EA Damian(J) V Nemo(A) "Renaissance"

[n01487477]

15 May '43
Second day of being hammered, 300 planes mostly Transports are hit at Okinawa. My fault really .. but the Aliens have invaded and the Death Star looms ominously over all my bases. Might be time to move everything back to the Home Land and try some bombing of my own... this means giving up the Philippines, but that will be a small price against the HI losses that will happen quickly if I'm not too careful.

[n01487477]

16~19 May '43

Having been forced out of Nanking a few days earlier, a few days of sweeps over Shanghai, have been costly for both of us ... until today. Today the big guns fired and Nemo sent in a large amount of his assets, he suffered worse in numerical numbers lost, but I lost the sky over Shanghai and China now descends into more turmoil.

I don't usually post combat reports, but just want to give you a sense of what was sent against Shanghai ...

Day Air attack on Shanghai [E China] , at 52,39

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 12
Ki-44III Tojo x 153
Ki-115 Sabre x 25
Ki-43-II Oscar x 32

Allied aircraft
B-25H Mitchell x 16
B-25J Mitchell x 37
B-26A Marauder x 39
F4U-1 Corsair x 115
P-40N Warhawk x 41
Beaufort VII x 53
Spitfire VIII x 18
IL-4C x 11
La-5FN x 22
Pe-2 x 139

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 7 destroyed
Ki-44III Tojo: 68 destroyed, 17 damaged
Ki-115 Sabre: 25 destroyed
Ki-43-II Oscar: 29 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-25H Mitchell: 6 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 14 destroyed, 9 damaged
B-26A Marauder: 7 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 93 destroyed
P-40N Warhawk: 2 damaged
Beaufort VII: 16 destroyed, 3 damaged
Spitfire VIII: 11 destroyed
IL-4C: 6 destroyed
La-5FN: 20 destroyed
Pe-2: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
117 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 2

Airbase hits 27
Airbase supply hits 13
Runway hits 281
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Shanghai [E China] , at 52,39

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 2
Ki-44III Tojo x 49

Allied aircraft
F-4 Lightning x 3
F4U-1 Corsair x 5
P-38G Lightning x 76
Lancer x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 6 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-43-II Oscar: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 2 destroyed
P-38G Lightning: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Lancer: 6 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Shanghai [E China] , at 52,39

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 2
Ki-44III Tojo x 47

Allied aircraft
A-24 Dauntless x 16
Spitfire VB x 24
SBD-3 Dauntless x 323
SBD-5 Dauntless x 16
TBM-1 Avenger x 163

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 3 destroyed
Ki-44III Tojo: 14 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-115 Sabre: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Dauntless: 1 destroyed
Spitfire VB: 12 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 51 destroyed, 13 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
TBM-1 Avenger: 32 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
72 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 139
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Shanghai [E China] , at 52,39

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 1
Ki-44III Tojo x 41

Allied aircraft
A-20B Boston x 46
A-20G Havoc x 111
B-17E Fortress x 111
B-24D Liberator x 113
B-25D Mitchell x 106
B-19A x 40
P-51B Mustang XP x 28
Hudson IV x 30
Mitchell III x 3
Wellington IC x 36
Spitfire PR.XI x 6
IL-4C x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 2 destroyed
Ki-44III Tojo: 11 destroyed, 17 damaged
Ki-115 Sabre: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-20B Boston: 2 destroyed
A-20G Havoc: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 7 destroyed, 5 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 12 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-25D Mitchell: 6 destroyed, 3 damaged
B-19A: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-51B Mustang XP: 11 destroyed
Hudson IV: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Wellington IC: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
IL-4C: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
43 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 33
Airbase supply hits 9
Runway hits 373

100 Allied SS's are confirmed sunk ... and they still come - I bet there are another 200 to replace them.

Over the last few days Nemo has moved a large group of TF's toward Kendari first and then Balikpapan ... and now I'm not sure where they are heading [&:]

[pat.casey]

Is Shanghai salvageable? Can you bring in more fighters and put up another CAP like that?

<snip>

[Capt. Harlock]

Nemo sent in a large amount of his assets, he suffered worse in numerical numbers lost,

Just wow.[X(][X(] I don't think I've ever seen 93 corsairs destroyed in a single raid before. At least you can say you put up a whale of a fight.

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: pat.casey

Is Shanghai salvageable? Can you bring in more fighters and put up another CAP like that?

<snip>

Shanghai is pretty much done, it just takes too long for the Japanese to repair damage to airfields and Nemo has moved onto destroying my HI.

20 May '43
Sent my Angels and Betty's into Anking, most of the Betty's were destroyed to ground fire.

Day Air attack on Anking [South China] , at 49,37

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 159

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 13
Spitfire VIII x 4
La-5FN x 3
Yak-3 x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 58 destroyed, 43 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged
Spitfire VIII: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
La-5FN: 2 destroyed
Yak-3: 2 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Anking [South China] , at 49,37

Japanese aircraft
Ki-264 Angel x 133

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 12
Spitfire VIII x 3
La-5FN x 2
Yak-3 x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-264 Angel: 6 destroyed, 39 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
La-5FN: 10 destroyed
Mitchell III: 1 destroyed
IL-2M Shturmovik: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
92 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 24
Airbase supply hits 12
Runway hits 163

Unfortunately, the large amount of LB here was bombing the "crap out of Shanghai", so I got very few hits on them.

[*]Near Makassar, Nemo moves his CV's back to protect the last TF in the group (see pic from last post), killing 80+ DB/TB. CAP over the target indicates all his CV's have only fighters.

21 May '43
[*]Shanghai's HI is destroyed in 2 separate raids, 369 hits result in 57(393). Nemo plans to hit 1000 HI/ mth according to email, I think this is very cautious. He also suggests I have 50 fighters over each base, this is highly enthusiastic too, I've not had new fighter groups avail for 2/3 months and am using Sabres over many less essential bases.
[*]Nemo's TF near Makassar moves West of Borneo heading North, he's coming over the top ?
[*]Fuel - Nemo writes he has just stocked 1,000,000 at Hong Kong, this is more than I have available.

Some Correspondence

Nemo: The funny thing is that I am considerably constrained by air basenumbers and sizes. I have over 3,000 planes in China but can't bring more than 1500 to bear in a single day because of airbase size and numbers. Soon though I'll have quite a few more airbases and then we'll see some real continuous action. Plus I had to wait to have the supplies on hand to support the bombers and troops. For the first time in the war almost all the Chinese armies have full supplies. So soon the Shanghai-area bases will get to see what facing 13,000 AV of Chinese troops with 60 to 70 Exp PLUS full supplies is like. I think it'll be short and bloody ... especially now that I have air superiority
....
Naval forces: Hmm, you must be short of fuel now. I've seen you sneaking into Tarakan etc. You'd only do that if you were desperate....I'll tell you that in two weeks time I'll have a total of 1,000,000 tons + of fuel at Hong Kong ready to ensure that I won't have to worry about fuel before going for operations around Japan. The amount of American stuff just lying around is amazing. How Allied players don't advance more quickly in this game as amazing to me... They must just have no strategic nous at all.

[Capt. Harlock]

Sent my Angels and Betty's into Anking, most of the Betty's were destroyed to ground fire.

I would advise choosing a different altitude for the Betties. This appears to be the worst of both worlds, where they get chewed up by AAA, but somehow register few hits.

I see Nemo is playing his head game. I think most Allied players don't advance that fast because there are very few Allied players of this particular mod!

[n01487477]

21~26 May '43

Just lots of manoeuvring, not much action until today, where Nemo once again got it right and sent in some bombardment TF's to Balikpapan, and sank a few TK's ... not that I'm too worried I have plenty of TK's, plenty of oil and it was just a stupid move to pick up some oil.

I had thought of going for Ambonia, with massed CV's but pulled back from action. The large Armada has been spotted again North West Borneo, but they are now heading East and anything is possible.

Sent in the Angels to the Soviet base NW of Okha, didn't catch much on the ground unfortunately, whereas the Allies destroyed 52 Betty's on the ground at Balikpapan without even a recon flight (and my guys not hitting the TF's).

Most of my troops are heading back to Peking now, or will be in the near future.

BTW, if anyone wants to look at the savefile, pm me with email.

[1EyedJacks]

Just curious - that allied ground fire - are there many radar assisted AA units in May of 43? Was there any CAP over the base? And what was their altitude? And when you look at actual aircraft losses for that day - did you really lose the 58 Betties?

Regarding Naval Search - have you tried taking long-rang LB/Recon units, dropping their range to 50% @ 6k, and setting them @ 30% rest/training?

I was getting pretty good intel this way. Of course the weather sucks half the time with Advanced Weather on anyway... lol


ttfn,

Mike

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: 1EyedJacks

Just curious - that allied ground fire - are there many radar assisted AA units in May of 43?

Yep radar assisted, but they were on Formosa and I'm still extracting them for Korea / Japan. They didn't do much to help the cause there though, the Allies just get better AA results no matter the mod[8|] .

Was there any CAP over the base? And what was their altitude? And when you look at actual aircraft losses for that day - did you really lose the 58 Betties?

The first sweep with 100 CV fighters flown in blew my 40+ CAP of OscarII's and FB out of the way, then there were 2/3 other raids that finished off the field... and yes, I always talk actual a/c losses, not the combat report which I've attached. His LB came in at 1000 feet.

Regarding Naval Search - have you tried taking long-rang LB/Recon units, dropping their range to 50% @ 6k, and setting them @ 30% rest/training?

I was getting pretty good intel this way. Of course the weather sucks half the time with Advanced Weather on anyway... lol


ttfn,

Mike

Good Advice, I'll check that out.

[n01487477]

27~28 May '43

Both Balikpapan and Tarakan are shut down by Nemo ... I can imagine him saying "fly my pretty's ..." cackling into the night [;)]

Transports are heading NorthEast and his surface fleet seems to be near Brunei. I'm moving to intercept, but this is the worst time in recent months where I've got the fleet at its worst state of fuel/preparedness and that is how this is going to happen. So be it.

[n01487477]

29 May '43

Having stacked my LB at Manila, with 200 F/FB capping, Nemo came in and we blew each other apart. Small groups still went AK/AP hunting, but were blown apart by the CAP from Nemo's CV's. My CV's are still out of position, tracking to get there in time, but I feel the pigeons have flown the coop. Total losses for the day: Japanese 255 V 218 Allies.

The long range P-51B Mustang XP, gives Nemo an advantage, but he won't be able to do that too often, killed them all [:D] But the damage is done, with huge numbers of damaged a/c and the base is closed. Moved them to Clark, but I think that I will have to be very lucky for them to fly next turn. So with no chance to hit the Allied Armada, I'm thinking that Japanese LB is becoming useless for Naval interdiction and I'll be looking to rebuild them and use them as airfield suppression again. Ultimately as Japan becomes more encircled, they'll be short range escorted to targets.

China is becoming a real problem, time to hit the turbo switch and go for broke.

Day Air attack on Manila/Cavite [PH] , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 70
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 66
Ki-109E Mike x 28

Allied aircraft
A-20B Boston x 47
A-20G Havoc x 99
B-17E Fortress x 107
B-24D Liberator x 127
B-25D Mitchell x 154
B-25J Mitchell x 12
B-19A x 30
P-51B Mustang XP x 39
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 12
Hudson IV x 30
Mitchell III x 5
Wellington IC x 146
Spitfire PR.XI x 7
IL-4C x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 22 destroyed, 26 damaged
Ki-45 KAIb Nick: 27 destroyed, 12 damaged
Ki-109E Mike: 22 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 30 destroyed
Ki-49 -I Helen: 32 destroyed
H6K2-L Mavis: 5 destroyed
H8K2 Emily: 5 destroyed
G9M1 Marlina: 2 destroyed
H8K2-L Emily: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-20B Boston: 12 destroyed, 1 damaged
A-20G Havoc: 23 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 25 destroyed, 10 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 22 destroyed, 7 damaged
B-25D Mitchell: 29 destroyed, 5 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 2 destroyed
B-19A: 5 destroyed, 3 damaged
P-51B Mustang XP: 36 destroyed
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 4 destroyed
Hudson IV: 6 destroyed
Mitchell III: 2 destroyed
Wellington IC: 26 destroyed, 5 damaged
Spitfire PR.XI: 1 destroyed
IL-4C: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
581 casualties reported
Guns lost 22
Vehicles lost 13

Airbase hits 29
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 157

[n01487477]

As Months end economic review ... aircraft and engines (everything looked really good with LB until last turn)

[n01487477]

Another screen of Oil/Res ... as you can see I'm ok with Oil, still struggling with Res. Wish I could get some out of Formosa, but it's suicidal. Manchuria still exports, but in in the next month I dare say that avenue will be cut and I'll be on countdown or hoping to draw Res into Korea. Fuel is terribly low ...

[n01487477]

30 May '43
Just goes to show I'm never going to defeat Nemo121 in the air, sea or land ... I knew he has stacked fighter units in his CV's, I just don't have enough fighter groups to do the same and here we are 6 CV's, 8 CVL, 8 CVE's:- broken into 4 CVTF's of 200 a/c each and I can't break the cap down. Sure I got a few leakers put 1 bomb into CVE Chenango and 1 into CV Saratoga but Uber-cap has done the job for him. I'm retiring back to Davao to lick my wounds. The transports seem to be heading to Saigon, but I guess they'll change course and head East again soon.

Every move I've made, Nemo seems to be light years ahead of me, always within range of a base to LRCAP or have PE's to keep me at bay. I think the Japanese have many advantages in this mod, but the Allies have easy counters to each. I should have had battle around Port Moresby, but for fuel problems ... now the flotilla with ships as far as the eye can see, is heading for safety and I've got nothing left but to watch. My CV's will be used up guarding the approaches to Japan, when they should be blue water sharks. He get some Essex class CV's soon and that will, the next thing to watch.

Marcus Is, gets hit by LB and now I know the struggle for CPac has started ... not enough fighters and Nemo is everywhere. I know he is weak in some regards, but when you only guard 4/5 bases which I cna hit, you can do a mighty job of guarding them. He does it simply, by concentrating force ... I wish I could do the same, but am defending too much, and in doing that, I will falter faster.

Day Air attack on TF at 35,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 5
B5N2 Kate x 14

Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 43
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 53
F4F-4 Wildcat x 66
F6F-5 Hellcat x 125
P-51B Mustang XP x 5
P-38G Lightning x 24
Boomerang II x 3
Lancer x 26

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 5 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 14 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged
Lancer: 1 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 37,51

Japanese aircraft
Ki-115 Sabre x 5

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
LCT LCT-172
LCT LCT-171

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Ki-115 Sabre bombing at 2000 feet
4 x Ki-115 Sabre bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 35,50

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 5
A6M2-N Rufe-FF x 1
Ki-44III Tojo x 123
D3A2 Val x 42
D4Y2 Judy x 15
B5N2 Kate x 70
Ki-115 Sabre x 9

Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 43
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 53
F4F-4 Wildcat x 66
F6F-5 Hellcat x 125
P-51B Mustang XP x 2
P-38G Lightning x 8
Boomerang II x 2
Lancer x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 5 destroyed
A6M2-N Rufe-FF: 1 destroyed
Ki-44III Tojo: 93 destroyed
D3A2 Val: 28 destroyed
D4Y2 Judy: 13 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 40 destroyed
Ki-115 Sabre: 6 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Seafire II: 17 destroyed
F4U-1 CV Corsair: 25 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 66 destroyed
F6F-5 Hellcat: 53 destroyed
P-51B Mustang XP: 4 destroyed
P-38G Lightning: 43 destroyed
Boomerang II: 5 destroyed
Lancer: 56 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Chenango, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVE Suwannee
CVE Sangamon
CVE Copahee
CLAA Juneau
BB Indiana
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 1
BB Massachusetts
CVE Altamaha
CVE Nassau

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x D4Y2 Judy bombing at 2000 feet
2 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
2 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
2 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
2 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
1 x Ki-115 Sabre bombing at 2000 feet
1 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
3 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
2 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
2 x Ki-115 Sabre bombing at 2000 feet
1 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
2 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
1 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 35,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 7
B5N2 Kate x 11

Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 11
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 13
F6F-5 Hellcat x 34

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 2 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 7 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Seafire II: 1 destroyed
F4U-1 CV Corsair: 1 destroyed
F6F-5 Hellcat: 5 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Nassau
CV Enterprise

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
1 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 35,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 15
B5N2 Kate x 13
Ki-115 Sabre x 19

Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 11
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 13
F6F-5 Hellcat x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 7 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 8 destroyed
Ki-115 Sabre: 17 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Seafire II: 2 destroyed
F4U-1 CV Corsair: 4 destroyed
F6F-5 Hellcat: 8 destroyed
Lancer: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Chenango, on fire
BB Washington
CV Illustrious
CV Saratoga
CVE Suwannee

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Ki-115 Sabre bombing at 2000 feet
2 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 3000 feet
1 x Ki-115 Sabre bombing at 2000 feet
3 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 3000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 35,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 8
B5N2 Kate x 25

Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 10
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 10
F6F-5 Hellcat x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 4 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 17 destroyed
Ki-115 Sabre: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 CV Corsair: 1 destroyed
F6F-5 Hellcat: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CVE Nassau
CVE Altamaha
CV Illustrious

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
2 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 35,50

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44III Tojo x 5
B5N2 Kate x 14
Ki-115 Sabre x 14

Allied aircraft
Seafire II x 14
F4U-1 CV Corsair x 11
F6F-5 Hellcat x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44III Tojo: 1 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 14 destroyed
Ki-115 Sabre: 11 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Seafire II: 4 destroyed
F6F-5 Hellcat: 4 destroyed
P-38G Lightning: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Sangamon
BB Massachusetts
CVE Copahee

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-115 Sabre bombing at 2000 feet

[pat.casey]

Why retire? Can you put more airframes on your carriers and hit him again? You hurt his fighters badly; he can't keep that up forever, whereas you're in home waters with lots of airframes available.

[n01487477]

ORIGINAL: pat.casey
Why retire? Can you put more airframes on your carriers and hit him again? You hurt his fighters badly; he can't keep that up forever, whereas you're in home waters with lots of airframes available.

Hi Pat, why retire, cause as I suspected Nemo flew loads of his cap to Saigon today and I'd be slaughtered and maybe his LB would have made mince meat out of me too. [:D] I'm just a day late again, If it were one day previous, I'd agree totally, but I was getting too close to Indo-China. His LB flies every day now. Uber-cap is something to wonder in awe about.

Looking at my airgroups really made the decision for me, I'm down 150 fighters, 150~200 TB for full strength. I'll need them in the weeks to come in the CPac and nearer Japan. I'm going to take off all my DB's (I have mostly anyway) and replace them with extra Sabres / TojoIII's ... although I'm not sure where I'll get the airgroups.

31 ~ 1 June '43
[*]Angels flew today, killing 107 SBD-3's at Foochow. Old planes unfortunately.
[*]CV's heading to Davao for refuel and rearming.
[*]1 TK sunk on the way back to Japan, even though I have 6 DD's escorting (rating ASW 4)
[*]Marcus gets hit again by Allied LB, 2 CV's are nearby I hope to kill some LB soon.
[*]Ground war in China continues, the numbers look bad. More on that later.
[*]Fuel and Res my primary concern now, Philippines will have to be evacuated as I can no longer justify the fuel use to keep it going . 770 K fuel remaining but at least it has stabilised for the time being. That will drop to 700K after refuelling the fleet.

[n01487477]

2 June '43

[*] Nemo's SS attacks are getting to be a pain, there seems to be a lot sitting about 10+ hexes south of Japan, near Iwo Jima and Chicha Jima - but I think from what I've seen they extend East to China. This means my ability to search and hit them is very limited. A change in tactics since I got to 100 sunk. He also has some around Davao laying mines and hitting shipping. AV Kiyokawa Maru, which was hit by air a few days ago around Balikpapan, got torpedoed again. CA Tone, got torpedoed, but will survive.

[*]Hangchow is captured, my only hope is that Shanghai will hold for a few weeks. 2000 AV is here inside lvl 9 forts and urban terrain.

Ground combat at Hangchow [SE China]

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 162615 troops, 2320 guns, 34 vehicles, Assault Value = 9381

Defending force 48978 troops, 788 guns, 417 vehicles, Assault Value = 1281

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Allied max assault: 16098 - adjusted assault: 6871

Japanese max defense: 1052 - adjusted defense: 1092

Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Hangchow [SE China] base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
2040 casualties reported
Guns lost 41
Vehicles lost 5

Allied ground losses:
5165 casualties reported
Guns lost 177
Vehicles lost 13

[*]Nanking has 2000 AV as well, so it will be a bottleneck for a few weeks then I'll end up giving ground and having to pull out if possible.

Why stay ? Well cause I need as much time as possible to gather resources and oil from Manchuria. I don;t do this and I've lost anyway.

[n01487477]

Been a while since I posted, but we're up to the 7 June '43. Things are bleak and will be from now on I fear.

Ground combat first: (Allied:IJA)
[*]Allies have captured Soochow & Suchow
[*]Allies have entered Nanking 1:1
[*]Allies have captured Wenchow 14:1 with a lvl 8 fort
[*]Allies have entered Shanghai 4:1
[*]Yangku I have a small advantage, but am about to add enough to take it from 1:1.5 - 1:2 and attack...[;)]
[*]Kaifeng we're about even, but I have 2000 AV about to enter the city for some fun, I'm just hoping not to be cut off, but If I can take Kaifeng, then I can expose his flank.

The amount of chinese troops is just staggering though, and now they have supplies those 300 + AV units now have teeth.

Allied LB attacks on ground troops are now massive and destructive, I see 1000 + a/c a day just dedicated to this and Nemo tells me he has reserve waiting. I'm holding off until I'm ready for a bit while rebuilding recent losses.

5 CV's heading for Saipan, most of the CVE/CVL's are at Palau and the rest is in Osaka having a refit and rest before the last phase. I plan to combine all these elements for the greater defence of Japan. But I see that might be sooner than later, with Nemo moving around the chinese coast already.

Resource levels are at 180 days and Oil at 350 days. Fuel is very worrying and supplies at 1.5 million at bases.

[n01487477]

I believe that we're up to the 13 June '43 now after a few days of disastrous results and hours of disbanding and recombining groups to even have a semblance of an air force left.

I ineptly bled my cache of pilots and planes away in one day of attacks over a few large TF's 1 hex SW of Shanghai. I believe I lost somewhere near 570 planes and pilots in that one day. It was a hard pill to swallow because in that one day I lost any real ability to recover before the final movements on Korea.

Instead of waiting for a better opportunity, when they would have been better escorted by TojoIII's(out of range), I let M5's and M2's take the strain ... which turned out to be a woeful decision.

While on paper it only seems like a months supply of planes, I need them now and I need to retrain the crews.

I also took Kaifeng and Yangku - just to roll back some troops for a few days, there was no real chance of counter attacking such large numbers of troops, he has something like 47 units at Tsinan now and Haichow and Tsingtao have fallen or are about to. With another 17 south of Kaifeng etc etc.

My fleet of 5 CV's at Saipan are off to wake to get some transports in a long journey around Marcus.
Otherwise a fleet of CVE/VL's are just about near Okinawa and going to try to catch some fast transports (however unlikely) but will protect my SCTF's as they come in to defend some of the bases.

Nemo and I talked a bit about PE-2's and he gave me some pretty helpful hints as to a counter, I think I've figured something out, but am unsure of its success.

[n01487477]

14~19 June '42
[*]Osumi Is. had a parachute attack, which I reacted to by sending in my own para;s and a Fast Transport of BB, to regain the Is the next day.
[*]I'm reinforcing the Island chain, but probably too late to really stop the tide, except at the bases I need to keep.
[*]Wenchow - has shown a large number of shipping beginning to appear and the next attack will be by Allied FT's, which I'll try to counter with SCTF's... I'm more mindful of those bases with AF > 1.
[*]I withdrew from Kaifeng, a slow process and at one stage was really worried that Nemo counld break through, cut me off and take Peking as I only had about 300 AV there. Most of my forces are back at Chengting now, 1 hex north of the 30+ Allied units which are waiting to attack and have done so for quite a while... If Nemo had been more aggressive here he would have won an amazing victory and rendered my forces split. But the gate has closed now.
[*]Large evacuations of the Philippines continues, Davao and Legaspi are daily loading troops bound for Japan and Korea.
[*]My CV expeditionary force is North East of Wake Is, and will try to get behind wake for a bit of AP/AK killing ... I'd love to get a lone Essex CV, going West too.
[*]Fighter numbers are now good, LB is still in a shocking state.