I had made a mistake in the settings, not realizing the PBJ was not an attack bomber but instead a standard medium bomber. Next time I send them on a mission it will be at 2000 feet, not 100 feet.
So the thing about the combat report is that the troops/guns/vehicles count only shows those participating in the combat (bombardment or attack), while the AV shows everything in the hex. Only 173 guns bombarded my LCUs, which would seem to be some portion (or perhaps all, but I doubt it) of his artillery units in the hex. This means one of two things:
1) Those 173 guns are the ones causing all the destruction on the beaches, which is certainly possible (918 shots does not mean 918 tubes)
2) All of the guns in all of the units are firing at the beaches, even those LCUs that are in Reserve mode
The reason for this is because, due to the landing code, all of his troops
in Combat mode will participate in the automatic bombardment if they are capable of bombarding. This means his other troops
must be in Reserve mode, as that's the only way to remove them from the land combat that occurs (the bombardment). 4 divisions plus all of that artillery is far more than 173 guns. That 173 gun count is, so far as I know, completely accurate and has been remarkably consistent between subsequent bombardments here. I am slowly causing casualties and the number is slowly going down, which clues me in that he might be under 2x supply at these bases so can't replace the lost guns.
If #1, then there isn't squat I can do about it because as evidenced from the automatic bombardment, his Divisions are in Reserve yet they are the ones being targeted by my ships in the pre-invasion support action (and this does not knock them out of Reserve mode), as shown by every combat report.
If #2, is that WAD? Somehow, this is actually even less of a problem than #1 because at least in #2 it means the ships are firing at units that are actually impeding the landing whereas with #1 the ships are shooting at units that aren't shooting at the troops, and not conducting counter-battery against units that are actually firing at the troops. That would be borked - to me.
Here's what's at Lautem:
5th Division
56th Division
103rd Division
38th Division
2nd Division
2nd Medium Mortar Battalion
44th Field AA Battalion
10th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
14th RF Gun (Pack) Battalion
11th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
17th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
9th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
25th Army
71st Field AA Battalion
15th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
Southern Army
2nd Mortar Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
6th Ind. Field Artillery Battalion
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Medium Mortar Battalion
Bombardment-capable artillery units are bolded. I will look up the TOE of these later to see if any are in Reserve due to the observed gun count in the combat report. Note that when I bombard, it shows the full stack strength that is present, which means either that things in Reserve are shown in the defending strength on bombardments regardless (wouldn't surprise me) or that they were not in reserve mode for this one (strikes me as unlikely, but is possible):
August 11
Defending force 66814 troops, 714 guns, 583 vehicles, Assault Value = 1873
August 12
Defending force 66766 troops, 712 guns, 582 vehicles, Assault Value = 1872
Also, since I didn't state it before, all of the units I am landing at Lautem (well, fragments at this point to flesh out what's there now) are prepped 100% and have been. The casualties on the beaches are entirely from "Coastal" gun fire, presumably from this stack of artillery units that my ships won't shoot back at.
