Big Guns of the Pacific: FatR (A) vs NY59Giants (J)

[Capt. Harlock]

In other regions, my positions hold fairly well to very well.

Yes, they are. Superlative job for early April '42. Without Burma, Sumatra, or Java, the Japanese should be running low on oil by now -- or does this mod change that?

[FatR]

April 8-11, 1942: Java nuked

More or less what it says. Both KB and Mini-KB appeared around southeastern part Java and bombed Soerabaja and Tjilatjap flat. My fighters were quickly overwhelmed and attepmts of Dutch bombers to sortie against the IJN armada ended only in more losses. South Dakota was lost to fires at Tjilatjap harbor. Also, after Warspite took about twenty more bombs, I decided to scuttle her. Continuing to use ability of repair shipyards to near-perfectly extinguish fires was too gamey. No ship could still be perceived as a valuable target after 100+ 250-kg bomb hits.

Meanwhile, a Japanese cruiser TF bombarded Palembang and put the airfield there out of action as well. Allied airpower in DEI is not really gone, but so many planes are damaged, that I decided to stand them all down for the next turn. No reason to throw more eggs at the wall.

In hindsight, I should have moved my carriers back to Australia. Now they are in Colombo, far from any chance to strike at another Japanese weak point. I cannot use the pause to upgrade them too, as the possibility of a raid on Colombo cannot be discounted.

In China, the situation changed for the worse. First of all, NY59Giants cut the roads leading to my Southern China positions with a sizeable force (you can see its numbers on the map below). Even more troops descend from Nanchang. I ordered a shock attack against his roadblock this turn. If it fails, I might be facing a tremendous disaster. My attempt to create a diversion by sallying forth from Ichang and rolling Japanese forces along the road south failed, causing massive casualties and disruption that leaves no hope to repeat the assault with more success. At least, now Chinese have some H-81-A3s, discarded by AVG, and on this turn I placed three squadrons to ambush IJAAF. Hopefully, they will make NY59Giants more cautious.



In a bit of good news, defenders of Clark Field still hold somehow, despite having no supplies. They took heavier casualties after two Japanese attacks on 8th and 9th, but weren't pushed out of the hex.

[FatR]

April 12-15, 1942: The Fall of Clark Field

Japanese launched deliberate attacks against both Clark Field and Singapore on 14th. At Clark, the starved Allied defenders were finally overwhelmed and routed. One of Philippino divisions surrendered. It will be over as soon as Japanese troops reach Bataan.

Ground combat at Clark Field (79,76)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 39028 troops, 414 guns, 371 vehicles, Assault Value = 1256
Defending force 31182 troops, 835 guns, 305 vehicles, Assault Value = 595
Japanese adjusted assault: 1279
Allied adjusted defense: 367
Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Clark Field !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1020 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 58 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 60 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 25 disabled
Guns lost 2 (0 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 51 (2 destroyed, 49 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
11150 casualties reported
Squads: 754 destroyed, 166 disabled
Non Combat: 525 destroyed, 240 disabled
Engineers: 149 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 393 (374 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Vehicles lost 214 (214 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 27
Units destroyed 3


The assault on Singapore was much less successful, but it dropped the forts to 2 and, for the first time, destroyed more Allied squads than Japanese ones.

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 75614 troops, 855 guns, 299 vehicles, Assault Value = 2423
Defending force 65516 troops, 933 guns, 726 vehicles, Assault Value = 2060
Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2
Japanese adjusted assault: 3809
Allied adjusted defense: 7799
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 2)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
6545 casualties reported
Squads: 27 destroyed, 419 disabled
Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 218 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 100 disabled
Guns lost 2 (0 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 35 (0 destroyed, 35 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2670 casualties reported
Squads: 75 destroyed, 153 disabled
Non Combat: 37 destroyed, 310 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 60 (3 destroyed, 57 disabled)

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards Division
4th Infantry Regiment
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
21st Division
5th Division
16th Infantry Regiment
18th Division
148th Infantry Regiment
2nd Engineer Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
113th Infantry Regiment
56th Recon Regiment
24th Infantry Regiment
5th Mortar Battalion
56th Field Artillery Regiment
1st RF Gun Battalion
25th Army
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
2nd Fleet
3rd Mortar Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
2nd Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
1st Malay Battalion
1st Hyderabad Battalion
FMSV Brigade
18th British Division
Singapore Fortress
45th Indian Brigade
11th Indian Division
2nd Malay Battalion
2/17 Dogra Battalion
44th Indian Brigade
SSVF Brigade
2nd Loyal Battalion
1st Manchester Battalion
27th Australian Brigade
1st Mysore Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
2nd Gordons Battalion
22nd Australian Brigade
9th Indian Division
1st ISF Base Force
3rd Heavy AA Regiment
112th RAF Base Force
2nd ISF Base Force
III Indian Corps
AHQ Far East
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
Malaya Army
224 Group RAF
110th RAF Base Force
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
3rd HK&S Light AA Regiment
Malayan Air Wing
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
Singapore Base Force
111th RAF Base Force

The change of leaders for Malaya Army, III Indian corps and all of the divisions probably is the key factor, that still allows Singapore to stand. The supply situation is dire, though. IJAAF stopped bombing the airfield, probably thanks to observing no more supply dump hits.


Meanwhile, my above-planned attempt to clear the road to Southern China failed miserably, because NY59Giants reinforced with two more brigades on the turn it happened. This is a very bad development. While there are reinforcements from Changsha on the way, I'm pulling out Southern China entirely. The position is too tenous to defend in the face of Japanese aviation, that now regularly hinders my troop movements. Hopefully, I will at least be able to extract my units. This also means, that it's the time to pull my forces from Central Plains.

In a bit of good news, Chinese pilots shot down about 8-10 Japanese planes for no loss on this turn. Oh, and IJN continues reducing my airfield on Java to rubble, against no resistance. Thankfully, scattering my squadrons across several large airfields minimized total losses. SS Perch returned to Soerabaja for refueling and was sunk.

[FatR]

Allied Grand Strategy: The analysis of Operation Breakwater and future plans.

My losses in the attempt to reinforce Java amounted to one modern USN battleship, one trash RN CL, and three large transports (including ships now trapped in Tjilatjap in non-seaworthy state). On a whole, I lost three BBs (South Dakota, Jellicoe and Repulse) and three good cruisers (Houston, Exeter and Mauritius), plus a sizeable bunch of second-rate cruisers, large APs and auxilaries in my attempts to defend DEI. Two veteran divisions (18th British and 7th Australian) also will go down with Singapore and Fortress Java.

The result, bought by these sacrifices, is effective containment of Japanese. If NY59Giants planned any large invasion in SWPac for April, and I think he did, canceling it was already worth a BB. By the time IJN can regroup, never mind by the time IJA divisions will be free to deploy anywhere besides DEI, both PM and Noumea going to be practically impregnable. Inflicting major airframe losses also helped. Japanese so far made few attempts to aggressively contest the air over Burma, and none at all over New Guinea, and now this is probably not going to change for a while.

However, was it possible to do better? I think, yes, I made two major mistakes. The first one was my decision to leave Halsey's fleet hanging at Denpasar during the day phases, in hope of using it for another attack. I expected that any Netties present will target my CVs instead, but, once again, a plan based on perfect coordination between separate forces fell apart in practice. The second one was not being audacious enough and not including a supply convoy for Singapore in the operation.

What to do next? Well, I believe, that I, even if in large part by sheer luck, achieved most of my goals for the early stage of the game, albeit at a significant cost. There is no real threat of Japanese expansion far beyond the historical perimeter anymore. I believe it's the time to regroup and consolidate my forces, drop even more troops into SWPac using my accumulated PPs, build up bases, from Adak to Port Moresby, upgrade as many ships as I can (in the light of the Allied successes, I intend to take my time converting all remaining old USN BBs, except three, for DP secondary armament; BC Constitution is ordered to Puget Sound Yard for remaking into CV as well), and conserve my remaining fleet strength. No more risky raids. Or at least not as many. Very soon I get Essex, and then it's the time to keep my carriers as a fleet in being, while seeking an opportunity to battle KB under cover of Allied LBA.

In SWPac I established two main strongholds: Port Moresby and Noumea. Both already have 500+ AV with more on the way, around 150 air support and strong AA presence. In Indian Ocean, Colombo is the Allies' fortress, with nearly all fighter squarons and AA units not occupied in DEI placed there. I'm reinforcing Sydney to make it similarly well-protected. My engineers are building up Midway and Adak. I ponder, whether to evacuate or to reinforce Wake. While I safely can drop more troops there now, It's sort of a strategic dead end, after all.

[FatR]

As a side note the last turn is notable for Japanese finally beating Allies in victory points (11 343 vs. 10 921 currently).

[FatR]

April 16-21, 1942

Nothing particularly new or exciting. KB eventually sails away Allied sub score a few more successes, the biggest is KXV putting a single torpedo in CV Unryu for no combat report-visible damage. Japanese ASW remains largely ineffective. Allied aviation tries to bomb Gasmata (where NY59Giants sneakinly built up a new airfield) without escorts and Denpasar with escorts that refuse to fly, the results are painful in both cases. Still no finishing blows on Philippines or new landings anywhere (although an amphibious TF appeared next to Port Headland), for some reason. Two Wichita-class cruisers are detached from the fleet to wait until their CVL conversion is available.

[FatR]

April 22-25, 1942

Still not much of interest happening, except in China, as can be seen on the map below. The highlighted stack was blocked from moving out of the hex by an attack the last turn, and probably is doomed, but other troops seem likely to get away. Also, a final attack on the three Japanese divisions south of Loyang is ordered, now with every unit I can spare. If it fails, I'm going to retreat from Central plains and form a defensive line in the forested terrain on the way to Sian.

Also, NY59Giants landed at Port Hedland, which means that various small units trapped in the Northern Australia are probably doomed to die out from lack of supply on their way to safety. Also, about 270k of resources somehow ended up there - that will be a nice prize for Japanese.

32nd Division just became available in ConUSA. It will be sent to Port Moresby. Once I have about 1000 AV there, I'll start expanding to other bases in New Guinea. Meanwhile, Lighthings extracted from the perma-restricted West Coast units (didn't know you can downgrade them) are going start their sweeps.

Subs still refused to repair at Townsville and Midway despite the presence of auxilaries and I was forced to sent those stuck there to Brisbabe/PH for maintenance. (I'll also use this opportunity to uprgade them.) Maybe low levels of naval support played a role? Midway is built up to the limit, so I'm going to pick up the contruction regiment from there and replace it with something that includes naval support. With Townsville, I just put Southwesten Pacific HQ there. S-boats really don't have enough endurance to effectively operate from Noumea or Brisbane, so I want a forward sub base in SWPac

[FatR]

April 26-May 1, 1942: Surrender on Philippines, retreat in China

Bataan and Cagayan were stormed on April 30, resulting in about 60k of Allied casualties and the end of all resistance on Luzon and Mindanao.

Another deliberate attack at Singapore dropped the forts to 1 and caused only about 30% more casualties to Japanese. It will end soon too...

In China my attack has failed and I'm evacuating the Central Plains. So far the retreat goes unmolested, it seems that NY59Giants did not notice it. Wenchow is lost in Southern China and my main force falls back to safety as fast as it can, under relentless bombing. Meanwhile, I'm planning a quick jab to weakly-defended Wuchang with my mass of troops around Changsha, that failed to reinforce the south in time.

The air war goes on without major successes for either side. It seems, that Japanese land-based fighter force is heavily attrited, because now I see Ki-43-Is and IIs in action again. Regular Zero sweeps against Soerabaja are relatively weak as well and fail to knock out my squadrons. My attempts at counteraiding ended in bloody failures, though. Even around Moulmein, where British bombers and AVG pound Japanese every day for more than a month, losses started to mount - probably NY59Giants moved in more AA units. Lightnings too were a disappointment. 6 of them went down in return for maybe 3-4 Japanese fighters, despite sweeping from stratosphere.

The sub war claims Japanese ships regularly. Japanese ASW fails to return the favor. IJN subs are nowhere to be seen as well. I wonder what NY59Giants does with them? Anyway, their happy days are over, as many USN DDs currently upgrade or already are upgraded to ASW rating of 6.

[FatR]

May 2-11, 1942

Not much to report, because there aren't many significant engagements. Singapore still holds, although the defenders took greater casualties from the latest assaults. Japanese clean up rear areas, landind in Cebu. Attritional air war goes on. Allied skip-bombers from Moresby had eliminated their first convoy, sinking two xAKs off Gasmata. Upgraded and now radar-equipped USN subs move into patrol zones. Japanese air ASW and subchasers score their first kills too. In subchasers' case, that were my torpedo boats, evicted from Cebu by the Japanese convoy though. By the way, if there's an effective way to use torpedo boats in this game, I don't know it. They have yet to hit anything. Wuchang stab shattered upon two Japanese divisions - air recon once again dramatically underestimated Japanese strength.

USN carriers are sitting in Pearl or moving to the West Coast off-map. I won't deploy them until two more Essex-class carriers arrive in little more than a month. After that, the decisive battle with KB becomes conceivable.

SWPac has three old USN BBs a handful of CLs and a lot of destroyers on station. I currently use them to cover troop convoys to forward bases, no active raiding. Particularly because a lot of my DDs are going through upgrades.

Meanwhile, Japanese took Rossel Island off the eastern tip of New Guinea with a token force. SigInt indicated that troops are preparing for Port Moresby. Well, good luck with that. PM has 617 AV with another US Division and several lesser units on the way and forts almost at level 4. Cairns is developed into a powerful airbase for long-range bomber support - my 4Es already tried to bomb Gasmata from there, although without much success.

Noumea also teems with US troops - two full infantry divisions and a bunch of support units. Suva is comparatively undergarrisoned, but one division is on the way. Luganville and Ndeni have garrisons that won't let NY59Giants seize them on cheap, build around Marine coast defense batallions.

If anything is relatively underprotected, it is Hawaii. Oahu has only 700+ AV. But the strong air presence and coastal guns should make that enough and in any case, I don't believe that NY59Giants can possibly entertain the thoughts of Hawaii operation, in his current position.

In Indian Ocean, the main Allied fleet hangs at Colombo, waiting while several USN CLs undergo their upgrades and BC Howe finishes repairs. Two remaining Dutch CLs and several British DDs were moved to Batavia, waiting for an opportunity to strike at the next Japanese invasion. Currently, 2 AVG flight groups (one on Warhawks, one on P-39s) and 2 Hurricane IIb British squadrons form the core of Allied air strength of Java. There are three more British/Commonwealth squadrons (one flies Bufallos, one Kittyhawks and one Fulmars) and the Dutch units, but these are hampered by inferior planes and/or failed to preserve their core of good pilots, so they mostly serve to distract Japanese fighters.

[FatR]

A few more notes.

Omaha-class CLs can be upgraded to CVLs in this mod (the option is revealed after the first upgrade)! Thank God I didn't waste any of them. I'm going to send them all to Eastern USA. They aren't particularly useful as surface combatants anyway.

I used Dutch Lodestar transport planes and flying boats to evacuate a lot of troops from defeated garrizons on Borneo, including Sparrow Batallion that fought at Balikpapan and Samarinda. Who knew that Lodestars will prove so useful. On the other hand, my attepmts to supply trapped Dutch forces in western DEI by flying boats has failed. The capacity was insufficient and most of the remnants had died out from hunger by now.

[FatR]

May 12-21, 1942

More of the same, really. Allies troops sail towards frontlines, Zeros grind ABDA figters over Java, and my cruiser diversion ended up in an unconclusive daylight engagement with the Japanese CL force, with no sunk or severely damaged ships on either side:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Muntok at 50,90, Range 21,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CL Naka
CL Sakawa, Shell hits 1
CL Yahagi
DD Kagero, Shell hits 1
DD Kuroshio, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Oyashio, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
CL Sumatra, Shell hits 2
CLAA Van Heemskerck, Shell hits 5, on fire
DD Electra
DD Inconstant, Shell hits 1
DD Isis
DD Jupiter, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Napier, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Nestor
DD Nizam

Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions: 30,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 23,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 23,000 yards
Range closes to 21,000 yards...

Muntok is a dot base next to Palembang. Don't know why NY59Giants landed there. The airfield still hadn't go up.

While things are quiet, I decided to spread out in SWPac, by first reinforcing Horn Island and Terapo, and then landing at Milne Bay. If everything goes perfectly and there is no attack on Port Morebly, 32nd US Division and base forces will move to Buna by land after that. My eventual goal is to create threat vectors alond both northern and southern coast of New Guinea. Oh, and forcing NY59Giants to attempt taking PM at any cost, on the pain of losing SWPac by autumn of 1942 (my skipbombers already made even Gasmata untenable and Lae is practically cut off and beaten into submission, as far as I can see), could be nice as well. I'm currently hauling some NZ troops to supplement US Army in New Guinea, and two more Australian brigades will be shipped to Port Moresby. I hope to maintain a nationally diverse force on the frontline, to spread out casualties between their pools, if push comes to the shove.

Meanwhile, some meager Allied reinforcements, primarily two Australian pioneer batallions, are loading for Northern Sumatra. Their goal is to help Dutch with building up airfields and fortifications. Unfortunately, I don't have much unrestricted infantry to spare - while in this game it is 98% likely to be safe, I still don't want to strip Ceilon defenses down to dangerous level. Colombo is irreplaceable for my efforts in the western part of the map. The best part of Allied air force is stuck guarding it as well, because a KB raid can give NY59Giants a rich compensation for his previous misfortunes otherwise.

See the current situation around PM below:

[FatR]

May 22-31, 1942: The Battle of Northern Java Sea and fall of Singapore.

Well, what can I say, these were dark ten days for Allies, and mostly through my fault.

Gun vs. Bomb: 0-1

First of all, I acted upon my above-mentioned intention to reinforce Northern Sumatra. A convoy of 5 large xAPs, 5 CLs and 3 DDs was sent to land troops in the northernmost port, Sabang. All was going well, until, on the evening of 25th my recon spotted Mini-KB and a large invasion convoy south of Singapore. I had an SC TFs in the region - ABDA fleet of 3 CLs and 5 DDs on the opposite side of Sumatra. However, eyeballing the distance from approximate location of the Japanese fleet to Sabang demonstrated, that if I detach escorts from the Northern Sumatra transport TF, I have a chance to intercept Mini-KB during the night phase. Which I did. CLs Achilles, Leander, Hobart, Glasgow and Newcastle, escorted by DDs Porter and Isis were detached and sent to strike at Japanese. Meanwhile, the ABDA fleet was sent to check Palembang where I (as it happened, correctly) expected the landing and most of Allied aviation on Java was set on naval attack. However, as IJAAF bombers kept Palembang airfield trashed, and Oosthafen had very little air support, only one squadron of Fulmars participated in the attack.

The first part of my plan, namely "intercept Japanese carriers at night before they can bomb my ships" worked well. "Pump them full of shells" part, not so much.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lingga at 52,88, Range 11,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CVL Shokaku, Shell hits 1
CVL Zuiho
CVE Hosho
CVE Taiyo, Shell hits 3
CVL Junho
CVL Unho
CS Nisshin, Shell hits 1
CS Chitose
BC Kirishima, Shell hits 6
BC Hiei
CA Myoko, Shell hits 1
CA Mogami
CLAA Tama, Shell hits 1
CLAA Oi
DD Susuzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Makinami
DD Ayanami
DD Amagiri
DD Akebono
DD Sazanami
DD Kosugiri
DD Yamanagiri

Allied Ships
CL Leander
CL Achilles, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Hobart
CL Glasgow
CL Newcastle, Shell hits 2
DD Porter
DD Isis, Shell hits 4, heavy fires

Improved night sighting under 92% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions and 92% moonlight: 12,000 yards
Range closes to 21,000 yards...
Range closes to 16,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 11,000 yards

My brave ships returned for more on the morning. However...

Day Time Surface Combat, near Lingga at 52,88, Range 26,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CVL Shokaku
CVL Zuiho, Shell hits 3, on fire
CVE Hosho, Shell hits 1
CVE Taiyo, Shell hits 1
CVL Junho
CVL Unho, Shell hits 1, on fire
CS Nisshin, Shell hits 1
CS Chitose
BC Kirishima, Shell hits 4
BC Hiei, Shell hits 1
CA Myoko
CA Mogami, Shell hits 1
CLAA Tama
CLAA Oi
DD Susuzuki
DD Yugumo
DD Makinami
DD Ayanami
DD Amagiri
DD Akebono, Shell hits 1
DD Sazanami
DD Kosugiri
DD Yamanagiri

Allied Ships
CL Leander, Shell hits 5, on fire
CL Hobart, Shell hits 2, on fire
CL Glasgow, Shell hits 1
CL Newcastle, Shell hits 6, on fire
DD Porter, Shell hits 1

Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions: 30,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 26,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 26,000 yards
CVL Unho screened from combat
BC Kirishima engages CL Newcastle at 26,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVE Taiyo at 26,000 yards
BC Hiei engages CL Newcastle at 26,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Newcastle at 26,000 yards
Range closes to 21,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVL Unho at 21,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Glasgow at 21,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVL Zuiho at 21,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Leander at 21,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CS Nisshin at 21,000 yards
Range closes to 18,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVL Unho at 18,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Glasgow at 18,000 yards
CL Hobart engages CVL Zuiho at 18,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVL Shokaku at 18,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CLAA Tama at 18,000 yards
DD Porter engages DD Amagiri at 18,000 yards
DD Porter engages DD Yugumo at 18,000 yards
Range closes to 15,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVL Unho at 15,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Glasgow at 15,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Leander at 15,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Newcastle at 15,000 yards
CLAA Tama engages CL Newcastle at 15,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CS Chitose at 15,000 yards
DD Makinami engages DD Porter at 15,000 yards
DD Susuzuki engages DD Porter at 15,000 yards
Range closes to 13,000 yards
CL Hobart engages CVL Zuiho at 13,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVL Shokaku at 13,000 yards
DD Susuzuki engages DD Porter at 13,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVE Hosho at 13,000 yards
DD Akebono engages DD Porter at 13,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages DD Ayanami at 13,000 yards
Range closes to 10,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVL Junho at 10,000 yards
DD Akebono engages DD Porter at 10,000 yards
BC Hiei engages CL Newcastle at 10,000 yards
DD Kosugiri engages DD Porter at 10,000 yards
DD Amagiri engages DD Porter at 10,000 yards
Range closes to 9,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Newcastle at 9,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Glasgow at 9,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Hobart at 9,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Leander at 9,000 yards
DD Akebono engages DD Porter at 9,000 yards
CLAA Oi engages CL Newcastle at 9,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages DD Akebono at 9,000 yards
Range increases to 11,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Newcastle at 11,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Hobart at 11,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Leander at 11,000 yards
DD Porter engages DD Akebono at 11,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVE Hosho at 11,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CS Chitose at 11,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CS Nisshin at 11,000 yards
DD Porter engages DD Makinami at 11,000 yards
DD Susuzuki engages DD Porter at 11,000 yards
Range increases to 15,000 yards
CVL Unho , CVL Junho , CVL Zuiho screened from combat
- escorted by DD Kosugiri
BC Kirishima engages CL Newcastle at 15,000 yards
CL Newcastle engages CVE Taiyo at 15,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Leander at 15,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Newcastle at 15,000 yards
CLAA Tama engages CL Newcastle at 15,000 yards
Range increases to 19,000 yards
CVL Unho , CVL Junho , CVL Zuiho screened from combat
- escorted by DD Amagiri
CA Mogami engages CL Glasgow at 19,000 yards
CL Hobart engages CA Mogami at 19,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Leander at 19,000 yards
BC Kirishima engages CL Newcastle at 19,000 yards
DD Sazanami engages DD Porter at 19,000 yards
DD Porter engages DD Yugumo at 19,000 yards
DD Susuzuki engages DD Porter at 19,000 yards
Task forces break off...

Newer saw this "screened from combat" thing before. Anyway, then Mini-KB launched its planese and my ships, scattered across the sea, were pretty much obliterated. By replay, I expected at least Glasgow to escape, but on the evening of 27th I discovered only Hobart and Leander, both in near-sinking condition. They did not survive the next turn. Bugged replay? I expected it to at least display damage to my own ships correctly, FOW or not.

Meanwhile, ABDA fleet failed to move past Merak, for some reason. Good thing too, because the massive landing in Palembang (14th Army with 8th and 16th Divisions and 4 tank regiments, hauled by 4 separate TFs) was covered by a BB TF. They are retreating to Colombo now.

Oh and my planes and subs failed to score a single hit on the Japanese armada. Plane losses were relatively slim and Japanese lost as much if not more on 26-29th, thanks to an Oscar sentai slamming into almost every Allied fighter still on Java over Batavia and losing badly, then carrier Kates flying against my ASW MLs next to Batavia on 28th and getting butchered by CAP.

Adding injury to injury, I didn't think to cancel unloading of remaining troops in Sabang and retreat. On 28th-29th, masses of Netties, apparently searching for my retreating ships, found it, and, although their accuracy was notably low, sunk three transports and fatally damaged fourth. Almost all troops were unloaded by this point, but loss of these valuable ships hurts...


Fall of Singapore

Well... I must say, that the defenders held beyond my wildest expectations, against the repeated assaults and cost Japanese up to 60k of total casualties. Imperial Guards Division, which spearheaded the first assault has, for example, only about 250 AV by now, and NY59Giants noted that one of his divisions was even forced to retreat and rest at Johore Baru. Certainly, this three-months siege will be remembered next to Stalingrad and Tobruk, not Kerch' disaster and Dunkirk.
But I digress. On May 30th, several waves, comprised of more than 200 Japanese bombers, struck the defenders of Singapore, in the first massive raid that targeted troops during the entire siege. As my flak units were reduced to shadows of their former selves by months of fighting and lack of supply, bombing was mostly undisrupted and accurate. Then...

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 73893 troops, 903 guns, 408 vehicles, Assault Value = 2345
Defending force 46381 troops, 875 guns, 533 vehicles, Assault Value = 1261
Japanese adjusted assault: 4858
Allied adjusted defense: 1843
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Singapore !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
4781 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 303 disabled
Non Combat: 30 destroyed, 310 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 38 disabled
Guns lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled)
Vehicles lost 79 (1 destroyed, 78 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
69829 casualties reported
Squads: 3280 destroyed, 529 disabled
Non Combat: 7445 destroyed, 916 disabled
Engineers: 398 destroyed, 23 disabled
Guns lost 1754 (1723 destroyed, 31 disabled)
Vehicles lost 751 (689 destroyed, 62 disabled)
Units destroyed 25

Assaulting units:
18th Division
Imperial Guards Division
14th Tank Regiment
5th Division
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
56th Division
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
21st Division
2nd Division
3rd Mortar Battalion
2nd Fleet
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
1st RF Gun Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
5th Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
22nd Australian Brigade
45th Indian Brigade
11th Indian Division
18th British Division
Singapore Fortress
44th Indian Brigade
27th Australian Brigade
9th Indian Division
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
112th RAF Base Force
Malayan Air Wing
224 Group RAF
1st ISF Base Force
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
Malaya Army
III Indian Corps
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
AHQ Far East
110th RAF Base Force
Singapore Base Force
3rd HK&S Light AA Regiment
2nd ISF Base Force
3rd Heavy AA Regiment
111th RAF Base Force


Meanwhile, Palembang still holds after two days of assaults, but forts have dropped to 1 and the defenders have failed to obtain better than 1:1 odds. A single shock attack will evict them, and then Japanese tank units likely will run them down.

[Capt. Harlock]

Newer saw this "screened from combat" thing before.

Still, it is pretty realistic, given that you were seriously outnumbered. (The DD's and DE's in the Battle Off Samar failed to fully screen their CVE's because the IJN had more ships.)

Second problem: CL's against BC's and CA's. This doesn't work so well at night, and is just plain lousy during the day . . .

[FatR]

Strategic shifts and trends.

My misplaced aggressiveness, while not immeditately cripping, leaves me relatively short on cruisers, and with IJN moving to Singapore, I'm probably going to avoid any further naval operations in DEI. Yorktown is finally out of the yard - now I have 3 CVs in PH and 4 more around Panama - moving Sherman's TF to PH off-map apparently was a mistake, because off map travel from Capetown to Panama takes too damn long. So, Grand Carrier Fleet of Democracy still requires at least 1.5 months before combat readiness, taking into account repairs and upgrades (also, I want to phase out as many Devastators as possible, but Avenger reinforcements are rather slow, with only 35 aircraft per month).

A lot of Allied air groups are scheduled to withdraw on July 1-8. This really crippled my air force in DEI and Burma. I extracted all the good pilots, but now my fighter force in DEI is down to two AVG squadrons, because, even though Tracker shows that everything is still in production, Dutch aircraft reinforcements dry up after one-two months. This is another factor that makes further organized air and naval resistance in DEI all but impossible.

My troops unload unmolested on Horn Island and in Terapo so far. Horn Island still is rather weakly defended, though. Meanwhile, Japanese units apparently plan for Luganwille as well. I'll probably move reinforcements from Suva there; it is built up and fortified nicely, thanks to two EAB units.

Also, while until now Japanese ASW was relatively toothless, last turns saw a steep and threatening increase in succesful deepwater attacks. In particular, Porpoise was crippled in a deep water hex by a mere PB. Maybe this was a statistical fluke, and none of the damaged subs sank, but if this is a tendency, then balance in sub wars just shifted towards Japanese ASW, at least until the introduction of reliable torpedos.

[FatR]

June 1-8, 1942

Palembang falls on 1st of June, but massed Dutch and British base forces destroy most of the oilfields and refineries. Two turns back Palembang had 161(740) oil and 182(839) refinery. Just as planned! With this sort of damage NY59Giants probably will be stuck repairing them until the end of the war. However, his pixeltruppen probably seized 400k+ fuel, accumulared since the moment Palembang was blockaded by air, so in the immediate future IJN should have enough.

Soon after Japanese land in Tanjoengbalai, south of Medan, facing no opposition (see the map below). They alos pursue retreating survivors from Palembang. I don't have much troops in Medan and Japanese air raids now prevent Australian pioneers from fortifying it, so the end in the north probably will be rather fast.

[FatR]

The statistics for the first six months of the war:

Capitulations of Bataan, Cagayan and Singapore, as well as total destruction of four encircled Chinese units in Southern China affected army loss score quite negatively. Political points were mostly used to buy troops for Southwestern Pacific from West Coast and NZ.

[FatR]

Detailed air losses:

Intensity of aerial carnage was slighly lower over the last two months, thanks to many quiet days. Allies still are in the lead on total losses, because Japanese use their bombers, primarily IJA bombers - I've seen very little Netties since Operation Breakwater - very actively. Fighter-to-fighter combat, however, usually goes to Japanese and even against Hurricanes they usually come out on top. At least Zeros do, Oscars are markedly inferior and usually get smashed whenever they don't have significant edge in numbers. Lightnings score about 1:1 against Jap fighters so far.

[FatR]

Pilot losses:

243th and 27th squadrons RAF have withdrawn, but not before having half of their aces killed or wounded. The remaining pilots were pulled out before withdrawal and now most of them wait for Hurricanes IIc in 607th squadron, Colombo. Other units still haven't produced new aces. Pilot losses remain low, as usual, but that's perhaps because I'm not bombing Japanese that actively, except for Burma, where there is no opposition in the air.

[FatR]

Ship losses:

Reported Japanese losses should be taken with a grain of salt:

[FatR]

June 9-12, 1942

The collapse on Sumatra

Allied forces evicted from Palembang are in the process of being cut down by Japanese air raids and armor. I sent engineer towards Benkoelen and most infantry to Oosthafen, in hopes of saving at least something, but looks like it's not going to work. The last turn old Dutch bombers tried to bomb a pursuing Japanese unit on the road to Oosthafen, but Oscar LRCAP devastated them.


China is quiet

Save for Japanese air raids against airfields, that demolish my supply. Sometimes I lauch ambushes with Chinese fighters, usually with a degree of success. But the supply situation is horrible, even though NY59Giants doesn't bomb industry (we agreed to avoid strategic bombing until 43/7). While numbers and experience of Chinese troops have grown, and the army mostly is in decent shape (save for 4 units destroyed in Southern China pocket, and maybe 2-3 more bombed into oblivion after large losses in battles), nearly all of the large stacks that form my frontline are starving. Only Changsha periodically goes to yellow exclamation sigh, other bases that house my armies are near-permanently in the red.


Under the sea and in the air: war in the SWPac

June started well for Allies there. First, RO-65 was run over in deep water off Cairns by an escorted troop convoy that just hauled 32nd Division to Port Moresby, depthcharged, forced to the surface, and sank. Thus recently-upgraded USN destroyers Devey and Lang avenged the loss of BC Constellation in January. Then RO-66 was subjected to the same fate when attempting to interfere with unloading of a reinforcement TF at Ndeni.

Meanwhile, Allied amphibious TFs continued unloading at Terapo and started the same process at Milne Bay. Little did I know, that Allies actually need true APs and AKs to unload troops on the beach. The unloading in both hexes has stalled and on 11th Milne Bay's fleet was found by Japanese subs and planes. RO-60 tried to attack Allied ships in the hex, but both sides escaped without a stratch. Then I-16 found an improvised SCTF sent to reinforce surface cover of the landing, one hex south from Milne Bay. Her first attack was a miss, but DDs failed to more than scratch her in return. The plucky sub was back right after that, putting a torp in DD Tucker, with fatal results, and escaping without harm. So the Allied winning streak in sub war was relatively short-lived.

Japanese aviation scored too, on 12th. LRCAPping Lightnings and Wildcats had a very bad day - not only they lost 10 of their number for maybe 2 Zeros, both Betties and Vals (I almost jumped in my chair, after seeing attacking divebombers, but looks like that was a land-based unit) got to their targets unmolested. CL Adelaide was sunk by two torpedos, but CL Perth managed to not only attract the dive bomber attack to herself, but also to survive it without a scratch. Notably, that was probably the first Japanese naval airstrike in SWPac for a long time and the first (successful) attepmt to interfere with my buildup.

Now I'm withdrawing my ships to PM and Townsville. Forces that failed to unload at Terapo probably will march there by land and Milne Bay's contingent will be reloaded on APs in Townsville. I'm also concerned that Terapo's port shows no signs of growing so far, even though there are engineers there.

Meanwhile, 27th US Division has landed at Suva. This frees two regiments to reinforce Luganville. As Luganville already has level 5 forts, I think I should try holding onto it.

NY59Giants reinforces the region too. Just the last turn a bunch of units, including 4th Air Division and an engineer regiment, took Munda. Maybe he intends to check my advance from PM by turning Solomons into Netties' nest, instead of storming PM. Less probably, he still intends to storm PM, but decided not to turn Lunga into his main forward base, after my SCTFs bombarded it a few times. We'll see. At any rate, Solomons now are pretty strongly fortified, with major bases at Shortlands and Lunga, while New Guinea remains weak. When I feel that PM is entirely safe, I intend to take Buna by overland attack, build up air presence there and in Milne Bay, and then conquer Lae area. Maybe even with a paradrop in Finschhafen and a landing by fast transport TF - it seems really weak now. From these positions, Rabaul should be pounded into submission and move to New Britain, bypassing Solomons entirely, made as soon, as Allied air power grows dominant enough. I also intend to move on still-unoccupied Merauke after getting some carrier support.

This might take time though - my three Essex-class carriers have an upgrade available in 7/42, that increases their AA value by 200, and the three older CVs that fought in Indian Ocean stil are unupgraded too. I think I want to wait untill all extra flak is installed, before sending the main body of USN into a combat area.