Amphibious Assault Wake Island

[DKF12]

I am going to attempt an amphibious assault to take Wake Island.
The scenario is a full campaign game against the "AI".
It is 11/10/42.
Wake Is. Detection 2 of 3
F-26 B-0 Aux-9
Troops 1960 Guns 33 AFV 0
I have read everything I can find in the forum.
This is my first attempt.
I have 6 CV's,4 CVE's and plenty of old and a few new BBs to use.
I am prepping the invasion force of a marine regiment, armor unit, engineer unit and artillery unit on Hilo. (Trying to keep them out of the Honolulu bars) to 100 %.
I am planning on using 3 bombardment groups. 2 to go in advance and one with the troop ships.
The CV's will provide air attack and cover.
I also will have separate supply ship or ships to deliver supply.
I know the most important thing is to get the troops off loaded in one day.
Where I could use some advice is:
1) How many troops do I need? Is 6000 enough, is 10000 too many.
2) To spread troops out over AP/AK do I just add ships to TF?
3) Since the CV's don't go into Wake hex should there just be DD's and a few CA/CL's in their TF ?
4)How should I divide Carrier bombers between ground, airfield and port.
5) How much supply should I land in the supply TF
6) Any other areas I should address


As always thanks for the advise.

[BBfanboy]

The rule of thumb is something like 3 support squads to one combat squad so that 2000 enemy troops is likely (13 to a combat squad, 10 to a support squad) only has around 20 AV. Most likely it is a base force. The DL of the base is important too - if you got that 1960 figure from a DL less than 5 there is a good chance the isle has more troops than that on it.

You have brought plenty. Firepower matters more than raw AV, so your Tank and Arty units should provide a good punch. This early in the game the Japanese units do not have much intrinsic anti-tank ability, and US artillery is generally longer ranged and more accurate than the Japanese arty.

Combat uses something like 10X the supply from normal daily usage. You want to unload first day at least double the (total daily usage X10) so that if your ships have to bug out you have left the troops with some supply to work with.

It would be a mistake to put all your carrier aircraft on duty over the invasion. Their primary mission is to prevent interference from enemy Carriers and Surface raider and enemy bombers. Some of the Carrier CAP could be set to LRCAP the enemy base from one hex away, but I would limit that to one squadron. You need fighters to CAP your carriers and escort naval strikes too! Cruisers and DDs should be sufficient escort for the CVs - BBs would slow them down and the code lets carriers use their speed and screening vessels to escape most of the time.

Your CVEs could do AF/ground strike and sweep of enemy CAP.

EDIT: PS - don't forget to counter enemy subs and mines.

[RangerJoe]

Go though your Signal Intelligence to see just what is at Wake. Until you know what is there, you can't tell what you really need.

[btd64]

Always plan for more than you need....GP

[Zeckke]

yeapp, invasions island take two or 3 forces more than you need ,then bring back to Tokyo the infantry units to raplace quikly, dont be worry of the losses of a disembark they can be replace quikly at home with the high numbers of HQs. the best is to embark with supplyes on cargo transports and proper HQ. then the shock attack initial will break the defenses.

[bradfordkay]

I always include destroyers and light cruisers in the amphibious TFs when available. These ships will engage the coast defense artillery during the unloading phase, helping to reduce losses among the landing troops. My rule of thumb is to include twice the shipping capacity (when available) in the amphibious TF as each unit requires. This speeds up the unloading process. I also create a separate amphibious TF loaded solely with supply to make sure that the landed troops get enough. Another trick I have found useful for invasions of atolls is to have the amphibious TFs arrive in the final destination a day before (set them to "do not unload" and reset to unload in your next orders phase) - this takes advantage of both nighttime unloading phases as well as the daytime one before the automatic shock attack occurs.

Your CVEs can be in an air combat TF and still operate normally within the landing hex. This will improve the numbers of fighter flying CAP over the invasion fleet and reduce the need to set more than one of your CV fighter squadrons on LRCAP.

Good luck!

[CaptBeefheart]

This is probably too late, but yes, for 1942, before you get a bunch of amphib-specific ships, plenty of extra xAPs and xAKs are good to ensure your troops land on Day 1. You'll have to have the TF fully formed before loading the troops, otherwise any ships you add will just carry supply. Plenty of xAKLs or small xAKs with only supply organized in separate TFs is also a good idea.

I'd keep all carrier aviation on CAP, Search, ASW or Naval Attack. To me it's a waste to use carrier aviation against ground targets. I'd have probably brought more infantry, but you might have enough. As long as you have enough supply, overstacking is not an issue. Just remove most of your infantry ASAP once you take the base. I'd also sprinkle a couple of slow BBs in the Amphib TF(s) to absorb shore gun hits and dish out their own lead. I'd have the invasion fleet follow a low-numbered surface TF and the CV fleet follow a different low-numbered surface TF one hex away. The surface TFs should be fast--no slow BBs. Slow BBs could have their own bombardment TFs if not already in amphib TFs. I wouldn't put anything larger than a CA in a CV TF, unless you only have one fast BB. Two fast BBs should go in a surface TF.

So, how did it go?

Cheers,
CB