Wedge Donovan Wins the War: Apbarog(A) vs Aurorus(J) DBB-B

[apbarog]

I don't know what Aurorus' intentions are. He could be just wanting to interdict Australia, or just extending the perimeter to buy more time for the defense. I do fear that he could get me to heavily reinforce Noumea (already done) and the same at Suva (in the works) and then just go around it with bigger landings on less defended targets, like Norfolk Island.

I've posted a map of China. I fear the worst here. I haven't been able to stop his offensive so far. If he breaks the current line, the capital isn't that far away.

It will be interesting to see if KB stays at Suva. Very soon, Aurorus will have to make a choice.

[apbarog]

17 Jun 42

A few ships still unloading at Nadi, including badly damaged and burning xAP Monevideo Maru. S-28 fires 4 torpedoes at big minelayer Tokiwa, but misses. Aurorus may have mined Nadi. I doubt it, as the base is still mine. He'd only do it if he wasn't going to bombard any longer. Doubtful. Some CM's can carry troops, but no unloading noted from these ships.

Halibut fired 2 torpedoes at DMS W-4, which is the only ship staying with Montevideo Maru at Nadi. Torpedoes miss.

Sculpin makes another attack on the AMC task force at Cocos Islands (not Christmas Island (IO) as listed in previous entries). 2 torpedoes miss a patrol boat.

I took a big chance running 12 APD's into Suva with KB so close, but it worked. The ships weren't spotted, and a big chunk of the Marine regiment was moved in. The big artillery probably won't make it to the unit for awhile.

KB and other task forces moved ENE today, intentions and destination unknown.

SigInt notes that the Botanko Heavy Gun Regiment is loaded on an xAK and headed to Batangas on Luzon. No doubt headed to Bataan, to reduce it just like it helped to do to the mountain base on Java.

[apbarog]

It is worth noting that the first fast US battleship arrived today, North Carolina. It will make its way from Panama. Also, CV Wasp is approaching Hawaii. It's the last US CV for about a year, when the Essex class carriers start arriving. Wasp, unfortunately, won't participate in the next major operation, at least not in the initial phases.

[apbarog]

18 Jun 42

Near Norfolk Island, RO-66 fires 4 torpedoes at fast minelayer CM Abdiel, but misses. I've said before that this ship is a favorite of mine. So fast. Can move 11 hexes at full speed in one phase. It is currently moving into position to drop some mines.

Damaged enemy xAP Montevideo Maru is still unloading supply at Nadi. The ship still shows heavy damage, but no longer shows fires.

Gato fires 2 torpedoes at xAK Kurogane Maru near Nauru Island. One hits, but it's a dud.

Seadragon fires 4 torpedoes at big CM Tokiwa near Luganville. One hits, but it's a dud.

Usual enemy air activity in China and Luzon. My CAP trap in China missed by one hex today, as Aurorus shifted his many Sonia bombers one hex to the south. He got good recon of my base where the fighters are, so it's back to Ledo again.

See the map for activity near Suva.

[apbarog]

18 Jun 42 - Elsewhere

[BBfanboy]

A 1/0 D/L sounds like a minimal detection, like a Sigint hit that there was a transmission at that location.
For certain there would be no detail on TF type or composition.

[apbarog]

We'll know soon enough, if KB comes running. Hopefully I've got things set up so that's it a win-win situation, whether KB comes running or not.

[apbarog]

19 Jun 42

Sculpin gets another shot at ships near Cocos Islands, firing on a patrol boat with 2 torpedoes, but missing. Sculpin heads back to Ceylon for fuel and torps.

Triton fires 4 torpedeos at DD Kazegumo east of Luganville. The TF has BB Kirishima and CS Chitose.

Tautog is spotted near Hoorn Islands by a big task force with BB Hiei and 2 CSs. It is not damaged.

Today is all about KB. It disappeared today. It could have headed toward Luganville. The TF that Triton spotted is a candidate for a carrier TF. Or KB could be headed north to the Marshalls. One of my TFs NE of the Marshalls got 1/1 DL, after getting 1/0 DL yesterday. I can only hope that it isn't "heavy activity", and is just "activity", and could look like a sub.

With the number of subs that I have in the appropriate areas, and the Catalinas searching, I should know where KB is soon, unless it heads towards Truk.

[zuluhour]

looks like two Guadalcanal scenarios for you. I don't think this is a bad situation should you be able to stall him long enough at either
or both. You opponent could very well get tunnel vision. Obsession is not a good mind set. This has been fun for me to read, keep it
up.

[apbarog]

I agree zuluhour. At Noumea/Koumac, there isn't much I can do. Koumac has over 50,000 men there, about 3 divisions. I have 2 divisions at Noumea. He also has more than a division at La Foa. I could bring in 2 more divisions and still not take Koumac. At Nadi/Suva, however, I have an opportunity. I'm bringing in the rest of a Marine division now. And I'm going to bring in 2 divisions from Australia. That will be enough to eliminate the enemy at Nadi, which would be a nice result. All of this assumes that KB leaves the area long enough, but that may happen with what's about to happen up north.

My current long-range plan for Koumac is to isolate it, instead of taking it. Aurorus will probably pull out troops before this can happen, but I think I can force this evacuation with a plan of isolation. At some point, if there's a drawdown at Koumac, an assault could become possible.

Still, the plan is defend and delay. Except for what's about to happen up north, where the plan is...well, we'll see soon.

[apbarog]

Aurorus has been busy, so no turn yesterday or today. I should receive a turn tomorrow (Thursday), but then we are both unavailable through the middle of next week, so nothing to report for awhile. I will be getting to that turn no earlier than Sunday. I'll make my usual post after that turn, then we'll wait until Wednesday or so for Aurorus to be available.

Allied fleet headed west...to Wake? Marshalls? I'm not saying yet.
Reinforcements getting into Suva, slowly, with lots more on the way, if KB stays away.
Carrier Wasp is at Pearl Harbor. Just a bit too late to head west with the others, but it will start to make its way west also.

Lots to look forward too, and as the Allied side, every day is a better day than the last. A slow but steady stream of reinforcements coming in, with the flood to begin in mid-'43.

[zuluhour]

I would be interested in a discussion on isolating a garrison. I'm not so sure
there are enough steps to take. The subs and floats seem to penetrate the
best laid defenses.

[apbarog]

At this point, best case scenario for Koumac is to isolate it. And by that I mean build up surrounding bases to prevent evacuation of troops by ship. Hard to stop evacuation/supply by sub, or air transport. But I'd be happy having enemy divisions have to leave their heavy equipment and support behind, even if every combat squad was evacuated.

Balep Island would be the main spot to take, just north of Koumac. Luganville would help also. I'm not going to get an overwhelming victory here with so many enemy troops. Stalemate, for now, is fine here.

[apbarog]

20 Jun 42

Seadragon spots xAP Montevideo Maru, still showing heavy damage and slowly making its way from Nadi to Luganville. 4 torpedoes are fired at the big transport, and one hits, but its a dud. Would have been nice to finish her off.

At Hoorn Islands, Dutch sub KXVI hit PB Okuyo Maru #2 with 2 torpedoes, sinking the patrol boat. Later in the day, many TFs show up at Hoorn. A combat TF with Mutsu and Nagato finds KXVI and gets a depth charge hit on her. The sub will now retire south for repairs. Got a patrol boat in the shallows but it's generally too dangerous to be there against destroyers.

Quite a few enemy ships at Hoorn Islands now, as the map shows. KB may have split up, with half going north, or it all may be north of Hoorn Islands now.

Allied TFs well west of the Hawaian Islands were not spotted today. They could have been spotted by long range search planes, so that was good.

I've started working on the next turn, but I have until next Tuesday to do so, with Aurorus unavailable till then, and I'll be busy tomorrow and Saturday. I'm taking my time, and will attend to all the little details like pilot training and inspecting the reinforcements lists, planning for the future.

[apbarog]

20 Jun 42 - Up North

[apbarog]

20 Jun 42 - Philippines

[jwolf]

If you have the enemy held at both New Caledonia and Fiji, while making an invasion yourself at Wake or somewhere in the Marshalls, that would be tremendous and an incredibly difficult feat for so early in the war.

[HansBolter]

Enjoying this action very much.

The thing to beware in aggressive forward action in '42 is airframe losses.

The pools cannot cover sustained combat attrition.

Both of the current sieges at Fiji and New Caledonia seem to be operating with little airframe attrition which portends well for future development.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

If you have the enemy held at both New Caledonia and Fiji, while making an invasion yourself at Wake or somewhere in the Marshalls, that would be tremendous and an incredibly difficult feat for so early in the war.

Well, fighting so far forward really burns the fuel for Japan. Japan can easily rotate and retake anything this early, but it does shift initiative. As long as AV isn't in the cards for Japan, I would want Japan to keep expanding in the pacific as far as I could entice them to.

I mentioned that by far the bigger threat to Japan is managing to save China,if possible.

I am not reading Japan's AAR, but would think that perhaps with the KB in the pacific, an invasion of Tavoy area, into the Thailand plains would be doable in 1943 sometime. Especially true if China can survive.

I agree with Hans, The AAR is very enjoyable and really well done.[&o]

[apbarog]

Thanks for the comments and kind words. I enjoy doing the AAR. For me, it's just part of doing my daily turn.

China is a problem. This is only my 2nd game as the Allies in AE, and in my first game, my opponent was not aggressive in China. In my many games as the Japanese, I was never overly aggressive in China. I had opportunities to overrun China completely, but I thought that it was unreasonable to do so, thinking that it could have never have happened. The result of all this is that I'm a novice at defending in China. Aurorus hasn't been super aggressive, but he has used a lot of aircraft, and every day. Troops in the clear are doomed. I think my play was ok until he approached Changsha, and I didn't want to get surrounded there, so I unhinged the southern front to pivot north into the wooded terrain. His airpower enticed me to get off of the roads and into the woods down south, and this was a mistake. He then used the roads to move more quickly than I could and surrounded a number of corps.

Now I've formed a line, but the issue is in doubt. I've learned to pay a lot more attention to the stacking limits in China. Not because I was overstacking, but because I could predict where the enemy would attack because their big attacking stack couldn't go everywhere. But if this line breaks, the capital isn't far away, and I'd have to consider a general withdrawal in the north and central fronts, and that would be a disaster if I had to give up the oil fields.

Elsewhere, the air war has been meager near Noumea and Suva. The Japanese regularly has over 100 fighters at Koumac, and I generally don't mess with them. Aircraft pools are low. When I have a big fight with P-40Es and lose 20 or so, that's a month's production. Can't do that. Carrier aircraft are similarly low. I'm good for one big fight with what they have, and that's it right now. That will change, of course, but not this early.

I will say that my plan "up north" is to open a second front, another point of concern for the enemy. KB can't be everywhere. I don't mind getting it to run around using fuel. And I'll do what I can where it isn't. And the time will come when I accept the big carrier battle, when the conditions are right.

So for now, mostly delay and defend, and maybe a metaphorical punch in the nose coming very soon.