The Accidental War Obvert vs Lowpe

[Lowpe]

Allies continue to be very aggressive with their air force. Flew a little too high at Palembang and lost an xakl. Catalinas claim another north of Aitape.

[Lowpe]

Is it worth a short at the enemy carriers...I suspect they will head straight south.

1 Oscar Sentai, 1 Zero Sentai, and 1 Betty/Nell attack with torpedoes. 75 Fighters and 36 torpedo carrying bombers....could they get thru?



KB by French Frigate Shoal....senior moment there on the map.

[Lokasenna]

I mean, that's not THAT far away from where he is... he might be heading back to Pearl. Or maybe he's gonna swing south, raiding the Gilberts as he goes. Who knows? I'd just try to keep eyes on him as much as possible, and sail KB towards him but avoid Johnston Island where you might get spotted by Cats.

Assuming you have torpedoes and/or sorties, anyway.

[MakeeLearn]

Bad luck with the storms over the enemies' carriers, hid their direction of travel.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I mean, that's not THAT far away from where he is... he might be heading back to Pearl. Or maybe he's gonna swing south, raiding the Gilberts as he goes. Who knows? I'd just try to keep eyes on him as much as possible, and sail KB towards him but avoid Johnston Island where you might get spotted by Cats.

Assuming you have torpedoes and/or sorties, anyway.

Obvert thinks I have no sorties left -- he mentioned it in an email...but I have 50% sorties left and half torpedoes.

B17's hit the Gilberts for no loss, except 2 downed beasties.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

Bad luck with the storms over the enemies' carriers, hid their direction of travel.

I kind of know their direction of travel, since I had spotted them yesterday too.[;)]

Gilberts are empty of ships...they are all back at Truk except for some xakl and a AMc.

[Lowpe]

Dec 17, 1941

Allies night bomb Palembang. 30 plus refineries and a half dozen oil destroyed. 3 AA units don't fire at all...they have no searchlights or radar.

Brunei taken.

Lexington 10 hexes west of Roi Namur in a severe thunderstorm. 27 Betties and 75 fighters sortie but cannot locate the task force.

IJ Paratroops take Meiktila in Burma, but we need to sever other road connections to close down the Burma Road.

[Lowpe]

I am not repairing the oil refinery, but the oil yes so this raid cost several thousand supply. I guess I will put Pete's up, disappointed but not surprised the AA didn't fire. Who said searchlights were useless...

I will fast transport some in I guess.


Night Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
139WH-3 x 1

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x 139WH-3 bombing from 2000 feet
City Attack: 3 x 300 kg GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 3

No Allied losses

Manpower hits 4
Fires 2538

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Air attack on Palembang , at 48,91

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 41 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 4

No Allied losses

Oil hits 2
Fires 2538

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 5000 feet *
City Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb

[Lowpe]

Dec 18, 1943

More night attacks at Palembang, 2 oil hit. AA still doesn't fire, and the Pete's set to night CAP don't fly. Could be weather (heavy rain) or lack of searchlights and radar sets. I also have seen a lag of one day when units are switched over to night duties and change bases.

Sorong is invaded. The Yamashiro is providing muscle. The Taiyo providing Claudes, and they get busy all day long, both AM and PM there are attacks. The AM attacks are all defeated, but a few of the PM attacks get thru. No damage done however.

No torpedoes on either the PBY or the Swords.

[Lowpe]

Claudes simply don't have the muscle that Zeroes do.

[Lowpe]

A forced river crossing against the dispirited Palembang defenders.

The Aussie unit to the southeast is what? Escaping HQa from Palembang. Reinforcements for Palembang?

[Lowpe]

At 25 morale and experience the RTA troops aren't good for much right off the bat, but here the 6th takes a base. Their success doesn't increase their morale or experience at all. Sad, but true.[;)]

[Lowpe]

The fast transport into Kavieng should have had plenty of points to unload and move north west under some Oscar LRCAP, but they don't. Nothing damaged to seriously, and the troops are safely ashore.

Lady Lex...

[Lowpe]

Tarawa gets some attention. One 1vp xakl goes down.

[Lowpe]

9 days at critical pierside to repair 16 points of system damage. 24 if set to shipyard.

How many 1000 pound bombs did the Mutsu eat? Lots!

[Lowpe]

sent the turn to Obvert.

Balikpapen invasion forces are underway.

Jolo fast transport is loading and will invade tomorrow.

Kavieng will be attacked, and should win unless the Allies visit with their planes and ships. Likely that they do.

More troops dispatched to the Aluetians.

12 days in and our light industry repairs are down to 35 or something silly like that. I expanded LI almost 200 points on day 2.

I hope my Petes fly tonight over Palembang, probably another full day before searchlights get there.

[Andav]

It will be interesting to see if the search lights make any difference. There is typically not a lot of early night bombing.

All hail the Pete!

Wa

[MakeeLearn]

How many 1000 pound bombs did the Mutsu eat? Lots!

Recommended Dietary Allowance of iron.

[Lowpe]

Dec 19th, 1941

Another wonderful turn full of implications for tactics and direction of the rest of the war. The Allies are no shrinking violets as you shall see. I suspect this game will become an Allied masterpiece on the prosecution of the war, and I highly recommend you follow Obvert's AAR if you are a AFB.

One of my favorite ships starts the carnage off near Sorong in the DEI.

[Lowpe]

We follow that minor success with an oiler near Mindanao.