ORIGINAL: Iron Duke
Hi,
Does anybody know which was of greater importance during the war Chandpur or Chittagong? In every map showing the India/Burma theatre I've only ever seen Chittagong on the map - just curious.
cheers
I have been looking at this part of the map a bit more in the last few days, and I think it could do with some revision. The problem is that it is a tricky part of the map that was difficult to draw, and it would be difficult to revise as well.
Regarding Chittagong. It does look to be a fairly major location. It is described as being an important port and industrial centre, and although this may not have applied 60 years ago, it still give us an idea of its relative importance. It is/was also the terminus of the railway from Assam. This is something I overlooked when originally drawing my map. I currently believe that Chittagong was a more important location than Chandpur.
But what to do about it? Due to compromises when drawing the map, Dacca, and Chandpur, are a little offset from their "true" locations. Here is a bit of info on these locations:
On my map, Dacca is actually on the border of hexes 32,24 (its current location) and 31,23.
Chandpur is actually just inside hex 31,24, but I drew it in hex 31,25 so that it was not on the wrong side of the river. Chandpur is described as a "river port", so it seems -on the face of it - that its port value of 8(6) is hugely exaggerated.
Chittagong is on the border of hexes 31,25 and 31,26. It is described as the most important port in Banladesh on some websites. it is also the terminus of the raiwaly from Assam.
Cox's Bazar is on the border of hexes 31,26 and 30,27. It was an airbase large enough for large bombers to use, and it was also a port of sorts, but probably quite small.
So what to do? At the moment we could rationalise the high port value of Chandpur by assuming that it includes Chittagong as well. Unfortunately, on my map, that would make this base too close to Dacca, since Dacca is transposed a little. "Chittagong" would be better placed in hex 31,26, where the new Cox's Bazar base has been located. If it was placed here then the railway should be extended to this hex as well. Also, if it is placed here then Cox's Bazar is probably not required any more.
Since it will be a while before I make a new version of my map, I propose that we leave it as is for now, and just assume that Chandpur incorporates Chittagong as I mention above. Later, when I do a new revision of my map, I will revisit this area to see how it could be adjusted to better incorporate these bases.
Andrew
