Here come the Rebels! (Canoe v. Q-Ball)

[Canoerebel]

12/22/41 and 12/23/41
 
Pardon me, Madam, your slip is showing:  Lurking near Sydney, I-166 takes a shot at Enterprise and misses (Gulp!).  It suits me for Brad to see Ent, because she won't be staying.  She and Lexington have refueled at Sydney and will follow an ASW TF to Portland, Australia.  From there they will head either to New Zealand or possibly to Capetown.  Make an appearance, unleash a dazzling smile, and then vanish quietly into the night.  At least that's what I hope happens.
 
Japanese Advances: Landings at Rabaul and Balikpan.  Neither base has fallen quite yet.  Balik's shore guns damaged a handful of Japanese transports.  There are presently 20 IJA units besieging Clark Field, where the Allied AV is 1500.  The spearhead of the Japanese advance down the Malay Peninsula is moving faster than some of my units are, so I'm starting to get a little worried about part of my force getting cut off.
 
Allied Withdrawals:  The Allies have been evacuating some base forces from Borneo, Celebes and vicinity.  Ultimately, the plan is to evacuate some to India via Port Blair, and some to Oz via Timor.  The Allies are also evacuating cadres of the Rabaul garrison.
 
Wake Island:  I feel like the transports and DDs have hung around long enough to arouse a counterstrike, so the transports weight anchor and move to Hawaii.  The DDs are going to raid Roi Namur.
 
Sikhalin Island:  The first DD force takes station one hex south of Shikuka tomorrow.  Another will follow in a few days.
 
Japanese Caution:  Brad is doing a terrific job protecting his transports with stout combat forces and placing his carriers in passageways to reduce the threat of Allied strikes.  I haven't found any "holes" in the DEI in the past week, but the fact that he is taking precautions is good in and of itself.
 
 
 

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: desicat

CR, Your plan to retake Port Blair is a good one and has the potential of really disrupting any plans QB has in the area. Depending upon what you have available it may be a good choice to dig in and fight, especially if he is not expecting it. Of course any units used for this will have to be expendable - mostly. A battle here combined with Singapore holding for as long as it can could really help.

On the down side if he has to put together a major force to grind Port Blair down, once finished he will have a strong TF available for operations to either interdict OZ or to invade parts of India.

Can you make him pay for failing to take Wake? Any plans to interdict the reinforcing assets?

Pt Blair isnt a strongpoint unless you really build it up, its under easy escorted bomber range from Rangoon et al so is easily besieged.

A Bn or so is worth it, makes an easy airborne or small amphib attack costly/impossible.

Wake is better placed, you have some leeway to sneak in supply but you are a long way from PH, and its so easy for the IJN to smash you with a Division whenever they want. The best support would be some SS with working torps on the approaches and some mines in the harbour!

Both are worthwhile to make QBall have to rethink his plans and waste time doing something he wasnt counting on. (And maybe taking some capital ships if very, very, very lucky.

[Canoerebel]

You're right, JeffK. Port Blair now has part of an Indian unit - enough (80 AV) to prevent it falling to para-assault. I need the base because that's one station I use to evacuate troops and aircraft from Malaya. As for Wake, anything I send to reinforce the base would just become casualties and wouldn't bother Q-Ball in the least.

[ny59giants]

You can use PBYs to transport the Indian unit and the BF out to Chittagong once all your planes have made their way to Burma/India. No need to just have them die for little gain. [;)]

[desicat]

Will Port Blair and Wake be lost - yes. As Nemo would say forcing QB to waste resources to bomb Port Blair would be a win, especially seeing how difficult it is to get them out that far. What one gains by making these bases just a bit more difficult to take is time, a precious thing for the early war allies.

CR, I really like what you are doing with the small surface TF's. The DD raid in the north will be really interesting to watch. Win/win situation no matter what happens, forces QB to consider having to account for merchant escorts. It has already paid off in locating the KB for you, and can do the same again. It often seems to me that the DD nuisance/offensive potential is underutilized.

[Canoerebel]

12/24/41
 
Stingers:  An Allied DD TF took station one hex south of Shikuka; a second is on the way to this area from Attu Island; a third will arrive at Roi Namur tonight.  So far there no contact with the enemy has been made and I don't know whether the enemy is aware of these incursions.
 
Pardon Me Ma'am:  The American carriers stumbled across yet another IJN sub (I-166 this time) near the SE capes of Australia.  I'm changing course once again and head south past Tasmania.  I was content for Brad to sight them once, but I don't want it to become a regular occurrence.
 
Japanese Advances:  Balikpan falls; Shortlands invaded; Koepang invaded.

[Canoerebel]

12/25/41
 
The first Christmas Day of the war...and nothing in the stockings that I had expected; but there was one nice surprise.
 
Stingers:  Two Allied DD TFs have penetrated deep into enemy-held waters without scoring.  The first remains just off Shikuka; the second "visited" Roi Namur without incident, but then instead of returning to Wake Island the captain apparently detected a threat and fled southwest in the general vicinity of...nothing.  Now this TF is kind of hung up in no-man's-land.  So I've divided it into two small DD TTs - one will make for Rabaul and then for Townsville, the other for Truk and then for Wake.
 
Carriers and Subs:  Lexington and Enterprise successfully eluded detection by subs and sailed to a point southeast of Tasmania.  From there they'll head to Dunedin and thence to Balboa.  Meanwhile, just north of Ceram SS KIX put a TT into CV Soryu.
 
Japanese Advances:  Koepang and Shortlands fall; Rabaul barely holds.
 
Enemy Subs:  I-15 sank TK British Motorist near Exmouth.

[Canoerebel]

12/26/41
 
Stingers North:  The Allied DD TF near Shikuka sighted some kind of Japanese shipping that includes an SC.  They'll give chase tomorrow.  The second DD force will arrive in a day or two and may skirt through the straits north of Hokkaido into the Sea of Japan.
 
Stingers South:  One DD force will arrive at Truk tomorrow (and if it survives it will then make for Wake).  The second has diverted from targeting Rabaul to ships unloading troops at Nauru Island (if it survives the raid, this TF will make for Luganville).
 
Stingers Southwest:  Several CL/DD forces are steaming toward IJ shipping at Koepang, but won't arrive for two more days.  The quarry may have departed by then, or the positioning of Japanese carriers may persuade me to reconsider.
 
Japanese Advances:  Kendari, Rabaul and Nauru Island fall.
 
Allied Withdrawals:  The Allies are working on extracting the USA and RN base forces from the Philippines and DEI.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The second DD force will arrive in a day or two and may skirt through the straits north of Hokkaido into the Sea of Japan.

[X(]

[Canoerebel]

Here's the "Stingers North" situation on December 26, 1941:

[Canoerebel]

"Stingers South" situation, 12/27/41:

[Canoerebel]

12/27/42
 
A White Sport Coat:  ...and a pink carnation; I'm all dressed up for the ball.  But nobody showed up.  Here I have four DD TFs deep in enemy territory - two near Sikhalin Island, one east of Truk, and one north of Rabaul, and...nothing.  No mixing it with juicy, vulnerable, unsuspecting transports.  No sudden falling into the clutches of a powerful enemy surface combat group.  No sudden rain of death from the skies.  Just peace and quiet.
 
That Can't Be a Good Sign:  The fact that the enemy transports recently sighted near Shikuka moved away suggests that Brad is now aware of the presence of enemy ships-of-war in his home waters; and my southern TFs have been steaming through enemy-patrolled waters long enough to attract attention.  I'm giving all four TFs one more day to seek combat, then they'll return home.
 
That's Not All, Folks:  Far to the southwest, additional Allied TFs will try to interdict enemy shipping at Koepang tonight.
 
Enemy Advances:  Moulmein falls to a fairly weak force that doesn't have the oomph to push into Pegu.  I can hold, but I'm trying to accurately gauge the situation so that I don't end up with important troops isolated in Burma while Brad makes invades someplace like Cox's Bazaar (but that can't happen until Singapore falls).  Speaking of which, I think the Allies have a hand full of units cut off from Singapore.  I've had them moving at max speed since the beginning, but they are slow as molasses.

[Canoerebel]

12/28/42
 
Stingers North:  The Allied raiders finally found a foe - sinking an SC and perhaps as many as eight xAKL at Toyohara.  One raider force will retire, the other will give it one more day before leaving the scene of the crime.
 
Stingers Middle:  Both TFs continue to retire toward safety without incident to this point.  The northern element should reach Wake Island in two days.  The southern should reach Luganville in two or three days.
 
Stingers South:  Nothing at Koepang, so the CL/DD forces shall retire to Oz.
 
Japanese Expansion:  Samarinda falls and ladnings at Manado and Palembang.
 
The DEI Perimeter:  In quick and efficient fashion, Brad has taken Koepang, Ambon, Kendari, Balikpan, Kuching and other bases.  He has Netties operating at forward bases, so it's dangerous for Allied shipping to venture into the DEI at this point.

[Canoerebel]

12/29/41
 
Malaya:  The dalliance by the Allied troops retreating from Khota Bahru came back to haunt them; the were defeated by the Japanese and then...of all things...decided to retreat down the yellow road to vacant Kuantan rather than down the good road (which most of them had already covered about 30 miles in travel) to join their comrades in the hex to the south.  This makes a mess of things in Malaya and will will seriously diminish Singapore's longevity.  I'll try to extract some of these guys by air transport once they reach Kuantan, but, Bleh!
 
Japanese Advances:  Palembang falls.
 
China:  An IJA attack at Loyang failed, but I doubt the Chinese will hold long.  They'll be retreating into the woods to fight a guerilla campaign all the way back to Sian.  So it appears this northern part of the line will fall quickly, which comes as a bit of a surprise (in my game with Miller they did much better).
 
Sub Warfare:  To this point, IJN subs have been far less lethal than were Miller's in my other game.  This could be due to:  (1) random luck; (2) fewer ships at sea at present; (3) most of my transports have been escorted; or (4) a combination of any or all of these.  Allied subs, on the other hand, have been more successful, including single hits on CV Soryu, CVL Hosho, and BB Fuso.
 
Stingers:  The four Allied DD TFs spread across the Pacific continue their respective journeys to port. I think they'll exit the "danger zones" in just another day or two.
 
Allied Carriers:  Saratoga is at Balboa; Yorktown is at San Diego; Ent and Lex are leaving Dunedin, New Zealand, and making east for either Balboa or the West Coast.  I consider myself notorious for hatching up plans that get my carriers in trouble early in the war, so I'm trying to honor a vow to keep them out of harm's way as much as possible.  I showed two of 'em near Sydney, and now I want to vanish into thin air so that Brad has to account for them anywhere.

[desicat]

Do you consider the "Stinger" missions as being successful? (They located the KB and hit a convoy) Will there be more?

[Canoerebel]

Yes, on an operational level at least; unknown on a strategic level. 

The operations have resulted in a net gain in the combat ship tally and bagged a handful of small transports to boot.  The only ships lost were CL Perth and DD Voyager, and that only after they had sunk a greater number of Japanese combat vessels (and, as you note, revealed the location of the KB).

Strategically, the question is whether these raids lead to Q-Ball reallocating his assets to guard against future raids.  In all likelihood he will.  That will make future operations of this sort more risky and costly, but it will also stretch Japan's defenses a bit.

One of the greatest assets the Allies have in the game can be Japan's uncertainty as to where the first big push (or axis of attack) will come, be it late 1942 or '43.  Japan has to adequately defend a long perimeter that stretches from the Kuriles to Malaya and Sumatra.  At any one point, the Allies can concentrate forces and overwhelm the enemy - at least until the enemy can prepare a counterstrike. 

I want Q-Ball to spread his forces as much as possible.  Consequently, the Allies will engage in raids throughout the game along this entire perimeter.  I will also try to deceive the enemy by showing a "build up" of power in a variety of locations. 

When the time comes to attack, the Allies intend for the first big push to be massive, overwhelming, and potentially crippling.  Such an offensive can occur at any of five or six locations on the map, but I already have my preferences in mind. 

[Canoerebel]

12/30/41
 
Stingers:  These raids are winding down:  One DD TF is east of the Kuriles; one will "visit" Shikuka tonight and then head for Attu Island; one just passed Wake Island on the way to Midway; and one is NW of Suva heading to Pago Pago.  Japanese patrol aircraft sighted the ships near Paramushiro, so Brad's taking some countermeasures up that way.
 
Oz:  AP Queen Elizabeth just arrived at San Diego.  She'll load part of 27th Division and make for Oz.  As noted previously, one of my major objectives early is to beef up my garrison in Australia in order to reduce the chance of a Japanese camapaign that might result in an auto-victory.
 
Philippines:  The Japanese at Clark Field got a really bloody nose on their first deliberate attack:  8658 casualties (including a whopping 75 infantry squads destroyed) to 2380 for the Allies.  The Japanese will reinforce, which takes men and ships and time, so that's fine.
 
Japanese Advances:  Landings at Lae and Saumlaki; Tulagi falls.

[Cribtop]

The Stingers Ops were very JEB Stuart (early war JEB Stuart, anyway). Well done!

[Canoerebel]

12/31/41
 
Happy New Year's Eve...and it was for the Allies!
 
Stingers:  The last remaining Stinger TF waited until the last minute to find, engage, and rough up the enemy.  Five US Navy DDs cruising west of the Kuriles paid a visit to Shikuka and engaged five enemy TFs as follows:  (1) 3 xAK "heavy fires"; (2) 5 xAKL and PB heavily damaged; (3) 2 xAKL and PB heavily damaged; (4) 5 xAKL sunk; (5) low on ammo, the TF fails to engage the fifth TF of little transports.  I know what happened - Brad saw the previous Stinger TF withdrawing east of the Kuriles and figured the coast was clear.  He hadn't counted on a second group lurking behind.  I'll guarantee you that NoPac has his attention now.  He'll have to detail some cruisers (at a minimum) to patrol these waters.  I wouldn't be surprised if he sent some carriers this way.  He may also decide on (or expedite) an Aleutians campaign.  So I think the Stingers North mission was roughly the equivalent of the Doolittle Raid.  Good for Allied morale; bad for Japansese morale.  Now if it can just have the beneficial side effects that occurred in real life (a decisive victory in a carrier battle would be wonderful).
 
Payback:  Way down south, the Mini-KB cruised south of Timor and sank six xAKL and one xAK.
 
Japanese Advances:  Lae, Kuala Lumpur, and Saumlaki fall.
 
Cribtop:  J.E.B. Stuart personally directed the gentleman pictured at left when placing the 23rd Georgia Regiment near Catherine's Furnace, Chancellorsville, Virginia, on May 2, 1863.  The gentleman was Col. Emory F. Best, who had recently recovered from a severe injury suffered at Sharpsburg.  Best's regiment was part of Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt's Georgia Brigade in Stonewall Jackson's Corps.  Jackson ordered Stuart to post a regiment at a critical location on the day that Jackson made his famous flanking march - the same day that he would be mortally wounded.  For several hours, the 23rd Georgia withstood an attack by Gen. David Birney's Brigade including Berdan's Sharpshooters.  Eventually, most of the 23rd Georgia was taken prisoner.  Emory Best and about twenty of his men escaped.  For leaving behind the rest of his regiment, Best was charged with cowardice, tried, convicted, and dismissed from the Confederate Army.  His is an interesting, thought-provoking, and little-known story.

[crsutton]

I can see that these little ship raids are becoming more popular in the game. Easy to do for both sides as small DD forces are hard to spot, and represent a small loss for a failed gamble.

Perhaps a good use for Allied AMCs is to patrol and intercept this sort of stuff as they generally have pretty good armament. Don't know if it works for Japanese AMC as it looks as if they have smaller guns.