Bloody Pacific: Pomphat (Allied) vs Amiral Laurent (Japan)

[Emilio]

Hi Amiral,

Yes, I'm a big fan of WITP AARs.

Specially:

- Bloody Pacific (PH and NZ invasion)
- Pauk's Corner (Northern Australia invasion)
- The Matsuyama Brothers (very nice history)
- Lunacy or Shrewdness (India invasion but AAR finished)

I'm saving as MHT files. It is a very good way to learn (currently I'm playing as allies an AI game) and also very interesting to learn tactics, like yours to cut Australia completely.

Two thumbs up!!!!

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

The real surprise of the day was in the morning, when the SS I-25 patrolling 240 miles east of PJ reported several cruisers before trying to engage them. Unable to close on the heavy warships she finally attacked a DD but missed. Four DD then chased her and the USS Conway and O’Bannon badly damaged her (38/64/0) with 2 hits and 8 near-misses with Mk 9 depth charges. Japanese naval search patrols then closed to this area and reported 6 Allied TFs: an AP convoy, 3 surface TF (with at least one BB) and 2 CV TF (with 3 and 2 CV)! It was not thought possible for Allied CV to return to this area so fast.

Very interesting... possibly your opponenet just loaded new air units on those remainining CVs he has (possibly only fighters to simply try to kill your KB air force with fighter only carrying CVs)?

The KB was not in a good state to engage a new CV battle and with no idea of what the Allied fleet will do it was decided to not send the BB TF to PJ as it was planned. All Japanese TF were ordered to sail together to Toyohara to rearm ammunition and refill in part the air groups.

What would you try to do with enemy CVs then?


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

Well, this game is stopped for a week, as Pompack is on vacation. He took his laptop with hilm and actually managed to send a turn 7 days ago, but no news since that. Maybe someone insisted that family matters were more important than WITP...

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Very interesting... possibly your opponenet just loaded new air units on those remainining CVs he has (possibly only fighters to simply try to kill your KB air force with fighter only carrying CVs)?

Well, this is always a possibility, and it will be the doom of my already decimated naval pilots. By the way the remaining Allied CV can carry more AC than the KB is carrying now, so refilling KB units should be done before engaging a new battle.

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

What would you try to do with enemy CVs then?

Right, now, "wait and see". The Allied ships can do several things:
1) evacuate PJ. I will be happy to see that, and will try to interfere in the end.
2) reinforce PJ. That will be bad news, but the new troops probably won't have much preparation for PJ and the base will still hold at leat some weeks, enough time for Japanese forces to come back with much needed reinforcements.
3) patrol around the island, supporting the troops already ashore. I will let them do it, it won't change the matter much
4) land troops in Onnekotan Jima and build a base here. There is little I can do to stop the first phase, but the KB will sail to pound the base and Japanese reinforcement troops will be used here ASAP.

You will find below a detailled report on the KB air units.

Kido Butai on 14 July 1943, 23hrs

Nominal strength of the CV units:
343 fighters (295 A6M3a and 48 A6M5)
226 dive-bombers (178 D3A and 48 D4Y)
218 torpedo-bombers (186 B5N and 32 B6N)

Current strength of the CV units (in aircraft):
167 fighters (131 A6M3a and 36 A6M5) + 38 A6M3a of training units being aboard (7 Chutai) = 205 fighters
80 dive-bombers (49 D3A and 31 D4Y)
78 torpedo-bombers (67 B5N and 11 B6N)

The first reinforcement of KB will be to add aircraft for each crew or pilot available in the units (after surviving being shot down in the battle). Below is the current strength of the CV units (in pilots):
187 fighters (148 A6M3a and 39 A6M5) + 42 A6M3a of training units being aboard (7 Chutai) = 229 fighters
100 dive-bombers (69 D3A and 31 D4Y)
88 torpedo-bombers (76 B5N and 12 B6N)
Note that no A6M5 or B6N are available to replace the losses yet…

The reinforcement unit immediately available:
57 fighters (57 A6M2)
53 dive-bombers (53 D3A)
83 torpedo-bombers (83 B5N)

So in 2-3 days, the Kido Butai may return to the battlefield with:
241 fighters (148 A6M3a, 57 A6M2 and 36 A6M5) + 42 A6M3a of training units being aboard (7 Chutai) = 283 fighters
153 dive-bombers (122 D3A and 31 D4Y)
170 torpedo-bombers (159 B5N and 11 B6N)

This may be enough to engage a depleted Allied CV TF, but it will depend of the Allied actions. If the Allied ships just patrol off PJ, or bombard it, but don’t land or evacuate troops, I probably won’t sail to engage it.

Or if we wait for ten days, the CVL Chitose and Chiyoda will join the fleet and the training unit will upgrade from A6M2 to A6M3a, then the strength of the fleet will be
283 fighters (205 A6M3a and 78 A6M5) + 42 A6M3a of training units being aboard (7 Chutai) = 325 fighters
153 dive-bombers (122 D3A and 31 D4Y)
188 torpedo-bombers (159 B5N and 29 B6N)

At this stage, the KB may sail again eastwards to PJ to engage the Allied fleet it is still there. If needed cruisers and destroyers will be then used as fast transports to reinforce PJ garrison once KB will have won the control of seas again.

The next major reinforcement will be in one month starting from now with two A6M3a Daitai finishing training and a Val and a Kate Daitai being created. At this stage the training units will have been “disbanded” by fragments into the CV units, whose nominal strength will then be:
385 fighters (295 A6M3a and 90 A6M5)
226 dive-bombers (178 D3A and 48 D4Y)
236 torpedo-bombers (186 B5N and 50 B6N)

And the available number of trained pilots/crews will be:
373 fighters (295 A6M3a and 78 A6M5)
180 dive-bombers (149 D3A and 31 D4Y)
215 torpedo-bombers (186 B5N and 29 B6N)

At this date reinforcements troops (21st Div, all five South Seas Detachment and 56th Bde) will be available in Japan and if the battle is still raging in PJ, the KB will cover convoys carrying these troops here.

The next important date for the KB is mid-October. At this date the third Unryu-class CV will have joined the fleet, a new D3A Daitai and 3 new A6M5 Daitai will have been created, 3 more Zero training Daitai will have finished training. And more important the A6M5 will have started serial production in August or September and should replace the A6M3a aboard KB.

15 October 1943 KB planned nominal strength
409 fighters (409 A6M5)
250 dive-bombers (178 D3A and 72 D4Y)
252 torpedo-bombers (186 B5N and 66 B6N)

And the available number of trained pilots/crews will be:
409 fighters (409 A6M5)
227 dive-bombers (178 D3A and 49 D4Y)
224 torpedo-bombers (186 B5N and 38 B6N)

If the KB reached this date without major losses, and so in a state close to the above, and if the situation in the Kuriles is then stabilized, the KB will then move to PH.

The full strength of the KB will be available in January 1944, when the Val and Kate will be replaced by the Judy and Jill respectively. But at this time the Allied CV fleet will have received too much new CVs for the KB to engage it with some kind of success. So from this date on it will try to be where the Allied CV won’t be, or will be in small quantity…

By the way, here is the list of the current IJNAF training units:

Nine Zero Daitai: two on operational training (ready in 1 month), 2 other ready in 2 months, 1 in 3 months, 2 in 4 months and 2 in 5 months.
Add to that 2 Daitai that stopped op training to join the KB and will return to training (and start a new 6-month cycle) and the new A6M2 Daitai that will also become a training group..

Two Val Daitai and 2 Chutais: all will be available in 4-5 months. Both recently created Val units will also become training units.

Three Kate Daitai and 1 Chutai: all will be available in 5 months. Both recently created Kate units will also become training units.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Thanks for info!

We will all (erm... Japanese fanboys [:D]) keep our collective fingers crossed for you - who are, most certenly, one of the most prominent forerunners of best Japanese WitP players!!!


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

15 July 1943

Northern Pacific

The Japanese Command was expecting that PJ will report either a new landing of troops or a naval bombardment during the night or the morning, but finally nothing happened. The SS I-178 reported that she was chased by 4 SC 240 miles ESE of PJ during the night, and that she then attacked them with torpedoes but missed and was then depth charged and lightly damaged by two near misses.

More west the Kido Butai retired as planned. Just before dawn the submarine USS Paddle saw the CV Hiryu 180 miles east of PJ but was then chased away by 5 DD.

Naval patrols reported after dawn that the Allied fleet had sailed a little east and was now 300 miles east of PJ. It was probably a “CAP trap”, to draw Japanese bombers and destroy them with a powerful fighter force. Four P-38G were lost operationally during the day and were probably LRCAPing this TF. Anyway the careful stance of this fleet was interpreted by the Japanese Command as a sign of offensive weakness, meaning that no new threat was looming on PJ, but on the other hand the Allied commander seemed confident enough in his defensive capacities. So the best thing to do was to recomplete fully the KB, and as I said above it will take a full week.

The KB was rerouted and will sail to Ominato rather than Toyohara. It was just realized today that the latter base had only a size 1 port…. The AR that arrived here with her escort of CL and DD will sail alone to Wakkanai while the warships will sail to Ominato and join the KB.
Most of the recently created air units were gathered in Ominato and will be disbanded in fragments into KB air units. The A6M2 unit was upgraded to A6M3a.

East of PJ were now seven Japanese submarines. They were ordered to come closer to PJ, except a RO-class ship that will remain midway between PJ and the Allied base of Kiska.

None of the damaged Japanese ships sank today. The CL Abukuma reached Ominato and will be saved, as will be the CL Kuma (FLT 68, 180 miles away from Ominato) and DD Wakizuki (FLT 40, 240 miles from Ominato). The DD Naganami was docked in Etorofu Jima and the AR here will try to reduce its flotability damaged (57). Of the five damaged submarines sailing back to Japanese ports two had now more than 90 FLT but submarines may survive such damage and they will reach Etorofu Jima in one or two days.

The evening report in PJ reported damage of 67/14/90 (airbase/runways/port), 187 available engineer squads and 515 AV. More transport aircraft arrived in the area to bring troops here, but will first rest some days.

Southern Pacific

The convoy bringing the 56th Bde back from New Zealand arrived in Tarawa and refueled here before sailing north to Japan.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

The CA Atago and her 3 escort DD were seen by Allied aircraft in the morning 120 miles south of Rabaul and were attacked by 14 Beaufighter Mk 21 and 3 PB4Y from PM escorted by 7 P-38G. 12 A6M3a on LRCAP from Kavieng surprised them, evaded the escort and shot down 3 Beaufighter for one operational loss. The bombers all attacked the Atago and scored two hits. Both bounced on the armor but also destroyed a 25mm gun. There was no air attack during the afternoon because of awful weather in the area, and in the evening the Atago captain reported insignificant damage (SYS 1) but as the weather forecast for tomorrow indicated overcast, his former orders were cancelled and he was ordered to sail to Lunga to refuel. The new plan will be to sail south of Gili Gili and strike the Allied convoys reported here by aircraft and submarines.

Timor-DEI-Australia

A barge convoy reached Lautem and unloaded supplies here but was attacked by 14 Brewster 339D from Darwin and by several patrolling Allied aircraft (Catalina I, B-17E and B-25C). During these attacks one barge was sunk and two other badly damaged were abandoned and will be left here while the convoy will return to Kendari.

The evening report for this area gave the airfield status as: Maumere 27/0 (system/runway), Lautem 61/55/11, other bases undamaged. The garrison of Koepang continued to build fortifications (level 6, 26%).

SRA

A Ki-49 Helen bombed and hit the SS USS Barb 180 miles north of Vigan.

In Singapore two convoys coming from Palembang and Kuala Lumpur respectively with 28k and 10k resources will be joined by other AK and will form a big convoy that will load 94k more resources here. It will then wait for the big TK currently loading in Palembang and then they will sail together to Japan.

Burma

Allied air activity was again reduced by bad weather and only one raid was sent… and ran into trouble. 28 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 20 Spitfire Vb were sent to bomb the 12th NLF SE of their base and were bounced by 9 Ki-61 of the 65 Sentai flying LRCAP from Lashio. The Japanese pilots shot down 8 Spitfire Vb and 3 Lysander I for the loss of one of their number. In the evening this unit returned to Rangoon and celebrated its victory there. Allied fighters took a puny revenge by shooting down a recon Irving over Kohima.

During the day Japanese patrol aircraft reported that the Allied convoy followed since several days had left Diamond Harbor and was now 60 miles SW of it. The purpose of this Allied naval activity was still a mystery for the Japanese command but it was decided to try again to attack this convoy. All bombers in Rangoon (64 Betties and 6 Nells) were ordered to fly naval attack, with search 40% and range limited to 10, so they won’t reach Diamond Harbor and its CAP (30-40 fighters) but may attack a convoy on the Indian coast. They will be escorted by 30 Oscar II and 23 A6M3a just in case. And the surface TF in Rangoon (2 CA, 1 CL, 3 DD) was ordered to sail at full speed to a position 240 miles NNW of Andaman Island, from where it will try to intercept this convoy at sea. A Mavis Chutai was based in Andaman and was reinforced by another coming from Palembang.

On the northern front, Allied troops launched a new deliberate attack on Myitkyina with 132842 men, 968 guns and 1553 vehicles against 116943 Japanese men, 1071 guns and 327 vehicles, and were repulsed with heavy losses (2869 Allied AV vs 2221, adjusted as 2035 vs 9459). Japanese losses were 1413 men, 28 guns and 2 vehicles (2 troop points), Allied ones 4645 men, 118 guns and 13 vehicles (13 troops points). A Japanese artillery unit will bombard Allied troops tomorrow to determine their new status. The 23rd Bde was ordered to leave the city and march west to join the two Tk Div on reserve on the railway.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 51/9 (system/runway), other bases undamaged. In Myitkyina Japanese engineers continued to build fortifications (level 8, 14%).

China

The 11th Army in Changsha received its last unit (a half Bde, joining the 6 Div already in position) and will launch tomorrow a shock attack against the city with all available air support from Wuhan, Nanchang and Wuchow. The goal of this attack will be to reduce a part of the town fortifications, and to force the Chinese Command to call back the troops he sent westwards to stop the Japanese forces coming from Kweiyang. It these forces came back to Changsha, then Japanese forces will continue eastwards on the road east of Kweiyang.

Japan

Three convoys were created in Kitakyushu and will bring 35k supplies to Shikka, 54k fuel to Ominato and 18k fuel to Toyohara.

And now a bit of Japanese propaganda

The following picture has recently be captured on an Allied officer. It is clearly showing the poor state of the Allied forces, using children in summer uniform to man AA guns during the Kuriles campain. Victory is coming. Banzai !!!

(In case you're wondering in fact he is Pompack's grandson in a musuem battleship somewhere in the States, I don't remember which BB it was)

[AmiralLaurent]

16 July 1943

Northern Pacific

The area was fully quiet, not even a submarine attack was reported today. Japanese patrol reported an Allied surface TF 300 miles east of PJ and twelve Allied TF off Attu: 2 CV TF (with 7 CV), a BB TF, 2 TK TF, 1 PT TF, 1 SC TF, 4 AP convoys and 1 APD TF. The CAP level also showed that Allied CV were here. A Betty was shot down by CAP and another by AA fire in the Aleutians during these patrol and recon flight, while a PBM Mariner was shot down by AA fire over PJ.

The KB was now 300 miles east Ominato and will arrive here today. Three of its fighter units were sent to Ominato to be rebuilt with parts of the new F1/331st Daitai: AII-1 (increased from 1 to 15 A6M3a), EI-1 (from 3 to 17) and DI-1 (from 16 to 28). The cadre of the F1/331st was sent to Osaka with 9 pilots and recompleted with brand new A6M3a and 39 rookies that will be trained here.

None of the damaged Japanese ships sank today again. The CL Kuma (FLT 71) and DD Wakizuki (FLT 41) reached Ominato and were docked. The DD Naganami reported that the AR in Etorofu Jima helped to reduce its flotability damaged (down to 51 from 57). Of the five damaged submarines sailing back to Japanese ports two still had now more than 90 FLT but should reach Etorofu Jima tomorrow.

The evening report in PJ reported damage of 46/0/90 (airbase/runways/port), 188 available engineer squads and 529 AV. 10 Tabbies joined the air bridge to bring troops from Toyohara. The airfield in PJ will be fully operational shortly. The Allied TF may bombard it tonight but will have to sail past 4 Japanese submarines to do so, and Toyohara bombers still had night naval attack just for this case.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

Six Betty from Truk bombarded the airfield of Goodenough Island during the night and missed again. During the day some Allied LCM were reported by patrol aircraft off Kiriwima.

In the afternoon Rabaul was attacked by 83 B-24D and 34 PB4Y from PM escorted by 58 P-38G that disabled 77 men and 2 guns and scored 25 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 126 on the runways. A B-24D was shot down by AA fire and 3 P-38G were lost operationally.

The CA Atago and her 3 escort DD reached Lunga and refueled here. They then sailed SW and will do a circle in Coral Sea to try to attack Allied ships south of Gili Gili. 26 Betties arrived in Lunga from Truk to fly naval search and find targets, while 35 Ki-61 flew the other way (to Truk) to make room in the base, that had only 90 AS.

In New Guinea the first solitary AP bringing troops of the 43rd Div from Palau to Wewak reached it and started to unload without being detected. Another 3000-ton AP loaded the next wave of troops in Palau and will sail tomorrow to the same base.

Timor-DEI-Australia

The barge convoy leaving Lautem was still the targets of Allied aircraft (14 Brewster 339D from Darwin and again several patrolling Allied aircraft (B-24D, PB4Y, B-17E and B-25C)). Two barges were sunk during the day, including one of the two abandoned off Lautem.

There was no other Allied raid, but a PBM Mariner was shot down by AA fire during a recon flight to Kendari. The evening report for this area gave the airfield status as: Maumere 23/0 (system/runway), Lautem 61/46/11, other bases undamaged. The garrison of Koepang continued to build fortifications (level 6, 32%) and Japanese engineers finished to expand the port of Amboina (size 4) and will now concentrate on fortifications here (now level 8, 19%). Two solitary AK were seen today by Allied aircraft off Amboina and Sorong where they unloaded supplies, but were not attacked.

Burma

Allied air activity increased a little. Three units of the garrison of Myitkyina (33rd and 104th Div, 21st and 23rd Mixed Bde) were bombed by 40 Beaufighter Mk 21, 20 Beaufighter VIC and 16 Vengeance I from Kohima and by 33 B-25C from Dacca escorted by 18 P-40N but lost only 48 men, 2 guns and 1 tank. In the jungle more west, Kohima airmen didn’t stop their attack against the 11th NLF SW of their base and attacked it with 29 Lysnader I escorted by 5 Spitfire Vb. Allied losses during the day were 1 B-25C and 1 F-5A shot down by AA fire over Myitkyina, and four Beaufighter (3 Mk 21 and a VIC) lost operationally, while a Dinah II was shot down by AA fire over India.

None of the tens of Japanese patrol aircraft searching it found the Allied convoy that had left Diamond Harbor yesterday, letting once again the Japanese command wonder what it was doing. All bombers in Rangoon were ordered to return to the naval search mode (20% search) at max range. The Burma surface TF in Rangoon (2 CA, 1 CL, 3 DD) was now 240 miles N of Andaman Island and had not been seen by enemy aircraft either. It received orders to continue to the NW to a position from where it may bombard either Madras or Trincomalee. Both bases will be reconed tomorrow by Dinah III that arrived in the evening in Andaman Islands, that a Mavis Chutai left for Palembang, where it was updated to the Emily. Nells and Mavis will also recon Columbo and Bangalore just to confuse the enemy.

On the northern front, the Japanese artillery unit firing on enemy lines in Myitkyina hit nothing but the Allied strength was now reported as 129686 men, 833 guns and 1527 vehicles (2498 AV), a noticeable drop from the last days level. The 23rd Bde left as planned the city westwards and joined the two Tk Div on reserve on the railway between both northern Burma battlefields (Myitkyina and the railway bend 120 miles west of it).

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 47/0 (system/runway), other bases undamaged. In Myitkyina Japanese engineers continued to build fortifications (level 8, 18%). And despite Allied troops being on the railway from Mandalay, supplies reached the city (that yesterday had 18k for 11k required and now had 20k for 9.8k required and was back in white status). Maybe these supplies went trough the mountain (see attached map).



China

The 11th Japanese Army (HQ, 6 Div, a half Bde and an ART unit) launched a shock attack agsin the Chinese garrison of Changsha (2 HQ, 3 Corps and a base force). Most of the expected air support was grounded by bad weather and only 26 Ki-51 and 12 Oscar II from Nanchang attacked the defenders, suffering no loss but only hitting 4 men and 1 gun. The attack was a success anyway. Japanese engineers managed to knock a hold into the first Chinese line and the Japanese troops élan managed to exploit the breach and storm the second Chinese line in the area (attack at 2 to 1 reduced forts to 7 after engineers had reduced it to 8, 2666 Japanese AV (without the x2 of shock attack) vs 1095 were adjusted to 4596 to 2040). Japanese losses were 1243 men, 49 guns and 11 tanks, while Chinese lost 558 men and 11 guns. The offensive will continue tomorrow.

Japan

The naval production was overextended by the launching of the building of the 4 CV of the 1944 program and the naval shipyard points pool was falling quickly. The Admiralty ordered to stop again the construction of 6 submarines and to concentrate on the CVs. Submarines will be produced once the naval shipyards will have been fully extended.

[Speedysteve]

Hi Laurent,
 
He sent the same picture to me. IIRC it's from Alabama.

[AmiralLaurent]

Hi Speedy, I'm not sure, he went to visit Alabama last week but this picture is older and was taken during his last vacation more than a month ago... Can't remember where it was...

17 July 1943

Northern Pacific

The four Japanese submarines east of Paramushiro Jima didn’t intercept the Allied bombardment TF (2 CA, 2 CL, 6 DD) that attacked the island during the night, disabling 494 men and 11 guns and scoring 6 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 69 on the runways. At dawn the SS I-182 attacked the retiring Allied TF 60 miles east of PJ but her torpedoes missed a DD and then she was depth charged by two US destroyers and damaged (16/11) by 7 near-misses.

Allied SC groups were also active between the Kuriles and the Aleutians. One engaged twice the I-159 during the night 300 miles SE of PJ. The I-159 missed a SC with torpedoes and survived both encounters with slight damage (7/0) due to 2 near-misses, and remained in position. The RO-66 was less lucky when she was attacked during the day by 3 of 4 SC 300 miles ESE of PJ. She was heavily damaged (41/73) by a hit and 5 near-misses.

Both damaged submarines retired towards Japanese ports. These SC groups were a nuisance and the CA Ashigara was ordered to sail from Ominato on her own to try to hit one in a night action in some days. The five remaining able submarines were ordered to sail a little more south, to be closer to the future Ashigara patrol area.

Both sides also lost a submarine today, the damaged I-181 and S-30 both sinking in friendly ports, respectively Etorofu Jima and Kiska, from damage taken in the last days.

Air activity was reduced to naval search and recon. A Betty was shot down by AA fire over Kiska.

The evening report in PJ reported damage of 54/39/90 (airbase/runways/port), 191 available engineer squads and 544 AV. Both CD units, that seemed to be unable to fire on bombardment TF, were ordered to fire on Allied troops. 31 Topsies arrived in Wakkanai and joined the air bridge bringing troops of the 14th Div to PJ.



But the main news today was the return of the victorious Kido Butai at Ominato. Well it was not especially a triumph, as the Japanese admirals were more interested in refilling their air units and their fuel tanks rather than listen propaganda about the victorious Japan. And Ominato fuel stocks were depleted just by the two CV TF, so the 3 surface TF of the KB had to be sent to Aomori to refuel. A convoy was formed in Osaka and will carry 100k fuel to Ominato. Three CL having just finished their 7/43 upgrade will sail with it to join the KB.
The completion of KB air units with fragments continued. Training air units were upgraded or put into AK and unloaded and then the few available AC were flown out and the damaged ones were integrated into KB units put ashore. Such maneuvers will take 2-3 days and then the KB units will again take 2-3 to come back aboard CV and repair all AC.
An unexpected thing was that the Kate pool fell to 29 after the disbandment of fragments and refilling of Kate training units. So both Kate units in Hiroshima and Nagoya were ordered to restart production and to double their size (respectively 24 and 16 now).

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During the night the airfield of Goodenough Island was bombed and missed by 3 Betties from Truk.

Rabaul was attacked in the afternoon by 22 PB4Y from PM escorted by 38 P-38G that disabled 61 men and 1 gun and scored 3 hits on the airbase and 10 on the runways, while 66 B-24D from the same base raided Kavieng, scoring 3 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 13 on the runways and doing 8 casualties. A B-24D was lost to AA fire and a P-38G in a crash.

The Betties that arrived in Lunga yesterday began to fly naval search to try to find Allied ships S of New Guinea that may be attacked by the Atago TF.

Timor-DEI-Australia

There was again no Allied raid against the Japanese bases, but the last drifting barge off Lautem was sunk by a B-25C and the big AK Awazan Maru was bombed by a B-24D off Amboina, damaged (39/12/4) and left immediately to return to Palau..

The evening report for this area gave the airfield status as: Maumere 19/0 (system/runway), Lautem 61/37/11, other bases undamaged. The garrison of Koepang continued to build fortifications (level 6, 37%).

Burma

Japanese airmen were more successful than the day before and reported two Allied convoys off the Indian coast, respectively 120 miles off Madras and Yavan (the small port east of Madras). Sadly the Japanese surface TF now being ESE of Ceylon was also seen by Allied aircraft and so the convoys will change course, and the probability of a sea interception.
Recon sorties were also flown over Columbo, Trincomalee, Madras and Bangalore. No CAP was met, but AA fire shot down two Mavis over Bangalore and the recon either failed or didn’t show interesting targets for a bombardment run, so the surface TF was ordered to sail south and then return to base.

Allied air activity increased again to its normal level. Myitkyina was attacked by 61 B-25J and 25 B-17E from Kohima and Imphal escorted by 44 P-40N and reported 97 casualties, 1 disabled gun, 14 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 109 on the runways, while in the afternoon 55 Liberator VI from Dacca escorted by 41 P-40N attacked Lashio, doing 38 casualties but only scoring 11 hits on the runways. Two divisions of the garrison of Myitkyina (33rd and 104th) were bombed by 41 B-25C, 37 Beaufighter Mk 21, 30 Vengeance I and 17 Beaufighter VIC from Dacca and Kohima escorted by 35 P-40N and 21 P-40E and lost 118 men and 2 guns. In the jungle more west, the 11th NLF was attacked by 50 Hurricane II from Imphal escorted by 6 Spitfire Vb SE of this base, and the 12th NLF was bombed by 29 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 8 Spitfire Vb. Allied losses during the day were 6 aircraft (1 B-17E, 1 B-25J, 1 B-25C, 1 Vengeance I, 1 Beufighter Mk 21 and 1 P-40N) that were all lost operationally.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 34/0 (system/runway), Myitkyina 37/35, other bases undamaged. In Myitkyina a Japanese artillery fired on Allied troops, hitting 12 men. Allied troops were reported as 130 131 men, 846 guns and 1531 vehicles (2533 AV, vs 1965 on the Japanese side).

In the late afternoon, a very excited meteorologist officer ran to the office of the Burma Air Force Commander, and said that for one it won’t rain tomorrow. The forecast was only “overcast”, that was judged very good weather for this theater. So the long awaited Kohima operation was ordered to be launched tomorrow. The plan was to strike the base in 3 waves:
1) in the morning, while most of Kohima airmen will be away bombing Japanese troops, two sweeps will be flown from Lashio (by 36 Ki-61) and then from Pagan (by 39 A6M3a) to engage, decimate and wear down the CAP, that was estimated as 2 squadrons of Spitfire and 1 of P-40N.
2) then in the afternoon, when all Allied attack aircraft will be on the ground, the main raid will arrive with 62 Betties and 6 Nells from Rangoon bombing at 6000 feet. Even if the CAP should have suffered a lot at this stage already, the fighter that will be away on escort in the morning will probably scramble to meet the raid, and it will be escorted by 54 A6M3a and 10 Oscar II.
That will leave Rangoon to be defended by 6 IJAAF Sentai (4 of Oscar II, 1 of Tony and 1 of Tojo, not all at full strength) but a raid on this city seemed highly unlikely.
In the evening, the 3 fighter units ordered to move to forward air bases did so without any accident.

China

Two of the 3 Chinese Corps defending Changsha were attacked by 47 Oscar II, 39 Ki-21, 39 Ki-51, 27 A6M3a, 22 Ki-48 and 21 Ki-49 from Wuhan and Nanchang and lost 110 men and 2 guns while 3 Japanese aircraft (1 Ki-21, 1 Ki-48 and 1 Ki-49) were lost in accidents. The 11th Japanese Army then continued its attack with success (at 3 to 1, reducing the fort level from 7 to 4). Japanese losses were 2297 men, 53 guns and 3 tanks, and Chinese ones 326 men and 6 guns, but the city defenses were now deeply penetrated and the place might be taken tomorrow. Japanese patrols reported that none of the Chinese units in the area moved today (most are on roads E of Kweiyang and may have started, but not yet done 60 miles).

More north the regiment of the 26th Div that was ordered a week ago to cross the river and cut the Changsha-Chungking road reached it and reported that it was empty, and that there was no Chinese unit in the nearby areas in both direction. This roadblock will stop any supply coming from Chungking to Central China.

[AmiralLaurent]

18 July 1943

Northern Pacific

Two more Allied bombardment TF (4 CA and 1 CL, followed by 3 CA, 1 CL, 6 DD) attacked Paramushiro Jima during the night, disabling 438 men, 15 guns and 1 tank and scoring 4 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies, 52 on the runways and 1 on port supplies. Again the CD defenses didn’t fire back… Apparently the SS I-182 had not received the order to retire after the damage received the day before and she was still in position 60 miles east of PJ. Like the day before she attacked the retreating Allied ships, targeting the DD USS Barton and damaging her with a torpedo. But she was then depth charged and heavily damaged (38/65) by 2 hits and 6 near misses scored by the DD USS Bailey.

Allied SC groups were still sailing between the Kuriles and the Aleutians but engaged no Japanese submarine today. The heavily damaged submarine I-19 reached Etorofu Jima today and was beached here. It was too damaged to be repaired (in game, she sank), and her Glen was also lost. It was the second of the two very badly damaged (FLT > 90) submarines reported those last days, and both had been lost.

Japanese patrol and recon aircraft suffered no loss today and reported a heavy CAP over Attu including 71 F4F-4 and 17 F6F (and more than 70 land-based fighters). So the Allied CV were here and its fighter force was evaluated as 150-200 AC (counting the 50% malus for being in a base hex, but this didn’t apply to CVE).

23 PB4Y and 22 B-24D from Attu attacked troops of the 14th Div in PJ and hit 25 men and 1 gun. The AA defenses of the base shot down a PB4Y and a PBM Mariner flying recon, and another PB4Y was lost in an accident.

On the ground, Japanese CD guns pounded the Allied beachhead, hitting 11 men, while the Allied troops launched another deliberate attack. They failed to gain much ground (0 to 1, 1044 Allied AV vs 474, adjusted to 800 vs 1708) but their engineers managed to knock down a part of the bunkers surrounding the beachhead (fort were reduced from 8 to 7). Japanese losses were 626 men and 9 guns while the Allied lost 819 men, 38 guns and 1 vehicle.

The evening report in PJ reported damage of 60/52/90 (airbase/runways/port), 191 available engineer squads and 543 AV.

In Ominato the completion of KB air units with fragments continued. Today it was the turn of the A6M3a and D3A units. At the end of the day, with training units being filled with new aircraft, the pool of carrier aircraft were the following: 189 A6M3a, 172 D3A and 31 B5N.

After refueling in Aomori, a TF made of the BB Yamato and Musashi, 4 CA, 2 CL and 7 DD sailed east and will go to a patrol area west of PJ, ready to react to any new Allied bombardment run. This TF will be in position in 2-3 days. Toyohara Betties will then switch all to naval search to chase Allied subs in the area and detect the incoming Allied TF.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During the night the airfield of Goodenough Island was bombed and missed by 4 Betties from Truk. In fact these raids were flown at 30000 feet (the altitude used for recon, the former mission of the unit)…. The Chutai received orders to fly at 3000 feet tonight. During the day a Emily flying a recon of this island was shot down by the Allied CAP (a dozen Kittyhawk I).

Rabaul was attacked in the afternoon by 21 PB4Y from PM escorted by 40 P-38G that disabled 21 men and 1 gun and scored 2 hits on the airbase and 23 on the runways, while 40 B-24D from the same base raided Kavieng, scoring 3 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 18 on the runways. A B-24D was shot down by AA fire. In the evening Rabaul reported damaged of 38/20 and Kavieng of 5/0.

The Atago TF turned west this evening and will sail tomorrow to the planned patrol area, 360 miles south of the Louisade Archipelago, east of Gili Gili. Japanese patrol AC reported an AP convoy in Gili Gili today.

Central Pacific
Three long-range ML sailing from PH to Japan (and then to the Kuriles front) laid on the way a minefield off Wake Island.

Timor-DEI-Australia

There was one Allied raid against Lautem, by 14 B-25C from PM escorted by 2 P-40N. They disabled 41 men and 1 gun and scored 1 hit on the airbase, 6 on the runway and 1 on port supplies. Thrice as many bombers and their escorts didn’t find the target in bad weather and two P-40N were destroyed in a collision in clouds.

The evening report for this area gave the airfield status as: Maumere 15/0 (system/runway), Lautem 62/32/13, other bases undamaged. The garrison of Koepang continued to build fortifications (level 6, 43%).

SRA

The submarine USS Barb, hit some days ago north of Luzon by a Helen bomber, sank on the way home west of Mindoro. It was the first submarine sinking achieved by LBA alone since the start of the war.

The AK convoy in Singapore finished to load resources (133k) and sailed for Palembang to join the TK convoy that had not yet finished to load in the smaller port.

In Miri, 8 9k-ton having loaded oil (so a total of 72k) in Miri and Brunei were united in a single convoy that will sail to Japan via the Central Philippines road.

Burma

For one reason (bad weather over their base) or the other (part of them being diverted in India due to the presence of Japanese ships off Ceylon), the Allied airmen flew only one mission over Burma today. 50 Hurricane II from Imphal escorted by 6 Spitfire Vb attacked the 11th NLF in the jungle SE of their base.

Japanese airmen were more active and all three phases of the Kohima operation were launched as planned.
At dawn Kohima was swept by 36 Ki-61 of the 78 Sentai from Lashio that met 27 Spitfire Vb and 2 P-40N over the target. The first Japanese raid was the most exposed to losses and suffered the most. 7 Ki-61 were shot down by the CAP but they won the battle by shooting down 8 Spitfire and both P-40N. And then Japanese pilots went down to strafe the enemy airfield, losing two more of their number for no apparent result. (By the way, this is the first time AFAIR that my fighters do that in a sweep. They were at 25k. Maybe what triggered the strafe was the fact that they shot down all AC of an opposing squadron (the P-40N), something my sweeps (usually flown by only 1 or 2 units) didn’t manage most of the times).
Shortly later another sweep of 38 A6M3a from Pagan arrived and engaged the 19 remaining Spitfire, shooting down 6 for 2 losses.
In the afternoon, the main raid departed Rangoon with 58 Betties and 6 Nells escorted by 51 A6M3a and 9 Oscar II. They were expecting to find over the target a reinforced CAP, either by scrambled P-40N or by fighters coming from Imphal, but met only 13 Spitfire Vb and a P-40N over the target and in cloudy conditions the air battle was short and inconclusive for both sides. 5 Spitfire Vb, 2 A6M3a and 1 Oscar II were shot down (by the way, as always I was keen to follow the Oscar pilots and they scored 2 victories for one loss. Banzai!!!). All bombers reached the target and bombed at 6000 feet. 14 Allied aircraft were destroyed on the ground (4 Vengeance I, 4 Beaufighter Mk 21, 3 Beaufighter VIC, 2 Lysander I and 1 Spitfire Vb) but the airfield escaped lightly, with 11 casualties, 1 hit on the airbase and 19 on runways. A Betty and an A6M3a were lost in accidents during this raid, bringing the total losses to 16 Japanese and 35 Allied aircraft. A Betty crew and 11 fighter pilots (9 of Ki-61, 1 of A6M3 and 1 of A6M3a) were lost, but this successful raid did well to the mood of the Japanese airmen and soldiers on this front.
In the evening, all fighter units returned to Rangoon and airmen here returned to standard orders, CAP 90% for fighters and naval search 20% for bombers.

Dinah III based in Andaman continued to flow recon sorties over Trincomalee and Madras and still reported no CAP. Over Assam a recon Irving was shot down by Allied AA fire, probably over Imphal.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 21/0 (system/runway), Myitkyina 37/2, other bases undamaged. In Myitkyina a Japanese artillery unit continued to fired on Allied troops but hit nothing. Allied troops were reported as 130 750 men (+619), 850 guns (+4) and 1535 vehicles (+4) (2581 AV (+48), vs 1968 (+3) on the Japanese side).

China

Two of the 3 Chinese Corps defending Changsha were attacked again by 57 Oscar II, 42 Ki-51, 38 Ki-21, 27 A6M3a, 17 Ki-49 and 13 Ki-48 from Wuhan, Wuchow and Nanchang and lost 128 men while 3 Japanese aircraft (1 Ki-21, 1 Ki-49 and 1 Ki-51) were lost in accidents. The 11th Japanese Army then launched a new shock attack and the Chinese defenses collapsed (at 8 to 1, engineers reducing the fort level from 4 to 2 before the attack, 1741x2 Japanese AV vs 700 being adjusted at 3805 vs 427). The city fell but Japanese troops took a heap of ruins. Japanese bombings had destroyed 80% of the resources centers of the city. This battle and retiring Chinese troops failed to devastate the city and none of the HI or the resource centers was in working order after the fall of the city. Japanese losses in the last day of the battle were 1890 men, 42 guns and 2 tanks, Chinese ones 1131 killed and wounded, more than 4000 POWs (between 25 and 35 troop points, difficult to say with the failed Allied attack at PJ the same turn) and 16 guns. The Chinese troops (17th and 25th Group Army, 51st, 57th and 89th Corps and 3rd Air BF) retreated westwards.

180 miles east of Kweiyang, Chinese units began to move eastwards, there were 19 units yesterday and only 17 today. More west, the Japanese Army returning from the failed advance on Kunming was now 60 miles west of Kweiyang and will join the troops east of the city. A small BF arrived in Kweiyang and so did some Ki-36 recon aircraft too.

More north the regiment of the 26th Div that cut yesterday the Changsha-Chungking road received orders to be ready to return on the other side of the river (in game I gave it order to march back. It will take several days to do so, and I may cancel the order in some days, and say give it again to it). It will not be powerful enough to resist a Chinese attack, but so far had probably not been detected.

Japanese forces will now do a pause and airmen will fly recon to determine the Chinese intentions. The China Expeditionary Army Command will move from Ichang to Changsha, hoping that at least some of the houses of the town will be repaired before its arrival. The Chinese forces will now probably retire from Central China and go to Chungking. In this case the whole Southern China Army (half of it now E of Kweiyang and the other part W of it) will gather and do another attempt at Kunming for which all its units are preparing. If the Chinese try to hold Hengchow, then the Southern China Army will take the crossroads NW of Changsha and link with the 11th Army to surround the Chinese city, that will then be put under siege by a part of the Japanese forces.

Japan

After a much accelerated conversion, the CVL Chitose and Chiyoda were commissioned today in Tokyo. Admiral Yamamoto was there and was happy to see the brand new (and still prototypes) Zeke and Jill on the deck of the ships and asked to meet their pilots to know how they judged their new aircraft. And then all officers around him suddenly seemed to have something else to do far away. After some more harsh questioning, it appeared that if the CVL and aircraft had well been put together nobody had thought of informing the training command, and with all available trained pilots being sent in the last week to Ominato to recomplete the KB, none pilot was sent to either of the CVL. None of the four units had any pilot….

Needless to say that was bad news. Well 60 rookie pilots were sent at once from a nearby basic school but of course the units can’t be engaged like that… What will probably happen will be that the CVL will sail empty, just to draw some enemy fire away from other CV, while their units will remain ashore to train… They should be operational in 6 months….

The KB needs in replacement aircraft continued to worry the Japanese Production Minister. After some debates, the pool of Val (183) was thought to be strong enough to not expand Val factories, but all were restarted (total capacity 41). On the other hand a research factory for the Judy was doubled (from size 20 to 40).

None of the late 1943 CV aircraft had been accelerated so far, but it is hoped they will be. Current research is 160 for A6M5 (release planned in 9/43), 125 for Jill (12/43) and 84 for Judy (11/43).

[jwilkerson]

Exactly how do you fill your carrier air units?

Before my Moses game I always used the "Original Mogami Method" which was to disband landbased training units into the carrier units, then wait the 90 days and then train up the land based units again. But in this game I'm using a new method - which I thought of myself - but then I saw Mogami was using it now too - so I guess to preserve "continuity" we could call it the "New - Totally Different - Mogami Method".

This method is to refill from the pilot pool for better or worse (I save the few good pilots each turn for units that are short just a few pilots - normally only carrier planes or fighters if IJA) but then I rotate landbased planes or groups from other carriers aboard the carriers which just filled up their groups - and send the untrained groups off to China (or wherever) to train up on land. This seems to work MUCH better. I've thus far been able to keep 80+ EXP groups aboard the carriers .. in fact the worst groups are those aboard the carriers that haven't ever rotated .. they've drifted down into the 70s due to absorbing only "good" pilots.

But just curious exactly how you do it.

[AmiralLaurent]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

Exactly how do you fill your carrier air units?

Before my Moses game I always used the "Original Mogami Method" which was to disband landbased training units into the carrier units, then wait the 90 days and then train up the land based units again. But in this game I'm using a new method - which I thought of myself - but then I saw Mogami was using it now too - so I guess to preserve "continuity" we could call it the "New - Totally Different - Mogami Method".

This method is to refill from the pilot pool for better or worse (I save the few good pilots each turn for units that are short just a few pilots - normally only carrier planes or fighters if IJA) but then I rotate landbased planes or groups from other carriers aboard the carriers which just filled up their groups - and send the untrained groups off to China (or wherever) to train up on land. This seems to work MUCH better. I've thus far been able to keep 80+ EXP groups aboard the carriers .. in fact the worst groups are those aboard the carriers that haven't ever rotated .. they've drifted down into the 70s due to absorbing only "good" pilots.

But just curious exactly how you do it.

It's a variation of the new method.

Rather than rotate units, I have training units and frontline units. Once a training unit will reach operationnal status (between 60 and 70 exp depending of the overall situation) it will be sent to a base near the frontline and by one way or another all aircraft will be made unavailable (either by rail transfer, upgrading or by loading them in an AK and giving unload orders the same turn). The next turn the unit will be divided into fragments, the few "repaired" AC will be flown out and the remaining fragments will be included into frontline units, either as full groups or by waiting for more AC to be repaired and then sent to other units by groups of 1-3 aircraft.

It requires more click than the Mogami method, but it seems to me that it is closer to how it was done in the reality. By the way, unit status may change... when a frontline unit is really decimated it may be degraded to a training unit. While if losses are not too high in a given period, a training unit may not bde fragmented but sent to the front, but it was rare so far and will probably be even rarer in the future, as Japanese losses will certainly increase more and more in the future.

By the way, I don't use "ground attack training" (or by the way supply carrying) to raise unit exp over 70... and I don't start any of these methods before the unit exp will at 55, using training before that... so training is a long process (5-6 months) for my pilots, but I feel it is "historical". And so far I am able to have a decent-sized airforce.

[AmiralLaurent]

19-20 July 1943

Northern Pacific

Action was very limited in the area. Except a raid on the 20th by 24 B-24D from Attu against Japanese troops in PJ (that hit 45 men and 3 guns), the only air activity was recon (a Betty and two PBM Mariner were shot down by AA over enemy bases in two days) and transport aircraft ferrying more troops.

The CA Ashigara was now patrolling SE of Etorofu Jima, while the BB TF sent west of Paramushiro Jima should reach its patrol area (300 miles W of the base, to be able to react) tomorrow. Betties from Toyohara had all been ordered to fly naval search but failed to report any Allied TF at sea, except 8 submarines around PJ. On the other hand 228 ships were reported in Attu port, while the CAP included 58 F4F-4, but no more F6F, on the 19th. 53 units were also counted here.

On the ground, Japanese CD guns pounded the Allied beachhead, hitting 6 men in two days, while Allied guns also fired and hit 340 men and 4 guns in the same time. On the 20th the evening report in PJ reported damage of 60/36/90 (airbase/runways/port), 191 available engineer squads and 582 AV (+ 39 in two days). Allied had on the island 68 981 men, 565 guns, 187 vehicles, and Japan had 35 159 men, 148 guns and 4 vehicles.

In Ominato the completion of KB air units with fragments finished on the 19th and almost all units had returned aboard the CV the next day. Two units had not received any replacement due to lack of trained pilots and were downgraded to training units and sent to Maizuru to integrate recruits and train them. They were the AII-2 (reduced to 4 Vals) and BII-3 (reduced to 3 Kates). The CVL Chitose and Chiyoda reached Ominato on the 20th and unloaded all their air units that will also be trained in Japan. Both ships will sail with the KB, even empty. The new strength of the “rebuilt” (as much as possible) KB air units was the following: 251 fighters (215 A6M3a and 36 A6M5), 137 dive-bombers (106 Val and 31 Judy) and 154 torpedo bombers (143 Kate and 11 Jill).
Also the first unit to receive the new G4M2 Betty (a Chutai) was flown to Toyohara on the evening of the 19th.

More south the convoy bringing back the 21st and 23rd Eng Rgt and two ML from Southern Pacific reached Tokyo on the 20th and was ordered to continue to Wakkanai.

Southern Pacific

Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Wallis Island to size 3.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

The Atago TF was seen on the 19th by a Catalian 360 miles south of the Louisade Archipelago and received orders to sail back to Lunga.

The target for its next sortie will probably be Kiriwima Island. An AP was seen off this island on the 19th and recon was ordered to investigate, while the Betties of Lunga received orders to fly naval attack to range 12. The next day, recon aircraft confirmed that an AP was off the island and found 2 units there, one of them being an Aviation Engineer Unit, but no naval attack was launched.

One of these recons was flown from Shortlands by a Jake. This base had no AF but a Base Force and it was decided to base 15-20 Jakes here to fly small raids on Allied barges and so on. Two units of Jake left Japan on the 19th to go to this base and should arrive in one week.

On the 19th the AP convoy sent to Lunga to pick up the engineer troops that recently finished to build the base (AF 4, port 4, fort 9) arrived and began to load troops. Two Const Bn will go to Shortlands, an Eng Rgt to Green Island and two Const Bn to Nauru. All will only build fortifications in these places.

Supplies for this work will come from Truk and Kwajalein. Two big AKs will bring 7k supplies to Green Island and Nauru, two small 3500 to Wolei and Satawal (NW of Truk) where Const Bn coming from Palau had landed and will build fortifications too.

Allied engineers expanded the port of Gili Gili to size 4.

Timor-DEI-Australia

On both nights, B-24D from Darwin laid mines off Kendari, flying 27 sorties the first night and 19 the second. Three MSW based here received orders to search for these mines and found a minefield on the 20th.

There was one Allied raid on each day. On the 19th it was against Lautem, by 51 B-25C from PM escorted by 15 P-40N. They did 33 casualties and scored 1 hit on the airbase, 2 on supplies, 7 on the runway and 2 on port supplies for the loss of two P-40N in accidents. On the 20th Dili was attacked by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham and reported 1 hit on supplies and 5 on the runway.

15 new barges were launched on the 19th in Kendari and joined a convoy for Lautem.

The evening report of the 20th for this area gave the airfield status as: Maumere 7/0 (system/runway), Dili 5/8, Lautem 65/26/22, other bases undamaged. The garrison of Koepang continued to build fortifications (level 6, 53%).

SRA

In the night and day of the 20th, the 6 ships of the Manila ASW group engaged 3 times the SS USS Sunfish 120 miles NW of Lingayen. The first time the submarine escaped undamaged, the second she was lightly damaged by 5 near-misses and the third she attacked but missed the DD Oshio with her torpedoes and took one more near-miss.

A convoy was ordered to load 14k resources and 8k oil in Rangoon and bring them to Singapore.

Burma

On the 19th, Myitkyina was attacked by 11 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 19 P-40E and reported 5 runway hits, while in the afternoon 27 Liberator VI and 15 B-25C from Dacca escorted by 5 P-40N attacked Pagan, scoring 2 hits on the airbase and 15 on the runways. Three units of the garrison of Myitkyina (33rd and 104th Div, 21st Bde) were bombed by 36 Beaufighter VIC and 26 Vengeance I from Ledo and Jorhat escorted by 25 P-40E and lost 38 men and 2 guns. Allied losses during the day were 3 aircraft (1 B-25J, 1 Beaufighter VIC and 1 P-40N) that were all lost operationally. Over Kohima CAP was flown by the survivors of the previous day, 7 Spitfire Vb and 1 P-40N.

On the 20th, Myitkyina was attacked by 10 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 22 P-40E and reported 5 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 9 on the runways. In the jungle more west, the 12th NLF was attacked by 28 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 5 Spitfire Vb. One B-25J was shot down by AA fire and one Lysander was lost in a crash, while three Japanese recon aircraft (2 Irving and 1 Dinah II) were shot down over India by Allied fighters.

Dinah III based in Andaman continued to flow recon sorties over Trincomalee and Madras and still reported no CAP. Six Allied ships (1 SS, 1 APD, 1 PG, 1 AP and 2 AK) were reported docked in Trincomalee and all Rangoon bombers (68 Betties and 6 Nells) were ordered to bombard it. The surface raiding force was now off Victoria Point, where it had arrived and refuelled on the 19th.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 8/3 (system/runway), other bases undamaged. In Myitkyina a Japanese artillery unit continued to fired on Allied troops but hit nothing in two days. Allied troops were reported as 131 809 men (+1059 in 2 days), 878 guns (+28) and 1543 vehicles (+8) (2650 AV (+69), vs 1973 (+5) on the Japanese side).

Troops scheduled to take part in the counter-offensive in Northern Burma began to arrive in the area. The 46th Div arrived in Mandalay, the 8th Tk Rgt returned from the Salween to Lashio and the troops brought by the last troop convoy in Bangkok (1 Bde, 3 Rgt and an Army HQ) were now all west of Rahaeng and will be in Mandalay in around one week. The attack will be launched in the first days of August.

China

The Japanese forces were still waiting for Chinese reaction after the fall of Changsha. On the 19th a Chinese unit moved to this city, while 4 units left Hengchow to the NE and two left the position 180 miles E of Kweiyang, still leaving 17 here. The attached map will show you the situation on the evening of the 19th (but there were only one change on the 20th, see below).



The next day, the 11th Japanese Army defeated the Chinese unit that reached Changsha (the 82nd Corps) at 704 to 1 (1889 AV vs 342, adjusted to 2816 vs 4, ouch…). The Chinese lost 1588 killed and wounded, 43 guns and around 1000 POWs and retreated westwards. Japanese losses were 315 men and 9 guns. This unit had probably received orders to reinforce the city before its fall and wasn’t recalled. No other Chinese unit moved anywhere, at least according to Japanese intelligence.

On both days the operational training Daitai in Wuhan flew raids against Chinese troops NW of Changsha (the 50th Corps) and hit a total of 68 men but suffered two operational losses.

Supplies reached Changsha and repairs of the HI and resource centers started on the 20th. The 16th Aviation Rgt that had been ordered to march to Southern China and then Kweiyang via the coastal road was now in Hengchow, on the coast, but received orders to march to Changsha instead.

Japan

Two convoys were organized on the 19th. One will carry 56k supplies from Nagasaki to Shanghai (for industry repairs in Changsha) and the other will carry 70k supplies from Osaka to Truk.

[AmiralLaurent]

21 July 1943

Northern Pacific

Two Allied bombardment TF (4 CA and 1 CL, followed by 2 CA, 2 CL, 6 DD) attacked Paramushiro Jima during the night, disabling 1009 men, 24 guns and 2 tanks and scoring 1 hit on the airbase, 2 on supplies, 132 on the runways and 2 on fuel dumps. Again the CD defenses didn’t fire back…
And the BB TF wasn’t yet in place 300 miles west of PJ… It arrived there during the day and was ordered to react to any new attack on PJ (react range 5). The SS RO-61 patrolling SE of PJ was ordered to patrol right off this base to serve as picket boat. All Toyohara bombers were ordered to be ready to attack any ship in torpedo range, to have a chance of achieving any damaged Allied ship. 29 Oscar II based in the same base received orders to LRCAP the BB TF.
More south the CA Ashigara received in the evening order to return to Aomori due to the lack of targets in her area (SW of Aleutians).

After dawn, Japanese airmen were unable to find any of these TFs and only reported half-a-dozen submarines around PJ. On the Allied side, 30 PB4Y from Attu bombed Japanese troops in PJ, hitting 51 men and 3 guns of a Naval Guard Unit. One of these PB4Y was lost due to bad weather and a PBM Mariner were shot down by AA over PJ during a recon flight.

The CA Ashigara was now patrolling SE of Etorofu Jima, while the BB TF sent west of Paramushiro Jima should reach its patrol area (300 miles W of the base, to be able to react) tomorrow. Betties from Toyohara had all been ordered to fly naval search but failed to report any Allied TF at sea, except 8 submarines around PJ. On the other hand 228 ships were reported in Attu port, while the CAP included 58 F4F-4, but no more F6F, on the 19th. 53 units were also counted here.

On the ground, both sides exchanged shells. Allied forces (69 571 men (+590), 570 guns (+5), 185 vehicles (-2), 1101 AV (+24)) lost 8 men and 1 gun, Japanese ones (34 173 men (-986), 123 guns (-25), 2 vehicles (-2), 616 AV (-7)) lost 134 casualties. The evening report in PJ reported damage of 63/74/90 (airbase/runways/port), 189 available engineer squads and 49343 supplies.



New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

Rabaul was attacked in the afternoon by 28 B-25J from Gili Gili and then by 25 PB4Y from PM escorted by 44 P-38G and reported a total of 44 casualties, 4 disabled guns, 5 hits on the airbase, 6 on supplies and 54 on the runways. A PB4Y and a B-25J were lost to AA fire and a P-38G in a crash. In the evening this base reported damaged of 27/17 (airbase/runway).

Three Allied TF were reported off Kiriwima Island by Japanese airmen: an AP convoy, a LCM flotilla and a PT TF. Three DD were sent from Lunga (where they arrived with the AP convoy) to attack them. It was planned to base Nick fighter-bombers in Kavieng but they will only fly here when an AK will be ready to evacuate damaged AC.

A solitary AK reached in the evening Rabaul and will unload supplies here, while another was already unloading in Shortlands and a third will reach Lunga in two days.

The SS I-10 patrolling south of Gili Gili received orders to sail closer to this base to try to attack an Allied convoy reported by an air patrol.

Timor-DEI-Australia

The 3 MSW based in Kendari cleared the air-laid mines off this base during the night... and apparently this activity raised their DL enough to draw 9 B-17E from Darwin that tried to attack them. Darwin bombers had been in naval attack mode for months but the only two attacks off Kendari had been when Japanese MSW were sweeping mines, even if convoys regularly stopped there. Anyway this small attack ran into a strong CAP (54 Tojo, 24 Nick, 22 Tony and 11 Oscar II) and the 9 bombers were all shot down (5 by Tojo, 2 by Tonies, 1 by a Nick and 1 by an Oscar) without Japanese loss.

The pause seemed to be ever for Timor as all three Japanese bases were attacked in the afternoon. Koepang was attacked by 75 B-25J and 73 B-25C from Derby and reported 9 hits on the airbase, 12 on supplies and 134 on runways, and the loss of 37 men and 1 gun. Dili was bombed by 117 B-17E and 38 B-24D from Darwin escorted by 12 P-40N and reported 5 hits on the airbase, 19 on supplies and 115 on runways, 95 casualties and 4 disabled guns. And Lautem was the target of 52 B-25C from Darwin that scored 38 hits on the runway and 2 on port supplies, and did 58 casualties. Allied operational losses were a B-17E, a B-25C and a B-25J.

In the evening the Dutch submarine KXI attacked a barge convoy on the surface 120 miles NE of Lautem and sank one with gunfire.

The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Maumere 3/0 (system/runway), Koepang 35/61, Dili 43/67, Lautem 65/47/28, other bases undamaged. Maumere will be fully operational tomorrow and Japanese fighters may return there to LRCAP Koepang, but will only do so when an AK will be available off the base to evacuate damaged AC. An AK was sent from Soerabaja this evening.

SRA

A small convoy started to load 14k resources in Toboali for Singapore.

Burma

This good weather day saw an increased air activity by both sides. Allied airmen flew 622 sorties over Burma, hitting 3 bases and 6 units. In the morning Myitkyina was attacked by 6 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 20 P-40E and reported 2 hits on the airbase and 1 on the runway, and Lashio was pounded by 60 B-25J, 48 B-24D, 39 Blenheim IV and 28 B-17E from Imphal escorted by 22 P-40E that scored 7 hits on, the airbase, 23 on supplies and 182 on runways, did 141 casualties and disabled 3 guns, while in the afternoon 47 Liberator VI and 46 B-25C from Dacca escorted by 48 P-40N attacked again Myitkyina, scoring 5 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 74 on the runways and disabling 34 men and 1 gun. Four units of the garrison of Myitkyina (17th, 33rd and 104th Div, 21st Bde) were bombed by 58 Beaufighter VIC, 51 Vengeance I and 38 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Ledo, Kohima and Jorhat escorted by 25 P-40E and lost 63 men and 4 guns. In the jungle more west, the 11th and 12th NLF were attacked respectively by 54 Hurricane II from Imphal escorted by 6 Spitfire Vb and by 30 Lysander I from Kohima escorted by 6 Spitfire Vb. Allied losses during the day were 2 Vengeance I, 1 Blenheim IV and 1 Beaufighter Mk 21 shot down by AA fire and 2 P-40N and 1 Beaufighter VIC lost operationally.

Japanese airmen had less punch but flew a maximum effort raid against the port of Trincomalee. 67 Betties and 6 Nells were sent and all reached the target, meeting no CAP. They attacked at 7000 feet and scored three hits on the American submarine Gurnard, one on the British submarine Truant and one on the MSW Cuttack, but none of these ships sank. They also scored 9 hits on the port and 3 on supplies, doing 10 casualties. Two Betties were lost to AA fire and another lost to engine failure, but one of these crews was saved. On a sideshow of this attack, Allied AA fire shot down over Madras one of the Dinah III based in Andaman that continued to flow recon sorties the area. Rangoon bombers then went back to naval search mode.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Pagan 5/0 (system/runway), Lashio 51/87, Myitkyina 31/30.

Both NLF that had been sent into the jungle to turn the Allied flank were now retreating in a very poor state, with no more battle worthy squad or weapon, and no more supplies. Daily air attacks were hitting them and killing more and more men (the beauty in WITP is that the former attack that mostly disabled squads resulted in reports saying ‘X casualties’ while the current attacks hit units having no more able squad and so no casualties are indicated, but squads are destroyed, either by air attacks or by attrition). The 11th had still 40% of its TOE and the 12th 37%. It was decided today to try something to assist these heroes (mainly because it was not possible to commit aircraft over the main battle area, Myitkyina, due to the Allied air superiority). So in the evening 20 A6M3 flew from Rangoon to Pagan to fly LRCAP over the 12th NLF SW of Kohima, while 12 Tabbies based in the Chinese base of Lanchow received orders to drop supplies to this unit.

China

The operational training Daitai in Wuhan sent 24 A6M3a against Chinese troops NW of Changsha (the 50th Corps) and hit 28 men with no loss.

The only change on the ground situation was that there were now 6 units west of Changsha, 4 less than the day before. It seems that the Chinese will leave a small garrison (3 units) in Hengchow and retreat their other forces on the northern side of the river NW of Changsha, while the 17 units 180 miles E of Kweiyang didn’t move and will probably hold their position for at least a few days. The 11th Japanese Army received orders to march west of Changsha to engage the Chinese units here, and will leave a half brigade to keep the ruins of the city (with almost all HI and resource out, garrison requirements were very low). In the future, the Chinese may either try to keep their positions NW of Changsha, or retreat to Chungking. In the first case, the gathered Southern China Army will then try an attack 180 miles E of Kweiyang, but the threat of a counter-offensive from Kunming to Kweiyang should be anticipated.

[AmiralLaurent]

22 July 1943

Northern Pacific

One more Allied bombardment TF (3 CA, 1 CL, 5 DD) attacked Paramushiro Jima during the night, disabling 459 men and 3 guns and scoring 3 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies, 60 on the runways, 1 on port and 2 on port supplies. Again the CD defenses didn’t fire back… And the BB TF 300 miles west of PJ didn’t react. I was sure that a surface TF will react to a bombardment TF, maybe the range is too great or my admiral too careful. Anyway if the Allied side repeated the former pattern there should now be a lull of two days while Allied warships went to Aleutians to rearm and then they will be back, and the Japanese BB TF will then be ordered to sail to PJ for the night.

After dawn, Japanese airmen were again unable to see anything else than half-a-dozen submarines around PJ. For once one was attacked by a Betty (first time in 3 days) but was missed. To increase the coverage of the waters E of PJ, a second Emily Chutai was sent to Etoforu Jima from Tokyo. A Emily crashed on alighting but the crew was saved by a nearby barge.

On the ground, both sides exchanged shells. Allied forces (70 006 men (+435), 576 guns (+6), 184 vehicles (-1), 1124 AV (+23)) suffered no loss while Japanese forces (34 502 men (+329), 133 guns (+10), 2 vehicles, 635 AV (+19)) lost 229 casualties and 3 guns. The evening report in PJ reported damage of 67/89/90 (airbase/runways/port), 189 available engineer squads and 48 855 supplies (-488). One of the aircraft ferrying troops to the base, a Tabby, was lost in an accident.

In the rear Japanese engineers expanded Ominato AF to size 6. All five new South Seas Detachment units were now in this base, preparing for various Kuriles islands, and a big AP convoy was sent from Tokyo to load them. They will then sail NW under escort by the KB.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During the night the airfield of Goodenough Island was bombed and missed by 6 Betties from Truk. One of them was damaged by AA fire and crashed on the way back.

Rabaul was attacked in the afternoon by 27 B-25J from Gili Gili and then by 16 PB4Y from PM escorted by 21 P-38G and reported a total of 91 casualties, 8 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 30 on the runways. Two B-25J were lost to AA fire and a PB4Y and a P-38G in accidents. In the evening this base reported damaged of 43/19 (airbase/runway).

Allied TF showed how they dominated the area at sea too. The three DD sent from Lunga yesterday evening to attack Kiriwima were detected and attacked off Vella Lavella by 15 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Gili Gili and 2 PB4Y from PM. The Beaufighter scored the only hit, on the DD Harusama (damage 19/6/4) but suffered two losses, one to AA fire and another in an accident. And a patrolling B-25C reported that she bombed and hit a solitary AK (the Nosiro Maru) in Rabaul.

Well, in fact the situation was not too serious. If the 3 DD turned back to return to Lunga, the Nosiro Maru was only slightly damaged (2/0/0) by a near-miss, and 3 one-ship TF in Shortlands were unloading construction troops and supplies without being attacked. And it was decided to attempt a full-strength effort in the area, so all warships available in Truk (the BB Haruna, 2 CA, 1 CL and 4 DD) left this base for Lunga.

A solitary 3000-ton AP carrying more troops of the 43rd Div reached in the evening Wewak and will unload here. Another started to load more troops of this division in Palau. After these two AP two more will be needed to carry the final part of the division to Wewak, but they will continue to sail one by one.

The SS I-10 patrolling south of Gili Gili received orders to sail closer to this base to try to attack an Allied convoy reported by an air patrol.

Timor-DEI-Australia

Allied airmen continued to pound Timor. Koepang was attacked by 108 B-25C and 69 B-25J from Derby and reported 4 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 113 on runways, and the loss of 71 men and 1 gun. Dili was bombed by 137 B-17E and 45 B-24D from Darwin escorted by 8 P-40N and by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham, and reported 11 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 161 on runways, 86 casualties and 2 disabled guns. And Lautem was the target of 62 B-25C from Darwin that scored 2 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 38 on the, and did 77 casualties, while 14 Brewster 339D from the same base attacked barges off this base and sank one. Allied losses were two B-25J shot down by AA fire over Koepang, and a B-17E, a B-24D, a B-25J and a Brewster 339D in accidents.

The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Koepang 47/89 (system/runway), Dili 67/95, Lautem 70/61/28, other bases undamaged.

The barge convoy off Lautem was ordered to not return directly to Kendari as usual but to cruise just NE of Lautem to draw Allied aircraft while 26 Oscar II from Kendari will LRCAP it and try to surprise Allied airmen.

Burma

Allied airmen flew 296 sorties over Burma, hitting 1 base and 5 units. Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 7 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 18 P-40E and reported 3 hits on the runways and 14 casualties. Four units of the garrison (17th, 33rd and 104th Div, 21st Bde) were bombed by 46 B-24D, 31 B-25J, 27 B-17E, 23 Blenheim IV, 18 Vengeance I and 9 Beaufighter VIC from Ledo and Imphal escorted by 36 P-40N and 27 P-40E and lost 220 men and 5 guns. In the jungle more west, the 11th NLF was attacked by 39 Hurricane II from Imphal escorted by 8 Spitfire Vb. Allied losses during the day were 1 B-25J and 1 Blenheim IV shot down by AA fire and 1 Vengeance I lost operationally.

Allied troops in Myitkina bombarded Japanese troops with their artillery today and hit 125 men and 2 guns. The report showed 2708 Allied AV and 1970 Japanese AV here.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Lashio 51/86 (system/runway), Myitkyina 31/17.

There had been no raid on the 12th NLF SW of Kohima and in the evening the 20 A6M3 sent yesterday from Rangoon to Pagan to fly LRCAP over it where flown back to Rangoon, that sent 19 other A6M3 to fly the same mission. The Tabbies based in the Chinese base of Lanchow had managed to drop supplies to this unit that reported 22 supplies (for 18 needed) in the evening, so the crews were ordered to drop supplies to the 11th NLF tomorrow.

China

The operational training Daitai in Wuhan sent 25 A6M3a against Chinese troops NW of Changsha (the 50th Corps) and hit 32 men for one operational loss.

In the evening the 11th Japanese Army had still not advanced west from Changsha but its patrols only reported one unit remaining west of the city. Recon and patrol also reported still 3 units in Hengchow, 11 120 miles WNW of Changsha (behind the river, holding the crossroads of the roads of Changsha, Chungking and Kweiyang), one NW of Changsha (in the country) and still 17 180 miles east of Kweiyang.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

On the ground, both sides exchanged shells. Allied forces (70 006 men (+435), 576 guns (+6), 184 vehicles (-1), 1124 AV (+23)) suffered no loss while Japanese forces (34 502 men (+329), 133 guns (+10), 2 vehicles, 635 AV (+19)) lost 229 casualties and 3 guns. The evening report in PJ reported damage of 67/89/90 (airbase/runways/port), 189 available engineer squads and 48 855 supplies (-488). One of the aircraft ferrying troops to the base, a Tabby, was lost in an accident.

How large fort there is in PJ?

How confident are you regarding holding PJ with forces at hand (and possible air transported reinforcements)?


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

How large fort there is in PJ?

How confident are you regarding holding PJ with forces at hand (and possible air transported reinforcements)?

Forts in PJ were level 9, and are now 7 after two reductions by Allied engineers. The base is also on mountains, so I am quite confident in the ability of the garrison to resist to the Allied forces it is currently facing. But this base is one we can't afford to lose, and more Allied troops may come from Aleutians. It is then hoped that this second wave will not be well prepared for PJ, but that is the reason of me sending reinforcements by air and very soon by sea.

Right now, PJ is a meat-grinder for both sides, but more for Allied. In fact I am now wondering if I should not send back to Japan and then to the northern front a bigger part of my ships and air units, for example leaving the Solomons area with even less defence than its current state.

My feeling is that most of the Allied offensive power had been concentrated in this operation and so Japanese forces may concentrate here without taking too much risks. By the way the fact that Allied forces had neither been evacuated nor reinforced since a dozen of days probably means that my opponent is sailing more troops to the area, but when they will arrive is not known.


23 July 1943

Northern Pacific

There was not much activity either in the air or in the sea. Both sides flew recon and patrols. Japanese airmen only reported the usual Allied submarines around PJ, and nothing east of this base. The BB TF continued to patrol 300 miles west of PJ under LRCAP by an Oscar II Sentai from Toyohara that lost 3 aircraft and pilots during the day in bad weather. The BB TF will wait one more day and then sail to PJ to intercept the Allied bombardment TF(s) that should attack again on that night.

On the ground at PJ, both sides again exchanged shells. Allied forces (70 450 men (+444), 583 guns (+7), 186 vehicles (+2), 1146 AV (+22)) lost 14 men and 1 gun while Japanese forces (34 903 men (+401), 148 guns (+15), 2 vehicles, 641 AV (+6)) lost 104 casualties and 2 guns. The evening report in PJ reported damage of 67/84/90 (airbase/runways/port), 189 available engineer squads and 49 885 supplies (+1030). The supply increase was probably due to the fast that a regiment of the 14th Div transferred its HQ from Wakkanai to this base and then gave a part of its supplies to the base. Also only guns of this unit remained in Wakkanai and the Topsies based here could not carry them so they flew supplies to PJ instead (but not one thousand in one day). They were ordered to rest and will be replaced by Tabbies.

Three ML arrived at Tokyo from PH. They sailed immediately north and will lay mines off Ominato before joining the ML squadron based (with a MLE) in Wakkanai.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During the night the airfield of Goodenough Island was bombed and missed by 7 Betties from Truk.

Rabaul was attacked in the afternoon by 25 B-25J from Gili Gili that did 35 casualties, disabled 2 guns and scored 3 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 20 on the runways. Two B-25J and a F-5A were shot down by AA fire over Rabaul that reported in the evening damage as 39/0.

Allied engineers were very busy today and expanded the airfield of Gili Gili to size 5 and opened airfields in Dobadura and Kiriwima Island. The Jake flying recon from Shortlands identified a second Aviation Engineer Battalion in the latter place.

In Lunga the damaged DD Harusame, having extinguished her fire and restored her floatability, left for Japan via Kwajalein. The two DD that were with her on their cancelled raid on Kiriwima joined the Atago TF (CA Atago and 3 DD) and this TF again sailed westwards to try to sneak to the Allied bases, as the weather forecast for tomorrow was showing thunderstorms in the area.

Timor-DEI-Australia

The barge convoy leaving Lautem was attacked during the night 60 miles NE of this base by the Dutch submarine KVII that heavily damaged one with gunfire. It then remained there and 13 Brewster 339D from Darwin were sent to attack it but were bounced near the target by 6 Oscar II on LRCAP from Kendari. For once the Oscar pilots had better aircraft than their opponents and they shot down 3 Brewster and damage two for no loss. The barge convoy sailed in the evening back to Kendari minus the craft damaged by the submarine attack that was sent to Lautem.

Allied airmen pounded again Timor in the afternoon. Koepang was attacked by 103 B-25C and 21 B-25J from Derby and reported 9 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 69 on runways, and the loss of 20 men and 1 gun. Dili was bombed by 121 B-17E and 28 B-24D from Darwin escorted by 8 P-40N and by 6 PB4Y from Wyndham, and reported 7 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 50 on runways, and 58. And Lautem was the target of 63 B-25C from Darwin that scored 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 21 on the runway, and did 43 casualties. The only Allied losses were a B-25C shot down by AA fire over Koepang and a PBM Mariner shot down by AA fire over Kendari.

The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Koepang 58/99 (system/runway), Dili 88/95, Lautem 72/70/28, other bases undamaged. The convoy bringing an Eng Rgt from Palau arrived in Kendari and was ordered to continue to Maumere to land it there.

SRA

During the night, the submarine HMS Trident, patrolling 60 miles SE of Sinkep Island to intercept convoys sailing from Palembang or between Singapore and Toboali, was seen, chased and heavily damaged by an ASW group. The PC Wakamiya and the DD Tanikaze scored 1 hit and 6 near-misses on the submarine, but she survived with heavy damage.

Burma

Allied airmen flew 561 sorties over Burma, hitting 2 bases and 6 units. Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 6 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 22 P-40N and 16 P-40E and reported 2 hits on the airbase and 7 on the runways, while Mandalay was raided in the afternoon by 66 Liberator VI and 46 B-25C from Dacca escorted by 27 P-40N that scored 8 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 62 on the runways and disabled 56 men and 1 gun.. Four units of the garrison of Myitkyina (17th, 33rd and 104th Div, 21st Bde) were bombed by 54 Beaufighter VIC, 46 B-25J, 37 Beaufighter Mk 21, 33 Vengeance I, 30 Blenheim IV, 30 Lysander I, 26 B-17E and 21 B-24D from Ledo, Kohima, Jorhat and Imphal escorted by 40 P-40N and 24 P-40E and lost 135 men, 5 guns and 1 tank while a Vengeance I was shot down by AA fire and a Beaufighter VIC lost in an accident.
In the jungle SE of Imphal, the 11th NLF was attacked by 39 Hurricane II from this base escorted by 5 Spitfire Vb. Tabbies from Lanchow dropped supplies to this unit without being intercepted but lost an aircraft in an accident. Its crew was saved.
More north, the 12th NLF was attacked by 13 Hurricane from Kohima escorted by 9 Spitfire Vb but was also LRCAPed by 7 A6M3 from Pagan. The Japanese pilots shot down only one Hurricane and lost a fighter in an accident, but the pilot was unhurt. The fighters flew back from Pagan to Rangoon in the evening.

The daily recon of Trincomalee by Dinah III from Andaman Islands reported for the first time CAP over the base: one Spitfire Vb. That was still one fighter retired from the Burma front.

Allied troops in Myitkina bombarded again Japanese troops with their artillery and hit 62 men and 2 guns. The report showed 2757 Allied AV (+49) and 1969 Japanese AV (-1) here.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 19/43 (system/runway), Lashio 51/37, Myitkyina 33/9.

China

Five Div and both artillery units of the 11th Japanese Army advanced west from Changsha and reported in the evening that one Chinese unit was holding the area. They will attack it tomorrow. There was no change today to the known Chinese positions but on the Japanese side all troops of the Southern China Army that were involved in the failed attack of Kunming had now reached Kweiyang. One division and two regiments of another will hold the town in case the 26 Chinese units of Kunming advanced there (daily recon were flown to assure that they didn’t move, and they hadn’t moved yet), while all other troops will march E of the city and join the other part of the army. Once it will be gathered there, the army (with between 3000 and 3500 AV) will attack the 17 Chinese units holding the road east of its current position.

The operational training Daitai in Wuhan sent 23 A6M3a against the 50th Chinese Corps NW of Changsha and hit 16 men. One Zero was lost to engine failure but its pilot baled out safely in friendly territory.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

Forts in PJ were level 9, and are now 7 after two reductions by Allied engineers. The base is also on mountains, so I am quite confident in the ability of the garrison to resist to the Allied forces it is currently facing. But this base is one we can't afford to lose, and more Allied troops may come from Aleutians. It is then hoped that this second wave will not be well prepared for PJ, but that is the reason of me sending reinforcements by air and very soon by sea.

Right now, PJ is a meat-grinder for both sides, but more for Allied. In fact I am now wondering if I should not send back to Japan and then to the northern front a bigger part of my ships and air units, for example leaving the Solomons area with even less defence than its current state.

My feeling is that most of the Allied offensive power had been concentrated in this operation and so Japanese forces may concentrate here without taking too much risks. By the way the fact that Allied forces had neither been evacuated nor reinforced since a dozen of days probably means that my opponent is sailing more troops to the area, but when they will arrive is not known.

I also think that your opponent choose the PJ as his "Schwerepunkt"...

IMHO it would be prudent to concentrate in the North (though not stripping everything in South but air units would be #1 in my list especially since his CV force just suffered another big hit) and with massed Japanese air effort in the North around PJ the victory would be more easily and this another crush for Allies would seriously hamper his intentuons for months to come and you will buy 3-6 monts again!!!


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

24 July 1943

Northern Pacific

An Allied bombardment TF (4 CA and 1 CL) attacked Paramushiro Jima during the night, disabling 384 men and 8 guns and scoring 1 hits on the airbase and 5 on the runways. Again the CD defenses didn’t fire back… And the BB TF 300 miles west of PJ still didn’t react. Forget my assurance that my TF will react…

There was no other action during the day but Japanese airmen reported first that the CV aircraft had disappeared from the CAP at Attu and then saw an Allied TF (with no more details) 240 miles east of PJ. The lack of success by Japanese naval search for the last week had really deceived the High Command and continued to do so.
This incoming TF was probably one of the two other Allied bombardment TF periodically hitting PJ those last days, and Allied CVs were probably covering them. Admiral Yamamoto wondered for some hours if he will confirm the order to send the BB TF (Musashi, Yamato, 4 CA, 2 CL, 7 DD) off PJ next night to intercept a possible naval bombardment. There was a risk that the TF will be surprised at sea with close to none air cover (LRCAP by an Oscar II Sentai from Toyohara, by the way another Oscar II was lost in accident LRCAPing the TF today but its pilots was saved. 3 Oscar II units were used for this LRCAP, one each day) and the two jewels of the Japanese Navy might be lost.
On the other hand, these two ships were warships and the Kido Butai will only return in the area in 4-5 days. So either they retired piteously or they did the planned anti-bombardment TF sweep. Once the admiral had told his thoughts with such words, nobody dared to defend the retreat option and the TF received orders to sail at full speed to PJ tonight, engage and destroy any Allied ship met and then retire at full speed towards Shikka.

On the ground at PJ, both sides continued to exchange shells. Allied forces (70 942 men (+492), 584 guns (+1), 190 vehicles (+4), 1166 AV (+20)) suffered no loss gun while Japanese forces (34 856 men (-47), 150 guns (+2), 4 vehicles (+2), 642 AV (+1)) lost 288 men and 2 guns. The evening report in PJ didn’t reach the High HQ. Two Topsy transport aircraft were lost in accidents today while bringing troops to PJ.

In the rear, 5 damaged ships (the CL Kuma and Abukuma and 3 DD) having patched all their leaks (FLT = 0) sailed from Ominato to Maizuru for repairs.

Central Pacific

Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Marcus to size 3 and the port of Johnston Island to size 4. They will now concentrate on fortifications (current level 4,57%) on Marcus while they now had nothing more to do on Johnston (base at max size and fort level 9).

Southern Pacific

Both Mavis transport Chutai (with 21 AC and crews) were in reserve in Suva and received orders to fly to Japan to join the Kuriles air bridge. They left today and stopped for the night at Saipan.

New Guinea-New Britain-Solomon Islands

In the morning, the CA Atago and the 5 DD now escorting here were seen under clouds 240 miles SE of Woodlark Island by an Allied patrol aircraft. Allied airmen kept an eye on the area and in the afternoon the weather cleared enough for 36 Beaufighter Mk 21 and 19 B-25J from Gili Gili to attack the TF. The Japanese ships dodged most of the bombs. The Atago was hit twice but both bounded on her armor. The DD Tamanami was not so lucky and was heavily damaged (58/13/19) by a bomb dropped by a B-25J. A Beaufighter was shot down by AA fire and another lost in an accident. In the evening the Japanese TF was in range of Kiriwima but only PT and barges were seen there today and the ships turned back to Lunga. They will escort the damaged DD under LRCAP by the Zero Daitai from Lunga.

There was no attack on Rabaul and Kavieng and both bases were now fully repaired. The area air command was really pissed off with the inability of his airmen to attack Allied ships off Kiriwima and ordered more units to participate. 15 A6M2 arrived in Rabaul from Hollandia and will fly tomorrow a sweep over Kiriwima. 31 Nick flew from Truk to Kavieng… before it was realized that as nightfighter variants they couldn’t attack barges. They were ordered to fly local CAP and will return to Truk tomorrow. In the latter base, the night-bombing Betty Chutai was ordered to bomb Kiriwima rather than Goodenough while a Betty Daitai was ordered to fly naval attack at range 15 (enough to reach Kiriwima).

The two ships carrying the 5th Eng Rgt reached Green Island and began to unload it here. It will build fortifications on the island.

More south the Emily Chutai based in Norfolk Island (SW of Noumea) received orders to fly recon of the Australian coast (no target given).

Timor-DEI-Australia

Allied airmen pounded as usual Timor in the afternoon. Koepang was attacked by 88 B-25C and 62 B-25J from Derby and reported 70 casualties, 10 hits on the airbase, 6 on supplies and 107 on runways. Dili was bombed by 78 B-17E and 38 B-24D from Darwin escorted by 9 P-40N and by 7 PB4Y from Wyndham, and reported 3 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 77 on runways, and 58 casualties. And Lautem was the target of 55 B-25C from Darwin that scored 4 hits on the port and 5 on port supplies, doing 47 casualties. Two B-17E, two B-25C and one B-25J were lost in accidents.

The barge convoy returning from Lautem was attacked in the evening 180 miles N of this base by the submarine USS S-46 with gunfire but she only managed to damage a barge with two small rounds. The damaged base sent back the day before to Lautem was sunk during the afternoon by 10 Brewster 339D from Darwin.

The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Koepang 75/99 (system/runway), Dili 94/95, Lautem 72/65/38, other bases undamaged. Maumere especially was now fully operational, and with an AK off the base to evacuate damaged AC, 28 Ki-44 flew there from Kendari and will LRCAP tomorrow Koepang.

The convoy bringing an Eng Rgt from Kendari to Maumere had in fact unloaded almost the whole unit in Kendari and sailed with only 160 men aboard. It was recalled to Kendari in the evening. The unit will be flown to advanced bases by two Theresa Chutai that arrived today from Hollandia.

Burma

Allied airmen flew 564 sorties over Burma, hitting a base and 6 units. Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 6 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 21 P-40N and 16 P-40E and reported 2 hits on the airbase and 3 on the runways. Four units of the garrison (17th, 33rd and 104th Div, 21st Bde) were bombed by 58 Beaufighter VIC, 53 Liberator VI, 51 B-25C, 38 B-25J, 37 B-24D, 37 Beaufighter Mk 21, 34 Vengeance I, 29 Lysander I, 26 Blenheim IV and 26 B-17E from Ledo, Kohima, Jorhat, Dacca and Imphal escorted by 64 P-40N and 19 P-40E and lost 476 men, 11 guns and 1 tank. In the jungle SE of Imphal, the 11th NLF was attacked by 39 Hurricane II from this base escorted by 6 Spitfire Vb and SW of Kohima the 12th NLF was attacked by 10 Hurricane from Kohima escorted by 4 Spitfire Vb. Allied losses during the day were 3 P-40N, 1 P-40E and 1 Beaufighter VIC, all lost operationally.

The daily recon of Trincomalee by Dinah III from Andaman Islands reported 3 Spitfire Vb on CAP, still 5 ships in port, and 27 AC on the airfield. The Burma Naval Force (still 2 CA, 1 CL, 3 DD) was ordered to leave Georgetown and will attempt to bomb this base.

After the heavy air attacks during the day Japanese troops in Myitkina expected a new attack but the Allied troops only bombarded them, hitting 136 men and 3 guns. The report showed 2790 Allied AV (+33) and 1953 Japanese AV (-16) here.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 19/17 (system/runway), Lashio 31/0, Myitkyina 35/3.

The Rangoon bomber force (67 Betties, 6 Nells) was ordered to bomb the resources centers of Asansol tomorrow. This city still had no aircraft, and no CAP reported by recon.

China

The solitary Chinese unit west of Changsha (the 77th Corps) was first bombed by 43 Ki-21, 24 Ki-48 and 18 Ki-49 from Wuhan, losing 108 men and 2 guns (while two Ki-49 were lost in an air-to-air collision), and then was attacked by five Div and both artillery units of the 11th Japanese Army and defeated at 293 to 1 (1809 Japanese AV vs 229, adjusted to 2351 vs 8). Japanese lost 248 men and 7 guns, while Chinese lost 1380 killed and wounded, around 1000 POWs and 42 guns, and retreated to Hengchow.
Other than this battle there was again no change today to the known Chinese positions.

The operational training Daitai in Wuhan sent 25 A6M3a against the 50th Chinese Corps NW of Changsha and hit 36 men without loss.

[String]

*waits anxiously to see the Yamato and Musashi in action* [:)]

[AmiralLaurent]

Hi String,

Well the Yamato and Musashi operated also together on the night of the 11th-12th when they sank with their escorts 2 AP, 3 DD, 1 DE and.... 2 CVL and a British CV ESE of PJ after the first battle of Paramushiro Jima.

But today (or more precisely last night) they ran into much fierce opposition but still won. Please note that I manually chosed the two best available captains for both super-battleships.

25 July 1943

Northern Pacific

During the night, as ships from both sides sailed to Paramushiro Jima, they both met enemy submarines patrolling in the area.
The SS USS Balao saw 2 CA and 2 CL 180 miles west of PJ but was then chased by 7 DD. She escaped unhurt, and later surfaced and sent a sighting report, but it got lost in administrative delays at Attu and never reached in time the Allied naval commanders around PJ. What she saw was the Musashi & and Yamato TF.
The Japanese submarines had better connections with their warships. 120 miles east of PJ, the RO-60 first reported being chased by 4 DD and be lightly damaged by 4 near-misses, and then being again chased by 4 SC and escaping again after a near-miss.
But the most interesting reports came from the RO-61 patrolling off PJ. Her crew knew that it was a suicidal job they had to do, but did it well. She first saw the BB Maryland and evaded her escort (7 DD). Then she reported a big convoy (at least 4 AK, 1 LSD, 3 LST, 5 LCI escorted by 1 DD, 2 DD, 2 DMS, 3 MSW) but was then detected and heavily damaged by 2 hits and 5 near-misses scored by the 3 destroyers. She slipped away and saw another convoy, at least 9 AK escorted by 4 DD, before sending a full report.
So the Admiral Hashimoto aboard the Yamato knew that rather than intercepting a bombardment TF he will meet head-on a major invasion fleet supported by BB. He nevertheless sailed on after a last martial message that was cheered by all crews.

The Allied commanders on the contrary were mainly “in the blue”. The last reports they received showed no nearby Japanese ships, but repeated contact with submarines that increased the nervousness of the ships captains and disrupted a little the order of the various TF. The fact that there were several surface TF in the area from different countries didn’t help either, while the radar had not been working well in the area and sea haze was surrounding the island.
The result of all these factors was that the main Allied BB TF (BB Maryland, West Virginia, California, Idaho, New Mexico and Mississippi and 7 DD) didn’t react when the Japanese strike force (BB Yamato and Musashi, CA Chikuma, Aoba, Kinugasa and Furutaka, CL Oyodo and Kitakami, 7 DD) approached it, thinking it was another Allied TF. And suddenly the Japanese opened fire!
In the minutes it took for the Allied crew to return fire, 6 of their 7 had been hit, two of them by torpedoes, while the New Mexico had been hit by a torpedo and the West Virginia had received a 18in shell from the Musashi. The Allied ships then opened fire at 5000 yards on the incoming Japanese ships and began to score. Five Japanese DDs were hit by one or more 5in shells but the Minegumo torpedoed the DD USS Lardner twice and she capsized the first loss of the night. The West Virginia continued her duel vs the Musashi and took another 18in shell. The Allied TF had no time to fully react and its line was broken when the Japanese ships cut into it and the battle turned to a close-range melee.
The Yamato pummeled the Maryland with 18.1in shells, scoring 17 hits with such shells, and the devastated American battleship sank without having scored any important hit on her opponent. This loss proved to be a disaster for the Allied as she was the flagship of the main Allied TF in the area and as such carried the staff charged of coordinating all naval groups protecting the convoys. After this brutal loss, all coordination was lost.
At the same time the New Mexico took another torpedo but the last American BB in the line managed to get out of the scrap and opened fire on radar plots. They didn’t fire on BB or DD-sized targets by fear of hitting friends but had several CA-sized targets and the CA Aoba took two 14in shells and the Furutaka one. Inside the melee Japanese DD and CL were fighting the American DD and sank the Aaron Ward and the Laffey (that fell to a volley of torpedo launched by the Kitakami) and crippled the Buchanan with gunfire, but also suffered. Before sinking the Aaron Ward managed to hit the CL Oyodo with a torpedo and the DD Onami and Urakaze both were badly damaged by a dozen 5in shells.
After seeing his flagship sink the Maryland, Hashimoto thought that he had well used the initial advantage of surprise and rather than continue to fight the remaining 5 BB ordered his ships to continue to reach the convoys signaled by the RO-61. Both sides continued to exchange shells where they separated and the BB West Virginia and California were both hit by a 18in shell fired respectively by the Yamato and Musashi, while the CA Chikuma, Kinugasa and Aoba were all hit by a 14in shell. The CA Furutaka saw the burning DD Buchanan and sank her with a volley of 8in shells. And then both TF lost contact in the haze.

Result of round one:
Allied side (6 BB, 7 DD)
Sunk: BB California, DD Aaron Ward, Buchanan, Laffey, Lardner
On fire: BB West Virginia, California, DD Lawsdon (sp?), McCalla
Japanese side (2 BB, 4 CA, 2 CL, 7 DD)
Heavily damaged: CL Oyodo, DD Onami, Urakaze
On fire: CA Chikuma, DD Suzuzuki, Minegumo

Hashimoto didn’t find the convoys as Japanese lookouts reported ships forward closing rapidly in the haze. It was another surface TF, made of four British cruisers (CA Devonshire and Dorsetshire, CL Birmingham and Newcastle) escorted by 6 US DD. One again the Allied side was plagued by communication problems as the communication of the British Admiral aboard his CA had to pass to the leading US DD before reaching the united (American) command, and so in the other way. So all that he knew what that the BB TF had been scattered by a powerful Japanese TF and its BB were cut in two groups of 3. So he wasn’t sure if the ships approaching his ships were Japanese or American BB and ordered ships to hold their fire, but be ready. So Japanese opened fire first (surprise again in game) but Allied replied some seconds later and only two 6in shells had hit in the mean time a CA and a DD. The battle was then fought at 6-7000 yards (in 3 rounds).
The initial reports he had received were showing the British Admiral that his small TF will be overwhelmed but his reaction was to plan for a quick torpedo attack before retreating. Brave Allied crews followed the plan despite the rain of heavy fire falling on them and sank the damaged DD Urakaze with 2 torpedoes and hit with one torpedo each the BB Musashi and the CA Kinugusa and Furutuka. And the CL HMS Newcastle won a gunnery duel with the CA Aoba, hitting her with 3 penetrating hits without being hit in return. But she was the only Allied cruiser to escape lightly. THE CA Devonshire was hit by two 18in and six 6in shells from the Musashi, the CA Dorsetshire by two 18in and three 6in shells from the Yamato and the CL Birmingham by eight 8in shells and one torpedo sent by the CA Chikuma. During this time there were also the usual hits on destroyers of both sides but without too heavy consequences. The British ships finally retired while the Japanese ships that turned north to avoid most of the torpedoes were now sailing away from the convoys.

Result of round two:
Allied side (2 CA, 2 CL, 6 DD)
Heavily damaged: CA Dorsetshire, Devonshire, CL Birmingham, DD Dyson
On fire: DD O’Brien
Japanese side (2 BB, 4 CA, 2 CL, 7 DD)
Sunk: DD Urakaze, Onami (Onami sank in fact some hours later off Paramushiro, where her crew managed to land, but took no more part in the action that night and sank due to damage taken during both clashes above)
Heavily damaged: CA Aoba, Kinugasa, CL Oyodo, DD Minegumo
On fire: BB Musashi, CA Chikuma, DD Akebono, Susuzuki

At this stage, with more than half of his ships damaged and one of two super battleships having been hit, Hashimoto decided it will not continue towards the convoys. Rather than turn back and escape south of the island by the same way the TF arrived he decided to sail north of it. And by doing that he met his third Allied surface TF of the night. This time it was a 100% USN TF (CA San Francisco, Quincy and New Orleans, CL Boise II and 5 DD) tasked to patrol north of the convoy zone. Sadly for the American sailors the Japanese ships came from their rear and were guessed to be friendly, as at this stage most of the Allied communication network had broken down as everybody was trying to reach the united command staff (lost with the Maryland) or someone else.
And once again Japanese ships opened fire first while the surprised American ships turned their guns as fast as possible towards them. Before they fired back, the San Francisco had been hit by 2 18in and 2 6in shells fired by the Musashi and the DD Farenholt had been hit by a 8in shell from the CA Furutaka that detonated her ammunition. When the smoke cleared there was no more trace of the ship or her crew (sea off the Kurils during a hazy night will not be very warm, even in July. By the way I started to wonder by writing this if there is a night phase in PJ in July. I had no idea, except that I supposed if to be in the far north. So I searched the sunrire and sunset hours for the place. I found them for Attu (that is actually more north) and discovered that on 27 July the night there will last 8 hours. By the way at latitude 50° N, Paramushiro is more south than London, so even if the climate is far more rough there is never artic full day or night).
The Allied ships began to return fire at 4000 yards, then both TF closed at 3000 before separating and the last shells were fired at 7000 yards. Some minutes after the Farenholt the CA Quincy also took a 8in shell in her ammunition chamber and exploded. And the San Francisco ws thoroughly pounded by the Musashi during all the exchange and sank after taking a total of 8 18in shells and 8 6in shells. The most successful Allied ship was the Boise that escaped all damage and hit several times two Japanese CAs. The destroyer USS Bailey was heavily damaged by a torpedo and shells fired a four or five Japanese ships, and sank some hours later.

Result of round three:
Allied side (3 CA, 1 CL, 5 DD)
Sunk: CA Quincy, San Francisco, DD Farenholt, Bailey
On fire: CA New Orleans, DD Welles and Barcroft
Japanese side (2 BB, 4 CA, 2 CL, 5 DD)
Heavily damaged: CA Aoba, Kinugasa, Chikuma, CL Oyodo, DD Minegumo, Akebono, Susuzuki
On fire: BB Musashi, CA Furutaka, DD Arakaze
OK: BB Yamato, CL Kitakami, DD Oboro

As the BB TF retired the damaged SS RO-61 tried to escape also but was chased by 5 DD escorting a convoy. She escaped again in a fog bank, only to be detected just before dawn by 4 MSW and sunk with depth charges by the MSW Ungawa.

And then the Japanese TF sailed to the NW and escaped. It met a total of 6 BB, 5 CA, 3 CL and 18 DD during the night, and sank 1 BB, 2 CA and 6 DD and damaged 2 BB, 3 CA, 1 CL and 6 DD for the loss of 2 DD and 1 SS, and damage to 1 BB, 4 CA, 1 CL and 4 DD. But now Japanese sailors had to return to base…

Behind them the Allied fleet reorganized and at dawn started to land more troops on PJ. Three TF were involved. Two were in range from Japanese guns that fired 700 shells on them during the day, setting a DD and an AK on fire and hitting more slightly 3 DD, 1 AK and 4 LCI. Allied losses during the landing were 3419 men and 5 guns, while Allied counter-battery fire hit 100 men and 2 guns. This landing took place under a heavy rain that cancelled all flying in the immediate area. Clouds also closed Toyohara airfield, the main Japanese base, and no raid was launched from here.
But the main Allied CV TF was on a clear spot 60 miles east of PJ and launched patrols to search for the damaged Japanese warships. If the main body of the Japanese TF was 240 miles WNW of PJ, covered by Oscar II flying from Toyohara (two were lost in accidents) and out of range all heavily damaged ships except the Chikuma were more closer, at 60 miles NW of PJ. The two biggest, the CA Aoba and Kinugasa, were close to each other and were attacked by 99 SBD, 75 TBM and 17 Barracuda escorted by 28 F4F-4, 25 F6F and 9 Wildcat V. Each cruiser sank after a torpedo hit. 13 B-24D and 6 PB4Y had also been dispatched from Attu to chase these ships but got lost in bad weather and turned back.

14 F4F-4 flew CAP over PJ and shot down during the day a Emily getting too close of the Allied ships but were only defending the fleet and the beach and didn’t manage to shot down any of the Japanese transport aircraft still flying to the base.

In the evening the SS RO-60 was again chased 120 miles east of PJ, this time by 3 SC, and damaged by 4 more near-misses. With damage 28/14, the submarine sailed in the evening SW to return to the Japan.

On the ground at PJ, both sides continued to exchange shells. Japanese guns failed to hit anything but allowed to count the reinforced Allied forces (88 920 men (+17 978), 720 guns (+136), 191 vehicles (+1), 1804 AV (+638)). Japanese forces (34 921 men (+65), 156 guns (+6), 4 vehicles, 642 AV) lost 242 men and 1 gun. The evening report in PJ reported damage of 68/61/90 (airbase/runways/port), 198 available engineer squads (+9 in two days) and 47 809 supplies (-2006 in two days). A new air bridge will begin tomorrow, flown by 30 Topsies from Ominato to carry the 3rd South Seas Detachment. 21 tranport Mavis also reached this base in the evening but needed reast after flying from Suva in two days.

The BB TF will sail to Toyohara and be LRCAPed by 36 Ki-61 based in Wakkanai. More east the four surviving crippled ships (CL Oyodo and 3 DD) NW of PJ were scattered and will sail individually to the SW or W. One DD may survive if weather forbids Allied air attacks.

The main Japanese reaction to the new landings in PJ (that no patrol saw coming…) was to send the Kido Butai. It was still a powerful naval force, now with 10 CV, 6 CVL, 4 BB, 5 CA, 6 CL and 40 DD. But the air groups were less impressive and had only 548 aircraft (while the total capacity of the fleet was 849…): 257 fighters (246 available), 137 dive bombers (137) and 154 torpedo bombers (153). The TF was organized in a surface TF, 3 CV TF and an ASW DD TF. Also 3 CL and 5 DD escorting a convoy coming from Tokyo were detached from their TF and will join the KB.

Tomorrow the only Japanese force that will attack ships off PJ will be the Toyohara airmen. The small CAP should allow the bombers based here (86 G4M1 and 9 G4M2 with 68 Oscar II available to escort them) to reach the Allied ships, especially the CVE(s) probably sailing just off the beachhead. To do that their range was limited to 9, so allowing them only to reach the island and not the Allied CV farther to the east.

The last unit flying operational training in China, an A6M3a Daitai with 68 exp, flew from Wuhan and arrived in Sapporo in the evening.

The convoy bringing two Eng Rgt in Wakkanai reached this base. One will be unloaded here, the other will remain aboard ships that will sail to Toyohara.



Southern Pacific

During the day, Emilies from Norfolk Island flew recon of the Australian city of Newcastle. The 1st Eng Rgt had finished to build fort in this base (level 9) and 4 AK left Noumea and 2 more Auckland to pick it up and bring it more north.
Also the two ML based in Auckland sailed north to Noumea. With other ML that left some time ago, they had laid minefields off the various NZ cities. At this date, 11 000 mines were off Auckland, 2000 off Wellington and 1000 off Christchurch.

A convoy bringing a Naval Guard Unit, an Eng Rgt and a Const Bn from NZ arrived in Saipan and will reinforce the garrison and build defenses here.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

During the night the airfield of Kiriwima Island was bombed and missed by 4 Betties from Truk. Allied AA fire shot down one of these bombers. In the morning 13 A6M2 flew a sweep from Rabaul to this base. 2 F4F-4 were flying in the area but were not engaged.

During the day Allied airmen launched no raid but patrolling B-25 hit the AK Noriso Maru off Rabaul and the SS I-10 SW of Woodlark Island. The AK (damage 27/11/5) will remain off Rabaul and continue to unload much need supplies, while the submarine (damage 39/71) will return to Lunga.

In the evening, both Rabaul and Kavieng were again evacuated (except some floatplanes). 15 A6M2 flew from Rabaul to Lunga and 31 Nick from Kavieng to Truk.

A convoy with 21k fuel and two ML left Truk for Lunga.

Timor-DEI-Australia

In the morning a PBM Mariner was shot down by AA fire during a recon of Kendari. In the afternoon, Allied airmen launched again two raids on Timor, and one was intercepted. Koepang was attacked by 80 B-25C and 59 B-25J from Derby but 5 Tojo from 70 Sentai flying LRCAP from Maumere intercepted them and shot down 5 B-25C and 3 B-25J for one loss to return fire and another in an accident. 36 B-25J and 24 B-25C turned back under these attacks but the other reached the target and scored 3 hits on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 27 on runways, doing 42 casulaties. Dili was bombed by 7 PB4Y from Wyndham, and reported 1 hit on the airbase and 2 on runways, and 12 casualties.
The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Koepang 79/99 (system/runway), Dili 95/90, Lautem 72/58/38, other bases undamaged. All Tojo left in the evening Maumere for Kendari.

In Sorong supplies rose over 10k (because an AK was unloading in the port) and repairs were done, bringing the working centers to 8 (1 oil, 7 resources). A small AK started to load supplies in Palau and will also bring them here.

SRA

In the evening, the SS USS Finback attacked the Manila-based ASW group 180 miles WNW of Lingayen and missed the DD Oshio with her torpedoes. She was then depth charges by the PC Ch 15 and the MSW W.14 and lightly damaged by a hit and a near-miss scored by the first.

In Palembang the TK convoy had finally finished to load oil and merged with the AK convoy that came from Singapore. The new super-convoy sailed for Japan (via Legaspi) with 133k resources and 112k oil aboard.

Burma

Bad weather again limited Allied sorties over Burma. Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 9 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 19 P-40E and reported 1 hit on the airbase and 13 on the runways. In the jungle SE of Imphal, the 11th NLF was attacked by 39 Hurricane II from this base escorted by 6 Spitfire Vb and SW of Kohima the 12th NLF was attacked by 13 Hurricane from Kohima escorted by 7 Spitfire Vb. The only Allied loss was a P-40E in an accident.

The Burma Naval Force (still 2 CA, 1 CL, 3 DD) will bombard Trincomalee tomorrow evening. As it will be in range of Ceylon tomorrow 16 Oscar II were sent from Rangoon to Andaman Islands airfield (that Japanese engineers expanded to level 2 today) to fly LRCAP over the TF.

Japanese troops in Myitkina were still bombarded by the Allied troops and lost 136 men and 5 guns. The report showed 2831 Allied AV (+41) and 1956 Japanese AV (+3) here.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Mandalay 7/0 (system/runway), Myitkyina 36/7.

Bad others also grounded the Rangoon bomber force (67 Betties, 6 Nells) and didn’t allow recon to take good picture of Jorhat (where 3 Spitfire Vb were flying CAP). The bombers were given the same orders as yesterday: to bomb the resources centers of Asansol tomorrow. Jorhat may be a good target too with at least two squadrons of Beaufighter based here and few if any local defense.

China

Two of the four Chinese units reported yesterday in Hengchow left the town. One went to the country NW of the city, the other followed the railway and reached the positions of the 11th Japanese Army west of Changsha and will be attacked tomorrow by these units. The weakened Chinese garrison was no more a threat for Kweilin and the 116th Div that was holding this city was divided in 3 parts. A regiment will hold the city, the two other will march to Hengchow and occupy the rail line and the city.
Other than that there was no change today to the known Chinese positions.

The operational training Daitai in Wuhan sent 25 A6M3a against the 50th Chinese Corps NW of Changsha and hit 58 men without loss. In the evening this unit was flown to Sapporo (see the Northern Pacific part to know why).