Carry On up the Pacific: AllenK vs sPzAbt.502 (Allied AAR)

[AllenK]

08/12/1941
SNAFUCOM-PAC

Dear Diary,

Interesting developments. It seems there has been some form of coup in Tokyo and a new fellow has taken over. He is only known by a code designation. I put the intell boffins onto it but all they could come up with, is it would be a German Heavy Tank Battalion. However, the 502nd isn't known to exist yet and the German's don't currently have any heavy tanks. They're in a right flap now, wondering what new devilry the Hun are dreaming up.

I've also received a revised set of damage reports. Much is similar. Iba and Clarke Field in the Philippines hit hard and quite a bit of damage. Attacks on the RAF across Malaya didn't cause much damage. Their detachments on Hong Kong appeared to get a bit of a pasting but only 4 aircraft now showing as damaged. RAF attacks in response ineffective. Landings at Aparri, Kota Bauru and Batan Island, the latter of which has fallen. Air attacks in China.

On a brighter note, it seems Force Z was tucked up safe and sound for the night in Singapore and the damage to ships at Pearl was a bit lighter, despite the Japs coming back for a second innings in the afternoon.

Morning Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 180,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 114 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 42 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 48
B5N2 Kate x 68
D3A1 Val x 93

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 7 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 4 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 22 damaged
D3A1 Val: 5 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
A-20A Havoc: 11 damaged
A-20A Havoc: 3 destroyed on ground
B-17D Fortress: 23 damaged
B-17D Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
PBY-5 Catalina: 81 damaged
PBY-5 Catalina: 4 destroyed on ground
B-18A Bolo: 38 damaged
B-18A Bolo: 3 destroyed on ground
P-36A Mohawk: 9 damaged
P-36A Mohawk: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40B Warhawk: 38 damaged
P-40B Warhawk: 5 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 12 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
SBD-1 Dauntless: 34 damaged
SBD-1 Dauntless: 4 destroyed on ground
O-47A: 7 damaged
O-47A: 1 destroyed on ground
R3D-2: 1 damaged
R3D-2: 1 destroyed on ground
C-33: 1 destroyed on ground
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 2, on fire
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1
BB West Virginia, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB California, Bomb hits 2, on fire
BB Maryland, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 1
DM Preble, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Dale, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Raleigh, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Bagley, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Torpedo hits 1

Airbase hits 26
Runway hits 51
Port hits 7
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Afternoon Air attack on Pearl Harbor , at 180,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 67 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
B5N2 Kate x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 14 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 5 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
BB Nevada, Torpedo hits 2
BB Maryland, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Torpedo hits 1
AV Tangier, Torpedo hits 1
BB California, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AV Curtiss, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Port hits 1

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Pearl Harbor at 180,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 72 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 32
D3A1 Val x 21

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
DD Ward, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AG Antares, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk

(Skipping out from the narrative, sadly, Warspite1 decided not to continue the game. I was then fortunate to be contacted by sPzAbt.502 and we started afresh. Rather do a new AAR, I thought I may as well write this into the story. The game was set with the historical start off, so I took the opportunity to disband Force Z. No other TF's formed or orders changed. Only orders to be given to Chinese units as they are already at war. Currently ploughing through the Allied Dec 8th turn. Please stay tuned.)

[RangerJoe]

Reform Force Z and have it join with the 4 stackers that are with the AD, I believe the Blackhawk. That was actually the plan as The commander was in Manila when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He then flew back to Singapore and sailed to his death. I would like to see the surface forces of the Asiatic fleet join with the Far East fleet before the war starts in some mod as that was the plan.

[Bif1961]

Welcome back I am glad you found another worthy opponent and will continue with this AAR.

[warspite1]

Glad to see you got another opponent for the game - I'll watch with interest.

[bradfordkay]

ORIGINAL: AllenK

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: AllenK




Possibly but first need to boost the CW device pools with The Guns from Brixton.

Or some Spanish Bombs.

Yes, plus some Tommy Guns.

Not to worry... before long you'll find that you receive plenty of Washington Bullets.

[AllenK]

09/12/41
SNAFUCOM-PAC

Dear Diary,

A quieter day today.

The Jap carriers didn't try for another day's strikes at Pearl and have disappeared into the blue yonder.

Apart from raids in China, the most significant action was over Clarke Field. Successive sweeps by Zeros brushed the P-40's aside with barely a scratch to themselves. They came in at a similar height to the standing CAP (20K) and wreaked havoc amongst those scrambled to join the affray. The score looks to be 22:5, so some adjustments will be needed.

In a somewhat ironic manner, the minelaying ship I sent to Mersing itself struck a mine on its way back to Singers. It was amongst the islands to the south of Mersing. Laying mines there smacks of putting a screen to protect the flank of an invasion. Will have to keep an eye out and have adjusted some searches to cover the approaches. I'll send the sweepers up to try and clear the mines.

Kota Bharu and Aparri fell to the invaders.

Over at Pearl, all the fires are out but a considerable amount of work will keep the dockers busy for a while.

[BBfanboy]

You have prioritized your use of the SY correctly - DDs and cruisers before old BBs. If you decide to send some BBs to the WC or EC, route them down to Hilo via the shallow water hexes and then an evasive course to the ports or off-map hexes. His subs will be waiting in the hexes along the shortest route and in approaches to ports. My own preference is to keep them pierside at PH until my ASW ships and aircraft get good enough to clear the area around my ports. Things get better after about a month.

[AllenK]

Yes, Hawaii has 6 subs spotted and 4 1-2 ship task forces in the vicinity.

[AllenK]

10/12/41
SNAFUCOM-PAC

Dear Diary,

Another quiet day. Something must be afoot but no clues from the initial combat reports.

Some nuisance night raids over Singers and Malaya. Have a plan underway for something similar to show two can play at that game.

Much recon. Our cruiser TF's down at the southern end of the Philippines were spotted, so I'll need to shift them.

3 Pete's did a surprisingly good job strafing Guam (5 hits on the runway).

Some unescorted raids on 3 of the more exposed Chinese corps. I'll have to see if I can put some fighters in the vicinity to try and catch one out.

Japanese capture Bayombong.

At Keifang, the 98th Chinese Corps holds off an attack by 3 Mixed Brigade, inflicting 161 casualties for 81 in return.

Star performance of the day goes to the Dutch. 4 hits claimed and sinking sounds heard.

[AllenK]

11/12/41
SNAFUCOM-PAC

Dear Diary,

Another relatively quiet day.

My little plan to have a go at the unescorted raids in China worked reasonably well. I moved 3rd AVG from Kunming to Wuchow and they intercepted a raid, downing 3 bombers. They might have done more if I'd remembered to set their altitude from 20K down closer to the 6K the bombers came in at. The combat wasn't particularly long before the bombers were on target. Still, the point was made.

The P-40's in the Philippines managed to down 5 Zeros but lost 11.

The Dutch do well as a sub claims an xAK but gets 3 hits from the escort.

I manage to commit my Chinese forces at Ichang to a shock attack but the gods are on my side and it doesn't come off too badly.

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 56833 troops, 347 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1694

Defending force 15106 troops, 116 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 538

Allied adjusted assault: 352

Japanese adjusted defense: 229

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: fatigue(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
314 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
299 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 31 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
67th Chinese Corps
32nd Chinese Corps
8th Chinese Corps
68th Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps

Defending units:
34th Division
13th RGC Temp. Division

The Japs capture Tuguegarao.

[AllenK]

12/12/41
SNAFUCOM-PAC

Dear Diary,

My little response to the Japanese night bombing proved a bit of a lack-lustre affair. I set the available B-17's in the Philippines to attack the Jap fighter base at Aparri. Only 8 of the 20 odd available flew and 5 of these couldn't find the target. No damage was reported by the 3 who did have a bash but I suppose the point that two can play at this game has been made.

Interesting to note a previously unescorted bombing mission in China now had fighter support. I didn't contest this one, instead having moved the AVG away again.

Japanese feeling out the defences at Tsiatso with a bombardment attack that cause them the only casualties. NE of Paotow, 2 Jap cavalry brigades came of worse in a deliberate attack on a Chinese corps (216 to 100 casualties reported). However, at Kweiteh Jap 32nd/C Div routed two corps and took the base.

Air raids and bombardments at Hong Kong.

Elsewhere, the Lex and Enterpise are now in one TF, with 6 CA's and 7 DD's and heading away from Wake after being spotted yesterday. The CV's recovered the marine fighter unit. A 3 ship DD TF will move to Wake and a 4 DD TF up to Midway to sniff around up there.

The two SCS's to the south of the Philippines didn't report being sighted.

Overall, another quiet day.

[RangerJoe]

If you can, airlift out segments of the units at Guam and Wake so you won't have to buy them back. You can also fly out parts of some units at Hong Kong as well, then get them to India to rebuild.

For China, stockpile all infantry squads and devices but let the units take support squads only. This is because the units don't have enough support for the squads that they already have, doing so will make their existing squads more effective and hopefully the disabled squads will then become functional. Why feed them if they don't fully contribute to the fight? Let the squads build up in stockpiles for any Chinese units that you send to India for the fight there. Large Chinese units with Commonwealth support units can be effective.

To reduce the cost of buying out a restricted division, you can divide it into thirds and then disband 2 of the 3 parts. Rebuild the division as often as you want to and you can buy it out for 1 PP even but it will be very weak. Buy it out and then divide it into thirds to rebuild.

[AllenK]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

If you can, airlift out segments of the units at Guam and Wake so you won't have to buy them back. You can also fly out parts of some units at Hong Kong as well, then get them to India to rebuild.

For China, stockpile all infantry squads and devices but let the units take support squads only. This is because the units don't have enough support for the squads that they already have, doing so will make their existing squads more effective and hopefully the disabled squads will then become functional. Why feed them if they don't fully contribute to the fight? Let the squads build up in stockpiles for any Chinese units that you send to India for the fight there. Large Chinese units with Commonwealth support units can be effective.

To reduce the cost of buying out a restricted division, you can divide it into thirds and then disband 2 of the 3 parts. Rebuild the division as often as you want to and you can buy it out for 1 PP even but it will be very weak. Buy it out and then divide it into thirds to rebuild.

Thanks for the advice.

I have pulled out some cadres of the Canadian Hong Kong units. Didn't think about Wake or Guam. I can probably do something about Wake but it's probably too late for Guam as it's just been invaded and I don't have much in the vicinity to fly anything out.

What you say about the Chinese makes sense. I haven't got many units set to take replacements at the moment, so things should be stockpiling. I'll look to configure for support squad only replacements.

[AllenK]

13/12/41
SNAFUCOM-PAC

Dear Diary,

A short update.

Guam was invaded.

The Jap subs got some revenge by sinking a TK near Palembang.

Air raids in China.

Hong Kong withstood its first assault. It went in at 2:1 with the Japs losing around 1000 to the Allies 300.

The Japs captured Victoria Point.

My plan to recombine the two Indian divisions got derailed (literally) as one of the brigades took 1 day too long to pack and was forced to detrain when a Japanese unit cut the rail line. It decamped into the jungle so I've sent it back to Alor Star. Maybe I can try and send some fast transports or fly out some of the unit before it gets destroyed.

[RangerJoe]

The Guam unit can go to the Phillipines, or at least a part with a PBY. Then get it to Australia for rebuilding and you have the base force there.

Get even just a small part of any units out of Malaya so they can be rebuilt. They can help in Australia later. If the unit disappears later, it can't be bought back but it can be rebuilt from just one device.

Can your B-17s from Manila hit strategic targets in Japan itself for strategic victory points? It would be aggravating for the Japanese to have to repair damaged facilities at the same time as expanding others.

P-40Es at 100 feet strafing and bombing Japanese transports off Luzon, especially to the SE of Manila, could be effective, especially if there is insufficient LB fighters for CAP. Just doing it once should then cause a JFB to consider a CAP until your fighters are knocked out or depart. If the Japanese have CAP/LRCAP from greater than 2 hexes, then they should see an increase in both fatigue and ops losses plus a probably morale problem.

Have your LB bombers set for city strikes with a range set so they will only fly when a target such as Miri is captured, sometimes on an autoflip, where the anti-bomber defenses are not yet in place.

[AllenK]

14/12/41
SNAFUCOM-PAC

Dear Diary,

Guam fell to the Japanese.

Their submarine arm had a good day putting down a TK, 2 xAKl and a xAK.

The TF at the southern end of the Philippines, based around CL Marblehead and 4 DD's, came under attack from carrier air. This included planes apparently from Kaga. Over the morning and afternoon, Marblehead reportedly took 3 250 KG bomb hits. The attacks came from 4 hex range, just beyond the 3 hex reaction setting. However, the combat reports appear to have exaggerated the damage as Marblehead is now showing as undamaged.

Chinese bombardment at Ichang appears to have caused more damage to the Chinese than Japanese. Jap bombardments at Hong Kong and Paotow were ineffective.

[AllenK]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

The Guam unit can go to the Phillipines, or at least a part with a PBY. Then get it to Australia for rebuilding and you have the base force there.

Get even just a small part of any units out of Malaya so they can be rebuilt. They can help in Australia later. If the unit disappears later, it can't be bought back but it can be rebuilt from just one device.

Can your B-17s from Manila hit strategic targets in Japan itself for strategic victory points? It would be aggravating for the Japanese to have to repair damaged facilities at the same time as expanding others.

P-40Es at 100 feet strafing and bombing Japanese transports off Luzon, especially to the SE of Manila, could be effective, especially if there is insufficient LB fighters for CAP. Just doing it once should then cause a JFB to consider a CAP until your fighters are knocked out or depart. If the Japanese have CAP/LRCAP from greater than 2 hexes, then they should see an increase in both fatigue and ops losses plus a probably morale problem.

Have your LB bombers set for city strikes with a range set so they will only fly when a target such as Miri is captured, sometimes on an autoflip, where the anti-bomber defenses are not yet in place.

Too late for Guam!

B-17's are at Cagayan at the moment but no reason they can't be transferred if I can find a base in range of a strategic target.

I'll keep in mind the P-40's straffing. At the moment no TF's sighted SE of Luzon and their hands have been a bit full with the Jap Zero sweeps.

I'll certainly pull cadres from Malaya and possibly some of the bigger Aussie units if I can.

[zuluhour]

I agree with Jim, your PH repairs look good. Not as much damage to BB row as I'm used to seeing, good for summer in the Pacific. Those old
BBs can really chip in later...

[AllenK]

Sadly, it looks as though this game has also ended prematurely.

Back in Feb, my opponent reported a problem with running the turn in that the combat replay wouldn't save.

We tried a couple of things but to no avail.

I then got a message he was having problems with games on his Steam account and suspected a problem with his computer. That's the last I've heard.