Dec 23: Japanese ground forces capture an important base in Luzon (or maybe two). [;)]
ASW/Subs:
LCDR Shun Hasegawa is in command of I-160 on patrol off the coast of Makassar looking for any damaged Allied warships that may be trying to get back to Soerabaja for repairs from Kendari. She is able to find the heavily damaged BC Howe and put three torpedoes into her and hear her slid beneath the waves!!
SS Spearfish is 2 hexes NW of Nagasaki on patrol. My SubChasers are unable to hit her.
RO-34 is 2 hexes due west of I-160 and misses an attempt to put a couple of torpedoes in CL Tromp. She does find out that Dutch BC De Zeven Provincien is in the TF.
Carriers:
KB2 is 2 hexes away from Camranh Bay with now 2 Val Daitai operating in Malaya (Alor Star and (Kota Bharu). My Zero need a few days of R&R and a 9 plane Zero Chutai from Malaya will resize over the next few days.
Mini-KB is just north of Ambon and along with a SC TF will oversee a reinforcement effort at Kendari.
Malaya:
Singapore - 11 Zero from Singkawang do not wait for the Betty/Nell and sweep the skies. There are surprised to find NO CAP!! [X(] The afternoon finds no other targets for the Nell/Betty at Singkawang, so they perform their secondary mission. 12 Zero escort in 16 Betty to do light damage to AF - Airbase hits 4, Runway hits 9.
Georgetown - 20 Zero sweep the skies before the waves of bombers are to arrive. They find 7 H81-A3 and 9(1) Buffalo on CAP (probably LRCAP from Sumatra). Since KB2 is headed for replenishment at Camranh Bay, the Val Daitai (27 planes) had flown off the day before to Kota Bahru. They fly over and see that the Zero sweep has gotten rid of most, but not all of the CAP. 19(1) Val find 2 H81-A3 and 1 Buffalo on CAP.
xAP Kota Tjandi, Bomb hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Poelau Bras, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
The third wave of the morning hits the base. 8 Nate and 21 Oscar escort in 66 Sally and 18 Sonia. They destroy 2 more fighters on the ground - Airbase hits 7, Airbase supply hits 1, Runway hits 89,
Port hits 4, Port supply hits 1, ground casualties of 198.
The afternoon attacks starts out with some fighters sweeping ahead of the bombers (none were ordered to do so). 35 Nate and 7 Oscar find 6 H81-A3 and 4 Buffalo on CAP/LRCAP. 15 Val are able to evade 2 H81-A3 to ...
xAP Poelau Bras, Bomb hits 11, and is sunk
xAKL Prominent, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
Taiping - 28th Gurkha Brigade is attacked by 36 Lily.
Borneo: [>:]
China: [>:]
Philippines:
Clark Field - 29 Sally and 25 Lily do not need any escorts to bomb the AF - Airbase hits 2, Runway hits 56. The late afternoon attacks from Takao come in. 9 Zero escort in 32 Betty to hit the AF - Airbase hits 2, Runway hits 19.
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 22078 troops, 226 guns, 263 vehicles, Assault Value = 786
Defending force 14357 troops, 154 guns, 272 vehicles, Assault Value = 192
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0
Japanese adjusted assault: 641
Allied adjusted defense: 310
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Clark Field !!!
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
No Allied losses
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
304 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 39 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 19 (1 destroyed, 18 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
7562 casualties reported
Squads: 117 destroyed, 41 disabled
Non Combat: 1008 destroyed, 61 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 86 (86 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 247 (232 destroyed, 15 disabled)
Units retreated 7
Units destroyed 2
Assaulting units:
4th Tank Regiment
65th Brigade
48th Division
7th Tank Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Army
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
Defending units:
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
11th PA Infantry Division
Subic Bay Defenses
1st PA Constabulary Regiment
Cavite USN Base Force
Clark Field USAAF Base Force
Far East USAAF
USAFFE
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
I barely get the required 2:1 odds to push his troops back to Bataan. Since John ran the turn, we talked after about what troops go where. The 65th Bde and a Tank will stay at Clark. A Tank will head due east to Cabantuan. The rest will head for Manila. Meanwhile....
Batangas -
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 9633 troops, 87 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 332
Defending force 184 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1
Japanese adjusted assault: 227
Allied adjusted defense: 1
Japanese assault odds: 227 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Batangas !!!
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
No Allied losses
Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:
Allied ground losses:
159 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 1
Assaulting units:
9th Infantry Regiment
16th Recon Regiment
20th Infantry Regiment
16th Engineer Regiment
Defending units:
PAF Aviation
These units will march the final 46 miles to Manila.
SRA (East):
3 Dutch DDs are 5 hexes east of Ambon as 15 Zero escort in 13 Betty. As before, hitting a DD with torpedoes is almost impossible to hit. [:(]
Plans/Notes:
The quick capture of Clark Field is a pleasant surprise. Add in the success so far on the Malaya peninsula and the Japanese high command is happy. [8D] We (me) are still focused on the rapid capture of Singapore and to that ends, the 5th and 33rd Division are ordered across along with 25th Army HQ and 5 artillery units. Most of the 2nd Division is at or will land at Mersing over the next few days while the 38th Division is now one day sailing from Hong Kong.
Hopefully, the screen shots with hexside details will help others see what is going on more clearly.
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