The Shattered Sword: John 3rd vs. Anachro--BTS

[John 3rd]

July 22, 1943
Diego Garcia

Japanese Deliberate Attack scores 64-1. Japan takes 125 Cas but the Allies lose 1,093 Cas and 66 Guns. At the end of the round, the Aussies SURRENDER! Scratch one full Brigade.

Order the Task Force of AK--AP back to DG to begin picking up troops.

Still have a few days for possible action.

[John 3rd]

July 22, 1943
China

Wow. China is crazy fluid at the moment.

Here is an assault by two Jap ID and a Brigade vs a stronger force but it scores an 8-1. No surrender so I have these guys trapped in the hex.

Got another hex west of Tuyun with 19 units that will soon be under attack. It is surrounded as well.

[John 3rd]

July 23, 1943
New Guinea

Another day, another Allied sub. Last turn we sank O19. This turn we sink SS Dolphin near Madang, NG. The SS is smacked by DC forcing it to the surface. The SS proves feisty as it puts TT into CA Yoshino before succumbing to the assault and sinking.

Order the CVs out. They have provided fantastic aircover for this operation. They accomplished:
1. Cover for delivery of a CD unit at both Umboi and Finschhaven.
2. 5,000 Supply at Umboi and 10,000 Supply at Finschhaven.
3. The lifting of 9,000 troops from the 64th ID in Lae back to Madang.
4. The mangling of Allied Fighters and Bombers two of the last three days.

Good work to 1 CV and 3 CVL as well as 2 CS. Come on home.

[Wuffer]

Fine, but why on earth you choose such a defeatist title?
Ah, I see - lure your opponent into a false feel of security...

[John 3rd]

There is no DEFEATISM here!

I always pull my AAR Tiles from favorite Pacific War book titles.

[John 3rd]

July 23, 1943
Diego Garcia

After being abandoned by their Allies, the 20th Indian Division surrenders. A Japanese attack yields 103-1 causing 834 Cas, 74 Guns, and 15 Vehicles to be lost. The unit then formally surrenders at the end of the day (turn).

BANZAI!

Could have simply left the enemy to take the base but this decisions yields the surrender of over 15,000 Aust and Indian troops.

My APs will arrive tomorrow to lift off 15,000+ troops and redeploy them to their original bases...mission accomplished.

[EwaldvonKleist]

What is the limiting factor for rebuilding land power of both sides? Shellsives (units), filling (manpower&equipment) or quality (experience)? So will there be more than a short term effect from the destroyed allied units?
Do you plan further offensives of your own or are you in full turtle mode (with the occasional counter attack) from now on?
Edit: There is the China offensive obviously, I ask regarding major operations against non-china.

[John 3rd]

Funny you ask that...

July 25, 1943

Three complete Japanese infantry divisions begin loading at Truk. Nearly 80 AK, AP, AKA are involved. The IDs have Prep anywhere from 58-69%. Target: MANUS. Three Bombardment TFs have already sailed and will hit the base over the next three days. There is plenty of supply at Truk so they shall reload and come again. Embedded within the Invasion Force will be 5 CA.

Sitting at Manus is the US 32nd ID and nine other units. Port and AF are now 1. Making the AF operational was be best damned thing Sean could ave done for me. It gave me a hittable target for my bombers. No more base or fort building is possible and we will hit the base every day to force supply down. Figure a landing on August 1st or 2nd.

Course, he COULD come back...

[John 3rd]

Sorry for no Posts.

Sean is currently AWOL. Supposed to have a turn Wed Morn--nope, Wed Night--nope, and this morning--nope. He is busy...

[Canoerebel]

If today is Wednesday, as I've assumed since I got up this morning, you've gotten ahead of us in the space-time continuum. Come back to us. [:)]

[RangerJoe]

It is because of the Rocky Mountain HIGH type of stuff . . . [X(][:-]

[John 3rd]

OK. That was funny. Ooops.

On the BRIGHT side, I a just got a turn!

[durnedwolf]

Just caught myself up with your AAR. You are doing a swell job so far. It's been fun reading.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

June 30, 1943

USS Tunny AND KXVII are sunk near Palembang. Air Search detected them, I formed three ASW TF and they coordinated their attacks beautifully.

Add the Bouvier and the Cuttlefish heavily damaged near Rabaul and it is a pretty good last day of June 1943.




Here are the VICTORY POINTS for the month:

Japan
July 1st 48,687
June 1st 45,116
Gain 3,571 VP

Allies
July 1st 31,057
June 1st 28,618
Gain 2,439 VP

Japan GAINS 1,132 VP over the Allies for the month in which they launch a massed assault.

What will July bring? Sean tends to alternate his offensives and is a little predictable right now. Easy answer: Burma--Malaya--Sumatra. We are prepared and looked forward to a non-CV supported operation by the Allies! Will detail in a bit.

August 1, 1943
VP Report

June saw the Japanese out gain the enemy by 1,132 VP.

What does July do? Here are the VP numbers:

Japan
August 1st 51,109
July 1st 48,687
+2,322

Allies
August 1st 32,788
July 1st 31,057
+1,731

Net GAIN for Japan this last month is 591 VP. It isn't to much but it is a GAIN and not a loss for the month. I shall take it and move forward.

Will Post the VP Screen in just a minute.

[John 3rd]

VP Gains
August 1, 1943

I compared the VP Screen with the last one Posted back on July 10th so this is just the last 2/3 of the month:

Bases Controlled
Allies -13
Japan +88

Japan re-takes the contested Diego Garcia, Hansa Bay, and Cape Gloucester.

Aircraft Lost
Allies +330
Japan +294

Nearly EVEN aircraft losses for VP gains.

Army Losses
Allies +596
Japan +77

These numbers reflect my destruction of the troops at Diego Garcia, Hansa Bay, and in China.

Ship Losses
Allies 20 Ships for 187 VP
Japan 20 Ships for 132 VP

EVEN!

Fairly interesting numbers.

[John 3rd]

August 2, 1943
Manus Invasion Force

It is too quiet right now. The Allies have turtled up again. OK. We'll use this time to our advantage.

Japan has pulled out 3 ID used in the reduction of Hansa Bay, Finschhaven, and Lae. They are retooling in the Marianas.

Three other ID are now en route to invade Manus. The 9th, 12th, and 33rd ID will land in two days. Four BBs (Nagato, Mutsu, Tosa, and Yamato) are embedded in the Invasion Force with two Bombardment TFs of CAs and BCs will assist.

Just under 35,000 troops will land. The max base number for the hex is 35,000 so this should really do the trick. Looking at just under 1,100 AV going in against about 450 (primarily the 32nd US ID, a CD unit, and a TK unit). If we can do a number on the disruption then this will go well. If not, it will take a bit.

Figure any immediate response by the Allies will take at least a week of time. That shall be my window. We'll give 7-10 days for success...after that...who knows...

[ny59giants]

How much Naval Support did you bring to speed up the unloading process? It should be in the lowest numbered TF.
Any minesweeepers embedded in the TFs just in case he has a minefield there or has subs nearby that can lay mines.

Signed,
your therapist and economics minister

[John 3rd]

No mines. I've bombarded it about every turn for ten days.

He has CD present so I have the BBs and about 12 DDs embedded in the Landing Force to handle that. Two ID are assigned to Combined Fleet so they will get that bonus. Combined Fleet moved from Saipan to Truk for the coordination benefits. All three ID are now over 70% prep and Combined is near 90%.

[John 3rd]

August 3. 1943

The Manus Invasion Force plods on along at 12 Knots. It is two days away and is not spotted.

The Manus AF gets the attention of nearly 150 bombers and is pretty well plastered. He must suspect that I am coming. Don't know. The Invasion Force has, as mentioned 4 BB embedded in it. The shipping is escorted by a BC--CA TF and a CA TF. Both will bombard as needed. Have no diea if this is as tough of a nut as I imagine it to be.

We shall see.

August 5th is D-Day.

[John 3rd]

I am bored at how slow turns are coming right now.

Decided to browse the air production and research side of things. I made a decision early on to put two factories worth of research into the Frances. They each matured into Sz-30 Factories and the deployment date steadily moved forward. It dawned on me just how fast it was moving and so I shifted my active Betty factories into the Frances and now will be getting it sometime in September.

The single biggest improvements are speed and ARMOR. My Betty/Nell forces have not taken serious losses and having the chance of advancing to this airframe should be a good thing. SR is an issue but I think the other advantages outweigh that.

My Naval Bombers will continue to produce the Nell-Q (30), Frances (90), and Liz (50). Thoughts?