Speedy vs Fabertong: Death to the Penguin!

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

The subjugation of enemy oil production began in ernest today.

Clear weather was reported over the target area: Amboina. 180 heavy bombers left Darwin in the early hours of the morning flying in tight formation at 10,000 feet.

As predicted weather was perfect over the target area. Our raid appears to have been a complete surprise to the Japanese. No enemy fighters OR flak were present!

Simply put almost the entire facilty was devastated. 99% of production appears to have been curtailed.

2 bombers were lost on the way back. 1 due to engine problems, the 2nd to unknown causes.

Tomorrow's target is Sorong...........

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SS Runner had success today. She encountered a small Tanker convoy 120 miles east of Batan Island. She snuck into postion and sank the small empty TK Rikko Maru with 2 torpedo hits.

SS Skipjack evaded an ASW PC 240 miles ENE of Brunei.

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Faber has moved up a further division on the Mandalay rail line leading to fairly even forces here. I'm not overly concerned since he isn't strong enough to eject my men. Provided my force can eventually cut off supply to Myitkyina, forcing it's abandonment then i'm happy enough. Here's the current troop strength:

Ground combat at 34,28

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 68306 troops, 621 guns, 978 vehicles

Defending force 85762 troops, 729 guns, 318 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
173 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

I have a further Indian Division en route which is 90 miles march away.

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All quiet in the South Pacific and China

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Tomorrow an LCI and an AK arrive at San Francisco.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Seem to be going to plan speedy, keeping his troops bottled up in the north is a great idea. might be a useful B29 training zone later [;)]. Although i suspect you'll have better targhets by then [:D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Hopefully he'll keep a lof of stuff up north Rob [8D]

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A mixed fortunes day.......

Faber pulled a nice move over Myitkyina putting 50ish Tojos/Tonys on CAP. My strikes from Dimapur and Ledo (escorted by P40E's and Mohawks) lost heavily. I lost 69 for the day vs 33 for Faber.

In time these escorts will be P38's and P47's just not enough to go around at the mo.

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The positives:

Sorong's oilfields were heavily hit from Darwin - about 2/3 are now non-operable. The boys will rest for a day or 2 and then hit Kendari's resoures.

SS Mingo's radar located a lone freighter in the night about 480 miles east of Pagan. She surfaced and despatched the ship with a mixture of shells and torpedo's.

SS Seadragon (returning to Darwin after losing her 20mm mount to a DC) sank the oil laden TK Zuiyo Maru 240 miles east of Legaspi with 3 torpedo's[8D]

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Wake operation - now entitled "Operation Falcon"

Here's the troops detailed for this operation:

XIV Corps
37th Infantry Division
40th Infantry Division
24th Infantry Division
47th Engineer Rgt
1st MAW Aviation
78th AA Rgt
250th Coastal Artillery Rgt

For phase 2 (Eniwetok invasion) I am prepping:

1st Marine Division
2nd Marine Division
Americal Division
2 x ARM Bn's
2nd MAW Rgt

There are 2 key elements that need to be in place:

1. All key warships operational. The screenie below shows the key one's needed.

2. Tranport capacity. I am gathering more AP/LST/LCI etc ships in time. The Wake troops are already at PH or San Francisco so no problem there (sufficient AP's are already in place).

For Eniwetok I need to move the troops from Noumea. As such a transport TF is leaving San Francisco tomorrow to pick them up for movement to PH

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

The preparation for the invasion of Wake continues. With an aviation regiment arriving at Midway today aboard transports. These men will support the 100's of new aircraft due to arrive there with in a week aboard AK's..............

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Faber surprised me at Baker Island today when in them iddle of the neight shells rained down on the small island from BB Ise, CA Mikuma, CA Furutaka + 5 DD's. Little damage was cuased other than 2 wrecked Corsairs.

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Faber taunted me in his mails regarding the milk runs over Burma (hence his attack yesterday). HJe can keep on taunting me. I have P38's at Imphal now. I just need to get some decenmt escorts at Dimapur and Ledo and the milk runs will always have decent escort. Come and play than sonny [;)]

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SS Wahoo moderately damaged an empty transport 240 miles SE of Guam. No signs of occupation were found aboard the ship. Which fled the scene with it's 2 escorts.

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Interstingly in China. Intel report units moving AWAY from both Kunming and Chungking. I wonder if these are to be used to assault elsewhere ot to be moved out of China?

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CVL Belleau Wood arrives at San Francisco tomorrow[8D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

The first Allied strike against Japanese held Kendari went off today. A few Japanese fighters were on CAP including a new type called the "Jack". In total I lost 15 heavies due to all causes but shot down 4 enemy fighters.

The good news is that 164 out of Kendari's resource production of 600 were heavily damaged today.

I've ordered my heavies to bomb Kendari airfields tomorrow.

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SS Spearfish achieved the lone undersea success today hitting the loaded freighter AK Boston Maru with a torpedo 60 miles out of Batavia's port. The ship was left heavily damaged and listing.

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A slight addition to Operation Falcon and phase 2 (Eniwetok Operation. No codename as yet):

112th US Cav Bde
14th NZ Bde

Both to act as reserves for Operation Falcon.

2 x RCT's
34th Eng Rgt

To participate in the Eniwetok invasion.

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19 friendly planes were lost today.
8 enemy planes were lost today.

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3 x AK's and 1 x DD arrive at San Francisco tomorrow.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Mainly an air combat day.

Success over Kendari. My heavies destroyed 31 enemy planes on the ground (14 Betties, 8 Irvings, 6 Zeros and 3 Jacks) for the loss of 2 heavies,.

Tomorrow they'll target the resources again.

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A very effective ground strike took place on the rail line to Mandalay from Imphal. See here for a daily example:

Day Air attack on 21st Division, at 34,28


Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vb x 13
Liberator VI x 43
Beaufighter VIC x 28
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 16


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
315 casualties reported
Guns lost 10
Vehicles lost 1

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Tomorrow 2 x AK and 1 x DD arrive at San Francisco.

[niceguy2005]

Hi Speedy, glad to see that you're using historic levels of heavies in your attacks, not 300 B-17s and 100 B-24s or something. Makes victory all the more sweet. [;)]

[Speedysteve]

Hi Niceguy,

You mean like Faber trouncing through all of China?[;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

is 150 heavies realistic [&:].. not that i care much either way.

its a game after all, japanese fighter production is ramped up so's allied bombers. mix n match. Trying to assemble raids this that in nik mod is going to be tough.

your invasions looks fine btw ( not that im an expert) but dont teh marines get some sort of amphib bonus ? so may have been better to hae 1 marine leading each assault . and the americal national guard are in for a shock[:D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Hi Rob - not really. Rarely except toward the later 1/3 of the war were so many heavies used. It works both ways as you say though. Both sides can perform ahistoric stuff.

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A busy day!

Faber did well in laying a couple of traps for me. I need to be less complacent!

In China he attacked my troop bombing milk run with LRCAP shooting many I-16, Spits and IL-4 down.........

In Burma he did the same over the Rail hex. My Spits performed poorly. Frustratingly my P38 FG on escort decided NOT to take off today! Would have made a HUGE difference. Such is war. Many planes lost.

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A raid on Australia too! Derby was bombed by Betties from Koepang. Maybe he is trying to distract me from bombing Kendari?!? Either way it won't. There is nothing of value at Derby. If he attacks Darwin he will find Spits and P40's (soon to be P38's).

I will continue to pound Kendari. Today I bombed more resource production (down to 50% capacity).

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2 subs had fun today.

SS Grayback patrolling 480 miles east of Legaspi hit AK Celebes Maru with a fish.

SS Spearfish hit AK Sagami Maru outside of Batavia with a torpedo heavily damaging her.

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Immediate plans:

Bombing runs to continue as planned. Very soon P38's will be in place as escort in most key locations.

To keep him honest. 12 x Liberator VI are to fly from Attu to bomb Paramushiro Jima's airfields...........

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

My token raid on Paramushiro was interesting.

7 x Liberator VI found the target defended by 24 x Tojo. All bombers were damaged but managed to unload over the target destroying 3 x Betty and 1 x Tojo on the ground.

1 of the damaged Libs crashed on the long way home.

The point has been made though and it may make the 'Eye of Sauron' look north again [;)]

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Strikes by me on the airfields and troops at Myitkyina and the enemy troos on the rail. No enemy interference.

For some reason the P38's at Imphal do not fly escort! I have ordered them to sweep Mandalay tomorrow. Let's see if they do that.

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Bad weather prevented my heavies from attacking Kendari. Faber attacked Derby from Koepang again causing no major damage.

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SS Wahoo had fun with a small TK convoy 240 miles south of Guam. Detecting it on her radar early in the morning she approached undetected and hit TK Otowasan Maru with a torpedo setting a lot of fuel on fire! The commander, only having 6 torpedos left, decided to finish the ship off and 2 more torpedo's found their mark sending her to a watery grave........

SS Sturgeon fired 4 fish at an MSW 300 miles south of Okinawa which missed. The MSW's dropoped some DC's all of which missed their target.

SS Scorpion was damaged by DC's dropped from the Akizuki led ASW group. She had moderate flooding and will return to Darwin for repairs.

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The Midway supply convoy has arrived and all airgroups have been unloaded. Now the supply and fuel will be unloaded.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

The sweep over Mandalay was fairly successful.

31 enemy Tojos and Tonys were lost for 12 Lightnings. The pilots still buoyant after their success will fly over again tomorrow.

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My heavies hit Kendari again today disabling resource production by another 60. Down to 290 left now. CAP did account for 15 planes but if I can shut the place down it will help for a long time.

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Usual bombing raids by me on Myitkyina and troops in Burma and China.

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No sub atacks by me but a Glen equipped I-Boat has been tracking my convoy returning from Kiska. I've altered course to the SE to attempt to throw him off.

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An AK and DD arrive at Karachi tomorrow.

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In total the enemy lost 45 planes today to my 33.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A fairly quiet day today.

The sweep over Mandalay found no enemies on CAP. Wimps [:'(]

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Routine bombing of Myitkyina and troops in China.

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Tomorrow i'm going back to resource bombing of Kendari

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A few thoughts:

The 1st Cav Div arrives in 2 weeks time. I'm tempted to wait for this puppy and use it also against Wake. SigInt indicates a Rgt on its way to Wake! Hmm................

I'm having some potenmtially weird problems of leaking pilots in a P38FG.

Also the troops on board transports heading BACK from Kiska have ALSO spawned back on Kiska!

Not game breakers. Just quirks.

I've sent a save to Michaelm for his thoughts.

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Tomorrow an AP, LCI and AO arrive at San Francisco.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

I swear this blighter was targetted before by a sub near Java....anyhow today she is hit by SS Runner with a fish south of Okinawa:

Sub attack at 51,48

Japanese Ships
AK Durban Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
PC Ch 11
PC Ch 10

Allied Ships
SS Runner

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Kendari is hit again and a further 50 resources are smashed by my heavies for the loss of 14 planes to Fabers 7 Zeros.

Tomorrow we rest again.

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An IJN sub is spotted 100's of miles east of Noumea. A dedicated TF and commander are ordered to intercept if possible.........

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4 x AK, 1 x LSD and 1 x AD arrive at San Francisco tomorrow.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A bad day for Allied Submariners..........

SS KXIV patrolling 180 miles east of Palembang was found by 2 IJN Destroyers which promptly bracketed her and sank her with the loss of all hands........

SS Halibut had just arrived on station 120 miles north of Okinawa when a Sally screamed overhead and moderately damaged her hull with a 250KG bomb. She's returning to PH for repairs.

I'm tempted to move all my subs away from rthe Okinawa region. They achieve success there but also are constantly under thread/being spotted by LBA and ASW groups......we'll see.

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SS Skipjack put a fish into the hull of AK Tokusima Maru 180 miles east of Brunei.

SS Swordfish hit the loaded TK Funakawa Maru 240 miles east of Palembang but the fish were duds[:-]

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Usual bombing runs on Burma and China.

Here's evidence the slow war of attrition is having a toll on the defendes of Myitkyina:

Ground combat at Myitkyina

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 110240 troops, 1101 guns, 475 vehicles

Defending force 175440 troops, 1607 guns, 47 vehicles


Japanese ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

He's almost down to 1600 operational guns now. It takes time but he's losing about 10 guns every few days.

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I've ordered a bombing run on Mandalay's airfields. 4 x Lib squadrons at Imphal are to hopefully be escorted by P38's......

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I've decided I will use the 1st US Cav Div for Wake when it arrives in 12 days time i'll start preparing it. If it's overkill so be it.

Need to get my shipping in place. The Kiska returning transports are about 10 days out of San Francisco. These are needed for Wake invaders.

CV Enterprise is down to 15 SYS.

When she is ready and I have enough transport capacity at San Francisco it will be time to move to PH, Midway and then WAKE[8D]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Bad weather prevented my Mandalay bound strike taking off.

Tomorrow they'll hopefully fly as will the heavies to Kenmdari again.

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I've decided to abandon all sub activites in the Okinawa region. It's too hot with air and ship based assets. Today for example SS Runner was damaged by a Lilly dropped bomb and SS Sturgeon attacked by DD's and MSW's.

I'll re-deploy further into the Phillipine and South China Seas...........

SS Jack quickly sank the lone AK Madras Maru 300 miles west of Iwo Jima

My ASW TF found the Japanese sub (I-153) 1/2 way between Suva and Noumea and sank her.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A good day in the air for the Allies.

The first bombing raid against Mandalay occured when 44 Libs (escorted by 71 P38's) dropped their load on known enemy airfields. 13 x Ki45 NF's were destroyed in the process. No enemy CAP was present. They are ordered to go again tomorrow.

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Only 160 of Kendari's resource production now remains after a hugely successful raid from Darwin.

The heavies encountered 30 odd enemy aircraft on CAP but managed to shoot down 12 of them for the loss of 7 planes before dropping their bombs on the target.

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SS Skipjack missed AK Kunikawa Maru with 4 torpedo's near Brunei.

SS Nautilus was found by the Akizuki ASW TF 120 miles north of Iwo Jima. Some DC's dropped nearby caused minor damage.

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An SC arrives at San Francisco.....cool[;)]

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Bad weather prevented Allied air from taking off at Mandalay and Darwin........

Air from Dimapur and Ledo managed to bomb and strafe enemy troop positions at Myitkyina.

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SS Skipjack briefly tangled with 2 x PC. They did not locate the sub and my commander thought it wise to preserve torpedo's for more valuable targets.

I've attached a screeenshot of the Okinawa/Phillipine's region to show where my subs have moved to following my orders to evac the hot Okinawa region.

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CV Enterprise is down to 14 SYS now [8D]

An AP and LCI arrvie tomorrow at San Francisco......they will be welcome additions to 'Operation Falcon'.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

A successful sub attack! The first for a couple of days........

SS Sawfish moving past San Marcelino towards the central South China Sea stumbled across a small freighter convoy. She set herself up and fired a full bow spread at a freighter. She hit AK Melbourne Maru with 2 torpedo's leaving her heavily damaging and listing.

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Good weather allowed most of the heavies to find Kendari. The 20 or so fighters on CAP did little and only managed ot shoot down 2 heavies for the loss of 2 of their own. Resource production down to 127 now.

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3 x Perch class subs left Midway yesterday to patrol in a cordon 300 miles west of Wake. They will remain on station as part of 'Operation Falcon'.

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SS Bowfin arrives at San Francisco tomorrow.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Clear weather allowed both Darwin and Imphal to launch raids.

Mandalay was found to be relatively empty other than a few damaged Nick NF's which were torched by Libs. No losses were incurred on my side. Orders have been issued for the Libs to target Pagan airfield tomorrow. Important to keep the whole area under control as much as possible.

Kendari was a different matter. Over 30 enemy fighters were on CAP from Macassar. The A6M3's performed well in particular and destroyed 20 heavies for the loss of 5 of their own! The heavy air resistance led to decreased bombing accuracy. Still abut 120 resource production left. The boys need a well earned rest.

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SS Blackfish had arrived on station halfway inbetween Pagan and Iwo Jima a week ago. Today she found some shipping!

Mid-morning she encountered a loaded TK and fired a full spread of fish which all missed!

A few hours later she located an AP convoy on her radar. Sheclosed and heavily damaged the apparently empty AP Kasima Maru with a torpedo.

I wonder if Faber is reinforcing the Mariana's? Would seem logical if he is.

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2 x AK and an AP arrive at San Francisco tomorrow as does a new Corsair Squadron [8D]