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

[Ambassador]

Wow.  Congrats for your victory in the first battle of Makin.  And I might not take too many risks in congratulating for the second one.[&o]

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 11/02/43

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TF 1045 encounters mine field at Mili (84,85)

Allied Ships
DD Cassin, Mine hits 1, on fire

that´s no good sign... [:(]

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Naval bombardment of Mili, at 84,85 [8|]

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 Ic: 24 destroyed

Allied Ships
CL Cleveland
CL Honolulu
CL Boise
CL Phoenix
BB Massachusetts

Japanese ground losses:
2477 casualties reported [8|]
Guns lost 23

Airbase hits 18
Airbase supply hits 9
Runway hits 153 [8|][8|]

well, I was pretty sure that would happen, but I had to keep my Tonies at the base just for the case the Allied would not get a nuke. I´m dumb to think that because in 9 out of 10 bombardments, the Allied do get a nuke in this PBEM. Strange but that´s how it was so far and it seems it won´t change. There wasn´t a single recon nor Kingfisher over this base yesterday, the base is 100% nuked nevertheless. I wonder why only 48 Tonies were destroyed on the ground. Once again I have to laugh about the well working FOW feature in WITP, as the ground losses from bombardments always have to be doubled.

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Naval bombardment of Mili, at 84,85

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 Ic: 5 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CL Santa Fe
CL Columbia
CL Nashville
CL Helena
CA Louisville
BB Mississippi
BB New Mexico
BB Idaho

Japanese ground losses:
2080 casualties reported
Guns lost 20

Airbase hits 15
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 191

and another one with even more hits. That´s getting quite stupid but I can´t do anything against it. Or haven´t I done enough with laying 15.000 mines at this base? With 354 hits on the runway I was amazed that we´ve only lost 1/3 of the fighters at the base. Another "stupid" thing is the fact that airfields get damaged more than 100% even if it only displays "100%". The game is already more than a week ahead and the 300+ engineers at the base were still not able to get the damage below 100% 3 days after this attack. And no, they are not all disabled...

ok, this means the plan with Mili launching 180 Tonies for the first strike of the day against the Allied CVs has fallen apart even before the sun set...

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Day Air attack on Heiho , at 69,22

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 Ic x 30

Allied aircraft
Pe-2 x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Pe-2: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 47
A6M5 Zeke x 186
D3A Val x 24
A6M3a Zero x 89
B5N Kate x 16
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 70
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 35
Ki-61 Ic x 80

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 185
Port hits 1
Port fuel hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-61 Ic bombing at 2000 feet

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Day Air attack on Makin , at 85,89

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 21
B-24D Liberator x 61

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-46-III Dinah: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 4 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 11 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 51

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 15000 feet

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Day Air attack on Tarawa , at 85,91


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 24
B-24D Liberator x 34
B-24J Liberator x 60


Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 8 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 13
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 127

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 15000 feet

Makin and Tarawa are more or less closed, the eng there are doing a good job though. Too dangerous to move in aircraft yet though. Apamama also looks like we could use it...

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Day Air attack on Gasmata , at 59,90


Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 29
P-38J Lightning x 17
PV-1 Ventura x 56
PB4Y Liberator x 9


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 12

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x PV-1 Ventura bombing at 15000 feet

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Day Air attack on Baker Island , at 94,92


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 64
Liberator VI x 41
Ventura V x 14
PB4Y Liberator x 19


Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 5 damaged
Liberator VI: 2 damaged
Ventura V: 2 damaged
PB4Y Liberator: 4 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 57

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Ventura V bombing at 15000 feet

no chance to get Baker´s af running again with only some 50 eng there and daily attacks...

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Day Air attack on Petropavlovsk , at 84,32


Allied aircraft
PV-1 Ventura x 9


Allied aircraft losses
PV-1 Ventura: 2 damaged

Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x PV-1 Ventura bombing at 15000 feet

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Day Air attack on 36th Division, at 43,32


Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc x 6


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Hurricane IIc bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on 4th Ind. Brigade, at 21,3


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 6


Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 6 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
16 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Liberator VI bombing at 15000 feet
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Day Air attack on 6th Ind. Brigade, at 21,3


Allied aircraft
Corsair IV x 15
Spitfire Vb x 5
Liberator VI x 8
Hurricane IIc x 7


Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 8 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Liberator VI bombing at 15000 feet
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Day Air attack on 7th Heavy AA Battalion, at 46,103


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 6
PV-1 Ventura x 3
B-25C Mitchell x 59
B-25J Mitchell x 4
B-24D Liberator x 6
B-24J Liberator x 7


Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 3 damaged
PV-1 Ventura: 2 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 2 destroyed, 15 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 4 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
235 casualties reported
Guns lost 8

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 15000 feet

stop bombing my AA units please...

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Day Air attack on 42nd Division, at 46,103


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 3
PV-1 Ventura x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 32
B-25J Mitchell x 18
B-17E Fortress x 3


Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 2 damaged
PV-1 Ventura: 1 destroyed
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
195 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B-25J Mitchell bombing at 15000 feet

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Day Air attack on 43rd Division, at 46,103


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 6
PV-1 Ventura x 6
B-25C Mitchell x 69
B-25J Mitchell x 7
B-24D Liberator x 6
B-24J Liberator x 6


Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 1 damaged
PV-1 Ventura: 3 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 13 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 3 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
276 casualties reported
Guns lost 11

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Liberator VI bombing at 15000 feet

even though those ongoing strikes against my ground units near Townsville don´t do much damage and some bombers are shot down every day, the downside of those attacks is that all those bomber squadrons will probably soon hit 90 exp as they´ve seen combat for months without suffering many losses... this coupled with P-38Js means trouble...

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Day Air attack on 46th Division, at 46,103


Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vb x 9
Ventura V x 3
PV-1 Ventura x 3
B-25C Mitchell x 61
B-25J Mitchell x 24
F4U-1 Corsair x 5
B-17E Fortress x 3


Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 18 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 12 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
269 casualties reported
Guns lost 16

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-25C Mitchell bombing at 15000 feet

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Day Air attack on 47th Division, at 43,32


Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb x 5


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
5 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x Hurricane IIb bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on 108th Region Fortress, at 65,32

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 36
P1Y Frances x 62
Ki-49 Helen x 177

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
29 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 6000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 56,85


Allied aircraft
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 18


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AG AG-2095, Shell hits 4
AG AG-2096, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AG AG-2526, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AG AG-2528, Shell hits 20, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Beaufighter Mk 21 attacking at 100 feet

looks like I can´t use my barges anymore... too many losses...

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Day Air attack on TF at 84,89

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49 Helen x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
DD Cassin, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 30510 feet

I´m trying my "fighter sweep" on the enemy carriers with very few bombers set to nav attack but with a huge escort. Unfortunately 3 of the dozen bombers try to attack the DD that hit a mine during the night... thank god the 200 Tonies didn´t escort this strike...

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Day Air attack on TF at 85,92

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Cape Fear, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

three Frances from Kwajalein sink a small AK at Makin... I really would prefer seeing several big and escorted strikes against the enemy carriers, preferable against the single one...

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Day Air attack on TF at 85,92

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Arizona, Torpedo hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

don´t know why such strikes are even launched... spotted BBs could atract more bombers IMO. Looks good but the hit surely was only FOW because there was only the hit and nothing else, no further damage, no flooding, nothing... FOW hit...

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Day Air attack on TF at 85,92

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Nevada

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

another useless attack... attacking BB TFs with less than 50 bombers doesn´t make much sense if you want to go in for a kill...

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Day Air attack on TF at 86,88

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 81
P1Y Frances x 50

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 82

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 53 destroyed
P1Y Frances: 8 destroyed, 34 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 13 destroyed, 56 damaged

Allied Ships
CVL Cowpens, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Sigsbee
CV Lexington, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB North Carolina, Torpedo hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

and here comes the first bigger strike, no idea why, but the Kwajalein strike goes in first, even though it´s the one from max range... I planned to see the Tonies first, going in from my two closest bases... planning is senseless eh? [;)] Thank god we attack the CV TF that is alone in the hex and after yesterdays Hellcat losses we manage to get most of the bombers through, even though the Zeros get badly mauled. 4:1 kill rate for the Hellcats against 80+ exp Zeros proves that the Zeros are completely outdated. But it´s the only way to get my bombers escorts from 11 hexes. They did their job even though the bombers didn´t achieve much when i think about their high exp also. Problem again was the high number of targets. But Lexington heavily damaged is a good start... more to come... [:D] not the nice number of damaged Hellcats though, this will hurt the Allied as this means that there will be nearly 70 Hellcats less in the afternoon...

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Day Air attack on TF at 86,88

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 23
P1Y Frances x 31

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 49

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged
P1Y Frances: 2 destroyed, 27 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 9 destroyed, 17 damaged

Allied Ships
BB North Carolina
CVL Monterey, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CLAA Ceres, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CVL Cowpens, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

another strike out of the Marshalls, the second strike easily managed to get through and we put some more torps into the enemy carriers. CVL Cowpens should be in real trouble already after taking three torp hits...

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Day Air attack on TF at 87,88

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 Ic x 192
Ki-49 Helen x 6

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 262

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 Ic: 117 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 65 destroyed, 132 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Intrepid

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 30510 feet

and here comes what I wanted to see as the first strike. That´s the only way I know of dealing with a huge carrier Cap without losing a hundred bombers together with the hundred+ fighters you lose anyway. Not unexpected, we lose a lot of fighters, I didn´t even expect to see nearly half of the fighters surviving. A nearly 2:1 for the Hellcats isn´t that bad for us, even though we´ve just shredded more than 5 high exp Tony sentais. Even 3 of the Helens managed to get through, making their sightseeing trip over the enemy Armada. When you look at the losses of this engagement you can clearly see the difference between the Allied and Japanese fighters. While all our fighters were shot down, 132 Hellcats were just damaged. This is due to the Allied fighters carrying a real punch and being highly durable, while the IJNAAF fighters carry a weaker armament and are less durable. The high number of damaged Allied fighters are deciding though as I doubt that more than two dozen of them will be repaired until tomorrow. This means that this really costly attack (for us) can have an absolute deciding impact on the coming days as the Allied just "lost" 160+ Hellcats from those two CV TFs for tomorrow.

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Day Air attack on TF at 84,89

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 Ic x 8
Ki-49 Helen x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
BB Idaho
BB New Mexico

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 30510 feet

one of our fighter sweeps attacking the wrong target. This is what was left at the base the big strike against the carrier came from...

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Day Air attack on TF at 84,89

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 6 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

another small strike against the BBs, but causing damage...

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Day Air attack on TF at 86,88

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 12

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 10 damaged


Allied Ships
CV Lexington, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Cowpens, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

just look at was is left of the Cap over the Lexington/Enterprise and Co TF... [X(] A pity the bombers missed...

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Day Air attack on TF at 86,88

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 Ic x 7
Ki-49 Helen x 8

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged


Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 30510 feet

small "fighter sweep" in the afternoon, totally useless as the Tonies didn´t even engage the remaining Hellcats...

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Day Air attack on TF at 86,88

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 17
P1Y Frances x 26

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 destroyed, 18 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CVL Monterey, on fire
BB North Carolina, Torpedo hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

modern BB takes a torp, won´t be really impressed I guess...

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Day Air attack on TF at 86,88

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 13

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 destroyed, 11 damaged


Allied Ships
BB North Carolina
CA Vincennes
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

BANZAI! Enterprise takes another one...

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Day Air attack on TF at 87,88

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 Ic x 26
Ki-49 Helen x 3

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 125

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 Ic: 6 destroyed, 12 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 2 destroyed, 6 damaged

wow, I´m more than impressed about the high number of Hellcats over the other two CV TFs...

the day was over and we nearly lost 300 aircraft today, nearly 250 high experienced pilots are dead. But all this not without inflicting losses within the Allied and IMO the only thing the Allied have to do now is RUN. RUN as fast as you can with everything that is able to run. Why? Because the Allied commander just has to expect more LBA strikes tomorrow but even more so, he has to expect KB being in the area. And that´s what we´ve ordered for tomorrow. KB will move in close to Makin with the other "support CV TF" being one hex further away to the North West. I don´t expect the damaged enemy CVs being able to move further than four hexes so we should end up three hexes from them. Without all the Hellcats needed, it would be a real mistake to keep the undamaged CVs in the area and bigbaba should know that, so those are expected to move full speed South, being out of range tomorrow. This should enable us to sink the damaged carriers while not having to fear a lot. We will stay 12 hexes away from the atolls South of the Gilberts because I don´t want to end in 4E bomber range that can be escorted by Lightnings. We will see...



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Ground combat at Blagoveshchensk

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 106201 troops, 1029 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 2227

Defending force 93239 troops, 1097 guns, 314 vehicles, Assault Value = 1765



Allied ground losses:
148 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Irkutsk

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 373148 troops, 4449 guns, 1346 vehicles, Assault Value = 9374

Defending force 148197 troops, 1849 guns, 210 vehicles, Assault Value = 3047



Allied ground losses:
301 casualties reported
Guns lost 12


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Ground combat at Makin

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 42458 troops, 332 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1071

Defending force 15358 troops, 17 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 167



Allied ground losses:
22 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Kweiyang

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 22583 troops, 261 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 3433

Defending force 306944 troops, 704 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 8584



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Ground combat at Iman

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 41735 troops, 413 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 861

Defending force 51105 troops, 458 guns, 203 vehicles, Assault Value = 898



Allied ground losses:
14 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Townsville

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 6628 troops, 225 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3908

Defending force 124546 troops, 862 guns, 426 vehicles, Assault Value = 2096



Allied ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


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Ground combat at Hollandia

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 477 troops, 6 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 14

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Japanese max assault: 11 - adjusted assault: 24

Allied max defense: 0 - adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 24 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Hollandia base !!!



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Ground combat at Chungking

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 22692 troops, 243 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 1293

Defending force 127646 troops, 221 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 2487



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Ground combat at Blagoveshchensk

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 71962 troops, 961 guns, 313 vehicles, Assault Value = 1765

Defending force 109001 troops, 1029 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 2227


Japanese ground losses:
173 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


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Ground combat at Irkutsk

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 108473 troops, 1694 guns, 132 vehicles, Assault Value = 3038

Defending force 456704 troops, 4502 guns, 3371 vehicles, Assault Value = 9374


Japanese ground losses:
143 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Iman

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 44398 troops, 451 guns, 172 vehicles, Assault Value = 898

Defending force 41735 troops, 413 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 861


Japanese ground losses:
44 casualties reported


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Ground combat at Chungking

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 17565 troops, 173 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2487

Defending force 63483 troops, 666 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 1293



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Ground combat at Karachi

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 106783 troops, 870 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 3006

Defending force 69271 troops, 730 guns, 11 vehicles, Assault Value = 1390


Japanese ground losses:
143 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
27 casualties reported
Guns lost 2


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Ground combat at Townsville

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 82919 troops, 831 guns, 10 vehicles, Assault Value = 2096

Defending force 195052 troops, 2220 guns, 27 vehicles, Assault Value = 3908


Japanese ground losses:
236 casualties reported
Guns lost 9

Allied ground losses:
6 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


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Ground combat at Cairns

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 36930 troops, 436 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1082

Defending force 231192 troops, 2105 guns, 13 vehicles, Assault Value = 3959


Japanese ground losses:
88 casualties reported

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

Wow.  Congrats for your victory in the first battle of Makin.  And I might not take too many risks in congratulating for the second one.[&o]

thanks, more interesting things to come... [;)]

[castor troy]

After last round bigbaba seemed to be even satisfied how it turned out as he stated he would just have a couple of damaged carriers but he took down hundreds of my aircraft. Well, I´ve lost something like 225 high experienced pilots and if none of the carriers would be sunk it wouldn´t reall be worth it for me, even though we´ve also took out 350+ Allied carrier based ac so far. But that was after last turn and like I´ve said, the only right thing to do for the Allied is leave the damaged carriers behind and run with all you´ve got left...


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 11/03/43

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Sub attack at 85,96

Japanese Ships
SS I-124, hits 8, on fire

Allied Ships
DD Fox, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Turkey
MSW Tanager
MSW Velocity
DE Wileman
DE Burden R. Hastings

oh no... While mine layer sub I-124 probably kills a DD, it´s dead also. 94 flt damage... [:(] doesn´t even show up as heavily damaged... [>:] the sub sank at the end of the turn and that´s not really fun. It´s my second mine layer sub that was sunk, only two remaining...

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Day Air attack on Tsitsihar , at 65,24

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 18
Ki-61 Ic x 15

Allied aircraft
Pe-2 x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 Ic: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Pe-2: 2 damaged

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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 221
D3A Val x 24
A6M3a Zero x 89
B5N Kate x 16
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 70
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 35
Ki-61 Ic x 82

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 201

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-61 Ic bombing at 2000 feet

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Day Air attack on Makin , at 85,89

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 44
Ki-61 Ic x 41

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 10
B-24D Liberator x 39

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 11 damaged
Ki-61 Ic: 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 5 destroyed
B-24D Liberator: 6 destroyed, 27 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 15000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 15000 feet

like I´ve mentioned earlier, bigbaba should knock out the airfields in the Gilberts completely. As you can see here, he wasn´t able to do that so far, even though he probably has a couple of hundred 4E bombers in range of my airfields. Only 49 bombers are going in today (looks like there aren´t really a lot operational at the moment) and while I moved in Tonies to fly Cap to have this airfield open to use it for my bombers (if needed) I was more than amazed to see Zekes too. I wasn´t just amazed, I was shocked to be honest as the Zekes were identified as KB daitais. I´ve moved in KB and the support carrier TF to one respectively two hexes off Makin to attack the probably damaged and retreating Allied carriers. Therefore I wanted to see my Zeroes either flying Cap over KB or escorting my bombers and not leaking to Makin to intercept a couple of dozen bombers that mostly turned back anyway after my Tonies attacked. Not a real good start it seems...

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Day Air attack on Apamama , at 86,92


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 14
B-24D Liberator x 26
B-24J Liberator x 53


Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
51 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 51

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 15000 feet

Apamama is closed though but the engineers are working overtime... no strike against Tarawa...

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Day Air attack on Lae , at 54,87


Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 28
P-38J Lightning x 13
PV-1 Ventura x 60
PB4Y Liberator x 12


Allied aircraft losses
PV-1 Ventura: 2 destroyed, 23 damaged
PB4Y Liberator: 8 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 16
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 47

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x PV-1 Ventura bombing at 15000 feet

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Day Air attack on Luganville , at 72,107


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 46
Liberator VI x 12
B-25J Mitchell x 98


No Allied losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 191

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Wellington III bombing at 10000 feet

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Day Air attack on Baker Island , at 94,92


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 40
Liberator VI x 24
Ventura V x 11
PB4Y Liberator x 7


Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 3 damaged
Liberator VI: 6 damaged
Ventura V: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
17 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 30

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x Ventura V bombing at 15000 feet

Baker gets it´s daily visit...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 5th Division, at 46,103


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 3
PV-1 Ventura x 2
B-25C Mitchell x 15
B-25J Mitchell x 3
B-24J Liberator x 3


Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 3 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
70 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-25J Mitchell bombing at 15000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 46th Division, at 46,103


Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vb x 6
Liberator VI x 6
Ventura V x 3
PV-1 Ventura x 3
B-25C Mitchell x 58
B-25J Mitchell x 24
F4U-1 Corsair x 5
B-17E Fortress x 3


Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 2 damaged
Ventura V: 2 destroyed
PV-1 Ventura: 2 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 2 destroyed, 13 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
138 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-25C Mitchell bombing at 15000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 46th Division, at 46,103


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 3
PV-1 Ventura x 3
B-25C Mitchell x 63
B-25J Mitchell x 4
B-24D Liberator x 3
B-24J Liberator x 3


Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 1 damaged
PV-1 Ventura: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 13 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
74 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Aircraft Attacking:

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

and now the interesting part of the day starts...

Day Air attack on TF at 83,89

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 104

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 47
SBD Dauntless x 69
TBM Avenger x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 13 destroyed, 13 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 30 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 15 destroyed, 37 damaged
TBM Avenger: 5 destroyed, 9 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVE Unyo
CVE Chuyo, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CV Unryu
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Ryujo
DD Nowaki, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CVE Shinyo, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CV Hiyo

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
1 x TBM Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet

to my absolute surprise (or shouldn´t I be surprised anymore?), the Allied carriers were all put into one hex, taking position just one hex South of Makin, bringing them into three hex range to my support carrier TF (which is attacked here) and two hexes away from KB. Two things to keep in mind: the Allied didn´t run after taking serious losses (and damaged Hellcats) after yesterdays bloody attacks, this is a HUGE mistake and I´m saying I´m surprised because this is just something you can´t overlook, no matter if you´re experienced or not... [&:] This must be a wet dream and it took some time until I really could believe what the Allied commander has ordered. Secondly, putting all carriers into one hex means that there IMO surely more than 500 carrier based ac in the hex now, which clearly violates the rule about no more than around 450 carrier based ac per hex. I´m going in with two CV TFs in two separate hexes, would I send them in alltogether (which is what I´m facing now in regards to the Allied carriers) then I would be able to easily fend off all attacks with my heavy Cap. Oh well...

The Cap of my support carrier TF is of course not what KB´s Cap looks like and 130+ incoming enemy aircraft are just too many to be handled. More than 70 bombers attack and they seem to be coming in very high as they mostly drop their loads in groups of 9. CV Junyo is hit hard and due to the fact that the SBDs drop 1000lb GP bombs this of course means that this small fleet carrier is dead. When looking at it, it shows up with 83 sys, 92 flt and 39 fires. Makin can be reached within one turn but there´s no hope that the carrier could make it. Amazingly enough, the two CVEs and the DD have fair chances to make it. Makin is a level 4 port, we have ordered to fly in a nav HQ and two ARs are set to flank speed moving in from Kwajalein. The nav HQ will be there within one turn, the ARs need two turns.

I guess until this stage of the day, bigbaba was quite satisfied to have surely sunk the first IJN carrier of the war.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 83,89

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 55

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 6
SBD Dauntless x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 4 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 3 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CVE Chuyo, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet

another very small strike goes in against the support carriers but two SBDs manage to get through the Cap. With some luck, this could have finished Chuyo...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 25

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 182

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 9 destroyed, 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 4 damaged

then the start of completely stupid unescorted attacks when the AI once again proves to be completely thinking out of the a$$. All the bases where I had Frances have at least 81 Zeros, nevertheless the bombers go in unescorted against the enemy carriers. Due to all carriers now being in one hex, we meet a massive Cap again... at least low morale saved most of my bombers...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 3
P1Y Frances x 69

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 182

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed
P1Y Frances: 45 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 41 damaged

totally stupid AI again... boy how I hate those stupid routines. This time my bombers get shredded... where the hell are the escorts you bloody stupid programme??? [:@] those bomber losses for no gain aren´t necessary...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 3

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 110

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 1 damaged

[8|]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 26
D3A Val x 24
D4Y Judy x 24
A6M3a Zero x 51
B5N Kate x 21
P1Y Frances x 10

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 182

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 26 destroyed
D3A Val: 18 destroyed
D4Y Judy: 15 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 50 destroyed
B5N Kate: 10 destroyed, 1 damaged
P1Y Frances: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 45 destroyed, 78 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Intrepid, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CVL Belleau Wood
CV Bunker Hill
CV Saratoga, Torpedo hits 1
CLAA Oakland, Bomb hits 1
BB Washington, Bomb hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
1 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

then a combined strike out of Tarawa with A6M3s and Frances and a small contingent from my carriers. Even though this is the fifth strike against the carrier Cap already, the Hellcats do a good job again. The Zeroes are dead meat, the Zekes do better. The Frances all turned back, the carrier bombers managed to get half of their numbers through but they mostly miss their targets. Flak fire seemed to be insane over the enemy ships. More to come...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 42
D3A Val x 68
B5N Kate x 49

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 55

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 16 destroyed, 10 damaged
D3A Val: 21 destroyed, 26 damaged
B5N Kate: 12 destroyed, 25 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 36 destroyed

Allied Ships
DD DeHaven
BB Washington
CV Intrepid, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CVL Belleau Wood
CA Astoria, Bomb hits 1
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Bunker Hill
CL Leander
CLAA Oakland

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

another carrier launched strike, this time well sized. The Cap was out of position and weakened now and this seems to be the start of an upcoming disaster for the Allied now. No effective Cap anymore means muchos problemas... the Zekes on escort took down twice as many Hellcats as they´ve lost Zekes and most of the bombers went in to dive on the enemy carriers. Flak fire was murderous (we´ve lost more bombers to flak today than to the Hellcats! [X(]) and the hit rate of the bombers was pathetic. I guess this is the worst result of high experienced carrier based bombers I´ve experienced so far. I was quite enthusiastic when looking at the bomber numbers that went in to attack, but was quite disappointed about the damage done... But... it´s not over yet. One of the problem we face is the fact that we achive too many belt hits on the carriers. The CVLs and the Essex class CVs have too much belt armor for our 250kg AP bombs and they just bounce off... This means that we can only rely on the torpedo bombers because a deck armor penetrating 250kg AP bomb doesn´t do extreme damage to an Essex class. Damaging bomb hits are nevertheless very important as this slows the cariers down and makes them easier targets for the torp bombers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 6
D3A Val x 24
B5N Kate x 24

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 37

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 4 destroyed
D3A Val: 6 destroyed, 12 damaged
B5N Kate: 5 destroyed, 14 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 9 damaged

Allied Ships
CA Astoria
CV Intrepid, on fire
BB Washington, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Bunker Hill, Bomb hits 1
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CVL Belleau Wood

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
2 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet

Cap is getting weaker and weaker but my uncoordinated strikes are also not what I´m thinking off well sized strikes. Not many of the bombers return undamaged. Saratoga takes some damage, the bomb hits on Washington don´t cause damage of course. Bunker Hill suffered a non penetrating belt hit.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 5
D4Y Judy x 21
B5N Kate x 38

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 37

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
D4Y Judy: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B5N Kate: 5 destroyed, 16 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Saratoga, on fire
CV Bunker Hill, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CVL Belleau Wood, Torpedo hits 1
CLAA Oakland, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CV Intrepid, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CL Leander, Bomb hits 2, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x D4Y Judy bombing at 2000 feet

must have been a pain to watch for bigbaba as it seemed that my carriers didn´t stop launching strikes. We are still in the morning phase! This strike achieved more of what I am thinking of a good strike. Many damaging bomb hits this time and Bunker hill is hit hard by two torps. Intrepid doesn´t look good anymore either.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 4
D3A Val x 44
D4Y Judy x 21
B5N Kate x 17

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 37

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
D3A Val: 5 destroyed, 6 damaged
D4Y Judy: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged
B5N Kate: 1 destroyed, 11 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 6 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Bunker Hill, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
BB Washington, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CV Intrepid, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Belleau Wood, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet

those dispersed strikes could really wreck our carrier based ac if the enemy would still have effective fighter cover over the fleet. Bunker Hill took 4 penetrating deck hits and two useless belt hits but is burning heavily now too. Saratoga is in big trouble now I guess while Intrepid could still make port if not further hit...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 44
P1Y Frances x 48

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 33

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 13 destroyed, 11 damaged
P1Y Frances: 2 destroyed, 9 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 19 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Saratoga, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Belleau Wood, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Bunker Hill, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Intrepid, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

this is still in the morning phase, ubelievable number of strikes flown against the carriers. This time the Frances get escorts, but at that stage they aren´t as important anymore as they have been in the beginning when a hundred Frances went in unescorted to die for nothing. The hit rate is absolutely pathetic though, guess fatigue could be an issue. Two torp hits on already heavily damaged carriers when three dozen high experienced bombers do their attack runs isn´t something to cheer about. When our land and carrier based ac all have returned to their carriers at midday, the area covered by the enemy fleet was full of heavily burning Allied carriers and the day wasn´t over yet. The Allied are directly running into a disaster when the remaining operational Japanese aircraft were refuelled and rearmed to launch in the afternoon...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 6
B5N Kate x 19

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 64

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 3 damaged
B5N Kate: 9 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 4 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Formidable
CVL Langley

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet

First afternoon strike coming from the carriers, the enemy Cap has recovered strenght again and nearly twice as many Hellcats are in the air than there were at the end of the morning. The couple of Zekes did quite well and half of the Kates managed to get through the Cap. The first attack on what seems to be a mixed UK/US carrier strike force. Don´t know exactly but I guess Formidable is the last British carrier afloat (perhaps there´s another one). It seems that bigbaba has more or less every CV/CVL that he had available near the Gilberts. At that point I had preferred seeing more attacks going in against the damaged Essex class CVs to finish them off as I wasn´t sure how many strikes we would be able to launch after the bloody battles in the morning. But the afternoon was still young... [;)]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 27
P1Y Frances x 17

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 60

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged
P1Y Frances: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 11 destroyed, 16 damaged

Allied Ships
CA Canberra

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

LBA strike that had a nice impact with 11 Hellcats downed for just one Zeke. All but two bombers turned back due to low morale though. Nothing to achieve against the agile heavy cruiser...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 84,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 103

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 2
SBD Dauntless x 19
TBM Avenger x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 2 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged
TBM Avenger: 4 destroyed

and here comes the Allied strike! This time against KB! I was more or less shocked by the low number of fighters in the air as we´ve set our daitais to 80% Cap. Seems like too many were being launched to escort strikes the whole day. But when looking at the size of the enemy strike I didn´t fear anything to be honest. Everything that was incoming was either shot down or forced to turn back. And that´s ALL the Allied carriers could offensively launch against our fleet. This will be the biggest victory within all our victories so far. The enemy carriers are mostly reduced to floating wrecks and we won´t stop until most of them are sunk. BANZAI!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 6

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 13

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 1 damaged

the bombers damage a Hellcat and turn back... a dozen Hellcats won´t help the enemy anymore...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 29
D3A Val x 12
D4Y Judy x 28
B5N Kate x 47

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 4 destroyed, 7 damaged
D3A Val: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged
D4Y Judy: 6 destroyed, 16 damaged
B5N Kate: 11 destroyed, 25 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 5 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Wasp, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CV Yorktown, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Princeton, Bomb hits 2
BB Indiana, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Independence, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

our carriers are still able to launch heavy strikes that are now also doing real damage. This is the so far most effective attack of the day. Flak fire is still very intense but fighter defense over the fleet isn´t existing anymore which means our bombers can pick their targets at will. Our torpedo bomber pilots took out Indiana for sure, Yorktown is a goner, Wasp and Indepence are floating wrecks...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 21
D3A Val x 33
B5N Kate x 21

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 1 damaged
D3A Val: 2 destroyed, 12 damaged
B5N Kate: 2 destroyed, 17 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 5 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVL Independence, on fire, heavy damage
CV Wasp, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Indiana, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CV Yorktown, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Princeton, Bomb hits 2
DD Daly, Bomb hits 2, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet

another strike at the same TF as above, Yorktown was confirmed sunk already, as was Independence, while the modern BB Indiana took torp hits 6-8. No chance that this BB will survive. Wasp should be finished now too. Banzai!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 3
B5N Kate x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Yorktown, on fire, heavy damage
CL Perth
BB Indiana, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet

not a single Allied figther is encountered anymore, the Allied carrier force is completely trashed. 8 Kates tried to attack the already sunk Yorktown and Indiana, 4 engaged Perth but missed...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 25
P1Y Frances x 45

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 20 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Indiana, on fire, heavy damage
CV Wasp, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Independence, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Princeton
CV Yorktown, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

two Hellcats in the air to oppose this strike, they are shot down before they could engage our bombers. Wasp takes another hit, most of the bombers tried to attack ships that have gone down already... Princeton is one of the few flight decks of the Allied that is still undamaged. The CV TF with Formidable also didnt take damage so far...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,90

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 9
P1Y Frances x 4

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Wasp, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

must have been hard to hit this floating wreck... guess another torp will sink Was for sure, otherwise the chances for the ship aren´t good anyway... this day completely wrecked the Allied carriers but most of them are still afloat. Guess the Allied aren´t happy anymore, even though they´ve took out one of my carriers and nearly 400 aircraft today. If things go right then there won´t be many of the Allied flight decks returning to their homeport.

This day was a clear Japanese victory! BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Makin

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 45770 troops, 349 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1075

Defending force 15540 troops, 19 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 180

Japanese max assault: 971 - adjusted assault: 724

Allied max defense: 166 - adjusted defense: 64

Japanese assault odds: 11 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
1936 casualties reported
Guns lost 64

Allied ground losses:
1296 casualties reported
Guns lost 13

as you can see, the Allied were able to bring out more than 30.000 troops (including all divisions that were landed). But at what cost? Two RCTs and a eng rgt are still on the island, bigbaba complained that the TFs didn´t take up all the troops even though there was enough capacity available. IMO, not enough ships and probably not each LCU loaded separately like you should do it with the screwed loading routine. Guess those troops left will be destroyed for sure.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Blagoveshchensk

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 106214 troops, 1035 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 2226

Defending force 93031 troops, 1095 guns, 313 vehicles, Assault Value = 1764



Allied ground losses:
151 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Irkutsk

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 373239 troops, 4444 guns, 1347 vehicles, Assault Value = 9386

Defending force 148393 troops, 1837 guns, 210 vehicles, Assault Value = 3051



Allied ground losses:
383 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Vehicles lost 1


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

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 22580 troops, 262 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 3434

Defending force 306444 troops, 693 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 8578



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Iman

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 41779 troops, 416 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 862

Defending force 50918 troops, 448 guns, 203 vehicles, Assault Value = 894



Allied ground losses:
12 casualties reported


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

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 22699 troops, 246 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 1293

Defending force 127793 troops, 222 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 2491



Allied ground losses:
12 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Blagoveshchensk

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 71874 troops, 959 guns, 312 vehicles, Assault Value = 1764

Defending force 108994 troops, 1035 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 2226


Japanese ground losses:
97 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Irkutsk

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 108534 troops, 1681 guns, 132 vehicles, Assault Value = 3044

Defending force 457136 troops, 4495 guns, 3379 vehicles, Assault Value = 9386


Japanese ground losses:
126 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Iman

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 44252 troops, 441 guns, 172 vehicles, Assault Value = 894

Defending force 41779 troops, 416 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 862


Japanese ground losses:
56 casualties reported


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

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 17593 troops, 174 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2491

Defending force 63462 troops, 667 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 1293



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Karachi

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 149739 troops, 1000 guns, 1188 vehicles, Assault Value = 3096

Defending force 90194 troops, 962 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 1830

Allied max assault: 2734 - adjusted assault: 1593

Japanese max defense: 1667 - adjusted defense: 4945

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
1611 casualties reported
Guns lost 70

Allied ground losses:
6120 casualties reported
Guns lost 141
Vehicles lost 44

bigbaba just don´t want to accept that he can´t achieve something in this urban hex... [;)] And I haven´t even employed the reserve division I have at Malir...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Townsville

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 83066 troops, 834 guns, 9 vehicles, Assault Value = 2105

Defending force 194695 troops, 2228 guns, 27 vehicles, Assault Value = 3909


Japanese ground losses:
425 casualties reported
Guns lost 28
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Guns lost 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Cairns

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 36958 troops, 437 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1087

Defending force 230899 troops, 2099 guns, 13 vehicles, Assault Value = 3983


Japanese ground losses:
126 casualties reported


At the end of the day with have CV Yorktown, CVL Independence and BB Indiana have been confirmed sunk. BANZAI!

[Miller]

Unbelieveable performance by your A6M5's considering those Hellcats pilots were an average of 80 exp. Assuming your pilots were high 80's exp, it just shows how important WITP considers pilot exp over a/c stats.

No doubt you sent the KB south to finish off all of his carriers. Dont know why bigbaba has chosen this course of action, makes a mockery of all the effort that went into the game in my opinion[8|]

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Miller

Unbelieveable performance by your A6M5's considering those Hellcats pilots were an average of 80 exp. Assuming your pilots were high 80's exp, it just shows how important WITP considers pilot exp over a/c stats.

No doubt you sent the KB south to finish off all of his carriers. Dont know why bigbaba has chosen this course of action, makes a mockery of all the effort that went into the game in my opinion[8|]

The average exp of the Zekes probably was mid 80. There were still 90 exp daitais around (Hiryu for example), those started the game with 90 and still were at that level due to never have taken losses (our first and so far only carrier engagement saw nearly no losses within my fighter daitais). So we might have had an average exp edge of around 5 points over the Hellcats. The Hellcats would have shot down my Zekes on escort on a 2:1+ (probably 3:1) if there would be one or only two strikes. As soon as there are a lot of follow on strikes, the Cap becomes vulnerable. My bombers could definetely have performed better but the strikes nearly not ending took a toll on the Hellcats.

Like I´ve said before, everything else than running away for the Allied after day one was a mistake. Heck, the whole operation was a mistake. It´s easy to be a smart ass but seriously, an IMO pooryl thought out operation. It takes me five minutes to come up with a plan and another hour to give the orders for it. The Allied must have five or six dozen cruisers and probably two hundred DDs. So what can those ships do? They can perform FAST TRANSPORT missions, perfectly suited to evacuate those troops from Makin. If you put a dozen cruisers with 13 DDs into one fast transport TF you can pick up a lot of troops. Probably 10-12 such fast transport missions would have been enough to pick up all remaining 50.000 troops from Makin. Place the carriers five hexes South of Makin (the fast transport TFs have a range of 6) and just perform those missions. Everything evacuated in a timeframe of max 10 days. Use the 4Es (and if needed the Avengers from the carriers) to surpress Makin, Tarawa and Apamama - which is a more than easy task - and you evacuate all those troops for no loss. The only "threat" would be mines at Makin that didn´t hit a single ship during the invasion.

If I would send Zero escorted Frances bombers I could only use Mili as everything else is too far away. Would I do that? Of course not, there´s no sense sending those aircraft into their 100% sure death. Would it be that hard to think about a fast transport evac? Guess not. Would it be that hard to notice that the carriers are in trouble after a couple of them were damaged the first day? Guess not. Would it be that hard to retreat with everything undamaged as fast as possible? Guess not.

All in all, everything the Allied commander has done since taking over the game again was plain wrong. Sorry, but that´s a fact. I don´t want to think about all the unescorted capitol ships that returned from the Gilberts that didn´t even have carrier cover because the carriers retreated first (for an unknown reason).

I don´t know, this is just too easy. And it´s not over yet. And you are correct, it really makes a mockery of all the effort that went into the game so far. No idea how the game will go on...

[castor troy]

USS Yorktown reported sunk off the Gilberts after being under constant attack by IJNAF aircraft. BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!

USS Yorktown (CV-5), 1937-1942

USS Yorktown, a 19,800 ton aircraft carrier built at Newport News, Virginia, was commissioned on 30 September 1937. Operating in the Atlantic and Caribbean areas until April 1939, she then spent the next two years in the Pacific. In May 1941 Yorktown returned to the Atlantic, patrolling actively during the troubled months preceding the outbreak of war between the United States and the Axis powers.

Two weeks after the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Yorktown transited the Panama Canal to reinforce the badly damaged Pacific Fleet. The carrier's first combat operation was the Marshalls-Gilberts raid in early February 1942. Yorktown then steamed to the South Pacific, where she participated in a series of raids and other operations that climaxed in the Battle of Coral Sea in early May. In this action, in which she was damaged by enemy bombs, her planes attacked two Japanese aircraft carriers, helping to sink Shoho and damaging Shokaku.

Quick repairs at Pearl Harbor put Yorktown into good enough condition to participate in the Battle of Midway on 4-6 June 1942. During this great turning point of the Pacific War, her air group fatally damaged the Japanese aircraft carrier Soryu and shared in the destruction of the carrier Hiryu and cruiser Mikuma. However, successive strikes by dive bombers and torpedo planes from Hiryu seriously damaged Yorktown, causing her abandonment during the afternoon of 4 June. Two days later, while salvage efforts were underway, the Japanese submarine I-168 torpedoed both the damaged carrier and the destroyer Hammann, sinking the latter immediately and Yorktown shortly after daybreak on 7 June 1942. USS Yorktown's wreck was discovered and examined in May 1998, in surprisingly good condition after fifty-six years beneath more than three miles of sea water.

[Ambassador]

Isn't this the second time you sink Yorktown in this game ?[&:]
 
Anyway, congrats, I've again lost the track of the ships that were sunk.  But this time, between Yorktown, Saratoga, Intrepid, Bunker Hill and Wasp (if they're all confirmed sunk later), and several CVLs, and Indiana, even at the cost of one of your "small fleet carriers" you come up far ahead.  And there're a few more carriers left, and BB Washington took a torpedo hit : if slowed, it could be sent down too tomorrow.
 
Well, well, well.  More interesting to come, again ?[:'(]

[castor troy]

USS Indiana, the next confirmed sinking near the Gilberts. Succumbed after being hit by 8 aerial launched torpedos from carrier based Kate bombers. BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!

USS Indiana, a 35,000-ton South Dakota class battleship built at Newport News, Virginia, was commissioned in April 1942. After shaking down in the Atlantic, she joined the war against Japan, operating in the South Pacific from late November 1942 into October 1943. Indiana then moved to the Central Pacific, where she participated in the invasions of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943 and the Marshalls in January 1944. While engaged in the latter operation on 1 February 1944, she was damaged in a night collision with USS Washington (BB-56).

In April and May 1944, following repairs, Indiana escorted carriers in raids on Japanese positions in the Carolines. Beginning in June, she took part in the the Marianas campaign, including pre-invasion bombardment of Saipan and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The battleship screened the fast carriers into the Autumn of 1944, assisting in strikes on the Palaus and Philippines. After an overhaul, Indiana returned to the Western Pacific in January 1945, in time to participate in the invasion of Iwo Jima, carrier raids on the Japanese Home Islands and the Ryukyus invasion. She passed through a typhoon in June and used her sixteen-inch guns to shell targets in Japan during the last weeks of the Pacific War. Returning to the U.S. soon after the Japanese surrender, Indiana was placed in reserve status in September 1946 and formally decommissioned a year later. She saw no further active service and was sold for scrapping in October 1963.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

Isn't this the second time you sink Yorktown in this game ?[&:]

Anyway, congrats, I've again lost the track of the ships that were sunk.  But this time, between Yorktown, Saratoga, Intrepid, Bunker Hill and Wasp (if they're all confirmed sunk later), and several CVLs, and Indiana, even at the cost of one of your "small fleet carriers" you come up far ahead.  And there're a few more carriers left, and BB Washington took a torpedo hit : if slowed, it could be sent down too tomorrow.

Well, well, well.  More interesting to come, again ?[:'(]

I will take a screenshot of the ship loss list later today if I don´t forget to do so. IIRC Yorktown showed up as Essex class in the combat replay.

[castor troy]

CVL Independence sunk near the Gilberts after heavy air attacks. BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!

USS Independence, lead ship of a class of nine 11,000 ton small aircraft carriers, was built at Camden, New Jersey. Begun as the light cruiser Amsterdam (CL-59), she was converted to a carrier before launching and commissioned in January 1943 with the hull number CV-22. In July 1943, following shakedown operations in the Caribbean, Independence joined the Pacific Fleet and was redesignated CVL-22. During the rest of 1943, she took part in raids on the Japanese bases at Marcus, Wake and Rabaul and in the campaign to seize the Gilbert Islands. She was damaged by a Japanese aerial torpedo attack on 20 November, while operating off the Gilberts, and had to return to the United States for repairs.

Independence returned to the Pacific operational area in July 1944 and trained to serve as a night carrier. She participated in the Palaus operation in September 1944, air strikes in the Philippines and Okinawa and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October, and further offensive operations in the Western Pacific during November-December 1944 and January 1945. After an overhaul, Independence rejoined the fast carrier task force in March. Over the next six months, she took part in the Ryukyus campaign and conducted strikes against targets in the Japanese Home Islands. Following Japan's capitulation in mid-August 1945, the carrier supported occupation operations and helped bring U.S. service veterans home as part of Operation "Magic Carpet". In 1946, Independence was assigned to target duty as part of the atomic bomb tests at Bikini. She was badly damaged by the 1 July 1946 air burst and further contaminated by radioactivity in the 25 July underwater test. Formally decommissioned in August 1946, she was later used as a radiological research hulk. USS Independence was sunk as a target off the California coast in January 1951.


Amazing to me how small those CVLs really were compared to the aircraft they carried.

[anarchyintheuk]

Sure he went over the 450 plane hr? Looks like he had 6 CVs (one RN) and 4 CVLs in those two task forces at hex 86,90 on 11/03. Approximately 600 ac max, including previous losses of the Enterprise, Lexington and Cowpens that's only 830 ac max. He lost 300+ carrier ac on 11/01 and 92 hellcats on 11/02. I doubt he broke the 450 plane hr or if he did, he didn't by much. I counted only 182 hellcats on cap and 146 ac in strikes for 11/03.

Why he decided to stay is another question. Congrats on the huge victory.

[castor troy]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 11/04/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1079 encounters mine field at Nanomea Atoll (87,101)

Allied Ships
DD Decoy, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

sub laid Type 88 mine... [;)]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1033 encounters mine field at Nanomea Atoll (87,101)


Allied Ships
MSW Oriole
MSW Penguin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1043 encounters mine field at Nanomea Atoll (87,101)

Allied Ships
DD Braine
DD Bennett
DD Charles Ausburne

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

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 224
D3A Val x 24
A6M3a Zero x 89
B5N Kate x 16
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 70
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 35
Ki-61 Ic x 82

No Japanese losses

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 9
Runway hits 208
Port hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-61 Ic bombing at 2000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Makin , at 85,89

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 Ic x 103

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 3
PB4Y Liberator x 12
B-24D Liberator x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 Ic: 31 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged
PB4Y Liberator: 10 destroyed
B-24D Liberator: 6 destroyed, 19 damaged

bigbaba missed the chance to close down Makin´s level 4 airfield completely and the heavily damaged CV Junyo together with the two heavily damaged CVEs and the heavily damaged DD were disbanded into port. CV Junyo won´t make it, though due to having the carrier in port we were able to save all three daitais aboard, each with a maximum of 17 aircraft. Those come in handy as I will have 51 carrier trained aircraft to be used as soon as they have trained up again. The chance to save the CVEs is absolutely given, also the DD looks to have a good chance to make it. Makin isn´t in range of Allied fighters and I guess my Tonies will be able to keep the 4Es honest, especially as they really have low morale. We could need radar though as this would enable us to get more fighters into the air...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Apamama , at 86,92

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 31

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 18
PB4Y Liberator x 10
B-24D Liberator x 21
B-24J Liberator x 58

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 2 destroyed, 25 damaged
P1Y Frances: 1 destroyed
B5N Kate: 3 destroyed
D3A Val: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 12 damaged
PB4Y Liberator: 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 15 damaged
B-24J Liberator: 1 destroyed, 25 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
47 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 33

Aircraft Attacking:

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


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 48
Liberator VI x 12
B-25J Mitchell x 103


No Allied losses

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 201

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Wellington III bombing at 10000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Baker Island , at 94,92


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 61
Liberator VI x 38
Ventura V x 9
PB4Y Liberator x 10


Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 5 damaged
Liberator VI: 7 damaged
Ventura V: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 50

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ventura V bombing at 15000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 36th Division, at 43,32


Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc x 6


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
23 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Hurricane IIc bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 47th Division, at 43,32


Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb x 6


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
22 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Hurricane IIb bombing at 2000 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 108th Region Fortress, at 65,32

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 43
G4M1 Betty x 49
P1Y Frances x 69
Ki-49 Helen x 187

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
66 casualties reported

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 6000 feet

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

And there we go again! [:D]

Day Air attack on TF at 87,92

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 6 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Wasp, on fire, heavy damage
BB North Carolina
CLAA Juneau
CV Lexington, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

this should mean trouble for Lexington...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 87,92

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

yeah baby! Enterprise won´t make it... the fact that the enemy carriers can´t even put up a single Hellcat anymore really helps... [;)] Boy, those carriers got really trashed the last couple of turns...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 87,92

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 4
P1Y Frances x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 8 damaged

Allied Ships
BB North Carolina, Torpedo hits 2
CV Wasp, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

another modern BB hit... [&o]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 87,92

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Intrepid, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 87,92

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 67
P1Y Frances x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Bunker Hill, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Cowpens, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

as you can see, there´s nearly no flak fire anymore, this means due to the ongoing air attacks of a thousand land based and 800 carrier based ac the enemy CV TFs ran out of AA amunition... We are finishing off the enemy at will today... The enemy CVs have no chance anymore...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,94

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 19
D3A Val x 6
B5N Kate x 2
P1Y Frances x 11

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
D3A Val: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B5N Kate: 2 damaged
P1Y Frances: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged

Allied Ships
CVL Monterey
CV Formidable, Bomb hits 1
CL Leander
CVL Cabot

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

we have moved our carriers further South as we wanted to knock out the enemy completely. What is the enemy doing? He has one CV TF left that took no damage, but also this TF didn´t move away at flank speed, it was just two hexes further South as the floating wrecks formerly known as Essex class CVs... a non penetrating 250kg AP bomb hit on the armored flight deck of the British CV...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,94

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 30
D3A Val x 40
D4Y Judy x 24
B5N Kate x 27

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
D3A Val: 1 destroyed, 14 damaged
D4Y Judy: 10 damaged
B5N Kate: 2 destroyed, 14 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 7 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVL Princeton, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Formidable
CVL Langley, Bomb hits 3
BB Washington, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Monterey
CVL Cabot

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
1 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

our carriers based daitais are far from what I would call perfect shape but we still get enough bombers together to launch dangerous strikes...BB Washington suffers, and also the CVLs are hit. But not all hits on the CVLs were damaging hits as we´ve seen some bombs bouncing off the belt armor again...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 87,92

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 18

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 2 destroyed, 14 damaged

Allied Ships
BB North Carolina
CV Wasp, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CV Enterprise, on fire, heavy damage
CA Canberra
CV Lexington, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

if there would be just a couple of Hellcats in the air, all our bombers would turn back due to absolutely bad morale. No fighters engaging anymore and even though the bomber crews are totally fatigued, they still achieve a hit now and then. Very important hits so to say as one torp more or less can mean a capitol ship will make it or will sink...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 87,92

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CVL Cowpens, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Belleau Wood, on fire, heavy damage
CV Saratoga, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

so many Allied fight decks going down... [:D]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,94

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 4
P1Y Frances x 3

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 4

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
BB Washington, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,94

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 17
D3A Val x 11
D4Y Judy x 15
B5N Kate x 62

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zeke: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
D3A Val: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
D4Y Judy: 2 damaged
B5N Kate: 9 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied Ships
CV Formidable, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Princeton, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Cabot, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Langley
CL Leander
CVL Monterey, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Bush, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet
3 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet

YES! Seems like we´ve sent most of our remaining torp bombers on KB against the bomb prove Formidable TF. This is the end of Formidable, Princeton, Cabot, Monterey and Bush... BANZAI!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,94

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zeke x 3
D3A Val x 3
B5N Kate x 7

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 1 damaged
B5N Kate: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F Hellcat: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CL Leander, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CVL Langley, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVL Princeton, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

small strike but not without effect...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,94

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 4
B5N Kate x 5

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 1

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CVL Monterey, on fire, heavy damage
CV Formidable, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x D3A Val bombing at 2000 feet

the ships are still afloat...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,94

Japanese aircraft
B5N Kate x 10

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N Kate: 2 damaged


Allied Ships
CVL Princeton, on fire, heavy damage
CVL Langley, on fire
CV Formidable, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x B5N Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 86,94

Japanese aircraft
P1Y Frances x 18

Allied aircraft
F6F Hellcat x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y Frances: 4 damaged


Allied Ships
CVL Princeton, on fire, heavy damage
CLAA San Diego
CVL Langley, on fire
CL Perth
CV Formidable, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x P1Y Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet

that was it for today. At the end of the day we get confirmed sinkings of:

CV Enterprise, CV Wasp, CV Bunker Hill, CV Saratoga, CV Formidable, CVL Cowpens, CVL Princeton, CVL Monterey

I doubt that CVL Cabot will make it and we probably won´t get confirmation of all ships we actually put down. What to say, the last couple of days seem to lead to the biggest victory I have ever achieved in a PBEM, not to talk about the date when all this happens. Not due to brilliant play of mine though, more a result of totally wrong decisions of the Allied player...



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Makin

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 42773 troops, 288 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 943

Defending force 13630 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 149



Allied ground losses:
278 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Blagoveshchensk

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 106313 troops, 1044 guns, 9 vehicles, Assault Value = 2229

Defending force 92599 troops, 1087 guns, 312 vehicles, Assault Value = 1757



Allied ground losses:
59 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Irkutsk

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 376909 troops, 4448 guns, 1347 vehicles, Assault Value = 9389

Defending force 148438 troops, 1825 guns, 208 vehicles, Assault Value = 3057



Allied ground losses:
261 casualties reported
Guns lost 6


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

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 22614 troops, 262 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 3438

Defending force 306149 troops, 681 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 8567



Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Iman

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 41789 troops, 420 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 862

Defending force 50612 troops, 441 guns, 199 vehicles, Assault Value = 890



Allied ground losses:
11 casualties reported


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

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 22697 troops, 248 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 1292

Defending force 128007 troops, 223 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 2492



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Blagoveshchensk

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 71645 troops, 950 guns, 311 vehicles, Assault Value = 1757

Defending force 109133 troops, 1044 guns, 9 vehicles, Assault Value = 2229


Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Guns lost 4


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Irkutsk

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 108780 troops, 1674 guns, 132 vehicles, Assault Value = 3047

Defending force 460756 troops, 4500 guns, 3378 vehicles, Assault Value = 9389


Japanese ground losses:
517 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Iman

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 44086 troops, 434 guns, 172 vehicles, Assault Value = 890

Defending force 41789 troops, 420 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 862


Japanese ground losses:
63 casualties reported
Guns lost 2


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

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 17661 troops, 175 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2492

Defending force 63410 troops, 668 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 1292



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Karachi

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 100683 troops, 719 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 2528

Defending force 88070 troops, 871 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 1766


Japanese ground losses:
98 casualties reported
Guns lost 4

Allied ground losses:
30 casualties reported
Guns lost 3


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Cairns

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 37039 troops, 436 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1095

Defending force 231390 troops, 2116 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 4005


Japanese ground losses:
47 casualties reported

[Miller]

As I expected. A damn shame to see all those carriers to go down for no reason.

Totally pointless for bigbaba to continue now. At least you dont have to wait long for AE to come out to take this games place.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

Sure he went over the 450 plane hr? Looks like he had 6 CVs (one RN) and 4 CVLs in those two task forces at hex 86,90 on 11/03. Approximately 600 ac max, including previous losses of the Enterprise, Lexington and Cowpens that's only 830 ac max. He lost 300+ carrier ac on 11/01 and 92 hellcats on 11/02. I doubt he broke the 450 plane hr or if he did, he didn't by much. I counted only 182 hellcats on cap and 146 ac in strikes for 11/03.

Why he decided to stay is another question. Congrats on the huge victory.

there were surely more than 6 CVs, I guess I´ve even sunk more than six. [;)] And surely more than 4 CVLs also. Didn´t spot any CVEs though. When looking at how it turned out it doesn´t matter anymore. But when it comes down to such things in "extreme" situations you can easily forget about such things like hrs. [;)]

[AcePylut]

What was that we've been hearing about nuclear bombardments, uber flak, and so on?

How about a little bitching about overpowered Jap torp planes and their magic photon torpedos?.

[AcePylut]

Grats on the victory though!

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: Miller

As I expected. A damn shame to see all those carriers to go down for no reason.

Totally pointless for bigbaba to continue now. At least you dont have to wait long for AE to come out to take this games place.

The performance in this Allied evac operation was pretty bad, it was easy playing for me. I know AE will come out the next days but it would have been great to get this game far into 45 to be honest. How this should work without all those carriers (that come back mid 45 though [;)]) is beyond me. I´ve told bigbaba that he has lost quite some flight decks and got as reply: "I don´t need them anyway, I can advance within my LBA range" LOL, I´ve replied with: "have fun and all the best doing that". [:D]

Seriously, the Allied are in an unnecassary bad situation now.

[castor troy]

ORIGINAL: AcePylut

What was that we've been hearing about nuclear bombardments, uber flak, and so on?

How about a little bitching about overpowered Jap torp planes and their magic photon torpedos?.

I could perfectly live with Kates dropping two bombs each if an Allied CV wouldn´t take 25 bomb hits to sink in WITP. [;)]

[castor troy]

CV Enterprise confirmed sunk! BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!

USS Enterprise (CV-6, later CVA-6 and CVS-6), 1938-1958

USS Enterprise, a 19,800-ton Yorktown class aircraft carrier, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Commissioned in May 1938, she made a shakedown cruise to South America, then operated in the Caribbean. In April 1939, Enterprise was ordered to the Pacific, where she was to play an unparalleled role in the great sea war that began with Japan's 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

At the time of that raid, Enterprise was at sea. On 10 December, her planes sank a Japanese submarine, the first of many enemy ships that would fall victim to her air group. Later in December, she participated in the abortive Wake Island relief expedition. In February 1942, after escorting convoys to the South Pacific, Enterprise attacked Japanese positions in the Marshalls. During the following three months, she hit Wake and Marcus islands, covered the Doolittle raid on Japan and was en route to the South Pacific when the Battle of the Coral Sea took place in early May.

In June 1942, Enterprise played a vital role in the Battle of Midway, in which her planes sank or helped sink three Japanese aircraft carriers and a cruiser. She was next involved in the Guadalcanal Campaign, including the landings there in early August, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons later in that month and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October. Badly hit by Japanese bombs in August and October, Enterprise was the only available fleet carrier in the area in November and, despite her damaged condition, launched her air group against enemy ships during the climactic Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Remaining in the Solomons area into the Spring of 1943, she received the Presidential Unit Citation for her exploits there.

In late 1943 and early 1944 Enterprise participated in the Gilberts and Marshalls invasions and in attacks on Japanese bases in the Central and Southern Pacific. In June and July, she took part in the Marianas operation and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. From August to December, her planes joined in more raids and again engaged enemy ships during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in late October. At the end of 1944 Enterprise received a special night operations air group, with which she took part in the Luzon campaign, strikes in the South China Sea, the Iwo Jima invasion, raids on the Japanese home islands and the Okinawa campaign. She was repaired locally for bomb damage received on 13 March 1945 and Kamikaze damage on 11 April, but had to the return to the U.S. after being badly hit by another Kamikaze on 14 May.

Enterprise's repairs were finished in September 1945, after the Japanese surrender. She helped return servicemen from the war zones and was present for the Fleet Review off New York City in October 1945. Inactive after early 1946, Enterprise decommissioned in February 1947. While laid up, she was redesignated CVA-6 in October 1952 and CVS-6 in August 1953. After the failure of efforts to make her into a memorial, USS Enterprise was sold for scrapping in July 1958.