Matrix Games Forums

14 Mar 43

Day 1 for the invasions goes well.

At Buna, BB Revenge and company bombarded and did well. There were still a couple of leftover planes on the ground. Casualties over 500.

Then Lae was bombarded by BC Repulse and friends. Huge numbers of damaged planes, and plenty of destroyed ones. Oscars, Zeros, and Tojos. The airbase was badly damaged.

Port Moresby, Oro Bay, and Buna are then amphibiously invaded. No enemy interference.

Some US ASW activity east of New Guinea.

During the day, fighters sweep Lae and bombers bomb the airfield. More planes destroyed.

Total air losses for the day are 21 Zeros(11 ground), 22 Oscars(20 ground), 5 Tojos(2 ground), 3 Bettys(1 ground), while I lost 4 F4F-4s, 4 P-38s, and 3 B-24s.

Tiny enemy AMc sunk by carrier bombers near Umboi Island.

And, as I said, Dobo was lost.

Buna
Enemy units at Buna include:
9th Division
87 Naval Guard
Kure 5th SNLF
III/66th Naval Guard
19th Army HQ
2nd Area Army HQ
4 air support units
2 engineer units

Attacking will be:
2nd US Marine Divsion
3rd US Marine Divisons
US 43rd Infantry Division
19th Australian Bde
1st Tank Bn
2/8 Armored Rgt
Australian II Corp HQ
1 Marine Amphibious Corp HQ
4th Australian Light AA Rgt

Port Moresby
Enemy troops at Port Moresby:
1st Infantry Division
18th Army HQ
27th Ind Engineer Regiment
32 Special Base Force
2 air support units
1 construction battalion

Allied forces:
US 1st Marine Division
US 24th Infantry Division
NG Vol Rifles Bn
2nd USMC Tank Bn
193rd Tank Bn
New Guinea Force HQ
70th Cst AA Rgt
1st RAA Med Arty Regiment
(Southwest HQ in Australia but in range of PM, and fully prepped)

Oro Bay
Enemy troops:
86th Naval Guard
56th Construction Company

Allied troops:
2nd Australian Brigade
1st RAA Jungle FA Rgt
15th Marine Def Bn
3/532 Boat and Shore Engr Bn
(an armored unit is moving into this hex in about 5 days, having made the trek from Milne Bay)


The AKEs that I moved into Milne Bay are already rearming all combat ships, including battleships. This, I think, will be the key in taking Buna. Constant naval bombardments.

My expectations are that Oro Bay will fall quickly. Followup forces await at Milne Bay on ships for Oro Bay, and for Buna. Buna and Port Moresby will take some time.

Today, I split off all of the good APs that are overdue to upgrade. Most are at Buna, and are mostly unloaded. They will finish unloading today and then return to Australia for upgrades. Everything else continues to unload, with combat shipping guarding and friendly fighters overhead.

If (or maybe when) KB shows up, it will stay north/northeast of Umboi Island to be within range of Buna but as far away as possible.

The straits south of Rabaul have been mined, as has Finschfen, next to Lae.

Today I bomb Lae again, and Finschafen, with heavy bombers. Mediums hit Oro Bay troops and I deliberate attack there.

Multiple well coordinated amphib operations are very hard to pull off and it sounds like you are off to a promising start. He will have to react quickly before you recover from and disruption on landing, with the KB to sink your resupply missions which you cite is the key to wearing down his troops at Buna. Look forward to the coming attractions or is that attritions?

15 Mar 43

A very busy day. My opponent commented on the many "amphibious task force unloading" displays in the replay. There were even more today, since I had split several of the big task forces to be able to get the more valuable APs out as soon as possible, since they unloaded the fastest. I really wanted to get them out of harm's way.

It goes without saying that unloading continued at Buna, Oro Bay, and Port Moresby. There was no interference at any, again. But the storm clouds are gathering.

There are still mines at Buna. The fields here and at Port Moresby are more sizable than I thought. 2 DMSs continue to clear Buna. Only an AM is at Port Moresby, and this isn't sufficient.

Near Hollandia, north of Manus, sub Pollack spots a big battleship task force, with Ise, Kongo, and Musashi, with cruiser Haguro, CS Chitose, and 7 destroyers. This looks like a carrier task force to me, just without spotting the carrier(s). I do believe that the enemy has been putting multiple battleships in carrier task forces to help absorb bombs. Which is a wise strategy, one that can make the difference in an evenly matched carrier battle.

Regardless of whether there are carriers here, this task force went to Manus, and is now in striking range of Buna.

Near Normanby Island, by Milne Bay, my subchasers track I-169 but aren't able to hit it decisively.

Near Kavieng, sub Sculpin tracks a cruiser task force, led by CA Mogami, fires on Magami, but misses. I believe that this task force went to Rabaul.

West of Taberfane, sub Seal fires on destroyer Hibiki, in a small task force with a couple of light cruisers. 4 torpedoes miss.

Near Horn Island, Fletcher class destroyer O'Bannon is escorting badly damaged destroyer Fletcher. O'Bannon spots I-164 in the shallow water here, and gets one solid hit with a depth charge.

Battleship Ramilles and escorts bombard Oro Bay during the night. Good damage on the troops, little damage to the port.

Near Deboyne Island, I-11 spots several APDs that just unloaded, but no engagement occurs.

These APDs are targeted by Bettys from Rabaul, escorted by Zeros. Strong ranged CAP protects the ships, downing a bunch of Zeros and Bettys. 8 Bettys launch torpedoes but none hit.

With Taberfane and Dobo both recaptured by the Japanese, the enemy has moved on to concentrate on Timoeka on the western New Guinea coast, east of Dobo. Bettys and Lilys hit the troops. It's not jungle here. (Have to check, might be rough terrain, not sure) Supply has been critical here all along for the Allies, as my invasion shipping couldn't stay long enough. I've been ferrying in supply on sub Argonaut and using big seaplanes to bring in some also. I'm sure that a counter-invasion is coming here also.

My one big mistake for today was screwing up the plotting for a 3 ship task force of Fletcher destroyers. They were at Milne Bay, and I gave them an ASW mission for the day, wanting them to move out northeast toward Rabaul during the night, looking for subs, then return. Something went wrong and they decided to stay out at sea, too close to Rabaul. Kates and Vals attacked, with a large number of escorts. I had no CAP out here. I was very fortunate that all torpedoes missed, and the only damage was a bomb hit on Taylor and DeHaven. Chevalier was not hit. This task force will retire to Brisbane for repairs. Damage is not high, but enough to warrant repairs.

At Timoeka, Lilys then hit the troops.

Isolated in the jungle by Taberfane and Dobo, my troops are bombed by Sallys.

I swept Lae and Finschafen today with F4F-4, but found that all working planes had left the area. No CAP. B-17s and B-24s then hit Lae, destroying a few planes, and some B-24s hit Finschafen, doing moderate damage to the field. Finschafen is just a level 1 airfield, but I know that Tojos were just here. But they are gone now.

B-25s hit the airfield at Port Moresby. B-26s hit the enemy troops there.

B-26s and B-25s hit the enemy troops at Oro Bay.

In the afternoon, 9 Kates take another shot at my wayward destroyers, but all miss.

At Buna, the enemy artillery attack caused by my landing shows combat values of 1293 for the Allies and 588 for the Japanese. Both Marine divisions are fully unloaded, but only half of the 43rd Infantry Division is on the beach.

The values at Port Moresby are 909 for the Allies, and 498 for the Japanese. Port Moresby is not going to fall quickly.

The Allies at Oro Bay attack, consisting mainly of the 2nd Australian Brigade. The attack goes at 9 to 1 with 1 fort level, and the base is taken! The enemy retreats into the mountains to Dobadura. Oro Bay is a dot base. The followup convoy has been waiting at Milne Bay and will now go to Oro Bay. Support units are the 41st CBs, the 43rd CBs, the 14th Base Maintenance unit, and the 73rd RAAF Base Wing.

As shown on the map, note that Oro Bay is not connected by land to Buna. You have to go inland to Dobadura first. My armor that is arriving soon from the south will do just that. It will take awhile, but the noose is tightening on Port Moresby. That, I think, will be the key to taking that base. The enemy may evacuate Port Moresby first, and I'd be ok with that too.

I usually make my daily post after I've finished my plots for the next turn, but today, I haven't finished yet. I do so to show my ongoing thought about what my carriers should be doing for the next turn.

I've marked 3 hexes on the map, with black X's, hexes that I've decided are potential moves for my carriers. #1 can range CAP Port Moresby and Buna, but I fear a possible range 7 carrier attack if KB were to move to the coast west of Rabaul. It has done so in the past. This hex also limits where my carriers can move on the next day, leaving my bases, including Milne Bay, more vulnerable.

Hex #2 is a purely defensive move, sitting next to Milne Bay. It doesn't protect any of my beach landings, but does protect Milne Bay, and Milne Bay protects my carriers. This move doesn't do much really, but keeps options more open for the next day.

Hex #3 is an aggressive move to the east of Oro Bay. I've drawn an orange line depicting the range of my strikes from this hex. I don't want to hit shipping at Rabaul, not with the huge numbers of fighters there. I don't rule out doing this in the near future, but it would have to be combined with heavy land-based sweeping and bombing, and I'm not ready to do that. My landings take priority. I think that carriers are approaching, and that they are at Manus right now. My opponent loves to keep the carriers as safe as possible, under the umbrella of heavy ranged CAP from nearby airbases. For this reason, I'm guessing that they would show up within the white circle.

I need to continue loading at Buna, at least for one more day. For this reason, I think that I will move to hex #3, but I'm still thinking about it, and won't complete my turn until tomorrow.

The other risk is that battleships run down to Buna directly. I have a battleship task force there, and I've mined Finschafen. It would be nice to have them hit a mine there and mess up the bombardment approach, and find my carriers nearby during the day.

Keep in mind that I do have troops fully prepped for Lae and Salamaua, the base southwest of Lae. Lae is less defended than Buna or Port Moresby, with troops having been sent from there to Buna recently. Another risky move, but one I'm considering. I could really cut off Port Moresby with that move, and that has been my long-term objective.

More work to do on this turn! What do you think? The enemy is surely coming, but will it be too late?

Great map! Really nice to see your plans unfold. Looks like you're turning SE New Guinea into something like the historical Guadalcanal, but on a vastly larger scale, and for higher stakes too. I can't really offer good tactical advice but I'll be cheering your troops on!

Don't go to position #3 - that would give him the advantage of LBA support + distracting ships to split your strikes.

You have enough to do a DA at Buna now - the army division will be nearly completely unloaded by next turn. Do it, and set your transports to retire as soon as they unload. If necessary, split the TF with one group made of ships with little left to unload and the other group with those that need days more to unload.

I've sent the turn, and am awaiting one back. I should get that tomorrow. I can say that I decided not to move my carriers to any of the proposed positions. I realized that my thinking was a bit faulty. As you know, the enemy has consistently kept KB near friendly airbases. With Lae not operational, and all of those fighters at Rabaul, I made the assumption that KB would likely hang around close to Rabaul when striking at Buna. What I overlooked was Hansa Bay, further north in New Guinea. It's got a big airfield now, and about 70 fighters. It's just as likely (and I think even more likely) that KB would stay north near Hansa Bay to strike at Buna. Position #3 was a good position for a move near Rabaul, but is a terrible position for a move near Hansa Bay.

So I came up with a new plan.

I'll also say that I did order a deliberate attack at Buna. Let's hope that it at least shows that progress is possible here.

Not sure on your sub movements, but I think you would want more in the backfield where the KB might be (around Manus) and in the white circle where you think he may rush forward to attack from.

Nothing ruins your day more than a sub putting a fish into a carrier.[:)]

I see you have dropped some offensive minefields, what seems to work rather neatly is to have some subs with mines around areas he might retreat to looking to make emergency repairs to damaged ships. And then you save the mines until there are some damaged ships.

You guys seem to really be slugging it out here....very interesting.[&o]

I agree with you Lowpe, about getting more subs into the area south of Manus. I've committed subs heavily to the area east of New Guinea, south of Lae, but I do need more up on the north side of Umboi Island. I've seen ACMs at Umboi for quite awhile, so I can almost guarantee that there are enemy mines there. For this reason, I don't send anything through the straits there. I go around east of Rabaul, north and around Kavieng, to get to Manus. I have more on the way, but not enough there now. I may have overcommitted my subs to protecting my landings directly.

With my attack today at Buna, I'll get some idea as to how this fight is going to go. A quick victory here would be nice. Both sides have divisions committed here. I prepped for these bases for a long time, longer than it took to get fully prepped, and waited for the opportunity, and that presented itself when I changed the focus to Taberfane and Dobo. Now the focus is returning here. I had to decide whether to just ignore these strongpoints and go elsewhere, wasting all the time that I used prepping my divisions, or attack his strength, and hope to destroy infantry divisions. I chose to attack. May or may not be the right decision, we'll see.

I'm hoping for a good result at Buna today.

16 Mar 43

Plenty of action today.

Unloading, of course, continues at Buna and Port Moresby. There is little interference.

North of Dobo, sub Seal finds an xAK task force, hits one with an torpedo, but it's a dud.

BC Repulse and friends bombards Buna. A leftover Tojo is destroyed on the ground, the troops take some losses, and base damage is minimal. Disruption is the goal.

At Buna RO-61 finds the BB Royal SOvereign task force, fires at DD Meredith but misses. The battleship task force is guarding the landing.

The enemy minefield at Buna is completely cleared. Mines remain at Port Moresby, but good sweepers are there now.

Near Munda, sub Pogy finds a 3 BB task force that just left base, fires on a destroyer with 4 torpedoes, but misses.

My minefield south of Rabaul is now being cleared.

Bettys and Lilys bomb the Australian Brigade at Timoeka.


B-25s and B-26s bomb the enemy troops and airfield at Buna.

B-26s bomb the airfield at Port Moresby.

B-25s bomb enemy troops at Dobadura. They followed the troops that retreated from Oro Bay and hit them again. I've retasked that unit today.

None of my carrier bombers flew their secondary mission of bombing ground troops at Buna, after not flying any naval attacks.

Then the real action starts.

First, and enemy carrier group has moved just west of Rabaul, hugging the friendly CAP. I considered this but, in the end, guessed that the carriers would show by Hansa Bay. Wrong.

14 Kates escorted by 21 Zeros target shipping at Buna. All of my carriers are one hex closer, but the enemy was determined to hit the invasion shipping. Most, if not all, of the Kates were downed, as well as about 5 Zeros. A couple of F4F-4s are lost. No Kates survive long enough to drop torpedoes.

Then an oddly composed strike of 9 Kates and 51 Zeros go for shipping at Milne Bay. Results are similar to Buna. All Kates are downed before dropping torpedoes. About 10 Zeros are shot down. A few friendly fighters are lost.

In the afternoon, 31 Kates escorted by 59 Zeros target my carrier task force with CVL Hermes and 6 CVEs. With 233 F4F-4s on CAP, I thought everything would be ok, but I was mistaken. 26 of the Kates make it to the carriers. About 10 Zeros are downed. A really poor showing by the CAP. CVL Hermes takes 2 torpedoes, while 3 CVEs are hit. Sangamon and Copahee take 3 torpedoes, and Chenagno takes 2 torpedoes.

The next attack had 38 Vals and 27 Judys, escorted by 26 A6M2 Zeros and 45 A6M3a Zeros. 198 F4F-4s are on CAP. Many enemy planes are destroyed, but 19 Judys and 17 Vals get through to drop their bombs. Copahee and CA Canberra are hit by a bomb, and CVE Nassau is hit by 2 bombs. Another disappointing showing.

My big response was a mistake. I had a 9 plane TBF group from a CVE set to a longer range than I wanted, accidentally, and they flew without escort. No bombers survived to drop torpedoes.

The good news for the day is at Buna, where I deliberately attacked for the first time. The attack goes at 1 to 1 odds, with the forts reduced to 2 and the enemy taking more casualties, 1459 to 750, with significant destroyed squads for the enemy. Buna is going to fall. I'm bombarding and bombing again today, and attacking again.

Conclusions for today --- My carrier positioning was just perfect for the enemy. My CVEs were targeted exclusively, and despite having a huge CAP, the CVE pilots are only mediocre. And I'm pretty sure that a significant percentage of my CAP never engaged. No ships were sunk outright, but some are badly hurt. I do enjoy the part of the game trying to save damaged ships, so here's another opportunity:

Damage is (SYS/FLOT/ENG/FIRE)

CVL Hermes 14/20-7/1/0
CVE Sangamon 36/80-64/7/0
CVE Chenango 29/74-50/16/0
CVE Nassau 42/19-13/13/3
CVE Copahee 17/66-48/11/0

Damaged ships have been split up, based on speed, and with destroyer escorts. Many subchasers and destroyers are assigned to plow up the waters between the CVEs and Milne Bay, hunting the subs. Some land based LR CAP has been assigned to the CVE task forces.

Today all important invasion shipping is leaving Buna, Oro Bay and Port Moresby. Fragments of units, still loaded, will be shipped in later. It's time to go.

My fleet carriers move southeast of Milne Bay.

The enemy carrier fleets are not truly KB and mini-KB. Both are some hybrid, I think. I don't think I'm facing all of the Japanese carriers here. The bomber components of the enemy strikes were rather weak, really. It could have been much worse if I'd seen a couple of hundred bombers, considering how poorly my CAP performed.

So, I've done my landings. It looks like Buna is going to fall soon. Port Moresby will not fall quickly, but it's in the process of being isolated.

Total air losses for the day:
48 Zeros
30 Vals
20 Kates
11 Judys

15 F4F-4s
9 TBFs
2 F4U-1s
1 P-40K

B-25s and B-26s bomb the enemy troops and airfield at Buna.
B-26s bomb the airfield at Port Moresby.
B-25s bomb enemy troops at Dobadura.
They followed the troops that retreated from Oro Bay and hit them again. I've retasked that unit today.

One thing I like to do is train my B-25's and B-26's pilots on low nav (sometimes P-39 pilots that will drop a 500 pounder)
Just for this occasion - knife fight in close quaters with land bases ...

It looks like you have traded at least 1 CVE for a whole bunch of air platforms that the KB will have to replenish and subsequently time
The definition of a gambit .. giving up something for a big picture strategic advantage .. losing the battle to win the war as you say ..

I do have some trained for LowN. I've been holding them away from the fight so far. No use impaling them on carrier forces. I did use some Beaufighters recently, flying from Merauke to Dobo, and that worked well. When it wasn't expected.

Should the enemy move south of New Britain, you can be sure that they will be used.

As for the gambit, my goal was taking Oro Bay, Buna, and Port Moresby. It looks like Buna will fall soon, and that starts to isolate Port Moresby, so I'm still happy with the overall situation. The enemy will have to do more than the usual, sitting defensively at Rabaul, to affect the overall situation.

I will do what I can to save the CVEs though. I expect to lose 2 of them.

17 Mar 43

Troops continue to unload at Buna. I had intended to have all task forces leave, but this one stayed. I may have set a destination for it but left it unloading, not sure. Regardless, there was no interference, and it will leave today. Small fragments remain loaded, mostly vehicles.

At Port Moresby, 2 DMS sweep all the mines, but the last one is hit by Elliot, and the ship sinks.

Near Victoria Point, Dutch sub KXVII hits an xAK with a torpedo, and badly damages it.

A small Dutch surface group is spotted by I-22 near Carnarvon. I'm moving the combat ships up and down the west coast of Australia, demonstrating that it's here. But there's nothing to see here, yet.

At Saumlaki, west of Taberfane, sub Thresher sights AG Koyu Maru. The port is size 1. Torpedoes miss.

At Buna, battleship Royal Sovereign and friends hits the troops and the base.

I sent sweepers and SBDs to Shortlands to try to hit the ACMs in port. First 24 P-40Ks sweep, but find more CAP than I expected, battling 36 Zeros, 12 Tojos, and 12 Nicks. More Warhawks lost than the enemy. Then 28 SBDs escorted by 25 P-40Ks. A few SBDs are lost, but the bombers don't hit the ships or the port.

Back at Saumlaki, some Hudsons attack the port, find 3 Oscars on some type of LR CAP. Some bombers are damaged, and neither the AG or the port is hit.

Some B-17s hit Port Moresby's airfield.

B-25s hit enemy troops at Buna.

Then another sweep arrives at Shortlands. Losses are about even, with about 8 planes lost for each side.

Back at Saumlaki again, sub Thresher takes another shot at AG Koyu Maru, and hits it, badly damaging it.

At Buna, the Allied attack goes at 2 to 1, reducing the forts to 1. We are about to capture Buna and its size 7 airfield.

Ground combat at Buna (99,129)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 36866 troops, 700 guns, 559 vehicles, Assault Value = 1287

Defending force 23855 troops, 167 guns, 40 vehicles, Assault Value = 489

Allied adjusted assault: 1836

Japanese adjusted defense: 789

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1771 casualties reported
Squads: 72 destroyed, 24 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 67 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 25 (23 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
724 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 59 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled

Assaulting units:
3rd Marine Division
43rd Infantry Division
1st Tank Battalion
19th Australian Brigade
2nd Marine Division
2/8th Armoured Regiment
205th Field Artillery Battalion
Aus II Corps
I Marine Amphib Corps
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
4th Aus Lt AA Regiment

Defending units:
Kure 5th SNLF
9th Division
87th Naval Guard Unit
III/66th Naval Guard Unit
2nd Area Army /1
47th JNAF AF Unit
1st Naval Construction Battalion
14th Naval Construction Battalion
43rd JNAF AF Unit
49th JNAF AF Unit
19th Army
5th Air Div /1


Today finds enemy carriers at Kavieng. Lots of shipping at Rabaul. The minefield south of Rabaul still exists but is being swept. One of my badly damaged CVEs had its FLOT damage increase slightly, but it moved 2 hexes, and is only 2 hexes from Milne Bay now. They all just might make it to base. Undamaged and slightly damaged ones are headed to Australia. My fleet carriers stay near Milne Bay. There's a lot of enemy air ASW now, north and south of New Britain. Dutch sub KX was hit by 2 bombs and sunk.

If you escape, you really pulled off a solid victory and gained intel on how he is using his carriers...

Well done.

18 Mar 43

More supply unloading at Port Moresby. Most xAKLs are almost empty, and I see a couple of enemy subs inbound, probably with mines, so the xAKLs will leave. Allied units have lots of extra supply now.

My mines are still being cleared by Rabaul.

BB New Mexico and friends bombard Port Moresby. Results are poor.

Cruisers Exeter, Cornwall, and Trenton and destroyers bombard Buna. Results are poor.

Allied bombers hit enemy troops at Buna.

B-25s hit Umboi Island's port, finding and sinking an ACM there.

And the Allies capture Buna! The attack goes at 3 to 1 odds. 5 Tojos are destroyed. Over 9000 Japanese casualties. The enemy retreats to Kokoda, and now shows movement to the northeast, trying to get to the coast northwest of Buna.

Japanese ground losses:
9100 casualties reported
Squads: 145 destroyed, 54 disabled
Non Combat: 233 destroyed, 50 disabled
Engineers: 29 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 88 (82 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Vehicles lost 29 (29 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 11

Allied ground losses:
546 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 125 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 32 (1 destroyed, 31 disabled)


One task force of enemy carriers remains at Kavieng. SigInt shows the 4th Infantry Division is loaded and on the way to Rabaul. That usually means that it is very close or already at Rabaul (and even possibly headed to somewhere from Rabaul).

I am holding off sending the followup forces to Buna from Milne Bay. I don't want to provide the LR CAP necessary for this while I have so much important shipping at Milne Bay. No rush, the port and airfield are wrecked. I'll let the engineers already there get a start on things. I was also happy to find that Buna now has 25,000 supply! Most of this had to have been captured.

I've started to pull shipping out of Milne Bay. Fleet carriers go south temporarily. I'm sending the AKEs and other support ships south for now. I'm sending most BB task forces to Australia also, with each stopping to bombard Port Moresby on the way. The AKEs and BBs will be back soon enough, as I'll now explain.

I'm immediately starting to load troops at Rockhampton for Lae and Salamaua. I'm sending the 2 armor units at Buna northwest, hoping to get to the next hex before the enemy moving from Kokoda. I'm bombing the enemy troops to slow them down.

One Marine Division at Buna is now prepping for Salamaua. The other is now prepping for Finschafen. First I thought it would be wise to extract these units to the islands by Milne Bay, and then launch the invasion from there, but there's danger loading in both cases, so we'll just load at Buna when it comes time.

Taking Salamaua will pretty much isolate Port Moresby. Taking Lae will provide another huge airbase, and Finschafen will help support Lae.

When the shipping from Rockhampton gets to Milne Bay on the way to Lae, the battleships and AKEs will reappear at Milne Bay.

As for the CVEs, one autodisbanded at Milne Bay, and went into Pier mode automatically. The two most damaged CVEs are one hex from Milne Bay, and will arrive today. Both will disband.

Milne Bay is heavily defended. 10 squadrons of fighters, multiple combat task forces, lots of mines. But I still worry about such a big target so close to Rabaul, with so many fighters vulnerable to a bombardment, and CVEs in port also.

So I mined the two hexes northeast and east of Milne Bay today.

Great victory at Buna! I'm impressed with how quickly you were able to capture that base -- and it was very considerate of the enemy to build that nice airfield for you. [;)]

But I still worry about such a big target [Milne Bay] so close to Rabaul, with so many fighters vulnerable to a bombardment, and CVEs in port also.

Pretty soon it's going to be the other way around, with the Japanese base at Rabaul exposed and vulnerable.

It's cool that you were able to save those mauled CVEs. Presumably they will be out of action for a long time, but still that's a real victory.

I'm not sure about bombarding Rabaul, but I am preparing to hit it with every heavy bomber in the South Pacific. This will happen just before operations to land at Lae and surrounding bases. I will be able to sweep Rabaul with P-38s and Corsairs, but it's still going to be painful, with over 160 fighters bases there at the moment, and the adjacent base to the east has fighters too.

One interesting possibility I'm thinking about is doing this big sweep and strike when KB is adjacent. Sure, a lot of KB's fighters will be helping Rabaul, making my sweeps and bomber missions very costly, but it'll use up KB's CAP too, and if I can combine this with a carrier strike on KB, it just could be decisive.

With the enemy just loving to sit right next to Rabaul for support, I just may be able to execute this plan sometime.

This is an amazing cat fight to see you two guys involved in....

& your strategy of to engage the KB, while adjacent to Rabaul, is very scary from a Japanese pov.

I think you'll be sending your bombers into a meat grinder at Rabaul with very little to show for it. I think even with the bleed off of KB fighter strength, your still likely to come off worse in the carrier battle. I like the alternative of hitting Lae overland while invading Bougainville. Hold off hitting the KB until you get Hellcats.

Q What's up at Munda?

All of the above stated, what do I know

Things would have to go just right for the carrier attack to succeed. The sweep and bombing of Rabaul would have to go first, before a naval strike on KB, and KB would have to be range capping Rabaul. Big ifs.

I landed at Munda long ago, and found enemy troops there. I had to leave quickly, so the infantry regiment that landed was mostly squads, with no support. I then captured adjacent Vangunu, and the rest of that regiment walked to Munda. Munda was being slowly reinforced by the enemy during this time. It became a stalemate, with both sides dug in, and has remained that way.

I was ok with stalemate. If not taking Munda, I was happy to take Vangunu and build it up. My actions here weren't part of a big offensive but I made it look as if it could have been.

I don't have immediate plans for Shortlands, Buin, and Torokina. They are fairly strongly defended. I'm headed up New Guinea, and then we'll see how I can isolate Rabaul.

Once again Apbarog, I figured you might be in for a "beach head too far" by going for Buna. Outstandingly executed!