Combined Chiefs of Staff's Supercomputer's Report [no Saros]

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Crackaces
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RE: September 1942

Post by Crackaces »

The other interesting point is that it actually costs less fuel in transport to ship stuff from Cape Town to Perth than it does to ship it from San Francisco to Brisbane

I think total fuel costs are slightly higher than calculated as fuel must be moved from Abadan to Cape Town while SF/LA has plenty of fuel. I think still very good route; although, I have a submarine in my game off of Perth that is dodging asw and sinking xAK's at will [8|]
"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
derp
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RE: September 1942

Post by derp »

ORIGINAL: Crackaces
The other interesting point is that it actually costs less fuel in transport to ship stuff from Cape Town to Perth than it does to ship it from San Francisco to Brisbane

I think total fuel costs are slightly higher than calculated as fuel must be moved from Abadan to Cape Town while SF/LA has plenty of fuel. I think still very good route; although, I have a submarine in my game off of Perth that is dodging asw and sinking xAK's at will [8|]

It's a tradeoff; Abadan to CT is quicker but costs fuel; USA to CT is slower (caveat: past a certain point in ship speed it's actually quicker, since you can run'em at full speed with no issues, but even the fastest tankers top out at 16; I think even at that Abadan is slightly quicker) but free. Panama to CT is ideal, being both short and free, but the amount of fuel available fairly limited unless you ship more in...at which point you might as well just set things up from the US and forget about it. I have ships doing both; well, actually they go Karachi or Bombay to Cape Town now, since I have more fuel in India than I know what to do with and the offmap-onmap-offmap jump involved in Abadan has resulted in more than one convoy turning around the moment they hit the map...
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derp
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RE: September 1942

Post by derp »

September. 13

Mostly quiet; usual litany of submarine failures off Sakhalin etc, but those have in the main reached the point of not being worth talking about by now.

Only action really worthy of the name was raid by 200 Japanese bombers on Chittagong; damage amounted to a couple of Hudsons w/o and not much beyond that.
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Captain Cruft
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RE: September 1942

Post by Captain Cruft »

Excellent AAR, I like the style.
derp
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RE: September 1942

Post by derp »

Style's pushing it a bit, I think...

September. 14

USS Sturgeon bounces a torpedo off a Japanese destroyer off the New Hebrides; this is one of the bombardment forces returning from Niue. Interesting that they're skittering all the way back here to rearm - I would have thought it much easier to take the ammunition to Fiji. I also sent a PR Lightning over Rabaul; haven't done that for a while. Shipping in port was about 15 ships, but they've put to sea; it's like cockroaches when you shine a light on them, heh.

200 Japanese bombers raid Akyab. There is nothing there for them to shoot, blow up, bomb etc except 23rd Indian Div, which they refuse to attack; I think perhaps out of terror that I'd start bombing troops in Burma, China etc. Calcutta's reaction is to serve another round of G&Ts. The continuing diversion of Japanese bombing into trivialities suits me fine, for the moment; the division still needs some time out, with its relief still a distance away. The wisdom of relieving it is itself a little questionable; explanation later.

25 Japanese bombers attack Aust. 2/11th Armd Car Rgt, camped out in the Hamersley Ranges today much as they have been for the last several weeks. Damage came there none.

Invasion warning for the Aleutians; multiple unidentified but heavy radio transmissions 50 miles southeast of Tokyo Bay. Can't imagine what else it'd be. So:
- 18th Fighter Sqn at Adak issued with P-40K;
- All ships at sea recalled to refuel;
- 11th Air Force squadrons at Anchorage filled out to the best of my ability to do so;
- All troop shipping to the Aleutians ordered to ditch short-range escorts and get a move on in quick;
- I think, quietly, to myself, that I should probably have sorted Amchitka out a week ago.

It could, of course, be nothing. And yet...

Ship movements in the direction of Western Australia from Melbourne begin. There's a lot to move, so I think it's best if we do things gradually. Troops are more or less ready; they just need to be given ships and orders...

Indian Army will stand by ready to move at short notice. Still need six weeks to get everything I want bought out bought out, though I suppose we could go as-is...don't intend to jump before October 15th, however, to allow monsoon to end and October reinforcements to get sorted out. Wisdom of keeping 23rd Ind Div at Akyab after we go is questionable; the place isn't in itself meaningful given present conditions but so far has provided a useful punching bag for the Japanese. Given total impossibility of main Burma force evading detection for more than 1-2 days that role will fade into irrelevance. Think I will leave a light force there and move 23rd back to Cox's in a couple of weeks rather than relieving it; the latter base is downright civilised at this point and will do as well as return to the 'mainland'. The Japanese have, fortunately, so wrecked the facilities at Akyab that there is no need to guard it for the sake of denying use of airfields etc. I almost feel sorry for the place - the Japanese wrecked it then occupied it; then I wrecked it and occupied it; and now it's broken again and who knows who'll be there in a month.

Image

Bad sign?
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derp
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RE: September 1942

Post by derp »

September. 15

So, those radio transmissions steaming out of Tokyo Bay? They made 400 miles overnight - due east. No prized for guessing what that force is; certainly it would fit with my expectations for Japanese carrier use, ie distant escort - current course would bring it to the Aleutians 650 miles south of Adak in five days. USS Growler should get a look in two days if they behave as expected; USS S-30 in perhaps the same number if they don't.

USS South Dakota has joined the carrier force, which will move southwestwards a little so as to be within jumping range for any engagement, surface or aerial.
USS Preble and USS Pruitt have laid defensive minefields at Dutch Harbour, Umnak, and added to that at Adak, and will leave the area tomorrow. All three bases have minelaying-capable tenders...

13th Canadian Bde is aboard fast ships and should make Umnak in four days.
148th Inf Rgt is aboard slow ships and should make Amchitka, Adak or Umnak in three days. Options are open for that one; USN Base Force is ashore at Amchitka but...nothing more than that. We'll see. Would like to keep it as it's a rotten swamp - perfect for defense.
34th Aviation Base Force is aboard a single slow ship and should make Umnak in ten days. May have to divert and fly it in.
Rocky Mountain Ranger Bn is aboard slow ships and will make Dutch Harbour tomorrow.
177th Const Rgt is aboard slow ships and will make Cold Bay tomorrow.

No further civil shipping will be sent to the Aleutians until matters at sea are resolved unless the need is terrifically desperate, which I suspect is unlikely to come about. The last couple of months have provided large supply stockpiles at all defended bases and it will be a long time before any of them would succumb to supply exhaustion.

I remain, as ever, confused as to what this invasion is meant to accomplish and unconvinced that Tokyo has any more idea than I do. None of the forces involved would be anywhere other than Hawaii, Canada or in extremis Christmas Island if this whole thing hadn't blown up...

Tomorrow will see, weather permitting, the first major assault on the Japanese economy; 80 aircraft will attempt to attack resource facilities in northern Taiwan from Changsha, 100 aircraft will attempt to attack resource facilities in Vietnam from eastern India, and 40 aircraft will attempt to attack resource facilities in Burma from eastern India. I've cracked open two separate supply caches in China to do this; there are only two more. The expectation is that the Japanese will fail to realise that I can't really do it again in the foreseeable future, and either melt down about industrial attacks or go in for retaliatory attacks on industry in India and Australia. Neither is a particularly good thing, but it's perhaps best to get them out of the way now rather than later.

No significant opposition is expected over Vietnam. Light fighter opposition may be encountered over Burma and Taiwan; in the former some fighters will be involved on our side, so they can probably take care of themselves. In the latter case there is nothing I can do but hope for the best. The Japanese rear areas have been stripped clean of AA guns to enable front-line bases to amass enormous defenses, so aircraft can fly low without too much worry.
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derp
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RE: September 1942

Post by derp »

September. 16

Currently I have the flu so there will probably be a few more laughable mistakes than usual over the weekend...

A disappointing day - who didn't see that one coming? - as the only groups to fly were two with Blenheims aimed at Haiphong, one with Catalina aimed at Taihoku port and half of one with A-20 aimed at Lashio. No opposition. Some damage done - including four merchants in port set on fire - but not what might have been.

Radio Tokyo moves southeastwards today - I guess the intention is to avoid being picked up by naval search aircraft.

September. 17

Still have the flu. I wrote the other entry on Thursday...haven't been feeling very cheery, as you can imagine. At least, I think it was Thursday...everything's a little hazy.

Relatively uneventful. Japanese carriers turned the music down, so no indication of their location today except that USS Growler may have been buzzed. Very indefinite, though.

More bombing of Chihkiang. Purpose still a mystery to me. Usual 200-bomber raid from Burma today targets Chittagong; slightly more effective than usual, with some facility damage and a couple of Dutch CW-22s w/o. I...basically don't care; engineering, support and AA assets still have stuff to do elsewhere, though in a week or so the last major facility construction on the Burmese border will be complete and some of them can be redirected here for a few weeks. A P-39 squadron on airfield attack duties over Lashio also have a hot day, meeting some Oscars and shooting down two or three.
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derp
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RE: September 1942

Post by derp »

September. 18

The e-mail containing the turn was interesting (and also indicative of how long it's taken me to recover):
ANZAC day today. Somewhat ironically we choose to remember one of the more botched amphibious campaigns of all time. Highlights include a one man amphibious assault which only got the participant the DSO, self firing rifles and 711 of the 760 men of the NZ Wellington batallion becoming KIA/WIA in a single day.

I think someone may be feeling a little apprehensive. The question, of course, is 'what about?'...

Ok. Whether or not Growler was buzzed yesterday, she certainly was today - as was S-30, 500 miles to the east. While I don't have an exact fix, my best guess based on that is that the carriers are about 1500mi southwest of Amchitka - which is close, but not as close as I expected them to be by now. Unsure what they're playing at; have had no definite indication of troops actually sailing yet, with mixed messages as to whether key units are divided or not - some claim to be, some claim not. Everything's rather fuzzy, which I suppose is inevitable. Assume they're at sea, but can't prove it...nothing for it but to apply time.

13th Canadian Bde will unload Umnak tomorrow. 148th Inf Rgt is unloading Amchitka and should have all their motor transport off by tonight. After these guys there's just an aviation base force left to arrive, I think. There's really very little more for the Aleutians - maybe a couple of construction units in a couple of weeks, but in the main we're as secure as we can get and as winter sets in we will degenerate into just moving forces around up here. Do still have one Rgt from 37th Div available, but it's still at Christmas Island and would take a while to get it to Aleutians - perhaps one for spring.

Australia quiet. Probably, uh, not for much longer. USS Long Island has joined UK Hermes and Illustrious off Perth; so that's a 16kt carrier, a 25kt carrier and a 32kt carrier. Pity the people in charge of keeping that lot straight...current load is 50 fighters between the three, with ability to bring that up to 75 if necessary. In principle will go for Broome with just the 50, to keep a small strike ability...may regret it. We'll see.

China quiet. Also probably not for much longer; having returned, the Wuhan garrison is now immediately screaming off northwards again; believe objective is attempt to enter Xi'an by way of rural route ie west from Taiyuan and then across country. This has always been the weak link and if it's an attempt to go via Yan'an I can do nothing about it - but then that's never not been true. If it's an attmept to go via the 'southern' route from Taiyuan then it's very poorly timed - trying it now will hit 3300av, whereas trying it three weeks ago would have hit 1900. If there is a saving grace here it is that the armoured units seem in the main to have been removed from China in favour of reinforcing Burma - where they're far less use, given Indian Army has AT weapons and Chinese don't - but China still ultimately a case of sitting back and putting up with whatever Japanese do. Contemptible in every way - but such is life. Only exception to that is if Japanese dive too far away from Wuhan, in which case 6000av can hit countryside west of Changsha - ie, if they go the way I don't want them to go towards Xi'an. Whose purposes that'd serve in the long run I know not.

Also, the single Mongol cavalry Rgt that went haring off up the road to Urumqi back at the end of August is now in the open. Don't think Japanese know I know this, considering they've so far failed to turn around. Given uncontestable air superiority on our part up here they have absolutely no ability to inflict damage and will be cut off and destroyed if they keep on their present course. Am quietly going to allow them to stick their necks right out...
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