January first and second 1942 – And the winner is !
Australia it was, not your small and half-hearted attempt at Darwin, Perth or Townsville. No, I had the grand gamut, the whipping whoopee, the big banzai. Five divisions, off Sidney, heedless of emergency reinforcements, happy New Year, forces of Good!
But let me recap…
The north ships
For more than a week, Kido Butai, marshalling a large number of task forces, had been cruising south, off the Australian coast. I had first thought of an invasion of New Caledonia, then Eastern Australia, but the Empire sailed past, and ended up about eight hexes off Sydney, near Lord Howe Island.
No Australian ports were attacked or raided. My ships stayed in the harbor, except a small surface force, CA Australia and CL Perth, which had been sailing north, along the coast, undetected.
For a few days, it seemed that a number of ships were falling behind the rest of the armada, and on the 31st they were off Rockhampton, out of range of KB. My cruisers were sent to investigate, and found the enemy, and it was ours (it always is).
Night Time Surface Combat, near Rockhampton at 100,152, Range 6,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
PB Fukui Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
PB Hakkaisan Maru, Shell hits 1
PB Shoei Maru, Shell hits 1
PB Shotoku Maru, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
xAK Matsue Maru, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Venice Maru
xAK Cheribon Maru
xAK Daifuku Maru
xAK Daihachikyo Maru
xAK Daijukyo Maru, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Kuraido Maru
xAK Macassar Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Nittai Maru, Shell hits 2, on fire
xAK Shinsei Maru
Allied Ships
CA Australia
CL Perth
Japanese ground losses:
919 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 43 destroyed, 22 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
I had dispatched several squadrons from the US carriers, and had Dauntlesses and Vindicators in Rockhampton, which should have done a massacre, had they flown. But I am pleased with this already.
Later that day, another part of the northern armada landed in Rockhampton.
Pre-Invasion action off Rockhampton (95,152)
15 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
xAK Kamogawa Maru, Shell hits 1
E Uji
E Hashidate
xAK Asakaze Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Yamagiri Maru
Japanese ground losses:
16 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Allied ground losses:
92 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
The next day, my cruisers, though low on ammunition, gallantly made a second pass at the enemy forces.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Mackay at 102,148, Range 11,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
PB Shoei Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Venice Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
xAK Cheribon Maru
xAK Daifuku Maru
xAK Daihachikyo Maru, Shell hits 4
xAK Kuraido Maru, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Macassar Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
xAK Shinsei Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
CA Australia
CL Perth
Japanese ground losses:
333 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 10 (2 destroyed, 8 disabled)
And my dive bombers, relocated to Charters Towers, flew…
Morning Air attack on TF, near Rockhampton at 95,152
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
Allied aircraft
SBD-3 Dauntless x 12
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 4 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAK Kamogawa Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
xAK Yamazato Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Tatuwa Maru, heavy fires
xAK Asakaze Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
Morning Air attack on TF, near Rockhampton at 95,152
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes
Allied aircraft
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 13
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
xAK Kamogawa Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Yamazato Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Tatuwa Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Asakaze Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
I only have a small air force unit in Rockhampton, but my opponent did not attack yet. I suspect his forces are in bad shape.
The big bubble
On the 31st, the rest of the armada was halfway between Lord Howe and Sydney, and expanded in both direction. Lord Howe was invaded and captured (by an infantry battalion) in the first, and on the second, simultaneous invasions of Newcastle and Port Kembla went in.
In Newcastle, mines and coast guns damaged several destroyers from the escort, and several transports were damaged. In Port Kempbla, the coast guns did less damage, but still. KB did not attack, and Sydney was left untouched, which is too bad since I had carrier fighters on patrol there…
At the end of the day, KB is two hexes off Sydney, large task forces are unloading, and Allied bombardment revealed 1100 AV in Port Kembla, and as much in Newcastle. The unit mix is enlightening :
Port Kembla
Defending units:
16th Recon Regiment
9th Infantry Rgt /1
1st Raiding Regiment
16th Infantry Regiment
7th Tank Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
20th Infantry Rgt /1
24th Infantry Regiment
16th Engineer Regiment
21st Div /3
16th Army /1
23rd Air Flotilla
11th Air Fleet
8th JAAF AF Bn
1st Base Force
47th Field AA Battalion
48th Field AA Battalion
16th AA Rgt /3
Newcastle
Defending units:
56th Recon Regiment
4th Division
33rd Div /3
148th Infantry Rgt /1
56th Engineer Regiment
113th Infantry Rgt /1
56th Field Artillery Regiment
So, yeah, three divisions (4th, 21st, and 33rd), seven infantry regiments (9th, 16th, 20th, 24th, 113th, 148th, 1st raiding), five armored regiments, two air HQ. I don’t know the mix in Rockhampton, but there must be at least a regiment, maybe a brigade, which means we have the equivalent of six divisions getting ready to waltz Matilda in unintended ways.
Of course, landing without air cover, or into coast guns, has a price, and enemy LCU VP went up by 33 points, which translate into 200 devices lost. That is almost a regiment worth of bad boys.
But this is no raid, and one can’t help but feel impressed by such a bold move.
Conséquences
Landing six divisions in southern Australia for New Year 1942 sure means harm, and many consequences, most of them unpleasant.
I understand I have to do something about supplies, because they all flow to Sydney for some reason, and if Joseph captures the city (which might take a while)or just bottles it up (which might happen sooner), and the rest of the land down under will starve. Anyone knows how to handle this? Should I just max Melbourne? Or draw from all neighboring bases?
I also understand that southern Australia means a lot of victory points if some bases are captured. Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Portland are worth over 2000 VP each, for a grand total close to 10 000. You don’t get auto-victory out of this, but it sure helps.
More VP can be gleaned by bombing the industry. It is difficult to know how much exactly, as this takes some time, but the presence of two air HQ in the landing unit mix suggests this is on the table.
And talking about the industry, there is a strong likeliness that the four aircraft factories in Melbourne, and the one in Sydney, will stop producing soon. This means ten less Wirraways a month, I think I can live without.
There are a few nice consequences, though.
First, I do get a pretty nice reinforcement package. Today, arrived in Cape Town, all at full strength, a British infantry division, an infantry brigade and an airborne brigade which looks great, although I wonder where I will find enough transports, an armored brigade sporting 100 Valentines III and 50 Stuarts VI and a regiment with Marmons Herrington (this is war, and war is hell). I also get a nice AA brigade in Aden, with 72 3.7” guns, that looks like a cool defense outfit. Together, they represent about 900 AV, almost half of what my opponent landed, most of them equipped with modern devices.
The best part of the package is a mobilization convoy, which will reach the pools in three days. Included are a squadron worth of Spitfire Vc, and over a hundred assorted planes, about 200 australian infantry squads, a regiment worth of British infantry, a hundred replacement tanks (Matildas and Stuarts I). This will definitely help.
The second nice consequence is that the five to six divisions that just landed in Australia represent about half of my opponent’s unrestricted units. Japan begins the war with ten division equivalents (five proper divisions, and five more in assorted regiments and brigades). One more might have been bought over the last month, but if I add the five that just landed in Autralia, a regiment in Balikpapan, a brigade in Ambon, whatever is left on Luzon, and the troops marching on Singapore, I now understand why there was no advance on Luzon, no landings in Palembang, no march on Rangoon, not even an attack on Guam. This also provides useful hints on the way the beginning of 1942 should unfold. The Australian beachhead must be held, which means most of those troops are here to stay. Yet, the DEI needs to be conquered, as is Burma, and the Philippines. This opens a number of opportunities.
So, there. Enemy intents are much clearer, I have an unusual situation to cope with, nothing desperate, or even critical, but I have some thinking to do. I am taking the evening to think about all this, and will probably post a few ideas later, and the war will be back on, tomorrow or the day after.
Here is a picture of new year 1942 in Sydney…
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