See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[apbarog]

2 Aug 42 - India and Burma

Calcutta still holds 3 enemy infantry divisions, some artillery, and some engineers. Diamond Harbour now holds 11 units, down from the high of 14 units. I suspect that armor has been evacuated. I see small task forces go to the Burma coast from Diamond Harbour, and have seen units unloaded there, but they aren't staying there. I don't know if they are reloaded and moved out, or are staying in Burma and I just don't see them.

I've isolated the contested hex southwest of Ledo, but I don't have the combat power to eliminate the enemy. Not yet. I've had inklings of a bigger enemy offensive here, like the increase of number of enemy units southwest of Imphal, but I don't see enough to draw that conclusion yet. Who knows. There could be something very sneaky going on, like a move on Ledo from the southeast, or a move to flank Paoshan. Paoshan had been reconned a number of times not too long ago.

[apbarog]

2 Aug 42 - Java and Borneo

Borneo is almost completely lost. Holdouts still exist in the jungle inland from Samarinda. The enemy has failed to take that base so far, but knows what is needed to do so, so it's just a matter of time.

On Java, Bandoeng holds out. I've saved decent combat strength here, and with the mountains, this base should be a thorn in the enemy's side for awhile. I have over 40k supply here.

Several enemy carriers, probably large ones, were spotted at Soerbaja a couple of weeks ago. No idea where they went.

[apbarog]

2 Aug 42 - The Solomons

After taking Tulagi, Lunga and Tassafronga, this area has been relatively quiet. A few air battles have occurred, mostly over my shipping unloading. Most enemy naval activity has been at Buin and the base just to the northwest of Buin.

I don't know if the enemy is waiting for my next move, or if I've already crossed a red line and the hammer just hasn't fallen yet.

I don't plan on further advances here for several months, at least. I'm building my bases as quickly as I can, for now. I am prepping units for Tabituea, Nauru, and Ocean Island, should the opportunity present itself. This would be another threat axis toward Truk, not to mention threatening to bypass the rest of the Solomons and maybe even everything from Tarawa to Kwajalein. Just a thought for now.

3 US carriers come out of a short refit at Auckland tomorrow. Wasp is at Auckland also, but still needs over 3 weeks of repairs for its sub torpedo damage.

As I've discussed recently, my primary concern is saving airframes, particularly US Navy aircraft, due to the low reinforcement rates for some time to come.

[IdahoNYer]

Very impressed you're still holding something tying down troops in Java while getting a solid foothold in the Solomons.

Well done!

[jwolf]

Please excuse a dumb question: how can Wasp repair at Auckland? I didn't think the shipyard was big enough?

[apbarog]

Thanks IdahoNYer. The delaying actions on Java have been successful, first using the mountainous hex near Soerbaja, and now at Bandoeng in the north. As for the Solomons though, I fully realize that the enemy can still commit enough to challenge and maybe retake any base it wants in the Solomons. The goal, for me, if this is attempted, is to make it costly, especially in ships.

jwolf, Auckland is a size 15 repair shipyard. Wasp has a tonnage of 14700, so it barely fits there.

[apbarog]

3 Aug 42

Some Sallys bombed a small Burmese unit in the jungle near Dimapur. Probably just a recon by bombing. Ledo is being reconned again.

A couple of task forces of unknown composition are now west of Java, maybe headed to Cocos Island. It and Christmas Island (IO) are both empty.

Yorktown came out of refit at Auckland, with the 2 other US carriers showing one day to go.

I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. He may be doing the same thing. It's hard to tell when the Japanese has definitely gone defensive. I don't think they have, yet.

[apbarog]

4 Aug 42

More naval activity at Diamond Harbour. A task force with 2 xAK's, 11 xAKL's, and 3 patrol boats is spotted. More ground units are being pulled out, I guess. There haven't been xAP's here, but troops could easily be pulled out by air. I do see steady losses in enemy air transports.

The last Dutch air units at Bandoeng are disbanded. The airfield is being bombed every day, and has taken enough damage so that planes won't be flying any longer.

US carriers leave Auckland for Suva. A Brit carrier leaves Noumea for Suva. It's still to be determined if the planned invasions of Tabituea, Ocean Island, and Nauru Island take place.

On Java, I'm not seeing all of the units that took Batavia. Bandoeng is now surrounded but not contested. The enemy may just settle for isolating the base.

I do think that the Japanese aren't done attacking yet. The question is still where. There's still a lot of troops at Diamond Harbour and Calcutta. Could there still be a plan to somehow break out here, or flank the area?

[BBfanboy]

Japan doesn't need to use xAPs much because all of their xAKs and larger xAKLs can carry troops. Heck some of the xAKs can carry more than the xAPs.

Any chance you can get an air raid in there or are there still hordes of fighters?

[apbarog]

There's always 100 to 120 fighters at Diamond Harbour, so no, I won't be flying there any time soon. Most of my previous attempts were very costly. One attempt was ok, hitting a few ships with moderate losses. Just not worth it, though. I've depleted my aircraft pools more than I wanted to already.

He'll still have a problem with getting the last units out. He'll have to choreograph his withdrawal from Calcutta carefully. And then Diamond Harbour is not urban terrain, so I would advance there if I could. Of course, this all assumes the enemy is slowly leaving. Maybe a couple of units have gone, but I can't say more than that right now.

[apbarog]

5 Aug 42

Cocos Island is invaded by a tiny naval company. It was empty, and is taken.

My Brit infantry division at Ledo is spotted by enemy recon.

The rest of the US infantry division at Tulagi is now unloading there. Mostly vehicles, motorized support. Stuff that was too slow to unload the first time. No air interference today, we'll see about tomorrow.

I'm slowly feeding in units and the fragments of units to Lunga and Rennel, using APD's. So far they've been able to move in at night and unload, and be gone by day. I have 2 fighter units at Tulagi. I'll move them between Tulagi, Lunga, and Rennel Island as needed to fly CAP for bigger unloading task forces.

My last recons of Singapore showed very few units there. What was there went somewhere.

[apbarog]

6 Aug 42

Near Cox Bazar, Dutch sub KXIII torpedoes an xAK. It did not have troops on it. The rest of the task force appears to have moved to Diamond Harbour. A big task force is 8 hexes or so southwest of Diamond Harbour. Not seeing a carrier, but I do see a CS and cruisers, at least. I think there are carriers here though.


The big news of the day is in the SigInt:

12/Imperial Guard is loaded on xAK moving to Akyab


This confirms that the Imperial Guard is being shipped out of Diamond Harbour. It may or may not really be going to Akyab. I think that it is, but I've lost sight of previous units unloaded there.

[apbarog]

7 Aug 42

A Japanese task force comes out of hiding in the Indian Ocean, and sub Trusty hits cruiser Haguro with a torpedo. It's on fire with heavy damage. Task force composition, besides Haguro, is battleships Hyuga and Yamashiro, cruiser Ashigara, CS Chiyoda, and a bunch of destroyers. No carriers spotted. This task force was spotted about a week ago, again, with no carriers. It's highly likely that it doesn't have a carrier. No other sub detection level. It could be that there are no carriers in this area any longer. But it's not a chance that I'm willing to risk. Not worth losing battleships testing the odds.

At Calcutta, the number of enemy units has dropped from 11 to 9. One enemy anti-tank unit is mentioned in SigInt moving to Akyab. Another is said to be at Diamond Harbour. Both were previously at Calcutta.

I set some artillery at Calcutta to bombard to see what's still there.

Chittagong is bombed. That battleship task force could be inbound to bombard.


Just outside of Ocean Island, an AV escorted by a patrol boat is spotted by sub S-33, but torpedoes miss. The AV is moving to Ocean Island. On this turn, I set up some Cats to recon the base, and B-24's move to Ndeni to bomb Ocean Island's port. It would be nice if the enemy does not have search capability in this area.

The reason is that troops are now loading at Noumea, Suva, and Pago Pago for invasions of Nauru Island, Ocean Island, and Tabituea. I will be tentative with these task forces, and if they are spotted early, I'll probably call the operation off. Nauru and Ocean are way out on a limb for me, and are closer to Truk than my big bases.

[BBfanboy]

It is common for IJN players to use the two CSs (Chitose and Chiyoda) for ASW and Nav Search while supporting their convoys of troops. Of course Jake float planes are not great dogfighters so if you can get some fighters out to that location you might bag some Jakes. Use drop tanks if necessary.

[apbarog]

8 Aug 42

At Calcutta, my artillery attack shows just 2 Japanese infantry divisions now, with just one engineer unit, an anti-tank unit, and some artillery. I'm pulling out the coastal guns and the big Chinese infantry corp. I may change my mind on the corp, depending on if I think I can move into Diamond Harbour and accomplish something, after the enemy leaves Calcutta. If it does.

The previously spotted battleship task force bombards Chittagong doing moderate damage. Lots of disabled squads but no destroyed combat squads, just some non-combat and a couple of guns lost. Fuso is here, as well as Hyuga ang Yamashiro.

I'm going to take some risk, with no enemy carriers spotted for awhile in this area, and move in some Brit battleships. They'll refuel at Colombo, then again at Madras. If they are spotted, they'll abort.

Near Rennell Island, I-9 fires on an APD, but misses. One good depth charge hit on the sub.

At Tulagi, the enemy sends 2 squadrons of Zero's and 1 squadron of Oscar's. One squardron of P-40E's are on CAP, and as before, they are hurt badly. 11 P40E's lost, with only 1 Zero downed.

I have a small transport task force headed to Lunga next turn, and Lunga just became an airfield level 3, so I load it up with 4 squadrons of fighters. The only way to survive the repeated sweeps is with numbers. I don't have the quality advantage in planes or pilots, yet.

The enemy AV that went to Ocean Island did not auto-disband, so my B24's hit the port but not the ship. I send the bombers again, just in case.

[apbarog]

9 Aug 42

Little activity today.

4 B-24's again hit Ocean Island's port, hoping to find the AV that was there yesterday. No hits on anything.

Heavy bombing at Bandoeng, Java. This is a daily occurence.

Loading continues at Suva and Pago Pago. Ships may pull out for their invasion targets tomorrow or the next day.

I did get a bit of SigInt that a tank regiment is loaded and moving to Darwin. This isn't the first unit that has said this. I doubt there will be any further offensive in Northern Australia, and suspect that this destination is just an intermediate one.

The enemy battleship task force that hit Chittagong disappeared this turn. KB has been missing for weeks.

I have a 2 battleship task force at Diego Garcia. It was spotted this turn by something. Maybe a Glen, maybe something else. I moved the ships west to avoid a carrier strike that could be about to happen. If it is just surface ships, they probably won't move in after seeing me here. Last bombardment here, quite awhile ago, was just cruisers.

[apbarog]

10 Aug 42

Little action again. Bandoeng is bombed as usual, to no effect today. Some cleanup in the Philippines is being done by the enemy. My big ARD that fled Manila and hid in ports is still hiding, but its time is probably short. There's nowhere to run to at only 1 hex a turn, and taking damage every turn after the first for being out of fuel.

The news today is in the SigInt. Today, I got 2 messages that the Southern Army is loaded and headed to Akyab. More confirmation of a general evacuation of Diamond Harbour.

After months of not risking the Brit navy, except for the one run-in to Diamond Harbour, I'm taking more risk. One battleship force leave Colombo with a bombard order for Diamond Harbour. Another leaves with an order for Akyab. They could get ambushed mid-ocean, or they could get spotted on the way. Either way, I will abort the mission.

A bunch of task forces for the invasions of Nauru, Ocean, and Tabituea islands leaves port. More continue to load. I've completely ignored Baker Island up till now, and mostly ignored Canton Island. I start to give it some defensive attention now, to help support the Tabituea area.

[apbarog]

12 Aug 42

Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean is invaded and taken. I had left it undefended.

I-123 sights one of my battleship task forces, but only apparently sees a destroyer. I continue on.

6 B-17's bomb the airfield at Daly Waters. I did it just to be a nuisance. This whole part of Australia is quiet.

[apbarog]

12 Aug 42 - The Next Targets

[apbarog]

13 Aug 42

Bay of Bengal:

The good news is that no enemy carriers are found. The bad news is that my opponent didn't need them.

The task force with battleship Warspite is spotted many times over, still 2 days steaming west of Akyab. 27 Betty's and 24 Nell's attack. A total of 11 torpedoes hit, and Warspite is sunk. And just like that, I've thrown away a major surface ship. The planes were bases in Burma.

What's left of Warspite's task force, and the other task force which is also spotted headed for Diamond Harbour, will now run away at full speed.

I had so much patience in this area, and then finally lost it with the lure of possible easy transport kills. Without air cover, it was foolish.

Time to revert back to the slow and steady Allied pressure, trying to force the enemy to make mistakes instead of making mistakes for them.

Discouraging, but in the long run, of little importance.


I did spot a new enemy task force west of Rangoon, probably northbound. It has battleships Nagato and Ise. This is a different task force than the one that bombarded Chittagong last week.

In other news, there was a strange encounter at Hollandia. I had SigInt of a division headed there, so I sent Sealion to check it out. It found xAK Keisho Maru in a task force by itself. Sealion proceeded to launch torpedo after torpedo, with all missing and one dud. I lost track of how many were launched. I've never seen what looked like individual torpedo launches launched repeatedly like this. Then the sub used its deck gun, and got 10 shell hits on the ship, setting it on fire.

Next to Diamond Harbour, I've been bluffing a move across the river into the base. Today, enemy bombers hit my troops in the open. Combined with my fleet movements, it may look like something big is happening here. It isn't, not until the enemy evacuates everything from Calcutta to Diamond Harbour.

Finally, my shipping on the way to Nauru, Ocean, and Tabituea Islands is still not seen.

So, a bad day for the Brit navy. We move on.