AAR-The Italian Affair--Hoepner vs. mc3744
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:13 pm
This is going to be my first AAR and my first PBEM too, so please be patient both with my english and with my unexperience in witp.
For this match i'm taking the Jap side. Mc3744 will use the allied.
We decided to follow the main route and create 2 separate AAR. Mine shouldn't be read by him, the same for his. So please, do not bring , here or there,informations that we should'nt know. Thanks
Scen.15; Historical fist turn off; surprse on; Sub doc both on; +/-15 days reinforcments delays; no night bombing except for dedicated squadrons; Everything else turned on
I realized how huge and monstrous could be the first turn only when i faced it: it's just like controlling a pyramid construction!
The plan for the first week (7-12-41; 15-12-41):
WAKE-I decided to leave alone Wake for the moment. Too risky and do not want to be stuk out there if the landing does nt go smoothly, so i'm grouping 10 ML in tokyo with a Little tanker for refueling. These minelayers will cover the whole atoll with mines for the next two weeks.
I'm thinking of raiding PH only for one day with KB. I'm pretty sure he won't risk at all his 2 CVs around in a desperate fight, so better to preserve my best pilots. Just hope the weather won't ruin my plan...if so i will be forced to change the orders for KB.
SOUTH-EAST AREA
LUNGA- i know it's not a smart idea to occupy lunga too early, but i need to puzzle him a bit about where my stronger push is gonna be. HE will be forced to consider very early a fight back in lunga, cause i cannot permit to have a 4 level AF ( and so betties and nells ) menacing his OZ supply route. For this goal 5th NLF and 5 Cst Gun are sailing from Saipan( hopefully they'all arrive there in 3-4 days)
TARAWA-MAKIN - 52nd Naval Garrison will be split and invade these two atolls. intel says there a no enemy garrisons there( hope those guys are right). Not to risk too much the 52nd will be helped by the 2nd Maizuru SNLF in the conquest of Tarawa. The 6th Base Force is loading in a convoy, heading forward tarawa. i want to be able to build up an airfield here very quickly, so to manace his south pacific routes.
BAKER- 51st Naval Garrison is committed for the attack on this island.
APANAMA- 6th NLF has been ordered to invade and occupy the last atoll of the Gilberts
RABAUL- this base must be secured before he's able to reinforce PM with planes and troops, so that i want to occupy Rabaul and settle down very very fast. 66th naval garrison,1st SNLF,8th NLF, 7th Naval Costr. Bn. are sailing from Truk towards Rabaul. Hope these troops will be enough to kick those kiwis out of there in 3 days
30th Special Base Force( from Palau) is ready to be sent to Rabaul as soon as it is conquered.( but i'm considering to shift its destination to Davao. Only the results of the first 4 days will tell which option is best)
Gili-Gili- the 7th NLF in Bonin island has been ordered to plan for gili gili. TF 72 is heading towards bonin from Tokyo to be ready to load these guys in 3 days( i hope ).
SOUTHERN AREA
The PI, as usual, is a gamble. I need to stop the biggest number of vassels fleeing away and at the same time conquer Luzon as fast as i can, in order to be able to move quickly the bulk of my troops to the south for the Giava Battle.
LUZON- LEGASPI- 1st Kure SNLF ( without any bomb TF). They MUST do their tasks alone for the moment.
105th Base force is heading for Legaspi, in order to set up a very good AF just in the middle of the Philippines( hope this AF will operate in coordination with the one i want to establish at Aparri)
NAGA- here is my main change from the historical plan. I diverted the Bomb TF which was originally commissioned for Wake , to bomb Naga. This will be helped by another bomb TF ( 6 ). At the same time the 16th Division will leave from AMAMI towards NAGA. Hope this will be enough to secure the eastern part of luzon
BATAN- the gamble here is to try the first airdrop operation in the pacific. Yokasuna 1st and 3rd SNLF will be airdropped on the isle by 8 trasport chutai leaving from Taichu.
APARRI-Shuzan Nav. G.+ the 104th Base force will land here on dec 7th. In 3 or 4 days i should be able to reinforce this front with 31st and 32nd NLF units.
LINGAYEN- here will be concentrated my biggest landing effort. TF12 will bomb this base and cover the landing troops.
65th Bde and 48th Div. will land here and secure the landing zone.
8th field Arty and 1st field arty will join the party
2nd tank Rgt.,15th eng rgt.,16th Naval Guard,18th aviation Rgt will follow in 3-4 days max.
I have some more units in reserve at Pescadore, Tainan and Taan which could join the PI expeditionary forceres in few days if needed.
From the airfields of Tainan and Takao the whole bomber forces are ordered to strike Clark field and Manila.
2 Subs: I-122 and I-123 will mine bataan waters
MINDANAO- DAVAO - The main goal here is to secure quickly davao to build up a poweful AF and support the next operations in the area.
Sasebo 2nd SNLF,56th Bde and 22nd NLF will leave Palau and sail towards Davao. No Bomb Support group.I know it's risky but just cannot find any ships available
JOLO- 23rd and 21st NLF in Palau have been ordered to plan the invasion of Jolo. Hope to be able to do it in less than 7 days ( the real problem here is that at Rabaul i'm already at 5k supply left:-( )
If these guys will have any problems i have ready the 1st and 2nd NLF + 31st Special Base F at Tainan to accomplish this task.
BORNEO- I really do not know what to expect from this operation. No Air cover, no bomb support at all. Those guys will be left alone on those shores. Just want to secure as soon as i can Brunei and Kuching so to be able to fight in a good position against singapore.
BRUNEI-9th NLF,28th NLF will leave Camrahn Bay and sail towards that big oil port. Miri will be conquered only later on.
KUCHING- 35th Bde has been ordered to conquer this AF which is so important for the air superiority in the Area.
9th Base Force will follow
SINGAWANG- For the moment i ordered the 81st and 91st Naval G.U. to plan an invasion. Hopefully i'm going to be ready for that in 2 weeks.
At the moment the easter side of Borneo cannot be taken without too many risks, so i decided to wait and see how things will go at Davao and at Jolo. I just need some more supply at Palau to keep on advancing in that direction. ( a 50k suuply convoy has been ordered from Osaka-10 days?)
INDOCINA-MALAYA - I thought a lot about sending a strong Transport TF directly to mersing, avoiding Kota Baru and Kuantan so to isolate Singapore, but having no CVs in the area , and considering those damned duch torpedo bombers 1 hex away, my gamble remained in the cupboard^_^
KUANTAN- 23th Bde,11th special base F.,23rd AA rgt,16th tank rgt.,6th tank rgt.15th costr.Bn.,5th Eng.Rgt.,56th Division,3rd mount.Gun.Rgt,18th Heavy Field Arty,14th mortar Bn.,4th Mix. Bde, 21st Mix Bde.
All these units should arrive in one week the latest( i hope ). their Goal is to secure the base, Build up an Air field, where some oscar and zeros will be parked, and anvance towards Malacca, to cut in 2 the peninsula. A strong BOMB TF will be covering the operations.
KHOTA BARU- for the moment only the 18th div will be committed in this operation. A Bomb TF will cover. 2 Base Forces are raeady to move in as soon as the base is secured.
SONGHIA- 5th div, as always.I think i'm gonna wait untill the Imperial Guard Div arrives to move it towards Alor Star
7th AF constr. BN + 119 IJAF base force are sailing to join the 5th Div at Songhia
VICTORIA- Imp.Guards Div + 1 Tank rgt, moving on foot trought Bankok railway.
The 4th Mix rgt is marching to Saigon and will be ready to be loaded to support the KUANTAN forces in a week
33rd div is marching towards RAHAENG to join the Burma HQ.
55th div is moving towards TAVOY( probably joined in a 3 weeks by the 1st tank rgt.)
The Indocina Air forces are ordered to Bomb SIngapore, Kuantan, Khota Baru and Alor Star
The 2 Paras units are moving towards Taan to be ready to embark and sail to Bankok( i want to use them in Burma or at Toboali-i will see)
CHINA- In china , for the moment, evrybody is planning to Attack Changsha. The first week will surely see very few fights in this theatre. The usual move from Canton to Honk kong has been ordered however.
At Kagoshima 2nd Div,8th Tank Rgt, 1st Eng Rgt and 17th H.Field arty have been ordered to plan the invasion of Sosabaja.
At Nagoya the 4th Div is planning for batavia.
the 8th Base force is moving to osaka, in order to be ready to be shipped in the southern area.
14th Base force and 14th NLF have been loaded on a TF and are moving towards PALAU
3 50k cargo convoys are loading fuel and supply at Tokyo and Osaka. They will Load supplies at Palau, Truk and Kwajalein
I-121 and I-122 are mining the port of Singapore
10 Ak have been converted in AR
3 Ak have been converted in MLE
2 Cargo convoys are loading oil and res at Sendai. The will be supporting the Toyohara industries
The CVL RUIJO won't support the PI invasion. I consider a waste of aircraft and experienced pilots, and with those nasty Claudes i do not want to risk that valuable ship to be shot down by a lucky B-17 yankee crew^_^.
So, all the CVEs-CVLs are ordered to meet at Osaka, here form a little CV TF and then move south to support the naval activities around Borneo.
All the Aks,APs,Pgs,PCs,DDs,MSWs thant are not stictly needed for the offensive operations have been ordered to move to osaka. I want to set up 3 big convoys, strongly escorted, to be ready to collect res and oil as soon as SRA is secured.
All the subs around PH have been moved. The subs with float planes should be in key poits of the ocean to have a good idea of where is moving his CVs
A lot of changes have been made in the industry system.To support these changes it's a MUST to secure SRA very very early....let's see.
Here we Go!
ALEA IACTA EST
For this match i'm taking the Jap side. Mc3744 will use the allied.
We decided to follow the main route and create 2 separate AAR. Mine shouldn't be read by him, the same for his. So please, do not bring , here or there,informations that we should'nt know. Thanks
Scen.15; Historical fist turn off; surprse on; Sub doc both on; +/-15 days reinforcments delays; no night bombing except for dedicated squadrons; Everything else turned on
I realized how huge and monstrous could be the first turn only when i faced it: it's just like controlling a pyramid construction!
The plan for the first week (7-12-41; 15-12-41):
WAKE-I decided to leave alone Wake for the moment. Too risky and do not want to be stuk out there if the landing does nt go smoothly, so i'm grouping 10 ML in tokyo with a Little tanker for refueling. These minelayers will cover the whole atoll with mines for the next two weeks.
I'm thinking of raiding PH only for one day with KB. I'm pretty sure he won't risk at all his 2 CVs around in a desperate fight, so better to preserve my best pilots. Just hope the weather won't ruin my plan...if so i will be forced to change the orders for KB.
SOUTH-EAST AREA
LUNGA- i know it's not a smart idea to occupy lunga too early, but i need to puzzle him a bit about where my stronger push is gonna be. HE will be forced to consider very early a fight back in lunga, cause i cannot permit to have a 4 level AF ( and so betties and nells ) menacing his OZ supply route. For this goal 5th NLF and 5 Cst Gun are sailing from Saipan( hopefully they'all arrive there in 3-4 days)
TARAWA-MAKIN - 52nd Naval Garrison will be split and invade these two atolls. intel says there a no enemy garrisons there( hope those guys are right). Not to risk too much the 52nd will be helped by the 2nd Maizuru SNLF in the conquest of Tarawa. The 6th Base Force is loading in a convoy, heading forward tarawa. i want to be able to build up an airfield here very quickly, so to manace his south pacific routes.
BAKER- 51st Naval Garrison is committed for the attack on this island.
APANAMA- 6th NLF has been ordered to invade and occupy the last atoll of the Gilberts
RABAUL- this base must be secured before he's able to reinforce PM with planes and troops, so that i want to occupy Rabaul and settle down very very fast. 66th naval garrison,1st SNLF,8th NLF, 7th Naval Costr. Bn. are sailing from Truk towards Rabaul. Hope these troops will be enough to kick those kiwis out of there in 3 days
30th Special Base Force( from Palau) is ready to be sent to Rabaul as soon as it is conquered.( but i'm considering to shift its destination to Davao. Only the results of the first 4 days will tell which option is best)
Gili-Gili- the 7th NLF in Bonin island has been ordered to plan for gili gili. TF 72 is heading towards bonin from Tokyo to be ready to load these guys in 3 days( i hope ).
SOUTHERN AREA
The PI, as usual, is a gamble. I need to stop the biggest number of vassels fleeing away and at the same time conquer Luzon as fast as i can, in order to be able to move quickly the bulk of my troops to the south for the Giava Battle.
LUZON- LEGASPI- 1st Kure SNLF ( without any bomb TF). They MUST do their tasks alone for the moment.
105th Base force is heading for Legaspi, in order to set up a very good AF just in the middle of the Philippines( hope this AF will operate in coordination with the one i want to establish at Aparri)
NAGA- here is my main change from the historical plan. I diverted the Bomb TF which was originally commissioned for Wake , to bomb Naga. This will be helped by another bomb TF ( 6 ). At the same time the 16th Division will leave from AMAMI towards NAGA. Hope this will be enough to secure the eastern part of luzon
BATAN- the gamble here is to try the first airdrop operation in the pacific. Yokasuna 1st and 3rd SNLF will be airdropped on the isle by 8 trasport chutai leaving from Taichu.
APARRI-Shuzan Nav. G.+ the 104th Base force will land here on dec 7th. In 3 or 4 days i should be able to reinforce this front with 31st and 32nd NLF units.
LINGAYEN- here will be concentrated my biggest landing effort. TF12 will bomb this base and cover the landing troops.
65th Bde and 48th Div. will land here and secure the landing zone.
8th field Arty and 1st field arty will join the party
2nd tank Rgt.,15th eng rgt.,16th Naval Guard,18th aviation Rgt will follow in 3-4 days max.
I have some more units in reserve at Pescadore, Tainan and Taan which could join the PI expeditionary forceres in few days if needed.
From the airfields of Tainan and Takao the whole bomber forces are ordered to strike Clark field and Manila.
2 Subs: I-122 and I-123 will mine bataan waters
MINDANAO- DAVAO - The main goal here is to secure quickly davao to build up a poweful AF and support the next operations in the area.
Sasebo 2nd SNLF,56th Bde and 22nd NLF will leave Palau and sail towards Davao. No Bomb Support group.I know it's risky but just cannot find any ships available
JOLO- 23rd and 21st NLF in Palau have been ordered to plan the invasion of Jolo. Hope to be able to do it in less than 7 days ( the real problem here is that at Rabaul i'm already at 5k supply left:-( )
If these guys will have any problems i have ready the 1st and 2nd NLF + 31st Special Base F at Tainan to accomplish this task.
BORNEO- I really do not know what to expect from this operation. No Air cover, no bomb support at all. Those guys will be left alone on those shores. Just want to secure as soon as i can Brunei and Kuching so to be able to fight in a good position against singapore.
BRUNEI-9th NLF,28th NLF will leave Camrahn Bay and sail towards that big oil port. Miri will be conquered only later on.
KUCHING- 35th Bde has been ordered to conquer this AF which is so important for the air superiority in the Area.
9th Base Force will follow
SINGAWANG- For the moment i ordered the 81st and 91st Naval G.U. to plan an invasion. Hopefully i'm going to be ready for that in 2 weeks.
At the moment the easter side of Borneo cannot be taken without too many risks, so i decided to wait and see how things will go at Davao and at Jolo. I just need some more supply at Palau to keep on advancing in that direction. ( a 50k suuply convoy has been ordered from Osaka-10 days?)
INDOCINA-MALAYA - I thought a lot about sending a strong Transport TF directly to mersing, avoiding Kota Baru and Kuantan so to isolate Singapore, but having no CVs in the area , and considering those damned duch torpedo bombers 1 hex away, my gamble remained in the cupboard^_^
KUANTAN- 23th Bde,11th special base F.,23rd AA rgt,16th tank rgt.,6th tank rgt.15th costr.Bn.,5th Eng.Rgt.,56th Division,3rd mount.Gun.Rgt,18th Heavy Field Arty,14th mortar Bn.,4th Mix. Bde, 21st Mix Bde.
All these units should arrive in one week the latest( i hope ). their Goal is to secure the base, Build up an Air field, where some oscar and zeros will be parked, and anvance towards Malacca, to cut in 2 the peninsula. A strong BOMB TF will be covering the operations.
KHOTA BARU- for the moment only the 18th div will be committed in this operation. A Bomb TF will cover. 2 Base Forces are raeady to move in as soon as the base is secured.
SONGHIA- 5th div, as always.I think i'm gonna wait untill the Imperial Guard Div arrives to move it towards Alor Star
7th AF constr. BN + 119 IJAF base force are sailing to join the 5th Div at Songhia
VICTORIA- Imp.Guards Div + 1 Tank rgt, moving on foot trought Bankok railway.
The 4th Mix rgt is marching to Saigon and will be ready to be loaded to support the KUANTAN forces in a week
33rd div is marching towards RAHAENG to join the Burma HQ.
55th div is moving towards TAVOY( probably joined in a 3 weeks by the 1st tank rgt.)
The Indocina Air forces are ordered to Bomb SIngapore, Kuantan, Khota Baru and Alor Star
The 2 Paras units are moving towards Taan to be ready to embark and sail to Bankok( i want to use them in Burma or at Toboali-i will see)
CHINA- In china , for the moment, evrybody is planning to Attack Changsha. The first week will surely see very few fights in this theatre. The usual move from Canton to Honk kong has been ordered however.
At Kagoshima 2nd Div,8th Tank Rgt, 1st Eng Rgt and 17th H.Field arty have been ordered to plan the invasion of Sosabaja.
At Nagoya the 4th Div is planning for batavia.
the 8th Base force is moving to osaka, in order to be ready to be shipped in the southern area.
14th Base force and 14th NLF have been loaded on a TF and are moving towards PALAU
3 50k cargo convoys are loading fuel and supply at Tokyo and Osaka. They will Load supplies at Palau, Truk and Kwajalein
I-121 and I-122 are mining the port of Singapore
10 Ak have been converted in AR
3 Ak have been converted in MLE
2 Cargo convoys are loading oil and res at Sendai. The will be supporting the Toyohara industries
The CVL RUIJO won't support the PI invasion. I consider a waste of aircraft and experienced pilots, and with those nasty Claudes i do not want to risk that valuable ship to be shot down by a lucky B-17 yankee crew^_^.
So, all the CVEs-CVLs are ordered to meet at Osaka, here form a little CV TF and then move south to support the naval activities around Borneo.
All the Aks,APs,Pgs,PCs,DDs,MSWs thant are not stictly needed for the offensive operations have been ordered to move to osaka. I want to set up 3 big convoys, strongly escorted, to be ready to collect res and oil as soon as SRA is secured.
All the subs around PH have been moved. The subs with float planes should be in key poits of the ocean to have a good idea of where is moving his CVs
A lot of changes have been made in the industry system.To support these changes it's a MUST to secure SRA very very early....let's see.
Here we Go!
ALEA IACTA EST




