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

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: apbarog
Allied air power is too strong, with too many heavy bombers. OPilot and I haven't fought a knock-down drag-out fight in the air in either of our games. We tend to press the advantage and decline to fight at a disadvantage. I'm considering going all out with airpower in Burma to defend it, losses or not. OPilot has been systematically taking out my airfields with the heavy bombers, but his fighter range is still limited. His offensive just east of Akyab is well covered with Hurricanes. Problem is, if the British take the Magwe-Mandalay area, there's several good airbases there.

I can't see all the details of course and I don't know where you are R&D wise, so speaking generally of course.....but I think a large attrition air battle in Burma is going to favor you and help restore the situation. You should have plenty of Ki-44 IIa at this point; this is a superior plane to the Hurricane, and the Hurricane has limited replacement pools. It will take awhile, but anything close to equal losses will favor you. This assumes you have good production in place and a pilot training program so you can sustain losses of 200-400 fighters. Start sweeping those Hurricanes and bringing in supply, engineers, base forces, air HQs to keep enough airbases operational to sustain an air campaign. More flak could help. The railroad is a huge advantage to keep airframes repaired which is always a problem as Japan.

When is the N1K1 available for you? As soon as you have this plane, start sweeping any fighter that flies. It will eat Hurricanes for breakfast. The Frank-a is also going to help a ton. N1K1 is also pretty solid vs. 4E on CAP.

Anyway, I would find the air resources to engage in a big battle of attrition. It may not seem you are making progress from your seat, but large losses quickly put strain on Allied pools as you may know from playing Allies....you guys didn't have massive air battles so maybe you didn't feel that strain, but Allies cannot fly every day for long if you are sweeping

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

ORIGINAL: apbarog
Allied air power is too strong, with too many heavy bombers. OPilot and I haven't fought a knock-down drag-out fight in the air in either of our games. We tend to press the advantage and decline to fight at a disadvantage. I'm considering going all out with airpower in Burma to defend it, losses or not. OPilot has been systematically taking out my airfields with the heavy bombers, but his fighter range is still limited. His offensive just east of Akyab is well covered with Hurricanes. Problem is, if the British take the Magwe-Mandalay area, there's several good airbases there.

I can't see all the details of course and I don't know where you are R&D wise, so speaking generally of course.....but I think a large attrition air battle in Burma is going to favor you and help restore the situation. You should have plenty of Ki-44 IIa at this point; this is a superior plane to the Hurricane, and the Hurricane has limited replacement pools. It will take awhile, but anything close to equal losses will favor you. This assumes you have good production in place and a pilot training program so you can sustain losses of 200-400 fighters. Start sweeping those Hurricanes and bringing in supply, engineers, base forces, air HQs to keep enough airbases operational to sustain an air campaign. More flak could help. The railroad is a huge advantage to keep airframes repaired which is always a problem as Japan.

When is the N1K1 available for you? As soon as you have this plane, start sweeping any fighter that flies. It will eat Hurricanes for breakfast. The Frank-a is also going to help a ton. N1K1 is also pretty solid vs. 4E on CAP.

Anyway, I would find the air resources to engage in a big battle of attrition. It may not seem you are making progress from your seat, but large losses quickly put strain on Allied pools as you may know from playing Allies....you guys didn't have massive air battles so maybe you didn't feel that strain, but Allies cannot fly every day for long if you are sweeping

This is a PDU-OFF game. I have lots of Oscar IIa, and the IIb's are in production now. The IIb has armor and will be used heavily. Just 3 Tojo units on the map. 2 have been in Burma and China. I'm invested heavily in researching the Frank, but it is in the future.

OPilot is using all of his air in Burma in an all or nothing manner. All of the Hurricanes fly together. Generally, all of his heavy bombers do also. Today, all of his light bombers attacked where the Hurricanes swept. So I need to pile up the fighters in one location, and guess the location that they are needed. Unless I go on the offensive and sweep heavily and repeatedly, which is now in my plans. Not much I can do against the heavy bombers though. Best case I get a few and damage a bunch, but lose more fighters than bombers downed. And that's only if I guess the right location on the right day.

[apbarog]

4 Jan 43

I sneaked a cargo TF into Gove, just missing the Australian combat ships that arrived yesterday. But Shark was there, and it got a torpedo hit on xAK Malta Maru, and it wasn't a dud. Later, 16 A-24 Banshees with 500lb bombs sank xAK Malta Maru and xAK Liverpool Maru, both taking 4 bomb hits. Little supply was unloaded. The rest of the ships are ordered out.

Interesting fight at Funafuti. I'd seen a ship or two at Funafuti, so I sent a small task force to investigate. It didn't have the fuel to sprint to Funafuti, so I sent it towards the island, with a patrol spot 4 hexes west of the island, and an reaction of 4. It moved as planned and reacted with a move to Funafuti.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Funafuti at 138,147, Range 18,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
CA Aoba
CL Tatsuta
DD Kiku, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Tsuta, Shell hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD Le Triomphant, Shell hits 3, on fire

Maximum visibility in Partly Cloudy Conditions: 28,000 yards

The range was closed to 7,000 yards and then Le Triomphant decided to disengage. Le Triomphant took a single shell hit from both Aoba and Tatsuta, but did not appear to be heavily damaged. The Japanese destroyers, however, were badly damaged from just 2 hits. Kiku sank right after combat, and Tsuta was scuttled afterwards with SYS 77/FLT 30-12/ENG 15/FIRE 88. Tsuta was still at Funafuti, alone and burning, when it was scuttled. A big and unexpected victory for Le Triomphant. I loved this ship as the Allied player. Very fast, good guns and a well-trained crew. I wish my cruisers could have gotten more hits on it. Kiku and Tsuta weren't high quality destroyers, and had the option to convert to an E boat. But the loss hurts nonetheless.

The Japanese and Thai divisions trying to move out of the clear and into the jungle to engage the British division east of Akyab were pummeled by Allied bombers. All of the Hurricanes in the area swept over them first, leaving nothing to chance. Got to get out of the clear just to survive.

I tried some action out of New Guinea. I'd seen ships at Portland Roads, so I loaded up Port Moresby and Buna with fighters and Bettys. Tojos swept Portland Roads, finding 16 Kittyhawks IAs and 25 P-39Ds. 13 Tojos were lost while downing just 5 Kittyhawks and 1 P-39D. The Tojos were meant to clear the way for the Bettys to attack ships at Portland Roads. But instead, a small task force was spotted just east of Portland Roads and attacked. 16 Bettys with 41 Oscars attacked 4 xAKLs, but found 6 P-38Fs on a ranged CAP over them. 6 Oscars and 1 Bettys were shot down, and bombs from all 16 missed. These Bettys came from Port Moresby, where there is no Air HQ, and thus no torpedoes. The Bettys and Nicks at Buna, where there is an Air HQ and torpedoes, did not fly. Poor result.

B-24Ds bombed Merauke, and Allied recon looked at Merauke for the first time. It is Japanese owned but no longer occupied. I have 4 destroyers to the northwest, waiting for a target to ambush.

[apbarog]

5 Jan 43

With the bait set, the enemy showed up as expected at Noumea.

Night Naval bombardment of Noumea at 115,160

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 63 damaged
G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M2 Zero: 45 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 5 destroyed on ground
H8K1 Emily: 16 damaged
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
CA San Francisco
CA Minneapolis
CA New Orleans
DD O'Bannon
DD Nicholas
DD DeHaven
DD Chevalier
DD Fletcher

Japanese ground losses:
511 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 12 destroyed, 54 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 13 (2 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 12 (1 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Resources hits 2
Light Industry hits 1
Airbase hits 21
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 56
Port hits 16
Port fuel hits 1

The bait was set but the trap wasn't sprung. See the graphic for my unhappiness with this turn. Now Noumea is wrecked, 8 Zeros and 3 Nells were destroyed on the ground, many were damaged, and OPilot can now keep the base shut down with his heavy bombers. La Foa is already damaged. And worse, he sees my big combat TF that is NOW at Noumea, making it less likely to catch him there anytime soon.

In Burma, I see enemy cruisers at Akyab for the first time. I'd bombarded Akyab a couple of times recently. I decided to reform my carriers and battleship TFs at Singapore and send them north. Bombarding Akyab has limited benefits for the risk, but I would like to catch his surface group. And just today I bought out a Manchurian division that is fully prepped for Akyab.

[BBfanboy]

When an AO is in a hex with a TF, it will refuel it whether asked to or not. Your SCTF used fuel going to Noumea and back so it used ops points refueling from the AO. I say this because I have sent AOs intended to act as tankers to a distant base and along the way they gave fuel to every other friendly TF they encountered.

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

When an AO is in a hex with a TF, it will refuel it whether asked to or not. Your SCTF used fuel going to Noumea and back so it used ops points refueling from the AO. I say this because I have sent AOs intended to act as tankers to a distant base and along the way they gave fuel to every other friendly TF they encountered.

I thought the same too, at first. The AOs are there for the task force, but I've been closely monitoring the fuel situation, and they didn't take on any fuel. They'll need it soon but not yet.

[apbarog]

6 Jan 43

Sunfish fired 2 torpedoes at huge tanker Rikko Maru near Daito Shoto. One hit but was a dud. The sub is on my convoy route to Nagasaki, a route that had gone months without being found. Time to change it up.

After yesterday's debacle at Noumea, with Noumea fairly damaged by the enemy cruiser bombardment, it was completely predictable that today the P-38s and the heavy bombers would arrive. They did. I had 49 Zeros on CAP, although morale was low from the bombardment on some. They tangled first with 19 P-38Gs, and did ok. 5 Zeros were shot down, as were 6 P-38s. But then the B-17s arrived, and the Zeros were spent and did very little. Moderate damage was done to the already moderately damaged airbase. 3 Zeros, 2 Nells and a Sally were destroyed on the ground. The base is barely operational now. I pulled out all of the air units to rest and reorganize, with most going to Lunga. My battleship TF moved back to its hiding spot, and refueled from the AOs there. I am trying something different, with them patrolling just that spot 4 hexes NE of Noumea, and with a reaction range of 4. I don't expect the enemy ships to return soon, having just seen my battleships at Noumea, but who knows. As long as my TF isn't spotted in that hex, and they haven't been so far, it will happen again eventually.

I changed my mind about my ships moving to the Indian Ocean. I'm sending the carriers back to Singapore, with all of the battleships. A task force with 4 cruisers and about 6 destroyers will continue to Rangoon, mainly to protect it. The enemy cruiser TF at Akyab was not seen today.

I think I'll send these carriers, which I'll call Mini-KB, to the South Pacific. KB carriers remain at Tokyo and Yokohama, with all air units training newer pilots. I'm considering a dedicated plan to save a bunch of elite pilots for later in the war. If I can do well enough to drag the war out, and get the Sam researched early, it might be interesting to have original Pearl Harbor pilots still around.

Yea, they'll probably just be swamped in numbers and better aircraft, but it would be interesting. If OPilot waits for the Essex carriers to really start moving, I might as well be training navy pilots.

[apbarog]

7 Jan 43

I've had 9 or so Nells bomb the port and troops at Nanumea. Nanumea is south of Tabiteuea and is a forward US base. The Nells got ambushed by Wildcats flying from a base to the south. 6 Nells were shot down after doing minor port damage.

Blens and B-25s flew before the huge Hurricane sweeps and hit 2 artillery units very hard in the clear terrain west of Magwe. The units will continue into the jungle at all costs. It is important to close the hex sides there and limit British movement without a British victory in the hex.

Pogy was waiting at Tarawa when a few xAKLs arrived with supply. xAKL Shinnan Maru was hit by a torpedo and sunk. Pogy was hit by a depth charge.

The final big victory on the road between Kunming and Kweiyang.

Ground combat at 71,48 (near Kunming)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 16552 troops, 243 guns, 122 vehicles, Assault Value = 470

Defending force 17770 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 520

Japanese adjusted assault: 361

Allied adjusted defense: 91

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
198 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 38 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
6589 casualties reported
Squads: 300 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 192 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Units retreated 5

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
58th Division
4th Ind.Mixed Regiment
Tonei Hvy Gun Regiment
2nd Mortar Battalion
2nd Hvy.Artillery Regiment
15th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
14th Army
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
42nd Chinese Corps
19th Chinese Corps
8th Route Army
13th Group Army
18th Group Army

[apbarog]

8 Jan 43

I-5 had been damaged by depth charges west of Karachi. In 25 days, it traveled south and made it to a point west of Ceylon. Over that time, damage slowly increased, from SYS 41/FLOT 73-51/ENG 1-0/FIRE 0 to SYS 63/FLOT 80-51/ENG 4-0/FIRE 0. It sank today, reporting heavy flooding.

It was reported that battleship South Dakota did sink near Midway. It had been mauled by bombs and torpedo hits by when KB ambushed US task forces east of Wake Island. I was fairly certain then that it had to sink.

More Japanese bombing on the over stacked hex east of Kunming, where the defeated stack retreated too. 755, 448 and 542 casualties in the raids. The bomber fleet will get some rest now, and then mostly be redeployed.

B-17s and B-24s hit Adak again, doing moderate damage. Others hit Gove again. Gove is out of action.

Spotted some shipping at Horn Island. OPilot has been doing recon of Merauke, which is under Japanese control but is unoccupied. Thinking a small quick invasion could be about to come in from Horn, I ordered 4 destroyers to Merauke, due to arrive during the daylight. The destroyers had been patrolling to the northwest, unspotted. There is risk from enemy bombers. B-26s have been used in the area attacking at 1000 feet, and there have been effective A-20 attacks also.

[apbarog]

9 Jan 43

Hudsons bombed the 48th Naval Guard Unit at Exmouth, at the northwestern tip of Australia. Exmouth is a Japanese seaplane base, with no port or airfield built. An Australian tank unit had moved in and attacked.

Ground combat at Exmouth (50,129)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1179 troops, 0 guns, 75 vehicles, Assault Value = 47

Defending force 2073 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 63

Allied adjusted assault: 19

Japanese adjusted defense: 58

Allied assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 0)

Combat modifiers
Defender:
Attacker: leaders(-)

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

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

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Battalion

Defending units:
48th Naval Guard Unit
13th JAAF AF Coy

Good odds but bad results for the Japanese, with tanks attacking. No forts built with no engineers there. The base will fall. 4 Japanese light cruisers and some destroyers will bombard tonight. The Dutch cruiser TF is to the southwest and could arrive at Exmouth at night if it moves full speed. I wouldn't be surprised if both TFs arrive at night, both with the intention to bombard. Could have a naval battle here.

I guessed right and moved fighters to Lashio. I knew that OPilot had seen troops on the move at Lashio, and thought he might be tempted to hit them with heavy bombers. I haven't had fighters at Lashio for awhile. He was tempted, and targeted troops, but mostly targeted the airfield. This was a best case scenario for me: bombers came in first, P-40s came in late. 25 Liberator IIs and 6 B24Ds attacked, finding 23 Oscar IIa's and 13 Nicks. The weather was light cloud. Some bombers were damaged and there was minor base damage. Then 31 B-24Ds arrived, finding 28 fighters still up. Some bombers were downed, some damaged. Oscars and Nicks were shot down, and more destroyed on the ground. Moderate base damage. Then 9 more B-24Ds, shooting down a couple of fighters, damaging a few bombers, and minor base damage. Finally, 25 P-40Ks swept and shot down the one remaining Oscar flying. So, about the best case for engaging heavy bombers, and still not great results. 11 Oscars lost (5 on the ground), 2 Nicks lost (1 on the ground), 7 B-24Ds and 1 Liberator shot down, and 1 P-40K was an ops loss.

[apbarog]

10 Jan 43 - The Battle of Noumea

After many attempts to intercept the US cruiser task force when it went to Noumea to bombard, we are finally successful. However, there was a surprise. It wasn't the cruiser task force. Instead, it was a smaller task force, but led by 3 US battleships: North Carolina, Washington and Indiana. Yamato and Nagato, 7 cruisers and 5 destroyers charged into the fight. Visibility was just 3,000 yards. Allied radar detected the Japanese at 11,000 yards. Then the message:

Allies open fire on surprised Japanese ships at 2,000 yards.

This was an understatement. Japanese ships were pummeled. Cleveland hit Myoko causing a magazine explosion, sinking the cruiser. The US battleships started hitting with the big guns, and it was ugly. I noted that Yamato took hits to 3 guns, although I didn't note which guns hit. I am going to rewatch the replay tomorrow and see if any were the main turrets. I do know that 2 of the 3 hits were from destroyers. Getting surprise at such a close range was a bit of luck for the US. If Yamato lost a big gun or two right at the beginning of the fight, that would be some luck also.

Once the first turn of surprise was over, the Japanese got to work and made a good recovery, although the ships sinking were mostly Japanese. Tenryu was quickly sunk by Indiana. Hasu had a massive explosion. Indiana was hit by 3 torpedoes and sunk quickly, while the fight was still at 2,000 yards. After that, the range slowly increased, and Yamato and Nagato got many misses and just a few hits, while Washington and North Carolina continued to get big gun hits. There were no torpedo hits after the 3 on Indiana. After the early Japanese battleship success, Yamato and Nagato got wrecked, while Washington and North Carolina took just a few hits. It was a lopsided fight and the Japanese battleships just looked outclassed. The range hovered between 8,000 and 9,000 yards for some time, and finally the task forces broke off at 9,000 yards.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Noumea at 115,160, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed
F1M2 Pete: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 19, and is sunk
BB Yamato, Shell hits 39, heavy fires, heavy damage [SUNK]
CA Chokai
CA Myoko, Shell hits 7, and is sunk
CA Haguro, Shell hits 1, on fire
CA Nachi, Shell hits 3
CA Suzuya, Shell hits 13, on fire
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 1
CL Oi, Shell hits 1
CL Tenryu, Shell hits 18, and is sunk
DD Hasu, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Tsuga
DD Hishu, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage [SUNK]
DD Susuki, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Yomogi

Allied Ships
BB North Carolina, Shell hits 3
BB Washington, Shell hits 15, on fire [MANY NON-PENETRATING CRUISER HITS]
BB Indiana, Shell hits 18, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CL Cleveland, Shell hits 2
DD Meredith
DD Gwin
DD Grayson
DD Monssen, Shell hits 5, on fire

Reduced sighting due to 17% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 17% moonlight: 3,000 yards

I had 9 Vals and 9 Kates at Koumac. They attacked the enemy. The Vals got one 60kg bomb hit on North Carolina. I doubt that the battleship crew knew that it happened. 6 Vals were shot down by 3 Wildcats which were apparently on a very long LRCAP from Norfolk Island. 9 Kates dropped 5 torpedoes at North Carolina but all missed, and 3 Kates were shot down.

It was brutal. Today was the beginning of the Japanese losing the war. As an Allied player, I'm ok with trading ships. The Allies get replacements. The Japanese do not. This fight was a decisive win for the US, and I feel that I did not play my best, for 2 reasons. I had set a trap at Noumea last week, and my task force did not move to Noumea as I had expected, and no battle took place. My mistake was that I showed my hand. OPilot knew exactly what ships I had in the area. It had been just cruisers earlier, but he saw the 2 battleships. I don't know if he was using battleships in that earlier attempt, but he brought 3 battleships today. My second mistake was being too concerned with the minor to moderate base damage at La Foa and Koumac. I should have loaded up the bases yesterday. I could have had 40 some Bettys with torpedoes and escorts attacking. I'm set up to do so for the next turn, but the enemy may be out of range or at Norfolk Island, where there will be a very strong CAP. Should have done it yesterday.

So now a change of plans. KB has formed up in Japan and is heading south. I will be using the newly trained fighter pilots, with good air to air and defense training, but poor experience. I hope to train them on the job with heavy CAP use. Zuikaku loaded the first Judys and the best of the best naval bomber pilots. All Kates got the best torpedo pilots. The rest of the Val squadrons were split between good pilots and newly trained ones that need experience. I'm revamping my dive bombing training. I've done a great job training new pilots for naval bombing and ASW and ground, but their experience is still too low to be reliable in battle. So I'm sending a Val unit to Java and another to Mindanao, and they will fly daily bombing runs against the isolated Dutch at Bandoeng and the US/Philippine units isolated in the mountains on Mindanao. I have many trained Val pilots that need experience, and will do more of that and less of training pilots from scratch for awhile.

Congrats to OPilot on this battle. I think he outsmarted me this time.

[DesertWolf101]

Don't be too hard on yourself apbarog, I think you had some bad luck in this battle.

[Q-Ball]

That does look like bad luck, and maybe Allied radar playing a decisive role....who was your commander?

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

That does look like bad luck, and maybe Allied radar playing a decisive role....who was your commander?

Don't remember the commander's name. I do know that it was Yamato's captain, and he was at the top of the list for Naval and Aggressiveness. He was a very highly rated leader.

The US getting surprise at such a close range put the Japanese in a big disadvantage from the start. And the 2 remaining US battleships had great accuracy. So many big gun hits while the Japanese missed. I had great luck with the 3 torpedo hits on Indiana, but not a single hit after that. Kitakami (not upgraded) didn't even fire torpedoes.

There was luck involved, as always, but I could have done better. Did not adapt the plan when spotted.

[apbarog]

11 Jan 43

Sub Gurnard fired 4 torpedoes at undamaged heavy cruiser Chokai just southwest of Luganville. All missed. The ships made it to Luganville safely, although there is an enemy sub at Luganville, one that didn't hit any of the many mines there. Burning destroyer Hasu almost didn't make it. It had many flooding messages. It is now at Luganville but is SYS 79 (+11)/FLOT 63 (+43)/ENG 42 (+7)/FIRE 29 (-11). It is now at port but still may sink. The other damaged ships will head to Japan for repairs. The rest have formed up and will head to the northeast, and possibly bombard enemy islands south of Tabiteuea.

The enemy battleships were not spotted today. OPilot likes to run away at full speed when he can. Oscars swept Norfolk island and got massacred. There was a very strong CAP there, as predicted. 18 P38Gs, 25 P-400s, 25 P-40Es and 9 F4F-4s shot down 20 Oscars, while losing just 1 P-400. I knew it was a suicide mission, but I had to try to clear the way for the Bettys if they attacked ships in the area. It was probably better that the Bettys didn't have a target to fly to.

The Dutch light cruiser task force bombarded Exmouth, causing 339 casualties, and getting a depth charge hit on I-166.

[apbarog]

12 Jan 43

Beaufighters attacked Japanese troops at Daly Waters, disabling 2 squads. I'll have some Zeros from Darwin LRCAP the armor unit in the clear terrain just northwest of Daly Waters. It has been attacked before.

With Noumea and La Foa emptied of Japanese planes, the P-38s and B-17s returned, doing moderate damage to Noumea's airfield.

B-25s and P-38s hit Gove.

Way way up in northern China, northwest of Urumchi, the Japanese 9th Ind. Mixed Brigade further wrecked the Chinese 259th Brigade, but the unit was not destroyed. 463 casualties, almost all destroyed. It retreated west onto a trail, which was anticipated. I have a small armor unit just to the south on the trail, and it will move to finish off the Chinese.

Another Australian attack at Exmouth. The recent Dutch TF bombardment helped the attack. Today a Japanese light cruiser force will bombard.

Ground combat at Exmouth (50,129)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 872 troops, 0 guns, 71 vehicles, Assault Value = 44

Defending force 1767 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 50

Allied adjusted assault: 16

Japanese adjusted defense: 35

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 0)

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

Japanese ground losses:
82 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

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

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Battalion

Defending units:
48th Naval Guard Unit
13th JAAF AF Coy

Burning destroyer Hasu made it to the size 3 port of Luganville, but the fires didn't go down much. It may still burn up. It is now SYS 81(+2)/FLOT 63/ENG 47(+5)/FIRE 27(-2). Luganville has minimal naval support. I'm starting to fly in a port unit from Noumea to bring in more naval support, but it won't transfer quickly on 6 Mavis aircraft, and it won't make much of a difference anyhow. Still, I try to save the damaged ships.

[apbarog]

13 Jan 43

US ships went to Adak Island to bombard. This time they hit mines.

TF 146 encounters mine field at Adak Island (162,52)

Allied Ships
DD McCalla, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
DD Aaron Ward, Mine hits 1

Light cruisers Phoenix, Boise and Honolulu with 6 destroyers bombarded Adak, causing 282 casualties and minor base damage. There's an enemy DMS at Adak now, with the intent of sweeping mines. I have 3 APDs at Attu and they'll move closer to try to get the DMS. No other Japanese combat ships in the area. I'm sending 3 CLs and 3 DDs from Tokyo.

2 Sallys treid to hit DMS Chandler at Adak, bombing at 1000 feet. I'd been training the group for this mission, but only recently started, so they are still terrible at it. But OPilot doesn't know that. Yet.

Merauke was bombed by B17s. No Japanese unit there. Lae was bombed by B24s. No CAP. I've kept my CAP at Buna and OPilot knows that, so he avoids Buna. B-17s and P38s hit Noumea. B-25s hit Gove.

Japanese light cruisers and destroyers bombarded the Australian 2nd Tank Battalion at Exmouth. Better results this time.

Allied ground losses:
197 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 48 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 27 (7 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Bad timing for the tank unit. They were ordered to attack.

Ground combat at Exmouth (50,129)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 602 troops, 0 guns, 67 vehicles, Assault Value = 38

Defending force 1761 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 39

Allied adjusted assault: 0

Japanese adjusted defense: 25

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

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

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

Allied ground losses:
39 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Battalion

Defending units:
48th Naval Guard Unit
13th JAAF AF Coy

I order the 48th Naval Guard to counter-attack today. At least they have supply. There were 27 enemy vehicles lost in the naval bombardment, so maybe they can kick the Australians back.

I had to scuttle destroyer Hasu at Luganville. Despite being at a size 3 port, its damage continued to increase. It was SYS 88(+7)/FLOT 63/ENG 58(+11)/FIRE 36(+9). It got out of control and I had no choice.

[apbarog]

14 Jan 43

Had something happen that I don't believe I'd ever seen before.

Night Naval bombardment of Nanumea at 136,141

Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
CA Chokai
CL Oi
CL Kitakami
DD Yomogi
DD Tsuga
DD Shiratsuyu

Allied ground losses:
170 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Nanumea at 136,141

Japanese Ships
CA Nachi
CA Chokai
CL Oi
CL Kitakami
DD Yomogi
DD Tsuga
DD Shiratsuyu

Allied ground losses:
59 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Port hits 11
Port supply hits 3

A task force bombarded twice in one night? I did have them set to bombard, and I accidentally had them to Remain on Station. It does appear that the second bombardment had much weaker results, due to not having ammo, but still, two bombardments in a night?

Scorpion hit xAK Tone Maru near Kusaie Island. The ship was returning to Truk and will probably burn up before making it to a port.

I-25 fired 6 torpedoes at light cruiser Nashville near Coal Harbour. All missed. Nashville was spotted with destroyers Litchfield and Whipple. Don't know if it is going to the Aleutians or coming from them.

Hurricanes swept over and light bombers bombed 1/3 of a Thai division in the jungle northwest of Magwe. Indian division then attacked.

Ground combat at 56,45 (near Akyab)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10615 troops, 128 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 388

Defending force 2069 troops, 40 guns, 24 vehicles, Assault Value = 75

Allied adjusted assault: 353

Japanese adjusted defense: 103

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
428 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
208 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Allied units will be spilling into the interior plains of Burma soon. Split up Thai divisions aren't going to stop them. I'll defend the bases as best I can, and go after the enemy troops when they get into clear terrain. Japanese fighters are preparing for this battle, a battle that will be against many Hurricane squadrons and US P-40Ks. And of course, many Allied heavy bombers.

Spitfires strafed the 48th Naval Guard Unit at Exmouth just before the Japanese attack.

Ground combat at Exmouth (50,129)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1494 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 37

Defending force 564 troops, 0 guns, 61 vehicles, Assault Value = 34

Japanese adjusted assault: 6

Allied adjusted defense: 6

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1

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

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

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

Assaulting units:
48th Naval Guard Unit
13th JAAF AF Coy

Defending units:
2nd Tank Battalion

The enemy tanks are retreating out of Exmouth. Mini-KB is taking a wide turn west of Australia to get into a position to ambush the Dutch task force that has been bombarding Exmouth from time to time. Long range Hudsons are patrolling from Carnarvon. I want to avoid being spotted on the approach.

[BBfanboy]

During my months-long constant bombardment of Truk I saw the same TF bombard twice in the same phase only once. I presume it has to do with ammo and ops points being available, and the TF leader being very aggressive or something like that.

Was your TF already in the hex when you ordered the bombardment? That would have saved movement ops points.

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

During my months-long constant bombardment of Truk I saw the same TF bombard twice in the same phase only once. I presume it has to do with ammo and ops points being available, and the TF leader being very aggressive or something like that.

Was your TF already in the hex when you ordered the bombardment? That would have saved movement ops points.

No, the task force had 5 or 6 hexes to run in for the bombardment.