"Bakayaro!" DBB-C vs LST(A) Jpn AAR: Feb 43 Summary

[IdahoNYer]

Highlights – Salamaua holds off another large attack; BB bombardment against Vanua Lava achieves little

Jpn ships sunk: None

Allied ships sunk:
SS: 4 (Snapper, Sunfish, S-41, KXVIII)
TK: 1 (small)
xAK: 3

Air loss:
Jpn: 46
Allied: 14

Subwar:
Jpn: 6 Attacks, 3 ship hit (TK, xAK sunk, xAK dam)
Allies: 1 Attacks, 0 ships hit

Jpn Amph: None

Allied Amph: None

Bases lost: None

Bases seized: None

SIGINT/Intel: NSTR.

Japan/Industry: N1K1-J George R&D accelerated to 4/43; Ki-43-IV Oscar accelerated to 7/44.

Kuriles/Aleutians/North Pacific: NSTR.

Central Pacific: NSTR.

South Pacific The KB adjusts its position to just NE of Luganville, sending LRCAP over the base and sweeping Vanua Lava, but not finding any opposition over either target. BB TF (2BB, 2CA, DDs) bombards Vanua Lava with minimal effect, and will rejoin the KB next turn. KB will launch airstrikes against Vanua Lava next turn as well. IJN Amp TFs will depart Kavieng and Rabaul and begin heading toward Vanua Lava. On the New Guinea side, Salamaua is bombarded by a cruiser TF and then attacked in force, but holds off the attack. If Lae can gain respite from a bombardment again next turn, it might get back into operational status. On the debit side, Nettys out of Rabaul attempt to hit minor shipping off Kiriwina Island, and were mauled by Land based CAP – 18 Netties and 10 escorting A6M3a Zeros lost in exchange for 4 US fighters.

DEI/SW: KB 2 remained at sea in the IO, finding nothing, but apparently its presence at sea led to a few xAKs departing Exmouth which were then attacked by I-Boats.

PI: NSTR.

Burma/IO: Magwe oil fields are again attacked at night, but Nicks thwart any damage, although 3 are lost for no bombers shot down. The first two experimental J1N1-S Irving night fighters will be up on CAP next turn over Magwe.

China: NSTR.

[IdahoNYer]

Highlights – Another attack held west of Shwebo; KB airstrikes hit Vanua Lava

Jpn ships sunk: None

Allied ships sunk:
xAK: 2

Allied ships un-sunk:
SS: 2 (Saury, Sunfish)

Air loss:
Jpn: 19
Allied: 09

Subwar:
Jpn: 0 Attacks, 0 ship hit
Allies: 2 Attacks, 0 ships hit

Jpn Amph: None

Allied Amph:
Deboyne Is (South Pacific)

Bases lost: None

Bases seized: None

SIGINT/Intel: NSTR.

Japan/Industry: Mitshubishi Ha-43 engine R&D accelerated to 11/44.

Kuriles/Aleutians/North Pacific: NSTR.

Central Pacific: NSTR.

South Pacific: The KB keeps adjusts its position to hopefully avoid subs and launches two 80+ Kates escorted by Zeros against the Vanua Lava AF which lightly damage the airstrip, but probably enough to halt any further expansion at a cost of 1 Kate to AA. No fighters encountered. The BB TF (2BB, 2CA, DDs) rejoined the KB and will await the Amphib TF reaching the Ndeni area before any further bombardments. On the New Guinea side, Deboyne Is is invaded off the SE coast of New Guinea – just an outpost with an SNLF company defending, it will be quickly taken as Emilys will attempt to pull off some of the defenders and engineers. Finschhafen is bombarded by a cruiser TF for the first time, destroying 3 Zeros on the ground, but the AF is still operational. And with bombardments going in at Salamaua Finschhafen, Lae AF is back in operation, and fighters flown in – hopefully they’ll get a night of respite and be able to fly CAP in the next couple of days against further raids. Then again, L_S_T could just be luring fresh meat to be bombarded!

DEI/SW: KB 2 finds nothing, and will start heading back to Soerabaja to refuel and rearm next turn.

PI: NSTR.

Burma/IO: IJA west of Shwebo hold off another major attack, so far the front has been holding. Will look to move some additional forces to the west out of Mandalay area to reinforce, but this will take some time. Right now the center of the line looks fairly solid, it’s the flanks west of Shwebo and east near Lashio that are concerning. Will also need another big supply convoy shortly.

China: NSTR.

[IdahoNYer]

Highlights – CAP trap “almost” works over Salamaua.

Jpn ships sunk: None

Allied ships sunk:
CL: 1 (Capetown – replaces Van Heemskerck)
SS: 1 (S-34)

Allied ships un-sunk:
CLAA: 1 (Van Heemskerck)

Air loss:
Jpn: 66
Allied: 64

Subwar:
Jpn: 3 Attacks, 2 ships hit (AKV, xAK dam)
Allies: 2 Attacks, 0 ships hit

Jpn Amph: None

Allied Amph: None

Bases lost: None

Bases seized: None

SIGINT/Intel: NSTR.

Japan/Industry: With the A6M5b and A6M5c Zeros just about ready to go into production next month, two of the three A6M5c factories are shifted to research the A6M8 – Will need the A6M5b to go into production a few days earlier. Also added two more R&D factories to research the Ki-61c Tony in order to get the Ki-100 series on line as soon as practical.

Kuriles/Aleutians/North Pacific: NSTR.

Central Pacific: NSTR.

South Pacific: The KB keeps adjusting its position to avoid subs and launches another raid against the Vanua Lava AF which moderately damages the airstrip. No fighters encountered. The Amphib TF reaches the Duff Islands ENE of Ndeni, where they will hold position for a few days – for the supply convoy to offload sufficient supplies at Luganville and get that base in operation is the goal, but that may not be feasible. Tanaka’s patrolling CL TF at Luganville will head to Vanua to clear out some reported PTs before returning to cover the offloading transports. Lastly, a pair of empty xAPs will depart Tulagi for Luganville – to be on hand to remove some troops. While holding Luganville is desirable, its not feasible even in the near term – the KB can not loiter here indefinitely. On the New Guinea side, Fighters out of Lae initially do well over Salamaua, catching a number of unescorted Wirraways on the first day – knocking down about 40. But on the second day, the P-38 scourge returns, and scours the skies of the Japanese CAP – before they can effectively intercept US Heavies bound for Lae – 24 Zeros, 9 Tojos and 5 Nicks are lost in exchange for 5 P-38s and a Corsair. Will pull the fighters back out of Lae – they are not sustainable there any longer. Without CAP from either Lae or Finschhafen, not exactly sure how to keep any supplies coming in. On the ground, the IJA at Salamaua again held off another large Allied attack, but the defenders continue to be heavily attritted.

DEI/SW: NSTR.

PI: NSTR.

Burma/IO: NSTR.

China: NSTR.

[IdahoNYer]

Feb 43 Summary

The Allied offensive in New Guinea continued up through Salamaua which has been heavily contested for most of the month, but at month’s end, is still in the IJA’s control. Outer “outpost” islands off the eastern tip of New Guinea were lost, but that was to be expected. Can expect Salamaua to fall in early March, and the bastion of Lae to become a front line base – stripped of air cover, its only a matter of time for the IJA defenses to begin pulling back towards Malang. Getting supplies in will be the greatest challenge. What changed this month was that the Allies were able to gain air superiority over New Guinea, and that is likely to continue. To the east, Luganville was neutralized by Allied air and naval bombardments, and then bypassed by landing at Vanua Lava. Even if the operation underway to throw the Allies into the sea there can succeed (doubtful), holding Luganville long term is not feasible. Will look to transition to some main line of resistance in the lower Solomons during March – Keeping the Allies out of fighter range of Rabaul is the goal for the next month or two – and those are long odds. In NW Australia, the Japanese defenses collapsed all too quickly in Broome and Darwin, and now will look to prevent any Allied landings in the Western Arafura Sea. KB 2 with Junyo and Hiyo have been a deterrent, its just a question of time before L_S_T decides to launch an offensive across the sea from NW Oz. Its just a question of where and when. Burma surprisingly has remained mostly static, and other than some nightly bombing against Magwe’s oil, the Allies have focused their air against ground targets with little effect. The Allied sub war continues to be very dangerous for Allied subs, but they have managed some small successes against merchants and small tankers. I-Boats are more of a nuisance in Allied rear areas where they have had some limited successes – against defended targets, they stand little chance of even penetrating a screen. Production wise, the A6M5 Zero and Oscar IIIa remain the front line fighters, augmented by Tojos and Tonys. The P-38 has made a decisive impact over New Guinea with dire results. Fortunately, they are relatively few in number. March should see the A6M5c Zero and the N1K1-J George starting production. A6M5b Zero will only be produced in limited numbers to field the A6M5c. The Kate remains the main carrier borne torpedo plane as the Jill, although available in limited numbers, has not been fielded to the Fleet yet. The Judy has finally debuted in combat, engaging the CVL Hermes with good effect. Industry continues to produce enough supply and HI with stocks increasing, and even both oil and fuel levels managed to increase slightly during the month. For the month, naval losses were very light, except for Allied subs, and the Allied loss of CVL Hermes is still not official: Japan lost only 1SS while the Allies lost 1 CL, and a reported 12SS. In the air, not a good month for the Empire: 748 for Jpn to 449 Allied planes lost – The P-38G has been unbeatable and the major cause of the loss ratio. With those losses, the Navy pilot pools slipped under the 500 pilot surplus by month’s end, and Army pools are just under 2500. Replacement advanced training is keeping the squadrons fully manned, but many squadrons have a large number of barely experienced pilots (in the 50s).

[ofmetare]

Bump of approval.