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

[apbarog]

11 Apr 42

Yamashiro, Fuso and Nagato, with escorts, bombarded Malang. Poor result with just minor base damage and only 86 casualties. About 120 enemy AV at Malang, in the mountains.

Old light cruiser Kashii and 2 DDs bombarded Bandjermasin, getting about the same results as the battleships did at Malang.

4 cruisers and 8 destroyers bombarded Denpassar, causing moderate base damage. No ships or planes there.

The first ground attack at Bandjermasin came off at 1 to 2 odds with 24 Japanese casualties and 1 enemy gun destroyed. Another part of the 124th Infantry Battalion will land today to reinforce.

Puerto Princesa was captured, causing 423 casualties and destroying the Palawan Constab Battalion. Undefended Ternate was also captured.

[apbarog]

12 Apr 42

Enemy aircraft appeared at Cheribon, on the coast south of Batavia. OPilot swept the hex yesterday, but I had no ranged CAP there. There wasn't any when the P-40s and Hurricanes swept, nor when the bombers hit the 2 armored units that took Cheribon today. One tank unit is badly disrupted. Today I moved some Zeros to Cheribon, with a base support unit to arrive in a couple of days.

27 Kates and 18 Vals bombed Norfolk Island, coming from KB. Many other bombers didn't fly. 2 Vals were lost to flak, and airbase damage was light. An enemy cruiser force was spotted west of Melbourne by a Glen. Melbourne has been empty for awhile. I suspect this is the cruiser TF that wiped out my xAP TF at Namlea. It's about the right amount of time for the ships to go around Australia. KB will move a bit west towards Australia. Catalinas will probably spot them again, but if not, they'll linger in the area and wait for those cruisers.

[apbarog]

13 Apr 42

Dutch sub O24 missed I-159 with 2 torpedoes near Ambon.

Watching the red flight route lines for enemy planes from yesterday, it appeared that enemy planes that had been based at Batavia had moved to Tjilatjap. Sallys with Zeros attacked, finding no CAP. P-40s and Hurricanes were damaged on the ground. A couple were destroyed. The runway had minor damage.

Bandjermasin, on Borneo, was captured. A part of the 124th Infantry Battalion will follow the enemy onto the jungle trail.

KB was not spotted and will drift a hex to the west, between Noumea and Brisbane. Mini-KB and slow battleships will leave Balikpapan and head towards Namlea, ready to start bombarding Ambon. The division that is at Kendari will invade Ambon sometime soon, after some bombardments.

[apbarog]

14 Apr 42

I-123 spotted the dreaded French destroyer Le Triomphant southeast of Suva. The sub fired 2 torpedoes at the destroyer but missed. Le Triomphant hit I-123 with a depth charge in return. Le Triomphant was escorting AKE William R. Gibson, probably going to Suva.

I have shipping at Wake Island, trying to pick up the very nice Wake coastal gun unit that recently appeared there. I want to use the unit elsewhere. The guns are big, however, and with just a size 1 port, it isn't easy to lift them out. I brought a port unit in just to help with the loading. The most effective method seems to be an amphibious TF. I'm using mostly small xAKLs. They seem to be able to pick up a single big gun per day. This is dangerous work though. 2 enemy subs are there. Drum hit AMC Saigon Maru with a torpedo, but it was a dud. The AMC just finished dropping off the port unit.

The enemy air on Java concentrated on a clear terrain hex northeast of Tjilatjap. Enemy fighters did well against Zeros on range CAP, Zeros with average pilots in them. Bombers hit the only ground unit there, an artillery unit. The enemy may try to move to this hex from Tjilatjap to cut off my troops at Cheribon, but this won't work. 2 Japanese divisons are about to arrive in the hex. In the mean time, Japanese armor has cut the rail line north out of Tjilatjap.

Lots of enemy fighters have been at Hengyang for a couple of days, after I bombed there. Lots of Oscars will sweep it today.

Madjene, on Celebes, is captured.

[apbarog]

15 Apr 42

I did a big Oscar sweep of Hengyang, but the enemy fighters had moved out.
Sallys and Bettys bombed Norfolk Island. KB is spotted to the west. It will pull back to the north. Big xAK convoy spotted east of Melbourne. If Noumea was a big port with lots of fuel, I'd consider having KB sprint south to hit the convoy as it heads towards New Zealand.

Interesting that enemy ships dropped off a small unit at Ramree Island in Burma. That is still behind the lines, with the Japanese holding Rangoon and Pegu but none of the bases north yet. Units are still moving towards Moulmein from Thailand. I will have 4 Japanese divisions and 2 Thai divisions for the push north into Burma.

Mini-KB and battleships are moving towards Namlea to bombard Ambon. Ships are moving towards Kendari to pick up the infantry division slated to invade Ambon. Enemy ships are spotted at Koepang. A big Japanese cruiser force is now west of Koepang, but they were spotted. They are ordered to bombard Koepang and attack any ships still there. But with surprise gone, there won't be any ships at Koepang today.

[apbarog]

16 Apr 42

Cruisers Maya, Myoko, Natori and Tama moved to Koepang with 7 destroyers. Only torpedo boats were spotted. 2 TMs were sunk during the night. The task force then did an effective bombardment of Koepang, causing heavy damage to the airfield and damaging Catalinas and Do-24Ks. Moderate damage to the port. If there were any other ships at Koepang, they left when the Japanese were spotted to the west yesterday. During the day, the TMs were encountered again but the Japanese didn't want to fight.

6 LB-30s bombed Adak Island in the Aleutians. No damage. There is some flak there.

Battleships will bombard Ambon Island today. AKEs have moved to Kendari so that the bombardments will repeat often, preparing for invasion. Ambon has tough CD guns, so some patience is worthwhile.

[apbarog]

Considering that I've opened this and my previous AARs with lyrics to "Here I Go Again", I should mention the passing of Tawny Kitaen, who appeared in the video for that Whitesnake song. We are all getting old.

News story --- https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/t ... vixen-dead

Song video --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyF8RHM1OCg

[apbarog]

17 Apr 42

Dutch sub O16 spotted 2 unescorted xAKLs unloading supply at Sorong. I very rarely move transport/cargo TFs without escort. I did so here due to a lack of escorts at Babeldaob. I always seem to pay the price. xAKL Kosho Maru was hit by 6 shells. Fortunately, all torpedoes missed. The ship is SYS 30/FLOT 22-6/ENG 1-0/FIRE 4 and is now disbanded in port, hoping to put the fire out.

Ambon was bombarded by battleships Yamashiro, Fuso, Mutsu and Nagato. Minor damage and casualties. A few Seagulls and Catalinas were damaged. On the way back to Kendari, the battleships past though the adjacent friendly base of Namlea, but were spotted there by Sealion. 4 torpedoes were fired at Mutsu. One hit and it was not a dud. Mutsu is now SYS 19/FLOT 33-29/ENG 2-0/FIRE 0 and will now head to Japan for extensive repairs.

Enemy planes from Bandoeng attacked Cheribon. Zeros at Cheribon were flying LRCAP over Oosthaven, but found no enemy attack there. Minor damage to Cheribon.

The Japanese 41st Infantry Regiment destroyed the Medan Defenses unit north of Medan. The regiment will continue north to clear the rest of Sumatra all the way to Sorong.

Oosthaven was captured, destroying a Dutch base force there.

[apbarog]

18 Apr 42

Two big Oscar units swept Magwe and found two Hurricane units. The Oscars looked effective during the replay, except that they rarely destroyed a Hurricane. Almost always just damaged them. The Oscar guns are just weak. 18 Oscars were lost while downing 11 Hurricanes.

Nells bombed the Port Blair Adv Base Force, the only ground unit at the location. Minor damage done. I dropped paras on the base, expecting to take it.

Ground combat at Port Blair (46,58)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 629 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 30

Defending force 652 troops, 3 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 10

Japanese adjusted assault: 4

Allied adjusted defense: 3

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: op mode(-), shock(+), leaders(-)

Japanese ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
1st Raiding Rgt /1

Defending units:
Port Blair Adv Base Force

Most of the unit dropped. Should have captured it. But what is wrong with this picture? A penalty for op mode. It's almost comical, but the paras were in Rest mode at Rangoon when they were ordered onto the planes to go to the Andamans. Forsaking uniforms for swim trunks, and no need for weapons, they dropped onto the weak enemy and engaged in fierce hand to hand fighting. Now they are low on supply. Almost comical. In normal combat, you can't choose Deliberate or Shock attacks unless you are in Combat mode, but with a para drop, it is possible to do so in other modes, including Rest.

I'll drop another para unit from Rangoon today, and the base will be taken. I double-checked that they are indeed in Combat mode. Only enemy fighters, at the base or on British carriers, could interfere with this operation today.

[BBfanboy]

It's worse than you think - Japanese soldiers did not have swim trunks ... [:D]

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

It's worse than you think - Japanese soldiers did not have swim trunks ... [:D]

Well that was embarassing! A better dressed para unit dropped into Port Blair today.

[apbarog]

19 Apr 42

I-153 went to Ramree Island to investigate the recent enemy activity there. It spotted 3 xAKLs and PG Clive. Clive attacked I-153 three separate times, getting many near misses and doing enough damage to warrant a trip to Rangoon for repairs.

Near Makassar, Trigger hit xAK Banshu Maru with a torpedo, and it wasn't a dud. The ship was sunk. It was carrying supply to Kendari.

An undefended Ketapang, on Borneo, was captured.

I/124th Infantry Battalion attacked the S Borneo KNIL Battalion and the Oelin ML Base Force outside of Bandjermasin. Both Dutch units had been defeated at Bandjermasin and are being hunted down on the trail towards Balikpapan. 1 to 1 attack and about 30 casualties on each side. The Dutch are out of supply.

1/3 of the Japanese 5th Infantry Division captured Benkoelen from the Dutch Lahat Cdo unit. Cleaning up Sumatra now.

Paras drop on Port Blair, again.

Ground combat at Port Blair (46,58)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1200 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 55

Defending force 616 troops, 3 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 8

Japanese adjusted assault: 38

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 38 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Port Blair !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Catalina I: 1 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), morale(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
750 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 51 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
1st Raiding Rgt /1
Yokosuka 1st SNLF /2

Defending units:
Port Blair Adv Base Force

It went better today. I will try to bring in engineers and base support, as well as supply, using just air transports. With the base taken, I can see that there are enemy mines there. The paras will be flown back to Rangoon over time.

[apbarog]

20 Apr 42

At least several enemy subs at Namlea. DMS's and DD Fuyo attacked Sealion and Pike but got no hits. Near Truscott, west of Darwin, I-165 spotted TK British Dutchess and DE Starling. 2 torpedoes were fired at the tanker. One hit, but it was a dud. Sub warfare is cursed for me this game! Duds for me, far fewer than expected for the US subs. Starling repeatedly attacked I-165 in the shallow water and got one depth charge hit. I-165 was lucky to get away, and will head to Soerabaja for repairs.

A small Japanese unit landed at an undefended Babo. The downside of taking the oil there is that OPilot will bomb it from Darwin, and it won't be defended for awhile.

Padang is attacked. The Japanese 14th Tank Regiment got a 1 to 1 attack against Dutch units there. 19 enemy casualties. The attack will continue. Langsa, further north on Sumatra, is captured, kicking 2 small Dutch units towards Sabang. The 41st Infantry Regiment will pursue.

Ambon will be bombarded by battleships. Mini-KB is covering.

Confirmation is received that Yorktown was sunk near Norfolk Island awhile back.

[apbarog]

21 Apr 42

RO-60 spotted 4 US APDs southeast of Norfolk Island. No doubt they are running supply into Norfolk. Maybe troops also. RO-60 missed APD Gregory with 2 torpedoes.

O-24's four torpedoes missed CS Chiyoda north of Ambon. OPilot guessed correctly that I'd move into the shallows north of Ambon with my carriers.

Battleships Yamashiro, Fuso and Nagato bombarded Ambon but did little. 103 casualties and no base damage. At least no mines were found, or hit.

Dutch sub KXV hit xAK Hamburg Maru with a torpedo near Tarakan. The ship is carrying part of a small combat unit. Hamburg Maru is SYS 20/FLOT 58/ENG 2/FIRE 1 and will try to make it 3 hexes to Tarakan.

Tjilatjap was captured. The enemy retreated off of the road, moving to the coast. I couldn't prevent this movement. I'll have to prevent them from moving back to Tjilatjap or to the nearby rail line.

[apbarog]

OPilot will be traveling for the next week. I have the next turn from him. Having a week to do it, I'll take my time and look at all of the little things that get done only occasionally. I will also do an update with each area of the map, and what is planned.

[apbarog]

22 Apr 42

Yamashiro, Fuso and Nagato bombarded Ambon, and it was quite ineffective. 29 casualties and no base damage.

Pike hit Junyo with a torpedo near Namlea. It was a dud. Some good luck in the sub war.

Enemy fighters from Bandoeng swept Cheribon, finding 14 Zeros. The Zero unit needs some rest and only have a few very good pilots. Hurricanes came in high and were rewarded. 9 Zeros were lost while just 2 Hurricanes were ops losses. The Zero unit then moved to Soerabaja to take on new planes and pilots. It will become the CAP for Soerabaja, so I pulled out the very good pilots and brought in pilots trained in air to air but with very low experience. They'll gain experience over Soerabaja.

Banjoewangi was captured. The enemy at Melang, near Soerabaja, is now isolated in that mountain hex. All hex sides won't be closed, but there's no retreat path possible. If the enemy decides to move out to the coast, off road, I'll know it. They won't. They'll stay in the mountain hex and hold as long as they can.

I'll do a summary of the map areas sometime before the end of the weekend. I've done the normal business of the next turn. I'll take my time with looking at pilot training and other things only looked at occasionally. OPilot won't be able to do a turn until Sunday at the earliest.

I'm also taking my first looks at War in the East 2. I bought but never played the original War in the East. Too busy with War in the Pacific. But I did play Grigsby's War in Russia back in the '80s, and Eastern Front (on an Atari) before that. I haven't loaded up the game yet but the manual is incredible.

[apbarog]

23 Apr 42

Enemy subs are still at Namlea, and so are many Japanese ships. O24 is hit by a depth charge. Pike gets near misses. The Ambon invasion convoy arrived. A battleship is transferred to that task force to help with the big guns at Ambon. We invade now. Mini KB will cover from the southeast. Hiyo is joining up, having covered a landing at Babo.

Zeros swept Bandoeng at 20000 feet, coming from Soerabaja. Hurricanes and B-339Ds were at 30000 feet! It did seem to help them. Sallys bombed after the sweep, and after losing 7 bombers to the remaining fighters. 4 Zeros were lost also. 4 P-40Es, 4 B-339Ds and 1 Hurricane were shot down. A Lodestar was destroyed on the ground. I will repeat the sweep today, only it will be at 7000 feet. We'll see how what works out. I'm not going up to 30000 feet and playing the stratospheric sweep game. The Zeros should do fine down low.

I'll do a complete summary sometime. I need to remember to do screenshots while doing my turn. After is too late. I don't want to have to re-watch the replay to do screenshots, and I don't keep an intermediate save.

[apbarog]

24 Apr 42

I-26 spotted unescorted tanker Buccinum near Carnarvon, on the northwest corner of Australia. 2 torpedoes missed. Lone tankers are running through here occasionally. RO-60 missed AVD Mackinac with 2 torpedoes southeast of Norfolk Island. The AVD didn't stay at Norfolk, if it moved that far. May be dropping supply.

I-5 hit and probably sank tanker Athelduke northwest of Karachi. It was carrying fuel and burned. No escort with the tanker.

Ambon is invaded. Nagato got hit by a big CD gun but it didn't penetrate. 2 xAKs and an xAP were hit though. 2 have moderate damage, one light. All should survive barring an encounter with subs. Most of the division unloaded at Ambon. All shipping will leave and finish unloading at Ternate. No reason to brave the CD guns again.

Swept Bandoeng with 40 Zeros, dropping them down to 7000 feet for the sweep. They ran into just 13 enemy fighters stacked at 10000, 20000 and 30000 feet. 7 Zeros lost while downing 3 P-40Es and 1 Hurricane. Elite Zero pilots.

Dutch suicide attack near Tarakan on Borneo. OPilot may have been guessing that I had no troops at the tiny base. I had pulled them out, but I saw the Dutch coming and brought new in.

Ground combat at Tandjoengselor (68,92)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 1238 troops, 9 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 24

Defending force 1929 troops, 19 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 61

Allied adjusted assault: 0

Japanese adjusted defense: 100

Allied assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-)
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-), disruption(-), morale(-), supply(-)

Allied ground losses:
65 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
VII KNIL Battalion

Defending units:
Yokosuka 4th SNLF

[apbarog]

25 Apr 42

I made a mistake at Ambon. An xAP and an xAK were moderately damaged by CD guns yesterday. I split them off with a DMS and ordered them to go to Ternate. They still had a fragment of the infantry division and supply on them. I apparently did not tell them to stop unloading. They continued, and got hit by the CD guns again. The xAK was sunk and the xAP was damaged a bit more. The big task force, mostly undamaged, did leave Ambon as ordered, carrying a good deal of supply.

I-5, way up by Karachi, hit xAK Itria with a torpedo. Another unescorted ship coming from Aden. I'm sure that OPilot will start using escorts here also.

Ambon was bombarded by 3 battleships and captured.

Ground combat at Ambon (76,109)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10183 troops, 121 guns, 32 vehicles, Assault Value = 408

Defending force 2786 troops, 46 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 59

Japanese adjusted assault: 323

Allied adjusted defense: 37

Japanese assault odds: 8 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Ambon !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
136 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Allied ground losses:
4039 casualties reported
Squads: 58 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 180 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 48 (48 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 5 (5 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 5

Assaulting units:
16th Division

Defending units:
Molukken KNIL Cdo
Molukken Mil'ie Cdo
Laha ML Base Force
Amboina Defenses
AP-VLG-IV Sup Afd

Kolaka, on Celebes, was captured. All Celebes bases are now controlled by the Japanese. One Dutch unit remains and will be elimated soon.

The enemy that moved foolishly shock attacked into Tandjoengselor was kicked out with heavy losses. The Yokosuka 4th SNLF will pursue into the jungle.

KB has made it through the gap between Pago Pago and Christmas Island unspotted. It will move south south east and hunt to the east of Pago Pago, then further south if necessary.

[apbarog]

26 Apr 42

Interesting turn.

British MLs from Karachi started to look for I-5. One depth charge hit I-5, which will now head to Rangoon for some repairs. OPilot will now be more careful way behind the lines near Karachi, and convoys will now be escorted.

DMS W-19 arrived at Port Blair to sweep mines. With the base in Japanese hands, supply will be sent in on small xAKLs which are near Tavoy now. DMS W-19 will escort the cargo ships in after the mines are swept.

Nells from Kendari bombed Koepang's port, hitting AVP Pollux and sinking HDML P 17. There have been only search planes at Koepang, and the base is moderately damaged.

Padang was captured, with the 2 Dutch units retreating into the jungle to the north. The 14th Tank Regiment will follow and finish off the Dutch. Near Bandjermasin on Borneo, the S Borneo KNIL Battalion was destroyed, and near Palopo on Celebes the Makassar KNIL Cdo was destroyed. Celebes is now completely cleared of the enemy.

Japanese troops begin to move north from Rangoon and Pegu. The enemy has had time to dig in, in the jungle a few hexes to the north.

KB found a convoy well to the east of Pago Pago. With all 6 big carriers there, it was a bit disappointing to see only around 95 bombers fly.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Manihiki at 161,161

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 36
B5N2 Kate x 57
D3A1 Val x 31

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 2 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
xAK Langkoeas, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires
xAK T. A. Johnson, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
DMS Zane
xAK Peter Kerr, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAP Mount Vernon, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Weltevreden, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAK Sommelsdijk, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
xAP Wakefield, Bomb hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

9 more Vals attacked alone:

Allied Ships
DMS Zane, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Mount Vernon, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

No enemy troops were lost. An xAK was carrying fuel and burned. With fuel loaded, I'd guess that the convoy was outbound from the US, but with no troops on the xAPs, I can't be sure.

[EDIT: xAP Wakefield had an interesting real life history.]