

1. A 2-3 Division landing at Port Blair in early March, as soon as Singapore closed
2. That probably would have signaled an invasion of India was imminent, and that invasion would have occurred about 2-3 weeks later than it did.
3. We would have captured all the units at Port Blair for sure

In our game, I think the Rangoon CD unit was captured at Rangoon, which took out the Allies only mobile CD unit at game start. Not sure why they didn't move it. Maybe Steve will comment.

[John 3rd]

The question is would forcing a landing like this slow down the Japanese move enough to be worth it?  Add to that the surprise factor and there could be some serious damage done to a Japanese Landing. 
 
What would we have done if the Allies done this in the 2x2?  An forced assault landing would also seriously mangle whatever units made the landing.
 

[ny59giants]

FORT Blair: Have decided to try something. I've moved a Base Force, Indian Brigade, and Rangoon's CD unit to Port Blair to hold it. I've already dropped off 10,000 supply and have another 15,000 heading there. Nothing shorter then a large Invasion should be able to take the town if I can get 4-8 weeks time to build-up the Forts.

I can agree with 2 out of 3 LCUs deployed here. The CD should be sent to Viza (along with the BF and Indian Bde) that I spoke with you about previously. [8|]

I would make sure that you have some patrol planes available (Coronado's are best) to pull out at least a fragment when the time comes. I usually like to convert 1 of 2 stationed on Manila.

[John 3rd]

I know that you recommended moving that CD to Viza but I felt like trying this. Might turn out to be a bad idea--probably WILL--but want to try it it out.

Had a small heart attack on the 12-16 turn when West Virginia showed up in I-19's sights! Luckily the Torps missed. That would have been bad...

[John 3rd]

I am also a believer in FIGHTING for Luzon. The Japanese tend to want to overlook this area while pushing for all they are worth in Malaya. Well--I like to push back!

This shots shows the situation in Malaya but notice within the caption that I crushed the 65th Brigade at Lingayen this turn. Air Attack: 124 Cas and 3 Guns followed by Ground Assault yielding 545 Cas and 30 G for a cost of 152 Allied Casualties. "Dugout Doug" sends his warmest congratulations!

Do I HAVE to pull him out of the Philippines?

[Q-Ball]

John, have you been confused yet during the replay?

Sub attack near Mangalore at 14,17

Allied ship
DD Nestor, Torpedo Hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese Ships
SS I-16

You think WOO HOO!!!!![:D]

Oh wait......I'm Allies. [:@]

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

John, have you been confused yet during the replay?

Sub attack near Mangalore at 14,17

Allied ship
DD Nestor, Torpedo Hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Japanese Ships
SS I-16

You think WOO HOO!!!!![:D]

Oh wait......I'm Allies. [:@]

It is SOOOOOOO confusing going back-and-forth between the forces of good and the forces of EVIL! Luckily my multiple personalities help me deal with this issue!

[John 3rd]

It has been a long two week journey for many of these ships.

[John 3rd]

Here is my basic strategy in the Philippines as I build-up Forts (unmolested) in Manila and Bataan.





Ahhhhh...didn't proof the screenshot before posting. roder is order and the sentence after makes sense when you flip a pair of words around. Grrrr....ALWAYS proofread is what I told my college students. Damned Professor cannot heed his own advice...

[Hornblower]

Don't know if you can, but i found that if you take the 2 US Armored Bat. and 1 of the PS regiments, you can flank the IJA if they concentrate there forces at clark and move north to cut off there supplies.. 

[John 3rd]

This is exactly what I am thinking.  I will move into San Ferando and attack.  If I take that hex then I will move north again though I do need to leave enough troops behind me to allow for retreat...

Might be fun until more Japanese troops arrive!

[Hornblower]

Right have to hold lingayen to keep the line open...

[John 3rd]

I lose all my PTs at Kendari but I did bag much BIGGER game this turn!

Let us hear it for Japanese damage control ([:D][:@][:D]) because CA Mikuma SINKS at Kuching! Force Z's raid now officially stands at 2 CA and 2 DD plus a couple of AP/AK. Pretty darned good results I think!

[John 3rd]

I wrote Ken and told him that I have always felt Japanese players provide short shrift to the Allies in the Philippines. Most Allied players immediately Sir Robin the Philippines and retreat to their bunker position and wait for the inevitable. NOT SO says this Samurai! Ahhhhh...I mean GI Joe! The Allies go onto the ATTACK.

Until 38th Inf Div arrives from Hong Kong, the Allies have a real chance of causing some serious chaos. Hong Kong fell yesterday (Dec 20th) so I figure I have until about the 27th or so for my assault.

Another advantage in attacking is potentially capturing more supplies. In grabbing San Fernando this turn I picked up 10,000 supply. NOT BAD.

Philippine air continues to hold out. I just bought out all the air units to South Pacific Command so I can pull them whenever things start looking bad. The fighters will be important to stage out but since the Japs haven't shown any desire to attack down the center, I still have plenty of range to fly into Tarakan or Balikpapan.