Invasion: Port Moresby

[CapAndGown]

Personal Log, Rear Admiral Akira Ozawa

Arrival in Truk

June 20, 1942



I arrived in Truk today to take over the position of Chief of Staff, Combined Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto commanding. Naturally, I would prefer a command at sea, but the staff job at Combined Fleet Headquarters at this time promises to be most challenging. I pray that I am up to this challenge. Three days ago the final regiment from the 38th division arrived in Truk and a fleet of transport ships began loading both the 2nd and 38th divisions as well as the 65th brigade. With the arrival tomorrow of the Kaga and the Hiryu the largest invasion fleet so far assembled during this war will be gathered together for operations in the southwest Pacific. Even as I arrived to take over my new duties, the transports had finished their loading and assembly and were headed south for a rendevous east of the Shortland Islands.

Before continuing, I should note the progress of the war in this theater up to the time of my arrival. After the successful capture of Rabual and northern New Guinea, our forces continued their southward thrust in May with the occupation of Guadacanal and Florida Islands, as well as Woodlark and Rossell Islands. The 144th regiment was tasked with holding Lunga while a special naval landing force captured Tulagi. Rossell and Woodlark were occupied by naval garrison units. It had also been Adm. Yamamoto’s intent to land forces in Milne bay at the tip of New Guinea as part of this overall operation. The Yankee Imperialists, however, apparently flew in troops using float planes before our own forces could arrive. Therefore, the operation to take Gili-Gili was temporarily called off.

During the same period, our American opponents attempted a major landing at Gili-Gili. At the last moment, however, it would appear that the American commander decided to send these troops to Port Moresby instead. Our carriers had been at sea for several days supporting the movement of transports to Guadacanal and the pilots of our fighter planes were fatigued from the need to continually fly CAP. Rather than risking an immediate carrier battle, then, Adm. Yamaguchi, once he had solid intelligence concerning the location of the American carriers, decided to rest the air groups for two days before closing for battle. This proved unfortunate since by the time he had closed for battle the Americans had already begun their retirement. Adm. Yamaguchi was unable to intercept the American carriers without risking attack by landbased air stationed at Townsville and Cooktown, for the cowardly Americans refused battle and successfully retreated to Townsville.

While work commenced on turning Lunga into a major airbase, plans were laid for the continuation of operations to the south. Two regiments, the Yazawa detachment and the 21st Independent Mixed Brigade, plus several special naval landing forces were available for any move, either towards Port Moresby or south towards Noumea. The capture of Gili-Gili would have been one obvious move. The Americans, however, did not appear to be developing this base. In fact, our best intelligence was that they had no engineering troops there with which to develop the area. Thus, Gili-Gili posed no immediate threat to future moves around the tip of New Guinea. In addition, Woodlark Island could be developed into an advanced fighter base to support an eventual invasion of Port Moresby. Indeed, Woodlark had the added advantage of being out of range of enemy fighter planes. Thus, American bombers would need to fly unescorted should they attempt to hinder our operations there.

A direct move on Port Moresby was out of the question with the small number troops available; the American had managed to move the 7th Australian division there. Later intelligence also indicated that they had moved elements of the Australian 3rd division there as well. Therefore, until the arrival of the 2nd and 38th divisions in mid June, the capture of Port Moresby would have to wait.

Thus, the decision was made to move south towards Noumea. This plan was motivated by several factors. First and foremost was the desire to force a carrier battle at the earliest possible moment. With the arrival of the Akagi, the correlation of forces was in our favor, as was the training and skill of our pilots. We must engage the enemy before he is able to reenforce his fleet and train his airmen! The second consideration was the desire to draw the enemy’s reenforcements away from Port Moresby. A move towards Noumea could panic the Americans into either moving troops meant for Port Moresby to Noumea instead, or even moving forces currently at Port Moresby back to Noumea. Either way, the Americans must be stretched out. We must force them to consider even their most distant bases as subject to attack at any moment. They cannot be allowed to hold their position at Luganville and Noumea "on the cheap." Capturing Noumea itself would also cut the communications between Australia and the United States, thus hindering, if not stopping altogether, their ability to reenforce.

This movement south, then, involved 3 surface task forces to bombard enemy airfields, thus protecting the transports from air attack. Two task forces (originally 3) carried the troops: the two regiments and a special naval landing force. And to protect the entire fleet, two air combat task forces were created, one based on carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, the other based on Shoho and Akagi. (F1/Tainan Datai had been assigned to Shoho to increase the amount of fighter protection over the fleet while Shoho’s orginal squadrons were put ashore.) An advance scouting force of three submarines were loaded with special reconnaissance units to determine enemy strength at Noumea, Luganville and Efate before the final decision on where to invade was made.

Originally, the plan envisioned the capture of Luganville with the two regiments and Efate with the special naval landing force. Should, however, the advance reconnaissance reveal that Noumea had been weakened, then the force would move south instead.

In the event, it turned out that Efate was undefended, except by a group of civilian engineers and some staff personnel. Thus, our reconnaissance force was able to capture the airfield without the assistance of the special naval landing force. In the process, they destroyed a large number of enemy fighter planes, whose pilots retreated into the jungle at the approach of our troops.

Luganville, however, which we had originally estimated to be held in regimental strength, was defended by the entire Americal division. This unexpected strength, however, did not upset our plans, for we were prepared for just such a contingency. We knew that for the Americans to hold Luganville in strength they must denude their forces at Noumea. This was precisely the situation we found: Noumea was defended by only one tank regiment, a coastal defense force, and a brigade from the Australian 3rd division. Our two crack regiments were easily sufficient to overwhelm this opposition.

In an effort to keep our intentions secret until the last moment, our submarine landings were made only one day before the fleet arrived into a position from which it could launch high speed night bombardments of both Efate and Luganville. Once the enemy’s true disposition was revealed, however, the fleet was diverted south in order to begin its run in toward Noumea. As our fleet approached a position from which naval bombardment missions could be staged, the airmen from the carriers launched long range attacks on the plethora of transports the Americans had in the harbor at Noumea. Although the port facilities were not hit in these attacks, the damage done to the enemy easily rivals our successful raid on Darwin. Well over a dozen transports and auxilaries were hit and many were sunk. That night, a cruiser task force was sent south to bombard the airfield at Noumea and begin the process of putting the enemy’s air cover out of business. The night bombardment, like the day’s performance in the air, was highly successful. Our cruisers sunk numerous enemy ships, including several subchasers, two destroyer minesweepers, a destroyer, and several transports. It also damaged the enemy airfield and destroyed several Dakotas.

Even as the initial night bombardment group was racing toward Noumea, the rest of the fleet, except for a small detachment, was maneuvering into a position from which it could send the battleships against Noumea in a follow up bombardment. The exception to this was a force of four transports that peeled off to land part of the special naval landing force at Koumac. The plan was to use part of this force to capture Koumac while the rest of the SNLF captured Basse Poy in the middle of Noumea and the two regiments landed at Noumea itself.

The final part of this plan never materialized. At last the American carriers appeared to contest our invasion. The resulting battle did not achieve the victory we had hoped. The carriers Zuikaku and Shokaku were both sunk. Interestingly, the Americans did not launch a strike against the Akagi group. In return, the Hornet was sunk outright and the Yorktown severely damaged. (The Yorktown was sunk in an air strike the next day.) One of our pilot also reported that the Lexington was hit by a torpedo, though the damage apparently was not that severe.

With the loss of two of his three carriers, and possibly damage to his third, the enemy chose to retire. Our forces also temporarily retreated to open up the range between our forces. It was Adm. Yamaguchi’s intention to exploit the superior range of our aircraft and not allow the Americans to use their torpedo bombers in their designated role. This decision was made on the assumption that the Lexington was still capable of air operations.

With this retreat, however, our battleships had been taken out of range of Noumea. A fast run in would not be possible without once again closing in on the base. At the same time, a transport task force that had been at Luganville arrived at Noumea. There was a distinct possibility that these transports had been used to transfer some of the Americal from Luganville back to Noumea. In addition, the Americans may have used their Dakotas to trasport more troops into Noumea. Without having a clearer picture of the situation, it would have been foolish to press the attack. Therefore, Adm. Yamamoto made the decision that our forces should retire.

Thus, the operation ended with the capture of Efate and Koumac, the destruction of numerous enemy aircraft and the sinking of two American carriers as well as many transports and auxiliaries. On the negative side, we lost 4 transports, a minesweeper and two of our precious carriers, plus one of the transport submarines which hit a mine while landing troops at Noumea. Even now the Noumea invasion fleet has just returned to Shortlands as we prepare our next operation.

The objective of this operation is still the subject of intense debate even as our fleet sallies forth for its rendevous off of Shortlands. Though Adm. Yamamota will make the final decision, he has brought me in at this vital moment to help analyze the situation and make one of the most fateful recommendations given by any staff officer so far in this war: head directly south to take Noumea; or head southwest to eliminate the threat that Port Moresby poses to our flank. Whatever decision is taken, it will have fateful and permanent repercussions on the course and outcome of the war. I pray for the guidance of my ancestors in the coming few days that I may make the right recommendation to Adm. Yamamoto.

[SoulBlazer]

Just so you know someone read this -- can you tell me more? What's the sec and situation? Is this a PBEM game? Great writing so far!

Greg

[CapAndGown]

Originally posted by SoulBlazer
Just so you know someone read this -- can you tell me more? What's the sec and situation? Is this a PBEM game? Great writing so far!

This is a PBEM, scen #17, all historical options on. I have not released any more of Admiral Ozawa's log entries yet since I do not wish to reveal the composition of our forces until the fleet has completed its manuevers around Port Moresby.

This AAR is meant to illustrate my concept of how an invasion against a large enemy airbase should be conducted. Some of the details will vary for the USN.

Thanks for the compliment. Next log entry should be posted very soon. Just waiting for my opponent to get back to me with the next turn or two.

[CapAndGown]

The Decision is Made!
June 27, 1942

The carriers Junyo and Kaga arrived at Shortlands the afternoon of June 25. After refueling and some quick maintenance, our battle force sailed yesterday evening. The transports, meanwhile completed their assembly off of Chouisel and began heading for their meeting with destiny.

As I noted in my last entry, where that meeting would be was the subject of intense debate. As far as ground forces were concerned, Noumea would have been the easier choice. No matter what the Americans have done since our last visit to New Caledonia, their strength there can amount to no more than a division, against which we can throw the equivalent of three divisions. In the air, there seemed to be little difference between Port Moresby and Noumea. The enemy could have large numbers of bombers stationed at either point which would need to be dealt with by naval bombardments. The deciding factor was the correlation of surface combatants. In striking at Noumea we would be attacking his main fleet base in the South Pacific. Every naval bombardment force sent in would face some form of opposition. While we might be able to win these battles, the attrition they would effect on our surface forces could very well prevent us from shutting down the airfield at Noumea which would be critical to the success of the invasion. At Port Moresby, on the other hand, his fleet must sail from either Cairns or Townsville to intercept our bombardment task forces. Permanently stationing any fleet elements at Port Moresby would subject them to attack by land based air, a lesson the American has already learned to his cost. Because these surface forces must move from Australia, then, there is a good chance they can be intercepted by our carriers before they can interfere with our operations around Port Moresby. Thus, the decision has been made to go for Port Moresby. While this move may be successful, we realize that we are for all time giving up any hope of moving on Noumea again. Instead, with the conclusion of this operation, the combined fleet will essentially pass over to the defensive as we prepare to meet the American counter offensive.

Composition of Forces:

Bombardment Group
TF 10, (Covering and Support Force) Rear Admiral Yamaguchi
CV Hiryu (64)
CV Junyo (53)
CA Myoko
7 DD

TF 15, Rear Admiral Tanaka
BB Kongo
BB Hiei
CL Sendai
CL Naka
CL Nagara
CL Abukuma
9 DD

TF 16, Rear Admiral Kono
BB Kirishima
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa
CA Furutaka
CA Kako
CL Jinstu
8 DD

TF 17, Vice Admiral Komatsu
CA Tone
CA Chikuma
CA Maya
CA Chokai
CA Mogami
CA Suzuya
CA Kumano
8 DD

3 AO in support

Interdiction Group
TF 7, Vice Admiral Ozawa
CV Kaga (82)
CV Akagi (72)
CVL Ryujo (37)
CS Nisshin (17 Alf, air search)
CS Chitose (8 Rufe, 12 Dave ASW)
CA Nachi
6 DD

Invasion Group
TF 11, (Covering Force) Vice Admiral Nagumo
CVL Shoho (27, F1/Tainan Datai)
CVL Zuiho (27, F2/Tainan Datai)
CA Haguro
CA Ashigara
5 DD

TF 72, (17th Army, 65th Brigade) Rear Admiral Kishi
19 AP

TF 68, (2nd Division) Rear Admiral Nishimura
19 AP

TF 69, (38th Division) Rear Admiral Hashimoto
19 AP

TF 36, (21st Ind Mixed Brigade, Yazawa Detatchment) Vice Admiral Yamazaki
19 AP

TF 29, (Supply, Mine Sweeping)
16 AP
5 MSW

Diversionary Group
TF 22, Rear Admiral Mito
BB Nagato
CL Tenryu
CL Tatsuta
CL Yubari
4 DD

Buna Raider Force, SS I-24
Lea-Lea Raider Force, SS I-15

Picket Force, 8 SS

In keeping with the Japanese tradition of sophisticated (some would say overly complex) plans, our force has been divided into 5 main groups.

The Interdiction Group provides our main striking power. Its primary mission will be to intercept American surface task forces heading north from Townsville and/or Cairns toward Port Moresby. We wish to provide our bombardment task forces with a clean shot at Port Moresby without interference from American surface forces. This force also has the mission of intercepting the American carriers when they appear on the scene and engaging them in decisive battle.

The Bombardment Group is tasked with putting the airfield at Port Moresby out of action before the arrival of our transports. Three separate bombardment forces will rotate in bombarding the airfield. While one group bombards, another will be returning from a bombardment mission, while the third refuels for action the following night. Besides the three bombardment forces, this group has a covering force composed of two CVs that will provide CAP and which can be moved to reenforce the Interdiction Group prior to, during, or the day after the initial carrier battle takes place.

The Invasion Group itself carriers the equivalent of three divisions: 65th brigade, Yazawa Detachment, 21st Ind Mixed Brigade, 2nd Division and 38th Division. It also carriers the Headquarters for 17th Army. Each transport task force, besides the troops, also includes a number of transports that only have supply loaded. These supply ships are meant to provide additional targets for American planes besides the transports loaded with troops. We can easily lose a supply transport if it means our troop transports escape unscathed. There is also one task force that only carries supply. Again, this task force is meant to provide an additional target for American planes in place of our troop transports. In addition, by having transports that only carry supply, we can be unloading supply at the same time our troops are debarking. In case a quick exit should be required, this will mean the troops will have plenty of supply on hand when the transports set sail.

All transports in the Invasion Group are of the small and medium Maru class; no large Marus are being used. The use of the smaller Marus is meant to divide up our forces among more ships. This way, if one transport is sunk, the loss will not be as catastrophic. The smaller Marus will also unload their entire cargo quicker than the larger ones and so be ready to leave the area that much quicker. All our captains have been told that once they have finished unloading they are to clear the area as rapidly as possible.

Finally, the Invasion Group includes a covering force of two CVLs. These small carriers only have fighter planes assigned to them. This force’s mission is to provide CAP over the invasion group. We do not trust the vagaries of providing CAP from more distant bases such as Lae, Hoskins, Rabual, and Woodlark. Should the carrier battle develop sooner than expected, this covering force can also be used to support TF 7 and TF 10 with additional CAP, though, it must be admitted, this is unlikely to happen as the carrier battle will likely be over by that point.

The Raider Forces will take possession of Buna and Lea-Lea in order to cut off the retreat routes of the Australians from Port Moresby.

The Picket Force is meant to intercept American surface task forces that sortie from Cairns and/or Townsville. Though we do not expect much from these submarines, it is hoped that they can both provide early warning as to enemy deployments, and perhaps even damage a few of his cruisers.

Lastly, the Diversionary Group will sortie from Tulagi towards Luganville. We do not plan on this force becoming engaged during this operation. Rather, it is hoped that the Americans will detect this force and be led into believing that we are about to make another effort towards Noumea. As an additional part of our deception plan, we have also flown reconnaissance flights over Noumea and Luganville during the last two days using Mavis’s and Emily’s. It is hoped that these reconnaissance flights have created the impression that we are still directing our efforts towards Noumea. The main mission of the Diversionary Group, however, is to protect the Tulagi/Lunga area from enemy bombardment task forces. After making its short sortie to the south, it will return to Tulagi to patrol these waters. We do not expect the enemy to run any forces into the area, except for submarines. But in case he should do so, we wish to protect the transports that are arriving in the area with supplies and fresh troops. Nagato is too slow to take part in the bombardment of Port Moresby, but it is more than suited to defending Tulagi from anything but a determined effort to raid this base. Anything he sends to raid Tulagi/Lunga, of course, will not be available for the defense of Port Moresby!

Further comments on the composition of our forces:

The Interception Group includes two seaplane carriers to provide naval search and ASW. The Alf’s are especially good at naval search because of their long range. Their presence will free up our bombers to concentrate on naval attack missions. The presence of the Rufe’s also provides a small increment to our fighter protection. Finally the CS’s provide additional AAA and represent additional targets for the American bombers. Though they may be slow and vulnerable, if they absorb the bombs that might otherwise hit the Kaga and Akagi, then their sacrifice will be well worth the price.

In providing escort for each task force, careful attention was given to considerations of ASW and AAA. Needless to say, the destroyers with the most AAA weaponry were assigned to escort the carriers. Nachi class cruisers were also assigned to the air combat task forces because of their large number of AAA guns. Since these cruisers have less belt armor than Mogami and Takao class cruisers, yet still have the equivalent amount of AAA ability, they can best be used to protect the carriers rather than as surface combatants. The same cannot be said for the Furutaka class cruisers: they have neither adequate AAA, nor very thick belt armor. Thus, these particular cruisers have been assigned to escort Kirishima and provide a greater weight of gun fire on the airfield at Port Moresby.

In addition, each task force, whether meant for surface combat or air combat was assigned one destroyer with the best ASW equipment available. For the carriers, this need is obvious. This is also important for the bombardment forces since it can be anticipated that the enemy will try to oppose our invasion with submarines patrolling just outside Port Moresby.

Finally, it should be noted that we do not have any ships equipped with radar. It was our hope that imperial headquarters would see fit to send us at least one ship fitted with search radar to augment our carrier forces. But such was not to be. Thus, our CAP will be less effective than we might otherwise have hoped for.

Excluding the Diversionary Group, the total number of ships involved is as follows:

4 CV
3 CVL
3 BB
15 CA
5 CL
37 DD
92 AP
5 MSW
3 AO
10 SS

The current situation:

The enemy recaptured Efate two days ago. Our small garrison at Koumac looks like it will be overrun tomorrow. Thus, our position south of the Solomons will shortly return to what it was before the aborted invasion attempt of two weeks ago. There is nothing in this, however, to cause regret. These forces accomplished more than could be hoped by destroying enemy aircraft and hindering the development of his bases in that area. They have also diverted his energy away from more vital tasks and hopefully provided a distraction. If they have also concentrated his attention on the area around Noumea, so much the better!

For bases, we have Lae, Hoskins, Woodlark, Rabual, Shortlands, Lunga and Tulagi. Fighters are stationed at Lae, Hoskins and Woodlark to support the invasion force, both with long range CAP over the ships, and over Port Moresby itself, in order to prevent its resupply by air. The field at Lae, however, is temporarily out of action due to a large air strike two days ago.

At Rabaul we have one group of Betty’s and one group of Nell’s. These can be used for either naval attacks or to supplement the bombardment task forces with strikes on the air field at Port Moresby. The Betty’s and Nell’s have a squadron of fighters provided for escort duty.

Tulagi has been turned into a seaplane base. It supports a group of Mavis’s for naval search, a group of Jakes for ASW patrol, and a group of Rufe’s for CAP. Lunga is being developed as a forward air base and currently has a group of zeros for CAP and some Kate’s and Val’s for ASW and naval attack. Currently, these groups are resting in case they should be called on to transfer to the carriers. Depending on the casualties from the first day’s carrier battle, they may be needed to provide a fresh force to prosecute the battle into a second day.

We also have a naval garrison at Rossell island. The purpose here is two fold: 1) deny this island to the enemy; 2) provide a base which our bombardment task forces can return to instead of trying to round the tip of New Guinea.

Enemy dispositions:

According to our best intelligence the enemy may have as many as 4 carriers available, as well as numerous heavy cruisers. It is possible that Lexington is still being repaired, but this cannot be counted on. It is also unknown whether the Wasp has been committed to the South Pacific. We count this as unlikely. A news item that appeared in the enemy press, however, has convinced us that both Enterprise and Saratoga are newly arrived. Thus, we are expecting to face 3 enemy carriers.

The enemy holds Port Moresby in great force, having elements of six brigades there. He also has part of a brigade at Gili-Gili, though this base is not yet being developed.

The Americal division, or at least a great part of it, is based at Luganville. Efate is lightly held with some armor and part of a coastal defense attachment. Noumea is also lightly held with an Australian bridage. We doubt there is much more there as he has moved armor, infantry, and a coastal defense battalion to Koumac in order to retake that base. Were it not for the considerations laid out above, we would make him pay for this arrogance and his disregard for his defenses.

The enemy also has large numbers of bombers located at Port Moresby and, presumably, Cooktown and Cairns. Most of his fighter strength is probably at Port Moresby as well, though we believe some of it has been moved to Cooktown and Cairns. About a week ago, our Betty’s and Nell’s based at Rabual staged a daring, unescorted daylight raid against the port at Cooktown and damaged several transports that were moored there. We doubt the Americans will allow that mistake to be repeated. At the very least, intelligence indicates that there are no more ships anchored at Cooktown. There are some ships anchored at Cairns, but it is likely that he has now stationed fighters there so that an unescorted, daylight raid is out of the question.

[CapAndGown]

It has begun!

June 29, 1942

Our fleet reached its jumping off positions late this afternoon. Even as I write this Admiral Tanaka’s task force is racing toward Port Moresby to bombard the airfield there. We expect this initial bombardment to come as a complete surprise to the Australian and American troops based there. The weather today was extremely squally, making spotting very difficult. Thus, to the best of our knowledge, none of our forces have yet been detected. In one respect this did not work in our favor since our diversionary group was not spotted. Rather than exposing that group to possible air attack by having it demonstrate closer to Luganville, it was ordered to return to Tulagi which it did today. No doubt Admiral Mito is upset that he will not be playing a larger role in the action about to unfold, though that may change depending on how the situation develops.

We are especially pleased that the interdiction group has not been detected. It has been ordered to retire to the northeast about 60 miles to make it less likely that it will be spotted tomorrow. Then, tomorrow evening, it will sprint in towards the coast of Australia. After tonight’s bombardment, we expect the enemy to move a surface force north from either Cairns or Townsville to intercept our bombardment missions. If the presence of the interdiction group remains a secret, then it will be able to pounce on these ships as they prepare to move to Port Moresby. Perhaps this in itself will yield large results. At the very least, it will cause the enemy to pause before he attempts to interfere with our invasion by use of surface forces alone. The interdiction group will then withdraw to the north to rest its air groups while we await the arrival of the American carriers.

How the carrier battle will play out is what has us most worried. We do not wish for there to be any pause in the bombardment missions while the invasion fleet moves towards Port Moresby. Yet when the enemy carriers appear, we would prefer that Admiral Ozawa and Admiral Yamaguchi go out to meet the enemy together. This will require the invasion force temporarily retire and the bombardment forces stand down. At all costs, however, the American carriers must not come between our forces and Port Moresby. We would like to think that Admiral Ozawa’s group could deal with the Americans on its own. But we must be realistic and assume that Admiral Yamaguchi’s carriers will be needed to support Ozawa. Whether this be on the first day of the carrier battle, or as a reenforcement group for a second day we cannot yet say. It will depend, again, on how the situation develops. The most important variable will be how long it takes the American carriers to make an appearance. If our invasion group is on the verge of landing at Port Moresby, then Ozawa and Yamguchi will join up and stand between Australia and Port Moresby, thus preventing the American carriers from interfering with our landing.

Our garrison at Koumac was last heard from this morning. They did not check in this afternoon at the scheduled time. According to their last report they were under attack by the Australian 4th Brigade as well as some tanks. Last we had heard, the 4th Brigade was at Noumea. Does this mean that Noumea is even less well defended now than previously? Can we still turn the fleet around and make for Noumea? Might our actions at Port Moresby even be a way to draw his forces there while our invasion fleet descends on Noumea? It is very, very late for such questions to be raised. Yet we are struck by the carelessness of our enemy in not seeing to his defenses. Yet now that the die is cast, we will not diverge from the path we have chosen. It is still forward to Port Moresby!

Only time will tell how well our plans have been laid. I, of course, have had much to do with the formation of these plans. I trust that my little knowledge and scant ability will be enough to see us through. Admiral Yamamoto says that he has confidence in my overall vision of the campaign. I pray that he is right.

Course Plot for Aug 29 attached.

[Grotius]

This is great reading. I do worry a bit about your CVs, all alone with no surface TF escort or LBA nearby. I shall continue to read with interest.

[CapAndGown]

Originally posted by Grotius
I do worry a bit about your CVs, all alone with no surface TF escort or LBA nearby.

I do not use LBA to fly CAP over my carriers generally. It is not very efficient. Also, if carriers cannot operate outside of LBA, then there is no point in having them--just use LBA instead. Nor am I concerned about lack of heavy escort: it is a big ocean and the Americans are unlikely to find me with surface forces since the CV's will keep moving around.

What has (had) me worried was that the carriers were not all together to combine their CAP. Having 2 more carriers to form another air combat TF would have allieviated my worries.

[CapAndGown]

The God of War is with us so far

July 1, 1941



A potential disaster was averted today. For some reason Admiral Kono decided to refuel the Kirishima during the afternoon of the 30th. We thought we had made it clear that he was going to bombard Port Moresby that evening. The mix up in signals had Admiral Tanaka low on fuel after his own bombardment run and both Admirals Kono and Komatsu refueling. Thus, none of our bombardment forces was in a state of sufficient readiness to make the bombardment run last night. We were terribly afraid that this respite would allow the Americans to repair the field at Port Moresby and launch a massive airstrike against us. Just in case this should happen, we ordered the invasion group to close with the bombardment group so that the two groups could combine their CAP. In the event, nothing untoward happened.

Indeed, to the best of our knowledge, the Americans have yet to spot any of our forces! It cannot be the weather since the squalls of two days ago have cleared up and most of the theater is covered by scattered cumulus clouds as is typical of this latitude. This is especially fortunate in that he has not detected our interdiction group. On the other hand, he has not sent a surface force north to interfere with our bombardment tonight. So in that sense, it is immaterial that he does not know of this group and its lethal mission. Can it be that most of his surface forces are located at Noumea? We know that at least one heavy cruiser is anchored at Townsville. It would be surprising if this were the only force there. But perhaps it is the Chicago which, we believe, was damaged in an earlier attack on the port at Port Moresby and retired to Australia. Can it be that our deception measures worked and our enemy believed we would make another try for Noumea? If so, then we are doubly fortunate: fortunate that his forces are badly out of position to interfere with our invasion of Port Moresby; and fortunate that we chose not to go for Noumea. Trying to defeat his fleet just outside its primary anchorage would have been costly in the extreme!

Tonight, both Admirals Kono and Tanaka will head towards Port Moresby to bombard the airfield there. Admiral Komatsu’s force can be used for a bombardment tomorrow night. We have been holding Komatsu’s heavy cruisers in reserve as our main battle force. But if the Americans are not going to sortie, then Komatsu will contribute his guns to the reduction of Port Moresby.

Meanwhile, the Invasion group has begun its run in to Port Moresby. We expect that our troops will begin going ashore on the afternoon of the 3rd. While the interdiction group will maintain its position off the coast of Australia tonight, we are preparing to bring both Ozawa’s and Yamaguchi’s groups together in the next day or two to face the carriers we are sure are headed our way. They will stand between the Americans and our invasion fleet while our zeros from Woodlark, Hoskins and Lae provide CAP over the invasion fleet. Admiral Nagumo’s force may also join this group, though his primary mission will remain the defense of the transports.

Our raider forces occupied Lea-Lea and Buna. Except for a few civilian officials, we met no Australians. These groups are now setting up blocking positions to intercept any of the Australians at Port Moresby that might try to retreat.

So far the god of war has smiled on us. We pray for his continued favor.

[CapAndGown]

An Eery Calm

July 3, 1942

Our Invasion Group is now 30 miles out from Port Moresby and has yet to be detected. The lull in the bombardments on July 1 apparently allowed the Americans to transfer their planes from that base to Australia so that they would not become trapped on the ground. While that means that we will not have the satisfaction of destroying them, at least it means that his air searches must be conducted from further away, thus reducing their effectiveness.

Things have been strangely calm. Captains report a normal routine on all their ships. CAP flies off each morning and afternoon, search planes are launched into the blue, morning and evening action stations are called, and yet there is still no sign of the Americans. While the tension for the sailors and airmen has been intense, they are confident of victory should the Americans make an appearance. It is the soldiers of 17th Army who must now be feeling the most tension, however. They will be going ashore just after the sun sets tonight. We held off the landing by a few hours to give our troops the entire night to unload without being molested by American bombers. Both Admirals Tanaka and Kono reported massive secondary explosions during their bombardment missions the other night. We believe these were ammunition and fuel stockpiles. If so, then this should make the Army’s task easier. Long range CAP is being flown from Lae and Hoskins as well as Shoho. Not only will this protect the invasion fleet, it will prevent the Australian troops from being resupplied. The navy, has done what it can to make the Army’s task easier. It is now up to the bravery of the men on the ground to see that task through to a successful completion.

Admirals Yamaguchi and Ozawa joined forces yesterday to block any American fleets approaching Port Moresby from the south. Admiral Naguma will join them in the morning, thus bringing all our carriers together. Half of Nagumo’s planes will continue to fly CAP over the invasion group each day while the other half is given a reduced CAP schedule over the fleet. Because Port Moresby no longer poses a threat from the air, our carriers can snuggle in closer to the invasion fleet, providing it fairly close support.

We did not run a bombardment mission last night. Instead, all ships were ordered to refuel. Admiral Kono will make another bombardment run tonight. This is directed more at demoralizing the Australians and destroying their remaining ammunition stocks than at putting the airfield out of action, though it cannot hurt to keep the field there unusable. Both Admirals Kono and Tanaka will need to restock their ammunition stores soon. After tonight Admiral Kono will retire to do just that while Admiral Tanaka sets up to execute his final bombardment mission before returning to Woodlark to resupply. Admiral Komatsu’s group continues to be held in reserve in case a surface battle force is needed to defend the transports.

When will the current calm (at least at sea) end? A battle now would be a relief! Everyone wants to know where the Americans are. Will they come out to face us? Can they simply let so many of their comrades be sacrificed without making some effort to save them? Can the Americans really expect to win this war by one hopeless Bataan after the other? Admiral Yamamoto has sworn that he will not allow the same fate to befall our own troops if it can at all be prevented. Some soldiers, of course, must always be sacrificed in time of war. But not so many for so little purpose.

[CapAndGown]

Going Ashore

July 4, 1942

The Americans decided to celebrate their independence one day early by filling the skies over Port Moresby with the sparkle of anti-aircraft artillery and the flaming wreckage of dozens of planes. Our officers report that the attacks against our invasion fleet began only an hour after the sun rose and continued until just before dark. Some of our pilots claim that their were six distinct waves. Our ship captains could not detect any lull whatsoever. All through the day our soldiers continued to unload while the merchantmen transferred supplies onto the beach. We are quiet proud of our merchant seamen: they showed great bravery and skill, damaging numerous American bombers and outright destroying 4 with their AAA weapons. The sky was literally black with the smoke of AAA explosions and the trails of flaming planes. The sea was littered with floating fragments of plywood, aluminum and the shattered bodies of downed airmen.

Our airmen preformed as well as the seamen, shooting down 20 enemy bombers at a cost to themselves of 10 zeros. Including losses caused by flak, the enemy lost 8 Hudsons; 5 Mitchells; 10 Maraurders; and 1 Fortress. In addition, we feel that almost all of the remaining planes were damaged to some degree. Both pilots and seamen claimed to have damaged 9 Hudsons; 15 Mitchells; 12 Marauders and 4 Fortresses. Some of these damage claims, of course were from multiple hits on the same plane. Nevertheless, we feel confident that this level of losses has cost the Americans greatly in both body and spirit. Though he will no doubt continue to attempt to hinder our landing, we do not expect such an intense raid again. All together, the Americans sortied 9 Mitchells; 19 Marauders; 23 Hudsons; and 7 Fortresses during the morning and 11 Mitchells; 17 Marauders; and 10 Hudsons in the afternoon.

The greatest victory was won on the sea itself, however. Despite the recklessness with which the Americans pressed their attack, they scored only 7 bomb hits our 93 transports and 5 minesweepers. 4 of those hits were on just one supply transport. Indeed, only one of our troop transports was hit, costing us the lives of 10 of our soldiers. We were prepared to pay 50 times this price.

The enemy had not mined Port Moresby and so our minesweepers have been order to retire. Meanwhile, task force 18 has been disbanded and its ships spread out among the four other invasion task forces. Though the Captain in command of this task force was well respected, we wished to make sure that our most aggressive admirals were in over all command of the transports.

Admiral Nagumo’s task force joined up with the other carriers during the day, bringing all three of our air combat task forces together. Half of Nagumo’s planes, however continue to provide CAP over the beaches at Port Moresby.

Our airgroup commander apparently was disappointed that the American carriers had not yet made an appearance and led most of the Vals out on a raid over Cooktown. Though we sunk a number of patrol craft in this raid, we feel it would have been wiser to save our pilots’ strength in case the American carriers should yet make a stand. To prevent a repeat of this, Admiral Yamaguchi has been ordered to steam north 60 miles so that Cooktown will not be in range of our bombers.

Admiral Kono ran another bombardment of Port Moresby last night, destroying numerous enemy stores. He is now headed back to Rabaul to rearm and refit. Admiral Tanaka will be making a bombardment tonight, after which he will retire to Rabaul as well. Only Admiral Komatsu’s cruisers will remain should a surface combat group be needed. Perhaps we should bring Admiral Mito’s group west from Tulagi. He would certainly be pleased to take part in the action.

Our troops ashore have set up a defensive perimeter around the beachhead in expectation of an attack by the Australians. We will not launch an attack of our own until the troops have sorted themselves out and more of them are ashore. We expect the American to begin bombing our troops, perhaps as early as tomorrow. They will have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them: our AAA strength is especially strong, particularly in 75mm guns.

Our invasion so far has proceeded with only minor glitches. Yet the lack of opposition has us worried. Might the Americans be preparing to descend on Lunga while our fleet is busy at Port Moresby? Such a move, in our estimation, would be foolish at this time, weakening his defenses at Luganville and Noumea. Nevertheless, the loss of Lunga, even if only temporary, would hurt. We are urging our captains to expedite their unloading so that the fleet can be freed up for other actions. We know they are doing their best, but some encouragement on our part will not hurt.

[CapAndGown]

The Critical Point has Passed

July 5, 1942

The Americans continued to fly missions against our transports today, with equally grim results for their aviators. All together, the allies sortied 95 planes against us, of which 23 were lost. Twenty one were shot down by our zeros, one was lost due to flak, and one for unknown reasons. In return, 8 of our airmen were lost. Though we mourn the loss of our airmen, they have performed admirably; only one of our transports was hit by a bomb today! At a cost to himself of 47 bombers our foe has only managed to score 8 hits on our transports, 4 of them on just one supply transport, and destroyed 18 of our fighters. We were somewhat surprised at the size of today’s strikes. Our intelligence analysts have explained that this probably represents a large pool of replacements the Americans had on hand. They had not lost that many planes to this point in the campaign and new planes were arriving daily. With this level of losses, however, they estimate that this replacement pool has been emptied.

Though the enemy may return again tomorrow, the critical stage in the unloading process has been passed. A majority of our troops are now ashore and we have been assured that the last of them, except for some tanks, should be unloaded by tomorrow evening. We will not wait until the remainder of the supply ships are unloaded before ordering a retirement; the troops are already well supplied. Instead, we expect the invasion group to weigh anchor just before sunset tomorrow and begin their long trek back to Truk. There they will receive the personal thanks of Admiral Yamamoto for their heroic deeds.

The American carriers have still not made an appearance. Surely they have had more than enough time to make the journey from Noumea. Does this mean we will not have to face them at all? While we are somewhat relieved that our landing has not been molested by either surface or carrier forces, at this point we would welcome a carrier battle. We still need to run a number of bombardment missions against Port Moresby. A battle with his carriers now would mean that our carriers could retire while the bombardments continue without the need for close air cover. Already, Admiral Mito has been ordered to sail for Port Moresby to contribute his gun fire to the reduction of the fortress. Admiral Komatsu will bombard the port tomorrow. Meanwhile, Admirals Kono and Tanka are either headed for Rabaul or are already their to refuel and restock their ammunition lockers. Until the airbase there falls, we must keep up the bombardments in order to deny its use to the enemy. In addition, we wish to bring the carriers back to Rabaul for much needed maintenance, to take on additional planes, and to give the pilots a rest.

On the ground, the Australians launched a deliberate attack on our beach head. Although our losses were about twice those of the Australians, we were pleased to see that our intelligence estimates as to his strength were correct. We outnumber him at least 3 to 2. Though it may take several days, our victory there is assured. Tomorrow the troops will bombard the enemy to soften him up for the ground attacks that will follow. Until our formations have been able to sort themselves out, we will not commit ourselves to a determined offensive. This reorganization, however, should not take long and we expect our first attack to be launched the day after tomorrow. If the enemy’s supply situation is as grim as we imagine it to be, then it will not be long before our troops capture the airbase.

I should also note that Tokyo has seen fit to send us two more battleships, two more heavy cruisers, several light cruisers and a number of destroyers. One of the light cruisers is even equipped with search radar. This will certainly be a most welcome addition to our carrier forces. The battleships themselves will help add to our gunfire support and make any American counter offensive costly. With this commitment, except for a number of destroyers that are being used for escort and picket duties elsewhere, Imperial Headquarters has now sent us just about everything we could wish for. Now it is simply a matter of preparing for the American counter attack.

[mogami]

Greetings, Do not overlook LRCAP over enemy to intercept resupply/reinforcment arriving via air. This can occur even if airfield is closed to normal ops.
3-2 odds is fine for defense against enemy attacks. On the offensive less then 2-1 will fail. (the enemy is fortified)

[CapAndGown]

Victory!

July 8, 1942

The following message was transmitted from the headquarters of 17th Army yesterday afternoon:

-----------Begin Transmission

Ground combat at Port Moresby

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 65978 troops, 789 guns, 64 vehicles

Defending force 37409 troops, 305 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Port Moresby base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 740

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 14517

BANZAI!

------------End Transmission

There are several Australian brigades still holding out on the perimeter of the base. It may take a few days to clean them up, but the operation has been a fantastic success. We only lost one transport during the entire operation. Every other ship started heading back for Truk two days ago. All but a few mortars were delivered to the beach before the retirement order was given. Several of the transport still had significant stores aboard when they weighed anchor, as well. But the troops have enough supply to last them quiet a while.

The American carriers showed up in Townsville yesterday, much toolate to interfere with our invasion. Whether they were simply slow in arriving, or preparing to run an operation is unclear. The Americans may have thought they would be able to reenforce Port Moresby. Or they may attempt to send troops to Gili-Gili. Whatever the case may be, though, we feel we are in a good position to counter any of their moves

[DoomedMantis]

A well exexcuted move, well done

[rcwkent]

Way to go, Tojo!!

Thanks for the detail on the assembly and timing of your forces.

Your early thrust in New Caledonia is very exciting. Is there any success with this in PBEM play?

Again, excellent, excellent.

[CapAndGown]

Though the operation was a complete success, it is now time to evaluate it to see what might have been done better.

1) First off, it is imediately clear that more attention should have been paid to op points used by the bombardment TFs. It was only after I had already ordered Kono to bombard and Komatsu to refuel that I noticed that Kirishima had used up a bunch of op points refueling on its own. I don't know why it did this, since I had refueled everyone just two days before.

Anyway, this break in the bombardment schedule allowed the Americans to fly a bunch of their planes back to Australia. Had they stayed in PM, it might have allowed them to attack my invasion group, though bombers tend to shy away from attacking carriers if they don't have escort.

2) I am not sure that having Yamaguchi's force and Ozawa's force seperated for so long was that wise. I was very worried about that. In the event, the American carriers never did make an appearance. Had they struck at Ozawa's group it might have been bad news, even if Yamaguchi could have been moved into an attack position the next day.

3) The Diversionary force was sent out too late. It should have been sent out several days ahead of time to make sure it was spotted. Also, having it move only 6 hexes a day would have made it look like it was escorting transports.

4) The transports had absolutely no escort, except some MSW's, and they were all in one TF. Maybe they should have been spread out. But I didn't want them to slow down the transports by unexpectedly refueling. Also, I didn't have any DD's left over for the transports. Perhaps the surface forces could have contributed one DD to each transport TF.

Other comments are welcome.

[DoomedMantis]

I think you were very lucky that his subs weren't a factor.

I had an invasion of PM scuttled because subs ran riot with them. I lost 12 transports in 3 days all due to subs as the airport was closed

[CapAndGown]

Bump

I would like to keep this AAR around as I believe it can provide guidance to newer players on how to conduct an invasion.

[Grotius]

<< 4) The transports had absolutely no escort, except some MSW's, and they were all in one TF. Maybe they should have been spread out. But I didn't want them to slow down the transports by unexpectedly refueling. >>

I had a question or two about this, Cap. First, why did you make such large Transport TFs? You had 16-19 in each Transport TF, as I recall. Aren't smaller ones harder to spot, and quicker to unload?

Second, I notice you had Admirals in command of your Transport TFs. Why was this? Did you want to ensure that they didn't retire?

Finally, I'm curious about how you deployed your AOs. I noticed you had a few "AO in support"; were they in separate Replenishment TFs? If so, did you have a Replenishment TF in the same hex as some of your Bombardment/Surface/Air Combat TFs? Would it have been better if the AOs had lagged behind a bit, perhaps with the transports, to avoid this "automatic" refueling that apparently slowed your Bombardment TF.

Oh, and how did the game ultimately turn out?

[DoomedMantis]

Grotius

as far as the transports being quicker to unload, that is not determined by TF size, but by the loading ability of the types of transports. You might notice that if you put a 3000 AP and a 2000 AK in the same group then the AK will be unloaded far quicker than the AP.

I think from memory that AP's load troops faster then AK's, but AK's load supplies faster, and the smaller the size of the transport the quicker it unloads.

As for the rest I will let CAP answer those, but in general I keep the AO's in a separate TF with there own escorts but in the same hex. That way they get the benefit of the air cover, and if you manage the fueling yourself you dont get problems with the TF's getting caught out. (As in the day before you send the bombardment Tf out you fuel them so that the next day the OP's are at 0 when you send them off).