Moses(AL)Jwilkerson(IJ)

[moses]

5 Feb

China: His armored mass is redeploying from north of Ichang to somewhere in a hurry. I'm very concerned that he might just mass everything at Homan and try and push through. My forts are at level nine I might be able to hold or at least inflict massive losses. But who knows?? I've never played this far into the China adventure.

Burma: He has 6 BB's pound Akyab causing around 800 casualties. It doesnt seem to have much effect on my troops other then the disruption which has quickly dissapated. My first Coursair squadren is almost ready and I am preparing for a big air surge. Japan though has pulled back a bit and is allowing me to bomb the troops at Akyab with only minimal interferance.

Nindi chain: My troops will assemble at Luganville this next turn and the following turn will land. My carriers arrive at Numea this turn as well.

[moses]

13 Feb:

Burma: My Corsiars have gone into action. The first turn was inconclusive but on the second turn they took out 9 Tony's for one coursair. My P38's followed up and we had a good day.

I've begun to whittle down his troops at Akyab and soon my artillery will outnumber his. Since mine is superior anyway I consider this a significant milestone. His Imperial guard division is moving up the road to Akyab and when it arrives they will regain their edge for a bit. But I have 5 arty units and 2 Indian divisions on the way. Once they arrive I will really have him in a bind.

I am now pounding him at Akyab every turn with a lot of ground attack aircraft. I don't know how much damage I am doing and so who knows if victory might be just around the courner or months out.

Nindi island (Santa Cruise Chain): I have taken these islands. He did not really oppose my landing. His carriers passed and no surface forces appeared to make my life difficult. Some Betties have attacked each day and have sunk a couple minor ships (1 DD) but have also lost quite a few planes. My carrier pilots got a little experience shooting down Betties while operating in a support role behind the islands.

Now I just have to spend a few weeks building up the airfields and I will be ready for future ops against the Solomon chain.

My carriers now sit at Effete. One anoyance is that I tried to upgrade my VR fighter squadrens. Instantly they went from 27 planes to 54!!! What now? I guess I will put them on land and try to fight them back down to size.

Alaska: He has had his carriers sitting at Kiska for a long time. I have a surface force of 2 BB and a bunch of CA/DD posting off Dutch Island. If I get bad weather (blizzard) I may take a shot. I have 60 P40 that can fly LRC and weather might stop his carrier air from flying.

I might possibly surprise him and catch his carriers in a surface battle. That would be sweet. Or I might get creamed the day before going in. But it might be worth the risk. If I lose 2 BB's I'll live. But if I do damage to 3 of his CV's it will have far ranging effects.

[moses]

19 Feb:

Burma/India:Japan's Imperial guard has arrived in Akyab giving him a temporary numerical superiority although I am still inflicting a few more losses through bombardments. I gave him a good pounding from the air last turn and destroyed around 20 artillery pieces and hundreds of troops. Japan cannot allow this much longer as I have lots of troops on the way.

It may seem strange but until recently I have still had to plan for the remote possibility that Japan could invade India. Without any carriers I could not have stoped a landing and Japan does have a formidable ground force. It would have been embarrassing to send my Indian divisions all to Burma only to be outflanked through India.

But at this point an invasion of India would be about as insane as an invasion of Austrailia. I have a significant carrier force now and lots of LBA and ground troops. Just as important, Japan just doesn't have time anymore to exploit any such offensives.

So I have about four big Indian divisions and a bunch of arty units heading to join my UK troops at Akyab. It takes a while to get there but when they do I will gain massive superiority. If Japan keeps lossing his artillery to my air attacks then by the time I arrive I could have a huge bombardment edge and start getting those 4 or 5 hundred kills per day that will make Akyab untenable.

Air War: My Corsairs are in action as are Japan's Jack aircraft. The big news is that we still battle at about equal odds. Recently he's pulled back a bit probably to try and conserve pilots. But then I began realy pounding his ground troops and so this turn I've detected his fighters back at Akyab. I've redirected everything there and so we may have a huge battle next turn.

SW Pacific: The Santa Cruise Islands seem secure but it will take a month or two to get the fighter bases built up in preparation for invasions of Lunga and Tulagi. In the meantime I will shift to operations against Port Moresby and the nearby Thursday Island.

Alaska: My BB force is still out there waiting to strike at Kiska. But his carriers have not been cooperative and the weather has been too good. I'd much prefer to attack during a blizzard. In any event the 41st Infantry division has arrived at Ankorage and preparation to invade Adak island continue.

[moses]

23 Feb:

It's four near wasted days in Burma as weather keeps the bulk of my airforce down.

In Alaska a couple of my bombers get overzealous and try and attack his carriers which strayed a little closer then usual. Less then a dozen of my planes are hit by 98 zero's flying CAP!!! None returned.

He has serious carriers up here which perhaps explains why he didn't interfere with my operations in the south. Kaga and Akagi are positively identified in Alaska. I would guess he has maybe 3 CV and a couple lessor carriers in this area. He has a couple carriers around Rangoon as well. I suspect he has at least some force in south probably around Truk. But this force has not shown itself in a month. But I do get a lot of radio transmissions from the area.

[moses]

25 Feb:

Burma: I seem to be making progress at Akyab after a nice day of ground bombardments. On the 16th Japan had 831 artillery pieces as the Imperial guards had just arrived. On the 24th they had dropped to 785 guns. My forces actually gained a gun going from 515 to 516. Although I have fewer guns mine apparently are superior as I consistantly cause more casualties to his forces. Or maybe it is the fact that his troops are always a bit more disrupted due to persistant air attack.

I have 5 arty units and four full Indian divisions on the way. These should all arrive in the next 30 to 45 days.

Alaska: Just when I was about to give up it now appears his carriers are leaving. A large force (recon show about 8 CA's but these may well be the CV's) SW of Kiska and headed SW. There now appears to be only a small surface force at Kiska. This may all be bad recon of course. But Jwilkerson may be wondering if he might be needing his carriers down south.

South Pacific: The build-up around the Santa Cruise Islands continues. My carriers are hanging around west of Suva for a moment. I've been training fighters around Namonea for a month and I'm using the carriers to help transport these F4F's toward Luganville. At the same time I've flown my two VR squadrens to the training area and will leave my two VR carriers around Suva while their squadrens train. The rest of my carriers will then head west.

At Port Moresby Japan has 40 or 50 Jack aircraft which have shut down my 2 B24 groups. I have a fast surface force arriving at the north coast of Austrailia that will try and make these guys a little less comfy. My P38's have been moved to my northernmost Austrailian base and will support this surface force on bombardment runs.

[moses]

27 Feb:

Burma: Another wonderful clear couple days for ground attack. Hundreds of bombers hit Akyab and his arty drops to 742 while mine grows to 521. His ground troops cause virtually no casualties to my forces while mine gennerally cause 100 casualties and a couple arty per turn.

I've detected his 11th Infantry division coming up the trail but its probably 30 days off. My reinforcements are much closer and in greater number.

South Pacific: My bombardment of Port Moresby goes off flawlessly and he never saw it coming or going. 21 Jacks die on the ground. This turn we refuel and get ready to try again.

Alaska: The forcast is for blizzard, my BB's are in position, and his carriers are nowhere in sight. If I'm going to try this now is the time. So I've plotted the attack on Kiska and the rest is up to the Gods of War. This could be anything from a brilliant surprise attack to a horrific blunder. I have 60 fighters covering the BB's but if his carriers show up and he gets decent weather then I've lost the northern fleet. On the other hand his forces at Kiska seem a little weak to deal with my fleet and he has a lot of transport/ASW type TF's there.

[moses]

1 Mar:

Battle of Kiska: My forces are Victorious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My force (2BB, 1CA, 1CL, 4 DD, 3 DMS) moves through the blizzard to arrive at Kiska undetected. I engage an enemy force of 11 DD and 1 CL. My radar detects his force but still he gets in a long lance attack. 5 or 6 DD's loose their salvo's but all miss!!! 5 or 6 rounds of combat follow. At first hits are fairly equal but my guns are heavier and the battle goes progressivly in my favor. By the end of the round I have lost one DD sunk by torpedoes and 1 BB with moderate damage (also due to a torpedo). Japan has 1 CL and 4 DD's sunk outright with 6 more DD's taking heavy damage.

Next my TF hits a Japanese TF containing 9 DD's. I sink one and cause heavy damage to 3 others, light damage to 4 more. I take very light damage in return.

The only downside is that my DMS ships ran out of fuel and may have trouble running away next turn. My fleet sits one hex off Kiska. Recon show tons of ships in Kiska???? 3 BB's and lots of CA's show??? I don't know if this is a false report or if the ships docked at the end of the second day.

In any event everything is running away and I hope his carriers are a long way off.

Burma: On the 27th weather socks my air force in. On the 28th the weather clears and I do terrific damage to his ground troops. The artillery ratio is now 730 to 517 and improving rapidly. Japan has fighters at Akyab again surely to try and stop the bleeding. If the weather is good our air forces could have a bloody day.

China: Despite my fears it appears that Japan is content with a stable defensive posture. My troops are now taking on reinforcements. I begin to get some significant base force reinforcements and so in around a month I might be able to heat up the air war in China.

[moses]

7 Mar:

Alaska: His carriers managed to catch 4 of my DD's as they were slowed down by lack of fuel. Still Kiska was a major victory. My BB South Dakota took major damage but is now safely docked at Ankorage. I have several more BB's and other surface ships headed to Alaska from the West Coast to support offensive operations up the island chain to Kiska.

Burma: Weather has prevented my air offensive from accomplishing much for the last 5 or 6 days. The 11th Division is still the only Japanese reinforcement that I can see in his pipeline to Akyab and his 55th Division is pulling out. (My air units seemed to have a preference for bombing this unit and they did so relentlessly) I now have 3 full Indian divisions in the adjacent hex from Akyab and coming on fast.

Everywhere else: I am in full offensive mode with the vast bulk of my units preping for offensive targets. I'm curious to see if at some point Jwilkerson is going to take the three islands in the Solomons that he uses to train his zero's. This looks to be getting a bit risky for him as I now have units prepping for these islands and it might allow me to make a very rapid conquest of the whole Solomon chain once I get underway.

[moses]

13 Mar:

His CVE's get a little to close to Atka Alaska. I think he wanted to disrupt my rather lame minsweeping and ASW efforts in the area. Well he kills one MSN. Then my planes went to work.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 94,35

Japanese aircraft -----------------Allied aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 24-------------------Kittyhawk I x 9
A6M3a Zero x 4-------------------P-40E Warhawk x 27
------------------------------------ A-20 Boston x 38

Japanese aircraft losses ------------- Allied aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 7 destroyed -------------Kittyhawk I: 3 destroyed
-----------------------------------------P-40E Warhawk: 13 destroyed, 1 damaged
-----------------------------------------A-20B Boston: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVE Unyo
CVE Chuyo
BB Nagato
CVE Taiyo
CVE Hosho

Aircraft Attacking:
35 x A-20B Boston bombing at 6000 feet

Crap!!! Everything missed. But he hangs around for another day.

Day Air attack on TF at 94,35

Japanese aircraft --------------Allied aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 1--------------- Kittyhawk I x 9
A6M3 Zero x 19---------------- P-40E Warhawk x 20
J2M Jack x 1 ------------------ A-20B Boston x 35
A6M3a Zero x 4

Japanese aircraft losses ------------------- Allied aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 2 destroyed -----------------Kittyhawk I: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 3 destroyed --------------------P-40E Warhawk: 10 destroyed
J2M Jack: 1 destroyed ---------------------A-20B Boston: 1 destroyed, 13 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVE Taiyo
CVE Unyo
CVE Hosho
CVE Chuyo, Bomb hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
34 x A-20B Boston bombing at 6000 feet

Hey it's not much. Only 2 500 lb bombs. But I don't get to celebrate a carrier hit very often.

Troops are loading at Ankorage for the invasion of Adka Island.

[moses]

15 Mar:

The battle of Burma is now moving decisively in my favor. In one month I've reduced his artillery strength at Akyab from 831 guns to 611 guns. Part of this is due to him rotating units out but those units will never come back. By the time they get to Rangoon, recover and take the long trail back Akyab will be mine.

My arty strength has grown slowly and now my first major reinforcements have arrived. I will have numerical artillery superiority next turn for the first time. As I have been qualitatively superior for a while and own the air over Akyab I now expect to rapidly wear down his divisions.

I have 2 more divisions which will arrive in the next 10 days. Then I'll wait for a good weather turn to begin deliberate attacks on days with heavy air support.

[moses]

23 Mar:

A few turns have rolled by with more of the same general attrition. His 11th division has finally reached Akyab and get immediately pounded by my air force. Unfortunately for him the 11th appears to be at the front his troop list and gets hit first. Now I just pray for good weather each day so that I can kill his troops.

In Alaska my units move into position to invade Adak Island. 4 BB's support the attack but only LBA. But as Japan has recently had a carrier nailed in this area I doubt that he will risk his carriers here. The invasion will go in the turn after next.

At PH I begin loading operations for the invasion of Baker Island. Elsewhere across the Pacific my troops prep for dozens pf seperate objectives.

In Austrailia massive forces are now within Japan's bomber range and barroling toward Darwin and other North Austrailian sites. Soon I will find out what forces are holding this region.

[moses]

29 Mar:

Here's the landing on the 25th:

Naval bombardment of Adak Island, at 98,36 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

59 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Conway
DD Aulick, Shell hits 9, on fire
DD Abbot, Shell hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
CL St. Louis, Shell hits 5
CA Vincennes
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 1
CA Minneapolis, Shell hits 5
CA Pensacola
BB Washington
BB North Carolina
BB Pennsylvania
BB Arizona
BB Maryland

Japanese ground losses:
586 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 21
Port hits 3
Port supply hits 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1092 encounters mine field at Adak Island (98,36)

TF 1092 troops unloading over beach at Adak Island, 98,36


Allied Ships
MSW Kelowna
MSW Courtenay
DMS Chandler
DMS Boggs
DMS Trevor
DD Case
DD Lamson
DD Cummings
DD Perkins
LCVP 592L, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
LCVP 532P, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Allied ground losses:
46 casualties reported

Coastal Guns at Adak Island, 98,36, firing at TF 1092
670 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
CL Helena, Shell hits 5
DD Case, Shell hits 1
AP Pijnacker Hordijk
AP Mijer
CLAA Atlanta, Shell hits 1
DD Cummings, Shell hits 3, on fire
MSW Kelowna, Shell hits 12, on fire, heavy damage
LCVP 532M
LCM 532E, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
LCT LCT-157, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
LCT LCT-145, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
LCT LCT-144, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
LCT LCT-141, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Courtenay, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
LCT LCT-137, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
LCT LCT-63, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Perkins
LCT LCT-62
DMS Chandler
DD Lamson, Shell hits 2, on fire
LST LST-24
DD Caldwell, Shell hits 2, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
1045 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1092 encounters mine field at Adak Island (98,36)

TF 1092 troops unloading over beach at Adak Island, 98,36


Allied Ships
MSW Kelowna, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Courtenay, on fire, heavy damage
DMS Chandler
DMS Boggs
DMS Trevor
DD Cummings, on fire
DD Caldwell, on fire
AK Empire Antelope, Mine hits 1, on fire

Coastal Guns at Adak Island, 98,36, firing at TF 1092
86 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
AP Meigs, Shell hits 1
AP Bloemfontrin, Shell hits 3, heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
39 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
418 casualties reported

Well that's the bulk of it anyway. A bit bloodier then I had expected but really not as bad as it looks. I lost 4 or 5 small craft and a couple DD's. I have lots of ports nearby so the damaged ships should all be saved.

His carriers were about and I had a chance to do serious damage. I suspect he sent them over on another counter-PT boat operation. His zero's were set to attack at 100 feet and did in fact straff my Adak invasion fleet. He must have been surprised when he found 5 BB's and a huge transport fleet. Being so close I got 3 big attacks on his carriers on the 25th and 26th. On 3 occasions more then 20 A-20's made it through his CAP and launched bombing runs against his CVE's. Not a single hit!!!![&:] That stunk because I lost a bunch of P40's fighting through the CAP.

His surface fleet stayed away but I see something that looks like a surface fleet in position to possibly attack tommorrow. If so it will strike air. I'm pulling everything out except for some PT's. The battleships will rearm for another bombardment run. The transports are headed back to Ankorage to pick up some more troops.

I may need them. On the 27th and 28th I reduced the forts from 6 to 4 but took slightly higher losses doing so. My 41st division is probably strong enough to take the island alone. I have 2-1 advantage in troops and over 10-1 in artillery. But I am disrupted enough that I will rest and bombard for the next two days. Then if his surface TF does a bombardment run tommorow it might set my operation back a bit more. So I'll get some more forces on the way even though I may not ultimately need them.

Burma: Another Indian division arrives at Akyab with another right behind it. After a couple days of bad weather the Japanese 11th division gets pounded on the 27th and 28th. It's unfortunate for Japan that this is the first unit on his Akyab troop list. It gets hit with everything every turn. So his freshest division will be ripped apart leaving the 55th and Imperial Guards division which have to be a little worn out by now.

Austrailia: He can see me coming for sure. On the Perth/Darby axis we have a little comedy as both our units divert off road I guess to avoid each other. You just can't plot long road moves around enemy forces. I have an armored unit and an infantry BDE clearing the route to Darwin and Whendym with a huge force following behind them. He may not see that yet.!!!!

Thursday Island: This may go easy. I have been bombing this location from air and see for about a week and now I can see nothing there. Not quite sure how he would evacuate without me seeing any ships. Maybe he did it by air. Or maybe his troops are hiding. I have some para's that I could send any time. But they are not fully prepped and not strong enough to face a big force alone. I'll wait a turn. My amphibious force is still a weak off but if I can't find any ground troops I may accelerate things.

Baker Island: My invasion force collects at Jarvis Island. I will hit Baker in about 10 days.

[moses]

31 Mar 1943:



A pretty good day. He sends a surface TF toward Adak and meets only my PT's. PT's do well against bombardment TF's and I put two torpedoes into CA Atago. 3 PT's die but it was well worth it. The next morning my bombers attack his retreating CA and put 8 500 lb bombs into it. None penetrate but still that CA must be hurting. His TF retreats without bombarding.

Further south Thursday island is in fact occupied. I will have to invade.

[moses]

4 April:

Jwilkerson tries to mass his aircraft at Akyab and brings on a big battle. Results were spectacular from my standpoint. 82 Tojo's and 51 Jacks go down mostly in air-to-air. I lose 23 Coursairs and 15 P38's. Some lessor aircraft (21 P39's and some Brewsters) go down as well but who cares. Fot the day Japan losses 159 planes to my 99.

After all that my ground attacks are not disturbed even a bit. They go in with insignificant opposition and pound his 11th division once more. My troops at Akyab are now superior in all ways. More troops, more artillery and massive armor. My last Division arrives within 4 days and the assault will begin.

Out in the Pacific the 25th Division departs Jarvis Island for Baker Island. This invasion should land on the 8th.

[ny59giants]

You seem to be adapting well without your CV's. [:D][&o][:D]

[moses]

I'm trying. I actually have a small CV force now. 3 CV's and some CVL/CVE on the coast of Austrailia. Jwilkerson has a significant force still playing around in Alaska a long way away. I think he has at least one CV and 3 or 4 smaller carriers. I also believe he has a carrier or too around Rangoon.

Since I assume he is resting a few carriers in Japan or some other safe area I may be close to parity in the south pacific. At least if I stay closae to LBA I have some chance of surviving a carrier engagement.

The Baker Island invasion is a bit unsupported. If his carriers pop up I could get hurt. But he is not flying any recon from Baker so how would he know I'm coming? The logical places that he would be basing carriers are Truk, Rabaul, or Kwajilin. From either of these locations it would take time for him to intervene. So hopefully I can land and get out before any carriers can arrive.

For the Solomon chain I am now building up the Santa Cruz islands so that I can support the invasion with land based fighters. I have 2 level one airfields now and am pouring even more engineers into the task. (By April 43 the allies have astonishing numbers of engineers). Once they get to level two I'll be able to fly LRCAP and the invasion will be on.

[moses]

12 April:

Burma: My first deliberate attack was not very encouraging.

Ground combat at Akyab

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 118175 troops, 1068 guns, 1461 vehicles, Assault Value = 2986

Defending force 96412 troops, 722 guns, 26 vehicles, Assault Value = 1821

Allied max assault: 2959 - adjusted assault: 2839

Japanese max defense: 1668 - adjusted defense: 12237

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 6)


Japanese ground losses:---------------Allied ground losses:
627 casualties reported----------------4293 casualties reported
Guns lost 29-----------------------------Guns lost 135
-------------------------------------------Vehicles lost 5

My preceding air strike was pretty lame but even with a good strike it looks like I have a ways to go.

Austrailia: My troops enter Darwin and are entering Wyndam and Derby in a day. Darwin looks adequately held. I will try a shock attack anyway. I would make it an 80% chance that I fail to achieve 1 to 1 odds but I have to try after going all this way. The other to cities I will probe with artillery and see if there is a weak spot.

Baker Island falls without much of a fight. In the end only 288 troops are there and the only resisitance was some LR bombers which sunk an SC.

[moses]

16 April:

Austrailia: I've done my recon by force and it looks to be a bust. He has 4 divisions in the country and with level 9 forts, uncontested air power and bombardment TF's that's enough to hold against the entire Austrailian Army. I will head back to replace troops and regroup.

Against what he has in country the only way to make progree will be to have some naval assets in the area. At some point in the future I will be able to swing forces past Port Moresby and isolate the Austrailian coast. But right now I am not strong enough and it is too hazardous to try and sail by PM. But for now it's good to know that 4 Japanese divisions are tied to the defence of Austrailia.

Alaska: Adak is still contested and I will be landing an RCT in 4 days to help out my 41st Division. I have 3 CVL's along to help this time so carrier action is possible.

[ny59giants]

I would focus on getting Broome to fall first. Then roll up the bases from there. Hopefully, you can get some BB TF to come up from Perth from time to time. Darwin is going to be the hardest and I would do just enough there to remain in place. 

I would place a few AS & AR at Perth and have about 10 or more subs based out of there and have him try to run that gauntlet for his BB TF. He is probably using Kendari for supplies (I would).

[moses]

You're probably correct that Broome is the weak spot. Problem is allmost all my major surface units are lining up on the other side of the continant for the big push up the Solomon chain. It won't be long now with my divisions at 70 prep and loads of other units preped for the other islands.

I just don't have the carriers to safely attack anywhere where I cannot use LBA. So it's important to open up an active front in the Solomons where I can use LBA and all my BB's.

If I took (or attempted to take) Broome I would always have to worry about uber-KB coming down and I have nothing to stop him from crushing me. So I'll keep preparing my ops in the south Pacific and save north Austrailia for the summer.