Guadalcanal and The Aleutian Islands: A prelude (Japanese and Allied Sides)

[SierraJuliet]

8 August 1942

During the night one of the cruiser screen TFs locates the Japanese TF sighted the day before. It is an all one way affair with CA Vincennes credited with the destruction of APDs 31, 38 and 39.

SS RO-33 locates the cruiser screen and fires on CA Quincy but misses. The escort don’t pick up the scent of the Japanese sub.

The attempt to disrupt the supply task force headed towards north NG is a failure. 4 Beaufort escorted by 8 Airacobra locate the TF at Buna but are met by a CAP of 9 A6M2. 2 Beaufort and 4 Airacobra are destroyed and the mission is a wipe-out. What is left of the Beaufort squadron is sent back to Cairns to regroup.

On the Kokoda Track the Japanese continue their bombardment but this day the reports come back with 50 Japanese casualties and 1 combat squad destroyed plus another disabled and a non-combat squad also disabled. Todd is not overly impressed with this result but it is much as I found it when in charge of the Empire…. The Australians on the track seem to be well prepared for anything thrown at them unless the Japanese are prepared to bring more to the table.

[SierraJuliet]

Here is how things were looking.

[SierraJuliet]

Due to my uncertainty about what was lurking I went for some radical rearrangement of my task force positions. It does look messy but I hope it tells a story of how I went about this adjustment.

[SierraJuliet]

9 August 1942

The Japanese continue their bombardment attack at Kokoda. Today the Japanese suffer 18 casualties with a combat squad and an engineer squad disabled and the Australians suffer 6 casualties and 1 combat squad disabled.

I order the two transport TFs to move 1 hex away from their targets. The 2 cruiser screens are repositioned and the North Carolina group (now including CLAA Atlanta after a successful merge) is ordered to bombard Lunga. Ent and Sara remain to the west and for the time being appear to be unspotted. The Wasp is to the south and is ordered to move off to the west and meet up with a replenishment TF heading up from Noumea.

When will Tanaka strike?

CL Achilles has been repaired at Sydney.

[SierraJuliet]

10 August 1942

Night time bombardment of Lunga by BB North Carolina and escorts nets 132 casualties, 6 non-combat squads destroyed, 7 engineers destroyed and 1 gun destroyed plus airbase hits 1, airbase supply hits 4, runway hits 9, port hits 5 and port supply hits 4. They skedaddle to the west and will join up with the carriers tomorrow. 3 DDs are detached and will head back as ASW as the Japanese subs are moving in.

Major booboo as I neglect to turn the do not land button off on the Tulagi Invasion force and almost the entire force is dumped onto hex 115,138 being the vacant island to the east of Tulagi. Took me a while to work out what was going on…. Someone messed up out there in the fleet. Nothing for it other than pack them all back on board and try again. This is what the scenario are surely for… hate to do this in the GC. All is good with the Lunga force and they should touch down tomorrow.

Surely Tanaka cannot be far away now.

A surprise raid by 4 A6M2-N at Milne Bay. They are met by 5 Kittyhawk and the whole affair is rather inconclusive.

The Japanese continue their bombard at Kokoda and sustain 9 casualties to 0 Oz casulties.

[SierraJuliet]

11 August 1942

All troops now back on board and bound for Tulagi!

Things at Lunga are going to plan. There is a little trading of shells as the landing craft begin to move in. DD Blue is hit by 1 shell for negligible damage during the overnight phase. A mere 9 casualties and 1 squad disabled during the first round of landings. The next round sees 28 casualties with 5 squads and 8 non combat squads disabled and 2 non combat squads destroyed + 5 guns and 4 vehicles disabled and nil destroyed. After my woeful efforts in landing Japanese troops on Lunga I’d have to put this down to the value of 100% prepped troops. The next round of landings sees just 8 casualties.

Near Truk SS Grayling sends off 6 fish at xAKL Noshiro Maru # 2. This is the first of many reports of a dud torpedo. Good on Grayling and should serve notice on Todd that my subs are ranging outside of Truk.

Those pesky Rufes are back again at Milne Bay. Nothing to report and the CAP doesn’t catch them.

In the final round of landings at Lunga the coastal gunnery gets 1 hit on AP American Legion and 2 hits on AP Hunter Liggett. Very minor damage compared to what would happen to Japanese merchants…. These are admittedly much bigger ships than the Japanese version so not surprising that the damage is not that bad. The real damage is in the 25 casualties and 4 non-combat squads disabled.

The Japanese ground bombardment on the Track continues and this time it seems the jungle swallows up the onslaught as no casualties reported on either side.

On Lunga the Japanese launch a bombardment attack which has the effect of causing 63 Japanese casualties with 6 combat squads disabled. The combat values are Japan 92 v American 449. On that basis I order a deliberate attack for the following day as the American forces have plenty of supply and very minimal disruption.

Wasp has refuelled and is moving into position north of Ent and Sara.

I’ve bought out one of the elements of 5th Australian Division based in Brisbane and plan on sailing it to Milne Bay to bolster the defence there. In time I plane on getting the whole 5th Division back together.

Luganville now has sufficient supplies to keep it going and the B-17 transport runs have now been cancelled.

[Cribtop]

Good luck!

[SierraJuliet]

Thanks Cribtop. I do believe luck has some influence on this game but bad decisions also have a big impact. Hard work figuring out some devious plan also helps.

12 August 1942

Most of the transports at Lunga have finished unloading and have been sent home. Two are still messing around offloading supply and troops. During the day DD Bagley suffers 1 hit from the shore defences. Japanese forces carry out a bombardment attack with no result. The ordered deliberate attack comes off with odds of 21 to 1 and all Japanese units retreat to Tassafaronga. The defenders here have little going for them with a minus against everything except terrain…. terrain(+), op mode(-), leaders(-), disruption(-),preparation(-), experience(-), supply(-). Does a minus against op mode indicate that Todd was attempting to withdraw the units in strategic movement mode? As it was the Japanese lost 2547 casualties with 59 combat squads destroyed and 42 non-combat squads destroyed. Allied losses were 35 casualties. A successful result but now I see the issue with supply. 2611 supply is required and the battle has reduced supply available to 1210. AV is good thought at 447.

SS I-123 shoots at DD Benham near Russell Islands and misses. The escorts score 2 hits on the sub.

Things are back on track with the Tulagi Invasion TF and troops start coming ashore at this target. 76 casualties reported which is ok after the previous messing about dropping them off elsewhere. Japanese forces here carry out a bombardment attack which results in 9 Japanese casualties and 7 Allied casualties. Tulagi also has supply problems with a mere 98 supply available but 635 required.

The Japanese bombardment on Kokoda Track continues with no reports of casualties.

I have a 4 ship cargo force just arrived at Luganville on the way to try of get supply onto the islands… high risk I guess but necessary to consolidate the success of the landings. The carriers are still in place and the 2 cruiser screens are also available.

11th Australian Battalion is enroute to Milne Bay. CL Achilles and DDs Arunta and Warramunga, which were escorting tankers to Noumea, are detached and will form a slender escort for this transport convoy. Wasp is in position to offer assistance should it be needed.

13 August 1942

SS I-169 finds and puts 1 torpedo in CA Quincy near Lunga. The escorts pin her down and force her to the surface where the surface ships finish her off. CA Vincennes even lands a couple of 8’shells into the submarine. Vincennes is having an eventful time so far. Damage to Quincy is 08 29 (27) 15 (6) 00. I’ve sent her to Ndeni in case flooding becomes an issue… then to get her to Noumea and thence to a repair yard in Oz.

Wasp has moved a little to the north… far enough to bring her planes into reach of Shortlands. 15 Wildcat escort 12 Dauntless on a raid and they find AMC Akagi Maru and plant 1 1000 lb SAP bomb on her. No reports of fire so perhaps she got off lucky.

SS RO-33 locates the troop ships heading south and fires torpedoes at APD Colhoun without success. The escort is likewise unsuccessful.

The Japanese bombard again on the Track and at Tulagi without result.

[Cribtop]

As you move stuff to Sydney's yard, watch for long range I-boats. Any IJN player worth his salt knows this is your only repair option and will keep a sub or two in range to pick off cripples.

[BBfanboy]

You need a railroad or first class road to strat move on land. Since there is no road between Lunga and Tassafaronga and there
was no transport ship waiting for them, the Japanese must have been in move mode.

[SierraJuliet]

Good points. My warships get a good escort to and from Sydney. merchants probably not as much as I would like but there is only so much to go around and hopefully not too many I-boats down south as the honey pot is around Guadalcanal

I forgot about no road between Lunga and Tassafaronga. This comes from thinking and not analysing said clever thought. Move mode fits the bill and makes sense but that jungle makes it impossible for the Japanese to escape before the Americans arrive.

[tocaff]

There is no escape for the Japanese troops if the Allied player is vigilant and chokes off the sea route.

[SierraJuliet]

I do my best to be vigilant.

14 August 1942

Plenty of Japanese submarine activity without success.

SS I-121 targets DD Clark near Kirakira and misses.

SS RO-67 targets DD Monssen near Stewart Island and misses. She sustains 1 hit from ASW.

SS RO-34 targets DD Grayson (escorting Quincy) near Ndeni and misses.

SS I-168 targets DD Balch near Stewart Island and misses.

3 Rufe make an appearance over Lunga… Nuisance value but surely a sign of things to come as Todd has kept things very quiet on his end. I suspect he is awaiting the arrival of the Japanese Queens.

The supply convoy arrives at Tulagi and begins unloading… once there is sufficient supply here I the US forces in place will be ordered to attack.

Japanese bombardment on the Track continues without bothering the entrenched Australians. The same goes for the Japanese bombardment of marines on Tulagi.

Quincy makes Ndeni without bother and has her damage slightly down to now be at 08 27 (27) 14 (06) 00.

The supply situation on Lunga is looking up with 1823 supply in place and 1399 required. Work progresses on repairing the damage which is now Port 47, AF Service 34 and Runway 19. I desperately need to get 114th USN Base Force in place (with its air support) so I can get air support up and running at Lunga.

The supply situation on Tulagi is slightly improved now to 149 supply in place and 608 required. If the Japanese leave us alone for another day those ships should get plenty of supply in place for the land assault.

Forts at Milne Bay have been increased to size 3.

[Cribtop]

Re the Base Force, in one game of this I played I used a unit of Catalinas to fly in a fragment. Got a few precious aviation support points in place while waiting for the shipping to lift the balance of the unit and thus got some CAP over the base asap.

[SierraJuliet]

Using aircraft to ferry troops around is something I did now and then the my WITP game with Todd... haven't used it so far in AE.

15 August 1942

Supplies continue to dribble onto Tulagi. By turns end there is 387 supply but we need 784.

Lunga continues to improve with 2191 supplies at the base and only 1400 required. 114th USN Base Force is bought out from SoPac Rear Area (R) and reassigned to South Pacific so that it can be shipped out to Lunga for which it is 100% prepped – this costs 117 PP. They start loading straight away.

Near Truk SS Greenling launches 6 torpedoes at xAK Takaoka Maru… a dud. No surprise there.

Enterprise and Saratoga launch an air strike (60 Dauntless escorted by 17 Wildcat) against 35th/124th Infantry Regiment at Tassafaronga. 31 casualties reported with 3 squads disabled. They are now ordered south to meet with a replenishment TF and refuel.

More inconclusive Japanese bombardment on Kokoda Track and at Tulagi.

CVE Long Island, DD Case, AO Kaskaskia and AO Platte arrive at Noumea.

Tankers and cargo ships are shuttling between Sydney and Noumea to keep Noumea stocked with fuel and supply.

16 August 1942

Just about safely nestled at the Ndeni harbour but AK Carina is located by SS I-11 almost within sight of land. 1 torpedo hits and does fatal damage and down goes the supply I had earmarked for Ndeni. The escorts huff and puff but I-11 is long gone. I’m going to resort to aerial supply to see if that will start building up supply on this island.

SS Greenling lurking around Truk locates AMC Akagi Maru. Akagi M had been hit by dive bombers at Shortlands so it is obvious at least that she survived. She is still putting out plenty of smoke so it should be some time before we see her grace this game again. Greenling for her part shoots and misses.

Near Rennell Island my ASW group locates SS I-171 and scores 1 hit. The destroyers are running out of depth charges and fuel is getting low so time to head back to Noumea for stock up on essentials.

The ground bombardments by the Japanese at Tulagi and Kokoda Track continue with no reports of casualties.

The supply situation on Tulagi is improving…. Slowly. There is now 616 supply available but the ground units now require 887 supply. Getting close and soon orders will go out to attack the Japanese defenders.

Lunga is looking very good with 2542 supply available and only 1402 required. The damage now stands at Port 47, AF Service 17 and the runway is fully operational. The base force which will provide aircraft support is now more than 2 days away. As the Japanese carriers have arrived in Truk today I’m hopeful that I can get this unit in place before the transports need to skedaddle. The cargo ships currently dropping supply to Tulagi and Lunga also have 2 days before they have to clear out.

The 11th Australian Battalion has arrived at Milne Bay and will start unloading overnight. I’ve placed another squadron of Kittyhawk here from PM until the transports clear the area. Wasp is providing distant cover until then with Achilles in close support.

Saratoga and North Carolina are returning to Noumea. Enterprise has been refuelled and will remain near Lunga until the transports clear out.

[SierraJuliet]

17 August 1942

3 Rufe poke around above Lunga.

Japanese bombardments at Tulagi and on the Track continue.

A mass of Allied shipping arrives. CL Leander at Brisbane and she will head north to Townsville to join up with Achilles. All the shipping at Noumea I leave alone for the time being except the submarines which all receive order to head to places north. What is a JFB to do with CL Boise!

The aerial resupply of Ndeni works and there is now 24 supply there and 70 needed.

Lunga is at 2878 needing 1401 and the damage is now at Port 47 and the airfield completely damage free.

Tulagi is at 838 supply needing 909…. Moderate rain forecast so this should help keep snoops away for a day.


18 August 1942

The daily bombardment attack on the Track sees 5 Japanese casualties reported. At Tulagi more of the same with no reported losses.

Supplies on Tulagi are now at 1065 with 930 required. I decide to risk the cargo ships 1 further day to offload some more supply because I have also ordered the US forces on Tulagi to carry out a deliberate attack on 19 August. I’m hopeful that this attack will capture the base as the Assault Values reported from the Japanese bombardments is Japanese 33 and US 177. In any event I hope the get one more day of unloading without the Japanese Fleet paying a visit.

Lunga is now at 3538 supply requiring 1528. Port damage is down to 26 and a good portion of 114th USN Base Force is ashore. At present the base has 11 aviation support with another 19 still on board the ships. I decide to fly in VMF-212 which is based at Efate. There unit does have 24 Wildcats but by tomorrow most, if not all, of the base force will be in place and able to support the whole group… Rufe snoopers beware!

I’m sure that Todd is sending something down Guadalcanal way but as I have spied some ships at Buna doing a supply run I decide to stitch together a little operation to let him know I’ve got interests other than Guadalcanal. The landing of 11th Australian Brigade is almost complete so everything should be able to clear out of here soon. As Wasp is very close I’ve decided to send her planes a hunting and see what they can stir up around Buna… a hornet’s nest no doubt as Todd has not been using his Zeros yet and there are bound to be plenty there and at Lae. The aim is to bag a couple of ships. So in an effort to mix things up I’ve sent a squadron of Kittyhawks based at Milne Bay to do a sweep of Buna as well as Airacobras from PM. For good measure some Kittyhawk are set to naval attack and B-17s based at Townsville are tasked to bomb the airfield at Buna. If everything comes off it will see some fireworks at Buna.

[SierraJuliet]

19 August 1942

The sweep over Buna by 10 Airacobra meets nothing… perhaps the Japanese are taken unawares and need some time to get a CAP organised. A fragment of a group, 2 Airacobra, pop up next and are met by 2 A6M2. The Zeros have the better of it and shoot down 1 of the Airacobra. 9 of the B-17 turn up and are met by 2 Zero. By now there are thunderstorms in the hex and without loss the bombers manage to achieve airbase hits 2 and runway hits 1. Later in the afternoon 6 B-17 appear and are met by a CAP of 5 A6M2. The aircraft from Wasp do not fly as no trace of Japanese ships is found. I expect that if the ships are still around Buna that the weather has been bad enough to assist any Japanese ships in the area to remain hidden.

At Lunga 3 Rufe come a snooping again. 9 Wildcats are bouncing around the sky with severe storms playing havoc with their attempts to shoot down the intruders. No loses on either side but Todd now knows for sure that Lunga has aircraft to protect it. These bombers come in at 12000 feet so not a big surprise that no damage is reported.

Near Truk SS Grayling finds a convoy a shots torpedoes at CS Chitose… duds.

No casualties to report from the Kokoda Track IJA bombardment.

After the usual Japanese bombardment attack the deliberate attack Tulagi goes ahead as ordered and achieves adjusted odds of Allies 147 to Japanese 34; enough to achieve 4 – 1 odds and the base at Tulagi is captured by Allied forces. The Japanese report 389 casualties (2 combat squads and 32 engineer squads destroyed and the majority of their guns destroyed or disabled). 1st USMC Raider Battalion, 1st USMC Parachute Battalion and 2nd USMC/2nd Regiment now have a place to call home. These 3 units are well supplied, however, Tulagi base itself is way down on supply having only 127 on hand and needing 1167. In any event the initial object of capturing Lunga and Tulagi has finally been achieved.

Over at Lunga all damage has been fixed and supply now stands at 5900 with 1846 required. Aviation support is up to 30 so all planes are adequately supported.

CL Leander arrives at Townsville.

[Cribtop]

Is this game like the last one where the game is way past the AAR?

[SierraJuliet]

20 August 1942

SS Gudgeon is located near Talasea and eludes the ASW.

SS Greenling, near Truk, launches torpedoes at DD Uzuki….. duds. Greenling will try again, later in the day, against DD Uzuki. Another miss.

Near Kirakira SS I-10 shoots torpedoes at DD Mugford and misses.

3 Rufes pay a visit to Lunga. The 6 Wildcats on CAP again miss a change to claim a kill or two.

The Japanese bombardment on Kokoda Track nets 5 Oz casualties and 1 combat squad disabled. I forgot last turn to order the American units at Tulagi to rest. They are straight back in attack and achieve odds of 5 – 1. 327 Japanese casualties to 7 Allied casualties. By the end of the fight Det – Kure 3rd SNLF, 14th Naval Construction Battalion and 129th JNAF AF Unit have all been wiped out by attrition.

Lunga now sits at 8097 supply and forts have gone to level 1 (20%). Having that port fully repaired has helped to speed up delivery of supply from the cargo ships.

Ships, which I believe to be the Japanese carriers have appear well out to sea north east of Guadalcanal. All Allied transports are on the move towards the south and hopefully safety.


21 August 1942

SS I-11 is located near Ndeni. The allied ships attempt to get a fix for depth charge attack but cannot and the submarine makes good her escape.

Near Rennell Island SS S-41 comes across SS I-9 running on the surface and recharging batteries. S-41 manages to hit the Japanese sub with 1 torpedo. She sinks, for sure, as the Intel Screen lists 1 Glen plane lost on the ground this turn.

Nothing new on the track – no casualties.


22 August 1942

The Japanese bombardment on the Track nets 12 casualties and 2 engineer units disabled.

The, believed, Japanese carriers are still well to the northeast of Lunga.

All 3 American carries are now at Noumea as well as North Carolina and heaps of escorting vessels.

[SierraJuliet]

Cribtop. This game is indeed running well behind the action. The game has ended about a month after where I’ve just post up to. We ended after Todd encountered a bug where his TFs sitting out to sea from Guadalcanal would not move… sat there for at least 3 turns and refused to go anywhere. One of my toothless subs found them and subjected them to a number of nuisance value attacks. Todd suggested a restart and I had no problem with doing that as this is all training for me leading up to the GC. We also did an update and are now using V1.7.11.23x9 with stacking limits.

As for my learning experience in what remained of this game…. I had a few. I learnt to make sure that I double check my orders for my carrier TFs so that they stay together and end up where I want them to be. I had Sara and Ent together teamed up with Wasp in a separate TF in the same hex. I thought I had ordered all of them to the same hex but Sara and Ent stayed right where they were (just as I had ordered them to do). Wasp ended up exactly where I wanted all 3 carriers… perfectly in position to take on the Japanese carriers. Of course Wasp wasn’t up to that by herself and took on bombs and torpedoes but not enough to sink her. I managed to get her out of sub infested waters and back to Noumea and thence to Sydney where she was well on the way to repair when we finished.

I also learnt that Todd (as I know from our WITP GC) loves massed effect. This he did in the waters around Tulagi when Washington was caught out by 60+ Betty. She was hit by 4 torpedos and had 70+ flooding damage but she managed to crawl back to Luganville and when we finished she was on her way to Noumea. She was certainly out of the game but it was a very good practice at saving badly damaged ships…. And confirmation for me that US ships are so incredibly hard to sink.

We did get in another carrier battle after Todd started showing interest in New Guinea. I managed to position Sara, Enterprise and Hornet near Milne Bay without Todd being aware they were there after his carriers had flattened a cargo convoy at PM (yet again another oversight of making sure orders had been set correctly and shipping was left exposed to air attack instead of moving out of harm’s way). I managed to loose Boise to air attack and in the carrier duel Sara and Enterprise each took a torpedo leaving me with Hornet on her own. My aerial disposition for this battle was very poor so I hope I’ve learnt from that. By that I mean my fighter allocation was all over the shop and a large flight of unescorted Dauntless and Avengers went after the Japanese carriers and got chopped up. They did manage a couple of 1000lb bombs on Shokaku and Zuikaku which was going to give them some yard time.

A good duel and if you will forgive we have moved onto a restart with Todd, once again, at the helm of the Japanese terror.