43 - The Mouse bites back. Rob vs Littlejoe 43+

[pauk]

ORIGINAL: VSWG

You can use a sub to refuel PT boats at sea.

Someone could think that keeping/moving PTs at the ocean hex(es) are exploit too.

Rob Burma offensive really looks nasty![;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

HI Pauk, Burma offensive is a quagmire . Really not sure what to do about the stalemate and supply is worse than abysmal unless you stay on the rail line.

I might well airlift out about 1-2 divs back to chandpur for invasion duty. Rangoon is looking more and more promising except he's quite close (front line) to withdraw here and kick my butt into the sea. Unfortunately ( or fortunately for you japanese fanboy types [;)]) Allied ground attack has done absolutely nothing worthwhile against large stacks of japanses troops.

[aztez]

Have you thought about landing huge force behind his lines in Burma? I mean you propably could squeeze the whole front and it would collapse.
 
Granted I'am still fighting at Moulmein vs FDR but once that battle is decieded he will have huge amount of troops out of action for longtime.

[Rob Brennan UK]

I don;t really have a HUGE force to land behind the lines.

3rd indian division
44th indian division
5 assorted brigades
1 weak dutch regiment

all 30-50 prepped for tavoy. I think i'd need more that that to crush the initial defences

RN consists of

CV Victrious
CVL hermes
BB resolution
BB Valient
BB resolution

some CA's CL's and enough DD's for escort duty.

CV's are escorting the 2 indian divisions to the andaman islands.

Also he kicked my tanks out of the jungle i was retireing from anyway , both down 15 and 18%
respectively. back to mandalay for repair, i was hopeing he would bounce off me but my
supply was awful .

Ground combat at 31,33

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 75374 troops, 715 guns, 304 vehicles, Assault Value = 1711

Defending force 17380 troops, 38 guns, 913 vehicles, Assault Value = 454

Japanese max assault: 1175 - adjusted assault: 1013

Allied max defense: 437 - adjusted defense: 163

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
980 casualties reported
Guns lost 28
Vehicles lost 18

Allied ground losses:
511 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Vehicles lost 14


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

somewhat annoying , the flanking attack was a failure. head on ? nah i cant get a 2-1
on him here. landing is the only option for the future imo.

Anyhoo .. sabang launched an air raid over malaysia at what i supposed was a merchant convoy

Nope !

Day Air attack on TF at 25,43

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 60

Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIC x 5
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 19
P-40N Warhawk x 20
B-17E Fortress x 33

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 14 destroyed, 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter VIC: 3 destroyed
Beaufighter Mk 21: 12 destroyed
P-40N Warhawk: 8 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVE Chuyo
CV Junyo
CVE Taiyo, Bomb hits 1
CVE Hosho, Bomb hits 2, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 11000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 11000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 11000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 11000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 11000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 11000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 11000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 11000 feet

However i have a sneaking suspicion this as a sync bug as the planes at sabang are all ok
and Jope didnt mention this attack in his mail. [:@]

Potentially caused by this :-

Day Air attack on TF, near Rennell Island at 66,99

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 10

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
PT PT-171, Shell hits 4
PT PT-175, Shell hits 4
PT PT-179, Shell hits 4


I'd thought the sync bug was squashed .. maybe not ..

SS Dolphin was stalking munda in the solomons. 2 salvos at one DD and one APD , all torpedos
were duds. There is still something wrong with our torpedos.

dolphin did however suffer the consequences

Sub attack near Munda at 64,95

Japanese Ships
APD APD-37
APD APD-38
DD Sagiri
DD Ayanami
DD Hibiki
DD Samidare

Allied Ships
SS Dolphin, hits 7, on fire SANK

Port moresby gets slightly dinged

Day Air attack on Port Moresby , at 53,91


Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 124
F-5A Lightning x 3
B-24D Liberator x 93


No Allied losses

Port hits 8
Port supply hits 5

Oh well .. maybe day 2 will be better ..

Day Air attack on Port Moresby , at 53,91


Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 111
F-5A Lightning x 4
B-24D Liberator x 87


No Allied losses

Port hits 3
Port supply hits 6

NOPE .[;)]

Rennel still gets pounded and also as its a size 0 port i cant store fuel here either ..
so the PT's refuelled from a merchantman.

Day Air attack on Rennell Island , at 66,99

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 13
G3M Nell x 20
G4M1 Betty x 20
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 16
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 17
Ki-21 Sally x 25
Ki-48 Lily x 26
Ki-49 Helen x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 1 damaged


Allied ground losses:
32 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 23


I'm going to hit Lunga again with the B17's .. no escort as range is long but i will sweep
in 24 lightnings first as some help.

New Guinea .

Thursday island has been a success so far. more engineers are sneaking in and a small
base unit is loading up at townsville. hope he continues not attacking here. maybe he
hasn't noticed. one large (10 ship) ak group are attenpting a run up with 3 engineer
units.

North australia

B25's ordered to hit timor airfields , lets see how this works as im keen on keeping him
focused here . lightnings are moving up here next turn for good escort fighters as the
last turn showed how bad the beau's and elderly dutch fighters don't work well against
zeros or 2nd generation jap army fighters.

Manual sub vs AI sub warfare

I cant see any improvement in putting subs under AI control when on station. it does recuce them
to cruise speed as opposed to mission speed so they do get less wear and tear but no noticeble
improvement in interception so far. Will continue the test and see if any trends do crop up.

Piccie of Burma stalemate. im hitting jap airfields tomorrow just to see if he's got any
fighters around.

[aztez]

Yeah, you will need much more than that to pull that operation off. I mean he can withdraw troops from the frontline and also bring in troops from Malaya peninsula. Meaning that without an adequate ground combat forces those troops would seal their deathtrap.

[Rob Brennan UK]

ORIGINAL: aztez

Yeah, you will need much more than that to pull that operation off. I mean he can withdraw troops from the frontline and also bring in troops from Malaya peninsula. Meaning that without an adequate ground combat forces those troops would seal their deathtrap.

Thats what i feared. looks like i'll be nibbling at sumatra for a while yet before hitting the mainland. Thanks for the advice as i really have no idea how much japan could have in the region.

Would 2-3 more infantry divisions (commonwealth not chinese) be enough to get a foot hold ? as i could fly some out of mandalay where they are repidly repairing from that god-awful jungle adventure. still don;t understand the games supply routine [&:]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Interesting 2 days , Unfortunately i don't know for certain if any of it is true (sync bug)[:@]

I'll get the PT boats out of rennel this turn .. then hopefully we can get back in sync.
I thought this was supposed to be fixed in the last patch. anyway the CVE hits and attack
were all fake ! [:@]

Lets start today with what happened at night .. Rennel was interesting as japan tried to
kill off PT boats with DD groups and PG and APD groups. instead of just pasting the rather
dull CR's ..

8th July 1943, PT-174 at anchor in a small bay trying to repair the damage from the previous day
was suprised and sunk by 4 japanese DD's on the prowl for PT boats. However the wily PT squadron
commander had used the damaged PT as bait and 10 frest PT boats swept out of the dark night
to unload all they had at the japanese destroyers. Poor luck or lack of experience made the crews
launch all torpedoes at too close a range and every one failed to arm before strinking the
foe. Machine gun fire swept the deck of DD Hibiki and in return the japanese landed one 4 inch
shell into PT 175 sinking her immediately.

Now out of ammo the PT boats were repeatedly suprised by a pair of APD's and a squadron of
gunboats (6) 2 more japanese DD's also suprised the unlucky allies and 4 more PT boats went down.

I've always hated PT boats , even more so now [:@]

Meanwhile in the aleutians Admiral Halsey commander of the heavy bombardment group to attu island
and unlike his predesessors he unloaded all his ammo in multiple volleys lasting the course of
2 days. ( only american i could find with an agressive streak to stick around and shell the enemy).
Ordered to retire and re-arm today.

I think Japan is trying to spoof my communications as on the 8th this report arrived on my desk.

ASW attack near Toboali at 22,57

Japanese Ships
PG Taiko Maru
PG Seisho Maru
MSW W.6
MSW W.1
DD Satsuki
DD Wakaba

Allied Ships
SS Trident, heavy damage


Me.. commander where is that boat in the TOE ?
Commander <shrugs> no idea sir it's not listed as operational
Me.. So who is at that station and whats the report from them ?
Commander.. the SS runner is operating in that area, based out of Darwin sir.
Me .. any combat reports from the Runner ?
Commander.. No sir , she reports minor operational damage, i believe the water filter is playing
up but no combat damage.
Me .. So where in blazes did this report come from then ?
Commander.. I recieved it from a short sort of yellow skinned and dark haired officer in the radio
room Sir.
Me .. well arrest that man for being a damn spy !
Commander .. Yes sir right away ! <leaves to arrest the infiltrator>
Me . <sigh> darn it, the Japs are everywhere these days, Now where is Lt. hamaga with my lunch [:D]


Now back to the game ..

Massive air raids ove lunga ! ,, well done the brave B17 boys

Day Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 11
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 11
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 11

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 6
B-17E Fortress x 203

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 9 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 3 damaged
H8K Emily: 2 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
236 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 16
Airbase supply hits 14
Runway hits 261 CLOSED IT DOWN ..

His bombers were away hitting rennel ,.. but on return could not leave the next day due to
the damage ,, so --------

Day Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 6
B-17E Fortress x 177

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 9 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 6 destroyed
G3M Nell: 6 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 10 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 10 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 14 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 6 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 5 destroyed
H8K Emily: 2 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
70 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 23
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 221


EXcellent ! (if true) there wasnt even any combat air patrol ! ..
needless to say the dratted lightnings never flew a sweep mission either.

Soem good news .. CV Yorktown arrived a few days back with some pretty crummy air groups
so she stayed in port a few days to get more fighters and dive bombers. Oddly no
torp bombers ..BUT i've found 4 VT-5 in the south pacific. i just hope that when transferred
they grow to the correct size, but with this game who can tell [;)]

7 more days and i get 3 essex class CV's and another CVL.. hoorah ! .. lets get rennel sorted out
first . then invade PM ..

Chinese fighter sweeps ove haiphong port were dangerous for both sides ..

Day Air attack on Haiphong , at 37,38

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 14
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 39

Allied aircraft
P-40N Warhawk x 71

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 21 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40N Warhawk: 21 destroyed, 6 damaged

Day Air attack on Haiphong , at 37,38

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 9
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 37

Allied aircraft
P-40N Warhawk x 67

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 16 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40N Warhawk: 12 destroyed, 7 damaged

EEK .. lost 33 good fighters and 90% of the pilots .. thats going to hurt the chinese pilot pools
a lot. fortunately the airframes are plentyful. so plentiful in fact i upgraded a veteran 72
plane P40E group in akyab with the longer legged N varient. range will come in handy.

On sumatra the 23rd Indian division will assault Kuala and get me another foot hold on sumatra.
Japanese defense looks very very weak .. part of the 2nd jap para brigade. the div (even in its
weakened state ) shold overrun it with ease next turn. some fighters tasked to provide defence
from enemy bombers should he try and disrupt the attack.Barges and 2 AK's arrive in sabang to ship sully and some engineers down here after rescuing an atrilley brigade that wandered into the
jungle on its own [&:]

Hellcats trickle into the fighter pools and just to be sure i stopped ALL naval aviation
from upgrading untill i can manually do the US CVs 1st. even then i will keep most
F4 marine units with the older plane as i don't want a repeat of andy Mac's loss of
aircraft (vs PzB) later in the war.

Took a good look at andamn island too . darn thing is malarial so no place to sit troops
for any length of time .. back to madras with the indian divs then .. bah .. humbug.
More (2) brigades sent to sumatra along with base forces for the new aquisition. Dakotas
also sent to sabang to airlift in engineers after its fallen (fingers crossed).

[Rob Brennan UK]

OK .. completely ignore the last turn report its totally false ! [:@]

1) nothing hit lunga [:@]
2) PT boats did better ! damaging 2 DD's heavily and sinking an APD [:D]

[font="Times New Roman"]BAH HUMBUG[/font]

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/10/43

Phew .. sorted ..

and a real attack on lunga did rather well [;)]

Day Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 30
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 16
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 9

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 6
B-17E Fortress x 204

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 13 destroyed, 5 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 4 destroyed, 8 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 8 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 6 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 6 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed
G3M Nell: 9 destroyed
H8K Emily: 2 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 8 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 6 destroyed, 27 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
55 casualties reported

Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 11
Runway hits 261

NICE

day 2 did just as well

Day Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 4
B-17E Fortress x 133

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K Emily: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 11 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 6 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 7 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 4 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 12 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 5 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
58 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 14
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 148

119 destroyed japanese a/c ! .. at last Rennel can have a wee break to try and get the
runways repaired.

The only other event of note was japanese trying to re-supply east timor

Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 9

Allied aircraft
Boomerang II x 14
Brewster 339D x 24
Hudson I x 11
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 36
PB4Y Liberator x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Boomerang II: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
Brewster 339D: 6 destroyed, 1 damaged
Beaufighter Mk 21: 8 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Ryuzin Maru, Bomb hits 12, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Hudson I bombing at 11000 feet
3 x PB4Y Liberator bombing at 11000 feet
4 x PB4Y Liberator bombing at 11000 feet
4 x PB4Y Liberator bombing at 11000 feet
4 x Hudson I bombing at 11000 feet
4 x Hudson I bombing at 11000 feet

BANG .. cost a lot of beaufighters though, at least the bombers made it through.

oh well , just a quickie as its 3 posts in one day ! ..[:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/12/43

After 3 turns of sync bug , its nice to get back to normal .. and i'll have to admit it was my fault
too [8|].. didn;t upgrade to 1.804 when joe did .. my bad .

After spending most of the afternoon buying a F56$%^$£ expensive carpet i need some enemy to chew on[:D]

and lunga wasn;t disapointing

Day Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 6
B-17E Fortress x 148

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48 Lily: 2 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 4 destroyed
H8K Emily: 1 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 7 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
97 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 179

That must be the remnants as the following attack just bounced the rubble around. I also sent up a line of subs between luganville a and guadalcanal .. seem to reduce pilot loss to 50%(2)
compared to on average 70+ before. albeit this isnt a very exhaustive test.

with fatuigue in the 30+ range and morale nose diving. time to rest these precious pilots ( or so
they would have you believe).

did some specuative LR bombing of Paramushiro juro roo..( north kuriles)

Day Air attack on Paramushiro Jima , at 82,34

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20

Allied aircraft
PB4Y Liberator x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged
B5N Kate: 1 destroyed
G4M2 Betty: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y Liberator: 2 destroyed, 9 damaged

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 6

2 crews lost , but moderate return. i just want him to station more a/c here

Full on shock assault on attu island tomorrow .. [&o]

Japan has also detected the CV victorious in teh indian ocean .. no biggie but i bet he's
worried about something .. also with andaman being so secure might launch a few
coastal bombardments of my own up here after hefty recon to increase the damage.

thats all really

[VSWG]

ORIGINAL: aztez

Worrying about Kamikaze's already Rob? [:D][;)]

What is the story behind Sabang? I mean are you able to fly offensive missions out of it or...? To me the base seems a good place to start shutting down Joe's oil convoys from Palempang.

I agree with aztez, Sabang looks like the most promising inroad into Japanese territory. I'd go for those northern Sumatra bases, it would force your opponent to garrisson each and every base in Malaya and especially Palembang heavily. Kick off a large air war here, and then invade somewhere else.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thats pretty much my conclusion after stalemate in burma and not enough land forces for a mainland adventure.

Things i have done/got for such an adventure.

1) base 2 hexes south (kanda?) fell 4 days ago but needs eng
and support and supply .. all on the way.

2) more infantry to sabang for future ops. (1 -2 days out)

3) more AV support for captured bases. ( lots of base forces
getting 100/100 etc in madras. and lots of shipping to move
them too.. so not much of any delay)

4) the supply trail in N sumatra is inadequate for overland
supply imo .. need to leap frog and move in fighters for
CAP etc. ( with that in mind i have loaded up 72 P40's and 16
NZ hurricanes at noumea to transit to ceylon) long trip i know.

Allied fighters seem to be mainly american for some time. so maybe
send more up from the SW Pac ? any advice.

Spits have awful range and require shipping to get to sumatra
and provide point defence for my bomber bases in burma.I'm sure i
cane spare 3-4 for sumatra though.

Plenty of 'barges' in the pools for 'instant invasion fleets'
but i dont want to create a lot to lessen suspicion.

With the 2 divs heading back from andaman i will transfer them
to sumatra so we have a big(ish) hammer for nice small bases.[;)]
They will head toward madras then go north of ceylon then south
to sabang ( confuse thier location and jap recon is short range
in this theatre.

If i want a large 4E + 2E bomber raid they are easily transfered
from burma 2 days before the raid ( again no need to alert him)
and they do provide some service in burma. hitting his forward
airfields occasionally and mostly getting recon a/c but
sometimes a fighter or 2 .

Also IF i use the RN capital ships to shell the malayan and thai
coasts under the air umberella from andaman is. hell have to worry
about the entire coast here too ( actually he does already, the
troops numbers have been increasing steadily).

I suspect in sumatra he has nothing of note outside of palembang.

I have mentioned and thought about a west coast grab, easily
taken imo. but would be very vulnerable without the north
going my way 1st.

One last idea [:D]. in 60 odd days i get the 1st indian parachute
brigade ! .. hehe the fun i can have with that in this theatre.
actually i'm half tempted to steal the marine paras too [;)]

anyhoo , thats what i had/have in mind for the theatre.

please respond ar add anything you all like .. i have the skin
of a rhino [;)]

[VSWG]

You forgot the most important thing...


... you need a NAME for that operation! [:-]

Seriously, sounds good. You can establish a forward sub base at Sabang, too, right at the doorstep of Palembang. The best part is that you don't need your carriers here once you've got a couple of bases to fly CAP/LRCAP from. They will be free to roam CentPac/SoPac/SWPac. What are your long-term plans here?

[Rob Brennan UK]

Sub base already in place [;)].. max port and AS and i've transferred all the indian ocean subs ( as home base). getting past singapore is a bit tought though as he has some very good ASW a/c here. I am starting to send them through the gap between java/sumatra or round southern java ( much safer). Darwin is also an excellent sub base as is midway and more recently Kiska is. at the tip of the aleutions.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/14/43

Rennel again gets hit by the sea. PT boats heading back here as it wasn't strafing that caused the
sync bug ..

Naval bombardment of Rennell Island, at 66,99

Japanese Ships
CL Yubari
CL Tenryu
CL Kinu
CA Suzuya
BB Haruna


Allied ground losses:
58 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Runway hits 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Rennell Island, at 66,99 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

1 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
DD Uzuki
DD Oboro
DD Usugumo
DD Asagumo
DD Kazegumo
DD Yugumo
CA Mogami
CA Myoko
BB Yamato


Allied ground losses:
103 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Runway hits 6
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1


The 2 CD units were and remain battered and virtually unoperable.

However my subs had a good day . loaded transports east of bonin

Sub attack at 67,55

Japanese Ships
AP Buenos Aires Maru, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Paddle

Japanese ground losses:
68 casualties reported

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 67,55

Japanese Ships
AP Kiyama Maru, Shell hits 4

Allied Ships
SS Paddle, hits 4

Japanese ground losses:
45 casualties reported


Torpedoes were very unreliable yet again but the shelling produced 1-2 critical hits.
also no escorts for a troop convoy ? the shame of it [:D]

I had noticed some shipping at paramushiro in the kuriles .. sent 3 subs over to
investigate .. and got more than i expected. only AP's reported by air search then :-

Sub attack near Paramushiro Jima at 82,34

Japanese Ships
CS Nisshin, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
SS Scorpion


lovely ! .. he just expanded the island to a port 3 so i bet he will disband it. with that
in mind and having transferred extra AV support to kiska i'm moving in some more 4E bombers
that are very very experienced from lots of ground attack runs. IF i see the port is
still occupied next turn we'll hit the port and damn the Zeros [:D]

Lots of troops arrived as reinforcements in teh USA west coast today. some deploy details:-

US DIV - heading to attu island as the final killer of the japlandings and spearhead for
invasion of the kuriles.

503 USA PARA regiments (131 assault value) transferred to SE ASIA and will sail round via the
atlantic to karachi all the while prepping for palembang .. with the indian unit we will
have some serious air landing forces in the commonwealth sector for future fun and games.
P.S not sure i mentioned it earlier but i also sent a west coast US division to karachi about
a month ago too [:D] (7th USA div will arrive in 30 days) saving up PP's is well worth it imo.

Allied planes trying to prevent base building and softening up NG hit gili gili today

Day Air attack on Gili Gili , at 56,94


Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 84


Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
142 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Port hits 3
Port supply hits 3

Day Air attack on Gili Gili , at 56,94


Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 75


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
69 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Port hits 5
Port supply hits 17


Regarding lunga we will conduct 4 more days of heavy 200 raid bombing to make sure its non-operational.
then reduce bomber levels to c.100 to keep it closed, allowing me to use dakotas to fly
in supply to rennel and more engineers too . might as well try and pull out some of
the really broken allied units to rest in noumea too.

Thursday island in NG improved to a size 2 AF. hosting wildcats for local defence, there
hasnt been any japanese recon/search spotted at all. so i'm loading up a fast AP TF with
another 90 AV support and 5 AA units ! .. hehe lesson learn at rennel, its also impervious to
japanese bombardment missions ( unless he's suicidal)

United states air transport convoy arrived and refuelled at noumea today, the following are
on board :-

72 P40N
64 Dakotas
16 dauntless
24 Corsair

They have been diverted to perth. then onto india for commonwealth use, i think thats enough a/c
poached from the americans for now [;)]

As insurance against rennel being permaneltly in the stone age the recently arrived seebee
units (5) in noumea are sent to Koumac point at the northern tip of 'noumea island' in the
carolines, reason being is that its 12 hexes from rennel and then 'just' in dakota range
for supply transport. they should be able to fix it up in about a month. this will hopefully
not be needed but the seebees have no other use right now.

Recon of sabang airfield in malaya shows 1000 a/c there ? can't be right as its a size 3
but im sending in a few bombers tomorrow even though i know there is heavy CAP ..
if it;s that overloaded it could be fun even if its expensive.

thats about it for this turn .. more coming up

[Rob Brennan UK]

Good day for allied Subs !

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/16/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 61,47

Japanese Ships
AK Tatsuura Maru, Torpedo hits 1

Allied Ships
SS Trout

Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported

after hitting loaded AK's last turn the sharks circled the area and are rewarded.

Sub attack at 68,52

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

Allied Ships
SS Rasher

Japanese ground losses:
29 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

From the shoulder patches of drowned enemy men , the unit was identified as the 1st
Heavy AA Battalion. guess they are short a few guns now [;)]

I'll prowl and see if i can get the other AK

That overstacked airbase, wasn't overstacked as plenty of fighters came up to shred
the escort fighters

Day Air attack on Songkhia , at 24,43

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 49
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 78

Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIC x 9
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 8
P-40N Warhawk x 17
B-17E Fortress x 35

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 6 destroyed, 11 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 23 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 3 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 3 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter VIC: 9 destroyed
Beaufighter Mk 21: 7 destroyed
P-40N Warhawk: 13 destroyed
B-17E Fortress: 5 destroyed, 25 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
38 casualties reported

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 16

OUCH .. not doing that in a hurry again.

CS Nishin hadn't disbanded into the port and small PB4Y strikes put 2 500Lb bombs into her for
good measure. also shot down a half dozen zeros for no loss, although several were damaged.

EG
Day Air attack on TF, near Paramushiro Jima at 82,34

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20

Allied aircraft
PB4Y Liberator x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y Liberator: 5 damaged

Japanese Ships
CS Nisshin, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Japan launched its first naval atack against transports unloading at kuala (sumatra)

Day Air attack on TF, near Kuala at 20,43

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 22
G4M1 Betty x 12
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 7
Ki-48 Lily x 3

Allied aircraft
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 8 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter Mk 21: 4 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied Ships
PG Auricula, Bomb hits 1, on fire
MSW Poole, Bomb hits 1, on fire

the bettys ran at the 1st sign of trouble so must have bad morale. increased P40's to fly
cover tomorrow. Allies are sweeping the port of mines too, unfortunate PG Hollyhock tried to
be a MSW too .. and did clear 1 mine [;)]


TF 1032 encounters mine field at Kuala (20,43)

Allied Ships
MSW Romney
MSW Poole
MSW Cromer
PG Hollyhock, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Large scale re-inforcements are unloading at sabang for teh drive south. next target Medan
(small oil town). he could easily disrupt landing with surface forces from singapore
so I'll either need heavy escort or march overland ( trail). any comments ?

Either way the 2 units there won't stop the allied march for long [:D]

Todays piccie - sumatra .. any picture requests ?

[tiger111]

Hi Rob
I would go overland from Sebang.See what response there is from Singapore.Better to not risk too much here as things are still quite fragile.

I think a CV battle would clear the air abit esp if close one to of your bases.

Maybe time to up the anti in SW.Pac -may divert some stuff from SE Asia.

Good old subs !!!

[aztez]

I concur with Augustas! If you could lure KB into battle than that would give you huge advantage on which to build upon! [:)]
&nbsp;
That bombing raid was costly buit you did net enemy ac's too so if you think attrition than you actually won! [;)]

[VSWG]

How about a fast transport mission into Medan? Supplies can be brought in by some expendable AKs... LRCAP them against air raids, and put subs between Singapore and Medan against surface combat TFs. You could mine the straits, too.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thanks for the replies Guys.

Augustus- Overland in sumatra is a lot safer and the RN isn't particularly powerful
in the indian ocean .. overland to medan it is , the indian div got enough supply
from 2 unloading AK's and is ordered south. I can and will sail down more men as there
isn't any kind of overland link between sabang and kuala. The next base isn't on a
land link either but it looks unoccupied right now. really would love some paras here
right now [;)]

Aztez - Yup i'd love a big carrier battle in a month ( when i have more hellcats) I will
escort a hige invasion of PM and if i am lucky he will try and intercept with KB, also
i'm thinking of trying out to lure him into the solomons in the defence of rennel is.
also make a threat against his disasterous bombardments here.

VSWG - Good idea on the subs . however his ASW a/c are very strong in this area and
i seem to have run into a problem with O19+O20 (minelayers) as thier minelaying
equipment is disabled and not apparently fixing up properly. At least they havnt
replaced it with 20 AA Mg's ( like my other game )[;)]. and no surface ML's exist
anymore . apart from some american DM's and the ML olgaga ( in the aleutians). Time
to send them south now as he's not coming back to attu is.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/18/43

SS dolphin is doing good work in the solomons , she torpedoed 2 AK's last turn
at Munda and i sent her to shortlands to see if i could catch the cripples retiring:-

Sub attack near Shortlands at 63,93

Japanese Ships
AK Aobasan Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage SUNK

Allied Ships
SS Dolphin


Good work Dolphin , only one rear torp salvo left and japanese ASW surface forces in the
area, so retireing to luganville for more ammo.

Did some speculative resource bombing this turn too .

1st attack was on hong kong ( not reconed well )

Day Air attack on Hong Kong , at 43,42


Allied aircraft
P-40N Warhawk x 26
B-25J Mitchell x 38


Allied aircraft losses
B-25J Mitchell: 1 damaged

Resources hits 1

not much success.

Then the brits hit Moulmein ( well reconed)

Day Air attack on Moulmein , at 29,35


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 18
Liberator VI x 15
Beaufighter VIC x 23
F-5A Lightning x 3
B-25J Mitchell x 34
B-17E Fortress x 5


No Allied losses

Resources hits 8

day 2 was almost identical and intel says that 95% destroyed now. less free supply
for japan is good. I have also decided that forces will hammer the oil in rangoon
as i'd left it alone for later capture, which appears not to be very imminent. [;)]

The valient,Warspite and resolution are now in the Andaman islands, i'll rest one turn
as they have expended op's points on refuelling. P38's and P40B's will provide LR CAP
when they bombard the coast.

In the north CS nisshin got clobbered [:D]

Day Air attack on TF, near Paramushiro Jima at 82,34

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 33

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged 1 pilot died

Japanese Ships
CS Nisshin, Bomb hits 24, on fire, heavy damage SUNK

She had been torpedoed and hit twice before so i'm guessing she was dead in the
water anyway. hence the rather large hit count.

OK .. planned orders ..

Large AP convoy loading up at sabang for kuala

3 brigades of infantry
5 eng units
3 BF's

also flying in a BForce from andaman ( spare).

LR cap to cover the main troops convoy while the barges ship down supply. also 5 4.5k
AK's loading supply for here too. will try a rapid expansion of kuala. and a quick overland drive
to medan. ( well as fast as possible on trails anyway [;)]. Sent some spits to madras where they
will board AK's for transit to sumatra. my spits havn't seen much combat ( if any) in the game
so far. the range is a real pain in the buttocks.

Also done this turn was a big check on teh submarine arm, several found to be damaged in
the central pacific and sent back to PH for repairs. meanwhile midway sends out 4 repaired
ones ( sys dam 0-1) for replacments. I'm happy with the sub war so far, just only sporadically
find tankers though.

Thursday island is coming along nicely in new guinea and will help provide CAP for the invasion
force in due time. he hasnt sent a single plane to cheak for shipping or recon. and i am
sending up more and more as the route seems safe enough for now.

Regarding the planes for SE asia , being shipped round aussie . the slow AK's will take forever
so the fast 18knot Ak's i was hoarding in townsville will meet up at sydney ( 8 AK) and load up the
planes for faster shipment. should shave off 1/3 of the time at least.

Lightnings in derby rest up for tomorrows big (ish) fighter sweep of koepnag in timor. I don't
want him to think i've abandoned plans to invade . he does have strong fighter forces in
that base so i have taken the precaution of having a line of subs to rescue downed pilots
and given them the best c/o i can find. As an aside some american group commanders have
amazing stats ! 90/91 .. and a patrol formation ? i think not [;)]

piccie of troops awaiting invasion orders for PM .. the japanese 56th division will have a
suprise [;)]

[VSWG]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

VSWG - Good idea on the subs . however his ASW a/c are very strong in this area and
i seem to have run into a problem with O19+O20 (minelayers) as thier minelaying
equipment is disabled and not apparently fixing up properly. At least they havnt
replaced it with 20 AA Mg's ( like my other game )[;)]. and no surface ML's exist
anymore . apart from some american DM's and the ML olgaga ( in the aleutians). Time
to send them south now as he's not coming back to attu is.

You could use Sabang as base for an aerial mine warfare campaign against Singapore / Palembang.