Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, Docup(A)-Koniu(J)

[koniu]

22 MAR 42

Allies send second wave of bombers to Chiang Mai. This time CAP was better. They shot down 10xBlenheims IV and 1xB17D. I have lost 11 Ki-21 on ground. I replace 2E bombers with Ki-30(100 planes) i will use them as bait, i am placed heavy CAP and LCAP over base(100 fighters) i am counting Docup will send another attack. He using B-17D so i counting for good hunting.

KB out of range of allied patrols he now change direction to S-SE. I hopping to stay undetected for at lest 1 day. invasion on Tabiteuea 5 days to target.

Allied planes try to bomb my units in Java Oscars shot down all of them (9 planes)

If i not count ground losses this day was good. I have lost only 1 plane in air today and allies lost 20 planes in air.

AKE and TK hit by Torp day earlier sunk.
In return one of my /SS put 2 torps in big xAK south of Canton Is.

In china i win battle in wooden hex north of Sinyang. I have lost 300 man, Chinese lost 3700. Enemy retreated toward Nanyang.

Deliberate attack on PM my losses 900 allies lost 300 man. Reinforcements are sailing. But they need 2 weeks to arrive. For now i will try to stop allies from building fort in PM and i need to transport some suplies there.


I just found that I will be able soon to produce Ki-45 KAIa Nick. He is faster than Zero and have armor , can fly higher an can be use as bomber. Is this plane is worth of building?

[Saros]

Not in large numbers, it is an army fighter but only a very few groups can upgrade to it even with PDU on. It also takes 2 engines and will lose against most allied 1E fighters in a dogfight. Its definitely better than an Oscar though so replace them when you can.
It does do a good job as a bomber destroyer though if you can put it up against unescorted bombers thanks to the highly accurate 20mm cannon and sufficient toughness to survive turret fire.

[koniu]

23 MAR 42

Good day.

Australia coast
Naval battle north-west of Oz. CL Natori and DD Shirakumo found and attack Enemy SAG.
CA Australia, CL Enterprise +4xDD engaged in night battle.
Weather very bad. Thunderstorms. After short battle CL Natori took torpedo hit and TF retreated.
With help from north DD Isonami reacted, under heavy fire he close to CA Australia and from 2000ft he fire 5 torpedoes. All torpedoes score hit. Witnesses telling that CA Australia sunk in 4 minutes with almost 800 man under deck.

On morning Allied TF found, and in series of battles sunk DD Shirakumo but he manage in last afford do heavy damage to one of allied DD, he also score two superstructure hits to CL Enterprise cosing heavy fires.

CL Natori heavily damage 36/49/10/0 will try to return home. Small chance to do that he is detected 10/10, enemy is near an he is able to do 11knt of full and 7 on cruise.

Andaman Sea

Allies try to intercept amphibious TF in Mergui but he sail south just ofter sunset and now is save 350nm south.
In morning Betty`s from Bangkok spotted enemy cruisers 45nm north of Mergui. 41 Betty`s armed with torps launch to attack. After attack CA Exeter and CL Sumatra take 2 torp hit each.

CL Sumatra probably sunk. Intel showing 8 more ships in area in two TFs. One of them are probably damaged ships we will search them tomorrow. I will give heavy escort to Betty`s tomorrow in case enemy LCAP.


Gilbert`s

KB undetected sail south east. Butt allies send ships in all direction trying to found us.
Full combat alert for all ships.


Another TK sunk after torp hit 2 days earlier. Allies have admitted that CA Cornwall sunk
in February in Ambon port.

EDIT:
It is second time when single Japanise DD putting torp in allied BB/CA. first time it was in December when DD score hit in PoW and Repulse slowing them down and giving as easy targets to MKB

[koniu]

Merry Christmas to all WITPAE addicts.

[Sly]

Wesołych Świąt koniu

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: Sly

Wesołych Świąt koniu

Wesołych Świąt.

Pierwszy polak poznany na forum co za miła niespodzianka[:)]

[koniu]

25 MAR 42

KB 600nm north of Canton Island. No combat ships detected in allied base. I have found place out of range of enemy patrols and and only 1 day of target. I thinking about staying hidden for few days in case something big show. Invasion fleet 3 days from Tabiteuea. Enemy DD`s sunk PB near Ellice Islands.

CL Natori survive night and now with DD escort will sail to Singer. Rest of fleet 2xCL and 4xDD will resume combat patrol. Final score of yesterdays battles in area is. Allies lost one CA, and CL and DD are heavy damaged. Japanese losses are DD and damaged CL.

Heavy damaged CA Exeter and CL Sumatra try to escape to Rangoon. They ware spotted and attack by Betty`s. This time both cruisers sunk. 10 Hurricanes defended those ships but they have no chance against 30 A6M escort. Afternoon 8 Betty's attack ships in Rangoon port and sunk xAKL.

Two xAKL sunken by Japanese SS near Cooktown.

Allies bombard AF in china destroying 7 ki-21-I on ground

I have won battle in hex east of Batavia killing 3000 allies and loosing 100 man

[koniu]

26 MAR 42

No much to report.

Enemy SS damage xAK north of HI. 50% chance to survive.

KB spotted. We will go to action tomorrow. I will attack with full power.
Target - scare allies as much as possible to make them think twice before they try to intercept Tabiteuea invasion.

I will land in Port Blair tomorrow. Base is protected only by 300 man.

SAG near north-west coast of OZ spotted enemy cargo? TF they will try to in intercept tomorrow.

Ki-49-IIa R&D advanced to 8/42.
134 full repaired factories working to make it available in 6/42

[koniu]

27-28 MAR 42

Port Blair invasion
Troops have landed in Port Blair on 27 and after shock attack capture it on 28.
Probably British carriers 200 miles west from Port Blair. 2xCV, DD +7 ships spotted (17 fighters, 16 bombers). Unfortunately a give 1 hex shorter range to my Betty's and they do not fly.
I hope Brits will stay there one more day.

Java
Ground forces have enter Batavia hex. City is defended by 32k man (500AV). I have 1400AV and 48k man and full air domination.
Imp. Guard Division capture Tijlatjap killing 1650 allies soldiers and loosing only 27.

East coast of Oz
Cruisers don`t found anything they are returning home to refuel

Port Moresby
I have try deliberate attack but losses where to high. I waiting for reinforcement. They need 3 days to arrive to Rabul. And few more days before KB will be available to support invasion. They will use this time to rest and preparations. I will land after invasion bonus with preparation below 50 so losses are going to be high and landing will be long so i will use heavy surface and air support.

Tabiteuea invasion
100nm to target, they will land tomorrow. I will land with 11k man there. Enemy forces at lest 2k or 40k . I have poor recon of his forces and i am landing almost blind. I counting that most of his forces are Eng units and he have there one or maybe two small combat units. We will see tomorrow.
This is firs operation when i have no info about enemy forces
Direct support is given by MKB and BB TF but he will have bombard duties not surface combat. SAG will be composed from CL and 4xDD

KB
KB 270nm north-west from Canton Island. They bombard Cantons port but found nothing.
Bomber pilots report 15 PT and CS hits during Patrols.
No planes losses but i have burn lot of fuel for nothing.
KB will sail west to protect Tabiteuea invasion from south.

China
Mostly air raid and sweeps but nothing important

EDIT:
I have found that allies move his supply hubs more south. I found big allied base in Tahiti. Subs sunk enemy TK.
Double SS RO-34 attack near Noumea. Allies lost two big xAKs

[koniu]

I will land tomorrow on Tabiteuea.
I have read that invading small island always trigger shock attack.
I sure about that for size 1 and 2 island (6000 and 30000 capacity) but did size 3 (60,000) also?

EDIT
I have 11k man and 380AV force to land on Tabiteuea. If he have something more that regiment there it will be bloody landing

EDIT2:
Invading atolls is always by shock attack. Also islands size 1 and 2 landings are by shock attack.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: koniu

Ki-49-IIa R&D advanced to 8/42.
134 full repaired factories working to make it available in 6/42

Wow. Nicely done! That armor will help with losses.

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: koniu

Ki-49-IIa R&D advanced to 8/42.
134 full repaired factories working to make it available in 6/42

Wow. Nicely done! That armor will help with losses.

Thanks. I think also i will be able to accelerate A6M3a for 3 and if lucky 4 months.
For rest planes is to early to say.

[koniu]

29 MAR 42

Port Blair
British CV`s are gone. I am starting to build base

Java
Buitenzorg captured. Tomorrow I will attack Batavia.

Port Moresby
After shock attack and BB bombardment PM captured.

Ground combat at Port Moresby (98,130)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 19752 troops, 250 guns, 68 vehicles, Assault Value = 520

Defending force 8475 troops, 189 guns, 75 vehicles, Assault Value = 184

Japanese adjusted assault: 402

Allied adjusted defense: 127

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Port Moresby !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
1817 casualties reported
Squads: 32 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 31 destroyed, 29 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 13 (6 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
3272 casualties reported
Squads: 63 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 323 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 35 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 65 (63 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 58 (58 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 10
Units destroyed 2

I now have entire division in Rabul that i want to use to reinforce PM and now i need to find them new job.

Tabiteuea invasion
Tabiteuea captured. Invasion was bloody. Japan lost 1000 of his best marines.

Ground combat at Tabiteuea (137,134)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 9659 troops, 98 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 371

Defending force 3530 troops, 90 guns, 77 vehicles, Assault Value = 36

Japanese adjusted assault: 170

Allied adjusted defense: 23

Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Tabiteuea !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
PBY-5 Catalina: 3 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
843 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 61 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 8 (2 destroyed, 6 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
2989 casualties reported
Squads: 24 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 197 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 36 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 126 (126 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 85 (85 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 5

I will now load units and land in Onotoa. Small enemy unit spotted there. I will use for this last 3 days of amphibious bonus

KB
KB south of Tabiteuea. He will sail slowly nort, and meet there AO`s and refuel.

[PaxMondo]

Wow.  Really good day.  BANZAI!!

[koniu]

In 25 days next carrier will arrive and i will have 8 big ones.

Question is what to do with extra shipyard points. I already can restart Yamato. I am now +4500HI every day and if i keep that i will have ~1,000,000 HI in the end of 42.

So what will be best? Spent that points on Yamato, save some HI or accumulate some NShipyard points to use hem later. I am accelerating all available navy ships now but only Taiho is using 3xdurability points rest is using them in 1x.
(I have stop all SS - i will build few later but for now i do not need more of them)

But i have felling that Yamato will be waste of HI. If i restart it now he will arive in end of 42. That will give him only few months window, and letter US CVs arrive and it will be bad time for BB`s.

[PaxMondo]

Weel, my thoughts for what they are worth.

HI - 1M at end of '42 ok. Not great, but ok. You need AT LEAST 3M HI in the bank before you lose the DEI, and more is ALWAYS better. 5K HI/day => ~ 1.5M HI/yr (remember your monthly pilot fee). This is about the min I try to save.

NSY:
SS's, except for the glen equipped subs, i agree. They are just allied VP's if you build them.

Yamato and her sisters. As a student of Nemo and PzB I build them. Nemo teaches you that the best way to kill 4E's is on the ground for which you need BB's. PzB teaches you how to counter-attack the allied landings in DEI, you also need BB's for that. Yes, eventually they become allied VP's like all of the IJN, but before they convert into a few hundred allied VP's, you try to exact as many thousand VP's for you as you can.

MSY - take a hard look here and at your merchant inventory. You should be able to stop almost everthing except some TK's and your CVE's. Particularly if you are able to get and keep the Singer -> Fusan route open. There are huge HI savings available here. I would get ~25K MSY in the bank, and then hold it there.

[koniu]

Thank i have decided to build Yamato. About her sister i not sure it still 50/50.

SS as you write only FP equipped.

MSY - I will build only TK, AO, CVE, and xAK and xAP a have already building but nothing more.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: koniu
MSY - I will build only TK, AO, CVE, and xAK and xAP a have already building but nothing more.

Take a hard look at your TK's even ... you may be surprised what you don't need to build there. Really depends upon losses and when you are able to open the land route from Singers to Fusan. Once that is open, your TK losses drop to almost zero until late game when you no longer are using them anyway. ... building more is just allied VP's.

AO's and those few ships that will convert to AO's - until I lose my CV's, I keep building them (especially the fast ones +15). I ALWAYS get my replenishment fleet hit at least once a game [:(] ...

Great AAR. Keep going!!

BANZAI!!

[koniu]

Really depends upon losses and when you are able to open the land route from Singers to Fusan

I am now in middle of preparation on huge offensive around Changsha area. I am moving right now units. I will use ~6000AV to this. Plan will be to not do frontal attack i will try to flank enemy concentrations points and isolate them in pockets.

I use this tactic earlier and it work.

I need at lest 2 more weeks. moving in china is long process.

PS. I never had chance to fight with china forces in big offensive. From day one they start retreat to central and west china so i take all east china without fight.
They are now have all his forces in mountain tree terrain so it will be bloody time for Japanese soldiers.


Happy New Year to you all.

[Durbik]

ORIGINAL: koniu

ORIGINAL: Sly

Wesołych Świąt koniu

Wesołych Świąt.

Pierwszy polak poznany na forum co za miła niespodzianka[:)]

Jest nas więcej, nawet chyba całkiem sporo. Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!