Too much Iron in my Diet - Mundy(A) vs KenchiSulla (J)

[HansBolter]

I ship fuel to Cape Town from the East Coast rather than draining it from India.

We each have our own preferred approach.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter
I ship fuel to Cape Town from the East Coast rather than draining it from India.

We each have our own preferred approach.

Hmm...I'm not sure that is as efficient. I believe that Abadan -> Karachi is a lot shorter than East Coast -> Cape Town. If you have enough convoys both work and its probably easier to just have the fuel in Cape Town but I don't think Mundy has any shipping luxuries like that. He needs to the most bang for the buck so to speak. Also he claims he already has mountains of fuel in India. So I think he REALLY needs to be refueling in India to free up tankers for the OZ convoys.

ORIGINAL: Mundy
I don't know if there's that big of a time difference between using Cape Town and the States for Australia. I'd say about a week to 10 day difference. It's still 2-3 weeks just to get on the map from Cape Town, and at least another to make it to Perth. A convoy from the States I calculated at true distances came out to 30 days, but I'm not making a straight beeline like that either. India just needs too much supply right now for me to disrupt that. Almost all my xAKs for Cape Town are in transit right now anyway. I've got the right balance of transports split between San Francisco and Cape Town, so I'll leave things as is.

I'm kinda wondering if resources are holding back HI in India. Doing a quick survey at bases, I'm not exactly overloaded anywhere with them. There's not exactly any bases, including Cape Town, that are brimming with it either. I don't know if I want to set up some three month long route from the US to haul some there. It would need to be a mega convoy to make it worthwhile.

Well when I did a quick google search I found that Perth was around 8k Km from Perth while Sydney was 12k Km from Los Angeles. Given that you certainly cannot take the direct route either for that one, I'd say its safe to assume the Cape Town -> Perth route is shorter if the off-map movement speed are anything close to accurate. But what really tips the scale in my mind is the relative security of each route. With the KB maraudering in the SoPac its not the safest route to use. You've already lost a few convoys in the past few months to KB attack IIRC. Not to mention there is still the threat the Japanese will advance deeper. If it were me I'd use both convoy route as long as you have the supply for it in Cape Town. Next time a big convoy arrives in Australia, consider sending it to Cape Town instead of back through the Pacific.

[Mundy]

Fuel in India is not an issue. I have over two million between Karachi and Bombay. I have a decent tanker fleet in Abadan hauling more over. I keep adding more in between supply runs. I can haul about 60k of supply out of Abadan also with the xAKs I have there. It's just that when it's down, I need time to build up again.

I am suspicions that resources in India may be what's holding supply production back.

I'll route the next two supply convoys back to Cape Town. As it is, they'll be hugging the southern map edge. I'm unloading at Melbourne also.

Upolu's building up. I'll probably have a bunch of planes there before it's really ready to go.

[witpqs]

It can help to haul oil from Abadan to Australia, too. The US does not make any surplus in these scenarios, so you can't really ship from there.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mundy
I am suspicions that resources in India may be what's holding supply production back.

I'm no expert on production but IIRC there are only a couple of places for the Allies that need resource shipments and I don't think India is one of them. I believe if a base has insufficient resources you can tell by looking at industry in the base (though I'm not sure which screen has the info).

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

ORIGINAL: Mundy
I am suspicions that resources in India may be what's holding supply production back.

I'm no expert on production but IIRC there are only a couple of places for the Allies that need resource shipments and I don't think India is one of them. I believe if a base has insufficient resources you can tell by looking at industry in the base (though I'm not sure which screen has the info).

New Zealand, and Pearl Harbor are ones I recall. It doesn't hurt to ship some resources from elsewhere in Australia to the southeast.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Sangeli

ORIGINAL: Mundy
I am suspicions that resources in India may be what's holding supply production back.

I'm no expert on production but IIRC there are only a couple of places for the Allies that need resource shipments and I don't think India is one of them. I believe if a base has insufficient resources you can tell by looking at industry in the base (though I'm not sure which screen has the info).

New Zealand, and Pearl Harbor are ones I recall. It doesn't hurt to ship some resources from elsewhere in Australia to the southeast.

Exactly what I have concluded too - the resources in the Port Hedland area will not flow across the desert sufficiently fast to feed the industries of Oz.
Against the idea of hauling resources is the fact that it takes 15 resources feeding LI or 10 (+10 fuel) feeding HI to make one supply. This means it is more efficient to haul supply to these three areas unless the turnaround time for the supply haul (trip there and back) is 10 or 15 times the turnaround of the resource haul trip. I haul resources only when I have an empty ship going in the appropriate direction anyway. Then it continues on to other tasks like hauling cargo from plentiful stocks elsewhere.

[Mundy]

21 August 1943

I was looking at Raipur, being only three hexes from my base at Nagpur. I decided on a random act of violence there.

Morning Air attack on Raipur , at 45,31

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 38,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
P-38H Lightning x 8

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x P-38H Lightning sweeping at 35000 feet *

---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on Raipur , at 45,31

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 10 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Allied aircraft
Hurricane FR.IIb x 10

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Hurricane FR.IIb sweeping at 22000 feet

---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on Raipur , at 45,31

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Sea Hurricane Ib x 8
B-17F Fortress x 6
B-24D1 Liberator x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-17F Fortress: 1 damaged

Runway hits 3

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-17F Fortress bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on Raipur , at 45,31

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 8
B-18A Bolo x 9
B-24D1 Liberator x 10
B-25C Mitchell x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-18A Bolo: 1 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak

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

Airbase hits 4
Runway hits 10

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-18A Bolo bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb
9 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on Raipur , at 45,31

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIb Lily: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 2 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 7

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 15000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

I guess Cannonfodder can be lax at times too. It was mediocre results, with weather probably having much to do with it. The tooltip only indicated about 3% damage there. I won't hit it again, and CAP is up at Nagpur. Before they were on full escort mode. I'm thinking of moving all my bomber squadrons further away. They're a tad close to him right now. Looks like mainly Oscars guarding Raipur. I have mostly Hurricanes at Nagpur, so they should at least be matched.

Stuff's slowly arriving at Cape Town. Lots of planes there. Probably 5 various engineer type troops there right now. I think 4 battleships now live there.

Over the next week, about 200k more supply is due to reach Karachi.

[Mundy]

24 August 1943

Not too bad a day.

Things starting off on the sub front.

Sub attack near Cam Ranh Bay at 63,76

Japanese Ships
TK Amato Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
AO Notoro
TK Meizan Maru
TK Chiyoda Maru
TK Takane Maru
E Tatsuko

Allied Ships
SS Tullibee

Massive explosion on TK Amato Maru
SS Tullibee launches 2 torpedoes at TK Amato Maru
E Tatsuko fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Tatsuko fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Tatsuko fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Tatsuko fails to find sub, continues to search...
E Tatsuko fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

Sub attack near Sabang at 44,69

Japanese Ships
AK Ayatosan Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Huzi Maru
xAP Teia Maru
DD Myojinami

Allied Ships
SS Thresher

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

SS Thresher launches 2 torpedoes at AK Ayatosan Maru
Thresher diving deep ....
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

This is the first troop laden ship I've hit in quite some time -- right in the northern gap between Malaya and Sumatra. CF also seems to be hugging the Asian coast with his tankers. I'll adjust accordingly.

After this, I had raids on Suva and Port Moresby. Recon alleged that no fighters were present at Suva. I'll have to withhold belief on that from now on.

orning Air attack on Suva , at 132,160

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 3 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 19

Allied aircraft
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
xAK Melbourne Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x PB4Y-1 Liberator bombing from 15000 feet *
Port Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
284 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (19 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(19 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
19 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 20000.
Raid is overhead



---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Suva , at 132,160

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 16

Allied aircraft
PV-1 Ventura x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
PV-1 Ventura: 2 destroyed

Japanese Ships
AS Jingei, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAP Ohtaka Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage
xAK Melbourne Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x PV-1 Ventura bombing from 7000 feet *
Port Attack: 3 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
284 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 110 minutes



---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Suva , at 132,160

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 8

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AS Jingei, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Ohtaka Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

Port hits 5

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
284 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 4 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters to 7000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 45 minutes

This is the first combat for my PV-1s. I won't fret the losses, as I have 85 in the pool right now. Either way, it was nice to smack his ships there -- especially the sub tenders.

CF didn't really protect Port Moresby...

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-C Irving: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

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

Airbase hits 30
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 85

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
10 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

This one did sting. PM's currently at about 35% damage, and this was from two squadrons of B-24s. I've moved up another four squadrons of Liberators and two of B-25s to pile on next turn. If I can shut Moresby down, I plan to keep it shut down. It'll make an invasion of there more palatable. I have troops and ships present at Townsville for such an event, so I can rustle up an invasion fairly quickly. I just need to know where KB is when I start. Two SBD-5 squadrons at Portland Roads will also have a go, and they'll be escorted by F6Fs, just in case. I usually don't like using dive bombers for base attacks but I'll feel this one out.

At Cape Town, I'm loading up the para LCUs I have there as well as an air HQ for India. It's just part of having them at Madras, ready to move when the time comes. I figure I can move troops over a little at a time. It won't ring any alarm bells, either like a big massive TF might.

A couple assault transports arrive at Alameda and Panama. They're off to Christmas Island for the Baker Op.

[BBfanboy]

Dive bombers can work pretty good in base attacks if they can dive from 10,000 feet to get their best accuracy. Their bomb is big enough to do damage despite forts and they can knock off artillery and sometimes tanks when nothing else seems to work. Bombing as glide bombers from 5000 feet is much less effective.

[Mundy]

I always keep them at 10k, so it's shouldn't be an issue.

Flak has always been bad to my dive bombers.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Mundy

I always keep them at 10k, so it's shouldn't be an issue.

Flak has always been bad to my dive bombers.

The altitude I choose depends on the cloud cover. I find that balloons are as much of a problem when dive bombing as flak. I try to compensate by training them really low level to get their Defensive skill up - presumably it helps them dodge the balloons. I understand balloons are automatic at any base with 7 points of port+airfield development, and that they go up to 6K feet.

[Mundy]

25 August 1943

More raids on Port Moresby. Bloodlessly on my end this time. I'd say they're fully shut down now. I'll be resting > half my bombers. One squadron will keep the hits on the airfield, and two more will start working on the troops there. I'm not sure he has any flak there after these results. Even the dive bombers came through untouched.

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 18
SBD-5 Dauntless x 16

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000'
Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
2 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
4 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
4 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000'
Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb



---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 23 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
SBD-5 Dauntless x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-C Irving: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 3

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000'
Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb
8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000'
Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb



---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 6
B-24D1 Liberator x 28
B-25D1 Mitchell x 3
B-25G Mitchell x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-C Irving: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 40
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 56

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
11 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-25G Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb



---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 9
B-24D1 Liberator x 9
B-25D1 Mitchell x 10
B-25G Mitchell x 8

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 15
Runway hits 60

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
9 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
10 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb
8 x B-25G Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb



---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 9

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 5
Runway hits 7

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb



---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 7

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 9
Runway hits 12

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

The Monkey is saying that CF is shipping pieces of the IJA 15th division to Colombo. He's got a pretty thick web of subs to get through there, so hopefully I can interrupt this a bit. I don't need more troops showing before I start events. I'm starting to wonder if intel is tipping him off here too.

[jwolf]

It would sure be nice if you could finish off the stranded planes at Port Moresby.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: jwolf

It would sure be nice if you could finish off the stranded planes at Port Moresby.

Some of the auxiliary planes will be seaplanes, not affected by runway damage. But wiping out Betties and Nells is always good joss for an AFB.

[Mundy]

28 August 1943

I'm continuing to hit Port Moresby. Nobody flew last turn, due to weather. As a result, damage dropped to a whopping 95%. I'm going to hit the airfield at Buna next turn (was supposed to happen this turn). Hopefully the F6Fs will escort those.

I took a headcount of troops for the Ceylon invasion.

They're either at Cape Town or enroute to Karachi, except the paratroops, which are headed to Madras. Next turn, I'll start loading up small groups for shipment to Karachi. I'll make everything look like routine shipments, in case eyes happen to see them.

US:

Americal Div
USA 33rd Div
USA 1st Cav Div
USMC 3rd Div
USMC 4th Div
2nd USMC Tank Btn
3rd USMC Tank Btn
USA 503rde Parachute Rgt (para)

India:

268th Mot Bde
5th Div
20th Div
23rd Div
50th Indian Para Bde


UK:

111th LRP Bde (para)
2nd Div
18th Div

Other:

11th East African Div
2/9 Commando Btn (para)

The 1st SSF is enroute to Cape Town, but unfortunately, they'll withdraw after a few days. As it is, all the paras will hit that one interior base at Ceylon. Recon seems to indicate that not much is there, if anything. I'll have tons of planes to haul them and can probably lift the whole bunch on the first day. In the end, over 11 divisions will hit Colombo, plus armor support.

[BBfanboy]

Remember that the damage quote is for the Airfield Service part, not the runway. The runway likely is 100% repaired if the Airfield Service Damage dropped 5%.

[Sangeli]

How do you plan on providing CAP for the Port Moresby Invasion? Rabaul is 11 hexes away and you better believe there are going to be many bombers based there. Frankly I'm not sure how to go about providing CAP for an invasion fleet as range 8 LRCAP of P-38Gs would probably be wholly inadequate. It's something I'm trying to grapple in my game a well.

[Mundy]

I'm not real serious about Port Moresby yet. Just a contingency if KB is far away.

In Australia, I have:

2 squadrons F6Fs
2 squadrons P-47s
2 squadrons F4U-1s
3 squadrons P-38s, split between G and H.

Portland Roads is at Level 9 with 500 air support.

29 August 1943

CF decided to LRCAP Port Moresby. It was rather rough on my Beaufighters, but fortunately, the pool held up.

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 24
Ki-84a Frank x 24

Allied aircraft
Beaufort VIII x 24
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort VIII: 13 destroyed
Beaufort VIII: 1 destroyed by flak
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed

CAP engaged:
282 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (24 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
24 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 10000.
Raid is overhead
265th Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (24 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
24 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 10000.
Raid is overhead

---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 24 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 16
Ki-84a Frank x 24

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 3
B-25D1 Mitchell x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed
B-25D1 Mitchell: 3 destroyed, 6 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 4

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb
2 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
282 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
16 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 5000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 255 minutes
265th Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
24 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 5000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 50 minutes

Also attacking 16th Division ...
Also attacking Port Moresby ...

---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on 14th Army, at 98,130 (Port Moresby)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 1
Ki-84a Frank x 4

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
8 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
282 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 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 278 minutes
265th Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 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 378 minutes

Nothing was over Buna when I hit it.

Morning Air attack on Buna , at 99,129

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25D1 Mitchell x 15

No Allied losses

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

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 14

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing from 7000 feet
Airfield Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb

All but two of the above mentioned squadrons are going to sweep next turn.

I'll be quiet until Saturday, as Cannonfodder has another work trip lined up.

[Mundy]

02 September 1943

An interesting night event.

Night Air attack on Townsville , at 92,144

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 154 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 57 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 63

No Japanese losses

Aircraft Attacking:
36 x G3M3 Nell laying Type 3 Mine from 5000 feet *
27 x G3M3 Nell laying Type 3 Mine from 8000 feet *

I wasn't aware the Japanese could do aerial minelaying. I've always wondered how long the pools will allow this to keep happening. Unfortunately for Cannonfodder, I have about a thousands AMs parked there right now. I formed up one minesweeping TF. I probably should have done another five. I'll fix that next turn.

Subs have been busy lately.

Sub attack near Kuroshima at 98,61

Japanese Ships
xAK Hukuzyu Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Tohuku Maru
PB Toko Maru #4

Allied Ships
SS Sawfish

SS Sawfish launches 2 torpedoes at xAK Hukuzyu Maru
Sawfish diving deep ....
PB Toko Maru #4 fails to find sub, continues to search...
PB Toko Maru #4 fails to find sub, continues to search...
PB Toko Maru #4 fails to find sub, continues to search...
PB Toko Maru #4 fails to find sub, continues to search...
PB Toko Maru #4 fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

Sub attack near Rabaul at 107,126

Japanese Ships
AO Ashizuri, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Isokaze

Allied Ships
SS S-36

SS S-36 launches 4 torpedoes at AO Ashizuri
DD Isokaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isokaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isokaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isokaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Isokaze fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

This looked promising a few days back.

Sub attack near Koggala at 28,51

Japanese Ships
xAP Hakusan Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
xAP Huzi Maru
xAP Teia Maru
DD Myojinami
DD Kisaragi

Allied Ships
SS Snook

SS Snook launches 2 torpedoes at xAP Hakusan Maru
DD Myojinami fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Kisaragi fails to find sub and abandons search
Escort abandons search for sub

Unfortunately, no 15th Division on board.

I'm starting to migrate troops from Cape Town to Karachi. This will take awhile. The commercial transport will return to Cape Town, but the assault ships will remain at Karachi. When the last troops leave Cape Town, the commercial stuff will stay in India. I'll use those to ship all the engineer and support units over after the first waves take Colombo.