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

[apbarog]

2 April 42 - Celebes and Timor

[apbarog]

2 April 42 - Northern China

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2 April 42 - Southern China

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2 April 42 - Java and Borneo

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2 April 42 - Marshalls

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2 April 42 - Midway

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2 April 42 - Philippines

[apbarog]

2 April 42 - Solomons and New Guinea

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2 April 42 - South Pacific

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2 April 42 - Sumatra and Malaya

[apbarog]

So, my overall plan for this war was to push hard very early, show threats where there won't be any, take all the usual needed oil areas, and then push north and northeast out of Vietnam into western China, with the goal of cutting off China from Burma. If this is done, I'll then push on the Chinese capital. It will be a tough offensive, going through slow and defensible terrain. The biggest risk will be not having those divisions on the outer shell of the Japanese perimeter. Ground defense will be weak everywhere. I'll rely on the Navy in the South Pacific. I still want the US carriers, but they may not be risked anytime soon.

[apbarog]

2 Apr 42

Drum got a dud torpedo hit on xAK Tonan Maru at Wake. Seawolf got 2 dud torpedo hits on damaged DD Kuri just east of Kendari. Kuri is out of fuel and limping towards Kendari. It will now move one hex southwest instead, as there are still mines at Kendari. A cruiser task force will meet it there and escort it to safety at Balikpapan.

DD Le Triomphant is somewhere northeast of Luganville. It didn't raid Ndeni or Luganville. I was, and am, ready for both.

Palembang was invaded. My 4 DMS's didn't find or sweep any mines at Palembang. CL Kuma and AK Sasako Maru both hit a mine. Both should survive with the current damage levels. Kuma is SYS 9/FLOT 27-21/ENG 0/FIRE 0 and Sasako Maru is SYS 1/FLOT 31/ENG 15/FIRE 13. Most troops have unloaded and will attack the weak defense at Palembang. There are a couple of British base units there that probably came from Singapore. Shouldn't be a problem for a division, an armor unit and a HQ.

Allied fighters swept Tjepoe again, and bombers followed. The enemy has been whittled down in strength, but the B-25s and DB-7s still managed to take out a few more oil.

Total air losses were 3 P-40Es, 2 B-339Ds and 2 Hurricanes, for the cost of a Zero. Oscars are being moved from Bangkok to Singapore. They'll go to Palembang as soon as the base is captured. OPilot has been going after newly conquered oil so it needs protection. Well, as much as some Oscars can protect. Against B-17s, not much. Right now the bomber threat is from Batavia. Once all of Java and Sumatra is clear, the only threat to the oil for the near future will be a carrier raid, which may or may not ever occur.

Makassar was taken. Not critical, but nice for the advance to Timor.

[apbarog]

3 Apr 42

More unloading at Palembang. DMS's sweep lots of mines, but it appears that some enemy subs dropped more during the night. AK Sakura Maru hit one. Palembang was captured easily.

Seawolf got 2 torpedo hits on damaged destroyer Kuri outside of Kendari. One was a dud but the other wasn't, and Kuri was sunk. The rescue cruiser task force arrived but will now head back towards Makassar.

Divisions and armor at Singapore begin to show fake prep for Ceylon, Chittagong and eastern Australia. The units will actually go to Vietnam for the push north into China, but not until after Java and Sumatra are finished.

[apbarog]

4 Apr 42

Lots of enemy mines swept at Palembang. Thresher sank a patrol boat southwest of Truk. One dud and one not a dud.

What's left of the Dutch bombers bombed the 48th Division at Semarang. Over 20 Zeros were there on ranged CAP from Tjepoe. No escorts. Lots of enemy shot down. B-25s were again the most effective. Over 120 Japanese casualties but Semarang was still easily captured. Total air losses were 20 139WH-3s, 10 CW-22s, 6 B-25s and a DB-7, for the loss of 2 Zeros. One notable loss.

Banzai! - Kurosawa, S. in a A6M2 Zero rams a B-25C Mitchell for the Emperor

5 Zeros pilots became aces.

Tandjoengbalai, on the coast of Sumatra south of Medan, was invaded. It is not defended. The 41st Infantry Regiment will take the base today and then march to Medan. They'll be tasked with clearing all of Sumatra to the north. It is barely defended.

OPilot has had subs ready, loaded with mines, waiting for my invasions. Palembang had mines, but more were dropped when I invaded. A few ships were hit at Palembang, so that worked for OPilot. I now see mines at Semarang, on Java. They were probably dropped just before I invaded, but I didn't invade there. There were no mines at Tjepoe, where I landed.

[apbarog]

5 Apr 42

Dutch subs are prowling near Palembang, with lots of targets available. Japanese destroyers are hunting the subs, but didn't get any today in the shallow water. O20 took minor damage from depth charges, and missed Shinonome with 4 torpedoes. Dutch sub KXIII hit xAK Tamon Maru with a torpedo. The ship is now SYS 52/FLOT 62-47/ENG 25/FIRE 41 and will probably not make it back to Palembang, 2 hexes away.

Another Dutch sub, KXIV, hit AO Tsurumi near Jesselton. Tsurumi was empty and returning to Brunei for fuel to move out. It is SYS 29/FLOT 78-13/ENG 2-0/FIRE 5 and will try to make it one hex to Jesselton.

Malang was bombarded by Japanese cruisers, with minor base and unit damage.

Japanese forces continue to chase fleeing Chinese troops on the trail north of Wuchow. A 1 to 1 attack resulted in 1551 Japanese and 1360 Chinese casualties. Another attack is ordered. The enemy may make it out of the hex. Soon, the Japanese will pull back south to Canton and Hong Kong to rest and recover. They'll play a part in the big Chinese offensive in the summer.

Soerabaja was taken. There was no retreat available with Japanese troops at Malang.

Ground combat at Soerabaja (56,104)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 27649 troops, 213 guns, 213 vehicles, Assault Value = 935

Defending force 7061 troops, 88 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 108

Japanese adjusted assault: 653

Allied adjusted defense: 46

Japanese assault odds: 14 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Soerabaja !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
B-339D: 1 destroyed

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

Japanese ground losses:
171 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Vehicles lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
9202 casualties reported
Squads: 110 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 464 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 119 (119 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 8 (8 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 11

[apbarog]

6 Apr 42

Destroyer Shinonome got 2 depth charge hits on O20 near Palembang. xAK Tamon Maru was hit by a torpedo by O20 yesterday in that hex. The ship was unescorted and still in the hex at the beginning of the day. O20, despite damage, fired 2 torpedoes at the cargo ship. One or both of them hit, and all that hit were duds. Tamon Maru did make it into Palembang's port, but it still may not survive in the size 3 port. It is now SYS 79(+27)/FLOT 75(+13)/ENG 41(+16)/FIRE 10 (-31).

Many enemy mines were cleared at Soerabaja. Still some left.

In the Slot near Munda, Snapper spotted Kaga and fired 4 torpedoes. One hit but was a dud. KB is passing through the Solomons, headed south, along with a couple of AOs.

The Allied air force at Batavia, mostly Dutch, went after the troops at Semarang, in clear terrain. Fighters did sweep. I moved the Zeros out of Tjepoe to Soerabaja, so there was no ranged CAP at Semarang today. The infantry division was badly disrupted but is continuing to move south. I ordered a big strike with sweepers on Batavia for today. Planes will come from Soerabaja and Palembang. The target is the airfield.

Praboemoelih, next to Palembang, was captured. One British base force retreated towards the west coast. 2 units were destroyed. 1/3 of a division will chase down the enemy. The other 1/3 will move to Oosthaven. 1/3 defends Palembang.

[apbarog]

7 Apr 42

All of the mines were cleared at Soerabaja.

Small units continue to land at enemy bases behind the lines. Ontong Java, north of Guadalcanal, was invaded. So was Puerto Princesa, in the Philippines, but it had an enemy unit. Lilys will bomb the enemy there to see what it is. The company probably won't be able to take the base alone.

Zeros swept Batavia at 20000 feet, finding Hurricanes at 25000 and B-339Ds at 20000 and 15000. The Dutch planes took the brunt of the fighting, but Zeros were lost. Sallys with Zeros then bombed, and the dozen or so of the enemy fighters got through the escorts quickly and downed some bombers. More Sallys bombed unescorted but the Hurricanes didn't catch them. In the air, 20 B-339Ds and 2 Hurricanes were shot down, for the loss of 11 Zeros and 9 Sallys. The airfield was moderately damaged and 2 L-18s, 2 139W4-3s, 1 Catalina and 1 Do24K were destroyed on the ground.

The Japanese 14th Tank Regiment captured Djambi from the Djambi Cdo unit. No oil facilities were destroyed. Fighters are moved in immediately, ahead of the base support, to protect the oil.

Damaged ships of note:

AO Tsurumi made it to Jesselton. It is reducing its fires, so it may survive. It is currently SYS 34(+2)/FLOT 78(+1)/ENG 2/FIRE 1(-3).

xAK Tamon Maru made it back to Palembang. It has put its fires out. It is SYS 80(+1)/FLOT 75/ENG 41/FIRE 0(-10).

Plans are being made for a para drop to the Andaman Islands. Port Blair is defended by just one small unit. Would spare me the risk of sending ships into the Indian Ocean. The paras would be pulled out and back to Burma before the Chinese offensive, and they will play a part in China.

[apbarog]

8 Apr 42

Nells attacked the base force on Port Blair, but were surprised by 6 Fulmars overhead. 9 Nells were shot down. Good recon of the base shows no fighters there, so there's a Brit carrier nearby. Search range for the Nells, at Bangkok, is extended to try to find the carrier.

Dutch bombers try their luck at Semarang again, after seeing the Zeros pull out of nearby Tjepoe. But I moved Zeros to Semarang yesterday, and they shot down some bombers. 4 CW-22s, 2 B-25s and 1 L-212 were shot down.

The first tanker convoy for Palembang is leaving Singapore today. I need to start pulling out fuel and oil. Mostly fuel. It is at capacity for the base. I'll just send it to Singapore for now. More permanent convoys will be set up once Java and Sumatra are cleared.

Mini-KB and slow battleships have been repairing at Singapore. I could move them north into the Indian Ocean, or south to support moves on Ambon and Timor. I chose to move them south, so they are now heading to Soerabaja. I have very limited goals in the Indian Ocean. Port Blair, and that's about it. I want to clear everything north of Australia, and the northern Australian bases. And Horn Island.

The "big" plan is the Chinese offensive, and I want to use as much as possible for that. But that is still months away.

[apbarog]

9 Apr 42

Zeros swept Norfolk Island. I do this occasionally and sometimes bomb with Sallys. No CAP there for awhile. It appears that multiple subs are there daily. They may be bringing in supply.

Japanese cruisers bombarded Horn Island and accidentally stayed. There is only one unit there but it is a coastal gun unit, the Torres Strait Fortress. Some minor hits on cruisers, nothing to worry about. Horn is a size 1 airbase, and the closest bigger base is well to the south in Australia, so little threat to the ships. They'll return to Rabaul to rearm. They did just miss a few ships that passed through the straits northbound, just ahead of the bombardment. Type unknown.

Bandjermasin and Sampit were invaded. Sampit is empty. Bandjermasin is not. Bombers will identify what is there today. Donggala was captured on Celebes.

A clash of titans occurred at Puerto Princesa. The Japanese 6th Indpt SNLF Coy attacked the Palawan Constab Battalion.

Ground combat at Puerto Princesa (73,83)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 420 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 16

Defending force 375 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 15

Japanese adjusted assault: 15

Allied adjusted defense: 10

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Assaulting units:
6th Indpt SNLF Coy

Defending units:
Palawan Constab Battalion

No losses for either side. Some Lilys will bomb today. The Japanese have supply. The enemy will run out. The base will be taken, sooner or later.

2 enemy units were pushed out of Lahat, near Palembang. Part of the Japanese 5th Division will follow and finish them off.

[apbarog]

10 Apr 42

Japanese minesweepers took a look at Banjoewangi, at the southern tip of Java, and they found and swept the mines there. This opens up the straits there. I'm sending a cruiser force from Soerabaja to hit Denpassar, a size 3 airbase nearby. Battleships at Soerabaja will bombard the adjacent mountain hex of Malang.

B-17s bombed the port at the dot base of Erromango, east of New Caledonia. I have an AV there and there are search planes at the base. OPilot is either guessing or he spotted something there. The AV wasn't hit. I'll take a chance that he is guessing and will leave the ship there.

Kates from mini-KB hit and sank HDML P 4 at Tjilatjap. 2 Hurricanes were on ranged CAP and shot down an escorting Zero.

An empty Munda is invaded, as is Ternate and Sampit.

A Dutch unit is destroyed west of Djambi on Sumatra. The 14th Tank Regiment will continue north to clear west coast bases.

Medan is captured. None of the oil facilities or refinery were damaged.

Puerto Princesa is attacked again. 42 enemy casualties. The base will be taken.

On Celebes, the 42nd Naval Guard chased down the Makassar RK Cdo at Watampone and destroyed it there, taking the base. One Dutch unit remains north of Watampone.