A Japanese Debacle - Sqz (J) vs. fcharton (A)

[SqzMyLemon]

March 20/42:

Complete overkill at Horn Island. The two Naval bombardments hammer the defenders and IJA 21st Division easily takes the base during the initial shock attack. Casualties are light and not heavy as feared.

With Port Moresby and Horn Island now in my possession, I can finally deal with Darwin and the DEI with the forces freed up from Australia.

With Sabang firmly under Japanese control, I can now move against Port Blair and start to put pressure on Burma. I need a better distribution of aviation support though, so I am reorganizing my dispositions.

On an economic note, the Home Islands now have 1,030,000 supply on hand. I'm hoping for at least two million by the end of 42.

[SqzMyLemon]

Waiting for the next turn. I'm delaying movement of my damaged carriers from Sabang to Singapore until I have increased my ASW capability along the route. Dutch submarines are patrolling aggressively in the area and I fear those working torpedoes.

I'm about to step up the air campaign against Java in the Batavia area. I haven't been at all aggressive in the DEI with the air force. That is about to change.

One of my biggest weaknesses this game has been proper force allocation. I've been either too light, or too heavy. This aspect of my tactical play needs to improve moving forward until I go defensive.

[SqzMyLemon]

I've fallen a few days behind, but just ran the March 23rd turn, I think.

Not much to report in terms of action, but I'll mention a few things.

In China, the Allied 4E's are having a detrimental affect on the Japanese advance on Lanchow along the long secondary road. Japanese forces have reached the clear terrain dot base east of Lanchow where bombing is much more effective. An IJA Tank Regiment is taking a pounding and supply is gone. An IJA Division and two AA Bn.'s have just arrived at the dot base, but without supply the FLAK won't be effective. I may have to move on Yenan now to establish an airbase to cover the advance to Lanchow.

Liuchow is weakly held and should fall easily unless reinforced. Tuyun doesn't look insurmountable either. Kweilin will be a different story with 12 Chinese LCU's as garrison, level 4-5 forts and 3x defensive terrain. However, I'm 100% prepped for Kweilin, excepting a few LCU's, which should offset some defensive advantages. I'm not sure if Francois will react once Kweilin falls, but he doesn't appear to be concerned with my recent offensive moves.

In the DEI, KB is escorting a Japanese division which will land at Ambon in two days. It's time to finally deal with this base. Once the troops are ashore, KB will reverse course back to Port Moresby and hook up with the Darwin amphibious taskforce.

I've wasted much of the Japanese invasion bonus period, but it is what it is.

[SqzMyLemon]

Finally did my taxes last night. Sigh, my old company screwed me again for the final time. They never took enough tax off during the year and my severance and vacation pay were only federally taxed. So I'm now having to pay the provincial tax that they should have been taking care of. All told, I'm hit for just under $1000. I should have been getting a decent return this year. The final price I pay to be rid of those incompetent jerks.

[PaxMondo]

Ouch.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Ouch.

Yes, I'm currently walking off the effects of "tax" pain. [:D]

However, I'm grateful to be working which easily compensates for having to pay so much this year.

[SqzMyLemon]

Finished up the turn last night. The Ambon amphibious TF should be three hexes from Ambon after today, with KB still providing support. I don't anticipate an Allied response, but I don't rule it out either.

With KB being in the DEI, I expect to see some Allied naval activity around Australia's east coast.

Just realized I forgot to disband the CV Kaga taskforce at Singapore to begin repairs. Oops. I did decide to start sending the heavily damaged CVL Shoho south towards Singapore from Sabang. I've provided 4 DD's as escort and she'll follow a dedicated SC ASW taskforce. Fingers are crossed that my ASW efforts will pay off here.

[SqzMyLemon]

March 24/42:

Bad news for CV Kaga, she's out of the war with repairs for three months. CVL Ryujo is out for a month. The Port Blair amphibious operation will have to be covered by LBA only. A risky proposition, but it has to be done.

The amphibious reinforcement of Ambon starts tomorrow. I'm landing an entire division. KB will actually withdraw sooner than I had planned, because I want to deal with Darwin as soon as possible.

An assault against Liuchow is ordered for tomorrow. Two Japanese tank regiments will conduct the attack. I didn't provide a strong CAP over the tanks which I may regret if Francois does his usual MO of trying to disrupt my ground forces prior to an assault. Three divisions will invest Kweilin in four days. The first assault is still weeks away though, because the heavy artillery is still located in the wooded hex southwest of Liuchow. I've begun moving aviation support units from Hong Kong towards Kweilin. They should arrive close to the time I take the base.

Troop redeployments are reaching the DEI and I'm running out of room for them. It's time to re-establish a beachhead on Mindanao.

April has to be an extremely productive month in order for me to start feeling better about my position and giving up the fight so early in Australia.

[FeurerKrieg]

Is that with Kaga back at the home islands or in Singapore?

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

Is that with Kaga back at the home islands or in Singapore?

Singapore. Naval support hasn't been fully deployed yet and I'm also in the process of expanding the repair yard.

[FeurerKrieg]

You might want to just send her back to the Home Islands. If it takes a week or so to get there, but saves a month in repair time, you still come out ahead.

[Lokasenna]

Depends on where the heaviest damage is. If it's a lot of System, I'd leave her in Singapore - you can't get better than port 9 unless you go all the way to Tokyo or Fukuoka, which is a long ways to go with a lot of Sys damage.

If Sys is low and it's 3 months for major damage repair in the SY, you'd almost certainly be better off sailing back to Japan. It would take more like 2 weeks to get there, but the larger shipyards will cut 2 or more weeks off the repair time.

[SqzMyLemon]

I have horrible luck avoiding torpedoes with carriers operating in the DEI. I'm inclined to leave her in Singapore. System damage is around 31, but I can't recall float or engine damage off the top of my head, maybe less than 20 for each.

[FeurerKrieg]

If you can get some nav support shipped in that will help, but only with the non-major damage that can be completed in pier side mode. If float and engine equal over 40 major, it might be worth sending her home, but 20 or less total I think I'd leave in place and bring in some nav support. In DBB there are lot of Nav Support units - but it is a bother to gather them up.

[SqzMyLemon]

March 25/42:

I pooch my orders again. No Attack at Liuchow by the two IJA tank regiments. I don't know why I'm consistently doing this. The only thing I can think of, is sometimes I restart completing orders with a duplicate save, and most likely forget to reset a few orders. Unfortunately, they seem to be the ones for attacks which you'd think I'd not forget, or at least double check.

Anyway, it's unfortunate because the Allied 4E's did not appear, so my attack would have been undisrupted. I expect the enemy bombers to appear tomorrow though, and in light of that I'll set a strong CAP this time. At least if they do come tomorrow, I may take a few down.

Operations at Ambon went ok, but I lost one transport to the CD guns. I may lose a few more nice ones tomorrow. I overcommitted here, but I've not been able to get a decent AV before so I want no more delays taking this base. KB withdrew towards Horn Island and as far as I can tell is not spotted. I have no recon of Darwin, so I'm a little hesitant to go in blind. There could be a substantial air defence including Spitfires.

Not much else other than the Ha-43 advanced a month.

[SqzMyLemon]

March 26-27/42:

An update on China.

Liuchow is captured easily on the 26th. AAR follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Liuchow (74,55)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 7518 troops, 38 guns, 142 vehicles, Assault Value = 291

Defending force 3616 troops, 24 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 115

Japanese adjusted assault: 243

Allied adjusted defense: 11

Japanese assault odds: 22 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Liuchow !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
36 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1732 casualties reported
Squads: 40 destroyed, 70 disabled
Non Combat: 29 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 10 (2 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
9th Tank Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade

Defending units:
31st Chinese/B Corps
31st Chinese/C Corps

IJA 3rd and 9th Tank Regiments are ordered to pursue the retreating Chinese towards Nanning. Somehow, they make the 46 miles in reserve mode in one day and force a shock attack across the river. AAR follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 73,55 (near Nanning)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 762 troops, 0 guns, 142 vehicles, Assault Value = 79

Defending force 2264 troops, 22 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 30

Japanese adjusted assault: 124

Allied adjusted defense: 5

Japanese assault odds: 24 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-), leaders(+), disruption(-)
morale(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Allied ground losses:
1299 casualties reported
Squads: 80 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 30 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 8 (7 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
3rd Tank Regiment
9th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
31st Chinese/B Corps
31st Chinese/C Corps

The two armoured regiments will return to Liuchow. IJA 19th IMB will follow up and attack Nanning.

Japanese forces bombard Kweilin. AAR follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Kweilin (76,54)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 930 troops, 78 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 712

Defending force 33645 troops, 161 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 598

Assaulting units:
22nd Division
60th Division
1st Mortar Battalion
4th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
65th Chinese Corps
2nd Prov Chinese Corps
64th Chinese Corps
52nd Chinese Corps
31st Chinese/A Corps
2nd Chinese Base Force
35th Group Army
9th Group Army
16th Group Army
7th War Area
4th War Area
13th Chinese Base Force

The defence of Kweilin is anchored by two Chinese Corps of roughly 225 AV each. The remaining AV of the defence has been defeated in previous assaults and should pose no problems. I expect level 4-5 forts, but even so, I don't expect Kweilin to hold for long. The first deliberate assault will be launched by three divisions of 13th Army in two days. If need be, I can reinforce with two divisions from 23rd Army before they begin their advance to Tuyun. I'd prefer not to though, as I want to invest Tuyun as soon as possible.

Thoughts:

I'm surprised the defence at Kweilin is so weak. I consider Kweilin an important base as it provides a level 3 airbase for operations against Tuyun, Kweiyang, Chihkiang, Changteh and Changsha. Then again, I'm late arriving and perhaps Francois doesn't consider the base as important as I do at this stage.

I'm currently dealing with a couple of rogue Chinese Corps operating in my rear. I believe Francois used them to try and break the isolation of Chinese forces at Pingsiang and Chusien. However, I've blocked both attempts and will destroy both enemy units.

Interesting development at Changsha. Two days in a row of 4E bombing my forces investing the base. There is a large concentration of Chinese troops totalling almost 200k at the base. I have four divisions and some artillery. Could there possibly be a Chinese assault in the works? I've decided to reinforce Changsha with two more divisions just in case. An attack could happen before they arrive, but if my troops hold they will be fine. If they don't...well.

If Tuyun's traditional lack of supply holds true in DBB, I expect to take the base relatively quickly and begin the march against Kweiyang. I wanted to reach Kweiyang some time in April, so I'm on track providing I don't get bogged down at Kweilin and Tuyun.

[SqzMyLemon]

March 28/42:

Game pace has slowed somewhat with Francois being busy. Received a turn yesterday, first one since the weekend.

Well, finally! Ambon falls after I land IJA 4th Division to reinforce the mired 65th Bde. A combined assault achieves 4:1 odds and the defenders all surrender. The capture of this base was only 3 months behind schedule. [8|]

In China, Allied 4E's continue to bomb Changsha. I will reinforce Changsha with a division and it arrives tomorrow. I've moved in 130 fighters to LRCAP Changsha tomorrow so it could get hot for the bombers, but then again, they are only facing Oscar's.

IJA 13th Army is all set to launch the first deliberate assault against Kweilin. Three divisions of IJA 13th Army are set to go and all are 100% prepped for Kweilin. I will reinforce with armour currently deployed at Liuchow. IJA 23rd Army arrives at Liuchow tomorrow. If the attack at Kweilin doesn't go well, I will reinforce with heavy artillery and another two fully prepped divisions. I'm cautiously optimistic Kweilin will fall quickly, it all depends on forts and the rolls.

In Burma, British Blenheim's have been actively bombing my forces advancing in rough terrain near Chang Mai. I'm not ready to provide air support here quite yet. I need the aircraft to support upcoming operations against Java.

I'm focused on China right now, because everywhere else is a mess to be honest. I'm short aviation support almost everywhere and I've got units all over the place doing nothing. Fuel is a concern almost everywhere. I just need to hurry up against Java and the Philippines. Then I can rely on ground forces to do the heavy lifting while the navy gets a rest to conserve fuel. I need to get fuel out of Palembang, but with Batavia not suppressed I'm reluctant to send in too many tankers at once.

April remains a crucial month for me to finally get my act together and shore up my entire position.

[Lowpe]

No matter how screwed up you think things are....as long as you expand to the historical norm, and r&d Frank & Sam heavily & their engines, while preserving your Navy and building supplies you will be in good shape.

It is a long game, with plenty of opportunities for minor screwups. Just don't screw up Frank, Sam, Supplies and your fleet.

[Lowpe]

Encourage the Chinese to attack your divisions with artillery in a city. Can't think of anything I would like better.[;)]

I can't believe his 4E are that painful in urban terrain with forts.

[SqzMyLemon]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

It is a long game, with plenty of opportunities for minor screwups. Just don't screw up Frank, Sam, Supplies and your fleet.

Ha! So no pressure. That's what I like to hear. [:D]