A Slim Victory

[Case]

He seems to have stopped posting - there may be hope for the marriage after all.

Originally posted by EZRhino
Congratulations Boco. I'm not too far behind you

Congratulations as well!

[fairline]

Yes indeed - congrats Erin

[Boco]

Congrats, Erin! That's great to hear!

And yes Case, if the honeymoon in Bermuda was any indicator, the marriage has gotten off to a great start.

[EZRhino]

Thanks guys

[Cyrion]

Congrats to both of you!

[McMonkey]

Any news on this exciting scenario?

[Case]

*bump*

If you're still working on this Dave, you might be interested to see that the ever-wonderful Hyperwar has just added the first volume of the official history of US efforts in the CBI theatre at http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/...ion/index.html

[Boco]

Thanks, Case. This fills a gap in my reading: what happened to the Chinese troops in the Spring of '42.

Read your recommendation on the naval campaign. Found a good book on the air campaign. Bought but haven't read Slim's book.

Sadly, RL has inserted itself to the extent that I haven't worked on the map in ages. Nothing bad...just busy.

[Boco]

Africans and Storms

Anyone have references on the relative quality of African troops in this campaign? Were there TOE differences that would affect the stats of brigade size units? Assume that the divisional artillery will be separate units. Were there any reorgs that specifically affected the African units?



As a player would you mind using a bat file (or Merc's CivSwapper) to swap out files in simulation of dry and monsoon seasons? Btw, is Burma prone to cyclone/typhoons/hurricanes? If so, did any figure in this campaign?

Still plugging on the map....

[McMonkey]

I think a batch file for swapping seasons would be a must for this scenario!

I cannot find any TOE for the African Divsions but I have read that they preformed very well in Burma as did the Indian divisions.

Really looking forward to this

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

81st (West Africa) Division

History:
The inspiration for the division's formation came from General George Giffard, then commanding British India Command's Eastern Army, facing the Japanese army on the frontier between India and Burma. Giffard had wide experience with African troops, and was eager for them to participate in the war.

The framework around which the division was formed was the Royal West African Frontier Force. One of the brigades (the 3rd West African) and several of the supporting units which formed the division had already seen action with the 11th (African) Division, against the Italians in East Africa.

The division was established as the 1st (West Africa) Division on March 1, 1943. Three days later it was renamed the 81st (West Africa) Division, taking the next vacant number in the list of British infantry divisions. The division's badge was a tarantula spider, in black on a yellow circular background.

The division arrived in India on August 14, 1943. 3rd (West Africa) Brigade was detached to the Chindits, intended to garrison jungle bases for the raiding columns. The remainder of the division took part in the second Arakan campaign from February to May, 1944, operating in the Kaladan Valley on the flank of Indian XV Corps. Towards the end of the campaign, the division was forced to withdraw up the valley.

Rejoined by 3rd Brigade, and converted to a standard establishment, the division subsequently took part in the third Arakan Campaign in December, 1944. This time, the Japanese abandoned the province. The division was withdrawn to India to rest on April 22, 1945. On August 31, it was returned to West Africa and disbanded.

Character and Organisation:
The division was originally intended to operate on a pack basis, with porters carrying all equipment and supplies. Lieutenant General William Slim, then commanding XV Corps, commented on first inspecting units of the division in late 1943:

"Their discipline and smartness were impressive, and they were more obviously at home in the jungle than any troops I had yet seen... I was at once struck by two things. First, by the horde of unarmed porters who were needed to carry supplies, ammunition, baggage and the heavier weapons, and secondly by the large number of white men in a unit, fifty or sixty to a battalion. Accustomed as I was to Indian battalions in the field with usually only seven or eight Europeans, it struck me as an unnecessarily generous supply."

Order of Battle (as of February 1, 1944):
General Officer Commanding : Major General Frederick Joseph Loftus-Tottenham

5 (West Africa) Infantry Brigade
5th Bn. The Gold Coast Regiment
7th Bn. The Gold Coast Regiment
8th Bn. The Gold Coast Regiment
5th Light Battery, West African Artillery
3rd Field Company, West African Engineers
6 (West Africa) Infantry Brigade
1st Bn. The Gambia Regiment
1st Bn. The Sierra Leone Regiment
4th Bn. The Nigeria Regiment
3rd Light Battery WAA
6th Field Company WAE
Divisional Units
11th (East Africa) Division Scouts
81th (West Africa) Infantry Division Regiment
1st Light Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Tank Regiment WAA
8th Field Park Company WAE

3 (West Africa) Infantry Brigade (detached to Special Force)

6th Bn. The Nigeria Regiment
7th Bn. The Nigeria Regiment
12th Bn. The Nigeria Regiment

I expect you can find similar info about the other divisions on Wikipedia too!

[Boco]

Thanks for the feedback! Since I've got your attention , I'll ask. What types of terrain have you been using in your Vietnam map?

That Wiki entry, along with the Burmastar tidbits, was what started me wondering. Somewhere in my reading, someone noted that the West Africans were always capable offensely, but had vastly improved defensively by 1945. I'm guessing that the Brits gave them equipment of a quality somewhat lower than the Indian army.

Here's a question about air mobility. If I use a renamed unit flag (e.g. 'can see submarines' renamed to 'airmobile') to denote unit types, and then placed instructions in the appropriate spots in Game.txt, would a player chafe at a house rule limiting air transport to only airmobile troops?

[McMonkey]

In Vietnam I was using:



- Highways (Like Ricepaddy. I used this to mark where the roads would go to begin with. Normal move value, low defence to discourage road movement and promote VC ambushes!)

- Border (Only the communists can cross this Impassable terrain)

- Limit (Also impassable to US. Looks exactly like jungle. Placed along Communist AI's Ho Chi Minh Trail (RR) network. There are gaps left so that US forces can cut across it but not travel along it. I think I was going to rename it

- Jungle
- Rice Paddy
- Swamp
- Hills
- Highlands (The orange hills)
- Mountain
- Ocean



The Impassable terrain was the major advantage of ToT for this scenario. I may rehash this as a multiplayer MGE game one day and use houserules for the Borders and Ho Chi Minh Trail!

I think that a house rule about airmobile units backed up with some in game text would work for Burma!

[Case]

Originally posted by Boco
That Wiki entry, along with the Burmastar tidbits, was what started me wondering. Somewhere in my reading, someone noted that the West Africans were always capable offensely, but had vastly improved defensively by 1945. I'm guessing that the Brits gave them equipment of a quality somewhat lower than the Indian army.

I believe that the African divisions were somewhat lighter than the Indian Divisions. I can't remember why though. Both the divisions earned good reputations in Burma - though in fairness, all the Commonwealth forces seemed to have performed very well from 1944 onwards.

[Boco]

Thanks for the posts McMky. I've finished the first draft of the map (no cities, no trails, roads, or RR's). It's going to be a challenge to make the terrain contrast sufficient!

[McMonkey]

Looking really good! Can't wait to fight it out with the Japanese using Indian, British, Chinese, US, African and Chindit units

The use of Armour in the later stages of the campaign will be cool too. Can't wait to see all the units!

Basically I CAN'T WAIT, but I guess I will have to