Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A)

[apbarog]

2 Feb 42

Blens attacked the Thailand division northeast of Pegu in clear terrain. No escorts. I'd moved a big Oscar unit up north and had LRCAP over the Thai unit. 30 Blens were shot down. Those Blen units will take awhile to recover. Hurricanes did sweep the hex after the Blens, but found just a handful of Oscars still there. 5 Oscars were lost, 3 to the Hurricanes and 2 to ops. A good day in the air. OPilot has many fighters at Rangoon but most appeared to be protecting a big convoy there.

Sallys tried to come down to 15,000 feet to bomb Singapore, but got trashed by the flak again. Back to 20,000 feet. Just so much flak there, and in DBB, flak is more deadly. Japanese troops tried a deliberate attack. It was bloody, again, but progress is being made. Need a couple of days of rest.

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 62473 troops, 705 guns, 530 vehicles, Assault Value = 1644

Defending force 48786 troops, 585 guns, 358 vehicles, Assault Value = 742

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 1409

Allied adjusted defense: 1057

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
4165 casualties reported
Squads: 97 destroyed, 160 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 69 disabled
Engineers: 16 destroyed, 37 disabled
Guns lost 45 (5 destroyed, 40 disabled)
Vehicles lost 77 (11 destroyed, 66 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2380 casualties reported
Squads: 60 destroyed, 91 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 105 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 22 disabled
Guns lost 64 (21 destroyed, 43 disabled)
Vehicles lost 32 (2 destroyed, 30 disabled)

[apbarog]

3 Feb 42

3 LB-30s returned to Koumac, but again found no ships in port. 1 port hit. Allied troops tried an artillery attack at Noumea, seeing exactly what I have there. The transports that had been spotted there when the US carriers were south of Noumea apparently unloaded the 164th Infantry Regiment. Now Allied troops are stronger than the Japanese. I have the 4th Infantry Division, minus most of its support troops, on ships headed to Koumac from Rabaul. 6 Japanese carriers are passing through the Solomons and will meet up with 2 AOs well to the northwest of Koumac. The carriers may cover the landing of the division at Koumac. Probably a good idea. But I'd also like to not be seen and try to slip south of Noumea, possibly to raid Auckland. To be determined.

Japanese attack at Wuchow, north of Canton in China. Almost had enough. Will attack again today and should capture Wuchow. The enemy has been showing movement out of town.

Ground combat at Wuchow (76,57)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 16075 troops, 163 guns, 42 vehicles, Assault Value = 467

Defending force 12410 troops, 86 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 347

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 164

Allied adjusted defense: 85

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1062 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 114 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled

Allied ground losses:
793 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 54 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled

Assaulting units:
51st Division
21st Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
62nd Chinese Corps
2nd Prov Chinese Corps
16th Group Army

[apbarog]

4 Feb 42

xAK Sumiyoshi Maru was hit by 2 torpedoes fired by Nautilus near Roi-Namur. Both torpedoes worked and the ship was sunk, carrying part of a small airbase support company. Not sure if Nautilus carried Mk. 14's or not, but these worked. The convoy is recalled to unload and rebuild the small unit completely. The ships were headed to the small island southeast of Midway and northwest of French Frigate Shoals.

Grayling spotted the Haruna task force moving south from Rabaul.

Wuchow was captured, wrecking 3 Chinese units.

Japanese ground losses:
183 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 17 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
5948 casualties reported
Squads: 132 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 195 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 20 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 15 (11 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Units at Singapore continue to rest. Another attack in a day or so.

Japanese carrier task force got 1/1 D/L well to the northwest of Koumac. Probably not identified. They'll continue southwest and meet up with 2 AOs. They'll top of the tanks and either support the reinforcement of Koumac or try to slip unseen to the south.

[apbarog]

5 Feb 42

Salmon hit xAKL Kosho Maru with a torpedo near Davao. It was a dud. OPilot's torpedo performance is still way above expected.

Tarawa is invaded by the 53rd Naval Guard. No defenders. Ocean Island and Nauru are next in the area.

Need another day of rest at Singapore, so the artillery will bombard again. There's a chance that we take the base tomorrow. Considering the date, this is not a stellar Malayan campaign. Very average.

Japanese carriers move further south, now between New Caledonia and Australia. The fuel tanks have been topped off by 2 AOs there. The 4th Infantry Division is on fast xAPs heading towards Koumac. They'll arrive in 2 days. The carriers may cover that. I wish that Koumac had built its airfield. It's about 80% to a level 1 airfield. No Seabees for the Japanese. They are slow. Not enough vehicle help.

[apbarog]

6 Feb 42 - What To Do?

[apbarog]

6 Feb 42

I decided to move my transports back to the north and move the carriers south to near Norfolk Island. If my raid is spotted, the carriers will move back towards Koumac and cover the troop reinforcement landing. If not, we may go to Auckland.

Undefended Makin was invaded and taken. Pegu was captured. Troops start to move to Rangoon. The enemy is showing movement out of Rangoon to the north. I welcome that.

[apbarog]

With the US carriers spotted at Auckland, and the enemy spotting my transports north of Koumac, OPilot may send his carriers north. If he does so, with my carriers moving adjacent to Norfolk Island, there's a decent chance of being exactly 8 hexes away from each other. So this next turn could be very interesting.

[apbarog]

7 Feb 42

No carrier fight today. Now a choice.

[apbarog]

7 Feb 42

AMc Showa Maru was sunk by S-41 at Luganville. There's 150 mines at Luganville but the enemy subs haven't found them yet. xAK Fukoku Maru was hit by a working torpedo from Salmon west of Babeldaob. The ship had unloaded infantry at Davao, and will probably sink before making it to port. There were a few dud torpedo hits today.

Singapore attack did ok. Was bloody, again. I need to keep the forts from rebuilding but I'm finding it impossible. The flak is incredible there, and the Sallys can't do enough damage from high altitude. Another few days of rest is needed, as the troops have high fatigue and disruption. The fall of Singapore is delayed further. It looked like it would be around 1 Feb. Now it's looking to be around mid-February. Disappointing, and the Japanese troops will need quite a bit of time to recover afterwards.

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 51035 troops, 583 guns, 482 vehicles, Assault Value = 1541

Defending force 48442 troops, 581 guns, 379 vehicles, Assault Value = 685

Japanese adjusted assault: 1801

Allied adjusted defense: 891

Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
2016 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 119 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 21 disabled
Vehicles lost 59 (26 destroyed, 33 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2311 casualties reported
Squads: 63 destroyed, 101 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 46 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 43 disabled
Guns lost 45 (7 destroyed, 38 disabled)
Vehicles lost 55 (8 destroyed, 47 disabled)

As far as the carriers, I decided to move them mostly eastward to engage anything northbound towards Noumea or Suva from Auckland. If nothing is found, there's a better chance of not being spotted by Catalinas in this area. But they still will probably be seen. They've been lucky hiding in bad weather for 3 days in row.

[apbarog]

8 Feb 42

Big Oscar sweep of Toungoo, with planes lost on both sides. The Oscar Ic's have such weak guns.

The story is down near New Zealand.

[apbarog]

8 Feb 42 - Continued

[apbarog]

9 Feb 42 - Auckland

Now what to do...

[apbarog]

9 Feb 42 - KB Movement

[Evoken]

Its a big shame weather prevented strikes , it would be really hard to catch US CV's now but good luck!

[Wuffer]

tense!
really tricky, especially for the Allies.

This is a much tougher fight than expected, Opilot seems to be much more comfortable with the good boys.
Interesting AAR!

[Bif1961]

The weather that allowed you to sneak up on him has turned and now stopped you from attacking them. However, being so close you have now presented him with a number of options that may not be desirable. How many fighters does he have at Auckland? If he has enough and with his carrier not docked in Port he might combine them to for a large CAP and risk protecting everything there, with AAA as well from ships and port. That way if anything is damaged and not sunk, he can disband them in port, resupply his AAA, replace some loses and fight another day. If he flees with the carriers and gets away you might return and slaughter his ships in port which would be far less protected without the carrier air groups.

[apbarog]

One thing that I hadn't considered is that he could have major ships, maybe even a carrier, in pier mode repairing. I show up unexpectedly and those ships are stuck there. That would make it more likely that OPilot would stack Auckland to defend it.

Real life has interfered with our usual daily turns. I expect the next turn from OPilot within hours.

[apbarog]

10 Feb 42

The British cruiser force came back to Malaya, this time to bombard Johore Bahru. I was aware that this could happen, moving through Singapore, but I had feared a bombardment during the buildup to the Singapore crossing, not afterwards. It hit today, and keeping with the theme of this war, good luck for the Allies, it was a nuclear bombardment.

Night Naval bombardment of Johore Bahru at 50,83

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 45 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 3 destroyed on ground
Ki-43-Ia Oscar: 24 damaged
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 64 damaged
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 2 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
CA Exeter
CA Cornwall
CL Glasgow
CL Mauritius
DD Jupiter
DD Isis
DD Express
DD Encounter
DD Electra
DD Thanet
DD Tenedos
DD Scout

Japanese ground losses:
1475 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 19 destroyed, 82 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 22 disabled
Guns lost 34 (4 destroyed, 30 disabled)
Vehicles lost 20 (5 destroyed, 15 disabled)

Resources hits 1
Airbase hits 47
Airbase supply hits 13
Runway hits 80
Port hits 35
Port fuel hits 10
Port supply hits 5

This wasn't a battleship bombardment, but it sure looked like one. A very good one. Lots of casualties for lots of support units. And lots of planes damaged. 6 Zeros and 5 Sallys destroyed. Most damaged. Morale in the 20s and 30s, so recovery will take some time. Not that the Sallys have been able to accomplish much bombing Singapore, but they certainly cannot now.

KB moved west of New Zealand, guessing that the enemy would flee Auckland and hug the coast headed towards Wellington. Well, the ships did flee Auckland, and hugged the coast down to the bend, but kept going southeast, out into the open ocean. The slower ships were spotted by a Glen near the bend. More valuable shipping, like ADs, had moved further to the southeast, out towards nowhere. The US carriers were not spotted. They could have move almost anywhere, but considering the ant trail of everything else, they fled southeast and quickly.

At the bend, in shallow water, Glen equipped sub I-26 spotted 2 xAPs and an AP with a destroyer. One torpedo hit big transport xAP Mataroa. This was during the night. Part of the Auckland exodus to the southeast.

KB did send some strikes. AM Mruritai was sunk near Wellington. AM Cessnock was sunk by torpedoes near Auckland. AMc's Futurish and South Sea were sunk near Wellington. 27 Kates and 18 Vals, with no escorts, flew to Auckland, but luckily found no CAP. They sunk AMc Humphrey with a torpedo and damaged tanker Gulfland with a bomb. Flak was heavy at Auckland, shooting down 4 Vals.

Fairly out of position to chase the enemy to the southeast, being on the western side of New Zealand, KB is ordered to the northwest to support the push on Noumea. The 4th Infantry Division is unloading at Koumac now. Sending the 4th to Port Moresby initially instead of to Singapore could be blamed for the problems at Singapore. KB's move to Auckland almost changed the war, catching the US carriers, and many other ships there. But weather prevented the strikes and surprise was lost.

Singapore is in danger of becoming a quagmire. It looks like having 4 divisions plus support isn't going to be enough.

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 60544 troops, 707 guns, 456 vehicles, Assault Value = 1526

Defending force 47494 troops, 579 guns, 386 vehicles, Assault Value = 588

Japanese adjusted assault: 1075

Allied adjusted defense: 885

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
1818 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 128 disabled
Non Combat: 49 destroyed, 32 disabled
Engineers: 30 destroyed, 19 disabled
Vehicles lost 44 (14 destroyed, 30 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
2279 casualties reported
Squads: 63 destroyed, 69 disabled
Non Combat: 17 destroyed, 153 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 18 disabled
Guns lost 46 (12 destroyed, 34 disabled)
Vehicles lost 39 (4 destroyed, 35 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
23rd Ind Engineer Regiment
5th Division
14th Tank Regiment
Imperial Guards Division
2nd Division
18th Division
41st Infantry Regiment
4th Ind Engineer Regiment
1st Tank Regiment
15th Ind Engineer Regiment
6th Tank Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
5th Mortar Battalion
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
1st RF Gun Battalion
3rd Mortar Battalion
25th Army
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
20th AA Regiment
31st Field AA Battalion

Defending units:
1st Mysore Battalion
SSVF Brigade
8th Indian Brigade
2/17 Dogra Battalion
27th Australian Brigade
1st Manchester Battalion
22nd Indian Brigade
5/14th Punjab Battalion
22nd Australian Brigade
2nd Gordons Battalion
2nd Loyal Battalion
11th Indian Division
2nd Malay Battalion
1st Malay Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
12th Indian Brigade
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
109th RAF Adv Base Force
109th RN Base Force /1
Malayan Air Wing
3rd Heavy AA Regiment
Singapore Base Force
113th RAF Adv Base Force
111th RAF Adv Base Force
AHQ Far East
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
3rd SSVF Battalion
Malaya Army
5th Field Regiment
2nd ISF Base Force
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
112th RAF Adv Base Force
III Indian Corps
Singapore Fortress
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
110th RAF Adv Base Force /1

One division is trashed. Another is half trashed. Disruption is over 70 and will require about 3 days of rest. In the mean time, the forts get rebuilt to level 1. No way that my force will get a 3 to 1 attack. We'll keep trying, but I don't think it's going to happen. My average taking of Singapore in early February is going to become a poor campaign ending around the end of February, I'm afraid. I've summoned a division at Manila to move to Batangas. A task force of very big fast transports is moving to Batangas from Cam Ranh Bay to get the troops. Then it's off to Bangkok to unload, a rail trip down to Johore Baru, changing from Strat mode to Move mode, and movement into Singapore. It's going to take about 3 weeks. Terrible. I've not been this discouraged as the Japanese this early in the war before.

The only thing that makes this not a complete disaster is that I have had modest plans for expansion, taking the usual places like Java and Sumatra and Timor, probably Darwin, but nothing like going to the rest of Australia or India. I considered a spoiling invasion of Ceylon, but that probably won't happen. My plans were modest because I want to move a lot to China after the perimeter is set, and really do a thorough cutting off of Burma from China. My slowness at Singapore won't make much difference to that effort.

Rangoon flipped to the Japanese today as troops entered the city. The enemy had fled. Over 30,000 oil captured. And with no combat, the refinery is undamaged.

[apbarog]

11 Feb 42

I-26 hit unescorted xAKL Kailua with 3 shells southeast of Auckland. I-26 had some minor damage from previous action and chose to break off the fight early.

S-27 hit huge transport xAP Haruna Maru with a torpedo at Koumac. Massive explosion reported. Damage is SYS 8/FLT 25-14/ENG 4-0/FIRE 5. Unloading of it and a few other very large transports will continue. So will the torpedo hits, the way things are going. 2 destroyers have broken off of the Haruna task force at Koumac to hunt for S-27. Most of the 4th Infantry Division has unloaded, and it begins to march down to Noumea.

Snapper hit patrol boat Fukui Maru with a working torpedo near Milne Bay. The PB is escorting a single xAK, one that carries the single leftover vehicle of the 4th Infantry Division that is now mostly at Koumac, but has a fragment at Rabaul also. A support fragment is at Port Moresby and is being flown to Rabaul on Tinas.

Nauru Island is invaded and captured.

KB was not spotted northwest of New Zealand. It will continue north to go west of Noumea and support its capture.

[apbarog]

12 Feb 42

Narwhal had a dud torpedo hit on xAKL Heiwa Maru. OPilot has been more unlucky with torpedo dud hits on small ships like SCs and xAKLs, and plenty of good luck with fighting ships and big xAPs.

Two Japanese infantry divisions have moved from Manila to Clark. One will continue to move to Bataan. The other will stay at Clark and be the reserve division to be called in if needed. I want to keep under the stacking limit at Bataan while the enemy is still way over stacked. Enemy losses to artillery have been brutal every day. I keep bombing, with little results, but it does tell me if flak is still firing, and therefore if the units with flak still have supply. They still do. I may end up attacking before supply is exhausted. I need to get things moving faster. These troops need to move on to Borneo and Java.