December 3, 1943
Subs
Grayling cripples the big AO Shiretoko on the Balikpapan-Manado route, but no fuel was on board. She might live.
Solomons
The J1N1 is in business over Namatanai, which is on the southern tip of New Ireland. He's building the airfield here finally... B-25s try to bomb it at night and get disrupted.
CENTPAC
Bombing continues at Makin, with more airfield hits and a few more planes destroyed.
3 groups of P-38s sweep Makin, going in with 18 planes apiece (weird). 22 Tonys and 14 A6M5b's begin the day on CAP, and are "swept aside" by the superior Allied planes.
Burma
We bomb the hex outside of the Akyab area (again, it's 1 hex NE of the end of the road) and only get a few reported casualties. This is in preparation for a deliberate attack, which doesn't accomplish much:
Ground combat at 56,44 (near Akyab)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 94824 troops, 632 guns, 482 vehicles, Assault Value = 3306
Defending force 32091 troops, 425 guns, 1453 vehicles, Assault Value = 1099
Allied adjusted assault: 1499
Japanese adjusted defense: 2374
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), fatigue(-), supply(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
888 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 67 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 44 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Vehicles lost 75 (5 destroyed, 70 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
2251 casualties reported
Squads: 97 destroyed, 136 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 6 disabled
Riptide
My Fletchers race up to try to catch the CV(s), but they wisely fled. What they do run into is 3 IJN DDs outside of Gorong, the dot base outside of Boela. They pretty much miss each other.
Nells from Dili try to bomb Darwin's AF at night, and several are lost to flak. Already! Cool.
1 BB each bombards Taberfane and Saumlaki, where landings begin as well. Some planes destroyed on the ground at each place, and the bases are ripped up. Over 200 casualties reported in each bombardment. Venturas and B-25s join in against Saumlaki's airfield during the day, getting a few more planes and some more hits.
Tons of Oscars, Zeroes, Nells, and Jills are shot down over the CVs today. 8 Jills do try for the BB Massachusetts and Alabama outside of Kai-eilanden, but miss... still, he saw them.
Japan loses 141 planes on the day today against my 62. Here's where most of my 62 came from. 22 were Hellcats in the air... from the standard EXP CVL units, not the elite CV pilots.
Morning Air attack on TF, near Boela at 80,110
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 66 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 14
J2M2 Jack x 13
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 11
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 22
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 36
SBD-5 Dauntless x 29
Japanese aircraft losses
J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 7 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 2 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Kasumi, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Arare, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Yamagumo, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Babo at 83,111
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 15
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 24
TBF-1 Avenger x 18
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 3 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 7 damaged
Japanese Ships
TK Nishi Maru
TK Nanrei Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
PB Rikusen Maru, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Boela , at 80,110
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 34 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 12
J2M2 Jack x 18
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 5
Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 16
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 35
SBD-5 Dauntless x 28
TBF-1 Avenger x 50
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
A6M5b Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
J2M2 Jack: 5 damaged
J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 2 damaged
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground
G3M3 Nell: 2 destroyed on ground
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 3 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 3 destroyed, 6 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Yamagumo, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Arare, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 26
I underprepped for Saumlaki:
Ground combat at Saumlaki (78,117)
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 5029 troops, 45 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 271
Defending force 4680 troops, 42 guns, 20 vehicles, Assault Value = 209
Allied ground losses:
5 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Assaulting units:
90th Infantry Regiment
Sasebo 8th SNLF
35th JNAF AF Unit
32nd Special Base Force
20th JNAF AF Unit
11th JAAF AF Bn
Defending units:
Port Moresby Brigade
45th Indian Brigade
14th RAAF Base Force
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Taberfane (82,117)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 12638 troops, 154 guns, 142 vehicles, Assault Value = 386
Defending force 13190 troops, 89 guns, 82 vehicles, Assault Value = 258
Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3
Allied adjusted assault: 178
Japanese adjusted defense: 230
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)
Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
693 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
71 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Assaulting units:
4th Australian Division
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
II Australian Corps
16th RAAF Base Force
Defending units:
23rd Ind.Mixed Brigade
Yokosuka 1st SNLF
4th Naval Construction Battalion
4th JNAF Coy
21st JAAF Base Force
1st Naval Construction Battalion
70th JAAF AF Bn
108th JAAF AF Bn
