Lets try this one more time - Bottlenecks in the Pacific Axe vs Togus (J)

[Axe1999]

Loss of Lady Lex, preventable, completely unnecessary, by my mistake. So what happened is 3 IJN CVs were spotted rounding Solomons from East and heading SW. Next turn it still appeared they were heading towards Brisbane/Sydney so I decided to move Lex to Noumea or New Zealand. Unfortunately she ran into sub which gave away her position and he sprinted CVTF towards her and sank her. I could have easily left her at Sydney under air umbrella or moved to Melbourne rather than east, but you learn from your mistakes. The only good thing that came out of this is that her Wildcats shot down some KB pilots, probably 15 or so.

His CVTF now has to be off footed, this far south having sprinted for a day, with nearest fuel in Truk if he didnt hide his oilers somewhere, air search cant find them. Too bad I have nothing to respond with, the rest of my carriers are battling fog and heavy seas somewhere in North Pacific, something about this fella called Doolittle...

[JanSako]

Sorry, the quoting thing did not work...

How did Burma go for me?

For some reason he packed Martaban with troops (me posturing across the river may have a had a bit to do with it), with a much smaller secondary garrison in Rangoon.
He also left Pegu open (for all intents and purposes) & I left the single unit that was there alone. I bombarded Martaban with BB's from time to time, just to keep him focused.
The dot hex S of Pegu on the coast flipped to my control a couple of times and any time he moved something small to take it back I wiped the unit with airforce. I made sure to keep full air dominance (basically plastered Rangoon with level bombers any time his fighters showed up so he stopped trying after a while).

The invasion was quite late, like the end of June/early July '42 cause Singapore held out for so long. I guess he thought he was safe behind the jungle forts of Martaban.

So I loaded up 3 INF divs + tanks & support down in Singapore & dropped them off at the little dot hex S of Pegu & Pegu itself, cutting off some 70% of his troops in Burma.. He managed to save some Indian brigades & a couple-3 Chinese divisions cause I could not cut off Rangoon in time before the rest of my reinforcements arrived.

The rest of Burma was a cakewalk, but there is no way I can push out of Burma on land. The Akyab/Cox line is packed, like so packed that the mountain bases BEHIND my units have all flipped back to his control & my units in the 3 hexes across the rived from him are surrounded! (by empty bases but still).

Same on the North, I just arrived at the last mountain ridge across from Ledo, it is packed full too. Not sure why but the road East into China was open so I am pushing there instead.

All in all, the battle for Burma was over in like a week, the mopping up took another 2-3 weeks afterwards just because of the terrain. This is my opponent's first PBEM game & he said the Japanese land AI is a 'bit more predictable' than a human. As the Allied player he's got plenty of time to learn & he is!

OTOH he is giving me hell on the high seas pretty much from day one!

[Axe1999]

Long overdue update, after holiday break. Current game date is May 15th 1942.

• General Strategy
  War begins to slow down a bit, with IJN amphibious bonus expiring. Allies hold a weak front in southern islands of DEI and China, but are very strong in CentPac, Burma, New Guinea and SoPac. Fall of Philippines is a matter of time. Just hanging back waiting for an opportunity to strike, as loss of Lexington complicates things just a bit. LOC with Australia and New Zealand seem solid, with a barrier running along line islands down through Samoa-Fiji-New Caledonia.
  
  Logistics, CONUS, Offmap
• Reorganized shipping a bit, after April ASW & AA upgrades for destroyers and some escorts. San Diego now handles SoPac and SWPac, while San Francisco handles CentPac shipping and Alaska. Seattle area is full of subs still. Los Angeles handles fuel for both POA and SWPac. Green are supply lines, red are fuel shipping lines. East Coast and UK movements not shown.
  
• India is swimming in supply, forwarding it to Burma while I can. Pearl Harbor sits on 800k supply/800k fuel. Auckland at 300k/200k. Sydney feeds New Guinea garrison. Even though universal supply is a thing, I still try to ship some US supply wherever I have US units, just for the sake of realism.
  
  CentPac
• ADM Nimitz relieving ADM Kimmel of command of Pacific Ocean Areas. Pearl Harbor brimming with all kinds of shipping, and has substantial aircraft garrison. Land garrison to be reinforced by two RCTs to reform 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions.
• Two SubRons to redeploy to Midway as early as possible to lengthen time on target. Midway now has an AS, AKE, few YOs, AR, small ARD and PT Boat squadron, VMF squadron and VP squadron.
• Occasional surface raids on Wake Island by Omaha Class cruisers. Moderate effect, not much on the atoll.
• Dec 7th survivors are being patched up to be made seaworthy for trips to CONUS shipyards. Probably still a couple months away.
• Doolittle Raid was a bust, with 16 B-25s attacking Tokyo, scoring no hits on anything of importance. TF was spotted but refused to launch as weather over Tokyo was awful, causing it to stick around for a day longer and get spotted.
• New raid began just as all four remaining carriers met at Pearl and this one is into the heart of Marshall Islands. Enterprise and Yorktown will hit the airfield at Roi Namur, while Saratoga and Hornet hit the port of Kwajalein, where IJN subs are suspected of being based at. With the high risk of air attacks upon getting detected, all carriers air groups have been strengthened by VMF groups. As of now, raid is two days out.
  
  
  
  
  NoPac
• CS supply set up to feed Kodiak, from where xAKLs will feed Dutch Harbor and Adak.
• Adak is now lvl 2 port and has AKE, AS, small ARD and some float plane support. Still needs a bit of air cover for a submarine base.
• 
  SoPac
• Wallis Island being developed as another refueling point along Bora Bora.
• Couple of IJN I-Boats off of Suva, no hits so far on either side.
• Scheduled recon flights off of Lugainville spotted Japanese building up an air strip on Guadalcanal. Something to deal with in near future. USAAF B-17 group will base from Lugainville in near future.
• Nadi garrisoned is unloading as of today. Seabee battalion, Infantry Regiment and some AA. Good place for a forward air strip if it can be defended.
• Bougainville seems almost empty of troops and aircraft.
  
  
  SWPac
• Highlights so far have been air raids over Rabaul and Kavieng. B-17s amassed from Port Moresby to hit Rabaul and in two days destroyed 50+ airframes on ground, mostly Zeroes. B-26s have been hitting it at night, as well as Gasmata and Bougainville. It is not sustainable though, with 12 big bombers shot down, same number repairing, and raising Port Moresby supply requirement to 20k.
• Kido Butai was last spotted two weeks ago heading North, presumably Truk or homeland.
• Horn Island got an armoured regiment and CMF Brigade to reinforce garrison.
• USN fleet boats from Brisbane patroling Truk and Rabaul, S-Boats from Brisbane cover Solomons, fleet boats from Perth patrol South China Sea and DEI, S-Boats from Darwin DEI as well.
  
  
  DEI
• Mop up in Sumatra, on Java Soerebaja and Batavia hold but it is question of time. He has 1500 AV in southern Java.
• Celebes gets mopped up, Kendari falls. First appearance of IJN Yamato.
• SS KX torpedoes CVE Hosho, only one hit but it shows up as sunk and its air complement as ground losses.
• There is torpedo armed wing of Vildebeests on Java but refuses to fly without fighter escort, despite 70 aggression leader.
  
  
  China/Burma/India
• Setting up front lines and bastions as good as I can, but supply throughput is bad in places.
• Burma is not impregnable, but behind level 4-5 forts I hope it will hold out for foreseeable future.
• China is quiet after fall of Chengchow. Trying to set up an approximate line to guard Sian and Changsha plain.
• 
  
  
  Phillippines
• Stalemate at Luzon. Just tying up a few IJA divisions and a bunch of artillery. Still 60k supply on Luzon.
  

[Axe1999]

Absolutely nuclear bombardment of Milne Bay, destroying three quarters of all planes on ground, followed by air strikes. Looks like revenge for Rabaul raid... He has to be hiding these battlewagons in some remote dot hex anchorage, because they didn't come from Rabaul or Kavieng or Bougainville.

Night Naval bombardment of Milne Bay at 101,133

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
B-26 Marauder: 298 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 11 destroyed on ground
Kittyhawk IA: 48 damaged
Kittyhawk IA: 2 destroyed on ground
A-24 Banshee: 16 damaged
A-24 Banshee: 1 destroyed on ground
P-400 Airacobra: 39 damaged
P-400 Airacobra: 2 destroyed on ground
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 24 damaged
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 4 destroyed on ground
Do-24K-1: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Kongo
CA Suzuya
CA Mikuma
CA Chikuma
DD Arashio
DD Michishio
DD Nowaki
DD Hamakaze
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Isokaze
DD Natsushio
DD Kagero
DD Yugumo

Allied ground losses:
1051 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 17 destroyed, 65 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 32 disabled
Vehicles lost 24 (8 destroyed, 16 disabled)

Airbase hits 58
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 153

[Axe1999]

Pretty much all of the naval/air resistance I can put up in Phillippines... This has to be second or third time PT Boat squadron has ambushed enemy to this effect.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Lingayen at 79,75, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
DE Kamikaze, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DE Hatakaze
DE Asanagi
DE Yunagi
xAP Kamakura Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
xAP Brazil Maru>Hayato, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAP Hokoku Maru^, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
PT-36, Shell hits 1
PT-41, Shell hits 1
PT Q-115
PT Q-116
PT Q-118, Shell hits 2
PT Q-119
PT Q-120
PT Q-122
PT Q-123, Shell hits 1

Japanese ground losses:
6544 casualties reported
Squads: 169 destroyed, 71 disabled
Non Combat: 156 destroyed, 329 disabled
Engineers: 13 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 95 (93 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 5 (4 destroyed, 1 disabled)

[BBfanboy]

That's the best performance by a PT squadron that I have seen! (notwithstanding Greyjoy's fluke magazine hit on Yamato with a PT torp). Did you do anything to optimize their chances, like changing leaders or doing some training runs?

[Axe1999]

I just give them leader with high aggression, but still decent naval skill, threat tolerance set to absoulte and thats about it. These were fresh from pool so I didnt even check their exp. Oh and this was with I think 39% moonlight.

[Axe1999]

Forgot to post Marshalls Raid results. Good effect on Kwajalein, nothing present at Roi Namur. Looks like no air presence in area. I could have stayed for a day more but didnt want to push my luck. A bit disappointed there were no IJN subs in port.

Afternoon Air attack on Kwajalein Island , at 132,115

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 14
SBD-3 Dauntless x 68
TBD-1 Devastator x 15
TBF-1 Avenger x 12

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CM Okinoshima^, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
xAKL Toyotsu Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Chokai Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PB Santos Maru #1, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
CM Tokiwa, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
AD Shintoku Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AG Daido Maru #1, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CM Tenyo Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AO Shiretoko, Bomb hits 1
PB Fukui Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAKL Shonan Maru #8, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1

Afternoon Air attack on Roi-Namur , at 132,114

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 9
F4F-3 Wildcat x 34
F4F-4 Wildcat x 25
SBD-3 Dauntless x 83
TBD-1 Devastator x 15

No Allied losses

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

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 32

[BBfanboy]

You got two large, dangerous CMs in that raid! I think they will probably have sunk. Okinoshima is a very modern looking and large CM that can carry cargo and troops in a FT TF.
Tokiwa is an older ship, also quite large and armed with 5.9" guns. The loss of all those other Auxiliary vessels will also hurt his ability to use Kwajalein as a major base for a while. Well done!
Did you track how much experience was gained by your carrier pilots?

[Axe1999]

You got two large, dangerous CMs in that raid! I think they will probably have sunk. Okinoshima is a very modern looking and large CM that can carry cargo and troops in a FT TF.
Tokiwa is an older ship, also quite large and armed with 5.9" guns. The loss of all those other Auxiliary vessels will also hurt his ability to use Kwajalein as a major base for a while. Well done!
Did you track how much experience was gained by your carrier pilots?

Not really but the important thing is that it is going up. Similar raids on Marcus Island then Wake are in order to gain some more experience as well. Also just a show of force and showing him that USN can bite if left to roam free.

[Axe1999]

June 2nd 1942

Nothing big happening. Halsey led a raid against Marcus Island and SIGINT saved the day, as the TF was to head south to strike Wake, Station HYPO intercepted IJN Akagi callsign transmitting its movement to Marshall Islands. My opponent probably (correctly) assumed that I will head to Wake after Marcus. Too close for comfort, CVs retire to Hawaiian waters.

Some night B-17 raids on Rabaul. Not too much damage on fields but B-17 gunners shoot down dozen Zeroes, even with LSTs modifications to defensive armament they seem a bit too strong.

Unescorted raid on Rangoon costs IJAAF 12 Sallys and 30-35 Nells.

Guadalcanal has an airfield but is being supressed by B-17 group from Lugainville and few cruisers.

[Axe1999]

June 10 1942

Battle of Midway started 3 days ago with PBY spotting three separate fleets about 400 nm w of Kure Atoll. It was the mighty Kido Butai, presumably a close cover group, and an invasion convoy.

CVs on the first day looked like 1 or at the most 2 fleet carriers and CVL, so I sprinted Enterprise and Saratoga north, as I was willing to pick a fight on those terms, with 2 reinforced CVs and Midways air group. Good thing they couldn't be there in time as that TF turned to be a full KB when they unleashed it at Midway. Two subs and few aux tenders were struck and went down in port, as well as all of the islands installations were in flames.

Fortunately the atoll was well defended with some Marine commandos, defense battalion, AA, plenty of mines, PT Boats and coastal guns. First two IJA shock attacks failed and now Marines are tasked with throwing them back into the sea.

IJN didn't go unpunished either, with 2 DDs and 2 CAs striking some mines, 4 minesweepers being mowed down by coastal gunfire, as well as an escort or two wandering into minefield. Tale of Mark14 continues, with getting 2 dud hits on Haruna and Mutsu.

[Axe1999]

June 21 1942

Battle of Midway is long over. Marines charged the invaders and, with nowhere to go, they were mowed down to the man. Gonna need a bit more to take it. IJN withdraws to the west to regroup, with Kido Butai out of sight.

Mark 14 is huge source of frustration early war. I finally figured out his supply lines and I am getting consistent engagements, but I dont think I've had Mk14 explode in at least couple of months. Adak now hosts half a dozen fleet boats and some S-Boats can reach Sea of Japan entrance from there. He has to figure that out soon so getting some fighters to Adak is a priority.

Occasional Zero sweeps against Milne Bay. Result is usually 3-5 Zeroes for 7-10 P-39s and P-40s. As much as I like killing elite Zero pilots, I dont think replacement rates are sustainable. He never followed it with bombers so I can pick and choose when to fight for now.

Heavy fighting for Clark Field, costing IJA some 10-12k casualties in last week or so. He is moving down south from Java, and when he reaches Timor I will offer some limited resistance there. Darwin is more than ready to be on the receiving end of an air raid. We are in a standoff across the river in Burma, with my speed bump at Martaban, and a hell of a lot more at Pegu.

And now the main show, Guadalcanal. Troops are mostly prepped and are regrouping at Wellington. Replacement garrisons for Fiji, Samoa, New Hebrides, second wave engineers, MAGs with aircraft, base forces are en route from West Coast and Hawaii, as well as all assault shipping available. 1st MarDiv will hit Lunga, while elements of 2nd MarDiv will hit Tulagi-Gavutu-Tanambogo. Recon suggests there are only light defenses on both of the islands, and airfield is already built on Lunga coastal plain. Recon also suggest that there is no significant/any buildup in Solomons or Bougainville, so only counterattack we can expect will have to come from Rabaul. Obvious problem is Kido Butai. How to bait it out somewhere else? Do I just land, dump some supply and bug out when/if they react to invasion? Occupy Rennel Island beforehand to base some LBA there instead on relying for my carriers for first few days?

[JanSako]

IJN CV's are due to a refit/upgrades in June/July so if you spot them around the Home islands, that is why.
I would not tip my hand by going for another target close to Lunga, perhaps with a totally fake invasion force someplace else

If Kido does not show up, you won't need the additional LBA. If they do, it probably won't help you enough unless you really build up that supporting airfield.

[Axe1999]

I've raided Kuriles with Omahas before, so they may be an option for diversion. KB was last seen going West from Midway a week ago, if they are in area I think they would come out to play, so I can be sure down south... But still at least 2 weeks away.

Fore Rennel I could spare some garrison and Seabees, along with 3 USAAF squadrons with decent (60ish) exp. But they again would be subject to bombings and bombardments.

[CaptBeefheart]

I just caught up on your AAR. I really like your format.

For Rennell or another of those nearby islands (Kira Kira?), it looks like they are still green dots. You could sneak in some engineers and supply by APD or PBY and get them building an airstrip. You could also risk a single LST if you have any yet to get some dozers on the island. He probably wouldn't know what you're doing until the airstrip or port reaches level 1, when it would show up on his SigInt. I wouldn't put any aircraft on the island until you are assaulting Lunga or Tulagi.

Cheers,
CB

[Axe1999]

I just caught up on your AAR. I really like your format.

For Rennell or another of those nearby islands (Kira Kira?), it looks like they are still green dots. You could sneak in some engineers and supply by APD or PBY and get them building an airstrip. You could also risk a single LST if you have any yet to get some dozers on the island. He probably wouldn't know what you're doing until the airstrip or port reaches level 1, when it would show up on his SigInt. I wouldn't put any aircraft on the island until you are assaulting Lunga or Tulagi.

Cheers,
CB

Nice to know Im not writing into the void and that someone is reading

Rennel and surrounding islands flipped in the meanwhile, job was crazy so I didnt have time to update AAR, game date is mid July '42.

Main happenings are collecting of troops and supply and shipping at the main jump off points for the invasion, as well as Battle for Burma. In Burma I mismanaged air a bit, causing to a lot of aircraft being destroyed on ground at bombardments of Pegu and Rangoon. He is really cranking up the pressure on Rangoon, and amassing troops next to Pegu for assault to begin. Pegu has 1200AV but it is clear hex without air cover so Im not too optimistic.

Timor also fell and Clark Field will fall in one or two more deliberate attacks.

[CaptBeefheart]

You are certainly doing better than historical on the timeline.

With all of your forces in southern Burma, are you at all worried about an end-run invasion say near Chittagong or even Bombay or Karachi? Have you seen any interesting SigInt that would indicate such a bold move?

Cheers,
CB

[Axe1999]

You are certainly doing better than historical on the timeline.

With all of your forces in southern Burma, are you at all worried about an end-run invasion say near Chittagong or even Bombay or Karachi? Have you seen any interesting SigInt that would indicate such a bold move?

Cheers,
CB

Not really, Chittagong and Akyab have enough forces to withstand initial assault, Southern India has most important bases covered and I have some armor and extra infantry on rails ready to react if needed. Im not worried about Bombay, it is way too far and way too hard to supply that I welcome him to try, that is a battle of attrition Im willing to take.

[Axe1999]

August 10th 1942

Long time no see. War progressed few months but I dint have time to update more regularly. Not too much action around:

• Pulled the trigger on Operation Watchtower, invasion force is two days out from landfall.
• Lunga and Tulagi have been bombed, bombarded and shot up from air and sea for a while, so forts cant be high. That was not without a cost, we lost two DDs due to mines and submarines in The Slot, and another CA ate a fish few days ago.
• I suspect based on intel and combat reports that there are two Naval Guard Units on Guadalcanal and one on Tulagi.
• IJN submarines have been wreaking havoc all around Pacific. I just cant counter them. One or two escorts per convoy and they just get around them and hit my merchants, and I simply dont have enough to escort them more heavily. One BB ate two torps north of Fiji and is out for 3 months, but fortunately so far there have been no HVTs sunk by them.
• On another side, while I have partly figured out his supply lines, my boats seem to prioritize escorts. I've sank only a handful of xAKs and 2-3 TKs in eight months of war. Even if merchants are hit, MK14 is what it is, huge pain in my ass.
• There was a medium sized daylight raid by medium and heavy bombers targeting Rabaul a month ago. While it did cut into my Marauder numbers, they destroyed 30-40 planes on ground and a dozen Zeroes in air. Aside from that, Im limited to harassing night bombing of Rabaul, there is 70-90 Zeroes flying there during the day.