AAR: Istfemer (A) vs zeke99 (J)

[zeke99]

The last weeks were very bad for my Japs. The loss of Rockhampton should have been prevented by my CVTFs and I failed

The probings of Saipan and Sapporo took me by surprise and were a tactical victory for my opponent. From the strategy point of view I’m not sure if these were not Pyrrhic. My opponent lost 2 months for little advantage.

[Istfemer]

ORIGINAL: zeke99
The last weeks were very bad for my Japs. The loss of Rockhampton should have been prevented by my CVTFs and I failed

The probings of Saipan and Sapporo took me by surprise and were a tactical victory for my opponent. From the strategy point of view I’m not sure if these were not Pyrrhic. My opponent lost 2 months for little advantage.

I had been watching Zeke's ACTFs and BBTFs very closely, constantly looking for a possible opening at Rockhampton and Zeke was kind enough to provide me with one. The turn before my amphibious assault I analyzed the situation and came to a conclusion that Zeke wouldn't send another BBTF (or ACTF) to Rockhampton that week. My analysis turned out to be accurate. [:)]

Not sure as to why Zeke feels the need to describe my victories as ultimately "Pyrrhic". Does he really take such a dim view of my capabilites as Allied Commander-in-Chief? It's a pleasure to see him admit that my actions took him by surprise though.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 7/11/43
---
CBI:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 3 squads, 3 arty, 6 afvs destroyed.
Allied long-range bombers raided Medan. Supply depot received light damage; oil industry received Moderate & light damage.

Australia:
Townsville
Allied air raid on Townsville airfield was a success.
Losses in the air:
Allies: 18 F4U-1 Corsairs, 9 bombers. Japanese: 46 Ki-43-II Hayabusas.
6 Japanese a/c were destroyed on the ground. Light damage to supply depot.

Rockhampton
Allied counteroffensive continued.
### General D. MacArthur vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 35.
Allied losses: 10 squads, 2 arty, 4 afvs. Japanese losses: 33 squads, 10 arty, 4 afvs.
### Lt Gen I. Swift vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 86.
Allied losses: 5 squads. Japanese losses: 20 squads, 7 arty, 8 afvs. -- 5th Inf Div (JA) and 38th Inf Div (JA) ELIMINATED

Only the 7th Inf Div (JA) still resists.

North Pacific:
Paramushiro-Attu
I ordered a depot strike on Attu as part of a planned withdrawal. Neither ACTF executed it due to a powerful storm sweeping through Attu.
Zeroes from Paramushiro, taking advantage of overcast weather around my carriers, got into a few engagements with Allied CAP on their own terms.

Cumulative air losses for both Allied ACTFs: 15 F4F Wildcats.
Cumulative air losses for Paramushiro-based Jap squadrons : 12 A6M2 Reisens.

Central Pacific:
Ponape
The air war here only picked up momentum.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 59 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 61 P-38G Lightnings, 23 P-47D Thunderbolts.
23 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground.

This isn't good. Thunderbolts shot down 14 Hayabusas, losing in turn 23 of their own?! Come on!
I'm going to order more Thunderbolts for my airgroups on Ponape. I hope *those* will perform better.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Execution phase ops: Salmon subs off Admiralty I. spotted a TF of 4 DDs but didn't attack them.
Convoy phase ops: We sank 28 Japanese merchants, 1 tanker and 2 CDs. The Gato sub group stationed just southwest of Takao made 26 attacks this turn.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 7/18/43
<begin broadcast>
"Yesterday, the latest masterpiece from the Disney company hit the movie houses US-wide. This time, however, it is not a tale of charmed princesses and charming princes. Neither it is a tale about deer or other peaceful woodland creatures. This time, it is a tale about victory in a war. A tale about victory in the war the Japanese Empire and the Axis are waging against the United States of America and its allies. A tale about our near and inevitable victory: 'Victory Through Airpower'
Come and see it, if you still haven't. Educate yourself and your family about the war on, near and far away from the Home Front. And while you do so, why not buy some more war bonds? Support the war effort this way."
<end broadcast>
---
CBI:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 1 squad, 3 arty, 6 afvs destroyed; light & light damage to supply depot.
Allied long-range bombers raided Medan. Supply depot received Moderate damage; oil industry received light & light damage.

Australia:
Townsville
Allies resumed their anti-LCU air ops in this area.

Rockhampton
Allied counteroffensive finally overwhelmed the Japs.
### Lt Gen C. Hall vs. Lt Gen Mutaguchi R. Odds 273
Japanese losses: 11 squads, 5 arty, 6 afvs. -- 7th Inf Div (JA) ELIMINATED

The road to the Aussies trapped at Townsville has been unblocked.

ORIGINAL: zeke99

After months of planning and preparation the Japanese did a surprise attack and took Rockhampton after fierce fighting. [:)]

The main Australian LCUs are now trapped in Townsville, a Stalingrad moment looming?

Allied HQ should be in panic by now [:D]

[;)] Zeke got his Stalingrad handed to him. 'Beware of what you wish for' indeed.

List of Allied LCUs which escaped encirclement:
1st Inf Div (AUS)
6th Inf Div (AUS)
7th Inf Div (AUS)
1st Mot Bde (AUS)
11th Inf Bde (AUS)
13th Inf Bde (AUS)

A squadron of Hayabusas bombed Rockhampton's depots at night. F4U-1 Corsairs intercepted, but some Hayabusas got through & inflicted light damage on the depot.
By the way, last turn those Hayabusas did the very same thing, except that last turn they evaded Corsairs completely.

Central Pacific:
Ponape
Thunderbolts are slowly turning the air war over Ponape in our favor.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 68 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 40 P-47D Thunderbolts.
8 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Convoy phase ops: We sank 34 Japanese merchants, 2 tankers and 1 CD. Very good performance. One Gato sub group made 30 attacks this turn.

[Randomizer]

Disney propaganda = meh. You really need to get Fritz Freleng and Loony Tunes on side with the Pacific war effort. With 62 merchants and three tankers in two weeks, unrestricted submarine warfare might just be making a dent in the Japanese merchant fleet. Your subs seem to be doing great things, are you keeping a running total of their sinkings?

-C

[rtoolooze]

Those poor Japanese Merchant sailors. [;)] Well done [:D]

[Istfemer]

Randomizer,

Oh, Freleng! Isn't he the guy who did that nice short starring Private SNAFU not long ago? The one where SNAFU got promoted to (Super) Master Sergeant and promptly turned his battalion or whatever into a band of slobs and their quarters into a brothel? 'Cause I remember that one. [:D] Not sure about its propaganda value though. [:D][:D] Didn't know Freleng's the man to go to for quality Pacific war propaganda -- will call him ASAP.

*I think I watched those 'Private SNAFU' shorts as a kid in the 90s. Ditto for the war-themed Loony Tunes cartoons. Good fun they were.

[Istfemer]

Randomizer,
rtoolooze,

Frankly, I am unsure about my prospects of ever making a dent in the Japanese merchant fleet. It seems to me like it receives reinforcements way too fast, but I have no good means of checking that. These reinforcements are automatic and should (my guess) trigger only when the Japanese side is nearly out of MCSs or TKs of a particular class. Same rules apply to the Allied side. I think APs are replenished in a similar way as well, but I'm unsure about the specifics.

I think I have sunk more than twice the number of historic Fujisan Maru tankers by now, but Zeke will always have more for me to sink. My suspicions re faster-than-it-should-be reinforcement are based on my observations of Allied tankers. I certainly gained many more British tankers than I ever should have. That happened more than a year ago (game time) under an old EXE version and could have been a bug that got fixed in later versions. Zeke's comments on the topic would be welcome here.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 7/25/43
---
CBI:
The weather's quite bad in Burma. Rain, more rain & yet more rain day and night -- affects morale somewhat.
Morale of British airmen did receive a big boost this week though: they got nice new P-47D Thunderbolts to play with.
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 1 squad, 2 arty, 3 afvs destroyed; Moderate damage to supply depot.
Allied long-range bombers raided Medan at night. Oil industry received Moderate damage.

Australia:
Townsville:
Japanese airforce "probed" my LCUs at Townsville: 2 squads, 2 arty, 2 afvs destroyed.
My airforce didn't need to probe anything and therefore it struck the Jap LCUs directly: 2 squads, 8 arty, 19 afvs destroyed. HEAVY & light damage to supply depot.

Rockhampton:
A Jap night bomber squadron once again slipped through the night CAP of mine and did light damage to Rockhampton's supply depot. That sneaky thing!

Central Pacific:
Ponape:
Zeke reinforced Truk with even more fighters, including Zeroes. 150 fighters attacked Ponape.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 65 fighters. Allies: 72 P-47D Thunderbolts.
16 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground.

Elsewhere:
Maj Gen Vandegrift got promoted to Lt Gen.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Convoy phase ops: We sank 38 Japanese merchants, 3 tankers, 2 CDs and 1 DE. That's 100 Marus & 6 tankers in 3 weeks! Zeke won't like these numbers.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 8/01/43
FLASH: Allied heavies strike exposed Nagasaki factories again.
---
CBI:
Kweiyang-Chungking:
In a surprise move, Betties from Clark Field bombed Chungking airfield and destroyed 6 Liberators. This unexpected attack soured the mood a little for a little while, but it did not negatively affect my scheduled operation against the Home Islands to any appreciable extent. Quite the opposite -- it only put my pilots in the right killing mood. 'Hit them hard, boys'. And my boys did hit hard.

The CBI HQ authorized another daytime strategic bombing raid on Nagasaki. Just like (nearly) 4 months ago, seven B-24 squadrons departed from their bases Chungking and Kweiyang and headed for Nagasaki. Nagasaki had no AZOC and indeed no fighter cover present whatsoever. 90 Liberators participated in the attacks and 16 of them were damaged/destroyed by Japanese flak fire. 10000 Japanese civilians were killed. Shipyard sustained Moderate damage. Heavy industry sustained HEAVY damage. (very appropriate )

In other news, Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued as before: 1 arty, 3 afvs destroyed; light damage to supply depot.
Allied long-range bombers raided Medan. Oil industry received Moderate & Moderate damage.

Australia:
Townsville:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Townsville continued: 1 squad, 4 arty, 7 afvs destroyed.

Rockhampton:
Japanese fighters from Cairns attacked my airfield.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 41 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 19 P-47D Thunderbolts.

Central Pacific:
Ponape:
I swapped Thunderbolts with Corsairs to let the former recuperate. Rotating squadrons is a must here.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 84 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 43 F4U-1 Corsairs.
5 PBY Catalinas were destroyed on the ground.

Elsewhere:
Attu: Weather cleared enough for Mitchells (from Adak) to make a strike on Attu's supply dump. Light damage.
Nauru: Marauders simply refuse to bomb Nauru. They didn't make a single strike on it in over a month.
Apparenty, our year long sustained bombing effort has finally sunk the scorched atoll. Oops-- Sorry for that.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Convoy phase ops: We sank 10 Japanese merchants and 4 tankers. The submarine war is winding down. Or is it?

[zeke99]

Hi Istfemer, sorry I forgot to look last turn. As I did not make notes hard to put anything useful to this issue.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 8/08/43
---
CBI:
Kweiyang:
Kweiyang airfield got blasted by Betties from Clark Field. 7 Liberators were destroyed on the ground. *grumble~grumble*...
70 Thunderbolts & 60 Wellingtons from Kunming tried a raid on Nanning airfield but couldn't hit squat on the ground OR in the air.
18 enemy fighters who were to oppose my planes, chickened out. So my Thunderbolts didn't even have to jettison their bombs. And still they all hit nothing. What a singular disappointment.

In other news, Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued as before: 3 squads, 6 arty, 5 afvs destroyed; Moderate damage to supply depot.

Australia:
Cloncurry:
Wellingtons from Adelaide hit enemy supplies here, for light & light damage.

Townsville:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Townsville continued: 1 squad, 6 arty, 6 afvs destroyed.

Rockhampton:
Two attacks by Hayabusas from Cairns.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 17 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 5 P-47D Thunderbolts.
9 Thunderbolts were destroyed on the ground. How on earth 16 Hayabusas could do this much damage is completely beyond my understanding.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 15 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 6 P-47D Thunderbolts.

Ki-49 Donryus made 2 night attacks on supply depots. 2 Donryus were hit by flak. No damage to Allied supplies.

North Pacific:
Attu:
Mitchells from Adak hit enemy supplies again, for light damage.

Central Pacific:
Ponape:
Forget Ponape. It was quiet there. For indeed only silence echoed throughout the skies of the Central Pacific this week. And this silence was as serene as it was somber.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Convoy phase ops: We sank 17 Japanese merchants, 2 tankers and 1 CD.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 8/15/43
---
CBI:
Kweilen:
36 Thunderbolts & 60 Wellingtons from Kunming hit the Jap LCUs sitting at Kweilen's gates: 6 squads, 7 arty, 10 afvs were destroyed.
a/c lost in dogfights: 4 P-47Ds for Allies vs. 11 Ki-43-IIs for Japanese. Allied a/c lost to flak: 8 P-47Ds & 7 Wellingtons. This raid was much more resultative than the last week's one.

In other news, Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued as before: 1 squad, 6 arty, 6 afvs destroyed; light & light damage to supply depot.
Allied long-range bombers raided Medan once again. Oil industry received Moderate damage.

Australia:
Townsville:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Townsville continued: 9 squads, 9 arty, 7 afvs destroyed.

North Pacific:
I have been fortifying Dutch Harbor for several weeks now. The engineers I shipped there still have lots of construction work ahead of them.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Convoy phase ops: We sank 9 Japanese merchants and 1 tanker.