[font="Times New Roman"]July 27-31, 1944[/font]
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SW PAC: [/font] A failed attempt to target a convoy heading for Ponape loses me 3 old DDs as they don't get out of air strike range in time. I've got to stop that now. I'll let him come to me as I can't afford useless losses to the DD fleet. Lots of 27 knot late DDs arriving, but they're not so good, so even these Mutsukis are a tough loss now.
The Allies take an almost empty Aitape. Now it's getting close to Hollandia. We'll see what he does. Will the big invasion come soon, or is a bypass in order? [:)]
B-24s again bomb Wolei, and we had a LR CAP set up. Get about 2 Libs and trade some shots with the sweeping P-38s. He's also doing some night bombing of Truk with slight effect.
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BURMA: [/font] The big event of the week is a strike on the Allied base at Silchar. i'd been reconning some of the NE India bases and noticed that both Dimapur and Silchar had LOTS of planes on the round but few to no fighters and not too many guns listed. Japanese recon is not always reliable, but I got the same reading over several days. Then stood down, got bombers in place, and let fly on the 31st.
Around 100 Helens took part and hit Silchar, destroying about 50 planes on the ground and damaging lots of others, with 82 hits to the fields. [:)]
Lost a few fighters to ops, but no CAP was up and didn't lose a single bomber on the day! The only downside is that the 50 Peggys tasked with striking Dimapur did not fly from Chengtu. Oh, well. I can handle that.
I expect reprisals soon.
The only other issue of note is the ground situation in Burma. The main stack has moved out of Magwe now and is pointing toward the Arakan coastline. But, this could be a path to Prome, which is vulnerable as a clear hex. We'll see where these 430k + troops go next.
My ground forces are well placed, but the Thais have just withdrawn. This takes 1,500AV of decently experienced troops off the map now (some of which had dug in to forts 4 in their blocking hexes). I've got some inexperienced IJA brigades taking their places.
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR July 27, 44
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Ponape at 120,114, Range 10,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Mutsuki
DD Kisaragi
DD Yayoi
DD Uzuki
Allied Ships
ACM Picket, Shell hits 18, heavy fires, heavy damage
Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 50% moonlight: 11,000 yards
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Saumlaki at 78,117
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes
Allied aircraft
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 15
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
xAKL Sunten Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Kaiyo Maru #1, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAKL Tainichi Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 4000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Ponape at 119,115
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 69 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 30 minutes
Allied aircraft
SB2C-3 Helldiver x 22
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
DD Mutsuki
DD Kisaragi, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Yayoi
DD Uzuki, Bomb hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x SB2C-3 Helldiver releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Ponape at 119,115
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 43 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 19 minutes
Allied aircraft
TBM-1C Avenger x 17
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
DD Mutsuki, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Uzuki, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Yayoi
Aircraft Attacking:
17 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR July 31, 44
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Morning Air attack on Silchar , at 59,39
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 10 NM, estimated altitude 35,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes
Japanese aircraft
N1K1-J George x 35
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 31
No Japanese losses
Aircraft Attacking:
35 x N1K1-J George sweeping at 31000 feet *
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Morning Air attack on Silchar , at 59,39
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 39
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 37
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 61
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
B-25D1 Mitchell: 11 damaged
B-25D1 Mitchell: 5 destroyed on ground
B-25C Mitchell: 26 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 2 destroyed on ground
C-47 Skytrain: 119 damaged
C-47 Skytrain: 16 destroyed on ground
B-25D Mitchell: 26 damaged
B-25D Mitchell: 3 destroyed on ground
C-46A Commando: 24 damaged
C-46A Commando: 2 destroyed on ground
B-25C Mitchell: 31 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 4 destroyed on ground
F-5A Lightning: 3 damaged
Spitfire VIII: 10 damaged
Allied ground losses:
9 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Airbase hits 37
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 82
Aircraft Attacking:
37 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
36 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
25 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
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[font="Trebuchet MS"]Here are the results. Not bad for Japanese bombing in 44![/font]

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill