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

[jwolf]

ORIGINAL: apbarog
With the push by the Imperial Guard Division to the west, we'll now see if the Japanese plan is an active defense or a full blown offensive.

It's hard to believe he could mount much of an offensive, especially as you said with your army at DH about to become free. I could imagine an occasional opportunistic attack to beat you up, but at most a sort of "aggressive defense."

I'm anxious to see what you'll do with your nicely refitted navy. [:)]

[apbarog]

24 Oct 42

Dutch sub KXVIII spots the Fuso task force well west of Ramree Island. It is heading south now, so Diamond Harbour will not be hit, it appears.

At Diamond Harbour, I do an artillery attack and do some damage. More enemy squads are destroyed than disabled, so the units must be in really bad shape. We'll find out. I'm doing a deliberate attack tomorrow. Now that I have the base, it's just a matter of time to eliminate what is left. Medium bombers hope to contribute.

No enemy movement seen on the India/Burma frontier. I'm moving stuff to strengthen the line.

Today was a big day in the South Pacific. All of the US Navy that was in refit, except for Lexington and Saratoga, is now ready to go. Ships move out to gathering points.

It's still too early to publicly say what is coming up next, but the time is coming soon.

[apbarog]

25 Oct 42

A P40E squadron from Lunga sweeps Munda. Munda appears to be unoccupied. I sweep to see if the enemy is doing ranged CAP. They are, as 3 Zeros are found. All 3 Zeros are shot down, for the loss of 2 P40Es. I am sure that the enemy pilots are excellent, so I'll take that. I'm just poking and prodding here and there, as I build up to the main event.

Diamond Harbour's enemy troops are bombed and attacked. Odds are 15 to 1, and apparent enemy combat value sinks to 0. One unit is destroyed. The rest will fall in the next day or two.

On the other hand, Bandoeng has been worn down, and the valiant Dutch defenders endure a 1 to 1 attack. The end is very near here.

I propose to my opponent a prisoner swap for the troops we are both about to lose.

Had an odd occurence out in the Pacific west of the US:

TK British Architect sinks....

The TK was fully loaded but not attacked. I can't find any reference to what happened to the ship. I looked in all of the text files for a few turns back, and I see nothing.

I suspect that a random rare event happened to the ship. I'd like to know what it was.

[BBfanboy]

I had that happen to one of my tankers too - traveling in deep water, no enemy nearby (I looked at the Japanese deployments in the area), no consorts to collide with. Someone on the tanker must have been a careless smoker, or there was one very bad rogue wave.

[jmalter]

My previous game vs. the IJ AI, I lost some several loaded TKs, they just exploded for no reason. IMO the likely explanation is a bomb from a Mavis/Emily search-plane, or maybe a sub-launched float-plane - these events don't show in the replay.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: jmalter

My previous game vs. the IJ AI, I lost some several loaded TKs, they just exploded for no reason. IMO the likely explanation is a bomb from a Mavis/Emily search-plane, or maybe a sub-launched float-plane - these events don't show in the replay.

That could be in some of your losses, but in my case there was no aircraft in range either, and nothing in the Japanese Op report to say they were attacking the tanker. My first thought was a Glen from a sub, but the nearest sub was dozens of hexes away. So at least some of the time it is just a random and rare event, like a ship catching fire in the shipyard. The developers really thought of a lot of things to build into the game!

[apbarog]

26 Oct 42

Battleships Fuso and Yamashiro, 4 cruisers and 7 destroyers bombard Chittagong. This surprised me. I didn't see them coming. It was a moderate bombardment: 481 casualties and some airbase and port hits. Doesn't change anything, just a nuisance.

The last brave Dutch defenders are defeated at Bandoeng on Java. They did an incredible job holding on in the mountains. The attackers gave up months ago and just isolated the base. Little did they know, there was over 30k supply there. It was not going to starve. The Japanese finally decided to just keep attacking, and that worked. An enemy infantry division, the big 65th Brigade, and a regiment were occupied here for a long time, as were 5 artillery units and a couple of armor units. The 65th Brigade was wrecked and was removed from combat before the final attacks. The other units will need some time to recover.

I probably did too good of a job conserving supply here. It probably was a nice gift to the enemy when the base fell. Can't complain. It's the end of October 1942 and the Japanese have just now conquered Java completely! It's an Allied win, in my opinion.

My cleanup at Diamond Harbour continues with another deliberate attack. 5 more enemy units are destroyed. 5248 casualties. Some die of attrition. There are just a few left, including the biggest infantry division.

In just a few days, all of the pieces of the puzzle will be in place for my next offensive. Loading of troops will then begin and I'll spill the beans as far as what is going to happen next.

[apbarog]

27 Oct 42

Tojos sweep Ledo for the first time. This is the first offensive use of the Tojos. Up until now, they had been used only on base defense. An interesting sidenote is that there has been very little bombing by the Japanese on the Burma/Indian frontier. And absolutely no bombing in the Solomons.

I have many transports at Ledo, ferrying supply to China. This is no secret. Ledo had recon missions every day for as long as I can remember, so the enemy knows what is there. I also have 3 Chinese fighter groups, but I had them all on strafing training missions, so they didn't encounter the Tojos.

I had to decided whether to pull out the transports or place better CAP here. I chose more CAP. The Chinese will CAP at staggered altitudes from 5k to 15k. I moved some P40s in for high CAP at 20k. It will still probably be ugly against Tojos, but I have to defend Ledo.

Coincidentally, when the enemy swept Ledo out of the blue, I did the same to Cox Bazaar. First a squadron of P40Ks went in at 15k(I don't sweep at 20k all the time), and got wrecked. 31 Oscars, 5 Zeros, and 5 Nicks intercepted. 13 P40Ks were lost for just a couple of Oscars. But then my squadron of P38Fs swept at 20k, and did great. Total losses were 14 Oscars, 4 Zeros, and 2 Nicks, for 13 P40Ks and 1 P38. I believe that the Zeros and Nicks were on bleedover CAP from Akyab.

In the Aleutians, I make my first air attack on Attu Island. 9 B-24s hit the airbase, but do minimal damage. There is no CAP. My attacks here will continue off and on, just to keep my opponent's attention. He's seen a lot of shipping come and go from Adak, and may think that I could come for Attu. If nothing else, I'll keep the airbase construction down.

At Cebu we exchange artillery attacks.

At Diamond Harbour, another 2500 casualties are bagged. All that is left now is one infantry division.

[apbarog]

28 Oct 42

Dutch sub KXIV finds a big TK task force just southeast of Soerbaja, with at least 8 tankers. It takes 4 shots at TK Mitu Maru, which looks like a medium size tanker, but misses. Combined with the frequent report of heavy activity at Koepang on Timor, I conclude that the ships either came from or are going there. Just an odd spot to see tankers.

Wahoo takes a shot at an xAK near Chichi-jimam, but gets just a dud hit. I'm doing more long range patrols now, between Japan and Truk, and south of the Kuriles. I don't expect any results from the US subs at this date, but it keeps the enemy honest with his need to escort.

In India, there were two enemy fighter sweeps that were a bit odd. The first was to Chittagong, with 5 Zeros. The second was to Jessore, with 1 Zero. The small numbers got my attention. I guess he's just looking for my fighters, and must have used fragmented units.

At Diamond Harbour, the enemy is completely annihilated. I leave one depleted Indian division to guard the base. Most of the rest of the units go to Calcutta to rest and recover. A few units head directly towards the Burma frontier.

No sign of movement with enemy units on that frontier.

Today I did a detailed look at naval air units currently at land bases to determine which to use on my carriers. Lexington and Saratoga dropped off their planes on the way to refit. Wasp did the same when it was damaged awhile back. Hornet has some room on it. CVE Long Island is empty. And CV Illustrious has some F4F-4s on it. I transfer those off for use on land, and prepare to return some Brit fighters shortly. The Brit fighter pilots are very highly trained, so I want to put them to use.

Big stuff happening soon. It's taken so long to set all this up. 2 months of moving units around, getting shipping in place, and most importantly, refitting the entire US carrier and cruiser fleets. 2 months in game, and 2 months in real life, practically.

Details to follow, posted by the weekend hopefully.

[apbarog]

29 Oct 42

A hunter pack of SC's finally track down I-171 off the eastern coast of Australia. One good hit is achieved, but not enough to finish off the sub. Hopefully this is enough to run him off for awhile.

At Butuan on Mindanao, I slip another small infantry into the unoccupied base. The base unit fragment that I want to evacuate by sub is a few days behind. Hopefully the infantry unit will not be bombed out of existence like the last one. At least, not until I get the fragment out.

I have a group of 4 fast-unloading AP's getting to Suva in 2 days. I want to use them for my next expedition. Loading will start then.

I bombed Attu again. Tomorrow I bomb the ground troops there. It may look like I'm coming. But I'm not.

Phase 1 of my next operation is Tabituea. Troops and ships will come from Suva and Pago Pago. There will be slow battleship support. Air cover will be supplied but be minimal, with CVE's. I will invade and hopefully take Tabituea. I'm hoping to draw the enemy here. This is a real attack but is just a diversion for my primary attack, which will follow this invasion by about a week. More to come on this.

[apbarog]

30 October 42

This was a very interesting turn at Ledo. Tojos swept Ledo. I had fighters on CAP stacked at 5k, 10k, 15k, and 20k. I was disturbed to see that some of my fighters got the bounce from 25k during the combat replay. This bothered me since we have a house rule limiting fighter CAP to 20k in 1942. I was relieved to discover that my groups were set 20k and below.

Looking at the details of the fight, my fighters all climbed from patrol altitudes. They were given from 17 to 24 minutes warning. What happened was that some fighters climbed above 20k for the intercept.

This was a new discovery for me. Given enough time, CAP will climb to try to get the bounce, regardless of its patrol altitude. I did not know this before.

I like this a lot. I do still agree with our house rule though. It's too easy to just set a max altitude and be waiting for the enemy. But it's nice to see the CAP act appropriately.

The losses from this entire fight was 13 Tojos, 5 P43A, 1 P40E, and 1 P66. The P43As and P66 units were Chinese. Needless to say, I'm very happy with how this one turned out.

*********************************************

Morning Air attack on Ledo , at 65,38

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 46 NM, estimated altitude 23,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 21

Allied aircraft
P-43A-1 Lancer x 14
P-66 Vanguard x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-43A-1 Lancer: 3 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo sweeping at 20000 feet

CAP engaged:
3rd FG/7th FS CAF with P-66 Vanguard (0 airborne, 5 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters to 24000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes
4th FG/21st FS CAF with P-43A-1 Lancer (0 airborne, 5 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 between 10000 and 25000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes
4th FG/22nd FS CAF with P-43A-1 Lancer (0 airborne, 5 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 15000 and 25000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes
23rd FG/76th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 10 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 17000 and 23000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 17 minutes

[apbarog]

Phase 1 Planning:

As I had said, phase 1 of my new operations is a landing on Tabituea. I've already started some vaguely diversionary activity, such as bombing Attu's airfield, then bombing Attu's ground troops. I've also done long range recon of Darwin. Just some unusual activity by me to try and get some attention focused here and there.

The plans for Tabituea include a landing by the 87th Mountain Regiment. This regiment was originally slotted for the Aleutians, but I found myself short of infantry after alloting everything else to the main event (still to be unveiled). Also landing will be the 1 USMC tank unit.

I hope to take the island quickly, but all is not lost if a stalemate ensues, because my primary objective for Tabituea is to draw the enemy fleets this direction. I really need a reaction here for my main event to be successful. KB's location is a complete unknown. The biggest hit on SigInt lately has been at Koepang on Timor. That would be an odd place for KB, but who knows, it could be there. Or parts could be in refit. Regardless, I want to take Tabituea but I want the enemy to be drawn to this area.

Assuming that I take the island, I have multiple CB units and airfield support units landing. If I can, I will sneak some units onto adjacent and unoccupied islands and build them for mutual support.

I want to show a threat to Tarawa, Ocean Island, and Nauru Island areas.

I will be using some AP's for fast unloading. At least one CVE will be providing CAP. At least 2 slow battleships will be involved, with a pre-landing bombardment.

This won't be the "A" team, probably not even the "B" team. More like the "C" team, done rather frugally. I'm hoping that showing some type of carrier(s) and battleships will make this all look bigger than it actually is.

But I do want to take the island.

When my invasion troops hit the beaches at Tabituea, I expect to be starting to load troops for the big armada for the "big event".

[jwolf]

How will you be able to tell if the Japanese react to your landing at Tabituea? Do you have subs in a picket line, or air search that would reach far enough? Or will you launch the "big event" regardless?

[apbarog]

I have a bunch of subs scattered from the Kwajalein area south and also in the Solomons and to the north towards Truk. If he leaves his ship-based search planes active, which he has so far, I should see him coming. I've seen a cruiser task force sitting at Rabaul for a long time. I'd like to see it leave also.

[apbarog]

31 Oct 42

The Japanese 4th Infantry Division, which had been indicated on SigInt as being loaded on ships and in the Mindanao area, is now landing at Cebu. That will be enough to crush my defenders.

My small infantry unit at Butuan on Mindanao is bombed, predictably. Now it's a race to get my base fragment to this base before my unit is eliminated by bombing. I have subs waiting to pick up the fragment. This is the kind of small victory that I like to accomplish in the game.

Near Tavoy, US sub Pompano gets 2 hits on xAK Giyu Maru, and one of the torpedoes works!

I had hoped to start loading the Tabituea invasion today. The 4 AP's that arrived at Suva did not completely unload, so it will be at least another day until everything starts up.

The US carriers are now fully loaded with appropriate air units.

[apbarog]

1 Nov 42

Unloading of the enemy's 4th Infantry Division continues at Cebu.

My base fragment is still a couple of days out of Butuan. 2 subs are standing by for the rescue.

I'm still getting SigInt for Koepang on Timor. Heavy activity there. I wonder if KB is there thinking I may be coming for the northwest coast of Australia.

My Tabiteuea invasion is finally kicked off, with loading of troops started. The invasion will be in about a week. Support will include 2 CVE's, CVL Hermes, 3 slow battleships, and a handfull of light cruisers and destroyers. 4 AP's will unload the 87 Mountain Regiment. An AK and an xAK will unload the 1st USMC Tank unit. Lots of followup units are loading: 11 US CB, 3 Base Maint, 214 CST, Nichols AF support, 10 Air Adv unit, and 23 Port Maint unit.

Get in, get out, and be the focal point of attention for awhile.

[apbarog]

The calm before the storm.

[apbarog]

2 Nov 42

The usual artillery duel at Cebu. Enemy troops continue to land.

Rabaul seems to have increased its air ASW with more Bettys.

The loading for Tabiteuea at Suva continues. The men are loaded but supply is still being loaded, so the invasion task forces will leave tomorrow.

[apbarog]

3 Nov 42

At Butuan, my fragment base group will arrive tomorrow. Subs are waiting.

The Tabiteuea invasion task forces pull up anchor and head for a rendezvous point. Landings in 5 to 7 days.

Loading for the "big event" will start in 2 to 4 days.

No movment seen on the Burma/India border, except for an enemy tank regiment heading away from the front, goint from Cox Bazar to Akyab.

[apbarog]

"The Big Event"

With ships starting to approach Tabiteuea, loading will begin for a major operation. The Tabiteuea invasion is being done with very little: some CVE's, a few slow BB's, an infantry regiment, some armor, and lots of support units.

"The Big Event" will involve most of the rest of the US Navy, with some minor support from the Brits.

The number of invasion spots will be determined by the reaction of the enemy. I'm hoping that KB and major surface units head to Tabiteuea, or are based far away. If not, landings may be aborted.

Task forces and troops are prepared for landings on Milne Bay, Rossel Island, Deboyne Island, Goodenough Island, Terapo, Horn Island, Buna, Salamaua, and Tagula Island. Paratroops will drop on Kokula, Dobadura, and Wau.

The objective is to isolate Port Moresby. The enemy's 1st Infantry Division is dug in at Port Moresby. Taking all of the above bases would completely isolate Port Moresby. Sure, lots of troops would be evacuated out by air. But that's ok. I have another set of troops prepping for Port Moresby itself. It isn't enough to land there now and win the fight, but it is enough to contest the base. If the base is isolated, and/or enemy troops are evacuated, then Port Moresby will be taken. If not, it will be isolated. It will be taken eventually, one way or the other.

As seen on the map, there are a number of large airfields very close to the landings. This plan has risk.

I expect to be seen on the approach to Milne Bay. All big US carriers will participate, as well as CV Illustrious. Every US cruiser will participate. A few fast battleships will be there. No ship is behind on its refits. US cruisers and carriers just had a major refit, getting a huge jump in AAA.

Landings will first occur at Milne Bay and nearby island. A couple of the islands are still Allied controlled. Catalinas will start to ferry in troops to those islands on or before the landings.

The biggest troop commitment will be at Buna. Enemy strength is currently unknown. There is an air HQ at Buna, but that is all that is known for sure. The Buna landing has a well rounded force committed. Further north, my Salamaua landing is just a couple of armor units and a HQ. It's objective, along with the paras landing at Wau, is to hold the flank against Lae.

Order of Battle:

Milne Bay:
30 Australian Brigade
2/9 Armor Regiment
5 followup units

Buna:
2 Marine Division
19 Australian Brigade
1 Tank Battalion
2/8 Armor Regiment
205 Field Artillery
Australian II Corp HQ
2 USMC Field Artillery
1 Marine Amphibious HQ
6 followup units

Rossel Island:
1 Marine Raiders
2 followup units

Deboyne Island: (friendly)
2 followup units by Catalina

Goodenough Island:
2/2 Indpt Coy
2 followup units

Terapo:
2/1 Ind Coy
1 followup unit

Salamaua:
754 Tank unit
763 Tank unit
Australian I Corp HQ

Kokula:
3 USMC Paratroopers

Dobadura:
1 USMC Paratroopers

Wau:
2 USMC Paratroopers

Horn Island:
13 Australian Brigade
2 RAA Medium Artillery
3 followup units

Tagula Island: (friendly)
1 followup unit by Catalina

I have troops prepping for Port Moresby and for Lae. I choose not to invade Port Moresby with insufficient troops to take it, for now. I don't have the shipping to land at Lae simultaneously, and Lae may be a bit too far for one jump. To be honest, anything past Milne Bay may be too far for one jump, but we'll see how it plays out.