RE: Once Again into the Breech (2024)

Sub War

Finally a success (at least from Japanese eyes). That US sub that has been frolicking around Truk ate a depth charge today. She’s just damaged, but I’m sure Ted will send her home to get repaired. It was one of those new Type 2 DCs. Very nice.

A few hexes north of Okinawa, the Plunger sank an Ehime class xAK. That was my fault. I wasn’t paying attention to that TF and didn’t set their route properly. The only consolation was that she had already unloaded.

I’m quickly learning that the PBs are of little use as ASW ships. Most use the Type 95 DC. They don’t have the depth (range?) to reach subs in deep water. Their only benefit is that they prevent Allied subs from surfacing and attacking on the surface. They are torpedo magnets. I am going to have to rethink my convoy escort plan.

The SCs aren’t much better. Their short range prevents them from being used as convoy escorts, so I use them in ASW TFs. Being tiny, they are hard to hit, so sub torpedoes usually miss. When they do get hit – matchsticks. They do attack relatively frequently, but rarely do any damage. I guess their benefit is that they use up Allied sub torpedoes so the subs have to go back to port to replenish more quickly. I get a lot of them, so I’m not too worried about losing them.

5 Fleet

Ted has several TFs hanging around in and near Dutch Harbor. Today, I just saw the generic types, cargos mainly, but there was one with CAs. That’s probably the bombardment TF. No sign of any carriers. I’m still moving forward with my plan and KB2 is moving north, still a few days from being in position to attack. I want to attack with my carriers from the SE of Dutch Harbor. That’ll keep me away from Unmak Island, where his air units are located. I still don’t think he has any fighters in the area, at least there aren’t any that can reach Adak. I want to attack from 7 hexes away. That prevents me from using my Vals effectively (2x 60kg bombs at 7 hexes vs. 1x 250kg bomb at 6 hexes). That’s ok. I keep their max range at 6 hexes. If anything blunders to within that range, the Vals will get them.

My cruiser fleet is safely out of range, but still hanging around, if needed. There’s an ASW TF just to the NW of Dutch Harbor. I think it’s going after one of my subs in the area. Should it head to Adak (he’s done that before), I’ll send in the cruisers for a bit of target practice.

Adak is getting supply again. The base is up to 545 with lots more in the pipeline. The ground units are repairing their disrupted squads and the engineers are working on the airbase. The runway damage is down 7% to 89%. It’ll be a while.

My ground unit reinforcements are nearing the Aleutians. I’ll hold them at Amitchka and send the ships in one at a time. I’ll probably send in some tanks first, since they’re going to arrive first.

Amitchka has received most of an air support unit. I want to station fighters there (Hiryu’s old fighter daitai, which I’ve been using for training). I’m going to send another air support unit to Attu. That one will house an Emily chutai from the Home Islands. Unfortunately, it will take a bit of finagling to do. The Emily unit is permanently restricted so the unit heading to Attu must be non-restricted to get there, then change to General Defense Army. Then, I can change Attu to General Defense Army so I can base the Emilies there. Fortunately, I have plenty of PPs to do that (currently 2700).

The Zeros that I station at Amitchka will be in and out of there. I’m going to use them to beat up on the Allied bombers from time to time. I don’t want to keep them there constantly, because Ted might send a fleet to visit them. I don’t want that.

I have a minelaying sub a few hexes off Adak fully loaded. If I see a fleet headed toward Adak, she’ll move in and unload her eggs. My goal is to have as many different platforms to counter Ted as possible. The mines will erode (which is why I haven’t laid them yet) but if I dump them at the right time and a fleet visits and eats one or two, that’ll slow Ted down. That’s the name of the game now, slow Ted down.

Finally, a midget sub arrived at Adak. Yeah, I know they’re pretty much useless, but you never know when you’ll get a shot in. Even if the sub misses (likely), the sub may force the enemy fleet to use op points and prevent it from effectively doing the nastiness it came to do.

4 Fleet

I keep saying that nothing is happening here. Actually, all kinds of things are happening here. I’m building up forts everywhere. Two of the 4 Marianas Islands are at fort level 6, with one increasing to 7. The other 2 are at 5+. I also ship troops there as I get them. My goal is to make those islands miserable for Ted to take. They will all have plenty of infantry, tanks, artillery and CD guns. I have plenty of air support so I can station aircraft there should the need arise. Currently, only ASW/naval search is present there. There is no need for anything else right now. The occasional Allied sub transits the area, probably headed to another hunting ground. It’s good practice for my pilots.

I build up airfields and ports very rarely because I don’t want to give a good base to the Allies. I understand that he will eventually be able to take just about any base he wants, but he’ll have to work to build them up (not that it will take much time with all the SeaBees he gets).

Aside from the Marianas, my major bases in this region are Truk and Kwajalein, with Kwajalein being only marginal. Everything else is pretty much the way it was when the war started other than increased forts. Wake is maxed out (6k troop max) with max forts. It has a tiny Nell (G3M3) unit of 2 planes that does naval search out toward Midway Island. Wake is just a speed bump, but one that can potentially trash an enemy regiment.

SE Fleet

The only bombing that happened for either side was my night bombing of Terapo. Minor damage there.

I have quite a few subs surrounding Noumea, just in case his carriers are still there. Ted said he pulled them out, but if the Yorktown took decent damage from the bomb hit, he may not have risked pulling her out. At any rate, I’ll have my subs hang around for a week or two, just in case.

Rabaul and Gasmata are still holding their own against Ted’s occasional bombing attacks. He still doesn’t have any fighters that can reach Rabaul and they usually get butchered when they fly over Gasmata. Shortland Island currently has only a sentai of Tojos, and hasn’t been bothered in a while. I may station some Betties there, just in case. None of my airbases in the area currently have any damage.

SRA

Other than the sub that is sitting off Davao, Ted is leaving me alone here. In my constant effort to harass Ted, I am building up an airfield (to level 2) at Saumlaki, which is one of the line of islands south of Ambon. It just reached level 1 today. If you recall, Ted kept Merauke and resisted a couple of my attempts at invading that damn base. That area is primarily under his control, but I night bomb Merauke when the bombers fly (1x sentai of Helens flying out of Hollandia). The damage is slight and easily repaired but I do destroy the odd fighter on occasion. Anyway, Ted keeps a small surface fleet to the west of Merauke, exactly 12 hexes from Saumlaki. It just sits there, apparently for defense. Merauke (which has 1x squadron of P-60 night fighters and 1 other squadron of fighters) is 14 hexes from Saumlaki. I have a 36 plane daitai and 9 plane chutai of Nells stationed at Ambon. Once Saumlaki reaches level 2, I’m going to move the planes there and set them at a 12 hex limit. Eventually, they’ll go after the surface fleet. I usually have ~3 subs in the area. I’ll make sure the subs are to the east, to pick off any cripples that survive the Nell onslaught. That’s my plan, anyway.

All of the stuff I get from Palembang (and all of Sumatra, actually) goes to Singapore. From there, large convoys move directly to the Home Islands. They have CVE support (ASW Vals) and some serious escorts. The convoys move on a specific route staying to shallow hexes as much as possible. I have air and sea ASW along that route for the most part. With the exception of the deep water hex just NW of Pescadores (which is not part of the route, but adjacent to it), Ted doesn’t have any subs around here. He will, eventually. Right now I have 4x Tonans (the 5th is still repairing after eating 2 torpedoes last July), 8x 12.8k TK, 11x 11.6k TK and 5x 8150 TK hauling fuel and oil (as well as some xAKs for resources). They are just keeping up with the production in the area. If I lose any, I’ll start to build up in Singapore. I’ll probably add a few more of the 8150 TKs to that convoy, just to be safe. I am getting a string of them out of production over the next few weeks. (The rest of those TKs are going to Manila or Babeldaob to haul oil/fuel to the Home Islands from those hubs.)

Miri and Brunei ship all of their oil/fuel to Cam Ranh Bay. CRB has a convoy that ships the stuff to Nagasaki. Here’s how I set this one up (it works perfectly). Miri’s oil was repaired to 300 and the refinery kept at 150. Brunei’s oil was repaired to 20. I set Miri to stockpile oil and Brunei to stockpile fuel (next game I’ll reverse it). Each base has 9x 1250 TKs in 2 TFs (4 & 5) with escort (1 To’su each). They are all set to CS to CRB. CRB’s convoy is 4x 11.6k TKs (46.4k capacity) with escort (3x Wakatakes I think, but it doesn’t matter). That convoy moves constantly, alternating fuel and oil. It’s the perfect set up. After it hauls one commodity and returns, there’s just enough of the other to fill the TKs and do it all over again. I wish the other routes were that perfect.

With the sub harassment off Davao, I have switched my hub from there to Manila and Babeldaob. Manila first.

Since I took the Philippines, Manila has been hauling resources to the Home Islands. Aside from what is mined there, there are about 5 islands to the south that produce resources. I use small xAKL convoys to ship it to Naga. (I think. It’s the base at the very tip of the southern PI peninsula.) Now, I also ship fuel from Tarakan there. That’s not a lot of fuel (24k per month) but I’m staying away from Davao for a while.

Babeldaob is the new hub for Babo and Boela, as well as the excess fuel produced from Java (about 40k per month). The oil from Samarinda also goes here. Balikpapan send’s its fuel to Truk. I use 2x convoys, each of 4x 7950 TKs and 4x Ansyu-C PBs. These run constantly and use most of the fuel produced at Balikpapan. The remaining fuel goes where needed.

Burma

Ted didn’t fly today. I guess he’s rebuilding his air units. My fighters are full of highly experienced pilots. They usually tear apart any air opposition. It’s fun to watch. Ted often says in emails how frustrated he is in this area. He thought he’d be running rampant here, but I constantly tear up the RAF and have his main army bottled up between Cox’s Bazaar and Akyab (on the road). Most of my army is there as well, but I have several other divisions that are free to maneuver. My attack to take Akyab is about a week off. Just waiting for the last of the assault units to get in position.

Back to my air force. I have most of the 3 Air Division in Burma. A few units are elsewhere. There are some recon units scattered around the SRA and a fighter sentai defending Palembang. The fighters, as I mentioned above, have high experience pilots. Every now and then, I pull out a few with experience in the 70s and replace them with some at 50-52. They gain experience very quickly. I have 5x bomber sentai (4x Helen and 1x Sally) here as well. They fly primarily night bombing raids. If they flew during the day, they would eventually be decimated. I don’t have the production to handle that. I produce 120 Helens and 40 Sallies a month, more than I expected to produce, by the way. The plan was for 90 & 40. Eventually, when I go on the defensive in Burma, I’ll pull the bombers out and use them for ASW. At that point, I expect to reduce my bomber production by 60-90.

The 22 Air Flotilla is also stationed in this theater. Most are stationed at Pt. Blair – 36 Zeros and 36 Betties, along with recon/flying boat. I have 45 Zeros on a CAP mission over Rangoon. I also have 45 Nells (G3M3 model) at Little Andaman Island. They can just reach Colombo at normal range. Ted has no fighters at Colombo. Eventually, they’ll pop some ships there. Finally, I have 31 Nells that have been flying naval search/naval attack out of Batavia. That reminds me:

I have Emilies flying naval search out of Christmas Island (IO) and Cocos Island, just in case Ted wants to sneak up on Java from that direction. Just today, I found an Allied TF to the SW of Christmas Island heading NE. I suspect it’s a bombardment force, to pester me and test the waters. I moved the Emily unit out of Christmas Island and replaced it with the Nells from Batavia. I’m hoping they blast the TF. I didn’t like putting them on the likely target, but I think it’s worth the risk. The only problem is that I have no subs in the area. I need to look at my sub allocation and have a division allocated here. Should be interesting tomorrow.

China

Not much happening here right now. Recall that I took Tuyun to build up to a level 2 airbase. I have achieved that a couple days ago and stationed an Oscar unit there. It’s the only Ki-43-IIa unit I have in China (the rest are the Ic). It’s trained for strafing and the plane carries 2x 250kg bombs at normal range (6 hexes). Tuyun just happens to be 6 hexes from Chungking, one of 2 bases that have Chinese air units. I’ve flown sweeps over Chungking the past few days with no bites from the Chinese fighters. I may move some bombers here to bomb Chungking or I may try a strafing attack with the fighters. I haven’t decided yet.

The 3 Tank Division is still taking replacements. It needs only 6 tanks and 8 motorized infantry squads to be up to full strength (other than some support squads). I was going to send it north to Urumuchi (however you spell it) to take the oil. I have a tank regiment and cavalry brigade rampaging around up there however and may try to take it with them first. We’ll see. At any rate, I don’t think Ted knows of the tank division’s existence. It’ll be a reserve for now. Soon, Northern China will be mine. I’m slowly pushing the Chinese into the 4 base box with Chunking in the SE part of the box. China is mine for the taking, at least everything other than that box. My intel says that there are over 500k troops in Chunking. If I can take most of the resources and LI that China still owns (500 LI and enough resources to support them I believe), then they’ll starve. I figure I’d capture about half of the LI intact. An extra 250 supply a day can’t hurt. If I am able to do this in China, I’ll form a ring of steel around that box and fly LRCAP over Chungking to kill transports trying to fly supply in. Then I’ll consider what to do with the excess, high experience, divisions in China. They won’t be able to be moved out very quickly, because of the PP cost.

Other Stuff

I’ve changed my thoughts on training pilots. The IJAAF pilot pool is now below 1000 constantly. I have upped the requirements for pulling pilots out on training and into the reserve. Here’s an example:

Right now, I have 350 IJAAF fighter pilots in the reserve. About half are in the 50-53 experience range and the rest are at 70+. I don’t pull fighters out of training units until they hit a minimum of 52 exp/73 air. If I had stayed at 50/70, I’d probably be out of pilots in the pool by now. Another option is to continue with the 50/70 requirement and then when I am out of pilots in the pool, pull the lowest pilots from the reserve to increase their levels.

I still have 1500 IJNAF pilots in the pool. I have increased their requirements as well but am thinking I should keep them at 50/70 so I can train more. I have only 150 pilots in the fighter reserve. Gotta think about that some more.

Total reserve pilots to date:

IJAAF: 1192
IJNAF: 678

I did notice that I got my increase in new pilots in training this month. That’s nice, but it will significantly increase my HI cost at the end of the month. I hope I can keep banking 100k HI each month. We’ll see.

One last thing. I’ve noticed that when my CLs upgrade, they lose their air capacity. I’m beginning to get all these 1 plane FP units. I’m going to increase their capacity to 9 (by using an AV). Then I’ll fill them out with ASW or naval search pilots and put them where needed. I may use them in pairs, 1 with ASW and the other with naval search pilots. Not sure if it helps, but it can’t hurt.

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