The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

[Canoerebel]

The one thing I remember about Mark Clark is that he was a stamp collector. In the context of the comment above, I assume his was cautious in the extreme? Perhaps like John McClellan?

[Bearcat2]

Clark was at Anzio; sat when he should have moved.

[Bearcat2]

If I was to compare your overall style of play to a civil war general, I would pick Thomas.

[Bif1961]

The landing at Anzio, 22-31 Jan, 1944 was the US VI Corps under Lucas, not Clark. Lucas was relieved by Truscott after the debacle.

[Canoerebel]

Regarding the "truth but not the whole truth" aspect of Fun House, the operation was to originate from Pearl Harbor, steaming west, perhaps picking off Marcus and a dot hex or two for seaplanes, and then hitting Luzon, moving from north (Naga)to south (Surigao).

This morphed over time due to two things. I wanted to leave Death Star in the DEI to keep John honest, as a threat, and to keep his focus pinned here (like Celebes did), but I could not (could NOT) figure out how to merge Death Star and the Hawaiian component without elevated risk that KB would pounce on one or the other. Eventually, prodded by the scrubbed invasion of Marcus on February 1, I made the second biggest decision of the war: Fun House would originate entirely from the DEI.

The advantages were so many and obvious that I probably need not bore you, but among them: (1) John couldn't be sure where I was heading until very late; (2) my forces would be unified; (3) all ships would be fresh and refueled; (4) invasion troops unloaded at Sydney, then reloaded at Townsville, thus eliminating transit disruption; (5) distances were much less; (6) I could begin moving troops instanter from Hawaii to Oz, thus getting a big head start on the entire op; and many more.

There was just one disadvantage, and it was major: the transfer of men by ship to Oz would entail sailing through SoPac, where John might raid (and was showing evidences of that, if you'll recall). The thought of KB or a big CL/DD force tearing into a bunch of merchants carrying, say, a US Infantry division was daunting. So I spread out TFs and bolstered PBY search all across the Pacific. And I stationed two small carrier TFs (including CV Intrepid) along the route for security purposes. Even that was nerve-wracking. I had scores of TFs making that journey. They refueld - mostly at Pago Pago but some at Tahiti or Auckland - meaning my TFs had much better fuel levels (and they topped off again at Townsville). John's subs got real active for awhile in the Coral Sea...but they didn't pick up any of the TFs (they did pick up some heading east after Big Tent, which might've misled John as to what was happening). Anyhow, the sea-lift took seven weeks and was ongoing even as Fun House got underway (you've read about the units I left behind, including 7th Aus. Div. and Merrill's Marauders).

That's why Fun House originated entirely in the DEI.

But I didn't leave the cupboard bare in the Pacific. Not by any means....

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: Termite2

If I was to compare your overall style of play to a civil war general, I would pick Thomas.

Thanks, Termite. That's a nice compliment. Thomas wasn't perfect but he was capable and tough and professional (not meaning that those were the characteristics you were attributing to my style). I've always admired him even as I'd marvel at some of the command mistakes he made.

[Bearcat2]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

The landing at Anzio, 22-31 Jan, 1944 was the US VI Corps under Lucas, not Clark. Lucas was relieved by Truscott after the debacle.

Clark was in charge, it was his responsibility to get the troops moving, never ordered or informed Lucas on the imperative to move quickly.

[Canoerebel]

I don't know where KB is and haven't had a clue in weeks. The last sniff was a decent carrier TF in the Makassar Strait 15 to 20 days ago. John's doing a good job of using the fleet in being strategy. I'm assuming (I have to) that KB is very close the Death Star. Here are my speculations:

1. The South China Sea, west of Borneo or the Philippines (40%): His cruisers and destroyers seems to be concentrated around the Sulu Sea, so John may be concentrating his forces there too. He doesn't have to keep his carriers close to those combat ships, but that's my top guess.
2. Somewhere around Formosa or Okinawa (20%): This was my original top choice, because I figured he'd station KB between Death Star and the Home Islands.
3. Western Pacific (20%): He can pounce on Death Star from the east, like the Marianas or Palau. My subs don't show any detection levels, though.
4. Central Pacific: (10%): It would be crazy for John to post his carriers here in hopes of picking off little Allied TFs doing mop-up invasions, but it's possible; more likely, thought, that he might think I'm targeting Marcus, so he might've set up an ambush.
5. Elsewhere (10%): John is so aggressive that there's a small but measurable chance that he could try a counter-invasion in the Aleutians, Midway, or the DEI.

[Bif1961]

Lucas was the Corps Commander and was to exploit the opportunity presented to him as the commmander on the ground. It was his decision to secure the beach head for 3 days before probing out. That's like blaming Nimitz for Halsey running into a Typhon. General George Henry Thomas is my favorite Union General and he got a cool nickname, the Rock of Chickamauga.

[panzer cat]

Jeb Stuart was never reckless[:D]

[Flicker]

I'm another admirer of Thomas. The "Rock of Chickamauga" was a better nickname than the West Point "Old Tom", or "Old Slow Trot" from not letting troops gallop, or the affectionate "Old Pap", or the exalted "Old Hero" of Chickamauga. Thomas was an relatively early adapter of technology including operational use of the telegraph and organizing and outfitting his ambulance corps. IIRC Thomas was the only general to destroy an enemy army in the Civil War at the Battle of Nashville (US Army of the Cumberland vs CSA Army of Tennessee).

One of his commanders said of Thomas: "I never knew him to be late or in a hurry. All his movements were deliberate, his self-possession was supreme..."

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Termite2

Clark was at Anzio; sat when he should have moved.

Didn't he also disobey orders and went to Rome for the glory of being a liberator instead of cutting off the German's escape route?

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Chickenboy commented (in a lighthearted haiku in the War Room) about me having a "million and one" ships in a single hex. I know he's reading and posting in John's AAR.

His comment follows on one made by one of you guys in this thread, perhaps a page back, something to similar effect.

I take it that John or his readers must have an issue with keeping ships tightly together. I've never encountered this complaint before. I won't mention it to John unless he mentions it first.

I suppose I can understand where he's coming from - hey, taking on the Allies in '44 isn't easy. And it shouldn't be easy.

But I conserved my carriers carefully - oh, so carefully - throughout the game, banking against the day when I'd need to strike deep. Now I'm reaping that benefit while John is suffering the consequences of his reckless JEB Stuart ride in the Marshalls in September.

I wouldn't have to keep the Herd so tightly packed if not for a variety of things John takes advantage of: 24-hour carrier and combat ship movement without my ability to respond (that's just part of the game, but it makes it necessary for me to keep my ships protected); the ability to move Netties all across the map and then still strike together in a single day; a cohesive Japanese navy and army cooperating on strikes; etc.

Our beloved AE has many abstractions. As a result, I keep my fleet tightly together. So I ain't playing dumb and spreading them out to make it easier for him to attack.

John wouldn't be having this issue if he hadn't ridden around the Union army prior to Gettysburg.

What is a hex, 50 miles accross? That is 2,500 square miles. How much space did the Normandy invasion require to hold all of those ships?

[Bearcat2]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Termite2

Clark was at Anzio; sat when he should have moved.

Didn't he also disobey orders and went to Rome for the glory of being a liberator instead of cutting off the German's escape route?

Yes; Clark was supposed to capture Valmontone which would have cut off the German army; but instead planned to drive on Rome. Alexander should have sacked him.

[Capt. Harlock]

IIRC Thomas was the only general to destroy an enemy army in the Civil War at the Battle of Nashville (US Army of the Cumberland vs CSA Army of Tennessee).

The only general to destroy a major army. Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith wiped out the 5,000 man Union Army of Kentucky at the Battle of Richmond. (Richmond, Kentucky, that is.)

[Lovejoy]

I admire Thomas as well, but I think that, in a sense, most of the credit for the Army of Tennesse's annihilation has to be given to John Bell Hood. The way he handled that army during the Nashville campaign was atrocious. He shattered his army at Franklin, lost most of his senior commanders killed or otherwise put out of action, and then continued on to try to take a city protected by an army almost twice the size of his own. That being said, Thomas did manage to array his command in a manner that enabled hood to impale himself on it.

[Canoerebel]

4/9/44 SigInt

Some helpful intelligence today.

[Canoerebel]

4/9/44

Fun House: Another mostly quiet and busily productive day in the Philippines. No clashes with enemy forces and no sign of KB or major combat TFs. NavSearch does show cruisers and destroyers just south of Mindanao. Death Star spends a quiet day off the coast.

Legaspi airfield to 3.54 today; Naga to 3.11 (only a combat engineer + organic infantry division engineers to build here). Naga has 150 aviation support and three fighter squadrons from Burma. Legaspi has five fighter squadrons, most from the DEI.

John is pouring units into Luzon. 40,000 now at Manila. I think he has one division there and one a hex to the SE. A big land battle will rage for Luzon eventually. Allied army roughed up the tattered IJ army a hex north of Naga. 2nd Marine Div. will arrive there in three more days. I won't go any further...for now.

Pacific: Tabituea falls today. Tomorrow, a detachment of Merrill's Marauders will hit a stubborn dot hex west of Canton Island. It has refused to auto flip for a year, and I don't want John to use it for nav search. There's a lot going on in the Pacific right now, but it's behind the scenes stuff that I won't go into.

DEI: Ditto here. Lots of productive activity.

Burma: John finally brought in his Franks in numbers two or three turns back - at the same time I was transferring my long-legged, good fighters to Luzon. We've tangled pretty hard, with neither side getting a decided advantage. He has just three viable airfields now: Rangoon and Moulmein are trashed by bombing; Prome is open but to be targeted more over the coming days. I think John has a problem with his MLR. He's bringing in a new mixed brigade and a garrison unit. Even at the expense of a stalemate, I think it serves my purposes long term to have Burma serving as a minor vortex.

Some maps later.

[Bif1961]

General George Henry Thomas, as Commander of the Army of the Cumberland, got credit for defeating the Army of Tennessee at Missionary Ridge. His Army was suppose to be conducting a feint to tie down units to assist Sherman's failed attack. I guess the boys just didn't know when to quit when they went up and over the ridge chasing the Army of Tennessee into Northern Georgia. Also Thomas was suppose to have been relieved before the battle of Nashville. The General who was to relieve him showed up the day before the attack. He was briefed on the attack plan and decided not to relieve Thomas as his plan was about to be carried out.

[BBfanboy]

Lucena is a sex north of Atimonan? Well that is one hex that has to be on your target list ASAP![:D]