Djokarta fell on March 2nd and the Allies are now reatreating from Kragen and will soon abandon Madoien as well.
Soebaja will have a strong defense with 5 good regiments in good condition, plus some additional battalions and the survivors of the Djokarta collapse behind a level 5 fort.
The air situation is also good. There are now 2 Marine F4 groups flying at Soerbaja plus 2 groups of P40Es. So far they have been able to keep the Japanese from shutting the airfield down. The bases at Malang and Bali are also in good shape. If the Fort holds there could be a long siege with a big, long air battle.
The Japanese are not putting ships in the Java sea any more, they unload supplies at Batavia, out of range of the Beauforts in Soerbaja and send them by rail.
Further South there has been some action at Timor. The Japanese have hit Koepang from time to time while the Allies build up Lautem. CAP is being provided by Aussie Hurricanes and US P39s and P40s. I parked a bunch of bases forces in Darwin since December to build them up and they will move to Koepang and Dili soon. There is also a Marine defense battaltion and the 161 Regimental combat team on the way and a 260 Aviation support unit heading to Darwin from India.
The Japanese effort to close Timor down has been interrupted by the need to hit back in the Philipines and possibly by lack of shipping, I would love to know losing 164 ships is actually constraining the Japanese or not. Figuring that for every sunk ship there is one or even 2 that is damaged that would mean 300 to 400 ships out of action which is a lot. Also the sinkings and damagings are costing supplies, both on convoys that don't get run because the ships got damaged and on ships carrying supply that lost it when the bomb hit.
The most interesting questions in the game right now:
How long will Java last?
Its well supplied and supported, but the Japanese have superior forces
What will the Japanese do about the Philipines?
Bypassing them is proving expensive and they don't seem to be falling. Clark's fort will be level 8 soon.
Will the Allies get Timor built up before the Japanese can attack it?
This is a race, pure and simple.
Spotted March 7th 1942, maybe there will be a big fight in the Wake area.
I also spotted BBs at Gili Gili but they could be PT boats for all the skill my recon pilots have. I am building a cruiser group at Brisbane, they may wander North to check things out.
In China 60,000 Japanese bombarded Changsha, where they hit 166,000 Chinese and caused 77 causulties. The remaining 165,933 are shock attacking next turn. Its Pretty clear he has no idea that another 150,000 man army will form in Wuchow by the middle of March and that is going to be a nasty suprise.
Attrition continues in Java, and also Timor. The Royal Navy gets a CV in 7 or 8 days and another BB, the BB fleet will then cross the Indian Ocean to mess up his invasion of Timor, while the CVs work in the Indian Ocean to drawn Japanese attention.
The Philipines contine sniping at Japanese shipping, 3 bombs on a PC today, 4 on an AK yesterday, it all adds up.
KB is at an unknown local, but baby KB cruised around Timor early in March and is now near Ambonia.
Things could get wild, but more likely they will just keep attritting.
On March 9th the skies cleared and revealed that the Japanese were steaming in the Java sea.
There are a lot of indications that this is an air sea battle for the Island of Bali, here is the information that leads me to that conclusion:
On the 9th there were two groups of ships near Soerbaja. A CL group near Kragen that had just returned from bombarding Bali with a bit of Oscar CAP from the air base there and a transport TF filled with Sons of Heaven which is heading South East towards Bali. Bali has been under regular air attack recently, it was bombarded by the CLs now at Kragen and Baby KB was spotted off Kendari on the 9th and Ambonia on the 10th which shows:
1) Troops heading in that general direction
2) Days of big air attacks on that base
3) A major naval TF heading that way.
4) Bombarded
Reaction from the Allied fighter and bomber forces based in Soerbaja was swift and suprisingly effective hitting both the transports and the CLs.
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 6
Allied aircraft
Beaufort V-IX x 11
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort V-IX: 6 damaged
Japanese Ships
CL Kinu
CL Tama, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Oi, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Yudachi
Then the transport TF:
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 17
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 5
F4F-4 Wildcat x 11
Beaufort V-IX x 12
P-39D Airacobra x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 11
B-25C Mitchell x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 14 destroyed
Japanese Ships
AP Niitaka Maru, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
PG Nishho Maru
AS Tsukushi Maru
AP Teikei Maru
Japanese ground losses:
34 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
This attack is important for a few reasons:
It shows troops in the convoy plus relavitely powerful escorts, helping me understand what is going on.
More importantly the Wildcat group that I set on Escort with 0 CAP made all the difference and the Oscars that had been gaurding Japanese shipping in this area are effectively gone. The bombers get through on this attack, and they keep getting through on the 10th because the Japanese CAP is littering the bottom of the Java Sea.
These are the additional hits on the CL TF over the course of the day:
CL Tama, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CL Jintsu, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
The CL TF spends the night running away to Batavia where a handful of B25s try to hit it again but fail on the 10th.
Meantime the slow, fat transports are still only 2 or 3 hexes from Soerbaja as the Sun comes up on the 10th.
They get hit by everything from B18s, to Beaforts to B25s, I am combining the results. CAP consists of 3 Oscars all of which get shot down by US Marine avaiation.
Japanese Ships
AS Tsukushi Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage +Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Zinzan Maru, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AS Chogei, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP Niitaka Maru, on fire, heavy damage
AP Teikei Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
72 casualties reported
PG Eifuku Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Tatsuho Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire 69 casualties reported
8 ships hit, 5 of them APs and 2 AS's I am not sure if those carry troops or not. Some of them are slowing down now, but still well within range of Soerbaja. This little invasion fleet is not doing so well, with any luck there will be no attack on Bali in the next few days.
If that is not enough 59 unescorted Sallies tried to bomb Soerbaja, only 41 went home and the B25s and Hudsons in the Philipines hit several ships including 3 bombs on a Tanker.
For those wondering the Japanese TF that was spotted near Wake was just a bunch of guys who got too close to the Allied search network. I bombed them for a few turns and they ran with some damage.
4 US CVs are now just East of Wake wiating for a tanker to show up, its 2 days behind, and fuel them up. Then they are going to raid, since they are already out there.
Strategically I am moving some of the bomber groups that I had in the South Pacific to Oz and then Timor. I am also moving more US units in that direction as well. If I have time I am going to start building up the low number bases that connect Timor to the Philipines. I suspect that Blackwatch will send KB down to get the situation in the NEI back under control, but if he does not then its going to get way out of control in the next month. All this assumes that the level 5 (43% to 6 and climbing fast) fort at Soerbaja can hold the Japanese off for a while, but its well defended with over a divisions worth of troops most of which are 60% quality or higher, well rested and supplied. Last game it lasted over a month, we shall see this time.
First of all, congratulations. I like reading AAR's where the allied player actually holds his own in the early months. Second, I don't read Blackwatch's AAR, so my questions below have no hidden messages or insight.
I wonder if sending all your allied CV's on a raid near Wake is such a wise idea. Do you know where KB is? (you might, but I don't remember reading that you do). I think you're doing a great job here, but if you lose your 4 carriers this soon, you'd be in trouble. Is the result of your raid worth the risk to the carriers? I think you'd not want to risk a CV vs CV battle until July 42? (I would have made a terrible admiral. No Halsey in my blood)
Of course, if you know where KB is, then you definitely should be raiding. The US did most of their carrier raiding only when the codebreakers knew where KB was (WITP doesn't give us that intel as the allies)
Anyway, good AAR. I'm sure you'll do a better job than I would, no matter what happens.
I don't know where KB is. A week or two ago they hit Port Moresby and since then they are invisible.
Baby KB, or possibley KB is in the SW corner of the Java Sea heading in the general direction of Bali. If I keep smashing the Bali invasion force then Blackwatch will probabley respond with KB in which case I will raid.
If I do not get a location on KB I will not take the risk since I am sure he is waiting for me to show my CVs so he can respond and sink them
KB has been bombing transports at Brisbane for a few days now. Sunk some ships, and unfortunatly caught the Australian 30th brigade on two large APs. So he is scoring a few points but the raid is not where the action really is.
We are up to March 15th 1942 and the action is still in Java, and as the Japanese push up the pressure, Timor.
In the last 4 -6 days the intensity of the air battles has increased a lot. on March 14, the Japanese lost 35 planes, half of them Zeros. The Allies lost 20 including a mix of Wildcats, P40s, P39s and junk Dutch fighters. The Allies are successfully fighting air battles over Malang and Koepang with equal fighter losses on both sides and significant casualites for the Japanese bombers. The Allied CAP has been strong enough to keep the airfields open at least for fighters and Soerbaja is operating very near 100% runway capacity with 206 air support.
On the ground Soerbaja has 40,000 troops and a level 5 fort. Of these 23,000 are combat troops with little fatigue and often with 60%+ experience. So far the Japanese have 50,000 troops outside the fortress though Allied intelligence estimates another 40,000 are on Java but not yet involved in combat.
At Timor the Allies recently unloaded a Marine defence battalion and a base force at Koepang, and 161 RTC is only days away.
The Japanese are ashore on Bali but many of the transports carrying them were sunk or heavily damaged on the way so they have not started attacking yet.
At the same time I now have 4 US carriers near Marcus Island South East of Iowa Jima. I was going to raid but I am thinking about turning back because if I raid it will expose the hole in the Japanese search system that I have already driven two supply convoys through. These convoys have moved over 40,000 supply to the Philipines and I beleive a supplied Philipines is worth more than the ships the CVs can sink. So I am going to turn around and head for home and send some loaded merchant ships to help Dugout Doug instead.
There is nothing to hit, and I don't need to respond because its not an invasion fleet.
Almost all the available Allied force is concentrated in the NEI fighting in Java or Timor, this is especially true of fighters. KB would mop the floor with the stuff that is defending Java, but KB is down here where there is nothing to kill.
My CVs are going to retreat, continue upgrading, wait for the Wasp and remain a threat in being for the moment.
I need to find ways to get British power back into the game.
Java goes suprisingly well, if Soerbaja can hold for a while Japan will lose huge numbers of planes there. This will only get worse once the Kittyhawks start to show up in a couple of weeks, that will give the Allies a 4th fighter production stream to draw from, and things are going well with the Marine 4F4s scoring many kills and also taking a good share of the losses, keeping P40E casualties low so those groups stay strong as well.
Japan continues to put major efforts into locking down Port Moreby, the only explaination I have for the KB raid is that Blackwatch guessed I would be sending stuff to Port Moresby and hoped to catch me in the act. As you can see from the map we have no concentration of force in that area, and I have no plans for one.
The Allies don't have enough fighter squadrons in the Pacific to fight in two places this early in the war. If Blackwatch understood this I would be in a lot more trouble. There are plenty of aircraft in India right now but until I figure out a clever plan they are not going to do much. They face the same problem the Japanese hitting Port Moresby have, how do you attack an enemy who is not there?
Over all the situation is good. As long as KB does not support the main area of conflict I can fight the Japanese on something like even terms and as time goes by the ability to fight KB will develop. Just to put numbers behind this the whole of Java/Timor has 70-80 operational fighters (not counting brewesters and other junk) and a possible maximum of a bit over 100. KB flys over 150 fighters, maybe more.
Every turn of attrition at this stage is good. Sometime in June or July there will be enough fighters to fight KB if it comes by, maybe not win, but at least fight.
Yes though outnumbered very heavily the Marine Wildcats gave better than they got. I later checked and there are 3 97 xp pilots in this group which explains a lot. Still it was very gratifying.
Over Soerbaja things were even worse for the Japanese:
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
Ki-21 Sally x 63
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 5
P-39D Airacobra x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 21
This is happening pretty much every day, though this is the first time more than 25 or so Zeros have shown up in one place. I set all the F4Fs back to Soerbaja on the 16th, we will see if Blackwatch will send the 65 Zeros there where he will run into 40 odd planes of CAP including another 2 90+ xp Aces.
The quality increase on my side is an unexpected bonus, but the attrition is really the important thing. As can be seen below the Japanese lost 19 Zeros today, all of them over Java which means another 19 pilots gone. Its my best day for Zeros yet, but if it continues Blackwatch is going to develop pilot pool problems soon.
Wow, well done! You must have already worn him down considerably to get results like that; kudos to you.
I am continually amazed that you still hold Java.
Also, have you thought about bringing in ground troops to the Philippines through Japan's blind spot? It'd be pretty shocking to meet an extra division or two in Luzon.. But by now, your units in the PI must have received lots of replacements. Is this true?
The army in the Philipines has been fighting really well they regularly inflict more casualties on the Japanese than they take, often by 2 to 1. What is really interesting to me is the number of guns shooting on both sides.
Feb 17th 1942 Japan bombards with 112081 troops and 1099 guns inflicting:
202 causualties, guns lost 4
One month later the Japanese attack is
118348 troops 977 guns (down 120 guns) inflicting:
37 Casualties guns lost 2
Feb 17th Allied attack
60785 troops attack with 766 guns inflicting
135 casualties, guns lost 1
and one month later
67044 troops and 795 guns (I have 29 more guns than in Feb) inflict
62 casualties, guns lost 1
Clark is a level 9 fort now and a number of the units there are at 100 strength with 60-80 % experience and moral in the 50-80 range depending on if the unit is Philipine regular army (low end) or USMC (high end)
I don't want to send more troops because its still a big trap and I can't possibly get them out, I just want to get the maximum effect with what is already there.
But he can take the Philipines, he just needs to concentrate enough force. Once the 120,000 men he has there might have been enough but now I doubt it, to outright take Clark I think he needs more.
Of course if he cut off my supply these troops would be withering on the vine. Instead I have unloaded 35,000 supply in the last 12 days with 7000 more still on ships and more coming.
In the 3x3 game the Japanese are cutting off the Philipines, but Blackwatch bypassed them without isloating them and that is where the problem comes from.
We are up to March 20th or 21st there has been a lot of fighting near Java and Timor and also off of Saipan but I am going to let Blackwatch update that part first since he has won some victories recently.
China is going well for the Allies. The Japanese isolated Changsha, Kiafeng and Chengting and started bombarding all three while waiting for supplies to run down/out. They also put a road block army infront of Wuchow, which was the last major Chinese troop concentration known to the Japanese.
Chinese troops near Kaifeng have already re-connected that city with the rest of China and will soon destroy a small Japanese force that had been cutting supply lines. Other Chinese troops based at Homan are working to reopen communications with Chengting.
But the real suprise for Japan is in the South. The Japanese did not know that there was a 80,000 man army building up in the interior at Kweiyang, and on March 18th this army and the 70,000 man Wuchow garrison rolled into the hex between Wuchow and Canton. March 19th the 60,000 Japanese troops there got spanked and ran for Canton clearing the way for the Chinese armies to use THIER RAILINE to go North.
On the 19 the Japanese launched a series of deliberate attacks at the other isolated cities all of which failed with more or less heavy casualties. So we have a stalemate in the North but the Southern army will soon re-open communications with Changsha and then turn and smash the Japanese that is holding Kwielin. There are also two additional divisions that have been building up at Hengchow for months and are well over 200 assualt point to throw in as needed.
If China does well 20,000 Japanese troops may be anniliated by some time in May. Its not decisive, but it will help a bit.
I am going to start with a strategic position update and then post seperate indepth looks at the different combat areas. I am away from home so no maps.
Aside frrom China the Japanese at currently being held on 3 fronts. IN Burma they are stuck outside Myitkiyna, in the Philipines they are stuck at Clark, and in Java they are stopped outside Soerbaja. All 3 locations are seeing the number of Allied troops and guns increase, in Java and the Philipines its replacements and in Burma troops are being flown in from India.
Allied strategic planning is as follows:
The British are already positioning ships, aircraft and troops for a major operation in the Indian Ocean. The goal is to re-open the airfield at Akyab and put more pressure on the Japanese in the air.
American LBA is being moved from the South Pacific to SW Pac command which is the command that is supporting ABDA and the Philipines.
Timor is being re-inforced and there is serious consideration being given to sending an American RTC to Java.
American fighters will soon re-apear in Philipine airspace. Its been 3 months since the last fighter group withdrew and Japanese bombers have had freedom of the skies but that is about to end.
There was also a failed carrier raid on Siapan, more on that in the next post.
After sending the US CVs out to intercept what appeared to be an invasion attept on Wake I decided to raid Saipan.
I was not very careful about setting courses or bombing missions and paid for that lack of care with the Saratoga which is now at the bottom of the sea.
I left the bombers on airfield attack but did not designate the target so instead of hitting the large concentration of Japanese at Saipan and disabling the airfield my bombers hit the empty fields on the island next to Saipan, leaving a large group of Japanese airplanes intact which hit back and struck Saratoga with 4 torpedos.
The next turn I put one TF on a follow order for Sara, and left the other 2 on follow orders for the TF that was to follow Sara. The result was the second 2 TFs moved away from Sara leaving her with one CV worth of CAP and she took 4 more bomb hits. 2 days later she sank.
Moral of the story, be very careful when raiding. If I hads taken the time to do things right I would have killed a lot of Japanese planes and gotten away, possibly with some damage but not any ship losses.
The US CAP did shoot down over 100 Japanese planes in 3 days so it was not a complete loss, but it certainly was not worth the price.
Though a tactical victory for Blackwatch strategically this does not mean much. With or without Saratoga I can't take my CVs on the offensive until 1943, right now all my plans to move against Japan are based on using LBA.
I am certain Blackwatch put a large airgroup in or near Saipan in anticipation of a raid, and I bet he is feeling really good about that right now. But it does not change the attrition rate in the Java-Luzon-Timor triangle and that is where the war is going to be decided.
Soerbaja is garrisoned by 4 Dutch Regiments, 1 Aussie brigade from Malaya and several of the Dutch garrison battalions, plus lots of base forces and ABDA HQ. Its a level 5 fort now but rapidly growing to level 6.
In the last week the Japanese have launched two deliberate assaults both if which inflicted between 200 and 300 casualties on the garrison and caused 500 to 600 on the Japanese.
In the air Allied planes have shot down huge numbers of Sallies and substantial numbers of Zeros and Oscars. There is over 250 air support and the airfield is completely intact. 4 freighters are unloading supply over the beach at Malang and the supply situation is acceptable with over 20,000 at the base. Good supply means replacements and the garrison is actually growing.
The troops in Soerbaja have good moral and even the worst of the Dutch troops are XP 48. 4 of the 5 regiments are well over 60 xp the long fight at Kragen helped the Dutch train up about 15 XP points each.
Malang has been heavily bombed but is recovering and the Allies have enough beauforts to make the Java sea a very dangerous place near Soerbaja.
Java is a stalemate until the Japanese bring in either a lot more air or ground troops, its currently 94,00 Japanese to 50,000 Allied at Soerbaja. The difficult question for the Allies is should more troops go to Java. They might just end up being captured, but if they arrive soon they might prolong the battle for Java by months.
ORIGINAL: Tom Hunter
The next turn I put one TF on a follow order for Sara, and left the other 2 on follow orders for the TF that was to follow Sara. The result was the second 2 TFs moved away from Sara leaving her with one CV worth of CAP and she took 4 more bomb hits. 2 days later she sank.
Tom, when you have a task force following an escort (or any type) of task force, make sure the task force that is doing the following is set to "Do not Retire". If the task force they are following is headed back to their home port, the following task force will head to port instead of following if they are not set to "do not retire". Basically, whenever you set a task force to follow another it is always best to put them to "Do not Retire". Tough luck.
