Matrix Games Forums

February 22, 1943

Busy day in the skies. He has been good at anticipating my moves in the air of late, so rather than bomb his troops assembled at Prome, I went for a night strike with just the heavies at Moulmein. Good moonlight, and blessed with light clouds tonight means happy days.. Estimated at 19 A/C on the ground - mostly bombers. The decision further pays off in the day when he tries bombing Prome again in force. For some reason the fighters yawn at the first sweep of the day, then jump on the [escorted] bombers in force. Later sweeps by him several times. Some are mildly successful, others disasters. A group of Tojos based at Pegu cause a lot of problems - probably some of his better pilots - but they keep coming back for more (I'm guessing LRCAP), and by the end are starting to take some pain.
All in all a good day. Tracker says 135 of his losses to 47 of mine (and about 1/3 of those are in the Marshall's) That said the cost in fighters is high. 20 P40s, 11 priceless P38s.
VF8 (with 36 Corsairs) is 1 day out of CT. VMF222 and 223, 2 days behind. The can't get here soon enough.



The inevitable attack (bombardment?) at Prome fails to materialize. What is he up to here? An opportunity perhaps. I think he was expecting me to bomb them this turn. He had lots of LRCAP over the place. Now that his fighter forces have been cut in half, with the survivors exhausted, damaged, and hopefully somewhat demoralized, I'll hit him this turn with everything. If I can bust this stack over the next week or 2, it could lead to a renewed offensive in Burma.

In other news, the Navy shows why it is in second place. Over 10 DDs at Jaluit (?). Hundreds of sorties - 5 ships hit (3 reported sunk). I must say, I'm curious as to what they were up to. I'll have to shuffle my A/C around so he doesn't come in with KB and take me out.

4 days of massive sweeps at Prome. All in all things are in my favor 2-1 in the air - triple digits of A/C lost for both sides. Looks like it is finally starting to slack off this past turn. Full report later.

A related aside, is there a way to see A/C lost over the past X turns (4 would be nice, but 5 would be ok)? I see tracker has last 5 turns of alerts, but I can't find last 5 turns of VPs or A/C losses.

One other thing from this last day... I'm not a fan of posting combat reports, but this one is interesting. He finally attempted a bombardment with his stack at Prome (picture below). He is throwing in the kitchen sink - half strength divisions and armor regiments, and a death star of arty. That much I already figured (29 units there now). What I don't know is what to make of this:

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Ground combat at Prome (55,50)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 47487 troops, 672 guns, 1014 vehicles, Assault Value = 1933

Defending force 54241 troops, 748 guns, 1553 vehicles, Assault Value = 1384
Japanese ground losses:
1140 casualties reported
Squads: 38 destroyed, 138 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 18 (2 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Vehicles lost 8 (4 destroyed, 4 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 30 (22 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Assaulting units:
112th Infantry Regiment
6th Tank Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
11th Tank Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
1st Division
1st Tank Division
21st Ind.Mixed Brigade
14th Tank Regiment
8th Recon Regiment
1st RTA Division
2nd Mobile AA Battalion
Botanko Hvy Gun Regiment
4th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment
45th Field AA Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
8th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
5th Ind.Hvy.Art Battalion
17th Army
5th RF Gun Battalion
11th RF Gun Battalion

Defending units:
254th Armoured Brigade
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
255th Armoured Brigade
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
131st Combat Engineer Regiment
23rd Marine Regiment
268th Motorised Brigade
41st Infantry Division
111th Chindit Brigade
45th Recce Regiment
119th RAF Base Force
IV Indian Corps
35th USN Naval Construction Battalion
34th USN Naval Construction Battalion
134th Field Artillery Battalion
15th USN Naval Construction Battalion
RAF 224 Group Base Force
AHQ Bengal
175 Wing
27th USN Naval Construction Battalion
208th Coast AA Regiment
46th Const Rgt /1
140th USA Base Force
8th Medium Regiment
823rd Engineer Aviation Battalion
XXXIII Indian Corps
43rd Cavalry Engineer Regiment
163rd Light AA Rgt /1
821st EAB /1

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The combat report indicates that he took sizable losses on his bombardment.

I also have the 37th (?) USA ID on the way in (about a week out) on the road NOT in the jungle. What should I do... my options are:
counter attack - probably in a few days after sustained air bombardment (ground bombardment too?). He seems to be out of gas with respect to fighter cover here. One day of good weather will bust him up good.
send the 37th ID in behind them, swing an armor unit around and try to trap them?
Do nothing, and wait until I have more forces in place after the monsoon (6-8 months away)?

Burma
1) improve logistics - that means an effort to capture and then expand Ramree Island
2) build forts
3) upgrade troops - mainly to '43 squads as you rotate troops
4) superiority - steadily gain both in air and at sea
5) prep points - make sure troops and HQ are prepping for the correct base

Both weather and terrain make this area more like WW1 with attrition being very costly for both sides.

Side note - Have you started some LowN training for your Attack Bombers (A-20s, but mainly B-25s)??
They can reach out over 11 hexes and besides the armor of BBs and some CAs, they can be very effective.
Sunk Hiyo and Junyo south of Rangoon with them coming in at 1000' I train up my B-25s in just Gnd and LowN skills.
This will force your opponent to have CAP down below 10k, too.

I also like to train some fighter pilots at LowNav to man P39's who carry a bomb also .. although shorter range they can be effective in such places as the solomans

I take it you have forts 4+ at Prome? That would explain your low losses compared to his, although your vehicle losses make
me wonder if you had a tank unit attacking?

IIRC, Prome is a clear hex and his newly arrived units will not have had time to dig in and build field forts. They were very
vulnerable. I suspect his artillery units did not have the supplies needed to fully participate in the bombardment - he has lots
of heavy artillery units but your side did not get hit hard at all.

Re: the counterattack - you need to assess how long it would take 27th ID to swing around behind and cut through the Japanese
entry hexside into Prome. Are you sure they only entered through one hex side? Use the W key to check who has control of the Prome hex sides.
Also note- if he sees your move around his flank, will he move out and trap your unit before it gets in position?

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

I take it you have forts 4+ at Prome? That would explain your low losses compared to his, although your vehicle losses make
me wonder if you had a tank unit attacking?

IIRC, Prome is a clear hex and his newly arrived units will not have had time to dig in and build field forts. They were very
vulnerable. I suspect his artillery units did not have the supplies needed to fully participate in the bombardment - he has lots
of heavy artillery units but your side did not get hit hard at all.

Size 4 forts, 5 AF. I stopped at 4 forts as the cost (in time) is going up, and I REALLY need to boost the base size to start taking a bite out of fatigue (mid to high 20s for everyone) and disruption (around 8-12 for everyone).

I've noticed with the combat reports that my losses tend to be reported as high... that was the case here. I lost 4 General Lees, 5 Improv. AFV, an M8 TD, and a Humbler I. (I also didn't see any guns or squads destroyed)

Re: the counterattack - you need to assess how long it would take 27th ID to swing around behind and cut through the Japanese
entry hexside into Prome. Are you sure they only entered through one hex side? Use the W key to check who has control of the Prome hex sides.
Also note- if he sees your move around his flank, will he move out and trap your unit before it gets in position?

I'm forgetting an enveloping counter attack. He moved in through 2 hex-sides. I would need back out an armor regiment or 2 and swing in from the south east. I thought it was a long shot... he should be able to see it coming, back out, and isolate the 37th. It isn't worth the risk.
Here is my [new] plan. I'm going to move the 37th into Prome. In the mean time, I'm going to start bombing the crap out of him to increase his fatigue and disruption. If he stays, or he executes a partial retreat I'll attack. After Prome is secure (either he can't take it or is driven out), I'll send the 37th ID, along with the 23rd Marines, 1 or 2 armor regiments, and some forces still coming down from Chittagong to take Ramree and shorten my supply lines. Here is my desired end game:
Prome built up to a major base (9 AF, 6 fort) allowing my forces to recover down to low single digit disruption / fatigue
His units with high fatigue / disruption. Disablements and TO&E reduction is a bonus. It is either this or he has to withdraw to Magwe or Moulmein (his only 2 large bases in the area). This leaves open a drive to cut off the Irrawaddy valley.
Ramree in my hands

February 26, 1943
The Full Picture:

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Marshall Islands

Most of the naval fighting will be here in the months to come. Right now he occasionally moves in a couple of BBs or some CVs, than pulls out before he comes too close. Usually, there is no fighting. Today he comes in with 2 separate CV groups. My guess is a 2 CV group and a 4 CV group, perhaps with some of the light weights thrown in. Intel estimates that he has 6 CVs, 2 CVLs and 3 CVEs remaining.
(2 CVLs sunk in Jan '42 - probably Ryujo and Shoho, Zuikaku was sunk by gunfire off Java, and either Junyo or Hiyo was sunk in Nov)

Currently for the Marshall's, I plan to quickly take an undefended Ebon and run in an expendable base force and CB. A size 1 AF will take a while to build, but once up, it will project fighter cover over the southern Marshalls. I've tapped a few xAKs and xAPs with a few escorts. Fighter cover will be provided from Makin and Mili. Minimal exposure as it would be a nice to have, and not critical.

What I really need to do is hit his CVs. Once that is done, his position is untenable, and I can hit any target I want up to about Ponape. Problem is I only have 3 CVs (Yorktown, Hornet, and Wasp). I also have HMS Victorious, and 7 CVEs - and starting in May, I get about 1 each CV, CVL, CVE / month. Nothing I can do yet, but I'm working on figuring out when I can strike (how many decks do I need).



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Burma

He has moved most of what he has into Prome. I don't think it is enough to take it, but it is enough to keep me from moving out forces to try something else (like take Ramree, or drive to cut off his supply lines). I have more armor and infantry coming from the states, but it won't be in position until sometime around the start of the Monsoon. I was just going to turtle up on Prome, recover, and have a renewed offensive in the fall, but now that he has moved into Prome, I'm going to have to play it more by ear. I am sending my bombers in each day hoping to get good weather. If that happens, his forces should be hurt badly and I may have an opportunity to counter attack. At any rate, Prome gets bigger every day (nearly 400 engineers), and will be a size 7 AF in about a week. My fatigue / disruption has already seemed to peak (assuming he holds off on attacking), and is now slowly dropping. This should improve as the base size improves. Supply is fine at 40k now (just drew in 10k! this past turn). I am drawing supply from Akyab, which is expensive. Once I know Prome is secure, I'll send forces to liberate Ramree, and shorten my supply lines.

In the air, he continues to be frustrated. The sweeps have stopped, but he is LRCAPing the place to intercept my bombers. However, he is only getting a few minutes of warning time, and my CAP usually engages him from above as his fighters scramble to intercept the bombers. This last turn he lost 17 fighters to my 5 (+6 B25s, which I need to do something about). His pilots have to be gassed after sweeping for 4 days and now flying LRCAP in numbers.

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Northern Oz

I haven't mentioned it yet - but I'm sure those of you reading his AAR already know this - but he has taken northern Oz. Please tell me why I should care.

At any rate, I'm building up Tennant Creek as a supply base to eventually retake the place. But I'm in no hurry. I imagine he has a garrison requirement - so he spending troops to stare at kangaroos, or I am getting VPs because he isn't meeting the garrison commitment.

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Eastern Oz

He captured Port Moresby. Again, why do I care? Townsville should be safe - he could come farther south - but with what? The Aussie 6th and 7th are nearly full strength and in the area, the 9th is 1 day out of Perth. The US 32nd ID is rebuilding - they are about 1/2 strength now. If he comes at Eastern Oz, he can establish a beachhead. But I don't think he has enough left to expand it without risking piecemeal destruction.

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SOPAC

All quiet on the SOPAC front. For now...

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NORPAC

Again, nothing. This is my dilemma here though. I like the idea of the Kurles. From there, I can bomb Hokkaido (and with B29s, Honshu). He must defend it. But my last go ended in a loss (I won't say disaster). He kicked me out of Onnekotan Jima. But all of the forces involved have been rebuilt and are ready for another go. But now I have 2 divisions + 1 Regiment + armor and support troops.

I don't have any active intel, but radio intercepts indicate he has 1 division and 1 Bde on Onnekotan, nothing on Shasukotan and a SNLF / Naval guard unit on Ketoi and Shimushiri.
If this picture holds into the summer, should I give it another go?

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China

Don't ask. I screwed this up from day 1.

What's going on in Burma from your point of view now?? Mr Lowpe has lots of recent posting on the war from his perspective. We need your views too!!

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

What's going on in Burma from your point of view now?? Mr Lowpe has lots of recent posting on the war from his perspective. We need your views too!!

Sorry, busy with work this weekend. I started to write a post last night, but Lowpe was inconsiderate enough to send a second turn[:)]. I'll try to get an update tonight.

March 6, 1943

Most theaters have not changed from my previous posts, so I'll skip over those.

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Burma

There are 3 fronts in Burma - in the air, on the ground, and the Bay of Bengal. I got wacked in the Bay of Bengal. First a sub finds Hermes and puts 2 fish into her. Damage is high at about 49/77(49)/0/0. This was 2 days ago and damage is holding. System is down to 44, flood is only up to 78. She is 2 days out of Madras. British damage control is good, but is it good enough?
The next day, Prince of Wales eats 2 fish just north of the "l" from Nell's out of Moulmein (dang long range). He hasn't been even scouting this area before, but today:

She has damage at 24/30(26)/1/0, so is in no danger of sinking, but he brought up a large group of CAs. Not wanting to get caught with some damaged ships, I did a full speed run back to Madras. It paid off, no additional damage to PoW.


On the ground I have decided to just sit tight at Prome and dig in. He now has 33 units there. So here is where it is at:
I have a bit over 1200 AV, plus 4 forts, plus a LOT of second line troops. The manual says that defending support squads have an AV of 1/10 - so I'm guessing that the 3570 support squads I have are giving me a boost of about 357 AV? In addition, I have arty and AA guns on the way in, plus HQ support - some with high prep levels for Prome.


He has:
1st Division - fresh
Imperial Guards - about 2/3 strength. Have been in a few fights, one of which went very bad for them. They have not gone to any base - so I'm guessing they have high fatigue and probably some disruption due to the Malaria zone.
1st RTA Division - fresh? Combat screen says 253 AV.
21st Ind Mixed Bde - fresh
112th Infantry Regiment - has been in some combat, but has not taken large losses
1st Tank Division - uh-ho
4 tank regiments ranging from beat up to mostly fresh.
A CRAP load of artillery.

This adds up to about 1900 AV. The artillery bombardments he has done have not been very effective except, oddly enough, against my M10s. This is a bit frustrating, because I don't get any replacements of these until June.
Finally, he is in Burma, and not near any base. Most of these units have not been near a base in some time (he only has 2 size 7 airfields). He HAS to be suffering from fatigue - doesn't he?


In the last few days a new threat has come up. I see 10 units marching toward the jungle road from Magwe. I have been recon and bombing them for a few days now - and it looks like it has 2 divisions (36k troops), at least one (probably a few) armor regiments - and given Lowpe's love of guns, probably lots of artillery. The good news is I have the newly arrived 29th British Bde already in the hex he is racing for. 3 2/3 strength para divisions are on their way from Akyab, the 23rd Marines and 41st division are coming up from Prome (these were not counted in my AV calculations above). The hex he is moving to is a x3 for the defense.
I need to win this race. To that effect, I am bombing this stack every day to force him back into combat mode (if he dares to try move mode in the first place). In move mode, it would take the infantry 10 turns to cross this hex (5mi/day). Hopefully, this means it will take most of 3 weeks for him to get there in combat mode. This will give me enough time to get everything in place. A x3 defensive hex should hold. From there, I can bomb, bomb, bomb before attacking.


As for the air war, now it is my turn to go on the offensive. Of course, this means that my bombers either don't fly, or fly unescorted and before the sweepers arrive. What I really need are more fighters. Did I mention VF8 with 36 Corsairs is 1 day out of Bombay? Can't arrive soon enough.

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Marshall Islands

Perhaps Lowpe is concerned with Burma... Right now, I'm more interested in the Marshalls. Just a quick update for now though. The KB has left about a day ago. I paid the high price of 7 B24s to attack him at high altitude so I could get a read on his CAP. He has 6 CVs there, probably supplemented with a few squadrons from dead CVs. I'm going through the math now, but I think I can take him on with what I have now (throwing CVEs and CVs at him). That said I will wait until I have some F6s on hand. I just don't trust the F4s that much. I'll detail why I think this in a later post.

As for the present, he has moved some more fighters to Kusaie, and has jumped them in, went all out on Mili - which had no fighter cover. Afterwards, he moved everything out to Kusaie, Ponape, and Turk (probably hoping I'd sweep back). I'm not taking the bait. I'm turtling up here in Makin, Tarawa and Tabiteuea. If he comes after any of those places, he will eat high casualties. I will watch him closely to try to see what he does from here.

My next move is to jump a few squads on Ebon. It looks to be undefended - if so, I'll grab it. He can react to it, in which case I lose a half a dozen squads - or he can ignore it, in which case I'll move a base force and a CB there. A size 1 AF for May is all I'm after here.

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NORPAC
A recent intercept says that he is moving a base force into this area. Further, there has been no intel about him moving out what he brought in before. I am concluding that he will not neglect this area - nor will he move in significant forces. I'll probably run a few recon flights over there to confirm (and perhaps make him think I still care) - but unless they uncover some big news, I'm going to shift the 2+ divisions I have been saving for here over to Burma. They should arrive there in about 3-4 months.

Thanks!

Dang! Hermes was found just before she made Madras[:(].

I'll be on travel for work for a few weeks and won't be able to update much if at all. So I'll give a bit of a run down on where I hope to take this war in the coming weeks and months. I'm trying to avoid the wall of text, but this post may drag on a bit. I'm sorry in advance.

The only 2 theaters of concern for me are the Marshall Islands and Burma. It is possible his actions could expand the war to another theater, but at the current time, I am not planning any near term actions anywhere else.

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Burma

In Burma, he has moved into Prome in strength, and is looking to cut the coast road from Akyab where the road is 1 hex into the jungle. To this end, Prome is fortified as described in my previous post and is 41% of the way to forts 5. On the jungle road, I have a Brit infantry Bde digging in where he is headed, and roughly 2 division equivalents racing to get there.



VF8 has arrived in Calcutta and will have most of their A/C assembled in the next day or 2. Two VMFs are about 10 days from being useable.

In the near term, I just hope to hold off his counter offensive. If I can do that, I can start wearing down his troops with bombards from the air and ground.

In the air, for now, I'm just mostly playing it safe with night bombardments of his airfields, and sweeps / bombing of the troops heading for the jungle road in order to slow them down. Once my VMFs are in place I will try to bait him into sweeping Prome again (he is currently sweeping empty skies there) to take losses, and follow it up with an air offensive aimed at shutting down his airfields. From there I hope to follow up with pounding ground troops at Prome and the jungle road, and spare a few to mine ports and hit some places farther south (Saigon?).

As all of this is happening, this is what he will see in Burma over the next few months:
43rd US ID (week from CT)
7th US ID (week from East Coast US - needs to be bought out)
5th Indian ID (Aden in 1.5 month)
72nd Brit Bde (Madras in 1.5 month)
11th East African Div (3 month)
32nd US ID (rebuilding in Townsville for about another 2-3 weeks)
27th ID (Seattle - needs to be bought out and built up to full TO&E)
40th ID (Adak)
58th (Sep) Inf Reg (Adak)

Gardner's Horse Tank Reg (enroute)
762nd Tank Bn (week from CT)
763rd Tank Bn (week from CT)
194th Tank Bn (3 weeks from CT)
754th Tank Bn (Adak)

1st Cav Div? (4 months)

So 7+ Infantry divisions, 5 tank Bns and maybe a US Cav Division.
Once a good portion of these units are in place, I will send them Bassein. A few will sweep north and either force a retreat from Prome or close the hex sides to him. The rest will drive to Pegu and attempt to shut off the supplies coming into Burma. Dreaming now, I hope to then be able to drive into Thailand and threaten Bangkok by the end of the year.

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Marshall Islands
I think KB has left the area (perhaps for April upgrades). I will wait a bit to be sure, and then start to tread near bases at first, and see if he comes out to play. To that end, I plan to start activities here as soon as I can get the pieces into place (about 2 weeks).
I really want to hit Turk - hard. PB4Ys from Mili are consistently seeing a juicy target: 125 bombers, nearly 70 ships of all types from CA on down and a big fat goose egg for fighters. The problem is that I have to penetrate his Nav search. To this end, I have started LRCAP over his bases at patrol altitudes in the Marshalls. Over the past week I have seen a steady drop in the number of "Aux" aircraft at his bases. But I can't reach Kusaie and Wake Island. Kusaie has what looks like 1 squadron - and curiously, Wake has 60 bombers and a few fighters - but only 2 Aux. I expect this many bombers on the front lines to be backed up by significant nav search (by the bombers themselves if nothing else). To see if this is true, I have sent a small, old DD squadron to tip-toe just north of the Marshalls to see if it gets spotted. Today, they are 4 hexes north of Bikini, and so far so good - no DL and no A/C sighted. One more turn west, and I think I have a route that can surprise Turk when my CVs arrive in about 2 weeks. If this route is unfeasible, I'll settle for leveling Wake. It should startle him (no CV activity from me since November), and force him to react.
At the same time as this, I will send out my CVEs (7 total) full of fighters to provide a massive sweep of Kusaie - 100 fighters, no bombers. LRCAP from Tarawa and Makin will assist in air cover for the CVEs.

The big things I want though are his CVs. So long as they don't appear while I'm doing the above, they should come racing back down when done their upgrades; else he cedes the Marshalls to amphibious invasion. So here is how I plan to deal with it:
I believe he has the following CVs:
Hiyo
Shokaku
Hiryu
Soryu
Kaga
Akagi
each with their stock airwings, plus a bit of fighter supplement from Hosho, Shoho and 201 Ku S-1 airwings.

Adding up what A/C they should / could have, and cross referencing that to what my patrols were reporting, he has about 150 fighters and 285 bombers. I will face them with 310 fighters and 175 bombers. How? By bring both CVs and CVEs to the fight, and tailoring the airwings to the mission. Why 310 fighters?
I wrote a model that attempts to compute the expected number of hits on ships given the size and composition of the strike package, and the size of the CAP.
I estimate that each CAP fighter can neutralize 1.5 escorting fighters, and each CAP fighter can neutralize 2 bombers. For the bombers that get through, I expect them to get about a 7% hit rate if they have been disrupted by the CAP (and about 30% if they get through clean). I got these numbers looking at our past CV actions, and by playing the Forager scenario a few times.

I estimate that he will run about 60% CAP - this is what he appears to have run in previous CV battles. That will leave about 60 fighters escorting 285 bombers. I will put 185 fighters on CAP (plus whatever I can squeeze out of LBA). What bombers leak through should be scattered, and score low hit rates on my ships. Hopefully, they attack the BBs that will tag along and not the CVs as well.
I can then counter with 125 fighters and 175 bombers. A small portion of his 90 CAP should get through to some of the bombers (I estimate I really need about 132 fighters), but even with a 7% (of total strike package) hit rate, I should score about 11+ hits on his ships... and if the bombers get through in good shape, they can get up to about 50 hits. I expect somewhere in between, as I am only a few fighters short of the estimated requirements.

4/13/1943

I'm back. We've played better than a game month since my last update. You are probably all aware of how things are going in a macro sense, but here are things from my point of view.

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Sub war
First the bad. I haven't spoken much of it, but the sub war is a focus area for me. When I played my GC game against the AI, I tried to use subs historically to cut off his supplies (with an early focus on oil, aided by hindsight). The results were unbelievable. I got the idea to start saving off old turns in Oct of '43, so I can see the Japanese side once I finished the game. I wish I did this sooner, as I found that in Oct '43, not only did the AI have NO oil in the home islands. He had only 13 HI points.

But that was the computer. Lowpe seems to be diligent about moving his shipping routes around once I sniff them out. He also has some air dedicated to the mission - enough to prevent me from operating in a few areas (but not all).

So I finally start to find his new routes out and my results for the month of April so far:



27 actions, 42 fish, 90000 tons of targets - for what!?! 3 stinkin' hits - only one of which will probably sink.

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Burma

My air offensive - headlined by F4Us - was an astounding success. F4s, supported by a large grab bag of everthing else imaginable managed to drive him all the way back to Bangkok. Bombers hit the stack at Prome now every day unmolested. Dark clouds have started to appear on the horizion though, as recon reports over 200 fighters now assembled at Bangkok.

On the ground, I won the race to the coast road. We now just sit throw insults back and forth in the jungle. Since I own all the hexsides but 1 (that leads into the jungle), I'm content to just sit it out. The groud combat power I mentioned in my last post is just starting to arrive. 2 armor Bns just reached Chittagong, an Inf Div (split into 3rds) is streached out from Chittagong to a week sailing to Bombay. More infantry is enroute to Cape Town.

My plan now is to assemble my armor and infantry in Bassein and stockpile supplies in Prome, Bassein, and Rangoon. Then I'll drive straight and hard toward Pegu. With luck, he won't see it until I cut him off south of Prome... he will have to take the northern way out, which means it will take a while to redeploy to protect Pegu. If I can take Pegu supply will drop to a trickle. A thrust to Chiang Mai (probably airborne) can move 1 hex south from there and cut off the other road into Burma. There is need for caution though... one of the infantry divisions he used in northern Oz is moving to Singapore, and I can only assume from there to Burma.

I still haven't decided what to do with Ramree. Current intel suggests it is lightly defended, and I really could use a base for PT boats here. It will also help my supply in southern Burma, but I'm not really having problems there. Supply is flowing in bulk from Akyab to Prome. The biggest problem is time / opportunity cost. It will take whatever force I send a month and a half to march in / out - assuming I send enough to take the place. This is a month and a half I won't have these units to drive on Pegu.


On the water, he has 3 SAGs rampaging around the Bay of Bengal. At least 1 BB is included, plus several CAs. He is creeping up to the Burma coast, almost daring me to attack via A/C. I have quietly built up a navy here, including 5 Fletchers and a Cleveland (plus a bunch of British boats and a grab bag of older US and Dutch CLs). Right now they are all escorting troops into Bombay - but as I get more and more boats in place, the time to retake the Bay of Bengal will come.

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Marshall Islands

I'm still playing the slow game here. I used my CVEs to launch a large sweep at Kusaie. This was very successful - and now the only fighters he has is 33 in Ponape, 18 in Eniwetok (why Eniwetok?), and 2 here / 3 there. Even better is the fact that he now appears to have nearly zero air search in the area. My TFs have had no DL for weeks - even ones I send to creep around north west of the Gilberts. The KB showed up near Turk a few weeks ago, but made no move toward my bases - and has since disappeared.

Right now, my [fast] CVs are enroute to strike Wake Island. Intel indicates he has over 50 bombers, but no fighters. I also see a constant low level of naval traffic there.

I'll see how he responds to a strike on Wake, but the time is coming near to start moving again. My next targets are Ailinglaplap and Nauru.

After that it is Ponape. Kusaie is too well defended, while Ponape is lightly defended, and appears to be a sizable logistics base for him in the area. I need to be patient here though. I have to wait until I have enough fast CVs to take on the KB and win decisively. This can happen either by waiting until September, or if I get lucky and I can execute a combined CV / CVE / LBA assault that ends in my favor.


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China

I hate China. After screwing up China in a bad way, my new tactic is guerilla warfare and trying to defend the central valley. To that end, I have sent small, beat up, split up, and anything else I can scrape up to go run around and sit on a road somewhere. At this point I think I have all the roads into Sian blocked. In the south, he still has one road open (I think)... hopefully that will be changed soon. His army in the central valley has come in through the wilderness, and has no direct road access to its rear. So the overall state is not as bad as it could be.

For the past few months I've had a MLR on the river that runs east of Chungking. He crossed the river 2 hexes north and sustained heavy losses. After that he sat for what seemed like forever - while bombing my troops. Losses were not too great, but being red / yellow in supply all over China, my front line troops weren't getting what they needed. So I withdrew everything to the cities. He responded by splitting up and trying to drive through the central valley and encircle my troops. This left an opportunity as individual units have been caught in the open now a few times. Today, the 69th Division got mauled:

Japanese ground losses:
2309 casualties reported
Squads: 54 destroyed, 91 disabled
Non Combat: 98 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 17 (7 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
650 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 171 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled

It isn't much, but it is something to cheer about! Now I'll turtle up back in Chungking and continue taking my lumps.

Burma

China

4/19/1943

Bay of Bengal
Ha! I said he was daring me to attack his cruisers with my aircraft. Well, it looked like he was standing off to bombard Prome - after which, his ships would move south. I moved a bunch of Vengeance’s and Beaufort's to Prome. The results:
A handful of Jakes flying CAP are swept from the skies by Wildcats from VMF-222. Then over the course of the day CL Kashii takes 10 and CA Maya takes 6 in the gut - all 500 lbrs. Both are left as burning wrecks and reported suck (I sure hope so). CA Tone takes 3, but none penetrate. Sadly, the Beaufort's may well have not even bothered to show up - no fish find a target.

Burma
No real action as I build up forces for a counter push. The Monsoon is looming over everything, but from the manual revision page, I saw this gem:
"The monsoon runs from May 15 to Oct 15 and is only for bases that have max draw in Burma and along the India/Burma border."
The key phrase being "only for bases that have a max draw". Prome (and Rangoon) have no max draw. Just about everything else does. So from a supply perspective, I should be fine operating around these bases. Since all of his bases (except Moulmein, I think) are rate limited he should be at a disadvantage - at least for the initial phases.
We don't have any house rules on Burma / Monsoon, so I have to ask - is this gamey? And if so, how should I start a dialog without giving away any plans?

As to the extent of the buildup - one regiment of the 43rd is in Bassein, a second will finish being airlifted in today (there 105s and motorized support is still in Chittagong). The 3rd regiment will be in Bombay in a few days. The 32nd ID just landed in India and is being railed to Chittagong. 2 armor Bns are passing through Cox's Bazar en route to Bassein.
I'm going to ship the 43rd (and 32nd) heavy equipment - the question is to where? I can do Akyab, but it will take a while to move it overland and down. I can try Rangoon, but that is risky. I will probably try for Rangoon, as the devices in question all have large pools, and I can afford the risk.


As to the air war, several days of good weather let bombs drop on his forces at Prome with good effect. A summary of 1 typical days effort:

Japanese ground losses:
269 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non-Combat: 0 destroyed, 48 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 15 (3 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Vehicles lost 49 (4 destroyed, 45 disabled)

(Note - summed up several bombardments). Nothing that is game changing, but it all helps. And I'd really love to see his disruption and fatigue. As for the bad guy fighters assembling in Bangkok - well he started LRCAPing his forces at Prome. My CAP (flying from Prome) would accompany the bombers, and the results were very one sided. Every day he lost about 15-20 fighters, to my 1, maybe 2.
Now he has assembled 120+ fighters at Moulmein. I'll hold off on bombing for a day and prepare to receive a heavy sweep. If nothing comes, I reevaluate. At some point here, I will need to start attacking his airforce again, and leave the mud alone. But first, I need him to keep his planes in the same place for a bit.


Oz
Seeing one of his 2 divisions heading to Singapore, I started moving to attack. I would like him to have to keep as much here as possible (as opposed to Burma or CENTPAC). Anything that dies - even better.

Supply here is worse than Burma. There are only 2 crap roads into the area. One from Normantown is somewhat effective, but it lands between Daly Waters and Katherine. The other is from Tennant Creek. Tennant Creek has a limit on how much supply it can draw - and it isn't much. I have been building it up, but it is slow going. I finally got some USN construction elements into there, but they can't operate at full efficiency due to the low supply draw.

As to the attack plan, I have the 7th Aussie Division marching up toward Daly Waters. 5 Armor units totaling 328 AV have bypassed Daly Waters. Most will head directly to Katherine and overrun the base force there. One will circle back into Daly Waters, and along with the 7th Division coming up and a lot of bombers, should overrun the armor he has there. The plan here is to strike quick. I don't have fighters with the range to protect the bombers, so I can't have him moving in fighters. So one or 2 days of bombardment, followed by overwhelming ground force. Once overrun, I will move to Darwin. I hope that after taking it, I can sneak in some supply. At any rate, an operational pause is necessary in order to build up supplies.



Raid on Wake Island
I sent my 4 CVs (one was HMS Victorious) to raid Wake. It was reported to have 50+ bombers, several TFs loading or unloading and little else (no AA, just a few fighters). The raid on the airfield went well - 10 or so Rufe's were swept aside and about 6-8 Vals were destroyed on the ground. However the DBs set for naval attack didn't fly, and I was hoping for more destroyed bombers. Learning my lesson from NORPAC, I retreated after 1 turn, and didn't press my luck. It probably would have been fine, but I need those decks in the coming months, and couldn't risk them to smoke a few more Vals and small ships.
Next up, I think I'll hit Kusaie again, possibly combined with a larger aerial offensive around the Marshalls.

Thought I would peek in again. Much better job on the reports (for these older eyes).
And keep up the reports, people are reading.

4/22/1943

No a lot going on the past few turns.

Bay of Bengal
A few subs up by Chittagong. I sent a few old British DDs up there to see what damage they can inflict. I-157 got worked over hard yesterday. A few AMs got suck when he sneaked a few bombers into Shwebo. He does this from time to time when he spots a TF moving supplies to Akyab. What I need to do here is set a trap at Akyab and shoot down the bombers.

Burma
New intel hits say that now the 4th Division is headed to Singapore. I last saw them in Java. He appears to be stripping nearly everything he can for Burma.

I keep thinking I should mix up the air war here. Everyday I bombard his troops at Prome in strength. For weeks now he has not challenged. I keep thinking he has to try at some point. I'm getting too predictable here... but every day I have success, and it is hard to turn away from.
I am trying to stay ahead in the fighter war. To that effect though, h-e is moving his A/C around a lot. It is hard to guess where they will be on any given day. I swept Rahaeng yesterday to see if they could catch him. No dice. Worse yet, recon didn't fly, so I am blacked out at Pisanuloke (where I think he is) and Toungoo (where I fear he may go).


CENTPAC
Still no sign of the KB - I'm guessing they are upgrading. They should be about done by now I would think. As to his scouting, I had him completely suppressed for a few weeks, but now he is starting to poke around again. Since there is nothing else going on (besides moving troops to staging areas), I'm going to send in some fast bombardment TFs to places there are recon / scout A/C. I snuck 5 CLs to Ebon. From there they will strike Kusaie. CAs from Tarawa will hit Nauru. After that I will run away and see what he does.