Rising Sun over the Rockies - F.K. vs OSO - Wake captured by US

[FeurerKrieg]

July 15th, 1942
97 B-17E's attacked Johnston Island today, destroying 5 Zeros and 1 Nell on the ground. Damage to the airfield itself was light. Replacement aircraft are en route.

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B-17E Flying Fortress[/center]

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July 16th, 1942
SS Thresher was attack at Efate, but we did not sink the sub.

Makassar completed the airfield there. (sz 4)

Soryu began the installation of new AA guns today. Once finished it will return to Truk where it will replace Hiryu, which is heading back to the Home Islands at the moment for August upgrades. Hiyo will be finished in a couple days as well and once it fills out its air groups it will head to Truk as well.

Once some of these moves are finished, the carriers will move to Kwajelein to be in position to repel an attack against Johnston Island.

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Soryu Upgrade[/center]

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July 17th, 1942
SS Grunion attempted to attack a small convoy headed south. Fortunately our best ASW's ships were escorting and they found and sunk the Grunion.

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Grunion submerges for the final time.[/center]

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July 18th, 1942
No air action today at all, just the shells flying back and forth at Changsha.

Units continue to unload at Canton and the North China Army slowly trickles into Ichang. Soon the NCA will start its march through the swampland, while the SAA will attempt to break through at Liuchow.

Port Blair and Sorong expanded air facilities today. (sz 3 and 4)

[FeurerKrieg]

July 19th, 1942
Another quiet day.

Savaii and Tongatapu, both in the South Pacific, completed their airfields today. (both sz 4)

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July 20th, 1942
Two transports pulling into Canton struck enemy mines laid by submarine. Thankfully damage was light and there were only 33 casualties.

53 B-17E's hit Johnston today, but the weather was cloudy and none of the bombs hit the island.

Tomorrow the weather forecast is merely overcast in Burma, so we will attempt another Dacca type strike, but this time we will hit Calcutta to keep those Allies guessing.

[FeurerKrieg]

July 21st, 1942
Another big day in the air in Burma and India.

Our first strike goes off well, although the resistance encountered was much more determined than that at Dacca. Perhaps these were veteran RAF's pilots we shot down today? In any case, the AVG was present and 11 of 12 AVG pilots were sent to oblivion. Hopefully this will help keep that group weak a bit longer. The real star of the enemy today was the Kittyhawk. These planes survived our attack and proceeded to shoot down several of our Sally and Helen bombers!
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First strike[/center]

The second strike however, finished off the enemy defenders (except a couple Kittyhawks) and our naval bombers went in unmolested. In both strikes enemy Flak was murderous, destroying 31 of our bombers, even 4 Liz bombers went down! We will be sure to use greater care if we attack Calcutta again anytime soon. These attacks are mainly to buy us time to get better Army fighters in place to defend our troops against the enemy 4E bombers. In this it seems to be working so far, we haven't been attacked for over a week. Our next operation might be to lure the Allies into a sweep over Magwe. We will move in like usual, but instead of attacking, we will put up a massive CAP of Zeros and Tojos and catch the enemy fighters over our territory.
[center]
Second strike[/center]

56 P-40E Warhawks flew sweep over Magwe, but wisely our planes were nowhere to be found, having all flown to Calcutta or stayed on the ground.

All air losses were exactly even for the day, however fighter losses were much more in our favor which is good, because it's the fighter pilots we need for the defense of Burma.

Fighter losses: 21 Japan vs 62 Allied
19 A6M3 Zero
2 A6M2 Zero
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27 Hurricane IIb
15 P-40E Warhawk
9 P-43A Lancer
6 P-66 Vanguard
5 Kittyhawk I

Bombers: 41 total; 6 A2A, 31 to Flak, 4 operational losses
19 Ki-21 Sally
13 G4M1 Betty
5 G5N Liz
4 Ki-49 Helen

[FeurerKrieg]

July 22nd, 1942
Nothing much happened today. A Lily was shot down during our daily attack on Changsha. Only one troop convoy left that needs to reach Canton. It is carrying the 38th Division.

The Home Islands are getting low on resources. About 25 days left. I recently mapped out two Resource Extraction routes. A north one that goes to Haiphong and then returns along the South China coast, and a southern route that goes to Nauru Island, Noumea and then up to northern NG, and then up through the DEI, Malaya, Indochina and on home. That one takes longer, but will have some 300-400K resources when it reaches home. The China route will pull in about 200K this time, but not as much in the future. Both convoy routes are sailed by two large convoys made up of 5000 capacity AKs and heavy escort.

Since Burma is on the front, resources are only taken out of Rangoon when supply convoys come in.

Up to this point, most resource and oil movements have been made to allow all non-Home Island areas to have enough stocks to last about a year, so for the next ten months or so, everything will be headed to the Home Islands.

[FeurerKrieg]

July 23rd, 1942
Minesweepers arrived at Canton today and began clearing away mines.

Recon indicates all bombers have left Dacca and Calcutta. Apparently our attacks had a desired affect, and the bombers have temporarily left the theater.

[FeurerKrieg]

July 24th, 1942
As the minesweepers continue their work at Canton, a cargo ship struck a mine today. Around 120,000 tons of war materials began to unload at Canton today. These are the supplies that will feed the Southern Area Army on its attack against Liuchow. 90,000 tons are due to arrive in Shanghai tomorrow to feed the northern side of Operation Joukai. All aircraft in the area have stood down as well so they can rest before being assign new targets. Recon units has been reassigned so that all enemy units behind the river will be reconed.

The airfield at Aitutaki in the Cook Island was expanded today. (sz 2)

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July 25th, 1942
105 B-17E's attacked Johnston today, destroying 1 Zero and 1 Nell. The Nell will be upgraded to Bettys. These were the last front line Nells in service. They will now all be used in a training role only.

Shokaku began adding additional AA guns today, similar to Soryu. Zuikaku should begin in a couple days as well. Soryu has set sail to Truk and will finish repairs there in case the Carrier Strike force needs to sail on short notice. Hiryu took Soryu's place at Maizuru, and it will add AA guns in a week or so.

[center]
Shokaku Upgrade[/center]

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July 26th, 1942
117 B-24D Liberators attacked Johnston Island from Hawaii today. The Nick will begin production in just a few days, which should stop, or at least slow down these bombing runs.

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B-24D Liberator[/center]

Abemama finished its airfield. (sz 4)

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July 27th, 1942
B-17E's hit Johnston, but the strike was smaller today, only 57 bombers attacked us.

O19 was hit by a Sally while trying to escape into the Indian Ocean from Malaya.

[center]
SS O-19[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

July 28th, 1942
No action at all today other than artillery fire at Changsha.

Most of the KB is relocating to Kwajelein. I have also sent heavy cruiser Myoko off to Singapore to balance the surface assets that are based there. We had two battleships, but only one heavy cruiser. Four battleships and some cruisers remain at Truk to finish minor maintenance, and also to act as a reserve in case of an attack from Australia.

[center][/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

I'm a couple days ahead of the AAR, its 8/1/42 and looks like some action in the Pacific.

How many US carriers could I be looking at in August?

Can 5 CV & 4 CVL (Shokaku, Zuikaku, and Hiryu are in the HI) take them on?

My CV's, CVLs are in Kwaj (just moved them there a couple days ago), Soryu is one day out from Kwaj.

Thoughts?

[FeurerKrieg]

Let's get caught up here so you guys can get in on the action at Johnston.

July 29th, 1942
For the last few days, recon indicated no fighters at Ledo, but many transport planes. Therefore today, 76 Betty bombers from Rangoon hit Ledo destroying 12 Dakota I's and 9 C47's on the ground.

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July 30th, 1942
No action today outside of shelling at Changsha. Our armies are on the march near Ichang, heading west across the swamps, and in the south at Wuchow, heading to Liuchow. Operation Joukai is under way. Bombers will begin to hit Liuchow on August 1st.

[FeurerKrieg]

August 1st, 1942
August proves to be a big day in the war. The Nick two engined fighter, capable of stopping high altitude Allied bombing runs, and the new Kawasaki powered Ki-61 'Tony' fighter both rolled their first production units out today.

SS Porpoise attacked AP Josho Maru on the surface south of Saigon. The ship was carrying elements of the 11th Aviation Rgt, recently reassigned from Manchukuo to Burma. The majority of the unit was on other ships. This ship will likely sink tomorrow.
[center]
Submarine attack![/center]

Weather scrubbed our opening air attack on Liuchow, but we still have a couple days before the attacking army arrives there. To draw war supplies from Liuchow, our army launched a heavy attack on Changsha today.

The really major event is the apparent intention of the United States to invade Johnston Island.

A Glen floatplane reported a large fleet northeast of the island, heading directly towards Johnston. Unfortunately this Glen was shot down by enemy carrier planes before he could return to his sub, I-26. I-26 was also found by enemy SBDs and bombed. Damage crews were able to stabilize flooding and the sub should be able to make it back to Kwajelein. The sub had arrived from being repaired just four days ago, so it is no stranger to damage.

Johnston itself was bombed before sunrise by 9 B-17Es and 12 B-24D's but these did no damage. In the daylight, 66 B-17E's attacked and came in between 9,000 and 14,000 feet. 41 Zeros rose to stop them and did a fair job. 19 of the B-17's were shot down, although 5 Zeros were lost as well. The remaining bombers did a fair bit of damage to the airbase, destroying 9 Betty bombers and 1 Zero on the ground.
[center]
Enemy bombers shot down[/center]

4 Zeros and 3 Bettys on patrol found the fleet and attempted to attack as well, but were jumped by over a hundred enemy fighters, including P-38Fs. Our Zeros managed to take down 1 F4F-4 and shot up another and a P-38 enough that they were considered losses.

Thankfully the majority of our fleet arrived just a couple days ago at Kwajelein. The bulk of the fleet is sailing out immediately to be on hand in case the opportunity to damage enemy assets presents. Battleship Yamato is leading a powerful surface combat group, and every carrier and light carrier outside of Zuikaku, Shokaku and Hiryu are in strong TFs with Battleships and numerous cruisers. The fleet will likely stay to the south of Johnston and attempt to sink enemy ships unloading at the island. They may not arrive in time to stop the initial invasion, but hopefully the many coastal guns and mines we have set up with be enough to slow the enemy assault.

Soryu was due to arrive in two days, but will speed up and arrive tomorrow to take on fuel and form up a task force and head east to catch up with the rest of the fleet before it engages the enemy.

Since the fleet will take a couple more days to arrive, nearly 200 aircraft are flying into Johnston and will attempt to attack the enemy fleet tomorrow. It will likely be a bloody affair, and any surviving aircraft will fly back to Kwajelein the following day so they are not lost if the atoll is captured.

[FeurerKrieg]

August 2nd, 1942
The heaviest blow was dealt to us today, not by the Americans, but by the weather.

Storm clouds at Johnston Island kept our planes grounded today. As the clouds began to clear, our aircraft began to prepare for takeoff to attack the enemy, and then the skies darkened again with enemy planes. 50 F4F-4s and 34 F4F-3's flew sweep over the airfield, but met no opposition as our planes were still organizing on the ground. Then 110 B-24D bombers arrived and destroyed many airplanes and damaged the runway enough that our planes could not take off. 86 SBD bombers also hit the airbase, destroying more planes. We lost some 80+ planes today, 48 of which were Zeros. Most of the pilots are fine, but I doubt they will be able to get off Johnston if it falls soon.
Our AA guns brought down six of the SBD's at least, and that will hopefully be less bombers our own carriers will have to worry about.
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SBD's attacking Johnston[/center]

Some SBD's also bombed our MSW Wa14, sinking it with multiple 1000lb bombs. Thankfully they didn't find Wa19, and it will remain on station to attempt to distract the enemies battleships for a bit when they arrive tonight.

In China at least, the weather lifted and 100 of our bombers hit Liuchow. Tomorrow they will begin to target the front lines more directly.
[center]
Liuchow comes under air attack[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

August 3rd, 1942
Johnston Island has been invaded by the Americans! The 1st Marines and Americal Divisions are largely ashore, but it wasn't without some cost.

Two enemy surface groups came in to bombard the atoll before the landings. The first, consisting of battleships Warspite, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma came in and their escorts DD's Mahan and Cummings both hit mines. Then MSW Wa19 made a suicide charge against the large ships, surprising them, but Oklahoma was still able to easily hit the ship with a round of 14" shells. This group them shelled the island. Damage was light and our guns set CL Trenton afire.

Next came battleships Mississippi, New Mexico, Idaho and Colorado. This bombardment did more damage than the previous.

Our guns were still in operation, though, as several DMS ships tried to clear a path for the troops. Eight DMS's were all heavily damaged and most took upwards of 20 hits from our defense guns. DMS Lamberton sunk before the sun came up. When the sun did rise, SBDs from the carriers attacked our ground troops.

As the troops came in, APs Westralia, Harris and Torrens all stuck mines. The enemy did get ashore with fairly light casualties, however when the sun came up their attack failed to breach the main beach defenses, but they did gain enough ground to gain a foothold. (Assault was 0 to 1 odds, forts did not change, they stayed at 2)
[center]
First assault on Johnston - Japanese hold[/center]

Our carriers will meet up tomorrow, and based on how the land battle goes we will decide how quickly to charge the atoll.
[center]
Situation at Johnston[/center]

In China, our planes attacked Liuchow again.