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

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/07/43

realy did laugh out load when i saw the piccie at the bottom. CV Taiho isn't the worlds luckiest CV.
Maiden voyage was torpedoed c. 240 miles out of tokyo, limped home for repairs then set out again
just to be attacked by another sub [:D]. shame she missed but heading toward truk seems he's massing
Cv's here. the PM landings could get frisky.

the american inf div is finally unloading at attu. meanwhile 3 Bombardment groups and heavy air
attacks keep the borg busy for a while. no point cut'n'pasing those though.

So lets start with the chinese airforce, multiple attacks vs 5 AK's in hong kong sank all 5
and 3 raids on a zero capped AK TF in the china sea netted 1 sunk 4 damaged for 3 P40s, 2 B25's
and 2 barrcudas and no Zeros shot down. No idea why they had CAP i suspect hauling resources
back to japan. the entire chinese airforce stood down tomorrow as fatigue was extreme from lots
of long range flying and morale was impacted by the losses ( also aggravated by the fatigue).

EG

Day Air attack on TF, near Hong Kong at 43,42


Allied aircraft
Avenger I x 7
P-40N Warhawk x 16
B-25J Mitchell x 23


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Borneo Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Isuzugawa Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Asosan Maru, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
AK Takaosan Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage


Wake island raid while missing the float plane pens did more harm to supply levels and runway
damage.

Day Air attack on Wake Island , at 82,63

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
PB4Y Liberator x 46

Japanese aircraft losses
No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
76 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 49

As we had a ceasefire in the solomons ( air wise) sent the PT boats to have a look at
munda .. look what we found [;)] ( its 4 hexes from rennel so in my book in raiding range)

Day Time Surface Combat, near Munda at 64,95

Japanese Ships
AP Awa Maru
AP Daigen Maru, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AP Sunten Maru
AP Tatsuho Maru
AP Tatumiya Maru
AP Shoun Maru
AP Hofuku Maru

Allied Ships
PT PT-62
PT PT-63
PT PT-64
PT PT-65, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PT PT-103
PT PT-104
PT PT-105
PT PT-106
PT PT-107, Shell hits 1
PT PT-108
PT PT-109
PT PT-110

PT for a large AP .. that good for me .

Ground forces in Burma finally clear out the last nest of japanese and send them packing
toward Rabaul .. the British ( and allies) will follow ASAP.

Ground combat at 31,32

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 149307 troops, 1113 guns, 1247 vehicles, Assault Value = 3185

Defending force 35294 troops, 204 guns, 277 vehicles, Assault Value = 595

Allied max assault: 2965 - adjusted assault: 2615

Japanese max defense: 561 - adjusted defense: 127

Allied assault odds: 20 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
1333 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Vehicles lost 6

Allied ground losses:
1150 casualties reported
Guns lost 35
Vehicles lost 1


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

That was mainly 3 armoured regiments 3 AA units and lots of combat engineers plus one
division that was sent packing. if my losses are anything to go by, he must be hurting rather badly.

Day 2 and the british BB Line shelled georgetown with disapointing results. must do more recon.
I deliberately hadnt done any earlier to tip him off on targets.

Naval bombardment of Georgetown, at 23,44 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

10 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Monssen
DD Farenholt
DD Bancroft
DD Gansevoort
DD Edwards, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD John D. Edwards
DD Paul Jones
CA Exeter
CA Cornwall
CA Suffolk
CA Devonshire
CA Dorsetshire
BB Resolution
BB Valiant
BB Warspite, Shell hits 3

Japanese ground losses:
373 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

No idea why the DD got shelled ( escorts Bombard was off).

Well tahts about it for today .. next 2 days i'll be examining and listing the operation for
Port Moresby , hereby renamed Operation Horus.

and the picture that might have been <sigh>

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/09/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 64,69

Japanese Ships
AP Heiwa Maru, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Finback


New day and the only succesful subs attack in 2 days. 4 more had the dud torpedo problem or just plain
missed, see piccie ! CV Taiho was again attacked from below (missed again), she is a sub magnet
officially. I hadnt even sent in new subs , just one thats patrolling japanese bases. several more
are in the area so lets see if we can find and sink the Taiho with subs [;)]


The softening up of new guinea continues.

b17s hit gili gili

Day Air attack on Gili Gili , at 56,94

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
PBM Mariner x 4
B-17E Fortress x 84

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K Emily: 2 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
135 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 18
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 105

dead emilys ! always a welcome sight.

while some B25's based on thursday island harass japanese ground forces in PM.

Day Air attack on 56th Division, at 53,91


Allied aircraft
P-47C Thunderbolt x 59
B-25J Mitchell x 10


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
36 casualties reported

not many b25's based here, when it gets to a level 4 AF , 64 more are awaiting transfer.

The Luganville based B17's hit lunga again with stunning results considering he's supposedly
trying to load these a/c up and get them out [;)]. I in no way think Joe is taking advantage
of our ceasefire I just wanted to kill off the extra supply he'd unloaded. wasnt expecting
the following 2 results.

Day Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 4
B-17E Fortress x 111

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 11 destroyed
G3M Nell: 7 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 7 destroyed
H8K Emily: 7 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 10 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 10 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
309 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 164

Day Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 4
B-17E Fortress x 83

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 8 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 8 destroyed
H8K Emily: 2 destroyed
G3M Nell: 7 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 6 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
80 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 47

thats 72 less a/c he has to 'rescue' [:D].

Staying in the solomons the PT's again hit munda in daylight.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Munda at 64,95

Japanese Ships
AP Awa Maru, Shell hits 27, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AP Sunten Maru
AP Tatsuho Maru
AP Tatumiya Maru
AP Shoun Maru, Shell hits 46, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AP Hofuku Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
PT PT-62
PT PT-63
PT PT-64
PT PT-103
PT PT-104
PT PT-105
PT PT-106
PT PT-108
PT PT-109
PT PT-110, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Excellent result. I've scrounged up a spare AGP ( PT tender) AD (destroyer tender) and an
MLE (mile layer tender) to go to rennel island. This will allow re-arming of the PT's and smaller
calibre weapons from the BB taskforce. Basically allowing me to raid with surface units and not
have to retire to luganville for more ammo. An AE (ammunition ship) is leaving brisbane for Noumea
and then onto rennel island to resupply any used AAA ammo.

The CV's are one turn out from brisbane, while a support TF of Oilers and CVE's leave brisbane
for Townsville. I will definately be a bit short of escort ships if i sail my CV's in single ship
task forces. SO i will pair up US and Brit Cv's where possible ( lower air limit total) and the
other US CV's with CVL's and operational CVE's so as not to exceed the limit of air operations
and cause confusion and cancellation of strikes, as well as hopefully allowing better co-ordination
of strikes.

WE had another major air engagement over sumatra today as well. The allied fighters leapt
on the escorts mercilessly but in thier enthusiasm left the bombers pretty much alone
and a Dutch Merchantman is badly damaged as a result.

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

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 35
G4M1 Betty x 19
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 3
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 12

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 7
Hurricane II x 12
Spitfire Vb x 12
P-40E Warhawk x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 27 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 6 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 8 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane II: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Ban Ho Guan
AK Duymaer van Twist, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Excellent kill ratio today and the spits repairing in noumea (uncrating) can only make this worse
for Japan in the future.

In Burma japanese troops attemting to cross a river and enter the contested hex (ive moved one
hex south now , well most of the men have )was decimated :-

Ground combat at 30,33

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 27989 troops, 266 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2610

Defending force 109652 troops, 658 guns, 1263 vehicles, Assault Value = 2309

Japanese max assault: 564 - adjusted assault: 56

Allied max defense: 2360 - adjusted defense: 2066

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
2870 casualties reported
Guns lost 104

Allied ground losses:
45 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Commonwealth will try for another attack tomorrow before japan gets a chance to dig in, this
has the added bonus of isolating some jap troops in a jungle hex with no supply. Not sure this
will succeed though. the RAF is pounding the heck our of them though.

Day Air attack on 33rd Division, at 30,33


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 38
Liberator VI x 19
Beaufighter VIC x 22
F-5A Lightning x 3
B-25J Mitchell x 52
B-17E Fortress x 56


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
463 casualties reported [&o]
Guns lost 13


I'm pretty sure they cant have dug in much in the 2-4 days they have had to prepare. and the
recently retreated units should be almost worthless in combat by now.

In china, Japan seems to have moved fighters into hong kong, i suspect they were the
ones on LR cap over the merchantmen. 3/4's of the chinese bombers will hit the airfields
tomorrow with c. 50 escorts. the remaining bombers and torpedo planes will be on naval
duty. all a/c had 2 days rest so they are fit an ready.

Swopping back up north. Attu will be deliberately attacked tomorrow, lets see if the
newly arrived divison can make these borg/super penguins finally start surrendering or
dying in large numbers, either is acceptable. Battleships pound thier rear while many
bombers and fighter bombers hit the front lines. fingers crossed !

Here is the picture of the newly renamed CV "torpedo magnet"

[Rob Brennan UK]

Good News for ground forces at opposite ends of the map.


ATTU Is. 04.00 AM

Naval bombardment of Attu Island, at 92,34

Allied Ships
DD Stack
DD Flusser
DD Stanly
DD Anthony
DD Nicholas
DD Bache
DD Pringle
DD O'Bannon
CA New Orleans
CA San Francisco
CL Richmond
CL Phoenix
BB Arizona
BB Pennsylvania
BB California
DD McCalla
DD Barton
DD Maury
DD Welles
DD Meade

Japanese ground losses:
518 casualties reported


10.15 AM

Ground combat at Attu Island

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 51122 troops, 477 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 926

Defending force 7474 troops, 2 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 108

Allied max assault: 1006 - adjusted assault: 1456

Japanese max defense: 61 - adjusted defense: 7

Allied assault odds: 208 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
14323 casualties reported
Guns lost 10
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
159 casualties reported
Guns lost 12


WAY ! finally got some of the borg to surrender, still quite a lot to go though

Ground combat at Attu Island

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 51052 troops, 470 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 928

Defending force 4170 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 99

Allied max assault: 964 - adjusted assault: 903

Japanese max defense: 56 - adjusted defense: 4

Allied assault odds: 225 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
3122 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 29

Allied ground losses:
245 casualties reported
Guns lost 12

Looks like odds over 200-1 finally tipped the balance.

Over in burma the allied advance continues !

Ground combat at 30,33

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 95982 troops, 657 guns, 1261 vehicles, Assault Value = 3236

Defending force 89987 troops, 861 guns, 255 vehicles, Assault Value = 1608

Allied max assault: 2272 - adjusted assault: 1500

Japanese max defense: 1171 - adjusted defense: 121

Allied assault odds: 12 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
1911 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
3597 casualties reported
Guns lost 110
Vehicles lost 13


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

allied intelligence (an oxymoron), reports japanese officers burning documents in Rangoon, Looks
like japan will try and hold at moulmein and abandon rangoon. allied troops are having a brief
rest before assaulting over the riverline ( v high disruption).

Japan sends more aircraft to thier doom over sumatra.

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

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 23
G4M1 Betty x 8
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 5
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 6

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 16
Hurricane II x 19
Spitfire Vb x 20
P-40E Warhawk x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 18 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 5 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane II: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied Ships
PG Freesia

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet

sent in 60 more spitfires as the airfield expands to a size 3.

I was right about japan having zeros in hong kong too:-

Day Air attack on Hong Kong , at 43,42

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 32

Allied aircraft
P-40N Warhawk x 54
B-25J Mitchell x 45

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 12 destroyed, 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40N Warhawk: 5 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
81 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 47


evens . don't like even fights although it does attrit the enemy.

Well Its starting to looks like the allies are attcking on pretty much every front.
Burma - Liberatin is imminent and the alies anjoy air supremacy and can bomb at will.
DEI- sumatra slowly being assimilated [;)]
And I'm bombing from northern australia (darwin).
SwPacific- soon to invade Port moresby and gili gili.
Central Pacific - started bombing wake island - if its weakly defended after muchos recon might
throw a div at it some time.
North Pac. Attu being cleansed and starting to prep for the northern kurile islands.

As Promised heres a breakdown of troops prepped form invasion New guinea

Port Moresby

3rd USMC div
2nd USMC div
1st US Cav div
32nd US Inf div
1st australian div
58th RCT
12th Australian bde
3 Tank regiments
2 Arty Reiments
US 6th and Australian 1st Army HQ's

Thats overkill i think .. vs one div at unknown fort levels

Gili Gili

1st USMC Div
9th Australian Div
147th RCT
1 Arm Brigade
1st Amphibious corps HQ

Lift capacity in AP's alone amounts to

20x6000
26x4000
6x2000

total of 232,000 ( one div is about 15000 iirc)

Equal numbers of AK's for supply and tank transport ( Arm units seem to fit better into
AK's so should in theory unload faster in them)

also have about 40 small Landing craft . bit short legged for this op but perfect
for securing the small islands around gili gili later on.

With every Cv for cover and thursday island now a size 4 we can close Lea field before
the invasion proper. Lots of lightnings and 4E heavies to be sent upto thursday island
over the next few turns to sweep and bomb lae airfields into dust.

I wonder what the map will look like come jan44 ? lots more green dots one would hope.[:D]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Nearly dropped to page 2 ! can't have that [;)]

Interesting 2 days to say the least. Just got the combat turn from Joe so can't see the results
of the japanese attacks in detail yet.

BUT .. it got rather busy over sabang harbour on the night of the 13th of august 1943.
Sirens wailed as japanese fighter bombers were detected on radar all AAA was on full alert
but the usual night fighter defences had been transferred out to allow more room at the
fields for the incoming spitfire sqds. so no air opposition was able to be launched as the
determined japanese flew right into the AAA guns of the port defences. One japanese
pilot even managed a hit of the flight deck of the CV Victorious. No idea of damage yet
but i suspect vey little if any due to the armoured flight deck. I LOVE british CV's they
are so much more resient than thier US counterparts, less aircraft so less punch but able to
take suprise raids and eventually japanese kamikaze attacks much better than the wooden american
flight decks.

Night Air attack on Sabang , at 19,41

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 50

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 6 destroyed, 19 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Victorious, Bomb hits 1

at the same time 3 British Battleships were steaming fast to bombard the airfields and port
of georgetown on the malayan coast. then a sudden bang as a torpedo hit the Resoulution.
confusion reigns as to the exact damage caused but the TF commander decided to continue with the
mission and the Resolution was apperently detached and sent home.

Sub attack at 22,43

Japanese Ships
SS I-174, hits 3

Allied Ships
BB Resolution, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Paul Jones
DD Vendetta
DD Warramunga
DD Arrow
DD Decoy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Georgetown, at 23,44

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 6 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 9 destroyed

Allied Ships
DD Vendetta
DD Warramunga
DD Arrow
DD Decoy
DD Electra
CA Exeter
CA Cornwall
CA Suffolk
CA Devonshire
CA Dorsetshire
BB Valiant
BB Warspite

Japanese ground losses:
4730 casualties reported
Guns lost 47
Vehicles lost 2

Airbase hits 21
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 110
Port hits 1

Excellent attack and it appears the torpedo baffles did thier job on the old Battleship as
she made it back to sabang with the rest. might need a bit of yard time ( maybe send her back
to the shipyards at colombo if she's badly hurt).

also finally cleard the BORG infestation in the aleutians , 1 division and 3 SNLF units surrendered
or kamikasied against the tought american ground forces.

Ground combat at Attu Island

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 34263 troops, 261 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 913

Defending force 3046 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 66

Allied max assault: 587 - adjusted assault: 676

Japanese max defense: 40 - adjusted defense: 4

Allied assault odds: 169 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
11194 casualties reported DIVISION GONE
Guns lost 31

Allied ground losses:
40 casualties reported


day 2

Ground combat at Attu Island

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 34391 troops, 262 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 928

Defending force 712 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 26

Allied max assault: 599 - adjusted assault: 863

Japanese max defense: 16 - adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 863 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
1858 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

I think thats all of them finally ! .. now to prep for the kuriles. And try for a landing
before winter sets in (november-march iirc). Landing in winter causes 3x casualties and is
to be avoided at all costs. Really depends if i can spare the CV's for covering forces as
its a long haul from the aleutians to the kuriles, only 4e heavy bombers have the range
and no allied fighter can escort or cover invasion convoys. the proximity to japan is also
a worry as i suspect he's keeping his CV's in Tokyo or Truk , and tokyo is very close.

It apears he hasnt really built up the surrounding bases in the island chain, engineers needed
elsewhere more urgently i suspect. Still, the LR bombers will start paying a visit to
the kuriles after a well deserved break. thier experience is very very high and i am hopeing
they can deal with the expected zero opposition well. If japan has 2nd Gen army fighters it
could be too high a casualty rate to sustain the air attack but we have to try it first.

Now thurday island in New guinea is fully operational (i.e can hamdle 200 a/c) the additonal
64 mitchells along with some older Havocs are hitting the japanese troops in Port Moresby
quite succesully.

Day Air attack on 56th Division, at 53,91


Allied aircraft
P-47C Thunderbolt x 50
A-20G Havoc x 10
B-25J Mitchell x 58


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
127 casualties reported
Guns lost 7


Given the shorter range this can be sustained quite well, only minor snag is the fighters are
operating at max range and accumulate fatigue rapidly, I think I'll split the P47 wing into 3
smaller groups and rotate them as needed to reduce fatigue and operatonal losses. This will
obviously make the bombers more vulnerable if japan decides to contest the air but its still
an acceptable risk. Flattening Lae with the elite 4E Liberators and fortresses will only commence
when the invasion fleet sails. Estimate 4-8 days before that happens.

another update when i get the allied orders phase. bye for now

[Rob Brennan UK]

PHEW .. 3 hours doing that turn ..

What took so long ?

1) Loading up transports at townsville, and trying to find task force commanders with good land
values as amphibious commanders. Wasn't able to load up everything by a long way. secondary TF's
loading up engineers and aviation support. wish i could re-name the TF's so i can easily
tell who's supposed to go where. also tried to add in as many MSW and DMS as possible for
minesweeping duty. The BB's will also accompany the invasion groups rather than bombard.

2) 7 air combat TF's made at brisbane, I did at least manage enough escorts . 15-16 ships in
all of them. Tried to spread out the air groups as much as possible. finding TF commanders
with high air ratings was extremely problematic. Even more of a problem was finding 1/2 decent
ship commanders for the CVL's . they were all commanded by high initiative and good leadership
men with piss poor aviation skills, took ages finding spare ones with minimum 50 in aviation skill.
Even some of the replacement CV's (US) had idiots in charge. Every other non carrier checked
for idiots and lots found in command of destroyers and even one Battleship. everyone with
less than 50 in either stat was replaced !

OK .. CV's to rendesvous with the transports and replenishment groups in townsville.

1st invasion will be PM and CV cover, the gili gili force will remain at sea untill the
Cv's are free to cover the second assault.

120 Heavy bombers moved to new guinea to flatten Lae. 90 Lightning to act as sweep/escort/base defence.

The BB Resolution was hurt worse i suspected , still steaming home (120 miles to go).
damage at 12/26/0 so flooding is the worst problem and will need yard time in colombo when
she's pumped out. CV Victorious is fine. Joe threatened to send up the Yamato to shell the
port .. humm could be a worry if weather closes the airbases. best i seed Kuala with some
anti shipping a/c . mainly torpedo planes (which i dont have many of ).

he is definately legging it in Burma. the units in the jungle are a worry. one div left behind
to cover the rear. rest to move over the river and stop. one chinese div tasked to take rangoon.
fortunately i foresaw him abandoning rangoon and mainly prepped for moulmein for 80% of the
troops ( now at 100%) which i doubt he suspects. The units moved back to mandalay for rest
after getting very battered in combat are repairing seemingly at random . the chindits are
recovering very well, the rest are almost static.

Now off to play something needing less grey matter [:D]. I hate to think of the micro management
needed in 44-45 ! [&:]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Operation HORUS is off !

19 co-oridinated (i hope) Task forces left townsville (see picture !).

The SLOW LCU/I TF's have thier own Replenishment Oilers as thier fuel levels are very low.
The groups are initially heading North then will swing East to try and avoid the search a/c
in Gili gili. The Heavy bombers will , weather permitting, hit Lae over the next few days.
Preceded by 72 lightnings flying high altitude fighter sweeps. Whilst australian land bombers
go on a frenzy of naval search and ASW just in case Joe sent any spy subs (doubtfully).

There are 2 things i would like to have done (can still do), for the invasion. dedicated ASW
groups ( but this eats into the barely adequate escorts) and dedicated ASW groups (again
eats into the incasion escorts). Is it better to have dedicated minesweepers or more
escorts for the transports (some of the AP troops ships are well covered by 15-20 minesweepers).
Basically grabbed ALL MSW and DMS shipping from 90% of the pacific for this OP. ( bar the north).

Replacemnet CV Enterprise arrived at sanfran last turn with 0 planes on board so 2 days delay
in setting sail. CV Intrepid also arrived with another CVL and CVE. send them up north as a
preliminary escort for the kuriles ? I might do a 'rush' into Paramushiro in a month or so.
very Risky BUT if he sends the main japanese fleet carriers against HORUS, there will be a
window of opportunity for quick grab. 72 P47 Thunderbolts heading to north pacific for possible
use as a fast reaction fighter unit that has the raneg to transfer into the target if it
falls rapidly. anyone have any ideas on this ?

Anyhoo back to the past 2 days operations.

American S boat badly damaged off tarawa 50/50 if she makes it home

ASW attack near Tarawa at 85,91

Japanese Ships
DD Arare
DD Isokaze
DD Kagero

Allied Ships
SS S-23, hits 4, on fire


Meanwhile the japanese return to Sabang at night, this time we have Night fighters
to intercept and kill 3-4 over 2 days, rest fall to flak and no results for japan
on either raid.

Night Air attack on Sabang , at 19,41

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 39

Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIF x 8
P-70A Havoc x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 5 destroyed, 21 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter VIF: 2 damaged
P-70A Havoc: 5 damaged

3 More Japanese troop ships sunk by marauding subs in the central pacific area. Oddly he seems
to be using AP's as supply ships ?

the Americans re-visit Lunga with the 17's and find almost no a/c there.

Day Air attack on Lunga , at 67,97

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 111

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K Emily: 1 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 15 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 17
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 86

Recon shows 4 a/c total in the base.

Nuciance <sp> raids over Wake bag 2 more emilys over 2 days and moderately damage the runways.

Day Air attack on Wake Island , at 82,63

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
PB4Y Liberator x 47

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K Emily: 1 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 12


I have plans for Wake . Amphib HQ prepping and I'm going to move up the division from Canton
to PH next turn. Basically just grap new arriving troops from the west coast and strip out the
now safe line islands and south pacific holding for all available manpower. reason being is that
Tarawa and Apananama<?> are both Very heavily held with 15-20 units on both islands. and japanese
fighter strength is huge too. I'll not relocate any air units (don't need to) but i can free
up 2 Divs (min) and several brigades to rendesvous at PH. Bomber support can easily come fron north
pacfic area at a moments notice really. Building at Midway would tip him off imo.

BAD NEWS :-

Some airfarce idiot authorised the barracuda group for the CVL Hermes (in port) to try
a maximum range naval strike against some japanese merchantmen under heavy fighter cover
using the inexperinced Kittyhawk III Dutch and experinced but not good at A2A Beaufighters
as escorts.. many many beaufighter pilots died for no results whatsoever !

Day Air attack on TF, near Songkhia at 24,43

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 12
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 28
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 7

Allied aircraft
Barracuda x 6
Kittyhawk III x 3
Beaufighter VIC x 8
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 18
P-40N Warhawk x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 14 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Barracuda: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Kittyhawk III: 3 destroyed
Beaufighter VIC: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
Beaufighter Mk 21: 9 destroyed
P-40N Warhawk: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Fukoku Maru
AK Shiga Maru


DAY 2 ,, same idiot sent the same (now fatigued men back into the charnel house).

Day Air attack on TF, near Songkhia at 24,43

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 33
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 31
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 8

Allied aircraft
Barracuda x 3
Kittyhawk III x 2
Beaufighter VIC x 4
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 11
P-40N Warhawk x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 6 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 2 destroyed
Beaufighter VIC: 2 destroyed
Beaufighter Mk 21: 6 destroyed
P-40N Warhawk: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Shiga Maru


I'm Mostly annoyed about the dutch pilots as they took ages on 'training' to get to exp 45-50
and i was planning on using them as point defence NOT LR escort ! .. bah ..

more to come !

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/17/43

Anyone reading this ? [;)].

Okey dokey. 2 quiet days overall.

combat reports 1st up.

Japanese night bombers hit andaman island as his losses over sumatra have been rather heavy
for little gain. again the night bombers miss anything of value.but Flak is a lot lower here
and not even one damaged so all a bit nothing overall.

The Heavy bombers did the job properly. c100 bombers with 1-1 escort cut the defending
fighters out of the sky and hit the runways quite adequately. suprisingly no japanese
LR Torpedo bombers (my nemesis) are found at the base. the Topsy/Sally transport varients
are almost certainly flying in supply to Port Moresby but not for much longer i suspect.

Day Air attack on Lae , at 54,87

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 26

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 87
B-17E Fortress x 57
B-24D Liberator x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 18 destroyed
MC-21 Sally: 4 destroyed
Ki-57-II Topsy: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 5 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
789 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Airbase hits 15
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 62

Day 2 Raids were pretty much the same.


Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 10

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 76
B-17E Fortress x 52
B-24D Liberator x 44

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 7 destroyed
Ki-57-II Topsy: 6 destroyed
MC-21 Sally: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 4 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
253 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 60

No idea if this is a game'feature' but the sweep a/c flew in with the raid and seemed to be
very good against the defending fighters (at 25k feet) . almost all kills were by the
high altitude escorts. Given the range , the lightnings rack up fatigue over 2 days but the
4E bombers are ok for 4 days solid flying, as stated previously the large P38 wing
will rest and a smaller 24 group will fly escort tomorrow.

Might as well talk about the progress of HORUS as nowt else happened in this theatre ( other
than ground attack missions vs Port Moresby and gili gili by long range heavy bombers in
small groups).

The main fleet is now about 300 miles north of Townsville and heading to the rendesvous
point, should be in place next turn. the slow LCU/I groups is straggleing badly (worse than i
thought) even with dedicated oilers. They aren't critical by any means but were supposed
to send in supply for the troops and not risk larger merchantmen to mines. Lets see if they
can catch up with the main force tomorrow. 2 Operational CVE's are flying cover for them now
just in case. That said however there hasnt been a single japanese float.recon plane sighted
by any of the groups and as far as i know its still not visible to japan. Suprise is still
with us at this point.

Basic plan 1

In an estimated 4-6 days (depending on the Landing craft) the troops dedicated to PM
will hit the beaches on large LCT's and troop ships while the small infanty landing
craft unload supply direct to the troops on shore. AK's will unload supporting armour
and the support engineers and BF's will remain 60 miles from the coast under the protection
of the main fleet carriers. some fleet a/c will fly top cover over the landing forces but
the main force will be ready to react to any japanese incursions. carrier based bombers will
not , i repeat NOT, attack enemy positions on land at this stage as i do not want to get
caught by KB while operating land attack missions. I'm estimating 4 days to unload the men
and tanks before trying any attacks to gague the defences ( send in a small attack 1st to
size up the defences)

Once the landings are complete, the carriers (Main fleet units) will escort the gili-gili
invasion force to that target and repeat the same procedure. I suspect that gili will prove tougher
than port moresby as more troops have been spotted in the past few days. PM secodary troops will remain at sea covered by the CVE's ( slightly risky) while part 2 of HORUS (gili attack) is
underway.

Regarding the expected Japanese reaction:- Absolutely no idea to be honest. Joes carriers are
i suspect in Truk or Rabaul and could try and interfere, he still has the creme of the
pilots on the fleet carriers and any heavy duels are to my mind impossible to predict.

Ordinarily I'd like to take and secure PM before going for gili BUT time marches on and
with the loss of the fleet carriers in 42, america has had no real opportunity to throw
it's weight around tlll now.

BURMA.

As an example of allied air power over this theatre:-

Day Air attack on 38th Division, at 31,33


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 39
Liberator VI x 15
Beaufighter VIC x 27
P-40E Warhawk x 19
P-38G Lightning x 19
F-5A Lightning x 2
B-25J Mitchell x 44
B-17E Fortress x 44


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
370 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Joe has abandoned Rangoon and chinese troops marched in unopposed and will storm the city
tomorrow at first light. Japan has placed the bulk of its army just across the river
from the vital rail lines linking rangoon to mandalay. any attempt by the allies to move
everything into rangoon would be a huge mistake of catastrophic proportions. allied HQ and BF
units en-route to rangoon as we speak, this will be a nice malarial free haven for rebuilding
some of the heavily damaged brigades in the recent fighting. The main line british and indian
divisions inc the heavy tank brigades (3) will remain out of the city and guard against
flanking moves while the RAF continues to punish the japanese from the air, hopefully
nullifying any ability to re-inforce while the allies get stronger in safe old rangoon.
theatre HQ will redeply here once its secure too. Garrison forces will remain in mandalay
and pagan and Tuang-gui to prevent japanese para attacks on our lines of communication
and supply.

CHINA.

I've not said much about japanese land forces in china for a long time, reason being that
absolutely nothing has changed here in yonks. Large japanese forces have been trying
to take Yenen in north china from the start of the war and despite attempts to flank and cut it
off ( all repulsed) has achieved nothing here of any note other than daily artillery attacks
that allow the chinese troops to gain experience darwinian style [;)]. Yenen's supply
lurches allong spasmodically from 'orange' to 'white' in a seemingly random manner. The
HQ units take disproportionate losses and have to be regularly rotated back to rear
areas to recover disruption and disablements while the main corps and divisions are
genreally left at 98% strength continually. Ocassionally some need to be pulled back
and rested , allowing inexperienced units to replace them. I would like to try and re-take
the central cities lost early on but china lacks the engineers needed to tackle
heavy fortifications so I'll slowly build up experienced corps in sian and chungking for
a possible 44 attack to isolate and retake central china.

Thats enough waffleing for one day, turns seem to be coming in about every 2 days ( bit too
slow for my liking ) , but Joe does have a social life ( lucky git [:)] ) to consider.

I'm guessing next 2 turns dull (ish) then all hell should be let loose in the
south west pacific region. I'm still undecided about bowling along in burma/thailand
too, am i too fatigued/disrupted ? whats are his 29 units [&:] over the river? it might be
worth a sacrificial chinese division to go and recon in force ( I.E assault across the
river and gather intel , while dying in droves)

Thats all for now

[Nemo121]

I'm reading... and anticipating the rain of fire over the next few days . As a JFB I shouldn't wish you luck but you've prepared well enough to deserve success.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thanks Nemo .. Was starting to get lonely [;)]

[pauk]

of course we are reading - but there is nothing much to say - as Nemo said - you are preparing your advance well...

"Thats overkill i think .. vs one div at unknown fort levels

Gili Gili

1st USMC Div
9th Australian Div
147th RCT
1 Arm Brigade
1st Amphibious corps HQ""

How many troops he have in GG? if he have one divison you might be in trouble me thinks...

[Rob Brennan UK]

GG is i 'think' 4 units . c 14000 men according to recon .. strongest seems to be the
south seas detachment 3 others unknown. Its too far away for repeated ground attack by the
4E units but 17's have hit the SS detachment for 8 days running ( i have lost the ability to
care much about thier morale at this stage [;)]).

I am also rather flattered if Pauk (JFB and highly experienced player)
and Nemo ( detail maestro and rules FB[;)]) think i'm well planned.

As I am in completely new territory ( i.e allied comeback path) this is an encouraging sign.
Thanks guys ! Guiness for Nemo and Croatian Gutburster for Pauk ! [:D]

Anyhoo .. lets have a look at the sitrep off Port moresby.

all carriers and troops ships at the designated rendesvous point. -GOOD

The lcu/i's are fething miles behind and have been diverted to support GG - annoying

So for supplies for the troops 10 4.5 K AK's with 4 DMS escorts will unload
alongside the main troop convoy- acceptable but not ideal as LCI's make good
minesweepers (once). ( still they can do that at GG (where there is sure to
be more mines anyway).

the CV's and follow up troops will be 60 miles away in deep water . only one F6 group
from the Essex are on LR CAP over the beaches. an additional 70 P38's will fly top cover
from thursday island. with leaky cap rules this should be enough. (i hope).

KB Parked off buna would of course wreck the party soemwhat but coranados ( best LR
search a/c) have reported no japanese shipping between rabaul and SNG for ages.

Lae is officially shut for business , 2 raids were unopposed in the air and decimated
the remaining fighter strength on the ground.

Day Air attack on Lae , at 54,87

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 21
B-17E Fortress x 29
B-24D Liberator x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 8 destroyed
MC-21 Sally: 5 destroyed
Ki-57-II Topsy: 1 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
249 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 5
Runway hits 65

Day Air attack on Lae , at 54,87

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 21
B-17E Fortress x 40
B-24D Liberator x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 15 destroyed EXCELLENT
MC-21 Sally: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
349 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 55

No Rest boys .. ordered in again tomorrow and untill PM falls. ( might rotate if fatigue
gets too bad).

B24's from mainlang Australia have already wrecked any port guns/facilities wth weekly
raids for ages. were switched to ground attack for the past few days and the japanese
should be nicely disrupted.

Day Air attack on 56th Division, at 53,91


Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 24
B-24D Liberator x 31


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
127 casualties reported
Guns lost 3


The losses aren't a concern but i'm hopeing that these small (ish) daily hits will
disrupt him quite a bit. with the airfields and port stopped repairing i guess
his supply is abysmal too.

time scale -

Troops should hit the beaches at the end of day 2 ( on 2 day turns). Cv's will arrive on station
on day 1 so should have optimal ops points in case any imperial Cv's turn up. do not refuel
is the order of the day.

whoops i uploaded the wrong piccie .. i'll post the PM one asap.

Back to the business of the past 2 days.

Rangoon fell bloodlessly

Ground combat at Rangoon

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3789 troops, 21 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 269

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Allied max assault: 84 - adjusted assault: 79

Japanese max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 79 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Rangoon base !!!

That was easier than i thought, the res and oil are ruined ( no repair yet).
SE Asia HQ 60 miles away from making Rangoon the main theatre HQ. RAF air HQ
being railed down from mandalay and a relacement HQ being flown in from Chandpur.

The poor old chinese div ( lowest experience) has been split and the second element
will conduct a recon in force over the river. ( gamey ? maybe , but its not a 1 element
sub launched one [:'(])

Japan againshows it does have some teeth left over malaysia ..

Large well escorted Val raid on the ships at kuala (sumatra).
The spits were the heroes of the hour and the P40's failed to engage( alt raised).

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

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 18
A6M3a Zero x 48
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 14
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 16

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 6
Hurricane II x 23
Spitfire Vb x 49
P-40E Warhawk x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 14 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 42 destroyed [:D]
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 9 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 16 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 damaged
Hurricane II: 4 destroyed, 2 damaged
Spitfire Vb: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Belawan, Bomb hits 2, on fire


Allied ground losses:
46 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

Well i never ! .. only bomb hits manage to single ont the sole troop ship [:@]. but
Joe does deserve some comfort from this i suppose. thats a LOT of dead japanese fighters
and more importantly pilots. He's not upping his limited on map training either ( hope he;s not
getting bored).

81-10 .. in summary.

What else can i say .. great turn .. now some more rambling thoughts .

Lunga
-----

I have 3 divs prepped 100% for here ( noumea and luganville). with rennel
completely dominating the south solomons ( sank 2 merchants as i dropped
the 'truce' as agreed). 4000 japanese reconned at tassaforonga with 20k
more at lunga .. so rush into tass ? MSW will have a nose tomorrow for
a potnetial landing site. Only AK's available fo transport , but enough for
2 divs and support+supply. Still im loading up 2 divs at noumea for rennel.

Might as well grab the place if i can do it easly. As he seems to love mines i'll
have to be careful. BUT just to even the odds i have 2 DM's at rennel placing allied mines
at munda [:D]. with an AE/AS/MLE/AGP at rennel i can replenish most anything bar
BB shells even with a port size 1. the large battlewagon group is easily in reaction range
of Tass as well making it even safer to contemplate.

Heavy landings over NG with a major thrust up the solomons will hopefully keep him off
balance ( the PM invasion must be obvious by now). although again no japanese a/c sighted.

piccie is the raid on sumatra ..

[Rob Brennan UK]

Port Moresby area
------------------

My limited manipulations (pre'historic compared to VSWG).

circle next to PM -- CV station 1 " Heretic"

Invasion TF and supply TF should hit PM day 2

Circe to the south - corrall for the supply LCI's .. diverted 2 CVE's to provide cover
(out of zero range from rabaul ).

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/21/43

Calculations actually worked out for a change and no ships 'refuelled' so the troops hit the beaches
at port moresby. Much to my suprise absolutely no mines ! We can be thankful for that at least.
the unloading did cause quite a few casualties :-

Coastal Guns at Port Moresby, 53,91, firing at TF 1014
TF 1014 troops unloading over beach at Port Moresby, 53,91


545 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Bagley
DD Walke, Shell hits 2
DD Mustin, Shell hits 2
MSW Canso
LST LST-26
DD Russell, Shell hits 2


Allied ground losses:
2698 casualties reported
Guns lost 18
Vehicles lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coastal Guns at Port Moresby, 53,91, firing at TF 1014
TF 1014 troops unloading over beach at Port Moresby, 53,91


320 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Mustin
DD O'Brien


Allied ground losses:
2213 casualties reported
Guns lost 12

Thats 5 Divisions landing , one more day to unload the support squads and they are a bit supply
short , tomorrow the tanks and artillery will land with further supply.

Japanese shelling reveals the relative assault values .. mine will grow.

Ground combat at Port Moresby

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15336 troops, 95 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 335

Defending force 32835 troops, 522 guns, 21 vehicles, Assault Value = 1470



Allied ground losses:
7 casualties reported

I'll have to rely on the integral engineers squads to down some of the forts ( level still
unknown).

Absolutely no japanese a/c sighted and the LB's hit Lae to keep it out of action.

Day Air attack on Lae , at 54,87

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 2
F-5A Lightning x 5
B-17E Fortress x 41
B-24D Liberator x 35

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 7 destroyed
MC-21 Sally: 3 destroyed


Japanese ground losses:
410 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 73


so all is well so far with HORUS. 2 more turns landing and reducing the rather heavy disruprtion
before we start testing the japanese fort levels.

That supply and support groups in the south ( west of GG). are vulnerable to a potential
japanese CV raid .. i'll pull them back a few hexes i think. As the CV's wont be available
to cover the GG assault for a week or so.

Over in the commonwealth theatre japan again tries to hit the merchants unloading at Kuala.

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

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 5
G4M1 Betty x 4
G4M2 Betty x 3
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 19
Ki-21 Sally x 17
Ki-48 Lily x 30

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 14
Hurricane II x 28
Spitfire Vb x 61
P-40E Warhawk x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 5 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed
G4M2 Betty: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 17 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 17 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily: 28 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 damaged
Hurricane II: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Spitfire Vb: 17 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 2 damaged

Absolute slaughter. the spits again were the heroes and downed 80% of the enemy.

losses IJA -74 CW- 1 [:D]

Many allied ground attacks at the main japanese defensive line ..

a few jap fighters tried to interfere.. they were reduced to nil over about 6 engagements.
best attack was :-

Day Air attack on 16th Division, at 30,34

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 6

Allied aircraft
PBY Catalina x 1
Wellington III x 24
Liberator VI x 23
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 2
P-38G Lightning x 18
F-5A Lightning x 2
B-25J Mitchell x 68
B-17E Fortress x 34

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 2 damaged
Liberator VI: 1 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 4 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
486 casualties reported
Guns lost 17
Vehicles lost 2

bombers will rest up next turn, the range is now causing fatigue as the range increased
with the japanese withdrawl. bombers are going in at 11k .. any lower and flak becomes
a lot more dangerous, current losses are quite acceptable.

The chinese recon in force assaulted the jap main line..

Ground combat at 30,34

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 1541 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 40

Defending force 144653 troops, 1529 guns, 292 vehicles, Assault Value = 2698

Allied max assault: 44 - adjusted assault: 0

Japanese max defense: 2210 - adjusted defense: 1843

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
18 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
403 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

allied AV over the river is 2200. so a shock assault over the line would incurr heavy losses.
Decision made is to make rangoon base a major allied supply base and re-build the damaged
allied units in rotation, while the japanese stay in malarial hell jungle. those 4 jap
units possibly threatening the rail from mandalay-rangoon still havnt moved and have been
subjected to fighter bomber runs from hurricanes and beaufighters just to keep them
from repairing. wish they would move one way or another.

piccie is the recon . as you can see quite a few jap divs are showing rather low AV's
but overall they are a bit too strong for a continued assault imo. anyone think otherwise
pls advise.

[tiger111]

Time for a bit of consolidation me thinks.Also Horus doing well I see. GOOD.See if you can`t coax his KB out.A good tonk at his CV`s would really hurt.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thanks Jamie , I'm still worried over KB , by now its a super-KB with i think 13 CV's ? or am i getting paranoid [;)].

The southern TF's were c 200 LCI's 40 odd AK's and 10 oilers. only having about 40 fighters ( F4F's too) on CAP. Time to withdraw back to the safety of LBA , P38's from cooktown are flying cover over the SC groups (3BB's ) i have sent up to rendesvous, and to help cover the gili landings as he could end down fast SC groups , 3BB 2CA 2CL and 6DD's should cover the landings quite well, I won't set them to bombard as i fear i'll need the heavy Ammo.

[VSWG]

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Anyone reading this ? [;)].

You know I do. [:)]

My limited manipulations (pre'historic compared to VSWG).

*blushes

allied AV over the river is 2200. so a shock assault over the line would incurr heavy losses.
Decision made is to make rangoon base a major allied supply base and re-build the damaged
allied units in rotation, while the japanese stay in malarial hell jungle.

Sounds like a good idea. With Rangoon and northern Sumatra in your hand you can put a lot of pressure on Indochina, Malaya and the DEI - that's a very long line to defend for the Japanese player. Fly as much recon as possible (maybe use some bomber squadrons, too), and then decide about your next thrust(s).

Oh, and PM is looking very good.

[Rob Brennan UK]

"Sounds like a good idea. With Rangoon and northern Sumatra in your hand you can put a lot of pressure on Indochina, Malaya and the DEI - that's a very long line to defend for the Japanese player. Fly as much recon as possible (maybe use some bomber squadrons, too), and then decide about your next thrust(s)."

My F5's have been declining rapidly, using cats on 50% naval/recon missions . gives great exp to the pilots too. Can't wait till i get 17's into Rangoon .. byebye japanese factories etc.

[aztez]

I'am still following. Allthough haven't been around lately!
You seem to be on the roll Rob!
&nbsp;
Port Moresby and Burma are brewing nicely. Soon Joe doesn't know what hit him! [:D]
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

[Rob Brennan UK]

Hi again Aztez .. nice to see you again .

I'm really happy with the commonwealth position given the date and virtually nil CV support.

Apologies for no updates and i'll hold my hand up on this one .. Was so busy doing the AAR i forgot to mail the turn back to Joe untill early this afternoon when i checked the last mail from him .. whoops and sorry [8|]

Ill waffle on a bit about future ops while Joe has the turn .

Burma
-----

Time to consolidate our gains and build up rangoon to a size 8 airfield. supply as ever is an issue
over the trails in burma. So a huge supply/fuel convoy has left Karachi for Rangoon but will take
a while to reach here. Must remember to give it LR Cap from andaman when it gets to the bay of
bengal , just to be sure i don't get bushwhacked. Meanwile 250+ AV support railing down
to Rangoon while dakotas fly in a new RAF 'huge' Base force (270 AV). Troop wise I will need to keep
a minimum of 1000 AV over the river from the japanese troops blocking the moulmein route. Reasoning
is that they will entrench to fort3 and japan will have to shock attack over the river. Not an
easly timed event when they bombed into the stoneage on a regular basis. I would like to get
the armour upto 100% .. the 3 large brigades are at about 88% right now with minimal wounded so they
really do need a while refitting and replacing lost men. Meanwhile the repairing units
at mandalay aren't getting much better at all, even reducing disablements seems beyond the
ability of the base. Hence all but 1 (for para defence) will head down to Rangoon , where the
theatre HQ and a ground HQ (range 9 and 5 ) are prepped/prepping for moulmein and well within
range. would having an HQ prepped for rangoon help replcaments ? I doubt it .. but who knows the
ins and outs of this game. with the arrival of 60 odd AV in Rangoon , an equal number of
spits fly in from Pagan to provide base defence untill more AV arrives.

Sumatra.
-------

for the purposes of this diatribe the next 2 bases south of ~Kuala/Sabang will be called
medan and Bankha iirc.

Ground troops are on the way to both these bases ( now one hex SW from kuala). one weak
indian div is 44 <?> miles toward medan , which looks defended by 2 base forces so should
be a walk over. Sabang defenders are less well known but iirc only has 1 unit there. there
is one heavy british brigade an HQ and some heavy artillery heading down here. the inf are fastest
and will arrive 1st. time estimate is c. 40-50 days as the last 60 miles will have
be off even trails. Supply for both is fine right now but once they get to thier respective
targets they will be off the trail and probably only supplyable by air or sea. the RAF have a lot
of Dakotas based in chandpur and can easily be sent to sabang (tons of supply ) to airlift
if needed. also small 'barges' can slip down the coast and drop off small amounts too.

I fear any large naval force could be overwhelmed by japanese ships from singapore untill Medan
gets to a level 5 (max) AF allowing B17's with escort to smash singapore from the air.
Japanese bombardment groups will be a constant worry too. However the RN will have to make do
with what it has as the main CV's are tasked for ops in the pacific.

Overall SEAC is goinf slow for a bit (i need another ooze term for this op) .. maybe 'slime mould' ? any suggestions.

N aus and DEI.
-------------

there is a small possibility i may grab a couple of small west coast sumatran bases opposite
palambang for fighter ops over the oil fields and provide cover for the 17's and 24's.
otherwise no plans for timor etc.

Papua New Guinea.
-----------------

Horus is well underway .. so you know the short term plans. medium term (i.e this year), After PM
and gili fall i plan on not doing much unless there is a major oppotunity cropping up somewhere.
Overland from PM to buna and island grabbing around the gili gili area. Possibly a run straight to
shortlands if it looks empty. That will need CV's though and i dont want them to linger here
for much longer. (we have plans ).
Hpefully we will draw away some japanese land forces to rabaul/truk and the north NG coast in
response to Horus.

BUT ..

Tassaforonga .. target no 3 in the SW Pac .. several LCU's prepped for lunga will land over the
beach here instead (easier target). Rennel island dominates this area and can supply both air
and naval support for the op. could get heated if he raids a night attack with BB's from
shortlands. however its the old US BB's here so i really dont mind much if they take heavy
damage or even sink ( bit like the UK R Class really). again lift capacity will be mostly
AK's ( bad i know). but i will heavily recon the target and last minute air attacks to supress
what i think is 1-2 Snlf/nlf units .. should brush these aside and then march on lunga.
hopefully capturing another large pre-build airfield in the area. 17's already in luganville can reach lunga and help there but i'm not 100% sure they have the range for tass. I suspect so however.






Central Pacific
---------------

Wake island is the next major op for the americans as the marshalls look too tough for now.
I am scrounging up all i can find in South pac for a trip to hawaii while prepping for wake.
Recon shows it weak right now and i dont want to tip him off. new inf div from the west coast is
heading this way too. I will also get the fragments of the 25th div at palmyra/wake/johnson
and recombine the div for assault duty. AP's might be short on the ground. and i'll try and relocate
as many fast AP's from the SW Pac as possible. Taking a long route south of Pago Pago for security.
this will leave south Pac rather weak but i very much doubt he will try and invade anywhere here
and the LBA will remain firmly in place just in case and it also doubles as a cover to
fool his recon efforts. I will also avoid the temptation of striking tarawa with the CV's on the way
past for 2 reasons

1) He might get lucky and damage a CV, or if KB is lurking with 400 more jap land fighters
and 200 odd bombers i could be in deep doo doo.
2) secrecy once again.

Off the top of my head i cant give any half accurate assesment of numbers for this ops.B24s in midway will provide bombing support and are already hitting the airfields to disrupt search a/c
and just generally being annoying . subs patrol round the island in the hope of catching some
supply ships.

The loss of wake and a potential threat to rabaul will (i think) make the marshalls untenable for
japan. Allied CV raids timed with detailed recon on ground numbers in the marshalls could
bag us some free land force kills at little cost ( well thats the plan anyway).

North Pacific
-------------

Invasion of the kuriles is being prepped for and there are a fair numbers of transports available
here ( but by no means enough). CV supprt is critical and so is timing. wether this is possible
before winter sets in is debatable as so many things could disrupt/delay the wake op causing
winter conditions to settle over the north. And i really don't want to try an amphib op in winter
unless paramushiro ( main target ) (hex next door undefended 2nd ary target) for 2 mutual bases.
Is very weakly held. current recon estimaes low numbers and i will try and supress disrupt the
airfields and port to prevent any more fort building . I will have to assume its a size 9
already though given the date .. actually thinking about it .. do i want to tip him off
by bombing (unescorted) as it'll draw up more fighters probably OR leave alone and try
and suprise him in a few months ??? decisions decisons ..

One advantage of the wake op will be the addition of 2+ exxex cv's already en route to pearl.

Maybe i'll split off the brit CV's after HORUS and send them back to india ( 2 of them iirc).
3 UK CV's is a small but potent force while one is a mere target. Especially if i decide
to grab a few bits of west sumatra. japanese betties from palem bang could be very dangerous.
Seafires are excellent CV defence fighters while the long range barracudas worry anything without
good air cover.

OK thats enought badly typed rambling for one evening .. you can tell i'm bored, been posting on here most of the afternoon and evening . UK television is appalling on monday nights [:@]

hopefully i'll get a turn from Joe tomorrow. early night and early start tomorrow.

bye all .

piccie of HMS Rodney .. I always want to weld rodney and nelson ( sister ship iirc) back
to back to make a real juggernought of the seas .. could have propulsion problems though [;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/23/43

After the last ramblings ,, combat report .. not much happening though.

Still unloading unmolested at PM .. artillery to start shelling next turn.

also sent up a BB group as the skies seem safe enough to shell the support
personell into the stone age. 4E bombers switched from Lae to ground pound
the japanese div in PM.

relative sizes at PM :-

Ground combat at Port Moresby

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15309 troops, 94 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 336

Defending force 63789 troops, 700 guns, 165 vehicles, Assault Value = 1625



Allied ground losses:
15 casualties reported

about 1/2 the tanks unloaded .. rest tomorrow and eng and the HQ shipping up from
townsville ( no room in the initial transports). Might just go invade GG while this sorts
itself out.

against my own advice some 'poor' american CV DB's and TB's will attack the japanese
positions at PM to gain some combar experience. Not a whisper of japanese ships
anywhere closeby.

the nearest were repairing at tulagi .. and i usethe word WERE in both contexts.

Day Air attack on Tulagi , at 68,96


Allied aircraft
TBF Avenger x 9
PBY Catalina x 2
Kittyhawk I x 9
P-38G Lightning x 10
B-25J Mitchell x 30


Allied aircraft losses
TBF Avenger: 1 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Sagiri, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Ayanami, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PG Nikkai Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
61 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Port hits 8
Port supply hits 1

Trnasports for tass attack are still steaming slowly to rennel island.

Other than some annoyace night raids over british positions in sumatra and andaman
thats a bout it really ..

17's keep lunga from being built up :-

Day Air attack on Lae , at 54,87

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 21
F-5A Lightning x 6
B-17E Fortress x 42
B-24D Liberator x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 11 destroyed
MC-21 Sally: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
375 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 31

I've sent out some MSW's to rangoon as the port is mined (6 days away).

also MSW runs to lunga/tassaforonga to detect enemy mines ..

meanwhile i'm laying my own around munda point and various jap held bases to blast up the
odd barge trying to supply them .

B25's from rennel will start the softening process on tassafaronga beach.

thats it ! .. dull huh [;)]

piccie burma new front lines .. rangoon is 4/5 and need to be built up a bit.