SBD Dauntless fodder - Alikchi (J) vs Lord Windy (A)

[Alikchi2]

ORIGINAL: veji1

Are you the Alikchi who did the Iron Storm scenario for the old WITP ?

Yes! Ages and ages ago.

[veji1]

ORIGINAL: Alikchi

ORIGINAL: veji1

Are you the Alikchi who did the Iron Storm scenario for the old WITP ?

Yes! Ages and ages ago.

Nice, I really liked it. I see you recycled some of that work here. Great fun.

[DOCUP]

Nice AAR. I like the mod too. Keep up the good work.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 9: December 14, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

The Pacific War is now a week old.

We’re a few turns ahead of our posting. After this one, I downloaded a new screenshot utility which made things MUCH easier for me.

Hong Kong

After an extensive aerial and artillery bombardment, our two divisions (33rd and 104th) launch a shock attack into the city. The defenders are outnumbered nearly ten to one and the place folds quickly. The poor Canadians and Brits are shuffled off to POW camps, and the great city is in our hands.

The 33rd and its associated units are immediately set to planning for their next operation. This division will be the main force in our invasion of Java.

Far Pacific

No sign of the American fleet. If they held their course, they've continued on to New Zealand or Australia or possibly French Polynesia. Our carriers continue along their track at a leisurely pace.


Borneo

Today something significantly annoying begins: B-17s launch from Manila and target the newly-captured oil refineries at Miri. Those things cost a lot of supplies to repair, and we need that oil to fuel our economy. The American oil blockade is the whole reason we started this war, and now the bastards are trying to take away our newly-conquered supply!


What a jerk

I fly a wing of Zeroes to Kuching airfield and set them to long-range CAP over Miri. Miri does not have a base force or any aviation support yet - one is assigned and packed onto some boats, hopefully to arrive within a week.

Also: we begin landing troops at Manado on the tip of Celebes.

General

This seems like a quiet one because there's a lot of shit going on behind the scenes. The South China Sea is flooded with Japanese transports and cargo ships - the first wave of invasions is over and it's time to start loading for the second. Several full divisions are at sea or nearly loaded.

Every day there are numerous Allied bomber and submarine attacks on Japanese shipping. Very rarely do they hit anything. The Blenheims and Hudsons flying from Singapore tend to be driven off by Oscars or flak; the B-17s based in Manila fly too high and bomb too inaccurately. The P-35 squadron is also set to naval attack for some reason and have been getting mowed down for their trouble.

[timg]http://lpix.org/1932671/1280px-Seversky_P-35A_USAF.jpg[/timg]
Not a bomber

American submarines (apart from the smaller, older S-boats) suffer from faulty torpedoes at this stage in the war. Still, every once in a while one of the damn things works. This turn I create dedicated ASW task forces of sub chasers and destroyers to cover the north coast of Luzon, where the American subs are doing the most damage.

The Dutch subs are usually a real terror at this stage in the campaign, but I’ve barely seen them.

Aircraft Losses


A low-losses day. Our bombers focused on enemy troops exposed without aircover this turn. Allied losses were damaged aircraft captured at Hong Kong airfield before they could be repaired and flown out.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 10: December 15, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Philippines/Hong Kong

We sent out RADM Tanaka yesterday night from Pescadores with a small task force of destroyers and torpedo boats to pick off any survivors of Hong Kong fleeing by ship. He runs across the stranded British MTB squadron - they’re hard to hit in the early morning darkness, but we at least manage to tag one.


Rear Admiral Tanaka Raiz&#333;

We lose DMS W-20 to an American S-boat off Luzon. On the ground, our troops occupy Tugueragaro - every day we advance a bit further towards Manila/Clark/Bataan.

In the south, heavy cruisers Myoko and Haguro bombard the port of Cagayan. I had been expecting to find American aircraft there - the base has a decent airfield - but no such luck. We shell the defenseless city and start a bunch of fires.

A few turns ago, I noticed that the Philippine island of Jolo is well placed and has a decently-built airfield! Today, we begin landing troops, along with an aviation support unit. I have Zeroes and Betties earmarked for this airfield to help project power closer to Java.

Borneo/Celebes

[timg]http://lpix.org/1934414/celebessitch.png[/timg]

The 15th Naval Guard finishes disembarking at Manado and launches a shock attack on the Dutch garrison forces. It fails, and we lose quite a few men. Embarrassing, but we haven’t lost our beachhead. Time to ship in some more dudes with guns. I expect Ternate to fall soon with less difficulty.

At Kuching and Ternate, the Dutch bombers keep making attacks on our shipping. They continue to miss. To the east, we’re about to take Brunei.

American B-17s flying out of Manila hit Miri again - a full 19 of them this time. We have three Zeroes loitering over the base, and they damage quite a few of the lumbering things, but are unable to bring any down. Though disrupted, the American formation gets a decent run in.

Malaya

Continued bombing of Georgetown by IJAAF bombers, continued disgorging of troops onto the beaches at Kota Bharu. The steamroller is just getting started.

The Sonias we send to Georgetown target the port and catch several ships at anchor - including the AV HMS Albatross.

Air strikes by Blenheims and Hudsons against our invasion fleets continue and are, as per tradition, driven off by Oscars and Flak. The only change here is the addition of a wing of Mohawks escorting bombers flying from Kuantan. They’re not really a threat - they’re basically P-35s - but the bombers having an escort is annoying; they might accomplish something. I begin flooding Kota Bharu with bombers moved forward from Thailand. We’ll hit Kuantan with big strikes when the weather allows.

This also marks the first sighting of the Swordfish torpedo bomber. Two of them fly out of Kuantan at extended range and are promptly shot down by Oscars. These and the other Brit torpedo bombers (Vildebeests, Albacores) are genuinely scary to me and could do real damage. Another reason to close Kuantan airfield ASAP.

Far Pacific

The coast defence guns on Wake are still firing. Nasty pieces - maybe 150mm guns, maybe larger - that score a few damaging hits on our ships today. Nothing too badly damaged, but it’s annoying.

Nells flying from the Marshalls go for a bombing run - but the range is too long for Zero escort. One gets shot down by a Wildcat; the others seem to have no effect.



Something more concerning - one of our floatplanes spots an American task force about a day’s steaming from Wake, with at least four ships. One of those ships is reported to be a destroyer. I suspect that it’s another American carrier (or maybe those flight deck cruisers) on the way to sink my exposed invasion task force and relieve the island.

I break the task force into three groups - the fastest ships heading directly East, the others returning to Kwajalein. Hopefully, if it is carriers, that’ll save the more useful ones.

[timg]http://lpix.org/1934413/kbsitch.png[/timg]

Meanwhile, the KB continues its leisurely journey to the west. No sign of any American aircraft or ships whatsoever.

Aircraft Losses

[Alikchi2]

Side note: I'm leaving the larger images in their unworking [timg] tags because they're huge and will break the forum tables if embedded as per usual.

[Bif1961]

Impressive ARR and graphics. Like the idea of alternate ship construction since Japan pulled out of the League of Nations in 1935. I have toyed with playing a scenario where Japanes only attacks British and Ducth territories and therefore the U.S. can't declare war through an isolationist Congress. It would be a variable based upon victory points the Japane accumlates against the British and Dutch before the U.S. enters or until Japan decides to attack American targets. That would be the no U.S. Strike Scenario.

[Alikchi2]

I like that scenario. You could make it even more plausible, I think, by having an alternate candidate win in the 1936 or 1940 elections or have Roosevelt die in office.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 11: December 16, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

I have just realized that you can hear my Spotify playing on the video replay. Please do not judge me for pairing War in the Pacific with Billy Joel.

Philippines

So the surface ships I sent to take out those minesweepers off the coast of Luzon arrived. What I didn’t properly think about was the hex the sweepers were loitering in: Bataan. The coast there is HEAVILY mined. Light cruiser Yura promptly hits a mine but isn’t too badly damaged.

[timg]http://lpix.org/1935369/philippines area.png[/timg]
(1) Bataan
(2) Allied transports fleeing Hong Kong
(3) A few of many, many Japanese invasion and troop transport fleets

Anyways, light cruiser Agano and two destroyers avoid the mines and sneak up on a group of three minelayers. They open up at very close range with all they’ve got - 25mm AA guns hose down the enemy decks. USS Quail and USS Whippoorwill are sunk. USS Lark avoids combat in the darkness.

The next morning, in an egregious case of overkill, Lark is hammered to pieces by the 16” guns of Nagato and Mutsu and their escorts. My punishment for overdoing it: one of those escorts, the destroyer Sanae, hits a Mark 6 Mine off the coast of Bataan. It sinks immediately. Stupid stupid stupid. Just a Wakatake-class DD, but I should have remembered about Bataan.

Malaya

Nothing particularly atypical to report. Troops are still disembarking and marching south. The usual Japanese bombing of Georgetown, with the Allies trying their luck at Kota Bharu. The Allied strike is escorted by those Mohawks I mentioned yesterday. They run into a dozen Oscars over Kota and are shot up pretty badly: 6 Mohawks go down in exchange for a single Oscar.

Still, they serve as ablative armor for the British bombers, who have relatively unobstructed runs. In a very rare hit, one Hudson drops a bomb through the deck of xAK Teisen Maru.

Borneo

The B-17s arrive again - I had to stand down my CAP, they were getting extremely fatigued - and score another 5 Oil hits at Miri. Grr.

Ternate falls to a shock attack by the 16h Naval Guard. I’m not sure if I’ll actually use its airfield or not, but it’s a good stepping stone.

Brunei falls to IJN marines as well. A good day!

China

The Chinese are massing troops to face me at Kaifeng. We’re just trading bombardments right now - few casualties on either side. I have 17.5k troops to his 21k, but more guns and vehicles. Reinforcements are on their way.

I’ve also almost finished assembling a very large army in central China that’s going to go for the headshot: Chungking.

Far Pacific

The 144th dropped its high Disruption and Fatigue values pretty quickly, so I try for a Deliberate Attack here. It fails, but not as catastrophically as last time. Still, I’m looking into options for pulling the troops out. That hostile task force is only a few hexes away now.

In the Solomons, a pack of APDs land a company of Special Naval Landing Force marines to help take Kavieng. The following shock attack captures the base and forces the few Australian defenders into the jungle.

Aircraft Losses

[Alikchi2]

Turn 12: December 17, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Home Islands

Yesterday I ordered the seaplane carrier Chiyoda to travel from Kure to Yokohama for her conversion to a Junho type light carrier. South of Shikoku Island, the submarine USS Skipjack takes a shot at her.



I love you BuOrd.

A few hours later, the USS Spearfish fires a torpedo at Chiyoda and misses. Finally, a THIRD sub patrolling off the Home Islands, the USS Sculpin, misses an attack southwest of Nagoya.

So, two conclusions. One: Chiyoda is a very, very lucky ship. Two: I need to step up my ASW game, because I won’t always be that lucky.

Philippines

I mentioned that to stop B-17 attacks I would need to destroy them on the ground and/or made their airfield unusable. The B-17s are flying out of Manila. Today we begin our all-out assault on the USAAF in the Philippines.



We’ve been flying in Zeroes to our newly-established airfields in North Luzon. They go in for sweeps - the first wave (from Vigan) is 29 Zeroes. It encounters a USAAF CAP of 60+ fighters over Manila, mostly Warhawks. The result is a massive furball, with more American fighters being scrambled throughout.

Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 20 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 29

Allied aircraft
P-26A x 4
P-35A x 6
P-40B Warhawk x 14
P-40E Warhawk x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-26A: 1 destroyed
P-35A: 1 destroyed
P-40B Warhawk: 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed

It’s enough to break the back of the American CAP, though. Multiple waves of additional Zeroes follow until the sky is clear over the Philippine capital. 32 Warhawks are destroyed in total in exchange for 13 of our Zeroes.

This is an excellent result. Tomorrow, we’ll continue the sweeps, and send bombers from Formosa to start smashing up the airfield. We’ll escalate the pressure until Manila is untenable as a base for the USAAF.

Borneo/Celebes



The Manila B-17s hit Miri again. They do run into our Zero LRCAP but we only manage to damage a few.

Stalemate continues at Manado, annoyingly.

Malaya



Slow but steady progress. The RAF has mostly pulled back to Singapore and seems quite inactive overall.

Far Pacific



We take a breather at Wake - no fighting today. Taiho and Chuho are en route to the Home Islands for repairs and more aircraft. They’ll swing within airstrike range of the island on the way. Maybe we can catch something juicy.



Hyuga is safely in port at Kwajalein and has been repairing nicely. We’ll deal with some more of the engine damage before sending her back to Japan for major work.


Aircraft Losses



Good initial results here.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 13: December 18, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Philippines

As with yesterday, we start with the sweeps. The first wave of 19 Zeros guts the Allied CAP, the next 9 forces the remainder to the ground, and then the bombers arrive.

[timg]http://lpix.org/1939705/bombers.png[/timg]

Their targets: the Manila airfields, runways and support facilities, along with aircraft on the ground. The first wave reportedly does excellent damage to the hated B-17s:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
G3M2 Nell x 13
G4M1 Betty x 42

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Warhawk: 4 damaged
P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground
O-47A: 5 damaged
O-47A: 1 destroyed on ground
B-17D Fortress: 18 damaged
PBY-4 Catalina: 7 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 5 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground

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

Airbase hits 20
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 31

Followup waves of Nells and Sallies do quite well, reporting more damage to the airbase facilities, runways, and aircraft.

Borneo

Unfortunately, a contingent of B-17s took off in the morning before our attack on Manila and hit Miri.

Morning Air attack on Miri , at 64,87

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 9 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 14

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 3 damaged

Oil hits 5

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 3000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 5000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb

Far Pacific

Our Betties based in the Marshalls spot and launch an attack against what I believe is an American resupply effort for Wake Island.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Wake Island at 136,98

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 6

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CL St. Louis

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

CAP engaged:
VMF-211 Det with F4F-3 Wildcat (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 100 , scrambling fighters to 10000.
Raid is overhead

They all miss, as do Taiho and Chuho’s Mabels and Kates, annoyingly.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Wake Island at 136,98

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
B5M1 Mabel x 13
B5N2 Kate x 15

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CL St. Louis
xAK Florence D.
DD Mugford

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
13 x B5M1 Mabel launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

Our CVLs will continue on to Yokohama, but maybe their presence will be enough to scare the Allied TF away. I’m still not really sure what to do about Wake but prolonging the fight suits me right now.

Home Islands/China/Etc.

[timg]http://lpix.org/1939708/Image 021.png[/timg]

A poor Chinese headquarters unit has become separated from the troops it commands and gets smashed by the IJA 15th Division. Other, more stalemate-y fights are taking place in the north, around Kaifeng.

Back home, we do more tinkering with R&D and aircraft factory production behind the scenes. I’m starting to understand the system, more or less, and am working out what future models of aircraft I want to focus on.

Also, we sweep a bunch of mines at Hong Kong, clearing the harbor for use. The 33rd Division, recent conqueror of the city, will be the spearhead of our invasion of Java - we’ll be concentrating shipping at Hong Kong for that operation.

Aircraft Losses



Another good day of attrition. Not so many losses on the ground as I’d hoped, but there should be a bunch of damaged aircraft down there.

[Alikchi2]

People have entire spreadsheets of information on Japanese production over at the Matrix forums if you'd like to check that out.

Yeah, I've been reading all the threads and tutorials I can find. I'm still almost certain I'm going to fuck something up.

We're quite a few turns ahead of the LP at this point - New Year's 1942. The IJNAS already have tweaked/advanced aircraft in this mod, so I'm focusing on accelerating Army stuff.



For the Navy, I want to advance to the armored and up-engined Zero variants ASAP - the A6M5, then the A6M8. Along the way I'll pick up the N1K1 as a stopgap until the A7Ms start arriving, hopefully in mid-44. As for bombers, I'm investing heavily in the P1Y1 Frances and ASW patrol aircraft. I hate submarines.

The Army aircraft should be pretty typical for the next few years. My goal for 42 is to bring all Oscars and Nates (that aren't training aircraft) up to Oscar Ic standard and start cranking out Tojos ASAP. I'm heavily invested in the Ki-84 Frank as well, and hope to transition to them in late 43.



The real surprise I have for Windy, though, is the Ki-201 Karyu - basically an Me-262 copy. I'm throwing a lot of resources at this project in the hopes of being able to contest the air in late 44 and early 45.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 14: December 19, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

I forgot the combat report, sorry! The replay should be a fun watch this time, though.

Philippines

The third day of our air assault on Manila. The enemy has been worn down considerably already. 20 Nates go in first to wear down the enemy CAP. Then the Zeroes and Betties start appearing overhead.



No aircraft appear to challenge the third wave. Our Betties and Nells have clear runs on the airfields and harbor. Wave after wave of bombers hit Manila.

Then, the coup de grace:



Akagi and Kaga are back from the Home Islands, rested and resupplied. Their pilots attacked Manila Bay on December 7 and are happy to finish the job. Vals go for the airfields while Kates and Mabels drop heavy bombs on the damaged ships.



A few Fortresses fly from Manila to counterstrike, but are shot up by the CAP and miss their bombing runs.

All in all, a successful day. I believe the airfield at Manila is unusable and will take days to repair, consuming lots of supplies in the process. I don’t think Oklahoma and Nevada are sunk, but they’re so damaged that they’ll be useless for combat for a long while. It’ll be a struggle for Windy to get them safely out of Manila.

Borneo/Malaya/South China Sea

Off to the west, our Nells and Betties based in Saigon spot a British task force east of Mersing. What are they trying to do out there?



I suppose I’ll never know. In the first attack, heavy cruiser Cornwall takes a torpedo hit and the Dutch destroyer Piet Hein is sunk. The next wave appears to sink light cruisers Dauntless and Ceres. A decent haul. Maybe we can finish off the damaged Cornwall tomorrow?



We make launch a series of attack on Kuantan airfield. The Floatfire CAP fights valiantly, but we do alright ourselves. A second wave of Lilies reports 28 hits on the field.



I’ve been launching a lot of recon missions with Dinahs over Singapore. You can see the results here: a LOT of fighters and bombers. Windy is conserving his Spitfires and Whirlwinds for something big. To the southeast, you can see our invasion of Singkawang about to go in, 2000 troops with decent cover. Singkawang has a nice airfield; I intend to use it to cover my upcoming invasion of Palembang.

Far Pacific/Wake Island

We try another attack on Wake. It’s a slaughter, despite our numerical superiority. I begin making more concrete plans to pull the 144th out.



The Kido Butai has finished its long loop and reports nothing. Back to Truk.

Aircraft Losses



Not as many aircraft destroyed as I’d like, but I know we’ve damaged a huge number on the ground at Manila.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 15: December 20, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Philippines/Celebes

Heavy cruisers Haguro and Myoko lay in a heavy bombardment of Davao, smashing up the port and setting fires in the city. Hopefully this softens the place up for Japanese troops, which are Coming Soon.



Further north, things are going well! Our subchasers report heavily damaging or sinking American submarine S-36, and our troops are making progress in Luzon. They capture Lingayen this turn - another step closer to Manila.

We continue to hit Manila. The Americans manage to get 10 fighters into the air to defend the base in the morning, and they manage to shoot down a couple of Betties that become separated from the main group.



It isn’t enough. The big wave from Formosa arrives, and some of them are loaded with nasty 800kg bombs.

Morning Air attack on Manila , at 79,77

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 119 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 43
G3M2 Nell x 14
G4M1 Betty x 50

Allied aircraft
P-35A x 3
P-40B Warhawk x 2
P-40E Warhawk x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-35A: 1 destroyed
P-40B Warhawk: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 26, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 10, on fire, heavy damage
DD John D. Edwards, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Boise, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CL Nashville, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Marblehead, Bomb hits 1
DD Parrott, Bomb hits 1
AV Langley, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AS Holland, Bomb hits 1, on fire

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

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 15
Port hits 8
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
25 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 9000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb
23 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 9000 feet
Port Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
2 x G4M1 Betty bombing from 9000 feet
City Attack: 1 x 800 kg AP Bomb
5 x G3M2 Nell bombing from 9000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb
9 x G3M2 Nell bombing from 9000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
24th PG/3rd PS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 14000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes
24th PG/17th PS with P-40E Warhawk (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 8000.
Raid is overhead
24th PG/20th PS with P-40B Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 8000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
35th PG/34th PS with P-35A (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 3 scrambling)
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes

Followup raids do additional damage. I’m not letting up the pressure. This is the fourth straight day of attacks and I will continue them until that airfield is closed. It already is in quite bad shape - the B-17s didn’t show their faces today. Either they’re almost all damaged/destroyed or the facilities to service them have simply been blown up.



Meanwhile, we’re struggling at Manado, on the northern tip of Celebes. Our 2000 troops are having no luck dislodging the 1500 Dutch defenders. More are being rerouted to help take the place.

Malaya/Borneo

Our invasion of Singkawang begins in the early morning, and by the end of the day we’ve unloaded the full 1900 men. With only 900 defenders, we expect to take this place fairly quickly.



The Dutch submarine O20 torpedoes and sinks xAK Tatumiya Maru southwest of Cam Ranh Bay. Naughty Dutch with their functioning torpedoes.



We keep up the pressure on Kuantan, and the troops continue marching south. Hurry up, guys.

Oh, one last thing:



Our Saigon boys spot the survivors of yesterday’s attack limping back towards Singapore. Betties launch.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Djemadja at 53,82

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 13 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CL Ceres, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CA Cornwall, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Van Ghent
DD Kortenaer

Aircraft Attacking:
20 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

If Cornwall doesn’t sink I’ll be very impressed by British damage control.

Far Pacific



Desultory shelling at Wake. South of Truk, our invasion of Rabaul is just a few days out. I’m cutting it a little fine with that number of troops, but hopefully it’ll be enough.

Home Islands/etc



I shut down production of the Lily, Ida, Nell and Nate to conserve resources.

The South China Sea is absolutely full of Japanese shipping:



(1) Palembang Invasion force and covering warships.
(2) Akagi and Kaga, which will assist with said invasion.
(3) The 38th Division being loaded onto troop transports at Hong Kong. Next stop: Java.
(4) Our rapid advance in the north of Luzon…
(5) .. and our slightly slower one in the south.

Aircraft Losses



Attacking this hard and consistently is taking its toll. I’ll have to give my pilots and their machines a break soon.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 16: December 21, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Relatively quiet day.

Philippines/Celebes



The bombers go in for Manila as usual and encounter only a trickle of enemy fighters. More runway hits.



We landed the 21st Independent Mixed Brigade at Roxas and took the town this turn. They’ll march around and take the rest of the island of Panay for us.

Malaya/Thailand

We continue to bomb Georgetown - an infantry regiment is marching to take the place. Also hit is Kuantan. I believe Windy is in the process of pulling his aircraft out of here. The base is no longer tenable.

At Bangkok, a full division of Army troops is disembarking. They will be taking part in our invasion of Burma. The roads are horrible and railroads non-contiguous, so don’t expect to hear much about this for weeks and weeks…

Borneo



British bombers flying from Singapore actually manage a hit! They drop a bomb on one of our transports off Singkawang. Singkawang falls to a shock attack today, incidentally, and in decent condition. A couple of days and we should be good to fly aircraft in.



I chart out the path of our Palembang invasion force using waypoints. This should hopefully keep them out of range of torpedo bombers from Singapore and within range of Zero cover from Singkawang.

China

Every day, small groups of Army aircraft bomb Japanese troop concentrations.



Fighting continues at the rail junction northeast of Kaifeng (misspelled as Keifeng on the map) - the Chinese are bringing in reinforcements, and so are we. In the north, our advance on Sian is moving forward. In central China, our army going after Changsha has begun to march. No action in the south.

Sunk Ships



Here’s what has been sunk in the past week or so. Note that fog of war applies - Intel might have gotten a few of these wrong.

Aircraft Losses



Those 139WH-3s and B-339Ds are Dutch aircraft destroyed on the ground at Singkawang, presumably damaged machines that couldn’t be flown out. Ignore them and our losses are even for the day.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 17: December 22, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Another missing combat report because I’m a dumb idiot.

New Britain/New Guinea/Marshalls



The invasion of Rabaul begins. Light cruisers Furutaka and Kako suppress the coastal defence batteries as the Maizuru 1st SNLF hits the beaches.

Philippines/Celebes

A single wing of Betties raid Manila Bay again and pepper the ships there with bombs. Even 60 kg units will do decent damage to destroyers. Another Betty raid focuses on the airfield.

All the other bombers are resting - and it is well-deserved. We’ve stood down the Malaya aircraft too for a break.

In the south, a hefty pile of troops are successfully landed at Davao. More are coming. Once the full 7000+ are on land, we’ll take the base.



We’ve flown in a wing of Betties to Jolo to support our moves into southern Borneo, Celebes and so on. Today, they launch their first mission - an air strike on the Dutch defending Manado.

Borneo

Blenheim bombers repeatedly fly out of Singapore to hit our ships anchored off Singkawang - they miss and get shot up by flak for their trouble. A single Swordfish flying at extended range does manage a solid hit with a 500 pound bomb.



Shioya is a specialized landing ship, built on the same modular hull as the Chitose seaplane carriers and other craft - designed to be easily converted to Junho light carrier standard. We need to be careful with them.

China

A deeper look at the situation.



1 The line of advance for our army marching on Sian. Decent roads and no opposition so far.
2 Ongoing battle northwest of Kaifeng, both sides trickling in reinforcements.
3 Line of advance for the army I’m assembling at Wuchang. I want to besiege Changsha.
4 Just a divisional advance here but I think I can at least take Chuhsien.



Here’s the army we’ve put together in Wuchang. Everything but the 40th Division will be marching on Changsha. I won’t be too bothered if I don’t take the place. Mostly, I just want to put China on the defensive so I don’t have to devote too much energy or too many resources to this front.

Aircraft Losses

[Alikchi2]

Turn 18: December 23, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Philippines

All aircraft here stand down. It’s time for rest & resupply. I’m also making good progress building up airfields on Luzon that will serve until I take Clark Field for myself.

Something interesting happens in the dark hours of the morning:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Calapan at 78,79, Range 12,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
xAK Tokiwa Maru
xAK Malta Maru
xAK Konzan Maru
xAK Kuritake Maru
xAK Sinkyo Maru
xAK Koyu Maru
xAK Zuiko Maru

Allied Ships
CL Marblehead
CL Nashville
DD Alden
DD Edsall, heavy damage
DD John D. Edwards, heavy damage
DD Parrott
DD Chew
DD Stewart
DD Scout
DD Thanet
DD Thracian

Reduced sighting due to 25% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 25% moonlight: 8,000 yards
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
Range closes to 10,000 yards...
Range closes to 9,000 yards...
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 8,000 yards
Japanese TF attempts to evade combat
Range increases to 9,000 yards...
Range increases to 10,000 yards...
Range increases to 11,000 yards...
Range increases to 12,000 yards...
Range increases to 12,000 yards...
Japanese Task Force Manages to Escape
Japanese Amphibious TF evades combat

I run into these guys off the north coast of Mindoro. My transports are just passing through - I believe this TF was the one returning from dropping off troops at Roxas on Panay.

Now, I’m not sure what he was trying to do. I don’t think he was trying to escape, as I don’t spot these ships in the morning. I doubt he was trying to actually engage in combat with banged-up ships. Maybe he just wanted to pull them out of Manila to save them from further air attacks on the port? I dunno.



In the south, we take the recently-bombarded Davao with a nice pile of troops. The Miura Detachment will be pulled out to help more in the East Indies - the remaining troops will finish securing Mindanao for us.

Celebes

Cruisers Haguro and Myoko perform a nice nighttime bombardment of Manado, inflicting decent casualties on the Dutch. In the day, we perform a deliberate attack that fails, but does inflict more casualties on the defenders than ourselves. I’m optimistic.

Borneo

More air attacks on the Japanese shipping filling the sea around northern Borneo. As with yesterday, only the Swordfish are low and slow enough to actually hit anything.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Singkawang at 56,88

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
Swordfish I x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
APD Aoi, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Swordfish I bombing from 6000 feet *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

Aoi should be fine if the fires don’t consume her. APDs are valuable ships - well, I’m Japan, all ships are valuable. But APDs are useful.

Here’s a look at the area:



1 - Palembang, the objective. A huge amount of oil is produced here. I need this place captured and in good condition to win the war. I thought I’d have to wait until Singapore fell to safely move in, but I feel like I can make this work. The less time Windy has to fortify the place, the better.
2 - Akagi, Kaga, and a surface action group. They should be enough to hold off any naval attack the Brits and Dutch can throw at us. The carriers will also do the service of being the preferred target of the British and Dutch bombers, who will fly into the elite Zero CAP and get chewed to bits. Hopefully.
3 - The actual troops - a large-ish brigade, should be plenty to take the place. Another surface combat group for escort. Oh, and a final transport group loaded with aviation support units. Palembang has a nice airfield, and I need to use it to keep its facilities from being bombed like Miri.
4 - Army troops marching east to take that edge of Borneo. No hurry.


Far Pacific

At Rabaul, we launch our first attack after some ineffectual bombing by Truk-based Betties. As I’d feared, the Maizuru 1st SNLF isn’t enough to take the place. I arrange for the Kavieng troops to reinforce the attack, and if that’s not enough, another SNLF - but that’ll take time. For now, at least I’m contesting the hex.

Our submarines are finally getting back into the action:



I have a bunch of subs off the coast of Australia, trying to choke the Torres Strait and keep Windy from fortifying Port Moresby too much. Some are also in the south - like here, a little north of Brisbane. This is our first success. RO-34 sprays Canopus’ deck with 25mm fire before shelling the fuck out of the poor vessel. Not a confirmed sinking - we run out of ammo - but looking pretty badly hurt.

Aircraft Losses



When I said I was giving everyone a break, I wasn’t kidding. Only four aircraft were lost in the Pacific today. I seem to have all the initiative in the air right now.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 19: December 24, 1941

Quiet day, wheels turning, things in motion.

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Malaya

Twas the night before Christmas, and --



GOD DAMMIT

Borneo/Sumatra

Akagi and Kaga move within range of British bombers from Singapore. As I’d hoped, they fling themselves suicidally at Zero CAP.



The final count is 10 bombers downed. No hits scored.

China



The Chinese go for a deliberate attack in the hex northwest of Kaifeng. Dug in on good terrain with strong leadership, we do pretty well.

Ships Sunk



Oklahoma has appeared on the list, as well as Tennessee. I don’t believe the latter.

Aircraft Losses



I could get used to loss ratios like this.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 20: December 25, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Getting back in the saddle after nearly being killed by goons with Everclear in Wisconsin.

Australia

My subs have a good day off the east coast of Oz.



Two ships likely sunk. Also note the many Alied TFs off Rockhampton. Don’t know what they are, but they make me wonder.

[timg]http://lpix.org/1951579/subpositions.png[/timg]

Subs are settling into patrol zones. I’m going to be recalling my bigger I-boats - the ones capable of carrying midget subs. I have a fun plan for them.

Malaya/Borneo/Sumatra



Dutch bombers fly from Batavia to bomb my approaching Palembang invasion forces and run into long-range CAP sent from Kuching. The Zeroes massacre the outdated Dutch bombers.

Here’s a big view of the situation here:



1 - The Palembang invasion force. I expect them to begin landing either next turn or the one after.
2 - A division with lots of artillery support. The base it will land at is Merak, on the tip of Java and just a hex away from Batavia. I was initially planning to consolidate and set up the airbase at Palembang before trying to get a foothold on Java, but why not go all-in while I’ve kicked the door open? Still, it’s risky.

Other Theatres

Bombardments and marching and so on. Pretty quiet; all eyes on the East Indies.

Aircraft Losses



Nice.

[Alikchi2]

Turn 21: December 26, 1941

>>VIDEO REPLAY<< >>COMBAT REPORT<<

Australia



It’s I-5’s turn to score a victim.



Then I-173. A torpedo brings the Iron Knight to a stop. I-173 surfaces and sprays the deck with 13.2mm machine gun fire. Then another torpedo to finish off the target.

There’s a lot of unescorted shipping off Australia right now. I wonder what Lord Windy is doing?

Malaya/Borneo/Sumatra



Our invasion fleets sweep into Palembang as the day begins. The tip of the spear, a surface combat force including four heavy cruisers, one CL and four destroyers, runs into a tanker convoy escorted by the Royal Navy light cruisers HMS Dragon and HMS Durban. I suspect the tankers were attempting to evacuate oil.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Palembang at 48,91, Range 25,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Takao
CA Atago, Shell hits 1
CA Maya
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 1
CL Kuma, Shell hits 1
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Yukikaze
DD Asakaze
DD Matsukaze

Allied Ships
CL Dragon, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
CL Durban, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
TK Strix, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
TK Semiramis, Shell hits 15, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
TK Manvantara, Shell hits 13, and is sunk
TK Iris, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Maximum visibility in Clear Conditions: 30,000 yards
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 25,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 25,000 yards
CA Atago engages TK Iris at 25,000 yards
Range closes to 24,000 yards
CA Ashigara engages TK Iris at 24,000 yards
CA Maya engages CL Durban at 24,000 yards
CA Maya engages TK Iris at 24,000 yards
CA Takao engages TK Manvantara at 24,000 yards
Range closes to 23,000 yards
CA Atago engages CL Durban at 23,000 yards
Magazine explodes on CL Durban
CL Durban sunk by CA Maya at 23,000 yards
...
Range closes to 14,000 yards
TK Iris sunk by DD Tokitsukaze at 14,000 yards
...
CL Dragon sunk by CA Maya at 9,000 yards
...
TK Strix sunk by CA Takao at 9,000 yards
...
TK Semiramis sunk by DD Asakaze at 8,000 yards
TK Manvantara sunk by CA Takao at 8,000 yards
Combat ends with last Allied ship sunk...

There’s no escape from the confined space of the harbor. Durban’s magazine explodes early in the battle after a 20cm shell hit by Maya. Dragon goes down fighting but sinks anyhow, and the tankers are finished off shortly thereafter.



Akagi and Kaga are on bug zapper duty again, waving their butts at the Brits south of Singers. The RAF obliges by launching strikes from Singapore with inadequate Buffalo escort. It’s a very lopsided fight. Followup strikes by RAAF Wirraways and RAF Vildebeest biplanes are suicidally brave but fail to make an impact.



The Dutch send bombers after our ships disembarking troops at Palembang, but Zeroes deal with them handily as well.

At Palembang itself, our destroyers bombard the enemy and duel with coast defense guns. We take a few hits in the process. Still, they’re suppressed well enough. Our boys land successfully and in large numbers. We expect to take the place shortly.

Meanwhile in northern Malaya, the IJAAF continues to bomb Georgetown with no opposition.

Philippines/Celebes



Our advancing troops take Clark Field. We’ll be transferring in engineers and aviation support dudes shortly so we can repair and take advantage of the fancy American facilities.



On Celebes, we’ve been landing additional troops at Manado. With today’s shock attack we finally take the damn place. I have been consistently underestimating the number of troops required to take these bases - we’re still stalled at Rabaul.

China



50,000 Chinese soldiers overwhelm my paltry defense here.

Ground combat at Hwainan (89,50)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 54247 troops, 347 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1801

Defending force 7127 troops, 52 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 261

Allied adjusted assault: 1208

Japanese adjusted defense: 42

Allied assault odds: 28 to 1 (fort level 1)

Allied forces CAPTURE Hwainan !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3584 casualties reported
Squads: 104 destroyed, 133 disabled
Non Combat: 62 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 16 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 32 (17 destroyed, 15 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Allied ground losses:
1453 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 141 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
84th Chinese Corps
13th Chinese Corps
7th Chinese Corps
85th Chinese Corps
29th Chinese Corps
12th Chinese Corps
48th Chinese Corps
90th Chinese Corps
21st Group Army
31st Group Army

Defending units:
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
12th RGC Ind. Brigade
7th RGC Temp. Division

We’re railing in troops to try to counter this army - I’m concerned.

Aircraft Losses



Massacre of the innocents.