England vs Germany - #17

[xj900uk]

Hi there, thought you might like to know how the campaign between myself (Allies) and BB (Japanese) is coming along.
First week of May, activity has been fairly quiet with both sides jockying for position and trying to capture anything valuable and unguarded.
leaving PM alone so far, and, rather than risking valuable escorts in an conventional invasion-type convoy, BB has been running fast CL and DD transports to capture Buna and Gili Gili on the SE part of New Guinea.
Gili Gili the Allies could do little about, but on Buna the Japanese garison unit received a very hot reception from advance deployments of the scratch New Guinea division, and were wiped out to a man the day after they'd got off their boats...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/04/42

Weather: Thunderstorms

Ground combat at Gili Gili

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 818 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 21 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Gili Gili base !!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Buna

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2911 troops, 31 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 818 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 1047
Guns lost 6

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 26

The following day brought more misery for the Japanese, as, whilst running down some more supplies on fast CL and DD units, a couple of these forays into hostile waters bumped into Grace's crack US-Australian cruiser formation, task force 44, and definitely got the worst of it in a couple of short, sharp and deadly night actions...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/05/42

Weather: Thunderstorms

Night Time Surface Combat, near Gili Gili at 17,42

Japanese Ships
CL Tenryu
DD Shigure, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CA Chicago, Shell hits 1
CA Australia
CL Hobart, Shell hits 1
DD Walke
DD Farragut

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Gili Gili at 17,42

Japanese Ships
DD Yugure, Shell hits 26, on fire, heavy damage
DD Ariake, Shell hits 15, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CA Chicago
CA Australia
CL Hobart
DD Walke
DD Farragut

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Gili Gili, at 17,42

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 13

Port hits 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With two Japanese destroyers confirmed sunk and a third so badly damaged it may not make port (although inclement weather in the New Guinea area prevents the allied LBA's from flying and finishing it off as it limps away) so far the scraps have definitely gone the way of the Allies...

[bigbaba]

last turns were quiet ones...expect for increased japanese efforts to sink some of the numerous allied subs between shortland and rabaul. with the high XP of my bomber daitais, several subs were hit but we got no sinking confirmations:

japanese navy bombers on ASW duty:

[xj900uk]

I can confirm that, my subs have been playing cat & mouse with his Nells and Beatty's operating out of Rabaul. Of course, whilst they are hunting after my subs, they are leaving Port Morseby alone!

We're now well into the latter half of May '42 now, and I am pleased to report that my carriers managed to surprise a small invasion convoy near the Russell Islands in the Solomons...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/17/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Air attack on Lae , at 9,33


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 21


no losses

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 54

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 8
Port supply hits 1

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-17E Fortress at 16000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 16000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 16000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 16000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 16000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 16000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 16000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on 14th Naval Construction Battalion, at 22,39


Allied aircraft
PBY Catalina x 1
Hudson x 3


no losses

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x Hudson at 1000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Russell Islands at 35,39


Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 30


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Marsue Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AP Mito Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Kikuzuki, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Mutsuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Meiten Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 26


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Buna , at 12,38

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
D3A Val x 38
B5N Kate x 51

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 4 damaged
B5N Kate x 1 damaged


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 7

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 14

Attacking Level Bombers:
21 x B5N Kate at 10000 feet
12 x B5N Kate at 10000 feet
18 x B5N Kate at 10000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Gili Gili , at 17,42


Allied aircraft
B-25D Mitchell x 25


no losses

Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
6 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
7 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Russell Islands at 35,39


Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 42


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AP Meiten Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Mutsuki, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
AP Marsue Maru, on fire
AP Mito Maru, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Kikuzuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think it's curtains for the Russell Islands, at least for now, but 'I shall return'. It's far more satisfying to know how many of his ships in that convoy are now quietly resting on the bottom.

I'm glad his carriers have finally popped up onto the map, I shall vector in my hunter killer subs accordingly... [:D]

[xj900uk]

Follow-up to my last Email. Japanese carrier-based planes launched a heavy strike on Port Morseby, where they were met by a bunch of P39's & P40's who mounted a heroic defence, running up a very impressive 3:1 score in their favour. Time will tell if these losses of carrier-trained pilots prove critical to the IJN.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/18/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Sub attack at 33,39

Japanese Ships
DD Kikuzuki, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS S-41, heavy damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Lae , at 9,33


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 3


Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress x 1 damaged

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-17E Fortress at 16000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 28
D3A Val x 43
B5N Kate x 49

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 31
P-40E Kittyhawk x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 5 destroyed
D3A Val x 9 destroyed
D3A Val x 11 damaged
B5N Kate x 11 destroyed
B5N Kate x 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra x 3 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra x 1 damaged
P-40E Kittyhawk x 4 destroyed
P-40E Kittyhawk x 3 damaged

FO L. Marks of 35th FS is credited with kill number 2

LT M. Nakamoto of EIII-3 Daitai is KILLED


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 31

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 20

Attacking Level Bombers:
8 x B5N Kate at 10000 feet
14 x B5N Kate at 10000 feet
17 x B5N Kate at 10000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Gili Gili , at 17,42


Allied aircraft
B-25D Mitchell x 22


no losses

Attacking Level Bombers:
6 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
10 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet
3 x B-25D Mitchell at 6000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Russell Islands

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 655 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Russell Islands base !!!

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Don't know quite how the S-41 managed to suffer such heavy damage in attacking the Kikuzuki, considering it was not the subject of a depth charge attack. One can only assume one of his destroyers accidentally ran over it... [&:]

[Puhis]

ORIGINAL: xj900uk

We're now well into the latter half of May '42 now, and I am pleased to report that my carriers managed to surprise a small invasion convoy near the Russell Islands in the Solomons...

Nice to see that someone else is making same mistakes than I. [X(]

Life is learning!

[xj900uk]

Agreed. The Allies definitely appear on top after the opening few weeks. Lae is being pounded by B17's from the mainland, his outpost at Gili Gili by B25's (whom sadly seem incapable of hitting anything!), and PM has been largely left alone whilst his Nells and Beattys at Rabaul play 'hunt the submarine'. The only time he launched a large attack against the airfield there, by carrier based planes located well east of Buna, they were repulsed with heavy losses by the defenders although the runway and some facilities were hit. Further east he's captured Lunga and the Russell islands, but not without substantial casualties when his invasion convoy was surprised by my carriers approaching undetected from the south and hit hard. My subs themselves have been playing cat and mouse with his supply and invasion convoys, despite strong interdiction from his bombers based at Rabaul.
However his main Kido Butai of the four front-line carriers has yet to appear, plus any of his fast battlecruisers or battleships, when it does the pendulum could well swing back.

Concerning me surprising his invasion convoy of the Russell islands, which mirrors a similar game with Puhis where in virtually identical circumstances I managed to surprise and virtually destroy his convoy unloading at Lunga, that is interesting...
it seems though that in both cases, thanks to faulty intelligence/reconissance and the Mavis' based at Shortlands or wherever failed to spot my carriers coming up fast from the south, staying clear from the islands where his coastwatchers may be lurking. If I had been playing the Japanese, in both circumstances I would have still sailed the convoys (Tulai, Russell islands, Lunga and even Irau are all worth taking early on by the IJN, they will never get a better chance) but I would have made sure they had some air cover. If the airfield at Shortlands was not yet ready, then I would have probably moved the CVE Shoho down to Shortlands, berthed it there and used its squadron to provide CAP for either of these convoys. This mirrors actual IJN doctrine in the early part of the war, where they used their light & escort carriers as protection for many invasion/occupation convoys, sometimes even actually sailing in them. Anything closer to Shortlands (like Munda), then the Rufe's based at Shortlands can provide some element of cover.
Of course, not to say that at that distance a maximum of 18 zeros at about 50/60% efficiency - say providing something like 10 Zero's over the convoys at any one time - would have stopped all of my strike, but they would have certianly given the convoys a measure of protection. I was half-expecting him to do this, and downing a load of my SBD's as the launch was outisde the range of my Wildcats

[RGIJN]

England vs Germany

Germans everywhere, it seems...[;)] Not too far away from RL, since we were -for some decades- in possession of at least a part of the area UV uses as theatre of operations.
So the Tommies against the Krauts once more [;)]

Another nice AAR, keep it going guys! [:)]

[xj900uk]

Thanks. Hopefully though this competion won't finish with a penalty shoot-out!!! [:-]

[Miller]

ORIGINAL: xj900uk

Thanks. Hopefully though this competion won't finish with a penalty shoot-out!!! [:-]

[;)]

[bigbaba]

hehe, you britons know, what garry linaker said about UV?

its a game and lasts more then 90 minutes and at the end, germany wins.[:D]

the beginning goes for chris....i admit that. i was just too optimistic and thought about his "newbie" status in PBEM games..that was a mistake but the loses are not that heavy. 5 DD, 3 AP and 30 AC so far. and in the last 2 turns, 1 allied DD and 1 SS went down with all hands.

[xj900uk]

Thanks, BB. I won't mention a certain game played on Sept 6th 2001 in Germany, a WCQ which finished up Germany 1 England 5. My daughter has this fascinating photo pinned up on her board in her room, taken of the German bench just after Michael Owen scored his third goal. Whenever I feel down or sad I always go and look at that, it never fails to cheer me up...

As for UV, yes the opening shots do seem to have gone to the Allies. Other than me catching one of his convoys in the Solomons, most of May '42 seems to have centred around my mainland-based B17's pounding Lae to dust, the IJN grabbing undefended islands here and there and the cat and mouse games that have been going on with my subs and his supply/reinforcement/invasion convoys. True I've had one sub sunk and others damaged (I lost the destroyer to a lurking sub, taste of my own medicine) and the only ship they confirm sunk has been a MSW, but I've hit and damaged about half a dozen transport vessels, a couple of DD's and one CL for sure, which have undoubtably limped back to port for repairs.
So far the Japs have left PM more or less alone, other than for one carrier attack which was repulsed with heavy losses

[xj900uk]

Just a brief summary of where we are now that we have just started June '42. So far of the opening moves and spars, admittedly few, most have gone the Allies' way. There has been no major carrier battles, in fact carriers have been rarely sighted, and most of the action seems to centre around the US subs nibblign away at the Japanese convoys & supply routes, and most of the Japanese air-force employed in an attempt to hunt them down and destroy them.

On the land side of things the Japanese have taken Gili Gili, Woodlark (already has an airfield although the runway looks a bit battered) and Lunga. The Allies have consolidated their holds on Buna (for a time briefly contested), Rossell and Irau by building up the bases their as fast as possible.
The only clashes so far have come at Buna, where a small Japanese garrison force was bodily thrown back into the sea, and the odd shot being fired across teh barricades at Wau.

In the air the Allies have been systematically pounding Lae to rubble with the B17's based at Cooktown, there has been less success with raids directed at Gili Gili and Woodlark. The Japanese to date have only mounted one air-assault on Port Morseby mid-month, from a carrier force to the east of Buna, which was repulsed by the defenders with heavy losses (26 carrier-based aircraft lost by the IJN against only 8 P39's & P40's, of which only 1 pilot was killed).
In fact to date the Allies seem to be loosing more planes to non-combat operational losses or bad weather than doing battle with the Japanese, who's own losses other than for the one attack on PM have been remarkably low.

At sea there have been loads of cat & mouse games between the US subs and the Japanese shipping and search/ASW planes, to date the Allies have lost 1 x DD & 2 subs (all scuttled after suffering heavy damage), whilst the Japanes have lost 5 x DD, 2 x MSW and 3 x transports by most accounts. Most of the Japanese losses came in a brief battle off Gili Gili at the start of May, or else mid-month when a small invasion convoy in the Solomons was decimated by US carrier planes (making a very rare foray from base). Elsewhere the US subs have been raising merry hell with the transports, hitting several + the odd escort but only one confirmed sinking.

[xj900uk]

The first half of June '42 passed quite peacefully with both sides cagily edging around each other, most action seemed to take place with subs and trying to find/sink them.
Then, around the 20th, BB arrived in strength down the east coast of PNG. First of all a series of massive carrier-born strikes neutralised PM airfield (knocking out nearly all of my P39's & P40's, I think in one day the Zero's shot down about 40 of them & lost 2 in the air!) then he invaded Buna and after a short, sharp siege lasting less than a week, managed to capture it largely intact.
To say this was something of a shock from the Allies pov was something of an understatement. Buna had level 5 fortifications + over 12,000 combat troops there from the New Guinea & 3rd Divisions, + loads of engineers and bulldozers. Also it had a good stockpile of supplies However it fell in about 4 days!
Port Morseby has also been badly hit + the Japs have dramatically won all of the air-battles over the mainland, looking back at the results for the final week in June the allies have lost over 100 planes in air-to-air combat (P39's, P40's & Wirraways) and shot down 7 of his, two of which were actually search/reconissance and not true dogfighting. PM also has since suffered over 90% damage to both runways and servicing, and also the port has been temporarily knocked out.
Also more worrryingly I have lost nearly all of my starting B17's (25 out of 26 by the end of June and not a single one in air-to-air combat!) which have been operating consistently from Cooktown and have all 'disappeared' as non-combat operational losses. Initially they did well bombing Lae but the moment I started using them for naval searches or attacking his shipping the operational losses started mounting.
Critically, I have also lost most of my Dakota's whilst transporting in reinforcements to Buna and supplies to Port Morseby. Despite the presence of my own CAP and also escorts for the short run up from PM to Buna over the Owen Stanley mountains, his Zero's managed to completely decmiate them - I have lost over 80% inside of a week.
Trying to hit him back, my Havok's, B25's and B26's (not to mention the mainland B17's) consistently failed to hit a single ship and suffered c. 40% losses to his fighters and flak), now I have pulled most of them back to Cairns and Cooktown where at least they are out of range of his Zero's. I had subs in the area but they failed to mount even one attack, my sole successes came from my Wirraways operating as dive bombers and also some low-level work from the Beauforts, which shot up several of his barges.
Talk about the Japanese just strolling in and taking over! Loosing Buna was bad enough, but loosing nearly all my fighters and most of my LBA's not to mention the Dakota's was just taking the cream!

On the postiive side for the allies, whilst all of his carriers, attention and troop ships were busy down the east coast of PNG, over in the Solomons the US navy mounted a sneak couple of fast convoys and landed a substantial proportion of the Americal division at Lunga, which is only lightly defended and has a runway that more resembles a collander at present

[bigbaba]

aye, the fight relocates more to the solomon area now after the anglo-american aggression against lunga[;)]. the allied troops at east of buna should be destroyed withhin the next turns. i am glad that i brought nearly 60.000 troops (INF, ENG, HQ, AA) to take buna because with a lower number and a long fight for buna, the base would become a 2nd guadalcanal for the empire.

i have to be very carefull with my moves since chris is a damnd aggressive opponent and this surprised me at the beginning of our game when i had some unexpected loses. also, sometimes the game engine follows its own rules and decides battles. one of my carrier strikes against PM should include 100 zeros as escort (good weather, morale and close range) but only 21 zeros took off what resulted in the lose of 30 vals and kates to chris CAP over PM.

i hope, such random bugs will not have more influence into the game.

[xj900uk]

It's the random element built in to reflect real life. There were loads of cases in WWII, especially carrier warfare, where strikes were uncoordinated, or sent against the wrong target, or accidentally found the right target (as in the case of the Shoho at the Battle of the Coral Sea) or even formations of aircraft each trying to contact one another on the wrong radio frequency

Re the recent American landings at Lunga, and seizing the island from the surprised Japanese engineers, only time will tell if this was a good idea on the Allies part. However there was a glaring opportunity there as BB had concentrated virtually every warship at his disposal at Buna (perfect target which my subs passed up) and his forces in the Solomons were surprisingly light.
This gave me an opportunity first to plan for his expected response and take Lunga second

[bigred]

A view from the top.

[bigbaba]

in the last turns, we had some huge developments in our game.

in the last 2 weeks, japanese forces invaded rossel island with 4 regiments and support troops and took the island in a fast and quick fight. then, after a short R&R at rabaul, the entire japanese navy sailed out for....lunga. the combind fleet consisted:

-10 CV/CVL with 596 zeros, vals and kates on them. also 3 CS with 18 float fighters and 50 other float planes and a DD screening force with good AA and some radar equiped destroyers. admiral yamagutchi was leading the first carrier divisionand the admirals salamaki(?) and ozawa the following 2 elements of the KB.

-and all other available BB/CA/CL/DD in 6 bombard fleets consisting each 13-15 ships. after forming up the fleet, not a single DD was remaining at rabaul.

- 3 invasion TFs with 25 ships per TF and 58.000 combat troops on them waiting far away from the battle to go in after the battle.

the allied carrier force was at irau for several turns and was observed by mavis and emilys from shortland island, so i knew where they were.

the plan was to close 7 hexes away from irau (good range for vals and kates since they can take off with most of their armements) out of range of enemy devastators and at the maximum range of his fighters and dive bombers.

for some reason, the KB did not start a single strike in the execution phase (overcast, 40% CAP and also 3x27 land based zeros as LRCAP and 50 float planes on naval search) so in the following turn, i had to fight 5 US carriers in a close range annihilation battle.

anyway...5 US CV without avengers on their decks are no real match for the mighty KB in this early stage of the war and so, it was a major japanese victory in the battle of western salomons:

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 07/20/42

Air attack on TF at 35,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 12
A6M2 Zero x 72
A6M3 Zero x 7

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 15
SBD Dauntless x 80
TBD Devastator x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe x 1 destroyed
A6M2-N Rufe x 3 damaged
A6M2 Zero x 3 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 3 damaged
A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed
A6M3 Zero x 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 4 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 42 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 30 damaged
TBD Devastator x 16 destroyed
TBD Devastator x 13 damaged

PO1 G.Asada of EIII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 5

LT J.Nomura of FF1/Yokohama Chutai bails out and is CAPTURED

Japanese Ships
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 2
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CS Chitose


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 35,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 5
A6M2 Zero x 33
A6M3 Zero x 3

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8
SBD Dauntless x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe x 1 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 2 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 13 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 19 damaged

CPO C.Okano of BII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 6

LT M. Suganami of BI-1 Daitai bails out and is CAPTURED

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Numakaze


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 35,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 4
A6M2 Zero x 31
A6M3 Zero x 3

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 4
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8
SBD Dauntless x 33
TBF Avenger x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe x 1 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 1 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 7 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 13 damaged
TBF Avenger x 5 destroyed
TBF Avenger x 10 damaged

CPO E.Asada of EIII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 4

Japanese Ships
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CV Akagi
CVL Zuiho, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Shoho, on fire

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 35,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 9
A6M2 Zero x 66
A6M3 Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8
SBD Dauntless x 17
TBD Devastator x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe x 1 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 3 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 4 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 16 damaged
TBD Devastator x 9 destroyed
TBD Devastator x 7 damaged

CPO C.Okano of BII-1 Daitai is credited with kill number 7

LCDR E. Lindsey of VT-6 bails out and is RESCUED

Japanese Ships
CV Shokaku, Torpedo hits 1
CVL Ryujo
CV Zuikaku


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 39,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 65
A6M3 Zero x 12
D3A Val x 40
B5N Kate x 63

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 32
F4F-4 Wildcat x 105

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 13 destroyed
A6M3 Zero x 2 destroyed
D3A Val x 4 destroyed
D3A Val x 14 damaged
B5N Kate x 29 destroyed
B5N Kate x 45 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 3 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat x 20 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 9 damaged

LT W. Dean of VF-2 is credited with kill number 5

Allied Ships
CA Louisville, Torpedo hits 1
CA Indianapolis, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Hornet, Torpedo hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
DD Russell, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 6
CA Pensacola, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CV Yorktown, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL St. Louis, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 15, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CA Chester


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 39,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
D3A Val x 27
B5N Kate x 20

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 3 destroyed
D3A Val x 8 damaged
B5N Kate x 4 destroyed
B5N Kate x 14 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 3 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 13, on fire, heavy damage
DD Wilkes
CV Lexington, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CV Yorktown, Torpedo hits 1, on fire


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 39,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 28
D3A Val x 47
B5N Kate x 18

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 3 destroyed
D3A Val x 5 damaged
B5N Kate x 2 destroyed
B5N Kate x 11 damaged


Allied Ships
CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CV Saratoga, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 14, on fire, heavy damage
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
DD Bagley
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 1, on fire


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 39,44

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
D3A Val x 21
B5N Kate x 16

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 1 destroyed
B5N Kate x 11 damaged


Allied Ships
CV Yorktown, on fire, heavy damage
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
CL St. Louis, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Saratoga, on fire, heavy damage
CV Lexington, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 39,44

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 6

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 5 destroyed
D3A Val x 1 damaged


Allied Ships
CA Portland
CA Astoria


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 40,45

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 3
B5N Kate x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate x 1 destroyed
B5N Kate x 11 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Algorab, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
SC 640
SC 645
SC 647, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Mahan
AK Libra


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 27


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 40,45

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 19
B5N Kate x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate x 1 destroyed
B5N Kate x 3 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Etamin
AK Algorab, on fire, heavy damage
AK Almaack
SC 648, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
DD Mahan
AK Adhara, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 40
Vehicles lost 2


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Irau, at 42,43


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
P-400 Airacobra x 2 destroyed
P-400 Airacobra x 6 damaged
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
Hudson x 1 destroyed

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 32


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Irau, at 42,43


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
P-400 Airacobra x 3 destroyed
P-400 Airacobra x 1 damaged
Hudson x 4 destroyed
Hudson x 3 damaged

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 35


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Lunga, at 38,40


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 2 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 9 damaged
TBD Devastator x 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 18

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 31


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Irau, at 42,43


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 5 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 6 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 damaged

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 30


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Lunga, at 38,40


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 3 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 6 damaged
TBD Devastator x 1 destroyed
TBD Devastator x 2 damaged

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 58


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Irau, at 42,43


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat x 3 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat x 2 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 3 damaged

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

at the end of the day, the IJN sufferd the following casualties:

-2 CVL badly damaged.
-akagi and kaga have between 40-50 sys damage but shoudl make it to the port.
-around 100 planes lost.

the USN casualties which are confirmed through the FOW:

-4 fleet carriers sunk and one damaged:

---hornet 21 bombs, 6 torpedos: confirmed sunk.
---lexington 6 bombs, 5 torpedos: confirmed sunk in the following turn after reciving another 12 bombs and 1 torpedo.
---yorktown: 6 bombs, 3 torpedos: confirmed sunk.
---saratoga: 20 bombs, 5 torpedos: confirmed sunk.
---enterprise: 21 bombs: confirmed sunk.

in my opinion, chris was way too aggressiv in this early part of the war. bringing alot of troops to buna, defending rossel island, capturing and defending lunga and irau without all the avengers and south dakota BB is something i personaly never would do as the allied.

now its time to drive the anglo-american aggressors out of lunga and irau and to defend the empires borders.

BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!

the winner of the battle of west solomons, admiral yamaguchi:

[xj900uk]

What's most annoying is that I moved all of my planes (including spares from the Wasp, which had been damaged by a US mine off Noumea and couldn't take part) to Irau and Buna, where they did absolutely nothing useful during the battle. I even put loads of F4F's on CAP over a large US cruiser-destroyer force that was shadowing (ie same hex) as my carrier fleet but guess what they didn't fly much during the battle.
I already had two carriers converted over to Avengers by the time the battle took place but only one actually flew And that failed to hit anything

Getting back to Rossel, I had spent ages building up the fortifications to level 6 but it still fell in a few days. However I had only about 1,000 combat troops on it (most I'd airlifted to Buna in an attempt to hold that place, and were lost when he shot down my Dakota's in their droves) plus a base force and three regiments of engineers.
Buna also fell in a few days even though I had at least 15,000 combat troops there (3+ regiments) + loads of combat engineers & level 3 fortifications

Since then I have been busy building up both Irau and especially Lunga. There are now over 300 planes between these two airbases + all my troops for the eastern theatre including all of the marines. Unfortunately as he's bombed the runways flat my planes can't fly.
In addition I'd spent ages sowing loads of mines throughout the southern end of the Solomons but so far all I've hit is one Aussie cruiser and my own destroyer (+ damaging the Wasp earlier)

[bigbaba]

the last 3 turns saw heavy japanese carrier strikes on allied shipping south and SE of lunga and irau. the not damaged elements of the KB (6 CV/CVL) are exhausted after 4 days of non stop combat and also, we had some loses caused by heavy allied AA fire (50 val and kates in 3 turns), but the samurais did a good job and so the imperial HQ can proudly gazette the following report about the action of the last 3 days:

following allied ships sunk/heavly damaged by the KB:

5 CA, 4 CL, 10 DD.

for that, the IJN suffered 2 mine hits on a BB and a CA at lunga. both ships should make it back to port but will be out of action for some months.

the invasion force to liberate lunga and irau is underway.

[xj900uk]

I can't deny the Allies have taken huge losses in July '42, if anything bettering their defeats from late June.
So far we are almost 3 months in and the Allies have lost 42 ships, including 5 carriers sunk + nearly all their cruisers sunk, heavily damaged & trying to limp back to Noumea, or else sent back to Pearl and likely to be out for months. I think I have something like a dozen destroyers left with little (less than 10 sys) or no damage and that's it. So far I haven't lost many supply ships or tankers but that's only because the Japanese have studiously been going after my warships to date, sometimes hunting them out whilst at anchor in their ports. Checking the roster of what's likely to come down from Pearl, I can't see myself getting any more carriers before the end of this year other than that blasted CVE that keeps on popping up every few weeks & there aren't too many warships left, period.
Air losses for the Allies have been almost of bad, with over 150 planes destroyed on the ground (mainly when Buna and Rossel fell, or else destroyed in bombardments of Lunga and Irau) + nearly 450 lost operationally or in non-combat incidents in 3 months (which is pretty staggering going when you think about it)
On the plus side, both Lunga and Irau are still standing proud (Irau nearly now has level 9 fortifications) and have been heavily reinforced to ward off the expected Japanese invasions.
The one big success so far from the Allies point of view is that the surviving ships AA gunners seem to be getting very good (they've had plenty of practice), and are shooting down far more Japanese planes than the air corps (when it even bothers to show up!)