• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Just finished reading through. I'd have to agree this AAR is a bit more insane than Creek. Pity no chance of using Kanitalan tactics, would make your life a LOT easier.

OT: 4000 posts!
 
@Nathan Madien:
I may presume that Ozawa's fleet is to slow to catch Cabot, so it was not possible to hunt it.

@Remble:
Great to see more naval combat. And good job sinking a lvl 8 CV.
The airport of Damascus could contain fighters also, please be carefull.
So, you have opened a new fronline with the mighty English Empire, that might mean interesting ground combats (1947 vs. 1943 Inf. :) ). Keep your bombers at hand. ;)
 
Good luck i that fight. Another carrier under the sea. Slow marching in Russia as ever.
 
Remble:Thanks for your welcome and answer.:)
Great work, I admire your ability of putting your firepower to the right place at the right time.
The empire should never give up,Gunbate!
 
A wonderful naval battle, and one that went in your favour, too!

Totally unrelated to the above: I think that capturing Damascus will greatly reduce the Allied bomber forces (at least what's left of it after encountering your interceptors).
 
i was expecting an update today :(

then, let`s make it my turn :p

i was afraid when you first encounter with that 8level CV but you managed to sink without loosing any ship. congrats...

Remble, you and your rules ... i should have known that before suggesting you to move the TACs somewhere else. so, you`re not gonna send another wing to Middle East even you have a lot of TACs and CASs free in China.

however, i think, this situation does not make you loose but delay your victory. if you think you can not handle the situation in Middle East, you would send the extra wings. i got the point of your rules now :D

for the troops Mukalla, you can bomb the convoys. it is fun to destroy them, especially with the main fleets. i wonder where US will try to land them.

congratulations for 200 pages and 4000 posts

and another suggestion: don`t make this AAR too awesome in order to have a hope to break the page and post records in your following AARs :rofl:
 
safferli, Thurak - Thank you. I enjoy the Naval combat side of the game myself so I am only too happy to include some Naval action when it crops up :)

alan_le_cowboy - It is a possibility to invade both Oman and Yemen again but the priority is the Soviet Union. It would require a very large force to neutralise that American stack so I will try and just keep an eye on it for now. The ENG AI has woken up a bit :)

Nathan Madien, cosminus -cosminus is correct, the Cabot is far too fast to chase.

Ciryandor - Thank you and welcome :) My tactics are a bit slower than Kanitatlan's but I will get there in the end.

cosminus - Thanks. One less enemy Carrier is always nice. Allied Fighters will take a while to re-org if any are in Damascus so there is little immediate threat. I will keep an eye on proceedings though. My bombers are always close at hand :)

Inner Circle - Thank you. The shipping report will be very comprehensive in the Annual update that is not too far off. I will be using White Daimon's sunk ships calculator as normal for kills. I expect IJN Yamashiro is probably still way ahead on kills.

Lord Strange - Only another 5 or 6 months before the march in Russia speeds up ;)

fenrir8507 - Thank you and your welcome :) having the firepower in the right place is a lot more critical in this AAR as I have only limited resources to use. I can get away with a lot more as a major power with manpower to burn but have to be much more careful here.

Irenicus - If I am right about thirteen Carriers being defensive for the USN then there might not be any more large Naval action until they build some more. Iraq and Syria have been pretty unstable for the most part with the land changing hands a lot. I will use my tried and trusted method to reverse it again. Let them advance and bomb them to death then advance myself.

Sokraates - I got a little lucky as it turned to night after one hour of the battle otherwise I might have suffered a lot more damage. Getting back to Damascus might take a while :)

harezmi - Thank you. Something seems to be up with photobucket right now that is affecting uploading, as well as my busy with work the last couple of days. I sort of like my rules in general as they do make things a little harder for me, which is the main reason they are there. I won't be convoy raiding but I will watch those American troops with interest as I would love to catch them at sea with my Battleships. This AAR is already a lot larger than I expected it to be, but then again I also expected to be finished by now :)

Update to follow ...
 
Operation Lynchpin

7





0000 December 9th 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Babol, Persia.

The redeployments from the rear to forward positions had not taken as long as the previous ones which allowed Hata to order a larger advance onto Soviet soil.​

dec9470000gr2gf1.jpg

Fifteen divisions, led by Lt. General Okada's Armoured corps, began to move into Chardzhou which would allow further advances towards the resource rich provinces further east.​

dec9470900gr1iy3.jpg

Allied Strategic bombers had found a new target that was out of range of Japanese Interceptors. They began to target Baku and it's oilfields from their new base in Damascus. Trying to intercept the bombers would be more difficult but Fukudome would continue to patrol in the hope of catching the bombers.​






0000 December 10th 1947.
Diplomatic Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

Mamoru had been expecting his visitor as some decisions needed to be made and they had become more urgent of late.

"Come in Minister Ginjiro." he greeted his opposite number from the Industry department.

"Good morning Mininster Mamoru, I trust you are well?" Ginjiro asked politely.

"I am. I find an early morning cup of tea starts the day off well. Can I offer you some?"

"That sounds like a good idea."

"I take it you want to discuss the current Supply problem?" Mamoru asked as he poured Ginjiro some tea and handed it to his visitor.

"Thank you." Ginjiro replied as he took the tea. "You are correct, the situation has deteriorated fairly quickly."

"I thought as much. You can't increase Supply production then?"

"No. I do not have the spare capacity. There is only one way I can think of to solve the problem for the time being."

"I don't think the Military are going to like it very much."

"Starving soldiers would be more of a problem for them I would think, besides, the Emperor said he trusts us to sort it out and we have his backing to do so."

"True enough. So how many trades do you want me to cancel exactly?"

"Quite a few. All are from the same Country though which should makes things a little easier for you." Ginjiro said handing Mamoru a list.​

dec10470000gr1qy1.jpg

"We have enough Oil to cover all these?"

"I believe we do yes, and we have Abadan at full capacity now with Baku beginning to build up if Hata can keep the Allied bombers away from it."

"I will summon the Venezuelan Ambassador and let him know our predicament then."

"Thank you. I have time to finish my tea I hope?"

"Of course. It will take the Ambassador a while to get here."

"That is good then, I hate to waste good tea."

Two hours later the Venezuelan Ambassador left Mamoru's office looking for another buyer for his Oil reserves as all of Japan's trades for that commodity had been cancelled. The burden on Japanese supplies would drop considerably as a result which would allow the stockpile to begin to increase again instead of rapidly decreasing.​





1300 December 10th 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Babol, Persia.

The Lebanese advance was still moving forwards as Hata had nowhere enough troops in Iraq to halt it. He had one weapon that could stop them over time and he used that whenever there were no Soviet troops to destroy.​

dec10471300gr1ng8.jpg

Obata targetted the two enemy divisions in Aleppo trying to prevent them from attacking General Abe in Dair az Zawr.​

dec10472100gr1wc9.jpg

At 2100 hours the Lebanese had also moved into Hims and a two pronged attack began towards Abe's position. He would be left with no option but to withdraw again, this time towards Mosul.​





2100 December 10th 1947.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

The advance of the North China Army had given Higashikuni the opportunity to move his Headquarters forwards if he wished as there was little threat remaining to his position. He chose to remain in Lanzhou and allow other troops to capture territory.​

dec10472100gr2nz7.jpg

The Siamese Mountain division had completed it's advance into Yushu and was not counter attacked upon arrival. Six Japanese divisions from Kangding began to redeploy forward to support the Mountaineers as they gained a small period of rest after their march. The only enemy troops nearby were the Garrison in Golmud and a small Soviet army to the north west which was heading towards the Indian border and away from Yushu.​

dec11470300gr1gy7.jpg

At dawn both Japanese Dive bomber wings were in action. Five Soviet divisions in Dunhuang that had retreated from Xinjing were targetted by one group while the other concentrated on reducing the organisation of the Garrison in Golmud to allow an attack by the Siamese Mountaineers.​

dec11470600gr1tt0.jpg

That attack began at 0600 hours on December 11th as Huntracool led his troops against the demoralised enemy Garrison. The battle would not last long before the Soviet troops surrendered which allowed the Mountaineers to continue to advance towards Golmud.​





0000 December 11th 1947.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Qiqihar, Manchukuo.

Slowly but surely Manchurian troops were taking over the defences along the Amur to allow Japanese troops to redeploy forwards to support Terauchi and the East Asia Army.​

dec11470000gr1tq4.jpg

Four Manchurian divisions, led by General Zhang Jinghui, had completed their redeployment to Bogorodskoe which would allow a similar number of Japanese troops to leave the province. All six would move at once leaving just the four Manchurian divisions to hold until their other two divisions arrived in due course. There was no risk to the defences of these mountains as the Red Army had weakened it's own position across the river.​





0000 December 14th 1947.
Tokyo Airbase. Tokyo, Japan.

Four new Escort Fighter squadrons had just come off the production lines which resulted in the modern Tactical bombers returning to Tokyo to add them to their squadrons.​

dec14470000gr1fv7.jpg

Air General Kondo had given up his former command to take charge of these bombers as they were heading out to an island base where they would be looking for enemy shipping. Kondo was an expert at this type of combat.​
 
dec14470000gr2wa6.jpg

Initially he would head for Eniwetok Island in the Marshalls chain where he would be tasked with patrolling the area between the Marshalls and Hawaii.​

dec14470000gr3qi4.jpg

Admiral Shimada would also receive orders to head into the Pacific. He took command of four Destroyer Flotillas from BC Division 1, which was resupplying in Tokyo, and sailed towards the South East Mariana Basin to hunt an American Submarine Division that had been harassing Japanese supply convoys.​





0100 December 14th 1947.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

The slow pace of the advance frequently allowed the Soviets to redeploy forces in front of the Japanese troops trying to march through bad terrain in equally bad weather.​

dec14470100gr1pi9.jpg

A modern Infantry division had arrived ahead of the ten Japanese divisions marching towards Jinchang province and it would easily be overpowered by the superior numbers. The unfortunate Soviet division would also be targetted by all sixteen Dive bomber squadrons which would take very little time to remove it as a fighting force.​





0300 December 14th 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.

Hata and Hoshinata completed their move into Ashgabat without any further hinderance from Soviet troops which would allow them to continue their forward march.​

dec14470300gr1ck6.jpg

The Armour would head north towards Kulsary, which was the tip of the current planned advance north, while Hata made for Kungrad with his Headquarters division.​





1200 December 14th 1947.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Ahmadabad.

BB Division 1 had not waited long in Ahmadabad before Ozawa ordered his fleet back to sea once more. He had dropped off three ships including IJN Musashi for repairs.​

dec14471200gr1gx3.jpg

The remaining twenty ships headed back towards the East Gulf of Aden in search of more Allied ships to sink.​

dec16470000gr1rf8.jpg

Ozawa would receive a report from Gondo during his first patrol flight. He had encountered two Mexican Destroyer Flotillas in the North Central Hawaiian Rise, both of which he would damage but neither would be sunk.​





0000 December 16th 1947.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Chita, Soivet Union.

The lack of any sort of response to the Japanese advances north of Manchuria gave Terauchi a chance to further expand his gains.​

dec16470400gr1iy2.jpg

He ordered both the Japanese troops in Borzya and the Manchurian Mountaineers in Hailar to move towards Mogocha. Despite the mountain terrain, which favoured the Mountaineers, the Infantry were due to arrive well ahead Zhang Haipeng.​





0000 December 16th 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.

More redeployments would strengthen Hata's position as a Japanese Cavalry division arrived at it's destination.​

dec16470000gr2ac4.jpg

The Tactical bombers that were using Abadan as their airbase moved north to Baghdad which required a garrison division to suppress partisan activity in the not too friendly Iraq. The move allowed the bombers to reach further north and west which would be their two hunting grounds for some time as the Central Asia Army was already out of their support range in the east.​

dec16470700gr1mi6.jpg

Okada completed his initial advance into Chardzhou at 0700 hours on December 16th and was ordered to move forwards again. Samarkand would be his next target as it was adjacent to territory which was high on Hata's list to be captured. The Armour had already out-distanced the Infantry that was following and Okada's force was tiring.​

dec16471600gr1aq5.jpg

Hoshinata's arrival in Karbala was met by an attack from the west as British troops forced him to withdraw east towards Hilla. The Allies were increasing their forces in the Middle East quite rapidly after the fall of Syria.​
 
Still marching many hundreds of miles. Syria looks a bit worrying for now.
 
Remble said:
That attack began at 0600 hours on December 11th as Huntracool led his troops against the demoralised enemy Garrison.

Huntracool? Hunter Cool? Now that's a name to make Chuck Norris envious. :D

Remble said:
He had encountered two Mexican Destroyer Flotillas in the North Central Hawaiian Rise, both of which he would damage but neither would be sunk.

And never shall they be sunk. They're Mexican so they almost qualify for Brazilians. At least once Japan rules the world, they all will be the same.

Remble said:
He ordered both the Japanese troops in Borzya and the Manchurian Mountaineers in Hailar to move towards Mogocha.

Quite a risky move. While I don't expect the AI to react sensibly, there's still a small (albeit very small ... very, very, very, small) chance that the AI might try to exploit this. Ah well. Without any risks, this AAR won't be fun (at least not as far as the Manchurian front is concerned). ;)
 
Incognitia - It took about 18 months to grind the Soviets down but it does show that any size force is far from safe from a smaller enemy. Some bombers and a lot of patience is all it takes :)

Lord Strange - Syria is of some concern.

DvD-IT - I guess I did overlook that statistic. I am not sure if that is a good or bad statistic to be honest :)

Sokraates - Well Paradox gave me Banzai to use so I guess they wanted another commander with a decent name :) The Brazilians have an airforce as well. There is no risk with advancing towards Mogocha as all of the provinces east are defended. The only flank is to the west of the province and that is snow covered mountains with no defenders. The main advantage of this advance is to give me a good sized force at the corner of my defence which can be used to bounce Soviet troops that might march east or west. It can also support other advances when the time comes as it is on the Soviet side of the Amur river.

Update to follow ...
 
Operation Lynchpin
8





0100 December 17th 1947.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Ashgabat, Soviet Union.

The march north into the Kaukasus mountains was always going to be slow and was expected to take most of the Winter to accomplish. A total of only nine divisions had been allocated to capture the Central Asia Army's primary objective of Batum and its airfield. General Yamashita was leading this force with frequent enemy arrivals threatening to slow the advance even more.​

dec17470100gr1.jpg

The latest redeployment by the Red Army required some intervention as it could easily halt Yamashita's move into Kirovabad. Lt. General Honda had already reached Baku and provided support to allow Yamashita to continue his march. Hata might have to alter tactics a little in this harsh terrain and only allow one supported advance at a time once the current objectives had been met.​

dec17471100gr1.jpg

Obata's Tactical bomber group arrived ten hours later to destroy the Soviet division. For the first time in months Japanese bombers were intercepted over Kirovabad by Polish interceptors. Japanese advances were moving closer to enemy airbases and out of any fighter protection of their own which could see an increase in such interceptions over time. Obata fought off the two enemy squadrons fairly easily and caused much higher losses than he sustained. The Japanese bombers would fly again the next day unlike the Polish interceptors.​

dec17471200gr1.jpg

Hata himself was forced to halt his own advance abruptly as an enemy division moved into his path. He would not order supporting fire from Hoshinata's Armour and would merely await more of his own troops before advancing again.​





2100 December 17th 1947.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, East Gulf of Aden.

The main Japanese Battleship fleet moved back to the East Gulf of Aden in the hope of encountering more small enemy fleets to sink. The large American army build up had not altered to the north as Ozawa's lookouts spotted an enemy fleet.​

dec17472100gr1.jpg

The British Submarines were largely safe from a Battleship fleet and would only sustain minor damage during the brief battle before heading off to the east.​

dec18470200gr1.jpg

Word reached Ozawa during the early hours of December 18th of a small battle in the South East Mariana Basin. Shimada's small Destroyer fleet had been guided towards Admiral English and his Submarine Division by patrolling Interceptors resulting in the sinking of the 5th Submarine Division by 29 Kuchikukantai. Shimada headed back to Tokyo after completing his mission.​





0700 December 18th 1947.
The Skies Above Qumul.

The second Tactical bomber group operating in Asia had moved to Lanzhou as they began to run out of targets further north. Lt. General Itabana had taken control of this air group from Kondo who now commanded the newer bomber wing.​

dec18470700gr1.jpg

Itabana's first target was in Qumul province west of the current Japanese advances by the North China Army. He would be able to destroy his current target but any flights further west would be almost pointless with the presence of an enemy Garrison division guarding Higashikuni's primary target in Urumqi.​

dec19470700gr1.jpg

Obata's bomber group was still very busy in the Middle East as it switched to attacking newly arrived Allied troops in the desert to the south of Syria. There were still more Lebanese troops to destroy but Obata could only be in one place at a time. All requests by Hata for more air support had been denied by Tokyo.​

dec20470500gr1.jpg

General Abe would find himself moving again as his position was attacked from Dair az Zawr. He would withdraw towards Kirkuk and allow the enemy troops to advance on Mosul.​