Sailing in harms way: InHarmsWay (J) vs Andav (A) Scen2

[PaxMondo]

PaxMondo, you are correct. May 1 was my date as well to see where I was and if it was working. Adm Wa is more experienced than I and from what I can tell, he has stymied in India. I am hoping to give him a better game than last time!!! It will be hard to gain the initiative now and I expect I will need to start a slow withdrawal back into burma, in a few weeks. I first want to see how well the new Tojos do and if I can wrest air superiority from him for a bit. Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. I have his attention here in India, and most of his initial land combat units. Also with the Tojos just coming on production now, I hope to continue to attrition his planes. Hopefully his attention remains here while I do finish the perimeter.

2. I still want to kill off his land units and devices if possible so will try and at least squish the units currently trapped behind Calcutta. Ceylon is another area I want to complete my conquest of. If I do that, between the bases of Ceylon and Port Blair, I should be able to perform a dunkirk if needed in the next few months.

3. I hope to take Soerabaja in a few days, that will free up ~6 rgmts. These will go to completing the initial defensive position.

4. Navy wise, I am doing well, only lost 3 CLs, and 5 DDs to date, while sinking a CV, CVL, 2xBBs, BC, 10xCLs, and 10 DDs (per Tracker). I do not want to get crazy at this point, now that the better allied CV based planes will be showing up.

5. China is coming along gradually, and I do feel I will be able to complete the conquest by October? Supplies must be running low as I have made an effort here to as quickly as possible shut off most of the supply generators he has.

6. Plane research is much better than last game, still have made many mistakes. However from what I can tell, I will have the A6M3a sometime in June, and hoping to have the A6M5 in July/August. That will help for KB. Tojos just came on production. A bunch of factories are focused on Franks (11), Georges (12), and Ki83s (13 factories). 6 factories are for SAM's, but I may bump that up to 7 or 8... KB losses have been light so I had not needed to expand Kate or Val production as all, and have been focused on Jill and Judy. Would really like to have both of those well before we have our first CV battle.

7. Darwin is also an area I would like to conquer in a few weeks. Bombardment TFs are hitting it. Landing an Army HQ in a week or so, along with much needed supplies before I attack again. Finishing off Soerabaja will help here.

Just my initial thoughts. I like your timeline and points above as well! Also excuse my stupidity, what is WAD?

Good Assessment. Let me help with some qualitative thoughts on your above points.

1. Remember that Tojo is more a DEFENSIVE plane due to its range. Thus it is more difficult to attrit the allies unless they are attacking.

3. So you are quite late in finishing the 1st round of expansion. What this means is that you are likely behind in your oil/fuel/supply targets. Remember this as the game progresses.

4. Agreed, be careful. These are miniscule losses for the allies; they won't even notice them by mid-43 if not earlier.

5. Oct is late-average. Not really late, but towards the tail-end of average. What this means is that you will be a little late in freeing up those units for your 3rd advance ... late enough that your 3rd wave may NOT be able to happen. Consider this. Don't start unless you have overwhelming forces.

6. Remember that A6M will be obsolete in 9 months, regardless of the model. Oscar already is. Tojo is on par, but has short legs so expensive to be offensive with it. Your advantage with the Tojo is simple: it is on par with the best allied fighters, BUT you can build MORE. Ideally at this phase you want to be using A6M for your sweeps, Oscar (A6M if available) for escort, and Tojo (great climb) for CAP. With 12 size 30 factories on Frank and George, your George should be available no later than 3/43 and Frank 9/43. Ki-83 is '44, so a long way off yet. Sam also '44, but later the Ki83.

[PaxMondo]

Separately, let me discuss the fighter upgrades a bit more. Bombers are an analogous analysis.

So, the 2 major aspects of a fighter are SPEED and GUNS. Speed: If you can't close, you cannot attack and you cannot run away. GUNS - the harder you hit, the faster your opponent disappears. Simple.

This is why you do not want to get caught up in the A6M upgrade path. It is a "jedi" mind trick perpetuated by those AFB's. The A6M is 350 mph fighter, period. By 3/43 it is SO obsolete because it is only 350 mph. The better allied fighters are flying at 380 - 410 mph at that time. The Ki-43 is always obsolete: no speed and no guns, but it has range and you can have numbers. At 2:1 (or greater) numbers advantage you can really attrit the allied defenders fast. You cannot get that on a sweep (sweeps do NOT marry up), but escort for bomb raids do. +100 Oscars with 50 Sally's can really do damage with little loss. Read Herbie for details. Do the same with A6M in the early war and the result is even better. Challenge is that you do not have enough naval air groups unless you steal them from your CV's, and only after 7/42 when you can re-size them.

The George is a 380 fighter so you are on par, but you can build MORE. And it has more GUNS that almost every allied fighter. It is very formidable until you need to be +400. Frank is on par, but again you can build MORE. Numbers win in a fight and the allies do NOT get unlimited numbers of their best fighters until '45.

A7M is a F6F killer. That simple. That's why you need it. you will not survive a CV battle after 3/43 until you have A7M. Ok, you might, but it will be luck. The odds will be stacked against you heavily. The F6F was designed to kill the A6M and it does.

The Ki94/Ki-83/J7W are what you need to fight the end war P-51H.

So, if you read and understand this analysis, then you understand the "why's" of the IJ RnD plan for fighters. There is some wriggle room here. It depends upon your strategy. If you say that you stop your expansion 6/42, THEN Tojo is a much cheaper and viable option. You could then skip George, and go straight for A7M and J7W on the Navy side. You might also skip the Frank and go Ki-94/83 instead late war or maybe the Ki-201? 18 x 30 on the Karyu .. you could get it end of '44, maybe mid-44 ... just think 1000's of +500mph fighter jets ... P51 and B17 don't hold up so well against those ...

An analagous analysis can be done on each aircraft type for the IJ: bomber, recon, night fighter, dive bomber, etc. You start with your strategy, add in the key metric (fighter: speed, guns) and then look at what you have and when. It isn't too difficult, and a lot of things become very obvious.

[RangerJoe]

The Rate of Climb is also important. If you fighters are too low, they can react better. Also, some people have strato sweeps but having the fighters down low might mean that the sweeping fighters ignore the CAP. Then when the bombers come in, the CAP climbs up to engage them.

[BBfanboy]

The Rate of Climb is also important. If you fighters are too low, they can react better. Also, some people have strato sweeps but having the fighters down low might mean that the sweeping fighters ignore the CAP. Then when the bombers come in, the CAP climbs up to engage them.

And then there are the bombers that come in a very low altitude and strato-cap cannot even see them, let alone engage ...

[PaxMondo]

The Rate of Climb is also important. If you fighters are too low, they can react better. Also, some people have strato sweeps but having the fighters down low might mean that the sweeping fighters ignore the CAP. Then when the bombers come in, the CAP climbs up to engage them.

And then there are the bombers that come in a very low altitude and strato-cap cannot even see them, let alone engage ...

There are MANY other attributes that matter. No Question. But for fighters, at the end of the day, Speed and Guns trump all. Now, within a speed "band", which absolutely exist because of how the planes evolved, then these other attributes can make big separations.

Speed bands are roughly:
300mph
350mph
400mph
450mph

So, the A6M series falls apart against the F4U and P47 when they show up because it is a 350mph fighter against 400mph fighters. Can you construct tactics/scenarios where the A6M can still win? Yes, but it isn't easy and almost always requires the numbers advantage (See below).

Now within a speed band, this is where ALL of the other factors come into play. Example would be the F6F against the A6M. F6F doesn't have a great speed advantage, BUT in addition to the slight speed advantage it has GUNS, Climb, ARMOR, and DUR advantages. The A6M only has MAN. In equal numbers, the F6F will eat the A6M up almost every time.

All of the above assume equal pilot and leaders. High Exp and skills can offset a great deal.


GUNS .. think of how many "aces" are created in B17 groups when Oscars attempt to attack them with their rifle caliber guns. I know, extreme example, but it works to illustrate. You must have sufficient GUNS to kill your target. Rifle caliber only work against unarmored, low DUR targets, which other than the IJ are few. Hvy Machine guns (13mm) are most effective against DUR < 35, above that you want 20mm cannons. CL guns are twice as effective as convergent.

So, again like speed, you can make a few broad strokes about GUNS and what you need, irrespective of all other variables. Once you have settled Speed and GUNS, then you look at the myriad of other variables to create all of the tactics that work.

All of the above assumes similar numbers, because numbers have a strength of their own. At 3:1 number advantages you can overcome almost everything. In the early war, with PDU ON, that is how the IJ can effect a successful blitzkreig, sheer numbers.

[InHarmsWay]

All, Thank you for the advice, very much needed in the air war. I am hoping to put y'alls hard earned experience to work now and bleed the allies of planes with close in CAP led by the Tojos, and only targeted sweeps. We shall see. I have decided to stop my Darjeeling gambit, and will not be reinforcing it. That said, I do want to complete the Ceylon conquest as there are alot of allied points there. It has been a tough nut, and I have 2+ divisions already there with the Guards Tank Div on its way. Therefore I need to keep Adm Wa's attention in mainland India long enough to keep him from reinforcing Ceylon. KB in the area, and CAP over Colombo should help for the next few days. Below is the Situation map:

May 06 1942 Calcutta.jpg (764.06 KiB) Viewed 407 times

I am really going to have to be careful on how I withdraw here, always a tricky situation. Adm Wa has been bombing my units in the clear for a while now. Two more lessons I have learned are to always bring AA units, which have finally arrived, and to bring AT guns as well. We will see in the next week or so how this plays out. Using the old adage of plan for the worst, hope for the best, I am moving AKs and APs into theatre in case I need them sooner!

[InHarmsWay]

But don't fret too much gentle readers, not all is going the allies way just yet. Darwin fell the turn prior and I have begun the chase in the North Outback. Here is the combat results, it looks like the his units were roughly handled, so hoping I can chase and get another attack in. Bombing them in the hopes of slowing them enough!

Ground combat at Darwin (76,124)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 20274 troops, 263 guns, 77 vehicles, Assault Value = 666

Defending force 16802 troops, 328 guns, 449 vehicles, Assault Value = 443

Japanese adjusted assault: 720

Allied adjusted defense: 172

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Darwin !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
PBY-4 Catalina: 4 destroyed
Wirraway: 7 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1985 casualties reported
Squads: 16 destroyed, 158 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 16 (2 destroyed, 14 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
4089 casualties reported
Squads: 168 destroyed, 61 disabled
Non Combat: 421 destroyed, 54 disabled
Engineers: 87 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 183 (142 destroyed, 41 disabled)
Vehicles lost 347 (343 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units retreated 5
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
78th Infantry Regiment
20th Recon Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
40th Brigade
20th Engineer Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
21st Ind. Engineer Regiment
26th Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Mortar Battalion
14th Army
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
3rd Motor Brigade
1st Motor Brigade
8th Australian Division
Emery Point Fortress
10th Patl RAAF Wing
A/B Battery Heavy Coastal Artillery Regiment

[InHarmsWay]

And after months of slogging in China, maybe to door has been opened. Two attacks over the past two days has finally cracked the Chinese MLR, with extensive casualties. I expect Adm Wa may now retreat again? we will see. Here are the combat replays! Much Saki has been drunk here...

Ground combat at 78,49 (near Chihkiang) (May 5th)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 38238 troops, 373 guns, 790 vehicles, Assault Value = 1418

Defending force 34611 troops, 108 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 807

Japanese adjusted assault: 1058

Allied adjusted defense: 478

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
966 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 101 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 37 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 92 (2 destroyed, 90 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
11188 casualties reported
Squads: 523 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 452 destroyed, 72 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 9 (8 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 5

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
23rd Tank Regiment
9th Armored Car Co
6th Division
15th Tank Regiment
11th Tank Regiment
5th Tank Regiment
9th Tank Regiment
13th Tank Regiment
116th Division
17th Ind.Mixed Brigade
10th Tank Regiment
35th/A Division
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion

Defending units:
88th Chinese Corps
30th Chinese Corps
87th Chinese Corps
33rd Chinese Corps
46th Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps


And May 6th as the 88th Chinese Corps was not smart enough to retreat!

Ground combat at 78,49 (near Chihkiang)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 28923 troops, 298 guns, 811 vehicles, Assault Value = 1325

Defending force 2498 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 513

Allied adjusted defense: 4

Japanese assault odds: 128 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
Units pursuing 2

Allied ground losses:
2452 casualties reported
Squads: 153 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 108 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
23rd Tank Regiment
6th Division
5th Tank Regiment
11th Tank Regiment
15th Tank Regiment
10th Tank Regiment
13th Tank Regiment
116th/B Division
17th Ind.Mixed Brigade
9th Armored Car Co
9th Tank Regiment
35th/A Division
116th/A Division
116th/C Division
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion

Defending units:
88th Chinese Corps

[InHarmsWay]

Here is the current situation in China. Sufficient 2E bombers are now regularly hitting the Chinese formations, and I am keeping an eye on fatigue both from Pilots and planes. I am fairly certain he is running low on supplies. Thank you Veteran readers for that assist! With that rough wood hex now taken, that is one hex closer to Chungking. Also his land units must be well worn by now. To the Gates of Chungking by July! I will start gathering the ART units for the assault. Likely most those will come from my exfiltration of Calcutta...

May 06 1942 China.jpg (855.05 KiB) Viewed 381 times

[InHarmsWay]

And since things always seem to happen in three's, the most recent turn (May6th), had Soerabaja fall! Yes, it has been a memorable few days for the victorious IJA! The more moderate among the general staff are cautioning that this should not be construed as being able to go back to the heady days of December and January, but to use this to consider more moderate additional objectives. Thankfully Admiral Harmasaki is firmly in the camp of the moderates and is not listening to the hot headed minority pushing for a continuation of the India push. Already that front has been renamed a reconnaissance landing in force...

Here is the results from the final base in Java to fall....

Ground combat at Soerabaja (56,104)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 22521 troops, 320 guns, 151 vehicles, Assault Value = 688

Defending force 22869 troops, 329 guns, 102 vehicles, Assault Value = 474

Japanese adjusted assault: 530

Allied adjusted defense: 150

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Soerabaja !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
139WH-3: 3 destroyed
B-339D: 1 destroyed
CW-22 Falcon: 1 destroyed
Do-24K-1: 5 destroyed
T.IVa: 2 destroyed
PBY-5 Catalina: 2 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2111 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 215 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 32 (1 destroyed, 31 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
23482 casualties reported
Squads: 937 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1869 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 84 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 404 (404 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 96 (96 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 23

Assaulting units:
11th Infantry Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
16th Infantry Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
42nd Infantry Regiment
24th Infantry Regiment
4th Infantry Regiment
91st Naval Guard Unit
48th Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
5th Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
11th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
8th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
4th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
Barisan KNIL Regiment
Marinier Battalion
6th KNIL Regiment
Prajoda Garrison Battalion
2nd KNIL Landstorm Battalion
Van Altena Battalion
1st Regt Cavalerie
Tjilatjap KNIL Battalion
4th KNIL Regiment
2nd KNIL Regiment
3rd KNIL Landstorm Battalion
1st KNIL Regiment
Makassar Garrison Battalion
Roodenburg Battalion
MLD
4th KNIL Landstorm Battalion
Commandement Marine
Lijfwacht Cav Sqn
ABDA
3rd KNIL AA Battalion
Artilleriecommando Coastal Gun Battalion
Afdeling Ritman
Soerabaja Base Force


Admiral Harmasaki will now be away from HQ for several days on a reconnaissance trip (trip to New Orleans to visit the National WW2 Museum) to better understand these tricky Allied forces. The Empress has allowed a full day or more, provided nice dinners and wine is involved. He is but a humble servant and will comply!

[RangerJoe]

If there are no enemy fighters, 1E bombers work fine against Chinese units in the open. The Chinese are weakened while using supplies, and your pilots get good training and experience while using fewer supplies than 2E bombers.

It looks like you have cut off supplies to the units between your line to Darjeeling and into Burma. Don't give up, keep bombing the enemy to slow their movements, using supplies, plus causing casualties and increasing fatigue and disruption. If you have a handy stack to fight with, just make sure that you can AAA with your units. Then you can move into a hex with the enemy or let him move into your units, then attack. A low level LRCAP might help if he keeps targeting one hex. Severely damaging and/or destroying those units there will help against all Commonwealth units if he rebuilds them since they have some common devices across all nationalities. Doing so with the British units makes things harder on your opponent due to the lack of the British squad devices.

[PaxMondo]

A really good 3 days as you note. Finishing the DEI is an important step as it frees up attack units.

Identify your occupation units for the DEI now. The need to be of some quality, BUT remember they are "throw away" units. They will very likely, at some point, get encircled and cut off from the HI. So, you need some GAR units, some base units, and some other support type units, but they all want to be ones that you are comfortable losing and not having around to defend the HI.

What does this mean? Well, for INF units, look for those that have at least 80AV but less than 200AV, but lousy ARTY and not much of it. Those 70mm and some of the early 75mm guns that have lousy range and don't upgrade. Both IJA and IJN units need scrutiny. ENG/Base type forces that have some AV (Av Support) and or some ENG, but not a lot else. Again, you have a fair number of units like that. Enough overall defense that you don't give away the territory too cheap, but nothing you can't afford to lose. Experience helps a TON in this. Get units and Forts built up in every sea base (there are a lot of them). Ditto the PI adn Formosa, but here you are more likely to be able to extract the units; so they can be better. And you will want an HQa or two allocated as well.

[InHarmsWay]

So things have gotten more interesting in the Pacific. I had neglected this area (yes another lesson) as I thought I would have time mid year, not expecting the allies to counterattack so soon. This may work if I can get him to defend this area in mid '42 timeframe. KB is enroute but will be a while as it was in the Indian ocean. I now know where some of the Java rgmts will go. He may just be raiding and will reimbark in the next week or so, will watch closely.

May 9 1942 Marshall islands.jpg (256.9 KiB) Viewed 275 times

I had seen the multi TF group for the past 2 days, but figured it was a air raid, not a full invasion. Admiral Wa is getting saucy. Will hope to entice him to be as overconfident as I was in India, but he will likely not fall for that... I am not sure how critical the Marshall islands are, as they seem to get bypassed most of the time, at least in our first game they were nothing but a supply sink for me.

[InHarmsWay]

The North Australian front is looking better now that the cork in Darwin has been released.

May 09 1942 Darwin.jpg (489.55 KiB) Viewed 274 times

Here is the results of the recent battle SW of Darwin, doubt I will be able to kill the Division outright, but it has been mauled so far. Plan is to go no further south than Daly Water.

Ground combat at 75,125 (near Darwin)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 16317 troops, 240 guns, 75 vehicles, Assault Value = 574

Defending force 6644 troops, 167 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 151

Japanese adjusted assault: 712

Allied adjusted defense: 6

Japanese assault odds: 118 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
228 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Units pursuing 1

Allied ground losses:
2714 casualties reported
Squads: 161 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 116 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 14 disabled
Guns lost 153 (50 destroyed, 103 disabled)
Vehicles lost 31 (22 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
78th Infantry Regiment
20th Engineer Regiment
20th Recon Regiment
40th Brigade
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
21st Ind. Engineer Regiment
26th Field Artillery Regiment
14th Army
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
3rd Mortar Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
8th Australian Division

[PaxMondo]

...
I am not sure how critical the Marshall islands are, as they seem to get bypassed most of the time, at least in our first game they were nothing but a supply sink for me.

The Marshalls is part of your screen for your work in the Solomon's and New Hebrides. It often IS bypassed IF the allies can get enough supply into OZ to allow them to hold the Port Moresby and Rabaul from that direction.

Strategy comes in here, so it depends. One strategy is to also take and invest the Gilberts, continuing to drive to the Elice Islands and then Fiji/Samoa. This would effectively cut the LOS for the allies to OZ. Then, have you the time/strength to take out NZ and then OZ?

[InHarmsWay]

Ah gentle readers, I expect you are looking for an update on India front. Yes, it is embarrassing that Adm Wa has thwarted my initial attack here but, still a chance to pull a minor victory out of my attack. I have a decent line of defense here, have blunted his land based air a bit recently and am closing in on Chittagong. Key will be to surround Chittagong and force a surrender. How tough the Chittagong base is will be key. I have cause the Indian Div and Rgmt two retreats now back to Chittagong so they should not be effective. I only have about 200AV NE of the base, with another Rgmt coming from the south. I believe the Brit 18th Div is now moving there, but not sure (the division has just been moving aimlessly around the past month, not that I am complaining!

May 13 1942 Calcutta.jpg (748.43 KiB) Viewed 223 times

In Ceylon, I have two divisions, a rgmt, a Engineer rgmt and will attack once the 6 BB bombardment TF goes in in 3 days. The Guards Tank Division is on its way in the event I cannot take Ceylon. If Colombo falls, I will divert to India and land in Cox Bazaar or Diamond Harbour to attack the Brit 18th Division.

[InHarmsWay]

Adm Harmasaki shakes his head at the latest report. It looks like Adm Wa was wanting to take the Marshall in its entirety, as opposed to just a raid. This is unacceptable and will require a response. But what should the response be? he thinks? KB is still a week out, and that is his own fault, as he was trying to do too much in India. Well, at least there is very little to fear from the allied navy in that theater given both allied and British BBs have been spotted near the Marshalls, and most if not all of the allied CVs. It seems all of the allied navy is currently in the Marshalls.

That said, both KB and mini KB are making toward the Central Pacific, along with most of the IJN. Maybe we will see a decisive battle early in the war in this area? If not, then a concerted blockade of the Marshalls will be my goal. The KB will stay in the area, and will support additional reinforcements at PM. Maybe a feint into NE Oz? Either way, the Marshalls needs to be retaken at some point in the near future. Darn Admiral Wa!!!

May 15 1942 Marshall lslands.jpg (243.81 KiB) Viewed 173 times

First step will be to reinforce Ponape and Eniwetok to support long range recon.

[PaxMondo]

Ouch, losing Maloelap and Roi Namur ... double ouch. Good diversionary strike on the part of your opponent.

Ponape is your key. 13 hex to Roi Namur, well within Nell/Betty range. You need it to size 4 for full use of your bombers.
I would get A6M and H6K4 there first. Get your NavSearch up and thoroughly see all of the area. If you own Wake, get that built to Size 3 and A6M and H6K there too. You need intel.

Get this in place while you move assets into the area. If your opponent is wise, he will exit before KB can arrive. You want to be able to see what direction he exits and when.

You don't need the KB to re-take this if he retreats. From Ponape, your A6M2 can provide CAP at extreme range (your Ops losses will be high unless you can cycle groups via Truk). Once you know what his force compositions are on both isles, your can load up your HAMMER* and take them back. Hard. Roi first, and with good prep, you can take Maloelap 2 days later supported from Roi. Whatever troops he used will not be back in the game for ~60 days and he will have to re-build them more or less from scratch and with minimal exp ... this is how you beat the allies. Destroy their units and force them to rebuild and retrain exp in their units. Meanwhile your units are gaining exp and staying at full strength on map.

If you bring the KB, in my mind, you are thinking you can trap his naval forces. That would mean coming in from between him and his retreat destination. It is possible that the opponent will overstay his time around Roi, but if he leaves as he should in a couple of days, then moving the KB is just what he wanted ... you are no longer able to support your India operations ... you are playing into your opponents' strategy of delay until '43. Another thought with the KB is position it to come in behind, but don't reveal that the KB is there. When you retake the bases without the KB, maybe he will foolishly stick his neck out ... with you behind him ... and a retaken Roi with A6M and bombers in front of him ...

*Hammer = for me, this would be an ID + Tank Battalion minimum for each island. I'd like arty too. You would also need to have offshore embarked your "cleanup troops" at least 4 ENG Battalions to quickly get Air/Port repaired and then your long term base units (prolly a naval air unit + small costal def unit + snlf; something like that) for each island you retake. So, you got a LOT of units to quickly ID, set to train location, and start embarking to the area.

Just my thoughts ...

[InHarmsWay]

PaxMondo, great comments! Yes, I have decided I need to retake those islands. I need that tripwire for the Pacific, and he would be one short hop to Saipan. The 14th Div (high exp) out of Korea has been earmarked, (at 1500 PP, need ~1800PP. The division was already in Fusan awaiting orders, so it will be enroute in a week once I can buy it out. Multiple units are headed to ponape and area. I have also started prepping the 28th Div (also in Korea as it has a couple good Rgmts) for Maloelap. Last game I was able to bloody Adm's Wa's nose (even bagged an Essex CV) in this area when KB showed up unannounced so I know he will likely be careful. Still, worth the effort to catch the allies in a CV battle at this stage. It is good to know the CVs are headed east, that will help with my additional landing at PM to try and finish off that garrison. Lesson learned here is bring a big enough hammer to do the job right the first time! I stretched myself to thin initially with Java, Colombo, PM, Darwin, and India all at the same time... I think that is lesson #382...

May 16 1942 Marshall lslands.jpg (272.64 KiB) Viewed 149 times

It looks like the Allied CVs all headed back to Pearl, at least initially! KB has been radio silent for about 10 days so he is probably getting nervous. I expect the rest of his ships to depart shortly. Initial plans are to bring down Minesweepers, and then bombard Roi-Namur (RN) to keep it from getting built out. KB will be in the area if he tries anything, but will stay out of sight (hopefully).

[InHarmsWay]

Fret not gentle readers, not all is going the Allies way. After a couple months, the garrison at Colombo fell! Taking away this lvl 9 port from the Allies is nice! I had brought in 6 BBs to bombard and then attacked a second day in a row. See lesson learned in previous post about not bringing enough, finally I did! This was a tough nut as Adm Wa had some nasty AA here. I lost too many planes to that AA! Good news is that there are now quite a few allied units headed to re-education camps.... Here is the Combat report, a lot of nice devices will now need to be replaced.... hopefully those allied AA units will take a while!
Ground combat at Colombo (29,48)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 31039 troops, 336 guns, 130 vehicles, Assault Value = 888

Defending force 19933 troops, 289 guns, 286 vehicles, Assault Value = 156

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 304

Allied adjusted defense: 76

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Colombo !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
3626 casualties reported
Squads: 71 destroyed, 61 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 44 disabled
Guns lost 25 (2 destroyed, 23 disabled)
Vehicles lost 14 (4 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
17758 casualties reported
Squads: 302 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2314 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 83 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 300 (300 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 363 (363 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 12

Assaulting units:
14th Guards Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
16th Guards Regiment
4th Guards Division
55th Engineer Regiment
21st Division
5th Guards Cav Regiment

Defending units:
100th Indian Brigade
Colombo Fortress
98th Indian Brigade
23rd AA Bde
22nd Light AA Regiment
222 Group RAF
1st RM Heavy AA Regiment
Eastern Fleet
2nd Ceylon H AA Regiment
RAF 222 Group Wing
Ceylon Command
99th Indian Brigade