Tocaff vs bigred

[Wirraway_Ace]

Great AAR gentlemen!

[bigred]

MacArther contemplates: "If I sign this deal with Japan, Will they bomb my transports after I pick up my men and give Japan Port Morsby, or will they bomb my transports before I even get a chance to load my troops?"

If your a real Jap, MacArther already know the answer. Japan will bomb them as they come in and go out.[8|]

[tocaff]

Are you nuts!?!  I said that you could surrender, not evac.  Any ship approaching PM will eat Aunt Betty's fish or get shelled to the bottom!  Let over 30K troops just leave to fight again later?  I don't think so!  Repeat after me, POWs or dead bodies......

[bigred]

See, there they go. They LIED to me... They can not be trusted.[:-]

[bigred]

10-10-42: Nimitz and Halsey await battle reports.

[tocaff]

See FDR and his lackeys are the lying dogs.  The Empire of Japan offered to treat the POWs with respect, not to let them go.  This isn't the American Civil War where parole was granted if you gave your word not to return to the battlefield.  U S Grant changed that though when he ordered that prisoners to no longer be paroled or exchanged.  Soon the lunar landscape known as PM will be liberated despite an attempted Allied end run to disrupt my plans. 

BANZAI!  BANZAI!  BANZAI!

[bigred]

B26's no effect on the IJN. The japs are having their way with the sea lanes of supply. high fatugue, low morale. I fell bad for my guys.[:(]

[tocaff]

Wait until the pilots have a bit of rest, the morale is higher and the experience level goes up and then the B-26 is very useful.  It also becomes the B-25J later.

[tocaff]

October 15, 1942

The Allied situation appears to be grim as their supplies must be virtually gone and loses continue to mount on a daily basis.  The IJA and IJN have been keeping LRCAPs over PM to protect shipping assests as they come and go along with interdicting air resupply efforts.  Plans for the POWs are being implemented with sword and bayonet practice being strongly discouraged.  The Allied troops have fought with honor, even if they were commanded by that cowardly running lap dog of FDR, Dugout Doug.

[tocaff]

October 18, 1942

PM has fallen!  A few thousand disorganized Allied troops have fled to the jungles immediately surrounding PM and will be moped up in short order.  The base is a shambles, but looks good withe the flag of the Rising Sun fluttering in the breeze.  The protracted battle was a logistical nightmare as fuel and supplies were consumed at a prodigious rate.  Now comes the period of digging in and casting our eyes towards the future and a re evaluation of my master plan.  I will give the Allies loses fromthe Japanese point of view in my next posting later today and would like to see BR do the same for Japanese loses.  This way nothing is given away in the intel that the enemy is always searching for.

[bigred]

Allied Intel indicates jap shipping losses as follows:
1x cvl sunk
2x cvl damaged
2xcv damaged
1x cs sunk
15x dd sunk
5x apd sunk
30x trans sunk
2x ao sunk

I do not consider these losses to the IJN as significant. Probably 8 IJA regiments on NG/pm are max fatiged w/ morale low, but will now have time to recover.

[tocaff]

The Allied forces are no longer to be found in PNG! 
As far as the Japanese can tell the Allied loses are heavy, but replaceable.
4   CV
7   CA
3   CL
42  DD
1   PG
4   APD
1   DM
4   MSW
3   AO
8   SS
14  PT
20  AP & AK
Tokyo also has reason to believe that there are 1,682 fewer Allied planes in the skies.

The IJA troops on PNG are now going to get some well deserved R&R, not to mention refitting.  I'll rotate some fresh troops in just incase the Allies try for an early bid to attack me.  The Solomons are peaceful for the moment and ready for whatever will come their way.  Many ships are in repair and will return in the not to distant future.  I always think that it's a wise strategy to stop the water from entering the hull and putting out the fires before sending a ship on the long journey back to Truk.  I has saved many a vessel this way that otherwise would've sunk.

[bigred]

The IJA has 12 regiments plus support units at PM. The damage level indicates all facilities at 90% damage. This will probably remain at this level as the b26's at cooktown use PM as a target range. Will the IJA walk out or ride out?

[tocaff]

Maybe walk as there's no hurry and no reason to risk the ships.

[tocaff]

October 30, 1942

A small Allied TF has managed to sneak up on Irau under the cover of bad weather and avoid the minefields there.  A Japanese cover force was off bombarding Nevea and the Bettys were standing down after raids on Allied shipping.  This war has become one struggle after anothere with no let up.  BR is stepping up the pressure with very large  bombing raids of PM, GG and Buna.  I'm beginning to feel like I'll need to do something to throw him off balance a bit, but what and where?

[tocaff]

A day later at Imperial HQs in Tokyo the word comes in that the Americans just seemed to be probing and the reports of transports was wrong.  

[tocaff]

November 11, 1942

As we enter mid November the logistical squeeze caused by the protracted Battle of PM has eased and ops are normal.  Bases continue to build up, the minefields grow and LCUs get some rest.  The air war is at a point where Allied bombers make shipping visitors to PNG a very risky business while the Japanese bombers continue to attack Allied ships in what BR must've thought were secure rear areas. The first P-38s have entered the fray in the skies over Irau as BR is trying to soften it up there by air attacks and strangle it with subs.  The IJN continues to act in an offensive nature as CV raids have netted some more AKs, TKs and AOs.  Ships that were damaged earlier in the game will soon be repaired for both sides and getting back into the fight.  The expected Allied offensive will get under way soon enough even though I'm trying to keep BR off balance.  At the end of the month we'll give a breakdown of shipping and aircraft loses, again from shaky intel so we don't give anything away to eachother. 

[tocaff]

The game is in mid November and though the Allies have suffered heavy loses the Japanese haven't escaped without loss of blood.  What we all need to remember here is that this is the first PBEM that BR has played.  He deserves kudos for trying to play a bold game, as most Allied players lay low, and this was not without cost to both sides.  He has also stuck with our game despite some of the hammerings that he has suffered.  It has been a very enjoyable game and soon he'll start his own offensive moves.

[tocaff]

November 24, 1942

All is as quiet as it could get with some probes, supply runs and bombing raids going on.  You could say that it appears that this could be the calm before the storm.  It's become a suicide run to get supplies into PNG and Irau for the IJN so fishing has become the oreder of the day.  PM continues to have it's craters cratered. 

[bigred]

Game date:11-28-42
It is sad to say that I should have been more careful with my assests in the early part of the game. I lost one division at GC and 3 Divisions at PM. I suspect that PM can be held, but the defender will need more game play experience. The defense of PM should not be tried by the allied player in his first email game.
Because of a lack of allied pilot experience and not enough units early in the senario in the first 6 months of the #19 senario, it becomes very dangerous to expose the pilots to long stints in combat because it appears the morale and fatigue ratings tank.
It was not until this week in the senario that I was able to muster CAP to garrantee an uninterruped AK supply run to a forward position. In the past 2 weeks I was able to rotate MRB's and LRB's, 8 sqn's forward and 8 sqn's reserve for the milk run on PM.
Currently about 2/3's of the allied AF is either in training or at rest.

My next strategic question will be to decide if it is best to do a frontal assault on a few key enemy positions or to bypass and use the old island hopping plan from WW2.