See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[apbarog]

Timor is definitely contested by KB. I originally went to Merauke, Taberfane, and Dobo because New Guinea was deadlocked with KB sitting by Rabaul. That move was successful, drawing KB and almost everything else, to the west of New Guinea, allowing me to hit southern New Guinea hard. My moves west of New Guinea are a bigger threat, in my opinion. I should consider hitting elsewhere. But my main objectives are still north of Australia. I have much prepping for that.

I could do more in the Tarawa area, but I sense that this may not draw any kind of response. There may have already been a general withdrawal here.

Only something dramatic, and more threatening, would draw KB away, at this point. Retaking Attu drew no response.

I'll get Wasp back in the area soon. Hornet will still be a few weeks away, repairing at Sydney. Essex is about to arrive at Balboa. All I need for Saumlaki is KB to be more than 8 hexes away. I just need one day to get in and land.

My main objectives, still to be named, will wait for most if not all of the carriers mentioned. Prepping continues.

[BBfanboy]

I think 8 hexes is the limit for CV vs CV strikes. Kates can make 9 hex strikes (with reduced load) but I am unsure whether the code limits attacks on non-CV TFs to 8 hexes as well.

[apbarog]

5 May 43

US cruisers bombarded Finschhafen, doing moderate damage to the airfield and port. The base appears to be lightly defended.

West of Mindanao, sub Runner spots an xAKL task force, and gets a torpedo hit on xAKL Higari Maru. The small ship is probably sunk.

Near Boela, sub Drum gets a torpedo hit on TK Ceram Maru. The ship is loaded with fuel and burns.

Babar is heavily swept by Zeros and Oscars. The only Corsairs still here are damaged, as the repaired ones fly south. I do have 18 Kingfishers here, and they had naval targets today, but weather prevented their flights.

B-25s bomb Taberfane's airfield and port, adding to the existing damage.

The 3rd Marine Division and armor attacks the 9th Division and others on the coast near Buna. The combat goes at 1 to 4, and we get a bad roll, taking almost 900 casualties, with 450 casualties for the enemy. The enemy is listed as out of supply now. I'll need to rest longer before attacking next time.

KB barely moves, just slightly west, still covering Babar and Saumlaki at 6 hexes each. A small task force is stationed between it and Babar, no doubt acting as a picket.

US carriers are near Gove and were not spotted in the weather. Wasp is moving up the east coast of Australia to join. TBF squadrons will take turns flying to Wasp and resizing as the ship moves north.

In the world of SigInt, the Imperial Guard Division has split and now covers two hexes of the line in Burma.

The 26th Division is planning to attack Milne Bay. That would certainly be a bold move. I really doubt that this would be attempted, but I can't rule it out, considering the proximity of Rabaul. I still have an infantry division at Milne Bay, and wasn't planning to pull it out.

[apbarog]

Looking through my notes, the last mention of the 26th Division was at Kavieng. Would Walker try an invasion of Milne Bay at this point? I really don't think so, but it would be a bold move, and with a few divisions committed, would have a chance at working. A successful move would cut off all of my bases and units further up the east coast of New Guinea.

I still don't think that this will happen. Maybe it was a possibility before I took Port Moresby. But I will keep this in mind. Just because Walker has been very defensive doesn't mean he isn't capable of a bold counterstrike.

[jwolf]

The Japanese would need to use KB for an invasion of Milne Bay, wouldn't they?

[apbarog]

I would think that KB would be needed. I have a bunch of big airbases nearby. Coming in with only LR CAP would be suicide. With KB, a landing could be forced. It's possible that multiple divisions could be landed at Milne Bay, but I believe they would end up being eliminated there, sooner or later.

Odds are that the SigInt for the 26th Division is just old prep that wasn't changed.

[apbarog]

6 May 43

Sub Finback spots Hyuga, Ise, and Musashi near Ambon. They are traveling with the carriers.

US cruisers bombard Lae again. Very good casualty results, almost 600.

Just south of the Japanese home island of Kyushu, sub Hoe spots 2 destroyers, fires 2 torpedoes at Tsuta, and gets one hit. Good chance that it will sink.

Zeros and Oscars sweep Babar again. I have no CAP.

15 Kingfishers from Babar attack an unidentified task force near Lautem, at the eastern tip of Timor. KB has moved into this area. A combination of 3 types of Zeros and one Oscar squadron down almost every plane, and no seaplanes drop bombs.

Lae is close to being captured.

Ground combat at Lae (99,126)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 25576 troops, 433 guns, 709 vehicles, Assault Value = 809

Defending force 8096 troops, 99 guns, 93 vehicles, Assault Value = 111

Allied adjusted assault: 587

Japanese adjusted defense: 346

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
1657 casualties reported
Squads: 22 destroyed, 42 disabled
Non Combat: 31 destroyed, 93 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 42 (38 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 23 (14 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
115 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Vehicles lost 17 (2 destroyed, 15 disabled)


I'll rest for one day, then attack again.

KB has drifted to a point 2 hexes NE of Dili. SigInt reported an Air HQ on the way to Dili. I suspect that it is now unloading at Dili, and Walker decided that KB might as well cover the landing while it is wandering around in the area.

With the number of subs that I have near KB, it's just a matter of time till we hit another carrier. Walker is using his subs to blanket the same area, from Timor to Taberfane. He's generally left the shallows, staying in the deep water. Many, many enemy subs in this area.

US carriers remain by Gove, unobserved. Lexington is heading south along the east coast of Australia, heading for repairs, while Wasp is heading north, heading to Gove.

[jwolf]

With so many subs from both sides active in that area, I wonder if you'll get some sub vs. sub battles.

[apbarog]

We've had a few sub vs sub encounters, but none recently. My experience has been that this happens more often when one of the subs is damaged, and gets targeted by another sub.

[jwolf]

Ah, so it's more like shark vs. cripple. Well, in that case I hope your ASW efforts create a few more cripples ...

At what point (if ever [;)] ) do you expect to be able run shipping and naval operations along Australia's north coast, say between Darwin and Carnarvon?

[apbarog]

That's just what I've seen. I've seen non-crippled sub encounters too. Just seems, to me, that the odds are higher of an encounter with one sub damaged. As it should be, when you think about it. A damaged sub may be slower, or not able to dive. Historically accurate, in my opinion.

As for shipping along the north Australian coast, I had an operation to invade Port Headland, coming from Perth, but Walker's sub caught wind of that and his carrier raid damaged my shipping. I do have replacement shipping on the way to Perth, but it will be awhile, and this is a low priority. Darwin will be my staging area for further operations. I retook Wyndham. I will probably use APD's like I did at Wyndham and, over time, retake the northern bases to the west. They aren't heavily garrisoned. More of a cleanup operation for the future.

I do plan on using the base at the NW corner of Australia as a sub base.

[apbarog]

7 May 43

Sub Grayback spots an xAK task force near Ternate, but misses with 2 torpedoes fired at a patrol boat.

Lots of enemy fighters sweep Babar, again. Then KB, which is now a couple of hexes NE of Dili, Timor, bombs Babar's airfield. Over 100 divebombers escorted by about 80 fighters. Damage is moderate.

The 30th Australian Brigade liberates Katherine, Australia, pushing the Japanese further south. The enemy units are just shells, with most of the troops undoubtedly flown out to Timor earlier.

At Lae, I had intended to rest for a day, but I didn't reset one of the tank units to rest, so it attacked on its own. It still got a 1 to 1 attack and reduced the forts to 0. I'll attack with everything today and take the base. Cruisers will bombard first.

Things are in a bit of a lull. KB has moved a bit further away from Saumlaki. I start to reload troops to invade Saumlaki, and we'll see if I can sneak them in this time. Wasp is approaching Horn Island, headed to Gove. Damaged Lexington has past Horn Island and is now heading to Noumea, on its way to Pearl Harbor.

Carrier Essex arrived at Balboa.

[apbarog]

8 May 43

Walker is traveling for the next week, so turns will be few if any. I spent a couple of days working on this turn. I took a step back, looked at the big picture, then looked at all the little details, including pilot training. I have units for a series of landings all assigned, as well as noting lots of units behind the lines that are available for future operations.

The sub minefield that I had dropped near Babo was found and is being swept.

My 5 US cruiser task force bombarded Lae again, causing almost 600 casualties.

5 Japanese battleships bombarded Babar. Damage is light to moderate, considering. The task force was spotted retiring to Kendari. Good to know. Sub Tunny took a shot at an escorting destroyer and missed.

25 P-40Es swept Tarawa. 4 Zeros and 18 Rufes were on CAP. More enemy planes were lost, but alot of Warhawks were damaged. One P-40E squadron moves to Ndeni to upgrade to the K model.

24 SBDs, escorted by 25 P-40Es, bomb Tarawa's port. Some of the Zeros and Rufes were still on CAP. 4 SBDs were lost, and many were damaged. One port fuel hit was achieved, but the ACM that is surely there was not hit. I've tried this before, bombing with divebombers, and it just isn't as effective as medium or heavy bombers. Not enough bombs dropped.

B-24s from Merauke cross New Guinea and bomb Manus' port, but doesn't find any ships there either.

Finally, the Allies attack at Lae and take the base, with 45 to 1 odds. Over 2000 enemy casualties. The enemy retreats north along the trail. Some base support, but not as much as was planned originally, loads in Australia and starts to head to Lae.

Ground combat at Lae (99,126)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 25629 troops, 433 guns, 709 vehicles, Assault Value = 803

Defending force 6156 troops, 69 guns, 78 vehicles, Assault Value = 56

Allied adjusted assault: 1144

Japanese adjusted defense: 25

Allied assault odds: 45 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Lae !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-)
fatigue(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
2030 casualties reported
Squads: 85 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 178 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 46 (46 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 56 (56 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 4
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
39 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
754th Tank Battalion
763rd Tank Battalion
Americal Infantry Division
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
37th Infantry Division
762nd Tank Battalion
145th Field Artillery Battalion
Aus I Corps
11th USN Special Construction Battalion

Defending units:
4th Division
2nd RF Gun Battalion
Maizuru 1st SNLF
2nd Area Army
51st JNAF AF Unit


US carriers stayed by Gove, and were spotted today. Invasion shipping for Saumlaki finishes loading and will join the carriers today. KB was not spotted today.

I got a very important piece of SigInt today, and that was that the 48th Division is planning an attack at Timoeka. I consider this news to be legitimate. The swamp terrain doesn't help the defense. Supply is rather low but adequate at the moment. I will contest a landing here with my carriers and combat ships, particularly with Taberfane's airfield shut down. The range from Merauke to Timoeka is 8 hexes, so I can contest a landing from there also.

There is no doubt that KB would support a landing here.

For me, Saumlaki is next. Lots of stuff is moving around, positioning for future ops. I need to pull some units out of New Guinea also. Most targets need more prep before I can invade. Wasp is passing Townsville, headed towards Gove to join the other 3 US carriers.

The campaign in southern New Guinea is pretty much complete. Enemy units are isolated inland, between Port Moresby and Buna, having no ground path out, nor an airfield to evacuate from. Marines still battle another division on the coast near Buna. I'm pushing one division north from Lae, and will take Finschafen with armor, hopefully.

[apbarog]

8 May 43 (continued)

I forgot to mention an operation to capture Port Hedland. I'm dropping a small commando unit on the dot base south of Port Hedland, which I believe is unoccupied. I'm dropping a big Indian para unit on Port Hedland itself. The base is defended, but I believe that defense is light. (We've heard that before...)

It would be nice if this operation pulled KB over this direction, giving me some time to approach Saumlaki. If I were the Japanese, I'd assume that there must be a naval component to this operation, with ships moving north from Perth. There isn't.

[apbarog]

With Walker busy this week, I thought I'd show some general information about the game, starting with ship losses.

[apbarog]

There's one more 4 point destroyer that didn't quite show at the bottom of this list.

[apbarog]

Lots of slow battleships lost.

[apbarog]

Allied destroyers

[apbarog]

And the top of the air loss list.

[apbarog]

Japanese Sub Losses - May 1943 - Page 1