'Tis light as a feather... No Panzerjaeger Hortlund

[Mike Solli]

This scenario is very different from stock (early war stock, no less).  Early in the war, excess oil and fuel migrate to Pt. Arthur from all over China/Manchuoko/Korea.  What sort of stocks are in Pt. Arthur right now?

[Nemo121]

There's no overland bridge to Korea from China... The assumption is the Soviets took that region to give themselves warm water ports and then stopped.

So, if I want fuel from China or anywhere west of there I have to get it from Shanghai. I'll try that and see what that does to FUEL stocks throughout the rest of Asia...

[Mike Solli]

Have you considered some of the small TKs in 1 ship convoys hugging the coast of China?  You won't move a lot of fuel that way, but 1x 1250 ton TK will keep 625 HI producing for a day.

[Mike Solli]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

There's no overland bridge to Korea from China... The assumption is the Soviets took that region to give themselves warm water ports and then stopped.

So, if I want fuel from China or anywhere west of there I have to get it from Shanghai. I'll try that and see what that does to FUEL stocks throughout the rest of Asia...

Aha, that's interesting. So you don't control Manchuoko? What happened to the Kwantung Army?

[Nemo121]

Most of it was removed from the scenario... I'm playing a minor variant of Downfall by AndyMac so these were his decisions...

Basically though the scenario which makes sense to me is that Uncle Joe decided to stop where he did so as to force the Allies to focus on Japan while he consolidated in Central Europe taking advantage of the fact that they still had to commit hundreds of thousands of troops to the Far Eastern theatre while he had everything he wanted ( including, crucially, warm water ports ).

[Nemo121]

After a week in which PH was getting over a bug we finally have a turn back in the inbox. We'll try for a turn a day from now on...

So, what can we say about September 4th?

Today was basically defined by the continuing air battles over Amami Oshima an islet which is growin in importance as Japan continues to pour fighters in in order to stunt the Allied attempts to gain aerial superiority over the Okinawan Island chain.

Today one of two J7W1 evaluation squadrons, an A7M2 squadron and my single Ki-201 evaluation squadron were committed to the defence of Amami Oshima. Roughly 50 F4U4s and 30 F6F5s came in on sweep missions at high altitude. The A7M2s managed to shoot down 6 planes in return for three of their number, the J7W1s damaged quite a few Allied planes and were confirmed to have destroyed 7 Allied planes in return for 3 of their number. The Ki-201s on the other hand downed 13 Allied fighters in return for just 1 of their number.

I wasn't going to make any Ki-201s thinking that at 72 HI each they were just too expensive. After seeing them in action today though I have to question that decision. At the very least I should try to make enough to allow me to equip 2 or 3 "Flying Circuses" in which I concentrate all of my best pilots. There is every possibility that 100 Ki-201s would be able to dominate the sky over any base I put them in. This could be very useful when facing an enemy invasion of the mainland.

In addition two Mosquito Fighter-bomber raids went in against shipping along Kyushu. Unfortunately for the Allies my 2nd J7W1 squadron was lying in wait for just such a raid and managed to down an additional 10 Mosquitos.

Discounting a rather disastrous kamikaze raid in which 12 Ki-43 IVs escorted 9 Ohkas to their doom in the face of 100 P-51s and P-47s on LRCAP the exchange ratio was 39 to 7 in Japan's favour in terms of A2A combat. Not bad at all. Even with the Ohka and Ki-43 losses the Allied losses still exceeded Japan's slightly. I also think forcing him to LRCAP his ships so heavily is helping me avoid being swamped in A2A combat over Amami Oshima.


I can spot something like 30 ships embarking in the island just south-west of Amami Oshima. This island is 7 hexes from the Japanese mainland and the IJN ( minus the Nagato which is just a bit too slow ) has gathered and is going to undertake a night-time raid on the Allied shipping. With a little like my 2 CA, 1 CL and about 30 DDs can overcome the Allied PT swarms and get in amongst the transports. I don't see anything larger than a CL at this base --- and in truth I doubt the CL is even there. I think those PFs and PGs are being mis-identified as CLs--- and so I am hopeful of a good result at low cost.


Elsewhere the 60,000+ IJA troops being evacuated from Shanghai are beginning to unload while the significant IJN tasking of small xAKLs ( the 170 ton and 850 ton ones ) to the Kuriles axis is almost in place.

Allied recon flights continue to hit Japan but I'm IDing a lot of them at Gifu - a major airframe and engine production facility... Time to concentrate the night-fighters...

Based on input from michaelm training altitudes are being modified so that I train potential kami pilots ino LOW NAVAL ATTACK as that's the skill they seem to use.


Tomorrow I expect very large air battles over Amami Oshima as the IJN will be refuelling and reprovisioning there after its night-time raid and the Allied B-25Hs are likely to be drawn in to attack. Accordingly I'm flying the Kamis out and flying more fighters in. It is a Level 3 airfield and by tomorrow I'll be very disappointed if I don't have 150 fighters there. I may even thicken it with some long-range CAP.


Continuing positioning work for the Ki-74 mid-ocean kami attack continues apace.

[traskott]

Any more news of his CVs sailing to PH ??

[Nemo121]

No, I've lost sight of them and the units I converted to Ki-74 won't convert to kamikaze units so I have re-converted them and converted a kamikaze unit to Patsys. Unfortunately that'll take another couple of days to fully repair.... I still might catch something at Wake. After all they have a 29 hex range . But I don't think I'll be able to hit them before 4 or 5 more days pass. Still, I might catch some slow transports that way. I haven't been impressed with altitude as a defence vs Allied fighters. They seem to do just fine climbing up and intercepting.

[Xxzard]

I'm rather glad you made that last post about the late war Japanese fighters. It is not often that one actually gets to see them evaluated in combat conditions. That is interesting news with the Ki-201. If only it needed just one engine and had a service rating less than 5.

However, outperforming Allied fighters at a 2:1 ratio is still pretty good, so there is definitely hope for the J7W and A7M as well.

[FatR]

The big problem I see with Ki-201 is its abysmal service rating of 5. In my experience, even planes with rating 4 require 2-4 days of rest for evety day of combat to maintain top level of operational readyness. And when there are hundreds of 4E pounding your airfields...

[Nemo121]

Aye well I'm in the process of rethinking the Ki-201 thing...

Basically my thinking is that in a highly developed area with rail lines ( such as Japan ) it should be pretty easy to rail out any Ki-201s which are damaged on the ground or in aerial combat.

Really though it boils down to this.... Are 50 Ki-201s better than 100 J7W1s or, more importantly, Ki-94s ( as army fighter squadrons may be limited to army fighters in this mini-mod ). I can build twice as many J7W1s or Ki-94 IIs as Ki-201s for the same cost in HI and supplies.

On the other hand I lost 3 J7W1s for 7 enemy fighters but only 1 Ki-201 for roughly 13 enemy fighters. If they are going to get a 6 times superior exchange rate with the same quality of pilots then that's definitely worth having half the fighters for.

I'm really torn though as this is an industrial war which will be decided in favour of the side which either:
a) has the largest amount of logistics to pour into the fighting or
b) has less logistics (a shorthand term for everything ranging from ships, planes and weapons made by HI to supplies and fuel to keep the planes and ships in action ) but uses those logistics more efficiently so that, at the speartip, they are able to project more combat power.

So while the Ki-201 costs more it MAY be able to make up for this cost by just being hugely more efficient logistically ( defined as being able to shoot down more enemy HI per HI lost when the plane gets shot down )...

So, a J7W1 which shoots down 2.33 fighters before being downed expends 36 HI to destroy 84 HI. The Ki-201 costs 72 HI but will down 468 HI or, put another way, 36 HI spent on Ki-201s will result in 234 US HI destroyed., That's pretty much three times better than the J7W1. Above this there's also a major benefit in pilot survivability which would tend to yield longer survivability of Japanese pilots with greater potential to gain experience and actually shift the exchange rate even more in Japan's favour.


Hmm, if I had 12 months to plan production I think I'd build the Ki-201. As a defensive fighter over Japan it just seems superior both in total terms and in terms of HI efficiency. Unfortunately I don't have 12 months. My back's already against the wall. I am sufficiently impressed however to break a bit of a rule and invest 165,000 tons of supplies and 15,000 HI into Ki-201 production. I'd like to make 50 per month as I think that would allow me to equip a single Sentai of my best aces and keep that in action over the long term over the skies of Japan. I don't think it is probably justifiable as an investment rationally but I think that as a squadron to scare and frustrate PH it might be useful.


The key though is that I'm fighting over the Home Islands where I have rail lines to rail damaged planes out, lots of aviation support etc. I wouldn't even think of basing a Ki-201 in Port Moresby or something like that if I were fighting there. Over the Home Islands though, where they can be railed out if the base is closed by the Allies, they may well achieve quite a bit....



Interestingly one of the main reasons the Ki-201 did better than the J7W1 was, IMO, the fact that instead of 4 centre-mounted 30mm cannon as on the J7W1 it actually only has 2 centre-mounted 30mm but two centre-mounted 20mm cannon. Since those 2 x 20mm cannon are centre-mounted they have an accuracy of about 58 and seem to really help the Ki-201 get hits where the J7W1 would find position but miss. I'm expecting that vs bombers the J7W1 will probably do just fine though.


I'm considering in EA though that Japan might eschew the 30mm cannons and just go for multiple 20mm mounts instead. I think the J7W1 with 6 x centre-mounted 20mm cannons instead of the 4 x centre-mounted 30mm cannon would be an absolutely fearsome dogfighter and still do more than enough damage to bombers. The Ki-201 would also, IMO, be a lot more fearsome with 5 x 20mm centre-mounted cannons than 2 x 20mm and 2 x 30mm. It would also stop pilots having to worry about two different ballistic paths which would be horrible at anything other than ultra-short range.

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121
...
Based on input from michaelm training altitudes are being modified so that I train potential kami pilots into LOW NAVAL ATTACK as that's the skill they seem to use.

Just in case you hadn't seen this.

ORIGINAL: michaelm

True, the current low level trigger is <6,000 feet.
Looking a the code, a fighter group being trained for Kamikaze at 100' would actually improve their STRAFE skill.

So, I am wrong saying use 100'. It would be better to use 1000' in that case.

...

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Well, I've talked with Damian today ...

If I understand Damian right I have something like 38,000 pilots training on and off-map.

Well you've gone past the SQL SMALL INT boundary of reading pilotID's which is about 32K. The actual number of pilots is 21,557 with 18948 active.

[Nemo121]

Well my IJN foray into the waters around Okinawa didn't go quite as well as I had wished. Two of my SC TFs ( the one with the CL and the other with the two CAs ) got caught up fighting escorts and PTs and didn't get through to deliver death blows to the Allied shipping. When my DD TFs did get through to the transports too many of them ran out of torpedoes and main gun rounds long before they got into the xAKs, AKs, xAPs and APAs.

Still, while it wasn't as good as I would have wished I managed to sink 17 USN ships and damage another dozen very heavily and also managed to drown over 2,000 US troops ( about 250 non-combat squads ).

My sub screen is almost in place and by tomorrow I should have a good screen around Okinawa and the areas leading to it from the Philippines which will allow me to:
a) sink a good portion of the Allied reinforcements running this way,
b) sink a tithe of the USN shipping making for repair in the Philippines and
c) trigger a lot of night-time torpedo attacks ( I only have two IJN squadrons sufficiently trained for night-time torpedo attacks but this is definitely the place to use them).

In return I have one DD significantly damaged - the unfortunate Kamikaze - and three more with system damage in the teens. Everything else is good to go and, indeed, is going to sortie tonight into the waters around Okinawa looking for cripples and outliers. Once that's done the ships will retreat at full speed for Japan proper.

With any luck this could cost me 1 DD for 25 or so Allied ships in total. That isn't good enough long-term but it does serve two important purposes:

1. My willingness to risk CAs and a CL in this raid shows that the Allies MUST provide at least CLs as close escort for future amphibious TFs. This means putting CLs where I can get at them with subs, PT attacks and Ohkas.

2. Setting a precedent whereby any invasions will be strenuously resisted. This will force PH to escort them with more major fleet assets, LRCAP every movement and generally make sure to cover every move he makes. This should slow him down and that will prove very helpful to me.


Mostly though it is a nice but inconsequential operation which, through its small effect despite the committment of the entire IJN ( minus CVs and the Nagato ) shows just how far the IJN has fallen.


Anyways, as of now the tally of sunk shipping is as follows: 4 x YMS, 1 APA, 2 xAK, 3 xAP, 1 AM and 6 older DDs. I did have another dozen APAs and AKs at my mercy but my DDs had pretty much run out of main gun rounds and torpedoes by that stage... Ah well, there's always next time.

Tomorrow I'm going to conduct a series of slashing attacks into the Okinawa region combining 4 PT boat squadrons from 2 different bases, several SC TFs and a horde of submarines to catch the cripples. I don't have any IJA bomber units yet fully ready for night-time combat but I may be able to scrounge one or two for night-time port attacks just to add a bit more pressure to PH and draw his night fighter units into the air over Okinawa where I can allow fatigue to take its toll as I train up my own night fighter units before committing them to anti-NF sweep missions.

[traskott]

That trick doesn't work with me...I'm too lazy to escort all my convoys xDDDD

&nbsp;
@No japanese CA or CL damaged ? Amazing !!! [X(]

[Nemo121]

I optimised my CA and CL TF composition to make sure there were enough escorts to fight off PT boats. I ran into 3 PT boat TFs with the CL and CAs and my escorts fought each of them off. I also sent in a DD TF first ( low TF ID number means it went in first ) such that it would sweep some of the PTs and DDs. I also chose my TF COs to fit the orders given - DD TFs got the most aggressive COs ( useful for getting in close and sweeping the PTs ) while CAs and CL TFs got slightly less agressive COs in order to maximise the likelihood they'd stand off and not rush in to engage PT TFs.

Dealing with PTs requires a little luck BUT there ARE a large number of things a Japanese player can do to handle them. Most people don't understand that or bother to though.... although to be fair even when you do everything right sometimes the game just crucifies you anyways on general principle. This is good though as life is sometimes like that.

[Capt. Harlock]

Dealing with PTs requires a little luck BUT there ARE a large number of things a Japanese player can do to handle them. Most people don't understand that or bother to though.... although to be fair even when you do everything right sometimes the game just crucifies you anyways on general principle. This is good though as life is sometimes like that.

All in all, it is a bit surprising that you apparently took no torpedo hits (or was there one on the Kamikaze?) At this stage of the war the USN torpedoes should be fairly accurate.

[Nemo121]

Well, if you plan for it and phase the SC TFs and escort proportions properly you should be pretty safe most of the time.

I went into Okinawa last night and sank 4 DDs and 3 DEs in return for moderate damage to 2 more IJN DDs. I ran into 3 or 4 PT TFs but managed to fight them all off without taking a single torpedo hit.

One of the small coastal submarines ( not a midget sub but a small sub with two torpedoes and a range of 1000 nautical miles ) also managed to put a torpedo into a USN DD and accounted for one of my sinkings.

My CAs bombarded and destroyed 25 or so P-51 Hs, P-47Ns and P-51Ds on the ground at Okinawa. Unfortunately for me I had ordered sweeps over Okinawa thinking he would be CAPing his cripples as they straggled in... My sweeps went in and did terribly ( 2:1 exchange rates in favour of the Allies ). The Allies then swept Amami Oshima where the 30 A7M2s were easily swept aside by the Allied fighters and then some 600 four-engined bombers hit the island. They pretty much obliterated the J7W1 and Ki-201 squadrons. A bit of bad news there but I'd learnt what I needed to learn. They are supreme when defending but aren't good sweepers.

He also hit Hong Kong where I just had two A6M squadrons which were transitting the area into the Home Islands. These squadrons shot down an equivalent number of P-38s but then were fended off by the 300+ four-engined bombers PH sent in. The 150 HI at Hong Kong was utterly obliterated.

On the minus side this 150 HI loss hurts but on the plus side Hong Kong was always indefensible and I'm running a surplus of about equivalent to about double the HI lost. Once he wipes out Bangkok etc my surplus will disappear but that's in the future. I was always going to have to cancel shipbuilding projects in order to conserve HI> That day will just come a little sooner due to this Allied tactic.


The IJN will now retreat to its bases and reprovision and repair while the fighter and bomber forces continue to rebuild their effectiveness. I mounted the first night-time raids last night but unfortunately my bombers which bombed Okinawa didn't hit much. On the plus side they flew, suffered only a single casualty and managed to fight their way through a night-time interception. Tomorrow I can expect the two bases I flew these bombers from to be obliterated.



In other news it seems I need a minimum of 200 first-rate fighters at a base in order to consider it even moderately safe from Allied four-engined bomber raids... I'll go for 100 fighter CAP as a first phase and build to 200 fighter CAP as the training programme begins to have sufficient graduates.

Roll on the Ki-94 II... It looks like I'll really need it.



So what are the future plans?

1. Kuriles... IJA forces are beginning to unload in the Kuriles islands while forces from mainland Japan are streaming across the channel into Hokkaido on their way to the ports feeding forces into the eastern and Western Kuriles ( I'm using different ports and transport TF compositions for each sector ).

2. Okinawa to Kyushu axis... I have at least a Mixed Brigade on each island now ( up from nothing 6 days ago ) and two islands have a full IJA combat division as garrison. Over the next week I expect the forces defending each island to double.

3. Iwo Jima to Tokyo axis... The buildup here is a little slower as the forces I was using to Fast Transport units got diverted ( usefully ) into the fighting around Okinawa. The buildup is still continuing and 1/2 to 2/3rds of a Bde is on each of the islands now.

4. Korea: The anti-invasion forces are assembling at each of the likely invasion points ( a Division of troops, a couple of Bns of artillery etc ) while major AAA nests are establishing themselves to protect the airframe and engine factories in northern Korea.

5. China: I've already shipped out many Artillery units and a couple of divisions of troops. Over the next two weeks I expect to bring another 1500 AV + engineers etc out which will be earmarked directly for the Kuriles and Hokkaido. The evacuation of most of China west of Changsha continues apace. This shortening of lines is what allows me to ship so many divisions and support troops into Japan for eventual transport to Hokkaido and the Kuriles. This is also why I'm not bothered about the HI destruction of Hong Kong... I was always going to abandon Hong Kong anyways so that HI was always going to be lost.

6. Mainland Japan ( except Hokkaido )... The forces in mainland Japan are re-organising to put artillery, AAA and combat troops on the likely invasion sites. Troops in mainland Japan will, generally, remain there while the forces from China will be funnelled northward into Hokkaido and the Kuriles.


7. Formosa... I'm giving strong consideration to just using a few barge TFs to shuttle IJA troops from Formosa to the Pescadores and from the Pescadores into mainland China. I could do it even though it would take a month and with Okinawa already in Allied hands the Allies wouldn't be any closer to my shipping routes from China.


Maskirovkas:
I think he is still operating a Maskirovka around Okinawa. If he weren't he'd be committing heavier USN units there. With that said I think that to keep the Maskirovka alive he'll have to bring in reinforcements and I'll get a chance to sink them when they arrive. We'll see.

[Nemo121]

Two days have passed...

The IJN remained in action around Okinawa , managing to sink 1 x AM, 2 x YMS, 3-4 PTs and various other small vessels in the waters around Okinawa in return for 3 IJN PTs and a DD. The rest of the IJN got clean away and will be fully ready for action again in 7 days.

IJN midget subs and coastal subs continue to prey on shipping around Okinawa and in the waters near Formosa - particularly once I saw many xAKs etc being evacuated from Okinawa towards the Phillipines. An IJN DD TF attempted a night-time intercept in the waters between Formosa and the Phillipines but found itself confronted by 3 USN CAs and a strong destroyer escort.

I responded by basing a Ki-43 III kami unit, a Betty kami unit and a Betty conventional attack unit in the region around Formosa and was rewarded by multiple kami attacks. Anyone who argues USN ships are underpowered in terms of FlAK defences is smoking something IMO. The USN BBs shot down 8 of 9 Ki-43 IIIs which broke through their CAP. The last one rammed a BB but did minimal damage. They also downed about half of the conventional Bettys which broke through but one of the survivors managed to get a solid torpedo hit on the BB Tennessee. It might put it in the yards for a short time.

In other news the Betty kami Daitai got suckered into hitting an LCT convoy near Laoag. I committed 6 Betties of which two scored hits and the LCT 1058 and LCM 534E were both obliterated by the force of the impacts.


So, over the course of the two days another 8 USN ships were sunk bringing the total to roughly 35 USN ships sunk since the beginning of the campaign 8 days ago.


Japanese airplane losses are running double the Allied number but that's acceptable as this is a testing period and I've been expending kamis fairly freely in order to test effectiveness. From now on I will only expend kamis when I think there's a good chance of a hit... E.g. Today I expended 17 kamis and got 3 hits which isn't bad at all, especially considering 11 of those kamis went in against a BB TF with murderous FlAK.



I also laid an offensive minefield two days ago around Okinawa using minelaying subs and I'm glad to report that in its first two days of operation it has claimed 2 x USN SS and 1 USN PT boat. Unfortunately the Allies managed to catch a coastal minelaying flotilla which should have laid mines and run for home during the night. In the end I lose about 5 or 6 CMc. They are fairly worthless though so I'm not too bothered.

The Allies also raided Shanghai for the first time. For some reason only about 20% of my fighters made it into the air ( probably because of the non-functional radar ) so what should have been a CAP of 200+ fighters was a CAP of only 40. I still managed to shoot down about 2 Allied planes for every one I lost - despite using some obsolescent plane types - but I lost 2 xAKs because of the lack of CAP.



This morning my basing of kamis in readiness for action around Wake/Truk seems to have paid off. I have spotted 9 APs and 12 AKAs making for Truk. In this scenario TRUK only has 40 AV of defenders. It has lots of guns etc but in terms of ground troops it is very lacking. PH can definitely take it if he is willing to pay the price in ships lost to CD guns. To help increase that price a little I've based 50+ kamis at Wake to hit the AKAs and about 70 kamis + 27 conventional Nells at Truk. If I get lucky and he hasn't CAPed his TFs due to my lack of planes at Truk so far I may be able to get a few good hits in and teach him a bit more caution.



With the lack of working radar I've decided my aerial losses are likely to be very high so my target for fighters per month is 1250, comprising 560 Ki-94 IIs, 300 J7W1s, 250 Ki-84rs, 50 Ki-100II, 80 A7M2 and 70 N1K5Js. I also plan to make 240 or so Ki-43 IIIs purely for kamikaze usage. As of game start on 1st September only the 60 A7M2s, 150 Ki-84s and 50 Ki-100IIs were being produced so you can see that to go from 260 to 1250 fighters represents a huge investment in terms of supply... To be fair though the 1 million tons I can't get at from Hong Kong will pay for the full rejuvenation of the air force... IF I can get it.


I do have a major problem though. I have 4 million tons of supplies on the map but 1 million of that is at Hong Kong and simply REFUSES to move overland no matter what I do. There's also almost 1 million tons of fuel there which also refuses to move. It is really causing me a problem. Japan can't afford to have 1/4 of its available supply and fuel reserves sitting in a place it cannot recover it from.


Lastly, here's a picture of the two-way attack I'm hoping to pull off tomorrow. My expectation is that he can't be CAPing BOTH of those groups so either way I'll get 50 kamis into a transport convoy and do some serious damage.

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: Nemo121

Two days have passed...

I do have a major problem though. I have 4 million tons of supplies on the map but 1 million of that is at Hong Kong and simply REFUSES to move overland no matter what I do. There's also almost 1 million tons of fuel there which also refuses to move. It is really causing me a problem. Japan can't afford to have 1/4 of its available supply and fuel reserves sitting in a place it cannot recover it from.

Just ran a head-to-head test for you using your mod (sent maybe before some other changes) and I saw like you a pooling of Res/Supply & Fuel at Singapore. All the supply/res/etc went from Indo-china to Hong Kong after a turn or two. Not having Port Arthur makes the movement of raw materials a little more interesting too.

I did a number of things to test this.
1. I turned off HI/LI production at HKG - just to see if this was pulling raw materials (didn't seem to have any effect - but I'd like to retest this sometime using a control group)
2. Moved shipping out of HKG and into Shanghai (not much effect)
3. Boosted to supply req at Shanghai (to not much effect) -- but I wonder if I'd started pulling supplies back to Japan then this would cause a ripple effect ...

So the $64million Q ... was why ?

My answer at present is port size.

So I've expanded Shanghai (over a number of turns) and fuel and supply & boosted the supply req to max ...

When I equalled Shanghai to Hong at size 8; I started to get better flow in that direction... enough to pull out a lot more than before.

When I surpassed HKG (Shanghai took a long time to go from 8->9 -- more engineers might have helped) ... well it was an avalanche [;)] BIG success at last.


(testing under new patch 1.04.1106i -- which should have no effect on this anyway)

Hope you don't mind this hijack ... [8D]

[Nemo121]

Damian,

Ok I thought it might be a port size thing. Well, that's great. MAXIMUM effort into building up Shanghai then. I've halted the movement of engineers out of China and am in the process of concentrating them all at Shanghai. 1 million tons of fuel and 1 million tons of supplies pays for my entire aviation expansion programme through to war's end so it is a hugely important strategic problem to solve. As it is I've been risking TKs and AKs running them past Formosa to Hong Kong but I'd rather avoid doing that if possible.

We've updated to the latest patch and the impact was immediate. Last turn I managed to put about 40 fighters out of 200 into the air over Shanghai when a couple of sweeps came in. This turn an Allied DB group ( which PH tells me must have been overlooked when he limited the range of his DB groups to avoid just such a strike ) came into Shanghai with an escort of P-51Hs ( the best Allied fighter at this time of the war ). The end result was a bit of a massacre as over 120 IJNAAF and IJAAF fighters rose to meet the threat and shot down pretty much the entire strike group.

I'll post the CR because it points to some very interesting findings....


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 09, 45
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 236 encounters mine field at Nago (95,65)

Allied Ships
YMS-217
YMS-128



8 mines cleared

The mines are beginning to be cleared but that's fine as, already, I've sunk two subs, a PT and hit at least two other ships with these mines. Not a bad return on a 3 day old minefield.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Fukue-jima at 99,59

Japanese Ships
MTB G-543

Allied Ships
SS Picuda



SS Picuda is sighted by escort
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Naha at 94,66

Japanese Ships
SS Ha-216, hits 6

Allied Ships
CA Salt Lake City
DD Sterett
DD Bailey
DD Kennison
DD Crosby
DD Dent
DD Talbot


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Naha at 95,66, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
MTB G-538
MTB G-539
MTB G-540, Shell hits 5, and is sunk

Allied Ships
PF Grand Forks
PF Casper
PF Pueblo
PF Annapolis


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Naha at 95,67

Japanese Ships
SS Ha-D-133, hits 3

Allied Ships
AM Daring

SS Ha-D-133 launches 2 torpedoes at AM Daring
Ha-D-133 diving deep ....
AM Daring attacking submerged sub ....

Over time these AMs will eventually fall to the wolfpacks I have around Okinawa.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Hengchun at 84,68

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-40, hits 6, heavy damage

Allied Ships
BB Tennessee, Torpedo hits 1
DD Doyle


After yesterday's daytime Betty strike the Tennessee appears to have been ordered back to Manilla and, as it transited the choke point between Formosa and the Phillipines the midget submarine Ha-40 made a successful attack. Both torpedoes hit but only one exploded. The picture below shows the first, non-detonating, hit.

Ha-40 was sunk but putting a BB in port for another few weeks is well worth a midget submarine at this stage of the war.... I want to cripple as many BBs and CAs as possible in order to lessen his ability to force a passage through the Okinawa axis within the first 6 weeks of the war - which is when I'll be at my weakest. As time goes by I'm going to get a truly fearsome kamikaze attack ability married with a pretty capable ( 500+ bombers IJNAAF torpedo bombers )


SSX Ha-40 launches 2 torpedoes at BB Tennessee
Ha-40 diving deep ....
DD Doyle attacking submerged sub ....
Underwater explosion, debris and oil appear on surface!
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Nago , at 95,65

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIb Sally x 4
Ki-264 Angel x 9


Allied aircraft
P-61C Black Widow x 14


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-264 Angel: 1 damaged




Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-264 Angel bombing from 6000 feet
Port Attack: 20 x 250 kg GP Bomb

I'm running these attacks because:
a) they're good training for the bombers...
b) they make it look as though I'm trying to aggressively halt his Potemkin offensive ( but they cost me virtually nothing in terms of losses )
c) eventually they'll hit something
d) it really just helps build the story of his Potemkin offensive and my maskirovka response to it.


As of today I have spotted a minimum of 4 BBs ( I think 6 is more likely ) in the waters between Formosa and Okinawa. I've also spotted a half-dozen CAs and another half-dozen CLs as well as at least 30 to 40 DDs. This is a nice committment of forces to have forced out of him, particularly in a theatre which is just a maskirovka for both of us.

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Night Air attack on TF, near Nago at 95,65

The MOST important strike of the day...

This shows that even single-engined torpedo bombers can make naval attacks at night in the Okinawa region at acceptable cost.

This was my final test for the night-time naval strike doctrine - for which the necessary spotting assets are finally in place around Okinawa and Igashiki ( the islands between Okinawa and Formosa he is obviously going to attack next ( he has stationed CAs and DDs off each of the islands to blockade them. Subtle it is not. [:D]

He'd want to be careful with this though, I know he thinks he is safe with LRCAP but my plan is to free 200 daytime bombers as well as 200 fighters from my fighter reserve and use them to sweep Igashiki when his invasion TF approaches. I should be able to knock his LRCAP down easily as it will be fatigued by then and inflict significant losses with daytime torpedo, level-bombing and kamikaze attacks on the Igashiki invasion force.

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Japanese aircraft
B6N2a Jill x 6


Allied aircraft
P-61C Black Widow x 11


Japanese aircraft losses
B6N2a Jill: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Colorado
BB Maryland


Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B6N2a Jill launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes
Banzai! - Nagahama A. in a B6N2a Jill willing to die for the Emperor

So, all 6 B6N2as survived to make their attack runs. One was shot down during the torpedo run but all launched on the BBs and one then attempted to ram, but missed.

The end result though was proof that using midget subs as spotters works. The waters around Okinawa and Igashiki are now crawling with subs as I've starbursted the SS convoys which were transitting to Formosa over the past week.

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Night Air attack on Nago , at 95,65

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 11


Allied aircraft
P-61C Black Widow x 14


No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 6000 feet
Port Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

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Night Air attack on Taihoku , at 87,63

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-29-25 Superfort x 33


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 10 destroyed on ground


Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled



Airbase hits 19
Airbase supply hits 9
Runway hits 74

Well, the enemy B-29s hit the kamikaze bases on Formosa yet again. In total 20 Ki-43 IIIs were destroyed on the ground. That's fine though, I will, by the end of the month, be building 8 per day so these sorts of losses ( when I have a pool of over 1,000 Ki-43s already ) are pretty incidental. Also B-29s hitting inconsequential things at night aren't hitting important targets so there's an opportunity benefit there as well.

In total 89 B-29s struck this base overnight.



Aircraft Attacking:
33 x B-29-25 Superfort bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 37 minutes


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ASW attack near Nago at 95,65

Japanese Ships
SS Ha-D-134, hits 22

Allied Ships
PF Everett
PF Brownsville
PF Pocatello



SS Ha-D-134 launches 2 torpedoes at PF Everett
PF Brownsville attacking submerged sub ....
PF Pocatello fails to find sub and abandons search
Escort abandons search for sub

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Nago at 95,65

Japanese Ships
SS Ha-D-135

Allied Ships
BB Maryland
CL Raleigh
DD Mugford
DD Phelps
DD Selfridge
DD Cassin
DD Flusser

More ineffectual sub attacks but I only need to get lucky once.

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ASW attack near Naha at 95,67

Japanese Ships
SS Ha-D-133, hits 5

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi
DD Frankford
DD Lansdowne
DD MacDonough
DD Dewey
DD Farragut
DD Downes

That's the 4th slow BB in the waters off Okinawa with Tennessee making its way back to Manilla and 2 more around Igashaki. So, 7 USN slow BBs committed to this theatre. CVEs are also at sea covering what seems to be an invasion TF hugging the coast around the Phillipines.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 235 encounters mine field at Nago (95,65)

Allied Ships
AM Engage
AM Effective
YMS-127



25 mines cleared

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Day Time Surface Combat, near Naha at 96,66, Range 30,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
MTB G-538
MTB G-539

Allied Ships
AM Daring
YMS-221
YMS-277
YMS-278
YMS-117



Low visibility due to Thunderstorms
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms: 3,000 yards
Range increases to 30,000 yards...
Both Task Forces evade combat

Damn, I was hoping to kill some minesweepers. In the long run this would have a significant impact.

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TF 226 encounters mine field at Fusan (103,55)

Allied Ships
SS Angler, Mine hits 2, heavy damage

Later in the day Angler was found on the surface by a Q1W1 and sunk.

Still, it is nice to see the defensive minefields I have been setting to guard the entrance to the Sea of Japan working well.

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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 43 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes


Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 21


No Allied losses



Aircraft Attacking:
21 x P-51D Mustang sweeping at 8000 feet



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Hengchun at 85,68

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Actually the Ohkas went in at 100 feet, which accounts for the very small time to target. Barely enough time to mount any sort of defence.

Japanese aircraft
Ohka Model 11 x 14



Allied aircraft
F4U-4 Corsair x 1


Japanese aircraft losses
Ohka Model 11: 9 destroyed


Allied Ships
AM Rail
AM Turkey
AM Tern, Kamikaze hits 1, and is sunk
AM Penguin



14 Ohkas roared into the attack from Formosa into the choke point and found a minesweeping flotilla busy trying to clear the mines my coastal minesweepers had deposited the day before prior to their untimely dive-bomber delivered demise. Unfortunately the AMs are small ships and so pretty difficult to hit with a kami. Still, 1 AM got hit and obliterated and every hit counts. Also one has to bear in mind that these kamis are raw recruits as I don't, yet, have any graduates from my kamikaze training programme ( which has some 4,000 students enrolled and should be able to graduate a minimum of 2,000 per month with 50+ Skill in Low Naval Bombing. Since the current crop have an average of 25 to 30 Skill in this factor I'm hopeful that the graduates should yield twice the overall hit rate.

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Ohka Model 11 flying as kamikaze
Kamikaze: 1 x Ohka Bomb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Shanghai at 92,55

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes


Here's the raid of the day... It was spotted at 80NM and allowed my fighters to get into position. I lost about 15 fighters in total but very few pilots and managed to down all but one of the Allied planes. So, overall a 15 to 40 exchange rate. I can live with that.

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 1
A6M8 Zero x 8
Ki-61-Id Tony x 21
Ki-61-II KAI Tony x 23
Ki-84b Frank x 50
Ki-100-I Tony x 21



Allied aircraft
P-51H Mustang x 14
SB2C-5 Helldiver x 27


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M8 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-Id Tony: 1 destroyed
Ki-61-II KAI Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-51H Mustang: 1 destroyed
SB2C-5 Helldiver: 15 destroyed

How do I know I downed all but one of the P-51Hs? Well, I know many must have been ops losses as they were last seen on fire or tumbling out of the fight and PH told me he lost pretty much the whole group.

The difference between this interception and yesterday is most marked. By the end of the fight I had over 100 fighters in the air attacking the Allies.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes


Allied aircraft
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 12
PBJ-1D Mitchell x 11


Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
7 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled



Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 28

He keeps hitting Palembang. I don't know why he hasn't invaded it yet.

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Morning Air attack on 249th Infantry Regiment, at 89,65 (Iriomote)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes


Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 4
F6F-5 Hellcat x 11
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 6
PBJ-1D Mitchell x 73


Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 2 damaged
PBJ-1D Mitchell: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
79 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Subtle he isn't.... Guess where he's going next?


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Morning Air attack on 249th Infantry Regiment, at 89,65 (Iriomote)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 46 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 19 minutes


Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 14
PB4Y-2 Privateer x 14


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
32 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes


Allied aircraft
PV-2 Harpoon x 12


No Allied losses



Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 15

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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes


Allied aircraft
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 6


Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 damaged



Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 14


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 49 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes


Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 3


No Allied losses

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Morning Air attack on 249th Infantry Regiment, at 89,65 (Iriomote)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes


Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 28
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 6


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 249th Infantry Regiment, at 89,65 (Iriomote)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes


Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 14
PB4Y-2 Privateer x 6


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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Morning Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 27 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes


Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIc x 24


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled



Port hits 7

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Morning Air attack on Funauke Fortress, at 90,66 (Ishigaki)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes


Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 3
B-25H Mitchell x 95
B-25J11 Mitchell x 64
P-47N Thunderbolt x 20
P-51H Mustang x 15
F6F-5 Hellcat x 22


Allied aircraft losses
B-25H Mitchell: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
143 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

And now Ishigaki.

I'm responding by flying in a Mixed Regiment and some Shinyo CD defences as well as bringing in supplies by transport sub from Formosa. My goal is to hold the central of the three islands and use it as an Ohka base from time to time to force the Allies to tie down 100+ fighters on an ongoing basis.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 249th Infantry Regiment, at 89,65 (Iriomote)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes


Allied aircraft
P-51D Mustang x 6
A-26C Invader x 167
P-40N26 Warhawk x 21
P-47N Thunderbolt x 14
P-51D Mustang x 25


Allied aircraft losses
A-26C Invader: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
129 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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Morning Air attack on Funauke Fortress, at 90,66 (Ishigaki)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 31 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes


Allied aircraft
B-25J11 Mitchell x 50
P-47N Thunderbolt x 33
F6F-5 Hellcat x 22


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
48 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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Morning Air attack on 249th Infantry Regiment, at 89,65 (Iriomote)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes


Allied aircraft
A-26C Invader x 36
P-47N Thunderbolt x 14


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Tokunoshima at 97,65

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ohka Model 11 x 3



Allied aircraft
P-47N Thunderbolt x 31
P-51D Mustang x 33
F4U-4 Corsair x 45


Japanese aircraft losses
Ohka Model 11: 2 destroyed


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Nago at 95,65

Japanese Ships
SS Ha-D-137, hits 1

Allied Ships
BB Maryland
CL Raleigh
DD Mugford
DD Phelps
DD Selfridge
DD Cassin
DD Flusser


Around Wake and Truk my recon has spotted a third major convoy of AKAs. So, I'm just biding my time. I don't know why the kamis didn't fly yesterday. With any luck they'll fly today. When they do I expect quite a few sinkings.


I should also mention that now that I've successfully drawn his heavy units ( BBs and CAs ) into the waters around Okinawa I am going to hit them with my night-time torpedo attack reserve - just under 300 Bettys and Nells. There was no point showing my hand when they'd waste their torpedoes on fast-manoeuvring DDs. With BBs in play though there is the possibility for doing some significant damage. They probably won't fly tomorrow but over the course of the next 3 days I do expect to see some good strikes delivered.