I lost the combat replay, but nothing too major happened. I lost 20-something Helldivers over Shanghai because I had forgotten one unit when I set max-range for my divebombers. One mini-sub put another torpedo into BB Tennessee.
For tomorrow... I noticed this at Truk
Im expecting a raid on the B29 bases in the Marianas, so Im moving out all my heavy bombers and flying in some more fighters. Its either that or an attempt to hit a convoy. Both convoys in the area are escorted by 5-10 CVEs though, so I feel safe.
Oh, and one more thing. Recon reports 500+ ships in port at Fukouka, so Im sending in 300 B29s on a night port attack to see if I can catch anything
Attachments
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The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Another front in this game is of cource the propaganda war/messing with the opponents head.
This is an example of Nemo trying to convince me to stop night bombing. I was annoyed because 150+ of my B29s had failed to launch a night bombing mission of the airfields at Shanghai...
Nemo:
I wouldn't be too bummed about the night-time B-29s though... I'm not sure what you're seeing with them but they are pretty useless for anything vs a defended target. Vs grounded Ki-43s at Formosa they can achieve a fair bit but in the face of night-fighters and FlAK it seems to me they just dump their bombs far wide of the target. On the other hand it is useful training for some of my low-experience bomber groups and eventually they'll hit something during that training.
I imagine that must be what you're doing as well as, so far, those night-time raids aren't at all useful - except over undefended targets as previously mentioned...
My reply:
I really dont fear your night-fighters or your flak. Yet. Perhaps I will reconsider in the future, but for now, I attack the targets I think I need to hit, regardless of your defences. Perhaps I will get a hit across the nose one day or another, but so far its working out ok. This is 1945 afterall.
Im really surprised to see that you consider my night attacks to be ineffective. I consider them to be very effective and I think I have torched 60-80 of your aircraft on the ground in 3 night attacks. You on the other hand have not hit any aircraft in your night attacks...
Bottom line is that my night bombing attacks have been very very successful, last night I torched 30-40 Oscar II Kamikazes on the runway for example, while his have not managed a single runway hit.
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Lots of mine hits today. Lesson is to stay away from the Japanese base-areas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 233 encounters mine field at Tsushima (103,56)
Allied Ships
SS Piranha, Mine hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
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TF 139 encounters mine field at Fusan (103,55)
Allied Ships
SS Hardhead, Mine hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 235 encounters mine field at Nago (95,65)
Allied Ships
YMS-127
AM Engage
AM Effective
52 mines cleared
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 109 encounters mine field at Tokunoshima (97,65)
Allied Ships
AM Daring
YMS-117
YMS-278
YMS-277
YMS-221
27 mines cleared
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 236 encounters mine field at Nago (95,65)
Allied Ships
YMS-217
YMS-128
33 mines cleared
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 168 encounters mine field at Shanghai (92,55)
Allied Ships
SS Hawkbill, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Submarine warfare
I wonder if this is a sign of times to come. Very high submarine action today. I lost a CVE to sub attacks, but on the other hand I believe I have sunk at least 3 submarines today. I also like that hit on the big TK, last seen with its oil cargo on fire.
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Submarine attack near Koshiki-jima Retto at 101,60
Japanese Ships
LB-1202, Shell hits 1, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS Sargo
LB-1202 is sighted by SS Sargo
SS Sargo attacking LB-1202 on the surface
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Tokunoshima at 97,65
Japanese Ships
SS Ha-D-132, hits 11, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
CA Canberra II
CL Atlanta II
DD Blue II
DD Preston II
DD Aaron Ward II
DD Beatty II
DD Barton II
DD Ingraham II
SS Ha-D-132 is sighted by escort
DD Aaron Ward II fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Beatty II fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Barton II fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Ingraham II attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Shanghai at 93,56
Japanese Ships
TK Tatsuchiyo Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
SC Ch 10
Allied Ships
SS Hawkbill, hits 3
SS Hawkbill launches 6 torpedoes at TK Tatsuchiyo Maru
SC Ch 10 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 10 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 10 attacking submerged sub ....
SC Ch 10 fails to find sub, continues to search...
SC Ch 10 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Nago at 95,65
SS Ha-D-135 is sighted by escort
Ha-D-135 bottoming out ....
DD Phelps fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Selfridge fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Cassin fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Flusser attacking submerged sub ....
DD Phelps attacking submerged sub ....
DD Flusser fails to find sub and abandons search
Escort abandons search for sub
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Karenko at 88,66
Japanese Ships
SS RO-63, hits 38, and is sunk
Allied Ships
DD Southerland
DD McCord
APA Catron
AKA Starr
LSD Belle Grove
DD Mertz
DD Melvin
DD McNair
DD McKee
SS RO-63 launches 6 torpedoes at DD Southerland
DD Mertz attacking submerged sub ....
DD Melvin attacking submerged sub ....
DD McNair fails to find sub and abandons search
DD McKee fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Mertz fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Melvin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Melvin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Melvin fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Melvin attacking submerged sub ....
SS RO-63 forced to surface!
DD McNair firing on surfaced sub ....
DD McKee firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Mertz firing on surfaced sub ....
Sub slips beneath the waves
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Karenko at 88,66
Japanese Ships
SS RO-67, hits 15, heavy damage
Allied Ships
CVE Casablanca, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Nicholas
DD Newcomb
SS RO-67 launches 6 torpedoes at CVE Casablanca
DD Nicholas fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Newcomb fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Newcomb attacking submerged sub ....
DD Newcomb fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Newcomb attacking submerged sub ....
Debris floats to surface in area of attack!
Escort abandons search for sub
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Balikpapan at 60,102
Japanese Ships
SS I-58, hits 14, and is sunk
Allied Ships
BB Duke of York
CLAA Argonaut
DD Norman
DD Wager
DD Tenacious
DD Teazer
SS I-58 is sighted by escort
DD Wager fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Tenacious fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Teazer fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Teazer attacking submerged sub ....
SS I-58 forced to surface!
DD Teazer firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Wager firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Tenacious firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Wager firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Tenacious firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Wager firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Tenacious firing on surfaced sub ....
DD Teazer firing on surfaced sub ....
Sub slips beneath the waves
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Koshiki-jima Retto at 101,60
Japanese Ships
LB-529, Shell hits 2, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS Sargo
LB-529 is sighted by SS Sargo
SS Sargo attacking LB-529 on the surface
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Koshiki-jima Retto at 101,60
Japanese Ships
LB-556, Shell hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS Sargo
LB-556 is sighted by SS Sargo
SS Sargo attacking LB-556 on the surface
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Koshiki-jima Retto at 101,60
Japanese Ships
LB-5001, Shell hits 2, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS Sargo
LB-5001 is sighted by SS Sargo
SS Sargo attacking LB-5001 on the surface
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Karenko at 88,66
Japanese Ships
SS RO-62, hits 18
Allied Ships
CVE Casablanca, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Nicholas
SS RO-62 launches 6 torpedoes at CVE Casablanca
DD Nicholas attacking submerged sub ....
DD Nicholas attacking submerged sub ....
DD Nicholas attacking submerged sub ....
DD Nicholas is out of ASW ammo
DD Nicholas fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Nicholas attacking submerged sub ....
DD Nicholas is out of ASW ammo
DD Nicholas is out of ASW ammo
DD Nicholas is out of ASW ammo
DD Nicholas is out of ASW ammo
Escort abandons search for sub
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Koshiki-jima Retto at 101,60
Japanese Ships
LB-552, Shell hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS Sargo
LB-552 is sighted by SS Sargo
SS Sargo attacking LB-552 on the surface
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Koshiki-jima Retto at 101,60
Japanese Ships
LB-5009
Allied Ships
SS Sargo
LB-5009 is sighted by SS Sargo
SS Sargo cannot acquire firing solution on enemy LB
Night air ops
Unfortunately I had ordered my Black Widows to sweep Fukouka to clear the way for my B29s. Naturally it was precisely the night Nemo decided to strike Okinawa. And to make the picture complete, the Black Widows refused to fly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Nago , at 95,65
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Japanese aircraft
Ki-264 Angel x 6
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
xAK Alcoa Pointer, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Menkar, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Adabelle Lykes, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Alkaid, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Sage Brush, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AV Pocomoke, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Admiral Wood, Bomb hits 1, on fire
APD Crosley, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Admiral Day, Bomb hits 1, on fire
APA Navarro, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
Allied Ships
xAK Timber Rush, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AVP Swan, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Shaula, Bomb hits 1
xAK Admiral Williams, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAP Cape Bon, Bomb hits 1, on fire
SS Sea Leopard, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Admiral Gove, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Port hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
15 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 6000 feet
Port Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
6 x Ki-21-IIb Sally bombing from 6000 feet
Port Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes
Here, the B29s prove their worth. Despite being intercepted by 40-50 night fighters, they suffer no losses, and manage a very accurate strike on the docks at Fukouka. Lots of CVEs caught in port apparently. I really wonder why. Nemo claims he put them there as a decoy for "precisely this type of strikes". Well, I hope he positions some more decoys like that then. I can afford to lose a CVE, he cannot. He claims only one CVE was sunk, but since all three that were hit are at least suffering from heavy fires, I sincerely doubt he only lost one CVE tonight. In any way, the surviving CVEs are mission kills and will probably be out of the war for a couple of months.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Fukuoka , at 103,57
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Japanese aircraft
D4Y2-S Judy x 9
J1N1-S Irving x 6
S1A1 Denko x 9
Ki-102c Randy x 19
Japanese Ships
CVE Chigusa Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
SC Ch 22, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Otakisan Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CVE Shimane Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
CM Niizaki, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
Port hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
13 x B-29-25 Superfort bombing from 8000 feet *
Port Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Fukuoka , at 103,57
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Japanese aircraft
D4Y2-S Judy x 7
J1N1-S Irving x 4
S1A1 Denko x 9
Ki-102c Randy x 7
Japanese Ships
xAK Fusemi Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVE Shimane Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
CVE Chigusa Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
E No.26, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
24 x B-29-25 Superfort bombing from 8000 feet *
Port Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
Air combat
Nemo sends out a couple of probing Kamikaze attacks to test my defences no doubt. Overall my CAP perform admirably, not a single fighter got through. Note that he sends in some at low alt and some at very high alt. What he probably does not know is that all my bases and all my TFs are covered by at least two CAP-fighter units, one at 8-10k and one at 40k. This seems to provide enough cover to prevent leakers. At least when the kamikazes come in such small numbers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Tokunoshima at 97,65
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes
Japanese aircraft
G4M3a Betty x 3
Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 33
P-51D Mustang x 33
P-51H Mustang x 2
F4U-4 Corsair x 44
F6F-5 Hellcat x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M3a Betty: 1 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Tokunoshima at 97,65
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 29 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-115a Tsurugi x 7
Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 37
P-51D Mustang x 24
P-51H Mustang x 1
F4U-4 Corsair x 41
F6F-5 Hellcat x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-115a Tsurugi: 2 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Nago at 95,65
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes
Japanese aircraft
G4M3a Betty x 3
Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 35
P-51D Mustang x 41
F4U-4 Corsair x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M3a Betty: 1 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Iriomote at 89,65
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 200 NM, estimated altitude 40,500 feet.
Estimated time to target is 60 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M7 Zero x 8
Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 14
F4U-4 Corsair x 102
F6F-5 Hellcat x 27
F8F-1 Bearcat x 20
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M7 Zero: 2 destroyed
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable;
when using our forces, we must seem inactive;
when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away;
when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
-Sun Tzu, the art of war.
It is nice to play against an opponent who understands the fundamentals of warfare. Hence, our mail conversations could probably most accurately be described as a conversation between two people who both desperately want to decieve the other about their true intentions and capabilities.
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable;
when using our forces, we must seem inactive;
when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away;
when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
-Sun Tzu, the art of war.
It is nice to play against an opponent who understands the fundamentals of warfare. Hence, our mail conversations could probably most accurately be described as a conversation between two people who both desperately want to decieve the other about their true intentions and capabilities.
I'm sure its a challenge, but I'd paraphrase another famous quote as a word of warning:
If you're sitting at the poker table and you can't spot the sucker, the sucker is you.
Point being Nemo is a master at head games, so its a very good assumption that he's getting more out of the email interplay than you are.
Frankly if I were playing nemo with some substantial prize on the line I'd refuse to read his mails. Mind you that'd take a lot of the *fun* away, but its something to think about.
One thing Ive gathered from our conversation is that Nemo talks about my night bombings alot, and that he keeps returning to how ineffective it is. At the same time I read the same combat reports as he does, and Im very pleased with the results. Those results combined with his downplaying of the effects tells me he is genuinely concerned and that he has no counter yet.. That means I will continue with those missions.
There is an anecdote from the first Gulf war I always try to remember when it comes to psyops. Every night the bombers would hit an Iraqi unit, and every afternoon the target-unit would get told just that... They dropped leaflets saying something along the lines of
"tonight we will bomb you". The information was always true and the leaflets were only dropped on the target unit.
This continued for weeks, and eventually the Iraqi units started to believe the leaflets, crews would leave their tanks and infantry would hide in their deepest shelters. Then, on the afternoon before the ground invasion, those leaflets were dropped on all Iraqi units along the frontline.
My point is you have to give some true information in order to have your opponent believe your lies. You just have to know what to say and what to hide. Or in other words...I like the mind games
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Orders are done for tomorrow. Basically Im continuing operations around Okinawa, and I am ordering a night-airfield attack on an airfield in southern Japan, and a night city attack on a city in Korea with Heavy Industry. I want to strip away all non-japanese HI, the HI in China and Korea gets "free" resources and fuel/oil, so I want to take out these HI centers and force Nemo to bring all his fuel/oil and resources to Japan.
Ive already hit Hong Kong hard, and while Nemo commented on the attack along the lines of "I see you are hitting my HI, good, I have plenty of HI", I cant help but notice that he has repaired some of those HI factories...
Psyops...got to love it [8D]
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Question:
Do you think Im using my heavy bombers correctly? Im mostly using them to attack tactical targets like airfields and ports, and more rarely use them to attack strategic targets like his industry. I would estimate that Im using them 70/30 tactical/strategical...
Most of the strategic targets right now are in Japan and defended by at least 100 fighters.
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Question:
Do you think Im using my heavy bombers correctly? Im mostly using them to attack tactical targets like airfields and ports, and more rarely use them to attack strategic targets like his industry. I would estimate that Im using them 70/30 tactical/strategical...
Most of the strategic targets right now are in Japan and defended by at least 100 fighters.
Can you break through those 100 fighters ? Taking out his HI and plane production now at the beginning of the scenario is probably more important than temporarily taking out AF.
Question:
Do you think Im using my heavy bombers correctly? Im mostly using them to attack tactical targets like airfields and ports, and more rarely use them to attack strategic targets like his industry. I would estimate that Im using them 70/30 tactical/strategical...
Most of the strategic targets right now are in Japan and defended by at least 100 fighters.
Can you break through those 100 fighters ? Taking out his HI and plane production now at the beginning of the scenario is probably more important than temporarily taking out AF.
Sure I can, but at what cost? I do not want to send in 200 B29s against 150 fighters on CAP. Not that I would lose more than 15-20 bombers, but the number of damaged would be enough to ground the unit for at least a week. It would also give Nemo a morale boost, and it would cause me to hesitate.
If I send them in at night, I can attack virtually without losses, but hit rates would not be enough to really kill off anything.
Im thinking that the real strategic bombing campaign over Japan will start when I have bases on Hokkaido. Im expecting to launch that operation in 1,5-2 months time.
Also, dont forget that right now I want to give Nemo the impression that Im going to attack around Okinawa or Formosa. I want him to think that Im coming in hard and heavy from the south. Using all my heavies in China, Formosa or souther Japan plays to that picture.
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
As I'm reading both AARs, I won't comment on psych warfare. However, I feel several univerally applicable point should be made.
1)In a war of attrition merely inflicting hurt on the enemy is not sufficient. You need to inflict bigger losses than the enemy can absorb. You have a great advantage of seeing Japanese industry from God's viewpoint. Take note of how many planes Nemo intends to produce, and then you will know if losses you inflict actually matter.
It should be noted, that pilots usually present a greater bottleneck than planes, but kamikazes can be trained relatively swiftly and can hit even when their skills are mediocre, so not a problem for Japanese.
2)Avoiding air war of attrition and betting on their ability to achieve decisive air superiority in the points of their choice is a bad move for the Allied side at any point past 1942. Particularly if the points of their choice by necessity must be in the proximity of many Japanese airfields. Massive or numerous strikes will always get some of the attackers through, and ships are much less replaceable than planes. Particularly true for kamikaze attacks.
ORIGINAL: FatR
1)In a war of attrition merely inflicting hurt on the enemy is not sufficient. You need to inflict bigger losses than the enemy can absorb. You have a great advantage of seeing Japanese industry from God's viewpoint. Take note of how many planes Nemo intends to produce, and then you will know if losses you inflict actually matter.
It should be noted, that pilots usually present a greater bottleneck than planes, but kamikazes can be trained relatively swiftly and can hit even when their skills are mediocre, so not a problem for Japanese.
I dont think pilot quality will be a huge factor in this game, one of the changes of the mod is that Jap pilot quality is increased by 20 points (as is allied pilot quality). Good point on the industry, I will take a look tomorrow.
[/quote]
2)Avoiding air war of attrition and betting on their ability to achieve decisive air superiority in the points of their choice is a bad move for the Allied side at any point past 1942. Particularly if the points of their choice by necessity must be in the proximity of many Japanese airfields. Massive or numerous strikes will always get some of the attackers through, and ships are much less replaceable than planes. Particularly true for kamikaze attacks.
[/quote]
Im definitively not trying to avoid airbattles. Right now most of my fighters are tied up protecting Okinawa and the bases around that island. Im building up the three small bases next to Okinawa, and as soon as they are size 3 I will start flying fighter sweeps from those bases. Once the bases around Okinawa are fully developed, the battle for southern Japan will commence, and in about two months, the big "real" battle will start with the invasion of Hokkaido.
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
A quick observation. Yesterday I did a (rather failed) night strike on HI in Korea. Today recon tells me Nemo has reinforced that city with close to 100 fighters.
There is something interesting here. He downplays the hit on Hong Kong but tries to rebuild that HI, he rushes to defend a city in Korea that has nothing but HI of value...
Tomorrow Im sending in my heavies to strike HI at Canton and Shanghai, lets see how he reacts to that.
Perhaps Im seeing a weakness here...
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Hm, I just checked the at-start values for Japan...
Heavy Industry 4494 (20 000)
Of these,
2200 is in Osaka/Kyoto
731 (2009) is in Tokyo
280 is in Kobe
320 is in Nagoya
630 is outside Japan
I have to rethink my strategy. Here is the weakest spot in the Japanese defences
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
Night strike at 8,000 feet by B29s targetting specifically heavy industry. Use B24 Liberators when within range as well. You should be able to wipe this HI out in about 15 days.
8,000 feet will carry you just out of reach of all the light AA (7,000 for the 25 mm, 6,200 for the 20 mm). You will get some 7.5 cm and above flak on you though. Expect loss rates of around 3 per 100 sorties (historical for B29s was 2.1). Rest between raids is optional - fatigue from missions even as far as Marianas amounts to generally no more than about 20 and doesn't seem to climb higher. You can actually maintain this bombing pace almost continually and keep about 70% of your B29s operational. Of course, night missions mean that only maybe 30-50% will fly on any given strike though.
Follow this up with a hit on engine factories - same procedure - tarting with newest first and then preceeding backwards.
60 days tops and you will have Japan on her knees.
At any point, feel free to hit his newest a/c factories. If you assume he has maybe 50,000 hi stored up; then that is no more than 1,500 planes he can make if he turns off everything else - and most of the hi stored will go away at the end of the month with pilot training consumption. At this point, he is lying on the ground prostrate to further air offensives; nail his airfields and then your fleet can operate with impunity shelling and prepping landing sites.
Oh - one more thing - once the air defenses are crushed, switch the b29s to day raids and you can destroy anything you wish.
Don't be afraid of sharper losses initially. You will be successful if you stay the course. It is sheer gross attritional warfare right now. You are going to hit something he is going to have to defend which means he should concentrate his defenses. Expect losses - but, do not let up the pace of attack. You will end up losing less in the wrong one this way than if you pull back for a few days and allow him time to recover.
I agree - it is a lot easier to destroy his airforce before it even gets out of the factory. Don't let him get a free pass in putting higher-tech airframes into the skies, destroy them at the source.
Never Underestimate the Power of a Small Tactical Nuclear Weapon...
Hokkaido was the obvious choise because it is isolated, has good bases, is relatively lightly defended and not easily reinforced.
Hokkaido is not strategically optimal though, because it is at the far end of a flank, it is far away from the japanese industry and the japanese SLOCs. Not only that, Hokkaido and all of northern Japan has very little industry, especially HI.
I wanted to invade Hokkaido because it would give me airbases close to Japan and I would not have to face the full might of the Japanese army.
Looking at the map there is another potential invasion site. It is also isolated, has more good bases than Hokkaido, is relatively lightly defended and not easily reinforced. It is also right in the middle of the Japanese SLOCs and within fighter range to all of the HI centers in Japan. It also has lots of open ground, making it better terrain for me to attack in.
It is also the less obvious invasion-choise and within fighter range from my bases at Okinawa...
What do you guys think?
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close.
In its place we are entering a period of consequences..
I'd say go for it - you need a full-blooded thrust & start making Nemo dance to your tune for a change. He'll try to push you around & make you think he's stronger than he actually is, but I'm sure he'll not enjoy getting rocked back on his heels.
Never Underestimate the Power of a Small Tactical Nuclear Weapon...
