Zuluhour vs Zigurat666: 1943

[PaxMondo]

And although Alfred wrote this within the context of the allies, I feel it applies to the IJA as well.

[zuluhour]

Thank you Alfred, I did the read and concur with you. It's really desperation on my part to employ the Dutch bombers on naval targets. It's rare the IJA has exposed themselves to land bombing in the open within my limited experience with the theater and the knee jerk reaction from TWIT HQ is pray for a hit on a large full AP. There is no excuse for my tactics here. Before I ever play Allies again I will need to develope a useful doctrine for the Dutch. I am guilty of doing little for them.

[zuluhour]

February 22, 1942

China: The IJA intensifies its air campaign hitting Kweilin very hard and ground forces are on the move against Changsha and along the Pearl river.

Burma: Zeros and Oscars quickly clear the skies over Rangoon of an AVG element and a squadron of Hurries from 221RAF. Gathering clouds...

SoPac: Some port Service personel land at Pago Pago while a construction unit is 40nm due west and should begin to unload tonight.

BBFanboy: Thanks for the notice, I tried to fix the rout/route thing but I think I have been doing it for three YEARS! [:D]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

Thank you Alfred, I did the read and concur with you. It's really desperation on my part to employ the Dutch bombers on naval targets. It's rare the IJA has exposed themselves to land bombing in the open within my limited experience with the theater and the knee jerk reaction from TWIT HQ is pray for a hit on a large full AP. There is no excuse for my tactics here. Before I ever play Allies again I will need to develope a useful doctrine for the Dutch. I am guilty of doing little for them.

I think you are too hard on yourself. It is only Feb. 1942, you don't have the wherewithal to do much for the Dutch [no rhyme intended]. You don't have enough PP [or ships] to buy units out and haul them to safety for later use, unless you leave other areas like Hawaii without reinforcements from USA.
Some other players have succeeded in hitting IJN ships all the way up to carrier size with the Dutch AF, provided the enemy gets careless and the weather keeps the CAP out of the way. When your choices are to park your aircraft and do nothing or to try, there is no shame in the latter. As you point out, there is little open terrain for you to attack troops.

[zuluhour]

Just lost an entire post!![:(]

quick summary:
Saratoga puts to sea from Aukland to upgrade.
The 35th PG is un packing P38s. "Pappy" arrives at the O club in Sydney.
Yorktown put to sea with amphib units for SoPac and spots a sub in her path.
Engineers reach Pago Pago and debark.
Remainder of the 35th PG unloads in north east Australia.
Some Dutch squadrons are used up and withdrawn.
221 RAF takes up fields in Burma and prepare to stage into Rabaul.
AVG (in small sections everywhere) regroup.
Two brigades of the 6th Aussie division are now in India.

[zuluhour]

P40s perform well in their first contest:

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 31 NM, estimated altitude 32,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 24

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 32000 feet

CAP engaged:
3rd PS (P) with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 18 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters between 18000 and 29000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes

[zuluhour]

The Changsha SitRep

Ground combat at Changsha (82,52)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1430 troops, 175 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2104

Defending force 75559 troops, 445 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2338

Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
9 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
34th Division
15th Division
51st Infantry Brigade
39th Division
57th Infantry Brigade
32nd Division
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
China Expeditionary Army
52nd Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
2nd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
51st Ind.Mtn.Gun Battalion
1st Mortar Battalion
14th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
11th Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
4th Chinese Corps
26th Chinese Corps
73rd Chinese Corps
10th Chinese Corps
99th Chinese Corps
9th Prov Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
72nd Chinese Corps
78th Chinese Corps
58th Chinese Corps
5th Construction Regiment
9th War Area
29th Group Army
27th Group Army
30th Group Army
19th Group Army
17th Chinese Base Force

[zuluhour]

Bataan: Not much time left but there is still counter battery fire.

Ground combat at Bataan (78,77)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 3242 troops, 293 guns, 127 vehicles, Assault Value = 1569

Defending force 26870 troops, 504 guns, 567 vehicles, Assault Value = 358

Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 21 (3 destroyed, 18 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
64 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
16th Recon Regiment
54th Division
33rd Division
113th Infantry Regiment
Tanaka Det
56th Engineer Regiment
3rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
56th Recon Regiment
Kanno Det
48th Engineer Regiment
53rd Division
20th Infantry Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
22nd Recon Regiment
65th Brigade
4th Tank Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
7th Tank Regiment
3rd Mortar Battalion
3rd Engineer Construction Battalion
56th Field Artillery Regiment
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion
48th Field Artillery Regiment
18th Mountain Gun Regiment
14th Army
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st RF Gun Battalion
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
4th Marine Regiment
31st PA Infantry Division
194th Tank Battalion
71st PA Infantry Division
51st PA Infantry Division
31st Infantry Regiment
192nd Tank Battalion
4th PA Constabulary Regiment
Manila Bay Defenses
2nd PA Constblry HW Regiment
I Philippine Corps
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
301st Construction Battalion
11th PA Infantry Division
2nd/45th PS Inf Battalion
803rd Engineer Aviation Battalion
Clark Field USAAF Base Force
88th PS Field Artillery Regiment
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
21st PA Infantry Division
Provisional GMC Grp
14th PS Engineer Regiment
1st PI Base Force
202nd PA Construction Battalion
USAFFE
201st PA Construction Battalion
Bataan USN Base Force
Far East USAAF
301st PA Field Artillery Regiment

[zuluhour]

February 26, 1942

Ominous but expected sooner rather than later....

[zuluhour]

Naval bombardment of Port Moresby at 98,130 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 29 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 4 destroyed on ground
Catalina I: 14 damaged

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Ise
BB Yamashiro
BB Fuso
BB Mutsu
BB Nagato
CA Kako
CA Furutaka
CA Nachi
CA Haguro
CA Myoko

Allied ground losses:
316 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 14
Airbase supply hits 10
Runway hits 31
Port hits 11
Port supply hits 7y...

Reality hits home at Port Morseby:

China: Chungking: reserve situation:

[zuluhour]

February 27, 1942

Ground reinforcements arrive: On almost all fronts. Three days until we release another Aussie brigade to southeast asia. The 7th Division still waits in Yemen. RAF bombers are loaded for India from Yemen also. IJA recon stepping up in Burma. No sign of ground forces. In seven days we should have a full squadron of operational P38s in the SwPac. There has been very little use of flying forts or liberators so the pools while meager do have replacements when SoPac fields open up. The IJN has a small TF of DDs and PCs we spotted WSW of Christmas Isle. I hope he is just hunting. Most of the pieces for phase 1 of PO-1 are close to debarkation ports where they will off load, change to combat mode, and load into more transports arriving daily. I want to get them ALL off loaded in 48 hours MAX. In the last week I have spotted 6 CVs in the western DEI and 2 north of New Brittain. I am not ready for a CV encounter and won't be till June at the earliest. By then I should have naval airpower land based to assist.

[zuluhour]

February 28, 1942

Washington DC: Orders cut for the Australian 17th brigade to pack for India. Not much political power left in the pocket (6) so three day drinking binge for TWIT stationed there. Zulu HQ expects to buy out the remaining Aussie Cav reg from the 6th Div on or about March 3, 1942. It was necessary to disband 2 ABDA squadrons early to accomplish this.

Pacific Fleet: Hawaii: Kimmel: Saratoga will make port this evening and begin upgrades in Australia. Lexington will remain in San Diego for same. Enterprise and Yorktown are at sea on escort duty and will be available for opening stage of PO-1 before withdrawing for their upgrades. Small IJN TF appears at Christmas Island, our oiler and escort departed yesterday at flank. A cruiser force has been dispatched from Pearl to poke around. Half a dozen fleet subs of the Sargo class make for open water to patrol zones from New Brittain to Luzon. Another tanker convoy should arrive this month in Hawaii as well as another estimated 100,ooo pts of supply. USAF squadrons begin to switch over to "E" model P40s as over 75 of them becam available after dispanding the ABDA squadrons. Aukland will be busy for the next 72 hours unloading troops for phase 1 of PO-1. ASW efforts are now maxed and naval attack squadrons are on call.

SwPac: Port Morseby hit hard by smallish raids today. Replacement squadrons stage in. There is what appears to be an amphibious force off the north coast of Buna. Sydney scrambles a cruiser TF to investigate and support Port Morseby should they make the turn through Milne Bay.

Burma: IJAF hits Moulmein with a smallish raid. Not sure why. Some AVG and 221 RAF fighters stage back in to Rangoon for round 2. Two squadrons of the 51st Pursuit which has been arriving in eastern India split up. One squadron will transfer to madras where it will stage into Columbo while the other heads for Calcutta, now level 7, and possibly deploy to Burma.

China: Its very clear the IJA wants Changsha.

[BBfanboy]

Does Saratoga's upgrade require a dockyard? If so, you will find that Oz does not have one large enough to take her 36,000 tons. [:(]

[zuluhour]

&^$% I thought I checked Saratoga against Sydney! Perhaps her up grade requires a lesser size than her tonnage?

[BBfanboy]

Could be - not all upgrades require use of the drydock. You'll have to click on the upgrade date [yellow text, bottom right of the ship screen] to get details of the upgrade and port requirements.

[zuluhour]

I believe I am luck as the turn opened, I scanned quickly to Sydney, size 30, needed size 25. She should begin her refit tomorrow. I thought I checked. You have quite a good memory BB to remember her tonnage.

March 1, 1942

Bataan: Over 27,000 troops lost as the IJA collapses the pocket. Only two islands remain allied and they are unoccupied SSE of Leyte. With Singapore and Bataan gone in the last thirty odd days the IJA should have much more to play with. They did take some beatings in February trying to force a decision with several shock attacks so I hope they need a month or more to recover.

West Coast: Support for PO-1 boards transports. Two more port service detachments, INF Reg, CD Bn, USN BF, and a Marine air wing prepare to set sail for SoPac. APDs reach San Diego from the east coast for escort duty. The only fast fleet oiler not in use is transfered from Hawaii (Neosho) and will help in bringing some smaller support craft to SoPac then return to trail Lexington, now just beginning refit in the yards at San Diego.

SwPac: We guess right on Buna and our cruiser TF arrives to late to stop 13,000 Japs from unloading in the night, but early enough to give them a shock in morning. HQ Sqd (B17) will continue recon over Buna while the only B17 squadron in the area is ordered to raid the base. Port Morseby:F=3, 328av, S=21995, (no AAA!) P=21, AF=55, Runways=60.

Burma: 12 plane raids continue over Moulmein. Rangoon once again has fighter cover to protect merchants unloading supply for China. Sub patrols depart Columbo for choke points south of Burma.

[zuluhour]

Battle report from the Australians:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Buna at 99,129, Range 21,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
APD Tsuta, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
APD Yomogi, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
E Hachijo, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
PB Kyo Maru #8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
PB Santos Maru, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
PB Shoei Maru, Shell hits 21, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Shotoku Maru, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
xAK Aratama Maru, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMC Kongo Maru, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Tenyo Maru, Shell hits 18, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Terukawa Maru, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Venice Maru, Shell hits 17, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Cheribon Maru, Shell hits 5, on fire
AMC Hokoku Maru, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Huzi Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
xAP Kanzyu Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CL Leander, Shell hits 3
CL Achilles, Shell hits 2
DD John D. Edwards
DD Whipple, Shell hits 3

Allied Ships Reported to be Approaching!
Japanese TF suspends unloading operations and begins to get underway

[zuluhour]

Buna: Intel: Recon: 4th IJA Div plus support.

[zuluhour]

March 2, 1942

West Coast: Covoys take turns loading out: fuel: supplies: men: machines. It will be the largest covoy of the war thus far. Escorts arriving from SoPac and CenPac.

Hawaii: Small IJN cruiser force parked at Christmas, if they stay there will be action. Resupply of Midway, Johnston, Palmyra complete.

SoPac: Bora Bora evacuated, ships approaching Hiva Oa. Enterprise just off shore of New Zealand and deploys her fighter squadron inland for upgrading to F4s. II Fighter command loading for Australia. Assembly of a cruiser TF and another SCTF around Warspite assembling. US cruisers which set sail from Sydney 24 hours ago approach the north coast passing New Castle last night. Aussie TF egressed at flank from Buna made the coast last night and will make for Sydney for small system repairs and rearming.

Java: IJA forces have entered Batavia. Some more "used up" Dutch squadron are withdrawn.

Yemen: The 6th Aussie Cav is bought out and will load in 48 hours for India. This will complete the 6th Australian division. Div HQ currently in Calcutta. Weaker/forming Indian divisions guard the coast line with some armor for support.

China: busy, will have to report at a later time.

SwPac: Finschaven is infested with yellow men. A large SCTF of 4 heavy and 5 light cruisers escorted by half a dozen destroyers raid Port Morseby. Limited damage but it hurts after the BBs foray. They sink a small merchant unloading supply and add maybe 2 dozen additional points of damage, killing 50+ in the process. That makes a shade over 400 casualties in the last three days there.

[zuluhour]

March 3-4,1942

West Coast: Large covoys depart for SoPac. Fast tankers 48 hours to sea for Pearl. Some fighter COs relieved and replaced for higher training results. Rotating pilots in and out of reserves.

CenPac: Cruiser TF finds IJN SCTF idle at Christmas in the night. Many shots and torpedos exchanged for no hits under a full moon at 9-11,000 yards. Both TFs appear to have retired by daybreak.

SoPac: Bora Bora troops arrrive in the rear for new assignments. Enterprise, escorting engineers and ground crews for SoPac switches to combat operations as she makes the final few days to target. Yorktown needs 48 hours at the pier as well as her escorts in New Zealand. Ground forces train for objectives and await first amphib. HQ arrival.

Australia: IJN TF off port Morseby vanishes on the night of the 4th. B17s ordered to hit Buna again on the 5th. Cruiser TFs pass on the night of the 4th off Brisbane. The Australians get a round of unheard applause after their victory at Buna. Fuel arriving easing shortages at Sydney and Townsville. Darwin trying to get another level of forts up. Supply arrives weekly from Perth. The first squadron of RAAF Kitty Hawks arrives to ease the strain on the soon to be withdrawn last ABDA squadrons. The first P38 squadron in Australia receives her final group of pilots from the reserve and expects to be fully operational with a full complement of aircraft tomorrow. They will have slightly over a dozen spares for March and April. I hope not to be forced to commit them for time being.

Java: Heavy bombing at Batavia.

Burma: quiet with the exception of recon and small daily raid over Moulmein. Recon from Rangoon reveals no ground formations. yet.

India: SCTF set sail on the 3rd for the Bay of Bengal. Prince of Wales and Repulse will offer themselves for a short time in the south eastern reaches of the Bay looking for any small IJN TFs thinking of a quick grab.

China: Intel and actions confirm the IJA wants Changsha and the eastern city limits and approaches is crawling with Japs. Bombing intensifiying as well as the daily bombardment. A strong Chinese Corp will try and retake Wuchow on the 5th before retreating east.