Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Erkki]

Last turn was 141st... By 150th we will probably have Java nearly conquered, and I will make another theater-by-theater update with screenshots. By then I'll also have to decide what to do with the "phase 2" - to start digging or to launch new offensives with the by then freed 3-4 divisions + all the support units?

[Sheb]

My vote is on using those for an attack on Australia. Even if he's the hyper-cautious type, he'll have to react to an attack there!

[Erkki]

My vote is on using those for an attack on Australia. Even if he's the hyper-cautious type, he'll have to react to an attack there!

Broome and Derby are tempting targets. Darwin is already difficult enough to supply overland, but those are even further up the dirt roads... The supply flow is just single digit tons/day at best so they might as well be islands. Invading Darwin directly has the problem of DC guns and Darwin being within range of aerial transports and being easier to supply. Within a week we'll have more aerial recce units on Timor and we can start monitoring troop movements in northern Australia.

[inteuniso]

I tried playing this game.

I got very scared, very quickly.

[Anvilfolk]

Yeah, what broke me was the big responsibility and consequences... I mean, lose a big carrier battle and you're out of the war, for a game that takes months to play. It's pretty scary... that's why I resorted to try to shift responsibility to you guys with an LP

Also, I would love to see an attack on Australia, just for the "what if" scenario, but only do that if it's a viable option in the long-term. Are you trying to draw their carriers? Does Australia have decent resources that you can use? Is it a battle that can be won fully? It's hard to get a picture from this side

[Erkki]

Yeah, what broke me was the big responsibility and consequences... I mean, lose a big carrier battle and you're out of the war, for a game that takes months to play. It's pretty scary... that's why I resorted to try to shift responsibility to you guys with an LP

Also, I would love to see an attack on Australia, just for the "what if" scenario, but only do that if it's a viable option in the long-term. Are you trying to draw their carriers? Does Australia have decent resources that you can use? Is it a battle that can be won fully? It's hard to get a picture from this side

Northern Australia is very far from Sydney/Melbourne area and Perth... Theres just a single dirt road for a long way. Fighting there means Japanese lines of communication will be shorter than the Allies', while both sides must move and supply units by sea or air, mostly. Japanese dry docks and ports will be closer too than Allies'.

Holding northern Australia doesnt really provide Japan with anything important for industry... But it robs the Allies of a potential staging ground for air attacks or invasion of Japan's most vital holdings after Home Islands: Sumatra, Java and Timor. Any Allied attack there would first need to deal away with the Japanese bases in Northern Australia, buying time. I think my opponent might choose a safer but longer route(for example via Solomons and New Guinea) rather than risking with a series of CV-supported purely amphibious operations against northern Australia and then East Indies - right where Japan is at its strongest.

We should be ready in 1½ months.

[Hanzoku]

Plus it has the advantage of being an enormous thumbing of the nose at the Allies. The only thing that would be worse is if you managed to take and hold Hawaii or make landings along the West Coast.

[Zrk2]

Taking India would be a big 'fuck you' too.

[Korbac]

Historically, the capture of Australia may have caused the american public to think the war was further from victory than it really was, and would have caused them to pull out earlier. Is it worth any Victory Points? 

[Erkki]

Historically, the capture of Australia may have caused the american public to think the war was further from victory than it really was, and would have caused them to pull out earlier. Is it worth any Victory Points? 

Those bases are worth some VPs... But like I said, it would, or just holding enough of the bases, remove the direct threat of an invasion on Java, Timor or Sumatra until the Allies get bold enough to risk a direct carrier task force vs. carrier task force + Japanese land based aircraft battle. To be sure to to win just the carriers they need at least about 1,5:1 superiority, and it doesnt take many big airfields or many days warning to move in enough planes(especially the Japanese long range torpedo bombers G3M and G4M can be nasty) to make it an even fight or worse. And the Yorktown is already down... 

It will probably force the Allies to either wait for a year or longer or to advance through New Guinea and Solomons - and they dont have a foothold on either. And we are building bases and moving in more troops, aircraft and ships...

I'm looking for troops to use there, ships are no problem. We have about 2½ divisions' worth of infantry, some engineers and some other support units available within 3 weeks. As often, greatest issue will probably be managing and protecting the logistics and supply across the Timor Sea. We will need our Kido Butai.

I'll post a screenshot with some plans next turn!

[Zrk2]

I like this plan.

[Erkki]

For today we'll move away from the Pacific for a while. As I'm likely to be away tomorrow I'll post this today


Tomorrow, December 6th, is the Independence Day up here in Finland, the day when the not only the independence but the 3 wars that maintained the it are remembered: The Winter War, The Continuation War and the War of Lapland.

The 3 brutal wars saw Finland lose about 15% of its land area and 1/3 of agricultural land, including the 3rd largest city, to Soviet Union, have about 40% of the remaining burned to the ground by the Germans, and approximately 70,000 soldiers and civilians as dead or missing, 18,000 Germans and at least 400,000 Soviet soldiers dead or missing(official figure for Soviets plus about similar number of wounded and at least 10,000 more dead - the real, combined figure of dead and missing Soviets might be as high as 450,000).

By comparison, The United States lost 417,000 military KIA and MIA on all fronts and theaters from 1941 to 1945.

The Continuation War saw one of the(IMHO) most interesting battles of World War 2, the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive or the Soviet Fourth Strategic Offensive. It began only days after D-day in Normandy and had comparable resources, in both quality and quantity, in its use, but after a month of fighting the attack was stopped multiple times at its spearhead staging areas and was pushed back - the only Strategic Offensive ever to have failed. The often called as miraculous victories at Tali-Ihantala and Vuoksi-river made it necessary for the Soviets to relocate troops from elsewhere to be able to break through, but they no longer had time or interest to do that as the race to Berlin had begun.

During the Winter War, in the battle of Suomussalmi and especially its sub-battle Raatteentie-road the Soviets lost over 20,000 men as killed or missing for less than 1,000 Finnish casualties in less than a week. These battles made the Soviet plans for penetrating deep behind the border and cutting the country in half empty.



This monument, located near Raate, has over 20,000 stones, one for each fallen at Suomussalmi and Raate-road. The 105 bells symbolize the 105 days of the Winter War, slowly chiming in the wind. The plate reads:

"A man dies
     - but a memory lives"


Forgotten battles.

[Erkki]

It is now slowly, slowly, snowing here. Perfect.

[Fishbreath]

From a student of Russian and military history, serious props to the Finns. Their victories over the Soviets are rightfully the stuff of legend.

[Sheb]

Yeah, it was really a case of David against Goliath. Some of those battle, like Killer hill (32 Finns against 4,000 Soviets) makes 300 look like a family comedy. I'll remember not to invade Finland once I am World Emperor.

P.S. And then there is the most badass soldier ever, Simo Häyhä. That guys got an explosive round in his jaw ending his 504 killing spree, and he managed to grab his rifle and kill the guy that shooted him!