Matrix Games Forums

Jan. 17, 1944

A lot going on this turn. In no particular order:

The Kasagi came out of drydock today. It is joined by the Zuikaku and Junyo which also recently came out of the yards. These three carriers will now sail south to Ulithi to join the rest of the KB, although the Junyo will then be split off to join the slow KB down in the DEI. So now everyone is all done repairing from the actions around Ponape and from some sub attacks (both Junyo and Kasagi were the victims of sub attacks).

The airfield at Truk was almost totally repaired today. At the end of yesterday, it had 29 runway damage and 25 service damage. Today there was only 5 service damage left. Wow! [X(] [&o] I have never seen my runways repaired that quickly. I guess 250 engineers will do that. There was no follow up attack today, for obvious reasons. [;)]

The raid on the Darwin convoy was a resounding success. First, we encountered the Dutch sub KXVIII and put two solid hits on it and 10 damaging near misses.

Next, we ran into the PTs guarding the port. They did not cause a problem with visibility at 12k yards and after PT-112 was obliterated by a 20cm hit, the other 4 PTs decided to high-tail it.

Then it was on to the main event, the destruction of the allied supply convoy. Apparently, witpqs gambled that I would not go straight for Darwin since last time I went for a different hex. Or maybe he though I was up to something at Moa besides staging for a surface raid. Whatever the case may be, we encountered and sank 5 xAKs and a DE. Our spotting report from yesterday was amazingly accurate, reporting 7 xAKs.

Allied Ships
DE Encounter, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
xAK Empire Hamble, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Fatshan, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Hanyang, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
xAK Ping Wo, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Taiyuan, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Wulin, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

The bombardment was the one part of the operation that could have gone better. I forgot to set any of my float planes to recon, so we didn't have any spotters. As a result, damage to the airfield was minimal:

Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Kinugasa
CA Haguro
CA Myoko
CL Kuma
DD Yuzuki
DD Mochizuki
DD Mikazuki
DD Akebono
E Asagao

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

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 4

Finally, on the way out, the cruiser TF encountered the xAK Caithness which apparently was able to get underway before our bombardment force arrived. The Caithness is now slated to become a popular diving attraction after the war.

Over in China things look like they are about to heat up.

My troops advancing on Changsa/Henyang are making good progress - they have only 8 miles to go which they should cover in 2-3 days at most. Once they enter the target hex, witpqs will know something is up and start to react. I have already set another 5 divisions to march towards Henyang and 5 more are ready to move on Changsa.

So far so good. But witpqs has thrown quite a monkey wrench into my plans. Earlier, I pulled an HQ and an artillery unit out of Nanyang. Perhaps witpqs noticed this movement, perhaps he noticed the smaller number of units, or perhaps he has had an offensive planned for a while. But when I checked today I was chagrined to see 30 units sitting in the woods next to Nanyang. Previously, there were only 15 units there, the units I had kicked out of Nanyang when I captured the place. When these new units arrived I am not sure since I am not religious about checking in on the Chinese situation. At any rate, it is obvious a Chinese offensive is immanent.

I have already started three divisions marching towards Nanyang as reinforcements. I doubt they will arrive in time, but I need to try. These are all the reserves I can muster in the north China theater. My other reserves are all advancing on Changsa/Henyang!

So now we have an interesting situation. The shortest path, in terms of travel time, for my army in the south from its current position to the threat in north is through Changsa! So I will be advancing units into Change from the east, southeast, and southwest. This allow units entering from the southwest to exit through the eastern hex side should that prove necessary. So now getting a solid phalanx of troops into Changsa is vital to the movement of my reserves. The question is whether I should just let the situation in the north deteriorate while trying to continue the offensive against Henyang, or whether those troops should be diverted north. Only time will tell, but I am already starting to contemplate a possible retreat in the north in order to consolidate my position there. If the Chinese do advance out into the plain, however, this could be good for me since they will be more stretched out and in poor defensive terrain.

FatR: we have a hr limiting CAP/Sweeps/Bombing to 25k feet.

I agree with Pax and Fatr - In the airwar the armament is a huge factor!

The difference is between damaging and destroying. I just had another small Kittyhawk vs. Zeroes in my AAR, the hit ratio is at least 1-5 in favour of the Japanese, but the kill ratio 1-2. The answer, guns and armour.

Jan. 20, 1944

There was a lot of action this turn (at least for this game.) I will get to the Chinese action in a later post. But first I thought I would report on a very successful defensive effort at Truk.

The allies were back in force. This time, Corsairs showed up as escorts, rather than sweepers. Not sure why, as they are more vulnerable as escorts.

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Morning Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Radar!
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 54
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 84 [I want to point out that this represents every fighter on Truk. Such a large (100%) CAP would not be possible without radar. Right now I am running my fighters at 20% CAP, 40% rest.]

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 99
F4U-1 Corsair x 85

Airbase hits 23
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 111

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Morning Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 30 [CAP reduced due to earlier raid]
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 45

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 9 [only one B-24 survived]
F4U-1 Corsair x 2

The results:
Americans
B-24J Liberator, 20 A2A, 2 Ops [20% loss rate]
F4U-1 Corsair, 30 A2A, 4 Ops [40% lost rate]
Japanese
N1K1-J George, 10 lost including 2 on the ground [impossible to know the precise reason because of overlapping action in China.]
Ki-44-IIc Tojo, 10 lost

Pilots: George - 2 KIA, 2 WIA; Tojo 2 KIA, 2 WIA

Airfield damage: Runway 34; Service 44

The Tojos got into action sooner than the Georges and performed quite credibly in the kill department. Their high climb rate seemed to ensure they would make it to the scene before the Georges.

Kills claimed by Georges: 17
Kills claimed by Tojos: 30

I am still working on the turn. Later on I will update the situation in China which has become quite active.

Jan. 20, 1944 continued

There is a lot of movement in China. Unfortunately, it looks like I am about to be crushed. I just checked: a fully filled out Chinese infantry corp has an assault value almost twice that of a Japanese infantry division; 800 vs 350-450. And the Chinese have dozens of them. You may think that supply considerations would limit this. But there has been no evidence that the Chinese have been short of supply since 1942. They have built up all their airfields to maximum size and beyond. When I have tested out their forts they have been quite substantial. If I lose this game to the Chinese I am going to be extremely frustrated. This is supposed to be a war in the Pacific, not a land war.

I have decided to bug out of Nanyang. I have ~1800 AV there now with another ~800 on the way. But I sincerely doubt that ~2600 AV would amount to more than a speed bump to the 33 Chinese units headed our way. I would guess they have at least ~6-8k AV, probably more. I am going to try to hold on to Sinyang. If the Chinese advance further out onto the North China Plain, I will try to threaten their flanks ala the Backhand Blow.

Down around Changsa, my main assault force is moving on Siangtan. As can be seen, I have the top most unit in the stack moving towards Hengyang, and another unit heading towards Changsa. This is maskirovka, meant to keep the direction of march of my main force obscure. I am also moving 5 divisions on Changsa in order to pin those units in that city. Again, this is maskirovka - I am resetting those units each turn so they don't make any progress. Ditto for the units that look like they are moving on Kweilin. I have decided to swing my tank division around Hengyang and through Siangtan. If I can get the tanks out onto the plain behind Changsa, they can move to envelop Hengyang.

My hope here is that I can unhinge the defense of Changsa enough that the Chinese will withdraw rather than face the prospect of being surrounded. If I can do that, then I can move a good number of those units north to deal with the threat coming out of Sian.

don´t worry, the Chinese Corps are all totally understrength, on average probably around 400 av and they will never get filled up as the Chinese are only getting 200 squads per month so with a year without any fighting they get 2400 squads to fill out their units. They would need 6000 every year though to really fill them out. And every Japanese squad got twice the firepower of a Chinese squad. While I haven´t looked at the Japanese side in AE so far I nevertheless expect the Chinese to have 50% more assault value in total than the Japanese in China, but that´s just my impression from my PBEM.

Jan. 22, 1944

Today saw numerous air combats over China. Mainly, the Chinese are trying to bomb my troops marching on Siangtan and I am trying to CAP them and wear down the Chinese airforce.

The large Chinese stack marching on Nanyang arrived yesterday and today launched a bombardment attack rather than a deliberate or shock attack. In any case, no one was home. I finally got to see what we are up against, however:

Ground combat at Nanyang (85,45)
Allied Bombardment attack
Attacking force 1464 troops, 18 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5483

Assaulting units:
40th Chinese Corps
55th Chinese Corps
47th Chinese Corps
15th Chinese Corps
7th New Chinese Corps
30th Chinese Corps
12th Chinese Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
96th Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
80th Chinese Corps
38th Chinese Corps
43rd Chinese Corps
29th Chinese Corps
9th Chinese Corps
13th Chinese Corps
98th Chinese Corps
41st Chinese Corps
85th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
69th Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
31st Group Army
5th War Area
22nd Group Army
2nd Group Army
24th Group Army
3rd Group Army
36th Group Army
1st War Area
14th Group Army
Jingcha War Area
4th Group Army
15th Group Army
39th Group Army

21 Corps. The assault value was obviously quite large, but not as large as I thought it might be. Still, larger than we could have handled. Our decision to retreat was the correct one. Now we will see where they go from here. I will have two redoubts flanking Nanyang. On its own, each is not all that strong. But the Chinese will not be able to mass this entire group in both places at once - it will need to be split up which will make it much easier to deal with. If they move north, my southern group can threaten their rear. And if they move south, my northern group can do the same.

Much will depend on what my offensive in the south is able to accomplish.

Don't you have 2 or 3 spare divisions from the Southern Area Army you could use in China ? I know you are setting up your DEI and Pacific defenses, but with his defeat at Ponape you inherited a 6 months window where the chances of him invading en masse accross a significant body of water are very very low. In that time you could swing a few divs to China, giving you more strength for the hardest part of the offensive, its beginning, and then get them back out to their reserve status... in 4 months this is doable, and with Changsha and its area secured, you would suddenly free up quite an amount of troops,to defense in Thailand/Burma that you could then buy...

ORIGINAL: veji1

Don't you have 2 or 3 spare divisions from the Southern Area Army you could use in China ? I know you are setting up your DEI and Pacific defenses, but with his defeat at Ponape you inherited a 6 months window where the chances of him invading en masse accross a significant body of water are very very low. In that time you could swing a few divs to China, giving you more strength for the hardest part of the offensive, its beginning, and then get them back out to their reserve status... in 4 months this is doable, and with Changsha and its area secured, you would suddenly free up quite an amount of troops,to defense in Thailand/Burma that you could then buy...

I think I have enough to deal with China. I am sending 3 tank regiments from the Home Islands to give myself some mobility.

I have about 5000 AV tasked for Hengyang. About 3000 of that will be crossing the river into the Siantang hex in about 3 turns. They will be shock attacking 5 units with 25k men. That is, if no one else is added to the defenses there. So far witpqs is not moving anyone out of Changsa or Hengyang. My maskirovka seems to be working. I am fairly certain that 3k AV should be able to dislodge what looks to be about 2 divisions worth of troops, call it 800 AV tops.

Once across the river, we will swing around and attack Hengyang from 3 different directions. I will also send in people from the other hex sides to completely surround them. I am hoping that the capture of Singtan and the siege of Hengyang will then encourage the allies to greatly weaken or even abandon their defense of Changsa.

Meanwhile, the apparent movement of my troops on Kweilin seems to have them staying there rather than moving to Hengyang. The name of the game here is to stretch out the Chinese so that they cannot garrison just a couple of strong points. They need to be made to worry about their flanks.

And, half of the "6 months" is already up. [;)]

Great AAR.  Been reading through it a piece at a time.  Provides some real valuable insights as to how to really manage the Japanese side of the house.  Well played to date Cap!

ORIGINAL: denisonh

Great AAR.  Been reading through it a piece at a time.  Provides some real valuable insights as to how to really manage the Japanese side of the house.  Well played to date Cap!

Thank you.

Jan. 24, 1943

A very active turn.

The allies invaded both Nauru and Wake. Nauru was easily captured since I had almost no one there after the garrison unit there was withdrawn. (I should have put this unit on one of the outlying islands in the Gilberts rather than Nauru, I suppose.) Even though the SNLF at Wake was roughly handled by B-24, we held out against the initial shock attack. The forts dropped from 3 to 2 and half the squads are disabled. But I doubt witpqs will attack again next turn. (as long as he doesn't have more unloading to do!)

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Ground combat at Nauru Island (127,128)
Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 5789 troops, 66 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 272
Defending force 1451 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 11

Allied adjusted assault: 271
Japanese adjusted defense: 13

Allied assault odds: 20 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Nauru Island !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
963 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 78 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 14 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
150 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
53rd (Sep) Infantry Regiment
Fiji Brigade
3rd NZ Armoured Sqn
3rd NZ Division

Defending units:
5th Shipping Engineer Regiment [fragments of both these units are at Rabaul]
51st JNAF AF Unit


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Ground combat at Wake Island (136,98)
Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 3547 troops, 76 guns, 95 vehicles, Assault Value = 126
Defending force 1445 troops, 19 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 46

Allied adjusted assault: 48
Japanese adjusted defense: 43

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(+), leaders(-), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
299 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
444 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 14 (1 destroyed, 13 disabled)

Assaulting units:
108th Infantry Rgt /1

Defending units:
Maizuru 1st SNLF
32nd JAAF AF Coy

The move against Wake is interesting. The ships doing the invasion are rather exposed. Does that mean the allies know where the KB is and are not worried? A quick in and out? Does this mean that perhaps Marcus may be next on the menu, followed by Iwo Jima, in order to flank the Marianas? I will need to be on guard against this possibility. Perhaps the garrison on Marcus should be beefed up. At Iwo I have an engineer working on building forts. May need to put down a garrison there.

The allies have also been reconing Paramashiro Jima. Perhaps some misdirection. But now we have heavy radio transmissions at Adak. Paramashiro has a brigade as a garrison, level 5 forts. Not much. hardly any aviation support, just enough for some search planes.

Taken together, I think these indications suggest that the KB should be stationed up around Chichi-Jima. If the allies make a move towards the DEI, LBA can deal with the threat there more easily than can the Kuriles.

China proceeds apace. Still waiting for my troops to cross the river to Siangtan.

Now Burma/Thailand is becoming active. 22 allied units look to be making a move to flank Moulmein. I have 3 infantry divisions and 1 tank division at Moulmein. 1 tank division was just moved one hex south to guard against an enveloping landing. 3 tank regiments at Raheng are available as an immediate reserve. I am also going to move 3 divisions up to northern Thailand. 1 of those was in reserve at Singapore. It is riding the rails right now. 2 more were at Sorebaja getting ready to deploy to the Adamans. I am now going to send them to Thailand. Altogether, that will give me 6 infantry divisions, 2 tank divisions, and 3 tank regiments. I will look around for more to send.

The problem will be how to keep from being enveloped. I really don't want to pull back from Moulmein, but I am not sure how to hold the position without it becoming surrounded. Your (illustrated) thoughts would be appreciated.

Jan. 25, 1943

The allies are getting very serious about Burma now. Today saw several large air raids on Moulmein. They began with a large night attack on the airfield. I am afraid night bombing is still too effective.

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Night Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61-Ic Tony x 5

Allied aircraft
Blenheim VD x 25
Wellington Ic x 9
Wellington B.X x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61-Ic Tony: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 4 destroyed on ground
N1K1-J George: 2 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim VD: 3 damaged
Wellington B.X: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 22

Then during the day:

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Morning Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 18
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 106

Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 16

Next up came the following raid. I saw all those P-47s and about pooped.
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Morning Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 25 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 17
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 90

Allied aircraft
Spitfire VIII x 16
P-38H Lightning x 25
P-40K Warhawk x 50
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 75
P-51A Mustang x 50

Next up were some older spitfires. They were nowhere near as good as the VIII model.
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Morning Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 31 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 15
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 66

Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vc Trop x 16

Finally, some Warhawks which did alright.
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Morning Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 24 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 14
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 66

Allied aircraft
P-40K Warhawk x 25

While not a great day for the Japanese, it was not as bad as I feared. The toll in China apparently evened things up and at the end of the day, the allies suffered 53 A2A while Japan had 38. Much better than I had hoped. Plus the allies had 21 op losses versus only 9 for the Japanese. OTOH, losing 46 Tojo's in one day is not good at all. I am producing 240 a month right now. I may need to bump that some, but I am working on some other expansions right now and I can't afford a bigger supply drain. In terms of pilots, I lost 17 KIA and 13 WIA. I am sure a number of those KIA and WIA came from the aircraft destroyed on the ground. The code in this regard is even worse than the effects of night bombing. For every 2-3 planes destroyed on the ground in a night bombing mission, 1 pilot dies or is WIA.

Also in Burma I had a fortunate accident today. Yesterday I upgraded a Helen IIa squadron to the Helen IIb. Because of the upgrade the range was reset to the maximum and I forgot to scale it back to a range that would keep the bombers from flying off to Rangoon. Turns out that rather than ending in disaster, this meant they were able to fly off and attack a troop convoy apparently heading for Rangoon.

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Rangoon at 51,54
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 10

Allied Ships
DE Sutlej, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Rajula, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Talma, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
102 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rangoon at 51,54
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 10

Allied Ships
xAP Khedive Ismail, Bomb hits 2
DE Jumna
xAP Khandalla, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
Vehicles lost 11 (1 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

I wonder what the effect of this accident will be? Will witpqs bomb the airfields where the bombers are located meaning I should divert some fighters there? Will this cause him to divert some of his fighters from sweeping to LRCAP? That would be good.

I still haven't seen any suggestions on what to do about Moulmein. I am beginning to think retreat to Raheng may be the thing to do. Greater range for allied fighters to fly, greater mass that the Japanese can gather, position harder to flank and easier to counter any flanking movements. I am still looking at where I can get more divisions for this theater. I have another at Sorebaja and 3 at Davao, although they are supposed to be reserves for the Marianas.

Finally, in China, my assault on Siangtan will happen tomorrow. The stack has moved 40 miles now, meaning tomorrow they will cross the river and shock attack. This will be about 2900 AV versus 4 units of about 50k troops. I figure an AV of 1200 tops. I would not be surprised if we capture the base outright. To support the attack, I have ordered a ground attack by two squadrons of Helens.

Added: I should mention the Chinese entered Luichow with 5 corps and will capture it tomorrow.

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Ground combat at Liuchow (74,55)
Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 13710 troops, 78 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1765
Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Assaulting units:
7th Chinese Corps
64th Chinese Corps
52nd Chinese Corps
4th Chinese Corps
84th Chinese Corps
Central Reserve
21st Group Army

The big problem I see with leaving Moulmein is opening several possible avenues of advance for the Allies. I'd prefer to defend hexes along Moulmein-Rahaeng road against flanking movements and use tank regiment moves to maintan hexside control, so that the Allied units will be stuck in the hex where they reach the road.

Also, I'd fly some bombing missions, preferably with throwaway planes and pilots, to get intelligence on the composition of the advancing Allied force.

He's using the only advantage he has right now. I don't know what the state of the KB and mini-KB is, but I'd bring them back into the equation, if possible. I'd gather every available division, because he's not going to be invading in force anytime soon anywhere else, and do an invasion in Pegu or Rangoon directly with KB and mini-KB support. It would stop this up cold. So, I'd defend Moulmein, then retreat if he beats you out...let him get deeper and deeper. The deeper he gets, the more he can lose.

After the invasion, you can focus on other areas....high risk to the KB if his LBA can do damage, but I'd be surprised if he has trained them for naval.

Jan. 26, 1944

Witpqs labeled my huge stack in central China the "death blossom". I believe that is a reference to Last Star Fighter. At any rate, this was a turn for the Death Blossoms.

First, the original death blossom arrived in Siangtan and achieved 3-1 odds against 2 Chinese Corps with 5 forts. Forts were reduced 2 levels, 1 level due to my engineers, the other due to the assault.

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Ground combat at Siangtan (81,52)
Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 82155 troops, 584 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 2981
Defending force 23817 troops, 107 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 948

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese adjusted assault: 2160
Allied adjusted defense: 658

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 4)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
5406 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 335 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 176 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2983 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 242 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 142 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled

Assaulting units:
3rd Ind.Infantry Brigade
5th Ind.Infantry Brigade
6th Ind.Infantry Brigade
8th Ind.Infantry Brigade
4th Ind.Infantry Brigade
9th Ind.Infantry Brigade
116th Division
15th Division
12th Ind.Infantry Brigade
1st Ind.Infantry Brigade
7th Ind.Infantry Brigade
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
2nd Ind.Infantry Brigade
26th Division
12th Army
23rd Army
RGC Army
4th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
75th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
26th Group Army
18th Chinese Base Force

The important thing to note here is the number of squads disabled on each side, since they are what contribute to assault value. In my case, I suffered a 350 squad loss and sure enough, when I check on that stack, assault value has decreased to 2600. The allies saw about 250 squads disabled. This should mean there assault value is down to 700 now. Although the disruption on my troops is sky high, I have ordered another shock attack for tomorrow. I am hoping the shock bonus will offset the disruption malus. I would think the Chinese should be suffering some disruption as well. In any case I would think we could easily achieve 2-1 odds, and probably 3-1 again. To help out, I am racing my tank division in as well. If it makes it in time, it should add another 300 AV. Bombers were supposed t ground attack, but they didn't fly. Maybe they will fly tomorrow. Capturing this base quickly is extremely important. If I can capture it tomorrow or the next day, witpqs will not be able to get people there before I can gain control of all the hex sides. I will then be free to move to envelop Hengyang.

The 4 divisions south of Hengyang are just two turns away from crossing the river into the woods west of Hengyang. Once across, I will send two of them west to the WR hex 90 miles to the west to block reinforcements from Kweilin.

Meanwhile, the Chinese capture Liuchow with 5 corps and 1700 AV.

Now onto the allied death blossom.

Huge air attacks on Moulmein again. I am afraid Moulmein is a poor place to defend. When I was defending in central Burma, I could rail my damaged squadrons back to Rangoon to refit and take on replacements while fresh squadrons were rotated in. I cannot do that at Moulmein because there are no rear area bases to rail my squadrons to. Right now my squadrons have been reduced to a quarter of there full strength. I don't want to move anyone else in since they will just end up the same way. So I am bugging out. The Ridge between Burma and Thailand will become my defensive line. This line will give me 3x defensive terrain. It can also be covered by CAP from bases around Raheng and Bangkok. Movement to prevent allied flanking efforts will also be easier due to the road set up. And I will be able to more effectively contest the air. The allies will be flying longer distances and I will be able to rail damaged squadrons to rear area bases to refit and replenish.

I also noted just how good the Spitfire VIII was. After analyzing why this plane was so good, I decided that it must be the combination of speed and maneuverability. The Corsair has great speed, but it is not terribly maneuverable and so our Tojo's can actually compete with it. Not so the Spitfire VIII. Based on this, I believe the Tony Id would be a poor plane to contest the skies where Spitfires fly. For now, the only thing I have that seems likely to handle them is the Frank. It is fast and maneuverable. Not as fast or maneuverable, but closer than the Tojo. Plus, its 20mm cannons should help out. The only problem will be the service rating of 3. But from what I can see, service rating doesn't matter if your runway is trashed. Neither Tojo's nor George's repair with the service damage at around 40.

Let me also register once more a complaint about the JDAMS carried by allied 4E bombers. They are at least 10x more effective that artillery and can literally wipe out entire battalions in a couple of weeks. This is total BS.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese ground losses:
46 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 6000 feet *
Ground Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb

Japanese ground losses:
80 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 6000 feet *
Ground Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Anyway, I though I would give you an idea of what the allies threw at Moulmein:

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 22
Spitfire VIII x 11
P-40K Warhawk x 11

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 24
Spitfire VIII x 25
P-38H Lightning x 23
P-40N1 Warhawk x 25
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 71 [not even an ops loss today [8|]]
P-51A Mustang x 20

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 2
Liberator II x 27
Liberator B.III x 15
Spitfire VIII x 1
B-24J Liberator x 27
P-40K Warhawk x 31

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 1
Spitfire VIII x 1
B-24J Liberator x 9

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 22
B-25C Mitchell x 32
B-25D1 Mitchell x 16

Allied aircraft
P-40N5 Warhawk x 49

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 22
Spitfire VIII x 11
P-51A Mustang x 22

Amazingly, the Japanese still managed to beat the allies in losses today:
Allies: 47 A2A; 25 ops
Japan: 37 A2A; 16 ops; 10 ground
A lot of this was due to some good results in China. For next turn I am putting my guys at Moulmein (what is left of them, anyway) on 10% CAP. My hope is they won't get enough warning to rise up to meet the smaller sweeps and will only respond to large bomber raids since those are spotted further out. I don't know if this work, but I want to avoid the sweeps if possible while concentrating on the bombers. Of course, none of this will go on very long since I have already issued the bug-out orders.

Just an absolutely fabulous AAR!  I have been reading this for quite some time.  Just beautifully played and has given me insights into how the game works and should be played.  [&o]  Because of this AAR, I have just purchased this game.

Hi Cap,
 
On your Moulmein situation: someone above mentioned a counter invasion since you rule the seas. This could actually be a good idea.
Apart from that: the Allied stack is moving to the hex east of moulmein. That's jungle and a river crossing right there. You could consider moving a force there (if you can beat them to it) as the combat modifiers would be massively in your favor. True: you won't beat him but you might disrupt and damage his forces a lot, with a smallish investment. This will slow him down and combined with a counter landing might stop him in his tracks.
 
My 0,02 €.
 
 

Jan. 27, 1944

Thanks to everyone for their comments. I am not going to be invading. Allied LBA is just too much to take on, and one cannot just pick up a drop troops at will. Without preparation, disablements run to 50% of TOE. Also, I am not going to stick around Moulmein. The deciding factor here is the ability to keep my planes repaired and flying. At Moulmein the allies can wear me down. Over at Raheng, et. al., I think I can wear them down.

The situation in China is at a razor edge. I have almost captured Siangtan. But the Chinese are moving reinforcements there. Will they arrive next turn? If not I have an excellent chance of capturing the place next turn. If they do arrive, I may need to back out of this offensive altogether. Forts are down to 1 and if my engineers reduce them to 0 on the next assault, and no reinforcements arrive, even our severely disrupted troops should be able to capture the place:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Siangtan (81,52)
Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 78151 troops, 584 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 2668
Defending force 21688 troops, 107 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 764

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 1000
Allied adjusted defense: 423

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
2447 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 216 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 120 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled

Allied ground losses:
4131 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 239 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 236 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 14 disabled

Jan. 28, 1944

My offensive in China has failed. The Chinese were able to get reinforcements to Siangtan before we could capture the place. So now we are going to pull out and use those troops (which are quite beat up) to deal with the situation in the north.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Siangtan (81,52)
Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 75944 troops, 584 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 2506
Defending force 73854 troops, 502 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2663

Japanese adjusted assault: 951
Allied adjusted defense: 801

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
6605 casualties reported
Squads: 233 destroyed, 341 disabled
Non Combat: 127 destroyed, 221 disabled
Engineers: 15 destroyed, 26 disabled

Allied ground losses:
4312 casualties reported
Squads: 119 destroyed, 157 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 212 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled

Assaulting units:
3rd Ind.Infantry Brigade
7th Ind.Infantry Brigade
4th Ind.Infantry Brigade
5th Ind.Infantry Brigade
9th Ind.Infantry Brigade
6th Ind.Infantry Brigade
116th Division
2nd Ind.Infantry Brigade
1st Ind.Infantry Brigade
8th Ind.Infantry Brigade
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade
15th Division
12th Ind.Infantry Brigade
26th Division
12th Army
RGC Army
23rd Army
4th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
75th Chinese Corps
79th Chinese Corps
94th Chinese Corps
97th Chinese Corps
87th Chinese Corps
5th Chinese Cavalry Corps
1st New Chinese Corps
26th Group Army
18th Chinese Base Force

Over in Burma there were no air attacks against Moulmein today. This allowed a number of planes to be repaired and I have pulled all the operational AC out of there and back to the Raheng complex.