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September 25, 1942 - A day for action in the Air!

As I anticipated, there was a lot of air activity on the first day of the war. I sent in hundreds of fighters on sweeping missions, especially focused on Vladivostok and a couple of other bases, and was by and large met with very heavy resistance. I closely watched the combat replays and noted a couple of points:

1) I am not sure if it is the fact that I have a lot of elite pilots in my planes, but the MiG-3 is significantly less threatening than it would first appear. My expertly crewed Tojos were more than a match for it, and even the Oscar Ic killed one and damaged several others. I am not saying it's worthless by any means and I am sure it could be a serious threat with the right tactics, but it can definitely be dealt with.
2) The I-16 is a tank! Yes that's an exaggeration, but it's durability plus armor often allowed it to take several hits before being destroyed. Certainly significantly more durable than my Zeros or Oscars for instance, and even the Tojos given its armor. The Nick is a different story.
3) The plane that damaged me most in these encounters was actually the I-153. Yes they got badly hit in the initial dives when I had the altitude advantage, but even then their impressive maneuverability often allowed them to evade and they often got their vengeance when the fight gradually descended to low altitudes where they really shined.

There was little bomber action aside from a couple of big Japanese raids on airfields, a massed IL-2 attack on some of my advancing troops, and night raids on oil in Sakhalin by Russian TB-3 bombers to little effect.

At Sea, the Russians sallied out in force with their subs and my ASW air got to work. Val dive-bombers stationed on Sakhalin swooped in on three Russian destroyers that dared to sail out and sent them to the bottom.

I know its not your style but i would like to see some combat reports and screenshots if you dont mind , Soviet invasion is interesting

Here are the air losses for the first day to go with the description on the post above.

ORIGINAL: Evoken

I know its not your style but i would like to see some combat reports and screenshots if you dont mind , Soviet invasion is interesting

Sure thing, I will try to post some more screenshots a bit later and especially when the ground war heats up.

Vals in Action

The War in the Far East

Tsurugui force of nine divisions is holding the line from the sea to the swamps. It is also feinting towards the Soviet lines to give the impression that an assault is coming. It's real task is purely defensive - to hold the front and try to keep as many Soviets in front of it as possible.

Odachi force of ten divisions is crossing the river at various points with the objective of cutting the rail and annihilating the Russian forces around Kuibyshevka. With the unfortunate early trigger of the war this is now in serious doubt as I expect Andy to be able to reinforce here before I am in position.

In Sakhalin, four divisions + of Tanto force are marching to take Alexandrovsk and from there the rest of the island.

The War in Mongolia

East of Hailar, Katana force of seven divisions (including two tank) are moving northeast across the river and will either pivot west towards Borzya or head northeast to cut the rail if Odachi force is in trouble.

Two divisions and some support are moving towards Choybalsan as a diversion and to guard against a flank attack on Hailar.

Smaller forces in bragade sized packets are moving to grab the frontier Mongolian bases with China.

Finally, Tachi force of eight divisions is moving from Mangan up the road towards Ulan Bator with the objective of pushing on to the Irkutsk area.

Where do you concentrate your tanks? Suppose it is Central Mongolia with all the plains and roads? How many tank divs you have in the scenario at this moment?

I don't see Soviet airforce in Mongolia, is it because Andy withdrew or because you don't do recon yet?

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Where do you concentrate your tanks? Suppose it is Central Mongolia with all the plains and roads? How many tank divs you have in the scenario at this moment?

I don't see Soviet airforce in Mongolia, is it because Andy withdrew or because you don't do recon yet?

This is stock Scenario 1 so only two tank divisions for me. A third one is a few months away from being formed. The Two tank divisions are with Katana force heading towards Borzya with the fall back plan of going for the rail if, Odachi, the rail cutting force to the east is in trouble.

So far I haven't seen much of Soviet air presence in Mongolia but I anticipate that will change once he sees my concentration of force there.

September 26, 1942

A Sentai of Tojos caught a gaggle of IL-2s heading towards advancing Japanese troops and knocked out about a dozen of them. The Sturmoviks are really tough though - took a really large number of gun hits to bring them down, so cannon is really quite needed when going up against them. Thus far I have met Andy's Soviet fighters and attack planes, but aside from some TB-3 nights raids on the first day of the campaign I haven't really seen his bombers - where are they?

September 27, 1942

Andy has given up on defending the airspace over Vladivostok (at least for now), so my IJAAF sweeps encountered no opposition there today. IJNAF Zero units did find opposition over Komsomolsk and Ulan Bator however, and some more furious air battles raged. These are the very best of what the Empire has to offer in terms of fighter pilots, and the results were telling. Best of all, none of the Zero pilots died or were even injured.

The Elite

September 28-29, 1942

My accident in triggering the campaign in Russia several days earlier than what was planned has opened the door for Andy to shuffle large numbers of forces through the rail line. Nearly the entire Soviet force around the Kuibyshevka area (about 1700 AV) has withdrawn, probably to the north, and I estimate another two infantry divisions and four tank brigades (at least) have pulled out from the area around Khabarovsk, also to the north. Ugh.

Still, things could have been far worse had the 20th Recon Regiment not arrived just in time to stop a much larger flow of Russian forces to the north from the Vladivostok area. The Regiment's heroic sacrifice will allow me the time needed to finally block the rail for good.

I am registering almost ten reported ASW air hits on Soviet subs a day - if only one of those is real that's already good.

Meanwhile, Andy and I are playing a game of minesweeper at sea! [:D] Unfortunately, the Japanese Type 4 mines are really nothing to write home about.

September 30 - October 1, 1942

The campaign against the USSR continues at high intensity. Choybalsan and Oboto on the Chinese/Mongolian border are some of the first Soviet bases to fall to the Empire as Andy looks to retreat northwestwards and secure his lines back to the motherland. We are in the middle of a race to Ulan Bator where I have the advantage in better roads and his reinforcements the advantage in faster motorized forces.

Some good news came to light as the 1st and 2nd Tank divisions of Katana force seized the rail west of Mogocha. More Soviet forces than anticipated, likely from the Kuibyshevka starting positions, were pocketed after they had fled the first attempt at encirclement. If I can hold here then Andy would likely end up having extricated only a few infantry divisions, some infantry brigades, and maybe about four tank brigades. I can definitely live with that. The problem to holding this position is twofold however. The first is that supply is not flowing as nicely as I would want it, something I am trying to to rectify. The second is that Andy has concentrated his bomber force around the Chita area and is willing to use it to hammer my tank divisions and help his forces breakthrough. Further Japanese support is on the way but this one hangs in the balance.

October 1st was also a rather frustrating day in the air for me. Andy has largely given up defending forward with his fighters, especially in the Vladivostok area, relying on flak instead. I used this opportunity to move up some Val dive bomber units to pounce on his warships sheltering under the guns of Vladivostok. After half a dozen sweeps went through in case he decided to put fighters on CAP, Sally bombers and the Vals came in to do their job but were beset by Soviet fighters diverting from training missions. The cost was huge with around 20 Vals and 25 Sallys knocked out of the sky. I don't think fighters ever divert from training missions to fight sweeps (or at least I have never seen them do so), but they can pose a very grave danger against subsequent bomber raids following the sweeps. Something to keep in mind.

Any paratroops of yours ready on stations? On the map it looks like Andy had left some bases unattended, and with airgroups still in. You can drop in, wreck havoc and then extricate via air transport

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
I don't think fighters ever divert from training missions to fight sweeps (or at least I have never seen them do so), but they can pose a very grave danger against subsequent bomber raids following the sweeps. Something to keep in mind.

I believe you can catch those trainers by having a LRCAP above Vlad. LRCAP will join in if your other mission runs into opposing CAP.

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

The first is that supply is not flowing as nicely as I would want it, something I am trying to to rectify.

How?

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Any paratroops of yours ready on stations? On the map it looks like Andy had left some bases unattended, and with airgroups still in. You can drop in, wreck havoc and then extricate via air transport

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101
I don't think fighters ever divert from training missions to fight sweeps (or at least I have never seen them do so), but they can pose a very grave danger against subsequent bomber raids following the sweeps. Something to keep in mind.

I believe you can catch those trainers by having a LRCAP above Vlad. LRCAP will join in if your other mission runs into opposing CAP.

Excellent suggestion on the LRCAP. I agree that looks to be the most effective way of countering this particular threat.

I do have paratroopers available and plan on doing some more drops very soon. The aircraft symbol in abandoned bases is rather deceptive however, it's mostly just a couple of damaged airframes Andy has left behind.

ORIGINAL: adarbrauner

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

The first is that supply is not flowing as nicely as I would want it, something I am trying to to rectify.

How?

I am doing three things:
1) Drive more supply to my most forward bases, including Hailar and Moho
2) Eliminate an NKVD unit that was bypassed and is now in my lines
3) Take Borzya and the surrounding forts to claim the rail even further northwards.