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

[06 Maestro]

PJ is starting to look like an American "Stalingrad". 

[veji1]

waoh...

Such battle !! Good work, surface ships are of no use if you don't commit them at some point, and victory here would mean tranquility for Japan till mid 1944 at least...

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Great victory - Banzai!!!

BTW, where are your other BBs and CAs? Will you use them to fend off Allied ships off PJ?

Also, with Allied ground reinforcements would it be possible to hold PJ with forces at hand or you must fly in additional division(s)?


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

Maestro, I hope it will be an American "Stalingrad" (where the attacker failed), and not a "Guadalcanal" (where he finally prevailed with heavy losses to both sides).

Vej and Apollo, I agree that surface ships should be used when circunstances are good, or need it. While the KB could be a nice "fleet in being", surface ships can't have this status... My experience of the last month proved that without KB cover my surface forces can't do much. The Musashi/Yamato TF was just an exception but only because the particular condition of this battle with an island in the middle of each other LBA and both sides not daring sending CV on the "enemy side".

As for my major surface ships, most are with the KB or were used for the Musashi/Yamato TF.

Other forces are the following:
Burma/Singapore 3 CA, 2 CL
Solomons BB Kongo, 3 CA (+ 1 damaged in Truk), 2 CL
Southern Pacific 1 CL
Pearl Harbor BB Yamashito

Of the ten Japanese BB two have been sunk (one during the capture of Hawaii by a mine that detonated her ammunition, the other by Allied CV during 1st battle of Paramushiro Jima), 2 are away and 6 fought with the KB (including both super-battleships).

26 July 1943

An interesting debate took place today between the members of the Japanese High Command. The Army leaders that had been so aggressive back in May-June when there was the hot debate to send troops to Burma or not, were almost silent today. Now there was a crisis right on the doorstep of Japan, in fact inside Japan as Paramushiro Jima was a Japanese territory, and so far the Navy ships, airmen and even troops had done almost all the work in this area. And (to the chagrin of some of the Army officials?) they had done well, sweeping away all the former accusations of doing nothing while the Army fought in Burma and China.
Even if the last month saw great successes in China with the capture of Kweiyang and Changsha, it also saw the failure of the original plan to take Kunming and Yunan. And in Burma the long-awaited counter-attack had not yet been launched, was not assured to be successful and for what it is worth all IJA dream of then pursuing defeated Allied troops to India had been forgotten.
The conclusion of the reunion was that IJA offensive plans in China and Burma will be cancelled. IJA units in China will take the Kweiyang-Changsha road and then redeploy to defend Japanese conquests, while sending one more division to a port where it could be shipped to the Northern Front. In Burma the gathered troops will launch the planned counter-offensive but won’t pursue at all Allied units in the jungle. And most of the reinforcements sent there will leave the country after this battle.
The General Staff confirmed the orders to concentrate all available resources in the north to hold Paramushiro Jima. To add to the shame of the Army officers they will almost have no part in this effort. Outside Oscar II their aircraft won’t have the necessary range and they have no more troops in the area (the 21st Div and 56th Div should be back in Japan in about 2 weeks, but the battle will probably have been lost or won at this stage… even if both units will probably be thrown in the PJ meat-grinder too). On the other hand the IJN send many orders to send back to Japan air units and ships that were in various parts of the Empire (the detail will be described below in each area).

Northern Pacific

Five Allied convoys unloaded troops on Paramushiro Jima during the night, and two more joined them during the day, bringing their number to seven. Japanese defenders managed to fire 403 CD shells at the landing in the 24-hour period, set on fire 2 AK and 1 MSW and hit slightly a DD and another AK. Allied counter-battery fire hit 10 Japanese men. Total Allied losses during these landing were 4130 men and 3 guns.

Just after dawn the SS USS Ray saw the badly damaged DD Akebono 60 miles west of Onnekotan Jima and hit her with a torpedo but she survived.
In the morning the main Allied CV TF 60 miles east of PJ was covered by clouds and didn’t send any raid, but the CVE TF off the beachhead was able to operate. If flew a CAP of 18 F4F-4 over the Allied ships unloading troops and sent two small raids on the damaged DD 120 miles more west. 8 TBF escorted by 13 F4F-4 attacked the DD Minegumo and scored a torpedo hit, while two other TBF escorted by 6 F4F-4 sank the Akebono with one torpedo hit. One TBF was lost in a landing accident while returning from these raids.
The Allied CAP over PJ was not impressive but Toyohara airbase failed to launch a big raid to exploit it. Only 7 G4M1 and 4 G4M2 escorted by 24 Oscar II were sent to attack the two CVE off the beachhead. The Wildcat pilots of VF-35 and VF-60 were very efficient in defending their home ships and shot down 11 Oscar, 4 G4M1 and 2 G4M2 for only one loss (shot down by an Oscar). The surviving bombers missed the Suwanee and lost a further G4M2 to AA fire and a G4M1 in an accident. During the day Allied CAP also shot down 3 patrolling aircraft (a Betty, a Nell and an Emily). The only goods news of the day was that Japanese ASR saved 4 Oscar pilots and 3 bomber crew (2 G4M2 and 1 G4M1).

In the afternoon the main Allied CV TF was still covered by clouds and the CVE airmen again were sent to chase two other damaged ships seen 120 miles NW of Onnekotan Jima. 4 TBF escorted by 11 F4F-4 missed the CL Oyodo, 4 other escorted by 6 F4F-4 scored a torpedo hit and a dud on the DD Suzuzuki and sank her.
Over PJ the Allied fighter pilots on CAP had strict orders to defend the ships and again failed to shot down any of the transport aircraft bringing reinforcement troops from Wakkanai, Toyohara and Ominato.
In the evening both the DD Minegumo and the CL Oyodo were deemed no more salvable (FLT 90+) and were both scuttled. That brought the total Japanese losses for the second battle of Paramushiro Jima to 2 CA, 1 CL, 5 DD and 1 SS.

On the ground at PJ, both sides continued to exchange shells. The Allied forces now had 36 units in PJ (28 are shown in the attached screenshot) with a total of 107 944 men (+19 024), 972 guns (+252), 230 vehicles (+39), and 1928 AV (+124) and lost 58 men and 2 guns while Japanese forces (35 751 men (+830), 187 guns (+37), 5 vehicles (+1), 666 AV (+24)) lost 254 men and 4 guns. The evening report in PJ reported damage of 68/28/90 (airbase/runways/port), 203 available engineer squads (+5) and 48 938 supplies (+ 1129 (I definitely not understand what the AI is doing with supplies in PJ)).



Tomorrow will be a day of rest and preparation for the Japanese forces. The KB that received aboard today the 25 A6M3a of the op training unit that flew from China the day before will sail 120 miles north of Etoforu Jima. It should be there out of range of Allied LBA patrols and CV aircraft but in a good position to attack Allied ships around PJ the next night and day. It was reorganized into 4 CV TF following 2 DD. One of theses CV TF was in fact a surface TF to which was added the empty CVL Chitose, to see if the TF will react with the other CV TF in case they react. In Toyohara all units will rest or fly only naval search tomorrow, to be in the best shape possible for a maximum effort in 2 days.

In Ominato, all AP planned to take part in the relief convoy to PJ had arrived and a TF was created with 6 escort DD and 40 AP (of 3000 or 4500 tons) that were ordered to load the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th South Seas Detachment (the 3rd was already being air carried to PJ). This convoy will finish loading tomorrow and will sail to PJ under escort by two ASW TF (made each of 5-6 PG and fast MSW).

The damaged DD docked in Etoforu Jima had now damage of 54/29 and left for Ominato to leave room for the next damaged ships….

Southern Pacific

One of the first units to move in response to the new concentration strategy was the Emily Chutai based in Auckland that flew as a first step to Truk.

The ML squadron (a MLE and 4 ML) based in Pago-Pago sailed with a CL and a DD from this base (where it laid 17 000 mines) to go to Lunga and lays mines off the Solomon bases.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

Rabaul was attacked in the afternoon by 24 B-25J from Gili Gili and by 90 B-24D and 16 PB4Y from PM escorted by 42 P-38G and reported a total of 108 casualties, 4 disabled guns, 23 hits on the airbase, 7 on supplies and 138 on the runways. Two B-24D and a 25J were shot down by AA fire and a B-24D was lost in an accident. In the evening this base reported damaged of 51/64 (airbase/runway).

Allied engineers expanded the airfield of Kiriwima to size 2. 18 Jakes arrived from Saipan and Truk in the seaplane base of Shortlands and will rest some days and then be used to attack barges and PT off Kiriwima.

Timor-DEI-Australia

As planned after the air ambush of yesterday over Koepang, Darwin airmen attacked Maumere with 109 B-17E and 35 B-24D, scoring 25 hits on the airbase, 4 on supplies and 91 on the runways and disabling 67 men and 2 guns. The usual raids over Timor also took place and Koepang was attacked by 76 B-25C and 12 B-25J from Derby and reported 110 casualties, 2 disabled guns, 7 hits on the airbase, 2 on supplies and 81 on runways. Dili was bombed by 47 B-25C from Darwin escorted by 11 P-40N and by 7 PB4Y from Wyndham, and reported 3 hits on supplies and 16 on runways, and 30 casualties. A B-17E was shot down by AA fire over Maumere and 4 B-17E and 2 P-40N were lost in accidents.

The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Maumere 46/60 (system/runway), Koepang 86/99, Dili 98/99, Lautem 72/50/38, other bases undamaged.

According to the new strategy concentrating forces in Kuriles, 23 G4M1 left Macassar and flew to Sapporo.

SRA

All warships available in Singapore (the recently-upgraded CA Suzuya, the CL Isuzu and 3 DD) were ordered to return to Japan and the Kuriles front. They will be joined at sea by two more DD detached from a convoy in the area.

Burma

The whole Rangoon bomber force (67 Betties, 6 Nells) raided the resources centers of Asansol in the morning. They met no CAP and weak AA fire and suffered no loss. This attack disabled 49 more resource centers.

Weather again hindered Allied air activities over Burma, hitting a base and 6 units. Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 6 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 18 P-40E and reported 10 casualties, 1 hit on the airbase and 5 on the runways. In the jungle SE of Imphal, the 11th NLF was attacked by 36 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 9 Spitfire Vb. There was no Allied loss today while a Irving shot down over Kohima by an Allied fighter.

The Burma Naval Force was seen in the afternoon by an Allied patrol aircraft 360 miles SE of Trincomalee. With surprise lost, and the possibility that powerful CD guns defended this port, the raid was cancelled. The TF received orders to return to Singapore and then, following the decision to concentrate all forces on the Kuriles front, will return to Japan.

On the ground Allied troops bombarded Japanese troops in Myitkina, hitting 68 men, 1 tank and 3 guns. The report showed 2965 Allied AV (+134, a 27th unit arrived here from Ledo) and 1952 Japanese AV (-4) here.
SW of Kohima the retreating 12th NLF was shock attacked by a depleted Allied unit, the 74th Chinese Corps (reduced to 3000 men and 33 guns) and defeated at 13 to 1 (102 Allied AV vs 0 adjusted at 13 vs 1). It retreated SW and joined the 11th NLF SE of Imphal. Some tens of badly sick Japanese soldiers were left behind and committed suicide.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Myitkyina 35/0 (system/runway), other bases undamaged.

The last reinforcements units will arrive in Mandalay from Bangkok in 2-3 days and the 8th Tk Rgt was ordered to leave Lashio to join it. The troops that will then be gathered in Mandalay will be called Group South and have 1037 AV. Together with the 3 divisions in reserve west of Myitkyina (Group East, 974 AV) they will reinforce the troops on the frontline 120 miles west of Myitkyina (Group Center, 1202 AV) and then launch a counter-offensive against the Allied troops facing them. Units there were ordered to bombard the enemy to determine his current force.

China

The Chinese unit west of Changsha (the 35th Corps) was attacked the 11th Japanese Army (6 Div and 2 artillery units) and defeated at 280 to 1 (2117 Japanese AV vs 356, adjusted to 3933 vs 14). Japanese lost 154 men and 4 guns, while Chinese lost 1181 killed and wounded, around 1000 POWs and 17 guns, and were rejected in Hengchow. Another Chinese city left this city to the countryside NW of it, leaving two units in the city (including the one that was repulsed here).

More north the regiment of the 26th Div that had cut the Chungking-Sian road and was now marching back was surprised to see a Chinese unit arrive in the area. It saw nothing yesterday in the area, and it was not known if this unit was retreating from Central China or coming from Chungking as reinforcement. The unit will continue to march to the NW (it the game allows it).

Japanese airmen expanded the airfield of Kweiyang to size 6.

Japan

Finally the Mitsubishi engineers announced that the A6M5 (with 160 research factories across the country) will be released one month ahead of schedule: on the 1st August rather than 1st September. All A6M3a factories in the Empire were ordered to restart production to increase the pool of A6M3a (at 195 units today) before converting to A6M5. The range of the A6M3a will be missed, and so a part of the Japanese units will keep the old “Zero”.

[AmiralLaurent]

27 July 1943

The crisis in Paramushiro Jima intensified and the High Staff ordered more units to return to Japan to join the battle. I don’t know if I can win the war her, but I may certainly lose it…

Northern Pacific

Six Allied convoys unloaded troops on Paramushiro Jima during the night (so one finished unloading yesterday), and five during the day (one more finished before dawn). Japanese defenders only fired 78 CD shells at the landing in the 24-hour period and hit only one AK without doing much damage. Most Allied troops were already ashore and losses during these landings were 1008 men and 2 guns.

There was little air activity in the area. 11 F4F-4 were reported on CAP over PJ and two Japanese patrol AC (a Nell and a Glen) were shot down there or over the main Allied CV TF east of Paramushiro Jima. Japanese transport continued to ferry troops to PJ without being much attacked by the Allied CAP but lost one of their number, a Tabby, in an accident today.

But there was far more activity on the ground in PJ as the newly landed Allied troops joined those holding the beachhead and launched a deliberate attack against Japanese positions. Before the attack, the base was bombarded at night by 5 American cruisers (CA Louisville, Houston, Northampton and Indianapolis, CL Minneapolis) and at night and during the day by four CL (USS Denver, Montpelier and Cleveland, HMS Newcastle) and 6 DD. These three bombardments disabled 963 men, 20 guns and 1 tank, destroyed a Pete on the ground and scored 5 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies, 74 on runways and 5 on the port. Before the Allied attack Japanese guns hit 14 men and the Allied forces were reported as 112 850 men (+4 906), 1133 guns (+161), 305 vehicles (+75), and 1990 AV (+62).
As in the former attacks the Allied engineers using flame-throwers, bangalores and explosives managed to neutralize a good part of the Japanese bunkers in the attacked area (reducing forts from level 7 to 6) but for the first time Allied infantrymen then managed to hold the conquered ground and didn’t return to their starting line in the evening (attack achieved 1 to 1 ratio, with 1798 Allied AV vs 529 adjusted to 1813 vs 1228). Japanese losses were 1172 men and 19 guns, Allied ones 1260 men, 59 guns and 2 tanks.
The evening report in PJ reported damage of 86/78/90 (airbase/runways/port), 203 available engineer squads and 47 867 supplies (- 1071).

More sacred soil of Japan had been lost!!!! And PJ may fall in some days at this pace, something that the Japanese High Command could not allow to happen. A general attack on Allied naval forces was ordered for the next day. Regaining control of the sea around PJ will be the first phase of the Japanese reaction and will then allow reinforcement troops to be landed here.

The Kido Butai was now 360 WSW of PJ and hadn’t been detected today by any aircraft or submarine. It will lead the Japanese counter-attack. On the evening of the 27th it was carrying 282 fighters (281 available), 137 dive bombers (all available) and 154 torpedo bombers (153 available).

The Japanese is was to keep Paramushiro Jima. To do that reinforcements should be sent here and air transport alone won’t be enough so troopships should reach the island. And to do that Allied ships should be chased from the area AND Japanese ships should be able to remain there. That was not the result of the first battle of Paramushiro Jima, where KB air units were too devastated to remain under range of the Allied LBA, and attack units were decimated and no more a serious threat.
The best way to achieve both goals was to break the Allied offensive power without too much heavy losses. The Kido Butai fighter units were in a good shape compared to the other air units and should be able to protect the CV from Allied air attacks. On the other hand if Japanese airmen attacked the Allied main CV TF they will probably be decimated again. So the plan was to send them against easier targets: the CVE, surface TF and convoys off Paramushiro Jima, while Zeroes flying 60% CAP will decimate Allied airmen if they attacked.
So orders for all CV TF will be to sail at 120 miles NW of Onnekotan Jima (180 miles of PJ) with CAP 60% and all attack aircraft set to range 2. Japanese CV will probably react eastwards and then arrive in range of PJ. CVE will also probably react (as they did everyday during the last battle) but Allied CV probably won’t because they could not sail west (to PJ) or NW (where they will arrive in a reef area, a coastal hex in game) or if they do they will be in a bad situation.
Then Japanese CV will be in range of Allied CV airmen and a CAP of 150-180 fighters will be able to decimate them. And the attack crews will have plenty of targets, the most interesting being these two so-far-lucky CVE off PJ, but also maybe some BB and CA, and in last resort the Allied convoys.

But before the probable CV battle that will take place tomorrowt a fast surface TF will sail at full speed to Paramushiro Jima and engage the Allied ships off the island during the night. It was thought that Allied bombardment TF had a decisive effect on the Allied success today and should be stopped. A bonus would be to reach the convoys, even if they probably were nearly empty of troops now.
This TF will include the BB Haruna and Hiei, 4 CA, 3 CL and 6 DD and will be led by Adm Tanaka. Despite being a renowned admiral, Tanaka had not been very successful so far during the war and Yamamoto’s protégés (Adm Hashimoto and Matsuyama), despite being less efficient than him on the paper, had commanded most of the biggest fleet until now. By the way Hashimoto was the one who won the 2nd battle of Paramushiro Jima two days ago. Tanaka had been in Truk during the first phase of the battles and only returned to Ominato a week ago. He finally held his chance to prove his worth.
(On a side note, I know that Tanaka and Nishimura are the best surface TF leaders for Japan, but from 1943 onwards my own experience is that less aggressive admirals like Hashimoto and Matsuyama will be more efficient. I don’t know if I was lucky so far or something else, but I have yet to be disappointed by one of these two guys while I have seen both Tanaka and Nishimura lose battles they should have won. The above being in UV and WITP).

The Kido Butai won’t fight alone. After a day rest, Toyohara airmen were also briefed to fly a full effort attack tomorrow. As for CV airmen, they were ordered to attack targets off PJ or west of it, but won’t go east of the besieged island (range 9 maximum). 91 Betties and 67 escort Oscar II will be ready tomorrow morning. As CVE will probably react away from PJ, they may attack the Allied ships off the island without being intercepted.

The result of this plan should be that tomorrow evening, both CVE should have been sunk, the Allied surface TF decimated by Tanaka, CV airmen and LBA and the Allied main CV fleet should have lost most of its offensive power. On the other hand, the KB should still have 200+ attack aircraft and 200+ fighters, while being able to gather another strong surface TF if Tanaka’s TF was decimated. So Allied ships will have either to retreat or to suffer very heavy losses by remaining in the area. And the way will probably be open when the Japanese troop convoy will arrive.
The worst that can happen will be that Allied CV will sail or react west of PJ and my airmen will attack them rather than other targets. I still think I can win the battle, except if the Allied admiral used very high CAP settings, but my attack units will be decimated again and Allied surface ships may remain off PJ.

The troop convoy sailed tonight from Ominato. As said above its 40 AP carry four South Seas Detachment units (21 000 men, a little under 400 AV). Transport AC will continue to ferry troops from 14th Div and 3rd South Seas Detachment. But all available transportation means were used and 15 barges off Etoforu Jima were ordered to load 1500 men of the 3rd regiment of the 14th Div keeping the base and will also carry them to PJ.



Central Pacific

The last two high-experience IJNAF units in PH, 27 Betties and 27 A6M3a, left Hawaii to go to the Kuriles front. The Betties flew all the way to Sapporo, one disappearing on the way with its crew, while the Zeroes had not the necessary range and settled for the night in Wake Island.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

There was no raid today. In the evening Rabaul reported damaged of 51/55 (airbase/runway).

The Atago TF reached Lunga and the damaged DD Tamanami was docked here. All other ships in the port, the BB Kongo, 3 CA, 1 CL and 8 DD, sailed north towards Japan to join the Kuriles front.

Timor-DEI-Australia

The raids were the same as the day before. Darwin airmen attacked Maumere with 90 B-17E and 30 B-24D, scoring 6 hits on the airbase, 5 on supplies and 89 on the runways and disabling 96 men and 1 gun. Koepang was attacked by 74 B-25C and 12 B-25J from Derby and reported 57 casualties, 3 disabled guns, 4 hits on the airbase, 6 on supplies and 61 on runways. Dili was bombed by 43 B-25C from Darwin escorted by 7 P-40N and by 6PB4Y from Wyndham, and reported 1 hit on supplies and 36 on runways, 1 disabled gun and 29 casualties. A B-24D was shot down by AA fire over Maumere, a PBY and a Catalina I were also shot down by AA while flying recon over Japanese bases in the area and 2 B-17E were lost in accidents.

The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Maumere 56/83 (system/runway), Koepang 100/99, Dili 99/89, Lautem 72/43/38, other bases undamaged.

SRA

180 miles N of Singkawang (Borneo) the SS USS Runner attacked the mega-convoy sailing from Japan and fired torpedoes against a tanker, but missed. Five escort ships chased her and the PC Ch 6 and the DD Tomozuru scored two near-misses.

120 miles NW of San Marcelino, the SS USS Grayback attacked during the night the Manila-based ASW groups (6 ships) and missed its flagship, the DD Oshio (that survived already several submarine attacks, a lucky ship). The ASW group then chased here three times during the night and another after dawn but without managing to seriously damage her. In all these actions the PC Ch 15 and Showa Maru 5 scored a total of 10 near-misses.

Burma

Allied airmen flew 462 sorties over Burma, hitting a base and 5 units. Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 7 B-25J from Ledo and reported 11 casualties, 1 hit on the airbase, 1 on supplies and 3 on the runways. Three units of the garrison (33rd and 104th Div, 21st Bde) were bombed by 50 Liberator VI, 48 B-24D, 45 Beaufighter VIC, 44 B-25C, 39 B-25J, 29 Blenheim IV, 28 B-17E, 24 Vengeance I and 16 Beaufighter Mk 21 from Ledo, Jorhat, Dacca and Imphal escorted by 63 P-40N and 24 P-40E and lost 292 men and 8 guns. In the jungle SE of Imphal, the 11th NLF was attacked by 37 Hurricane II from this base escorted by 6 Spitfire Vb. The only Allied loss was a Beaufighter VIC lost in an accident.

Japanese recon aircraft flew over Jorhat and reported there no local CAP but fighters drifting from Kohima. On the other hand there only saw 20 Allied AC in the base and the project of raiding it was cancelled. Anyway some hours later orders arrived from Tokyo to send there the whole Betty force (67 AC). They flew all the way to Sapporo and two were lost with their crews in accidents during this long flight. 20 A6M3a also left Rangoon and flew to Naga, Okinawa.

A 28th Allied unit reached Myitkina. Under artillery fire Japanese troops lost here 173 men, 1 tank and 3 guns. The report showed 3022 Allied AV (+57) and 1941 Japanese AV (-11) here.

120 miles more west Japanese troops of the Group Center bombarded the 11 Allied units that were near the railway bend. They hit 35 men but most important reported the Allied troops here as two HQ, 6 Chinese divisions, 1 UK Bde, 1 Chindit Bde and 1 Indian Bde with a total of 52 363 men, 337 guns and 1324 AV. The three groups sent to chase them will have 3200 AV and should be better supplies and trained, so the Burma Army Commander was confident, despite the loss of its supporting bomber force.

IJNAF bombers will be replaced by IJAAF units but they don’t have the same range and will need to be based in Central Burma, where Allied airmen may turn each airfield into a crater range. To try to surprise the Allied intelligence, the main airbase was shifted from Mandalay to Lashio and the 4th Aviation Rgt was ordered to go by train from the former to the latter.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Myitkyina 31/0 (system/runway), other bases undamaged.

China

120 miles SW of Chungking, the regiment of the 26th Div sent on a raid on the Chinese supply liens was forced to stop its march to return to Japanese lines when it was attacked by the 168th Chinese Div. The weak attacked failed totally (0 to 1, 12 Chinese AV vs 161 adjusted to 0 vs 313…) and the only casualties were 99 Chinese. Tomorrow the Japanese troops will attack the Chinese to chase them and then be able again to march away from this road.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

The crisis in Paramushiro Jima intensified and the High Staff ordered more units to return to Japan to join the battle. I don’t know if I can win the war her, but I may certainly lose it…

I was afraid of this - best of luck and may Gods be with you!

BANZAI!!!

The world again trembles while decision in the cold Pacific north approaches...


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

The game will stop for some days as Pompack has big problems with playing WITP on Vista.... A general reinstallation will probably be necessary and the next days will be used to cure this.

28 July 1943

Northern Pacific

Three Allied convoys unloaded troops on Paramushiro Jima during the night (so two finished unloading yesterday afternoon) and reported 146 landing casualties. Japanese defenders fired 59 CD shells but hit nothing.
But this night the danger for the Allied ships was not coming from the land but from the sea. Admiral Tanaka’s TF (BB Haruna and Hiei, 4 CA, 3 CL and 6 DD) was not detected before arriving in the area but Allied sailors were more alert and coordinated than when Hashimoto won the 2nd battle of Paramushiro Jima. Sadly for them, and hopefully for Japan, the available Allied forces were now far less powerful.

Tanaka was intercepted by an USN TF made of four CL (Cleveland, Montpelier, Denver and Birmingham) and 5 DD. Despite being well dominated in number and firepower the Allied commander managed to outmaneuver Tanaka (when I said that Hashimoto did better….) and crossed his T opening fire at 6000 yards. The CA Tone and two DD were hit in this phase but one of the hit DD, the Kazegumo retaliated with devastating status. She fired a torpedo spread at the American flagship, the CL Cleveland that was hit by two in her ammunition chamber and exploded. The other American ships turned to avoid the rear part that was still floating and were then taken under fire by the full Japanese line but managed to escape much damage (a CL set on fire and two DD damaged by shells and torpedoes) while firing their own torpedoes, one of which hit the Japanese DD Natsushio that also exploded and sank. And then both sides broke contact.

Tanaka was not interested in dealing with American cruisers, his target were the Allied convoys. So he tried to reach them by another way 30 minutes later but the same American TF intercepted him. Fire was again opened at 7000 yards but this time Tanaka ordered his ships to close range and eliminate the American ships. The latter only managed to score one more 6in shell on the already hit CA Tone, and to destroy some small guns aboard the Haruna, but the price was high. Both damaged DD, the Converse and Hutchins, were sunk, and all surviving ships were heavily damaged. The CL Montpellier took two 14in shells and 1 torpedo, the Birmingham one torpedo and the Denver two 14in shells, while the 3 remaining destroyers were hit repeatedly by shells fired by the Japanese cruisers and destroyers.

Leaving behind his three damaged ships (CA Tone and DD Nowaki heavily damaged, DD Nowaki on fire) Tanaka then sailed towards the Allied convoy. Another small Allied surface TF (2 US CL and a HMS CL, 4 DD) briefly engaged him but retired after scoring some more hits on the easiest targets, the burning Tone and Kazegumo.

And then Japanese lookouts reported a convoy full ahead and Tanaka ordered a Long Lance attack. His TF was no more in perfect order and the attack was not especially successful but sank the MSW USS Oracle and hit two AK. The attacked convoy was composed of 41 AK escorted by 5 MSW and tried to scatter as much as possible while the Japanese ships closed to gun the last ships before retreating out of the area. Without suffering any new hit, they sank 3 more MSW (Heed, Sage and Revenge) and two AK (Mildura and Eridanus). Another AK, the Cheleb, was fatally hit and sank some hours later SE of PJ where the convoy had fled. Two other AK were also hit but not seriously. Sadly there were no more troops aboard this convoy.

A last word about Tanaka’s ships before following the Kido Butai. His TF retreated without problem and ended the day at 300 miles WSW of PJ but the three damaged ships were not so lucky. The DD Kazegumo was not seriously hit and tried to follow the TF but failed and was sailing alone when she was attacked SW of PJ after dawn by the SS USS Cabrilla that hit her with a torpedo. She survived and managed to continue to sail west, ending the day at damage 57/88/38. The two other cripples, the Tone and the Nowaki, were slower and only did 120 miles during the day. In the afternoon, 3 B-17E from Attu attacked them and scored a hit on the Tone but it bounced on her armor. The CA (60/33/10) and the DD (69/39/26) will probably be saved. As the Kazegumo, they were ordered to sail to Etoforu Jima where the AR will patch them.

The Kido Butai sailed NE during the night and met the SS USS Balao that chased it for hours around 180 miles west of PJ, trying four times to attack. In her first attack she launched torpedoes at the CV Zuikaku and in her third at the BB Mutsu but torpedoes missed on the former and failed on the latter. The two other approaches were detected and depth charged by DD that also chased her after the failed shots, but the Balao escaped relatively lightly with only four near-misses. After dawn, the SS USS Raton also attacked the fleet 120 miles WNW of Onnekotan Jima and missed a DD and then escaped after one of the 8 DD chasing her had scored a near-miss.

Despite all these efforts by this valiant submarine the Kido Butai had reached intact the planned position 120 miles WNW of Onnekotan Jima, and clear weather covered all the area. Aircraft of both sides saw enemy CV and exactly at planned the KB admirals reacted eastwards while the CVE TF left PJ to the NW, ending at 60 miles E of the KB, and the main Allied CV TF didn’t dare to enter the reef area NE of PJ and remained west of the island, at 180 miles of the KB. Well, not went exactly as the plan. You remember that I tried an experiment by turning a surface TF into an “air combat” TF (by including an empty CVL) to see if the TF will follow reacting air TF. It didn’t, this TF stayed at the same place with the 3 DD leading the fleet, while the three “true” air combat TF reacted eastwards. So it was a bad idea… but with no consequence as this TF was not attacked at all during the day.

By the way as usual in CV battle the first to fell were the crew of patrol aircrafts shot down by enemy fighters. For today’s battle Allied losses were 6 Kingfisher and 1 TBM, Japanese ones were a Alf and a Emily.

The Kido Butai main target for today were the two American CVE and 79 Val and 81 Kates were sent to attack them under escort by 101 A6M3a and 15 A6M5. Once again Nagumo felt confident enough (victory disease?) to send 20 A6M3a on LRCAP over PJ. The available CAP over the Kido Butai was so reduced to 113 A6M3a and 21 A6M5. And waited for the Allied airmen to come.

They came in several waves. For both sides the first battle of Paramushiro Jima has seen the end of the powerful carrier air force trained for half a year by Japan and for a year by the Allied. Many formation leaders were dead, wounded or missing, and those that remained were leading a mix of veteran and rookies. That was the explanation of the fact that raids of both sides split before reaching their target.
The first Allied raid to reach the KB came from the main Allied CV fleet. 33 SBD and 17 TBM escorted by 11 F6F were easily repulsed by the Japanese CAP that shot down 22 SBD, all 17 TBM and 9 Hellcat for the loss of 5 A6M3a. The surviving Allied pilots turned back.
The next raid came from the CVE with 8 TBF escorted by 13 F4F-4. The CVE fighter pilots (of VF-35 and VF-60) had proven to be the best scores of the Allied side so far in the battle and managed to down 6 A6M3a but were too few and the Zeroes shot down all 21 aircraft of this wave.
And then arrived the main attack of this morning: 33 SBD, 33 TBM, 17 Barracuda and 7 TBF coming from both the main CV fleet (range 3) and the CVE TF (range 1) in an unusual successful cooperation at different range. They were escorted by 27 F4F-4, 10 F6F and 3 Wildcat V and at this time the Japanese CAP was reduced to 103 A6M3a and 21 A6M5. In a bloody air battle, 20 Japanese fighters (19 A6M3a and one A6M5) and 79 Allied aircraft (26 F4F-4, 18 SBD, 15 TBM, 8 F6F, 7 Barracuda and 3 TBM) were shot down. But this time Allied airmen reached the CV. As usual the SBD had turned back, but 33 torpedo bombers (18 TBM, 10 Barracuda and 5 TBF) attacked 2 CV and 3 CVL… and scored zero hits, while Japanese AA shot down 3 Barracuda, 2 TBM and 1 TBM. The unusual concentration of Japanese CV (5-6 by TF) and their upgraded AA might have been the decisive factor in the failure of Allied airmen.
Nagumo staff had little time to rejoice as another wave arrived from the main Allied TF with 33 SBD and 25 TBM escorted by 11 F4F-4 and 7 F6F. The Japanese CAP shot down 34 of them (17 SBD, 9 F4F-4, 6 TBM and 2 F6F) for the loss of only 3 A6M3a, but this time no Allied crew turned back and 19 TBM and 16 SBD again arrived over the KB and attacked the same TF as the last wave. This time 2 CV and 4 CVL were attacked with bombs and/or torpedoes. And again there were no hits, while AA fire shot down 5 TBM and 3 SBD. Banzai!!!

The Allied commander also sent 10 B-17E and 9 PB4Y from Attu to attack the KB but the range was too great and they never found the target after flying south to avoid flying in Soviet air space. The Soviet, being heavily engaged against Germany in Russia, hadn’t reacted to the start of the battle of PJ but after the first Allied reverses adopted a strong “neutral” attitude, increasing their fighter patrols to intercept aircraft entering it. As the Soviet Kamchatka was almost between Attu and PJ that was a major problem for Allied airmen, and didn’t change anything for Japan.

As said above the Japanese raid also lost cohesion and split in 2, 3 and then 4 groups before reaching the CVE TF NW of PJ. The luck of this flotilla anyway ran out when the first wave attacked them with 45 Kate and 31 Val escorted by 81 A6M3a and 15 A6M5. Twelve F4F-4 were defending this TF and did their maximum, destroying 7 A6M3a, but all were shot down. And then the Japanese airmen fell on the CVE and their escort (composed only of DD). The Chenango was sunk by 6 bombs and 3 torpedoes, while the Suwanee was sunk by only Kates with 3 torpedoes. Val pilots then attacked the escort and heavily damaged two DD, the La Vallette (4 hits) and the Aulick (1 hit). Allied AA fire shot down 4 Kate and 4 Val.
The three other Japanese groups (16 Val, 6 Kate, 12 A6M3a / 32 Val, 12 Kate, 8 A6M3a / 18 Kate) arrived after both CVE sank, searched for another interesting target in the area and finally returned to the CV with their bombs and torpedoes.

Their next targets were the Allied ships off PJ, at 120 miles ESE and a raid was planned for the afternoon. But this concentration had already been attacked by the Japanese LBA.

At dawn two Allied convoys were still unloading some troops off PJ in the well controlled center of the beachhead (58 landing casualties, no CD fire) while several other surface TF were in the area. But Toyohara airmen had taken off at dawn to attack them and the reaction of the CVE left them without air cover. They arrived first in small groups, 2 G4M2 missing a DMS and then 6 G4M1 missing two the BB West Virginia (smoking) and Mississippi and losing two of their number to AA fire. And then the main raid (30 G4M1 and 5 G4M2 escorted by 58 Oscar II) hit a convoy. The DE Burden R. Hastings and the LCI-221 were both sunk, the DD Philipp, AK Wonsang and LST-22 were all heavily damaged by a torpedo each. Only two G4M1 of this group were lost, ditching on the way home from AA damage. The morning ended with the attack of 3 G4M1 on the troop-laden AK Nord that was hit by one torpedo and reported 43 casualties and 2 destroyed guns aboard.
The Kido Butai scouts began to fly in force over the Allied convoys after noon and a Val bombed and hit the AK Prominent. The convoy attacked in the morning by the Betties was then raided by 84 Kate, 74 Val, 29 Judy and 11 Jill escorted by 71 A6M3a and 14 A6M5. For only 3 losses (2 Kate and 1 Val shot down by AA fire) the Japanese airmen sank the DMS Hamilton, the AK Loa Koeloe and Sipora, the MSW Rail II and the LST-22, heavily damaged 3 other LST, 3 other AK and 1 AP, and set on fire 1 DMS, 1 DE, 3 AK and 1 LST.
Toyohara airmen continued to attack but mostly in small groups. Two G4M1 escorted by 6 Oscar II missed an AK, and then 3 G4M1 managed to surprise the BB West Virginia and scored a torpedo hit on her, seeing her burning while they escaped. 5 G4M1 attacked a convoy and scored a torpedo hit on the LSD Carter Hall without loss. The biggest group, 13 G4M1, was escorted by 59 Oscar II and attacked an intact convoy but only scored one torpedo hit on an AK for 3 losses to AA fire. And the AK Nord was again attacked by 3 G4M1 and again hit by a torpedo, but still wasn’t heavily damaged. There was no troop casualties this time.

To end an already disastrous day for the Allied, the CA HMS Devonshire, badly damaged three nights ago by the Musashi, broke her tow 180 miles west of Attu and sank in the late afternoon. And the CL USS Denver, the only ship of the surface TF engaged by Tanaka last night still able to do some speed, was returning alone to Attu for repairs when she was attacked in the evening by the I-159 180 miles east of PJ. Only one torpedo hit her, but that was enough to trigger a magazine explosion and the cruiser sank in some minutes. She was the 21st Allied ship lost of the day.

The result of the air battle were clearly in Japanese favor. For the loss of 68 aircraft (45 A2A, 18 AA and 5 ops: 44 A6M3a, 7 G4M1, 6 Kate, 5 Val, 2 Oscar II, 2 Alf, 1 A6M5 and 1 Emily) and no loss to the Japanese CV, they sank 2 CVE, 1 DE, 2 AK, 1 MSW, 1 LST and 1 LCI and damaged 17 ships while Allied air losses were 273 aircraft (201 A2A, 15 AA, 55 “ground” (including a surprising 48 SOC-3 ???? Maybe the floaplane bug left 40+ Seagulls on a cruiser lost today), and 2 op: 64 F4F-4, 60 SBD, 48 SOC-3, 47 TBM, 19 F6F, 11 TBF, 10 Barracuda, 6 Kingfisher, 3 Wildcat V, 3 Walrus, 1 B-24D and 1 PBM Mariner).
The Japanese ASR service saved 13 A6M3a pilots, 2 Val crews, 2 Betty crews and 1 Oscar pilot, all unhurt. So the number of men killed, captured or wounded was 31 A6M3 pilots, 6 Kate crews, 5 Betty crews, 3 Vals crews, 2 Alf crews, 1 Emily crew, 1 Oscar pilot and 1 A6M5 pilot: a total of 50 pilots, 10-20% of them being probably only wounded. Most of the losses were rookies in the Zero units.
By the way these losses are only for Kuriles, the score for the whole game was 69 Japanese and 279 Allied.
The best living Japanese ace, PO2 Fujita P. of EII-1 Daitai, increased his score to 30 by shooting down 3 F4F-4 over the Allied CVE. Several other pilots increased their score to 20 or more (up to 24).

But now the Japanese Command was waiting for news of Paramushiro Jima itself. The Allied troops launched another deliberate attack here and were supported by 45 B-24D from Attu that bombed a regiment of the 14th Div. The 20 A6M3a sent by Nagumo intercepted them but were mostly new pilots freshly come from training schools and didn’t manage to shot down any bomber while losing two of their number to return fire. A B-24D was lost to engine failure and a PBM Mariner was shot down by AA fire over PJ (losses already counted above). The bombs hit 96 men and 4 guns. Later, and despite torpedo attacks, the BB West Virgina, Idaho and Mississippi bombarded the base and disabled 913 men and 10 guns (and scored a runway hit).
The Allied attack began with a new success of the Allied engineers that managed to blow up one of the main bunker complexes facing them (forts reduced from 6 to 5). But the Japanese soldiers fought with even more furor than the previous days and managed to reject the attack after furious fights (0 to 1, with initial AV at 1673 Allied vs 576 Japanese, adjusted at 2170 vs 2488). Japanese losses were 1005 men and 11 guns, Allied ones 1463 men, 36 guns and 5 tanks.
The evening report of the base listed damage as 86/77/90, 220 engineers (+17) and 47 249 supplies (-618).

And this ended a near perfect day (a perfect day would have seen no reduction of fort in PJ and my aircrew attack in force and sink the 3 American BB off PJ, but I won’t complain…). PJ repulsed the attack and Allied troops will probably need some days rest, another Allied surface TF was devastated and a BB torpedoed, two CVE were sunk and the Allied CV bombed unit were again decimated, while Japanese surface and air power was not significantly reduced. Now the plan is to use this local superiority (that should last several days) to bring more troops in PJ and be sure that Allied troops will not take it.

The troop convoy sailed 180 miles towards PJ and at this rate will reach this base in four days. So the KB will have to stay in position for so long and keep some strike power. So the two BB and several cruisers that had not yet been engaged received orders to stay with the CV to economize their ammunitions and remain undamaged.
The Kido Butai (with still 518 AC: 238 fighters (224 serviceable), 132 diev-bombers (130) and 148 torpedo bombers (133)) will sail to 60 miles SW of PJ and continue to attack ships around. This time the attack crews will be left to attack at 240 miles as the Allied CV had lost 80 fighters and will probably be gone tomorrow.
The empty CVL Chitose used for the “surface-CV TF” experiment will leave the fleet and sail to Toyohara under escort by 3 DD. The rest of the TF (3 CL and 7 DD) will go to PJ tonight and sweep the waters off the base in case some Allied ships remained, or tried a last bombardment of the base before running away. Tanaka will also return to PJ with his remaining ships and bombard the Allied beachhead with 2 BB, 3 CA and 3 CL, escorted by 3 DD that won’t bombard because 2-3 CD units will defend it.
Land-based airmen will also try to exploit the Allied rout. In Toyohara the Oscar will be grounded for rest while a new Betty group flew to the base, and 3 other flew from Sapporo to Wakkanai. All Japanese bombers in the area (109 (87) in Toyohara, 68 (66) in Wakkanai and 22 (22) in Sapporo) will fly naval attack (search 20%) at range 15.
East of PJ the two last intact Japanese submarines in the area, the I-159 and the I-15, will remain ESE of PJ to intercept ships retreating to Kiska (the biggest port in Allied advanced bases).
A last addition to the plan was made tonight. It was thought a good idea to send the HQ of the Northern Area Force closer to the action, and the only base in range of the battle was Etoforu Jima. So 6 AP were sent from Ominato to Sapporo to load the HQ currently based here and carry it to Etoforu. AK will load 25k supplies in Aomori and bring them to Etoforu so the HQ will be fully fonctionnal.

In the rear area, Japanese engineers were now busy in expanding bases that may be useful for this campaign and today Akita and Shikka port were expanded respectively to size 3 and 5.



Central Pacific

In Hawaii, two AP left PH with a small escort and will load a Naval Guard Unit in Lahaina (held by 3 and a full Div) and bring it Kona (now held by only one Guard Unit after the 21st Div left for Japan).

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

The ASW TF (4 ships) sent from Truk to sweep waters south of the base engaged in the morning the SS Amberjack 120 miles north of Mussau Island but the submarine escaped while a Japanese DD dropped DCs away from her real position. And an hour later the submarine tried to avenge herself by launching a spread of torpedoes against an APD but missed, and this time the DD Asagao dropped DCs more accurately, but only scored a near-miss.

Off Rabaul the AK Nosiro Maru was again hit by a patrolling Allied aircraft (this time a B-24D) and reported damage of 58/8/2. She will finish unload supplies tomorrow but most of his cargo had been lost in these attacks and Rabaul was still lacking supplies and another AK started loading supplies in Truk to sail here.

The 18 Jake in Shortlands seaplane base will try tomorrow to attack Allied PT and barges off Kiriwima at 100 feet. This will probably fail or end with high losses if Allied fighters came from one of the nearby airfields, but in this only only this kind of guerilla activity could be done. A little more north, two ML were detached tonight from a convoy sailing from Truk to Lunga and will lay mines off Green Island during the night.

In New Guinea, another solitary AP arrived in Wewak carrying 3000 men of the 43rd Div, while another was loading a new batch of troops. After this one, two more AP will be necessary to carry the last part of the division to Wewak.

Allied engineers expanded Dobadura airfield to size 2.

Timor-DEI-Australia

There was no Allied raid during the day, only recon flights and a PBM Mariner was shot down by AA fire over Kendari during one of these. The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Maumere 56/82 (system/runway), Koepang 100/98, Dili 99/84, Lautem 72/35/38, other bases undamaged.

SRA

A small convoy loaded 10k resources in Toboali and will bring them to Singapore.

Burma

Allied airmen flew 587 sorties over Burma, hitting a base and 6 units. Myitkyina airfield was attacked by 7 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 22 P-40N and 17 P-40E and 2 hits on the airbase and 11 on the runways. Three units of the garrison (17th, 33rd and 104th Div, 21st Bde) were bombed by 55 Beaufighter VIC, 54 Vengeance I, 53 Liberator VI, 49 B-25J, 40 Beaufighter Mk 21, 34 B-24D, 33 B-25C, 28 Lysander I, 23 Blenheim IV and 22 B-17E from Kohima, Ledo, Jorhat, Dacca and Imphal escorted by 41 P-40N and 45 P-40E and lost 484 men and 16 guns. In the jungle SE of Imphal, the 11th and 12th NLF were attacked by 48 Hurricane II from this base and Kohima escorted by 15 Spitfire Vb. Japanese AA fire shot down two Beaufighter VIC and a Vengeance I over Myitkyina.

In Myitkina. Allied artillery fire hit Japanese troops that lost 216 men, 1 tank and 2 guns. The report showed 3055 Allied AV (+33) and 1928 Japanese AV (-13) here.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Myitkyina 33/6 (system/runway), other bases undamaged. The daily report will also now report the state of the 11th and 12th NLF: 11th (1/29) and 12th (0/24).

All troops were now in place for the final concentration phase for the counter-attack 120 miles west of Myitkyina and received march orders today. The 17th Area Army HQ, the 46th Div, two regiments of the 30th, the 11th and 12th Ind Mixed Rgt, the 1st Amphibious Bde, the 8th Tk Rgt, the 2nd Parachute Regiment and two AA units will march north from Mandalay. The 4th and 14th Tk Rgt and the Burma Army HQ will march west from Myitkyina, join the three units in reserve west of the city (1st and 3rd Tk Div, 23rd Bde) and join them to march to the counter-attack site.

On the rear area, the IJAAF bombers concentrated in the airfields of Rangoon, Hanoi and Moulmein, coming from China, DEI and Luzon, and will move to central Burma on the day of the attack. 77 Ki-21, 72 Ki-49 and 35 Ki-48 will be available.

China

120 miles SW of Chungking, the regiment of the 26th Div defeated the 168th Chinese Div at 306 to 1, in fact meeting no resistance from the Chinese that had no battle casualty and fled leaving a small number of prisoners. The Chinese fled eastwards, where Japanese patrols reported 3 other Chinese units. This regiment will again try to march to the NE before these troops arrived to attack it.

More south one more Chinese unit marched out of Hengchow to the countryside NW of it. Two regiments of the 116th Div were now SW of the city and one will march to it and will be joined by the weakest division of the 11th Army to the NE. They should be more than enough to take the city.

Each day, one or more Allied transport aircraft were lost in accidents. This probably took place in Burma (the most logical places being in Myitkyina) but maybe also in China. Just to check the four remaining Chinese bases (Yunan, Kunming, Chengtu and Chungking) will be LRCAPed each by an Oscar Chutai.

[veji1]

Waow !!!

Now if PJ can hold until all reinforcements arrive (SSDs) and you can stabilize the situation, it wil be a great victory, so far what you have achieve is extracting a heavy cost for the allies, if they get PJ, at least they will have had to pay a heavy price for it, but if they don't, then this is even better...

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

The game will stop for some days as Pompack has big problems with playing WITP on Vista.... A general reinstallation will probably be necessary and the next days will be used to cure this.

Perfect time for you to analyze latest events in depth...

The result of the air battle were clearly in Japanese favor. For the loss of 68 aircraft (45 A2A, 18 AA and 5 ops: 44 A6M3a, 7 G4M1, 6 Kate, 5 Val, 2 Oscar II, 2 Alf, 1 A6M5 and 1 Emily) and no loss to the Japanese CV, they sank 2 CVE, 1 DE, 2 AK, 1 MSW, 1 LST and 1 LCI and damaged 17 ships while Allied air losses were 273 aircraft (201 A2A, 15 AA, 55 “ground” (including a surprising 48 SOC-3 ???? Maybe the floaplane bug left 40+ Seagulls on a cruiser lost today), and 2 op: 64 F4F-4, 60 SBD, 48 SOC-3, 47 TBM, 19 F6F, 11 TBF, 10 Barracuda, 6 Kingfisher, 3 Wildcat V, 3 Walrus, 1 B-24D and 1 PBM Mariner).
The Japanese ASR service saved 13 A6M3a pilots, 2 Val crews, 2 Betty crews and 1 Oscar pilot, all unhurt. So the number of men killed, captured or wounded was 31 A6M3 pilots, 6 Kate crews, 5 Betty crews, 3 Vals crews, 2 Alf crews, 1 Emily crew, 1 Oscar pilot and 1 A6M5 pilot: a total of 50 pilots, 10-20% of them being probably only wounded. Most of the losses were rookies in the Zero units.

Congratulations (again [:)]) - BANZAI !!!


Leo "Apollo11"

[String]

Poor poor allies... it must be hard to keep up the spirit against such setbacks.

[Naskra]

Nicely done, Admiral.  Two days ago I thought reinforcing PJ was a bad idea, now I don't know.  You have clearly brought confusion and disarry to the enemy.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

With this "break"... can you please try to answer few questions...

#1
How big, you estimate, your enemy's CV/CVL/CVE force is now (ships and aircraft carried)?

#2
How big, you estimate, your enemy's BB/CA/CL force is now (ships)?


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

ORIGINAL: Naskra

Nicely done, Admiral.  Two days ago I thought reinforcing PJ was a bad idea, now I don't know.  You have clearly brought confusion and disarry to the enemy.

Reinforcing PJ can NOT be a good idea as it was mine... How can you think the Imperial HQ can do something wrong ? You're a traitor!!!!

No, seriously, my reasons to do this were the following:
_ PJ is a good place to fight: mountain, with already 600 Japanese AV, good supplies, and out of range of Allied escort fighters (P-38G for now).
_ if PJ fell, Allied bombers will be able to bomb Japan, and will reach under escorts Sakhalin where bigger AF (up to size 6) are.
_ so if PJ fell, the logical next step will be to build the base and then invade Sakhalin. Rather than having one base to defend, I will have at least two (Toyohara and Shikka) while also being obliged to man Hokkaido bases.
_ rather than try to hold several bases while 600 AV will be slowly be reduced on PJ, sending 400 more AV to the base may enable to stop the Allied advance, and wreck 3 Allied Div and 4-5 RCT.

Reasons I could see for not doing this:
_ risks to lose the convoys and the troops at sea. With the protection of the IJN, losses will be bearable (if ships are sunk after unloading, they won't be missed much).
_ sending more troops into a last battle. I'm confident that with 1000 AV the base will hold, and by the way more troops will be sent by air when available.
_ it's dangerous to keep KB and Japanese ships there for 4 days. Yes, but it is a capital battle and KB should be used for it. And so far things have gone well for Japan.
_ troops will be better used in other bases in the area. I don't think so, they will be too scattered to stop a several-divisions attack.
_ troops will be better used in another part of the Empire. This attack is the main Allied thrust (with Burma). I doubt that any Allied major offensive could be launched elsewhere (like DEI, Solomons or Central Pac) before the winter.

Leo, here is the answer to your questions about Allied naval forces:

This is the state of the Allied CV TF

Intact: CV Hornet, CV Enterprise II, CV Victorious, CVL Independence, CVL Belleau Wood: 285 AC

Damaged but probably still operational (at least some Essex airmen were captured during the last day battle, whether they flew from their CV or another is unknown): CV Essex, CV Indomitable: 130 AC

Damaged and probably out of order: CV Yorktown II, CVL Princeton, CVE Sangamon: 150 AC

Sunk: CV Lexington II, CV Illustrious, CVL Cowpens, CVL Monterey, CVE Chenango, CVE Suwannee

By the way, the number of AC launched by the main Allied TF in last day battle seemed to indicate 3 SBD units (so three CV), 5 TBM units (so three CV and 2 CVL) and 1 or 2 Barracuda units (no sure of the size of FAA squadrons, but only 3 British fighters escorted a strike).

So the Allied CV TF has probably a capacity of 415 AC and lost 165 today (other losses were suffered by the CVE TF that was sunk)

For the surface ships, now that several Allied surface TF have been put out of order (almost all ships sunk or damaged), three surface TF seemed to be still operational:
_ an old BB TF (that started the campaign with 7 BB) and now had 3: USS West Virginia (damaged on 25/7, again torpedoed in the afternoon of the 28th), USS Idaho, USS Mississippi. Of the 4 other BB, the Maryland was sunk, the California and Colorado were damaged and the New Mexico, despite never having been reported HD or on fire, didn’t return with the TF on the 28th.
_ an US cruiser TF (CA Louisville, Houston, Northampton, Indianapolis, CL Minneapolis II)
_ a CL TF (2 US and HMS Newcastle)
Of the other trashed TF, only the CL USS Boise II escaped unhurt and remained operational.

And the following surface ships were seen being used as CV escorts: 3 modern BB (USS Indiana (hit by a 14in shell on 12/7), USS Massachusetts, USS North Carolina), 5 CLAA, 2 CL. That was the escort of two CV TF on the 12/7, and there were 4 CV TF at the time.

I think that my opponent has more “useable” BB, CA and CL available around PJ, but if he keeps most of them to escort his CV my forces will be strong enough to beat the remaining ships. By the way I think that Allied had many more DD than Japan at this stage but they probably scattered in all TF and so not as threatening as they might be.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Thanks for info!


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

OK, Pompack finally solved his installation problems and I received the turn before leaving for work this morning but had no time to do it (took 2-3 hours these days).

I won't be home tonight so turn will be done tomorrow evening.

While I was waiting turn yesterday evening, I decide to try to do a "real map" as Mandrake is doing in his AAR (one I recommend for his marvelous humour and beautiful maps). I am not at his level, but it's a start.

By the way to do that I had to research data about PJ and its place in WWII and found it very interesting. PJ was bigger than what I thought (60 miles length, up to 13 wide) and with Shumshu included should occupy 3 hexes IMOO, with two Japanese bases and a non-base moutain hex for the volcano in the south.

Here is the map, showing the ground battle in PJ for the last three weeks:



And here is another bonus, the list of Allied ships sunk or damaged enough to be out of order:

Sunk
CV Illustrious, Lexington II
CVL Cowpens, Monterey
CVE Chenango, Suwannee
BB Maryland
CA Devonshire, Quincy, San Francisco
CL Cleveland, Denver
DD Aaron Ward, Bailey, Buchanan, Converse, DeHaven, Eaton, Farenholt, Hutchins, Laffey, Lardner, Pringle
DMS Hamilton
DE Burden R. Hastings, Gilmore
SS S-30
AP John Penn, President Garfield, Sumter, U.S. Grant, Warren
AK Cheleb, Empire Chaucer, Eridanus, Indus, Loa Koeloe, Mildura, Ravnaas, Sipora
MSW Heed, Oracle, Rail II, Revenge, Sage
LST-22, LST-28, LST-335
LCI-221

Heavy damage (b = bomb, d=depth charge, m=mine, s=shell, t=torpedo)
CA Dorsetshire (6s)
CL Birmingham (11s, 1t), Montpelier (8s, 1t)
DD Aulick (1b), Dashiell (1s, 1t), Dyson (4s), Halford (8s), LaVallette (4b), Panther (1m), Philip (7s, 1t), Renshaw (4s)
AP La Salle (4b)
AK Beltrami (3b), Empire Lak (2t), Proteus (4b), Wosang (1t)
LST-19 (1t), LST-23 (1b), LST-27 (1t), LST-32 (1t), LST-340 (2s, 1t)

Medium damage (on fire, or torpedo damage) (b = bomb, d=depth charge, m=mine, s=shell, t=torpedo)
CV Yorktown II (2b, 1t)
CVL Princeton (1t)
CVE Sangamon (1m, 1t)
BB California (3s), Colorado (1t), New Mexico (9s, 2t), West Virginia (15s, 1t)
CA New Orleans (4s), Vincennes (2m)
CL Emerald (1t), Richmond (1t)
DD Anthony (1s, 1t), Bancroft (3s), Barton (1t), Foote (2s), Lansdowne (2s), McCalla (2s), O'Brien (1s), Welles (3s)
DMS Perry (1b)
DE Jaccard (1t)
SS Capelin (1d)
LSD Carter Hall (1t)
AP President Adams (2m)
AK Cape Stevens (3b), Coquina (2s), Forbes Hauptmann (1s), Island Mail (2s), Nord (2t), Sarangami (1t), Siaoe (2b), Tai Sang (2s), Washingtonian (1t)
LST LST-17 (3b)

[veji1]

very nice !!!

I have a strange feeling about this game, I am a JapFanboy so am very pleased with your performance, but I am sympathetic to the allies and almost wish they would achieve some sort of a victory at last.. Had this been in Pearl or somewhere else far enough from the HI, I think I would be rooting for them. The only thing that stops me is that it is so close to the HI that it would lead to a quick (well 1 year or so) allied victory...

Keep up the good work anyway.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

While I was waiting turn yesterday evening, I decide to try to do a "real map" as Mandrake is doing in his AAR (one I recommend for his marvelous humour and beautiful maps). I am not at his level, but it's a start.

Very nice touch - classy!!!


Leo "Apollo11"

[AmiralLaurent]

Veji, I am myself almost sympathetic to my opponent but his major mistake was to attack a place I can't afford to lose with not sufficient assets. In fact he had more CV with more AC, more surface ships, more troops, heavy bombers nearby, but couldn't engage them all at once, and couldn't know that the KB was just some days away and already sailing there to engage Attu airmen. He tried (and is still trying AFAIK) to accelerate the end of the war but went "an island too far".

29 July 1943

Northern Pacific

During the early hours of the night, some Allied ships continued to land troops on PJ and reported 10 landing casualties. But Japanese ships were coming back. In smaller numbers than planned because the CL TF (3 CL, 7 DD) that was planned to sweep waters around PJ and then retire to Etorofu Jima apparently received only the second part of the orders and sailed directly to this base.

So Tanaka’s TF (BB Hiei and Haruna, 3 CA, 3 CL, 3 DD) returned alone to bombard the island. Off the island they met an enemy TF made of the old BB Mississippi and Idaho and of 3 DD. Whether they were also sent to bombard the island or were covering the Allied beachhead will never been known but they performed a poor show. Japanese ships managed to surprise them and then pounded them from 4000 to 10000 yards while they retreated at full speed. American return fire was inefficient, except two 14in shells that heavily damaged the CL Nagara and a smaller shell that disabled a turret on the CL Tama. On the other side, the BB Mississippi was heavily damaged by 6 14in shells and 1 torpedo (sent by the CL Oi. By the way has anyone seen her or her sister ship do something extraordinary with their 20-torpedo racks ? I have never seen them score more than 1 or 2 hits by salvo, as do other ships), the BB Idaho was set on fire by two 14in shells, the DD Bennett and Charles Auburne were heavily damaged by shells fired by the Japanese cruisers and DDs, and only the last DD escaped undamaged.

After dispatching this TF, Tanaka closed on the Allied beachhead. Japanese warships first saw two damaged and burning AK hit the day before (the Prominent and Sarangami) and sank them with gunfire. They then saw ships trying to escape along the coast. They were the three AK that had remained there to finish unloading troops (the American Woolgar, the Norvegian Solviken and the Chinese Ngow Hok). A rain of shells from 14in to 25mm sank all three, with the loss of 151 men and 9 vehicles still aboard.

Tanaka then bombarded the beachhead with the few remaining shells but met return fire from US CD guns that fired 108 shells and scored 15 hits on Japanese cruisers (destroyers didn’t take part in the bombardment). Japanese shells only hit 48 Allied men.

Anyway Tanaka was happy with this night that saw his TF sank 5 AK, heavily damage 1 BB and 2 Dd and set on fire another BB for only one CL damaged. The latter the Nagara was not critically hit and will probably have been said… if she had not met in the morning the SS USS Pargo 180 miles ENE of Etoforu Jima. The cruiser was at the time lagging behind the main force and was hit by 3 torpedoes that sank her in some minutes.

More south the badly damaged DD Kazegumo sank before dawn 120 miles ENE of Etorofu Jima.

Also during the night, the Kido Butai was sailing SE to its new deployment area when the SS USS Ray tried to attack it 60 miles west of Onnekotan Jima but was seen and chased by 9 DD and 1 CL. Despite being depth charged by a DD she escaped undamaged.
And in the morning, when the KB arrived as planned 60 miles SW of PJ, the SS USS Cabrilla tried to attack it three times. The first she was detected before attacking and chased by 8 DD but then she fired torpedoes against a DD and then the CVL Zuiho, but missed twice and was then chased by 5 and 8 DD. Each time she was depth charged but suffered only 7 near-misses and survived without too much damage.
Dawn air patrols by both sides found opponent CV. The KB was 60 miles SW of PJ and the Allied CV TF 300 miles more east. Both forces reacted towards their opponent and so closed the range between them to 180 miles. The Japanese submarine SS I-159 saw the Allied CV arrive in her patrol area but was then seen and chased by 4 SC that scored 3 near-misses on her.
After the results of the CV battles of the last day and three weeks ago, Nagumo was more confident than ever. He sent a concentrated raid against the Allied CV TF but also sent 35 A6M3a to fly CAP over Paramushiro Jima base, as he thought that the base was more in danger than his ships. It proved to be a mistake, as the base was not attacked today and those fighters were missed over the KB itself.

As usual with CV battles, patrol crews had a price to pay to find enemy CVs. Today two Vals and a Alf were shot down by Allied fighters while Zeroes shot down 2 Kingfisher, 1 TBM and 1 Barracuda.

The morning raid launched by the Allied CV (35 SBD and 20 TBM escorted by 21 F4F-4 and 18 F6F) met over the KB a CAP reduced to 71 A6M3a and 18 A6M5 and the battle was not so one-sided as it was the day before. 29 Allied fighters (18 F4F-4 and 11 F6F) were lost but they shot down 17 A6M3a and 3 A6M5. Japanese pilots shot down also 10 TBM and 5 SBD, and 26 more SBD turned back, but 10 TBM and 4 SBD reached Japanese ships and attacked 2 CV and 1 CVL… but all missed as yesterday, a sign of the poor quality of USN crew, or of the efficiency of concentrated Japanese AA ? AA fire shot down 3 TBM during this attack.
The British airmen of the Allied fleet had failed to join their allies and attacked alone with 2 Barracuda escorted by 6 Wildcat V. The CAP shot down 3 Wildcat and a Barracuda but lost 2 more A6M3a and the surviving Barracuda managed to launch its torpedo against a Japanese CV, but missed.

The Japanese raid sent to attack Allied CV was made of 91 Val and 87 Kate escorted by 82 A6M3a and 16 A6M5. Some units lagged behind and finally 67 Vals and 66 Kates attacked together under escort by 78 A6M3a and 16 A6M5. The Allied CAP opposing them was 44 F4F-4, 38 F6F and 13 Wildcat V (apparently Allied fighters units were on 70% CAP). Both sides had equal numbers in the air (94 Japanese vs 95 Allied) but the Allied airmen did better than in the last battles and decimated the escort of the raid. In the air battle 69 Japanese fighters (62 A6M3a and 7 A6M5) and 53 Allied (39 F4F-4, 11 F6F and 3 Wildcat V) were shot down. At least most of the Allied fighters were then unable to intercept Japanese bombers and only 11 Val and 10 Kate were shot down. The Hellcat finally proved its worth in this battle, shooting down 30 A6M3a, 4 A6M5, 5 Val and 4 Kates for 11 losses.
But 112 Japanese crews were now aiming at Allied ships and despite the AA barrage that shot down 23 of the 56 Kates and 17 of the 56 Vals hit them hard. This CV TF had three CV, the CVL Independence (already identified) and two brand-new ships, the CV Bunker Hill and the CVL Cabot. They were the main targets and were all heavily damaged, the Bunker Hill by 2 torpedoes and 2 bombs, the Cabot by 3 torpedoes and 1 bomb and the Independence by 1 torpedo and 3 bombs. Japanese airmen also hit the BB Indiana (a bomb hit destroyed some AA guns) and the CLAA HMS Columbo (heavily damaged by two torpedoes), and missed the BB Massachusetts, the CLAA Ceres and two destroyers.
The lagging air units then arrived. In the confusion following the main attack 9 low-flying Kates managed to reach the same TF undetected and hit the BB Indiana with two torpedoes, setting her on fire, but miss the burning Bunker Hill. AA fire shot down two of them.
The next Japanese lagging group (24 Val and 12 Kate escorted by 4 A6M3a) was lost and finally found and attacked another CV TF but was also intercepted by some of the remaining Allied fighters that shot down 7 Val, 2 A6M3a and 1 Kate for the loss of two F6F and a F4F-4. Once again Allied AA proved devastating and shot down 5 Kate and 5 Val. Most crew missed under such heavy fire and only the BB North Carolina was hit and set on fire by a torpedo. The other Japanese crews missed the CV Essex and Indomitable, the BB South Dakota and the CLAA San Diego.

Also in the morning Toyohara sent 17 Betties to search for targets east of PJ but they got lost and returned home with their torpedoes.

In the afternoon, the Allied CV TF was caught in a storm and so could no more attack or be attacked. At least two Allied BB were in range of the KB and Toyohara with a small escort but the main target of the afternoon strikes was the main concentration of Allied convoys retreating from PJ. They were now at 360 miles west of Attu and were covered by small groups of P-38G from the 347th FG flying LRCAP from the Aleutians. Four attacks were launched against these fleets.
The first was flown by 11 Kate escorted by 4 A6M3a and was intercepted by 5 P-38G. In the air battle 2 P-38G, 2 A6M3a and 1 Kate were shot down. The Kate then attacked a small SC group and sank one before retreating.
Then arrived 11 G4M1 from Toyohara. They were not intercepted and attacked a convoy without loss. The AK Empire Brook was sunk by two torpedoes and the MSW Bobolink heavily damaged by one.
The main Japanese raid was the third, with 29 Judy, 12 Kate, 11 Jill and 3 Val escorted by 37 A6M3a and 9 A6M5. Four P-38G intercepted and were all shot down after shooting down 3 A6M3a. The attack was then a failure and only one AK was hit (by 2 bombs and a torpedo that heavily damaged her) while another was hit by a torpedo that didn’t explode. AA fire shot down a Judy and a Kate.
The last raid (10 Kate escorted by 5 A6M3a) arrived as 4 more P-38G came from their base to cover the ships but there was no interception. They attacked 2 AO and 1 DE of a replenishment TF but only hit one AO, setting her on fire with two torpedo hits, and lost 2 Kate to AA fire.

So far the afternoon had not been great but just before sunset 9 G4M1 and 3 G4M2 found 60 miles east of PJ the damaged BB Mississippi and attacked. They scored only one torpedo hit but it was enough to cripple the BB that sank some hours later.

While the result of the day air battles were good in terms of hit ships (no hit on Japanese ships, an old BB, an AK and a SC sunk, 1 CV, 2 CVL, 1 CLAA, 1 AK and 1 MSW heavily damaged, 2 modern BB torpedoed and set on fire) this time Japanese air losses were far bigger than the Allied ones and the usability of the Kido Butai was seriously reduced.

Allied losses in this battle were 118 aircraft (114 A2A, 3 AA, 1 ground): 58 F4F-4, 24 F6F, 14 TBM, 6 P-38G, 6 Wildcat V, 5 SBD, 3 Kingfisher and 2 Barracuda.
Japanese losses were 192 aircraft (131 A21, 57 AA, 4 ops): 89 A6M3a, 49 Kate, 42 Val, 10 A6M5 and an Alf. The top active Japanese ace, PO2 Fujita P. of EII-1 (30 kills) was shot down during the attack on Allied CVs and was captured. The new top Japanese living ace was WO Endo R. of EI-1 with 25 kills.

At sunset, the SS USS Cabrilla was chased SW of PJ by two Japanese DD but escaped. 240 miles more east the I-159 was not so lucky. She tried to close on the BB Massachusetts but was detected and depth charged by the DD Fulham, that scored a hit and 3 near-misses on her. The heavily damaged submarine (48/82) will try to reach PJ in the next days.

On Paramushiro Jima, there was no new Allied attack. Both sides exchanged shells with no Allied loss and 19 casualties and a disabled gun on the Japanese side. Reports showed 111502 Allied men, 1048 guns and 332 vehicles (1737 AV), and 34978 Japanese men, 174 guns and ( tankettes. The evening report of the base listed damage as 86/73/90, 220 engineers and 47 378 supplies (+129).

Nagumo hesitated for some hours in the evening to send his two remaining BB chased the damaged CV but finally decided against it. One of the two, the Mutsu, was only able to sail 22 knots now and so only the most damaged Allied CV may be reached, and these were probably too damaged to be saved. And sending the Haruna alone (or at least the sole BB in a TF) was not considered a good idea with several modern BB still intact in the area. The two remaining intact submarines were instead ordered to chase them.
The KB will instead send a fast surface TF (CA Maya, CL Kinu and 6 DD) to 240 miles west of Attu. This area should be reached during the night by the main concentration of convoys attacked this afternoon by Japanese airmen, and so Japanese sailors should find many easy targets. A bonus might be the damaged BB Idaho that might be in the area too this night.
The other ships of the KB will sail to 120 miles south of PJ and the fleet will stay here in a fully defensive mode: CAP 90% and all attack aircraft flying naval search at 80% at 5000 feet to chase Allied subs and crippled ships. The CL and DD in Etoforu Jima were divided into 2 TF (to have two surface admirals) and will sail to join the KB.
Tanaka’s TF will refuel tomorrow in Shikka. The big AP convoy sailed 240 miles today and should reach PJ in 3 nights.
In the rear area, the Yamato & Musashi TF reached Sapporo and was disbanded, most ships needing emergency repairs before continuing to the big shipyards of the Inner Sea. The Yamato with 17 SYS might be still usable (given the losses of both navies) but only one DD was available to escort her. She will wait for the empty CVL Chitose to arrive here from Toyohara with 3 DD and then will sail with them back to the action area.
Three ML left Wakkanai to lay a new minefield off PJ.
Japanese LBA was also reorganized in the evening. The heavy losses of the KB will not allow it to cover alone the troop convoy. Fighters will be sent to PJ during the convoy unloading despite the risks. The Oscar II units all left Toyohara to leave more room for bombers and flew to Sapporo, where also arrived a Zero Daitai from PH (via Wake, one of the 26 pilots was lost on the way in a crash). Six fighter Sentai/Daitai will be available to go to PJ where sadly airfield repairs were really slow. In Toyohara flew more bombers and in the evening there were here 143 G4M1 (128 serviceable), 19 Nell (18) and 8 G4M2 (5), all having orders to fly naval attack at range 15, search 20%. Two more Betty units were in Wakkanai with one flying 100% search range 20 and the other 100% attack range 20.
Lastly 5 Dinah III were sent from Shikka to PJ to fly naval search but two were damaged on landing in the cratered runway.



Southern Pacific

Six AK loaded in Norfolk Island (SW of Noumea) the 1st Eng Rgt and will bring it to Tarawa, and then to a rear area base needing it. Norfolk now had level 9 fortifications.

New Guinea-New Britain- Solomon Islands

Rabaul was attacked in the afternoon by 82 B-24D and 34 PB4Y from Port Moresby escorted by 62 P-38G that did 146 casualties, disabled 4 guns and scored 9 hits on the airbase, 3 on supplies and 85 on the runways for the loss of a PB4Y to AA fire. The base reported in the evening damage as 71/69. The AK Nosiro Maru unloaded her last supplies on the base and will sail tomorrow to Green Island and then try to reach Truk despite of the damage (58/0/0) done by Allied patrolling aircraft while she was unloading.

Timor-DEI-Australia

Only Dili was bombed, by 8 PB4Y from Wyndham that hit nothing.

The evening area report listed the airfield status as: Maumere 56/79 (system/runway), Koepang 100/71, Dili 99/79, Lautem 72/28/38, other bases undamaged.

Burma

Allied airmen continued to concentrate mainly against targets in Myitkyina. The airfield was attacked by 7 B-25J from Ledo escorted by 22 P-40N and reported 21 casualties, 1 hit on the airbase and 3 on the runways. Three divisions of the garrison (17th, 33rd and 104th) were bombed by 20 Beaufighter VIC, 40 Vengeance I, 54 Liberator VI, 34 B-25J, 26 Beaufighter Mk 21, 34 B-24D, 48 B-25C, 31 Lysander I, 31 Blenheim IV and 21 B-17E from Kohima, Ledo, Dacca and Imphal escorted by 63 P-40N and 22 P-40E and lost 258 men and 9 guns. In the jungle SE of Imphal, the 11th NLF was attacked by 41 Hurricane II from this base escorted by 6 Spitfire Vb and lost 10 casualties (only squad back from disruption due to air-dropped supplies). Japanese AA fire shot down a Beaufighter Mk 21, a Blenheim IV and a Lysander I over Myitkyina while a Liberator VI and a P-40N were lost in accidents.

And the 28 Allied units in Myitkyina launched a new deliberate attack. Engineers managed to reduce a part of the pillboxes defending the northern access to the town (reducing fort to 7) but the attack failed (3080 Allied AV vs 1176, adjusted to 3049 vs 4431). Japanese losses were 1496 men, 20 guns and 1 tank, Allied ones 3209 men, 92 guns and 13 tanks. All troops scheduled to leave the town westwards had not done so, but the result of the attack and the disruption it should have left on the Allied side will give Japanese troops several days to defeat the Allied troops on the railway in the west and come back.

Japanese troops had also begun to move from Mandalay but some were still near the town. The concentration will take another 2-3 days before the attack will be launched.

The evening report gave the airfield status as: Myitkyina 34/10 (system/runway), other bases undamaged. The state of the 11th and 12th NLF was now the following: 11th (0/24) and 12th (0/24). 9 Tabbies from Hanoi will drop supplies to them tomorrow.

Japanese engineers expanded the airfield of Lashio to size 4. The Aviation Rgt sent from Mandalay reached the base that will welcome in some days heavy reinforcements from IJAAF.

China

All units of the Southern China Army not used for garrison duty were now 120 miles east of Kweiyang, but there were still 17 Chinese units east of them and no advance order was given.
No Japanese unit reached Hengchow but the town should be surrounded tomorrow by troops coming from north and south, and should fall the next day.
More north the regiment of the 26th Div that cut the Chungking-Changsha road was again marching back to Japanese territory. Patrols reported a Chinese unit in the woods east of it, but didn’t see anything on the road W and Se of it. Chinese units should be there and both ares will be reconned by Japanese airmen tomorrow.

[Miller]

Pomphat is really taking it up the s h i t chute this game. Fair play to him for keeping up the fight[:D][&o]

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

While the result of the day air battles were good in terms of hit ships (no hit on Japanese ships, an old BB, an AK and a SC sunk, 1 CV, 2 CVL, 1 CLAA, 1 AK and 1 MSW heavily damaged, 2 modern BB torpedoed and set on fire) this time Japanese air losses were far bigger than the Allied ones and the usability of the Kido Butai was seriously reduced.

Great success - congratulations on your victory - BANZAI !!!

Nonetheless the KB is seriously depleted after continous battles around PJ. I hope that it is still strong enugh to prevent Allied interference with you planned troop reinforcements (the good news is that Allied CV/CVL/CVE force is again seriously hit)...


Leo "Apollo11"