Bettys in the sky with diamonds- Gladiatt (A) vs John_Smid (J). No John please

[gladiatt]

North Australia 10th may- 17th may 1943

KOEPANG
3 raids gathered 95 sorties of twin engine bombers. Airfield still seem at 90% damages.

LAUTERN
3 raids gathered 40 sorties of twin-engine bombers. Airfield seem at 20% damages.

TENIMBAR
Comparing to previous weeks, low activity:
11th may, a raid of 6 zeros and 13 sallys encounter my CAP of 32 fighters. 3 zeros and 4 sallys are destroyed for no allied losses.

ARU

- 10th may, SS Grouper spot 2 japs DD just 60 miles north of Aru Island, shoot at one of them, but the torpedo is a dud.
Then the japs disapear. What was that ???

Japs bombers launch weaks night air raids on 13th and 17th may, scoring no results.

DAVAO - MINDANAO
Bombed daily by Kate from Cotabato, heavy casualties among the Philippinians defenders.

[gladiatt]

SOPAC 10th may- 17th may 1943

Efate bombed quite daily by SBD or Mitchells to keep the airfield closed.

Goodenough Island

An australian MSW is on minesweeping mission for the week long. There are plenty of mines there.

Admirality Islands 82 B-17 bomb the port on 14th may, but for no results [8|].

Rabaul and Kavieng
There are several raids on the two japanese base to keep the airfields closed.

Jpa barge activity is spotted near these 2 bases. P-39 and dutch B-25 are on duty against this shipping, and score many hits in the week, sinking half a dozen barges and damaging twice more. But there are no casualties on board. So what is this exactly ? Supply-runs ?

On 13th may, 4 zeros CAP Kavieng, but one is shot down by the gunners of my Heavys bombers bombing the place.

GASMATA

12th may at night, CL Oyodo hit a mine at Gasmata, and then press on the attack with CL Yubari and 8 DD !

First combat, my 4 APD on ASW duty are striken, 3 are sinked, and my ships only manage a useless 4 inch shot on CL Oyodo, wich just barely scratch the paint...
2 others combat sink 3 AK.
4th combat involve my PT Boat TF ! [:@][8|]. I had hoped it would be the first involved in case of raid, but it failed, WHY EXACTLY [:@]
I also hoped it could hurt the japs, but it failed [:@]: 4 PT are sunk. The japs suffer a 20mm hit on a DD and that's all !

When sun come, the japs TF is east of Kavieng, sailing toward Truck. Despite being in range of 4E on naval attack, no stike come to retaliate. So what am i supposed to do to win this damned war if i have nothing to counter such events [:@][:(][&:].

Slowly, the japs grind my sea lift capacity, and earn VP, and there is no counter measure from my forces, and i don't know how to do.






On 13th may, APD Humphrey, lone survivor of Gasmata, is hit by a torpedo from I-5 at Buna [:(]

[gladiatt]

SOPAC (part II ) 10th - 17th may 1943

Tulagi 16th may, SS Tambor attack twice in a row: DD Hatsukaze and DD Sanae each suffer 1 torpedo hit and are set afire, but with Tulagi port so close, should be safe.

MADANG

16th may, a jap CV TF attack my PT Boats there. 4 squadrons of Val get lost in the clouds (roughly 80 planes).
Then 59 vals face a CAP of 14 Boomerang. 3 Vals are destroyed, 12 damaged (Flak of the small PT Boat scoring several hits), 2 US PT are shelled.
Second raid, 39 Vals from DIII - EI - BII loose 4 more planes, managing to sink 1 PT.

On 17th may, the japs TF sail north, still close to Madang, but no attacks occur.

[gladiatt]

Just a nice number, on 15th may

[Arstavidios]

eheh.
If you want to see something really ugly look at my aar in the wite forum

[gladiatt]

.

[gladiatt]

CHINA 18th - 31th May 1943

YUNAN

On 18th may, a LRCAP ambush the japs pounding my troops. 4 waves of japs loose 16 bombers and 35 fighters, for the cost of 3 Corsairs and 14 Lightning. Despite this good result, AVG/B loose too much pilots, and attrition is still not in a range that allow me to win the war.
And this will be obvious in a few days......

[gladiatt]

On 25 may, after 7 days stuck by weather , an allied sweep turn badly: only a part of my planes fly.
13 P-38 of AVG/B tangle with 100 japs fighters. 4 japs are downed for 12 P-38.



And on 26th may, 20 chineses B-25 fly without escort, loosing 14 planes !! i hate weather [:@]

ON Ground the japs try to harass my army retreating from Yunan since the fall of the town. A deliberate attack on 25th may fail (800 japs casualties for 130 chinese). At last, the troops retreating manage to disengage from japs ZOC, and walk slowly toward Myitkyina ( 8 corps and 4 HQ).
On 31th may, another japs attack fail to repulse my 2 corps on rearguard duty.

[gladiatt]

CHUNGKING 18th - 31th may

On 19th may, the japs launch an all-out air assaut against Chungking airfield.
4 raids gathering 144 japs fighters and 468 bombers slowly grind my CAP of P-40N.
The chinese squadrons loose 23 P-40 in the day, and 8 B-25 are destroyed on ground. The airbase suffer 36 hits, the runway 250.
The japs loose 7 fighters and 20 bombers.



On 20th may, another pounding, 4 raids gathering 105 Jack, 95 others japs fighters, escorting 489 bombers, overwhelm my 15 P-40N.
20 P-40 and 9 B-25 are destroyed, the airbase suffer 23 hits, the runway 221, and the airfield is closed. The japs loose 10 Jack and 5 bombers.
On 21th may, the same amount of japs keep on hammering Chungking. A small LRCAP of chinese P-40N still try to defend , but accumulate losses are heavy. 19 P-40 are destroyed with 5 B-25. The japs loose 11 fighters and 5 bombers.

From 22th to 31th may, no defenders arise against the japs raids.
Fortunately, the 4 chinese squadrons that were depleted to 0 planes and unable to transfer to safety, take advantage in a halt of the bombing ( 28th and 29th may), managing to repair 1 plane each, and evacuated to India to rebuild.

KUNMING
Since the capture of the town (end of january), the japs had repaired 95 resources there. Trying to deny him supply, i ordered for 24th may a raid of 90 B-24 at night. ONLY 9 bombers flew, scoring nothing. NIGHT RAIDS ARE USELESS !

Mount 4432
On 21th may, the japs launch an attack there, but 3 days of efforts are not enough to repulse my chinese troops, despite the lack of supply.

North of Yunan
24th may, the japs repulse the 3 warbands that were hiding in the moutains; light loss on each side. I am now fleeing toward Chengtu.

[gladiatt]

North of Chungking, on 28th may, a stack of 15 japs units cross the Yangtze, triggering a shock attack wich failed to dislodge my defenders. 5300 japs casualties for 1800 chineses.

But, as you can see on the map, CHUNGKING is now isolated.

[gladiatt]

CENTPAC 18th - 31th may 1943

WALLIS ISLAND

A new jap raid once more is lucky : my counter measure are, AS USUAL, USELESS !!!

Undetected, CL Tenryu and 5 japs DD came at night on 18th may, surprising my 2 US DD on ASW duty, and sink them, along with 1 AK and 500 mens and 23 guns of a base force.





The raiders avoided 2 Subs, a minefield of 1200 mines, and suffered no air raid in the day !!!

WHAT EXACTLY CAN I DO IF NO COUNTER MEASURE WORK ???? [:@]

Once more the question is : What is worth the effort ???
Is it me being stupid, or just plain bad luck ?

[gladiatt]

WEST COAST : THE JAPS SUBS ARE STRONGER THAN ALL US ASSETS

On 18th may, the japs sub spotted a few days ago manage to sink a subchaser that was hunting it !! And suffer no retaliation at all.



Than, for 13 days, until 31th may, 4 ASW TF, helped by a CVL , hunt the sub without any success.
But the Jake on board the sub spot daily MY CVL, while i never spot him. [:@]

SO NOW, is it ONCE MORE BAD LUCK ? OR DO I PLAY STUPIDLY ?

[gladiatt]

Funafuti

5 raids are sent against the japs base, gathering 179 sorties of B-24, scoring really few hits on runway (58 in 5 raids).
Despite these moderates results, if my recon is correct, the base is still closed.

Nanomea

As soon as 19th may, a raid is ordered, but weather prevented it until 24th may !!
On 24th, 31 B-24 encounter 12 Jack on CAP; 2 planes are lost on each side, and 4 small hits on runway scored.
On 25th, another raid, i loose 1 B-25 for no results.
On 28th , another raid score no result but i loose 3 bombers.
On 30 th may, the CAP is able to destroy 5 planes and damage 15 others . No hopes here to hinder the buidling of the base.

[gladiatt]

NORTH OZ 18th - 31th may 1943

Night raids

There are several small night raids by bettys or sallys. With luck, they score nothing, but sometimes the combat report state that bettys are carrying torpedos. Darwin, Aru and Derby are targetted.

KOEPANG & LAUTERN
These 2 base are targetted a few times. While Koepang is near 100 % damaged, Lautem suffer virtually nothing.

ARU & TENIMBAR
Thecombined arms are in japs favor here. Well, why do i precise "here", they are in japs favor everywhere [8|].

On 22th may, SS RO-35 sink SC 742, without retaliation.

On 25th, KB is in range of Aru. Strangley, no attack occur for 5 days. To avoid useless loss, i withdrew many ships to Darwin. On 30th, KB disapear.





On 29th, a PT Boat TF at Tenimbar find japs mines, PT 158 hit one and sink.
If i bring MSW or ASW assets, they will be sink by bettys/sallys from Amboine, or planes from KB, because since the beginning of the war, the japs bombers ALWAYS GET THROUGH the CAP !
And if i don't bring these assets, the japs subs will be free to lay mines.


DAVAO Is shelled by japs CA and BB on 25th, 26th and 30th may.

[rtrapasso]

It seems you need to concentrate your forces more, i think...

You have lots of small forces all over the map, and the Japanese player can pick and choose what he wants to pick off...

I.e. - in hunting subs, use DDs - not SCs... the latter are good for escort duty, as their crews generally have low experience, etc. Use 6 DDs in a ASW TF, and put an admiral or some other big officer in charge.

If you are trying to protect a convoy, you need to put in a sufficient escort - 2 DDs are NOT going to cut it... if you put in PTs, make sure you put them into a TF whose TF number is lower than the TF it is escorting... generally they will go in first. Also, you can put PTs into a transport TF and they will tend to act as fodder should the DDs/CLs come raiding... they might also get in a lucky torpedo hit.

And you should NOT use Brewsters for frontline duty in 1943! [:-]

[gladiatt]

SOPAC 18th - 31th MAY 1943

KAVIENG AND RABAUL are still under bombing runs to keep them close.
But targets like ADMIRALITY , EMIRAU or MUNDA in the Solomons are leaved alone : i need my assets to face a new threat.

On 20th may, the japs land at WEWAK ; this base is really close to Madang, so i need to close it.
In the same time, HOLLANDIA host japs planes , 180 miles north of Wewak.

These 2 bases are targetted by my B-24 from Port Moresby to slow their buidling, but i never manage to close them.

Wewak suffer 7 raids gathering 633 sorties, scoring just a too small 90 hits on runway.

Hollandia reach level 2 airfield on 25th may.
On 26th may, a raid of 46 B-24 score too few results. On 27th and 29th, a small CAP of 7 zeros is unable to stop any of my raids, but the results on airfield seem negligibles.
On 30th may, a CAP of 14 zeros and 12 Tony down 5 B-24.

[gladiatt]

SOPAC

ASW
On 21st may, a TF of 7 australians MSW hit I-20 with 1 direct hit near Gili Gili.
But on the same day, SS I-5 torpedo and sink one of the MSW. Then, my US DD ( 6 in the TF) on ASW duty find....nothing, as usual.

The usuless part of my ASW assets will be proven at Akyab, read further if you dare.

JAPS ASW The japs patrol planes , in 14 days, hit 5 allied subs all around the map. In 2 years of war, my patrol planes had probably hit the same number of japs subs.

EFATE
On 19th may, the island is shelled by 2 CL. Then, landing proceed. Except for a part of 32th US ID, wich was landing wrongly on the way to the targets [8|][:-]

[gladiatt]

EFATE

Despite the part of 32th ID being elsewhere, on 20th may, my troops capture the island, and on 21th may, force the surrender of 4800 japs troops.

The goal of this capture is not strategic, but only to free assets that were warding the place since months

[gladiatt]

Now gentlemens, please don't read further if you don't like complain and ranting. I had warned you.


ANDAMAN 18th - 31th may 1943

Several raids of my planes manage to put back this base at roughly 100% airfield damages, despite the LRCAP of Nick.
No direct losses are suffered by either side.

On 23th may, a jap TF sweep the mines laid by my subs at Andaman. A jap barge hit a mine (no sinking spotted).
SS Searaven try to attack, but suffer a direct hit from a PC and must head back to port.

On 25th may, between Victoria Point and Andaman, SS Permit spot a TF with CL Kashi with several MSW and PC, but miss it's target [8|].
On 26th may, SS Sculpin hit a jap mine and sink.

MY SUBS ARE USELESS.
The japs ASW , despite what i read on different AAR, is better than mine [:@].
WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH USELESS ASSETS ????

AKYAB
2 japs subs are spotted by patrol planes ( Mariner do have bomb if you want to know what i use) and bombers on naval attack, since weeks. They are never hit by my planes (exp around 81 if ever someone would try to explain this by lack of experience ).
And my ASW TF there seem unable to attack them [:@][:@].

At last, on 22th may, SS I-122 sink an indian MSW without any retaliation.

ONCE MORE MY ASSETS ARE USELESS, SO WHAT ??
Is it my playing stupidly, or just as usual bad luck ?
Think twice before any of you give advice. If i am unlucky, the game is hopeless and i should surrender NOW; if i am just stupid, then i had learn nothing since beginning of the game and i shoud surrender NOW [:@][:@][:@]


IRRAWADDY

18th may, some bombers shake the japs troops on the ground.
19th may, 50 bombers get back to Rangoon to try to keep it close.
20th may, 150 bombes raid once more Rangoon. 201 hits on runway are not enough to bring it to 100% damages, only to 65%.
The same day, a few allied bombers bomb the japs troops on ground.
An allied deliberate attack fail at 0/1 (200 japs casualties for 250 allies). The japs are now too powerful here....as everywhere else.

On 25th may, japs received reinforcements on ground [X(].
Look at the screenshot

[gladiatt]

Intending to halt the japs troops (previous post), i sent a huge raids against the japs units on 26th may.

AND THEN WEATHER ASSASSINATE ME [:(];

60 japs fighters ambush me, while in the same time 60 of my fighters didn't fly to protect my bombers [:@].
Result is a slaughter , the japs loose 27 planes, while my forces loose 80 planes !!

With result like this, victory should come around 1st january 1945 ....for the japs player [:@][:(].






In the following days, i tried to ambush back the japs. But guess what ?
1) Jan is far from stupid, he withdrawn his planes
2) Jan still command to weather, because my planes refuse to fly for 4 days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [:@][:@][:@]


ON GROUND
The japs launch a deliberate attack on 27th may, with 4500 AV. At 1/1, it suffer 7400 casualties for 1500 allies.
Stupidly, thinking that the japs would be shaken, i launch a counter attack on 28th, wich fail at 0/1, with 300 japs casualties for 700 allies and 15 vehicules.


AND NOW ?

NOW NOTHING ! [:@].
Efate landing was just a gift, but any other operation would have to face a full KB; not KB with 6 CV , but probably 10 or 12 japs CV.
Closing airbase is difficult, and even more if weather stuck a part of my planes on ground, leading to slaughter: i can NOT relly on this. I can not relly on surface assets. I can not relly on my planes (seem the japs training in China and the sooting of bombers in Burma is indeed improving the japs exp level). I can not relly on ANYTHING.

GLOBAL PLAN is to make absolutely nothing.
In the same time, Jan will finish conquer of China, and maybe of Burma. This should earn him enough victory point to reach autovictory on 1st January 1945 when the ratio will drop to 2/1.