Where the eastern wind is blowing... AAR against Canoerebel

[Hortlund]

Oh, forgot to comment on the paradrop.

This is a suicide mission to disrupt the railway between Rangoon and China. Its not a suicide mission in the sense that Im just dropping them and moving on. I am committed to this hex now, and I will fly in reinforcements and I will fly sweep and CAP and ground attacks to support this attack. But I think they will all die, all my precious transports (I flew in the L-Mavis from CentPac so I could reach the base from Indochina where the paratroopers were ferried to from Formosa using the Tinas) will die too, either from ops or A2A. But it is worth it if it means the supply-flow to China from Burma is stopped.

Tomorrow Im reinforcing them with the rest of the unit aswell as some troops from the mixed brigade at Hanoi. I will also fly ground attack missions around the hex to catch allied units in move-mode. Im afraid of RAF-fighters, but on the other hand, they have been mauled pretty badly at Rangoon and Im using Zeros to sweep the base to clear out any LRCAP. Should be interesting to see what happens

[Hortlund]

Actually, this part of the combat report is worth watching. The ones who say quantity has a quality all of its own have never met elite paratroopers apparently.


Ground combat at Meiktila (58,47)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 32 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 4

Defending force 390 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 15

Japanese adjusted assault: 5

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Meiktila !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), fatigue(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)


Allied ground losses:
141 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Yokosuka 3rd SNLF /1

Defending units:
9th Burma Rifles Battalion

[Hortlund]

Ill do a post on China later. It is too early to say right now, these first weeks of the war is mostly about shifting around troops anyway

[obvert]

Will you use Chiang Mai as a forward fighter and transport base? Useful on the rail.

[Hortlund]

Yes, I will. Right now that is a lvl 1 field though so now Im basing from the only lvl2 field north of Bangkok.

[Blackhorse]

I think he is using his units too much, and I try to rotate my units to ensure all stay below 15 in fatigue.

Methinks it will be a long time before your opponent has enough air units / airframes to have the luxury of rotating them.

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: Blackhorse

I think he is using his units too much, and I try to rotate my units to ensure all stay below 15 in fatigue.

Methinks it will be a long time before your opponent has enough air units / airframes to have the luxury of rotating them.

Well, yes...and no. Its all about priorities, isnt it? He has 50-something fighters each around the Philippines, Singapore, Rangoon. I think he has them on something like 50 CAP judging by the number of fighters I see in the skies each day. He seems to have them up there everyday. Why everyday?

When I play the allies, I tend to use the few fighter units I have to rest/train in rear-areas, or to set up various CAP-traps here and there. To have them constantly in the air above certain bases is just a sure way to build fatigue and lose fighters. Sure, for short periods of time it might be necessary to contest a piece of sky, but not all the time.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

Actually, this part of the combat report is worth watching. The ones who say quantity has a quality all of its own have never met elite paratroopers apparently.


Ground combat at Meiktila (58,47)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 32 troops, 2 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 4

Defending force 390 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 15

Japanese adjusted assault: 5

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Meiktila !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), fatigue(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)


Allied ground losses:
141 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Yokosuka 3rd SNLF /1

Defending units:
9th Burma Rifles Battalion

Yeah, pretty cool. And actually the way it should be.

[Hortlund]

And so it begins.


actually not quite yet

[Hortlund]

Palembang
After fending off another couple of air attacks from Singapore, our invasion fleet is finally ashore. The Zeros from CVL Ryujo have been worth their weight in gold these opening days of the war. Our estimates is that they have shot down 50+ enemy fighters and bombers. Not only have they successfully escorted the invasion fleet to Palembang, they have broken the back of Singapore air defences while doing it.

We land with 450 AV and discover the base defended by over 100 AV from various units. I should be able to take the base tomorrow, but we will see.


Burma
Reinforcements flown in today, we now have 20-something AV. More troops flying in tomorrow, escorted by fighter sweeps from Raheng. Sweeps over Rangoon met empty skies today, looks like he is giving up the fight in southern Burma to concentrate on the Mandalay-area.

Lae
Strong enemy SCTFs sank CL Kashii, transports unharmed and the base fell. We are pulling back north to wait for heavier units to arrive.

CentPac
KB heading north to refuel from fleet AOs.

Philippines
Dreadful day in the air. Air coordination failed, all my bombers arrived at the target before my fighters. Unescorted bombers shot down in droves, and the late fighter sweeps met mostly empty sky. Really annoying.

[Hortlund]

Here are two pictures to show the current situation in the eastern NEI.

Several SCTFs appeared just west of Sorong. I am very very pleased with my desicion to cancel the Ambon invasion and instead land here. The land units are safe and the worst thing that can happen now is that I lose some ships.

Had I pressed on I would have met these guys probably right in the Ambon-hex.

Confirmed sightings of CL Marbelhead (took a torpedo hit from a Kate), CL Boise and CA Houston. This means he will contest this area heavily. It also means I can be a bit more relaxed around Mindanao. I have included a screenshot of the current landings on Mindanao just to show you what kind of surface protection I have been operating with. The SCTFs adjacent to the landings consist of 2 DDs each. In the invasion hex itself I have 2 BBs together with escorts.

In the left image, you can see the current position at Sorong. I have 2 BBs coming in from the north together with a CVL/CVE-TF that is a bit further north. The BBs will sprint south in an effort to catch his surface ships.

If he decides to press on towards Sorong, I should intercept them on the way back in the afternoon.

I have moved back my CVE and transports to avoid getting caught in a surface engagement, they are screened by two light SCTFs

Could be an interesting day tomorrow

[Mundy]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund
Philippines
Dreadful day in the air. Air coordination failed, all my bombers arrived at the target before my fighters. Unescorted bombers shot down in droves, and the late fighter sweeps met mostly empty sky. Really annoying.

That seems to happen over the Philippines. It makes the P-35 look like a war winner. [:D]

Ed-

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund
Philippines
Dreadful day in the air. Air coordination failed, all my bombers arrived at the target before my fighters. Unescorted bombers shot down in droves, and the late fighter sweeps met mostly empty sky. Really annoying.

That seems to happen over the Philippines. It makes the P-35 look like a war winner. [:D]

Ed-

A great time to turn the tables though. He likely won't stand down after that success, so 90 zeros will make it hurt tomorrow.

[Hortlund]

YES

Just a quick update for 12th December

Palembang Is captured!

Despite the CVL-cover moving off to Mersing, and several bomber units flying ground attack missions against my invaders, we captured the base.

A force of heavy cruisers intercepted a RN TF consisting of one CA and two CLs in the straits of Merak. All the allied ships were sunk.

We landed two regiments at Mersing, the base should fall within a couple of days. That should speed up the fall of Malaya.

[Mundy]

ORIGINAL: obvert
A great time to turn the tables though. He likely won't stand down after that success, so 90 zeros will make it hurt tomorrow.

Yep. I've been burned plenty of times trying to repeat a success.

Ed-

[obvert]

Good work in Palembang and in the straits. How are the facilities looking?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

A force of heavy cruisers intercepted a RN TF consisting of one CA and two CLs in the straits of Merak. All the allied ships were sunk.

I believe that is the Sunda Strait - think Krakatoa, which is fitting given your description of the battle there.

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: obvert

Good work in Palembang and in the straits. How are the facilities looking?

Almost undamaged (see the screenshot).

Yeah it worked according to plan thanks to CVL Ruoyu. We landed on D+4 and met over 100 AV, that means the defenders grew with about 20 AV per day. It shows how important it is to land fast here. Every day counts.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

ORIGINAL: obvert

Good work in Palembang and in the straits. How are the facilities looking?

Almost undamaged (see the screenshot).

Yeah it worked according to plan thanks to CVL Ruoyu. We landed on D+4 and met over 100 AV, that means the defenders grew with about 20 AV per day. It shows how important it is to land fast here. Every day counts.

Sorry, missed that.

It is definitely impressive how fast you got there. I was a sceptic, but the SCTF screen and the Ryujo performed well, it seems.

I can't remember if you've mentioned bringing Air support with the invasion. I found when I have taken the base at the end of December it was tough to protect it from 4E and other bombing getting to the oil. Night bombing 4E were the biggest issue. The only thing I could do with that was hit their base in Java.

Looking forward to info on your progress in China and what the plan is there.

[Hortlund]

Ive got some engineers there, and a Zero-wing on CAP. Should be able to handle any fighters. Against the B17s there is no remedy though. At least not yet. If he starts strat-bombing I'll fly in more CAP to swamp him, but I hope I wont have to.