Never Thought I'd Start Another One - tc464 (A) vs. Mike (J)

[PaxMondo]

Mike,

July??!?? Really, July already???? Sheeesh!! Are you retired or something?

(trying to catch up)

[Mike Solli]

8 Jul 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Eighteen Zeros and 6 Nicks encountered 42 B-17Es over Milne Bay today. No losses on either side.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

The 3 tank regiments (plus arty and engineers) are still pushing east into China from Burma and pushed the rabble in front of them into Tsuyung. Intel says there are about 4k enemy troops there. They're already moving into the base. Their final goal (for now) is Kunming, with its HI and LI. Two of the 3 tank regiments (and the engineer and artillery regiments) will form the 1 Tank Division when the remainder of the units of that division arrive. They are just leaving Keijo, so it'll be awhile.

There were 7 surviving units from the Allied garrison at Shwebo. Three were in the open to the NE of Shwebo and the other 4 are in the jungle to the NW of that hex. I trashed the 3 in the open today pushing them up the rail line. They lost over 600 squads to my 2. I'll chase them down and destroy them and then go after the other four.

China

Some Helens bombed Chungking's airfield (this is a daily occurrence). Today they destroyed an SB-III on the ground and added to the airfield damage there.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
AMc Tamazono Maru #2 - will convert to a 12 kt PB. (Torpedo magnet.)

[Mike Solli]

Mike,

July??!?? Really, July already???? Sheeesh!! Are you retired or something?

(trying to catch up)

It's good to see you, Pax.

Just sent the 17 Jul turn to Ted.

[Mike Solli]

9 Jul 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

I rested my Zeros and Nicks today. Ted didn't and bombed Milne Bay and Lae.

SRA

I attacked Cebu today. There are the remnants of a Philippine Division and some other riff raff. Unfortunately, the 65 Brigade was given the mission and they were not up to it. I sent in the Ichiki Det. to reinforce them. They got about 1.5:1 odds and reduced the fort to level 0. I'll try again later.

Burma

There was no air combat today.

China

The daily bombing of Chungking damaged a few SB-IIIs and added a little to the airfield damage.

Other Stuff

Something sank right at the beginning of the turn. Probably one of the xAKLs at Darwin hit a couple of days ago.

[RangerJoe]

There is a valid reason not to combine the armoured regiments into the tank division, PM me if you want the reason why.

[Mike Solli]

10 Jul 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The I-25 spotted 5 minelayers a few hexes east of Rockhampton (Aussie east coast) then lost them. Not sure where they were going, but someplace got or is getting a load of mines.

SRA

A flight of 18 Nells spotted a small TF, probably supply, 5 hexes east of Darwin along the northern coast of Australia, and went after them with torpedoes. They sank an xAK and 4 xAKLs and got 14 torpedo hits and a dud. That's 15 of 18 torpedoes finding their mark, an 83% hit rate! Absolutely amazing!

I attacked at Cebu again, and was shy of 2:1 by just a few points. I'd attack again but am short of supply. More is on the way to get rid of this irritating garrison.

Burma

I attacked a hex east of Cox's Bazaar again. Each side lost about 20 squads with my troops taking the brunt of the disablements. I need to just rest and wait until 16 Division arrives. It's currently a stalemate.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

11 Jul 42 - Really quiet day today.

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Allied bombers hit Lae and Milne Bay today.

A squadron of Wildcats sweeps Finschafen just about every day. I'm going to try and ambush them tomorrow.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Bombed Chungking's airfield (as I do every day).

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[Mike Solli]

12 Jul 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Milne Bay was plastered by 44 B-17Es.

The Wildcats decided not to sweep Finschafen today. My LRCAP there found nothing.

SRA

The nightly bombing of Darwin's airfield destroyed a P-40E and damaged 16 planes on the ground and increased the remaining damage to the airfield.

A morning sweep of Darwin by Oscars resulted in 2 planes shot down on each side (2 MIA).

A shock attack of Cebu took the base and destroyed the base and destroyed the 4 enemy units there (along with 2 Stearman 75M). The infrastructure is in good shape:

Manpower: 1(1)
Resources: 19(1)
LI: 19(1)

Burma

My tanks attacked and liberated Tsyung today chewing on the Chinese and pushing them toward Kunming.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
8 Fleet HQ - appeared at Truk and will head to Rabaul.

Forgot to mention that yesterday, the Ki-44-IIb R&D advanced to 2/43 and is expected to become operational 9/42.

[Mike Solli]

13 Jul 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

My ambush over Lae was successful today. Initially, there were 8 Nicks and 25 Zeros. They encountered a total of 5 different attacks. The first two were sweeps:

10 Kittyhawk IA (3 shot down) vs. 2 Zeros shot down

16 F4F4 (2 shot down) vs. 3 Zeros and 1 Nick shot down

Then there were 3 bombing runs:

15 B-26 (2 shot down) and 3 B-26B (3 shot down)

20 B-26 (10 shot down)

9 B-26 (no losses)

Totals:

5 Zeros (no pilot losses!)
1 Nick (1 WIA)

3 Kittyhawk IA
2 F4F4
12 B-26
3 B-26B

Planes I can replace. No pilot losses was outstanding!

Milne Bay was plastered by 49 B-17Es. I can live with that. Milne Bay has no engineers, just a NG battalion and SNLF battalion for defense. The base infrastructure is trashed, which doesn't matter at all to me. When Ted decides to take it, he'll get a destroyed base that he'll have to rebuild. Also, he's still hitting the port and airfield so little damage is done to the troops and his big bombers are taking damage.

SRA

The night bombing of Darwin was pretty good today. I destroyed a Wildebeest and damaged another 9 aircraft and added to the damage to the airfield.

In the morning MKB arrived 6 hexes north. I had set Ryujo's 36 Zeros to sweep Darwin to eliminate any CAP and then the bombers were set for naval attack in the morning and airfield attack (Vals) or port attack (Kates) in the afternoon if no shipping was found. The Zeros swept in the morning shooting down 2 P-40Es and driving the rest off, at a cost of 3 pilots. That hurt. Then the bombers......did nothing. I'll move to the position MKB was scheduled to go to tomorrow, 4 hexes north of Darwin and try again.

Burma

Nothing to report.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

I check the SigInt Reports every day because on occasion I get some intel that I may be able to act on. Today, I got Heavy Volume of Radio Transmissions 10 hexes east of Auckland. That's a big convoy of either supply or possibly troops headed to Auckland (or maybe empty heading east). Unfortunately, I don't have any subs in the area and none that can get there in time to do anything, but I'm adding that route to my sub list. I'll try to keep one down there as much as I can.

[Mike Solli]

14 Jul 42

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Five Kittyhawk IAs met 9 Zeros over Gasmata. For the loss of 1 Zero (no pilot loss), two Kittyhawks were shot down. I guess they were testing the waters to see if I had CAP there. Now they know. That's my offensive fighter base. I typically keep 40-70 Zeros and 30 Nicks there. There are always at least 9 Zeros on CAP and the rest are either on CAP, LRCAP or resting. I occasionally move some Zeros or Nicks to Truk to replenish aircraft when needed. It's been working well so far.

Rabaul is the main base in the region with the airfield at level 8 and the ability to house over 300 "engines" worth of aircraft. I always have 2 full sentai of Oscars on CAP and station a variety of aircraft there including IJN 2E bombers, flying boats, float planes, recon aircraft, etc. There are always some Anns there on ASW work and usually transports for various missions.

Enemy bombers hit Milne Bay and Lae today. There were no ambushes on my part.

SRA

The Oscar sweep of Darwin met no resistance. The night bombing raid did little today.

Burma

A Zero LRCAP of Kunming shot down 4 P-40Es (of 10) for no loss. The 3 tank regiments (plus other stuff) is 1 hex up the rail line and will attack the remnants it's been attacking since Paoshan. Kunming is the final goal for this army. That's not entirely true. There's a dot hex a couple hexes to the south that I'll send someone to capture once Kunming is mine. That's the farthest these units from Burma will go into China. They'll eventually head back to Burma minus an infantry regiment left as a garrison.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcements
55 IF Chutai (9 Babs), 2 Air Division, Manchuoko, training
AMc Wa-4 (To'su), will convert to a PB
AMc Wa-5 (To'su), will convert to a PB
DMS-21, escort work/ASW
CMc Ma-3 (To'su), will convert to a PB
CM Niizaki, minelayer now, will convert to an E escort later

[Mike Solli]

15 Jul 42

Sub War

The I-4 put a torpedo into an empty xAP off Noumea. She'll catch her again tomorrow and put her down.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The B-17s rested and the 2E bombers focused on Lae today. My fighters rested.

SRA

The night Nell raid on Darwin's airfield caused little damage but damaged a Hudson I bomber and damaged another.

MKB swept Darwin today shooting down a P-40E for no Zeros shot down, but one damaged Zero crashed on the way home and the pilot was lost.

Later in the day, MKB sent 18 Vals and 25 Kates after Darwin because there was no shipping in the area. They did minor damage to the airfield and damaged a handful of planes. I guess they call them MKB for a reason. It took 3 days for them to even launch an attack other than the sweep on day 1.

Burma

Zeros shot down another P-40E over Kunming for no loss.

The tanks pushed the rabble into Kunming where there is a decent sized garrison. I'm advancing into Kunming.

China

13 Army took Tuyun (6 hexes south of Chungking) and will advance 2 hexes north to Kweiyang. Kweiyang will become an airbase I will use to bomb Chungking and the surrounding enemy bases.

Other Stuff

The A6M3a R&D advanced to 8/42. It will become operational before the end of July 42.

The Ha-45 engine R&D advanced to 10/42. It will become operational in 8/42. Can't wait! I have 6 factories working on this engine with the following sizes: 80, 40, 4x30. When they become operational, they will increase to 90 and 5x60 for a total of 390. This will cost a chunk of supply, but my supply is slowly increasing right now and is over 2.7 million so it's not a concern.

[Mike Solli]

16 Jul 42

Sub War

Like I said yesterday, the I-4 put down an xAP today that she damaged yesterday. She was a good sized xAP, Empire/Glen class.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Fortresses pummeled Milne Bay today while their 2E bombers and my fighters rested. I'm actually fine with his bombing. The longer he bombs, the more time he wastes. For me, it's all about time.

SRA

Fifteen Oscars did an LRCAP mission over Darwin losing a plane an pilot for their effort.

Burma

A TF hauling the 2 Area Army HQ and 2 Army HQ arrived at Akyab and started dropping off the troops when they were surprised by 5 MGBs. Fortunately, they were MGBs and not MTBs. They caused no damage but they drove off the TF. It'll have to come back tomorrow slowing down the process, which is slow enough because it's dropping off motorized support which takes forever. I have some CLs and DDs heading up there to protect the transports.

Zeros swept Kunming again killing another P-40E.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Something really weird happened. I had 15 (yes 15) Lilys written off from one sentai that was training in the Home Islands. That hurt.

[zebrazwo]

15? Did they all decide to crash land or something?

[Mike Solli]

15? Did they all decide to crash land or something?

No clue what happened. That was really strange.

[Tanaka]

15? Did they all decide to crash land or something?

No clue what happened. That was really strange.

Maybe a bug in the new patch? There are supposed to be training losses now but that seems excessive...

[BBfanboy]

My guess would be that you have to manage pilot and plane fatigue, just like operational squadrons. Weather might also be a factor now - I don't let my planes fly ops in very bad weather but in stock my training aircraft fly no matter what. The new program may have made that consequential.

[Mike Solli]

My guess would be that you have to manage pilot and plane fatigue, just like operational squadrons. Weather might also be a factor now - I don't let my planes fly ops in very bad weather but in stock my training aircraft fly no matter what. The new program may have made that consequential.

That's a good thought. I keep all my turns. I'll go back and check to see what was going on prior to the "event" happening. Thanks for the insight.

[Mike Solli]

17 Jul 42

Sub War

The I-8 torpedoed and sank the DD O'Brien off Noumea. The cat eaten by the mouse!

At Akyab, the Trusty took 2 DC hits. If she didn't sink, she's definitely hurting.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Eight Kittyhawks swept Gasmata and ran into 27 Zeros. For a loss of 2 Zeros (2 WIA), 3 Kittyhawks were shot down.

I spotted B-24D Liberators for the first time over Milne Bay. Three of them, along with 33 B-17Es and 26x 2E bombers plastered the troops. The invasion there is coming. Don't know when, but it's coming.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

Zeros swept Kunming again shooting down 1 of 3 P-40Es for no loss. There are a handful of enemy bombers there, but the enemy fighters are dwindling.

I attacked the frontline just east of Cox's Bazaar in another unsuccessful attack. The 16 division is getting close to unloading. I will most likely wait until they reach the frontline. That'll take awhile though.

China

I attacked Lanchow today. The attack was unsuccessful but the forts were reduced from 3 to 2. It's a stalemate there right now.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement
12 Field Construction Battalion, Northern Army, will be used to construct forts in Hokkaido.

The Ha-43 engine R&D accelerated to 11/44. It is anticipated to become operational in 7/43.

[Mike Solli]

18 Jul 42

Sub War

The I-9 set herself up in the traffic lane just east of Aukland. She found a supply convoy and sank an xAK.

5 Fleet

Nothing to report.

4 Fleet

The BB Warspite and CLAA San Juan bombarded Canton Island causing minor damage that will be repaired in a few days by the engineers stationed there. I'm belatedly sending a midget sub there to see if they can get lucky next time they show up. I'm also sending a midget sub to Baker Island.

SE Fleet

Nothing to report.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

An Ansyu PB on a fast transport mission to Cox's Bazaar ran into a PC. In the exchange, the PB hit the PC twice and she fled. The PB unloaded the rest of her supply. Banzai!

I attacked Kunming today. This base will take awhile to take. They have level 4 forts and 21k troops. I look at it this way. The troops are here and not on the front line where there are enough to go around as it is.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Nothing to report.

[PaxMondo]

Other Stuff

Something really weird happened. I had 15 (yes 15) Lilys written off from one sentai that was training in the Home Islands. That hurt.

How many, if any, pilots were lost?