Iron Storm (Scenario 50): Playtest

[Captain Cruft]

Yes, I really really don't want Nellies to be flying out of Kuching. We like being able to sail around the East Indies unmolested

I am a bit puzzled as to why the BBs are at Bangkok and not Saigon, or perhaps Camranh Bay. So I am just sending over some Blenheim bombers on "armed recon" Give them a couple of months and neither ship will have any secondary armament left ...

Singora should be interesting next turn.

[Alikchi2]

Yes the loss of Kuching as an airbase hurts quite a bit - my naval recon is forced back to Indochina and I can't exercise even hypothetical control of the Dutch sealanes.

I need the base back so I can make it dangerous to sail between Singapore and the NEI. After that I can move to close the Malacca Strait. Right now though everything's all screwed up [:'(]

The BBs are my mistake - I had told them to return to Bangkok after the run to Kuantan (the destroyers-and-tankers thing) because I thought that if they strayed to the east they might be caught like Ise and Hyuga. Of course I was basically just running full speed right through Beaufort range - between a rock and a hard place.

In any case, everything's all moved now.

===

No update today folks, sorry - school begins for me tomorrow.

[Capt. Harlock]

Yes, I really really don't want Nellies to be flying out of Kuching. We like being able to sail around the East Indies unmolested

On that subject, I'm a bit surprised that land-based air from Saigon hasn't made itself felt of the East coast of Malaya. Has the RAF CAP been that effective?

[Alikchi2]

On that subject, I'm a bit surprised that land-based air from Saigon hasn't made itself felt of the East coast of Malaya. Has the RAF CAP been that effective?

The Nells were pretty badly worn out after taking flak over Malaya earlier in December and morale was at its very nadir when the big battle of December 16th took place. They've spent most of the last week refreshing themselves...

And yes, the RAF has been nastily effective, but my losses haven't been high enough to ground the force - it's the flak on the Royal Navy ships and over Malaya that really hurts them. Right now I still have a Nell group in the high 30s of morale, but most are doing better than that.

Cruft is being smart and keeping most of his aircraft off the airfields on the east coast - Kuantan being the exception - which severely limits the Army aircraft (range problems). And the Zeroes, Nells and so forth need to be preserved for the Decisive Battle©. So I'm in a bit of a conundrum.. I have to cover my invasion convoys, suppress enemy LBA, and defend against the Royal Navy all at once. My 4 CVLs tried to do it all and failed at everything! But now I have a more substantial force available.. [:D] This time I'm going to do it right: attack the problem piecemeal. First the RAF in Malaya has to be removed from the equation. Then I can confront the RN on equal terms.

[Terminus]

That's right, Alikchi. It's just like eating an elephant: one bite at a time, and keep on chewing...

[Captain Cruft]

The Nells have been quite effective - they have put torps into 3 or 4 ships of CL class and upwards. What they haven't been able to do so far is to "own the place". It helps that in the version of CHS this was derived from the A6M2 Zero only has a max range of 10 hexes.

Deleting the RAF from the equation is not that easy. I have plenty of aircraft in the pool for most types and more than sufficient supplies at Singapore to perform the actual replacement acts. I am also making sure to use all the airfields on the peninsula for a useful purpose. No way can they all be knocked out at once.

Oh and the reason for withdrawing from the eastern coast is bombardments, not the IJAAF, although it does help with that too ...

[Captain Cruft]

On a side note.

Based on the current situation I am reasonably confident that I can prevent or at least severely delay the invasion of the DEI. Of course things could change soon, but right now that's what I would predict. However, an unexpected problem has reared its head, being the tiny Dutch pilot pool. It has been exhausted for a while now. Normally it wouldn't matter because the planes will just get thrown away in a futile defence but this time I would like to actually build up the Dutch air force for the long term. "Long term" meaning July 1942 when they can upgrade to shiny (and useful) new US plane types ...

Oh well

[Capt. Harlock]

Unfortunately, it's a pretty realistic limitation, given that the Netherlands is under German occupation and knocking Italy out of the war doesn't affect that. Incidentally, a shipment of P-40's from the U.S. reached the DEI as early as April 1942, but there wasn't time to unload them from the ship: they had to be pushed over the side so as not to fall into Japanese hands.

[51st Highland Div]

Oh its all gone quiet...Now ill have to wait a week to catch up....[;)]

[Captain Cruft]

We're still going. Nothing much has happened recently though. Also Alikchi has returned to his occupation this week and so has less time for constructing his mini-novels

[Alikchi2]

Yep, things are still kinda hectic here, but trust me you haven't missed anything significant so far [;)]

Once we start moving again I'll write up an update for everything missed.

[Alikchi2]

We're still progressing - and things are about to heat up again, I think!

No update - yet - but here's a preview. Cruft - you cannot click on this link! Sorry [8D]

--> Operation Hirogetai <--

[Captain Cruft]

Pah, it doesn't matter what the evil Japanese plans are (I haven't looked). Our defence plan remains the same - sink the buggers! 4 CVLs, 2 BBs and 1 CA so far, more to come

Just to fill in a bit:

1) The two Japanese divisions remain on the beach at Kota Bharu and we are bombarding them daily, to mixed effect. I possibly could eject them by moving in units from all over the place but I would rather that the troops keep their prep points for where they are.
2) I have conjured up an ad-hoc Operation Matador type thing with two NZ brigades and an armoured unit advancing to Singora. They face a mixed brigade and tank unit. It's about even so I cannot hope to take the base ... but I would rather fight further away than closer.
3) The RN base force at Brunei continues to hold out against the decidedly useless 12th NLF.
4) Kuching airbase is still an inoperative wreck. I have continued to bombard it with cruisers from Singapore and added air strikes by Blenheims and Wellingtons from Singapore and Martins from Singkawang.
5) Wake finally fell. It took the South Seas Detachment to do it though.

Most interestingly, what appears to be an invasion convoy is approaching Manado at the north eastern corner of the Celebes. I do not believe it be covered by carriers, since the CVLs which started at Palau are now at the bottom of the sea in the Gulf of Siam. Let's see what my ad-hoc ABDA surface forces can do ...

[Alikchi2]

A real update - finally!

12/23/41-12/28/41

It's been an iffy holiday season in the Southern Resource Area.

The tempo of action has slowed down for a bit as the the Japanese recompose themselves. In Malaya, the 4th Ind. Brigade and a tank unit managed to reach Singora via Thailand just in time to blunt the New Zealander's attack northwards. Numbers and strength are about even - except in tanks. Our Type 97 "Chi-Ha" vehicles do not stand up very well against Valentines.

Nevertheless we intend to hold Singora and prevent a British invasion of Thailand. In fact, we may be able to use this attack to bring the Thais even further into our sphere...

[center]

Japanese Type 97 Chi-Ha vs. British Valentine III. Both tanks have poor mobility and only fair armour, but the Chi-Ha exaggerates these deficiencies.[/center]

Otherwise, besides a few air raids and sporadic artillery duels at the abandoned beachhead, Malaya is quiet.

In the Philippines we continue to advance with alacrity - much of Luzon is now ours. Our troops are fighting an outnumbered Filipino enemy at San Marcelino at the moment, and we have many troops that are yet to come into play. We've repeatedly struck Manila with our bombers and have done heavy damage to the airfield there but at a cost to our bomber force - still, many American planes have been destroyed. Even if the airfield repairs itself after every turn. Cruft has a lot of engineers there!

In the south we advance with equal speed. IJA troops are pushing towards Manila from Naga at the moment (currently checked by two Reserve Divisions), while in Mindanao we only today forced the enemy out of Cotabato, clearing the way to his airbase at Cagayan.

[center]
Banzai![/center]

Finally, Wake has fallen, although we had to divert significant force (the South Seas Detachment) to do it. The Marines are going to help us turn the small airstrip into a first-class airbase.

This frees up CarDiv 5 (Soryu + Donryu) for other duties in the Central Pacific. Time to go hunting, perhaps?

[Captain Cruft]

Just look at the awesome 2 pounder on that Valentine! LOL

BTW I never thought of tanks as female, what with their long protuberances ... Cynthia?

[Alikchi2]

The war starts back up in earnest!

12/29/41

After a nice long period of rest we are now ready to relaunch offensive operations in SE Asia.

First on the list is the RAF! We've been taking careful recon of the British airfields in Malaya over the past few days. The enemy had concentrated most of his Beauforts and many Hurricanes and Blenheims at Georgetown. We must suppress the northern British bases if we are to have any hope of landing more troops on Malaya.

The main strike was launched from Saigon - 34 Lizzies and 67 Nells, escorted by 28 Zeroes. They were met over Georgetown by 17 Hurricanes. The Zeroes performed admirably, keeping the Hurricanes off the bombers (for the most part) and downing quite a few of them. A few Zeroes fell to the Hurris but not enough. The bombers were mostly unfettered in their raids and successfully made 65 hits on the runway, destroying several aircraft on the ground.

[center]
Not all of our pilots made it home.[/center]

Hopefully we can keep up the pressure... It's those Beauforts, and the torpedoes they carry, that really worry me.

In the Philippines there was not much action today but wheels are turning behind the scenes. Several new invasions have been ordered and our engineers are working feverishly to create suitable airfields for our medium bombers. We hope Naga will fall tomorrow.

[center]
Naval forces cleverly edited out by Imperial General Headquarters.[/center]


Meanwhile in Northern Borneo Brunei finally fell! The addition of the 91st Naval Guard did the trick and the remaining British have retreated towards Miri. We will deal with them soon.

Finally - recon is reporting a large enemy force at Manado. Admiral Tanaka of the escort force was inclined to plow in and offload his troops as fast as he could until an enemy carrier was reported! No other information has been given, but we're certain to find out soon enough.

[center]
Hmmm ...[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

Two updates in one day! You are spoiling us Alikchi. Now where is update number 3?!?!?! (We aren't a very grateful lot around here....)

[Alikchi2]

Shaddup, I've been busy. [:D]

The turn is in Cruft's inbox - but it's 12:30 his time now, so I probably shall have to wait until tomorrow.

Either way the next few days should be quite interesting. [8D]

[okonumiyaki]

ORIGINAL: Captain Cruft

Just look at the awesome 2 pounder on that Valentine! LOL

BTW I never thought of tanks as female, what with their long protuberances ... Cynthia?

Eh? Valentine is a male name... (Saint Valentine)

[Terminus]

But that particular Valentine was called Cynthia.