Speedy vs Swift - Jap perspective. Fight to the death

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

KB strikes...............

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Come the morning of the 29th the skies were clear for hundreds of miles around Auckland. Scouts were launched in every direction and before long many many ships were spotted fleeing north and east.

Yamaguchi at once ordered all available planes to launch against the enemy ships!

No enemy fighters or CV's were found but heavy damage was caused on approximately 12 enemy AK's.

2 bombers were lost to flak and ops but come early afternoon the planes were ready for a 2nd strike!

****THIS BIT P*SSED ME OFF***

Day Air attack on Auckland , at 63,132

Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 71
B5N Kate x 132

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 34

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val: 15 destroyed, 9 damaged
B5N Kate: 40 destroyed, 18 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk I: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
CVE Long Island, Bomb hits 26, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AV Tangier, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AVD Williamson, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Ruth Alexander, Bomb hits 1


Allied ground losses:
24 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Port hits 3

WTF?!? No escorts!!!!

In total I lost 60 bombers and their men. Hiryu's Kate unit for example is down to 4 operational planes left!

The only saving grace is that Long Island soon thereafter crept beneath the waves.

No major enemy ships wwere found though so a little disappointing to lose so many experienced pilots.

I will stay around tomorrow to try and sink more stuff and then it's back to Luganville.

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Confirmed sinkings for the day:

CVE Long Island.
10 x AK's.

[fabertong]

Any idea why the escorts didn't fly..........it's these kind of things that do disappoint....obviously this would not have happened in reality........

[Speedysteve]

No reason why they shouldn't have. They escorted raids in the morning when the various TF's were attacked. Did make me p*ssed since it virtually negates the positive of wiping out a CVE + 10 AK's. I hope tomorrow the SOB's will fly and do their job.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

I'm majorly p*ssed now. For the 2nd day in a row NO escorts fly to Auckland. WTF?!? There is no reason for it. All the Zeros are assigned to escort at 50% CAP!!!

They escort some of the raids in the morning to various fleeing enemy merchants but in the afternoon not 1 flew with the port raid on Auckland.

Over 125 planes are lost today. So much for husbanding the creme de la creme for the key moment. Wicked.

KB is retiring now. I have lost about 2/3 of all Vals and Kates due to no escorts flying. The gods of war have not smiled on this operation thats for sure [8D]

KB is to return to Luganville and re-stock. I can replace the planes but have no trained pilots. At least all the Zero's are still around and piloted by veterans.

The only positive was another 7 AK's sunk today.

Overall the raid should be considered a failure. Over 225 planes lost for 1x CVE and 17 x AK.

Read it and weep [;)][:D]

Edit for this: It has just occured to me that over 1/2 of all my Val and Kate losses for the whole war have occured over the past 2 days!

[Rob Brennan UK]

OUCH .. unlucky there speedy.

I tend to find that mixing naval engagement with port/af attacks does leave a lot of room for unescorted strikes, sorry i had'nt read this a bit earlier.. same thing happend around PH if you sent secondary targets too imo. maybe the fighters only fly once for some reason .. maybe fatigue ? from a morning mission.

In hindsight maybe having 1/2 cvs just on anti shipping and 1/2 on port may have worked out better? I am constantly learning in this game ( as are we all it seems ) ..

Overall though its been good for Japan, this is your 1st real setback and it did'nt cost you a CV. Any good training replacements available from China? or the home defence Kates ?

as ever good luck

[AmiralLaurent]

Sadly what happens to you is "classic" in WITP. When a CV TF is off an enemy base, fighters will usually escort raids against TF at sea and not escort raids against the base, or TF just off the base, while these raids are those that need escort much. Something is definely not working here...

In such a situation, I have always a part of my Zero having escort orders with the base set at target. At least there is some escort to any raid flying there. It helps reducing the losses of Vals and Kates

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Rob/Laurent - Thanks for the comments guys [8D] I agree in hindsight either of your suggestions would have been better.

Ah well. No CV's lost. Just means more training needed!

As ofr trained pilots Rob. No I don't like training lots of pl;anes in China or on empty bases. I feel it is unfair so I tend not to do it. I just use the mission trai often OR disband already trained units into others (which is what I may do with some of the Vals and Kates here).

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The 22nd July saw action in the usual areas. Small raids of Forts and Libs attacked shipping off Luganville. These smaller raids re more successful compared to his massed raids before. They even occassionally hit an AK/AP or a BB. He's still losing 2-3 heavies for each Zero but overall its a better ratio for swift than it was before.

The good news is that today the men at Efate (now fully supplied) attacked the Allies again and reduced the last of the fortifications at 1:1 odds. Hopefully it will fall within a week. Then i'll evacuate ands I can work on the subjugation of NBoumea which will be a tiought prospect. The distance of it from Luganville = hard for bombardment TF's to get in and out without getting attacked + air attacks have to fly longer distances. I'm planning on using both sea and air attacks to keep it supressed. KB can still control the seas preventing any Allied sea intereference.

Actually when KB returns to Luganville i'm tempted to send her EAST. A couple of spy subs have spotted what looks like transport TF's at Fuji/Bora Bora. We'll see......

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China -

Thje first attack on Kunming was a surprising failure! 0-1 odds with 7 forts and no reduction. I was surprised since the defenders are battered hulks of units that are outnumbered 3-1. Must be the urban bonus too I guess.

In the north at Kungchang progress is being made. The men attacked today and attained 2-1 odds reducing the forts to level 3.

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I thought i'd post a sit rep of each of the active areas onver a period of days. Today's is Burma.

As you can see below the 'drive' from Akyab is proceeding. Only 51 miles of trail remain. I'm expecting enemy forces to be on the rail or in Dacca but we'll see what we find.

I still control the skies over Burma and Werner is not attempting to change that at present. Today for example the M3's based at Akyab flew over Kophima and shot down 4 Hurri's for the loss of 1 rookie Zero.

At Rangoon the IJNAF rules. 2 x A6M3 Daitai are based there along with 3 x Nell Daitai + recon planes.

Mandalay is the home of the IJA. Here's 3 x Oscar Sentai exist along with 3 x Sally Sentai + 2 x Dinah recon Chutai.

Within 10 days 60 Tojo's and Tonies will begin producing and the 3 x Oscar Sentai's at Mandalay will be the first to upgrade.

The 35th Brigade is still at Soerabaja R&Ring but is preparing for Dacca and will move to Rangoon for airlift in the next month.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

RL has taken its toll again and I was away for the weekend at a Stag do [8D]

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At Sea. No major action occured other than a couple of convoys being spotted around the Pago Pago area by Glens.

Also S-45 was confirmed sunk today near Efate. She had been reported hit over the past few days by FP's from my surface fleet. Excellent. One less pest to worry about.

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Overall today was a good day for the empire in the air.

I decided to perform a sweep by 27 x A6M2 from Lautem to Darwin. I had not done this since the beginning of the war and I thought it would be nice to keep Werner honest. The plan worked:

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27

Allied aircraft
Wirraway x 5
Hurricane II x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Wirraway: 5 destroyed
Hurricane II: 3 destroyed

Nice. A ratio of 8:1. Well done lads. The men will return to CAP duties tomorrow.

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A further 8 enemy aircraft were shot down without loss in various heavy bomber and medium bomber raids against my Auxilliary and Naval TF's at Luganville. Their only success was to put 2 bombs into an already damaged AP.

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On the land things were frustrating all round. In China my attacks at Kungchang and Kunming failed despite the men being rested, well supplied and fighting rabble.

The same could be said at Efate.

B*stards.

Ground combat at Kunming

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 338816 troops, 3465 guns, 152 vehicles

Defending force 126276 troops, 688 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 7)


Japanese ground losses:
9482 casualties reported
Guns lost 188
Vehicles lost 12

Allied ground losses:
2555 casualties reported
Guns lost 75


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Ground combat at Kungchang

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 193876 troops, 2152 guns, 157 vehicles

Defending force 65439 troops, 330 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)


Japanese ground losses:
4173 casualties reported
Guns lost 103
Vehicles lost 16

Allied ground losses:
2223 casualties reported
Guns lost 44


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Ground combat at Efate

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 30299 troops, 187 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 7355 troops, 66 guns, 4 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)


Japanese ground losses:
62 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
229 casualties reported
Guns lost 3

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Here's the next Sit Rep; China.

As you can see the place really is mine if I could just take Kungchang and Kunming! I control the air and the ground in reality. After suffering numerous defeats at Changsha, Hengchow, Sian and Wuchow a lot of the Chinese formations are shells of their full TOE. Hopefully the b*stards will be crushed soon and China will be pacified.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Hi all,

RL has taken its toll again and I was away for the weekend at a Stag do

where did u go ? hampsterjam ? or beering it up in reading

china looks good .. surround and destroy !

Ouch .. efate is bad .. be carful of noumea is hes got this much in efate .. maybe just prevent its use by him for now .. just my 2p

[Speedysteve]

Hi Rob,

I went to Hackney area of London. It was a good weekend. We spread the 'event' over Friday and Saturday night. A good couple of days of usual Stag antics [;)]

I'm not overly concerned about China and Efate. I see myself winning these battles it's just a matter of time. Time is important. Every week that goes by means he's nearer to newer and better stuff.

I was surprised at Efate I must say since I am in supply and outnumber him in size and AV!

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Today saw a rest day for the land forces with only artillery units shelling the enemy at Efate, Kunming and Kungchang. I don't plan on attacking until maybe a weeks time in China to allow maximum rest. At Efate I may attack again in 2-3 days time depending on how the men look.

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Nagato, Mutsu and Yamato raided Efate today and shelled the place good destroying 4 P39's and causing over 400 casualties.

Recon spots what looks like my be a PT or 2 moving up from Noumea. Kongo and Haruna + Co are scheduled for Efate duty tomorrow but to act as a further screen 5 elite DD's will patrol Efate to search for any PT boats.

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Werner launched the almost daily naval attacks at Luganville and Efate with his heavies and Mediums again! No ships were hit. 3 Zero's were downed for the loss of 6 enemy bombers.

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SS I-168 was hit today by a patrolling Mitchell 240 miles SSW of Noumea. Damage is average and she will make Truk.

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Today's Sit Rep is from the NW part of the SRA showing my fortifcation system there.

It's still in its infancy but I have time.

Engineer battalions/base forces are in place at Andaman Islands, Sabang, Georgetown, Victoria Point, Medan, Khota Bharu. They will construct airfields and forts and house search planes to detect any enemy presence.

Looking at the resource/oil production in the region almost all are at maximum output other than Medan which is operating at 90% oil production and Kuala Lumpur's resources which were almost totally destroyed when the place fell. I am not going to bother repairing them at present.

[Rob Brennan UK]

I went to Hackney area of London. It was a good weekend. We spread the 'event' over Friday and Saturday night. A good couple of days of usual Stag antics

Ah that would be the eastend then .. yes places like metropolis? ooh havnt been there in years. the more i think about it the more i need a cold shower [;)]

[Rob Brennan UK]

Recon spots what looks like my be a PT or 2 moving up from Noumea. Kongo and Haruna + Co are scheduled for Efate duty tomorrow but to act as a further screen 5 elite DD's will patrol Efate to search for any PT boats.

Just had an idea .. have you got a bunch of PG's .. maybe use these instead of valuable DD's

[Speedysteve]

Hi Rob,

Metropolis! You got it [;)]

PG's - a valid point but a mute one now. The DD's have been ordered and i'm awaiting my response from Werner! The irony is that a fair bit of my PC/PG/MSW fleet is damaged or sunk from the various recent invasions (Wake, PM, Luganville). Destroyer wise i'm doing ok. It is a risk but i'm not expecting more than 1-3 PT's that is if they are PT's!

Thanks for the comments,

Steven

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

I have no idea what happened to the Destroyer group that was supposed to go to Efate but it ended up heading for Noumea! Either my machine is possesed or I FUBAR'D! In some wyas though it gave an interesting picture as to what Werner has strike wise on Noumea. A lot of fighters but NOT a lot of bombers. It seems almost ripe for the picking to be bombarded to death since the few bombers there couldn't harm my BB's! Thats my thoughts anyhow. Here's an example of one of todays attacks:

Day Air attack on TF at 70,110


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 19
SBD Dauntless x 18
Kittyhawk I x 12
P-39D Airacobra x 98
P-40E Warhawk x 58
A-20B Boston x 7
B-25C Mitchell x 18
B-26B Marauder x 24
B-17E Fortress x 15
B-24D Liberator x 3


Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 2 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Isokaze, Shell hits 12, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Mutsuki
DD Yayoi, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Kisaragi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Tanikaze, Bomb hits 2, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 20000 feet
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 32000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 15000 feet
4 x A-20B Boston bombing at 1000 feet
8 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 20000 feet
2 x B-25C Mitchell attacking at 100 feet
2 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 2000 feet
3 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
3 x A-20B Boston bombing at 1000 feet
3 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B-25C Mitchell attacking at 100 feet
4 x B-25C Mitchell attacking at 100 feet
4 x B-25C Mitchell attacking at 100 feet
4 x B-25C Mitchell attacking at 100 feet
4 x SBD Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 2000 feet

4 out of the 5 DD's are moderately damaged but with a bit of luck all of them should make it back to Luganville. Which co-incidently should expand to a size 4 port and airfield tomorrow.

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Other than this action just the usual attacks on shipping at Luganville (no hits. 16 Allied planes lost for 6 Japanese), land bombardements at Efate and in China.

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Today Sit. Rep. is from the SW region of the SRA.

Like the NW you'll see several bases have engineers/base forces expanding the places for future defence. There are still a couple more places that I want to fortify (Babo or one of the islands inbetween Java and Tiimor for example).

The 35th Brigade is still at Soerabaja preparing for Dacca. It's at 96% readiness and will move to Rangoon soon.

Resource/Oil wise the area is in pretty good shape. Both Batavia and Soerabaja have about 450/600 resources operational and about 60/100 oil operational. These are being repaired over time.

In case Werner does move into the region there is still a military presence provided by 2 mixed regiments and a para regiment. Naval wise there is Hiei and Kirishima + Co (currently based at Shanghai). Air wise I have 2 Nell Daitai along with 3 Zero Daitai. IJA also has a presence across the region.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Hi all,

I have no idea what happened to the Destroyer group that was supposed to go to Efate but it ended up heading for Noumea!

Hi Speedy,

I understand you might have had a brain cramp - but maybe not. There is a bug whereby rarely a TF will change it's destination. I'm not talking about a TF heading for home when you don't want it to, I mean some fully different destination. Over the course of much play it's happened to me a small handful of times. Never caught it right away so no save games submitted to Matrix.

Just thought you would like to know you might not be going crazy.

[Rob Brennan UK]

Who here isn't crazy [;)]

One other plus point .. he is using the bombers at very low altitude ! must be hurting his morale when they fly like that.

p.s .. upstairs ? watergun ? ROFL.. that is so cool !

[Speedysteve]

Hi witpqs/Rob - thanks guys. I still think it may have been a brain cramp mind you. We'll never know now. Luckily all 5 of the DD's made it back to Luganville and only Isokaze is in danger of sinking.

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Todays main action was in the South Pacific. KB returning to Luganville was inbetween Efate and Noumea today. I purposefully plotted it that way with a high level of CAP. I may have lost a lot of bombers over NEw Zealand but the Zero's are in a good confdition in general (some Daitai have upto 1/3 rookies though).

Noumea's LBA took that bait and at the end of the day 80 enemey aircraft had been downed to my 21 Zero's. I'm fairly happy with that since most of my lost pilots appear to have been rookies. The ces live on!

Interestingly. 52 x P40E's were shot down today. That's a 1/3 of the enitre amount Werner has lost in the war!

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In other news.....The A6M3's at Akyab have been ordered to sweep over Kohima to keep him honest again.

The men at Efate will attack tomorrow. A maximum effort is being put in by the navy with all 3 BB's groups bombarding tomorrow too.

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Here's the air losses for the day:

[Rob Brennan UK]

Thats some low a/c losses for july 42. he gets 40/month so that amount must hurt badly especially if he's been upgrading the west coast fighter groups ( a mistake imo) .

Nice bomber trap too .. makes up a bit for aukland ..

as ever good luck with efate .. really need to take that imo.

[Speedysteve]

Hi all,

Good news!

Efate falls today. The Allies have put up brave resistance for the place but today their will collapsed amidst a MASSIVE bombardment from 7 BB's, 12 Cruisers and 20 Destroyers. By the end of the day the base was mine and several thousand more enemy men are herded into camps.

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The air war also went well with 36 enemy planes lost to my 12. The main enemy losses were over Kohima (Akyab Zero sweep netting 5 Hurri's for 2 rookie Zeros), 13 P39's lost on the ground at Efate and the rest in the air over Luganville against my Zeros.

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Now its a brief time of admin and consolidation. KB will be at Luganville tomorrow.

Transports will evac Efate and take the men back to Truk for R&R (most are at 65% operational status)

I will asses my warships and move those needing upgrades back to Japan. Those damaged will move to Truk or Rabaul for repairs.

Then I will try and bombard Noumea with BB's to see if I can subdue the place for the eventual invasion (maybe 2-3 months time when the troops are rested and prepared.) KB will cover the BB's.

Luganville has just expanded to level 4 port and airfields. 1 Nell and 1 Betty Daitai have just landed for future operations.

More planes will land soon. The 5th Air Division will disambark into Luganville tomorrow.

3 Oscar Sentai, 1 Zero Daitai and 2 Helen Sentai left Japan today bound for the South Pacific.

Very soon Tojo's and Tony's will come out to play [8D]