The Leader Bug strikes - BigB 1.5 Japanese version

[Rainer79]

June 5th, 1942:

Routine bombing all over the map. [>:]

The only interesting tidbit is this spotting report. Quite a few ships have arrived at Umnak and the number of troops reported there jumped to 10k+ soldiers (8 units). Three have been identified: a Canadian brigade, a US regiment and a baseforce. Umnak itself is still at airfield level zero and 11 Warhawks were reported on CAP over the ships. Hmmm....

[Rainer79]

June 6th + 7th, 1942:

Aleutians: Instead of the 11 P-40Es the strike against the enemy shipping found 38 Warhawks on CAP. [:@]

The losses among the attacking Kate Daitai and its Zero escort were heavy but they continued their attack nevertheless. 3 torpedoes sank the AK Steel Seafarer while another one damaged the AK Chatanooga City. A final torpedo hit left the DD Sims burning. There might have been more damage but torpedo duds and a fixation on the already sunk AK prevented that. After seeing that CAP that was more than I dared to hope for though.

Umnak's airfield jumped to level 1 and will probably be be built up as fast as possible.


Burma: The enemy concentrated his efforts against Lashio on the 7th with a combined day and night attack. 80 bombers (mostly Wellingtons and a few B-17s) cratered the runway and destroyed a few planes on the ground.

A sweep over Diamond Harbor destroyed 7 obsolete planes at a cost of 2 Zero pilots.


Australia: Up to 70 B-17s continued to fly daily attacks. While still more planes are destroyed on the ground than the Zeroes can shoot down, the fighters are starting to hold their own. Enemy losses begin to climb while friendly pilot losses remain low. At least the airframes can be easily replaced although growing damage to the airfield remains a problem.

[Rainer79]

June 8th - 10th, 1942:

A couple of quiet turns.

Aleutians: After seeing that the CAP was even stronger on the next few days (a couple of P-39 squadrons had arrived to join the fun) I was glad that the decision to stand down the Kates was a wise one. A SAG was ready to hit Umnak but the Allied transport group had withdrawn while they were still one day out. I guess that they did not unload all their supplies - the DEI provides ample experience on how long unloading a full AK at a lvl. 1 port takes.


Australia: Thankfully the airfield attacks have stopped for now. Fighter morale was getting a beating (in the last engagement the FIGHTERS began to abort their mission and not the bombers as usual) and the lull also allowed many of the damaged fighters to enter service again.

On the ground 2 Tank regiments shadow the Allies while they retreat towards Alice Springs.


Burma: To make the Allies a bit more careful a cruiser group (4 Mikuma class CAs) shelled Chittagong (the main bomber base) during the night of the 10th. All in all 28 planes were torched, mostly P-40Es and I-16c but only 2 B-17 were lost. After Daniel completely evacuated Cox's Basar in the wake the last bombardment run, it will be interesting to see if he also gives up this base.

[Rainer79]

June 11th + 12th, 1942:

Again very quiet (not that I terribly mind). Currently there is a strange duel going on between some obsolete Chinese bombers and a special base force at Lashio. Against these opponents Japanese AA works just fine.

Most of the bombers in Burma seem to have left Chittagong and relocated to inland bases. Since the best airfields are found along the coast I am not complaining.

Here is also a screenshot of some of the defensive preparations in the Central Pacific. Moleolap and Kwajalein are almost finished which will allow the construction engineers to move on to Wotje and Majuro. If the Allies wait until those are finished, I may build up Makin and/or Mili as well.

[Rainer79]

June 13th + 14th, 1942:

[>:]

The allied submarines are back. Most annoyingly is the SS Tresher which just sits 60 miles off Tokyo Bay while the ASW groups play cards or drink sake.

Here is the rest of the CenPac area. Eniwetok's development is a bit lacking though an engineer regiment bought out from the Kwantung Army should soon remedy that. Additionally the off-map bases (Marcus, the Marianas, Iwo, etc.) are also slowly building up. It is never too early to start their expansion IMO and a small base force and some supply is all that is needed.

[Rainer79]

June 15th + 16th, 1942:

[>:]

We've really seem to have hit the lull between the end of major Japanese offensives and the beginning of Allied operations. The Allied B-17s have started to visit Tennant Creek again but are not achieving much except for some ops losses. Multiple supply hits are annoying but more supplies can always be shipped in from the SRA.

The next stop of our guided tour is the Northern Pacific. I've achieved what I wanted here and the next few targets would be too tough without half the Southern Area Army present. Mountainous terrain is hell to advance through but at the same time it should also give Daniel fits when he starts to counter-attack. The Allied TF at Dutch Harbor consists of a couple of PT boats BTW.

[Rainer79]

June 17th - 19th, 1942:

The ASW efforts continue to go poorly. The hunters became the hunted when SS Triton sank PG Oi Maru with two torpedo hits 60 miles east of Truk. The counter-attacks by the hunter-killer groups all over the map were pretty much ineffectual. Who needs to move subs anyway even if they are spotted every day and (at least) 6 ASW vessels sit over them?

Still, PG Oi Maru was only the 30th vessel lost by the IJN since the war started so I will not complain too much.

The I-155 also had a success when a torpedo hit the AK Empire Trust off Colombo. The convoy the ship was part of (1 AP, 4 AK, 5 Dutch DDs) returned from a delivery to Ceylon and had been shadowed for a few days. Such things have to be treasured since it is rare to spot any kind of Allied shipping after the initial troop delivery runs.

Another lesson learnt: a ground attack of 40 B-17s and some B-26s in support can really shred a tank regiment. The unit will move to within 60 miles of Alice Springs to take a look at the opposition and plant a nice ZOC symbol on the hex and will then return to Tennant Creek for some well-earned R&R.

Here is also a map of the Southeast Fleet area. While they are no detailed base stats on this version, the basic idea is to have as many mutually supporting lvl. 4 airfields as possible with a select few lvl. 3 ports sprinkled in. I don't want the US to be able to disband damaged ships too easily. [:)]

[Rainer79]

June 20th, 1942:

While the DD crews continue to not engage the allied submarines, a Lily hit SS Seawolf with a bomb off Rangoon. I can see why the LBA vacuum cleaner approach has so many fans.

Over Australia a 2 Zero Daitai + AA regiment combo seems to be able to keep smaller 4e attacks at bay for now. While only few bombers are killed outright, most of the attackers get damaged which should prevent daily attacks and also hurt the squadrons' morale.

Most interesting though was the spotting of an enemy TF 60 miles west of Umnak. It appears to contain BB California, CA San Francisco and 3-4 DDs. I can only assume that the Allied command planned a bombardment run against Adak. During the afternoon 18 Betties escorted by 13 A6M3s took off and engaged the enemy squadron. 17 P-40Es and 13 P-39Ds intercepted the strike but only tangled briefly with the escort fighters (4 planes lost for each side). The highly experienced torpedo bombers then encountered very heavy AA fire and only managed to score a single hit on CA San Francisco. Out of 18 bombers 2 were shot down and 14 more damaged by AA. Squadron morale dropped from 99 to 27.

[Rainer79]

June 21st - 23rd, 1942:

ASW: The less said about ASW the better. It seems that after February '42 the escorts forget everything they ever learned about this subject. After ~30-40 ASW attacks during the last few days the only damage to the enemy was caused when SS Saury's forward torpedo tubes were knocked out by a lucky near miss. Afterwards the IJN was lucky as a torpedo salvo hitting DD Asakaze failed to explode. A medium AP also hit a sub-laid mine at Rabaul but will likely survive.

Aleutians: The enemy squadron went ahead with its bombardment of Adak - BBs California and Colorado, CAs Minneapolis and San Francisco, 6 DDs - and caused minor damage (including torching a few A6M3s on the ground). CD fire was also totally ineffectual. The 5,5" guns wouldn't have hurt the larger ships but a hit on one of the tincans would have been nice. A follow-up naval strike sadly aborted to lack of morale.

Australia: Over Daily Waters the air battle continues. 50 - 70 4e bombers fly daily strikes against our airfields. The good news is that they cannot close them down for good. The presence of a large number of engineers really helps and the additional AA has forced the bombers to fly higher. Still, while typically half of the attackers are damaged, on average only 2-3 bombers seem to be lost. My average losses seem to be 1 fighter shot down (and some damaged) with ~4 more torched on the runway. Thankfully most of the pilots survive. Not good but as long as pilot losses stay low I guess I can live with it. BTW recon has spotted 19 enemy units at Alice Springs.

Burma: Interestingly enough the AA regiment in Rangoon seems to be on a rampage, shooting down 3 Liberators during a nighttime raid and also damaging much more attackers than its counterparts facing daylight raids in Australia.


Tony and Tojo are still scheduled to come online 08/42. Too bad, I could really use one of them now.

Here is also a screenshot of northern Australia. The facilities here won't be expanded much - there is no reason why I should gift the Allies big airfields when their counterattack begins - so fort construction has the highest priority here.

[Rainer79]

June 24th, 1942:

The AP that hit a mine at Rabaul yesterday hit another one and is now in sinking condition. The ship has been disbanded into the port (lvl. 5 + Naval HQ present) but I am not hopeful. Grr. [:@]


ASW: 4 ASW attacks, 1 near miss... enough said.


Australia: Quiet. 40 Kittyhawks are on CAP above Alice Springs which makes an attack on the base unlikely in the short run.


China: A sweep over Chungking pitted 32 Oscars against 14 I-16cs. After a one-sided battle all IJAAF fighters return home leaving behind 5 Chinese pilots who are probably very happy to be still alive.

Wuchow continues to get attacked daily as the premier training center. [>:]

On the ground the troops continue to move at a snail's pace. Soon though things should get a lot more exciting.


Burma: 37 Wellingtons attacked Mandalay where I had just transferred in a large number of AC for a raid. 13 fighters had stayed behind on CAP and fought with the escorts (7 Kittyhawks and 13 Hurricanes). 1 Hurricane and 1 Oscar were destroyed while several bombers were damaged. No damage was reported at the base or the facilities - all production in the hex is already trashed. If Daniel restarts strategic bombing here, this time I will thoroughly trash China's economy - at least the bits I don't plan to take.

At the same time 3 bomber sentais escorted by over 50 fighters raided Dimapur where recently the enemy 4e bombers were based from. Flak fire at 6k feet was intense (4 bombers lost) though they managed to torch 7 Fortresses on the ground. No CAP was encountered. I had hoped for more but it could have been a lot worse.

Here is also a screenshot of Burma with the major bases highlighted. Tomorrow I will buy out another division from the Kwantung Army for use in this theater.

Regarding the leader bug, I have found some TKs that have been taken over by American Majors, British Flight Lieutenants or even IJA Lieutenant Colonels. They have been replaced by proper IJN personnel again after disbanding their TFs (to get rid of the wrong TF commanders). Strangely enough, only the TKs seem to have been affected so far.

[Rainer79]

June 25th, 1942:

ASW: The escorts of an AP convoy returning to Rabaul finally do some damage and score a direct Type 95 DC hit on SS Greenling. The DD crews should be ashamed...

As expected the AP Marsue Maru sank at Rabaul during the day. At least the DD Sims (torpedoed off Umnak) also showed up on the sunk ship list this turn.


Burma: 6 Liberator IIIs visited Magwe and torched 3 Dinahs on the ground.

The veteran 1st Infantry Division has been released from the Kwantung Army and will head to Burma. Its next home will probably be Akyab. This is probably the last division from that source for a while (except for the Tank Division) as the garrison limit has to be observed.


Here is a screenshot showing the current wartime reserves. After bottoming out at ~120 days the stockpiles are growing nicely again. I've authorized a small HI expansion in the Philippines as well as factory sizes there are small and distance to the oil centers is low.

[Rainer79]

June 26th, 1942:

ASW: The detached escort from the convoy near Rabaul found SS Greenling again near Green Island. PCs Tama Maru #8 and Toshi Maru #3 scored a direct hit each and the boat was never seen again...

Greenling is the 14th Allied sub sunk since the start of the hostilities. LBAs accounted for 3 of them while good old depth charges were responsible for the rest.


Aleutians: After Umnak went to AF lvl. 3 50 B-26B Marauders attacked Adak without escorts. 7 A6M3s rose to intercept them (so much for 24 fighters/90% CAP). 1 Zero and 2 medium bombers were lost in ata combat before the remaining attackers decided to strafe (!) the base. 4 more Marauders were lost (and 13 damaged) thanks to accurate flak fire. Damage to the base facilities was non-existent though they managed to torch 5 more fighters. Most worryingly is that they killed a total of 10 (!!!!) pilots in this attack. [X(]


Here is also another screenshot showing the industrial situation and comparing it to the start of the campaign.

[Rainer79]

June 27th + 28th, 1942:

The Emperor is not happy.

ASW: I-164 stumbles upon a group of 9 British DDs off Ceylon and bravely attacks them. The torpedoes miss and half of the DDs drop depth charges. One real hit and a lot of near misses later the sub is dead.

The Japanese crews can only dream about such efficiency. Far less ships are able to attack in each group (and that against targets that are sitting in the same spot for weeks and are spotted every day) and 1 real hit would not cause even heavy damage on an allied boat. [:(]

I guess the last German u-boat must have been sunk months ago.


Australia: 90 Fortresses attacked at 5k feet and trashed the airbase at Daily Waters. 3 of them were lost. Probably nothing more needs to be said. Who needs a fighter escort anyway? [:(]


Burma: The British also attacked Meiktila where an Oscar sentai is stationed. Damage to the level 1 airfield is minimal but the IJAAF fighters are not able to compete with the escorting Warhawks. [:(]

One more month until Tojo/Tony unless a R&D miracle happens...


KB: Since the fleet carriers are starting to receive their upgrades from 07/42, I've decided to move a pair back to Japan and replaced them with the 3 fast CVLs from Singapore. Soryu and Zuikaku will be the first pair, followed by Hiryu and Shokaku. Kaga and Agaki will be last. Also the Yugumos will receive their radar sets which might help in a future battle.

[Rainer79]

June 29th, 1942:

ASW: It seems the British have begun wide-spread deployment of ASROC on their destroyers. I wonder if there is still a U-boat left alive in the Atlantic.

Another day, another sub sunk. I-165 (moving back towards Singapore) was stumbled upon by 7 Brit DDs and quickly put under. The surviving subs will try to cover the approaches to Andaman / Nicobar and look for a deployment to Australia in light of this new acitity.

Meanwhile SS Gudgeon received 2 direct depth charge hits off Palembang and is heavily damaged. At least it is a long way to Ceylon and it is my hope that the boat will never arrive there.


Burma: The Allies bombed an empty Meiktila again. They are welcome to continue to do that. At least until the Tony/Tojo combo arrives...

At the same time a Zero sweep found 2 dutch fighters over Cox's Basar and shot down one of them.


Aleutians: Another transport TF docked at Umnak and triggered a new air attack. AK Mormachawk was left burning while AK Mapele was heavily damaged after a torpedo hit each. It appears that of the ~10 ship spotted in the task force 4 PTs are included. 3 Zeroes and 1 Betty were lost in this attack.


China: The Oscars came back to Chungking and found 22 Chinese fighters on CAP. 7 of them would not return to base while no Oscar was lost.

On the ground the troops have reached 54 miles of their cross-country hike and should cross the river soon. Preparatory air attacks against the Chinese defenders have already been launched.


Shipbuilding: In what may be a fit of insanity the Emperor has decided to restart construction of CV Shinano. It may cost a lot of shipbuilding points and the carrier itself is not that great but that does not matter. To pay for it the construction of 7 subs of the RO-100 series (the 3500 endurance ones) has been temporarily suspended. IRL Shinano might have been a bit more expensive than 7 subs but then IRL a sub would also not cost as much as a CL to build.

Shinano is a very tough ship and since conventional wisdom recommends not to continue the construction the deployment should also come as a surprise. Currently the arrival date is mid-45 but it should not be impossible to bring Shinano into service in '44.

[Rainer79]

June 30th + July 1st, 1942:

Australia: B-17Es have been targeting Daily Waters and Katherine again. Once the damaged Zeroes are repaired I might take a shot at them again. Bad weather to repair the runways would be appreciated though.


China: IJAAF bombers continue to attack Changsha and environs. Destroying as much supply as possible in the region is certainly a priority. 3 Infantry Divisions got ahead of the main body and crossed the river today a bit prematurely. The resulting shock attack went surprisingly well and came off at 2:1 but none of the 4 Chinese defending units (2 Cavalry and 2 Infantry Corps) retreated. Once reinforcements arrive they should not be able to hold though.

In Chansha 3950 Allied AV is held in place by an 2900 AV IJA army.

[Rainer79]

July 2nd - 5th, 1942:

The damaged SS Gudgeon and AK Empire Trust succumbed to their wounds and sank both. Nice, the AK is an unexpected present and could have probably been saved. Although it is not as if the British are lacking in that area...

Burma: A LRCAP ambush over Meiktila shot down 4 Beaufighter VIFs although sadly the bombers had switched to another base.

Namely, the British have begun targeting the oil centers at Magwe again. About 15 are still in operation. So far retaliatory strikes in China have fizzled though this time I won't stop once the allied attacks cease.


Australia: The B-17s continued to work over the airfields in range. P-38E/Fs have started to escort the strikes. The next encounter will certainly have to happen outside of their range.


China: Daily air attacks are flown against Hengchow and Changsha to reduce the supplies as much as possible.

The Chinese roadblock finally collapsed after the third attack (2:1 followed by 10:1) and the 4 corps fled NW and not into Hengchow as I had assumed. The plan is to chase them out of the woods and set up a defensive position of me own to keep reinforcements at bay. 3 more units sitting NE on the road to Ichang will also be forcibly ejected. While this is going on the southern prong will hopefully start to move more than 1 mile/day and complete the encirclement. Instead of a coordinated attack their slowness has so far allowed 6 units to escape to the west of Hengchow. I probably have no choice but to use the railway directly and shock-attack across the river which I'd rather have avoided.

[Rainer79]

July 6th + 7th, 1942:

Burma: The Allies continued their attacks against Magwe and totally destroyed the oil wells there.

A sweep over Chittagong found 22 I-16cs on CAP. Thanks to radar they manage to shoot down 2 Zeroes while loosing 7 planes of their own.


China: A raid on Lanchow scores a single oil hit there but the damage is already repaired at the end of the day. If the Chinese want to waste their precious supplies on industry repairs I will be happy to oblige them.

The ground troops at Changsha managed to retreat to Hengchow during the night leaving behind the static units. I am not happy at all but c'est la vie. The movement into Hengchow has been canceled at the moment as shock-attacking 2000 AV into 4000 defending AV behind level 9 forts is not my idea of fun. The tank regiments will continue to try and encircle the base.


Indian Ocean: After an Emily spotted a nice convoy moving north from Perth I sortied CV Junyo to intercept it. A few nice targets were found today off Sumatra:

CLAA Ceres, Torpedo hits 1
CLAA Caledon, Bomb hits 3 (none of the 250 kg AP bombs penetrated the belt armor though)
AK Santa Elisa, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Santa Ana, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Peary, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Also spotted were CLAA Columbo, DDs Edsall and Whipple. Japanese losses were 1 Val and 2 Kates.

Junyo will try another attack tomorrow and then head home.

[Rainer79]

July 8th + 9th, 1942:

Indian Ocean: On the second day Junyo only got off one further strike against CLAA Ceres and DD Peary. Ceres received two additional torpedo hits and should be in a bad shape. Peary got hit by a bomb and a second torpedo and sank immediately. The AK Santa Elisa also slipped beneath the waves.

Afterwards the CV retired. A picket sub had been sighted by a Walrus. Since the CLAAs do not carry float-planes to the best of my knowledge it could be a British ACTF coming south.


ASW: Deja-vu all over again. I-5 tries to attack an enemy DD near Midway, misses and is immediately sunk by the counter-attack. Meanwhile Japanese hunter-killer groups continue to drink sake...


Burma: After trashing the oil centers the British have switched their attention to the resources of Meiktila. Everything did not go their way as their raid (23 P-40E, 5 Beaufighter VIF, 37 Wellington IIIs and 6 Liberator IIIs) was intercepted by 42 Oscars. All in all the Allies lost 13 planes for 7 Oscars which is a good trade in my book. The resources are at 85/100.


China: A first deliberate attack at Changsha came off at 2:1 and reduced forts to 8. In a few days another attack will be ordered. I don't want to take the base before the encirclement is complete the reduction of the forts will take a while anyway.


Southeast Fleet: The allies tried to bomb PM from Thursday Island. 18 B-17s and 14 P-38s encountered 12 Zeroes over the base. Both sides lost two planes and the base was minimally damaged. Since Thursday Island seems to be supplied via Dakotas only I don't think they can mount a serious bombing campaign from here.


Australia: 80+ B-17Es continue to visit Daily Waters daily keeping that airfield well and truly closed. Tennnat Creek is undamaged but I am loathe to commit anything within P-38 escort range.


Aleutians: PT-63 hit a type 88 mine at Dutch Harbor and sank. One down, ~150 more to go.

57 Marauders also came back to visit Adak. Only 52 would return home though while scoring a massive 2 hits on the runway. [:)]

[Rainer79]

July 10th, 1942:

A bloody day in Burma. The base at Magwe was stacked with 200 fighters (which provided the leaking CAP of Oscars yesterday) and was attacked by about 80 Allied fighters and 35 bombers. A total of 42 Zeroes and 65 Oscars were airborne to meet that attack. 50% of the fighters @ 90% CAP setting is actually a better result than usual. [:@]

Anyway, for results please look at the screenshot. The 1st Sentai was reduced to 18 pilots but otherwise pilot losses were very light. The encounter proved though that I really need a better IJA fighter.


In China the Chinese are also vacating Hengchow to (presumably) hold at Kweilin. That's fine with me.

[Rainer79]

July 11th + 12th, 1942:

Good news, CLAA Ceres sank during the night. SS Triton also went down between Wake and Pearl.

Burma: The Allies have switched their attention back to Magwe but only managed to torch a few Dinahs on the ground. Meanwhile my fighter units are safely back in Rangoon. Once the more advanced Lightning models show up Rangoon won't be safe either but for the moment the base is still a great asset.


China: The Chinese Air Force continues to get hurt. An Oscar Sentai occasionally sweeps Chungking for nice results while Sallies visit Kumning where 30 bombers have been concentrated. While these attacks are not devastating they should nicely attrit the Chinese pilot and airframe pools.

The strategic bombing in the north is pretty anemic at the moment as most of the IJAAF bombers are busy in the Hengchow/Changsha area. Once the ground offensive there winds down more assets will be made available for this task.

On the ground a shock attack at Changsha yields a 4:1 result and reduces forts to 4. Losses are heavy though and the troops will have to rest.


Aleutians: 48 Mitchells attacked Kiska's port unescorted and sank two barges there. 11 Zeroes on CAP sadly only managed to down two of the attackers.


PM: Another attack there saw the destruction of a B-17 and a P-38 for no friendly loss. Hopefully that will deter further attention for a while.