23 Apr 42
North of Brunei the Sculpin missed a tanker. Outside Pontianak the KXIII hit a freighter with a pair of torpedoes. Near Iwo Jima the Gato missed a transport.
The nighttime attack on Tavoy did well.
The Dutch torpedo boats, trying to find someplace to refuel and re-arm, ran into an enemy convoy overnight. They machinegunned a freighter and a minesweeper in the process of breaking contact.
Today's raid on Singapore surprised the enemy CAP, reaching the port before they could react. In addition hitting the battleship Hyuga eight more times the bombers also hit a freighter and two transports. A second raid missed the light carrier Ryujo.
Enemy bombers attacked the airfield at besieged Medan. Tarakan was also attacked. Out-numbered two to one by escorting Zeroes, the defending Brewsters were forced to break off after losing one plane.
The Chinese bombed enemy troops at Canton and outside Wuhan. The Hurricanes continued bombing the enemy outside Rangoon. The Marines at Tarawa resumed bombing the enemy garrison at Apamama.
Swordfish bombers hit a freighter southwest of Pontianak with multiple bombs. Batavia's bombers hit two transports at Pontianak.
Kates out of Singapore, probably from the Ryujo, nearly sank a tanker just leaving Palembang. The ship is turning back in the hope of saving the crew but the ship is probably a loss. Two flights of Bettys missed the freighter unloading at Gasmata. The main enemy carrier force, still cruising around south of Belitung, hit and sank the two damaged fast transports as they were heading for Soerabaja.
The Japs captured Pontianak, overrunning the garrison and capturing another 3,000 POWs. The defenders at Medan continued to hold off the light enemy forces there. There was little action along the Rangoon Perimeter.
More reports to follow.
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24 Apr 42
Near Brunei the Sculpin was forced to avoid a pair of ASW ships. The Searaven torpedoed a freighter between Borneo and Bangka. In the South China Sea north of Brunei the Swordfish fired on and missed a tanker.
One of the Australia minesweepers was hit by a Japanese torpedo in the Coral Sea east of Rockhampton.
A couple more enemy planes were destroyed in the nightly raid on Tavoy.
Chinese bombers hit Chengting again. Once again without any real interference from the Japanese fighters on CAP.
The Blenheims and Hudsons bombed the ships in the harbor at Singapore. One the Blenheims was lost to an enemy Zero, but in return they did a lot of damage. A transport and two light cruisers were hit, five more bombs hit the Hyuga and the CVL Ryujo received two bomb hits.
We lost six Brewsters on CAP over Tarakan to the thirty Zeroes escorting the attack on the airbase.
SB-2c bombers hit the IJA 3rd Division near Wuhan. British and Australian Hurricanes attacked along the Rangoon Perimeter. Marine divebombers attacked Apamama.
Enemy aircraft attacked the ships at Rangoon. They hit one of the freighters but lost over fifteen planes in the first raid, mostly fighters because there were only six bombers in the thirty plane raid. They lost a third of the dozen plane second attack without hitting either ship.
Balikpapan was also attacked. The Brewsters suffered heavily against the Zero escorts but the P-40s shot down a decade of Zeroes and Bettys and drove most of the remaining bombers off. A flight of Bettys tried to attack Port Moresby but had one shot down. The other two dropped their bombs short before turning away.
Allied bombers hit a freighter and a transport between Borneo and Bangka. Swordfish hit a freighter with multiple bombs along the west Borneo coast between Pontianak and Sampit. They also hit a subchaser escorting it.
Some three dozen Bettys attacked the battleships getting ready to shell Apamama. The cruiser Portland was hit by a torpedo and the Colorado was hit by four. The ships will have to dock at Tarawa to control the flooding before returning to Pearl.
A dozen more Bettys escorted by thirty more Zeroes attacked the port of Gasmata. They hit the freighter there with six torpedoes, sinking it.
Light fighting continues along the Rangoon Perimeter. A push by the Japanese at Medan was stopped. And it looks like the Chinese have finally encircled the Japanese forces from Pakhoi.
More reports to follow.
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25 Apr 42
Intelligence reports the loss of an I-boat near Gili Gili. We also have a report of a freighter sinking in the north Java Sea.
The KXVII dodged an ASW group north of Brunei. In the Malacca Strait the Trusty made a surface attack on a freighter, hitting it with a torpedo and several deck gun rounds. This was a mistake as the ship's gun crew scored a couple of hits on the sub, causing some minor damage. This didn't stop the sub from hitting a second freighter with two more torpedoes later in the day. Near Singkawang the Skipjack torpedoed a freighter. In the Java Sea near Kragen the S-39 hit a gunboat with a torpedo. While enroute to lay mines, the Argonaut came across a freighter west of Kagoshima. Using her large six inch deck gun she shelled the ship. She also tried to torpedo it but her torpedoes failed to detonate. This sub also took some minor damage when the freighter fired back, but not enough to abort her primary mission.
Two flights of night Blenheims hit Tavoy.
Chinese bombers hit the enemy airfield at Chengting. Fifty LB-30 and Blenheim IV bombers attacked Tavoy. One Liberator was lost to a flight of Zeroes but the strike proceeded to walk bomb lines thru the enemy hangers and along the runways. Estimates are that over twenty enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground and almost as many more damaged.
The daily attack on Singapore was again productive. A light cruiser was hit, the battleship Hyuga and the light carrier Ryujo each took three hits. An enemy fast transport was also hit in the waters near Singapore by an afternoon attack.
Enemy aircraft attacked Yenen to be shredded by the Chinese fighters. All three of the divebombers and several of the ten Nates were shot down. Twenty Oscars and thirty-five Lilys attacked Palembang. Five of the defending Hawks were lost to the escorts but the enemy lost half-a-dozen fighters and a dozen bombers. Tarakan was also hit. Only one Brewster was able to take off to try intercepting and was quickly swatted out of the air by the thirty or more Zeroes. The few fighters we have left here will have to be pulled out. There just aren't enough of them and they are not good enough to deal with Zeroes.
Bombers hit enemy forces outside Wuhan and in Canton. Thirty Hurricanes and thirty B-25s made bombing runs along the Rangoon Perimeter. Dauntlesses continued bombing Apamama and more Chinese aircraft attacked the VM unit north of Hanoi.
The Java squadron of T.IVa torpedo bombers, having been rebuilt, made another attack against the enemy carriers in the northern Java Sea. The entire squadron along with most of the Demon escort fighters was shot down by the carrier based Zeroes.
Blenheims hit a transport at Johore Bahru. A number of other attacks took place at or near Brunei. One attack hit two freighters. One flight of Martins made a bombing run against an enemy battleship in the northern Celebes Sea but were unsuccessful. Swordfish bombers hit a subchaser with a trio of bombs just south of Belitung. Near Kragen a long gunboat was hit and two more transports were hit at Pontianak.
Near Pagai Island, just west of Sumatra, a number of attacks were made by Betty bombers against the surviving fast transports. The ships were heading south to Batavia with the survivors of the Bankha garrison. Fortunately none of the ships were hit.
Enemy planes also attacked ships loading at Rangoon. Neither ship was hit and over twenty enemy planes were shot down by the AVG pilots in two raids.
Bettys bombed the Medan garrison. Two out of nine Bettys that tried to torpedo the BB Colorado at Tarawa were shot down and all the rest were damaged or driven off by heavy AAA fire.
We have reports of enemy forces unloading at Puerto Princesa. Another attack was launched against the Rangoon Perimeter with heavy losses on both sides. Medan was shelled again. The Chinese finally surrounded and destroyed the last remanents of the Japanese Pakhoi garrison.
More reports to follow.
Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
26 Apr 42
The Swordfish missed a tanker north of Brunei. A few miles to the south the Sculpin missed a second tanker. The Trusty torpedoed a freighter in the northern Malacca Strait. In the Philippines the Finback strafed a troop carrying freighter.
In the Coral Sea a Jap sub took a shot at the DD-minesweepers on patrol. The ship was able to evade the torps and after an all-night pursuit the hunter-killer group was able to depth charge the sub. A group of Australian minesweepers had a sonar contact but couldn't make an attack.
Night fighters bombed Tavoy again. During the day fifty Liberators and Blenheims bombed again. Some of the LB-30s were damaged by a flight of Zeroes but none of the planes were lost. Twenty more enemy planes were destroyed on the ground and over thirty more damaged, as well as substantial damage to the base itself.
Chinese bombers attacked Chengting. The Japanese fighters are starting to get their nerve back as it took a bit longer for the bomber gunners to scare them off this time.
The Hyuga and Ryujo each received three more bomb hits in Singapore harbor.
Enemy bombers attacked the airbase at Palembang. Several Hawk fighters were lost in the air and on the ground but a number of Oscars and Lilys were shot down as well and most of the bombers were turned back.
The Chinese continued bombing Canton and near Wuhan. Hurricanes and B-25s continued bombing along the Rangoon Perimeter. Dauntless divebombers attacked Apamama.
At Pontianak we hit two transports. A flight of Blenheims made a pair of hits on a gunboat in the Java Sea. A pair of Martins damaged a freighter at Kuching. Hudsons from Amboina attacked a Japanese battleship just south of Mendanao but weren't able to hit. A pair of Beauforts hit a tanker at Brunei.
Enemy forces bombed the airfield at Tarakan. Port Moresby came under attack also. Despite losing several planes to the escort Zeroes, the Kittyhawks and Wirraways defending the base managed to shoot down half the dozen Bettys. The rest turned back. About forty Bettys bombed the defenders at Medan.
The enemy lost half-a-dozen more fighters attacking Rangoon, but they kept the AVG away from the bombers long enough for them to hit one of the freighters with a pair of bombs.
The enemy carrier group passed by Batavia, sinking the minesweeper Goulburn with gunfire in passing. I just hope they miss the APDs unloading in the harbor.
The Japanese forces pursueing the remaining Allied troops on Mendanao attacked the rear guard. Another attack was launched on the Rangoon Perimeter. It was stopped with heavy losses to the enemy but the defenders are, ever so slowly, being worn down. The enemy went back to shelling Medan and they occupied Puerto Princesa.
More reports to follow.
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27 Apr 42
The Sculpin hit a tanker in the SCS near Brunei. The O20 spotted an enemy battleship near Singapore. In the northern Java Sea the S-39 took a shot at one of the enemy carriers' escort destroyers but missed. Her captain was patient, however, and succeeded later in the day to hit a destroyer before escaping. The KXVII also hit a tanker near Brunei.
The nightly raids on Tavoy continue.
We received an intelligence report of an enemy freighter hitting a mine at Davao.
The Chinese continue to bomb Chengting. They also maintained their attack on the IJA division blocking the western approaches to Wuhan.
The AVG defended Rangoon again. Twenty Zeroes and Nates ran interference for fifteen Sally bombers. We lost a P-40 and the enemy lost a dozen more planes but got thru to hit the airfield. The airbase at Medan was also bombed.
The Hurricanes continued to fly support for the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marines hit Apamama again and the VM division north of Hanoi was bombed.
The enemy carriers, still at the northern end of the Java Sea, struck shipping today. Two tankers and the destroyer Thanet were sunk by Vals and Kates in the area. Despite the number of ships we have lost, the evacuation of war materials stockpiles has gone suprisingly well. Somewhere between one hundred and one hundred fifty thousand tons of solid raw materials has been shipped from the DEI to northern Australia. We haven't done as well with crude oil and petroleum products due to a shortage of tankers but a substantial amount has been shipped out. Once the enemy's carriers withdraw we should be able to ship out even more, as forty tankers from the US will arrive in Darwin in the next few days.
Tarakan was bombed. Bettys attacked Port Moresby but were intercepted by Australian Kittyhawks and the first of the Marine Wildcats to arrive. Two bombers were shot down, several more damaged and one flight aborted their attack. The rest were unable to do any damage to the base.
Lunga was attacked for the first time by twenty Zeroes escorting two flights of Bettys. Only one of the defending P-39s was lost getting past the escort. One flight of the bombers turned back and the other suffered damage, preventing them from hitting the base.
Almost forty bombers attacked the garrison at Medan. The two freighters leaving Rangoon were also attacked but neither ship was hit.
Skirmishing along the Rangoon Perimeter and shelling at Medan were all the ground combat reported.
More reports to follow.
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28 Apr 42
In the South China Sea near Singapore the Skipjack had a failed attack on an escorted freighter. The Tautog had to avoid a destroyer on ASW patrol outside Wenchow. This put her out of position for an attack on a freighter a short time later. Later on she conducted a surface attack against a lone freighter, strafing and shelling the ship. The Sculpin took a shot at enemy escorts near Brunei but neither side scored. Nearby the Stingray missed a freighter. South of Mindanao the Permit was pursued for a time by an enemy ASW group.
A DD-minesweeper in the Coral Sea was hit by an enemy torpedo. The rest of the ASW group wasn't able to locate the Nip sub.
Blenheims. Night. Tavoy. Bombs. During the day forty bombers from Mandalay bombed the airfield. They destroyed over twenty aircraft, damaged another thirty and did serious damage to the base.
Rangoon was attacked again. One defending P-40 was lost. A decade of enemy planes was shot down before the raid turned back.
Medan was bombed twice during the day. The remaining forces on Mindanao were bombed as well.
The Chinese bombed Canton. B-25s bombed along the Rangoon Perimeter. The Hurricanes reduced their altitude and began very low level bombing and strafing runs against the enemy troops. One of them was lost to the greater AAA fire that close to the ground. The Marines continued softening up Apamama. Chinese bombers went after the Vietnamese division north of Hanoi again.
A flight of Martins hit a gunboat near Brunei.
When the threat to Wake failed to materialize, the carriers moved south to attack the Marshalls. Today they sank a transport WNW of Kwajalein in the morning. In the afternoon they hit the port, sinking a destroyer and heavily damaging three transports and a patrol boat. It came at the cost of five Wildcats and five Dauntlesses to a dozen Zeroes on CAP.
Two flights of Bettys escorted by a flight of Zeroes attacked Lunga. One of the defending Airacobras was lost but they forced the raid to abort after they got among the bombers.
The Batavia bombers went after the enemy carriers again east of Toboali. Most of the raid was shot down or forced to abort by damage from the Zeroes and none of the remaining bombers managed a hit.
Sallys tried to bomb the damaged freighter sailing from Rangoon but missed.
The Japs trapped and overrun the last of the troops on Mindanao. With the previous losses and evacuations only three thousand troops were left to be captured. There was skirmishing along the Rangoon Perimeter and more artillery fire against the defenders at Medan.
We are dispatching the battleship Idaho, along with some light cruisers and destroyers as escort, to Tarawa to meet up with the Maryland and continue bombarding Apamama.
More reports to follow.
The Swordfish missed a tanker north of Brunei. A few miles to the south the Sculpin missed a second tanker. The Trusty torpedoed a freighter in the northern Malacca Strait. In the Philippines the Finback strafed a troop carrying freighter.
In the Coral Sea a Jap sub took a shot at the DD-minesweepers on patrol. The ship was able to evade the torps and after an all-night pursuit the hunter-killer group was able to depth charge the sub. A group of Australian minesweepers had a sonar contact but couldn't make an attack.
Night fighters bombed Tavoy again. During the day fifty Liberators and Blenheims bombed again. Some of the LB-30s were damaged by a flight of Zeroes but none of the planes were lost. Twenty more enemy planes were destroyed on the ground and over thirty more damaged, as well as substantial damage to the base itself.
Chinese bombers attacked Chengting. The Japanese fighters are starting to get their nerve back as it took a bit longer for the bomber gunners to scare them off this time.
The Hyuga and Ryujo each received three more bomb hits in Singapore harbor.
Enemy bombers attacked the airbase at Palembang. Several Hawk fighters were lost in the air and on the ground but a number of Oscars and Lilys were shot down as well and most of the bombers were turned back.
The Chinese continued bombing Canton and near Wuhan. Hurricanes and B-25s continued bombing along the Rangoon Perimeter. Dauntless divebombers attacked Apamama.
At Pontianak we hit two transports. A flight of Blenheims made a pair of hits on a gunboat in the Java Sea. A pair of Martins damaged a freighter at Kuching. Hudsons from Amboina attacked a Japanese battleship just south of Mendanao but weren't able to hit. A pair of Beauforts hit a tanker at Brunei.
Enemy forces bombed the airfield at Tarakan. Port Moresby came under attack also. Despite losing several planes to the escort Zeroes, the Kittyhawks and Wirraways defending the base managed to shoot down half the dozen Bettys. The rest turned back. About forty Bettys bombed the defenders at Medan.
The enemy lost half-a-dozen more fighters attacking Rangoon, but they kept the AVG away from the bombers long enough for them to hit one of the freighters with a pair of bombs.
The enemy carrier group passed by Batavia, sinking the minesweeper Goulburn with gunfire in passing. I just hope they miss the APDs unloading in the harbor.
The Japanese forces pursueing the remaining Allied troops on Mendanao attacked the rear guard. Another attack was launched on the Rangoon Perimeter. It was stopped with heavy losses to the enemy but the defenders are, ever so slowly, being worn down. The enemy went back to shelling Medan and they occupied Puerto Princesa.
More reports to follow.
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27 Apr 42
The Sculpin hit a tanker in the SCS near Brunei. The O20 spotted an enemy battleship near Singapore. In the northern Java Sea the S-39 took a shot at one of the enemy carriers' escort destroyers but missed. Her captain was patient, however, and succeeded later in the day to hit a destroyer before escaping. The KXVII also hit a tanker near Brunei.
The nightly raids on Tavoy continue.
We received an intelligence report of an enemy freighter hitting a mine at Davao.
The Chinese continue to bomb Chengting. They also maintained their attack on the IJA division blocking the western approaches to Wuhan.
The AVG defended Rangoon again. Twenty Zeroes and Nates ran interference for fifteen Sally bombers. We lost a P-40 and the enemy lost a dozen more planes but got thru to hit the airfield. The airbase at Medan was also bombed.
The Hurricanes continued to fly support for the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marines hit Apamama again and the VM division north of Hanoi was bombed.
The enemy carriers, still at the northern end of the Java Sea, struck shipping today. Two tankers and the destroyer Thanet were sunk by Vals and Kates in the area. Despite the number of ships we have lost, the evacuation of war materials stockpiles has gone suprisingly well. Somewhere between one hundred and one hundred fifty thousand tons of solid raw materials has been shipped from the DEI to northern Australia. We haven't done as well with crude oil and petroleum products due to a shortage of tankers but a substantial amount has been shipped out. Once the enemy's carriers withdraw we should be able to ship out even more, as forty tankers from the US will arrive in Darwin in the next few days.
Tarakan was bombed. Bettys attacked Port Moresby but were intercepted by Australian Kittyhawks and the first of the Marine Wildcats to arrive. Two bombers were shot down, several more damaged and one flight aborted their attack. The rest were unable to do any damage to the base.
Lunga was attacked for the first time by twenty Zeroes escorting two flights of Bettys. Only one of the defending P-39s was lost getting past the escort. One flight of the bombers turned back and the other suffered damage, preventing them from hitting the base.
Almost forty bombers attacked the garrison at Medan. The two freighters leaving Rangoon were also attacked but neither ship was hit.
Skirmishing along the Rangoon Perimeter and shelling at Medan were all the ground combat reported.
More reports to follow.
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28 Apr 42
In the South China Sea near Singapore the Skipjack had a failed attack on an escorted freighter. The Tautog had to avoid a destroyer on ASW patrol outside Wenchow. This put her out of position for an attack on a freighter a short time later. Later on she conducted a surface attack against a lone freighter, strafing and shelling the ship. The Sculpin took a shot at enemy escorts near Brunei but neither side scored. Nearby the Stingray missed a freighter. South of Mindanao the Permit was pursued for a time by an enemy ASW group.
A DD-minesweeper in the Coral Sea was hit by an enemy torpedo. The rest of the ASW group wasn't able to locate the Nip sub.
Blenheims. Night. Tavoy. Bombs. During the day forty bombers from Mandalay bombed the airfield. They destroyed over twenty aircraft, damaged another thirty and did serious damage to the base.
Rangoon was attacked again. One defending P-40 was lost. A decade of enemy planes was shot down before the raid turned back.
Medan was bombed twice during the day. The remaining forces on Mindanao were bombed as well.
The Chinese bombed Canton. B-25s bombed along the Rangoon Perimeter. The Hurricanes reduced their altitude and began very low level bombing and strafing runs against the enemy troops. One of them was lost to the greater AAA fire that close to the ground. The Marines continued softening up Apamama. Chinese bombers went after the Vietnamese division north of Hanoi again.
A flight of Martins hit a gunboat near Brunei.
When the threat to Wake failed to materialize, the carriers moved south to attack the Marshalls. Today they sank a transport WNW of Kwajalein in the morning. In the afternoon they hit the port, sinking a destroyer and heavily damaging three transports and a patrol boat. It came at the cost of five Wildcats and five Dauntlesses to a dozen Zeroes on CAP.
Two flights of Bettys escorted by a flight of Zeroes attacked Lunga. One of the defending Airacobras was lost but they forced the raid to abort after they got among the bombers.
The Batavia bombers went after the enemy carriers again east of Toboali. Most of the raid was shot down or forced to abort by damage from the Zeroes and none of the remaining bombers managed a hit.
Sallys tried to bomb the damaged freighter sailing from Rangoon but missed.
The Japs trapped and overrun the last of the troops on Mindanao. With the previous losses and evacuations only three thousand troops were left to be captured. There was skirmishing along the Rangoon Perimeter and more artillery fire against the defenders at Medan.
We are dispatching the battleship Idaho, along with some light cruisers and destroyers as escort, to Tarawa to meet up with the Maryland and continue bombarding Apamama.
More reports to follow.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
29 Apr 42
An enemy destroyer escorting a troop convoy unloading at Medan hit a mine today.
Tavoy was bombed again, both night and day. About forty enemy planes were destroyed and thirty damaged in the raids.
The Sculpin had an attack on a tanker spoiled by dud torpedoes. A second attack on a different tanker missed completely. West of Tori Shima the Gar put two fish into the side of a transport. North of Kuching the Snapper torpedoed a freighter. Off the northwest corner of Borneo the Pickerel shelled a freighter after her torpedoes failed to detonate. South of Mindanao the Permit hit a freighter.
An Australian ASW group of three MSW and a PG hit a Nip sub a few hundred miles south of Gili Gili.
A flight of Chinese bombers dropped on Chengting. Others attacked Japanese troops west of Wuhan.
Rangoon was attacked. According to the radar tracking this attack came from Bangkok instead of the usual Tavoy based aircraft. The AVG shot down almost two-thirds of the thirty planes and the rest turned and ran.
At Singapore a light cruiser and a destroyer were hit. The CVL Ryujo was hit by eight bombs and reports are that there was a secondary fuel explosion on board the ship.
Medan was bombed by over thirty Lilys. A flight of Bettys made a delusitory bombing run against Lashio, causing no damage and almost no casualties.
The Port Moresby B-17s bombed the airfield at Shortlands. Outside the Rangoon Perimeter B-25s bombed and the Hurricanes continued to make low level attacks. The Marines maintained pressure on the enemy garrison at Apamama.
Our carriers attacked enemy shipping at Kwajalein again. They sank two more transports and did heavy damage to another along with a freighter, a destroyer and gunboat. Unfortunately our Wildcat pilots haven't learned how to deal with the Zero, despite greatly outnumbering the Jap planes, and we lost four fighters and five divebombers. The enemy retaliated with an attack by almost twenty Bettys with fifteen Zeroes as escort. The forty Wildcats scrambled in defense lost five and shot down six each of the fighters and bombers. Two more Bettys were destroyed by AAA fire but the Lexington was hit by two torpedoes. The ship is able to continue flight operations despite the damage but its time for the task force to return to Pearl.
Another attack was launched against the Rangoon Perimeter. The enemy suffered heavy losses but the defenders lost men too. The Dutch held on at Medan despite an attack there.
The battleship Colorado sank at Tarawa. Despite the best efforts of the repair crews from the Repair Ship Rigel, they were not able to control the flooding and the ship sank in port.
More reports to follow.
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30 Apr 42
The Grayback hit a pair of freighters outside of Wenchow. Near Singapore the O20 missed a freighter. In the Malacca Strait the Truant sank a freighter with three torpedo hits. Just south of Singapore the O16 spotted the enemy carrier Hiryu but was chased away be the escort destroyers.
The nocturnal attack on Tavoy destroyed half-a-dozen enemy aircraft. P-40s from Rangoon began making sweeps over the enemy airfield, trying to bring enemy fighters under fire. They went in a little before the Liberators and Blenheims bombed the airfield, destroying another two dozen enemy planes.
Another decade of enemy aircraft were shot down over Rangoon and most of the rest of the raid was turned away by the AVG. The runways at Tarakan were damaged by Lily bombers.
Chinese bombers did minor damage to Chengting.
The enemy raid on Yenen lost a third of the twenty-five planes to the defending Chinese fighters.
Japanese troops at Canton were bombed. Hurricanes continued to strafe and bomb enemy forces outside the Rangoon Perimeter. B-25s out of Mandalay added their payloads to the task. The Marine divebombers continued to hit enemy troops on Apamama.
At Brunei a patrol boat was hit by a pair of bombs and a minesweeper was hit.
The carriers in the Marshalls launched one final raid on their way out. Two more transports and a freighter were all hit with multiple bombs. The pilots also report spotting a third transport already sinking. We lost a couple more Wildcats and Dauntlesses to the enemy's Zeroes.
The enemy launched another attack on the Rangoon Perimeter. It was stopped with light losses among the defenders. An attack at Medan gained some ground against the Dutch garrison.
The damaged tanker at Palembang sank.
More ground forces arrived in theatre. The 10th Air Force has been formed in Karachi to command US aircraft in SEASIA. In San Francisco, three RCTs, two artillery units (one field, one coastal) and the 1st Marine Parachute Battalion are all ready to board transports.
More reports to follow.
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01 May 42
In the SCS east of Singapore the Skipjack was forced to evade a pair of enemy ASW ships. Near Shimizu the Grampus was briefly pursued by a minesweeper. The O20 spotted a freighter near Singapore. The Stingray missed a freighter in the South China Sea.
The nightly attack on Tavoy scored several bomb hits on the runways and destroyed several planes. The fighter sweep over Tavoy in the morning claimed a Zero.
A flight of SB-2c bombers attacked Chengting.
An attack on Rangoon was turned back after losing half-a-dozen planes, mostly fighters.
Our attack on Singapore was met by carrier based Zeroes. One Blenheim and half-a-dozen Hudsons were lost and many other forced to turn back. But the planes that got thru scored bomb hits on three freighters, two light cruisers, a subtender and the small carrier Ryujo.
Hurricanes made an attack on one of the divisions facing the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marine Dauntlesses continued to bomb Apamama.
A flight of Martins hit a tanker leaving Brunei.
The enemy carriers at Singapore launched an attack against Palembang. Most of the thirty planes on CAP were lost to the Zeroes but the Brewsters and Hawks did manage to down a few Zeroes and Oscars as they died.
Lunga also came under attack. Almost thirty Bettys escorted by about fifteen Zeros were met by a dozen P-39s and half-a-dozen P-40s. Three of the Airacobras and one of the Warhawks were lost in return for two Zeroes and four Bettys.
The Nip attack against Medan continued to gain ground and there was inconclusive shelling along the Rangoon Perimeter.
Another squadron of PBYs arrived in Hawaii today and another S class submarine became available in San Francisco. But the Royal Navy is withdrawing a battleship and two more destroyers from the Indian Ocean.
More reports to follow.
An enemy destroyer escorting a troop convoy unloading at Medan hit a mine today.
Tavoy was bombed again, both night and day. About forty enemy planes were destroyed and thirty damaged in the raids.
The Sculpin had an attack on a tanker spoiled by dud torpedoes. A second attack on a different tanker missed completely. West of Tori Shima the Gar put two fish into the side of a transport. North of Kuching the Snapper torpedoed a freighter. Off the northwest corner of Borneo the Pickerel shelled a freighter after her torpedoes failed to detonate. South of Mindanao the Permit hit a freighter.
An Australian ASW group of three MSW and a PG hit a Nip sub a few hundred miles south of Gili Gili.
A flight of Chinese bombers dropped on Chengting. Others attacked Japanese troops west of Wuhan.
Rangoon was attacked. According to the radar tracking this attack came from Bangkok instead of the usual Tavoy based aircraft. The AVG shot down almost two-thirds of the thirty planes and the rest turned and ran.
At Singapore a light cruiser and a destroyer were hit. The CVL Ryujo was hit by eight bombs and reports are that there was a secondary fuel explosion on board the ship.
Medan was bombed by over thirty Lilys. A flight of Bettys made a delusitory bombing run against Lashio, causing no damage and almost no casualties.
The Port Moresby B-17s bombed the airfield at Shortlands. Outside the Rangoon Perimeter B-25s bombed and the Hurricanes continued to make low level attacks. The Marines maintained pressure on the enemy garrison at Apamama.
Our carriers attacked enemy shipping at Kwajalein again. They sank two more transports and did heavy damage to another along with a freighter, a destroyer and gunboat. Unfortunately our Wildcat pilots haven't learned how to deal with the Zero, despite greatly outnumbering the Jap planes, and we lost four fighters and five divebombers. The enemy retaliated with an attack by almost twenty Bettys with fifteen Zeroes as escort. The forty Wildcats scrambled in defense lost five and shot down six each of the fighters and bombers. Two more Bettys were destroyed by AAA fire but the Lexington was hit by two torpedoes. The ship is able to continue flight operations despite the damage but its time for the task force to return to Pearl.
Another attack was launched against the Rangoon Perimeter. The enemy suffered heavy losses but the defenders lost men too. The Dutch held on at Medan despite an attack there.
The battleship Colorado sank at Tarawa. Despite the best efforts of the repair crews from the Repair Ship Rigel, they were not able to control the flooding and the ship sank in port.
More reports to follow.
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30 Apr 42
The Grayback hit a pair of freighters outside of Wenchow. Near Singapore the O20 missed a freighter. In the Malacca Strait the Truant sank a freighter with three torpedo hits. Just south of Singapore the O16 spotted the enemy carrier Hiryu but was chased away be the escort destroyers.
The nocturnal attack on Tavoy destroyed half-a-dozen enemy aircraft. P-40s from Rangoon began making sweeps over the enemy airfield, trying to bring enemy fighters under fire. They went in a little before the Liberators and Blenheims bombed the airfield, destroying another two dozen enemy planes.
Another decade of enemy aircraft were shot down over Rangoon and most of the rest of the raid was turned away by the AVG. The runways at Tarakan were damaged by Lily bombers.
Chinese bombers did minor damage to Chengting.
The enemy raid on Yenen lost a third of the twenty-five planes to the defending Chinese fighters.
Japanese troops at Canton were bombed. Hurricanes continued to strafe and bomb enemy forces outside the Rangoon Perimeter. B-25s out of Mandalay added their payloads to the task. The Marine divebombers continued to hit enemy troops on Apamama.
At Brunei a patrol boat was hit by a pair of bombs and a minesweeper was hit.
The carriers in the Marshalls launched one final raid on their way out. Two more transports and a freighter were all hit with multiple bombs. The pilots also report spotting a third transport already sinking. We lost a couple more Wildcats and Dauntlesses to the enemy's Zeroes.
The enemy launched another attack on the Rangoon Perimeter. It was stopped with light losses among the defenders. An attack at Medan gained some ground against the Dutch garrison.
The damaged tanker at Palembang sank.
More ground forces arrived in theatre. The 10th Air Force has been formed in Karachi to command US aircraft in SEASIA. In San Francisco, three RCTs, two artillery units (one field, one coastal) and the 1st Marine Parachute Battalion are all ready to board transports.
More reports to follow.
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01 May 42
In the SCS east of Singapore the Skipjack was forced to evade a pair of enemy ASW ships. Near Shimizu the Grampus was briefly pursued by a minesweeper. The O20 spotted a freighter near Singapore. The Stingray missed a freighter in the South China Sea.
The nightly attack on Tavoy scored several bomb hits on the runways and destroyed several planes. The fighter sweep over Tavoy in the morning claimed a Zero.
A flight of SB-2c bombers attacked Chengting.
An attack on Rangoon was turned back after losing half-a-dozen planes, mostly fighters.
Our attack on Singapore was met by carrier based Zeroes. One Blenheim and half-a-dozen Hudsons were lost and many other forced to turn back. But the planes that got thru scored bomb hits on three freighters, two light cruisers, a subtender and the small carrier Ryujo.
Hurricanes made an attack on one of the divisions facing the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marine Dauntlesses continued to bomb Apamama.
A flight of Martins hit a tanker leaving Brunei.
The enemy carriers at Singapore launched an attack against Palembang. Most of the thirty planes on CAP were lost to the Zeroes but the Brewsters and Hawks did manage to down a few Zeroes and Oscars as they died.
Lunga also came under attack. Almost thirty Bettys escorted by about fifteen Zeros were met by a dozen P-39s and half-a-dozen P-40s. Three of the Airacobras and one of the Warhawks were lost in return for two Zeroes and four Bettys.
The Nip attack against Medan continued to gain ground and there was inconclusive shelling along the Rangoon Perimeter.
Another squadron of PBYs arrived in Hawaii today and another S class submarine became available in San Francisco. But the Royal Navy is withdrawing a battleship and two more destroyers from the Indian Ocean.
More reports to follow.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
02 May 42
The O20 missed a freighter near Singapore. Near Shimizu the Grampus attacked a transport while on the surface, hitting with one torpedo and multiple gun rounds. Northwest of Iwo Jima the Tautog fired on a tanker. Unfortunately her torpedoes were duds and she was forced to evade an extremely heavy escort group. Outside Wenchow the Grayback hit a freighter with two torpedoes and a pair of deck gun rounds.
The nightfighters hit Tavoy, destroying several more enemy planes. The LB-30s and Blenheim IVs attacked during the day, destroying a dozen more. This was the last use of these Blenheims. The RAF is upgrading several of their squadrons with new planes. This unit is receiving new Wellington III bombers.
Twelve Nates and nine Sonias attacked Yenen. Some of the fighters survived when they turned and ran but every other enemy plane was shot down by the Chinese.
A pair of raids do heavy damage to ships in the port of Singapore. The battleship Kirishima is hit eight times, the Hiei four and the carrier Ryujo two more times. A light cruiser was also hit and a destroyer tender sunk.
The air base at Palembang was hit. The defending fighters did better today, only losing one Hawk while shooting down half-a-dozen enemy Oscars and Lilys. Tarakan was hit as well. Without any fighters to protect the base it is taking too much damage to be usable any longer. While the few remaining Martins have the range to keep attacking northern Borneo from Balikpapan and Samarinda this will take the Beauforts out of the fight for a while.
Chinese bombers continued attacked Canton. Bad weather grounded the Hurricanes at Rangoon but the B-25s continued to attack enemy troops.
At Miri at pair of Martins hit a freighter. A number of attacks were launched on the light cruiser Natori at Pontianak but none of almost fifty bombers were able to hit the ship.
We received word that the abandoned facilities at Jesselton were bombed.
The enemy must really hate us having fast transports. The enemy carriers launched everything they had against the four remaining APDs just as they were about to begin loading troops from the cut off former Kuching garrison. Two of the ships were sunk and the other two are crippled and almost certainly won't survive to make it back to Batavia.
Another attack was launched against the Rangoon Perimeter. Both sides paid heavily but the defenders are still holding. The Japs continued to push the defenders at Medan back.
More reports to follow.
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03 May 42
In the Philippines the Finback was briefly pursued by some enemy ASW ships before missing a transport. Near northern Luzon the Greenling missed a freighter. In the South China Sea east of Singapore the Skipjack missed a freighter.
The Blenheim nightfighters hit Tavoy. One AVG P-40 was lost during the day but the Liberators took out a decade of enemy aircraft in return.
Chinese bombers continued to harass Chengting. They also continued bombing enemy forces outside Wuhan and in Canton.
The raid on Singapore netted multiple bomb hits each on the battleships Hiei and Kirishima and the carrier Ryujo.
Sally bombers attacking Menado did no damage but their Zero escort swept the five defending Brewsters out of the sky. There was an enemy attack on the empty base at Sandakan. Tarakan was also hit again and the lone freighter docked there was hit.
Mitchells and Hurricanes continued to attack outside the Rangoon Perimeter. Apamama was hit by divebombers again.
At Miri the Martins scored multiple bomb hits on a freighter.
The last two fast transports we had in the DEI were sunk by a massive strike from the enemy carriers. It looks like the CVs are heading back to the Java Sea again.
An attack on Pontianak was met by a dozen enemy Zeroes. Two of the escort Brewsters and two of the Blenheims were lost to get a bomb hit on a freighter.
The enemy launched another attack on the Rangoon Perimeter. There were heavy losses on both sides. Some of the defending units need to be pulled back off the line. The one reserve brigade that was being held in Rangoon itself has moved up but it is now looking like the battle for the Perimeter is going to be just a long delaying action, allowing the defenses of the city itself to be built up even farther.
Enemy forces continued to push back the defenders at Medan.
More reports to follow.
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04 May 42
The nightfighters hit Tavoy again. Along with twenty LB-30s, the first flight of Wellington IIIs attacked Tavoy during the day.
The Chinese lost one bomber in their attack on Chengting.
The enemy's attack on Rangoon cost them more than a dozen more fighters from the escort, but they kept the AVG fighters away from the Sally bombers long enough for them to drop their payloads.
The bombing of Medan switched from the defending troops to the airfield. Menado was also attacked again. Several of the Brewster fighter CAP were lost but they shot down one of the Zeroes and a pair of the Sally bombers.
Thirty six B-17s bombed Shortlands, hitting the airfield.
The Chinese continued their campaign against the IJA in Canton and Wuhan. Hurricanes and Mitchells continued to support the Rangoon Perimeter. The Tarawa based Marines bombed Apamama.
A troops transport was hammered by B-17s at Singapore, taking eight bomb hits.
A flight of Bettys tried to attack a freighter at Port Moresby. One was shot down and the other two quickly dropped them bombs. The defending fighters at Palembang did very well against an attack there. Without losing any planes of their own they shot down several Oscars and half-a-dozen Lilys. But there were enough other bombers to do notable damage to the airfield. Tarakan port was bombed. A second raid targeted the freighter but missed.
Sinkep Island was attacked twice. First by a small group of land air, second by the enemy's carrier planes. The carriers appear to have turned away from the Java Sea and headed east along the north Borneo coast.
A decade of Nells bombed the airfield at Morotai. Some Bettys bombed Lae. Two flights of Bettys escorted by a flight of Zeroes bombed Gasmata but missed the defenders.
Two flights of Flying Forts tried to hit a transport between Sinkep and Sumatra but missed.
The attack on the Rangoon Perimeter continued. There were several hundred casualties on both sides. The attack on Medan also continued.
More reports to follow.
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05 May 42
Near Tori Shima the S-27 is attacked and critically damaged. The sub is trying to make it back to Wake. Outside Singkawang the Searaven misses a freighter. The Skipjack suffered from dud torpedoes during an attack on a fast transport in the South China Sea. The Finback missed a transport in the Philippines.
We have a confused report from Singapore claiming a freighter and a troop transport sunk by mines. We are uncertain whether to take this seriously or not.
The nightly raids on Tavoy continue. Somewhere over twenty enemy planes are destroyed between the Blenheims IFs, LB-30s and Wellington IIIs.
A flight of SB-2 bombers attack Chengting. Almost fifty B-17s bomb the airbase at Shortlands. There are more raids against Japanese troops near Wuhan and at Canton. Thirty Hurricanes and forty B-25Cs attack outside the shrinking Rangoon Perimeter.
The bombers from Palembang and Java try attacking enemy shipping entering and leaving Singapore, but do not have great success. One freighter get hits by eight 500 lb bombs and a transport catches another bomb.
A pair of Wellingtons hit a freighter near Pontianak.
The Marine Dauntlesses switch from attacking the garrison to the port at Apamama.
An enemy raid on Dobodura is turned back by the Kittyhawks based there.
The BB Idaho and her escorts arrived at Tarawa. However, it seems clear that the enemy still have observers on the island as two raids were launched against the island just as they arrived. The Bettys caught the defenders almost by surprise and made their attacks without being intercepted by the defense fighters. AAA fire destroyed three bombers but the Maryland was hit by a torpedo. The rest of the ships will continue on to bombard Apamama while the battleship deals with the flooding.
Japanese attacks forced the Rangoon Perimeter to shrink. One Burmese brigade broke and fell back to the city, but the rest of the units held their order. Medans defenders continued their fighting retreat.
The Australian 6th Division has begun shipping out from Darwin. They will be split between Balikpapan, Banjarmasin and Soerabaja to stiffen the defenses there.
More reports to follow.
The O20 missed a freighter near Singapore. Near Shimizu the Grampus attacked a transport while on the surface, hitting with one torpedo and multiple gun rounds. Northwest of Iwo Jima the Tautog fired on a tanker. Unfortunately her torpedoes were duds and she was forced to evade an extremely heavy escort group. Outside Wenchow the Grayback hit a freighter with two torpedoes and a pair of deck gun rounds.
The nightfighters hit Tavoy, destroying several more enemy planes. The LB-30s and Blenheim IVs attacked during the day, destroying a dozen more. This was the last use of these Blenheims. The RAF is upgrading several of their squadrons with new planes. This unit is receiving new Wellington III bombers.
Twelve Nates and nine Sonias attacked Yenen. Some of the fighters survived when they turned and ran but every other enemy plane was shot down by the Chinese.
A pair of raids do heavy damage to ships in the port of Singapore. The battleship Kirishima is hit eight times, the Hiei four and the carrier Ryujo two more times. A light cruiser was also hit and a destroyer tender sunk.
The air base at Palembang was hit. The defending fighters did better today, only losing one Hawk while shooting down half-a-dozen enemy Oscars and Lilys. Tarakan was hit as well. Without any fighters to protect the base it is taking too much damage to be usable any longer. While the few remaining Martins have the range to keep attacking northern Borneo from Balikpapan and Samarinda this will take the Beauforts out of the fight for a while.
Chinese bombers continued attacked Canton. Bad weather grounded the Hurricanes at Rangoon but the B-25s continued to attack enemy troops.
At Miri at pair of Martins hit a freighter. A number of attacks were launched on the light cruiser Natori at Pontianak but none of almost fifty bombers were able to hit the ship.
We received word that the abandoned facilities at Jesselton were bombed.
The enemy must really hate us having fast transports. The enemy carriers launched everything they had against the four remaining APDs just as they were about to begin loading troops from the cut off former Kuching garrison. Two of the ships were sunk and the other two are crippled and almost certainly won't survive to make it back to Batavia.
Another attack was launched against the Rangoon Perimeter. Both sides paid heavily but the defenders are still holding. The Japs continued to push the defenders at Medan back.
More reports to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
03 May 42
In the Philippines the Finback was briefly pursued by some enemy ASW ships before missing a transport. Near northern Luzon the Greenling missed a freighter. In the South China Sea east of Singapore the Skipjack missed a freighter.
The Blenheim nightfighters hit Tavoy. One AVG P-40 was lost during the day but the Liberators took out a decade of enemy aircraft in return.
Chinese bombers continued to harass Chengting. They also continued bombing enemy forces outside Wuhan and in Canton.
The raid on Singapore netted multiple bomb hits each on the battleships Hiei and Kirishima and the carrier Ryujo.
Sally bombers attacking Menado did no damage but their Zero escort swept the five defending Brewsters out of the sky. There was an enemy attack on the empty base at Sandakan. Tarakan was also hit again and the lone freighter docked there was hit.
Mitchells and Hurricanes continued to attack outside the Rangoon Perimeter. Apamama was hit by divebombers again.
At Miri the Martins scored multiple bomb hits on a freighter.
The last two fast transports we had in the DEI were sunk by a massive strike from the enemy carriers. It looks like the CVs are heading back to the Java Sea again.
An attack on Pontianak was met by a dozen enemy Zeroes. Two of the escort Brewsters and two of the Blenheims were lost to get a bomb hit on a freighter.
The enemy launched another attack on the Rangoon Perimeter. There were heavy losses on both sides. Some of the defending units need to be pulled back off the line. The one reserve brigade that was being held in Rangoon itself has moved up but it is now looking like the battle for the Perimeter is going to be just a long delaying action, allowing the defenses of the city itself to be built up even farther.
Enemy forces continued to push back the defenders at Medan.
More reports to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
04 May 42
The nightfighters hit Tavoy again. Along with twenty LB-30s, the first flight of Wellington IIIs attacked Tavoy during the day.
The Chinese lost one bomber in their attack on Chengting.
The enemy's attack on Rangoon cost them more than a dozen more fighters from the escort, but they kept the AVG fighters away from the Sally bombers long enough for them to drop their payloads.
The bombing of Medan switched from the defending troops to the airfield. Menado was also attacked again. Several of the Brewster fighter CAP were lost but they shot down one of the Zeroes and a pair of the Sally bombers.
Thirty six B-17s bombed Shortlands, hitting the airfield.
The Chinese continued their campaign against the IJA in Canton and Wuhan. Hurricanes and Mitchells continued to support the Rangoon Perimeter. The Tarawa based Marines bombed Apamama.
A troops transport was hammered by B-17s at Singapore, taking eight bomb hits.
A flight of Bettys tried to attack a freighter at Port Moresby. One was shot down and the other two quickly dropped them bombs. The defending fighters at Palembang did very well against an attack there. Without losing any planes of their own they shot down several Oscars and half-a-dozen Lilys. But there were enough other bombers to do notable damage to the airfield. Tarakan port was bombed. A second raid targeted the freighter but missed.
Sinkep Island was attacked twice. First by a small group of land air, second by the enemy's carrier planes. The carriers appear to have turned away from the Java Sea and headed east along the north Borneo coast.
A decade of Nells bombed the airfield at Morotai. Some Bettys bombed Lae. Two flights of Bettys escorted by a flight of Zeroes bombed Gasmata but missed the defenders.
Two flights of Flying Forts tried to hit a transport between Sinkep and Sumatra but missed.
The attack on the Rangoon Perimeter continued. There were several hundred casualties on both sides. The attack on Medan also continued.
More reports to follow.
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05 May 42
Near Tori Shima the S-27 is attacked and critically damaged. The sub is trying to make it back to Wake. Outside Singkawang the Searaven misses a freighter. The Skipjack suffered from dud torpedoes during an attack on a fast transport in the South China Sea. The Finback missed a transport in the Philippines.
We have a confused report from Singapore claiming a freighter and a troop transport sunk by mines. We are uncertain whether to take this seriously or not.
The nightly raids on Tavoy continue. Somewhere over twenty enemy planes are destroyed between the Blenheims IFs, LB-30s and Wellington IIIs.
A flight of SB-2 bombers attack Chengting. Almost fifty B-17s bomb the airbase at Shortlands. There are more raids against Japanese troops near Wuhan and at Canton. Thirty Hurricanes and forty B-25Cs attack outside the shrinking Rangoon Perimeter.
The bombers from Palembang and Java try attacking enemy shipping entering and leaving Singapore, but do not have great success. One freighter get hits by eight 500 lb bombs and a transport catches another bomb.
A pair of Wellingtons hit a freighter near Pontianak.
The Marine Dauntlesses switch from attacking the garrison to the port at Apamama.
An enemy raid on Dobodura is turned back by the Kittyhawks based there.
The BB Idaho and her escorts arrived at Tarawa. However, it seems clear that the enemy still have observers on the island as two raids were launched against the island just as they arrived. The Bettys caught the defenders almost by surprise and made their attacks without being intercepted by the defense fighters. AAA fire destroyed three bombers but the Maryland was hit by a torpedo. The rest of the ships will continue on to bombard Apamama while the battleship deals with the flooding.
Japanese attacks forced the Rangoon Perimeter to shrink. One Burmese brigade broke and fell back to the city, but the rest of the units held their order. Medans defenders continued their fighting retreat.
The Australian 6th Division has begun shipping out from Darwin. They will be split between Balikpapan, Banjarmasin and Soerabaja to stiffen the defenses there.
More reports to follow.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
06 May 42
The Skipjack aborted her surface attack in the SCS when the freighter's deck gun scored a hit on the sub. The damage turned out to be minor but the sub is out of torpedoes anyways.
Blenheims cratered the runways at Tavoy overnight. The daytime strike only saw one Zero in the air, which avoided engagement. The bombers destroyed another twenty or so planes and did heavy damage to the airfield.
Some light cruisers and destroyers bombarded Apamama. They didn't receive any return fire and the bombers haven't been fired on by flak for the last several strikes so it looks like its time for the 161st RCT to load up and hit the beach.
Destroyers in the Coral Sea depth bombed a sub. It is unknown how much damage they may have done.
Chinese bombers continued to ineffectually bomb Chengting. At least they are getting some experience.
The B-17s and Wellingtons at Batavia went back to bombing the port at Singapore. The battleships Hiei and Kirishima each received a bomb, just to let them know we haven't forgotten about them. The Ryujo was hit by more than half-a-dozen bombs, to show our special affection for IJN flattops.
Oscars and Lilys attacked the airbase at Palembang. Two Hawks on CAP were lost and two each enemy fighters and bombers were shot down. We also lost a Beaufort V-IX on the ground to enemy bombs.
The Port Moresby Flying Forts continued to bomb Shortlands, doing their best to prevent the enemy from using the airfield there.
The Chinese continued attacking IJA troops. We lost one Hurricane to ground fire along the Rangoon Perimeter. The B-25s continued to attack enemy armor formations there. Marine Dauntlesses bombed the port at Apamama.
Beaufort bombers hit a freighter just outside Singapore. A flight of Martins hit another at Miri. Australian B-25s attacked the airfield at Pontianak. A number of other strikes in the region missed their target ships.
A decade of Betty bombers attacked Pakhoi but did no damage. A second group of enemy carriers made themselves know by launching a strike from near Taytay against Jesselton. About fifty enemy planes, evenly split between Zeroes and Bettys, attacked Balikpapan. The Brewsters lost several planes, but the P-40s did well. About half-a-dozen enemy fighters and half that many bombers were shot down. Against lesser enemy fighters I would consider leaving the Brewsters in place but they cannot face Zeroes. That squadron will have to be pulled back for now, leaving the defense to the Warhawks.
The Japs continued attacking the Rangoon Perimeter but this latest offensive seems to be winding down. We continued to lose ground at Medan and it doesn't look like the defenders will be able to hold on much longer.
More reports to follow.
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07 May 42
The Swordfish had her attack on an enemy cruiser spoiled by dud torpedoes in the South China Sea. She spent the rest of the day evading a very large number of enemy destroyers as a result. The KXIII hit a freighter in the waters between Borneo and Bangka.
The destroyer Selfridge was sunk by an enemy sub in the Coral Sea. The other ships in the group sank the I-boat in return.
Tavoy was bombed in the night again. The day raid was twenty-five Liberators and Wellingtons. They destroyed a dozen enemy planes.
One of the Chinese SB-2 bombers was shot down by flak over Chengting. More SB-2's and IL-4's continued attacking enemy troops near Wuhan and in Canton. Hurricanes and Mitchells are continueing to help slow down the enemy around Rangoon. Marine SBDs attacked the garrison at Apamama. The B-17s on New Guinea continued to pound away at Shortlands.
Rangoon was attacked by ten Sallys escorted by a like number of Oscars. The AVG shot several down, convincing the rest to go home. Another raid targeted Palembang. The Hawk fighters there lost two of their own and shot down several of the enemy planes, keeping the damage to the airfield to a minimum. The first Japanese carrier group launched a second attack on Palembang from near Belitung. The Hawks did not do as well against the Zeroes, losing half-a-dozen aircraft, but they did claim a few more enemy planes.
Two flights of Beauforts dropped a pair of bombs on a freighter outside Singapore. An attack on Pontianak by six B-25s escorted by nine CW-21Bs was intercepted by a dozen Zeroes from the enemy carriers. Almost half the Demons were lost but they kept the Zeroes away from the bombers long enough for them to attack. An attack by Beauforts escorted by Brewsters on a gunboat a bit to the north was intercepted by another half-dozen Zeroes. Again, the escorts kept the interceptors away from the bombers at a heavy price but this time the bombers were not able to hit. This seems to have been the extent of the protection the enemy fighters could provide as the rest of the strikes in that area were unmolested. A flight of Wellingtons hit a freighter near Singkawang.
A small group of enemy planes attacked Sandakan. Half-a-dozen heavily escorted Bettys missed a tanker loading oil at Tarakan. Zeroes and Bettys went after a freighter unloading at Port Moresby. The Kittyhawks and Wildcats extracted a toll of more than half-a-dozen planes for the failed attempt, losing three planes themselves.
The enemy continued to try to press his attack on the Rangoon Perimeter, but losses were even lighter than on the previous day. The Japanese are on the edge of gaining control of Medan after further fighting there.
We have deceided to evacuate Kuala on northern Sumatra rather than wait for the undersize garrison there to be overrun. The success of our attacks on Tavoy has opened a window of opportunity for this and the first of two troop transports has arrived and begun loading troops. If the garrison from Medan can make to Kuala then another effort will be made to evacuate them as well.
More reports to follow.
The Skipjack aborted her surface attack in the SCS when the freighter's deck gun scored a hit on the sub. The damage turned out to be minor but the sub is out of torpedoes anyways.
Blenheims cratered the runways at Tavoy overnight. The daytime strike only saw one Zero in the air, which avoided engagement. The bombers destroyed another twenty or so planes and did heavy damage to the airfield.
Some light cruisers and destroyers bombarded Apamama. They didn't receive any return fire and the bombers haven't been fired on by flak for the last several strikes so it looks like its time for the 161st RCT to load up and hit the beach.
Destroyers in the Coral Sea depth bombed a sub. It is unknown how much damage they may have done.
Chinese bombers continued to ineffectually bomb Chengting. At least they are getting some experience.
The B-17s and Wellingtons at Batavia went back to bombing the port at Singapore. The battleships Hiei and Kirishima each received a bomb, just to let them know we haven't forgotten about them. The Ryujo was hit by more than half-a-dozen bombs, to show our special affection for IJN flattops.
Oscars and Lilys attacked the airbase at Palembang. Two Hawks on CAP were lost and two each enemy fighters and bombers were shot down. We also lost a Beaufort V-IX on the ground to enemy bombs.
The Port Moresby Flying Forts continued to bomb Shortlands, doing their best to prevent the enemy from using the airfield there.
The Chinese continued attacking IJA troops. We lost one Hurricane to ground fire along the Rangoon Perimeter. The B-25s continued to attack enemy armor formations there. Marine Dauntlesses bombed the port at Apamama.
Beaufort bombers hit a freighter just outside Singapore. A flight of Martins hit another at Miri. Australian B-25s attacked the airfield at Pontianak. A number of other strikes in the region missed their target ships.
A decade of Betty bombers attacked Pakhoi but did no damage. A second group of enemy carriers made themselves know by launching a strike from near Taytay against Jesselton. About fifty enemy planes, evenly split between Zeroes and Bettys, attacked Balikpapan. The Brewsters lost several planes, but the P-40s did well. About half-a-dozen enemy fighters and half that many bombers were shot down. Against lesser enemy fighters I would consider leaving the Brewsters in place but they cannot face Zeroes. That squadron will have to be pulled back for now, leaving the defense to the Warhawks.
The Japs continued attacking the Rangoon Perimeter but this latest offensive seems to be winding down. We continued to lose ground at Medan and it doesn't look like the defenders will be able to hold on much longer.
More reports to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
07 May 42
The Swordfish had her attack on an enemy cruiser spoiled by dud torpedoes in the South China Sea. She spent the rest of the day evading a very large number of enemy destroyers as a result. The KXIII hit a freighter in the waters between Borneo and Bangka.
The destroyer Selfridge was sunk by an enemy sub in the Coral Sea. The other ships in the group sank the I-boat in return.
Tavoy was bombed in the night again. The day raid was twenty-five Liberators and Wellingtons. They destroyed a dozen enemy planes.
One of the Chinese SB-2 bombers was shot down by flak over Chengting. More SB-2's and IL-4's continued attacking enemy troops near Wuhan and in Canton. Hurricanes and Mitchells are continueing to help slow down the enemy around Rangoon. Marine SBDs attacked the garrison at Apamama. The B-17s on New Guinea continued to pound away at Shortlands.
Rangoon was attacked by ten Sallys escorted by a like number of Oscars. The AVG shot several down, convincing the rest to go home. Another raid targeted Palembang. The Hawk fighters there lost two of their own and shot down several of the enemy planes, keeping the damage to the airfield to a minimum. The first Japanese carrier group launched a second attack on Palembang from near Belitung. The Hawks did not do as well against the Zeroes, losing half-a-dozen aircraft, but they did claim a few more enemy planes.
Two flights of Beauforts dropped a pair of bombs on a freighter outside Singapore. An attack on Pontianak by six B-25s escorted by nine CW-21Bs was intercepted by a dozen Zeroes from the enemy carriers. Almost half the Demons were lost but they kept the Zeroes away from the bombers long enough for them to attack. An attack by Beauforts escorted by Brewsters on a gunboat a bit to the north was intercepted by another half-dozen Zeroes. Again, the escorts kept the interceptors away from the bombers at a heavy price but this time the bombers were not able to hit. This seems to have been the extent of the protection the enemy fighters could provide as the rest of the strikes in that area were unmolested. A flight of Wellingtons hit a freighter near Singkawang.
A small group of enemy planes attacked Sandakan. Half-a-dozen heavily escorted Bettys missed a tanker loading oil at Tarakan. Zeroes and Bettys went after a freighter unloading at Port Moresby. The Kittyhawks and Wildcats extracted a toll of more than half-a-dozen planes for the failed attempt, losing three planes themselves.
The enemy continued to try to press his attack on the Rangoon Perimeter, but losses were even lighter than on the previous day. The Japanese are on the edge of gaining control of Medan after further fighting there.
We have deceided to evacuate Kuala on northern Sumatra rather than wait for the undersize garrison there to be overrun. The success of our attacks on Tavoy has opened a window of opportunity for this and the first of two troop transports has arrived and begun loading troops. If the garrison from Medan can make to Kuala then another effort will be made to evacuate them as well.
More reports to follow.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
08 May 42
The freighter at Akyab lost its fight against the flooding caused by damage received at Rangoon and sank.
Another night attack on Tavoy nets half-a-dozen more destroyed enemy aircraft. Twenty Wellingtons and Liberators during the day account for another dozen.
Chinese bombers out of Haiphong raided the port at Taan. Several planes were damaged by higher than expected flak.
Enemy aircraft from Bangkok tried to attack Rangoon. The defending P-40s turned the raid back after shooting down several of the Oscars and Sallys.
Wellingtons and B-17s attacked Singapore. They hit a freighter and the battleship Kirishima with a bomb each. The small carrier Ryujo received almost half-a-dozen bomb hits. Given that this ship has been struck by over thirty bombs I am surprised the ship is still afloat.
An attack on Palembang did only minor damage. The Hawks on CAP turned about half the thirty plane raid back and shot down one of the bombers.
Twenty-four B-17s bombed Shortlands airfield again. Chinese bombers continued directly attacking enemy troops. B-25s and Hurricanes continued trying to disrupt enemy attacks against the Rangoon Perimeter.
A number of strikes were launched against enemy shipping around northwest Borneo but the only success was by a flight of Martins scoring multiple bomb hits on a freighter at Pontianak.
Betty bombers attacked the airfield at Chungking, doing minor damage. Port Moresby was subject to two raids against ships unloading supplies. The first turned back after the Wildcats and Kittyhawks got past the Zero escorts and started shooting down Bettys. The escorts of the second raid did their job better, costing us one Wildcat and keeping the rest of our fighters away from the bombers. But none of the six Bettys in that attack scored hits with their torpedoes and at least two of the Zeroes were shot down. An attack by Lilys on a tanker loading at Tarakan also failed to hit.
One of the enemy carrier groups has moved into the Java Sea. They launched an attack by Vals against a pair of tankers at Soerabaja. After the Zeroes brushed aside the Demons on CAP, the divebombers pretty much blew apart one ship and seriously damaged the second. The more heavily damaged tanker is still afloat for now but it seems unlikely the ship can be saved.
Attacks against the Rangoon Perimeter continue. The Dutch at Medan fell back in the face of an enemy attack, abandoning the base and beginning their retreat towards Kuala.
The US 32nd Division has arrived at Darwin and begun unloading. I would like to move this unit into the DEI to add to the defense of either southern Borneo or Java, but this will have to wait until we get a better idea where exactly to deploy them. And for the enemy carriers to move out of the Java Sea so that the transports would have a chance of arriving.
More reports to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
09 May 42
Outside Singapore the S-39 hit a freighter with two torpedoes. North of Kuching the Snapper performed a surface attack on a troop carrying freighter. The ship sank after being hit by three torpedoes and a large number of deck gun rounds and machinegun bursts. Near Singkawang the KXIII had to avoid the escorts of an enemy task force. Near Singapore the O16 had her attack on a freighter interrupted by a subchaser. Near Camranh Bay the Grayling strafed a freighter but missed with her torpedoes.
South of Gili Gili a destroyer group depth charged a sonar contact. They report spotting an oil slick afterwards. In the Coral Sea a group of DMS on ASW patrol report another sonar contact but couldn't pinpoint it enough to attack.
Blenheims hit Tavoy overnight. The thirty Wellingtons and LB-30s during the day destroyed another dozen enemy planes and cratered the runway some more.
One of the Chinese SB-2s was lost to flak at Chengting. Another one got shot down by AAA over Taan.
A dozen enemy planes were shot down over Yenen. A couple more planes were shot down by the AVG over Rangoon.
The raid on Singapore did well. We hit a troop transport, a freighter, a cruiser, the battleships Hiei and Kirishima (the second ship multiple times) and the carrier Ryujo. The supply dumps were also hit and several more enemy planes destroyed at the airfield.
Palembang was attacked by enemy aircraft from Singapore. The defending Hawk fighters only lost one plane and shot down several of the escorts before damaging a number of the bombers.
Fortresses bombed the air base at Shortlands again. Chinese bombers attacked enemy troops outside Wuhan. Hurricanes and B-25s continued attacking enemy forces attacking Rangoon. The Marines continued bombing enemy troops at Apamama.
A flight of Martins hit a tanker at Brunei. A single Martin hit a subchaser along the north Borneo coast. A flight of Demons was lost escorting a flight of B-25s on a strike against Pontianak when they were intercepted by Zeroes.
We now know were both enemy carrier groups are. The first, and apparently smaller, one is about a hundred miles northwest of Banjarmasin. This group sank a tanker near Pamakasan and a freighter unloading supplies at Banjarmasin. The second group is between Borneo and Bangka. They launched over a hundred and fifty planes against Palembang, joined by a dozen Oscars out of Singapore. Considering how badly outnumbered they were the defending fighters did extremely well, taking out almost a dozen enemy fighters. Four of the CAP survived to reach the bombers where they shot down half-a-dozen each of the Vals and Kates. Unfortunately there were simply so many enemy bombers that they seriously damaged the airbase and destroyed a dozen of Beauforts based there.
The airbase at Tarakan suffered minor damage from a light raid. A second attack against Banjarmasin damaged the airbase there and destroyed several of the Swordfish there.
A decade of Bettys missed an ASW group near Deboyne Island. But a tanker at Tarakan was hit by half-a-dozen bombs from nine Lilys.
The attack on the Rangoon Perimeter continued to grind on and enemy troops have begun unloading near Tarakan.
The workers of Moulmein deceided not to retreat to Rangoon. This may have been for the best as they took control of the base there when the enemy left it unoccupied again. We are in a position take advantage of it this time. A squadron of Dakotas are in Pagan and can airlift elements of the Indian 13th Brigade in to cut enemy supply lines. Even if we don't hold the base the disruption could buy Rangoon more time.
Another squadron of Marine SBDs arrived in Los Angeles. They will get shipped to Baker and support our advance in the Marshalls.
More reports to follow.
The freighter at Akyab lost its fight against the flooding caused by damage received at Rangoon and sank.
Another night attack on Tavoy nets half-a-dozen more destroyed enemy aircraft. Twenty Wellingtons and Liberators during the day account for another dozen.
Chinese bombers out of Haiphong raided the port at Taan. Several planes were damaged by higher than expected flak.
Enemy aircraft from Bangkok tried to attack Rangoon. The defending P-40s turned the raid back after shooting down several of the Oscars and Sallys.
Wellingtons and B-17s attacked Singapore. They hit a freighter and the battleship Kirishima with a bomb each. The small carrier Ryujo received almost half-a-dozen bomb hits. Given that this ship has been struck by over thirty bombs I am surprised the ship is still afloat.
An attack on Palembang did only minor damage. The Hawks on CAP turned about half the thirty plane raid back and shot down one of the bombers.
Twenty-four B-17s bombed Shortlands airfield again. Chinese bombers continued directly attacking enemy troops. B-25s and Hurricanes continued trying to disrupt enemy attacks against the Rangoon Perimeter.
A number of strikes were launched against enemy shipping around northwest Borneo but the only success was by a flight of Martins scoring multiple bomb hits on a freighter at Pontianak.
Betty bombers attacked the airfield at Chungking, doing minor damage. Port Moresby was subject to two raids against ships unloading supplies. The first turned back after the Wildcats and Kittyhawks got past the Zero escorts and started shooting down Bettys. The escorts of the second raid did their job better, costing us one Wildcat and keeping the rest of our fighters away from the bombers. But none of the six Bettys in that attack scored hits with their torpedoes and at least two of the Zeroes were shot down. An attack by Lilys on a tanker loading at Tarakan also failed to hit.
One of the enemy carrier groups has moved into the Java Sea. They launched an attack by Vals against a pair of tankers at Soerabaja. After the Zeroes brushed aside the Demons on CAP, the divebombers pretty much blew apart one ship and seriously damaged the second. The more heavily damaged tanker is still afloat for now but it seems unlikely the ship can be saved.
Attacks against the Rangoon Perimeter continue. The Dutch at Medan fell back in the face of an enemy attack, abandoning the base and beginning their retreat towards Kuala.
The US 32nd Division has arrived at Darwin and begun unloading. I would like to move this unit into the DEI to add to the defense of either southern Borneo or Java, but this will have to wait until we get a better idea where exactly to deploy them. And for the enemy carriers to move out of the Java Sea so that the transports would have a chance of arriving.
More reports to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
09 May 42
Outside Singapore the S-39 hit a freighter with two torpedoes. North of Kuching the Snapper performed a surface attack on a troop carrying freighter. The ship sank after being hit by three torpedoes and a large number of deck gun rounds and machinegun bursts. Near Singkawang the KXIII had to avoid the escorts of an enemy task force. Near Singapore the O16 had her attack on a freighter interrupted by a subchaser. Near Camranh Bay the Grayling strafed a freighter but missed with her torpedoes.
South of Gili Gili a destroyer group depth charged a sonar contact. They report spotting an oil slick afterwards. In the Coral Sea a group of DMS on ASW patrol report another sonar contact but couldn't pinpoint it enough to attack.
Blenheims hit Tavoy overnight. The thirty Wellingtons and LB-30s during the day destroyed another dozen enemy planes and cratered the runway some more.
One of the Chinese SB-2s was lost to flak at Chengting. Another one got shot down by AAA over Taan.
A dozen enemy planes were shot down over Yenen. A couple more planes were shot down by the AVG over Rangoon.
The raid on Singapore did well. We hit a troop transport, a freighter, a cruiser, the battleships Hiei and Kirishima (the second ship multiple times) and the carrier Ryujo. The supply dumps were also hit and several more enemy planes destroyed at the airfield.
Palembang was attacked by enemy aircraft from Singapore. The defending Hawk fighters only lost one plane and shot down several of the escorts before damaging a number of the bombers.
Fortresses bombed the air base at Shortlands again. Chinese bombers attacked enemy troops outside Wuhan. Hurricanes and B-25s continued attacking enemy forces attacking Rangoon. The Marines continued bombing enemy troops at Apamama.
A flight of Martins hit a tanker at Brunei. A single Martin hit a subchaser along the north Borneo coast. A flight of Demons was lost escorting a flight of B-25s on a strike against Pontianak when they were intercepted by Zeroes.
We now know were both enemy carrier groups are. The first, and apparently smaller, one is about a hundred miles northwest of Banjarmasin. This group sank a tanker near Pamakasan and a freighter unloading supplies at Banjarmasin. The second group is between Borneo and Bangka. They launched over a hundred and fifty planes against Palembang, joined by a dozen Oscars out of Singapore. Considering how badly outnumbered they were the defending fighters did extremely well, taking out almost a dozen enemy fighters. Four of the CAP survived to reach the bombers where they shot down half-a-dozen each of the Vals and Kates. Unfortunately there were simply so many enemy bombers that they seriously damaged the airbase and destroyed a dozen of Beauforts based there.
The airbase at Tarakan suffered minor damage from a light raid. A second attack against Banjarmasin damaged the airbase there and destroyed several of the Swordfish there.
A decade of Bettys missed an ASW group near Deboyne Island. But a tanker at Tarakan was hit by half-a-dozen bombs from nine Lilys.
The attack on the Rangoon Perimeter continued to grind on and enemy troops have begun unloading near Tarakan.
The workers of Moulmein deceided not to retreat to Rangoon. This may have been for the best as they took control of the base there when the enemy left it unoccupied again. We are in a position take advantage of it this time. A squadron of Dakotas are in Pagan and can airlift elements of the Indian 13th Brigade in to cut enemy supply lines. Even if we don't hold the base the disruption could buy Rangoon more time.
Another squadron of Marine SBDs arrived in Los Angeles. They will get shipped to Baker and support our advance in the Marshalls.
More reports to follow.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
Great posts Dtravel, I am as well a first time campaigner(scenario 15)
Your little war is fun to read,almost like a documentary . Anyways, I'll keep this short and just say that you seem to be doing alot better than me. I am currently in early April '42, and Rangoon fell about a month ago.
On the other hand, I have the advantage in the Rabaul area. It is reinforced with almost 10,000 infantry and Shortlands is growing as well.I figure to build this area up as large as I can and use it as a springboard to get even with the Japs. Good luck to you and hope to read more of your experiences.
-Gem
Your little war is fun to read,almost like a documentary . Anyways, I'll keep this short and just say that you seem to be doing alot better than me. I am currently in early April '42, and Rangoon fell about a month ago.
On the other hand, I have the advantage in the Rabaul area. It is reinforced with almost 10,000 infantry and Shortlands is growing as well.I figure to build this area up as large as I can and use it as a springboard to get even with the Japs. Good luck to you and hope to read more of your experiences.
-Gem
It doesn't make any sense, Admiral. Were we better than the Japanese or just luckier?
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RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
10 May 42
Near Bataan the S-37 torpedoed a troop transport. In the SCS the Snapper shelled a freighter and then tried to torpedo it, but suffered from duds.
An Aussie minesweeper/gunboat ASW patrol had a sonar contact in the Coral Sea.
More night bombing of Tavoy.
Chinese bombers attacked Taan thru heavy flak again. They also continued bombing enemy troops west of Wuhan and in Canton.
A raid on Rangoon was turned back by the AVG. The defending fighters at Palembang also turned back an enemy attack of Oscars and Lilys, shoting down a number of the bombers in the process. Brewsters at Menado managed to avoid the bulk of the Zero escorts and shot down several of the Sallys attacking that base.
We hit the battleships Kiei and Kirishima again at Singapore. A few planes were also destroyed.
The bombing of Shortlands continued.
Hurricanes attacked enemy troops attacking the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marine divebombers hit the Apamama garrison.
The Dutch launched an attack on the carrier Akagi, south of Banjarmasin. A squadron of T.IVa torpedo bombers was escorted by a dozen P-40s of 21st FS. But outnumbered 3 to 1 the fighters were not able to protect the bombers and lost several of their own in the process. Five of the seven bombers were shot down by Zeroes and the remaining two were lost to AAA fire. This is at least the third time now that an entire strike of these planes has been lost. Only one of the other anti-ship strikes launched in the DEI scored any hits but they at least didn't get slaughtered. Two flights of Martins hit a transport unloading at Tarakan twice.
That same carrier group struck shipping in the area that hadn't been able to run away fast enough. They sank a tanker outside Balikpapan and a freighter near Bali as well as heavily damaging a tanker near Flores. Additionally, land based Bettys from the Philippines damaged a transport at Balikpapan with a pair of torpedo hits.
The second carrier group struck Soerabaja. The forty Zeroes quickly drove off the ten Demon fighters on patrol, allowing the Vals and Kates to bomb the airfield deterred only by flak. Which wasn't much of a deterrance as the base was seriously damaged.
An attack on Gasmata lost a Betty to AAA fire, doing no damage. The enemy also attacked ships docked at Port Moresby. One F4F was lost, two Zeroes and a Betty were shot down and none of the ships were hit. The already damaged tanker at Tarakan was struck by two more bombs from Lilys attacking the harbor. At Kuala the transport West Point suffered minor damage from Sonia divebombers. The ship is continueing with loading the last of the garrison there for evacuation.
An enemy task force heading for Lae on New Guinea was attacked by Beauforts from Port Moresby. They made torpedo hits on a minesweeper and a gunboat.
The enemy attack pushed the Rangoon Perimeter back to the city itself. Hopefully they will be able to hold the prepared defenses that have been built. The lead elements of the enemy landing at Tarakan ran into the defenses there.
More reports to follow.
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11 May 42
Near Camranh Bay the Grayling missed a tanker. The Searaven failed in an attack on a freighter near Singkawang. The S-36 was forced to avoid the escorts of one of the enemy carrier groups in the strait between Borneo and Belitung.
We lost a DMS when it was hit by a pair of submarine launched torpedoes.
Blenheims continued to deny the Japs at Tavoy sleep. The thirty daytime bombers did only minimal damage.
Chinese bombers continued to annoy the airbase at Chengting. The IJA 3rd Division near Wuhan was bombed.
A raid on Rangoon from Bangkok was turned back when one of the nine Sallys was shot down.
We hit Singapore again, with twenty Wellingtons and Forts today. Several enemy planes were caught on the ground by bombs and two transports were hit in the harbor.
Enemy troops near Rangoon were hit by Hurricanes and B-25s. We are having problems supporting the aircraft based at Rangoon. When the Perimeter began getting pushed back on the city an evacuation of non-essential personell was begun. However, for some reason, a large number of aircraft mechanics were queued up and flown out. The idea was to have a cadre to use in rebuilding the units in Rangoon if the city should fall, so the men are already on the road heading for Diamond Harbor. Once we have finished this cadre evac we'll have to do something about this situation.
The Marines on Tarawa bombed Apamama.
It appears that the enemy force headed for Lea has turned around and is now just north of Talasea. Two dozen B-17s out of Port Moresby attacked the enemy ships and scored a number of bomb hits on one of the escorting gunboats. More Flying Forts attacked the port at Rabaul, losing one bomber to the nearly fifty Zeroes on defense and missing a battleship docked there.
Enemy Bettys launched a pair of attacks against our ships shelling Apamama. The Idaho and light cruiser St. Louis were each hit by a torpedo, but in both cases the damage was minimal and the ships are remaining on station.
Japanese carrier planes crippled a freighter unloading at Lombok and a tanker near Pamakasan.
We hit a patrol boat at Singkawang with a number of bombs from Wellingtons. A flight of Beauforts lost a plane when they were intercepted by carrier Zeroes in the same area.
The ships at Port Moresby came under attack. We lost a couple of Wildcats in the defense but the enemy lost half-a-dozen Zeroes and a couple of Bettys and no ship was hit.
The enemy forces at Tarakan launched a more substantial attack, pushing the defenders back.
The Marine 1st Division is now available for deployment in San Francisco. We'll move them to Port Moresby where they can relieve the Marine 2nd Division, freeing them for movement to Darwin and then, possibly, into the DEI.
More reports to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12 May 42
In the Malacca Strait the Truant missed a freighter. The Seadragon shelled and torpedoed a tanker off the northeast corner of Borneo.
Another DMS was hit in the Coral Sea. So far the ship is still afloat and is trying to make it to Townsville. The remaining two ships of the task force spent the rest of the day trying to track down this sub but couldn't find it.
The night equipped Blenheims continued to bomb Tavoy. The day raid was weak, only a dozen planes.
The Chinese continued to annoy Chengting. Haiphong's bombers hit the port at Taan.
For the first time in a while, the enemy attacked Yenen. They didn't do any better this time, losing all three Sonias as well as one of the escort Nates.
Another attack from Bangkok aimed at Rangoon was turned back. The enemy lost a pair of planes.
We continue to hammer away at Singapore. More than a dozen planes were destroyed on the ground and several ships were hit in the harbor. The battleship Hiei was hit by three bombs as was the CVL Ryujo. The Kirishima, a destroyer, a freighter and a troop transport were all also hit by bombs from the B-17s and Wellingtons.
There was an attack on Menado by a dozen Sallys and twenty Zeroes. The half-dozen Brewsters lost a plane getting around the escorts but managed to shot down three of the bombers once they did so.
A couple of flights of B-17s bombed the airfield at Shortlands.
The bombing attacks on Japanese troops in China continued in the same places. The Hurricanes in Rangoon made a final attack on Nip forces there before beginning to evacuate to Mandalay. This leaves the bulk of the ground support missions in the hands of the B-25 Mitchells, who also attacked today. Marines based on Tarawa launched another attack on Apamama. The invasion force carrying the 161st RCT should arrive tomorrow.
A co-ordinated strike by bombers from Batavia and Banjamasin scored multiple bomb hits on a freighter at Singkawang. A followup strike by Australian B-25s out of Soerabaja hit a second freighter twice.
It appears we are seeing the return of the Japanese Yo-Yo Invasion Force. The enemy group between Rabaul and Lae has turned back west, bringing them back into range of the Port Moresby Beauforts. They proceeded to hit an escorting minesweeper with a pair of torpedoes. A second strike lost two planes to AAA fire but they hit a gunboat and two transports with more torpedoes.
The enemy carriers are just off the southern most tip of Borneo and near Batavia. The southern group sank the damaged freighter at Lombok.
A dozen unescorted Bettys tried to attack Port Moresby but turned back as soon as the defending fighters shot the first one down.
The enemy troops at Tarakan continued to make progress. The garrison there is obviously not going to be able to hold and is going to try to disengage and retreat to Samarinda.
It looks like the blocking force at Moulmein has drawn the Japanese attention. A small tripwire force to the north is reporting the approach of a very large enemy force. And Rangoon itself is reporting that all of the enemy troops have pulled back from the area of the original Perimeter. SEASIA troops are moving to re-occupy those positions. With the UK 2nd Division only a couple days away from Mandalay and this development, the UK 18th Division, currently at Mandalay, is going to try to move up to reinforce the Rangoon defenses before the enemy can return.
The battleship Oklahoma has completed repairs and a refit at Seattle. This is the first battleship damaged in the raid on Pearl Harbor to return to duty and is sailing back to Pearl. Several more of the battlewagons will soon complete their repairs and refits.
Also, with the enemy carriers concentrating around Borneo there appears to be little threat to the West Coast of the US. So I have gotten approval for moving the P-40s of the 20th Fighter Group to Darwin. From there they can be flown to where needed in the DEI. We critically need better fighters in this region and so far the P-40 and F4F are the only fighters we have that can consistently take on the Zero.
More reports to follow.
Near Bataan the S-37 torpedoed a troop transport. In the SCS the Snapper shelled a freighter and then tried to torpedo it, but suffered from duds.
An Aussie minesweeper/gunboat ASW patrol had a sonar contact in the Coral Sea.
More night bombing of Tavoy.
Chinese bombers attacked Taan thru heavy flak again. They also continued bombing enemy troops west of Wuhan and in Canton.
A raid on Rangoon was turned back by the AVG. The defending fighters at Palembang also turned back an enemy attack of Oscars and Lilys, shoting down a number of the bombers in the process. Brewsters at Menado managed to avoid the bulk of the Zero escorts and shot down several of the Sallys attacking that base.
We hit the battleships Kiei and Kirishima again at Singapore. A few planes were also destroyed.
The bombing of Shortlands continued.
Hurricanes attacked enemy troops attacking the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marine divebombers hit the Apamama garrison.
The Dutch launched an attack on the carrier Akagi, south of Banjarmasin. A squadron of T.IVa torpedo bombers was escorted by a dozen P-40s of 21st FS. But outnumbered 3 to 1 the fighters were not able to protect the bombers and lost several of their own in the process. Five of the seven bombers were shot down by Zeroes and the remaining two were lost to AAA fire. This is at least the third time now that an entire strike of these planes has been lost. Only one of the other anti-ship strikes launched in the DEI scored any hits but they at least didn't get slaughtered. Two flights of Martins hit a transport unloading at Tarakan twice.
That same carrier group struck shipping in the area that hadn't been able to run away fast enough. They sank a tanker outside Balikpapan and a freighter near Bali as well as heavily damaging a tanker near Flores. Additionally, land based Bettys from the Philippines damaged a transport at Balikpapan with a pair of torpedo hits.
The second carrier group struck Soerabaja. The forty Zeroes quickly drove off the ten Demon fighters on patrol, allowing the Vals and Kates to bomb the airfield deterred only by flak. Which wasn't much of a deterrance as the base was seriously damaged.
An attack on Gasmata lost a Betty to AAA fire, doing no damage. The enemy also attacked ships docked at Port Moresby. One F4F was lost, two Zeroes and a Betty were shot down and none of the ships were hit. The already damaged tanker at Tarakan was struck by two more bombs from Lilys attacking the harbor. At Kuala the transport West Point suffered minor damage from Sonia divebombers. The ship is continueing with loading the last of the garrison there for evacuation.
An enemy task force heading for Lae on New Guinea was attacked by Beauforts from Port Moresby. They made torpedo hits on a minesweeper and a gunboat.
The enemy attack pushed the Rangoon Perimeter back to the city itself. Hopefully they will be able to hold the prepared defenses that have been built. The lead elements of the enemy landing at Tarakan ran into the defenses there.
More reports to follow.
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11 May 42
Near Camranh Bay the Grayling missed a tanker. The Searaven failed in an attack on a freighter near Singkawang. The S-36 was forced to avoid the escorts of one of the enemy carrier groups in the strait between Borneo and Belitung.
We lost a DMS when it was hit by a pair of submarine launched torpedoes.
Blenheims continued to deny the Japs at Tavoy sleep. The thirty daytime bombers did only minimal damage.
Chinese bombers continued to annoy the airbase at Chengting. The IJA 3rd Division near Wuhan was bombed.
A raid on Rangoon from Bangkok was turned back when one of the nine Sallys was shot down.
We hit Singapore again, with twenty Wellingtons and Forts today. Several enemy planes were caught on the ground by bombs and two transports were hit in the harbor.
Enemy troops near Rangoon were hit by Hurricanes and B-25s. We are having problems supporting the aircraft based at Rangoon. When the Perimeter began getting pushed back on the city an evacuation of non-essential personell was begun. However, for some reason, a large number of aircraft mechanics were queued up and flown out. The idea was to have a cadre to use in rebuilding the units in Rangoon if the city should fall, so the men are already on the road heading for Diamond Harbor. Once we have finished this cadre evac we'll have to do something about this situation.
The Marines on Tarawa bombed Apamama.
It appears that the enemy force headed for Lea has turned around and is now just north of Talasea. Two dozen B-17s out of Port Moresby attacked the enemy ships and scored a number of bomb hits on one of the escorting gunboats. More Flying Forts attacked the port at Rabaul, losing one bomber to the nearly fifty Zeroes on defense and missing a battleship docked there.
Enemy Bettys launched a pair of attacks against our ships shelling Apamama. The Idaho and light cruiser St. Louis were each hit by a torpedo, but in both cases the damage was minimal and the ships are remaining on station.
Japanese carrier planes crippled a freighter unloading at Lombok and a tanker near Pamakasan.
We hit a patrol boat at Singkawang with a number of bombs from Wellingtons. A flight of Beauforts lost a plane when they were intercepted by carrier Zeroes in the same area.
The ships at Port Moresby came under attack. We lost a couple of Wildcats in the defense but the enemy lost half-a-dozen Zeroes and a couple of Bettys and no ship was hit.
The enemy forces at Tarakan launched a more substantial attack, pushing the defenders back.
The Marine 1st Division is now available for deployment in San Francisco. We'll move them to Port Moresby where they can relieve the Marine 2nd Division, freeing them for movement to Darwin and then, possibly, into the DEI.
More reports to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12 May 42
In the Malacca Strait the Truant missed a freighter. The Seadragon shelled and torpedoed a tanker off the northeast corner of Borneo.
Another DMS was hit in the Coral Sea. So far the ship is still afloat and is trying to make it to Townsville. The remaining two ships of the task force spent the rest of the day trying to track down this sub but couldn't find it.
The night equipped Blenheims continued to bomb Tavoy. The day raid was weak, only a dozen planes.
The Chinese continued to annoy Chengting. Haiphong's bombers hit the port at Taan.
For the first time in a while, the enemy attacked Yenen. They didn't do any better this time, losing all three Sonias as well as one of the escort Nates.
Another attack from Bangkok aimed at Rangoon was turned back. The enemy lost a pair of planes.
We continue to hammer away at Singapore. More than a dozen planes were destroyed on the ground and several ships were hit in the harbor. The battleship Hiei was hit by three bombs as was the CVL Ryujo. The Kirishima, a destroyer, a freighter and a troop transport were all also hit by bombs from the B-17s and Wellingtons.
There was an attack on Menado by a dozen Sallys and twenty Zeroes. The half-dozen Brewsters lost a plane getting around the escorts but managed to shot down three of the bombers once they did so.
A couple of flights of B-17s bombed the airfield at Shortlands.
The bombing attacks on Japanese troops in China continued in the same places. The Hurricanes in Rangoon made a final attack on Nip forces there before beginning to evacuate to Mandalay. This leaves the bulk of the ground support missions in the hands of the B-25 Mitchells, who also attacked today. Marines based on Tarawa launched another attack on Apamama. The invasion force carrying the 161st RCT should arrive tomorrow.
A co-ordinated strike by bombers from Batavia and Banjamasin scored multiple bomb hits on a freighter at Singkawang. A followup strike by Australian B-25s out of Soerabaja hit a second freighter twice.
It appears we are seeing the return of the Japanese Yo-Yo Invasion Force. The enemy group between Rabaul and Lae has turned back west, bringing them back into range of the Port Moresby Beauforts. They proceeded to hit an escorting minesweeper with a pair of torpedoes. A second strike lost two planes to AAA fire but they hit a gunboat and two transports with more torpedoes.
The enemy carriers are just off the southern most tip of Borneo and near Batavia. The southern group sank the damaged freighter at Lombok.
A dozen unescorted Bettys tried to attack Port Moresby but turned back as soon as the defending fighters shot the first one down.
The enemy troops at Tarakan continued to make progress. The garrison there is obviously not going to be able to hold and is going to try to disengage and retreat to Samarinda.
It looks like the blocking force at Moulmein has drawn the Japanese attention. A small tripwire force to the north is reporting the approach of a very large enemy force. And Rangoon itself is reporting that all of the enemy troops have pulled back from the area of the original Perimeter. SEASIA troops are moving to re-occupy those positions. With the UK 2nd Division only a couple days away from Mandalay and this development, the UK 18th Division, currently at Mandalay, is going to try to move up to reinforce the Rangoon defenses before the enemy can return.
The battleship Oklahoma has completed repairs and a refit at Seattle. This is the first battleship damaged in the raid on Pearl Harbor to return to duty and is sailing back to Pearl. Several more of the battlewagons will soon complete their repairs and refits.
Also, with the enemy carriers concentrating around Borneo there appears to be little threat to the West Coast of the US. So I have gotten approval for moving the P-40s of the 20th Fighter Group to Darwin. From there they can be flown to where needed in the DEI. We critically need better fighters in this region and so far the P-40 and F4F are the only fighters we have that can consistently take on the Zero.
More reports to follow.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
13 May 42
The Plunger shot up a troop transport near Wenchow. The Gato scored two torpedo hits on a freighter in the Celebes Sea near Mindanao.
The night bombers hit Tavoy.
The battleships Maryland and Idaho shelled Apamama.
Chinese bombers made small raids on the airfield at Chengting and the port at Taan. One SB-2 was shot down by flak over Chengting.
Half-a-dozen Sallys bombed Moulmein.
Wellingtons and B-17s hit Singapore again. A half-dozen enemy planes were destroyed, the battleships Hiei and Kirishima were hit by more than one bomb, and two transports and two cruisers were hit.
The Hawks over Palembang did extremely well today. First they shot down a good half the dozen plus escort Oscars, then turned back most of the Lily bombers attacking the airfield.
We lost one Brewster over Menado. They were not able to penetrate the twenty Zero escort of the dozen Sallys that attacked there.
Two flights of B-17s bombed Shortlands. While the Flying Fortresses do well when they fly, they are requiring a lot of down time for maintenance.
Chinese bombers attacked troops at Canton. The Chinese report that they are almost ready to launch their ground offensive here.
Marine divebombers continued bombing Apamama in preparation for the invasion there, which has been delayed by the landing group's naval commander for some reason that has not been made clear to me. (OOC: The TF sat, unmoving, in mid-ocean all turn. I checked and everything was correctly set. They didn't retire. They just didn't move, at all.)
Another co-ordinated raid on Singkawang caught a patrol boat with a pair of bombs. A separate attack by B-25s hit a freighter. The B-25s returned later in the afternoon and hit two more freighters.
At New Guinea, the enemy landing force reached Lae. Beaufort V-IX bombers from Port Moresby attacked the ships as they began unloading and scored torpedo hits on two gunboats and a transport, sinking one of the PGs.
A flight of Martins hit a IJN oiler at Brunei. Beauforts bombed a freighter near Singapore. Other Beauforts, in separate attacks, attacked but missed a destroyer and two battleships in the same area. A flight of Wellingtons lost a plane attacking one of the same BBs.
Engineers at Gasmata have lengthened the runways there, allowing the Wirraways enough room to take off with bomb loads now. They attacked an enemy convoy north of the island but were not able to score any hits.
A dozen Bettys tried to attack the ships at Apamama. P-40s from Tarawa shot down or drove off all but three of them and the Maryland was able to evade their torpedoes.
The enemy carriers are just west of Banjarmasin and about a hundred miles northwest of Batavia, this second group having traveresed the strait between Java and Sumatra during the night. They launched an attack on Palembang that was met by one Brewster and a dozen Hawks. The Brewster was the first casualty and was joined by one of the Hawks. But the rest continued to perform outstandingly, shooting down two Zeroes, five Kates and six Vals out of the hundred and thirty plane strike. While damage to the airfield was extensive, I believe it to be worth the cost as we are slowly eating away at the enemy's carrier airgroups. (Editor's Note: After the war, an Imperial Japanese Navy pilot described this as "being nibbled to death by vicious ducks.") The first task force launched a small attack on Banjarmasin, destroying some planes on the ground and damaging a number of others.
Bettys and Lilys bombed Tarakan. Bettys and Zeroes tried to attack Gili Gili, but were turned back with losses by the Kittyhawks there.
Enemy troops began unloading near the undefended base at Lae. Fast moving Japanese armor attacked the lead elements of the Indian brigade at Moulmein, recapturing the base. While this is a much faster response than I expected, it still bought Rangoon a few days. Japanese forces continued to attack at Tarakan with the defenders falling back in good order before them.
More reports to follow.
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14 May 42
Intelligence reports an enemy tanker sinking at Brunei.
Near Singapore the S-39 torpedoed a freighter but missed a second one a short time later. In the Celebes Sea the Seadragon got into a gun duel with an enemy troop transport.
Some more minor damage was done by the night bombers at Tavoy.
A Japanese surface group shelled Gasmata. Damage and casualties were light, even more so considering there was at least one battleship in the enemy task force.
Another light raid by Chinese bombers against Chengting. The enemy countered with an even less effective attack on Yenen. The Japanese fighters were quickly driven off leaving the three Sonias unprotected, at which point the Chinese quickly shot all of them down.
Wellingtons attacked Singapore on their own, the Flying Forts being down for maintenance. They did just fine, destroying almost ten planes on the ground. A number of ships were also hit in the harbor, a subchaser, a transport, a fast transport, two freighters, a destroyer and a cruiser.
The Japanese division west of Wuhan was bombed.
The Australian B-25 crews are getting pretty good at their job. They hit two more freighters at Singkawang in the morning, each with multiple bombs. Then in the afternoon they returned to repeat the performance. Dutch Martins hit another freighter at Pontianak. The Port Moresby Beauforts hit a gunboat in the landing force at Lae. A flight of Wellingtons hit a minesweeper outside Singapore. A number of other strikes, mostly around Singapore, were not successful.
The Wirraways at Gasmata launched several strikes. Unfortunately the first one was against a freighter just north of Rabaul and they were intercepted by Zeroes. Eight out of the fourteen were shot down, the survivors managing to score a bomb hit on their target. They also attacked a minesweeper and transport north of Talasea but missed both ships.
IJN carrier planes bombed the facilities at Padang. Jesselton and Tarakan were bombed by planes based out of the Philippines. Menado was also attacked, with two of the defending Brewsters here shot down by escorts but taking two Sallys with them. Two dozen Bettys bombed Gasmata but missed the base completely.
Two small groups of Bettys tried to attack our ships at Apamama. Several were shot down by defending P-40s and none of our ships were hit. They also attacked and missed a DD minelayer at Tarawa after the group it was part of mined Makin during the night.
Unfortunately a freighter at Macassar was not as lucky. The enemy carrier group cruising around the southwest corner of Borneo launched a strike and hit the ship with three bombs.
Enemy troops occupied Lae. The Japs launched an attack against the rearguard at Tarakan. The 161st RCT quickly captured Apamama, the lead troops overrunning the disorganized and unsupplied garrison.
Now we just need Makin to complete our control of the Gilbert Islands. The Marine pilots on Tarawa will begin working on the defenders there and the 24th RCT is already enroute to Baker and prepping to land.
More troops arrived in theatre. At Karachi: the Indian 5th Division, the UK 251st Brigade, the US 101st Base Force and 101st Aviation Regiment. In San Francisco: the 5th Air Force HQ, the 2nd and 5th Sea Bees, the 30th Navy Base Force, the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and the 813th EAB.
More reports to follow.
The Plunger shot up a troop transport near Wenchow. The Gato scored two torpedo hits on a freighter in the Celebes Sea near Mindanao.
The night bombers hit Tavoy.
The battleships Maryland and Idaho shelled Apamama.
Chinese bombers made small raids on the airfield at Chengting and the port at Taan. One SB-2 was shot down by flak over Chengting.
Half-a-dozen Sallys bombed Moulmein.
Wellingtons and B-17s hit Singapore again. A half-dozen enemy planes were destroyed, the battleships Hiei and Kirishima were hit by more than one bomb, and two transports and two cruisers were hit.
The Hawks over Palembang did extremely well today. First they shot down a good half the dozen plus escort Oscars, then turned back most of the Lily bombers attacking the airfield.
We lost one Brewster over Menado. They were not able to penetrate the twenty Zero escort of the dozen Sallys that attacked there.
Two flights of B-17s bombed Shortlands. While the Flying Fortresses do well when they fly, they are requiring a lot of down time for maintenance.
Chinese bombers attacked troops at Canton. The Chinese report that they are almost ready to launch their ground offensive here.
Marine divebombers continued bombing Apamama in preparation for the invasion there, which has been delayed by the landing group's naval commander for some reason that has not been made clear to me. (OOC: The TF sat, unmoving, in mid-ocean all turn. I checked and everything was correctly set. They didn't retire. They just didn't move, at all.)
Another co-ordinated raid on Singkawang caught a patrol boat with a pair of bombs. A separate attack by B-25s hit a freighter. The B-25s returned later in the afternoon and hit two more freighters.
At New Guinea, the enemy landing force reached Lae. Beaufort V-IX bombers from Port Moresby attacked the ships as they began unloading and scored torpedo hits on two gunboats and a transport, sinking one of the PGs.
A flight of Martins hit a IJN oiler at Brunei. Beauforts bombed a freighter near Singapore. Other Beauforts, in separate attacks, attacked but missed a destroyer and two battleships in the same area. A flight of Wellingtons lost a plane attacking one of the same BBs.
Engineers at Gasmata have lengthened the runways there, allowing the Wirraways enough room to take off with bomb loads now. They attacked an enemy convoy north of the island but were not able to score any hits.
A dozen Bettys tried to attack the ships at Apamama. P-40s from Tarawa shot down or drove off all but three of them and the Maryland was able to evade their torpedoes.
The enemy carriers are just west of Banjarmasin and about a hundred miles northwest of Batavia, this second group having traveresed the strait between Java and Sumatra during the night. They launched an attack on Palembang that was met by one Brewster and a dozen Hawks. The Brewster was the first casualty and was joined by one of the Hawks. But the rest continued to perform outstandingly, shooting down two Zeroes, five Kates and six Vals out of the hundred and thirty plane strike. While damage to the airfield was extensive, I believe it to be worth the cost as we are slowly eating away at the enemy's carrier airgroups. (Editor's Note: After the war, an Imperial Japanese Navy pilot described this as "being nibbled to death by vicious ducks.") The first task force launched a small attack on Banjarmasin, destroying some planes on the ground and damaging a number of others.
Bettys and Lilys bombed Tarakan. Bettys and Zeroes tried to attack Gili Gili, but were turned back with losses by the Kittyhawks there.
Enemy troops began unloading near the undefended base at Lae. Fast moving Japanese armor attacked the lead elements of the Indian brigade at Moulmein, recapturing the base. While this is a much faster response than I expected, it still bought Rangoon a few days. Japanese forces continued to attack at Tarakan with the defenders falling back in good order before them.
More reports to follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
14 May 42
Intelligence reports an enemy tanker sinking at Brunei.
Near Singapore the S-39 torpedoed a freighter but missed a second one a short time later. In the Celebes Sea the Seadragon got into a gun duel with an enemy troop transport.
Some more minor damage was done by the night bombers at Tavoy.
A Japanese surface group shelled Gasmata. Damage and casualties were light, even more so considering there was at least one battleship in the enemy task force.
Another light raid by Chinese bombers against Chengting. The enemy countered with an even less effective attack on Yenen. The Japanese fighters were quickly driven off leaving the three Sonias unprotected, at which point the Chinese quickly shot all of them down.
Wellingtons attacked Singapore on their own, the Flying Forts being down for maintenance. They did just fine, destroying almost ten planes on the ground. A number of ships were also hit in the harbor, a subchaser, a transport, a fast transport, two freighters, a destroyer and a cruiser.
The Japanese division west of Wuhan was bombed.
The Australian B-25 crews are getting pretty good at their job. They hit two more freighters at Singkawang in the morning, each with multiple bombs. Then in the afternoon they returned to repeat the performance. Dutch Martins hit another freighter at Pontianak. The Port Moresby Beauforts hit a gunboat in the landing force at Lae. A flight of Wellingtons hit a minesweeper outside Singapore. A number of other strikes, mostly around Singapore, were not successful.
The Wirraways at Gasmata launched several strikes. Unfortunately the first one was against a freighter just north of Rabaul and they were intercepted by Zeroes. Eight out of the fourteen were shot down, the survivors managing to score a bomb hit on their target. They also attacked a minesweeper and transport north of Talasea but missed both ships.
IJN carrier planes bombed the facilities at Padang. Jesselton and Tarakan were bombed by planes based out of the Philippines. Menado was also attacked, with two of the defending Brewsters here shot down by escorts but taking two Sallys with them. Two dozen Bettys bombed Gasmata but missed the base completely.
Two small groups of Bettys tried to attack our ships at Apamama. Several were shot down by defending P-40s and none of our ships were hit. They also attacked and missed a DD minelayer at Tarawa after the group it was part of mined Makin during the night.
Unfortunately a freighter at Macassar was not as lucky. The enemy carrier group cruising around the southwest corner of Borneo launched a strike and hit the ship with three bombs.
Enemy troops occupied Lae. The Japs launched an attack against the rearguard at Tarakan. The 161st RCT quickly captured Apamama, the lead troops overrunning the disorganized and unsupplied garrison.
Now we just need Makin to complete our control of the Gilbert Islands. The Marine pilots on Tarawa will begin working on the defenders there and the 24th RCT is already enroute to Baker and prepping to land.
More troops arrived in theatre. At Karachi: the Indian 5th Division, the UK 251st Brigade, the US 101st Base Force and 101st Aviation Regiment. In San Francisco: the 5th Air Force HQ, the 2nd and 5th Sea Bees, the 30th Navy Base Force, the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and the 813th EAB.
More reports to follow.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
Hmmm, apparently being nibbled to death by ducks is much more common than I thought.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
*tap* *tap* *tap*
Is this thing even turned on? If no one is paying any attention to this, I'd like to know so I can stop spending 2/3's of my gaming time writing.
Is this thing even turned on? If no one is paying any attention to this, I'd like to know so I can stop spending 2/3's of my gaming time writing.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
-
Bradley7735
- Posts: 2073
- Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2004 8:51 pm
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
I'm reading it.
I actually like reading your's and Thayne's reports more than the player vs player aar's. They go faster than the others. I wish I could read something that was in 1943 or 1944, because all of the Jan to Apr 42 AAR's are getting repetitive. (of course, the player vs player aar's are nice because you can usually see both sides perspective)
Anyway, it's nice to read your AAR, but I couldn't spend the time you do on this.
bc
I actually like reading your's and Thayne's reports more than the player vs player aar's. They go faster than the others. I wish I could read something that was in 1943 or 1944, because all of the Jan to Apr 42 AAR's are getting repetitive. (of course, the player vs player aar's are nice because you can usually see both sides perspective)
Anyway, it's nice to read your AAR, but I couldn't spend the time you do on this.
bc
The older I get, the better I was.
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mwindsorfw
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:46 pm
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
I second everything BC wrote. You and Thayne have the best AARs going. I wish I had a map nearby as a point of reference.
-Mike
-Mike
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
D I am another person, who only follows yours and Thayne's AAR. They come straight to my email, so that is why you get a response from me. Keep up all the work! I am in march of 42, so I am going through a lot of what you are too. It helps to see somebody else's perspective. Thanks again
travis
travis
You are what you do, when it counts.
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Cap Mandrake
- Posts: 20737
- Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2002 8:37 am
- Location: Southern California
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
ORIGINAL: dtravel
*tap* *tap* *tap*
Is this thing even turned on? If no one is paying any attention to this, I'd like to know so I can stop spending 2/3's of my gaming time writing.
LOL..."Is this thing even turned on?"
Hilarious[:D]
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
Well, I'm hearing some noise from out there behind the glare of the spotlight. [:'(]
I don't mean to be cranky or moody but its hard to operate in a vacuum. Some occasional feedback and comments helps. Off we go! or On we go! or whatever.
I don't mean to be cranky or moody but its hard to operate in a vacuum. Some occasional feedback and comments helps. Off we go! or On we go! or whatever.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
15 May 42
The Grayling hit a very heavily escorted troop transport near Camranh Bay. The Gar had a brief encounter with a lone destroyer near Aparri. The Plunger spotted another extremely heavily escorted transport near Wenchow but wasn't able to get close enough for an attack. North of Rabaul the S-45 was forced to evade half-a-dozen enemy destroyers. In the Sulu Sea the Permit missed an already damaged freighter.
Night Blenheims bombed the runways at Tavoy. The Liberators and Wellingtons returned, doing good damage to the airfield but not catching any enemy planes on the ground. If it weren't for spotting reports and developments later in the day I would think the enemy had withdrawn his aircraft from Tavoy.
The Chinese did some light damage to the air base at Chengting but missed the harbor at Taan.
Two flights of Sallys escorted by twice that many Oscars flying from Bangkok were turned back by the AVG over Rangoon after several of the escorts were shot down.
Wellingtons continued hammering away at Singapore. They destroyed a few planes and damaged a good deal more. They also hit four transports, a freighter and a destroyer in the harbor. Later in the day Beauforts hit two more freighters and another transport.
The base at Palembang was damaged by an enemy raid by land based air. One of the defending Hawks was lost but almost a decade of enemy planes, mostly Lilys, were also shot down. Two flights of Sallys failed to do any damage to Menado but the two dozen Zeroes kept the defending Brewsters well away. We need to pull this unit out. They can't fight Zeroes and the squadron has been decimated by the attempts.
B-25s bombed enemy troops facing the rebuilding Rangoon Perimeter. The Marine divebombers at Tarawa began attacking the enemy garrison on Makin.
A strike by B-25s on Singkawang hit a freighter. Beauforts and A-20 Bostons put a pair of torpedoes and a pair of bombs into a troops transport at Lae. The ABDA Martins didn't score any hits today, which is a bit unusual now. A flight of A-20s missed a minesweeper north of Talasea. Several of the Gasmata Wirraways were shot down by AAA fire when they attacked an enemy battleship in the same area to no effect. A flight of A-20s later in the day missed the same ship but at least managed to avoid losing any planes to flak. Beauforts scored a bomb hit on the BB Hyuga near Singapore.
Two flights of Bettys and a flight of Sallys tried to attack the freighter unloading at Rangoon without escort. About half were shot down or aborted in the face of the AVG and the rest were unable to hit. Tarakan was bombed. This doesn't bother me as the garrison is retreating anyways.
The Port Moresby Beauforts and Bostons returned to Lae in the afternoon, bombing the area around the airfield.
We've lost track of the enemy carrier force in the southern Indian Ocean but the other one is now about a hundred miles due east of Lombok. This group sank the freighter that was unloading at Macassar.
The lead units of the enemy forces returning to Rangoon began shelling the defenders digging back in along the Perimeter. The enemy landing at Tarakan continued to attack the rearguard of the slowly retreating garrison. The enemy hasn't yet managed to occupy the base but will likely do so soon.
We have been flying in aircraft support personnel from the 222 RAF Aviation in Mandalay to Rangoon. We've also used this break in the siege to try to rotate out the Hurricanes that were in Rangoon and replace them with some fresh units.
More reinforcements. The New Zealanders commisioned a squadron of Kittyhawks. A squadron each of RAF Mohawks and Hudsons arrived in Dacca. And the 38 Bomb Group using B-26 bombers arrived in Seattle. A destroyer and two minesweepers were completed at Sydney. The Royal Navy has sent another carrier, the Illustrious, along with a destroyer to India. A destroyer and two more subs arrived in San Francisco.
More reports to follow.
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16 May 42
Sorry, I got sidetracked by something and completely forgot to write this up before I ran the next turn and lost the combat report. From memory the turn was very similar to the previous day, the only thing of note being that Tarakan fell and neither IJN carrier group was spotted.
More reports to follow.
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17 May 42
Tavoy was bombed during the night. The daytime strike by the Wellingtons and Liberators destroyed several enemy planes.
The Chinese lost a bomber to flak over Chengting. The raid on Taan hit a torpedo boat.
The Japanese raided Yenen again. They lost most of their fourteen Nates and half the nine Sonias.
The raid on Singapore destroyed two enemy planes and hit three transports and a freighter in the harbor.
The enemy attack on Palembang did not fair well. Several enemy planes were shot down and most of the attacking force turned back. Balikpapan was attacked by a decade of Zeroes escorting fourteen Bettys. One of the defending P-40s was lost but they took down half-a-dozen enemy planes and turned the rest of the raid back.
B-25s attacked enemy troops along the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marines continued attacking Makin.
The now almost regular two prong strike on Singkawang from Batavia and Banjarmasin went after a light cruiser and a destroyer but wasn't able to hit either ship. Only one of the other strikes around Borneo or Singapore did any better today, Wellingtons hit a transport near Singapore.
Beauforts and Bostons attacked the enemy surface group at Lae. Many of the Beauforts were damaged by AAA fire but an enemy heavy cruiser was struck by two torpedoes.
We re-acquired one of the enemy carrier groups, a hundred and fifty miles west of Bali. They launched a strike against Soerabaja, destroying several B-25s on the ground and damaging the dirfield.
A flight of Zeroes and two flights of Bettys attacked Gasmata but missed the base again. A similar size strike missed a freighter heading for Gasmata with supplies.
The enemy launched an attack against the Rangoon Perimeter. The arrival of the UK 18th Division helped the defenders hold but losses were high. Fortunately the enemy's losses were even higher.
More reports to follow.
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18 May 42
The damaged tanker that escaped from Tarakan sank in port at Balikpapan.
The Drum misses a freighter off the shore of Honshu near Tokyo. The O16 missed a heavily damaged near Singapore.
Chinese bombers did minor damage to the enemy airbase at Chengting. A pair of SB-2s dropped some bombs on Taan.
The enemy attack from Bangkok against Rangoon was turned back by the AVG's P-40s. The retreat was so fast that they suffered almost no losses, only a single escort Oscar.
The Wellingtons hammered enemy shipping in port at Singapore. We are estimating a destroyer, a minesweeper and six troop transports were all hit by Allied bombs.
Chinese bombers attacked enemy troops outside Wuhan and at Canton. The new Hurricane squadrons at Rangoon made low level strafing and bombing runs against IJA forces outside the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marines on Tarawa continued bombing Makin.
Several strikes were launched by our planes at Gasmata and Port Moresby against the enemy's surface group as it leaves Lae. Two enemy cruisers were hit by a Beaufort launched torpedoes and a battleship by a bomb. A number of planes were damaged by the ships' AAA fire and one of the Wirraways was lost.
Four freighters at Pontianak are hit by strikes from Wellingtons and B-25s. Beauforts bombed a freighter outside Singapore, hitting it with multiple bombs. Another Beaufort strike hit a transport. A pair of Martins hit a patrol boat near Brunei.
An enemy carrier group launched an attack on the tanker Empire Metal a hundred miles east-northeast of Bali. The ship was heavily damaged and is changing course for Bali. The ship was at Palembang when this latest incursion by the enemy's CVs began and her captain apparently thought the ship could slip thru the Java Sea to reach Australia. Soerabaja was also attacked, although this was by only a single Val and a single Kate escorted by twenty Zeroes. The two bombers none the less destroyed two of the Aussie Mitchells and damaged two more.
The empty base at Jesselton was bombed.
The Chinese have launched their attack on Canton and the lead elements have reached the outskirts. The enemy responded with several strikes by small groups of Bettys against the Chinese infantry.
A decade of Bettys tried to attack a freighter unloading supplies at Lunga. Several were shot down by defending P-39s and several more turned back. The remaining bombers failed to hit the ship. Two more flights of Bettys, escorted by a dozen or so Zeroes, tried the same thing at Gasmata. P-40s from the recently arrived 49th Fighter Group shot down one of the Zeroes and disrupted the bombers enough to keep them from hitting this second freighter.
Fighting along the Rangoon Perimeter was relatively light. Enemy troops continue to pursue the garrison retreating from Tarakan, launching another attack on the rear guard units. Japanese forces at Canton tried to launch a pre-emptive attack on Chinese troops closing on the city. But it appears that they were not prepared for the size of the Chinese forces. The Chinese are reporting about seven hundred casualties and are claiming over five thousand enemy troops were lost.
More reports to follow.
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19 May 42
After navigation problems last night the Blenheims attacked Tavoy during the night, doing significant damage. The Wellingtons and LB-30s did more damage during the day.
Chinese bombers attacked the IJA 3rd Division near Wuhan. More bombers attacked Japanese troops at Canton. Hurricanes and Mitchells attacked along the Rangoon Perimeter. A unit of B-25s has joined the Marine divebombers on Tarawa. The first of those joined the Dauntlesses in attacking Makin today.
North of Rabaul a flight of Wirraways, escorted by almost twenty P-40s, attacking enemy ships was intercepted by a dozen Zeroes. The attackers did not fair well, losing two of each aircraft type while only shooting down one of the Japs before turning back. Another flight of Wirraways missed a freighter near Talasea.
Almost twenty Bettys attacked Lunga. Most were driven back and one shot down by the decade of P-39s and the ship that was their target was not hit. One flight of Bettys tried to attack the freighter at Gasmata, escorted by fifteen Zeroes. P-40s intercepted and a couple of fighters were lost on both sides. This ship also escaped damage.
A pair of Beauforts hit a freighter near Singapore. A later strike by nine others scored multiple hits on another freighter. Near Singkawang a third freighter was hit by another flight of Beauforts.
A single Zero and a single Kate attacked Soerabaja. AAA damaged the bomber, but once again we are baffled by this bizarre behavior from the otherwise very good IJN carrier planes.
Two dozen each Bettys and Zeroes bombed Menado, doing almost no damage.
A flight each of Beauforts and A-20s, with a Kittyhawk escort, bombed the enemy's supply dump at Lae.
Chinese forces at Canton were bombed by some Bettys.
A flight of A-20s missed an enemy cruiser southwest of Admiralty Island.
The Chinese tried to counter-attack at Canton but suffered over thirteen hundred casualties without gaining any ground. Skirmishing continued along the Rangoon Perimeter. And the Indian unit behind the enemy lines re-occupied Moulmein.
We have intelligence that at least one enemy division is planning for an attack on Balikpapan. And with the enemy carrier group apparently heading north in the Java Sea, we can finally move at least some of the Australian 6th Division that were already tapped for there. We're also going to board the US 32nd Division onto ships at Darwin and try to get them to Balikpapan.
More reports to follow.
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20 May 42
The Searaven missed a freighter near Singkawang.
The prolonged quiet in the Coral Sea seemed to indicate that the fighting here was done. But this was shown to be wrong when a Jap sub fired on and missed a minesweeper in an Australian ASW group. The ships were not able to track down the attacker.
Tavoy was hit night and day again. Only one or two enemy planes were destroyed but substantial damage was done to the airfield.
A few enemy bombers attacked the Indians at Moulmein but did no significant damage.
Wellingtons continued to hammer away at Singapore. More than a dozen enemy planes are believed destroyed and heavy enemy casualties were inflicted among the garrison. The harbor saw a freighter, a destroyer and two transports hit by bombs.
Chinese bombers continued attacking enemy troops outside Wuhan. Hurricanes and B-25s strafed and bombed forces outside the Rangoon Perimeter. Dauntlesses and B-25s hit Makin as well.
A flight of Martins hit a transport with two bombs near Pontianak. Beauforts hit a transport at Singapore.
The air over New Britain was filled with a large swirling dogfight as the bases at Gasmata and Rabaul both launched strikes against ships in the other's port. While both sides' bombers turned back this would have to be considered a tactical win for the enemy. Total losses here for the day are six Zeroes, one Betty, thirteen P-40s and one Wirraway.
A freighter at Lae was hit by bombers from Port Moresby.
The one enemy carrier group that we are tracking is now near the Java coast about a hundred miles south of Batavia. They launched two strikes, the first against the airfield at Batavia. The defending Demons and Brewsters lost most of their numbers trying to penetrate the Zero escort but were not able to do so. Flak accounted for all the dozen or so Vals and Kates the enemy lost, but they did heavy damage to the air base. We lost more than two dozen planes on the ground and substantial damage was done to the hangers and rivetments. The second was another of those bizarre single plane unit attacks against Tjilitjap. One Zero, one Val and one Kate were involved. AAA fire from the defenders shot down the Kate.
Four Bettys tried to attack Port Moresby. Two were shot down and the other two ran. Several attacks on the Chinese forces at Canton were reported.
The Japanese launched another attack against the growing Chinese forces at Canton. Results were similar to the last attempt, less than a thousand Chinese losses compared to over 5500 enemy losses. I forsee a long siege coming at Canton. Allied forces did well in the skirmishing along the Rangoon Perimeter.
More reports to follow.
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21 May 42
The Searaven attacked another freighter near Singkawang. She scored two torpedo hits and several hits with her deck gun. The Swordfish missed an enemy oiler near Tarakan. The KXVII evaded an enemy ASW group near Brunei.
The night fighters bombed Tavoy again. The AVG made a sweep over Tavoy and encountered a new enemy fighter. It appears to be a new model of Zero. Fortunately the P-40s outnumbered the enemy by four to one and shot down four of them without lose.
Chinese bombers returned to Taan.
Due to the damage from the enemy carrier raid on Batavia yesterday, only two flights of Wellingtons were able to attack Singapore. They went after the airfield but the damage was limited by their low numbers.
Palembang was attacked by enemy land-based air. A Brewster and two Hawks were lost but they took down around half-a-dozen enemy planes, limiting the damage done to the base. Jesselton was also bombed. Nell bombers attacked Morotai but did no damage.
The bombers at Tarawa hit Makin again.
There was more fighting over New Britain. Several P-40s escorting some Wirraways against Rabaul were lost, along with one of the Australian planes before they turned back. However, the enemy's attack on Gasmata did get thru, doing minor damage to the airfield. One of the defending P-40s was lost and the enemy lost several escort Zeroes.
The enemy launched an attack on the Rangoon Perimeter with heavy losses on both sides. The fighting at Canton was bloody with both sides launching attacks. The Chinese are admitting to over two thousand casualties and placing the enemy's losses at over 5500.
More reports to follow.
The Grayling hit a very heavily escorted troop transport near Camranh Bay. The Gar had a brief encounter with a lone destroyer near Aparri. The Plunger spotted another extremely heavily escorted transport near Wenchow but wasn't able to get close enough for an attack. North of Rabaul the S-45 was forced to evade half-a-dozen enemy destroyers. In the Sulu Sea the Permit missed an already damaged freighter.
Night Blenheims bombed the runways at Tavoy. The Liberators and Wellingtons returned, doing good damage to the airfield but not catching any enemy planes on the ground. If it weren't for spotting reports and developments later in the day I would think the enemy had withdrawn his aircraft from Tavoy.
The Chinese did some light damage to the air base at Chengting but missed the harbor at Taan.
Two flights of Sallys escorted by twice that many Oscars flying from Bangkok were turned back by the AVG over Rangoon after several of the escorts were shot down.
Wellingtons continued hammering away at Singapore. They destroyed a few planes and damaged a good deal more. They also hit four transports, a freighter and a destroyer in the harbor. Later in the day Beauforts hit two more freighters and another transport.
The base at Palembang was damaged by an enemy raid by land based air. One of the defending Hawks was lost but almost a decade of enemy planes, mostly Lilys, were also shot down. Two flights of Sallys failed to do any damage to Menado but the two dozen Zeroes kept the defending Brewsters well away. We need to pull this unit out. They can't fight Zeroes and the squadron has been decimated by the attempts.
B-25s bombed enemy troops facing the rebuilding Rangoon Perimeter. The Marine divebombers at Tarawa began attacking the enemy garrison on Makin.
A strike by B-25s on Singkawang hit a freighter. Beauforts and A-20 Bostons put a pair of torpedoes and a pair of bombs into a troops transport at Lae. The ABDA Martins didn't score any hits today, which is a bit unusual now. A flight of A-20s missed a minesweeper north of Talasea. Several of the Gasmata Wirraways were shot down by AAA fire when they attacked an enemy battleship in the same area to no effect. A flight of A-20s later in the day missed the same ship but at least managed to avoid losing any planes to flak. Beauforts scored a bomb hit on the BB Hyuga near Singapore.
Two flights of Bettys and a flight of Sallys tried to attack the freighter unloading at Rangoon without escort. About half were shot down or aborted in the face of the AVG and the rest were unable to hit. Tarakan was bombed. This doesn't bother me as the garrison is retreating anyways.
The Port Moresby Beauforts and Bostons returned to Lae in the afternoon, bombing the area around the airfield.
We've lost track of the enemy carrier force in the southern Indian Ocean but the other one is now about a hundred miles due east of Lombok. This group sank the freighter that was unloading at Macassar.
The lead units of the enemy forces returning to Rangoon began shelling the defenders digging back in along the Perimeter. The enemy landing at Tarakan continued to attack the rearguard of the slowly retreating garrison. The enemy hasn't yet managed to occupy the base but will likely do so soon.
We have been flying in aircraft support personnel from the 222 RAF Aviation in Mandalay to Rangoon. We've also used this break in the siege to try to rotate out the Hurricanes that were in Rangoon and replace them with some fresh units.
More reinforcements. The New Zealanders commisioned a squadron of Kittyhawks. A squadron each of RAF Mohawks and Hudsons arrived in Dacca. And the 38 Bomb Group using B-26 bombers arrived in Seattle. A destroyer and two minesweepers were completed at Sydney. The Royal Navy has sent another carrier, the Illustrious, along with a destroyer to India. A destroyer and two more subs arrived in San Francisco.
More reports to follow.
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16 May 42
Sorry, I got sidetracked by something and completely forgot to write this up before I ran the next turn and lost the combat report. From memory the turn was very similar to the previous day, the only thing of note being that Tarakan fell and neither IJN carrier group was spotted.
More reports to follow.
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17 May 42
Tavoy was bombed during the night. The daytime strike by the Wellingtons and Liberators destroyed several enemy planes.
The Chinese lost a bomber to flak over Chengting. The raid on Taan hit a torpedo boat.
The Japanese raided Yenen again. They lost most of their fourteen Nates and half the nine Sonias.
The raid on Singapore destroyed two enemy planes and hit three transports and a freighter in the harbor.
The enemy attack on Palembang did not fair well. Several enemy planes were shot down and most of the attacking force turned back. Balikpapan was attacked by a decade of Zeroes escorting fourteen Bettys. One of the defending P-40s was lost but they took down half-a-dozen enemy planes and turned the rest of the raid back.
B-25s attacked enemy troops along the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marines continued attacking Makin.
The now almost regular two prong strike on Singkawang from Batavia and Banjarmasin went after a light cruiser and a destroyer but wasn't able to hit either ship. Only one of the other strikes around Borneo or Singapore did any better today, Wellingtons hit a transport near Singapore.
Beauforts and Bostons attacked the enemy surface group at Lae. Many of the Beauforts were damaged by AAA fire but an enemy heavy cruiser was struck by two torpedoes.
We re-acquired one of the enemy carrier groups, a hundred and fifty miles west of Bali. They launched a strike against Soerabaja, destroying several B-25s on the ground and damaging the dirfield.
A flight of Zeroes and two flights of Bettys attacked Gasmata but missed the base again. A similar size strike missed a freighter heading for Gasmata with supplies.
The enemy launched an attack against the Rangoon Perimeter. The arrival of the UK 18th Division helped the defenders hold but losses were high. Fortunately the enemy's losses were even higher.
More reports to follow.
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18 May 42
The damaged tanker that escaped from Tarakan sank in port at Balikpapan.
The Drum misses a freighter off the shore of Honshu near Tokyo. The O16 missed a heavily damaged near Singapore.
Chinese bombers did minor damage to the enemy airbase at Chengting. A pair of SB-2s dropped some bombs on Taan.
The enemy attack from Bangkok against Rangoon was turned back by the AVG's P-40s. The retreat was so fast that they suffered almost no losses, only a single escort Oscar.
The Wellingtons hammered enemy shipping in port at Singapore. We are estimating a destroyer, a minesweeper and six troop transports were all hit by Allied bombs.
Chinese bombers attacked enemy troops outside Wuhan and at Canton. The new Hurricane squadrons at Rangoon made low level strafing and bombing runs against IJA forces outside the Rangoon Perimeter. The Marines on Tarawa continued bombing Makin.
Several strikes were launched by our planes at Gasmata and Port Moresby against the enemy's surface group as it leaves Lae. Two enemy cruisers were hit by a Beaufort launched torpedoes and a battleship by a bomb. A number of planes were damaged by the ships' AAA fire and one of the Wirraways was lost.
Four freighters at Pontianak are hit by strikes from Wellingtons and B-25s. Beauforts bombed a freighter outside Singapore, hitting it with multiple bombs. Another Beaufort strike hit a transport. A pair of Martins hit a patrol boat near Brunei.
An enemy carrier group launched an attack on the tanker Empire Metal a hundred miles east-northeast of Bali. The ship was heavily damaged and is changing course for Bali. The ship was at Palembang when this latest incursion by the enemy's CVs began and her captain apparently thought the ship could slip thru the Java Sea to reach Australia. Soerabaja was also attacked, although this was by only a single Val and a single Kate escorted by twenty Zeroes. The two bombers none the less destroyed two of the Aussie Mitchells and damaged two more.
The empty base at Jesselton was bombed.
The Chinese have launched their attack on Canton and the lead elements have reached the outskirts. The enemy responded with several strikes by small groups of Bettys against the Chinese infantry.
A decade of Bettys tried to attack a freighter unloading supplies at Lunga. Several were shot down by defending P-39s and several more turned back. The remaining bombers failed to hit the ship. Two more flights of Bettys, escorted by a dozen or so Zeroes, tried the same thing at Gasmata. P-40s from the recently arrived 49th Fighter Group shot down one of the Zeroes and disrupted the bombers enough to keep them from hitting this second freighter.
Fighting along the Rangoon Perimeter was relatively light. Enemy troops continue to pursue the garrison retreating from Tarakan, launching another attack on the rear guard units. Japanese forces at Canton tried to launch a pre-emptive attack on Chinese troops closing on the city. But it appears that they were not prepared for the size of the Chinese forces. The Chinese are reporting about seven hundred casualties and are claiming over five thousand enemy troops were lost.
More reports to follow.
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19 May 42
After navigation problems last night the Blenheims attacked Tavoy during the night, doing significant damage. The Wellingtons and LB-30s did more damage during the day.
Chinese bombers attacked the IJA 3rd Division near Wuhan. More bombers attacked Japanese troops at Canton. Hurricanes and Mitchells attacked along the Rangoon Perimeter. A unit of B-25s has joined the Marine divebombers on Tarawa. The first of those joined the Dauntlesses in attacking Makin today.
North of Rabaul a flight of Wirraways, escorted by almost twenty P-40s, attacking enemy ships was intercepted by a dozen Zeroes. The attackers did not fair well, losing two of each aircraft type while only shooting down one of the Japs before turning back. Another flight of Wirraways missed a freighter near Talasea.
Almost twenty Bettys attacked Lunga. Most were driven back and one shot down by the decade of P-39s and the ship that was their target was not hit. One flight of Bettys tried to attack the freighter at Gasmata, escorted by fifteen Zeroes. P-40s intercepted and a couple of fighters were lost on both sides. This ship also escaped damage.
A pair of Beauforts hit a freighter near Singapore. A later strike by nine others scored multiple hits on another freighter. Near Singkawang a third freighter was hit by another flight of Beauforts.
A single Zero and a single Kate attacked Soerabaja. AAA damaged the bomber, but once again we are baffled by this bizarre behavior from the otherwise very good IJN carrier planes.
Two dozen each Bettys and Zeroes bombed Menado, doing almost no damage.
A flight each of Beauforts and A-20s, with a Kittyhawk escort, bombed the enemy's supply dump at Lae.
Chinese forces at Canton were bombed by some Bettys.
A flight of A-20s missed an enemy cruiser southwest of Admiralty Island.
The Chinese tried to counter-attack at Canton but suffered over thirteen hundred casualties without gaining any ground. Skirmishing continued along the Rangoon Perimeter. And the Indian unit behind the enemy lines re-occupied Moulmein.
We have intelligence that at least one enemy division is planning for an attack on Balikpapan. And with the enemy carrier group apparently heading north in the Java Sea, we can finally move at least some of the Australian 6th Division that were already tapped for there. We're also going to board the US 32nd Division onto ships at Darwin and try to get them to Balikpapan.
More reports to follow.
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20 May 42
The Searaven missed a freighter near Singkawang.
The prolonged quiet in the Coral Sea seemed to indicate that the fighting here was done. But this was shown to be wrong when a Jap sub fired on and missed a minesweeper in an Australian ASW group. The ships were not able to track down the attacker.
Tavoy was hit night and day again. Only one or two enemy planes were destroyed but substantial damage was done to the airfield.
A few enemy bombers attacked the Indians at Moulmein but did no significant damage.
Wellingtons continued to hammer away at Singapore. More than a dozen enemy planes are believed destroyed and heavy enemy casualties were inflicted among the garrison. The harbor saw a freighter, a destroyer and two transports hit by bombs.
Chinese bombers continued attacking enemy troops outside Wuhan. Hurricanes and B-25s strafed and bombed forces outside the Rangoon Perimeter. Dauntlesses and B-25s hit Makin as well.
A flight of Martins hit a transport with two bombs near Pontianak. Beauforts hit a transport at Singapore.
The air over New Britain was filled with a large swirling dogfight as the bases at Gasmata and Rabaul both launched strikes against ships in the other's port. While both sides' bombers turned back this would have to be considered a tactical win for the enemy. Total losses here for the day are six Zeroes, one Betty, thirteen P-40s and one Wirraway.
A freighter at Lae was hit by bombers from Port Moresby.
The one enemy carrier group that we are tracking is now near the Java coast about a hundred miles south of Batavia. They launched two strikes, the first against the airfield at Batavia. The defending Demons and Brewsters lost most of their numbers trying to penetrate the Zero escort but were not able to do so. Flak accounted for all the dozen or so Vals and Kates the enemy lost, but they did heavy damage to the air base. We lost more than two dozen planes on the ground and substantial damage was done to the hangers and rivetments. The second was another of those bizarre single plane unit attacks against Tjilitjap. One Zero, one Val and one Kate were involved. AAA fire from the defenders shot down the Kate.
Four Bettys tried to attack Port Moresby. Two were shot down and the other two ran. Several attacks on the Chinese forces at Canton were reported.
The Japanese launched another attack against the growing Chinese forces at Canton. Results were similar to the last attempt, less than a thousand Chinese losses compared to over 5500 enemy losses. I forsee a long siege coming at Canton. Allied forces did well in the skirmishing along the Rangoon Perimeter.
More reports to follow.
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21 May 42
The Searaven attacked another freighter near Singkawang. She scored two torpedo hits and several hits with her deck gun. The Swordfish missed an enemy oiler near Tarakan. The KXVII evaded an enemy ASW group near Brunei.
The night fighters bombed Tavoy again. The AVG made a sweep over Tavoy and encountered a new enemy fighter. It appears to be a new model of Zero. Fortunately the P-40s outnumbered the enemy by four to one and shot down four of them without lose.
Chinese bombers returned to Taan.
Due to the damage from the enemy carrier raid on Batavia yesterday, only two flights of Wellingtons were able to attack Singapore. They went after the airfield but the damage was limited by their low numbers.
Palembang was attacked by enemy land-based air. A Brewster and two Hawks were lost but they took down around half-a-dozen enemy planes, limiting the damage done to the base. Jesselton was also bombed. Nell bombers attacked Morotai but did no damage.
The bombers at Tarawa hit Makin again.
There was more fighting over New Britain. Several P-40s escorting some Wirraways against Rabaul were lost, along with one of the Australian planes before they turned back. However, the enemy's attack on Gasmata did get thru, doing minor damage to the airfield. One of the defending P-40s was lost and the enemy lost several escort Zeroes.
The enemy launched an attack on the Rangoon Perimeter with heavy losses on both sides. The fighting at Canton was bloody with both sides launching attacks. The Chinese are admitting to over two thousand casualties and placing the enemy's losses at over 5500.
More reports to follow.
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
-
Bradley7735
- Posts: 2073
- Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2004 8:51 pm
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
Hey,
I really like seeing summaries every 6 months or so. Maybe you could put together a short VP list. (number of aircraft destroyed, LCU points, number and types of ships lost, for both sides)
It's hard to remember what ships you've lost, because I tend to mix up some of these AAR's.
Thanks, bc
I really like seeing summaries every 6 months or so. Maybe you could put together a short VP list. (number of aircraft destroyed, LCU points, number and types of ships lost, for both sides)
It's hard to remember what ships you've lost, because I tend to mix up some of these AAR's.
Thanks, bc
The older I get, the better I was.
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
ORIGINAL: dtravel
Well, I'm hearing some noise from out there behind the glare of the spotlight. [:'(]
I don't mean to be cranky or moody but its hard to operate in a vacuum. Some occasional feedback and comments helps. Off we go! or On we go! or whatever.
I understand your situation.
I just look at the number of hits I get in a particular period. As long as it stays high enough, I must assume that I am entertaining somebody.
Of course, my wife is out there visiting my report 60 times a day just because she knows it makes me happy.
Thayne
RE: Reports From the Front (AAR from a first time player.)
ORIGINAL: Bradley7735
Hey,
I really like seeing summaries every 6 months or so. Maybe you could put together a short VP list. (number of aircraft destroyed, LCU points, number and types of ships lost, for both sides)
I've been considering that for when I reach six months after the last overall situation report. [:'(]
ORIGINAL: Bradley7735
It's hard to remember what ships you've lost, because I tend to mix up some of these AAR's.
Why do you think I've been avoiding reading some of the other AARs? [:D]
This game does not have a learning curve. It has a learning cliff.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.
"Bomb early, bomb often, bomb everything." - Niceguy
Any bugs I report are always straight stock games.