Aboard the Red Castle - Erkki(J) vs. Smeulders(A) - no lookin'!

[Erkki]

Jan 12th

We have seen before that this foe will not fight if the odds are against him. All fine with that, thats how I would do it, though I think even now the Allied land and surface forces are just as or nearly as good as the Japanese. Unlike Japanese, the Allies are just spread out and uncoordinated early on. Japanese failure to sink a single ship during the 4-day PH bombardment evens things a lot.

Today, my Port Moresby invasion force is finally sighted. I have the 4th Division, 144th Inf Regiment, a single SNLF battalion (AV 50), a base force and 2 AAA units, one with 100mm guns. The invasion force is spread in 4 TFs: 2 amphibious, 1 bombardment and 1 surface action squadron. We have BB Mutsu, 4 CAs and 4 CLs commanded by Admiral Tanaka, about 30 transports, 20 DDs and TBs and lots of PBs. The force is now just 1 hex from Port Moresby and will make it through without air attacks - but just in case the Mutsu TF and Tanaka will go in first. No enemy ships sighted. Submarines will (try to) protect our flanks.

As a more distant support, Kido Butai has been sneaking down the Coral Sea undetected for over a week now. Every single Japanese CV is in this force, with reinforced escort. We have 50 ships in total + replenishment TF further to the North... Even the Taiyo is in it, carrying a 12-plane D3A1 unit. Somehow, I managed to time these 2 attacks so well that the same turn my PM invasion was detected 1 hex from target the Kido Butai arrived within strike range from Brisbane. I had only 1/3 of planes set at port attack secondary mission as I thought the invasion fleet had been sighted yesterday(apparently it wasnt, after all).

Afternoon Air attack on Brisbane , at 96,160

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 55
B5N1 Kate x 24
B5N2 Kate x 70
D3A1 Val x 53



Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
AM Townsville, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
CL Achilles, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Canberra, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CA Astoria, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Perth, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Momba, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires



Port hits 1

In Brisbane we have now 10/10 detection: 90 fighters, 15 bombers and 30 aux planes sighted. Port is reported to have 23 ships, including 2 SS and 5 cruisers... Of the 5 cruisers that our strike hit, every each received at least 1 800kg AP belt or deck penetrating hit. Canberra received 4 x 800kg bombs through her deck and went down in a massive magazine explosion. In combat phase, all other cruisers were reported to suffer "heavy damage" at least once, and many of the cruisers lost turrets and radars. As you can see, not one enemy fighter flew, complete surprise! Kido Butai was sighted twice by Catalinas.

KB will now move 3 hex SE from Brisbane with almost every air group set to port attack Brisbane as secondary mission. 2 Zero squads sweep, 2 are set to escort with no target, the rest set to escort to Brisbane. CL Naka leads DD squadron between Brisbane and KB, while 3 Japanese submarines have been already positioned at possible escape routes, and 2 more are on station near Sydney. 20 mines have been laid at Noumea, and a 6th submarine is checking Suva. 7 more subs are up the coast, and 3 support the Port Moresby landings directly. KB replenishment TF is about 16 hex to NE, still undetected.

BANZAI! [;)]

[PaxMondo]

Banzai!!
 

[Capt. Harlock]

AM Townsville, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
CL Achilles, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Canberra, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CA Astoria, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Perth, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Momba, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires

Youch! A very useful strike, and it goes a little ways towards making up for the poor results in Pearl Harbor. (At this stage of the game CA's are more useful to the Allies than the slow American BB's.)

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

AM Townsville, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
CL Achilles, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Canberra, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CA Astoria, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CL Perth, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Momba, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires

Youch! A very useful strike, and it goes a little ways towards making up for the poor results in Pearl Harbor. (At this stage of the game CA's are more useful to the Allies than the slow American BB's.)

Yeah, and I dont think they are going to or even can escape especially to north, so even at speed 4 or 5 a phase they arent going anywhere next turn, and I have my 382 strike aircraft (each of the 16 units also has 4 reserve planes and 4 extra pilots) ready. Kaga's B5N unit is set to not strike the port at all, just in case. KB will potentially sortie, excluding search sorties, about 700 attack sorties and 450 fighter sorties with them... 90 fighters reported at Brisbane, we'll see. In the best case they are Wirraways or something, in second best case he does Pearl Harbors and sends everything he has to attack to be massacred against KB's CAP. In the worst case, he moves in more fighters and sets them fly CAP at 0 range and keeps all ships in the port.

We'll know more in just a couple of hours... [:)]

[Erkki]

Kido Butai hits Brisbane again and finishes off all but 1 sighted TFs trying to escape Brisbane.

One TF with at least 1 AVD(sighted by a submarine) gets through the screen and managed to get out of air search range before daybreak. Those boys were doing 30+ knots, an intact cruiser and her escorts?

However:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Brisbane at 97,162, Range 9,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
CL Naka
DD Natsugumo
DD Minegumo
DD Asagumo
DD Shiratsuyu
DD Shigure
DD Samidare

Allied Ships
CL Achilles, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Stuart


Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Lord Howe Island at 99,165

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 46 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
D3A1 Val x 11



No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
DD Stuart, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage


Afternoon Air attack on Brisbane , at 96,160

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 42
B5N1 Kate x 26
B5N2 Kate x 126
D3A1 Val x 109



Japanese aircraft losses
B5N1 Kate: 1 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
xAKL Patras, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Wollongbar, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AMc Tongkol, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Nevadan, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAK Anshun, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
xAK Momba, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAK Yunnan, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Yochow, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Beltana, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAKL Prusa, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAKL Bidelia, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk

Repair Shipyard hits 1
Manpower hits 1
Fires 749
Port hits 10
Port fuel hits 6
Port supply hits 1

Brisbane's port is now empty. We have some ships sighted up the coast, and at least 5 TFs escaped Sydney overnight to South. Our submarines spotted them all but failed to score any hits, visually IDing just assorted escort ships.

Port Moresby landings go perfectly with minimum interference (Kashii took 2 CD hits, 1 support squad lost in surf). There are 5 LCUs defending, all small ones with total AV of about 140 vs. Japanese 550+. [:)]

KB will now retire North, refuel and make sure the invasion fleet doesnt get backstabbed while sweeping the AUS coast killing everything in sight.

[Cribtop]

Banzai!

[Erkki]

Jan 14th 1942

While retiring, KB launches 2 more strikes, sinking AS Platypus and a small xAP(PI escapees probably). KB's search spots over 6 Allied submarines in the immediate area, and one of them nearly gets an AMC escorting the replenishment TF... I'm slowly coming to hate the Allied sub force: they attack seemingly every single time they share a hex with anything Japanese, and they are unsinkable in deep waters. KB escort has the only handful ships in my whole fleet that have DC Mod-2s that should be able to touch even some Allied subs. The rest of the ships will upgrade mostly from 9/42 to 6/43...

4th Div and support units land Port Moresby. Raw AV situation is now 574 vs. 84. Shock attack ordered for tomorrow!

Over Malaya, the Buffalo force finally flies and manages to put up 43 planes in the air simultaneously! Our bombers dont destroy any on the ground(other than possible writeoffs, as some were damaged), but we have 17 confirmed A-A kills and about 15 damaged ones, while our losses are 7 fighters and 1 bomber(to AAA).

[Erkki]

Jan 15th

Ground combat at Port Moresby (98,130)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 19612 troops, 159 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 582

Defending force 3555 troops, 37 guns, 28 vehicles, Assault Value = 84

Japanese adjusted assault: 675

Allied adjusted defense: 41

Japanese assault odds: 16 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Port Moresby !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
713 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 42 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 29 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Allied ground losses:
1075 casualties reported
Squads: 25 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 78 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 13 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 28 (28 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 29 (29 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 4
Units destroyed 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
144th Infantry Regiment
2nd Indpt SNLF Coy
4th Division
II/66th Nav Gd /2
12th Air Defense AA Regiment
11th Ind.AA Gun Co
7th Naval Construction Battalion
8th Base Force

Defending units:
A Coy/NG Rifles
49th Australian Battalion
Papuan Inf Battalion
13th Field Regiment
15th RAN Base Force

BANZAI! However notice the casualties. Despite of 16:1 odds, combat multipliers probably around 1:1, raw AV advantage of 7:1 and modified AV of 16,5:1, Japanese losses are nearly as great. Either the Papuan Inf Bat or the RAN Base Fore surrendered... 144th Inf Reg. pursues them to the jungles and towards Buna together with some SNLFs, while 4th Div will remain, for the time being, at Port Moresby.

Moved in Tainan Ku S-1 45-plane Zero unit, air search and recon will arrive later. Those Zeroes should be enough for the defenses now.

KB refueled in the middle of the Coral Sea, it will now head to refit at Truk then move under Klingon steal camo to Ponape probably. It will later in late January and early February support the Solomons operations, against Tulagi and Munda mostly.I'm later bringing another fresh division from Honshu to garrison Tulagi and Rabaul...

[PaxMondo]

Maybe I should, but I don't really look at the "casualty" numbers. They don't seem to mean anything or really impact play. What I do look at is destroyed .vs. disabled squads. Destroyed consume HI and supply and time to replace. Disabled only need time and a little supply. On that basis your losses were 5/72 compared to 173/12. Quite a lopsided outcome and in line with expectations.

Appreciate if anyone can clarify if my perceptions here are out of line...

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Maybe I should, but I don't really look at the "casualty" numbers. They don't seem to mean anything or really impact play. What I do look at is destroyed .vs. disabled squads. Destroyed consume HI and supply and time to replace. Disabled only need time and a little supply. On that basis your losses were 5/72 compared to 173/12. Quite a lopsided outcome and in line with expectations.

Appreciate if anyone can clarify if my perceptions here are out of line...

Yes, I know, however I have the feeling that most if not all of the destroyed devices were in the surrendered unit(I just checked the combat events, it was the A Coy/NG Rifles). It was possibly a static unit, but had it retreated, Allies would not have lost nearly as much in destroyed units.

I had something similar happen in Hong Kong, I got a clear 3:1 odds and the place fell with minimal casualties, however I lost a whole unit, every single device destroyed... The 29th Engineering regiment. I bought it back and its now refitting in Tokyo at 74% already.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Maybe I should, but I don't really look at the "casualty" numbers. They don't seem to mean anything or really impact play. What I do look at is destroyed .vs. disabled squads. Destroyed consume HI and supply and time to replace. Disabled only need time and a little supply. On that basis your losses were 5/72 compared to 173/12. Quite a lopsided outcome and in line with expectations.

Appreciate if anyone can clarify if my perceptions here are out of line...

Yes, I know, however I have the feeling that most if not all of the destroyed devices were in the surrendered unit(I just checked the combat events, it was the A Coy/NG Rifles). It was possibly a static unit, but had it retreated, Allies would not have lost nearly as much in destroyed units.

I had something similar happen in Hong Kong, I got a clear 3:1 odds and the place fell with minimal casualties, however I lost a whole unit, every single device destroyed... The 29th Engineering regiment. I bought it back and its now refitting in Tokyo at 74% already.

I'm sure you are correct. But you lost only 5 squads, not bad. Your 72 squads disabled will come back within a week or so. Pretty cheap price for such an important target. BANZAI!!!

[Erkki]

Jan 16th

Did I mention Clark Field fell 2 days ago? For some reason the Allies thought they have better chances at Bataan, so they left Subic Bay Defense unit behind them and retreated. They gave 2x terrain def bonus for Bataan's 1. We'll see how that works out, as I havent bombed Bataan more than once and it might have its forts pretty high. We captured approx. 1500 supply the Allies left behind them.

Theres still 20+ Buffaloes in Singapore but they have refused to fly since the attempted and failed CAP-trap 3 days ago. They have lost approx Buffalo/day to bombing...

Today I made the decision to not capture Celebes yet. Allied CVs are probably at Melbourne or Perth, or on way, so I would need all of KB for cover. Instead I will mass nearly all reinforcements including 3 fresh divisions against Singapore(1 already there, 1 on its way, 3rd preparing at Chiba) and invade Java from Oosthaven and Singapore. I know its risky but this way I can rely on land based air only... Its penetrable, but properly planned and executed as quickly as possible it should be doable. I'm ready to send an old Fuso or 2 for torpedo magnets, and possibly CVE Taiyo with a Zero wing aboard her.

Tulagi invasion force leaves Tokyo tomorrow, 11th Air Flotilla unloads at Rabaul. I'll move a 27-plane G3M unit in, their first task is to bomb Tulagi and Munda to check out if Allies any troops there.

[Erkki]

Jan 17th

Buffaloes fly again over Singapore, we see 24 of them in the air. They shoot down 5 Ki-43s, 4 Zeroes and 4 bombers, despite of all sweeps arriving first... We only get 10 confirmed kills and some 5 as damaged. For presumably 0-morale low experienced, outnumbered and horribly outperformed air force they have done remarkably well, although their numbers should now be down to less than 15 and pose little to no threat any more. Reported airfield damage at Singapore now 43% and it rises 3-4% daily.

Looks like it was worth of it to send all the subs to AUS East Coast, I-22 finds an Allied sub returning to its port near Sydney:


Sub vs Sub: SS I-22 attacking SS KVIII at 91,168 - near Sydney

Japanese Ships
SS I-22

Allied Ships
SS KVIII, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage



SS I-22 launches 2 torpedoes at 1,000 yards

In China Northern front, the enemy is falling back to Sian. He has approx 40 units in the area... We have 3500kAV approaching from South and 1,2kAV in an adjacent hex to the East. I'm keeping one unit moving towards Sian to show them as "moving"... The plan however is to move that stack in 4 or 5 days to SW where in joins the main force, but if and only if the Chinese retreat all the way to Sian. The decisive battle is fought either at Sian (preferably) or in the forest hex SE to it. I'm using nearly 5kAV against it, about 800 is left to reserves or still mopping up the rear areas, but should make it in time, just swapping reserves forth and rear area moppers into reserve at Nanyang.

[Ulua]

Reading your AAR up to now, and remembering back to your first post:

ORIGINAL: Erkki

I dont think I have the skills to try, and not fail, to conquer more than the standard perimeter. Long time goal is to not lose the war before 1943, and keep as many of my carriers as possible alive.

I find it amusing that you are already attacking (with the KB no less) shipping outside of this "standard perimter" and having biscuits and tea at PM. I am attributing this to bullyism. If your opponent is tacit and non-resistant, one tends to get braver and more aggressive. [:-] And with Palem, Manila and Clark already down, I don't see you ceasing anytime soon, Erkki.

At first, I thought this was going to be one of those standard "secure the perimeter" Japanese fares, but I think (PH not withstanding) we're embarking on a roller coaster ride better than Star Tours [:D]. Keep up the good work!

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: Ulua


Reading your AAR up to now, and remembering back to your first post:

ORIGINAL: Erkki

I dont think I have the skills to try, and not fail, to conquer more than the standard perimeter. Long time goal is to not lose the war before 1943, and keep as many of my carriers as possible alive.

I find it amusing that you are already attacking (with the KB no less) shipping outside of this "standard perimter" and having biscuits and tea at PM. I am attributing this to bullyism. If your opponent is tacit and non-resistant, one tends to get braver and more aggressive. [:-] And with Palem, Manila and Clark already down, I don't see you ceasing anytime soon, Erkki.

At first, I thought this was going to be one of those standard "secure the perimeter" Japanese fares, but I think (PH not withstanding) we're embarking on a roller coaster ride better than Star Tours [:D]. Keep up the good work!

Hmmm, yes, but I do consider Port Moresby a fairly critical part of the "standard perimeter" [:)]

I dont think he seriously tried to defend it, if I dont remember all wrong, all the units he had there were just a collection of New Guinea garrison units he had just marched or shipped there, no reinforcements from mainland.

Philippines: he still holds Bataan, at forts 3 or 4, and I dont think I will bother bombing it when the same bomber force can kill 1,000+ Chinese every day. I have a fresh division from Kuyshu on its way to Bataan, I will have raw AV of approx. 1550 vs. whatever the Allies have left, with probably similar firepower. Securing Luzon will take at least 2 more weeks, as the transports carrying those reinforcements are passing Formosa in 2 days, need 2 days to unload and a week, plus, to march from Iba to Bataan.

Singapore: I have 2100 AV ready to enter Singapore in 5 days: some units still unloading from trains plus 3 or 4 days of marching, I want to make sure they all enter the hex simultaneously. I managed to cut off and destroy some 250 raw AV at Alor Star and at least 100 more is either currently cut off or has been destroyed mainly by my armor units that didn't give the enemy the time to pack up and flee. Looking at my old game, Singapore should have at least 500 raw AV present with similar-ish firepower at forts 3 or 4, and those forts are not going to build any more now that I have the air bombardments going round the clock. I dont expect to take the place in first assault but I'm expecting them to lower forts to 1 or 0 and mount 1:1 or 1:0,75 losses and finish off the place 4 to 7 days later once disruption from river crossing and failed shock attack is low enough again. If required, I have some 450 AV ready to reinforce this attack in a month or I can use the division now on its way to Philippines: if everything goes as planned, it is 1 day from reaching Iba when the Battle for Singapore begins, and I can, let them continue or turn to Kota Bharu and then down the Malaya on rails.

And on the Australia raid... If he keeps his units back and refuses to engage, we will have to go to him. We will see if he will fight for Java when its time comes within 2 months. So far, the Dutch air units have seen very little action and he clearly pulled back most of his units on the first week of the war. Stabs like the Brisbane raid should help keeping the Japanese initiative, make him spread his forces and last but not least, force him to fight on our odds while Japanese still have initial superiority. Raids like that will probably be very counter productive from late 42 onwards, just too many risks.

Jan 18th

Quiet before the storm, our bombers destroy at least 2 Buffaloes at Singapore. 18th Philippinean Army Infantry Division is retreated, cut off and destroyed to the last man in Mindanao: the surviving Allied units are in 2 pockets, main force at Calayan and a smaller pocket near Zamboanga(not sure about the real names of those places [:D] ). I'm expecting Mindanao to be 100% in Japanese control within 2 weeks, after which we will start backfilling North starting with Leyte.

[Erkki]

Jan 19th and 20th

Our first attack at Clark Field comes off at 1:2 with raw AV 1300 vs. 1100 and forts 3. You can guess how the losses went... 33rd Division will add another 400 AV in 8 or 9 days...

At Mindanao, the last defenders outnumber Japanese units by 400 vs. 250 raw AV!!! I don't see a victory anywhere in the near future.

Tomorrow, we will have a whopping 4450 AV around Sian, and another 500 AV available in 7 days + 130 more in 2 weeks. Chinese have 27 units at Sian and 20 more in the nearby rough woods hex. Lets see if 3200 AV is enough to retreat the defenders in those woods.


One odd thing I noticed in the info screen: the Allies flew today 3200 sorties while Japanese only flew 2200. In total campaign sorties, the Allies have 116k while Japanese have flown 112k... What is this?!? Allies dont fly offensive bomber or fighter sorties thats for sure. And we have nearly double the OPS losses. Just today (3200 vs. 2100 sorties) the Allied losses are reported 0, while we lost 6 ops. Any ideas? Do the Allies have a super massive transport air fleet or what? [&:]

[Erkki]

Upcoming stuff:

tomorrow: 5-unit Chinese stack cuts off approx 500 Japanese AV that is already tangling with 400 AV in a rough wooden hex far in the South. 150 + 100 AV reinforcements are underway and they should be able to reopen the supply lines in max 4 days. I dont think these units can stop or beat this counter attack, but one more hex forth and they leave the woods and are in range of my bombers... [:)]

2 days: battle of Sian begins, 5000 raw Jap AV vs. 47 Chinese units...

3 days: first assault at Singapore, 2100 av available and another 100 + lots of art units 1 week away

8 days: reinforcements arrive at Bataan, lets see if we can drop the forts

8-10 days: I'm dividing the 4th Division(now at Port Moresby), 1 or 2 sub divisions will take care of Horn Island

10-12 days and onwards: Tulagi and Shortlands invasions supported by the Kido Butai

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Do the Allies have a super massive transport air fleet or what? [&:]

He might be using his CATs as transport and 4E's for supply. Not how I would use them, but some do ...

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Erkki

Do the Allies have a super massive transport air fleet or what? [&:]

He might be using his CATs as transport and 4E's for supply. Not how I would use them, but some do ...

Thats what I think it could be, too... However his losses are very low...

PBY-4 Catalina: 16 ops (10 or 11 of these, at least, were caught by Japanese SNLFs at Davao, but they're "ops" for some reason)
Catalina 1: 1 ops 1 ground (singapore)
Catalina 1: 4 ops
Do-24: 1 air 3 ops
PBY-5 Catalina: 4 ops + 2 AA + 10 ground (pearl harbor)
PBY-5 Catalina: 2 ops

Figures are from Tracker. I'm not sure how he has been able to fly more sorties than me. Japanese fly probably near 1,000 bomber sorties a day, even KB flies over 150 search and CAP daily... I have the feeling that hes using more than just Catalinas to transports stuff around, and he must have done that from day 1!

Allies have also lost, relatively, quite a few Hudsons and Wirraways as OPS, 13. Wirraways I havent seen yet, Hudsons flew twice over Malaya losing 7, so at least a couple of those OPS are due to combat damage.

Dedicated transports, L-18 and DC-2, he has reportedly lost 7.

Fortress Java? Fortress Timor? Whatever it is, hes using huge numbers of planes and flying a lot of sorties to support it. Japanese "SigInt" has reported something from both Sydney and Pearl at least once a day for for over a month now, which could be related, or could be not.

[PaxMondo]

Seems like he has a lot of groups on 30% Search/40% Train or 30% CAP/40% train ... he can amass a lot of sorties ....