The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Panther Bait]

Were those Kates from the KB, or from land-based squadrons? I am assuming from land-air, but would be nice to see the one of the KB's fangs pulled for the short-term.

[Lecivius]

In any event our hero is starting to put the hurting on the dastardly yellow foe [;)] John is going to become one dimensional in trying to hammer Sabang. The next step will be a bit more difficult. How to stop, or slow down, BB runs?

In my incredibly limited experience, British torpedo bombers (I like the Albatross for this) set at a range of @ 7 with some escorts, can put a dent in one of those metal monstrosities. You won't sink one, but you can dent one. Flood the area with S boats (working torps). I actually sank the Musashi this way, in these waters, in one game. Two Albatross hits, followed up by an S boat hitting it in the straits, then a fleet boat got 2 live ones in it just south of Japan.

Now take what I say with a boulder of salt. I still hold the title of loosing the U.S. to Japan in my 1st PBEM [:(] I'm curious as to what others think?

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

ooooh.

He should have swept for a day or 2 before trying this, maybe he assume that his BB caused ore damage.

He did - he swept continuously since the bombardment.

He might've been better sweeping immediately after the nuclear bombardment. But even if successful, I wonder how effective Kates would be against a concentration of AA and a large airfield?

In this raid, I don't think the IJ bombers landed a single hit.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Panther Bait
Were those Kates from the KB, or from land-based squadrons? I am assuming from land-air, but would be nice to see the one of the KB's fangs pulled for the short-term.

I think they were all land-based Kates (I'll check when I get home). The KB is operating just west of Sabang. The Kates came from the Malaya side.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Lecivius
In any event our hero is starting to put the hurting on the dastardly yellow foe [;)] John is going to become one dimensional in trying to hammer Sabang. The next step will be a bit more difficult. How to stop, or slow down, BB runs?

John seems to be taking this pretty hard. Perhaps he was hoping that he could close the airfield by air rather than having to continually send in his BBs (air is certainly easier and less risky). If these events did discourage him about the air, then he is down to just the BBs.

In my incredibly limited experience, British torpedo bombers (I like the Albatross for this) set at a range of @ 7 with some escorts, can put a dent in one of those metal monstrosities. You won't sink one, but you can dent one. Flood the area with S boats (working torps). I actually sank the Musashi this way, in these waters, in one game. Two Albatross hits, followed up by an S boat hitting it in the straits, then a fleet boat got 2 live ones in it just south of Japan.

This is the strategy I've tried to employ with a bit of success. Beauforts got a shot at Hiei at Medan a few weeks back and missed. Then, just prior to the nuclear bombardment of the 18th, I brought in two Avenger squadrons, set them to range two, and set one Beaufighter squadron to escort. My hope was that a BB might be damaged sufficiently in the battle to slow it down and give the TBFs a crack a it. Since TFs break up following a battle (due to damage differences), I thought I might catch a cripple without LRCAP.

Lately I've extended the range to three for the TBFs. But I'll reconsider, and might try again with some Beauforts or even some Strinbags if they can make the hop from Ceylon (probably too far for them).

[Lecivius]

I don't like the Avengers, or the Beaufort's. They just don't seem to hit as often. Those British bi-planes, however, seem to be deadly. They do get shot up a lot, though.

[Lowpe]

Bombing seems to be really hard in this series of mods....something you need to remember in 1944.[;)]

[Canoerebel]

I'll see if I can get them in. I have had some luck with Beauforts in the past - I think I once sank two IJN BBs near Sydney in my earliest WitP game vs. John.

There are lots of US and Dutch subs in the Malacca Straits. Presently I think 14, with another ten or so enroute to Ceylon to replenish or returning to theater after having done so. There's also concentrations of Allied subs in the vicinity of the KB and guarding the IO approaches to the Sunda Straits (the latter persuades John to avoid using that strait for the KB, instead sending them around Soerabaja way at a cost of days and fuel, so I think it's an effective deployment).

[Skygge]

One Success: I do think I had one or two solid raids over new Guinea. Neither was defended by fighters and flak was light. I think I remember getting
3 on the ground and scoring double digit hits. These were the exception for me. I will email Skygee on our next turn to see if he'll volunteer anything.

My experience with allied tactical night bombing of bases is that it can be effective only to a limited extend.

If unopposed by fighters, bombing accuracy increases significantly, and if in addition little AAA is present then the bombers can do damage. Not crippling damage but damage still.

If however anything flies against the bombers, then they become more of a nuisance than a threat. - and I mean anything as in Pete´s, Tojo´s or proper night fighters like Irving´s. They all seem to equally disrupt aim.

Down side with flying anything but proper night fighter´s is that you lose more planes to the bombers defensive armament and ops, than you lose parked aircraft to the bombers.
You are better off flying at very low altitude, so your "ad hoc night fighters" do not catch bombers and consequently are not shot down or damaged by the bombers.

Best is having proper night fighters to damage bomber´s and hope some bombers crash on landing, as you will shoot down few of them.

Same can be said of AAA. You shoot down very few bomber´s, but the AAA disrupt the bombers aim, and hopefully some damaged bombers with try land on a hillside.

So if countered with night fighters it is more of an annoying experience than a real threat.

I have very little experience with strategic night bombing - and may it long be so - I suspect this will be much more effective.

And If flying Night Fighters with main armanent pointing upwards then try fly at a lower altitude than the bombers.

[zuluhour]

Thanks for posting "Skygge". I think night bombing is fine. Maybe before "patching" it was askew, but I don't remember any craziness from my games. I think Dan should be able to bomb at will.

Dan , sorry for hi-jack, I would like to hear what the "old guard" has to say about it. I think Its a dimension which should be completely available to you.

[Mike McCreery]

John seems to be taking this pretty hard. Perhaps he was hoping that he could close the airfield by air rather than having to continually send in his BBs (air is certainly easier and less risky). If these events did discourage him about the air, then he is down to just the BBs.

It is great for you that he wears his heart on his sleeve and sends you the condition continuously. One could have hoped the same of the Japanese but of course we did crack their code so..... The Allies historically probably had the same thing.

[Canoerebel]

2/22/43

Battle of Sumatra: No visits by enemy capital ships and still no sign of them coming up the Slot. The frequency of the cycle is key - can John bombard every five days? Six? Seven? Tomorrow will make five (and there might be reasons this cycle is slower than others will be - for instance, if John had expected his bombers to close the field).

Enemy sweeps resume in large numbers. The Allied fighters do well today, downing 40 Tojos, 20 Tonys and a few Zeros. The Allies lose about half that number. But so many of my fighters are out of commission now. I'm standing most down tomorrow. I think John's fighters are pretty fatigued, and I doubt he'll send bombers just two days after his disastrous effort.

Sabang airfield is repairing very well now. Another day or two and it's at 100%. Supply is 275k with all troops afield fully supplied. IJ bombers hit troops at Langsa with minimal effect. No sign of an enemy advance in that direction in the next day or two. As for the west route, SigInt continues to show fragments of 19th IJA Division either prepping for Sabang or inbound to Sibolga. So I don't think that unit has begun its march yet. And that march is probably going to take at least 60 days.

John has three divisions in the jungle hexes of Burma probing Allied positions. IN two hexes he attacked today with poor results. Jungle-rough terrain should stymie him. The real question is why are three divisions off in the jungle in northern Burma instead of making haste to Sumatra? Does John have so many divisions inbound to Sumatra that he can afford to employ these elsewhere?

Of course, we're each orchestrating based on what we know (and don't know that we don't know) and think. Is he aware that Hellcats arrive in five weeks? Or does he think he has plenty of time to take care of Sumatra? Are we using two very different hour glasses?

KB is still loitering, now WSW of Sabang. His NavSearch is picking up a pack of Allied subs nearby, which is helpful. The longer the KB lingers out there, the more antsy John may become (I think). And there's always that chance of a sub crossing paths with a carrier.

Planning for the Best or the Worst? Is my future planning dependent on the Allies holding or losing Sumatra? Both, to an extent, though the prep and ship-positioning is based upon a favorable outcome. The next move will come en masse out of Oz - perhaps Timor, perhaps Admiralties and North New Guinea, or perhaps Java. SigInt and base-building suggest these areas are wide open. And if John remains focused on Sumatra for another two or three months it should be possible to sneak in and goose him good. If Sumatra falls, I'll have to revise the plans to take into consideration however much time he has to reposition troops (and SigInt will help decipher that puzzle).

[Panther Bait]

One other complication in using BBs only to keep Sabang suppressed is that, if he keeps doing minimum turnaround alpha strikes (using all available BBs in one big nuke bombardment), accumulated system damage is likely to force him to stop at some point. Once he pulls some of the BBs off-line to decrease sys damage or shifts to smaller bombardment TFs (keep the frequency of bombardments, each gets smaller, with some BBs "resting") in general, the results should drop accordingly.

[Lowpe]

Trying to dislodge the Allies is very tough.

You have a huge amount of mines.

You have a huge supply stockpile.

The terrain isn't good, but your blocking positions have good terrain.

My guess is at best he can dislodge you after 90-120 days with a full effort, but it will be hell on his big ships and he will lose several bombarding you to either subs or mines or air attack.

But the effort will really drain Japan and leave the Allies free to exploit other areas.

I think you win either way depending upon what you do with the rest of the world.

[paullus99]

He's going to regret the loss of all of those capital ships - and all it takes is one good opportunity & he could lose a lot more.....

[Canoerebel]

Yes, friction is my friend.

In one of my WitP games vs. Miller, the Allies invaded the Kuriles in late 1942 (or maybe it was early '43). Miller jumped all over that and eventually booted me out. But I think he lost four Kongos in the effort. As best I can recall, all four of them were sunk or crippled in one day by subs and PT boats (remember when they were uber?). But Miller was a tenacious defender. He'd soldier on even after a crippling defeat. In that game, I got bogged down in the DEI as my major vector of advance. It was bloody...it was slow going...and eventually the Allies sailed en masse right through the Java Sea, pasing Batavia and Palembang and Singers to invade.....China.

[Lowpe]

Allied deep invasions are very tough to defend against.[:(]

[Canoerebel]

[:)]

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Yes, friction is my friend.

In one of my WitP games vs. Miller, the Allies invaded the Kuriles in late 1942 (or maybe it was early '43). Miller jumped all over that and eventually booted me out. But I think he lost four Kongos in the effort. As best I can recall, all four of them were sunk or crippled in one day by subs and PT boats (remember when they were uber?). But Miller was a tenacious defender. He'd soldier on even after a crippling defeat. In that game, I got bogged down in the DEI as my major vector of advance. It was bloody...it was slow going...and eventually the Allies sailed en masse right through the Java Sea, pasing Batavia and Palembang and Singers to invade.....China.

Yes I am probably the only AE player to ever lose the entire Kongo class in one turn, you have a good memory my friend and great to see you back in the saddle!

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Miller

Yes I am probably the only AE player to ever lose the entire Kongo class in one turn, you have a good memory my friend and great to see you back in the saddle!

Probably not. Good to see you, Paul. I hope all is well in your world.