Waiting for 3rd AE patch - bigbaba vs. Castor Troy

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

I'm sure the Manchukuo garrison is only there for defensive purposes. [;)]

hehe, what else could someone think? [;)]

Of the 15.600 assault points there are around 1.500-2.000 not in Manchuko though but on the North Eastern tip of Japan and they also are included in the Manchuko garrison, so we´re "only" talking about some 14.000 assault points max there. Adolf is pushing me to take some pressure off the German troops on the East front and Japanese high command has started to work out possible assault plans on the Soviet troops.

With the war being won in China it´s no surprise that we moved in combat hardened troops from the succesful campaigns there and they are now prepping for Russian targets. It´s not sure yet IF I will attack though. I´m confident about the ground war but I´m not that sure how much it will drain my airforce. The 55 or 60 exp Russian pilots could take some toll on my airforce if they are a) employed en masse for CAP and b) if the Russian base forces have radar also, as this would give them the same damned advantage the Western Allied fighters have already. Not to talk about the Russian flak over his troop stacks and the possibility that Miller could (but IMO probably won´t) fly in 4Es via Alaska. He could (but IMO probably won´t even more) fly in Lightnings via Alaska but he doesn´t really have a lot of them and even if one squadron would show up, it would be bleeded out soon.

We will see... for the moment, the focus is elsewhere...

[Ambassador]

I'm surprised by the number of air sorties : you still fly your planes more than Miller does.  Does he keep his planes on the ground, rather than training them ?[&:]

[bigbaba]

16k assault points in manchukou? it seems that stalin will lose some parts of his "reich" soon.[;)]

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

I'm surprised by the number of air sorties : you still fly your planes more than Miller does.  Does he keep his planes on the ground, rather than training them ?[&:]

The only place he can do training runs at the moment is from Efate to Luganville. Efate is a level 4 airfield so he can send 200 figthers max there. He has around 100 there at the moment. So without bigger offensive strikes (out of Northern Australia) he can´t do much in terms of accumulating sorties.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: bigbaba

16k assault points in manchukou? it seems that stalin will lose some parts of his "reich" soon.[;)]

I haven´t decided yet but if the pressure of the Western Allied isn´t big enough then I will probably attack. Guess that won´t happen within the next four months though. I do have enough ground units but I need 300-400 IJA fighters and nearly all IJA bombers and the availability of the IJAAF will mostly depend on the actions of the Western Allied.

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/17/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Pamakasan , at 24,66

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 9
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 9
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 209

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 56

Aircraft Attacking:
23 x Ki-44-IIb Tojo bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 30
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 31
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 32

No Japanese losses

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 20

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 11
P-40B Tomahawk x 51
P-40E Warhawk x 40


Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
4 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 23

Aircraft Attacking:
45 x P-40B Tomahawk bombing at 2000 feet

this is the only training target for the Allied at the moment. And there are still two base forces in good shape that at least put up some flak fire. Not comparable to a single Allied flak gun but at least some flak fire...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107


Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 3


Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 1 damaged

Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P-38G Lightning bombing at 2000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Tongatapu Island at 94,114

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 44
Ki-49 Helen x 20

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK William Williams, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 3000 feet

Totally amazing to me that there are no Warhawks on Cap anymore. Guess the kill rate of 15:1+ between Zeroe escorts and Warhawk Cap last time we attacked a TF at Tongatapu led to Miller´s decision not to put up any Cap anymore. There´s a dark airfield symbol at the atoll though. The AK was damaged already and sunk after four hits...


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Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15984 troops, 201 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3519

Defending force 199321 troops, 262 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5490

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/18/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Maumere at 28,73

Japanese Ships
AK Kinkai Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
SS Shark

Shark has been sitting spotted at Maumere for a couple of days already, the ASW TF there did nothing, the Helens on nav search did nothing and as it´s only a 1 port, this docked, small AK wasn´t save in port and is victim of a MK14 torp. The ship has a 10% chance to live on... Shark later was hit (better say reported hit) by a Jake, so if not FOW the sub took a 60kg GP bomb. Should be enough to see it retiring home.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Pamakasan , at 24,66

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 54
G4M1 Betty x 9
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 35
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 16
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 250

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 117

Aircraft Attacking:
25 x Ki-44-IIb Tojo bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Lautem , at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 119

No Japanese losses

again I´m amazed that Miller didn´t fly in a lot of fighters again. Guess losing 100+ of them during our last attack made him thinking that it isn´t worth it. And that´s fine with me as he destroyed also 50 of my aircraft and it would not be worth it for ME to keep up attacks against a stiff Cap that scrambles 90%+ of it´s fighters all the time that then get the bounce all the time. I´m happy with him abandoning Lautern´s airfield.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Lautem , at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 91
A6M3a Zero x 9
Ki-49 Helen x 321 [X(]
Ki-46-II Dinah x 6

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 4 destroyed, 27 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 destroyed
Spitfire Vb: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
134 casualties reported
Guns lost 4 [:(]

Airbase hits 17
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 157

Aircraft Attacking:
19 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 11000 feet

then a huge combined strike goes in. The majority of the bombers comes from Kendari (range 7, means extended range) and the rest comes from Maumere (also range 7) and 300+ IJA medium bombers hit Lautern´s more or less empty airfield. Some damaged fighters that were left behind were torched on the ground but we lose a dozen bomber also. What really is a pity is the fact that our bombers don´t do much more damage within the defending base forces. The only way to achieve something here would be to knock out the base forces as I can´t keep up constant attacks if I lose a dozen bomber everytime. Guess the base is 100% out of action for the moment, while the runways will surely get repaired in a couple of days, at least the service facilities are destroyed totally. Am planning to fly more or less daily rotational strikes from Maumere and Kendari to keep the airfield surpressed.

Guess this has been the biggest IJA bomber bomber strike of the war so far. Needless to say that such strikes are a maximum effort for me.




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Sub attack at 90,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-27

Allied Ships
AK Zachary Taylor, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

hehe, the medium sized AK Zachary Taylor is sunk while on it´s way back from Tongatapu to Suva. All four ships of the original convoy that headed to Tongatapu have been lost to bomber or sub attacks. Nice. Not war winning, but nice. [:)] Our sub is at 9 sys damage due to a long patrol time and will now return to Kwajalein for R&R.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 16004 troops, 201 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3523

Defending force 198723 troops, 256 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5477

[Ambassador]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

The only place he can do training runs at the moment is from Efate to Luganville. Efate is a level 4 airfield so he can send 200 figthers max there. He has around 100 there at the moment. So without bigger offensive strikes (out of Northern Australia) he can´t do much in terms of accumulating sorties.

So, at least he's not using massive 0-range supply missions to train his bombers.



321 Helens in a strike, that's a sight ![&o]

[castor troy]

We´re at dawn of another BIG operation gentlemen. I have mentioned it earlier a couple of times, I´m planning another big style operation, this can become a big victory, it also can become the end of the IJN... more about that in a couple of turns...

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/19/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Pamakasan , at 24,66

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 35
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 20
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 246

No Japanese losses

Runway hits 41

Aircraft Attacking:
26 x Ki-44-IIb Tojo bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 97
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 35
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 35

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 34

Aircraft Attacking:
30 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 12
Kittyhawk I x 4
P-40E Warhawk x 72


Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 3 damaged
Kittyhawk I: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
8 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 41

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Kittyhawk I bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Maumere at 28,73

Japanese Ships
PG Tamo Maru #6
PG Takunan Maru #10
PG Takunan Maru #8
PG Takunan Maru #3

Allied Ships
SS Trusty

all fail to locate the spotted sub...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack near Maumere at 28,73

Japanese Ships
APD APD-38
APD APD-37
APD APD-36
APD APD-33
APD APD-32
APD APD-31

Allied Ships
SS Trusty

same here, one APD was then hit by a Coronado on nav search but the ship will survive...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 16001 troops, 201 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3524

Defending force 198586 troops, 249 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5467



Allied ground losses:
9 casualties reported

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/20/43

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Sub attack near Koepang at 28,77

Japanese Ships
AK Kinkai Maru, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Tuna

Tuna finishes Kinkai Maru that was hit at Maumere and was trying to make the level 4 port of Koepang. Tuna has 6 DDs in the hex and has been of course also spotted by patrol planes before... doesn´t help. Best place to kill ships always was and always will be port hexes... [8|]

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Day Air attack on Pamakasan , at 24,66

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 35
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 219

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 44

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x Ki-44-IIb Tojo bombing at 2000 feet

on average I lose three Tojos each day... [:(] am thinking about doing training runs only from Clark field to Manila, as this is only one hex range and that´s something we can do without many losses. Training runs from two hexes range is "suicide" for the Japanese...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Lautem , at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 129

No Japanese losses

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Lautem , at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 54
A6M3a Zero x 15
Ki-49 Helen x 229
Ki-46-II Dinah x 4

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 3 destroyed, 32 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
172 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 129

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 11000 feet

flak stays dangerous, but we have to keep the base 100% closed for sure at the moment.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 102
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 35
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 35
Ki-49 Helen x 96

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 47
Port hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 15000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 11
Kittyhawk I x 16
P-40E Warhawk x 77


Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 5 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 17

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Kittyhawk I bombing at 2000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 90,114

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
G3M Nell x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 7 damaged

Allied Ships
APD Stringham, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
APD Little, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
APD Talbot, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
APD Dent

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet

the enemy now uses APDs to bring troops to Tongatapu. The slow APDs were caught after going out from Tongatapu again. And they were lucky as a full Betty daitai failed to locate the TF but Stringham is reported sunk and Talbot could be in trouble also... nice to get a shot at some targets that aren´t a real threat to my bombers...

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Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15941 troops, 201 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3521

Defending force 198065 troops, 239 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5470



Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/21/43

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Day Air attack on Pamakasan , at 24,66

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 214

No Japanese losses

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 57

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x Ki-44-IIb Tojo bombing at 2000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Lautem , at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 54
Ki-49 Helen x 114
Ki-46-II Dinah x 1

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 2 destroyed, 25 damaged

Allied aircraft losses


Allied ground losses:
18 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 51

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 11000 feet

6 bombers are usually lost in the attacks against Lautern. But the airfield is kept closed...

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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 103
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 35
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 32
Ki-49 Helen x 102

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 66

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 15000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 14
Kittyhawk I x 25
P-40E Warhawk x 58


Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 3 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 36

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Kittyhawk I bombing at 2000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15895 troops, 184 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1618

Defending force 290133 troops, 1901 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 6977 [X(]

Wow! [X(] I´ve ordered one bgd to do bombardments again just to see how the enemy assault value here looks like as I´ve spotted 80!!! units. This probably means that all those units that surrendered in one of my big assaults has come back at Chungking again. Seeing an av of nearly 7000 was shocking the first moment. After thinking about it I guess this stack shouldn´t be that much of a threat though as those units can´t be well supplied so if we get a good modifier we should easily be above 6000 adjusted av and I would estimate the attacker´s adjusted av somewhere around 3000 max. I doubt that Miller will even order an attack but who knows. Will keep up the bombardments just to check the enemy´s av each turn, and perhaps it´s already going down like it is at Kweiyang. With the supply line to Chengtu lost (600 supplies each day) the Chinese only get some 800-1000 supplies a day, for something like 500-600.000 troops. Not enough I gues... [:D]

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Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15941 troops, 201 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3519

Defending force 197756 troops, 233 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5456

enemy´s av going down a dozen points each turn... [:D]

[castor troy]

The rabbit jumps out of the box!

Miller stated in his last email: Darwin?? I must admit, I´m surprised...

Guess there´s nothing more to say about? [:D] Well, the plan is as follows: I have nearly all the IJN present North of Australia, I have something like 1.500 aircraft of various types on land bases and I have 7.600!!!!! assault points (6.000 on ships already) to be thrown against Northern Australia. Invasion target is: DARWIN! Compared with this operation, the India invasion a couple of months ago was only a small test in the sandbox! [;)]

Seriously, this is an absolute all or nothing operation and the next couple of weeks will decide about death or glory... or both... [8D] With Miller´s invasion of Lautern and the unsuccesful attack on Dili it was obvious that we have to do something in this region. 4 months ago I therefor decided to do a major attack on Northern Australia. First I had the majority of my troops (including every single tank unit on the map) preparing for Broome and Miller picked up a lot of intel about that. This and me all the time telling him that I will invade Australia as my next target probably made him surely thinking that my target will be Lautern as this would be the most obvious. BUT, what sense makes it throwing 6.000 assault points against a beach on Timor if you face 2.000+ av defending the damned beach behind level 9 forts with 800 Allied bomber in range of the invasion beaches? This would have just wrecked my ships and the LCUs. So, what else can you do to make an ongoing offensive out of Timor impossible? Cut off the damned Allied divisions on Timor by taking Northern Australia.

Well, that´s the plan... I guess the chances to succesfully do this are something like 25%. Seems low, but it´s a fact that the odds are on the Allied side. Recon for months has reported some 200-250.000 troops dispersed between the Northern Australian bases, with the majority near Broome and Derby, so too far away from the invasion beaches. It will take at least 3-4 weeks until reinforcements from Wyndham would reach Darwin, if we can´t take the base by then, everything would be lost anyway and the best will be to evacuate my troops again. But hey, I´m confident, I guess this is the biggest assault on a beach I´ve ever done as a WITP player. I´m not sure I have landed so many troops on one spot during an invasion even when playing the Allied at any time. Needless to say I have to use hundreds of ships. The chances are good to lose the war in the next couple of weeks/months but there is also the chance to destroy the half dozen divs on Timor (primarily due to starvation) and to knock out the 250.000 troops in Northern Australia. Perhaps we can even destroy them if Miller doesn´t retreat. And you all know how hard it is to mount a land offensive with your supply bases being 2.000 miles further South, so holding the North coast would be something we could do for a couple of months.

My biggest concern are the 9.1 inch CD guns at Darwin (though there are only two of them) and the fact that my troops have changed preparation from Broome (100%) to Darwin just recently, when they go in they will have something like 20 preparation. Perhaps we shouldn´t forget the fact that Miller also can base 800 bombers at Darwin and Wyndham together so we will see if he dares to do that. From my experience so far, Miller will retreat all his aircraft from Darwin next turn as he can be sure that my cruisers will attempt a bombardment next turn.

We will see how it plays out...

[castor troy]

As you can see here, we have a massive amount of ships and troops involved in the initial landing, roughly 500.000 troops will storm ashore. I have 4 more divisions on ships (with ample supply) coming three days behind this armada. Funny weeks ahead... [;)]

[Ambassador]

Wow.  Just wow.[&o]
 
If it turns ugly, it'll be a bloodbath.[X(]

[Zond]

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/22/43

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Naval bombardment of Darwin, at 36,84 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

4 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
CA Haguro, Shell hits 2
CA Maya
CA Atago
CA Tone


Allied ground losses:
128 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

totally depressing result... [8|]

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Naval bombardment of Darwin, at 36,84


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Kinugasa
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami
CA Chokai


Allied ground losses:
1362 casualties reported
Guns lost 7
Vehicles lost 15

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 51
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1

good result, thank god otherwise we would be in trouble already... with 51 hits on the runway, this means we have to achieve another 100+ to have the airfield closed at the end of the day... we will see... as you can figure out due to the few ac lost on the ground, the airfield was evacuated (as expected...)

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Naval bombardment of Darwin, at 36,84


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Furutaka
CA Aoba
CA Kumano
CA Suzuya


Allied ground losses:
1099 casualties reported
Guns lost 10
Vehicles lost 9

Airbase hits 9
Runway hits 56
Port hits 2
Port supply hits 1

100+ hits on the runway so far, some damage within the base forces... no CD counterfire anymore, means they are quite disrupted I guess... so far so good. My cruisers will return flank speed to Amboina will refuel from the 140.000 fuel I have there and will rearm fromt the two AEs in the port. The AEs are only there for the feeling, as we know in WITP we can rearm even 18 inch shells from a level 1 port somewhere in the jungle... means I could do bombardments with my CAs every third day. But sys damage will increase quickly, bad weather or something like that must have happened today as my CA TFs accumulated some 5-8 sys damage which is quite a lot and that´s definetely something I´m not used to![X(] I have brought my two BB TFs in position to bombard Darwin again tomorrow, hopefully taking out more CD guns...

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Day Air attack on Pamakasan , at 24,66

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 220

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 53

Aircraft Attacking:
22 x Ki-44-IIb Tojo bombing at 2000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Lautem , at 33,78

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 54
Ki-49 Helen x 202
Ki-46-II Dinah x 6

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 3 destroyed, 25 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
105 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 106

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 11000 feet

To have a chance to succesfully invade Darwin we will have to constantly bomb Lautern and surpress it´s level 6 airfield, but this means we will lose a hundred pilots within two weeks. But having 300 bombers at Lautern out of a sudden to wreck havoc within my shipping lanes North of Darwin would be a disaster...

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Day Air attack on Darwin , at 36,84

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 106
G3M Nell x 65
G4M1 Betty x 160
Ki-46-III Dinah x 2

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 12 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina: 4 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
Kittyhawk I: 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
28 casualties reported

Airbase hits 23
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 123

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 11000 feet

thank god the IJNAF bombers showed up but first we got a message about one strike failing to locate the target. This is a combined strike from Amboina and Sorong. With 250+ hits on the airfield today I´m sure it´s 100% damaged. And we have to keep it damaged at all costs. Wyndham is 7 hexes away from Darwin so if Miller´s bomber will show up, they will show up UNESCORTED. But a massed strike against our carriers could still mean serious trouble.

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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15875 troops, 184 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1535

Defending force 289630 troops, 1885 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 6967

hehe! Also the troops at Chungking are S T A R V I N G!!!! AV dropped by 10 points in one day, this means that the Chinese troops are no threat anymore! BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!

Operations in China will find an end as soon as we have seized Chengtu and this is only a matter of a couple of weeks I guess as we have moved in another div and another bgd. Means we will have 4 bgd and 1 div attacking 1 Chinese corps, 1 HQ and 2 base forces behind level 9 forts. Seems doable...

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Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15960 troops, 201 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3519

Defending force 197328 troops, 223 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5460

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/23/43

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TF 77 encounters mine field at Darwin (36,84)

Japanese Ships
DD Suzukaze, Mine hits 1, on fire

The BB TFs go in and the first ship hits a mine. To my absolute surprise, the VH2 did only very light damage to the destroyer. It makes 5 hexes during the day and ends up with only 13 sys, 18 flt and 8 fires. No danger to lose the ship I guess, Suzukaze will probably end up with 20 sys max.

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Naval bombardment of Darwin, at 36,84


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Ashigara
CA Takao
BB Mutsu
BB Nagato

Allied Ships
AS Zuiderkruis, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage


Allied ground losses:
421 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 6

Runway hits 17
Port hits 6
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

rather depressing result but we did hit the airfield, which is better than not achieving a single hit on the airfield. The enemy airfield must have been totally damaged yesterday and it stays damaged after this day I guess. I had hoped for a couple of nukes as we´ve been reconning this base for months already. If the airfield is closed at the end of this day again, then the task is achieved and I´m happy. Then the next task will be to keep it closed and damage or disrupt the defending CD units as much as possible to get our troops ashore without losing half the ships and half the troops.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Darwin, at 36,84


Allied aircraft
no flights


Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Myoko
CA Chikuma
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso

Allied Ships
AS Zuiderkruis, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
AD Black Hawk, Shell hits 2, on fire


Allied ground losses:
631 casualties reported
Guns lost 14

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 31
Port hits 13
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 3

second BB TF goes in, hopefully destroys more CD guns. The AS should be history, probably hit by the big boys...

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Day Air attack on Pamakasan , at 24,66

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 35
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 251

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 100

Aircraft Attacking:
32 x Ki-44-IIb Tojo bombing at 2000 feet

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Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 19
Kittyhawk I x 42
P-40E Warhawk x 81


Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 4 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
5 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 44

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Kittyhawk I bombing at 2000 feet

shouldn´t Miller move those fighters back to Australia asap?

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Day Air attack on Darwin , at 36,84

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 3
B5N Kate x 90

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AS Zuiderkruis, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
AD Black Hawk, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage


Allied ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Port hits 8
Port fuel hits 4
Port supply hits 3

Aircraft Attacking:
24 x B5N Kate bombing at 26000 feet

damn, this is the first error in this assault on Darwin, I wanted to set my Kates to nav/AIRFIELD attack but clicked on nav/PORT attack instead. The AS and AD are hit by several 800kg AP bombs and Zuiderkruis is reported sunk. What also wonders me is why not all my Kates attacked as all of them were set to attack. More than 70 runway hits today should keep the airfield 100% damaged, one BB bombardment tomorrow (Yamato and Musashi) and KB´s bomber set to airfield attack. My amphibious TFs didn´t move as far as they should today so they are still two hexes from Darwin - instead of one. Nevertheless I have set them to go in, probably starting to unload during the day instead during the night, but it´s no atoll so probably that isn´t as much of a problem. What is a problem is the fact that miller uses 150 or more C-47 from Wyndham to fly in troops to Darwin and totally shocking to me is the fact that my recon now shows 43.000 troops there, while yesterday there were still 33.000 troops. 13 units yesterday, 16 today. I´ve stated in my last email that it´s once again a ridicoulos design "feature" (I guess it´s an oversight) that transports can fly in troops to a totally wrecked airstrip. What are those C-47? Helicopters? [:o] I did receive Miller´s reply yesterday already (but couldn´t run the turn as it was already 1 am) and he states that "he expects a massive bomber attack on Wyndham - I can expect 300 fighters on Cap, even if he takes losses in a 2:1 ratio, he will take a big toll on my airforce". Well, I won´t attack! [:D] If he really moved in that many fighters, he must have moved out his transports and this means my littel propaganda campaign once again was succesful. [8D] I nevertheless moved my Kongos (separated them from KB, same as with Yamato and Musashi) into position to bombard Wyndham in two days. Hopefully he doesn´t have torp bombers at Wyndham, the British torp bombers (forgot their name) have a torp range of 5, this could mean trouble. We will see. 150 or even more C-47 can fly in massive amounts of troops and this is something I haven´t considered during my attack plannings. But even if I had, it´s hard enough to surpress Darwin and Lautern with massive bomber strikes and keep 200 Tojos at Dili that support mini KB. "Mini" KB is not really true though as in terms of fighters it´s like a KB. Junyo and Hiyo have their normal loadout as well as the CVLs, all available CVEs are in this TF as well, they have a daitai of high exp Zeros on board. Plan is to draw the enemy bombers into a big Cap over mini KB instead of KB or the invasion TFs. We can even afford to lose a couple of carriers from mini KB. Losing small carriers is affordable as we get new carriers the next years but we don´t get CAs or BBs so we don´t want to lose some of them.

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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15853 troops, 183 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1535

Defending force 289018 troops, 1869 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 6956



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Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 15952 troops, 202 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3475

Defending force 196919 troops, 220 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5458

[Zond]

You can try with some fighters on CAP over Darwin to intercept the transports. [:)]

[Ambassador]

What's next, what's next ?[:)]

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Zond

You can try with some fighters on CAP over Darwin to intercept the transports. [:)]

I´ve thought about that too but I don´t want to send a single fighter on LRCAP away from my carriers, that´s just too dangerous. And in Nikmod you don´t really do a lot of harm to the transports as your Zeroes won´t be able to take a lot of them down.