Quisling! An AFB does Japan (No PanzerKat)

[John B.]

Not much really in Burma. We had an air battle yesterday over Rangoon where I lost about 90 planes and he lost about 70 (and that math works for me). I pulled my planes back to Moulmein and he swept over Pegu today but did not bomb me. Right now I don't think he can push me out of Rangoon but I don't have much supply so I can't hold forever. It really depends on when his bombers start to inflict serious damage on my troops. Also, I worry about a sea landing in Indochina cutting me off in Burma. I've garrisoned the coast but a solid move like that is my chief concern right now.

[John B.]

Sorry for the delay in posting. It was a combination of lack of anything significant and work. But, here we are on June 12th. As you can see, lots of dead Japanese aircraft but, that was because it was a Kamikaze turn! Bascially, I swept out of Manila over Legaspi and the Kamikazes followed. Of course, only one Kamikaze group flew in the morning when the way was claer, the rest flew in the afternoon when the Allied CAP was back up. [8|]

[John B.]

But, there both the Irving group and the Nell group made it through. I think the allies also lost an APA (it took two 500kg bombs and three Nell Kamikazes so if it's afloat it needs a medal!) and two other DEs. If you add up the air losses and the ship losses my 130 points or so of dead planes was well under 2x what Scott lost and that's a win for Japan!

[John B.]

On the land fronts Scott is fighting me in Malaya, Rangoon, and the Phillipines. Here in Singpore they're almost out of supplies. Scott has not attempted any land assaults but is pouding my forces from the air. I fly in 50 or so tons of supplies per day and Singapore is still making some. My only goal here is to hold out as long as possible. My AA is still shooting down 1-2 planes per turn so that makes some dent in the total number of VP he'll gain when he retakes Singapore. Not much, but I take what I can get.

[John B.]

Similar story in Rangoon. I have no supply up there. But, I'm holding onto the port as long as possible to keep Scott's supply situation more tenuous and to hold him up as long as possible. If he makes a credible threat to Pegu then I'll have to pull out to avoid encirclement.

[John B.]

In contrast, in the Phillipines I'm currently swimming in rice. The 220k lasts me a long time I hope because I don't think any resupply convoys are getting in. Manila is a level 9 fort and I have 5 divisions there with lots of flak. Scott is pushing his way closer but I don't really care. I am have my transport subs ferry in supply from Miri and they refuel there as well. That (so on average 100 supply per week) plus the 110 supply produced per turn in Manila should help me hold out a little longer.

[John B.]

And, as we see Japan's economy is slowly winding down. Any advice on when I should start to shut off my heavy industry? I do 3.3 million heavy industry points. I just hate to lose all that supply production.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: John B.
In contrast, in the Phillipines I'm currently swimming in rice. The 220k lasts me a long time I hope because I don't think any resupply convoys are getting in. Manila is a level 9 fort and I have 5 divisions there with lots of flak.

Consider putting some supplies into nearby bases which Allies likely would not bomb via rr/sliders. When a bomb hits an airbase, supply lost is also determined by the total stocks. So bombing can seriously hamper the numbers in the huge pile.
Moreover, maybe 200k+ as a total is excessive for the coming battles and much of it will be spent unproductively (lost in bombing raids)

[John B.]

Good point! I'd hate to see all of the effort to gird Manila for a long siege wasted under the hail of his airforce!

[John B.]

We're onto June 15th and, while I'm sure that the Germans will soon throw the allies into the sea at Normandy I still need to do my part to bring the pixel world under the iron boot. It's a turn of savage air battles over Manila. When you add everything up I think I only lost a few more planes than the allies which is a big win for Japan! And, VP wise, all those bombers count double so the air force eked out a narrow win (and I do like to shoot down his bombers).

[John B.]

The next big question is can Scott keep it up or will I get some rest. I flew in fresh squadrons from Cam Ranh Bay but as you can see there are a lot of damaged planes. The morale of my units went into the 80s but there was only minor damage to the airfield and none to the runways. And, my pilot losses were much lower than my plane losses. Let's hope that's not true for Scott.

[John B.]

In other interesting news, a very large number of allied TFs is spotted east of Singapore. I suspect they are going to invade the southern tip of Indochina in an attempt to cut off Burma. I have 5 Japanese divisions available to attempt to counter this and they're in strat mode at various places so that they can move quickly. It's just too bad that there is no railroad between Saigon and Phnom Phenh (sp?).

I've also shut off My HI in Tokyo and Osaka. I want to see what effect this has on overall Japanese production and to save some fuel points.

[John B.]

Another day of heavy air battles over Manila. Again, I lost more planes but not as many Corsairs as there was. And, I do figure that Scott's pilot losses must be higher since the air combat all takes place over an enemy base where he has not units. I'm going up again this turn as I have a supply convoy coming in that has two more AA units on board. Once it gets unloaded I may give my fly boys a rest. And, I've been resting squadrons with morale of 80 or lower. Let's hope Scott is feeling the strain as well.

[John B.]

My plane losses were fattened up by another turn of Kamikaze attacks. These went in (somewhat surprisingly) at Victoria point were I did not know he had ships. But, fortunately, the Irvings had escorts and, as you can see, did pretty well for themselves. I figure my total losses were about 22 VP (a follow on wave of Kamikaze Nells did not have escorts and did not do so well with only one hit). Scott lost about 18 VP. These are not huge numbers in the grand scheme of things but it doesn't hurt and the Kamikazes at least give me something to do other than click through the endless allied bombing raids.

Speaking of which. More bombing of Singapore and Pegu.

And, all hail the mighty Irving Kamikaze squadron. It flew three missions sank about 6 ships which is pretty good for a plane with no bombs. Now it's been withdrawn as it was one of the squadrons that go away on July 10th and it currently had no pilots and no planes. But, as a parting gift it gave us 10 political points.

[Bif1961]

Now we know why the Japanese resorted to suicide attacks as their ability to damage and sink Allied shipping with conventional means did not get these favorable results.

[John B.]

Bif,

It's pretty much impossible for me to now get through to Scott's ships with conventional means. The Kamikazes can sneak through if Scott is not careful with his CAP coverage. We'll see if I can get more strikes in, but they are expensive to me in terms of VP.

[John B.]

June 20th has come and gone with more air battles over Manila. Yesterday I took more than 2-1 losses and this time the results were more favorable. But, there have been heavy losses in my Franks! In other news, Singapore has now used up its supply stockpile and the AA guns are out of ammo. I wonder how much longer they'll be able to shoot. I've added two more squadrons of Tabbys to the airlift so there is still a trickle of supplies coming in but not enough. But, every turn that he does not take singapore is one turn closer to victory.

[mind_messing]

I've also shut off My HI in Tokyo and Osaka. I want to see what effect this has on overall Japanese production and to save some fuel points.

That's a bad idea - supply becomes absolutely critical in 1945. Consumption increases massively and you'll need every unit of supply you can get.

[John B.]

MindMessing, I see what you're saying I'm trying it as an experiment and to leave myself at least a little bit of flexibility when it comes to fuel so I can use naval moves later on if an opportunity presents itself. On current consumption I run out of oil, and fuel, in early '45. Because my fuel runs out before 8/45 with HI on I should not lose out on actual supply production this way as I can always turn the HI back on and restart the production. It merely delays the production of those supply points.

[John B.]

In more current news. It was a bad day to be driving a tank for the USMC in the Philippines. [:D] Last turn I just had a tank regiment and some AT guns in Batangas and Scott did a regular attack. By a big stroke of luck my infantry divisions showed up this turn in combat mode and Scott tried a shock attack.

Sadly, it's June 1944 and my units are now exposed in a clear terrain hex to his air bombardment so I believe I"m going to have to pull back into the safety of Manila. There I have flak, level 9 forts, and a city that should give me some protection. I think that the assault on Manila is nigh!