[font="Times New Roman"]March 29 - 31, 1943[/font]
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SUBS: [/font] Skipjack hits another xAK near Ceylon, but no troops on board. Pampano has a run-in with an xAKL on the surface near Fukue-Jima and hits it with a bunch of small arms fire, then takes a 12cm short gun hit and submerges. She's got about 12 service and 8 flat damage, but I'll keep her running around over there.
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INDIA: [/font] Strikes on ground forces fly on the 29th but airfield strikes are again grounded by weather. There is a division at Trin that was at Colombo. Same on the 30th, which gave me the jitters along with the approaching CV TF, so I just ran sweeps on the 31st. Good thing as Nick was able to move 250 fighters back into Trincomalee. Our sweeps got a slight advantage, and with service troubles there I'm sure there are a lot of damaged planes around, but I'm not going to risk anything else with another 500-700 fighters at Madras able to move in.
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CENT PAC: [/font] Preparing for some moves by getting troops reorganized and opening up some space on bases, getting units put together again and lots of little details.
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SO PAC: [/font] After the air strike on the surface forces in So Pac the 29th turns into an active night and day. First, the IJN DDs go right in for the injured and hit Leander and two DDs, the only unscathed ships from the day before, guarding Shortlands. The Allied ships fight hard, although outnumbered, and it looks like the IJN should lose the Yuzuki and the Allies did lose the Lardner to a long lance.
Four of the IJN DDs continued on to find the damaged Canberra, which also fought them off after taking two hits. It then limped back toward Tulagi.
The next wave of Allied ships showed up behind the IJN, hitting Buin with a good bombardment, destroying a few fighters and getting some good damage on the fields. They then run into two IJN DDs, the Shimakaze and Tamanami, and likely sink the Shimakaze, which is great as she's a very good ship.
Later Judys arrived and went for the two damaged USN DDs, getting under LR CAP and sinking both. This I didn't see during the turn due to a sync bug, so I had thought it was a decent day. That turned it a bit sour. It also looks like the CA Cornwall is not going to fight off the fires. They went up into th e40s and damage continued to accumulate in port. There is a bit of naval support here, but unfortunately I don't have more to be able to fly in. I fear the worst.
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CHINA: [/font] Kunming still holds after two more assaults on the 29th and the 31st.
I've decided to try to get supply to far Western China and bring troops there to rehabilitate and potentially grow, upgrade and prepare for the endgame, rather than simply letting them starve and fade away. Kashgar is in range of India and I need now to build the base on each side once supply starts to flow. I have a Corps moving from Urumchi to get started. This will take a good long time, but is the only hope to save some of the Chinese army from becoming recycling Zombie troops garnering continual VPs for the Japanese.
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OZ:[/font] Troops are reaching Cunerdin and will get to Perth soon. No sign of evac for the units here. One of the units is an air HQ, and I'll try to win Perth and then let it rot rather than letting him buy it back immediately. We'll see if it will actually retreat or just surrender.
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 29, 43
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Shortlands at 110,132, Range 7,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Shimakaze, Shell hits 1
DD Tamanami
DD Oboro, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Kikuzuki
DD Yuzuki, Shell hits 14, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Uruyuke, Shell hits 1
Allied Ships
CL Leander, Shell hits 4
DD Lardner, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Barton
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 39% moonlight: 8,000 yards
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Shortlands at 110,132, Range 8,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Shimakaze
DD Tamanami
DD Oboro, on fire
DD Kikuzuki
Allied Ships
CA Canberra, Shell hits 2
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 32% moonlight: 8,000 yards
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Night Naval bombardment of Buin at 109,131
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 51 damaged
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed on ground
Ki-15-II Babs: 2 damaged
Allied Ships
CA Australia
CL Perth
CL Achilles
DD Wilson
DD Sterett
DD Morris
DD Walke
DD O'Brien
Japanese ground losses:
330 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Airbase hits 23
Airbase supply hits 11
Runway hits 68
Seagull V acting as spotter for CA Australia
CA Australia firing at Buin
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Day Time Surface Combat, near Buin at 109,131, Range 17,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Shimakaze, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Tamanami, Shell hits 1
Allied Ships
CA Australia, Shell hits 3
CL Achilles
CL Perth
DD O'Brien, Shell hits 1
DD Walke
DD Morris, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Sterett, Shell hits 1
DD Wilson, Shell hits 1
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions: 20,000 yards
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 30, 43
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Sub attack near Madras at 39,49
Japanese Ships
xAK Banshu Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Ayo Maru
PB Keiko Maru
Allied Ships
SS Skipjack
SS Skipjack launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Banshu Maru
Skipjack diving deep ....
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Submarine attack near Fukue-jima at 99,59
Japanese Ships
xAKL Columbia Maru, Shell hits 32
Allied Ships
SS Pompano, hits 1, on fire
xAKL Columbia Maru is sighted by SS Pompano
SS Pompano attacking xAKL Columbia Maru on the surface
Norton M. decides to submerge SS Pompano due to damage
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Ground combat at Kunming (69,48)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 14738 troops, 317 guns, 992 vehicles, Assault Value = 525
Defending force 22951 troops, 157 guns, 22 vehicles, Assault Value = 290
Japanese adjusted assault: 341
Allied adjusted defense: 259
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
238 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Allied ground losses:
747 casualties reported
Squads: 40 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 22 (10 destroyed, 12 disabled)
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 31, 43
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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 95
A6M5c Zero x 18
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 32
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 61
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 13
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 2 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 2 destroyed
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x F4U-1 Corsair sweeping at 25000 feet
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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 28,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 83
A6M5c Zero x 10
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 15
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 49
Allied aircraft
P-40K Warhawk x 78
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 5 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-40K Warhawk: 5 destroyed
Aircraft Attacking:
25 x P-40K Warhawk sweeping at 25000 feet
12 x P-40K Warhawk sweeping at 25000 feet
12 x P-40K Warhawk sweeping at 25000 feet
3 x P-40K Warhawk sweeping at 25000 feet
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Morning Air attack on Trincomalee , at 31,47
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 44 NM, estimated altitude 30,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 52
A6M5c Zero x 5
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 12
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 37
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 16
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 3 destroyed
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Afternoon Air attack on Woodlark Island , at 104,133
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 25,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes
Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 40
Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 5
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 2 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed
Aircraft Attacking:
37 x N1K1-J George sweeping at 25000 feet
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Ground combat at Kunming (69,48)
Japanese Shock attack
Attacking force 14545 troops, 317 guns, 992 vehicles, Assault Value = 508
Defending force 22179 troops, 148 guns, 22 vehicles, Assault Value = 262
Japanese adjusted assault: 398
Allied adjusted defense: 406
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)
Japanese ground losses:
342 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 34 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Allied ground losses:
641 casualties reported
Squads: 13 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 71 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
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[font="Trebuchet MS"]Too bad, but we'l see if the subs can do something now. [/font]
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill