Spanking Lowpe (NJP72 vs Lowpe (A))

[RangerJoe]

You are doing good as far as I can see.

[Lowpe]

Decided to flee from the surging IJN SAGs near Finn...just putting subs in their way.

Meanwhile the Merauke invasion is steaming towards there...Deathstar is moving to support this invasion...

Kusaie Invasion loading...recon reports only 1 unit and 500 troops there, so I have assembled a four CA SAG to bombard and then a paratroop landing followed by the normal invasion...

Dispatched a fast battleship to Lunga to counter IJN slow battleships. My other two active fast battleships don't have the night crew experience yet to tangle with them. The fourth has reduced their flood damage down to the 60s and will start repairing the 44 sys damage shortly.

A few sweep in place, another attack at Akyab, the Chinese will hopefully finish off a mixed bde in the mountains, and Tulagi has been cleared...

IJA mixed bde surrounded and wiped out shortly:

Ground combat at 71,49 (near Kunming)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 25008 troops, 97 guns, 93 vehicles, Assault Value = 798

Defending force 4318 troops, 19 guns, 10 vehicles, Assault Value = 11

Allied adjusted assault: 119

Japanese adjusted defense: 4

Allied assault odds: 29 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
206 casualties reported
Squads: 30 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled)

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

Assaulting units:
254th Armoured Brigade
37th Chinese Corps
60th Chinese Corps
1st Artillery Regiment
20th Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
1st Ind.Mixed Brigade

[Lowpe]

March 3, 1943


First port strike with beasts...from experience this normally looks worse than in reality it is as it is hard to sink ships unless they are loaded with supplies or fuel in port strikes with 500 pound bombs.

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[Lowpe]

Expecting a fairly quick fight here...

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[Lowpe]

IJN pulls back...got one sub attack in...and spotted the Kirishima at Manus but missed...as expected IJN didn't even bombard the bases as they were leery of a surface clash.

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[Lowpe]

Burma/China

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[Lowpe]

Took somebody's advice way back to use Long Island to ferry planes...but I bet they didn't mean for her to ferry four squadrons at a time!

Haven't seen any Iboats east of Pearl in a long time...

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[Lowpe]

Mine hits...

TF 53 encounters mine field at Finschhafen (100,126)

Japanese Ships
CL Kuma, Mine hits 1
DD Matsukaze, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 405 encounters mine field at Finschhafen (100,126)

Japanese Ships
DD Hasu
DD Hamakaze
DD Isokaze
CA Takao, Mine hits 1
DD Tsuga

6 mines cleared

[Macquarrie1999]

Mine hits...

TF 53 encounters mine field at Finschhafen (100,126)

Japanese Ships
CL Kuma, Mine hits 1
DD Matsukaze, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 405 encounters mine field at Finschhafen (100,126)

Japanese Ships
DD Hasu
DD Hamakaze
DD Isokaze
CA Takao, Mine hits 1
DD Tsuga

6 mines cleared

I love when minefields work

[Lowpe]

March 4th, 1943

Starting to send out plenty of ships behind the lines with no escorts carrying fragments of troops left behind...relying upon aerial ASW to prevent mishaps. I dislike having fragments.

Destroying IJA troopers in China is always hard, but here we netted an entire mixed brigade which are strong units. I might have a shot at destroying another but those surrounded IJA troopers are just two hexes from a Japanese runway so it will be much harder.

Akyab will fall shortly and then perhaps we can start shipping in supplies to Ramree Island. Need to rest before another attack though as disruption is a bit high.

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[Lowpe]

Nazdab is the best airbase in the region....with a sps 1 port to boot!

I am going to bet it is not occupied....and will task some paratroopers to take it, and then we will be able to barge up engineers from Buna to build it up.

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[Lowpe]

Looks like Palliser sunk a CL at the clash two days ago at Akyab. Color me surprised!

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[Lowpe]

March 5, 1943


Getting closer to supplying the Darwin push...

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[Lowpe]

More sub goodness!

Sub attack near Ponape at 119,113

Japanese Ships
AMc Narita Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AMc Nikki Maru

Allied Ships
SS S-30

SS S-30 launches 2 torpedoes at AMc Narita Maru
S-30 bottoming out ....
AMc Nikki Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
AMc Nikki Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
AMc Nikki Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
AMc Nikki Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
AMc Nikki Maru fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Ponape at 119,113

Japanese Ships
AMc Nikki Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS S-30

SS S-30 launches 2 torpedoes at AMc Nikki Maru
S-30 bottoming out ....
Sub escapes detection

[Lowpe]

Missed a good opportunity...oh well, the Commander must have seen something to be timid!

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[BBfanboy]

Now that you mention Nadzab, wasn't there something in the thread about map updates saying that it shows a port but that is a mapping error - it should not?

[Lowpe]

Map definitely shows it is not a port. Would have been fun to snake barges upriver though.

River play is a bit buggy or under implemented, but very fun!

[RangerJoe]

Reid River, 1 hex SE of Townsville, also shows a port but my ships would not go there to drop off troops.

Of course, the Aussies did not really want a couple of divisions of Japanese troops there. I would post a picture of a Japanese person that they would like there but that is now verboten.

[Lowpe]

March 6, 1943

Marblehead and company catch two merchants...there were 7 ships in this task force intel reports. The IJN sacrificed two so the rest could get away.

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[Lowpe]

A look at the night time intelligence Japan has of my ship movement. Interesting...especially the lack of intel on the Solomons...sinking sounds heard.

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