Lunacy In The Pacific Mogami Vs. Tom Hunter

[Tom Hunter]

Well it turns out we were both wrong about the location of eachothers major CV forces [X(]

Here is Mogami's comment about todays fighting:

I didn't realize you had so much commited to Banda Sea. I thought I had the area protected well enough. quite a few landunits were in transit to garrision most of the bases. My poor little CV were at Daevo (headed for Singapore in case you tried landing on Sumatra) I figured landings to exploit/support Burma would be coming soon.
For some reason I thought it was the Lexington and perhaps 1 other USN CV and my force would be enough to handle that. LOL Now I have to load Burma Area army units to support lower SRA (SRA units are all too small)

For reference the actual force was 3 RN and 4 US CV. The other 2 US CVs are going to start bombing Baker island in a day or so.


The day opened with more death for Submarines, an S boat was sunk North of Ambonia, and the Allies added I-166 to thier tally near Kai Island.

I was under the assumption that the main threat to the invading forces was Ambonia so I sent a fighter sweep to clear the air before a combination of Dauntlesses and LBA pouned the place. The sweep went reasonably well, and it did get all my bombers through:

Day Air attack on Amboina , at 39,73

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 12
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 15

Allied aircraft
Seafire x 2
F4F-4 Wildcat x 68
SBD Dauntless x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 10 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 6 destroyed, 5 damaged
SBD Dauntless: 7 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
37 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 7

A bunch of B17s bombed a little later against light opposition from Japanese CAP.

Then I got my first inkling that something was not right near Amboina:

Day Air attack on TF at 40,72

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 49

Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 53
TBF Avenger x 58

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 29 destroyed
TBF Avenger: 39 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVL Shoho

Heavy losses but Zuiho is in serious trouble now. If I had not done the Ambiona sweep these three might all be sunk, but in the end I can still afford the loss of the planes. Total Allied aircraft loss for the day is 178, Japanese was 196 almost 400 planes in a day.

The Japanese struck back targeting the British:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 42
D3A Val x 19
B5N Kate x 56

Allied aircraft
Seafire x 55
F4F-4 Wildcat x 52

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 35 destroyed
D3A Val: 9 destroyed, 1 damaged
B5N Kate: 21 destroyed, 14 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Seafire: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 19 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Formidable, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage
CV Indomitable
CV Illustrious

A second Japanese strike hit the Brits again:
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 7 destroyed
D3A Val: 12 destroyed
B5N Kate: 7 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Seafire: 2 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Indomitable, Bomb hits 1
CV Formidable, heavy damage
CV Illustrious, Bomb hits 2
CLAA Van Heemskerck

Formidable is at 77 float and 2 hexes from Kai Island which is an L1 port. She can port hop down the islands to Darwin, and maybe more importantly Kai has a 46 plane CAP already. Maybe she will make it, maybe not. The other 2 CVs are fine.

The Japanese also made efforts to sink shipping around Kai Island, this is the biggest attack:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 32
G3M Nell x 13
G4M1 Betty x 6

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 19 destroyed
G3M Nell: 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 9 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Liberty Glo

But there were others, all repulsed without and hits to Allied shipping.

In the afternoon the Americans hit back at the two large Japanese CVs that did so much damage to the Formidable.

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 4
SBD Dauntless x 46
TBF Avenger x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 9 destroyed, 14 damaged
TBF Avenger: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
A6M3 Zero x 3
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 1

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2
SBD Dauntless x 36

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 7 destroyed, 16 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage

There were well over a dozen air battles over various bases and ships most of them small with a few losses on both sides.

In addition to all of this Allied bombers from Raeheng hit an AP in the gulf of Siam marking the beginning of Alllied anti shipping strikes in that area. Some Hudsons also hit an AK near Buna in New Guinea. This is a good trend, I want the war to happen as many places as possible.

Finally B24s met ZZeros over Baker today as they resumed bombing. 2 US fast BBs are going to bombard tonight, Wasp and Hornet arrive and attack tomorrow and the invasion of Baker happens a day or two after that.

[Ron Saueracker]

Quite the turn!!!

[Tom Hunter]

Ron,

I was waiting for someone to notice this little fight we have. [:)]

Mogami seems to have decided that getting hundreds of planes shot down is not in his best interest, on the 25th there were no air raids in the Banda sea and the two CV groups have seperated.

Formidable is at Kai Island with 73 float, down from 77, so far so good. She is continueing to Darwin.

Off Baker we had an interesting near miss, Mogami's CVs are 2 hexes West of the Island. He massacred some MSWs while my CVs reacted and in the afternoon he was shrouded in clouds so no battle took place.

Here are his comments and mine:

Hi, So it's the old squeeze play . Very lucky for you this turn. Your CV
bombed Baker Island with my CV sitting 2 hexes away. Both of us had wrong
missions assigned and bad weather over my CV. (I had no CAP all my fighters
were set to escort since I was going to assign them this turn to LRCAP over
Baker to intercept bombers. I clobbered a MSW TF. Your CV reacted but the
weather prevented exchange of strikes.
I was hoping to catch your BB trying to bombard again but was not in
position. The fact that your MSW are there hints at a landing forwith.
Depends on wins tomorrows CV battle now.

and my reply:

Most of my bombers that hit Baker did it on secondary missions and my fighters were set to escort, not to sweep. If there had not been clouds over your CVs there might have been heavy casualties on both sides. I am not sure that the outcome we just saw was actually lucky for me.


I don't think having my CVs get attacked while they launch un-intercepted strikes against his is actually a bad deal, especially since the Japanese uber strike could very well launch agaist only one of the two CV TFs. Anyway it did not happen, I am pullling back in the direction of Canton Island which has 32 Kittyhawks on it now, with another 72 coming from Noumea due to arrive in 2 days.

[Tom Hunter]

In Burma the British were forced back from Krung Thep, a Japanese attack forced the base forces back and I retreated the Infantry units voluntarily.

Pisanuloke is Allied, USMC Paras and Chindits are digging in while the 109th RAF base force works to bring the airfield up to L2. The Japanese have sent an armored unit to take it back, but they are already outnumbered, and also bombed on a daily basis.

The British continue to bomb and bombard the Japanese at Moulmein and are preparing for another attack.

The main action is in the Banda Sea, where the Japanese are trying to stop, or at least slow, the Allied advance.






As it turns out most (maybe all?) of the Japanese bases in the VogelKopf (literally the Birds Head) of New Guinea are empty. The Alllies are rushing to grab as many as possible before the Japanese can respond. Bulla will be Allied in a day and a tank Battalion and infantry division will unload there. Sorong is going to be grabbed by a small force of Dutch but will be re-inforced as rapidly as possible.

A key to winning this campagain is getting airbases up to level 2 before more Japanese CVs arrive. Babo and Kai Island will both turn 2 in a day, they already have Wildcats and Hurricanes on CAP but in a day they will be able to fly LRCAP over Bulla and Sorong. There are also a number of Dauntless groups ready to fly in and start bombing any Japanese that come near.

Babo and Kai support Bulla, from Bulla supporting Sorong is easy, once Sorong is up and running Amboina will be pounded to pudding by air while the army and navy grab all the bases on the East side of the map.

The big difficulty is finding enough base forces, CD units and constrution engineers. I thought I would grab one location fast and the other either fast or after a battle. So I only brought 4 base forces along with 2 extra in Darwin. Now I am having trouble getting enough in place fast enough.

My suspicion is that Mogami will react by putting troops into Kendari and Timor to stop an Allied advance into the oil fields. This is pretty much what I want, I doubt he is thinking that I am planning to cut his empire in half before I get serious about destroying it, and the longer I keep him guessing the better.

Right now the Allies need to keep the Japanese off balance to win, later on brute force alone will do it.

On other fronts the Chinese are getting pounded from the air, the British had to pull back all the airpower in China to win in IndoChina and the I-16s will not cut it against the steadily increasing number of Tojo's.

US P36s started unloading at Efate, I am rotating units that were on defense in Australia and Hawaii into the New Hebridies and transferring 70XP airgroups out to areas that are likely to see combat.

The invasion of Baker is on hold for at bit while we wait to see where KB is. If the Japanese CVs show up in the Banda sea then Baker is Allied 3 days later.

Finally the Junyo rolled over and sank yesterday, the first confirmed major casualty of the Banda Sea. Formidable is in Darwin with 75 float and 30 sys, so she will be out of action for the first half of 1943 but back when the fun really gets going.

The Hiyo (4 bombs) and Zuiho (3 bombs 1 torp) have not reported and it is unlikely that Ryujo will will sink with only one bomb hit.


Anyone care to place bets about where Mogami's BB Tf will go? I hope it heads for Kai Island, but who knows. The whole area abounds with good targets, all guarded by powerful forces.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter

Anyone care to place bets about where Mogami's BB Tf will go?

Davey Jones locker? [:D]

[Alikchi2]

I guess Bulla. I also agree with witpqs - if he goes, he's sunk. [:D]

More likely I think he'll pull his BBs back.

[Redd]

Anyone care to place bets about where Mogami's BB Tf will go?

If he's smart they're headin' for the hills right about now.

[Tom Hunter]

Seeing the Japanese TF coming the US Navy rushed additional ships from Babo to Bulla, all told there were 4 TFs there that night, one of PT boats, a 24 ship transport TF unloading, and two small surface TFs, one lead by the CL Detroit that was on station, and another lead by Captain Nixon, who rushed over from Babo at full speed.

The Japanese under Nishimura arrived that night and ran into Nixon at 9,000 yards.





Yamashiro pounded Lousiville with numerous 14" hits, and the result was another martyr for the USN:

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 6
CA Aoba
CA Kako, Shell hits 1
CL Yubari, Shell hits 1
DD Yamakaze
DD Kawakaze, Shell hits 1
DD Umikaze
DD Suzukaze
DD Hatsushima, Shell hits 1
DD Shinonome
DD Minazuki
DD Kikuzuki

Allied Ships
CA Louisville, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CL De Ruyter, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Litchfield, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Hatfield, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Kane, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

[Tom Hunter]

.

[Tom Hunter]

The group lead by the USS Detroit picked the Japanese up on radar and suprised them, opening fire at 7,000 yards. Though the transport TF has a heavy cruiser in its escort group, it is really up to the Detroit to stop Nishimura.





Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 5
CA Aoba, Shell hits 3
CA Kako, Shell hits 1
CL Yubari
DD Yamakaze, Shell hits 2
DD Kawakaze
DD Umikaze, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Suzukaze
DD Hatsushima
DD Shinonome
DD Minazuki, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Kikuzuki

Allied Ships
CL Detroit, Shell hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
DD Laffey, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Waters, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
DD Brooks
DD Humphreys, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage

The combination of suprise and radar helped the Americans do significant damage to Nishimuras ships which are now running low on torpedos. Low on ammunition, with several of his ships on fire or badly damaged, and concerned about the Allied carriers he knows are in the area Nishimura turns for home, at which point the DD Shinonome discovers a minefield the hard way, confirming Nishimuras decision to run. DD Umikaze has engine room damage and Nishimura leaves her to fend for herself. As it turns out the CVs pictured on the November 28th map have not moved, and Umikaze is the first ship their airgroups find that morning, her fate is a prelude to the coming day:

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 15
SBD Dauntless x 12


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Umikaze, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage

[Tom Hunter]

The Japanese make one final attempt to stop the fall of Bulla by air attack. Wilcats from the Enterprise are on LRCAP over the port and catch the Japanese before the attack goes in, disrupting but not stopping the enemy bombers.

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 45
G3M Nell x 9
G4M1 Betty x 14

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 9 destroyed
G3M Nell: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 14 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 7 destroyed

The Japanese concentrate on the cruiser (which I put in the convoy for exactly that reason) and fail to get through the flak.

[Tom Hunter]

The Shimonome had struggled to keep up with Yamashiro, she fell behind and was discovered by some SBDs from Enterprise:

Seafire x 13
F4F-4 Wildcat x 11
SBD Dauntless x 16


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Shinonome, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage



By afternoon the Allies had located Yamashiro and launched strikes, it was time for revenge:





Day Air attack on TF, near Namlea at 38,73


Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 28
Swordfish x 32
TBF Avenger x 11


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
Swordfish: 2 destroyed, 17 damaged
TBF Avenger: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
CA Kako, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Hatsushima
CA Aoba, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Yubari


That ended the sea and air battles, durning the afternoon the Allied landing forces took Bulla inspite of the fanatical attempts by the Japanese to stop the landing.

[Tom Hunter]

And the bad news for Japan continues apace. Also on the 29th the Japanese launched a failed tank attack on the Chindits and Marine paras at Pisanuloke:

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 2144 troops, 0 guns, 138 vehicles

Defending force 8439 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)


Japanese ground losses:
114 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 9

Allied ground losses:
34 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Then on the 30th the Allies hit back:

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 6553 troops, 29 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 1972 troops, 0 guns, 123 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 12 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
32 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
274 casualties reported
Guns lost 3


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! And are now in pursuit, heading for Ubon.

At Moulmein things were not so successful, the Allies launched a big attack with poor results:

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 135443 troops, 1078 guns, 1082 vehicles

Defending force 84955 troops, 682 guns, 12 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)


Japanese ground losses:
750 casualties reported
Guns lost 44
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
4012 casualties reported
Guns lost 126
Vehicles lost 2

A shock attack would have gotten 1 to 1 and maybe taken the fort down a level. We will keep bombing and are building up forces on the other side of the river to launch a larger shock attack in the future.

Sorong fell to a Dutch battalion on the 30th, making it the 4th Japanese base to fall in the Banda sea, more or less one base every 2 days. Kai and Babo are both L2 airfields now and Bulla has a small amount of AV. More is coming fast, and the Australian government was persuaded to release the 1st division to the SW Pacific command, it is loading on ships at Darwin.

As of December 2 the CV fleet is in Darwin rebuilding its heavily attritted air groups many of which were at 50% strength or less. One Avenger group from the Yorktown had zero planes[X(]. The balance of CVs shifted in the Allies favor during the first battle of the Banda sea, with 1 Japanese CV sunk and a CV and CVL out of action in exchange for the Formidable badly damaged. This means that a fight with KB would be on more or less even terms if it occured, even without the Hornet and Wasp.

Over at Baker Island Hornet, Wasp, 3 fast BBs a slow BB and 2 divisons + of troops were stopped by the 6 CVs of KB. The successful defense of Baker may end up costing Japan a lot though. All those forces are going to head to the South Pacific and will be used to invade the Celebes, and perhaps push as far as the Southern Philipines.

Mogami is going to defend Kendari and Timor, the obvious routes to the oil in the NEI. My strategy is to continue hitting him where he his not defending and push my LBA that much deeper into the Japanese empire. With 6 USN VCs and 2 British I can fight the 6 CVs of KB in an even match. I also have the first air replenishment CV, HMS Hermes and the USS Long Island to throw in, so the Allies have a strong flexible punch now.

Several CVEs are coming in the next month and the USS Essex arrives in 39 days. That helps the situation even more. But the key is not the additional CVs. It is forcing Mogami to fight where he is not prepared, or even worse where he has to launch counter offensives against Allied gains. If that strategy works Japan will be fatally weakened in 1943 and may collapse in 1944.

The Vogelkopf campaign has been very

[Tom Hunter]

Here is the strategic map, the offensive into the Banda sea is clearly visible. From there the Americans can go towards the Philipines, Kendari, Timor, back down the North coast of New Guinea or even take Pagan and hit the Marianas from the rear. The more I consider the possibilities the more attactive they are.

The 40th division and additional troops are now loading at Canton Island with a new objective the island between the VogelKof and the Celebes. The CVs and BBs that were to support the attack on Baker have already started moving towards Noumea, from there they will head into the Banda Sea as well.

In addition to the naval force there are about 250 fighters in the area and 300+ bombers. The fighters include 144 P38s and 72 Wildcats so there is a nice combination of quality, quantity and range. At the moment the Allies are frantically building up airbases, but soon they will be launching bombing raids. The opening bombs will be dropped by Wirraways flying out of Babo, they are going to harrass some Japanese construction engineers who were driven into the jungle by the US 37th division.

[Tom Hunter]

More action coming in the Banda Sea, at least the Japanese are coming back.

Enough time has elapsed for KB to arrive. Babo and Bulla each have 24 Wildcats, Sorong has some Hurricanes but no base force, Kai has 30 P38s with orders to fly CAP over Sommervilles BBs which are moving from Kai Island to Bulla. That is 4 BBs plus carefully picked escorts. PoW and Repulse are moving from Kai to Babo.

Babo is L2 and will get another BF taking the AV up to 56, it has a large number of engineers and will be L3 in 3 or 4 days. Once it hits L3 a swarm of 2 engine bombers is ready to move in, if there is enough AV. Right now it has some 70 XP Dauntlesses ready to bomb anyone unloading at Sorong.

The 1st Aussie division is on transports heading for Sorong which is now held by a small force of Dutch. The RN BBs will clear the way before the Aussies get there, a fine example of Imperial war effort.

The Allied CV force has refueled and rearmed at Darwin and is moving North now. All the airgroups are fully rebuilt and flying except for Lexington which has all the planes but has not finished cleaning the cosmoline out of the machine gun barrels on the new fighters.

It is a race for sure. If the Allies can hold the Japanese off for a few more days then then the whole area will be under a strong Allied air umbrella and it will be too late for Japan. On the 29th Nishimura tried to stop the invasion of Bulla with the Yamashiro and died for his troubles, on December 4th and 5th Sommerville (in Warspite) and Palliser (in Prince of Wales) will try to turn back the Japanese, England expects they will do better.*

*Even though the pinheads who designed the game did not give the British a really good admiral at all. They are pathetic, but I am going to win anyway.

[Tom Hunter]

On December 4th the Japanese launched two very successful raids against Allied shipping at Bulla and Sorong. Bulla was supposed to have the RN BB TF, with 4 slower BBs under Sommerville but he moved slow (inspite of a full speed order and plenty of fuel) so the Japanese hit the convoy and got away:


Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 2
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 1
CA Atago
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CA Mogami
CA Kumano
CL Naka
CL Nagara
CL Kiso
DD Teruzuki
DD Hatsukaze
DD Asashio
DD Michishio
DD Asagumo
DD Hibiki
DD Inazuma
DD Kamikaze
DD Matsukaze

Allied Ships
CL Concord, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
DD Brooks, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
MSW Inverell, Shell hits 2, on fire
MSW Starling, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
MSW Swallow, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
SC SC-742, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
AK Don Isidro
AK Dos Hermanos, Shell hits 11, on fire, heavy damage
AK Florence D.
AK Kanlaon II, Shell hits 1, on fire
AK St. Quentin
AK Shinai
AK Tai Sang, Shell hits 1, on fire
MSW Bayfield, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk

The only redeeming feature for the Allies was a PT boat putting a torpedo into a DD during a later round.

Off Sorong a force of APDs, DDs and a CLAA got murdered by some Japanese DDs.

Japanese Ships
DD Murasame, Shell hits 1
DD Harusame
DD Hatsuharu, Shell hits 2
DD Yugure, Shell hits 1
DD Ariake, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Sazanami

Allied Ships
CLAA Van Heemskerck, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Nizam, Shell hits 1
APD Manley, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
APD Colhoun, Shell hits 1
APD Gregory, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
APD McKean
DD Lawrence, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk


Allied ground losses:
128 casualties reported

At least the guy in command had the decency to go down with his CLAA.

The Allied CVs were down at Darwin getting badly needed aircraft replacements and re-arming so the Japanese were able to get in and get away. The forward most bases did not have enough CAP for me to risk deploying BBs there so things were too exposed, and finally the RN did not move fast enough.


On the 6th the Japanese attempted to show why the BBs need more CAP:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
G4M1 Betty x 19

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed, 13 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
BC Repulse
BB Prince of Wales

Fortunately they missed. On the 7th the CVs got back into the area and since then the Japanese have been having much more trouble with air attacks, on they tried an unescorted attack on the Allied CVs:

Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 10
G4M1 Betty x 14

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 79

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 10 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed, 13 damaged

The Allies sunk 3 MLs that were trying to lay a field at one of the New Guinea bases, and there were several other small air battles all of which were either Allied victories or draws.

The Allies are stalled at the moment as their airfields are enlarged and additional base forces brought up. I orginally planned the attack with 3 small (30 AV) and one large (269 AV) base forces. But I screwed up and forgot to check Darwin which had only 96 AV. So the big one went to Darwin and since then the Allies have been short at the front. There are now 5 or 6 additional BFs in transit and the situation will correct itself over the next couple of weeks. I did bring 5 or 6 construction engineers so the bases are growing fast but the AV is not there yet.

In addition to the BFs coming the 2 remaining USN CVs are on their way, as is Hermes, Long Island, and the air replacement ship with the two 24 plane replacement groups. There are also 3 fast and one more slow BB which will give me 5 more BBs in addition to the 6 RN BBs now operating in the area. This should be enough force to get the Allies into Moroti and Weda.

From there I am not certain where I will go. By then the Essex and Victorious will be in game and so will at least 3 CVEs and perhaps the first CVL. If you look at the Japanese ship losses below you will see that will give the USN clear superiority in CVs. I badly need to shorten my supply line so going after Palau and then taking the Marinanas from the West might pay a big dividend. On the other hand I will be positioned to go from the NEI into the Phillipines and if Davao is American in early 43 Japan has a big problem.



.

[Tom Hunter]

I waited a while to write because most of the last 9 days have not seen any important changes on the map. Instead both sides have been moving around to react to the Allied success in and around the Banda Sea

Doing the usual round the map the British have stalled at Moulmein with about 100k Japanese defenders and an equal number of Allied attackers the situation is static. The Alllied air force is pounding the Japanese and the British bombard every day total casualties are 400-600 a day, I am not sure what this actually does to the Japanese.

The Japanese have sent air raids to try and damage or sink HMS Valiant which is at Rangoon with Frobisher, Hawkins and 2 DDs. So far they have put a 500 LB bomb on her belt armor at the cost of a couple of dozen aircraft. I have pushed the CAP levels at Rangoon up in response and after the last attack Mogami seems to have switched to Adaman Island. 60 Japanese bombers hit it on the 18th and found 12 P40Bs of the AVG in the air, some Jap bombers were shot down and some damage done to the airbase.

The Chinese have 6-8 divisions there that had become disrupted down into the 20-30 AP range they have all been pulled back to Rangoon to rebuild and are now in the 50s. That will bring me 800 AP instead of 160 when they are back in working order. There are also a number of original Indian divisions that are gradually filling up with replacements. Those are going to be sent to Burma as well. Eventually I should be in position to double or more than double my attacking force, hopefully that will unhinge the Japanse when it finally happens.

China is calm, though the Chinese are slowly moving units to Wuchow for the evantual capture of Nanning and Pakhoi.

The map shows the Banda sea area. Allied aircraft are hitting the Japanese airbases that are nearer the Sorong/Babo area but leaving Kendari alone because it has too much CAP.

Babo is an L3 base with 300 AV now, it hit the Japanse transports unloading at Buka, SBDs put 4 bombs on one, B25s put two bombs on another and a Dauntless shot down an Oscar as well.

The Japanese tried to bomb the USS Oklahoma at Sorong but were unsuccessful, losing 2 or 3 planes to a group of Candian Hurricanes. Sorong is still L1 but it now has SeeBees and a base force with 30 AV, 24 additional Wildcats have just flown in to cover the BB.

A paradrop is going to get the Allies a base on the North side of New Guinea tomorrow, and a BF will be flown in immediately. I am trying to gain control of the air in the immediate area and then put heavy surface warships underneath the CAP to keep the Japanese at bay. So far it has had mixed success, sometimes the Japanese launch very successful raids, other times they get murdered.

As smaller forces clean up the Vogelkopf the Americans are planning and preparing for the invasion of Weda. That will go off soon with the support of 6 US and 2 RN CVs with HMS Hermes and the US aircraft replacement CV both around as additional support. More troops and BFs are arriving every day (literally) soon the Allies will have the dominant position in the area.

[Tom Hunter]

The next picture describes why Mogami is in a lot of trouble, a strategy that I just figured out in the last couple of days.

Right now I am working on New Guinea and have him at least a bit off balance. But his real problem is that locally I have interior lines of communication. I can (and will) move my invasion fleet from one end of New Guinea to the other on the South side of the Island without Mogami knowing where it is headed. There are enough troops (but not transports) to invade at both ends and enough planes to fight an airwar at both ends.

The controlling factor is the Baker Island invasion force which should reach Cooktown in 3 or 4 weeks. In the mean time the Allies are going to sieze Weda, maybe Morotai and take over the remaining small bases around the Vogelkopf. For the moment I am going to bypass Amboina because I do not need it.

Then the CV fleet is going to move to the Thursday Island area and grab Gili Gili and perhaps some other bases on that end of New Guinea. After that a big chunk of the fleet is going to head for the US to refit, but Hornet, Wasp, Essex and a number of CVEs will still be available.

This action may cause another big CV battle, Mogami has promised he would fight for New Guinea and the Solomons and so far he is trying, though he is off balance.

Strategically I am very happy with the situation. I think I have the force to win a CV battle, and even if I don't win outright I can certainly inflict some serious losses. The Japanese are now moving ships into range of my LBA because they have to inorder to respond to the threats I am creating which is also a big step forward. Loss rates for the Japanese are climbing and Mogami's whole defense plan is under considerable stress.

One comment now that the Allies are really over to the offensive for good. I ma doing this using single and twin engine planes most of the time. That decision is not based on being fair to Japan, its based on a desire to achive tactical and stratgic suprise. Twin engine planes start to dominate the skies from an L3 airbase and just about any airbase can be L3 in a short time.

Dauntlesses are even more dangerous, the Allies can get an airfield to L2 in a matter of days and then any shipping within 4 hexes is in real trouble during daylight. If I was determined to luanch my offensives under a 4 engine umbrella I would have to be very predictable, there are only so many places that can be built up to L6 or higher, which is what is needed for sustained operation.

By using the smaller aircraft I get much more choice about where I go, and that allows me to hit the Japanese where they are not, and forces him to take risks he would prefer to avoid.

This is the condition of the survivors of the Sorong battles:



The intersting thing is that the next morning Sorong was once again full of shipping as 2 new BF arrived. Today Sommerville will come up with the old RN BBs, the guy is always a day late but it should keep Sorong safe as houses now. On the 20th the airfield will go to L2 and fill up with Dauntlesses.

Allied aircraft continue to pound the Japanese transports unloading at Buka (I think it is Buka anyway) and paratroops just siezed Nomueafor, a well escorted convoy will bring BFs and supplies in a few days.

It is almost as if there are two seperate wars going on, a cut and thrust naval war that the Japanese are doing rather well in, and a relentless push by the Allies that is taking away Japanese bases and shooting down their planes.

[Tom Hunter]

Mogami launches another devastating Japanese surface raid, this time aimed at Sorong. The US TF lead by the Oklahoma is commanded by some guy with rotten ratings because I was running out of good leaders and did not want to assign a good one until the ship got into the combat area.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 1, on fire
BB Hyuga
CA Atago
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CL Kinu, Shell hits 2
CL Kiso
CL Yubari
DD Teruzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Kagero
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio

Allied Ships
BB Oklahoma
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 4
CL Raleigh, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Woodworth, Shell hits 1
DD Hughes, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
DD Ellet, Shell hits 1
DD Dunlap, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Worden, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Tenedos, Shell hits 7, on fire
PT PT-67
PT PT-68
PT PT-128
PT PT-143

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Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, on fire
BB Hyuga
CA Atago
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
CL Yubari
DD Teruzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Kagero
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio

Allied Ships
AK Empire Rennie, Shell hits 20, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, on fire
BB Hyuga
CA Atago
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
CL Yubari
DD Teruzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Kagero
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio

Allied Ships
AK Empire Beaver, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
AK Empire Razorbill, Shell hits 18, and is sunk
AK Empire Kumari, Shell hits 15, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, on fire
BB Hyuga
CA Atago
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
CL Yubari
DD Teruzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Kagero
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio

Allied Ships
AK Tantalus, Shell hits 34, and is sunk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, on fire
BB Hyuga
CA Atago
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
CL Yubari
DD Teruzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Kagero
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio

Allied Ships
AV Chandeleur, Shell hits 16, and is sunk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, on fire
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 1
CA Atago
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
CL Yubari
DD Teruzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Kagero
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio

Allied Ships
MSW Horsham, Shell hits 18, and is sunk
AK Prusa, Shell hits 13, and is sunk
AK Chilka, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
MSW Cromarty

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 1, on fire
BB Hyuga
CA Atago, Shell hits 1
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CL Kinu
CL Kiso
CL Yubari
DD Teruzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Kagero
DD Kuroshio
DD Hatsukaze
DD Natsushio
DD Hayashio

Allied Ships
BB Oklahoma
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CL Raleigh, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Woodworth, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Ellet, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
DD Dunlap, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Tenedos, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
PT PT-67, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
PT PT-68, Shell hits 1, on fire
PT PT-128
PT PT-143

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Kumano
CL Naka
CL Nagara
DD Asashio
DD Michishio, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Asagumo
DD Murasame
DD Harusame
DD Kawakaze
DD Suzukaze
DD Hatsuharu
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsushima
DD Ushio

Allied Ships
PT PT-148
PT PT-151
PT PT-152
PT PT-155

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Sorong at 42,74

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami, Shell hits 1
CA Kumano
CL Naka
CL Nagara
DD Asashio
DD Michishio, on fire, heavy damage
DD Asagumo
DD Murasame
DD Harusame
DD Kawakaze
DD Suzukaze
DD Hatsuharu
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsushima
DD Ushio

Allied Ships
BB Oklahoma, Shell hits 3
CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
CL Raleigh, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
DD Woodworth, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Ellet, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
DD Dunlap, on fire, heavy damage
DD Tenedos, and is sunk
PT PT-68, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
PT PT-128, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT PT-143

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Sorong, at 42,74 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

9 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Ushio
DD Hatsushima
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsuharu
DD Suzukaze
DD Kawakaze
DD Harusame
DD Murasame
DD Asagumo
DD Asashio, Shell hits 2, on fire
CL Nagara
CL Naka
CA Kumano, Shell hits 1
CA Mogami


Allied ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

The two bright spots were the Oklamoma putting a penetrating hit on Nagato, and the 4 ship PT group that suprised the Japanese, torpedoed a DD and ran without casualties. The Americans lost several DDs, the Brits lost one. The transports were mostly unloaded so no land units were lost just some supply.

[witpqs]

Holy moly, Tom, the PT's carried the whole bloody fight - such resistance as was offered, anyway.