Lunacy In The Pacific Mogami Vs. Tom Hunter

[Tom Hunter]

and the pic

[Tom Hunter]

After several more days of skirmishing in the air the British finally got supply up to thier troops and started advancing again. On October 17th the British crossed the river and luanched this shock attack getting 1 to 1 odds:







The Japanese were already pulling out but I did not know this so I switched to bombardment attack. However the game crashed and my save got screwed up (I did not realize this either) so instead of bombarding the Brits launced everything they had at the Japanese, who were now down to the extremly unlucky 55th division:


Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 128273 troops, 963 guns, 1540 vehicles

Defending force 16003 troops, 199 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
717 casualties reported
Guns lost 48

Allied ground losses:
420 casualties reported
Guns lost 18
Vehicles lost 1


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

[Tom Hunter]

On the 16th the Japanese had put strong LRCAP over their troops and shot down 20 Liberators.

On the 19th the Allies hit back at Moulmein flying every P40B in India on Sweeps with lots of B17s and Mitchells bombing. Losses were heavy on both sides:

[Tom Hunter]

Though the action is all in Burma right now I am going to go round the map and then talk strategy for a bit.

China is quiet on the ground but getting more active in the air again. Mogami has been bombing some Chinese units and I have just started putting LR CAP over them, we will see what happens. Chinese supply is very good and this is having an effect on China's army. They have used over 2600 replacement squads and most of the units in Changsha are over 300 points strong. Soon I am going to start shifting some of China's strength from the North to the South with the goal of grabbing a Southern port (Pakhoi?) some time in 43.

In Burma the Brits are moving on Rangoon with their main army. Japan withdrew it's airforce from the skies over Moulmein after the hit on the 19th and the Brits seem to own the skies over Burma.

US Paratroopers grabbed Raheng on the 20th, and all 3 Chindit Brigades + a 270 point base force are flying in on the skytrian. After one day there is 100 AP, 263 AV and 163 supply (needs 1100). The base is already L2 and full of Spitfires and Hurricanes which are both protecting the skytrain and sweeping Moulmein. Owning Raheng helps my situation in the air a lot in South Burma, I am suprised Mogami did not garrison it, and maybe he is suprised I grabbed it.

Thursday Island is completely recovered from the air battle shown above and back to bombing Port Moresby. There are now 90 P40s and Kittyhawks with 66XP flying sweeps while another 40 or so launch bombing missions to train.

Efate is home to 250-300 fighters and single engine bombers that pound Luganville daily. The XP level is going up there as well the top 5 Marine squadrons are at 71, 66, 66, 65, 65 all the rest are in the 60s as well. A 70 XP Dauntless group as already rotated out to Rockhampton with a stop on the USS Long Island. A 70 XP P39 group with 72 planes has just converted to P38s in Noumea. After they finish repairing the planes they will go to Oz as well.

Strategically I am putting more and more aircraft into Darwin for a push into Western New Guinea. Mogami left Kai Island and Bulla in Allied hands, my plan is to garrison them both with over a division + base forces and support then fly in 300 fighters and 300 bombers as the bases build up. The initial move will be supported by 4 US and 3 British CVs and at least 4 BBs. After that the CVs will leave, the US heading for the West Coast for refits and the Brits for someplace I have not yet decided. Wasp is on the way to the West Coast and Hornet is repairing at Pearl Harbor.

600 planes is eoungh to stop KB and with those bases in Allied hands I can take the rest of the Vogelkop without using carrier based airpower. Instead I will use BBs and Cruiser groups. From there the Allies will move towards Weda and then the Southern Phillipines and North East Borneo. Then it is a jump across the China Sea to get the Chinese supply.

At the same time the British will be coming the other way through Burma, Thailand and Vietnam which should help the American advance.

My thinking is that Mogami will be weak in this area because it is not the route to either oil or bomber bases. When the Vogelkop goes he will put more troops into places like Kendari, Bali and Balikpapan, but not Weda or Davao. Much of the advance can be done under cover of LBA using big gun warships to keep the convoys safe. This frees up the Allied CVs to do other things, like raid the convoys that Mogami will be using to redeploy his armies after he realized that he is off balance.

[jrlans]

I would say just becarefull raiding convoys with CVs. If he gets wind of this an sets up and ambush for you it could be a very bad day. With the way the air rutenes work he could send a lone old BB out in fron of his CVs and you would never get a enough strike A/C going after KB

[ny59giants]

Tom,
Have you taken back or do you still hold onto Andaman Island? If you have it, how about placing some P-38's on it to cover an invasion of Saband on the Northen tip of Sumatra?? Saband can be built up to a size 6 AF and then it's only 9 hexes to Singapore. Well within the range of your heavy bombers. Thus, all of Malaya is within range of your bombers and can be closed down. [:D][:D]
Add in that it has no road or trail to it, it can only be retaken by invasion (or 120 miles over land).

Just a thought for your future strategies.

[Tom Hunter]

ny59 I have never lost Adaman. At the moment moving into Sumatra is not part of my plans because I am rolling over the Japanese at a pretty good rate on land. Also my invasions are transport limited more than they are airpower limited, though airpower is a limiting factor. If the Brits start doing invasions the Americans will have to stop. But the USA cannot advance on land and the Brits can so it is British by Land, Americans by Sea.

Rangoon Fell! See the screenshot for the forces involved.





The Imperial army is in hot pusiut of that other, upstart Imperial army. There are supply convoys and more ground units at sea already so more stuff will be unloading in Rangoon in two or three days.

In the SW Pacific the Allies continue to train against Port Moresby but the big news is that the CV fleet has moved to Brisbane and 3 divisions of ground troops plus a large number of support forces are gathering at Cairns for the trip to Babo and Kai island. At this point I am thinking the landings will take place in the later part of November. Those bases are both Allied so it is a question of coming in with enough SeaBees and supplies to get them built up to L2 when the Japanese arrive to counter the move.

At Hawaii the Americans are loading troops for Baker island. They will hit with the Hornet and 3 fast BBs in support some time after Kai and Babo attract the attention of the Japanese. If I don't locate KB then they will wait and invade with the full US CV force in support.

[Tom Hunter]

Mogami sent this today:

i, Japanese supply index going into Nov 1942. 2.3 million on map. Down ,3 million from 1 Sept. Supply is an issue in quite a few locations. (less then 10k supply on map per base controled.) I estimate required Japanese supply to be close to 4 million. On map operation will be impacted if trend continues and I see demand rising not being reduced. More ac replaceent required and more pilot training required and outer defense works not nearly completed.

The process starts with not enough supply to build units to ship to front, not enough supply to build airfields/ports and forts and not enough supply to maintain a garrision. I have yet to even finish taking the required outer bases. (Wake in Nov 42 yike)

Now historically we have not yet reached the prime Japanese supply period.
(mid 1943) So I am hoping my supply situation improves. At present rate of use my supply system will collapse within 6 months unless I find areas to reduce consumption. It is not a transport issue. I have plenty of idle transport. I just have no material for them to move. " End letter from Mogami

I was not anticipating this but it is a nice effect of my strategy of fighting hard. I'm not winning on points (yet) but the Japanese are starting to show stress. I doubt his supply situation is going to get any better because I am going to start opening additional fronts in the next few months which will require even more of his supply to contest.


China is quiet though I am moving some troops around to prepare for the siezure of Pakhoi near Hainan Island in 1943.

There British have advanced past Rangoon and are threatening Moulmein with thier main army. They have also moved 2-3 division worth of troops to Raheng and these are now pushing down the rail line. I am in a race with Mogami to see if I can grab Kung Trep and Bankock before he can pull the troops back from the Burma coast at Moulmein, Tavoy and Victoria point. More troops are unloading at Rangoon every day, another Chinese divisions just arrived, and Aussie brigade is a day or two away, and troops are loading at Trimcomalee as I write this. The British have about 60% of their total strength enganged right now, so even if Mog can stop the advance I can build up and hit even harder without much trouble.







Air training continues from Thursday Island and Efate, next time I post I will include a screen shot of the many Wildcat groups with XP in the mid to high 60s [:)]

The last division of the Kai Island / Babo force is off Brisbane heading North to the Redez-Vous point at Cairns. Air units are arriving at Darwin, and dispersing to Wyndham and Derby as well. I will do some checking in the next few days to make certain I have the right number of base forces and engineers, all the combat troops I need are loaded now.

At Pearl the US is loading convoys bound for Baker. The Horent and here group are almost fully repaired and the Wasp group is getting fixed up at San Francisco.

The plan is to move into Kai and Babo first with 4 US and the RN CVs and of course lots of LBA. The CVs will stay behind the island barrier waiting for opportunity. The invasion of Baker will happen a few days after that, hopefully KB will respond to the serious threat in New Guinea and that will leave Baker comparatively unprotected.

My goal is to be putting progressively greater pressure on the Japanese on more and more fronts. That will burn up Mogami's supply even faster and with a little luck he will disintigrate in 1944.

[Tom Hunter]

More from Mogami:

Hi, For comparsion I just ran a turn from PBEM with Kerguelen. Date is 3/43 Japanese supply on map is 3.9 million points.
It has been a much quieter game but Japan captured the SRA bases intact. I don't think I can add 1.6million supply in 5 months. The difference is the amount of supply consumed by air ops, ground war in China, and rebuilding SRA bases.

Japan in this game has sufficent supply to continue training and production (compared to our game where a number of fighter groups are out of combat with no replacement pilots or aircraft available. )

I am really interested in comparing Japanese supply totals between "Sir Robin" and "active" Allied defense games.
Some where down the line I'd like to get numbers from an active defense but where Japan captured the resource/oil centers intact. In all my games except for this one the SRA requires import of supply in order to produce resources/oil and that causes severe limits to operations from mid 42 to mid 43. (Against Dadman the Home Islands import more resources from Korea then from SRA. The IJN is nearly immoblie from lack of fuel and I am losing constant surface actions because my TF are composed of light units against Allied heavies. I've only resorted to 1 TF of resource (50,000) points from Korea in our game. since then imports have climbed to sufficent to mantain home Islands but I've turned off production of many ac types and engine types.
I'm really interested in Japanese payers who report no supply problems after Mid 42. Are they better managers? or are they not seeing (or caring) about bases that don't have required amounts. I have many units evaporating that are not in contact with enemy.

End of Mogami's email.


No turns have played since my last post, I am just updating the correspondence. It is too bad that ADavidBs game is on hold, it would be interesting to compare the supply levels Vs. our game.

I will say that though the Allies have no shortage of supply I am working constantly to keep the levels high enough to support my operations. I am not constrained by either supply or shipping, but it does take a lot of planning to support the numerous operations that are either ongoing or in the works.

[Tom Hunter]

Here is the promised screenshot of the Training program at Efate:





As the air units reach 70 they are transferring to Australia and new units are rotated in. Once in Australia they make there way North and West to eventually join the Kai-Babo move.

Big action over Rangoon, Zeros escorting Betties showed up to attack my convoys they were interecepted by Hurricane IIs and a few Demons. When all was said and done the Hurricanes did very well killing 20 Zeros for a loss of 3 Hurricanes and 3 Demons.

This is a key measure for me, it means that my pilots are at or near the Japanese pilot quality level.

Big Japanese raids at Kaigan in China as well. I am moving another BF in to get the air support number up (japs are bombing ground units for training) and will ambush if it contiunes.

It takes a long, long time to get an invasion ready in this game, even if your only invading friendly territory but the pieces are coming together in Australia and Hawaii.

[Tom Hunter]

November saw a continueing increase in the pace of operations, especially in South East Asia.

On the 1st the Allied airforce smashed Tavoy:
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 24
Hawk 75A x 22
B-25C Mitchell x 48

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 8 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 11 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 8 destroyed
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Mohawk IV: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Hawk 75A: 8 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged

The Japanese attempted to intercept the stream of shipping going in and out of Rangoon:
Day Air attack on TF, near Rangoon at 29,34

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
G4M1 Betty x 10

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 5
CW-21B Demon x 8
Hurricane II x 19
Spitfire Vb x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 10 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Mohawk IV: 1 destroyed
CW-21B Demon: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Hurricane II: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Empire Rowan
AK Empire Lynx

and got pretty badly chewed up.

On the same day they got clever in the South Pacific and bombed the hell out of an MSW in Efate Harbor:

Day Air attack on Efate , at 73,109

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 27
G4M1 Betty x 108

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 destroyed, 11 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 23 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina: 1 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 2 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 3 destroyed
A-24 Dauntless: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
MSW Wollongong, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PT PT-76, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Bungaree, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PT PT-77, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Allied ground losses:
179 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 2

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 23
Port supply hits 2

Since then one Wildcat group flies CAP and the Japanese have not returned.

On the second the air battle over Rangoon got even hotter:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
G4M1 Betty x 6

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 10
CW-21B Demon x 5
Hurricane II x 17
Spitfire Vb x 7
P-40B Tomahawk x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 33 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 3 destroyed
Hurricane II: 2 damaged
Spitfire Vb: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Empire Rowan
AK Empire Lynx, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Once again the Japanese got the worst of it. The Alllies continued pounding Tavoy with substantial air losses on both sides

By the 3rd the Japanese stopped offensive air operations in Burma at least for the moment.

On the 4th Mogami decided to make a big effort against Chengting in China. The result was more heavy casulaties on both sides:


Day Air attack on Chengting , at 52,28

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 27
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 58
Ki-21 Sally x 192
Ki-48 Lily x 27
Ki-49 Helen x 61
Ki-46-II Dinah x 12

Allied aircraft
Hurricane II x 16
Spitfire Vb x 19
I-153c x 19
I-16c x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 36 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 10 destroyed, 14 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane II: 5 destroyed, 6 damaged
Spitfire Vb: 5 destroyed, 9 damaged
I-153c: 13 destroyed
I-16c: 10 destroyed


Allied twin engine bomber pilots are getting pretty dangerous too, look at this attack on Bankok:

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 21

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed, 9 damaged

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 22

Not a bad trade, not a win but you could not call it a successful ambush either.

On the 4th Allied troops crossed the river into Krung Thep in Thailad.

Ground combat at Krung Thep

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 33463 troops, 256 guns, 975 vehicles

Defending force 20097 troops, 205 guns, 144 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 2)


Japanese ground losses:
347 casualties reported
Guns lost 9
Vehicles lost 8

Allied ground losses:
438 casualties reported
Guns lost 22
Vehicles lost 3

The really frustrating thing about this attack is that there were twice as many Allied troops committed and movement bugs stopped the other half on the far side of the river. They will be along in another 2-3 days and launch more unsucessful shock attacks before I can rest and rebuild the army to take the place.

The one saving grace is that a huge Allied army is bearing down on Moulmein so I will win one way or another.

Looking at the air battles it is becoming clear that the obsolete fighters need to be restricted to bombing ground targets. The extra planes do help me keep the air to air losses down some but they get chewed up by the more modern planes. We can see this on both sides, watching the air battle over Chengting the Spitfires murederd the Oscars but left the Zeros intact, I lost I-15s and I16s not Spits and Hurricanes.


Finally in the South Pacific Allied search planes spotted a single Tanker North of Luganville. I have set all the fighters in the screenshot above for Sweep at various altitudes, maybe we will have another big air battle in the next day or two.

[Tom Hunter]

Stratigic map from November 7 1942 showing existing and planned Allied moves. Some disorganization on my part is slowing the Kai/Babo operation but I hope that it will go off in November and that Baker will happen a week or so after Kai Babo.

Right at the moment I am setting up a 3 fast BB bombardment run at Baker in the hopes of pulling KB East so that it is far from Kai-Babo. Then when Kai-Babo pulls it West I will invade Baker.

[Tom Hunter]

There have been air battles over Rangoon most days since it fell to the British and merchant convoys started coming in. The Japanese have put torpedos into a number of ships but never more than one so nothing has sunk.

I was CAPing with P40Bs among other types but this was attritting an already tiny pool of planes so I moved them back to the rear and put in some Spitfires:





Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 23
G3M Nell x 17

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 9
Hurricane II x 23
Spitfire Vb x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 13 destroyed
G3M Nell: 6 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Mohawk IV: 2 damaged
Hurricane II: 4 damaged
Spitfire Vb: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Boreas
AK Betelgeuse

Poor graphic editing aside this was a good day for the RAF. HMS Valiant, a CA, 2DDs and some PT boats will reach Rangoon in a couple of days and I want good CAP over the base. Battles like this breed very good CAP.

Mogami and I exchanged some thoughts on the game so far, his are first, mine second:

Start Mogami:

Hi, Hope your doing well. I am going to commence production of the Tony on Dec 15th. Due to my Oscar I factories all auto upgrading to OscarII I am experiancing a shortage of replacement IJAAF fighters. The only model actually currently being produced is the Tojo and since I did not expand production of that model I'm low on replacement fighters which of course means I'm having trouble training replacement pilots. I have abundant IJNAF fighters but high loss has resulted in there being more training groups then combat. But in a pinch I could commit clouds of Zeros for a turn or two.
Supply is really biting me in the butt right now.

In July I decided to invade Wake Island but before I could embark on that operation I required Marcus to have a level 4 airfield to provide cover and to stage 1 part of invasion while Eniwetok would be built to level 4 and support the other wing of attack. The follow on Operations was an invasion of Canton supported from Baker None of these bases has been built because of lack of supply. (lack of supply in Home Islands resulted in the engineer units and baseforces not building up to TOE. I require a unit departing Home Islands to be at least 90 percent TOE because I cannot maintain supply levels out of Home Islands in quantity enough to build them away from Home
Islands)

The number one priority areas for supply, baseforce and engineer remains those bases that are currently inside Allied bomber range and either produce oil/resource or protect routes TF moving oil/resource must traverse.
(Kendari and environs to the south and east) As late as Nov 42 not all of the most basic bases falling into this catagory have been fully prepared (or even occupied) This is strictly a result of supply and the resulting unreadieness of the units earmarked for such use. (I have close to 20 infantry units (SNLF/NG) assigned to bases that they have yet to move to because they are under strength. My biggest fear remains the "Brady Shuffle"
where 50 paratroops drop on unprotected base and then AV/engineer is air transported in and presto within a week The Allies have an operating airfield from which they repeat the process on another empty Japanese base.
I feel I am once again being tardy in deploying units.
I'm not really too worried over Burma (well Indo-China now) because the bulk of the Japanese strength deployed there has yet to be commited. We are going to have WWI (or China) in yet another area. Once I get my new IJAAF fighters I can put up a little more opposition in the air.

I just wish I could still attempt an offensive operation in Central/South Pacific. I feel I still have the means except for the inabilty to provide the logistical support.
Have to see how the Tony fairs in the skies over NG Be carefull I'm not quite moribund.

End Mogami)

Start Tom:


I am always as careful as an aggressive strategy allows. I find it interesting that your experiencing supply constraints, when I have argued that fighting back hard would grind up the Japanese and that losing lots of planes mattered many people replied that it was the pilot quality that really mattered. Our results show that to me somewhat narrowly focused because it ignores the over all effect of intense combat on the Japanese supply situation.

A similar effect is happening to the Chinese. They are strong enough to hold but supply constraints stop them from launching serious offensives.

This is the first game that I have gotten past September and as I learn more about it I am also developing a different opinion from Ron on the issue of too much supply. I find my supply situation fine but I am constrained by shipping. Basically I need a second merchant fleet to launch invasions and I don't have one, or putting it together takes a long, long time.

I don't mean candy ass invasions that get thrown back by Japanese counter attacks. Any idiot can launch one of those and lots of idiots do. I mean real come and stay stuff that moves the front closer to Japan. Ron seems to be reacting to the candy ass stuff. I used to agree with him that there was too much supply but now I am not as certain. I am not going to say that he is wrong, but I want more data.

The Tony is small beer as far as I am concerned. If you want to restrain yourself that is fine but (as you have noticed by now) I play in a way that reduces the relative value of any one airframe, even a superior one.

I am really enjoying the game, it is very interesting and playing out differently from the other AARs I read already. I am still wondering if I have any chance of winning on points using the strategy that I am following, eventually we will see.

End Tom)

[Tom Hunter]

Between the 5th and the 12 there were more major air battles over Rangoon. As I mentioned above the British have moved more Spitfires into Rangoon and on November 11th they gave the Japanese a very hard time:

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 25
G3M Nell x 9
G4M1 Betty x 11

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 8
Hurricane II x 25
Spitfire Vb x 16
P-40B Tomahawk x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 23 destroyed
G3M Nell: 2 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 11 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Mohawk IV: 1 destroyed
Hurricane II: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
Spitfire Vb: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 2 damaged

This is also the first time that the fighters really got into the bombers in a big way. We will see if Mogami will keep this up or pull back to lick his wounds.

The offensive at Krung Thep has stalled, I should have pushed faster before Mogami could react to the fall of Raheang but so it goes. As the map says forces are going to be re-deployed to push harder on Moulemain. A Chinese division, some British Brigades and artillery will stay at Krung Threp facing off against a Japanese division, Brigade and base force.

As part of the effort to take Moulmein the air offensive against that base has been stepped up, this is November 12 1942:


Raid 1:

Allied aircraft
Hurricane II x 22
Spitfire Vb x 4
F.K.51 x 4
SB-2c x 12


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 10

Raid 2:
Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 52
Hurricane II x 9


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Port hits 1
Port fuel hits 1

Raid 3:

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 36
LB-30 Liberator x 34


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
56 casualties reported

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 42
Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 1

Raid 4:
Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 52
Hawk 75A x 24
Hurricane II x 6
Spitfire Vb x 3
F.K.51 x 2
T.IVa x 8
Beaufort I x 29
B-25C Mitchell x 105


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
255 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Raid 5:

Allied aircraft
Hawk 75A x 5
Hurricane II x 2


No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x Hawk 75A bombing at 2000 feet

Raid 6:
Allied aircraft
T.IVa x 8
Blenheim IV x 9
Wellington III x 34
B-25C Mitchell x 21


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
49 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Raid 7:

llied aircraft
Wellington III x 3
B-17E Fortress x 3
LB-30 Liberator x 4


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
2 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


Raid 8:
Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 3
B-25C Mitchell x 6
B-17E Fortress x 8
LB-30 Liberator x 9


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
129 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

The armor from Krung Threp will join 2 more infantry brigades, 2 Chinese divisions and some stuff and cross the river as part of a massive shock attack. The air bombardment will continue, and HMS Valiant will join in the fun soon as well.

As the map shows I plan to start using the Chindits as they were intended to be used:

[Tom Hunter]

Putting the Chindits into central Indo-China will force Mogami to either disbusre his forces more or risk losing a coastal base to a bunch of crazy white men coming out of the jungle. I think it will help.

The second big effort is the Babo-Kai island operation. A couple of days ago Mogami took Babo and that started the Allied fleet moving, see the screenshot.

Japanese subs have been spotted in the area between New Guinea and the Australian bight so AVs have gone to Merakule and there are now PBYs and Sunderlands on ASW patrol out of Thursday and Merakule. There are also some MSW group patrolling the area now to try and sink his subs. I may or may not sink them but if I can drive them away that would be good, I don't want Mogami to know this is coming.

[Tom Hunter]

Finally the fleet that will hit Baker has sortied from Pearl. This operation will go first in the hopes of pulling KB to the East at least for a few days. If all goes well they will hit Baker and the fleet will be gone before KB arrives, but KB will be too far away to stop the unloading of the Babo-Kai Island forces.

So Baker is partly a deception move, and partly a move to shorten my supply lines. Right now I have to detour my shipping away from the Baker area on its way to the South Pacific. If Baker was Allied several days would be saved on each convoy run.

[Tom Hunter]

It is actually November 13th now and look what showed up at Baker Island. Needless to say the invasion fleet is stopping, and the BBs that visited Baker last week are leaving Canton island ASAP.

If I can flirt with Mogami without ending up committed this could be a big help for the Babo-Kai operation

[Tom Hunter]

In the CBI area the air battle over Rangoon calmed down and then flaired up on the 17th when the Japanese went after the BB HMS Valiant which is on patrol protecting the port from Japanese raiders.

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 38
G4M1 Betty x 12

Allied aircraft
Mohawk IV x 4
Hurricane II x 10
Spitfire Vb x 32

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 28 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Mohawk IV: 1 damaged
Hurricane II: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Valiant

A Sweep by Zeros over Rahaeng Killed 8 Hurricanes and some I-16 at a cost of 5 Zeros, not to bad but some Spitfires were flown in to make sure things go better if the Japanese try again. Over all a good day in the air for the Allies.

On the 16th the Japanese thew nearly 600,000 men at Kaigan:
Ground combat at Kaigan

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 536412 troops, 5648 guns, 1322 vehicles

Defending force 179717 troops, 1138 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 8

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 8)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 8


Japanese ground losses:
25363 casualties reported
Guns lost 600
Vehicles lost 65

Allied ground losses:
5100 casualties reported
Guns lost 176

They soon went back to bombardment attacks.

But the big news was the loss of an AVD near Nanomea Atoll. It was sunk by 45 bombers escorted by 99 Zeros. The photomontage shows the location of KB, and the location KB really wants to be. I did some counting and at full speed Kai island is 5 days from KBs current location if it steams right past the hornets nest at Thursday, which I doubt will happen. So it looks like the invasion is going to succeed, it should go in on November 24th 1942

[Tom Hunter]

On November 22nd the British will launch a shock attack that is planned to throw the Japanese out of Moulmein.

At the same time Allied bombers in Darwin will start major offensive operations against Japanese bases in range and Allied troops will start coming ashore on Kai Island.

I dropped Babo because the Allies are invading now, not occupying friendly territory.

On the map below the ships on the two Dutch islands are PT boats. The main Allied fleet has not been spotted, in fact the Japanese may not even know the PT boats are there, much less 60 transports backed by 90 warships.

The Allies are finally getting a coordinated offensive off and an operation against Baker is all set to go, the ships are sitting at Palmyra.

[Tom Hunter]

The invasions are in process now, and as Mogami says we are starting another bloodbath, this time in the Banda Sea.

Here are the day by day highlights including emails back and forth between the two of us. The map shows the situation on the 24th and attacks planned for that day.

On the 21st the British attack went into Moulmein. The Japanese moved in two more divsions (from 3 defenders to 5) and the attack got 1 to 1 odds taking the fort down one level.

I made a mistake at Kai Island, I had the USS Colorado set to bombard and put her TF on cruise speed so that she would arrive with the transports on the 22nd, which would put the CVs between her and the Japanese air bases.

Instead she spontaniously increased speed, got to Kai a day early and here is the result:

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 27
G4M1 Betty x 18
Ki-48 Lily x 32

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 16 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 3 destroyed, 16 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Colorado, Bomb hits 17, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CL Raleigh, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Then she took 8 additional torpedos

Mogami had not seen any of the remaining forces, here is his comment and my reply:

Monday 2:05 pm Nov 21 turn

Hi, Whats this??? adventuring in the Banda Sea in Nov 42??? If I let you do this then there is nothing you won't try. Stand by for heavy rolls. (I 'm a bad player but not that bad)

Tom’s reply:

Misadventuring is more like it, I some piece of code just sunk the USS California, you can rest assured that it did not have orders to do what it just did.

This turn, on the other hand is entirely intentional, the dice are rolling.

I think he might have gotten a clue from the fact that some large ASW forces ran over and sunk one of his subs. I don't run independent ASW TFs larger than 5 ships, so if 8 DDs hit a sub its an escort of some sort. Though Mogami missed the clue the DDs did not miss the sub, SS I-162 is no more.

On the 22nd the parts of the plan that are operating correctly went into gear:

Allied Ships
DD Norman
DD Jupiter
DD Isis
DD Le Triomphant
DD Vendetta
DD Vampire
DD Voyager
CL Newcastle
CL Achilles
CL Leander
CA Exeter
BB Resolution
BB Ramilles
BB Revenge
BB Warspite

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 22
Port hits 4
Port supply hits 8

Hmm no casualties, Prince of Wales and Repulse hit a few minutes later with similar results. Both groups steamed for Darwin for supplies and to get under the LR CAP set for them.

6 DDs from one of the Cv escort groups sent SS I-158 on a one way dive right after the shore bombardment. Then things started to get really violent.


Heavy bombers hit Kendari

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 17

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 59

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 4 destroyed, 2 damaged
G3M Nell: 2 destroyed
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 30 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

and Amboina

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 19
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 9

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 66

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 3 destroyed, 8 damaged
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 6 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed, 32 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 25

Mogami begins to clue in, our emails for the day:

Nov 22

Mogami:

Hi, Hmmmm thats a lot of stuff to send after a few Japanese transports. Did Kai Island bother you that much that you tried to sink it? I was not looking forward to Darwin becoming heavy bomber base # 3 (or is 4 now) I turned my surface TF around I don't want to play with your herd in the Banda Sea. Damn Betties didn't fly with all those targets.

Tom:
Any surface TF that turned around should count itself fortunate.


Then we get to Nov. 23 this is Mogami's comment:

Nov 23

Ack OK I see whats going on now. Your not hunting transports your land grabbing. Just what we need. Another bloodbath My mighty 3 DD surface TF did not get far enough away.

Finding Kai empty and knowing that Mogami's reaction starts today, which gives me 5 days before KB can arrive from Truk, I reformed the invasion TFs sending SeaBees and a BF to Kai Island and all the combat troops plus more SeaBees and another BF to Babo. When Babo was invaded it had 2-3 units regiment sized or smaller so it should fall before KB arrives which means I will have LBA CAP. Kai Island will fall on the 24th and get 2 groups of XP 70 Wildcats immediately.

Allied MSWs swept mines off Kai as the transports went in:

TF 1044 encounters mine field at Tenimbar (36,81)

Allied Ships
MSW Castlemaine
MSW Tamworth
MSW Kalgoorlie

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1174 troops unloading over beach at Kai Island, 39,78



Allied ground losses:
205 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1174 troops unloading over beach at Kai Island, 39,78
Allied ground losses:
101 casualties reported


The Allied bomber attack on Kendari was met by strong CAP

Day Air attack on Kendari , at 33,71

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 32
A6M3 Zero x 18
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 13

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 33

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 9 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 damaged
G3M Nell: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 7 destroyed, 19 damaged

Runway hits 3

This pretty much stops the bombing effort against this target, but it already had good effect, the huge strikes that hit the California were disrupted, instead the Japanese came in penny packets, like candy.

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 7
Ki-48 Lily x 9

Allied aircraft
Seafire x 60
F4F-4 Wildcat x 79

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 damaged

and again:

Day Air attack on TF at 39,76

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 3

Allied aircraft
Seafire x 27
F4F-4 Wildcat x 62

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 destroyed

No bombs on the Allied CVs today, but moral problem for the Japanese air groups tomorrow.

The Allies did not have this kind of problem when they found Japanese shipping:

Seafire x 2
F4F-4 Wildcat x 55
SBD Dauntless x 144
Swordfish x 34
TBF Avenger x 45


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Minekaze, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sawakaze, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hakaze, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage


There are two 72 plane P38 groups in Darwin right now, flying LRCAP over Kai Island. Here they are in action:

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 11
G4M1 Betty x 11

Allied aircraft
Seafire x 5
P-38G Lightning x 26

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 6 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 7 damaged

So far so good, the Japanese are off balance and other than the Colorado the Allies are doing really well. Kai Island will be operational by the time you read this, and hopefully be a level 2 airbase in a few more days.

Strategically this is a very important move for the Allies. The British have been fighting alone, and the RAF in particular is suffering from this. I have no British pilots in my pool and I had to pull almost all the RAF aircraft from China. This move is going to cause regular air battles between the Japanese and the USA which ought to take pressure off the Brits before the better Japanese fighters start to arrive.