two Germans in the Pacific - Sc17

[RGIJN]

Action day, once again:
I saw another transport TF heading for Irau, in combo with the carriers. They came pretty close to the tip of the Solomons last turn, so I was certain it´s another try for reinforcements. Once more, I sent in the IJN. This time I committed two task forces (just to make sure...[:D]). And indeed it happened as I wished it would happen... [:)][8D] Except from a lone AK (the PHOBOS), all enemy ships off Irau were shot into pieces... more allied lift capacity destroyed, and more minesweeping vessels he is missing. Along with the troops that drowned.
Strange enough, it was reported that an enemy TF (201) was reacting. Obviously it must have been the US carrier force, since my bombers found them next morning in range! The good thing was - they had NO air patrol aloft!!! The very very disappointing thing was - I had most of my bombers set to rest! DAMN!!! Oh how silly war can be. I almost kicked my computer from the desk. [:@][:@][:@] So only 28 Vals came thru (also without escort!! what the heck is going on) and three US carriers were hit. Hopefully hard enough to pull them back.


However, a good day for the Empire! And I hope this can moderate the effect of the ships that must arrive from PH at Noumea HQ soon! And stress the effect my own reinforcements will have then...



AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/04/43

Weather: Thunderstorms

Night Time Surface Combat, near Irau at 42,43

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 4
DD Terusuki, Shell hits 9, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hatsuzuki, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Niizuki, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Kuroshio
DD Michishio
DD Hibiki, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Ushio, Shell hits 2, on fire

Allied Ships
DD Stanly, Shell hits 23, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD Cony, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Stevens, Shell hits 21, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DMS Long
DMS Dorsey
AK Allioth
AK Alderamin
AK Phobos


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Irau at 42,43

Japanese Ships
BB Yamato, Shell hits 11
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano, Shell hits 2
CL Kiso
DD Kazegumo, Shell hits 1
DD Wakaba
DD Ariake

Allied Ships
DD Cony, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
DD Stevens, and is sunk
DMS Long, Shell hits 1, on fire
DMS Dorsey, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AK Allioth, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Alderamin
AK Phobos


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 52


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Irau at 42,43

Japanese Ships
BB Yamato
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 7
CA Kumano
CL Kiso
DD Kazegumo
DD Wakaba
DD Ariake

Allied Ships
DMS Long, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
AK Allioth, and is sunk
AK Alderamin, Shell hits 16, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Phobos


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 525
Guns lost 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Irau , at 42,43

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 5

Allied aircraft
F-5A Lightning x 4

no losses

no losses


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Irau , at 42,43

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 5

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 33
PB4Y Liberator x 24
B-24D Liberator x 56

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 1 damaged


Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 386
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 61



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on 80th Regiment, at 42,43

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 5

Allied aircraft
Hudson x 21
A-20G Havoc x 9
A-20G Boston x 6

no losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson x 3 damaged



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on 503rd Parachute Regiment, at 42,43

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 26
Ki-21 Sally x 36
Ki-48 Lily x 30
Ki-49 Helen x 18

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 1 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally x 1 damaged
Ki-48 Lily x 1 destroyed
Ki-48 Lily x 2 damaged


1LT E.Jackson of 40th FS is credited with kill number 4


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 46



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 45,44

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 10 destroyed
D3A Val x 18 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 1
CV Hornet, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CV Wasp, Bomb hits 1, on fire


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Shortland Island , at 29,34

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 5
A6M5-B Zeke x 3
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 3

Allied aircraft
Beaufort x 6
P-47C Thunderbolt x 26

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort x 2 damaged

FO N.Morrison of 340th FS is credited with kill number 2

WO O.Fujiwara of AI-1 Daitai is KILLED

Port hits 1
Port fuel hits 1

[RGIJN]

ORIGINAL: bigbaba

wow, irau should fail soon and with another 30.000 allied POW, the imperial raidroad in burma will be finished even sooner.[;)]

yeah. It seems we even can expand the railway into India then... [;)]
I guess they are doomed. At least they won´t accomplish anything aggressive anymore...



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Irau

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 35532 troops, 459 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 31631 troops, 376 guns, 152 vehicles

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


Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 20

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 438


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

[RGIJN]

the first night encounter to soften up the "screen"...

[RGIJN]

the follow-up battle. It must hurt to receive an 1,5 ton 18 inch shell on a destroyer...

[RGIJN]

final destruction... the 3rd and last battle



How can they still be surprised after two battles with enemy fleets???

[RGIJN]

alot of Vals (17) fell victim to the very heavy AA. More than the half of my attackers didn´t return to base... Anyway, it could have come worse (for both).

[RGIJN]

Imperial Headquarter announces:

Irau is back under certain Japanese control. A final offensive brought the allied on the table. They surrendered today. Some hidden troopers are still knot aware of their defeat. We´re going to deal with them soon. Over 37,000 POW were made and they will be shipped out of the danger zone immediately.
BANZAI!

The Irau adventure has virtually come to an end. Costly for both combatants, but a glory victory for the empire! Quite a success to achieve something like this still in August 1943.



Time for a breathing pause?






AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/05/43

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Air attack on 164th Regimental Combat Team, at 42,43

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 26
Ki-21 Sally x 36
Ki-48 Lily x 24
Ki-49 Helen x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally x 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 59


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on 164th Regimental Combat Team, at 42,43

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 9
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 26

no losses


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 10


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Irau

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 35546 troops, 457 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 31317 troops, 375 guns, 152 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)


Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 243

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 35383
Guns lost 420
Vehicles lost 124


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Irau

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 814 troops, 0 guns, 54 vehicles

Defending force 37092 troops, 496 guns, 0 vehicles

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



Allied ground losses:
Men lost 234
Vehicles lost 2


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

[RGIJN]

before the attack...

[RGIJN]

...and after... (some Allied troops tried a shock attack too...)

[RGIJN]

Due to the recent events that led into the defeat of the Allies at Irau and massive ship losses on the part of their Navy during this operation the Empire could consolidate the lead at over 1300 vp. [8D]

Of course IJN & IJA HQ are well aware of what is still laying ahead on the road to the deadline... But everything is prepared as good as possible.

[RGIJN]

aside from the countless vessels of all kind sunk, the LCU losses (roughly 50k troops) strongly contributed to the current VP situation: the allied number raised from lower 300s before their move into the inner japanese defense parameter to over 1200 now.

[fuelli]

Somehow I´m glad this is over now. I already got word that the white house will offer me a new job starting in January 44. Up to then they asked me to not screw up things more badly.
Evaluating the the operation afterwards there is a list of things learned and also a long list of things that simply went wrong due to player mistakes. Basically the whole thing was doomed when my activities on Rennel were discoverd by the japanese far to early. Also the time needed to build up the airstrip there took juch longer thenI had calculated according to information I had. And the third mayor factor was the completely wrong Intel i got after more then two month of intense reconning. I had detailed information about every single aa weapon located at that base but I had no. I repeat NO (Nothing, nill, niente, nischt, überhauptkeine)information about the Infantry. According to my recon there was no Infantry at Irau. I knew that there was because during ground bombardments from the air one regiment was located. Thats why I decided not go with all Infantry I had initially planned. At that point the operation was already doomed. But I simply couldn´t let my troops die without even trying to change matters. During that phase the lack of enough surface combat units made reinforcements a gamble.

Now lets look forward. I still will get a few toys to play with and the next weeks a lot of reorganization work is waiting for me. There is still a slim chance left to change the VP levels to my favour. This is the first time a get behind June 43 in a scenario 17 and I think I´m learning some valuable lessons for my next game.

[RGIJN]

may be you also underestimated the strength that the IJN & IJA still posesses and -above all- my absolute determination to release it for the defense of the Southern Solomons. Especially after you were able to secure GG & other PNG areas that easily some time before... But there I had little chance to interfere given your airpower at hand (PM). Moreover, the loss of the Southern Solomons and the establishment of airbases in this vicinity would have meant the rapid loss of the whole island chain thereafter. So I just had to fight.

However, only good luck combined with a few mistakes my opponent made and thorough preparation of my defense system made it happen as it did. And fortunately I had major naval units to my avail just in time. They really did a fine job.

Truly an exciting time it was!

[RGIJN]

last few turns were rather calm ones. Even more so compared to the weeks of hell before. VP margin still about 1300 in my favor.
Both fleets pulled into the backwaters, A/C are taking a breath and the troops are given some respite too.

[RGIJN]

Today, during bad weather some 7 Judy divebombers by mistake attacked enemy ships off Woodlark island. Had forgot to re-set them to rest. And since KB was taking urgently needed fuel at the Shortlands there were some escorts available I had not set properly either. Of course this led into another melee where I needlessly lost some over 20 fighters for no US CAP shot down in return. Of course...
At least an allied oiler was hit. Yeah! [:@]

Further, Frank knocked out some barges in the Irau area.

All in all, a very silly day for me.



AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/08/43

Weather: Thunderstorms

Air attack on TF, near Woodlark Island at 22,39

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 34
A6M3 Zero x 23
D4Y Judy x 7

Allied aircraft
P-47C Thunderbolt x 33

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 10 destroyed
A6M3 Zero x 10 destroyed
D4Y Judy x 1 destroyed
D4Y Judy x 6 damaged


CPT J. Moore of 341st FS is credited with kill number 3

LCDR K. Sugino of EI-1 Daitai bails out and is CAPTURED

Allied Ships
TK Tallulah, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Irau at 42,43


Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIC x 6


no losses

Japanese Ships
AG 120, Shell hits 16, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Irau at 42,43


Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIC x 15


Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter VIC x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AG 373, Shell hits 4
AG 2050, Shell hits 8
AG 356, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AG 363, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


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

[RGIJN]

pesky Beaufighters turn out to be barge-killers!



AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/09/43

Weather: Overcast

Air attack on TF, near Irau at 42,43


Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIC x 15


no losses

Japanese Ships
AG 5032, Shell hits 24, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AG 105, Shell hits 4, on fire


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

[RGIJN]

me dumb. I forgot the Sally are just ranging into Woodlark and so set them to naval attack is really a silly move. Its just a waste of A/C against the P47s. As you can see below. At least another patrol vessel sunk, what will make future invasions even more funny considering my obsession with mine fields... [:D]



AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/10/43

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Air attack on TF at 20,34

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 26

Allied aircraft
Beaufort x 2
P-47C Thunderbolt x 51

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort x 2 damaged

1LT W. Henderson of 341st FS is credited with kill number 3

Japanese Ships
ML Tsugaru

Attacking Level Bombers:
2 x Beaufort at 200 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Woodlark Island at 22,39

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
A6M3 Zero x 15
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 17
Ki-21 Sally x 18

Allied aircraft
P-47C Thunderbolt x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 3 destroyed
A6M3 Zero x 5 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 3 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally x 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-47C Thunderbolt x 2 damaged

CPT J. Moore of 341st FS is credited with kill number 5

LTJG M.Kawasaki of DII-1 Daitai bails out and is CAPTURED

Allied Ships
SC 743, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Zaurak
AK Rotanin, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Gwin
AK Alnitah

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Irau at 42,43


Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIC x 22


no losses

Japanese Ships
AG 107, Shell hits 16, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AG 110, Shell hits 12, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AG 123, Shell hits 8
AG 103, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AG 115, Shell hits 8


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 20,34

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 18

Allied aircraft
Beaufort x 2
P-47C Thunderbolt x 47

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
ML Tsugaru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Attacking Level Bombers:
2 x Beaufort at 200 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Woodlark Island at 22,39

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
A6M3 Zero x 9
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 15
Ki-21 Sally x 15

Allied aircraft
P-47C Thunderbolt x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 2 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally x 1 damaged


1LT R. Fleischer of 340th FS is credited with kill number 5

Allied Ships
DD Ellet
MSW Launceton
TK Saranac


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

[RGIJN]

why do I detect but not attack those transport TFs??? They´re in range for three turns now! And my IJA bombers decide to fly into death along with escorts at Woodlark instead to go over these easy preys?!?!

[&:]

[RGIJN]

Still (or again) quiet days now. Aside from the daily sinking reports (about 1 allied ship and 1...3 IJN barges each turn) nothing much to report so far. Alot recon and search flights are conducted on both sides.

[>:]

[fuelli]

ORIGINAL: RGIJN

why do I detect but not attack those transport TFs??? They´re in range for three turns now! And my IJA bombers decide to fly into death along with escorts at Woodlark instead to go over these easy preys?!?!

This are US barges.They are as invulnerable to bombers as the Japanese barges are.