RIDERS ON THE STORM-THANK YOU

[Gen.Hoepner]

He's not scoring any strategical point (see screenshot below)...so i do not understand it yet...strange indeed[&:]

[String]

Have you turned off your repairs?

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: String

Have you turned off your repairs?

Obviously yes, thanks[;)]

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

General, have you used your DMs at Pearl to mine your frontline bases in the pacific?

I've mined Eniwetok but not the other bases...my DM do not have sufficient endurance to mine the Marshalls from PH...i'm waiting for the MLEs ordered few months ago...they should be coming soon...

[Gen.Hoepner]

I've double checked the Naval search groups at Wake, Johston and Midway...6 catalinas groups and 2 hudons groups...hope these guys will spot any incoming KB raid in the channell between PH and Eniwetok...my main concern is that he can try to raid here...

[Gen.Hoepner]

Trollelite caught a bad cold and will rest some days.
No turn untill the weekend guys...[:o]

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

The only thing I can think of for bombing Karachi...  Does he get strat points for bombing India?  I think I tried it already, I don't think I got anythign for my trouble.  I do know you score points for bombing Oz (watch that by the way).  But I'm not sure about India.

-F-

no strategic points for the Japanese for bombing India...He gets for strategic bombing of Oz and US targets, but not for Chinese or targets in India.

[Gen.Hoepner]

Anyway guys, the autovictory isn't an issue in this match (which has gone at a very slow pace in the last 2 weeks[:o]), so i should be focused only on a strategical point of view, regardless points and stuffs.
Noumea and the whole Solomons won't be a primary theatre in this match.
The allied early conquest of the Marshalls has shifted the whole strategical importance on CENTPAC. With Eniwetok in our hands and Truk so early menaced, Rabaul and everything south of it lose any importance, because it will be simply by.passed. PM will be built just because i want to cover the right flank of my next advance vector which will start from Darwin towards Ambonia and Northern New Guinea (so to say Wewak and those ducth bases).
A small Australian Corp(2 AUS Bdes and 2 Companies) is already prepping for Ambonia at Darwin and the first surface fleet arrived at Darwin last week (2CLs and 8 DDs), along with 1 AR,1 AS, several MSWs and some 10 subs.
But the main vector will be, for the moment, the centpac one. I think we'll be able to take Ponape sooner than Manila will fall, so our next defensive position will be quite better.
By the end of April we'll have in line nearly 40 P-38Fs. These beauties will be very usefull in escorting our next raids against Truk. But the first step will be to get a good air superiority above Ponape. We'll use the Marine F4Fs, and some P-40s. I think i can master here an attrition battle.
The plan remains the same: after that Ponape has been bombed to pieces, we'll land the 2USMC Division there, plus other supporting units with fast transports. Then, as soon as the base is in our hands, we'll use Dakotas from Eniwetok to bring in a base force, some AAs and the engeeners needed to build it up to level 4 AF. My fighter groups will be moved in asap and we'll start the attrition battle against his betties and zeros that will surely arrive from Truk. At the same time my unescorted B-17s will attack Truk AF from Eniwetok, so forcing him to keep a strong CAP there and so a less effective escort to his naval bombers.
The KB is the key...but if it shows up, i'm quite confident that, having 4 CVs at hands and tons of LBAs, i'll be able to defend well my positions.
 
Any tips?
 

[Bogo Mil]

You have a very big battlefleet. But you are low on CVs. If you want to be able to counter raids of the KB, you have to hide your few CVs until you know where the KB is - so they can not support any offensive operations of your BBs.

Thus you should look for a theatre where you can use your battlefleet covered by land based fighters. I would use it to defend Noumea, but if you really don't care about autovictory, there are probably other options. Maybe you can bombard Kwajalein heavily?

Your second advance vector from darwin is a very dangerous one, imho. There are no repair yards nearby, so demaged ships have to go a very long and predictable way to a save heaven. I would postpone any operations there until I could muster several strong ASW-groups to keep my retreat (and supply) lines open.

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: Bogo Mil

You have a very big battlefleet. But you are low on CVs. If you want to be able to counter raids of the KB, you have to hide your few CVs until you know where the KB is - so they can not support any offensive operations of your BBs.

Thus you should look for a theatre where you can use your battlefleet covered by land based fighters. I would use it to defend Noumea, but if you really don't care about autovictory, there are probably other options. Maybe you can bombard Kwajalein heavily?

Your second advance vector from darwin is a very dangerous one, imho. There are no repair yards nearby, so demaged ships have to go a very long and predictable way to a save heaven. I would postpone any operations there until I could muster several strong ASW-groups to keep my retreat (and supply) lines open.

My BBs, till mid summer, will be used in the CetPac (so to say against Truk and Ponape).
I'm leaving 4 of them at PH with a good escort, in order to finish their upgrades.
My 4CVs (the Saratoga will be docked at SF repairing her 50sys damage for some months), with their brand new AAA upgrades, will be moved to Maloelap. They will operate, in close contact with the surface battle fleet and under the umbrella of a strong LBA protection.

The Darwin vector won't be started untill Ponape is taken and Truk is under siege. Plus i'll need some more big convoys to unload in Oz before thinking of a serious operation there. However the Darwin vector, at the moment, is thought only as a decoy. The Threat on Ambonia will force him to move some units to protect southern SRA...that will mean less units in the Mariannas....

[witpqs]

As a diversion Amboina makes sense, but weakening Northern Oz could prove to be a problem. A real offensive front out of Northern Oz really will require the kind of land strength you will have available in '43. You've got a good front in the Mariannas for holding, for attrition, and for offensive when you are ready. Meanwhile, you've got to keep him from succeeding in other areas, like Northern Oz, Karachi, and China - or make it hurt really bad for him!

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

As a diversion Amboina makes sense, but weakening Northern Oz could prove to be a problem. A real offensive front out of Northern Oz really will require the kind of land strength you will have available in '43. You've got a good front in the Mariannas for holding, for attrition, and for offensive when you are ready. Meanwhile, you've got to keep him from succeeding in other areas, like Northern Oz, Karachi, and China - or make it hurt really bad for him!

My plan is to land at Ambonia (which by now is defended only by a tiny base force), destroy everything and occupy the base with a Bde and a base force. nothing more. This will let me transfer there kittihawks and beauforts and catalinas...i can give him some real headhaces in that area....he will be forced to react and take back Ambonia...that would be good for me. A decoy to distract his attention from the main pacific front.
I'd say that a reasonable time-line for this operation (codename: "SQUIRRELL") would be august-semptember 42.

[Bogo Mil]

As a diversion Amboina makes sense, but weakening Northern Oz could prove to be a problem.

I disagree. The the IJA is engaged in India. Karachi will hold for many weeks, if not forever. Any landing in Northern Oz would start a Guadalcanal-like battle and weaken him somwhere else. Both would be great for us. I don't think we need much defense there now. We should be able to repulse one or two NavGd units, that's it.

But I have a very bad feeling about going offensively into that beehive. Places like Ambroina are surounded by Japanese bases. We might capture a base or two, but it's a deathtrap. Within a few days there will be escorted Bettys everywhere. We can neither bring supplies nor disengage and evacuate.

[Gen.Hoepner]

ORIGINAL: Bogo Mil

As a diversion Amboina makes sense, but weakening Northern Oz could prove to be a problem.

I disagree. The the IJA is engaged in India. Karachi will hold for many weeks, if not forever. Any landing in Northern Oz would start a Guadalcanal-like battle and weaken him somwhere else. Both would be great for us. I don't think we need much defense there now. We should be able to repulse one or two NavGd units, that's it.

But I have a very bad feeling about going offensively into that beehive. Places like Ambroina are surounded by Japanese bases. We might capture a base or two, but it's a deathtrap. Within a few days there will be escorted Bettys everywhere. We can neither bring supplies nor disengage and evacuate.

Your assumption makes sense Bogo. But my plans concern a very "easy" offensive here. Against only a base force (if things will remain like that)we can easily efford to use fast transport and, once captured, the base can be fed by air (using catalinas and B-17s) or by single AKs (that are very difficult to spot for the IJA bombers). And remember: betties and zeros around Ambonia mean less betties and zeros at Truk....consider that the idea is a decoy operation

[Bogo Mil]

Do you want less Bettys and Zeros at Truk now? If they are there, you can destroy them there, causing much attrition to his navy air force. I think that is the target of your planned bombing campaign against Truk, isn't it? If they are busy isolating your outpost in the DEI, there won't be much attrition.

You are planning massive air supply. This will bind your resources. Bombers on supply runs to Ambroina are not bombing Truk.
And a LRCAP will cause heavy losses to the unescorted cargo runs. And eventually you will lose that brigade and whatever else you brought there, too.

And what is your gain? You might destroy some oil wells, that's it. I really don't think it's worth the cost.

[FeurerKrieg]

I think Amboina is the way to go. Anything that draws ANY military assets out of the pacific is good since it accelerates the march on the Marianas. Get there fast enough, and Iwo probably won't even have forts on it yet.

[Mistmatz]

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

I think Amboina is the way to go. Anything that draws ANY military assets out of the pacific is good since it accelerates the march on the Marianas. Get there fast enough, and Iwo probably won't even have forts on it yet.

And it will draw japanese assets. Otherwise the whole DEI might fall very very quickly... [8D]

[FeurerKrieg]

Indeed - imagine if he DOESN't respond at Amboina - his Oil and Res from DEi will dry up quickly as GH moves on to Kendari, Borneo etc unopposed.

[Panther Bait]

Indeed, I would think one of the main purposes of retaking Amboina is to draw a Japanese response that would otherwise go somewhere else and hopefully make him pay in the meantime.  With Allied LBA around, it might even require land based zeroes on LRCAP (with the ensuing extra op losses) or KB (meaning it can't be in CENTPAC) to cover a re-invasion.
 
And if it is in transport range, you can always transport some portion of the brigade back out to later rebuild the unit.

[Bogo Mil]

The problem is: There won't be Alliied LBA around. We don't have that many long range fighters, all we can send is unescorted bombers. The airfield of Ambroina itself can be surpressed easily.

And there are so many Japanese bases around, some of them very close. All he needs to do is sending his hordes of army fighters. Today these are only Oscars, but Tojos arrive in july, Tonys in august (earlier if he has some luck with research). "Somewhere else" these planes would probably suffer from their short range. Thus I would prefer to fight somewhere else.

I think it's time for me to stop arguing about that operation. The General has to make the decision.

Edit: I'd like to suggest an alternative operation: Go for Lae.
There are many arguments pro Lae:
1. There are really Allied LBA around (from PM)
2. It threatens Rabaul directly.
I know, you want to pass Rabaul in the north. But the Japs don't know this. They will probably reinforce Rabaul when it is threatened. And this is really a good diversion: You bind their troops and don't have to fight them. Later they will be bypassed and lost.
3. It is more difficult for the Japs to bring supply and fuel into that theatre. They probably have to divert tankers from the oil wells.
4. If Lae falls again, your troops can have a retreat path to PM (you need to secure Wau, which should not be a problem).