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

[FeurerKrieg]

March 4th, 1943
Battleships continue to shell Midway through the night, however the small caliber weapons were all they fired and they did little additional damage.

As cargo ships and troop transports moved into their landing zone at Midway, our extensive minefields began to take their toll. Seven cargo ships and two troop carriers struck mines causing damage to the ships and their important cargo. Additionally, destroyer Warrington hit two mines and destroyer Craven hit one.

Some tanks and artillery managed to carve out a beach head as our troops were forced to stay under cover due to the enemy naval supporting fire. Still, the enemy tanks were not able to advance far due to their lack of infantry support.

The island is small and doesn't support a lot of fortifications so it is quiet possible that the enemy could take the base tomorrow, although our troops will retreat to a defensible side of the island and hold out as long as possible.

[center]
Enemy troops land on Midway[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

March 5th, 1943
The minefields continued to do their work today. As enemy minesweepers attempted to clear a path, our few remaining coastal guns scored many hits on the enemy. 6 MSW's and DMS Perry were all shelled repeatedly - four of those MSW sunk later in the day.

Even with the efforts of the minesweepers, 18 enemy cargo ships and 4 troop carriers struck mines - some striking two mines. DD Warrington, which hit two mines yesterday, sunk while trying to head back to safer waters.

However, when all was said and done, a large amount of US troops were ashore and with the tanks from yesterday pushed our troops off of the airfield. We still have some 12,000 troops holding out on the island and we will attempt to rescue as many as possible via Mavis transport and submarine. Thankfully all pilots and aircraft were successfully evacuated before the airbase was captured.

In Australia, 50 Bettys from Thursday Island succeeded in hitting resource centers in Cloncurry - putting approximately half of the centers out of commission.

[center]
Another outpost is lost[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

March 6th, 1943
Our minelaying subs at Midway manage to hit the AK Missourian with a type 88 mine, causing the loss of several soldiers on board the ship.

During the day, most of our units are wiped out by enemy troops and an air strike by 92 A-29 Hudsons from Johnston Island, leaving only a Naval Guard unit still alive on the atoll.

Near Rangoon, the I-153 lost its fight against damage and sunk.

Canton Island is now stoutly defended with four coastal defense units and a full division. Wake is also heavily defended with several SNLF and Nav Gd units. Aside from trying to open a route to Australia, the US will need to hit Wake, Canton or the Marshall Islands - all of which will be fought for - or attempt a northerly route or a big jump across the Pacific to Marcus Island.

[FeurerKrieg]

March 7th, 1943
Today the Naval Guard unit at Midway was wiped out after putting up a brief fight.

With Midway firmly in US control, the war turns quiet again. 3 SB-2cs bomb our troops at Chungking.

With the slow down, we'll touch on the new planes going into production this month, first, the J2M "Jack".

The J2M was designed by Jiro Horikoshi, creator of the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero". It was strictly a local-defense interceptor intended to counter the threat of high-altitude bomber raids, and thus relied on speed, climb performance, and armament at the expense of maneuverability. The J2M was a sleek but stubby craft with its over-sized Mitsubishi Kasei engine buried behind a long cowling, cooled by an intake fan and connected to the propeller with a long extension shaft. Pilot visibility was poor.

[center]
J2M Jack[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

March 8th, 1943
All quiet today except for a couple reported ship sinkings near Midway.

MSW Motive and AK Lahaina were reported sunk.

A highly experienced group of Lily bombers took station at the new airfield at Russel Island to watch for enemy submarines.

-----------
Next up - The Ki-45 KAIc "Nick" - night fighter variant

The next version, Kawasaki Ki-45 KAIc were developed specifically for night fighting which were supposed to be equipped with centimetrical radar in the nose, but due to production difficulties this did not occur. Having the unique Japanese Army aircraft take part in night defense of the Home Islands equipped four sentais from the autumn of 1944 to the War's end. They obtained notable successes, and one sentai obtained 150 victories and downed 8 USAAF B-29 Superfortresses in their first combat.

[center]
Ki-45 KAIc Nick Nightfighter[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

March 9th, 1943
A lousy day in the air for Japan today.

First, our training Oscars in China took off on sweep over Chungking, but half of them got lost, and the other half, in the process of trying to find the other group, were jumped by the Chinese fighters well out of position. 4 Chinese went down, but 10 of our Oscars did as well. Four pilots managed to parachute to friendly territory as least.

Next, the three AVG squads and a half a dozen Spitfires flew sweep over Mandalay encountering a fairly green group of Tony pilots. 11 Tonys went down with only one P-40E to show for it. It appears that 50% of those pilots managed to find their way back to the group - hopefully wiser for the fight.

There is good news though. The AK Mormacsul was reported sunk. Plus, after about 2 weeks of probing, our Bettys at Adak managed to slip in underneath the P-40E CAP at Cold Bay and put two torpedoes into a subchaser on station there - sinking it instantly.

[center]
We can still get a hit now and then[/center]

[FeurerKrieg]

March 10th, 1943
After our Betty attack from Adak yesterday, our fighters flew in to Adak Island, hoping that enemy bombers might attack with only light escort, since no fighters have been at Adak for sometime. Our opponent is not so careless as that however. Thankfully, we caught a break in the form of bad weather at Dutch Harbor which grounded all air missions there. So only enemy fighters from Umnak attacked Adak and our Tojo and Tonys held up reasonably well, taking down 7 P-40E and 4 P-38Gs while losing 5 Tojo and 1 Tony. Our fighters won't push their luck and will fly out of the base before tomorrow.

[center]
Cold weather dogfighting[/center]

In Burma, several enemy bomber raids were launched against our small garrison at Cox's Bazaar. B26-B, B-25C, Wellington III, Blenheim IV and Liberator III bombers all hit the garrison causing the loss of many soldiers.

A new Tojo unit that formed up a few days ago, arrived in Burma and took up station at Lashio.

[bigbaba]

great that you got the "J2M jack" now. it seems realy to be the most important fighter plane for the japanese simply because it arrives far more earlier then the "george" and the "frank". i realy like to see a huge number of jacks in action against an allied bomber raid. with its 4x20 mm, it should have a great chance to take down some nasty allied 4E bombers.

one question remains about the jack: when you do "hardcore research" for this plane at the beginning of the game, is it possible to get it at the end of 1942 or right at the beginning of 1943? it would be realy nice to have the land based fighter daitais equiped with tojo and tonys (IJA) and jacks (IJN) instead of the obsolate oscar and zeros. if you upgrade your fighter command that way, you surely can save some of your pilots to put them in george and franks later in 1944.

[FeurerKrieg]

In this scenario 160 CHS, the Jack arrives 3/43 so if you manage to move it up three months (I believe that is the max) then you could have it in production as early as 12/42.

I am looking forward to having some Jacks on hand for the next significant bomber attacks from the Allies. Canton Island is the only Pacific base in range of 4EBs (other than the NoPac bases), so most likely the Jacks will be sent to Burma to replace A6M3s there.

[FeurerKrieg]

March 11th, 1943
Our Oscar's fly LRCAP over Chungking today and try to intercept enemy transports flying supplies into Chungking. Chinese fighters block the way and 4 enemy fighters go down as well as 2 Oscars. Three SB-2c's attempt to bomb our troops, but flak brings down two of them.

A lone cargo ship is spotted a couple hundred miles west of Darwin on the north coast of Australia. 24 Helens from Timor hurriedly attack the ship, but all bombs miss their mark. Recon shows a few more ships than usual at Darwin - we will monitor the situation.

[FeurerKrieg]

March 12th, 1943
Some action today. Enemy fighters tried a sweep at Mandalay today, but more of our fighters were on hand for defense, plus they were a little more experienced than 59th Sentai that got beat up a couple days ago.

25 P-40E and 3 Spitfires were shot down for the loss of 18 Tony and 1 Tojo fighter. A Spitfire managed to shoot down one of our Tony fighters, but otherwise they didn't appear to perform all that well. Approximately 50% of the pilots shot down were rescued however, hopefully the enemy's pilot loss ratio is higher since they are fighting over enemy territory.

[center]
Air battles over Mandalay[/center]

Also in the Burma area, Port Blair was attacked by enemy heavy bombers. First 39 B-17E and 12 B-17D hit the base, destroying a couple planes but mostly missing the runway. Then 95 B-24D bomber did much more damage, although not as much as was initially though. All together 15 planes were destroyed on the ground, mostly Lily and Betty bombers. A Nick unit will fly in tomorrow to provide some degree of defense. This would be a nice spot for the J2M Jack, but we don't have enough frames to equip a Sentai yet.

[center]
Bombers hit Port Blair[/center]

South of Timor, a group of enemy APD's made a dash westward and our Helen's attempt to hit them, again all bombs missed. A Sentai of highly experienced Betty bombers will fly into the base to make sure we don't have anymore missed opportunities there.

Finally, AK Onomea and AP Taroona were both reported sunk east of Midway today.

[FeurerKrieg]

March 13th, 1943
More Allied bombers hitting Cox's Bazaar today.

Rudimentary port facilities at Makin were completed today. They will be expanded rapidly by the 250 engineer squads at the base.

No Japanese planes lost at all today, while the Allies lost 6 to ops.

The big news of the day is that after struggling in the poor ports of Canton Island, I-29 today was fully secured from flooding and cleared to head back to the Home Islands for final repairs. The AR Tagonoura Maru was instrumental in saving this ship that at one point was at 98 flood! A small victory, but very sweet given the months of work that went into saving the sub. Its Glen floatplane will re-embark as the submarine heads home for a well deserved rest and repair job.

[thegreatwent]

Grats on saving the I-29! Enjoying the AAR, you seem better at husbanding your pilots than I am.

[FeurerKrieg]

I just avoid combat like a scared little girl most of the time. [:D]

[FeurerKrieg]

March 14th, 1943
More bomber attacks on Cox's Bazaar.

Yesterday a full division of IJA troops arrived in the mountains west of Chengtu. Today they wiped out a HQ unit that had been holding out there for some time. A couple thousand Chinese troops were disarmed. Other than Chungking, China is now officially conquered - there is not a single pocket of enemy Chinese troops outside of Chungking.

[FeurerKrieg]

March 15th, 1943
A quiet day today. A new Zero Daitai is formed up in Japan.

[FeurerKrieg]

March 16th, 1943
Oscars flew LRCAP over Chungking today, shooting down one SB-2c bomber and turning back the rest of the raid. Later, they intercept some transports escorted by a few Chinese fighters. Although 3 Oscars were lost, 3 P-43a and 4 C-47 transports went down.

[center]
Oscars continue to train in China[/center]

[Miket_nz]

Hi there,
 
Just read through your AAR up to this point and want to say congrats, very well written, and full of lots of information about the reasons behind your plans and actions. It shows you put a lot of thought and effort into the AAR and your games.
 
Personally I'm finding it a huge source of ideas and inspiration to play the game better.
 
Keep up the good work and can't wait to see how things play out over the coming months....
 
Michael

[FeurerKrieg]

Thanks, Michael! I hope it is of some help. I know I've learned a lot from other AAR's so I hope I can contribute to the overall pool of knowledge.

Updates might be slow for the next week as my mom is in town, but the game rolls on.

[FeurerKrieg]

Hi all - the homelife is getting back to normal now, so hopefully we can get this thing back up to date. The rest of March has been pretty quiet, although it is clear Allied ASW technology is improving...

March 17th, 1943
1 SB-2c brought down by AA fire over Chungking.