Rob vs. 2ndACR .. Divine intervention needed NIK mod 5.2

[Rob Brennan UK]

thanks for the advice CT , I was afraid of the lost PP's as i do tend to use a lot for swopping american units from NPAC to Spac etc. as i dont like mixing hq stuff if possible ( yeah that not necassiry in the game but i feel better doing it) .. ok winnie .. shove it [:D]

6th aussie div though .. its now june 42 .. if/when he takes lea i'll not be able to send it in at all .. so im possibly taking a window of opportunity to make PM a real bastion. I hear what you say though and if i did my some miracle be able to control the air then leaving it would be feasable . ok ill wait till the big supply convoy arrives 1st .. then have the 6th div loaded but out of range ready to rush if i unload 50k supply 1st.

[Nikademus]

Interesting to see what 2nd ACR makes of this forward defense. [:)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

sure will Nik . im looking forward to it ,.. im having a blast in this game.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/07/42

Ive been hitting sorong oil just to deny it , and today finally hit the well heads !

Day Air attack on Sorong , at 42,74


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 23


Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 7 damaged

Oil hits 5


an ill fated port attack on his damaged ap's was sent from soerbaja.

Day Air attack on Pontianak , at 25,58

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 24

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 4 destroyed, 10 damaged

wont try that again anytime soon. however now batavia is fixed ive some wellies on anti shipping duty, along with the 'moved' hudsons.

soerbaja P39's encountered thier 1st taste of combat today..

Day Air attack on 4th Dutch Regiment, at 22,63

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 18
B5N Kate x 18
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 10

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
B5N Kate: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 5 destroyed, 12 damaged

1-1 with P39's is quite acceptable .. useless junk a/c anyway.

and the last remnants finally surrendered in clarke..

Ground combat at Clark Field

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 105104 troops, 624 guns, 150 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 1701

Defending force 16130 troops, 1 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 37

Japanese max assault: 3600 - adjusted assault: 3630

Allied max defense: 16 - adjusted defense: 7

Japanese assault odds: 518 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
116 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
28432 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

finally ! .. no more free ground training here at least. although 2 div are starving on 2 isolated islands. if i had the PP's id try rescuing one via sub as punishment for leaving them for so long [:D]

no piccie as im in a bit of a rush ..

bb all

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/08/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 52,94

Japanese Ships
SS I-27, hits 5

Allied Ships
MSW Horsham
MSW Castlemaine
MSW Benalla
MSW Kalgoorlie


lurking at the entrance to PM harbour.. he's definately picked up sub ops in the area.

and this git .. in the break on the barrier reef near townsville.

Sub attack at 47,103

Japanese Ships
SS I-17

Allied Ships
AK Modjekerto, Torpedo hits 1, on fire SHE'LL SURVIVE
MSW Cessnock

more a/c put on ASW Patrol vs naval search now he's close enough. several hudsons and beauforts with 70+ experience.

Also in australia 72 P40s and 64 B26B's unload in brisbane and are immediately railed to derby. i can now use 200+ american fighters in this theatre . 72 p39's ( if they survive soerbaja) and 144 P40E's .. 72 flying over koepang and 72 repairing/uncrating at derby ( AF now size 8). and with a british AV unit sent down last month, plenty of AV support , although darwin is a bit short. I'll earmark some dutch for here . i.e 2nd DAF is being flown via dakota from soerbaja to keopang , lots safer than shipping.

I've been pondering churchills request and I think i will have to give up a british CV, else i wont even be able to change unit commanders for 3 months and that will be a nightmare, not to mention a potential disaster if mr Staff Officer appears in command of a Div .. The CV was dispatched 4-5 days ago from Perth just in case i changed my mind. just as well as its a heck of a trip. If she gets ambushed ouch .. ive turned off search a/c so she's harder to spot and cut down CAP so she sails faster.

the FK51's in mandalay ( now fort 9 AF 4). are reconning several japanese tank formation nearby. and the bombers did a good job this afternoon

Day Air attack on 2nd Tank Regiment, at 33,32


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 52
B-26B Marauder x 38


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
156 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 12

He'll hopefuly have a nasty job repairing these in the field . might force them back to rangoon for a refit. otherwise burma is quiet as the grave. i'm sorting out better rearward defences vs possible para drops. he's got a big transport capacity as witnesed in java. i dont want to let him get an AF if possible.

Japanese milk run bomber training was rudely interrupted by RAF hurricanes that swept the skies ( 6 squadrons on varied alt .. 9k - 18k ) . i'd have liked the hurricane C varient for this as the 20mm would have downed a lot more bombers. even so its a good engagement.

Day Air attack on 29th Chinese Corps, at 40,38

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 17
Ki-51 Sonia x 87
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb x 53

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 15 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 12 destroyed, 28 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb: 4 destroyed, 28 damaged


Allied ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Guns lost 2


27-4 .. cant complain. forgot to check "real losses" but i expect its close, the hurricanes were tired and are just flying base CAP for a few days.

2ndACR is very very good at covering bases with CAP. palembang was inadvertantly hit by wellingtons going after some shipping ..

Day Air attack on TF, near Palembang at 20,55

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 14
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 8

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 4 damaged
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Hakubasan Maru
AK Houn Maru

2 more raids resulted in the total of 1 wellie dead 11 damaged and only one 500lb bomb hit.

5 oscars and 4 zeros were damaged too. basically a waste of time. morale has been shot . time to rest then back to OZ when a/c are repaired. His huge helen/sally force has vanished . i suspect he's targetting soerbaja , but this might make him flatten batavia again.

This was amusing :- last PI inf unit in clarke is holding out vs amazing odds !

Ground combat at Clark Field

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 105617 troops, 634 guns, 149 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 1726

Defending force 2451 troops, 1 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 3

Japanese max assault: 3670 - adjusted assault: 4379

Allied max defense: 1 - adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 4379 to 1 [:D]



Allied ground losses:
845 casualties reported

Shame i wasnt able to get any of the 4th marine out ( lack of PP's) but a bit of asiatic fleet made it to derby and the marine AA unit has rebuilt in darwin. I've decided to take a fragment from one PI div languishing on some god forsaken island. I'll set up a better sub run soon and see how much i can evacuate. might as well have some PI unit to use the pools of inf waiting. ( might be gamey but i'll try a big sub evac, it can be done given time and i suspect he's left these for target practise).

also in the ground phase he tried to get my troops out from the hex between soerbaja and kragen, it was a strange choise as he knows how tought these brigades are. and now in woods too. thier presence wont stop kragen from surrendering but it'll slow his siege of soerbaja later on.

Ground combat at 22,64

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 12390 troops, 103 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 265

Defending force 8629 troops, 71 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 234

Japanese max assault: 430 - adjusted assault: 4

Allied max defense: 243 - adjusted defense: 577

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
1500 casualties reported [:'(]
Guns lost 20

Allied ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

bye

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/09/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Wuchow , at 42,39

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 3
Ki-51 Sonia x 56
Ki-48 Lily x 50
Ki-46-II Dinah x 3

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-51 Sonia: 4 destroyed, 29 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 1 destroyed, 15 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
C-47 Dakota: 5 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
12 casualties reported

Airbase hits 19
Airbase supply hits 10
Runway hits 43

oops .. lots more dakotas damaged too. they were transferring out chinese BF's .. way faster than marching .. hurricanes not yet good enough to LR cap here for security .. but i will tomorrow if all goes well.

Day Air attack on 2nd Tank Regiment, at 33,32


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 49
B-26B Marauder x 33


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
145 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 6

indian AF hammers the tanks again , tomorrow were after the engineers at pagan.
no LR cap sighted here for a while. and no japanese atacks since the mandalay
turkey shoot [:D]

hit a couple more loaded AP's near palembang too. i cant touch the oil fields so
may as well hit shipping , loaded up is a bonus.

He's got what looks like a small surface group just south of Bali, CL's attacked
and one one bomb reported hit, later dismissd as wishful thinking from better recon.

no-idea what this is for , unless he's fast transporting out the snlf from bali. or maybe running in a small BF. still lots of allied mines in the area. too dodgy for his MSW to work here and im streching his MSW force badly according to his chats.

also news worthy .. 9 AR and 4 MLE arrived today .. 5 AR and the MLE's heading to south and SW Pac.probably send an MLE to derby eventually .. remainign 4 AR staying in san fran to held rebuild the BB's .. 3 are ok .. got the 4/42 refit too. 3 more are bust up badly . the 2 in LA are slowly getting better 2-3 more months imo. I'll wait till the 42/10 before moving the damaged ones . i'll nab the 3 almost repaired ones soon , when i get a few DD's for escort.

I'm still struggling with supply in the S + SW pac .. all bases are ok but i want 20k+ on all defended islands and that will take a few more months. this 1/2 ing of capacity really make a massive differance in supply lift capacity. Fuel however is not a worry anywhere right now.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Back at it again .. both had good sub attacks at night

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/11/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 47,103

Japanese Ships
SS I-17

Allied Ships
AP Henry T. Allen, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PG Swan
MSW Cessnock
AP Largs Bay


Allied ground losses:
24 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 22,54

Japanese Ships
AP Maya Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS O24

AP Henry T. Allen, was carrying a v small part of another BF unit to PM. no great loss , she'll
make cairns and unload.

I have made a 'probably' bad decision here too. 12 aussie bde is loaded and heading for gili gili.
supply will follow as this TF is combat loaded (i think). hurricanes from PM can just cover with LR cap so that might help a bit. its risky i know but could really slow him up some.

I could be talked out of it if you all think im nuts by the way.

Tha japanese AF was waiting over burmese positions today . 2 wellingtosn lost and both crews
are dead/missing.

Day Air attack on 2nd Tank Regiment, at 33,32

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 38
B-26B Marauder x 35

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 7 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
96 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 6

The allied AF continues to harass from batavia :-

Day Air attack on TF at 22,54


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 3
Hudson I x 6


Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Kisogawa Maru
AP Koshu Maru #3, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Mitsu Maru #3, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Wellington III bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Hudson I bombing at 6000 feet
3 x Hudson I bombing at 6000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 25,57

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Taibun Maru, Bomb hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Hudson I bombing at 6000 feet


no replacements on . will pull out in a few days. morale is pretty awful already ( wellies at 23).

Kragen is creaking :-

Ground combat at Kragen

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 47436 troops, 360 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 886

Defending force 5624 troops, 10 guns, 15 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 145

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese max assault: 782 - adjusted assault: 212

Allied max defense: 126 - adjusted defense: 365

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


Japanese ground losses:
154 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Allied ground losses:
306 casualties reported
Guns lost 7
Vehicles lost 1

and i have had to withdraw back into soerbaja as he's flanked me with another para drop to
the SW of soerbaja. His use of para dropped units has been excellent overall, i will have to take this into account for later operations.

2 piccies today

both showing off allied airpower in timor and derby. Darwin has about 120 a/c mostly bombers
but a few hurricanes to ward off unescorted raids. Dakotes are movign the excess BF's from koepang
to darwin where they are needed for the magic 250.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Derby

[Rob Brennan UK]

Just a quick update

time to evac the airforce from java .. massive zero sweep of soerbaja poretends a large raid tomorrow. fortunately the P39's were LR capping but the hawks ? got slaughtered and thier range means they'll be left behind .. also the P39's have huge numbers damaged for some reason , they always seem to have big maintainance problems. still 30 odd if he comes calling .

Batavia will fall fast too .. attack at 4-1 downed one fort .. he'll shock in a day or 2 then ill die horribly.

also the transports to gili were sighted by a val !!!! eek .. bad weather covered the force though and they are running back asap. along with most others .. I dont have a lot of A/c in N australia. newest arrival is 48 B17 in cairns .. they might worry him a bit. but fighters are in short supply as most are in the north and timor .. as you have seen.

recon later confirmed japanese CV's 120 miles SW of gili gili .. is he coming in force ? or just a spoiler attack hopeing for a transport group.

CV hornet left suva for brisbane .. she'll posture in the coral sea while the others are hopeing to sneak upto derby ( US +UK) .. plenty of escorts now.

also american RCT nabbed from some atoll in the SPac.. the one between suva and pago .. heading to OZ and prepping for thursday island. I need more fighters badly in NE australia .. just dont have any spare anywhere apart from the west coast units .. i'll save PP's and load them up for elsewhere as i really dont expect an american raid .. the P40B's will be very welcome .. even the older ones are useable now the zero bonus has gone. will be a long wait for them though. got a few more canadians too , kittyhawk and a wellie grooup.. ill sent them to pearl as PH is a bit light right now.

[Rob Brennan UK]

well i was right about the CV's .. hiryu and soryu looks like .. not any more i dont think ..

we traded aircraft today .. he won definately . fortunately the BF unloaded at cairns overnight.
unfortunately the 12th brigade is still one day away and that dratted japanese sub near townsville is dead annoying .. even with 6 DD and 6 MSW parked on it !

Sub attack at 47,103

Japanese Ships
SS I-17

Allied Ships
AE Lassen, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AVD Williamson


at least it wasnt the AVD .. AE's are prety useless before 44/5.

I returned the favour NW of borneo

Sub attack at 25,54

Japanese Ships
AP Hakka Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Sculpin

then agian during the daytime

Sub attack at 25,54

Japanese Ships
AP Konzan Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Sculpin


righty ho the air war in NE australia ! .. i'll post all the attacks then comment in general

Day Air attack on TF at 52,100

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22

Allied aircraft
CW-21B Demon x 9
Beaufort V-IX x 3
B-17E Fortress x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
CW-21B Demon: 5 destroyed
Beaufort V-IX: 2 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 13 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Hiryu, Bomb hits 1 REAL HIT FROM A BEAUFORT .. deck penetration etc.
CV Soryu
CA Mogami

not one B17 loss ! the beuforts however mass crashed on landing ! lost 6 in total

Day Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 47,100

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
D3A Val x 38
B5N Kate x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 1 damaged
B5N Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AP Bloemfontrin, Bomb hits 4, on fire
AP Manunda, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PG Swan, Bomb hits 1
AP President Polk
CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
AP President Monroe
AP Henderson, Bomb hits 2, on fire

Day Air attack on TF at 52,100

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18

Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort V-IX: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CV Hiryu
CV Soryu


Day Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 47,100

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AP Henry T. Allen, Bomb hits 9, on fire, heavy damage


Day Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 47,100

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 21

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Neleus, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage

Day Air attack on TF, near Cairns at 47,100

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 17

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK Empire Liberty
AK Empire Hope, Bomb hits 2
AK Empire Selwyn, Bomb hits 2, on fire


Day Air attack on TF at 49,104

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17
D3A Val x 16

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AP Ormiston, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP Westralia, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AP Meigs, Bomb hits 1
AP Rochussen


Allied ground losses:
121 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

This was the most annoying attack .. as the troops suffered .. anyway ive split the group into
6 parts. nost should make it to townsville before dawn ..

tomorrow i dont know if he will stay .. only 2 CV's are vulnerable if he gets closer .. and the
dutch fighters make good escorts even though the pilots can barely fly now ( exp 25 av)..
triggers the bombers to have a go though.

Cairns also had the fighters from PM and thursday is. returned .. cap is now better, but not
very capable

Back in java .. batavia gets hit again

Ground combat at Batavia

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 27646 troops, 234 guns, 19 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 549

Defending force 12349 troops, 68 guns, 8 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 103

Japanese max assault: 474 - adjusted assault: 192

Allied max defense: 86 - adjusted defense: 111

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 6)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 5


Japanese ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
56 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

one more day and i'll have evaced the bomber groups .. wish derby would draw more supply
its annoyingly holding at 19k .. while almost empty southeren bases have 30k+ .. to
rectify this ive sent 4 ship AK groups to load up the south and head north .. also Perth
is sedning up a lot too. there is c150k supply in perth .. wish the AI would rail it up. [:@]

piccie was my best anti CV sttack so far .. i dont fly b17's lower than 11k on naval as a self
imposed rule ..

[Rob Brennan UK]

situation in java

[Rob Brennan UK]

lots of updates .. no replies .. i would feel lonely except this thread seems to have more than average readership[;)]

very very bad day for the allies .. japanese CV's cruise down the east coast of australia un challenged .. and there isnt a thing i can do about it.

my ASW groups got slaughtered .. :-

Day Air attack on TF at 47,103

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 7
D3A Val x 19
B5N Kate x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 5 damaged
B5N Kate: 4 damaged

Allied Ships
DD Talbot, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sands
DD Cummings, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Waters
DD Clark

Day Air attack on TF at 47,103

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
D3A Val x 19
B5N Kate x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B5N Kate: 8 damaged

Allied Ships
MSW Poole, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Lismore, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Townsville, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Bunbury
MSW Mildura, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Lithgow, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy dam

The PM attacks were worse .. 1DD and 1 MSW survived .. running like hell btw

batavia was hurt again ..

Ground combat at Batavia

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 27402 troops, 230 guns, 19 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 536

Defending force 12290 troops, 67 guns, 8 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 101

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 5

Japanese max assault: 908 - adjusted assault: 382

Allied max defense: 87 - adjusted defense: 94

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 5)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2


Japanese ground losses:
496 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
129 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

i jut ran 12 swordfish here .. to get to india .. one more turn please .. aas ive got andaman is and
the chinese coastal base pakhoi? unto level 2 .. so i need 1E torp bombers to take advantage .. one more turn please ..

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/16/42

Been quiet fortunately, he withdrew the CV's .. as he was under the impression i was reinforcing the coastal bases , which i wasnt TBH. Lucky break for me. CV Hornet is heading to brisbane and will show the flag in the area to give the impression that i have some Cv's here. But as you all know Derby is the main CV base ( well it will be whan they get there .. 2-3 days ).

Batavia fell yesterday .. no great suprise ..

Kragen is still holding ! .. they are well outnumbered but the prepping is paying off in spades as any delay on japanese plans is welcome ..

Ground combat at Kragen

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 48174 troops, 352 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 906

Defending force 4964 troops, 5 guns, 13 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 114

Japanese max assault: 1374 - adjusted assault: 128

Allied max defense: 104 - adjusted defense: 273

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 3)


Japanese ground losses:
905 casualties reported
Guns lost 33

Allied ground losses:
133 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

This might take a week ? .. fingers crossed .. looke like java will fall sometime in early july would be my best guess. Swordfish making a very tortuous route back to india ..

been quiet so short update ..

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/19/42

3 days pass pretty uneventfully .. some good sub attacks east of sumatra but not much else.

we had an air clash over wuuchow today .. out of 100 hurricanes only 27 made it on station. weather was awful mind you. home a/f was cloud covered.

Day Air attack on Wuchow , at 42,39

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 32
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 3
Ki-51 Sonia x 52
Ki-48 Lily x 47
Ki-46-II Dinah x 3

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 8 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 6 destroyed, 40 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 12 destroyed, 23 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane IIb: 12 destroyed, 3 damaged
IL-4c: 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 34

not too bad really .. 9 pilots dead .. when i get more AV support and supply i'll do it regularly with the IL4's as bait .. or a few SB's instead ..

Dakotas are hauling out abda HQ from soerbaja to keopang .. this is no .. midnight PT boat trip .. i want to move the entire unit. then the base forces .. the inf can stay and fight. ( no replacements worth talking about).

Kragen still holds too . bonus !

RAF wellingtons and US B26's are getting good practise in burma

Day Air attack on Pagan , at 31,31


Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 5
Wellington III x 76
B-26B Marauder x 48


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
12 casualties reported

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 30

i tend to switch targets/rest at random .. keeps the pesky LR zero cap guessing .. FK51's from mandalay are actually useful for a change [;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Oddly enough Scotty said in his last email that he's ready to dig in ??????? what ?? i think he's telling porkie pies [;)]

Today was noeable by 2 ground actions

1st in china .. no-idea why he even tried this one ?

Ground combat at 43,40

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 149056 troops, 1723 guns, 29 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 3096

Defending force 95342 troops, 581 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 2819

Japanese max assault: 3152 - adjusted assault: 911

Allied max defense: 2911 - adjusted defense: 2667

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
7257 casualties reported
Guns lost 238
Vehicles lost 7

Allied ground losses:
641 casualties reported
Guns lost 18

Not complaining mind you .. [:D]


Secondly Kragen finally creaks badly

Ground combat at Kragen

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 47126 troops, 316 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 837

Defending force 4780 troops, 7 guns, 13 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 102

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese max assault: 565 - adjusted assault: 309

Allied max defense: 101 - adjusted defense: 133

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2


Japanese ground losses:
447 casualties reported
Guns lost 11

Allied ground losses:
157 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Shock attack tomorrow and its all over ! .. well it was designed as a speed bump and worked well in that capacity.

The Swordfish squadron .. managed to make it to india via a few very close calls .. flying out of bases just before they fell .. avoiding massive jap bomber training missions over N sumatra and again only transferring out of the andaman is. hours before a large raid hit .. and not 1 plane was ever damaged despite constant thunderstorms .. wel done lads ! .. I have a plan for these guys

whay do you all think of this ?

1) I'll (and have ) built up kweryang <sp> North of Wuuchow ..
2) fly in supplies and a BF to that coastal city .. nanning ? which ive made a size 2 Airfield.
3) swordfish can happily operate from here and harass japanese shipping in the area .
4) meanwhile large fighter formations keep Kweiyang safe while the IL4's operate at naval attack 30% search as spotters for the stringbags ..

Proabably a lot of effort for little gain but it'll suprise him at the very least. and the RAF is free in burma as its dead quiet here .. just in case i have a LOT of P40E's in india that are a secondary screen ( as they are so dratted rare i dont like using them unless i have no choice).

While i was thining about Burma , i have a favoutr to ask of Nik if its possible.

I have about 4 brigades in burma as /1 fragments that i cannot access ( i can airlift but nowt else)is it possible to poke them into becoming the main formation they are supposed to be .
they were bust due to the old airlift bug that seems fixed under 1.8 ..

Also i wanted to discuss future ops in both new guinea and timor .. lets start in Timor

Timor
-----

Heavy fleet and air defence backed up by refitted dutch and australians. and in time heavily re-inforced by the 2ndUSMC. Koepang recenty made a size 5 airfield ( along with 9 forts). Lautern is a secondary torpedo bomber base with minimal air capacity. dili is a weak spot but he'll get trapped landing here as no airfield worth speaking of .. lightly defended by australian and dutch small units. Only left over mine fields not worth calculating in imo. and no way to lay more.

NEW GUINEA
----------

PM already hosts a full div and is almost level 4 AF .. b25's moved in (16). another 30 AV support is heading out ( bar a reappearance of his CV's ).. CV hornet refuelled in brisbane and is steaming north with a heavy naval search presence ( i want his subs to spot my planes ).. 12th aurrie brigade prepping for gili gili .. but lost 20% at sea last week . also 6th australian div prepping for PM at townsville with AP transport in port. escorts are in short supply after losing several DD's and MSW's to carrier air last jap raid.

Some US fleet units refitting in aukland .. inc BB CA 2 CL and several DD's ..

LBA is a bit low as its concetrated in North australia for timor defence.

some 48B17's available and a few hudson/beaufort and about 50 odd fighters in total. enough PBY's though even though they utterly failed to spot his CV's last time.

Thursday is. is garissoned and building up .. aiming for a level 4 field .. i accidently picked up the wrong BF for here and its got 120 AV support instead of 30 ( was meant to send that 120 to PM).BUT that might be in my favour as PM is likely to get flattened early on .. Thursday will be a backstop with lots of meduiums to threated lae ( which is still mine) and transports heading to PM.

Any ideas/comments welcomed ..

[Rob Brennan UK]

I really hate these 2 subs ! .. lurking off NE Oz .. they hit all the time and i cannot seem to harm them ( although the ASW ships are rubbish), he sank the best ones 2 weeks ago.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 06/22/42

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 34 troops unloading over beach at Lae, 54,87


Japanese ground losses:
56 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 48,104

Japanese Ships
SS I-30

Allied Ships
DD Crane, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage SUNK
MSW Bungaree
PG Fritillary
MSW Bunbury
PG Cyclamen

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 49,100

Japanese Ships
SS I-29

Allied Ships
AVD Williamson
MSW Cessnock
PG Swan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 49,100

Japanese Ships
SS I-29

Allied Ships
PG Swan
AVD Williamson
MSW Cessnock

I found his Helens ! .. out of batavia

Day Air attack on Soerabaja , at 22,65

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
A6M3 Zero x 44
G4M1 Betty x 27
Ki-49 Helen x 107

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 14 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed, 35 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
C-47 Dakota: 7 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 2 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported

Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 10
Runway hits 68

I was expecting this ,, just not this bad ! or him flying in so low .. 2 dakotas are left alive out of 32.. ouch .. time to abandon flying out ABDA .. got about 70% of it so it'll rename as main unit (fingers crossed)..

Also annoyingly .. its HQ range is one hex short from derby to Koepang .. ill have to move it to koepang to get any benefit.

The remaining dutch fighters were on anti ship duty and i was hopeing to pop a few AK's etc .. ran into this ! .. he's coming to soerbaja in force

Day Air attack on TF at 24,62


Allied aircraft
Hawk 75A x 23


Allied aircraft losses
Hawk 75A: 1 destroyed, 10 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Yamashiro
CA Atago
BB Kongo
BB Haruna

LEA fell ...

So did Kragen

Ground combat at Kragen

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 46639 troops, 301 guns, 0 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 808

Defending force 4343 troops, 2 guns, 12 vehicles, Beginning Assault Value = 82

Japanese max assault: 553 - adjusted assault: 376

Allied max defense: 65 - adjusted defense: 69

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Kragen base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
223 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

Allied ground losses:
7181 casualties reported
Guns lost 22
Vehicles lost 8

wow 7000 men held off 46000 from 29th May to the 22nd June .. simply amazing .. shows the power of prepping correctly. Soerbaja will fall a bit faster with only 2 regiments defending but that 4 week delay is invaluable.

Bye Bye ..

PS .. anyone care to comment on my plans about china ?

[Rob Brennan UK]

I wasnt planning on an update tonight .. THEN THIS HAPPENED

Naval bombardment of Soerabaja, at 22,65


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
Hawk 75A: 11 destroyed
C-47 Dakota: 9 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Atago
CA Tone
CA Maya
CA Takao
CA Chikuma
BB Fuso
BB Hiei
BB Haruna
BB Kongo
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Kirishima


Allied ground losses:
5295 casualties reported
Guns lost 91
Vehicles lost 15

Airbase hits 28
Airbase supply hits 12
Runway hits 224
Port hits 2
Port supply hits 1


BOOM .. high recon and a very very heavy hit

Please do NOT use this is yet another round of 'nuclear bombardment' Flame wars .. [;)]

Considering all the AA died in one night of bloodshed the following daylight bomber raids were met by 2 men in trench with a slingshot

Day Air attack on Soerabaja , at 22,65

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 44
G4M1 Betty x 19
Ki-49 Helen x 70

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 70

I had replacements off too after yesterdays Bombing run .. something i have never ever seen before too, one C47 group that was all damaged yesterday .. hence unable to fly any out was today completely destroyed .. not one plane left even damaged .. oddly enough all 16 pilots are fine .. same with the hawks .. guess the crews dug a very large hole last night. also seems like fort level 9 didnt help much either [:D]

Rest of the day was ominously quiet with only 2 allied bombs hitting Lae airfield ..

p.s i forget the name of the brit sqdn i need to upgrade to LB30's so they are available .. anyone remember before i do a lenghty search .. thx in advance ..

Nik .. replacement rate for sea hurricanes seems a tad high [;)], I have over 230 in the pools , even more than the SBD's .. and iirc even more than the dakotas too .. [:D][:D][:D]


More tomorrow readers .. if anyones here ( heloooooooo ... echo echo echo )

[Nikademus]

NUKES!

[;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Bah .. just to keep nik happy

British nuclear weapon test 1952 " operation Hurricane"

INFO :-

Test:Hurricane; Date:October 03 1952;
Site:Trimouille Island, in the Monte Bello Islands, Australia;
Detonation:Ship; Yield:25kt; Type:Fission;

Hurrican was the first nuclear detonation. It resembled the US design Fatman, i.e. it was an implosion type bomb, and Plutinium provided the fissable material. Obviously it incorporated certain improvements. For the note, to meet the deadline UK used external help from Canada to acquire the required ammount of Plutonium.
The test objective besides obvious was also studyuing the effects of the detonation of the nuclear device smuggled in the ship. Which apparently was a great concern to Brits at a time. Therefore, the test device was located 8.7ft (2.7m) below the water line, in the hull of the River-class frigate Plym.
The Hurricane explosion left a crater about 20ft deep and 1000ft across. The mushromm didn't grow all that big due to the extremaly hot and dry weather. It was only 15 000ft high. Hurricane yielded 25kt.
Unfortunatelly there are no color pictures available of the Hurricane test. I believe they exist though In case you stumble at one somewhere on the net drop me a note at zvi@zvis.com.

[rroberson]

That was a crushing.

Curious to know how the Hurricanes are handling the air war over burma?

Mine have been devasted against Tonys and zeros.

But then again in my game with Ale, Burma spent the first year of the war on the front pages everyday.

[Rob Brennan UK]

RRob , there isnt an air war over Burma. Well, my wellingtons and 64 B26B's operating from dacca bomb airfields or troops at tuang-gui or Pagan randomly and only occasionally get intercepted. Buffalos ensure they fly but die horribly. the bombers defensive guns seem good at damaging a lot of LR cap a/c. a few of wich dont get back. He's stopped bombing mandalay since the 51-1 slaughter last month.

The hurricanes ( c. 130) are in kweiyang in china for occasional LR cap to hurt his bomber training. no massive successes as fatigue build up fast. he's never even reconned their base so im not too worried about a counterstrike, but i do keep cap 50-60 when repairing damaged crates. the supply here is the main problem very slow repair rates. moved in the IL-4's to try and drag a bit more here but no success.

Recently swopped out my 1st hurricane C squadron (4x20mm cannon vs 8 x.303) .. they should chew up even armoured bombers quite well. I'll attempt to strike a balance between the types to maximise replacements. Once repaired they will head to china to replace some B's .. the 20mm vs his annoying sonias (who seem to get a lot of damage from .303 but rarely die). should be interesting to see.

I'll do a piccie from both China and Burma next post to help explain a bit more. Recently got homan upto a level 4 a/f .. the SB'2's can try and operate here and force him to spread his fighters a bit.

Mandalay is building up the AF too .. level 5 iirc now .. need about 30 more AV support ( easily obtained) and then i can cram in 100's of fighters if needed. he's got to at least try here else invade from the sea ( which i think is covered ok .. no fresh troops sent to burma. ).AKyab is weak but well within allied bomber range and would be hard for him to use as a major base.

Thats a bout all in british and chinese theaters for now .. resembles a WW1 battlefield right about now in China and a sitzkrieg in Burma.