Back and Better Than Ever Vettim 89(A) vs Greasylake(J)

[vettim89]

Paltry LBA attacks form Oz fail to hit retreating IJN units in the Coral Sea.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Milne Bay at 99,134

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 5 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 8

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 14

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Banshee: 4 damaged
A-24 Banshee: 2 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CL Nagara
CA Ashigara
DD Samidare

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 3000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
4 x A-24 Banshee releasing from 4000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

Morning Air attack on TF, near Milne Bay at 100,135

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 32
A6M3a Zero x 6

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CA Chikuma

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 2000 feet
Naval Attack: 6 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

IJN CVTF raid the Gulf of Alaska!!!!!

gulf of alaska raid.jpg (338.2 KiB) Viewed 245 times

Morning Air attack on TF, near Alliford Bay at 191,49

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
D3A1 Val x 14

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
ACM Abatis, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
PC Ariadne, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC PC-579, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
PC Daphne, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sitka at 190,50

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 25
B5N2 Kate x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
PC Bonham, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
PC Haida, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAKL Kentuckian, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Malama

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 11000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAKL Kentuckian

Everybody is running to the nearest port. Don't suppose one of my subs might get lucky

[vettim89]

Only thing of note were some successful sub attacks. The Dutch have been heroes for me in this game

This one looks particularly fat and juicy

Sub attack near Phuket at 48,67

Japanese Ships
xAP Husimi Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
SC Ch 24
SC Ch 4
xAP Buenos Aires Maru
DD Arashi
PC Nire

Allied Ships
SS KVIII

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

This may be a first for me - two ships attacked at once. O24 is in trouble with FLT at 79. She is heading to the west coast of Sumatra where I have a few bases left to hopefully pump out. But those bases are under threat. Maybe the Cocos Islands???

Sub attack near Muntok at 49,89

Japanese Ships
TK Nikkoku Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC Ch 22
DMS W-1
TK Shoyo Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS O24, hits 11, heavy damage

[vettim89]

O24 has its float damage decrease to 73 and is making for Billiton which is still mine!

The IJN CVTF remains in the Gulf of Alaska! Not sure what he is hoping for. Everything of note has fled away from their proximity. I have three SQN of RCAF fighters at Prince Rupert in case he wants to attack there. He may have gotten a whiff of my SCTF that is bring the damaged ships back from Dutch Harbor. They are safely disbanded in port. They have been doing their own island hopping moving slowing form port to port with auto-disband selected. I am rerouting about half a dozen subs that probably won't make contact but might get lucky

Here's hoping

I forgot, a fleet boat hit and likely sank an AO near Truk. That is a nice catch is she indeed did go down

[vettim89]

Its a weird game. The IJN closes on the Canadian coast

CV off Canada.jpg (119.05 KiB) Viewed 192 times

The hit the port at Prince Rupert.

Afternoon Air attack on Prince Rupert , at 199,43

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 119 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 50 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 37
B5N2 Kate x 46
D3A1 Val x 28

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk IA x 16
P-40E Warhawk x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 10 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
D3A1 Val: 8 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk IA: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Idaho, Bomb hits 4
AM Kelowna, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

Port hits 1

Idaho is fine. I think the bombs bounced. The AM is done for I fear. Air Loss screen says 12 A6M, 8 Kates, and 1 Val. I lost 1 Kittyhawk in the exchange. In my opinion, what a waste of assets

O24 FLT damage down to 72 and only two hexes away from port

[vettim89]

The IJN seems to be withdrawing slowly from the Gulf of Alaska. Perhaps they are on cruise speed or perhaps lingering in hopes of nabbing a convoy. We continue to observe and report.

Brunei finally fell on the 15th by a unit that walked from Miri. He could have done that eight months ago.

Another unit is spotted marching to Terapo form Lae. Wondering how big this unit is? If its another Brigade I think I can handle it. If its a Division, well you know

It may not show on the map yet but a major counterattack has just started kicking off. This will be very slow to develop so more on that later.

O24 has pumped out to 69 FLT. Major damage is 46 FLT. Then the long slog back to Columbo starts.

The two tank units that have been chasing remnants around southern Sumutra have arrived at Padang. Wondering if the forts will hold them back for long. Of course the Dutch don't have a single ant-tank weapon.

Ground combat at Padang (44,85)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1230 troops, 0 guns, 184 vehicles, Assault Value = 103

Defending force 963 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 36

Japanese adjusted assault: 98

Allied adjusted defense: 133

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(-), morale(-)
Attacker:

Allied ground losses:
36 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
4th Tank Regiment
7th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
Padang Garrison Battalion
Padang Base Force

[vettim89]

Padang falls. No sign of the carriers in the Gulf of Alaska but I spotted some AOs. Subs vectored to intercept

[vettim89]

Not a lot going on right now. Sparring around PNG for no meaningful results. A Ro boat sank the heavily damaged S-43 that had been holed up at a dot base. I moved here because she was due for withdraw. Wasn't sure she would make it to port and be repaired enough to get it done in time. Thanks to my worthy opponent for solving a problem.

BBs hit Unmak again on the 21st. PTs sparred but only managed to get three of their number expunged. Cl Kiso hit a mine though.

Night Naval bombardment of Umnak Island at 169,51

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
P-38E Lightning: 22 damaged
P-38E Lightning: 1 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 28 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 14 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 20 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 4 destroyed on ground
B-24D Liberator: 14 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 2 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
BB Yamashiro
BB Nagato
CL Kiso
CL Tama

Allied ground losses:
47 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 5 (2 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (4 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Airbase hits 15
Runway hits 32

IJA is now moving on Wuchow in southern China. Moving some units around to try to meet this new threat. Cutoff Chines units remain in place because designer Brian thought that was a good way to strengthen the KMT without making them offensive. Not sure he envisioned this in that design choice