Eisenhower in the Pacific: Part 1 The Shoestring Warriors of Luzon

[galveston bay]

So the question is, have the Japanese noticed all the build up and made any changes to the invasion plans?

they did historically

Note that this PA is about 40,000 men (and 4 divisions) smaller than the historical one and the only non historical reinforcements are a division HQ, an infantry regiment and a horse cavalry regiment. The air element is about the same size in terms of fighters, although dive bombers have been switched out from the B17s (54 A24, 6 B17 vs historical 35 B17s) which is only about 25 more aircraft

What is important from their stand point is the hardening of the American airfields with revetments

So for now no changes in forces allocated

 

[zert]

Just caught up on the burst of updates today. Things have finished up with the build up. Now the final order of battles, the Japanese landings, and the fall out from their getting smacked. They will still win, BUT they will pay the price for their evil actions.

 

[Airship_pirate1901]

It was never mentioned but how much cross training has been done between army and navy pilots? I ask this because one of the design criteria for the B17 was anti shipping strikes.

 

[Shanghai61]

I'd add that without accurate maps you can't have any artillery fire plan, or at least one that isn't a greater danger to your own forces than the enemy.

The British maps are called 'Ordnance Survey' for a reason.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

I wonder how the Japanese will deal with this different Phillipines...

 

[Driftless]

the islands are big enough that it is hard to put a detailed map of the whole chain on a single page!

I will be using smaller detailed maps of specific areas

The country is surprisingly large, covering over 1100 miles from north to south and over 600 miles east to west and is geographically complex:

The Philippines occupies an area that stretches for 1,850 kilometers (1,150 mi) from about the fifth to the twentieth parallels north latitude. The total land area is slightly more than 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi). Only approximately 1,000 of its islands are populated, and fewer than one-half of these are larger than 2.5 square kilometers (1 sq mi). Eleven islands make up 95 percent of the Philippine landmass, and two of these — Luzon and Mindanao — measure 105,000 square kilometers (40,541 sq mi) and 95,000 square kilometers (36,680 sq mi), respectively. They, together with the cluster of islands in Visayas in between them, represent the three principal regions of the archipelago

 

[ExScientiaTridens]

Wow! This is really going to be interesting. Plausible changes have been made to the force structure that will make life much harder on Homma and the 14th Army. He required reinforcement to finish the job in the OTL and his job has become considerably harder ITTL. Eleven months of training is a massive difference relative to OTL in and of itself; let alone better organization, equipment and command. This could have widespread impact on Japanese war plans for 1942.

 

[RyderWest]

Wow! This is really going to be interesting. Plausible changes have been made to the force structure that will make life much harder on Homma and the 14th Army. He required reinforcement to finish the job in the OTL and his job has become considerably harder ITTL. Eleven months of training is a massive difference relative to OTL in and of itself; let alone better organization, equipment and command. This could have widespread impact on Japanese war plans for 1942.

Thats what you get if you have multiple, complex naval and land operations operating on the same timetable and relying on each other to make the others work.

One screwup and the whole timetable goes to hell.

Besides, the Kido Butai is off Hawaii, and the losses suffered by the fleet there means that help isnt going to come around easily.

 

[viperjock]

In this timeline will the ship carrying the vehicles for C -Force still end up in Manila?

 

[vl100butch]

One comment about the 2.95 inch mountain guns...they can be taken apart and put on muleback, why not take them apart and put them in the back of a truck and hang the wheels on the sides or on the tailgate (depending on the size of the truck)...this piece is the grandfather of the 75mm pack M-116/120

 

[galveston bay]

One comment about the 2.95 inch mountain guns...they can be taken apart and put on muleback, why not take them apart and put them in the back of a truck and hang the wheels on the sides or on the tailgate (depending on the size of the truck)...this piece is the grandfather of the 75mm pack M-116/120

because a gun hidden under cover has a far smaller target signature and is far easier to conceal than a truck and its a pretty small gun that can be hidden in advance

for mobile AT, there are the halftracks with 75 mm guns

 

[galveston bay]

In this timeline will the ship carrying the vehicles for C -Force still end up in Manila?

yep, which means that the USAFE gets some Bren Gun Carriers

alas they wouldn't have helped the Canadians in Hong Kong because of command failures and severe issues with being massively outnumbered

 

[vl100butch]

because a gun hidden under cover has a far smaller target signature and is far easier to conceal than a truck and its a pretty small gun that can be hidden in advance

for mobile AT, there are the halftracks with 75 mm guns

I'm sorry, wasn't exactly clear...what I mean is that the guns don't necessarily need to be abandoned, take them apart and man-pack back to the truck(s)...

 

[mattep74]

I think the Japanese will have less victory decease ITTL

 

[Butchpfd]

With the changes in command does this mean that the Army will actually pay attention to the information coming from Hart'staff and Station CAST, code team?

 

[Driftless]

My understanding of Kruger is: very capable, careful but willing to go for the bold stroke in a pinch, and plays nice with the Navy and Air Corps. Does that sound correct?

 

[TonyA]

My understanding of Kruger is: very capable, careful but willing to go for the bold stroke in a pinch, and plays nice with the Navy and Air Corps. Does that sound correct?

Sounds too good to piss away on the P.I.

 

[galveston bay]

I'm sorry, wasn't exactly clear...what I mean is that the guns don't necessarily need to be abandoned, take them apart and man-pack back to the truck(s)...

depends on how much tactical pressure they are under, whether the crews have suffered casualties, and whether the morale of the gun crew holds up under fire and from 'tank fright'

 

[galveston bay]

My understanding of Kruger is: very capable, careful but willing to go for the bold stroke in a pinch, and plays nice with the Navy and Air Corps. Does that sound correct?

yes that is basically my understanding of him. Now I have seen criticism of his handling of the 1944 Luzon campaign, mainly for over-caution and lack of imagination, but on the whole competent, diplomatic and effective.

He likely would have sat out the war in the United States if MacArthur hadn't requested him. Although in my view the best army commander MacArthur had was Eichelberger.

 

[naraht]

I realize this would probably make things *worse* for the Filipino people, but is there any chance of the American pre-emptively giving independence to the RP in the middle of the fight (or even earlier) and then the Filipino government evacuating to some place in the middle of Mindanao or similar, thus requiring the Japanese to conquer the entire country? That would take even more troops.