Payback - jzanes (A) vs. Rader (J). A Rader-free zone.

[Jzanes]

May 26-27, 1942

99% of the action still focused in the Soviet far east. Let’s break down the action by region.

In the maritimes, Magadan falls but the border fort outside Alexandrovsk (Sakhalin) holds. He only has one division of troops attacking the fort. He’ll need several more divisions to have a chance vs. the city.

One of my subs hits a mine at Etorofu. I’ll have to get smart and stop tempting fate by entering Japanese port hexes. My own minelaying subs are heading towards Nikolaevsk to leave some easter eggs of my own.

My CAP trap over ships near Petropavlsk works well and I bag a half dozen netties. The Japanese pound the Petropavlsk airfield. It’s still open but won’t be for much longer I’m afraid.

[Jzanes]

In the central area, the major air action occurs. Theatre wide the Japanese lose 44 planes (21 zeroes) vs. 27 russian losses (14 fighters). Most of the damage is done over “the swamp” (the hex between Birobidzhan and Khaborvsk). He puts up a LR CAP of 20 zeroes at 35,000 feet. Wave after wave of Russian sweepers flying at 10-15,000 feet whittle them down and clear the way for several hundred SB-2 bombers. He also sends in about 100 medium bombers defended by 50 oscars. I have no fighters guarding the hex and they have an easy bomb run.

Next turn I will be sweeping and LR capping “the swamp”. I know it’ll be bloody for me but I’m hoping to keep chopping up his bombers.

Paratroops drop on Khaborvsk. This will speed up the movement of his southern pincer. I slowed them down again by hitting them with bombers. No fighter opposition over them. In addition to this force and the horde coming from Komsomolsk, he also seems to be bringing up a force from the interior heading towards Kotou.

My troops bombard the 2 divisions in “the swamp” and cause close to 1,000 casualties. You gotta love Russian artillery. A tank brigade has arrived from Birobidzhan and I’ll be deliberate attacking next turn hoping to push out these 2 divisions before any reinforcements arrive.

About 30 B17s fly into the theatre from China with more on the way. They will rest and consolidate before starting strategic bombing of the home islands. Worse case with the B17s is I force him to CAP his rear areas.

[Jzanes]

Railroad clearing operations dominate the action in the north. A tank brigade has reached Petrovskiy and will try to retake the city and reopen the rail connection to the south. Japanese paratroops drop on the border “dot” base of Wuteh. 36th army continues south clearing the railroad while 2nd red banner army does the same moving north from Kuibyshevka.

I’m actually starting to memorize the names to all these obscure Russian cities. Victory!

[Jzanes]

May 28-31, 1942

This update will cover 4 days (2 turns). We’ve entered June now and let’s take at the score. Lately, most of the points earned by both sides have been in the Russian campaign. We’ve both loss hundreds of planes in the last few weeks at about a 1:1 ratio.

I need to figure out a way to get his airforce to deploy away from Russia. However, the British and Australians aren’t anywhere near ready to go on the offensive and the Americans are hesitant to make any big jumps with the KB still unaccounted for. For now the Russians will have to bear the brunt of the fighting

[Jzanes]

In the Russian maritimes, not much going on. He has just about wiped out the Petropavlovsk airforce. He continues to assault the fort outside Alexandrovsk with insufficient troops. About 8 tank regiments crossed the river and rout the survivors of the Komsomolsk battle. I imagine they are out to grab Sovetskaya Gavan. A large TF left Komsomolsk and is now heading south past Sakhalin Island. They got out just before my subs reached and mined Nikolaevsk.

[Jzanes]

Massive air battles in the central area over the last 4 days. The Japanese lose about 175 planes (80 bombers) while I lose 170 russian planes (130 fighters). Most of the damage results from my 200 fighter defense of Bikin. His sweeps whittle away my fighters but not before they ravage his bombers. The base remains only lightly damaged but I’ve moved my airforce back to the Vladivostok area. They will defend the port, rest a bit, and support my planned attacks on the Japanese airfields he’s been using to hit Bikin. Hopefully, I’ll catch his fields without much defense and destroy more bombers.

In “the swamp” hex, I almost reach 1:1 odds in my assaults and inflict about 3:1 losses against the Japanese (in my favor). Japanese reinforcements have arrived from Khaborvsk and I will now hunker down, bombard, and dig in. The goal is to hold on to this hex and Birodbizhan until the 36th army arrives from the north.

My B17s hit Nagoya, fight thru the 6 plane Nick CAP, and bomb the Sally plant. As far as I can tell, they didn’t do any damage though. I have them on “commander’s choice, airframe plant attack” for the next turn. I’m curious to see how that works. The Russian DB-3s hit the Harbin Mabel plant and do much better. It seems to be down to 1/3 production. They will hit the Changchun heavy industry next turn. Hopefully, I’ll draw some Japanese fighters away from the front with these attacks. More B17s are on their way via Umnak Island in the Aleutians. Umnak is exactly 60 hexes away from Vladivostok. That happens to be the max range for the B17E.

[Jzanes]

In the north, I recapture Petrovskiy and Wuteh from soviet paratroops. The Petrovskiy invaders retreat down the railline though and I’ll have to advance and push them again.

36th army and 2nd red banner army continue to clear the raillines and move towards the front.

The main Japanese base in the north appears to be Hailar. I spotted 21 units there one turn and 8 the next. I'm not sure where they went but I don’t think they moved towards Borzya. I’ll keep an eye for a big stack of japanese advancing on me.

[Jzanes]

June 1-8, 1942

A busy week with playing the turns taking precedence over the AAR. Lemme catch up;

As usual, the Russian campaign dominates the action. Concerted Japanese airfield attacks force me to move my airforce to the northern area in a series of jumps. For the 8 day period, the Russians lose 400 planes while the Japanese lose 300 airframes.

The MiG is living up to it’s billing as a high-altitude plane. It is regularly bested at low levels but is able to stand toe to toe with a zero when the engagement is over 20,000 feet.

[Jzanes]

Going area to area, let’s look at the maritimes. The Japanese continue to pound away at Petropavlovsk but have yet to close the field. The 10 or so remaining soviet fighters refuse to give up and continue to shoot down a couple Japanese raiders every turn.

I’ve been forced to move my airforce north so Vladivostok port is left without protection. I am gonna try to make a run thru the Sakhalin-Hokkaido strait and then past the Kuriles to safety in the Aleutians. The Soviet DDs are following the transports. I’m hoping they’ll fight off Japanese surface ships and attract most of the naval bombers.

The Japanese armor continues to push towards Sovetskaya Gavan and the Japanese continue to attack the fort outside Alexandrovsk but fail to get any better than 1:2 odds.

[Jzanes]

In the central region, massive Japanese airstrikes force me to move my main airforce from the Vladivostok region to the Kuibysheyvka area to the North. The bombers have since moved on to the Chita-Borzya area while the fighters follow along with most of them currently at Kuibysheyvka. Along the way, my bombers have continued to slow up his ground forces with ground attack missions.

The Japanese built up their “swamp” hex force to 4000 AV and then tried a deliberate assault. It wasn’t pretty for the bad guys.
Japanese – Base AV: 4405 Adjusted AV: 2081 Casualties: 10247
Russians - Base AV: 1703 Adjusted AV: 4393 Casualties: 1160
He has also moved a force into the Birodbizhan hex to the north of the swamp. But it’s too small to do more than besiege the city (about 400 japanese AV vs the defenders 700 AV). The railway has been cleared and the 36th army is moving off the trains and heading down the road towards Birodbizhan. They should be able to push aside this besieging force and relieve the city within 2 weeks. I figure the Japanese are going to have to bring up another 3 to 6 thousand AV to bust thru the swamp. He may have it but hopefully, I’ll arrive before it does.

[Jzanes]

My airforce is going to regroup in the northern area. While I do that, I will do my best to close down the major Japanese airbases in the north. Next turn, I begin this op by hitting Hailar with everything I have.

17th army is starting to arrive at Borzya. I have decided to keep them around in the north for now but they will camp out on the railline and be ready to head south if they are needed.

A motorcycle regiment has captured Mangan. It’s months away yet but I’m gradually forming a Chinese force for moving to link up in the Mangan area. If the Japanese don’t close down this back door, maybe I’ll get frisky. But like I said, it’s months away and I won’t be surprised if there just isn’t enough supply flowing out in the middle of nowhere to support any real offensive.

[Jzanes]

June 9-10, 1942

Just one turn (2 days) to report on this time. In non-russian front news, CA Chester is hit by 2 torpedoes and sunk near Christmas Island. The cruiser had only 2 DDs for escort. I hear that it takes at least 6 DDs to provide an effective ASW screen. I’ll remember that for next time I send out a cruiser patrol.

The Japanese capture Mandalay on the first assault with 4:1 odds. I was hoping to make a stand here for a bit but what remains of the Burma Army is now across the river at Shwebo. Transport planes are picking up a bit of each unit in case units “evaporate” in the coming retreat thru the jungle to Bengal/Assam.

Meanwhile in the soviet far east, my ships trying to escape to Alaska were hit by wave after wave of naval bombers. About 12 small to medium transports are lost and several DDs are hit but all are still operational and continuing on to the open ocean. I even managed to stumble across a Japanese TK force and sank 3 small coastal TKs. Not much, but a balm for my wounds nonetheless.

[Jzanes]

The Japanese send their airforce against Kuibysheyvka and run into hundreds of soviet fighters. I take heavy losses but manage to chew up a fair number of Japanese bombers. For the turn, the Japanese lose 159 planes while the Russians lose 129.

My airforce sweeps aside the nates guarding Hailar and completely trashes the airfield. This coming turn I am sending the SB-2s and TB-3s vs. ground troops in the north while the B-17s and DB-3s hit Arshaan airfield near Hailar.

The Japanese deliberate attack again at “the swamp”. Looks like he plans to grind down the defenders despite heavy losses to his assault force. I will move in what fresh forces I can afford to send from Birodbhizan.
Japanese - Base AV: 3943 Adjusted AV: 1641 Casualties: 5838
Russians - Base AV: 1514 Adjusted AV: 4420 Casualties: 1356

I lose 70-some vehicles; mostly tanks from one of the tank brigades. Good place to mention that the soviets receive no tank replacements until 1944 when the T-34/85 comes online. Until then the soviets have to make do with their obsolete T-26s and BT-7s. Strange that none of the earlier T-34 variants are included in the game. I suspect this was a design oversight.

[lolz]

IIRC in witp there were some t34/75 right from the begining.

[Jzanes]

Yes. I remember it that way also. The lack of tank upgrades/replacements and similar problems with very few airplane replacements is probably gonna be what defeats the russians I'm afraid.

ORIGINAL: lolz

IIRC in witp there were some t34/75 right from the begining.

[Jzanes]

June 11-12, 1942

Russian fighters engage scattered Japanese air raids on Bikin, Birodbhizhan, and the Swamp. The Japanese lose 55 planes, mostly bombers. The Russian lose 34 planes for the turn.

He deliberate attacks The Swamp again and takes heavy losses. It looks as though several more Japanese divisions have just arrived and next turn’s deliberate attack should be interesting. I have about 300-400 AV moving up from Birodbhizhan but they won’t arrive for a couple days at best. 36th army is moving south on the road. They are advancing a hex a turn. Another week till they join the battle. Here’s the result from the latest Japanese deliberate attack;
Japanese – Base AV: 3662 Adjusted AV: 1810 Casualties: 6362
Russians – Base AV: 1354 Adjusted AV: 3127 Casualties: 955

In the north, the Japanese grab the border base of Yugodzyr. My airforce pounds Arshaan airfield. The DB-3 is proving to be a very useful plane. I have 5 32-plane squadrons. Two are the torpedo carrying variant and all of them have a 14 hex range and a decent bomb load. Excellent for long range airfield, ground attack, or strategic missions. I have yet to unleash them on a torpedo run for fear of having them run into a large CAP.

[Jzanes]

June 13-16, 1942

Four more days have passed. I’ve reorganized the vast Chinese army around Changsha. This will allow me to send a couple thousand AV to the north to see about harassing the japanse along the China-Soviet-Japanese border areas. It’s a long walk over bad roads though and they won’t arrive for several months.

The Japanese continue to march on Schwebo. I’ve pulled out a cadre of each Burma Army unit for rebuilding in Calcutta.

A japanese surface raider TF made a trip through my Christmas-Fiji supply lines. It failed to engage anyone though and appears to have withdrawn. I will start having a cruiser TF escort my transport TFs heading thru these dangerous waters.

In the soviet theatre, the air war has slowed due to my having pulled most of my planes back into the relative safety of the North (Chita-Borzya area). For the 4 days, the Japanese lose 64 planes and the Russians lose 97 airframes. The IL-2 does some interdiction strikes and once again manages to shoot down a couple attacking Japanese fighters. It’s done that on several occasions. Strange bonus for a light bomber.

[Jzanes]

In the maritimes area, the Japanese have just about beat down the Petrovlovsk airforce. Only a couple fighters left to defend the field. He’s stopped his assault on the Alexandrovsk fort and his armor has reached Sovetskaya Gavan and will likely capture the city without too much trouble.

[Jzanes]

In the central area, the japanese have pounded away at “the Swamp” and I am trying to retreat back to Birodbhizhan in good order (moving back in “combat” mode). It’ll be touch and go whether I pull back before getting routed. Over the 4 days the japanese lose 10000 troops while I lose 11000. His army is so huge that it just absorbs these losses and keeps coming.

Meanwhile, the 36th army has just about reached the battle and will hopefully bust thru to the city in the next couple turns. I’m hoping that it’s 2000 AV will manage to keep the massive Japanese army bottled up around the city.

I am concentrating a large force south of Khaborvsk at Bikin. I will move this force up to threaten the japanese rear. If I can break thru his blocking force then I will move on Khaborvsk. If I can’t break thru, I will at least start bombarding his blocking force and keep him from sending even more troops against the northern sector.

The japanese have also been bombing the Vladivostok heavy industry. This will cut my supply production some but luckily there is over 300000 supply in the city and this should last a long while.

[Jzanes]

In the north, I am making some modest counterattacks. Along the rail, I’ve crossed the river and captured the “dot” base of Moho. I will continue to make further crossings and move south along the track to roll up his small units guarding the river. Further west, a similar action is threatening the flank of Hailar. Mobile forces of the 17th army will move along the forest track and see what kind of havoc they can cause. Even further west, more mobile forces are moving to engage his 1 division sized raiding force near Yugodzyr. I hope to retake this city and Tamsag and then threaten Arshaan.

Despite some small japanese raids on Borzya, the Russians rule the northern skies. I continue to pound his airfields and ground troops. Chita and Skilka are my main bases and I have a smaller airforce at Choybolsan.