Requiem for Tomorrow Wirraway (J) v DesertWolf (A)

[castor troy]

What Mike says. I would not want to lose such an amout of troops, to me it's either to defend a place (and hold it) or not to. In this case it doesn't seem to be either of it as it's the perfect way to destroy Allied ground units. 500 av is not all that much but it was still not that late when you landed though.

In return he did get those ships he sank with that fragmented fleet attack or however I should call it. Without the ship kills it would have been a clear Allied defeat.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: castor troy

What Mike says. I would not want to lose such an amout of troops, to me it's either to defend a place (and hold it) or not to. In this case it doesn't seem to be either of it as it's the perfect way to destroy Allied ground units. 500 av is not all that much but it was still not that late when you landed though.

In return he did get those ships he sank with that fragmented fleet attack or however I should call it. Without the ship kills it would have been a clear Allied defeat.

Yep. The IJA can claim a clear victory, but the IJN suffered a defeat in support.

There were some puzzling aspects of the campaign. He has 150 P40Es in Australia that have been training-up for months. They did not challenge my bombers or fighters over PM even once. I had 110 Zeros supporting the four sentai of Sally's that hit the airfield and ground troops as often as weather permitted, which was almost daily. Still, there were plenty of instances when the damage would have allowed CAP. I am guessing the commanding generals of Eastern Command and the 8th Australian Division were not amused that the Yankee flyboys did not want to risk an air battle.

He made no attempt to resupply, reinforce or evacuate the garrison that I could detect, though possibly he was using submarines. LRCAP from Buna never ran into transports or patrol aircraft at any altitude.

DW did a nice job of getting the 6" guns from Rabaul to PM, mining the harbor and massing his submarines, making a direct amphibious assault expensive; however, he made no effort to hold Buna or interdict the IJA landings there. Essentially all the forces involved walked over the Kokoda Trail and arrived at full strength. Building up Buna and pumping in supply, along with supply drops from transport aircraft meant logistics were not a constraint to the IJA. Again, judicious use of CAP could have caught a lot of my transport aircraft and even a few of the ten or so submarines (all his S Boats) that were patrolling off PM should have been a few hundred miles east off Buna.

Lessons Learned:
Recon, recon and recon by bomber (BDA). I underestimated his strength at PM significantly. It was not until my first division (+) bombarded that I realized he had over 600 AV and three artillery bns dug in.

Use experienced divisions with adequate artillery for difficult tasks. I initially landed a couple of inexperienced divisions with only mountain guns for artillery support, thinking big guns would be too difficult to get through the jungle and tricky to try and land intact by amphibious assault. Like the French at Diem Bein Phu, this was a mistake. The three US arty bns quickly disabled enough of the inexperienced division squads, forcing me to rotate those units out for veteran divisions and bring in some 15cm batteries.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Wow, that's a lot of Aussie squads that will probably never come back. Nice little pile of US arty gone too.

In the first few months of the war, the Australians have lost the equivalent of two divisions between Singapore and Port Moresby, had their industry bombed up and down the east coast and seen most of their cruisers sunk. My guess is Prime Minister Curtin would be in a tough political spot. Historically, Mr. Curtin fought successfully to bring the 7th Division back to Australia where its veteran troops were instrumental in holding Port Moresby. Churchill wanted it to go to Burma. My guess is DesertWolf sent it to India, though if so, even without the real world politics, he may now be transporting it to Perth.

Here is a picture of the 7th Division passing through Adelaide in March of 1942 on its way to the front.

[Wirraway_Ace]

26 March 42
Nothing to report in the air. DW has not used his air force either offensively or defensively in weeks, though that is about to change I am sure. I have begun the campaign to take Lashio. When I initially moved recon units into central Burma, 8 squadrons of heavy bombers (B17Ds, B17Es and LB-30s) and 6 squadrons of mediums (mostly B26s) stuck unescorted from bases in India. After the 4Es got their nose bloodied by CAP on the second day of the attacks, they have done nothing (except train, I am sure). I have massed a couple hundred AA guns in Burma, so the main formations are now beginning their advance. We will first encircle Lashio, then reduce it.

On Sumatra, an ad hoc force of independent regiments, SNLFs and Naval Guard units annihilate the Dutch defenders at the Padang strongpoint after two days of fighting. Japanese losses were limited to a couple naval infantry squads. I use these strong points DW retreated to as opportunities to give my inexperienced formations a chance to meet the elephant. Because his defense is generally passive, I can control the pace of the attacks so these fragile formations don't suffer many (or any) losses. All the SNLFs and Naval Guard units are now in the mid-70s in experience or higher (the independent regiments were already experienced).

Ground combat at Padang (44,85)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18996 troops, 179 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 669

Defending force 5013 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 161

Japanese adjusted assault: 387

Allied adjusted defense: 58

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Padang !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Do-24K-1: 4 destroyed (DW had used this base to good effect, keeping an eye on my ship movements around Singapore)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1100 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 89 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
5764 casualties reported
Squads: 328 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 279 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 14 (14 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 4

Assaulting units: (The whole force will now redeploy to join the forces that have isolated the 45,000 Dutch in their mountain bastion at Bandoeng for its reduction)
124th Infantry Regiment
23rd Nav Gd Unit
Yokosuka 4th SNLF
Kure 2nd SNLF
Sasebo 3rd SNLF
32nd Nav Gsn Unit
41st Infantry Regiment
112th Infantry Regiment
16th Naval Guard Unit
4th Naval Construction Battalion

Defending units:
Korps Marechausee Battalion
NS KNIL Territory Regiment
WS KNIL Territory Regiment
Medan Coastal Gun Battalion

Amateur hour in China. I forgot to change the orders for one of my broken-down division elements west of Sian. I had initially begun an infiltration of Corps strength through the mountains to see if they could turn his defenses south of Ankang, but gave new orders to all the units--I thought. To compound the error, I did not even notice it had moved into the Ankang hex, so it was not in combat mode...

Ground combat at Ankang (82,42)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 26491 troops, 225 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1061

Defending force 4156 troops, 33 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 153

Allied adjusted assault: 1266

Japanese adjusted defense: 148

Allied assault odds: 8 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1590 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 29 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 12 (4 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Allied ground losses:
343 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 43 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
95th Chinese Corps
77th Chinese Corps
55th Chinese Corps
68th Chinese Corps
84th Chinese/A Corps

Defending units:
110th/B Division

[Mike Solli]

Just so you know, the 8 Aussie Division was composed of 22 & 27 Aus Bdes (in Singapore) and the Lark, Gull and Sparrow battalions (Gull at Rabaul and the other two at Darwin). What I suspect happened was the two brigades surrendered at Singapore and the three battalions were moved to Pt. Moresby and then combined to form the "8 Aus Division", really at 1/3 strength, so in reality it was a brigade equivalent at Pt. Moresby.

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Just so you know, the 8 Aussie Division was composed of 22 & 27 Aus Bdes (in Singapore) and the Lark, Gull and Sparrow battalions (Gull at Rabaul and the other two at Darwin). What I suspect happened was the two brigades surrendered at Singapore and the three battalions were moved to Pt. Moresby and then combined to form the "8 Aus Division", really at 1/3 strength, so in reality it was a brigade equivalent at Pt. Moresby.

True, Mike. My math went: 2 brigades lost at Singapore of the 8th, then another at PM with the division troops, plus the 30th Bde, the Port Moresby Brigade, Torres Strait Bn, 7 companies and 3 US Arty Bns along with Eastern Command HQs. All in, about 35,000 troops of which about 33,500 were Australians.

Here was the full order of battle (530 AV, 27,500 troops) at PM before some of the companies were destroyed in the initial fighting:
2/4th Ind Coy
17th MG Battalion
2/2nd Ind Coy
Torres Strait Battalion
30th Australian Brigade
2/3rd Ind Coy
19th MG Battalion
8th Australian Division
2/1st Ind Coy
2/4 MG Battalion
Port Moresby Brigade
131st Field Artillery Battalion
15th RAAF Base Force
148th Field Artillery Battalion
147th Field Artillery Regiment
Eastern Command
Rabaul Det. Base Force

[Mike Solli]

Ahh, yes. I see. Looking at that list, there are a lot of units that could have been used in a much better way, I feel. I wonder what he has in Darwin? What are your plans for northern Australia, if any?

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Ahh, yes. I see. Looking at that list, there are a lot of units that could have been used in a much better way, I feel. I wonder what he has in Darwin? What are your plans for northern Australia, if any?

Here is a quick outline of my plans for northern Australia now that Port Moresby has fallen. For context, my main effort is China, always China, and I have achieved all my expansion goals in the Pacific, from Norfolk island to New Caledonia east to Tabteauea and north to the Aleutians.

The strategic purpose of the follow-on operations against northern Australia is to draw his reinforcements there, instead of India/Burma.

I am going to take Darwin next. At the moment, it has only about 3,000 troops. Samulaki has been built-up to provide air cover and I have units prepped, including lots of AT, Hvy Artillery and combat engineers to deal with inevitable tanks and about 100 AA guns. Once Darwin is taken and his float planes covering the Timor Sea and Arafura Sea are driven off, I will take Mornington Island at the south end of the Gulf of Carpentaria . From there I can potentially force him to CAP Cloncurry to defend the strategic points the resources there represent. In WiTP AE, a war of attrition in the air favors the Japanese.

On the northwest coast, I will also take Exmouth.

The purpose of the Darwin operation is to slow the development of that base as a staging point for attacks against Timor. Exmouth is to help provide early warning of an invasion aimed at Soemba from Perth. Mornington Island, as already stated, is to try and force him to employ his fighters.

[Wirraway_Ace]

2 April 42

Not much to report since Port Moresby fell. I have been redeploying forces for the next phase of operations as the amphib bonus expires.

In China, I am attacking in the north, in the center and in the south. All my Sally's are operating in China. DW has not challenged my air force anywhere in a while. With massed bombers hitting his forces throughout the center and south, the pursuit squadrons decide to put up a fight over Changsha. The P39s put up a good fight, as they often do, but were overwhelmed by the Oscars and Zeros. No bombers were lost after the sweeps and LRCAP dealt with the CAP.

Morning Air attack on Changsha , at 82,52

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 30 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 32

Allied aircraft
Hawk 75M x 4
P-39D Airacobra x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 6 destroyed (Oscars are not good sweepers, and this sentai got bounced)

Allied aircraft losses
Hawk 75M: 1 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed

CAP engaged:
11th FG/44th FS CAF with Hawk 75M (0 airborne, 3 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 12 minutes
35th PG/39th PS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 31000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
35th PG/40th PS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 14 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 30000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Changsha , at 82,52

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 39,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 73 (includes 36 on LRCAP)

Allied aircraft
Hawk 75M x 1
P-39D Airacobra x 23

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 4 destroyed (the sweeping sentai was very experienced)

CAP engaged:
35th PG/39th PS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
8 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 31000 , scrambling fighters between 14000 and 34370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 129 minutes (wow, they were low and slow at this point in the fight)
35th PG/40th PS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
13 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 30000 , scrambling fighters between 12000 and 37100.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 25 minutes
11th FG/44th FS CAF with Hawk 75M (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 16370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 47 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Changsha , at 82,52

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 7

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 2 destroyed (the fragment of zeros has an easy time)

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 23000 feet *

CAP engaged:
35th PG/39th PS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 1 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 31000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 32100.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes
35th PG/40th PS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 30000 , scrambling fighters between 20000 and 26370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes

The rest of the sweeps find no CAP.

[Wirraway_Ace]

5 April 42

Not much to report other than a bunch of B17s from India hit my airfield at Chang Mai and destroy a 20 Ki-48-Ib Lily's on the ground. No pilots were lost, presumably due to the x3 terrain and the forts. However, it was sloppy of me to leave them in range without CAP over the base, but the Ki-48-1b airframe is just about useless and I am in the midst of upgrading to the new model that has a modicum of armor, so I was not paying those sentai much mind.

Unfortunately, at the same time, Magwe flipped to Japanese control with my 4 battalions of AA units still 24 miles away. I had limited the combat power of the lead elements to a single tank regiment hoping against hope it would not flip before I moved into the hex. Now the defense of the Magwe oil fields will fall solely to the JAAF and IJNAF for at least a day.

[Wirraway_Ace]

6 April 42
I-19 gets an AP in the South Pacific while I-18 (part of the same wolfpack) gets an xAK 40 nms to the NE.
A Dutch sub sinks and xAK in retaliation near Hokkaido.

The USAAF and RAF go all-in on an attack from India on the Magwe oil fields as expected. They get very roughly handled by the layered CAP of 3 sentai of Oscars and one of Zeros. I had 30 Oscars at 9000, 42 zeros at 22,000, and two sentai of 42 Oscars way up at 38,000. His bombers came in as expected at 4000 and his fighters at various altitudes . The enemy lost 26 Blenheim IVs, 24 Hurricanes, 14 P40Es, 15 Wellingtons, 12 P-400 Airacobras and 9 B17s (mostly Ds) in the air battle. I lost 11 Oscars and 8 Zeros, with a total of 5 pilots KIA. The bombers did succeed at knocking out about a third of the oil.

I was a bit surprised by the one-sided air result since DW has done little with his air force except train over the last four months. He jumped two squadrons of P40Es into Lashio and put them on LRCAP over Magwe, then swept with the Airacobras and Hurricanes from India, though his sweepers arrived in the afternoon due to weather over their forward base while most of the fight was in the morning. The small Hurricane squadrons came late to the fight, but even with the CAP tired, they were badly outnumbered and I don't think accounted for a single kill.

I can't imagine DW will be happy with the result, even with the damage to the oil.

[Wirraway_Ace]

Not much to report as the game approaches the end of April.

China remains the main effort.

The 23rd Army has liberated the minor industrial centers of Nanning and Liuchow in southern China and is advancing on Tuyun, which is lightly held. The enemy's main force in the area of operations retreated east toward Kweilin. He is trying to redeploy from around Changsha, but IJA air supremacy is making it costly.

At Changsha, we are grinding down his 150,000 man army.

In northern China, DW has all his AT and Arty, which has slowed our advance from beyond Sian.

In Burma, we are about to invest Lashio, where the 1st Burma Division is defending.

On Java, we have redeployed our victorious troops from the Battle of Padang and will begin reducing the fortress at Bandoeng in two days. His supply situation is unclear. DW has the 15th Indian Division on Cocos Island. We have been blockading the island for a couple months and bombarding it when the option presents. I have two veteran divisions prepared, but don't want to commit them to an atoll invasion until the outcome of Bandoeng and Lashio are decided.

On the PI, DW flew in some P40Es to Bataan and bounced a bunch of Sonias bombing Clark. These light bombers are one of his favorite targets.

Far away in the Aleutians, 5th fleet has reinforced its primary position on Amchitka island, the only x3 terrain in the island chain.

My pools of pilots an aircraft are fat (except Sonias). Losses among 2E bombers have been very light, and combat losses of oscars and zeros have also been light.

Oil and fuel are moving well from the DEI and supply stocks are solid and growing again in the HI after the initial expansions.

[Wirraway_Ace]

5 May 42

Allied CVs raid Soerabaja! All the Allied CVs raced in from the southwest and launched a morning raid on the oil centers. Weather and AA rendered the attack anticlimactic.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 18

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
18 x F4F-3 Wildcat sweeping at 15000 feet


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Morning Air attack on Soerabaja , at 56,104

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 38 NM (multiple radar sets are present, some with the AA units, some with the base force), estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes

Allied aircraft
Albacore I x 30
F4F-3 Wildcat x 72
TBD-1 Devastator x 60

Allied aircraft losses
Albacore I: 3 damaged (not very impressive shooting from 60 AA guns 75mm - 88mm)
TBD-1 Devastator: 1 damaged

Oil hits 17

Aircraft Attacking:
15 x TBD-1 Devastator bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
15 x TBD-1 Devastator bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
15 x TBD-1 Devastator bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
15 x TBD-1 Devastator bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x Albacore I bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x Albacore I bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
18 x Albacore I bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb

In the surrounding waters, Dauntless DBs sank a small DD, small CM, and a couple AKLs.
The Allied CVs lost eight aircraft in the attacks.

[Wirraway_Ace]

Bandoeng with x3 terrain and a stacking limit of 30,000 is going to a long, slow process to reduce. DW retreated his best units on Java to the mountain fortress, along with HQs units and AA. We caught one of his regiments when he tried to break the encirclement a month or so ago, but he still has about 28,000 troops in the hex receiving the maximum HQs bonus. My first attack resulted in 11,000 troops reported lost (actual lost squads were about 200 total split between infantry, engineers and support and a similar number disabled), for about 700 defenders. I was significantly overstacked and included a lot of battalion-sized SNLF/Nav Grd units, each of which lost about 10 squads. I will try again with just two divisions. I am rotating the units out to Batavia where the Southern Army HQ is located with plenty of supply, and the units are recovering in about ten days. I have four heavy arty regiments supporting the attack, but no armor. My tank units are all in China and Burma.

I expect a similar grind at Lashio in Burma, which has about 30,000 Brits. That battle will start in a few days. It has been delayed by having to maneuver carefully, since nearly every 4E in the Pacific Theater is in India. You don't leave the jungle.

In China, there are two massive (for a stacking limits game) battles occurring at Changsha and Kwelin. Each have about 150,000 Chinese troops. HIs best remaining Corps are in Changsha. I am testing whether Japanese massed armor, artillery and airpower can truly grind down a well deployed Chinese army. I believe the answer is yes, but there has been little sign yet of significant supply issues on the enemy side. Given the make-on-demand model of Japanese equipment, it is hard for me to judge at what point I will potentially exhaust my ability to rebuild my units. I have plenty of vehicle and armament points pooled. Anybody have insights?

[Wirraway_Ace]

I need to do some math: 1 vehicle point and 1 manpower point for the load cost of the vehicle; 1 armament point and 1 manpower point for each load cost of a squad.

[Wirraway_Ace]

10 May 42

The enemy CVs retire south towards Perth. CDR Hirata gets I-164 inside the escorts but misses the prize.

Sub attack near Carnarvon at 47,136

Japanese Ships
SS I-164, hits 3

Allied Ships
CV Indomitable
BC Repulse
CA Exeter
CA Cornwall
CL Hobart
DD Lamson
DD McCall
DD Balch
DD Phelps
DD Selfridge
DD Porter

SS I-164 launches 4 torpedoes at CV Indomitable
I-164 diving deep ....
DD Balch fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Phelps fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Porter fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Phelps attacking submerged sub ....
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Phelps fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

[Wirraway_Ace]

11 May 42
115,000 Chinese retreat from Kweilin without a fight. DW's doctrine is apparently to only fight in x3 terrain, except at Changsha. In the last month, 13th Army has taken Kwangchowan, Pakhoi, Nanning, Luichow and now Kweilin using maneuver. The Chinese have retreated as soon as their flanks were turned, except at Kweilin, where they retreated as the Japanese arrived. I am not sure why the enemy gave up Kweilin without a fight. The Chinese had more troops, functioning light industry and resources in wooded terrain, and presumably 4 forts. Now he is 100% overstacked and has opened up a couple new axes of advance for the Japanese.

[Wirraway_Ace]

12 May 42

Second attack at Bandoeng with just two fully formed divisions goes better. Forts are reduced, and I lose 12 squads destroyed. Playing round-robin with four divisions now, two recovering in Batavia, two attacking with plenty of siege artillery in support. HIs AA guns keep my bombers at a distance, however, so air support is limited to bombing the airfield to destroy supplies and keep the forts from rebuilding.

[Wirraway_Ace]

12 May 42

Here is an update on R&D.

Aichi-60 factories advanced to 7/42. It will not advance again before production with 2 factories researching, the default 80 and 40. I converted the smaller to research Ha-45. There are now 6 x 30 factories researching this key engine. The larger Aichi factory I expanded to 125. I should have 500 engines by the time the first D4Y1 is ready. There are 6 x 30 factories researching the D4Y1, none fully repaired yet. These factories will covert to the D4Y2 (the first model with the 500kg bomb) as soon as they are repaired.
10 x 30 factories are researching he Ki-84a Frank. Most of these are 1/3rd repaired.
5 x 30 factories are researching the N1K1-J George, each about 1/2 repaired.
8 factories are researching the A7M2 Sam. Most of these are size 8 and are just beginning to repair. I will expand them to 30 at the beginning of 43. There is a single size 30 factory currently researching the Ha-43 engine. I will convert five of the Ha-45 research factories to this engine just before the Ha-45 goes into mass production.
6 factories are researching the A7M3-J Sam. These are not yet expanded to 30.
7 x 30 factories are researching the B7A2 Grace, 5 the Ki-67-1a Peggy, and 2 the Peggy (T). Unfortunately, in PDU off, I have very few sentai that can use the T model of this excellent airframe.
I have a total of six size 30 research factories motoring through the A6M line with the 500+ engine bonus. I have to get all the way through the A6M series be in order to upgrade to the Sam, but this is pretty easy and low cost. Same is going on with the Oscar line with six factories.

[Wirraway_Ace]

18 May 42
Debacle in the South Pacific
Admiral Nagumo stood in the small clear space behind the helmsman on Akagi’s cramped bridge as the big ship plowed through light seas. His heart skipped a beat at the sound of rapid steps on iron treads. A young lieutenant appeared from below, sweating though the day was cool at this latitude. The admiral did his best, with a lifetime of practice, to remain calm. He was able. Mostly.
The lieutenant rattled off the data, referring to a wooden clipboard he carried and not meeting the admiral’s eyes. “Akagi air group, 67% operational, Kaga, 62% operational.” He went on through the other carriers of the Kido Butai, all nine. It did not get better.
How did it come to this, Nagumo thought, dismissing the young officer to go double-check on the status of Akagi’s torpedo bombers, a meaningless task in circumstances, but it gave the man purpose. The operation he had set the conditions for months ago and carefully planned for weeks was a debacle. He glanced over his shoulder and addressed the officer standing rigidly in the corner near the chart board, “Fuchida, what do you think?”
“Sir, what do I think? We have failed you. I have failed you, again.” The captain led the Pearl Harbor strike and still felt responsible for the decision by three of the five torpedo bomber squadron leaders to not trust the specially modified torpedoes in the strike, instead relying on bombs. The enemy battlefleet had been crippled, but not a single battleship sunk.
“But how did we come to this?” the admiral asked, vocalizing his thoughts.
“Sir, it appears—”
“Appears, Fuchida?” the admiral interrupted.
“My apologies, Sir!” the man replied with a bow. “The squadron leaders were driving their men and equipment hard to train the new pilots added to our crews. When we left Truk, they did not get the order to stop training. When we shut down all flight operations for the high speed run past New Caledonia, where the enemy patrol aircraft from Brisbane were most likely to sight us, the maintenance crews got a good look at the fatigued aircraft and took half out of service.”
“So, here we are, in perfect position for a strike on the enemy submarines massed in port at Sydney, unsighted and unsuspected by the enemy, and we can only put just over half our strike aircraft into the air?”
“Hai, Sir,” Fuchida acknowledged. “The maintenance chiefs say three to four days to ready the remaining strike aircraft.”
“And every day we risk being detected and narrow the window that we can be confident the enemy carriers are not yet in southeast Australia gets smaller.”
“Hai.”
“And we cannot be sure that the forty-four enemy submarines the Type 2 flying boat crews observed in Sydney harbor two weeks ago are still there?”
“Sir, we have not seen any sign from our other patrol aircraft that the enemy has sortied a large number of submarines, so the opportunity is still probably there, just the effectiveness of our strike will be lower.”
“So you recommend we continue with the strike, tomorrow?”
“Hai, Sir.”
Nagumo considered, his eyes staring off into the west, across the fleet making way on the midnight blue sea, across the hundreds of miles to Syndey harbor, trying to pierce the distance. His thoughts were interrupted by the wailing of alarms.
“Sir,” the radio operator called out excitedly, “our destroyer screen is depth charging a suspected Dutch submarine. Destroyer Nenohi reports that the submarine was likely close enough to sight the scout cruisers and our fast battleships, but did not get close enough to see the carriers.” The sailor seemed to think this good news.
Nagumo’s shoulders sagged. Their position three hundred nautical miles southwest of Noumea and the presence of scout cruisers and battleships would be enough to put the whole South Pacific on alert. “Order the fleet to return to Truk,” the admiral said. “I shall be in my quarters drafting a message for Admiral Yamamoto.”
It had been a titanic waste of fuel, and likely the last chance for such an operation before the Allies retook lightly defended New Caledonia, but the risks that the skies over Sydney would be thick with fighters and the submarines put to sea were now high. Should I put in my resignation at the same time as I send this message? Probably not worth the effort. Old ‘80-sen’ won’t accept it, as he does not have much faith in the judgement of the hyper-aggressive Yamaguchi. It will be a long war…