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1/19/44

Port Moresby: The first general attack drops forts to 3. The enemy garrison is battered and weakening. The Allied troops still have low disruption and fatigue and will attack again tomorrow (except for the small armored unit). With PM apparently locked up, 3rd Aussie Division at Townsville switches prep to a distant target.

My preference now is to push forward to draw Dave's attention, but the units prepping for bases "east" of New Guinea need more time, and I don't want to chance Merauke yet, because Dave could be sitting on that move, and I have some little "projects" underway that'll help when the time comes. So I may default to Lunga, where Dave has 19k troops well dug in. I have two good divisions fully prepped but not much beyond that. On the plus side, Lunga is now pretty far out on his limb, so that the Allied navy would be able to repeatedly bombard. That's the early working plan, while bigger things are gathering.

Does he have any units at Torokina, the other base on Guadacanal? Do you have units prepping for it? If you can take it then walk one unit to Lunga, any invasion has a ready source of supplies plus AKEs and AEs can park there and reload bombardment groups.

The other base on Guadalcanal is Tassfaronga. Torokina is just NW of Shortlands.

Ooops, my mistook. [:@] I did not have my game open!

1/20/44 to 1/23/44

New Guinea Theater of Operations: The fates toyed with my affections by generating a rather costly 4:1 attack by the Allies at PM - forts dropped to 2 but the Allies suffered heavy disablements. The army rested a few days. Today's attack was "normal," with forts now down to 1.

I'm pretty sure Dave has positioned KB to err on the side of protecting the DEI above all else. So I'm cobbling together several moves to take advantage of some openings (as I see things). These moves are important in and of themselves, but I'm hoping they'll also cause Dave to re-insert KB into this theater.

If Tassafronga is lightly garrisoned, maybe paratroopers if any are available could be used. If nothing else, it would cut off a retreat so if you capture Lunga, you could base AEs and AKEs there and just have bombardments TFs putting the fear of the US Navy into the Japanese . . .

In all my years playing AE, I've never invaded Rabaul (or Truk). Recon reports the garrison at Rabaul is fairly weak - not many guns or AFVs. This is Scenario Two. Does anybody know if there is something really nasty that automatically shows up at Rabaul? Something I mightn't know about since I'm a newb at this particular mission? I don't think there's anything particularly fearsome there.

I just checked my Game and Rabaul gets no specific reinforcements. If he is still defending forward at Lunga and was at Milne Bay and PM, then he might not have enough in the Rabaul area.

But if you can take Gasmata and the other bases on New Britain as well as Kavieng and the other base on New Ireland, you will have isolated Rabaul and well as Buna through Finchaven/Lae on New Guinea.

Your advice is good but isn't applicable to my circumstances. Here I was weighted heavily towards invading Milne Bay, Port Moresby and Merauke. When it became clear (to me) that Dave was ready to pounce on a Merauke invasion, I made a snap decision to seek other targets of opportunity. So I'm using mostly cobbled together forces (Rabaul troops are prepped about 55%) and relics of early-war planning (Lunga troops are 100% prepped). There are lots of vacant bases that little detachments can seize, if I do insert DS & The Herd into the Bismarck Sea. But this isn't a meticulously put together op with all troops prepped and in place. This is target-of-opportunity hunting. It may appear ragged to onlookers but it's an important part of the ebb and flow of each game.

P.S. Thanks for the info/input on Rabaul. I'm glad there isn't an organic CD unit with 219 12" guns that shows up at the base on 1/1/44 of some such.

I did not know that you are going by the seat of your pants, so to speak. Usually you do not do so. I like it, it shows that you are most flexible and are apt to take advantage of unexpected opportunities even if you have not planned for them.

And you are most welcome. A CD unit like that would be a little bit of a problem . . .

Keep in mind the conditions at Guadalcanal when the US went in historically - a usable airfield defended by some engineers - not 2 entrenched divisions. I would by-pass it and take something between Lunga and Rabaul that's lightly or undefended, load it up with engineers to build the airbase, then take Rabaul when the troops are 100% prepped.

Yer missing the main point of the mission: To prod Dave into committing KB into the fray. It's immaterial whether I take Rabaul or Lunga next week or next year. Dave doesn't know that, however, and I think he'll rally to their defense. That's what's important.

Perhaps a more detailed explanation of grand strategy will give readers an idea of what I'm shooting for here.

Over the first two years of war, I weighted all my punches in the IO and Bay of Bengal. There was the failed invasion of Pegu and Moulmein in early '42. There was the successful invasion of Christmas Island. With its patrols and subs and long-range recon touching bases as distant as Singapore and Soerabaja, it tickles Daves attention every turn. There was the feinting-invasion of Port Headland. There was the failed invasion of Port Blair that resulted in a noisy, hurtful carrier battle in the Bay of Bengal. There's the fact that there are no Allied troops in Burma, except at Akyab, so that Dave is aware that a huge invasion force could come at any time to flank Burma. And he was aware for more than a year that nearly all Allied carriers and heavy ships were at Colombo.

There has always been a looming Allied interest in this region, and Dave reacted strongly to counter the threats.

After that disastrous carrier battle, I spent nearly half a year organizing and preparing and positioning troops. The plan was to allow for attacks through SWPac and possibly CenPac, while Dave was focused on the DEI. Then, when and if he countered, the Allies would be able to move in strength on a distant region that I won't name at this early date.

When the Allies took Wake, Milne Bay and Ponape, it became clear that Dave is still "leaning towards" an Allied invasion of the DEI. I need to give him a reason - a big reason - to shift his thinking to New Guinea. And if he fails to take the bait, I need to take advantage of his weakness in the area to take important bases.

I don't want to meet KB in a 1:1 battle in waters distant from good Allied shipyards. I can't afford a major loss in the Arafura Sea. But if KB shows itself, I'm ready to move in other locales. And if it doesn't show itself, the Allies can do important work in New Guinea and the Admiralties since Dave is comparatively weak there and has holes.

Rabaul seems underdefended (with AFV and gun numbers as low as they are, maybe one ID tops plus a lot of HQ and base forces?), so an invasion there might pull the KB over. That's also the kind of place where a prep of 55 isn't too much of a handicap. You can wait a few turns before attacking if necessary. What kind of forces do you have for that? It would of course help to have a couple of relatively built-up bases nearby (Shortlands, Green Island, etc.) to place AKEs and aircraft.

EDIT: Or just go for Rabaul at once like MacArthur wanted to do in the early days.

Cheers,
CB

1/24/44 to 1/26/44

New Guinea: PM fell on the 24th. By the 26th, DS was patrolling near Milne Bay while amphibious TFs come from Townsville (loaded) and another loads at Milne.. Dave has full detection on DS and other Allied TFs (some in the Solomon Sea). Tomorrow is button-pushing time with paratroop assaults at vacant (I think) Madang and Manus. Dave should react to all these things if he's going to react.

1/27/44

North of New Guinea: Here we go. The Allies have begun pushing buttons. Lets see if Dave reacts, even as DS & The Herd move into the Solomon Sea.

Should I Be Doing This? This plan is elaborate and is an offshoot of the original master plan. I had a lot of information and believe the deductions made are actionable. But I'm facing an experience foe who is determined to stop the Allies from succeeding. I think everything is in good order, but for all I know, KB might've used foul weather to slip right up to the Admiralties undetected. The thought of things that could be give me pause, but in the end, there are times you simply have to use the best information available and trust to planning and judgment.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The thought of things that could be give me pause, but in the end, there are times you simply have to use the best information available and trust to planning and judgment.

Hey, if it were easy, anyone could play.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The thought of things that could be give me pause, but in the end, there are times you simply have to use the best information available and trust to planning and judgment.

Gridley380

Hey, if it were easy, anyone could play.

Anyone can play, they just might not play well.

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

quote:

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The thought of things that could be give me pause, but in the end, there are times you simply have to use the best information available and trust to planning and judgment.

Gridley380

Hey, if it were easy, anyone could play.

Anyone can play, they just might not play well.

You called?