Scott versus Kaleun. Major Victory!

[kaleun]

.November 21st. Guinea Fowl. D Day.

The first part of operation Guinea Fowl launches with air raids by carrier aircraft against Rabaul in an effort to neutralize the enemy airfield.
Mitscher orders the surface forces to precede the carriers in an effort to lure out any enemy surface forces present. The report of the resurrected and re-sunk Yamato must be foremost on his mind.

[kaleun]

November 22 1042. D Day plus 1


An enemy task force consisting of: BB Haruna, BB Kongo, CA Furutaka, Atago, Takao, CL Jintsu, and seven destroyer escorts are identified by SS KVIII near Makassar. What the intention is remains unknown. The Dutch submarine comes under attack by the escorts and suffers one hit.

The 2nd Marine raider battalion landed in Ocean Island and captured the undefended base.

The 30th Australian Brigade, 20th RAAF Base Force and 2nd Australian Heavy AA Regiment landed at Lae in the first amphibious attack of operation Guinea Fowl.

November 23 42.

Battleships Missouri and Idaho, Oklahoma and California together with heavy cruisers Vincennes, SLC, Pensacola and others bombard Lae supporting the Australian attack. The Japanese defenders repel the first allied assault on the base.

An enemy task force appears west of New Britain. Mitscher orders the carriers to advance and intercept.

[kaleun]

November 24 42. The Battle of Cape Gloucester.

The battlewagons pound enemy positions at Lae. Recon finds an enemy surface task force approaching from the north and Mitscher orders a full out attack. 15 F4Fs escort a large raid of 62 SBD3s and 24 TBF-1. The dive-bombers and torpedo bombers barrel into the enemy task force. 11 Dauntless are damaged by enemy flak and 2 are lost. Only one Avenger suffers flak damage. In exchange, CA Ashigara takes one bomb hit, Maya 2, CL Yubari eats a torpedo, CL Tatsuta one bomb, CL Natori two and Kuma 3, DD Yugano also gets hit by a bomb.

Later in the day, Mitchser’s carriers manage only to scramble 18 dive bombers that score one additional hit on Yubari and two on Kuma.

The enemy task force turns around and heads back to Truk. Mitscher orders his carriers to pursue.

As an afterthought, Lae falls to the allied attack and its defenders surrender.

[1275psi]

doing well.
I like the AAR mate.

Wish I knew how to post pictures from the game

[kaleun]

November 25th 42.

Allied carrier aircraft find and sink CL Yubari; CL Natori takes another bomb hit but still floats.

In Java, the last allied forces surrender while in Cebu the Filipino defenders still hold out against all odds.

27th Division, her mission complete is ordered back to Espiritu Santo.

CV Illustrious arrives in San Diego and enters dry dock.



November 26th 42

The focus of attention now shifts to Sumatra where allied aircraft attack enemy forces SE of Sabang. The enemy air forces are reinforced by naval Zero fighters.
Japanese forces land at the tiny outpost of Parekasan, just offshore Java.


November 27th 42

27th Infantry, finally embarked at Darwin, departs for Luganville.

[kaleun]

November 26th 42

The focus of attention now shifts to Sumatra where allied aircraft attack enemy forces SE of Sabang. The enemy air forces are reinforced by naval Zero fighters.
Japanese forces land at the tiny outpost of Parekasan, just offshore Java.

November 27th 42

27th Infantry, finally embarked at Darwin, departs for Luganville.

November 30 42
5 Marauders attack Rabaul airfield. Faced with 12 Zeros on CAP, they fail to achieve any hits on the target and suffer 2 aircraft lost.

Mitschell’s carriers arrive at Luganville. The airgroups take replacement aircraft and pilots while the task force disbands in port. Ships due for upgrades set sail for Sidney to refit.

December 1st.
Macassar port hit by B26s out of Timor. Tarawa has now a functioning small airfield. Sabang’s port achieves size 3 which will allow faster unloading of supplies and reinforcements in that dangerous place.
Gen MacArthur travels to Pearl for the Pacific Command Conference.

[kaleun]

December 2nd 1942. Pearl Harbor.

Events in the war, minor issues, like the allied evacuation of Canton Island, its base now unneeded, or the allied occupation of undefended bases adjacent to Lae take second stage to the meeting at the COMPAC headquarters. Present are Gen Douglas MacArthur, Admiral Nimitz, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, Admiral Halsey, and several other brass. The only item on the agenda: How to conduct the next year of the war.
A smart naval captain makes a fast presentation:

“The options are as follows:

1 Southern Plan.
A: Advance along the Timor-Flores-Soerabaja line and liberate Java. This requires the invasion of Kendari and Macassar to protect the northern flank of the invasion forces.
B: Seize Kendari and Macassar and from Macassar invade Balikpapan in Borneo.
The Pros of the Southern Plan are that it seizes the oilfields at Java and East Borneo early. The cons are that the invading forces are always within escorted land based air range of enemy airbases and that the Japanese can still operate with the oil from Sumatra, Brunei and Mirin.

2 New Guinea Arrow.
Push along the New Guinea north shore to seize Mindanao, Manado, Tenate and Tarakan and, from these bases, invade Luzon.”

MacArthur moves to speak but Nimitz holds up his hand.
“Let’s hear all of it first Doug.”
The captain continues unfazed.
“Pros, most of the land bases needed are already on our hands and need only be expanded; in addition we can still attack and seize Borneo if it is deemed necessary. The cons are that Peleliu and Truk must be taken otherwise the right flank will be completely exposed.”

3 Central Push.
Take the Marshall Islands and from there the Marianas. Truk can be taken or neutralized as well as Peleliu. From the Marianas or Western New Guinea, Mindanao and the Philippines can then be liberated. The Pros are the same as for NG arrow. The cons are that this would require a degree of naval superiority that we cannot expect until late in 1943 at the earliest. The vast distances involved also make it difficult for ships damaged in battle to get repaired promptly.”

MacArthur jumps up as soon as the captain finishes his presentation, “Obviously the New Guinea advance is the best option, the air bases can create a protected corridor along the shoreline where convoys can move unimpeded, and we already have the bases.”

Halsey and other admirals shake their heads, “That would be very risky and it would immobilize our naval air assets,”

“We can use army air medium bombers to protect the corridor,” MacArthur interjected.

“Only naval air assets have been shown able to hit ships predictably, especially warships,” Halsey said.

“What would the navy do then?” asked Frank Knox.

Nimitz and the naval brass show a preference for the third option, seize the lightly defended Marshalls, as expeditiously as possible and, once the resources are in place, embark on the invasion of the Marianas. The prospect of having the three, soon to be four, Marine divisions mired in land combat in the Philippines definitely unpalatable. Also unpalatable is to risk the only two fleet carriers available in the restricted waters around Timor, with all the enemy bases crawling with torpedo carrying G4M Betties.

“We need some victories, soon, to placate the home front, to inspire the public,” the secretary of the Navy said.

The meeting dismissed, the collected brass left to their offices, a distinguishable smirk present on MacArthur’s lips.

The memo calls for an immediate expansion of all airbases along the northern New Guinea coast, and preparations for an invasion of Mindanao by the army, and of Truk and Peleliu by the Navy. This to be accomplished by the fall of 1943.

[kaleun]

December 3rd 1943.

The 30th Australian brigade begins loading for the invasion of Salamaua.

December 4th 1943

MacArthur reads an intelligence report and smiles. He hadn’t trusted the naval brass to keep their word and he told Knox so, however one of his agents in Espiritu Santo reports that the 1/102 Infantry battalion, together with a combat engineer unit, the104th USN base force and the 251st coastal artillery battalion are loading in an amphibious task force at Luganville. Their destination is Manus in the Admiralty Islands. The base has been unoccupied for the entire war, the Japanese too uninterested to garrison it and the allies too occupied to do so. The Navy seems to have bowed to his will, helped by his close relationship with the President, and is preparing the naval corridor he needs for the invasion of the Philippines.

Back in Pearl, Nimitz responds to Halsey’s protests, “There is nothing else for us to do right now, so let him think we are playing along. Maybe the Japs will believe it too.”

Allied forces land at Salamaua.

[kaleun]

December 5 42.

The focus of attention now swings to Sabang at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. 17 zero fighters sweep the skies over the allied base that is hurriedly being reinforced by the Brits. 30 Hurricanes contest the air and 5 zeros fall to the ground in flames at a cost of one British fighter.

16 Zeros follow and 24 Hurricanes rise to the occasion, three Zeros do not return, and two Hurricanes are lost.
10 Oscars come along and this time the enemy is more fortunate, seven Hurricanes fall versus a single Oscar. 8 Oscars return and meet 5 Hurricanes. One enemy fighter falls at no further cost to the allies.

On the ground, enemy ground forces appear at the perimeter. The British commander orders an attack for the morning.

Cebu still holds out against the Japanese invasion.

At Salamaua, the 36th Australian attacks the II/66th Naval guards and seizes the base; the Japanese withdraw into the jungles of the Owen Stanley Range where they will be left to rot.

[kaleun]

December 6th 1942

The allied shock attack at Sabang fails to dislodge the enemy forces that were stronger than expected.
Cebu falls and its garrison surrenders.

[kaleun]

December 8th 1942
The British react to the determined Enemy presence in Sabang by hurriedly embarking the 18th British Division into Task force 28 at Colombo to ship them ASAP to Sabang.




December 10th.
Task force 28 sets sail for Sabang.

The 30th Australian brigade lands at Finschafen.

After a long and tortuous trek from the Indian ocean with multiple stops, the battered British carrier Formidable arrives at San Francisco. The Admiralty demands insistently that the ship be returned to the Royal Navy’s Atlantic theater where it is sorely needed, however its damage of 56 flotation and 33 engines preclude its return before additional repairs are done. The carrier enters dry dock and dock workers swarm over it.

Japanese forces land at Morotai.

[kaleun]

December 11th 42
Morotai taken by the enemy and Finschafen captured by the allies.

December 12th 42
Japanese forces launch a shock attack on the British/Dutch defenders at Sabang. With 3:1 odds they destroy the hastily built fortifications. The 18th Division is still 2 days steaming away. The defenders dig for the night uncertain of what will happen tomorrow.

December 13th
The expected Japanese attack at Sabang does not materialize. It seems the enemy was too disrupted after yesterday’s effort to resume the attack today. The defenders dig deeper and await the arrival of the 18th that arrives and begins unloading at the end of the day.

At Manus in the Admiralty Islands, the 1st Marine Defense battalion under Colonel Hohn Lewis lands and sets their coastal defense guns to cover possible landing sites. The engineers of the 251st construction battalion begin to clear a runway and expand the small harbor. AA guns are emplaced and the USMC AirFMFP HQ begins operations. There are no torpedoes available yet but they should arrive soon.

Just north of Soerabaja, the last Dutch garrison off Java comes under heavy Japanese attack. The Barisan Garrison resists using up the few supplies ferried in via submarine from Darwin.

[kaleun]

December 15th

Japanese forces shock attack Sabang but the garrison, now reinforced by most of the 18th Division resists and inflicts an estimated 8700 casualties on the enemy at a cost of 601. The defenders take a collective big breath.
The 45th Recon regiment arrived and seized the undefended port of Medan.

[1275psi]

begin bombing palembang!

you have have him now.............

[kaleun]

December 16th.

Reinforced by the 18th British Division, the allies counterattack at Sabang. 26 thousand allies face about 19 thousand Japanese. Against even odds, the allies suffer 640 casualties versus a thousand for the enemy.

At Makassar, allied B26s attack shipping at the harbor. The allied pilots, inexperienced at bombing naval targets miss despite the lack of enemy fighter cover. At best, it is good training. In New Guinea, Port Moresby based dive bombers and avengers use the enemy troops at Nadzab for target practice. It isn’t worthwhile to send infantry to chase these poor b*stards yet it is not wise to let them wander by themselves and cause mischief so, the next best solution, use them to train the replacement pilots.

December 17th

Allied forces try again to dislodge the enemy from Sabang, and once more the Japanese hold at a cost of about a thousand casualties. Better prepared, the allies suffer only 300.

The combat report will read “Air operations carried out against shipping at Makassar and enemy ground forces at Nadzab.” Meaning, no one hit anything.

December 18th

Allied ground continues to press the Japanese at Sabang, slowly pushing them back, out of the town, foot by foot. The B26s switch their sights to shipping at Kendari, which they miss and the port which they hit. Japanese fighters remain absent.

[kaleun]

December 19th.

The Japanese are not going to drop down and give up. A powerful naval force moves into the harbor at Sabang and wreaks havoc on the transports unloading there:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Sabang at 44,70, Range 12,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Fuso, Shell hits 1
BB Hyuga, Shell hits 3
CA Myoko
CL Yura
DD Mikazuki, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Tatsukaze

Allied Ships
DD Van Nes, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Empress ' Asia, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
xAP Duchess of Bedford, Shell hits 29, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Moreton Bay, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
xAP Devonshire, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
xAP Lancashire, Shell hits 14, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

To add insult to injury, they follow up with a devastating barrage on the airfield. 11 hurricanes damaged, two destroyed, four P40-E damaged, one destroyed. Sundry hits on airbase, port and runway, as well as pounding on the second and 18th divisions.

All this causes the attack of the day to be less than perfectly executed; this time the Japanese inflict four hundred casualties on the allies and suffer only 180 themselves.

[kaleun]

December 20th

CL Jintsu bombards again Sabang before withdrawing. The allies refrain from attacking and instead bombard the enemy positions while the infantry reorganizes and rebuilds damaged defenses.

Kendari port is bombed, again, and Makassar shipping is attacked and missed, again.

December 21st

The enemy is not willing to just give up on Sumatra. During the night, an amphibious force led by heavy cruisers Kumano and Mogami approached the base and landed reinforcements for the Japanese attackers. Allied forces counterattack but are unable to make any progress. Losses are not heavy on either side.

As for the Celebes front, shipping was attacked ineffectively in Makassar and the enemy forces at Nadzab came under attack again with little if any effect.

December 25th

Christmas day brings a nice gift for the garrison at Sabang. After watching their enemy reinforced, no action occurred for the next few days. Both sides dug in and organized, and waited. Today, they woke to the sound of big guns firing, only this time, the shells landed on the Japanese positions. A surface force led by BC Repulse, with the heavy cruisers Frobisher, Hawkins, and Devonshire fired at the 21st division, 16th Guards regiment and 42nd Infantry regiment. Few casualties were confirmed but the morale boost for the allies was significant. The allies followed up with a deliberate attack that crashed against enemy defenses. 470 allied casualties versus 110 on the Japanese side.

December 26th

The allies repeat their deliberate attack again on the Japanese forces at Sabang. This time, they are better organized or perhaps the Japanese are simply more exhausted; despite 1:2 odds, the allies score 1030 casualties at a cost of 640.

December 27th

The last bastion of Dutch rule in Java falls as the garrison at Bamekasan surrenders to the Japanese.

Over Rabaul, allied sweeps dispute air supremacy over the Japanese base; unfortunately, the F4Fs and the P40s prove unequal to the AG2M Zero Japanese fighters.

[kaleun]

December 28th 42

Marking time. B26s raid Kendari harbor and B17s raid Rabaul. Nothing else of significance. After a year of war Japan looks exhausted, having reached its logistical limit, while the allies struggle to maintain their extreme lines supplied. There are tons of oil and supplies in the West Coast and, to a lesser extent, at Aden, Abadan and Cape Town. The problem is to move both fuel and supplies to bases such as Colombo, Sidney, Luganville, Noumea where supplies and, especially fuel seem to disappear with astonishing velocity. A small operation can suck whole fuel farms dry. Then the ships must dock and wait for fuel to arrive; the men must wait and squat by their tents, as the supplies slowly steam over vast distances.

And then there are the carriers. There can be no major offensive operations until the new carriers arrive. Meanwhile, the Japanese are also hard at work building theirs.

[kaleun]

December 30th

In the dark of the night, SS Seawolf sights an enemy ship, a large troop carrier, steaming along Makassar straits. Torpedoes race towards the enemy hull and strike into its metal side; and fail to detonate. The ship changes course and steams away from our submarine, unscathed.

[kaleun]

December 31st 42

On the last day of the year, the 30th Australian Brigade attacks the enemy I/66 Naval guard unit at Nadzab. The enemy is defeated and flees into the forest.

Over Rabaul, deadly dogfights accompany the B17s as they strive to put the airfield out of action. Determined enemy fighters contest the skies and the results are, at best, uneven.