Jan. 24, 1942
A somewhat interesting turn.
SoPac
Things turned out better than I had hoped with my accidental landing. Turns out it only took one turn to get everybody back on the boats. So, assuming I have not screwed up again somehow, they should all be ready to land at Pago-Pago in about 3 days.
I sent 3xDMS to Pago-Pago to sweep some mines there. I managed to sweep all of 10 before the coastal guns blew my minesweepers out of the water. [8|]
I have ordered three bombardment TFs to blast away at Pago-Pago starting tonight. They will remain there blasting away until a) they run out of ammo or b) the island is taken. 1 TF is composed of 3xBBs (slow) and 2 CLs plus a bunch of DDs. Another TF consists of the 4xBBs that were escorting the carriers. And finally, there is a TF of CAs. For purposes of rearming, there are 3 or 4 AKEs anchored at Suva, so I won't need to go very far for more ammo.
KB 1 & 2 are operating together. KB1 has CVs Soryu, Hiryu, Akagi, and CVL Shoho, while KB2 has CVs Shikaku, Zuikaku, and CVLs Zuiho and Ryujo. Both TFs have a CS conducting naval search.
DEI
Nothing really significant. I just thought I would note an interesting result from an engagement between some of my TBs and witpqs's PTs at Balikpapan. During the engagement, one TB scored a "superstructure" hit on a PT. That struck me as odd, since PTs don't really have a structure, much less a SUPERstructure. [:D]
The China Two-Step
Witpqs finally attacked my exposed division. But he only go 1-2 odds. Meanwhile, my attack at Nanyang was repulsed at 1-2 odds, no doubt because of the level 4 forts there. Unfortunately, the engineers did not reduce the fortification level. I wonder how that works now? It used to be, if you had combat engineers in an attack, they would reduce the fortification level. I wonder if that has been made more random in AE?
I have more divisions on the way to Nanyang and my last attack saw the Chinese take twice the casualties as the Japanese. So once disruption comes down, I will do it again. Only next time with and even bigger hammer. [;)]
Ground combat at Nanyang (85,45)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 74293 troops, 861 guns, 112 vehicles, Assault Value = 2644
Defending force 59588 troops, 335 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1838
Japanese adjusted assault: 957
Allied adjusted defense: 1980
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)
Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
1510 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 241 disabled
Non Combat: 10 destroyed, 146 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Vehicles lost 6 (0 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
3602 casualties reported
Squads: 65 destroyed, 158 disabled
Non Combat: 67 destroyed, 202 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 4 (0 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Ground combat at 85,43
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 37347 troops, 273 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1566
Defending force 12371 troops, 102 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 457
Allied adjusted assault: 522
Japanese adjusted defense: 688
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), fatigue(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
291 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 45 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Allied ground losses:
1651 casualties reported
Squads: 19 destroyed, 104 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 119 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
I have three invasion fleets for the Pago-Pago invasion. One carries the 38th division, another the 2nd division, and the third carries the 65th brigade. They had assembled at Lakeba near Suva before heading together to Pago-Pago. I set two TFs to follow the third. I also decided to change from "do not unload" to "unload" to make sure I did not forget to change this later when they got to Pago-Pago and have them just sit there doing nothing.
