War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

28 April 1942

Hawaii and Line Islands
The coup-de-grace against the damaged cargo ship headed back to Pearl was administered by an enemy submarine instead of a Betty or Nell. So just one survivor, plus the destroyer escorting it. Posthumous Silver Stars all around--the data for now shows Pearl can hold out about 40 days. Less if the bomber raids resume in full force or if a new battleship force shows up. Hmmm, where's the Yamato?

The Enterprise and Hornet launched a strike on Palmyra as a goodbye. One of Hornet's two dive bomber squadrons did fly the mission. Why not both? Who knows, but at least removing the drop tanks seems to be partially working.

Sumatra
Oosthaven was shelled by a cruiser-destroyer force, which also sank the minesweeper assigned to the port there. Damage was relatively light because there isn't much there.

Palembang was swept by Zeroes; 3 Kittyhawks went down without taking any Zeroes out.

We sent 3 Fulmars out for a low-level attack on an unescorted, damaged cargo ship. Their bombs missed, but they strafed it too. 4 DB-7Bs (A-20s) followed that up and scored a bomb hit. I think that's a kill.

Thailand and Burma
Our southern army moved just in time; a force of 10,000 troops sallied from Bangkok and is now in the hex my forces just vacated. We attack the small force cutting us off tomorrow. Our bombers hit that group for minimal damage thanks to the rough terrain.

Sweeps targeted Tavoy instead of Raheng today, and we embarrassed them- 8 Oscars shot down with no Allied losses.

It appears the bulk of the northern enemy forces have been moved by rail back to Bangkok. We both seem to be counting on the other not wanting to cross the river at Raheng while under fire.

Recon now indicates significant bomber forces are based in Bangkok. On a hopefully unrelated note, my surface task force guarding the approach to Tavoy was overflown by a scout plane.

A little further north in Burma, the small army I've been monitoring is heading south instead of west toward Moulmein, and a second small unit has appeared behind it. It appears their objective is to cut off supply lines to Raheng rather than a flank attack on my bases in Burma. The enemy appears to be small enough for my local forces--which have been gradually reinforced ever since Kinky Boots launched--to handle.

Java Sea
Off the southeast corner of Borneo, the O23 torpedoed and sank a PB that was part of an ASW task force. Subchasers retaliated and damaged the sub a bit before it got away.

Solomons Area
I sent bombers back to Rabaul, sinking a tender and damaging an apparently empty airbase.

[Molon Labe]

29 April 1942

Line Islands
I sent the 4 cruisers back to Palmyra to shoot it up, causing come casualties and moderate airfield/port facility damage, and also damaging a single Betty that's probably there as a scout.

Celebes Sea
USS Finback made a night torpedo/gun attack on an unescorted cargo ship and managed to get 2 Mk14s to detonate (and at least that many duds that hit). That's a kill.

Thailand
Sweeps targeted Tavoy. We lost 4 AVG P-40s and a Hurricane, he lost 3 Oscars and 3 Zeroes.

The unit cutting our southern forces off was just 1/3 of a battalion. We wiped them out; casualties 1161 to 83. The next issue is the force of 10,000 following us. Well, my force is 9072 strong, and we're now in the mountains with a terrain bonus to defense. So maybe I just camp here.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

Hmmm, where's the Yamato?

Be careful what you wish for

[Molon Labe]

30 April 1942

Japan
USS Trout got into a gunfight with a light cargo ship in the Korea-Japan gap. The ship was set alight by multiple 3" and even .50cal hits, but getting close enough to use ma deuce meant it could hit back, so the Trout took some damage as well.

Sumatra
Oosthaven got shelled again, and then swept. We got 2 fighters up against the sweep and lost both.

Timor
In a rare sub v sub surface encounter, the O-24 torpedoed and sank a small Japanese sub. This is probably the 3rd such encounter of the war, but I believe it's the first to result in a torpedo hit.

Thailand
They attempted a sweep at Tavoy, we broke even at one fighter apiece. The force of 10,000 has caught up with my troops. I think I have the slightly stronger force; roughly even numbers of troops and artillery, but I have more tanks. I'm not going to order an attack, I'll let them try to hit me and hopefully get some kills thanks to the terrain defensive bonus.

Philippines
At long last, an enemy army is moving against my final base, Cagayan. These guys have been cut off since forever and have been getting bombed daily. They're going to fold like a cheap table when the enemy arrives.

Java
The enemy siezed several coastal islands with paratroops as mopup operations on the mainland continue.

--------------------
Strategic Outlook:

We're still in no shape to take on the KB directly, part of that is due to the numbers--effectively 5 on 2 right now thanks to the Lex and Saratoga both being down for repairs/upgrades. But as long as he feels compelled to make Alfred Mayhan roll in his grave by dividing his fleet carriers, I'll be looking for opportunities to defeat a smaller group in detail.

Setting aside Pearl, his campaigns in most areas are behind historical schedule (the Phillipines being the major exception):

Philippines: Historically, resistance ended April 9, with Corregidor mopped up by May 6. In this campaign, Bataan was taken on February 9 in this campaign.

Malaya: Singapore historically fell February 15. Here, we hold Singapore. We will be able to continue to hold Singapore until Sumatra falls.

Borneo: Historically, Balikpapan fell on January 24th. In this campaign, he got it on 15 February here.

Java: Historically fell March 8. In this campaign, April 25.

Sumatra: Historically 28 March. Here, the campaign is just beginning.

Burma: Historically, invaded December 1941; here I've invaded Thailand from Burma instead.

So, overall I think I'm doing OK. My biggest problem at the moment is that he's going to knock over most of Sumatra like it's nothing. Palembang itself will be a hard nut to crack, but once Palembang is isolated, it's going to become difficult to keep Singapore supplied and they're going to be in the same ticking-clock situation that Pearl is in. My best bet to change that situation is probably to re-invade Malaya from the north and start taking back airfields. But, with 2 enemy divisions deployed to Bangkok stalling my advance, and with my air forces suffering significant attrition, it's going to take a lot of reinforcements to get that moving again. Japan, on the other hand, seems to be suffering their losses with a smile and pressing on.

Of note, the Brits are now up to 3 carriers in theatre, which means if I had sufficient land and land-based air forces available, an amphibious operation bypassing Bangkok might just be possible. I might be able to scrounge up some armies in India, but fighters I just don't have right now. Without fighters to protect the supply ships I'd be bringing in to save Singapore (and sustain my armies), there's not much point.

I reviewed the Japan Economy Guide, and according to it, Japan starts with enough fuel to last 200 days--just for their economy, ship deployments are extra. They've also got a year's worth of oil to send to their own refineries, so after their stockpiles are depleted they can still produce fuel, just not nearly enough to sustain themselves. So that means they're probably going to be in dire straits before the end of June--but again, that doesn't account for ship deployments.

So far, he's seized small-ish oil/fuel centers in northern and eastern Borneo. (And soon, Surabaya will be producing for him as well, he just needs to clear out the defensive minefield.) I've been mining these ports pretty frequently, blockading them with subs, and even hitting convoys headed there with air attacks. That said, I know there are some tankers getting through. I can't really quantify it. He's also been refueling some of his fleets from these bases directly during high OPTEMPO, so a good chunk of his fuel costs aren't coming out of Japan's stores. And he'll be able to continue to operate in the Java Sea area using "my" fuel instead of Japan's.

Final conclusion on the fuel situation: He has to be under pressure. I don't know when it's going to become critical, but he's going to need to take Palembang and establish a safe convoy route at some point. Hopefully that pressure makes him take some bad gambles.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

But as long as he feels compelled to make Alfred Mayhan roll in his grave by dividing his fleet carriers, I'll be looking for opportunities to defeat a smaller group in detail.

Well, the Japanese made that mistake (Coral Sea, anyone?), so why shouldn't he be allowed to repeat the same mistake?






To add to your strategic outlook: your opponent has also lost way more ships than Japan lost historically (they didn't lose anything larger than a destroyer before the battle of the Coral Sea). That may save him some fuel in the long run, but I'd say he'd rather have his battleships and less fuel.


Your losses are also somewhat higher than they were in reality (mostly thanks to the ships destroyed at Pearl - is anyone of the ships there salvagable in your game?), but to a lesser degree.

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Your losses are also somewhat higher than they were in reality (mostly thanks to the ships destroyed at Pearl - is anyone of the ships there salvagable in your game?), but to a lesser degree.

If it's "sunk", it's gone. But I suspect that the game has something in the code that resists ruling a ship in port "sunk" unless it's hit really, really badly so that you end up with ships hit in port that can get back into the war months down the line. If Pearl only had the original 12/7 attack, I'd have a bunch of disabled battleships back in service by now.

At Singapore, the HMS Repulse is still under repair after being bombed repeatedly in port, I might get her back someday... in about 3 years.

[Molon Labe]

1 May 1942


Ceram Sea
The KVIII put two of its small-ish torpedoes into a cargo ship that appears to have been carrying an artillery unit, sinking it.

Hawaii
USS Pollack observed tenders and cargo ships approaching Lahaina and took a 4-torpedo shot at a repair ship. It missed. It tried to approach again but the seaplane tender in the group apparently had ASW capability, spotted it, and drove it off.

Timor
IJN Hiei and 4 destroyers approached Koepang to shell it and were engaged by 5 of my last PT boats. The PTs were spotted early and never made it to torpedo range, all were sunk. Their sacrifice prevented a substantial bombardment of Koepang, though. We launched several airstrikes against transports on the east side of the island as well as the Hiei but all missed.

We should have had additional strikes come in from Darwin, Australia, but deploying heavy bombers there depleted their supply faster than the roads could replenish it. Cargo ships with supply had just arrived this turn to start restocking the base, but too late to take advantage of the convoys spotted near Timor.

Strait of Malacca
The IJN Kako blundered into a light cargo ship that was running resources to Singapore but decided not to engage--indicating it's Winchester after its last shelling of Tavoy. No escorts. Later in the day, it was attacked by my Wirraways and Vildebeests from Singapore--YES! my torpedo bombers finally flew a mission! One Vildebeest was shot down by AA before it got close enough to drop, but we did hit it once. So now we have a wounded, unescorted, out-of-ammo (except AA) heavy cruiser limping through the Strait. Two submarines just finished repair at Singapore, so I've ordered them to blockade the southeast exit. The Brits have two task forces at the other side. Enjoy your future career as a reef, Kako.

Japan
USS Salmon torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship that was part of a small convoy passing between Kyushu and Okinawa.

Thailand
We had air battles around our northern and southern groups. These groups need names--going forward, the north group is designated Peter and the southern Lauren. Over force Peter, we turned away a Zero sweep, shooting down 4 and losing a Hurricane. Force Lauren was targeted with a raid of recently-arrived Sallies escorted by Oscars. Our fighters mostly ignored the Oscars and tore into the Sallies, we got 2 Oscars and 12 Sallies. There were about 50 bombers, though, and they dealt some damage to force Lauren. The enemy army attacked and casualties were regretfully even. I'm not sure if that's because of the bombers or if it their troops are just better.

Sumatra
Oosthaven's being bombed regularly now. We didn't get any fighters up to resist but shot down one bomber with AA. 23 paratroops landed near Benkoelen, a rear area base on the southwest side, apparently hoping to find it undefended. We wiped them out.

[Molon Labe]

2 May 1942
IJN Kako links up with Aoba and others, survives for now

Marshall Islands
USS Haddock spotted a tanker and two oilers in a convoy here and made a failed attack attempt. Interesting that these would show up here, there doesn't need to be a whole lot of fuel here... just enough to support the occasional supply run, ASW operations, and possibly a sub base. Makes me wonder if a major fleet--maybe the KB--is hiding in here where my scoutplanes can't see it.

Timor
Hiei bombarded Koepang; moderate facility damage, 2 bombers destroyed on the ground, a few more disabled.

Strait of Malacca
An enemy submarine got too close to Singapore and hit 2 mines. Should be a kill.

We didn't spot the Kako today, but we found the Aoba instead, also unescorted. Our Vildebeests flew two sorties against it. In the first, our fighters bounced a bunch of Zeroes that tried to interfere--5 kills. But the Aoba turned into the torpedo attack, causing it to miss. In the second sortie the Zeroes got to the bombers and shot one down. The rest were pressured and missed again. Scouts now report a single task force of 4 ships in the area--behind my sub blockade. Subs aren't very good for holding choke points, sadly. A 3rd sub just completed repairs/upgrades, maybe its new radar will give it a better chance. I've also got a new squadron of Beaufort torpedo bombers that should be ready to fly tomorrow, if the enemy is still in range.

Sumatra
Apparently needing retribution for the paratroopers lost at Benkoelen, he sent his bombers there today. Escorting fighters shot down a Buffalo, and his bombers killed a very proportional 30 people on the ground. A sweep against Tavoy resulted in 3 Oscars down along with a P-40 and a Hurricane.

I said earlier he was suffering the attrition here with a smile but I'm starting to reconsider that. We seem to be settling into parity. Or maybe he got tired of me bombing Hong Kong and sent some fighters from here to there. Also, I took a closer look at my reinforcements over the next month, and I actually have an American air group that's going to be available around the end of the month, 60+ fighters. If I'm willing to spend all my political points, I can afford a full division from India now, possibly another by the end of the month. So maybe I will have what I need to either take or bypass Bangkok to threaten the rest of Malaya.

Thailand
More troops are sallying from Bangkok. This could be bad. Force Lauren has been ordered to start moving back up the road northwest through the mountains.

Reinforcements
I think this will be worth mentioning going forward.
762nd Tank Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor (Full Strength--yes, it's annoying that they arrive in places under siege instead of off-map or close to it)
221st USN Base Force arrives at San Francisco (about half strength, restricted)
xAK Zachary Taylor arrives at Portland

Also, Avengers are now in production. 2 built so far.