The Setting Sun - Gotterdammerung, Japan 1944.

[DvD-IT]

2500 replies and still we're in 1946. Just amazing.

I second alan_le_cowboy's question: will you upgrade to '45 infantry? Are their better stats - and you mostly need good defensive stats - worth the price you are going to pay in the added Oil consumption?

But then your industry would take ages to upgrade them all, so perhaps the problem is out of the question. I mean, you'd be marching in Moscow by the time your industry upgrades them all.

 

[Sokraates]

Wow, that was a gigantic battle. Do you care to enlighten us on the exact number of casualties?

Kurt_Steiner's remark of the "long retreat" reminds me of Mao's "long march". As long as you will also turn out to be victorious in the end, I second this naming.

@alan_le_cowboy & DvD-IT: If I recall correctly, Remble stated that he will hold back on researching and upgrading to infantry 1945 for as long as possible, due to the additional oil consumption. This was the reason why he didn't research it in the first place.

 

[Thurak]

Wow, 13 against 30. They really seem to learn . The casualties would be very nice, indeed, so we know how often you can afford to do those counter attacks.

I wonder... you do not have the ´43 land doctrine?!? The one with another 40% night fighting bonus? That´s a very nice (casualty-minimizing) tech. I am sure it would be worth the time.

Well done in Ulan Hot, the defence holds (again).

For now.

 

[Kanitatlan]

The first Red Army division to enter Harbin attacked him during his march south. The battle between the two Headquarters divisions could have lasted for days had Fujie not decided to just withdraw.

If you had left this combat running any local ground attack air units would join in and kill the HQ. I guess this was probably irrelevant since all you wanted to do was move on but this can be a useful way to trigger air unit target selection.

 

[Manziel]

I think you should move some troops to Ulan Hot. 5-10 divisions more could make it much stronger without risking Mukden too much.

 

[unmerged(83956)]

i noticed the supply issue for the soviets seem to have been fixed too.

keep up the good work

 

[unmerged(108560)]

long time lurker...I must have read through your German AAR twice I was so impressed.
My hat is off too you on your ability to make me a believer in your skills at tactics and trade off analysis...and too make me want to give her the old college try myself...I'm sure I'll fail horribly but then again can't learn if ya don't fail
lets hope you can continue to frustrate the soviets long enough so that they make a fatal mistake....I've got faith....send them to hell...(I think they call it siberia)

 

[unmerged(59906)]

robou - it is indeed more vunerable. Thanks for pointing out the wrong name, its been edited

safferli - All the HQ's need to do is advance into Xinjing and they will die

alan_le_cowboy - Infantry '45 is a dilemma for sure. I don't need them against the Soviets really but the Allies are likely to be throwing Infantry '47 around and the differences between '47 and '43 are enough to need '45. I shall probably wait and see for a little while.

intruder alert - There is no accurate way to work out the Soviet air losses short of loading up as them before and after. Intelligence is wildly inaccurate for aircraft for some reason so the best guess would be around 10 squadrons lost but that is a conservative number.

Kurt_Steiner - Maybe its the volcanoes

DvD-IT - Infantry upgrades fairly quickly as it has short IC needs so the process would not be too bad. Oil is the bigger concern for the time being.

2500 replies is a very large number and, unlike Creek where 1/3rd of the posts were made by me, a larger number are from you guys. I thank you all for your continued patience as you follow along what is becoming a rather large AAR which seems to have some time to run yet.

Sokraates - Those battles cost me 2 MP. The majority of the losses were in Ulan Hot which had a force that contained 100% Manchurian forces. Funny how the puppets get to do the dieing sometimes isn't it? I am still holding back on Infantry '45 but it is getting closer to the time I will need it.

Thurak - Thank you. I have all but the final Land Doctrine so I do have the night bonus which is one reason I win night battles so easily.

Kanitatlan - Correct of course it would focus ground attack bombers. In this case I was leaving the province and my CAS can not reach the target. Xinjing and Ulan Hot are their maximum range from Dalian at the moment.

Manziel - Possibly but I have set Ulan Hot up like that deliberately as I know I will lose it as it can be hit from four directions. Mukden will then be the center of attention.

BobaFett696 - Soviet supplies are not toally fixed just yet but they do not run out until a couple hours before midnight which, for the AI, is very good supply control.

Cyphers Fury - Thank you very much and welcome to both the Forums and this little AAR Failure is a good teacher for sure, I lost count of how many times I have messed up especially when I was fairly new to the game.

Update to follow ...

 

[unmerged(59906)]

The Bear

21​

0200 September 18th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, Truk.

The lack of any reaction from the United States to recent island captures by Japanese forces in the Pacific led Ozawa to believe it was safe to move the only remaining Battleship fleet elsewhere.​

BB Division 1 set sail for Colombo to try and sink the American Transport fleet that was continuously harassing the island.​

0200 September 18th 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

Higashikuni did not have to wait long for Allied forces to try and remove General Abe from Multan province in India.​

He was ordered to retreat to Bikaner before sustaining any losses as his job had been done. Allied troops were more vunerable to air attack now that they had left their trenches.​

Further targetting problems over Mongolia led Higashikuni to alter his Tactical bombers assignment again. They would bomb the armoured formation in Gulja where they would succeed in destroying it. Soviet forces had captured the small airbase in Urumqi.​

1200 September 22nd 1946.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Mukden, Manchukuo.

The recent reversals for the Red Army in Manchuria had bought Terauchi some breathing space which was used to strengthen his position.​

The Imperial Japanese Navy had not been completely idle for the last two weeks as Admiral Kaga had embarked on a short tour of various Pacific islands. Six Infantry divisions landed in Andong province to secure that part of the line. These divisions had come from New Guinea and the three Mariana islands which were no longer defended. The almost total lack of enemy activity in the Pacific allowed the stripping of Japanese defences closer to Japan.​

At 0500 hours on September 26th General Krasnopevtsev led four Soviet divisions into Xinjing province in Manchukuo. Teruachi had wanted such advances to occur and ordered General Ando to remove the enemy troops. The attack used superior numbers forming an envelopment which would have been more than enough to dislodge Krasnopevtsev, the fact that he had crossed an invisible line also triggered eight Dive bomber squadrons from Dalian. None of the Soviet divisions, some being more modern, would leave Xinjing alive.​

0000 September 28th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, In Transit.

Ozawa was not expecting any reaction from the enemy but he had inadvertantly crossed a line himself it appeared.​

The invasion of Arorae had triggered a counter invasion from American forces which had cut off the single Japanese division on the islands. The Transport fleet in Vanua Levu was dispatched to pick the troops up before they could be captured. Ichimaru and Genda had managed to reduce the Submarine Divisions in Samoa to four, all of which were damaged.​

Things became worse when another small American Carrier fleet was spotted in the Southeast Marshalls. Admiral King was commanding the USS Shangri-La which was heading north towards Hawaii. Six Japanese Carriers were waiting if he came close enough.​

 

[unmerged(59906)]

0700 September 28th 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

More Soviet forces were still arriving on the borders with Japan and enough had now taken up position for another attack to commence. Higashikuni was surprised the enemy had taken this long to attack the weakest part of his line.​

General Ueda was ordered to withdraw from Kashgar immediately and headed towards Lahore to solidify the defences in India. Japanese troops in Hotan also moved south into the mountains of northern India.​

Further south the Allies had weakened the defences of Sukkur province which led to a counter attack forcing the mechanised division to retreat. No advance was ordered.​

Unfortunately this led to an Allied attack on the 29th which would force Nishihara to also withdraw. He moved towards Jodhpur to maintain a solid defence. Higahsikuni was not worried in the least as he had air superiority for the time being.​

0900 September 29th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, In Transit.

The United States Navy grew even bolder as Nimitz attempted to advance towards the Fiji Islands in the southern Pacific.​

CA Division 4 would force him to reconsider his objectives as it steamed towards his small fleet guns blazing. No ships were sunk but the American vessels all sustained damage despite the bad weather.​

0500 September 30th 1946.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Mukden, Manchukuo.

The realtive calm was broken in Manchuria as September drew to a close and the first signs of snow appeared far to the north. Terauchi had started the month withdrawing from Harbin and he would now order another force to move backwards.​

A second attack had been made towards Ulan Hot, this time with slightly more forces. Most of the attacking troops were not themselves vunerable to counter attack which left Terauchi with only one option. He ordered a withdrawal towards the mountains of Chifeng province. This province was much easier to defend and in turn made Mukden the linchpin of the defences where Terauchi had a larger force to contend with such a position. Soviet forces moving into Ulan Hot may not find it easy as both of the main attacking forces of the Kwantung Army were flanking the province.​

1100 September 30th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, In Transit.

Ozawa examined the report in his hand with some disbelief. The United States Navy was clearly over its defeat in the Pacific and was once again at sea in full force. The report indicated that every single American Carrier was now at sea and ten of them were operating together.​

Carrier Groups C and D were the target of the enemy fleet as they launched an air stirke against the port of Pearl Harbour. The defences were slightly more ready than when Japan had done the same thing with Yamashita's Interceptors airborne immediately to try and defend the Carriers. The strike had been launched at night but even so two Japanese Carriers were damaged as well as two American. The Japanese fleets sustained more damage and were far from safe in Pearl Harbour.

Had this attack occured during daylight hours the results could have been much worse. Ozawa would request permission to withdraw both Carrier fleets to Japan where they were safe even though this would leave the Hawaiian Islands without any sea defences.​

More American troops had landed in the southern Pacific to reclaim the islands recently captured by Japanese forces. Ozawa now knew that these islands would trigger a response as long as the United States had a fleet.​

 

[unmerged(47302)]

Nice report but... really too short! I wanted more!


Are you expecting bad weather on China ground for mid-october? Is there already bad weather on Russia ground?

 

[safferli]

Ikes! You found the remaining US carriers! What a terrible sight for Ozawa... ten carriers, all of them more modern than his own. At least the naval bombers now have something else to do rather than bombing submarines ad nauseam...

 

[Juan_de_Marco]

I think the rebuilding of the american fleet will be done sooner than you think. or were these all remaining carriers according to your figures?

 

[Sokraates]

Finally the USA have started responding to your attacks. In my opinion this can be only good for you, since you can only beat the USN when they are at sea ... or in some godforsaken fishing harbour on a non_name island in the middle of the Pacific.

Finding triggers is always fun. I guess one could more easily find them by reading the scenario files, but the classic, gameplay way is so much more rewarding.

On a sidenote: Manchuria looks rather crammed by now.

@ Juan_de_Marco: Yep, Remble said: "The report indicated that every single American Carrier was now at sea and ten of them were operating together."

So every US-carrier he knows about is accounted for.

So we should only worry about the ones he doesn't know about.

 

[genbrad]

that is a ton of carriers! Time to move the navs back to pearl I think.

 

[Thurak]

Whoooha, finally the USN is back to keep winter interesting. Nice move from them .

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Daring use of the carriers by the IA... Interesting... Your IA is reading your previous AARs and learning, methinks... :rofl:

 

[Porkman]

Does anyone else not love the idea of AI carrier striking pearl harbor? Seriously, good move by the AI and what not, but I think the narrative demands that this be framed as the start of the epic United States counteroffensive and the end of their retreat. This is like the Doolittle Raid.

 

[Raaritsgozilla]

Does anyone else not love the idea of AI carrier striking pearl harbor?

Also, US carrier striking Pearl Harbor... Ironic much?

"September 30, 1946... A day that shall live in infamy..."

 

[unmerged(87183)]

LOL, not a balanced fleet.

Nice to see the AI isn't totally dead, but it is still retarded.