Where'd I put that sword again? Erkki(evil IJ) vs Iroquois(A) no Iroquois

[John 3rd]

Like your aircraft building choices. Pretty solid work and excellent goals for getting the most bang for your buck.

How are you resources and oil holding up? I found--with reduced cargo capacities--that the economy is much harder to keep going then before.

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

Like your aircraft building choices. Pretty solid work and excellent goals for getting the most bang for your buck.

How are you resources and oil holding up? I found--with reduced cargo capacities--that the economy is much harder to keep going then before.

I've managed to keep resources on Honshu @ 30-ish days reserves and both fuel and supplies are going up, approaching 1 million supplies. Palembang, Miri and Brunei have been left dry. Hokkaido I'm managing to move more resources than its building but having some trouble with Sakhalin. Fusan is not enough to move all resources produced in mainland Asia so I use Shanghai as another resource port.

I did not expand naval or merchant yards at all and vehicles to only 200 and air production only modestly so far(for example Navy air factories have been expanded by only 40: some E13 and 30 A6M3!). I spare supplies wherever I can.

Larger problem than cargo capacities is the annoying tendency of CS convoys to load ships only partially... Adens seem to sail at 70% loaded mainly. [&:] So tankers sail 100% under direct orders.

[Erkki]

March 5, 1942


China: 2 Chinese corps retreated, one near Changsha and the other far in the north for ~100 destroyed squads.

Burma: silent, but Imperial Guard's third reaches the hex where 1st Burma Division retreated to. Shock attack ordered for tomorrow! IJAAF bombers attempted to keep their heads down today so they may not be able to escape.

DEI: IJN bombers hit the northern end of Java. I'm attempting to make the Allies think there will be a landing here in the near future. Deliberate attack by the 144th Inf. Reg. at Tarakan fails for the Nth time... They've been trying to take the place for 2 months now. I guess I need to let the defenders run out of supplies.

Timor Sea: IJNAF strikes Darwin's port and destroys some small coastal minesweepers and a larger AR repair ship. No enemy fighters.

South Pacific:A large enemy force with warships and another with merchants arrives to Noumea. They bring more air search to the area and some IJN subs are revealed.

12 B-17s strike Port Moresby and 5 with 2 B-25s Luganville. Defending Zeros and anti-aircraft fire(mass of it, for the Japanese any way, stationed at Port Moresby because I expected it to become a bomber magnet, and it did!) manage to destroy 2 B-25s and 5 B-17s to no loss! Just a handful of runway craters that are patched quick.

Submarines: An IJN sub penetrates enemy escorts and manages to fire 6 torpedoes at CVL Hermes near Perth... But despite Hermes being a slow ship they all miss!!! As an icing on the cake, another IJN sub attacks a very large unescorted xAP on its way to Ceylon but also misses! Whats wrong with the Japanese submarines in this war?!?

[Erkki]

March 6, 1942

China: a new Ki-21 Sentai starts operating from Canton, and there are lots of bombing sorties today. IJA force on the road to Ankang reaches the Chinese again - attack ordered for tomorrow! Bombardment near Sian goes pretty well without a Japanese loss - I seem to be consuming their supplies, as planned.

Burma: A6M3 debuts as a wing of them sweeps Akyab, but Allied fighters dont fly. IJAAF hits the withdrawing British on the Prome-Akyab road. Imperial guards attacks them but despite all the negative modifiers the defenders had and the casualties they suffered week ago, the odds are only 1:2 and they hold. Bad luck with the dice I think...

DEI: yesterday the Dutch finally moved their submarines out of Soerabaja's port, so I canceled the bomber raid. However I figured they would fly their fighters in hopes of catching the bombers so I flew the 3rd Ku S' Zeros instead. 9 enemy fighters shot down for 1 Zero(pilot wounded). IJN bombers also hit Darwin again but this time all the ships had left the port. I wonder why.

South Pacific: a small enemy task force with 2 ships appears West of Luganville. Pickets I suppose. Noumea has about 40 enemy ships...

The operation to take Efate begins.

Submarines: A Dutch submarine sinks a tiny converted ASW boat near Singapore. IJN subs attack Noumea en masse but dont achieve anything - just one attack on an escorting destroyer that fails. Near Hawaii, enemy ASW force with 4 Clemsons attack I-17 that is badly hurt and may become the first casualty of the submarine fleet. 11 system damage and 56 flotation.

Ships: CLs Tenryu and Tatsuta begin their conversion to CLAAs at Hong Kong.

SigInt: For the 2nd time theres any use of it, as Sydney's detection level is risen to 2. See the screenshots.

[Erkki]

And here are the Imperial flying aces as of March 6.

[John 3rd]

Got your PM. THANKS or the insight and commentary on RA. Some of your specific thoughts will be factored into 7.0.

[Erkki]

March 7, 1942


China: advancing IJA inflicts more serious, serious losses to the retreating Chinese on their way to Ankang. The 4-Corps Chinese force has all but lost its combat effectiveness. They now retreated across a river(shock attack when IJA crosses it) where 4 other Chinese units waited for them. I hope they are not all full strength Corps, or this IJA push may end there...

Ground combat at 83,44 (near Ankang)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 35852 troops, 280 guns, 263 vehicles, Assault Value = 1269

Defending force 15672 troops, 171 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 211

Japanese adjusted assault: 936

Allied adjusted defense: 121

Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
680 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 56 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
6455 casualties reported
Squads: 339 destroyed, 31 disabled
Non Combat: 234 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 37 (27 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Units retreated 4

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
116th Division
15th Ind.Mixed Brigade
12th Tank Regiment
36th Division
15th Tank Regiment
58th Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
55th Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
59th Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps

Burma: IJAAF bombs the 1st Burma Division on the road to Akyab. RAF's Blenheim bombers show up over the battlefield, but 8 get shot down by the newly arrived 11th Sentai's Ki-43s on LRCAP.

DEI: IJN bombers hit Darwin's airfield, damaging lots of Catalinas on the ground. Waters around Palembang become infested by a mass of enemy submarines.

South Pacific: all quiet today.

Submarines:A USN sub sighted and attacked near Buna, where Marine engineers and aviation support unit are unloading.

[Erkki]

March 8, 1942


A good day!


China: bombardment attack near Sian using only the artillery units(sparing supplies here) destroys or disables over a dozen KMT squads. At this rate the artillery will destroy a regiment's worth of troops every 2 weeks. The Chinese moved more troops here today - this is good news as I'm planning to just bomb and tie these units in this hex while 2 other armies flank.

Burma: A6M3 wing sweeps over 1st Burma Div on the Akyab road and meets the AVG: 7 Hawks are shot down for 2 A6M3s and only one pilot is lost. I think this was good performance considering the numbers were 1:1 and this Zero unit wasnt particularly experienced. AVG's Hawks have now been destroyed.

DEI: Bandjermasin invasion fleet nearing its target became the target of enemy air attacks by old T.IVa float planes. LRCAP from Balikpapan dealt away with them. Lots of enemy submarines around Palembang get chased by ASW patrols and aircraft but no success today.

PI: IJA bombards the Philippine-American forces at Manila for approx. the 30th day.

South Pacific: Kido Butai and the rest of the fleet is easily within Catalina range from Efate and Fiji... But they dont seem to get sighted!

B-17s attack Luganville but the Zero-CAP shoots down 3 without a loss. I think the range and small size of Noumea's airfield really hurt them.

Submarines: A USN sub finds and almost destroys a lone picket ship near Japan. Another USN sub attacks the transports unloading at Buna, New Guinea, but unsurprisingly its torpedoes are duds.

Lieutenant Commander Shun Hasegawa and the crew of the submarine I-160 become the heroes of the day as they intercept and successfully attack an enemy force led by a Royal Navy battleship HMS Ramillies near the Maldives Chain in Indian Ocean. 3 hits are scored, flooding, counter flooding and heavy damage reported! I-160 avoids retaliation by Ramillies' escorts... She still has 4 torpedoes left(2 in front tubes) and so she gets ordered to pursuit Ramillies towards Colombo.

Sub attack near Addu at 14,49

Japanese Ships
SS I-160

Allied Ships
BB Ramillies, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Fortune
DD Isis

SS I-160 launches 6 torpedoes at BB Ramillies
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isis fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[Erkki]

South Pacific on March 8:





March 9, 1942


China: a large stack of Chinese moved out of Changsha towards Nanchang today. Looks like 4 Corps. I think these were looking to attack the Japanese regiment that had pursued a single Chinese Corps and retreated it 3 or 4 times during the last month, inflicting heavy casualties. The Chinese however are late, and if they attack further they'll be meeting more units, and I'll start bombing them. Artillery attack near Sian goes well again.

Burma: Every single bomber in the area was ordered to bomb 1st Burma Division today, and finally the weather allowed all strikes to fly. 1/3 of the Imperial Guards then retreats this enemy force for the 3rd time!

Ground combat at 55,48 (near Ramree Island)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 4188 troops, 40 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 124

Defending force 3311 troops, 39 guns, 20 vehicles, Assault Value = 52

Japanese adjusted assault: 92

Allied adjusted defense: 19

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), fatigue(-), morale(-)
experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
133 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
936 casualties reported
Squads: 33 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 82 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
Imperial Guards/A Division

Defending units:
1st Burma Division
221 Group RAF
77th Heavy AA Regiment

There isnt much left of those units.



Malaya: Tandjoepinang, the island right outside of Singapore, is invaded and falls! As I thought, this was the Allies' Catalina base in the area, and several planes are destroyed on the ground.

DEI: Bandjermasin invaded and the place will probably fall tomorrow. Denpasar invasion D minus 1.

South Pacific: KB and the invasion fleet remain hidden!! Luganville's Zeros sweep Efate and meet 18 Wildcats. The score is 5-4 but with only 2 pilots lost.

Submarines: I-160 fails to find Ramillies again - perhaps she went to Addu Atoll... Lots of submarines off Palembang still, and aerial ASW claims 1 hit on an enemy sub.

[Lowpe]

Lousy Allied damage control...sink the Ramillies she can't be going fast.

[Erkki]

Lowpe, I think she went to Addu and will sit there for the coming 2 years or so. [:-]

March 10, 1942


China: a Chinese Corps get retreated for the 4th or 5th time in the north... Only a thousand men left out of the initial 12,000 or so.

Ground combat at 86,33 (near Ningsia)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3480 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 127

Defending force 834 troops, 28 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5

Japanese adjusted assault: 58

Allied adjusted defense: 9

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
37 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
215 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
11th Indpt Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
81st Chinese Corps

There are 2 more Chinese Corps on the road with an IJA Mongol army Cavalry battalion(!) but apparently the Chinese dont know how large the force there is and have not attacked for over a month now. 2 Cavalry regiments are moving to their rear and will cut them off within 3 days.

At Ankang sector 2 enemy Corps areidentified across the river - so with any luck that force too should be possible for IJA to rout right away in the river crossing shock attack. IJAAF bombers keep pinning them down and hopefully increasing fatigue and disruption.


Burma: 77th Sentai sweeps Cox's Bazar and surprisingly finds enemy CAP of Buffaloes and what are probably the last AVG Hawks. 8 enemy fighters are shot down for 1 Ki-43.

DEI: Bandjermasin falls! More Catalinas destroyed on the ground and one Dutch airbase less.

Ground combat at Bandjermasin (60,99)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5088 troops, 40 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 166

Defending force 1219 troops, 10 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 32

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 131

Allied adjusted defense: 43

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

Japanese forces CAPTURE Bandjermasin !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
PBY-5 Catalina: 2 destroyed

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

Japanese ground losses:
66 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
485 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 13 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 7 (3 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units retreated 2

Assaulting units:
54th/A Division
1st Ind. Engineer Regiment
9th JNAF Coy

Defending units:
SE Borneo KNIL Battalion
Bandjermasin Base Force

Also Denpasar across Java Sea invaded today, and as expected it too seems to contain a patrol plane base. Attack ordered for tomorrow.

South Pacific: Fleet approaches Efate, and a huge mass of enemy submarines are detected around it... Kido Butai is finally sighted today and Zero-CAP shoots down 2 Catalinas. Landings at Efate tomorrow!

B-17s show their ugly faces as they attack Port Moresby again, this time at a much higher altitude and using full bomb load. The damage they do is nearly repaired at the end of the day, AAA fire hits some of them and a Zero shoots down a B-17D.

Submarines: I-160 and I-124 fail to find Ramillies. I-26 on its way to Melbourne passes Sydney... And attacks CV Yorktown!!!!! [X(] [X(] But once again Japanese torpedoes dont either hit or work at all, and once again a large Allied warship gets away unharmed, despite lacking air search and escorts to pin down IJN submarines they should expect in this area. [:-] That's something like the 8th or 9th attack on a CL or larger warship that fails despite 6 torps launched.

Sub attack near Sydney at 91,169

Japanese Ships
SS I-26

Allied Ships
CV Yorktown
CA Canberra
CA Houston
DD Parrott
DD Whipple
DD Le Triomphant
DD Lawrence
DD Stuart

SS I-26 launches 6 torpedoes at CV Yorktown

In my previous PBEM a submarine attacked and sunk CV Yorktown in this very same location. 2 hits, counter flooding and fuel storage explosion were enough.

Also notice the French DD escorting an American CV... And the old, slow Clemson class Parrott and Whipple that were last seen in the Ceram sea in the opening days of the war. I'm not convinced that this enemy task force composition is in any way optimal.

[Lowpe]

Too bad...

Le Triomphant is one of my favorite Allied ships, fast and powerful. However, her crew isn't that experienced, and she never seems to do well against submarines for me -- I think her ASW rating is 2. Not up to British standards!

[obvert]

You're right about the Yorktown TF. That isn't very good at all! Where are the good DDs?

Looks like you're making good progress here. What are your last plans for the invasion bonus?

[Erkki]

ORIGINAL: obvert

You're right about the Yorktown TF. That isn't very good at all! Where are the good DDs?

Looks like you're making good progress here. What are your last plans for the invasion bonus?

We will see. [:)] But heres what I have for tomorrow:



BB Hyuga TF will bombard Efate while the 2 amphibious task forces move in to unload troops. I hope the bombardment will also destroy some aircraft on the ground.

I'm expecting high forts level but few combat troops.

For the 2nd day I think I will detach 2 BBs from the Kido Butai and do a 2nd round of bombardments with them to raise enemy troop disruption and fatigue before the land attack. Tomorrow we will see the enemy land units and can judge if further bombardments are necessary. I can also use KB's strike aircraft or the G4M bombers on Guadalcanal to bomb Efate.

[Erkki]

March 11, 1942


China: IJA storms across the river towards Ankang and finds a large enemy force... Attackers only reach 1:3 odds and the Chinese hold. However there seems to be only 2 Chinese units, 41st and 77th Corps, with any combat power left, so they can likely be overcome with time. Also despite the poor odds, casualties really favored the Japanese, probably because most of the Chinese units were in really poor condition:

Ground combat at 82,43 (near Ankang)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 35755 troops, 280 guns, 265 vehicles, Assault Value = 1262

Defending force 24828 troops, 179 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 626

Japanese adjusted assault: 685

Allied adjusted defense: 2152

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3

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

Japanese ground losses:
4316 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 197 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 21 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1649 casualties reported
Squads: 135 destroyed, 43 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 29 (6 destroyed, 23 disabled)

Assaulting units:
15th Ind.Mixed Brigade
36th Division
12th Tank Regiment
116th Division
15th Tank Regiment
58th Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
55th Chinese Corps
45th Chinese Corps
75th Chinese Corps
59th Chinese Corps
41st Chinese Corps
77th Chinese Corps
1st Artillery Regiment
7th Artillery Regiment

Recovering the disabled squads will take a couple of weeks... And then we'll break through.

Burma: enemy fighters attempted to CAP over the withdrawing 1st Burma Division, but sweeping A6M3s shot down 8 Hurricanes to no loss! A6M3 is much better than M2 at high altitudes. Enemy Blenheim bombers attacked various(safe, for them) targets through the theater but didnt manage to score a single hit.

DEI: Denpasar attack drops forts to 1, theres only a small garrison unit. Enemy patrol planes attacked the invasion fleet but were both shot down by Zeros from Makassar.

South Pacific:

Efate: IJN amphibious and bombardment forces moved in, bombardment caused OK damage and the unloading casualties were light. The enemy garrison was as expected found to be a fairly small one, with US Paratroopers(!) and an NZ rifle unit. One of the unloading cargo ships was hit once by a 155mm coastal gun for light damage.

Night Naval bombardment of Efate at 120,154 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 damaged

5 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
CA Kako
DD Hokaze
DD Kikuzuki
DD Uzuki
DD Hamakaze
DD Teruzuki
DD Akizuki

Allied ground losses:
157 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 7 (2 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (3 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 18
Port hits 16
Port supply hits 9

Ground combat at Efate (120,154)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1385 troops, 27 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 93

Defending force 6754 troops, 108 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 251

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

Assaulting units:
2nd USMC Parachute Battalion
29th NZ Battalion
131st Field Artillery Battalion
104th USN Base Force
21st NZ Pioneer Coy

Defending units:
2nd China Assault Division
84th Naval Guard Unit

I wonder what the Field Artillery Battalion does there... Artillery is typically useful in long battles, and this one wont take long.

Kido Butai: KB attacked enemy shipping at Noumea. Once again KB's aircraft performance was downright horrible when it came to hitting targets...


Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 78
B5N2 Kate x 38
D3A1 Val x 48

Allied Ships
CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
AO Ramapo, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Gilmer, Bomb hits 1
DD Brooks
AO Tippecanoe, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
AO Patoka

All bombers got through the enemy CAP intact and they failed to sink Honolulu. Pathetic. 38 torpedo attacks managed to score just 2 hits. And once again Allied TF composition makes me wonder... A big, powerful modern CL leading an replenishment task force escorted by Clemson DDs, what? At least the 2 oilers were in fuel load and burned nicely.

Defending CAP consisted of P-40s, P-39s and Wildcats of various types. Zero escorts did fairly well.

Today's air losses for all reasons including ops and flak in the area were:

Japan:
14 A6M2 Zero
2 B5N
2 D3A
= 18 aircraft with 9 pilots KIA and MIA, 1 wounded

Allies:
5 P-40E
3 P-39D
3 P-400
3 F4F-3
2 P-40B
1 F4F-3A
1 Hudson
1 B-17E
1 Catalina
1 SBD-2 Dauntless
= 21 aircraft

Scout cruiser CS Mizuho in the Coral Sea sighted a large enemy TF with "AMC"s. She also sighted enemy carrier aircraft... Thats an enemy carrier TF trying to hit the Japanese flank again. I will not let that happen again.

Submarines: Dutch submarine sunk a PB at Denpasar and a USN submarine another PB at Efate. Could have been much worse. All troops made it ashore!

[Erkki]

March 12, 1942

Another good day!


China: IJA is about to open 2 new fronts as a small army of ~3 divisions starts to flank the Chinese in the northern front towards Sian. The Chinese have pulled their front back and are unlikely to see this opening before too late. Another force is gathering to attack Ichang North of Changsha. IJAAF has been "preparing" the defending Chinese for a week already.

Burma: bad weather grounds attack sorties. Blenheims strike Rangoon but dont hit a thing again.

DEI: Denpasar falls! 2 Dutch patrol planes more shot down by Zeros.

Submarines: I-158's captains' talents may be associated better with peeling potatoes than commanding a submarine.. Her boat attacks a lone small xAK on the coast of NW Australia and expends ALL 12 torpedoes and some gun ammo without scoring a single hit. The boat is ordered to return to Singapore.

South Pacific:

Enemy B-17s strike Port Moresby at 18,000 ft. The damage they do to the runway gets patched quickly. AAA fire claims a B-17E shot down!

The enemy CVTF/SAG withdraws directly South and is out of KB's strike range by dawn. A lot of shipping escapes Noumea towards Brisbane, and IJN submarines' E14 floatplanes keep tracking them well - helped by good weather. East of Sydney an E14 finds another enemy carrier task force.

Submarines RO-66 and RO-63 attack the fleeing shipping and hit medium sized AP and xAP. The xAP takes 3 hits and is sunk for sure! More subs are ordered to attack...

IJN invasion fleet leaves Efate avoiding enemy submarines, and the troops attack. Efate falls! 3(not 2) Wildcats didn't manage to fly away and are destroyed on the ground. Their pilots probably became POWs.

Ground combat at Efate (120,154)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 6763 troops, 108 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 250

Defending force 5117 troops, 41 guns, 108 vehicles, Assault Value = 84

Japanese adjusted assault: 150

Allied adjusted defense: 29

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Efate !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3A Wildcat: 2 destroyed

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

Japanese ground losses:
545 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
3802 casualties reported
Squads: 83 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 494 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 28 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 37 (37 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 90 (90 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 5

Assaulting units:
2nd China Assault Division
84th Naval Guard Unit

Defending units:
2nd USMC Parachute Battalion
29th NZ Battalion
131st Field Artillery Battalion
104th USN Base Force
21st NZ Pioneer Coy

Banzai!!!



Luganville and Efate had similar garrisons(except Luganville didn't have the paratroopers). Are these units of any real value to the Allies, other than at least the NZ ones being perhaps unrestricted at game start?

[Erkki]

[Erkki]

March 13, 1942


China: -

Burma: IJAAF bombs 1st Burma Div. but doesnt achieve much. RAF didnt fly.

DEI: -

South Pacific: B-17s hit Port Moresby again in the dozens, scoring 1 runway hit. Allied shipping disappears, dont know where. The horde of IJN subs fails to find even the stricken enemy AP. Enemy carrier TF remains sighted, and...

Submarines: ...a submarine I-8 attacks CL Java, part of the enemy CVBG, with 6 torpedoes, and again all torpedoes miss!!! At least I-16 between Sydney and Melbourne finds a semi large tanker without escorts on a return trip back to the States and sinks it.

Kido Butai approached into position to be able to strike nearly to Brisbane and south of the Brisbane-Noumea line, but no targets popped up. All gone, and I dont want to attack Noumea's port either. KB will now withdraw back into the fog of war.

Reinforcements: LOTS of all kinds of land unit reinforcements today! Sorting them out will take a while...

[Erkki]

March 14, 1942


Another good day to the IJN!


China: nothing new

Burma: Blenheims hit for some reason Magwe's refineries... They destroy 1 refinery but lost 8 of their number to Ki-43s.

DEI: IJN moves through Malacca Strait and IJN battleships cross Java sea uninterrupted.

IJNAF bombers strike Darwin's airfield and destroy some Catalinas and Wirraways on the ground.

South Pacific: As I half expected, another enemy carrier TF approached from the East, again not sighted by submarines, H8Ks nor scout cruisers' float planes. Its strike aircraft hit Luganville, and Zero-CAP tangles with the enemy, scoring 4-2 against Wildcats and downing 1 SBD dive bomber. 1 pilot is lost. However there are no transports or cargo ships left for the enemy to attack, and they only manage 2 hits on cruiser CL Kiso. Kiso is hurt but in no danger of sinking.

B-17s hit Port Moresby again but dont achieve much. AAA again claims a B-17E destroyed.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Luganville at 120,150

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10

Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 11
F4F-3 Wildcat x 10
SBD-3 Dauntless x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
DD Akikaze
DD Yunagi
DD Asanagi
CL Kiso, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
PC PB-52

The enemy carrier TF(screenshot coming later) seems to have 2 large CVs in it. It will now almost surely withdraw.

Submarines: Yesterday IJN laid more mines at Luganville for over 300 in total which paid off today. Enemy submarines visited the place, probably looking for the larger warships such as BB Hyuga and the transports. SS Nautilus' career ends in 3 mine hits.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 377 encounters mine field at Luganville (120,150)

Allied Ships
SS Nautilus, Mine hits 1, on fire

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 377 encounters mine field at Luganville (120,150)

Allied Ships
SS Nautilus, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 377 encounters mine field at Luganville (120,150)

Allied Ships
SS Nautilus, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Glug glug glug. Thats the 33rd or so destroyed enemy sub and 6th or 7th after Manila.

The dozen-ish IJN submarines keep tracking enemy carrier TF near Sydney. Enemy aerial ASW and surface forces manage to score hit on one of the subs for bad damage, and the sub heads home.

And then I-10 hits the bank:

Sub attack near Lord Howe Island at 97,167

Japanese Ships
SS I-10

Allied Ships
CVL Charlotte, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CA Pensacola
CL De Ruyter
DD John D. Edwards
DD King
DD Sands
DD John D. Ford

SS I-10 launches 6 torpedoes at CVL Charlotte I-10 diving deep ....

reports: "severe flooding", "severe flooding" and "listing, counter flooding"

Banzai!!!! This is why I use the subs the way I do... I don't have them everywhere but where I do, they work together to make use of any one of them sighting a target.

Charlotte seems to remain afloat for the next 12 hours, but judging by E14 air search only moves 1 hex, so she is down to 7 knots or(most probably) much less(from 15). 3 Type 95 torpedo hits on a ship of that size is a lot. Probably she has very, very high flotation damage level and majority of it major damage. The whole IJN sub armada in the area will be positioning itself between that TF and Sydney.

[John 3rd]

Got to be frustrating all those TT launched at priority targets and they MISS! Still that Brit BB and Charlotte are either done for or out for quite a while.