Bloody Pacific: Pomphat (Allied) vs Amiral Laurent (Japan)

[AmiralLaurent]

OK, enough teasing. Here is the resume of the battle, from the combat report and my notes. I will post this evening the orders for tomorrow.

And now, really back to work...

1 August 1942

Central Pacific

The night was totally quiet, both sides waiting for dawn to unleash their aircraft. Even the Allied DMS and MSW didn’t move during the day.

After dawn, 8 DMS swept numerous mines off Lahaina. And a Japanese PG detected Allied mines off Midway.

Dawn patrols took off from Pearl Harbor and reported that the Allied fleet didn’t move. BB and transports were reported off Hilo, while the Allied CVs and a total of 5-7 TFs were just east of this base. Both CV TF and the BB TF of the Kido Butai were at the planned place, 60 miles SW of Pearl. So everybody was in range of everybody. The sky was cloudless in the whole area and hundred of aircraft took off….

The first raid was a sweep of 7 Zeroes from Pearl to Hilo. They met 13 F4F-4 of three Marine squadrons flying CAP and lost an A6M2 in a quick bounce.

And then came the Allied attacks against the Kido Butai. Coming from three different TF and from two navies, the Allied airmen arrived piecemeal over the Japanese carriers and were slaugthered by the CAP of 139 A6M2 Zeroes (note: all carrier units) and 6 Rufes.
The first raid that reached the target had 23 SBD and 8 TBF escorted by 8 Fulmars and 8 F4F-4 and was annihilated. One SBD and 3 Fulmars turned back and were the only survivors. No Japanese fighter was lost.
Then arrived 15 unescorted Swordfish. Two Zero Daitais bounced them and shot down 13 in some minutes, the two survivors dropping their torpedo in the sea and flying on the deck.
They were part of a larger strike that had become seperated in flight. The remaining 33 Swordfish, with an escort of 4 Fulmars and 4 Widcats arrived some minutes later and were also swept from the sky, but this time managed to shot down 3 Zeroes and 3 Rufes. Only 3 Swordfish survived, because they turned back before reaching the target.
The following raid was 100% American. 27 SBD, 12 TBF and 2 F4F-4 again were scattered and torn apart. At a cost of 2 Zeroes, the CAP shot down all Wildcats and all SBD, and 9 TBF, but the last 3 Allied aircraft got trough and attacked the CV Hiyo with torpedoes. One was shot down by AA fire before launching, and the Japanese CV dodged the incoming torpedoes with ease.
But the Japanese pilots were furious and from the next formation (28 SBD and 4 F4F-4) there was no survivor. One more Zero fell.
The last Allied raid saw 3 P-39D try to attack Japanese ships. All three were shot down by the CAP but they managed to shot down a Zero in return.

The bilan of these Allied attacks was devastating: 67 SBD, 43 Swordfish, 18 TBF, 18 F4F-4, 9 Fulmars and 3 P-39D were lost, 5 Swordish, 3 Fulmars, 2 TBF and 1 SBD survived. The offensive power of the Allied CV fleet was spent, and had achieved nothing, except shooting down 7 Zeroes and 3 Rufes.

So far a good day for Japan, but now it was the turn of Japan to attack and I was anxious to see my pilots commited in small groups and get slaugthered.

It was not the case. Pearl Harbor launched a concentrated strike with 49 Betties and 13 Nells escorted by 87 A6M2 and 20 A6M3. Rather than attack the 3 Allied CV TF, the local commander decided to attack the most powerful of the three. 58 F4F-4 Wildcat and 41 Fulmars were defending the target. Usually in WITP this large battle finished with the annihilation of one side. Today it was the Allied side that lost but there were some survivors. After a long dogfight, 57 Wildcats and 21 Fulmars were shot down against losses of 30 A6M2 and 8 A6M3. Some Fulmars also fled and that left only 1 Wildcat and 12 Fulmars in the air at the end of the battle. They were unable to reach any of the Japanese bombers.
The latter then attacked the Allied ships. At the middle of the formation sailed the CV USS Saratoga, the only American survivor of the first CV battle of the war, and USS Hornet. The BB North Carolina was sailing close by to cover them with her AA fire. All Japanese crews attacked these three ships. AA fire shot down 6 Betties and 3 Nells but that was not sufficient to stop Japanese crews (Allied AA is still bearable in 1942). The North Carolina was hit by the first Japanese bomber but that didn’t reduced much her comabt ability and she then dodged all missiles. The Hornet managed to evade all torpedoes but the Saratoga was not so successful and was struck by five torpedoes and was burning and listing rapidly when Japanese crew left the area.

I then waited for the Kates based in Pearl Harbor to fly and attack the fleet that had no more CAP, but they didn’t.

So far a very good day for Japan. The afternoon was not so brilliant.

It began with a Rufe shooting down a Walrus near the Kido Butai. A total of four Walruses were lost to Japanese fighters this day. Also a special note should be made for the 9 Rufes flying with the KB: they suffered during the day 3 losses but shot down 3 Fulmars, 2 SBD and at least one Walrus.

The Allied CV launched their last bolt against the KB but the tiny raid (9 TBF, 6 Swordifh, 4 Fulmars and 2 Wildcats) was intercepted by 120 Zeroes and 3 Rufes. One Fulmar managed to shot down a Zero before all Allied aircraft were shot down…

And then things began to go wrong (I’m not complaining, they may very well have gone wrong earlier). The Pearl Harbor commander had about 50 undamaged naval bombers, 80 Zeroes and 64 intact and fresh Kates at his disposal. 180 miles from him were transports and surface TF off Hilo, 60 miles more far were 5 intact Allied CVs with only some fighters remaining to cover them, both in range of all his aircraft. He did the usual in WITP.

He sent all fighters against one target and most of the bombers against the other.

12 Wildcats of VMF-223, VMF-224 and VMO-251 were flying CAP over Hilo. These pilots were green some days before, this was their first battle, and they probably didn’t think that half of them will be aces at the end of the day. Well they were delighted to see small raids arrive one after the other toward them.
First came 3 Betties, one was shot down and the 2 other turned back. Then 9 Kates were seen and 8 shot down, the last one missing an AK. Then 23 Ki-51s were seen flying higher and two were shot down before the other turned back and fled. The next raid (13 Kates) was 100% destroyed, even if a Wildcat was hit for the first time by return fire. Then came 6 Kates, 4 were shot down by the Marines but two managed to reach the CA Quincy. They missed and one was shot down by AA fire. Then it was the return of land-based bombers, 4 Betties being engaged and turning back after one was shot down, and then 6 Nells turning back as soon they were intercepted. The tired American pilots were then unable to stop the 7 next Kates, only shootong down one, and the AK Regulus was torpedoed and heavily damaged. Then 3 lost Ki-51 wandered over Hilo and two were shot down by the CAP, the last managed to escape. 9 of the 16 next Kates were shot down by the Marines, the survivor attacked the CA Louisville but scored only a dud hit and lost one more to AA fire. Then arrived 4 Kates. Wildcats shot down 3, the last one missed a DMS. American pilots were unable to intercept the last raid of 6 Kates, that hit the AK Liberty Go with a torpedo.
So a dozen of American pilots shot down 38 Kates, 4 Sonias and 2 Betties without loss.

At the same time (in game in alternance with the above), the Allied fleet east of Hilo was also attacked. 13 Fulmars and 3 Wildcats were flying CAP when the first raid arrived. It was small (4 Betties, 4 A6M2 and 2 A6M3) and was repulsed. One Betty and one Fulmar were shot down, 3 more Fulmars broke contact. That ramined only 9 Fulmars and 3 F4F-4 and they were overwhelmed by the next raid: 6 Betties, but escorted by 63 A6M2 and 13 A6M3. The Zeroes shot down all Fulmars and 2 Wildcats, and the bombers attacked an intact CV TF. In a perfect attack they managed to score a torpedo hit on each of the CV of the TF, the Indomitable (ammo storage explosion) and the Wasp, leaving both on fire. AA fire shot down two of them. 3 Nells and 8 Betties then attacked in 3 small unescorted groups. The first hit the AO Sabina and left her burning, the other missed a SC and a DD.

So the game mechanisms allowed me a huge victory in the morning and costed me half of my available Kates in the afternoon.

The Saratoga sank in the afternoon. The Indomitable and Wasp, the BB North Carolina, two AK and an AO were also torpedoed. No Japanese ship was hit.
The air score is 287 to 112 for the whole day, and 282 (281 air, 1 AA) to 112 (98 air, 14 AA) for this battle only. Allied side lost 79 F4F-4, 77 SBD, 49 Swordfish, 44 Fulmars, 26 TBF, 4 Walrus and 3 P-39D. Japan lost 40 Kates, 40 A6M2, 14 Betties, 8 A6M3, 4 Ki-51, 3 Nells and 3 Rufes.

Here are the score of the Japanese fighter units

1) Kido Butai
AII- 1: 11 victories for one loss
BI-1: 49 victories for 2 losses
DI-1: 22 victories for 1 loss
DIII-1: 10 victories for no loss
EI-1: 43 victories for 1 loss
EII-1: 40 victories for 3 losses
FI-1: 2 victories for no loss
FF6/Yokohama (Rufe): 4 victories for 2 losses
FF7/Yokohama (Rufe): 2 victories for 1 loss

2) Pearl Harbor
AI-1: 30 victories for 3 losses
F1/Tainan: 11 victories for 8 losses
F2/Tainan: 5 victories for 2 losses
F1/Omura: 2 victories for 1 loss
F2/Yamada: 13 victories for 9 losses
F3/Chitose: 9 victories for 3 losses
F1/2nd (A6M3): 20 victories for 8 loss
A chutai of F2/3rd: no victory for 4 losses (maybe a bad leader for this unit)

Southern Pacific

Noumea was reconed by Nells and Emilies from Suva.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

The SS I-165 that was hit by a B-17E in Banda Sea some days ago sank off Raba, where the crew was trying to patch her to complete the trip to Soerabaja.

In the afternoon, while the whole world was watching events in Hawaii, Timor was raided as usual. 34 B-25C from Derby attacked Koepang and hit 59 men and 1 gun, scoring 1 on hit on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 14 on runways. Lautem suffered as usual, 67 B-17E, 60 B-25C, 30 LB-30 and 7 T.IVa from Darwin scoring 9 hits on the base, 4 on supplies and 83 on runways. 9 Japanese men were also hit. Two B-25C were lost in accident during these raids.

Philippines

36 Ki-48s, 19 Ki-21s and 18 Ki-49s bombed Manila airfield, scoring 1 hit on the airbase and 46 on the runways and wounding 10 men, while the 41st PA Div lost 56 men and 3 guns under attack by 41 Zeroes, 28 Vals and 23 Kates. Japanese shells then disabled 199 more, the lack of supplies 95 more.

China

Nine Vals from Yenen bombed again the 30th Chinese Corps 120 miles SW of the town and hit 28 men and 1 gun. Artillery fire hit 43 Chinese in Kungchang and 32 in Wuchow.

[Arstavidios]

Looks like the allied invasion of PH will be called off for a while. Time to launch the pursuit and bag some transports.

Bref les alliés viennent de se prendre une bonne rouste. Ca devrait les calmer pendant quelques temps.......[:D]

[veji1]

enfin en même temps, ça aurait été un gros coup de bol de reprendre PH à l'été 1942, un manoeuvre très audacieuse à dire le moins...

Attacking PH in the summer of 1942 is a very bold move... I would have thought that he would have waited for summer 1943 at least... If i wer him I would have try to put pressure somewher else on the map til then... Anyway, you must make him pay now..

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Congrats on great victory!

BANZAI!!!


Like I said before I was almost 99.99% sure that his move against Hawaii in summer of 1942 was way way way premature (your opponent suffered tremendous looses in spring when he lost majority of his CVs and this "adventure" was too early)...


How many of his air power (CV based) remains? What is your guestimate? What about his remaining CVs?

I sincerely hope you can find strength to kill as many of his many ships around Hawaii with your air power and sea power (and also allow few kills tor IJN submarines)... [8D]


Leo "Apollo11"

[Ron Saueracker]

The issue was never in doubt, was it? Allies did not stand a chance...way to bold a move this early as many have said. All I know is that the CAP is brutal and I hope the big surprise with 1.8 is a revamped CAP and strike model.

Great AAR!!!

[kokubokan25]

To AmiralLaurent:

How in the name of the Hell can you are so precise???
I mean, you type what daitai/sentai do score a hit, really you note those dates??
[X(][X(]

F

[AmiralLaurent]

Hi all, nice to see all lurkers coming out of the wood to greet the victor [8D]. Now promise you won't throw rocks at me the day I will lose the whole Kido Butai....[:-]

I'm also surprised by the number of French messages. I know some of you are French, I guess some of the other did their best to praise the victor [;)][:D]

I also agree to you that my opponent did a bold move, but we agree to give me a moral victory if if have more than 4 to 1 points at the end of 1942, and I think he thought taking PH back was the only way to do it. And I rather agree with him. In fact I was dead scared when I see him coming so early. Had it arrived three month later, I will have more BBs, more mines, one more division in Lahaina and SNLF in Hilo, better fort, 200 more trained CV airmen, four more repaired fleet CV and so on.... Has someone said, either he succeeded there, or he had to wait for the summer of 1943, and then he will be very late.

As for engaging me elsewhere, he just suffered a serie of naval, air and land defeats in Fiji, even if I suffered some losses and took more time than originally planned. He can't do anything desicive anywhere, except maybe north of Australia, but I have kept troops here (Imperial Guard the biggest) and enough aircraft to have local superiority over Kendari, while he has local air superiority over Australia.

Also the fact that having no more island between USA and New Zealand/New Caledonia means he had a lot of troops and aircraft in West Coast doing nothing. He may have tried the northern approach, but with PH in my hands it is rather risky.

I think the best he could have done was to land as he did and flee eastwards when he saw my carriers closing. With his CVs sheltering transports all would be safe. Then he could have operated CVs out of West Coast SE of Hilo to try to engage mine.

By the way the day is mine but I have 50 Kates remaining, and 80 Vals before I don't use them. Now the challenge is to sink at least the two damaged CVs, so delivering a hard blow on the Allied fleet. If they escape the Allied air fleet will be reconstitued in some weeks (maybe not the British ones, British pool should be low... is there a Fleet Air Arm pool?) while mine will need several months to recover.

Today was a great tactical victory but if these two CVs escape will be a strategic draw. I think the next months will be used to crush the Hilo invaders. Here I have a problem, as none of my troops prepare for that, while his should be at 100% for this base, at least some of them. Or maybe he was planning to use it as a step before another invasion and his troops had another objective (Lahaina or Pearl)? We will see.

ORIGINAL: fremen

To AmiralLaurent:

How in the name of the Hell can you are so precise???
I mean, you type what daitai/sentai do score a hit, really you note those dates??
[X(][X(]

F

Hi Fremen,

In fact in these games I have always been fond of my fighters, I usually follow a bit my better aces, and at least track their death. For example my top ace now is in Burma and everytime his unit is engaged I will check if it is still here.

By the way the above number were just substractions from file after the battle minus file before the battle. I only counted the planes lost, it would have been better to count the pilots.

I'm also watching the whole animation, like a war movie or a sport event (go Japan, go!). Needless to say I was as triumphant in the morning that I was more or more angry in the afternoon.

[goodboyladdie]

Absolutely superb! Thanks very much for the exciting battle.

Do you think you have done enough to put him off?

Where are his submarines? I would have been using them to attack the KB to try to even the balance and to screen the invasion.

[Tom Hunter]

An amazing performance, though I am still suprised he took you on with a force that small, it had no chance.


By the way anyone heard from Mogami? he is late sending back our next turn.

[jrcar]

Congrats!

I can see the PH option the "new India".

Always something that I've thought about, only played Allies so far in 3 PBEM and keep PH well defended jsut in case.

Cheers

Rob

[AmiralLaurent]

The more I thought about it, the more I am pleased my opponent didn't retire this day. I would have another attrition battle to fight on 3 elements, while now I hope to have sea superiority and then my BBs will bomb the few Allied air units that reached Hilo.

I think the White Plan will be cancelled. I will have Allied troops to reduce in Hawaii, and not enough troops to land in New Zealand. Maybe I will attack Noumea in late 1942. We will see after sinking some more Allied CVs tomorrow [:'(].

Now the orders

Central Pacific

The Japanese CV were reorganized into two divisions, one fast (CVs able to do 25 knots, the fast BB and DDs having the best endurance and no need to refuel) and another slow. The plan was to put most of the remaining Vals and Kates aboard the fast one, but I met two problems: the 22 Vals in Palmyra had not the range to reach the CVs, and the Vals and Kates aboard the slow CVs were unable to transfer to the fast one. Maybe it is not possible to transfer from one ship to another, I don't remember trying before in WITP ?

Anyway that left the fast CV TF with 76 Zeroes, 36 Vals and 20 Kates. Still more than the Allied CVs have this evening but I won't slaugther 500 Allied ships with that. Once again the main punch will be the land-based bombers of Pearl.

The plan is for the fast CV to sail east at full speed. The game didn't want them to cross the Hawaii islands, but to sail south... Treason, this game was written in the States !!!! Anyway I just hope it will be enough to catch the Allied CVs, they are probably able to do 4-5 hexes per phase. Both slow TF (BB and CV) will cross the Hawai islands and sail 120 miles E of Moloaki. All Vals and Kates have been ordered to fly naval attack, Zeroes wil lfly 50% escort.

To avoid a repaet of today's massacres, 27 A6M2 and 15 A6M3 will fly a sweep over Hilo. In PH, The F1/Omura was disbanded to reinforce the F3/Chitose. The first had more AC than pilots, the second the contrary. All PH Nells and Betties received orders to fly naval attack to range 15, Zeroes will fly escort to range 11.

The submarines NE of PH will sail south to take part in the chase.

More west, the convoy carrying the Air HQ scheduled for PH won't unload in Midway and sailed again tonight back to PH.

A mine survey showed that despite Allied efforts there were still 11 380 Japanese mines off Lahaina.

Southern Pacific

Noumea recons showed 5 TFs off the base (total of 9 "CA", 2 DD, 1 APD, 2 AP, 1 SS), 58 ship in the port (10+ AP) and 15 units in the base (45 000 men, 480 guns, 100 vehicles).

The BB Yamato and her escort (4 CA, 3 DD) refuelled in Pago-Pago when tankers arrived from Japan and sailed north to Hawaii. The tankers will unload one more day in Pago-Pago and then sail north too with the remaining fuel.

In Suva port is always a mess. Troops are no more loading or unloading, and I again ordered everybody out of the ships. The 2nd, 48th and 16th Div and the 3rd Eng Rgt all received orders to prepare for Hilo, cancelling the orders received one week ago...

Banda Sea

One CA, one CL and 3 DD left Kendari under storm cover to pick up troops in Aru Island.

Southern ressources area

As the number of ressources produced is too close IMOO to the number required, I started to repair ressource centers in Tarakan. It will pay off if Tarakan is still Japanese in 500 days, that is the 14 December 1943. I think it is perfectly doable.

China

Two Chinese units left Sian today westwards, toward inner China. Is my opponent leaving the area ? The first Japanese recon AC arrived in Homan just after the first base force and will identify these troops tomorrow.

Japan

Given the recent Kate losses, and the overall state of my Kate unit, the current pool (209) was judged too small and the Hiroshima Kate factory (size 12) was restarted and will be increased to size 24.

A convoy is loading 28 000 tons of fuel for Pearl Harbor. BB will operate from here on a daily basis to close Hilo.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

By the way the day is mine but I have 50 Kates remaining, and 80 Vals before I don't use them. Now the challenge is to sink at least the two damaged CVs, so delivering a hard blow on the Allied fleet. If they escape the Allied air fleet will be reconstitued in some weeks (maybe not the British ones, British pool should be low... is there a Fleet Air Arm pool?) while mine will need several months to recover.

Today was a great tactical victory but if these two CVs escape will be a strategic draw. I think the next months will be used to crush the Hilo invaders. Here I have a problem, as none of my troops prepare for that, while his should be at 100% for this base, at least some of them. Or maybe he was planning to use it as a step before another invasion and his troops had another objective (Lahaina or Pearl)? We will see.

Hmmm... I don't know... I think this was 100% brilliant and 100% pure victory!

As for him quickly replacing his lost air assets on his remaining CVs (if they can escape) - I doubt it - even with replacements good CV based crews are hard to obtain and training is long long long process...


Also one can guess that his aircraft (remaining ones) are now overcrowding his remaining operating CVs - this is something very much worth exploring (of course with great care and thoughtfulness)!


IMHO he has just one route home and three (all bad) choices:

#1
Leave every slow and/or damaged ship behind to your mercy and withdraw all undamaged ships.

This would save his fast ships but 100% certainly doomed his remaining slow and/or damaged ships and his landed ground forces.


#2
Try to cover his retreat of damaged/slow ships with his undamaged ones.

Absolutely worst case scenario for him - in this case you can destroy everything he has because his land air power is 10x too far away and unable to help whilst his CVs are many times inferior to you.


#3
Stay near Hawaii in order to land as much supply and as much troops as possible to try to tie you down much longer (i.e. you can more easily kill his troops on ships than once they are landed and in great supply).

At the end this would also result in his total annihilation (see #2 above) but he would buy time.


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

Hi, Leo

Your analysis is correct but you can't know one thing. I have 75 Vals and 35 Kates aboard my CVs, less than the number of Allied ships at sea. On the other hand there is no overcrowding aboard Allied ships, in fact all remaining Allied CV aircraft probably won't be enough to fill one of the 3 intact Allied CVs.

As for having to remain off Hilo to unload, I think most troops are already ashore (as I caught out of position), but supplies may be a problem. Also Aks carrying aircraft didn't all unload and may be a good bonus.

2 August 1942

Central Pacific

During the night most of the Allied ships left Hilo area as fast as they could and some met the SS I-8 420 miles E of Hilo. The surprised Japanese crew crash-dived but the DD USS Hugues and Farenholt destroyed this submarine (with her Glen) with 11 DC hits... They were very probably part of the escort of a CV TF fleeing at full speed. Or maybe an ASW TF sent forward the main TF.

In the morning Emilies from Pearl Harbor and Vals from Japanese CVs reported 27 Allied TF in range (see map below). Sadly the "fast CV" TF was under clouds and remained so the whole day...
The day battles began with a sweep from Peral to Hilo with 27 A6M2 and 15 A6M3. Twelve Wildcats from the same three Marine squadrons than yesterday intercepted and shot down five A6M2 for two losses.
Then 6 P-39D escorted by 2 F4F-4 left Hilo to attack the Japanese "slow TF". The CAP of 36 Zeroes shot down 4 P-39D without loss, the two survivors missed the BB Fuso.
And then the bombers of Pearl Harbor began to launch small raids on the fleeing Allied ships. The first four Nells attacked the CV HMS Indomitable 600 miles E of Pearl Harbor. There was no CAP and they hit her with another torpedo. AA fire shot down two of them. Then 3 Betties missed the BB New Mexico 300 miles E of Hilo.
The slow CVs then launched 13 Vals and 11 Kates to attack a convoy 240 miles ENE of their own position. The Kates attacked mostly the CA Portland and lost four of their number to AA fire to score two hits, one being a dud, while the Vals divebombed and heavily damaged an AK. Then 18 Betties and 4 Nells, escorted by 21 Zeroes, arrived from Pearl to attack the same target. The Portland managed to shot down a Betty but was sunk by four more torpedo hits. Other bombers attacked four APs but all missed.
The main raid of the morning launched by the slow CVs was sent toward Hilo. 36 Vals escorted by 33 Zeroes met a CAP of 10 Wildcats. The Zeroes shot down 6 against 2 losses, and a Val was also shot down. Then the divebombers attacked 3 ARs and heavily damaged two and set the third on fire.
Three Betties escorted by 33 Zeroes then arrived off Hilo. The escort shot down without loss the four F4F-4 remaining in the air and the Betties sank the AK Regulus that was already torpedoed yesterday.

Afternoon raids targeted two groups of Allied TFs. The first was 240 miles E of Hilo and was attacked by 3 Betties that missed an AK, 3 Nells that set on fire a laden tanker and then by 39 Vals and 13 Kates from the slow CV TF that attacked and sank two AK, the Idaho and Coast Farmer.
The other attacked group was 180 miles of Lahaina and was attacked by 3 Betties escorted by 80 A6M2 and 13 A6M3, then by 3 other Betties and finally by 3 Nells escorted by 6 Zeroes. They missed two AKs and a DD.

The above losses didn't include a Seagull shot down by Japanese CAP, four lost with the Portland and, for the big bonus of the day, 42 B-26B sunk with one of the lost AKs. On the Japanese side, one more Betty hit by AA crashed before returning to base and two A6M2, one Val and another Glen were lost in accidents.

Tomorrow both Japanese CV TF will continue the chase. Both were obliged to refuel their DD tonight and so will be slower tomorrow. The fast CV TF will continue sailing E and will probably find BBs as her biggest target, the slow one will sail NE to try to catch the Indomitable and finish her.
Three of the Kates units decimated two days ago were authorized to receive replacement and will receive newbies, that will be trained by chasing cripples in the next days east of Hawaii. The plan is to sail east with the CVs and surface ships to hit as much intact ships as possible, and then finish all damaged ships in the area.



Behind them the future campain to reduce Hilo will start tomorrow. Japanese bomber crew began to be tired and will not be efficient at the range they will have to fly tomorrow to find ships, so their orders will be changed to bombard Hilo airfield, where 45 Allied aircraft (15/2/28) have been reported. PH Zeroes will escort them. Reinforcements will arrive in one week or less, 48 Ki-21s and 27 Ki-49 left Osaka tonight for Marcus Island and 9 Ki-46 left Suva for Pago-Pago (there is no recon unit in Pearl).

Also a convoy was formed in Pearl with the available intact ships, 7 AK and 2 PC, and started to load two Naval Guard Units (both 90 ASS), one prepared at 100% for Hilo and the other at 100% for Kona. Both will be dropped in Kona and I hope to hold the place. Also the 25 transport aircraft that were in Midway flew to PH and will also be used to being reinforcements to Kona.

One question: does anyone know if there is a road between Hilo or Kona ?

Southern Pacific

The 4th Div had finished loading aboard transport in Suva and the ships sailed in the evening for Pearl Harbor (for a R&R period here...). The 2nd, 16th and 48th Div and the 3rd Eng Rgt finally began to load correctly aboard transports and should follow tomorrow.

Timor-Amboina-Australia

The FT TF sent to Aru wasn't detected and will try to picku p troops there tonight.

Southern Ressource Area

A convoy with 42 000 ressources left Batavia for Japan.

Burma

The Mavis Chutai had been ordered to fly recon (with naval search at 80%) without target, but was reconning the same Base Force in Bangalore for weeks... so I reduced his range to change of target. Then it started to recon Imphal, that is allready reconed between one and three times a day by faster recon aircraft from Burma. Today a Mavis was finally shot down by Allied CAP (27 Hurricane) over Imphal.

China

22 Hurricane II and 10 P-40B from Lanchow bombed the 68th Div in Kungchang and hit 76 men and 6 guns while 9 Vals from Yenen missed the 30th Chinese Corps 120 miles SW of their base. Artilley fire hit 12 Chinese men in Kungchang, 45 men and 1 gun in Wuchow.

The two units that left Sian yesterday continued to march west to Chungking (?). One was identified as a Group Army HQ. Also troops NW and SE of Sian both marched in part to Sian.

[Ron Saueracker]

Got to hand it to Pomphat for persevering as we all know just how many folks here would just go "No fair" and quit. [8|][:@] It is most annoying when you take it on the chin as Allied until the Japanese suffer a major setback and bail. [:-] But poor Pomphat will have to endure pure hell until 44.

Wat to go Pomphat![&o]

[ny59giants]

There is a road between Kona and Hilo. I am about to start a PBEM game as the Allies against a non-historic first turn Japanese player. Both of us are doing so for the first time. I hope he doesn't read your AAR too closely. [X(][X(]

Great opening strategy in your game Admiral, the Empire is well served.[&o][&o][&o][&o]

I hope you both plan to play through to see how far the Allies can get, even if you reach auto victory. KB or parts of it will keep busy raiding convoys "trying" to get to NZ/Oz. [:D]

[Titi]

Felicitation Amiral, c'est bon de voir qu'un français peu faire autre chose d'un porte-avion qu'une poubelle errante dans l'Océan Indien. [:D]

I'm wondering if it's a good idea to scratch your planification for the aborted allied counterattack on Hilo, you still have a great strategical advantage and you don't need all your assests to remove this torn in your side.
You don't have a lot of time to continue the attack, so i'm not sure it's not your opponent that is enjoying this pause in the japanese roller to build forts, regroup and strenghten defenses before Australia.

Keep the pressure and go forward. Banzai.

[AmiralLaurent]

LOL Titi [:D]

Actually I'm not scratching any preparation. I have only 2 or 3 divisions allready preparing for NZ, and these kept their orders.

Anyway the main goal of NZ invasion was killing troops, but it will be far easier to kill troops in Hilo than in NZ. So the plan is now to destroy Hilo troops during the fall and then land in NZ/Noumea in the winter 1942-1943.

On a funny note, my opponent sent me this message with this last turn. So as Ron said I can only praise Pomphat will to go on, and even see something funny in these awful days.

"It as sad story, and much of it is fated to be forever unknown. How Commander P. Poole managed to escape from a Japanese prison camp and somehow make his way to a Japanese naval base accompanied by who knows how many desperate followers will never be known. What is known is that, against all odds, he was able to seize control of the SS I-8 and sail across the Pacific towards home. Low on fuel, he must have been overjoyed to discover the American task force in the vast wastes of the Pacific. However his joy quickly turned to horror as the American destroyers, thinking the Japanese sub was still under Japanese command, attacked and gained one of their few successes of the war, sinking the I-8 with all hands. RIP Commander P. Poole."

By the way, he is not a quitter, and I am not. Given the points I am scoring here, I guess this war will finish by street battles in Tokyo....

[Sneer]

my experiance abouta massacre of allied ships shows that even fully prepared KB needs quite a lot of time to sink 20-30 ships not counting more
if you have 100 attack planes only and enemy have strong AA on his side I assume only max 5-6 strikes will be available before planes will be out of use
I managed to use KB against convoys in South Pac and intercepted exodus of all merchants from china to Oz - there is no easy way to hurt so many ships fast
if you can kill those damaged CVs it will be good result + several other ships - but it is max expected

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

I have 75 Vals and 35 Kates aboard my CVs, less than the number of Allied ships at sea.

I there no way of you transferring other carrier capable air units for temporary duty on your CVs?

What about PH based Betty/Nell torpedo bombers?


Nevertheless I still expect that you can bag a whole lot of his ships during his retreat!

On the other hand there is no overcrowding aboard Allied ships, in fact all remaining Allied CV aircraft probably won't be enough to fill one of the 3 intact Allied CVs.

OK.

As for having to remain off Hilo to unload, I think most troops are already ashore (as I caught out of position), but supplies may be a problem. Also Aks carrying aircraft didn't all unload and may be a good bonus.

How many units he managed to land you reckon?

BTW what size Hilo is in your game (port / airbase)?

Actually I'm not scratching any preparation. I have only 2 or 3 divisions allready preparing for NZ, and these kept their orders.

Anyway the main goal of NZ invasion was killing troops, but it will be far easier to kill troops in Hilo than in NZ. So the plan is now to destroy Hilo troops during the fall and then land in NZ/Noumea in the winter 1942-1943.

Also don't forget Noumea!

With Noumea and NZ you can really "seal" the Pacific eastern border - that would be great achievement!!!


He will have to wait for 1943 to try any other mayor attempt on Hawaii (and eastern pacific) so hat time would also be good for you to build the defenses!

How is situation with your CV repair and incoming CVs (have you managed to speed up some ships)?

On a funny note, my opponent sent me this message with this last turn. So as Ron said I can only praise Pomphat will to go on, and even see something funny in these awful days.

"It as sad story, and much of it is fated to be forever unknown. How Commander P. Poole managed to escape from a Japanese prison camp and somehow make his way to a Japanese naval base accompanied by who knows how many desperate followers will never be known. What is known is that, against all odds, he was able to seize control of the SS I-8 and sail across the Pacific towards home. Low on fuel, he must have been overjoyed to discover the American task force in the vast wastes of the Pacific. However his joy quickly turned to horror as the American destroyers, thinking the Japanese sub was still under Japanese command, attacked and gained one of their few successes of the war, sinking the I-8 with all hands. RIP Commander P. Poole."

ROFL [:D]

By the way, he is not a quitter, and I am not. Given the points I am scoring here, I guess this war will finish by street battles in Tokyo....

That's what is expected here - 1946 end game!!!


Leo "Apollo11"


P.S. [Edit]
Just typos fixed.

[AmiralLaurent]

3 August 1942

Leo, all of my carrier capable Val and Kate units have allready been disbanded into the KB units after the Hawaii invasion to revuild them, and are currently training in PI and China. I had only one Val unit (EII-2) still in reserve and it reached my CV this turn.

PH bombers had very low morale and high morale, so I ordered them to bomb Hilo, a closer and less dangerous target (if you have escort) today, but as yu will see below I will again use them tomorrow against shipping.

See the attached map for a view of the Allied units in Hilo (around 75 000 men). Hilo was a port 1 or 2/AF 2 before the invasion, and AF was expanded this turn. It may reach size 4 before the BBs came back to turn it into craters, but it is not sure. And I like better that Allied engineers expand AF rather than build fortifications.

The expansion toward Australia is now stopped until October but that was the plan. Anyway I have to wait for the fall of Manila to have enough troops for the next step. But with the recent CV losses I feel confident enough to launch an invasion in early 1943.

Bringing a PBEM into 1946 will certainly be a griet achievement, and there is a long way to go.

Central Pacific

After a quiet night, at dawn aircraft of both sides took off for naval searches and the waters east of Hawaii were still full of shipping. One Glen was shot down by AA fire and another by an Allied fighter but he had found an Allied CV TF and the fast CV TF reacted toward it.... finishing under a storm for the whole morning....

In the morning 27 Betties and 11 Nells from Pearl raided Hilo airfield trough clouds and rains. 40 A6M2 and 9 A6M3 escorted them and kept away the 6 F4F-4 flying CAP, but lost four of their number (a Marine ace scored his 13th kill) while shooting down 3 Wildcats. A fourth one was destroyed on the ground by bombs, while 13 men were hit and one runway hit scored. AA fire was weak (the bombers flew at 13 000 feet).

At sea the raids began with an attacked launched by the slow CV TF against a convoy 480 miles east of Pearl. Four AK were heavily damaged and one left on fire without loss by 36 Vals and 7 Kates escorted by 28 Zeroes. Another raid launched by the same TF with 13 Kates, 13 Vals and 8 Zeroes hit another convoy in the same area and sank the AK Surigao (with 4 torpedoes) and set on fire another AK, while a Kate was shot down by AA fire. And that was all for the morning.

In the afternoon the fast CV TF was free to operate, having no more clouds over it, but was first attacked by Allied aircraft: 2 TBF Avengers escorted by 2 Fulmars. The CAP of 71 Zeroes and 3 Rufes had no problem to shot down all. The counter-attack was launched with 15 Kates and 9 Zeroes. They flew 180 miles NE to find the CV HMS Formidable and Illustrious, the last untounched Allied CV TF (the pair Saratago-Hornet having lost a CV sunk, the Indomitable-Wasp another damaged), and attacked. 7 Fulmars and 2 F4F-4 Wildcats flew CAP but were unable to score and one of each type was shot down by Zeroes. Then almost all Kates attacked the HMS Formidable and hit her with 5 torpedoes, turning her into a burning wreck, while losing two of their number to AA fire. The Illustrious was attacked once and missed. At the same time the Vals of this CV TF were attacking a target closer of the CVs, an ASW TF only 60 miles NE of their ships. 34 Vals divebombed them, heavily damaged a British destroyer and let two other on fire without loss. Five Kates then also attacked them but missed.

This afternoon the slow CV TF launched repeated raids on a ship concentration 600 miles E of PH. First four Kates attacked the AO Kanawha and hit her twice. Then 8 other Kates attacked a tanker TF and hit once the AO Pecos, but AA fire shot down two. And then 17 Vals escorted by 35 Zeroes attacked nearby the BB Arizona (torpedoed once off Hilo on the 29th and proabbly slowed by damage) and scored five hits ,destroying a 5in gun, but losing two of their number to AA fire. This CV TF also launched two small raids, 11 Vals scoring 6 hits on an already damaged TK 360 miles east of Lahaina, and 14 other Vals attacking the same convoy as in the morning and heavily damaging two of the ships already hit.

In the evening the SS RO-62 attacked the burning AO Kanawha hit today by Kates and sank her with one torpedo.

Allied engineers expanded Hilo to size 3, five days after the fall of the base.

A flow of orders left Pearl in the evening. First all ships off Palmyra were ordered back to Hawaii, except the MLs. 3 CL and 3 DD arrived just from Pago-Pago and will sail to Kona, 2 AR, 5 MSW, 7 AK, 4 empty AO and some escort will sail to PH.
The troop convoy formed yesterday will leave this evening with two Naval Guard units for Kona and will be LRCAP by 23 A6M2 Zeroes from PH. Most of the fighters here will fly escort for a repeat raid on Hilo by 2 bombers units. 3 other bomber units (including 21 Betties that arrived as reinforcements from Midway and Johnston) will fly naval attack to range 15, while the last bomber unit will fly naval search 100%. Another A6M2 unit was disbanded in PH.
Reinforcements are on the way. The 48 Ki-21s and 27 Ki-49s sent by the IJAAF flew today without loss from Marcus to Midway and will rest there one day before the last step.
The crew of the old DD Wakatake, hit in PH by Allied naval bombardment (SYS 28), begged for a revenge and will sail alone tonight to Hilo to hit Allied cripples off the Allied base.
East of Hawaii, the SS I-122 laid a minefield in the path of the retreating Allied and will return to PH with two submarines that lost their Glens today.
Both CV TF will continue to sail east and will try to attack the remaining Allied CVs. 22 Vals flew from Kona aboard the fast carrier TF to reinforce it.



Southern Pacific

At least the troop loading in Suva worked perfectly. Three divisions and an Eng Rgt sailed today and yesterday, only the 2nd Div is still boarding ships and will finish tomorrow. All these troops will go to Hawai, letting Navy troops defend the Fiji (but a counter-landing is not expected in the near future).

Timor-Amboina-Australia

Once again the FT TF reached Aru Island during the night but was unable to load any troops. It then sailed back at cruise speed and was attacked in the morning 180 miles north of Tenimbar by 7 T.IVa (with bombs) and 7 strafing Brewster 339D. One Dutch bomber was shot down without any damage. Worst could have come in the afternoon but Darwin was closed by a thunderstorm. The FT TF (1 CA, 1 CL, 3 DD) was turned in the evening into a bombardment TF and ordered to hit the Tenimbar seaplane base. Aru troops will be evacuated by barges.

In the afternoon 53 B-25C from Derby raided again Koepang and hit 20 men and 1 gun, scoring 1 supply and 15 runway hits. Barges from Kendari now brought supplies to all Timor bases at least one time a week, especially AA rounds, and even if Allied raids kept the supplies low everytime, it remained possible for AA to hit Allied bombers. Today a B-25C was seriously hit over the target and ditched before reaching Australia.

A 3500-ton AK laden with supplies left Soerabaja and will try to sneak to Koepang.

Burma

Surprise ! An Allied unit was seen on the trail north of the railway line, 120 miles S of Kohima. Recon AC will identify it tomorrow, while Japanese troops were ordered to move. The 23rd Bde and two Tk Rgts left Mandalay northward to join the 81st Naval Guard Unit that kept the railway bend hex. The 33rd Div, the 4th Mixed Rgt and the 2nd Tk Rgt also left Rangoon northward, with an Air HQ that will settle in Mandalay (it arrived from Java some days ago). Also an small base force left Rangoon to march to Akyab. All these troops are in perfect state (100/100) after R&R in Rangoon or Mandalay.

In Bangkok, the 78th Sentai was the first unit to convert to Ki-61 KAIc Tony (from Ki-27) today, and will be used to defend Rangoon once the conversion will be over.
Philippines

36 Ki-48, 20 Ki-21 and 17 Ki-49 from Clark Field bombed Manila airfield and hit 69 men, 4 airbase buildings, 1 supply dump and 59 times the runways. Then the 41st PA Div was attacked by 40 Zeroes, 21 Vals and 23 Kates and lost 63 men. Japanese guns hit 139 men, lack of supply disabled 202. In the evening 66 868 able men remained in Manila garrison.

The island of Masbate, south of Legaspi, surrendered today to Japanese forces.

China

The 36th Div was bombed near Kungchang by 22 Hurricane II and 10 P-40B from Lanchow and lost 94 men and 3 guns, while 7 Vals from Yenen, escorted by 6 Oscars, bombed the 30th Chinese Corps 120 miles SW of their base and hit 13 men.

Artillery fire hit 13 Chinese in Kungchang and 91 in Wuchow, and 41 Japanese men and 3 tanks in Lanchow.

The Allied troops around Sian are gathering into this city (20 units, and 2 more SE of it) except the two leaving westwards. On the Japanese side the 6th and 35th Div have reached Chengting from Homan and will now be carried by train to Yenen, and then march to Lanchow.

Japan

A convoy left Tokyo for PH with 5 AK and 1 TK carrying 35000 tons supplies and 9000 tons of fuel, escorted by the CL Kinu and 7 DDs that will then join the KB.