LoBaron + Robbrennan vs Offenceman, allied secret AAR

[LoBaron]

So, since the war is currently more or less static I´d like to give you a small statusupdate on the current situation of
the US/NZ side with a focus on the areas of interest:

US CV: Since a sub got lucky SE of Wake and finished of Yorktown with just 2(!!) torps I am very carful with the remaining flattops.
2 are right now runnig through their June upgrades and the others are docked at Pearl.

Currently I consider using them for fast Air transport of several bomber and fighter groups to Auckland, not sure if this is
a good idea but they don´t have anything to do right now except waiting for the group size increase and also for Wasp.

KB on the other hand should be now close to max strenght and Mike is a bit more careful announcing its position, so no free raiding
at the moment, and I don´t want to risk collecting another torpedo salvo anyway.

NorthPac: Here we are doing a slow, quiet crawl along the Aleuthians without air cover. I am trying to avoid getting Mikes attention
here as long as the chain lacks fallback positions to the east.
The furhtest exposed base is Adak Island, which received a Inf Brigade and Arty yesterday, support units will follow soon.
I wont progress much further here until I am able to fast-construct airbases along the chain, the first SeaBees are already training for the
area.
The plan here is simple: Steady buildup with low value forces as long as Japan remains strong. In case Mike totally ignores this area
it will grow into an offensive platform to threaten the Kuriles and finally mainland Japan.

South/SouthWestPac: For me basically the areas overlap and I don´t have any intention to change that. Auckland has received a fine
ammount of troops now and many of them have been shuttled to Noumea and the Fidjis. The current frontline bases are Noumea/Koumac,
with Koumac relying heavily on Australian support and Noumea bristling with US/USMC troops (although bristling is still a bit on the optimistic side).

Fidjis received one Marine Regiment and more is on the way, I opted for a deep defense in this area consisting of a triangle with Vavau being the
main base behind the two islands of Pago Pago and Suva. The advantage of this is as soon as the distribution is finished I can run in troops
to Vavau to both northern bases in case of an invasion and provide mutual support from there.


Wake: Interesting, Mike has left the Island in peace now. In my opinion this is a mistake. The island has received no reinforcements up to
now but I am really considering to do so. Both the MarineDef unit and the BF are at full strnght and I have 20000+ suplies there.
No air as if Mike thinks the island is no threat then I wont spoil him until I made up my mind about reinforcing.
If I can shuttle another unit of raiders there and maybe some additional arty this will mean the return of th Catalinas to the island.
And if Mike really does nothing tho threaten the base it will be in a position where it can treaten the reinforcement of Kwalein Islands
and develop into a sub base which will relive Midway of the job because Wake is located closer to potential hunting grounds.


Other news, but its Robs job to talk about details:

China is slowly starving, I wonder if this is realated to the Chinese troops being forward deployed, but I don´t see
much of an alternative here. Frontline is stable though and Rob is doing a great job keeping any japanese
advances at bay.

Java is split into the Japanese north and the still Dutch south, this will change soon though as Mike is advancing fast.

Burma is Robs masterpiece at the moment. Mike already stated that the Burmese front reminds him of the Africa campaign,
because of the changing luck in battle. Rob was able to hold Mandalay and even did a small expedition to the south although
this resulted in a gutted Indian division. Still, I am enjoying every battle replay there simply because thats where the
knife fight is taking place.

Thats it for now.

Happy new year, and may 2012 be a good year for everybody except Mikes troops... [:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Happy new year from the war office in London (quite literally last week[;)]). Senior MOD staff dropped by for advice and of course the legendary hospitality (if you have the right ration cards ).

Well Burma - the situation has reversed utterly since the last pictures , allied expeditionary force was bushwhacked by the japanese in Magwe and 11th indian div was badly treated. Frontline is back in Mandalay but the better news is japan withdrew from Lashio (im guesing because of terrible supply and constant allied bombing) Small burmese forces have re taken the area and 3-4 independant regiments (Indian) are slowly heading there while 11th Div (the battered one) rails from mandaly to stop any weak japanese grabs. Supply in burma is pretty bad too with nowhere without a yellow or red mark on it ! Drawing supply doesnt seem to help so im filling up the forward indian bases by pulling in supply with the hope that when i drop thier demand but up birmas the escess will flow across the jungle (a bit) supply losses are irrelevant as india is burgeoning with supply and fuel.

Sadly in the air , allied command 'forgot' to send orders to the bombers to stand down and 80 ! blenhiems were lost over magwe with 6 wellies and 4 liberators .. OUCHIE.. that was me forgetting or being complacent. The much reduced fighter arm (due to withdrawls) will aim for revenge by heavily sweeping magwe next turn.

Java . fortress Madeoin has finally been spotted by japanes forces and is being bombed daily , with 80k+ supply and AV over 1500 iirc we should hold out here for a while. This also stopped the jap bombing of christmas island so we will try and get some more supply in there (10k atm) and use it as base for harassing his shipping around Java. Madeoin can do this too with L5 AF's but depending on bombing and operational runways.

Main fleet moved from cocos islands due to horrible refuelling problems and 2 BB's reside in Darwin with 3DD escort . Target or threat to japan ? yet to be discovered. The CV fleet with its 1st withdrawl due in 30 days is sailing south from Colombo with heavy surface forces to see if we can find some raiding oportunities in the DEI. I'll not deliberatly risk the CV's but might as well use them as they wont be back till 44 !
CW DD's have sunk 2 jap subs around christmas island and south java so far so we will keep 4DD's in cocos to harass his subs spotting and supply interdictions.

Overall June July is a terrible time for the non US forces as withdrawls (esp of a/c) are killing me in CW areas.

China , holding. Kukong is ok with suply even with 5-6 corps arty and AT units. Most other bases are in the yellow at best and even the forward stacks are starting to show supply problems (none at 0 yet but slowly decreasing). I'm guessing kukongs supply is being helped from Wuchow to the west which still has operating industry and a tiny garrison. AVG is pulling out for Burma missions untill it has to go too ! America will get some really really good pilots for its pools once the AVG disbands. The chinese AF will try and disrupt japans training with left over H41's and Lancers.

Alfred :- Thanks for the tip but even with every transport i have (dutch chinese/USA/CW) lifting in supply from Ledo china is dropping slowly but surely. Japan comstant bombarding is imo causing this but Japan must be using up supply like sweets in this theatre. I just hope it comes back and haunts him at a later date.

Piccies to come and apologies for the long overdue update.

[Rob Brennan UK]

15 + 16 June 1942

Burma .. RAF fighters get a measure of revenge over the japanese airforce in Magwe, We are not going down quietly in this part of the world.

given Offencemns form he will most likely move his AF out next turn so i will send in the heavy bombers to help KO the oil there and keep the sweeps up (hurricane 1's will be withdrawn for upgrades). Japan has dozens of AA gun units here so alt will be high, lysanders from mandalay do keep the place under constant recon however (likewise B25 recons keep an eye on rangoon for low jap fighters to hit there with the heavies)

[Rob Brennan UK]

Over in china Japan makes a move on the weakest section of the outlying sian defence perimiter and really pays a heavy price even after some massive air to ground attacks (thankfully we are in a wooded hex , not by accident [;)]).

Ground combat at 87,41

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 69594 troops, 600 guns, 177 vehicles, Assault Value = 2443

Defending force 30391 troops, 137 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1123

Japanese adjusted assault: 2666

Allied adjusted defense: 1837

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
10216 casualties reported
Squads: 73 destroyed, 496 disabled
Non Combat: 40 destroyed, 460 disabled
Engineers: 13 destroyed, 50 disabled
Vehicles lost 26 (4 destroyed, 22 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
3461 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 220 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 219 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled


Assaulting units:
15th Division
35th/B Division
59th Infantry Brigade
41st Division
3rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
110th Division
35th/A Division
27th Division
35th/C Division
North China Area Army

Defending units:
93rd Chinese Corps
43rd Chinese Corps
61st Chinese Corps
80th Chinese Corps
5th New Chinese Corps
8th Group Army
1st War Area
34th Group Army

given the 1-1 day 2 was a bit of a nailbiter as japan can usually make up the odds but they did not this time.

Ground combat at 87,41

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 62472 troops, 600 guns, 176 vehicles, Assault Value = 1952

Defending force 34319 troops, 184 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1206

Japanese adjusted assault: 1933

Allied adjusted defense: 1978

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
6591 casualties reported
Squads: 55 destroyed, 186 disabled
Non Combat: 84 destroyed, 202 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 14 disabled


Allied ground losses:
2670 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 132 disabled
Non Combat: 18 destroyed, 175 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled

Unusually this attck really favoured the chinese defenders , wheter this is because of his constant attacks (in this hex and previously) the chinese experience is 55 ish and they can now weather heavy combat. but whatever the reason destroyed units really favoured the chinese , we have 300 move AV heading to here anyway as it was the weakest sector with more from sian as a backstop just in case.

Japanese air raids were the usualy hideaous affairs with more escorts than i have planes !

Morning Air attack on 80th Chinese Corps, at 87,41

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 115
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 60



No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
66 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

even an invigorated chinese AF cant cope with this , Offenseman does not give us many opportunities for easy air combats over china anymore.

As i referred to last post Wuchow is still operating , japan suddenly seems to have noticed and i suspect thier planes are new trainees. I'm suprised Wuchow has lasted this long at all with 1/3rd of a weak corp guarding it , but the industry was worth keeping imo as long as possible.

Morning Air attack on 62nd Chinese/C Corps, at 76,57 (Wuchow)

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 24 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 3
Ki-30 Ann x 29
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 14
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 6
Ki-49-Ia Helen x 22



No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
38 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Thats all for today , Ill show you Java next turn and explain the last bastion defences there.

[LoBaron]

Jun,27,42: The Battle between BC Repulse and I-165.

May the commander of the sub rest in peace. Honorable duel. o>
I-165 put two torpedoes in two separate attacks on target.

These turns are the reason why WitP AE is my favourite game.


SS I-165 launches 4 torpedoes at BC Repulse (one torpedo hits amidships)
I-165 diving deep ....
DD Inconstant fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Inconstant fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Inconstant attacking submerged sub ....
DD Inconstant cannot establish contact with SS I-165
DD Inconstant fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Inconstant attacking submerged sub ....
SS I-165 eludes DD Inconstant by hugging bottom
SS I-165 forced to surface!
BC Repulse firing on surfaced sub ....
Sub slips beneath the waves

[Rob Brennan UK]

Now for a picture any Japanese sub commander would really really hate [:D]

Sorry for lack of updates , just either not much has happened or so much has (china) that i have no idea whats going on there ?????.






This sub torpedoed the Repulse on her way to bombard batavia ..

Sub attack near Oosthaven at 46,97

Japanese Ships
SS I-165, hits 4

Allied Ships
BC Repulse, Torpedo hits 1
CL Dauntless
DD Inconstant
DD Isis

The Repulse did as ordered with little result , the 2 CA's showing up in port according to recon were false (as expected tbh).

Night Naval bombardment of Batavia at 49,98

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
BC Repulse
CA Devonshire
CL Capetown
CL Dauntless

Japanese ground losses:
165 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled



Airbase hits 20
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 141


Still the runways i wanted to shut down so the Brit Cv's lurking nearby were not atacked by netties , The japanese hadnt moved any in in hindsight. the Brit CV's were hopeing to have a go at palambang or batavia but were spotted early and i ran like a girl away from trouble.

Still more :-

BC repulse was again torpedoed on the way back to Cocos islands ..

Sub attack near Oosthaven at 46,97

Japanese Ships
SS I-165, hits 13, and is sunk

Allied Ships
BC Repulse, Torpedo hits 1
DD Inconstant

The DD forced the sub to the surface and the rest is shown by the piccie .. one DEAD sub with 3 15 inch shell holes in her [;)]

TTFN

[LoBaron]

That was a cool battle to watch. [:D]

Good to see you are pulling back north to the Changsha area.
If I was Mike I´d opt for a river crossing between the city and Kweilin if I am able to break through that far.

What do you think about light defense behind the river, most of all the wood hex?

[Rob Brennan UK]

I'm going to try and hold the river , even in 'open' cities , not much forts there and i've moved a lot of men out of changsha west to help the line. Kukong was indefinsible so moved north a few days ago .. it'll be a nasty journey but necessary. I'm going to try and shorten supply routes a bit all over china as the supplies just arent getting thrugh in places , less wastage can only be a good thing.

also had to cancel the airlift and Ledo is supplying mandalay siege defenders , japan made a couple of odd bombardments and the allied artillery made him hurt badly there , but i don't like the look of the AV one bit.

Ground combat at Mandalay (59,46)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 63843 troops, 664 guns, 214 vehicles, Assault Value = 2550

Defending force 52146 troops, 795 guns, 1238 vehicles, Assault Value = 1636

Japanese ground losses:
1208 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 76 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 37 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 11 (2 destroyed, 9 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Japan hold the air here for now as the brits had to retire to calcutta for new a/c . the fighters will be back in 2 days.

also out of java the dutch AF had been hitting japanese AK's in palembang and some AMC's hard off borneo , lownav and 1000ft works ! thank you forums.

3 AMC's sunk/damaged and about 6-8 AK/L's elsewhere. I have a cunning plan in java too . the dutch armour is moving out of its 'nest' in madeoin as we only face 500 AV vs our 1000. and we can go galloping round java being really annoying esp if he hasnt garrisoned batavia properly.

[helmseye]

do you have an idea of what lend lease is made available over the coming months?

by the way hello Rob


Richard

[LoBaron]

Welcome helmseye.
Lend lease? Don´t know what that is. Must be some Atlantic Warfare Fairy tale.
In the Pacific I need my DD´s same as Rob does.
And he is already dropping stuff in burma from my precious B17s, thats about as much lend I am
ready to bear. [:'(]
 
 
Ok for me it got a bit more interesting last turn, as Mike showed up with KB 160miles NE of Pago Pago.
 
The carriers have been detected before already, thank you Catalina drivers, and so the damage was not
to bad. Loss tally is 1AP, 2AMC (these hurt a bit), a DMS, a couple of AKLs and an ACM.
 
Since the true backbone of the area is Vavau he is free to bomb the hell out of places like PP if he wants,
and Vavau at least got some sub par fighter cover (18 F3A, 18 Buffaloes and 25 P40E).
Theairfield is sadly still not big enough to make offensive action an option but I got surface combatants
lead by a CA there and hope for a night intercept
 
A bit more critical is the huge distance the KB is able to travel in two days while raiding.
The big question now is: will he proceed south? If yes, where are his reppers?
And if no, will he turn back north or west?
 
I have a stomach feeling that since the Carriers were very fast last turn they do not have a
replenishment fleet with them, which shortens his list of options but makes him cover more distance.
 
So my best guess is he will either go back north, or move to the west, attack the Fijis and Noumea and
then complete the circle back to Truck.
Anybody got experience with the operational radius of KB without tankers and the closest bases either
Kwaleinn or Rabaul?
 
 
 

[LoBaron]

July, 3rd, ´42

I was probably right with Mike having no reppers with KB.
They disappeared, with high chances to of retreat north, and a small chance to continue sout or southeast (I don´t think so, but thats always something which can cost you)

He probably now knows that Vavau is my center of gravity in the area and not Pago Pago
but I guess I just have to live with that.

Tommorrow is 4th of July, no CV battles have been planned to celebrate though... [;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

4TH TO 7TH July 1942

CA Canberra was sunk tryig to get to safely in townsville , she had been hit by 2 torpedoes off port moresby and was limping home

Sub attack near Palm Island at 94,142

Japanese Ships
SS I-174

Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage



SS I-174 launches 6 torpedoes

The British CV's went for a suprise port attack on soerbaja where the dutch AF had previously hit the CA Maya , WE guessed (rightly) that the CA was in the repair shop and after 2 days of attacks it's left burning furiosuly with heavy damage. Even though none of the CV 500lb bombs penetrated they did det off some serious fires after blowing Mayas torpedoes into the sea and KOing several AA mounts.

Afternoon Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 43 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3



Allied aircraft
Albacore I x 31
Martlet II x 30
Swordfish I x 12


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Albacore I: 2 damaged
Martlet II: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Maya, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kamikaze, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DMS W-5, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk


Over in burma the RAF was again flying CAP over Mandalay and several japanese raids were roughly handled even with the japanese flying in both sweeps and escorts , below is an example. The Nicks proved to be suprisingly hard to kill and also dished out as much damage as zeros with several hurricanes confused by the agility of these 2E planes.

Morning Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 88
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 20



Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 82
Hurricane IIc Trop x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 13


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 2 destroyed
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 7 damaged



Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 10




Overall losses amounted to about 10 hurricanes caliming over 80 japanese kills on both fighters and bombers.

Game mechanics note .. Allies use a split CAP with the P40E's at 15k while the hurricane2b's flew at max alt while the hurricane 2c's flew at 25k. There was no string of dives from either side with most kills being from the usual 'x attack y at range z'. The P40E's while seeming baitlike claimed far more kills than losses (2) including the Zeros which had previously scared the yankee pilots witless.


In china the AVG had a last hurrah ws the usual oscar and in a last show of defiance clobbered sevaral enemy a/c with no friendly losses . Now the AVG is withdrawn (silly political decision you dumb politicos),, america will have a very large pool (90) of superb fighter pilots to crew its next squadrons. Unless ofc the CW authorites refuse them passports and indeture them into the American air groups currently flying in combat over burma. I have asked permission from LoBaron to steal his pools of P38E's for use in sweeps over Burma with the ex AVG pilots. I seriously doubt that approval will be recieved [;)].

On a related note, the CW air force in india does not get any new fighter groups untill march 43 ! so let this be a public appeal for more american fighters (and fortresses .. even mitchells would be nice) to come and actually fight in the war as opposed to swaning about the pacific and hiding in fox holes when japanese air shows up [;)].

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK




Overall losses amounted to about 10 hurricanes caliming over 80 japanese kills on both fighters and bombers.

Game mechanics note .. Allies use a split CAP with the P40E's at 15k while the hurricane2b's flew at max alt while the hurricane 2c's flew at 25k. There was no string of dives from either side with most kills being from the usual 'x attack y at range z'. The P40E's while seeming baitlike claimed far more kills than losses (2) including the Zeros which had previously scared the yankee pilots witless.

Aw shucks ... don't you realise you are attacking a shiboleth. You are just no fun.[:)]

Next you will be claiming that your 4E has been neutered by the enemy. Is nothing sacred.[;)]

Alfred

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK




Overall losses amounted to about 10 hurricanes caliming over 80 japanese kills on both fighters and bombers.

Game mechanics note .. Allies use a split CAP with the P40E's at 15k while the hurricane2b's flew at max alt while the hurricane 2c's flew at 25k. There was no string of dives from either side with most kills being from the usual 'x attack y at range z'. The P40E's while seeming baitlike claimed far more kills than losses (2) including the Zeros which had previously scared the yankee pilots witless.

Aw shucks ... don't you realise you are attacking a shiboleth. You are just no fun.[:)]

Next you will be claiming that your 4E has been neutered by the enemy. Is nothing sacred.[;)]

Alfred

Yes, very weird. If this outrageous habit continues Rob will soon suggest we never witnessed an endless dive situation in the game up to now.
Sacrilege! [X(]

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

In china the AVG had a last hurrah ws the usual oscar and in a last show of defiance clobbered sevaral enemy a/c with no friendly losses . Now the AVG is withdrawn (silly political decision you dumb politicos),, america will have a very large pool (90) of superb fighter pilots to crew its next squadrons. Unless ofc the CW authorites refuse them passports and indeture them into the American air groups currently flying in combat over burma. I have asked permission from LoBaron to steal his pools of P38E's for use in sweeps over Burma with the ex AVG pilots. I seriously doubt that approval will be recieved [;)].

On a related note, the CW air force in india does not get any new fighter groups untill march 43 ! so let this be a public appeal for more american fighters (and fortresses .. even mitchells would be nice) to come and actually fight in the war as opposed to swaning about the pacific and hiding in fox holes when japanese air shows up [;)].

If you feel that equipping a single US fighter group currently in the Burma area with P38E models makes a difference then give
it a try. More than one squadron is a no. [;)]
In case the US advances planned for late summer/early fall are timed with the arrival of the first F versions, which is possible,
another burma squadron could be equipped with E models.

As for more US fighter squads to your Jungle war over there I might point you to the fact the the fighter groups on Vavau were the only ones to bloody
KB´s nose a bit until now.
But we will see what we can do...

[LoBaron]

Other news are rare atm.

I am still waiting for my 2 CV´s coming out of the drydock after refit, its first mission being the wake reinforcement.

The other interesting situation is KB showing up north from Efate.
If Mike likes to try a strike south to Noumea he may have some subs in the way in case they arrive in time.
We pray for a lucky hit...

[SoliInvictus202]

good luck to your game - both of you! [:D]

R.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thanks alfred for your insightful comments [;)]. I had to google shiboleth as my initial thought was some some obscure referance to a devil in reveleations. The actual definition isn;t that far off [:D]


DEF

Today, in the English language, a shibboleth also has a wider meaning, referring to any "in-crowd" word or phrase that can be used to distinguish members of a group from outsiders - even when not used by a hostile other group. The word is also sometimes used in a broader sense to mean jargon, the proper use of which identifies speakers as members of a particular group or subculture.

from wikipedia ..


I also forgot to say Hi to Richard (helmeye) who has the dubios pleasre of being a friend of mine in real life.

also welcome Solinvictus , a name that i remember from somewhere in the dim distant past. Same you ? or am I going mad [:D].

As for the game itself , day off today it seems so i'll start a wee chat about china.

Pic 1st






Japan attacked our force pulling back from kukong and got heavily bounced , i was worried about his 2 armies linking up then attacking but as he didnt do that i strongly suspect that the force listed as 14 japanese units ,, is going for a river crossing , I just hope they dont get over tomorrow in the wooded hex northwest of thier current position as there will only be 1 ready corps and several moving in tomorrow.

jap attack ..


Ground combat at 79,55

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 35262 troops, 281 guns, 521 vehicles, Assault Value = 1375

Defending force 37623 troops, 218 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1441

Japanese adjusted assault: 700

Allied adjusted defense: 2673

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3070 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 185 disabled
Non Combat: 32 destroyed, 159 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 24 disabled
Vehicles lost 103 (42 destroyed, 61 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
2387 casualties reported
Squads: 17 destroyed, 234 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 149 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled


Assaulting units:
15th Tank Regiment
66th Infantry Regiment
39th Division
5th Tank Regiment
51st Recon Regiment
67th Ind.Infantry Battalion
3rd Tank Regiment
20th Recon Regiment
5th Armored Car Co
102nd Infantry Regiment
20th Ind. Engineer Regiment
51st Engineer Regiment
68th Ind.Infantry Battalion
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade
2nd Tank Regiment
21st Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
53rd Chinese Corps
50th Chinese Corps
44th Chinese Corps
69th Chinese Corps
100th Chinese Corps
7th War Area
1st Artillery Regiment
3rd War Area
30th Group Army
25th Group Army
56th AT Gun Regiment

Up on the NE part of the map we have reducing the supply lines to Sian , chinese movement is shown as the yellow arrow , moving in combat formations following the most degraded corps so we all hopefully move at the same time. Where the big yellow ? is a potentian japanese outflanking move that i suspect offemceman will not miss. We have more troops in sian but they are repaiiring to one degree or another. More worrisome is the fact that we'll have to fight in non wooded terrain where the japanese airforce can crucify our troops. With the AVG gone we do not have much in the way of chinese fighters to help.

Purple circles are where we are holding off japanese forces at 1-1 on AV value. With the terrain mods we are pretty safe barring huge reinforcements.

Basically the most worrying thing is the japanese push up to the west of Changsha (forts 7!).. I really dont want to have to evac here but then again neither do i want to have a chinese stalingrad. We'll see what happens as the roads here do allow the chinese to move pretty fast compared to the rest of the map at least.

N cina next .. new post

[Rob Brennan UK]

North china , or as i refer to it .. japanese held territory.

The pics are pretty obvious , lines refer to where i plan to hold and the arrows are for the chinese 'raiders' to cut jap supply lines.

The term 'raiders' is used loosely as when the north seemed doomed LoBaron suggested i move up chinese cavalry units to harass the jap supply lines. so i did as it was a great suggestion. Sadly though when i broke down the cav corps that was there it became 3 infantry units ?? wierd. Still sent them off regardless but they are SLOW. more cav has arrived but will be needed to hold the mountains untill more troops arrive to relieve them.

My inbox just pinged with a new turn , lets see what transpired and we'll be back with new updates shortly.

Thanks again to everyone reading this.






EDIT :- the plane icon in Yenam is one chinese Lancer that is dsmaged there and has been for weeks , with the city resolutely remaining on 4 ! supply points regardless of supply pull buttons the situation on chinese supply is pretty terrible.

[Rob Brennan UK]

July 7th and 8th 1942

Heres what happened over Mandalay today. Allies score well again vs the japanese with both hurricanes and P40's claiming kills vs Zeros and damageing several oscars and nicks.


Allied CAP was at :- Hurricane 2 B's 36k
Hurricane 2 C's 25k
P40E's 15k

Ill admit this is higher then historical , but look at the altitude of the incoming japanese from the combat report . Seems like LRCAP and local CAP clashed. Watching the entire combat yes there were a few attacks from behind from both sides but over all the losses were most definately in favour of the allies with only 1 hurricane downed for several zeros.

Morning Air attack on 143rd Infantry Regiment, at 59,46 (Mandalay)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 49 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
Ki-43-Ia Oscar x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 13
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 7



Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 34
Hurricane IIc Trop x 7
B-17E Fortress x 18
P-40E Warhawk x 8


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
73 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled



Aircraft Attacking:
8 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 8000 feet
Ground Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
10 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 8000 feet
Ground Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
3rd Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (14 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(14 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
14 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 32810
Raid is overhead
13th Sentai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 35200
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 13 minutes
84th I.F.Chutai with Ki-43-Ia Oscar (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 38500
Raid is overhead
59th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(9 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 38500
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
77th Sentai Det A with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(4 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 38500
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 14 minutes




Not trying to make any apologist remarks or taking sides here, just showing what our game is like.

TTFN