Speedy vs Fabertong: Death to the Penguin!

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Further successful sub attacks by SS Sculpin near Palembang who sank the already damaged TK San Pedro with a further 2 torpedo hits.

SS Seawolf patrolling near Batavia also had success in damaging AK Belgium Maru with a torpedo. She later missed AK Durban Maru.

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The Kiska invasion TF set off at 10PM............

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CVL Princeton arrived at San Francisco for Anti-Japanese duty[;)]

CV Enterprise down to 21 SYS damage. The R & R phase continues before the invasion of Wake.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Today was the most frenetic for over a month...........

To coincide with the invasion of Kiska I decided to also launch a large bombing raid from Cooktown on PM. I had not done so for over a month. Losses were acceptable. For the loss of 22 Forts I destroyed 11 enemy planes in the sky and a further 18 on the ground. Since the airfield is pretty damaged we'll follow up tomorrow and will probably rest until re-deployment to Darwin.

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In Burma the Mandalay group should reach the rail line tomorrow. I've also been keeping an eye on Myitkyina. With the incessant heavier pounding it has been receiving by me I have noticed the number of enemy troops has fallen by over 1000 and the guns from 1725 to 1650. Glad to see the support destruction and interdiction by my airforce is slowly having some effect. Hopefully whren the rail is cut tomorrow supplies will be even more scarce.......

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The invasion of Kiska started today. The landings were less rough than Attu by a long way indicating the probable lack of supply, supression by my airforce and the absence of many heavy guns. 1/3 of my men are ashore and ready for action already. Tomorrow they will bombard.

The only naval casualty was a supply AK which wandered into a minefield and quickly struck 4 mines and sank......

Air units from Attu bombed known enemy position across the island.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

The invasion of Kiska continues as planned. Over 1/2 the men are ashore now. The enemy appears to have reacted on land to our invasion now. A few more heavier guns were brought forward and a couple of hits were sustained by a DD and an AP.

Initial probes and bombardments on land indicate the enemy may be ready to be squashed:

Ground combat at Kiska Island

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 18712 troops, 376 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 9115 troops, 19 guns, 0 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

A deliberate attack has been ordered for tomorrow.........

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SS Shad hit the empty westbound TK Azuma Maru 120 miles NW of Okinawa with 1 torpedo.

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The Mandalay force has reached the rail! Accordingly LBA based at Imphal has been ordered to support the troops by softening up the enemy LCU's.

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The PM follow up force was a success. Over 30 enemy aircraft were destroyed in the air and on the ground for the loss of 15 heavies. Many were damaged though so they are resting now until their transfer to Darwin within 2 weeks time:

Day Air attack on Port Moresby , at 53,91

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 4
A6M3a Zero x 4
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 19
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 7

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 100
B-24D Liberator x 50

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 6 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 4 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 5 destroyed, 9 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 11 destroyed, 37 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
185 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 188

Aircraft bombing at 10000 feet

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A step closer to victory!

The island of Kiska and it's major port and airfield fell to the Allies today. After weeks of air bombardment and little re-supply by the Japanese the several thousand enemy troops put up fierce small arms fire resistance but to no avail:

Ground combat at Kiska Island

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24144 troops, 412 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 8694 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles

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

Allied forces CAPTURE Kiska Island base !!!


Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 13 destroyed
H8K Emily: 5 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
561 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
373 casualties reported
Guns lost 10

Littering the airfield were 27 x Tonys and 9 x Emilys..........

Now the transports will unload the remaining men and supply and once the island is cleared of enemies a majority of the RCT's and the remaining men of the 43rd Division will return to San Francisco for further re-deployment.

A transport TF was formed in San Francisco today loading troops of the 12th Seebees and thousands of tonnes of supply and fuel bound for Kiska.

The level of destruction Allied bombers did to Kiska is shown in the attached screenshot.

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SS Scamp detected a lone AK on it's radar and surfaced to sink the empty freighter; AK Hikosan Maru with 3 torpedo hits. The submarine now empty of torpedo's is to return to Darwin for replenishment. SS Scorpion is ordered from Midway to replace her.

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The Mandalay force bombarded the enemy positions for the first time today. Recon also indicates emeny troop levels:

Ground combat at 34,28

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 46109 troops, 463 guns, 509 vehicles

Defending force 62957 troops, 527 guns, 161 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
55 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Happy with this. A further Tank Brigade and 2 x Indian Divisions are en route.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Nice going speedy .. ! kiska was a quick victory !

but i have issues with this

"To coincide with the invasion of Kiska I decided to also launch a large bombing raid from Cooktown on PM. I had not done so for over a month. Losses were acceptable. For the loss of 22 Forts I destroyed 11 enemy planes in the sky and a further 18 on the ground. Since the airfield is pretty damaged we'll follow up tomorrow and will probably rest until re-deployment to Darwin."

22 forts for 27 enemy is awful ! .. i wish nik mod was universal so this didnt happen .. the 8th air force never brushed off losses like this in one day. even the schwienfurt raids were 1-1 losses iirc .. and that was considered a disater for the allies ..

but thats just my 2p

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Rob - thanks for the comments. Overall I was happy with the PM raids. Over 2 days 57 enemy aircraft were lost vs 37 of mine. I agree compared to history these losses would not be classed as good. From my end they're good enough though and will have served their purpose - Faber will believe i'll keep my heavies at Cooktown for future NG missions. In reality they will be transfered to Darwin for use in flattening the oil facilities at Sorong and Amboina within the month.......

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Further heavy raids by me in Burma (Myitkyina and enemy troops on the Mandalay rail).

Faber attacks Yunan again from the air. IJA troops have also reached the defences. I'm fairly happy here. I have 2 x Chinese Corps here behind level 7 forts. 2 more Corps will be there within 3 weeks + 2 Divisions within 2 weeks. He only has 3 units approaching in total.

I've also had enough of him blasting the place from the air. 23rd FG P38's have been fully deployed at Kunming. They are to fly CAP over Yunan tomorrow.

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3/4 of my men are ashore at Kiska now and will attack known enemy strongpoints tomorrow.

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BB Massachussetts arrives in San Francisco tomorrow [8D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Death over the skies of Yunan! Faber flew his regular mission and received an unexpected 'welcome' in the shape of 43 x P38's. These Burma veterans taught the Japanese a lesson and shot down 71 enemy aircraft for the loss of 20 of our own. the enemy will think twice before attacking again:

Day Air attack on Yunan , at 38,32

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 69
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 83
Ki-21 Sally x 146
Ki-49 Helen x 52

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 32 destroyed, 5 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 35 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 4 destroyed, 5 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 20 destroyed, 3 damaged

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Japanese resistance on Kiska rapidly dwindled throughout the day. The US airforce paid a visit in the morning killing 10's of enemy men. The Japanese apparently desperate and low on food and ammo unexpectedly charged the American and Canadian positions and ran into a hail of machine, rifle and mortar fire. It was an absolute slaughter. By 2PM 1383 enemy casualties had been reported for the loss of only 28 Allied men!

At once the Allied commanders pursued the shattered and dispirited Japanese troops. All fight had been extinguished from the battered enemy remnants. A scene of horror was encountered by Allied men. Over 12,000 enemy 'men' were captured or found dead in various enemy positions. The stench of death and disease was rife. It was clear these men had been starved of food and ammo for weeks on end.

So comes to an end the battle for the Aleutians!

From what was meant to be a brief 'training' mission for my forces turned into a major operation involving the loss of Japanese CV's, CV Yorktown, 10's of auxiliaries and enemy submarines + 100's of aircraft and 1000's of men!

The men will be given a few days rest and then the majority will be moved back to San Francisco for further deployments.

A couple of RCT's will be left on both Kiska and Attu for garrison.

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1x AK and 2 x LST's arrive at San Francisco tomorrow.

[Speedysteve]

The first photo's have arrived at HQ from Kiska. This one from a G.I. after taking a Japanese bunker on Kiska. Not much left on this desolate place now..........

[1275psi]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Hi all,

Death over the skies of Yunan! Faber flew his regular mission and received an unexpected 'welcome' in the shape of 43 x P38's. These Burma veterans taught the Japanese a lesson and shot down 71 enemy aircraft for the loss of 20 of our own. the enemy will think twice before attacking again:

Day Air attack on Yunan , at 38,32



Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 69
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 83
Ki-21 Sally x 146
Ki-49 Helen x 52

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 32 destroyed, 5 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 35 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 4 destroyed, 5 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 20 destroyed, 3 damaged

----------------

Japanese resistance on Kiska rapidly dwindled throughout the day. The US airforce paid a visit in the morning killing 10's of enemy men. The Japanese apparently desperate and low on food and ammo unexpectedly charged the American and Canadian positions and ran into a hail of machine, rifle and mortar fire. It was an absolute slaughter. By 2PM 1383 enemy casualties had been reported for the loss of only 28 Allied men!

At once the Allied commanders pursued the shattered and dispirited Japanese troops. All fight had been extinguished from the battered enemy remnants. A scene of horror was encountered by Allied men. Over 12,000 enemy 'men' were captured or found dead in various enemy positions. The stench of death and disease was rife. It was clear these men had been starved of food and ammo for weeks on end.

So comes to an end the battle for the Aleutians!

From what was meant to be a brief 'training' mission for my forces turned into a major operation involving the loss of Japanese CV's, CV Yorktown, 10's of auxiliaries and enemy submarines + 100's of aircraft and 1000's of men!

The men will be given a few days rest and then the majority will be moved back to San Francisco for further deployments.

A couple of RCT's will be left on both Kiska and Attu for garrison.

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1x AK and 2 x LST's arrive at San Francisco tomorrow.

This is what I love about dual AARs -reading both sides take on a battle -amazing how the views differ -and the facts are "glossed over"

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Firstly, thanks for your thoughts[8D] It will be nice when this is all over so I can look at Faber's thoughts on the war.

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Today was quieter compared to the momentous previous day.

A couple of subs reported contacts but both failed to achieve any hits[:-]

SS Runner missed a PG on patrol south of Okinawa.

SS Amberjack missed the prize MLE Havre Maru 180 miles further east of Runner's position[:-]

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Faber tried to bomb Yunan again but the Lightnings were still on patrol. Not as good this time though only 12 enemy's for 8 freindly's:

Day Air attack on Yunan , at 38,32

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 19
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 17
Ki-21 Sally x 52
Ki-49 Helen x 33

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 8 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 1 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 5 destroyed, 10 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 54

Something weird has happened with the P38 group. Yesterday it would let me add pilots and today depsite having 72 planes and only 70 pilots it would NOT let me add pilots! (there are pilots in the replacements pool)

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A further land based Wildcat group received Corsairs today. Only 3 more to upgrade then Corsairs will be on all the frontline bases across the Pacific [8D]

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1 more week until April = major upgrades.

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No ship reinforcements tomorrow.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Tojo's can chew up P38's unfortunately .. time for a break i think speedy , few weeks R&R

now the aleutians are yours , do you plan using them again ? might trigger an early kamikaze though.

[Speedysteve]

Hi Rob,

Yes. Tojos and Tonys are decent planes. The good news is that i'm attriting his veterans and his replacements will not be able to compete with my boys.

Aleutians - not at all. I don't intend to advance from there in the slightest. As mentioned I originally planned to capture Attu and Kiska within a month. In effect to make it a training exercise for my forces. The positive outshoots of this campaign have been:

1. Attrition of enemy forces which greatly affect his future possibilities. He has lost some small CV's and CVL's + from looking at the combat it seems the cream of KB's pilots were also lost in a series of air battles.

2. From recon I can see he has MASSIVELY fortified the Kuriles. There are a reported 10 units on Paramushiro Jima alone! Fine by me.

3. A nice workout and experience boost for my Land, Air and Sea assets. Most of my VF's have between 30 and 150 kills now for example.

I have been mulling over my long term planning and I still plan the following for now:

1. Invasion of Wake probably end of April/May 1943.

2. From there probably down to Eniwetok/Kwajalein to secure my flank before moving to the Marianas. The rest of the Marshalls will be left to rot. In short I plan to cut the Empire in half through - Wake - Eniwetok/Kwajalein - Mariana's - either Mindanao OR Iwo Jima Or Okinawa. The last part depends on how Wake/Eniwetok/Kwajalein and the Mariana's go.

3. Marianas.

4. Mindanao OR Iwo Jima OR Okinawa.

This way the Solomans/Bismarks Southern NG will be left to rot.

I may also move up through Timor.

Hard to plan beyond the next year since so much may change operationally by then.

Burma - will also be a crucial battleground over the next 6 months. With me cutting the Mandalay-Myitkyina rail I have noticed the number of operational men and guns in Myitkyina are falling more steadily now - 20 guns less within 3 days for example (1640 available now)

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A couple of quiet days with litle new air sea or land action.

There were 2 failed sub attacks by on AK's near Okinawa but SS Haddock successfully engaged an enemy freighter 120 miles NE of Morotai hitting it with 1 torpedo.

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The R & R of my ships continues as planned. The most crucial one being CV Enterprise being down to 19 SYS.

Over the past 2 days 2 x AK arrived in San Francisco. Next ship due is an AP in 2 days time.

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Do you have any thoughts on above long term plan?

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A first for the war today. Corsairs in action! Faber attacked Baker Island from Tarawa out of the blue. VMF121 were alerted by radar and managed to get 19 Corsairs into the air ready fot the enemy. An hour later 20 enemy planes were destroyed without the loss of a single Corsair. Faber will think twice before doing that again. It vindicates my policy of making sure all front line bases are ready for action. The other base in the area is even more heavily protected with 2 x Corsair Squadrons; Nanomea Atoll.

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Ss Grayback performed an immense overkill today by sinking AK Singapore Maru with 5 torpedo's in 2 separate attacks spanning acorss the morning, 360 miles east of Lamon Bay. No reprimand will be issued since at least the enemy was confirmed sunk.

[Redd]

Hey Speedy!

Wanted to drop you a line to let you know that somebody is reading your work. I just finished reading it through and I like the style that you are using. I don't like reading combat reports too much, but your limited use of them is just about perfect. As far as strategy goes, I like your plan about going through the middle and bypassing the southern areas. It should be very interesting.


Good job, keep 'em comming.[:D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Firstly, Redd - Welcome aboard. Glad you're enjoying the AAR. Comments like yours give me the impetus to continue to share [8D]

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A US fleet sub was reported lost today[X(] SS Shad was patrolling 120 miles east of Formosa. She was surprisngly tracked down and destroyed by a dedicated DD ASW group.........

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I have prepared a counter-attack for Faber at Yunan. As you may all know he has been marching 3 x units up from Hanoi. As yet only 1 of the 3 has actually reached the town. I have been marching Corps from various locations to reinforce the place. I now have 3 x Corps and 1 x Division in place. I am counter-attacking tomorow......screenshot below.

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After unloading all of their cargo the troop ships at Kiska are now embarking RCT's to head back to the West Coast. I'll leave behind an RCT for garrison at both Attu and Kiska. Enough airpower will be left behind to cover the area (F4U Squadron, P38 FG, P40E FG, B26 BG, PBY BG, 2 x SBD Squadrons, TBF Squadron, A20 BG).

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SS Cabrilla arrives at San Francisco tomorrow

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

The focus was on China today. My deliberate attack at Yunan succeeded at 3-1 odds repulsing the Japanese Independent Brigade back down the track. Excellent job boys.

Faber also launched an unexpected attack against the airfields at Chungking. A massive strike of 127 fighters escorting 209 bombers approached[X(]

46 Spits were on CAP!

The fight was bloody but I edged it.

65 enemy fighters were destroyed for the loss of 30 Spits.

The bombers did heavily damage the airfields though. I doubt he'll return in the near future.

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SS Seadragon evades the killers of SS Shad today.

SS Sunfish on its way back to PH missed a MSW with a 4 fish spread [:-]

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To keep him honest in the south I launched my heavies from Cooktown to bomb Thursday Island on sourthern NG. They achieved moderate results but the point was made "i'm still here" before I move off to Darwin within 10 days.

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A Brit DD arrives tomorow as does an AK at San Francisco.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

As predicted today was noticeably quieter than yesterday with NO offensive air strikes by Faber across the entire theatre.

The only offensive strike that was launched by my commanders was from Dimapur to Myitkyina to keep the place surpressed and to kill men.

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I'm still receiving some nice air, sea and land reinforcements on an almost constant basis.

Today for example I received a new B24 BG in Portland.

Tomorrow i'm receiving 3 x AK, 1 x LST, 1 x AP, 1 x MSW and SS Rasher.

Within a week i'm receiving another CVL and the 37th USA Division etc etc

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2 more days until 4/43 upgrades occur [8D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

1 more day until April upgrades[8D]

I'm tracking the following ships to see how their AA increases (current AA rating):

CV Wasp (760)
BB Washington (1295)
BB Massachusetts (1060)
BB Nevada (556)
CL Denver (500)
CA Portland (466)

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SS Balao failed in hitting a loaded enemy TK today 120 miles south of Kunashima Jima [:-]

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4 x heavy BG locatd at Cooktown were ordered to fly to Darwin tomorrow. The first target for destruction will be the oilfields at Amboina.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

An important day has passed guys.

100's of ships received upgrades today from AA enhancements, radar additions to DC additions. Everything from CV's down to MSW's were upgraded across the board.

Looking at my tests:

CV Wasp: 760 - 885
BB Washington: 1295 - 1750
BB Massachusetts: 1060 - 1690
BB Nevada: 556 - 1060
CL Denver: 500 - 697
CA Portland: 466 - 546

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Now the countdown to the invasion of Wake begins. Once all ships are ready they will move to PH for refuelling and the nto Midway and onto Wake.

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SS Seadragon was lucky today. She was attacked by the same ASW group that sank SS Shad a few days ago. The same git Akizuki reportedly hit Seadragon with 2 x DC's. Luckliy only the 20mm gun was destroyed. She is moving back to Darwin for repairs.

Ss Blakfish did well today in sinking ML Katsuriki 240 miles north of Pagan............

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Tomorrow LBA from Darwin will attack the oilfields at Amboina all being well.....

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With April P40N's and Barracuda's are now being produced.