Always with them negative waves... Aaffins/Cheesesteak v. RADM Yamaguchi

[aaffins]

Oh my gosh guys we get it, no more BB fun [:)]

April 16, 1942

Try a couple B-17 raids in NE Oz, don't go well as we lose 4, but do confirm 38th ID is just outside Townsville.

Big hit on Raoul doesn't do a lot:

Afternoon Air attack on 42nd Naval Guard Unit, at 128,177 (Raoul Island)

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 13

Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 8
F4F-3 Wildcat x 37
SBD-2 Dauntless x 44
SBD-3 Dauntless x 105
TBD-1 Devastator x 73

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
SBD-2 Dauntless: 4 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 damaged
TBD-1 Devastator: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

The KB has moved back east, now 6 hexes from Lord Howe, 26 hexes from Raoul.

So basically we have one day of freedom before we're under threat. We decide to evac as many troops as we can and fly another strike along with hopefully a bombardment (range on this will borderline) then we probably have to head for the hills.

[aaffins]

Was traveling for work this week so have not been updating. We did get in a few turns though.

April 17, 1942

Our CVs fly another large strike at Raoul Island with similar results to yesterday. The BBs Warspite and Mississippi bombard with limited effect. A pair of xAPs get most of the N Force Detachment away safely.

We had been flying some sweeps and strikes in Burma against the retreating IJA paras between Akyab and Mandalay. He put up an LRCAP of Oscars today and got lucky...our sweeps flew after the bombers AND our bombers got separated from the AVG squadron we had flying escort. Lost more than 30 RAF planes. Ouch.

The KB appears to be between Norfolk I. and Noumea so we decide we can afford another day of action around Raoul I.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 18, 1942

A couple of cruisers detached from our CV TF continue withe bombardments of Raoul and our planes fly another strike. Apparently suspecting us of pulling out, Yamaguchi launches a shock attack. I thought we might be in trouble with most of the combat power of the N Force pulled out, but perhaps our bombardments and raids are effective. Also should not underestimate that power of those USMC raider squads. Believe their anti-personnel rating is nearly double a normal combat squad.

Ground combat at Raoul Island (128,177)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4963 troops, 57 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 157

Defending force 1027 troops, 22 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 29

Japanese adjusted assault: 70

Allied adjusted defense: 76

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
328 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 34 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 12 (4 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
84 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
43rd Naval Guard Unit
47th Naval Guard Unit
42nd Naval Guard Unit
61st Nav Gd /1
6th Air Defense AA Regiment
7th Air Defense AA Regiment
34th JNAF AF Unit

Defending units:
1st Marine Raider Battalion
2nd Marine Raider Battalion
N Force Detachment


Quiet elsewhere, enemy is mopping up Sumatra and tries a para attack on Sibolga, which goes poorly for him.

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

April 19, 1942

A second evac TF gets the rest of the Kiwis out of Raoul and most of the Marines. Our carriers and other combat ships move out of range to the SE. No KB sighting.

IJN DDs clear our remaining PT boats out of Townsville. Something is brewing here we suspect, but don't have a great read on it yet. He still has 2-3 divisions worth of troops sitting just a hex outside Townsville. We get SigInt saying IJA 2nd Div is heading for Rockhampton...that's unlikely considering how he tends to use waypoints to confuse SigInt, but that's such a vulnerable hex for us, so we pull a tank Bn. back to reinforce the garrison we have there. Also move some seabees to speed up fortification.

In Burma we've been messing around with the RM Viper Force, cutting the rail line from Rangoon into Middle Burma. Hopefully it's annoying. It also yields some useful intel here, as he uses the IJA 18th Div to recapture Toungoo. That's now 5 divisions we've identified in Burma over the last month either via SigInt or combat. To me that represents a pretty significant commitment on his part. With 3 divisions in Australia, one in the Phillipines and all of his 'extra' Scen 2 divisions in China he really only has 3 unaccounted for. He probably has enough PP to buy out one more, but the point is it would be tough for him to assemble a force that could threaten something major like NZ or Ceylon.

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

April 20, 1942

APDs get the last of our ground forces out of Raoul. Ultimately this op was a failure since we failed to take the island, but I think doing something offensive this early in the game is good. Plus he took more casualties than us and now has 4 SNLFs there instead of being used for offense. He's also probably going to want to pull them out at some point...might be something we can exploit if he doesn't use CVs to provide air cover.

In China Liuchow falls. We could not get reinforcements there fast enough after Nanning fell. Very curious to see what his next move will be. He could turn north and try to threaten Central China, but that'd leave him with quite a long supply line. Could push on to Kweilin and work on encircling Changsha. Or he could turn south and take Wuchow, then reinforce his stalled forces at Kukong. Or perhaps he stops using so much unrestricted AV in China and puts them to work somewhere more 'interesting'.

Ground combat at Liuchow (74,55)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 49097 troops, 524 guns, 351 vehicles, Assault Value = 1439

Defending force 21363 troops, 141 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 446

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 1693

Allied adjusted defense: 379

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Liuchow !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
3215 casualties reported
Squads: 40 destroyed, 131 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 38 disabled
Engineers: 19 destroyed, 36 disabled
Guns lost 52 (3 destroyed, 49 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
6271 casualties reported
Squads: 388 destroyed, 62 disabled
Non Combat: 453 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 20 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 61 (53 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Units retreated 11
Units destroyed 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
5th Amphibious Brigade
5th Guards Division
7th Ind.Tank Brigade
6th Guards Division
4th Guards Division
17th Indpt Guards Regiment
3rd Provisional Base Force
21st Army

Defending units:
64th Chinese Corps
89th Chinese Corps
48th Chinese Corps
74th Chinese Corps
31st Chinese Corps
15th Chinese Corps
8th New Chinese Corps
9th Group Army
4th War Area
51st Chinese Corps
7th Chinese Base Force
9th Chinese Base Force

[aaffins]

April 21, 1942

A fun one for us - We've had a PT squadron posted at Dutch Harbor for some time. Enemy TF, apparently smaller ships, appeared at Umnak 2 hexes away last turn, so we sent them out...did not expect this:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Umnak Island at 169,51, Range 4,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Aoba, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA Furutaka, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
DD Kamikaze
DD Asakaze
DD Harukaze
DD Matsukaze
PB Ikuta Maru
PB Kogyoku Maru, Shell hits 1
PB Kensin Maru
PB Konsan Maru, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
PT-38
PT-39
PT-40
PT-42
PT-43
PT-44
PT-45
PT-46, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
PT-47, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
PT-48
PT Q-113


Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 32% moonlight: 4,000 yards
Range closes to 10,000 yards...
Range closes to 9,000 yards...
Range closes to 8,000 yards...
Range closes to 7,000 yards...
Range closes to 6,000 yards...
Range closes to 5,000 yards...
Range closes to 4,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 4,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 4,000 yards
Camara K. gains tactical advantage

These are the two CAs that got away unscathed from the battle last week where we lost the BBs. I'm guessing they may not have had full ammo loads.

USAAF P-39s also get back at the Oscars over Burma, downing 15 according to intel for the loss of just 3 Aircobras.

With the KB pulled back we've moved some fighters back north in Australia. Two USAAF squadrons will try to sweep the units outside Townsville today. A newly arrived recon squadron will also try to get use some better intel on what's going on at Cairns.

After some debate, we've decided to split up our carriers. Our reasoning is that neither side seems interested in engaging in a big carrier battle at this point in the war (we know we aren't, he passed up an opportunity to force the issue at Raoul) so we're better served to have more areas covered. The Lexington class ships will return to Pearl (they're also due a major AA upgrade) and the Yorktown class ships will move west.

[aaffins]

April 22, 1942

Rockhampton, which I feel is the biggest weak point for us right now, comes into the gunsight of the IJN today. We had sent a CL TF to intercept reported transports in the Coral Sea...not transports:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Rockhampton at 99,152, Range 11,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
SOC-1 Seagull: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Takao, Shell hits 3
CA Atago
CA Maya
CA Chokai, Shell hits 3
DD Kagero, Shell hits 1
DD Kuroshio
DD Oyashio, Shell hits 1
DD Hatsukaze

Allied Ships
CL Perth
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 15, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Barker
DD Bulmer
DD Edsall
DD John D. Edwards
DD Stuart


Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions and 42% moonlight: 11,000 yards
Range closes to 17,000 yards...
Range closes to 11,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 11,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 11,000 yards
Friedell, Wilhelm L crosses the 'T'

Probably lucky to get away with just the Marblehead lost.

That TF and a second CA TF with 4x CAs delivered a pair of hits to Rockhampton:

Allied ground losses:
139 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Light Industry hits 1
Airbase hits 20
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 44
Port hits 18
Port fuel hits 9
Port supply hits 7

Allied ground losses:
158 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 34
Port hits 23
Port fuel hits 7
Port supply hits 4

The KB followed that up with this:

Afternoon Air attack on Lark Battalion, at 95,152 (Rockhampton)

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 73
B5N1 Kate x 16
B5N2 Kate x 85
D3A1 Val x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N1 Kate: 2 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged
D3A1 Val: 2 damaged

Allied ground losses:
259 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

No sign of transports as yet..although we do have that report of an enemy division moving to Rockhampton a few turns ago. I don't think you commit this much firepower to a raid, but you would think if it's a prelude to an invasion that you'd have the 'phibs reasonably close, right? We'll see. We're moving the 2nd Aus Div, which is an ~200 AV militia unit in. It's not a strong unit, but combined with the US Tank Bn. and Aus Motor Brig. we have there, I think it'll hold up to a division with our 3x forts. Just need 5 days to get it into position. Obviously after the attacks today the AF is completely trashed, which may or may not be a good thing.

Slightly to the north, our P-400s finally put a hurting on the Zero unit operating out of Cairns. Intel says 11 downed for just 6 of our own. This is more in line with what I've been expecting considering they're flying LRCAP 3 hexes away and we're sweeping just 2 hexes from our airfield at Charter Towers. Our boys rest this turn and hand off to an 'all-star' P-40 unit that saw action early in the war in the Philippines. If that goes well it'll be time for the bombers.

In China the IJA 56th Div pushes us out of Paoshan. Extremely not ideal giving up a mountain hex with a required shock attack (river crossing), but that's another unrestricted division being used in China...

[Anachro]

Grats on sinking the enemy CA (with a PT boat of all things)! Really questionable on your opponents part to put them into a TF with slow PBs. I would definitely try to hold onto Rockhampton, as you don't want the rail link cut between Townsville and Sydney. Where are you allocating US divisions currently?

[Cheesesteak]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Grats on sinking the enemy CA (with a PT boat of all things)! Really questionable on your opponents part to put them into a TF with slow PBs. I would definitely try to hold onto Rockhampton, as you don't want the rail link cut between Townsville and Sydney. Where are you allocating US divisions currently?

most of them are in transit to this area. I don't have the map in front of me now, but suffice to say that if we can hold a reasonable line for ~2 weeks, things look much better for us. Two weeks is a long time, however.

[Cheesesteak]

A US Army tank commander relaxing on the bank of Fitzroy River wakes from a wine stupor to the sound of klaxons...

[Cheesesteak]

The officer in question bears a remarkable resemblance to the Professor in Animal House. His former CO has been KIA for several weeks but never having been reported dead.

Allied forces have committed to the defense of Townsville, but he, being wise, husbanded his force in reserve.

Hundreds of Japanese planes attack, bombardment after bombardment hits the town. The airfield, port, and much of the surrounding countryside are burning. Countless foes land and instantly establish a beachhead. He hears one of his crew mutter: "Crap!"


The nearest friendly forces are split between holding Townsville and Brisbane. The Allied fleet, humbled by defeat and using antiquated tactics, dare not come to his rescue. To stand and fight would be as mad as putting one Sherman up against three Tigers.

What will our hero do?

[Anachro]

Does this mean he landed at Rockhampton in force? [:D] Can you hold it? If not, might be time to flee, flee quickly from Townsville.

[Cheesesteak]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Does this mean he landed at Rockhampton in force? [:D] Can you hold it? If not, might be time to flee, flee quickly from Townsville.

It does.

There was either some confusion or trickeration with TFs and shipping leading up to this. As Fins mentioned, we picked up notice of what looked to be an AP convoy, and sent forces to interdict. They were replaced by CAs, so we thought it a bombardment attack in force.

We then received notification of troops landing, and troops lost during landing on the combat report. When we loaded the turn, we saw no IJA forces on the hex with us. Likely he was doing something involving maximizing Ops points. Regardless, we think we are facing around 2 divisions.

Despite Oddball's best efforts, Rockhampton will almost certainly fall in the first or second days attack due to the high disruption. Our forts are at 4, but troops are at 70+ disruption from visiting Kates and BBs. Blech!

Evac'ing Townsville, for better or worse, has been rejected. The Americal is ~2 weeks away from frontlines, the 28th is about ~4 weeks off, and the 32nd isn't far behind. Importantly, a large portion of the 1 Aus Corps is available to us right at the outset. This doesn't include 2 Marine regiments + assorted units we are holding at Auckland in case of hijinks.

Fins and I chatted - if he didnt have so much unrestricted AV committed in China, this would be another story. As it is, we have potential for a protracted and advantageous fight.

[Anachro]

Keep in mind that if he moves far enough south, you'll get auto-reinforcements triggered. Don't remember the exact location, but might be around Brisbane. Actually, the Australian mainland one hex South of Brisbane and Tasmania. If you have the ability, I'd do continuous bombardment of Rockhampton once he takes it. He can't operate nearby with KB unless he has fuel and a port there. Keep the airfield and port heavily damaged to deny its use to him.

REINFORCEMENTS TRIGGERED LINK

[Cheesesteak]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Keep in mind that if he moves far enough south, you'll get auto-reinforcements triggered. Don't remember the exact location, but might be around Brisbane. Actually, the Australian mainland one hex South of Brisbane and Tasmania. If you have the ability, I'd do continuous bombardment of Rockhampton once he takes it. He can't operate nearby with KB unless he has fuel and a port there. Keep the airfield and port heavily damaged to deny its use to him.

REINFORCEMENTS TRIGGERED LINK

It's like you were on our text chain [:D]

[aaffins]

This Rockhampton deal is kind of a setback. It's the one location on the whole map where I felt we had significant vulnerability right now. And it would have been closed in a week because I had just send the 2nd Aus Div there to garrison. Oh well.

The smart move might be to pull out of Townsville, but I think we can hold. He just doesn't have the land units to dislodge us and we're going to build up really fast. His supply line is brutal and we have 120K supplies stockpiled at Townsville/Charter Towers and nearly 1 million in South Aus.

Edit: A positive from this turn (4/23/42) is that the USAAF did great against the IJN Zeroes in NE Oz for a second day in a row:

Afternoon Air attack on 90th Infantry Regiment, at 91,143 , near Townsville

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 24,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
9 x P-40E Warhawk sweeping at 20000 feet

CAP engaged:
Tainan Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(14 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 10 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 4 minutes

[Anachro]

Have you tried experimenting with layered CAP? LoBaron in his tests (or maybe someone else) found good results when you had different wings at different maneuver bands (10k, 15k, 20k, etc.) Electing to hold Townsville is a risk, but if you feel you can hold it for awhile with the forces on hand and have good supply then could be worth it as long as you feel pretty confident that you can get force to Australia in time capable of pushing him out of Rockhampton.

[aaffins]

ORIGINAL: Anachro

Have you tried experimenting with layered CAP? LoBaron in his tests (or maybe someone else) found good results when you had different wings at different maneuver bands (10k, 15k, 20k, etc.) Electing to hold Townsville is a risk, but if you feel you can hold it for awhile with the forces on hand and have good supply then could be worth it as long as you feel pretty confident that you can get force to Australia in time capable of pushing him out of Rockhampton.

So far our opponent has not been conducting too many problematic raids. That may change, but to this point our focus has been more on trying to clear the way for aerial bombardment to disrupt airfield expansion at the small fields at Cairns and Townsville. That said, I'm not familiar with layered CAP, is there a post about it somewhere?

I think we can make it work for us. We have about 1,200 AV at Townsville/Charter Towers. Of that about 700 is quality stuff - AIF squads, modern tanks, etc; the rest is militia, armored cars and various other auxiliary units. Our supply situation is good. To contain the Rockhampton incursion we can deploy the 7th Aus Div in a few days as it rails in from Perth and will have 4 US Army regiments in approx two weeks. We can grab 3 more regiments we have stationed in NZ and they can be here in 3-4 weeks. Four more regiments just left SF, so maybe 2 months on them. 32nd Inf Div will embark in the next few days and they'll be on the way. I think that's enough mass to stop him in the short term and then counter him over the summer (winter technically I suppose, this is the Southern Hemisphere).

[aaffins]

April 24, 1942

Rockhampton falls as expected. We were hoping we might get a slight delay but no such luck:

Ground combat at Rockhampton (95,152)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24623 troops, 247 guns, 73 vehicles, Assault Value = 867

Defending force 2727 troops, 42 guns, 161 vehicles, Assault Value = 146

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 365

Allied adjusted defense: 19

Japanese assault odds: 19 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Rockhampton !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
276 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
819 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 112 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 26 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 9 (8 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 137 (134 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Units retreated 5
Units destroyed 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
33rd Division
2nd Division

Defending units:
2/4th Armoured Regiment
754th Tank Battalion
3rd Motor Brigade
Rockhampton RAN Base Force
Bobcats USN Naval Construction Battalion
Lark Bn /1


Not quite sure what's going on here, drunken squadron leader perhaps? Nonetheless, interesting that he is flying so much CAP over what I would consider a backwater base:

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 9 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 76

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 4 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 6000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
12th Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (25 airborne, 51 on standby, 0 scrambling)
25 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: aaffins


... I'm not familiar with layered CAP, is there a post about it somewhere? ...

Read this thread.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... d&#3764049

There is a more detailed post of mine on layered CAP but I haven't yet retrieved it. In short you have to factor in manoeuvre bands and rates of climb in setting layered CAP.

Alfred

[Cheesesteak]

ORIGINAL: aaffins

April 24, 1942

Rockhampton falls as expected. We were hoping we might get a slight delay but no such luck:

Ground combat at Rockhampton (95,152)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24623 troops, 247 guns, 73 vehicles, Assault Value = 867

Defending force 2727 troops, 42 guns, 161 vehicles, Assault Value = 146

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 365

Allied adjusted defense: 19

Japanese assault odds: 19 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Rockhampton !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
276 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
819 casualties reported
Squads: 31 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 112 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 26 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 9 (8 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 137 (134 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Units retreated 5
Units destroyed 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
33rd Division
2nd Division

Defending units:
2/4th Armoured Regiment
754th Tank Battalion
3rd Motor Brigade
Rockhampton RAN Base Force
Bobcats USN Naval Construction Battalion
Lark Bn /1


Not quite sure what's going on here, drunken squadron leader perhaps? Nonetheless, interesting that he is flying so much CAP over what I would consider a backwater base:

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 9 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 76

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 4 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 6000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
12th Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (25 airborne, 51 on standby, 0 scrambling)
25 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 8 minutes

There go our tanks [:(]

Drunken squadron leader showed us our opponent is prepping PM as a major redoubt.

[Cheesesteak]

We have 3 divisions north of Townsville and 2 at Rockhampton. There are still unaccounted units from Java, and ~1300 (Fins keeps better track than I do) unrestricted AV in China. The house will now accept bets on where he goes:

Safe than Sorry back-filling key positions to delay future Allied advances
Wildcard India/Ceylon
Napoleon's Delight Perth for the divide and conquer
Widen that Gap NE OZ

[Anachro]

I'd be careful about running ships in for bombardment without proper nav search. Make sure you saturate the coasts of eastern Australia with PBYs and even HBs operating in a nav search role so you aren't surprised by KB or surface ships. He can still operate planes/bombers from Rockhampton's airfield if it's only partially damaged, so you might consider building up the airfields nearby to help provide LBA CAP to your ships.