Big Guns of the Pacific: FatR (A) vs NY59Giants (J)

[FatR]

June 13-14, 1942: Night of the Battleships

Well, NY59Giants finally decided to use IJN battleline for airfield bombardment, and his raiders hit the jackpot at Port Moresby. Even though NavSearch detected enemy TFs the day before, and all level bombers at PM were set to Naval Attack at 9 hexes, enough to hit them, skipbombers did not sortie. The results were not pretty. First of all, the screening Japanese TF hit my ships unloading at PM. What happened then I can't say. The replay and the saved report file show things like this:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Port Moresby at 98,130, Range 4,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
BB Sagami, Shell hits 4
CA Chikuma
CL Jintsu
CL Ninaru
DD Ariake
DD Akatsuki
DD Sagiri
DD Amagumo

Allied Ships
DD Preston, Shell hits 4
DM Preble
xAK Harry Luckenbach, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Liberty Glo, Shell hits 1
xAK Comliebank, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Mataroa, Shell hits 1
xAP Rangatira, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Wahine, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Matua, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied ground losses:
Vehicles lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

But in the actual turn file there was not a single survivor from my TF and Sagami took a single torp instead. This is the fourth time when replay shows someting ENTIRELY DIFFERENT from the actual outcome and this is super-annoying. Particularly because the changes are never in my favor... Is FOW really supposed to work like that?

Anyway, a bombardment TF consisting of Yamato, Musashi and Suruga followed, sank xAK and AK, caught separately, and nuked Port Moresby, destroying 155 planes on the ground and completely knocking out the airfield.

Naval bombardment of Port Moresby at 98,130
Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk IA: 7 destroyed on ground
B-26 Marauder: 15 destroyed on ground
P-39D Airacobra: 20 destroyed on ground
B-26B Marauder: 9 destroyed on ground
P-38E Lightning: 14 destroyed on ground
PBY-5 Catalina: 6 destroyed on ground
B-25C Mitchell: 4 destroyed on ground
Catalina I: 3 destroyed on ground
C-47 Skytrain: 5 destroyed on ground
F4F-4 Wildcat: 8 destroyed on ground
SBC-4 Helldiver: 7 destroyed on ground
A-24 Banshee: 5 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
BB Musashi
BB Yamato
BB Suruga
CA Tsurugi
CA Tone
CL Noshiro
CL Agano

Allied ground losses:
602 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 37 destroyed, 46 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 21 (12 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (10 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Airbase hits 35
Airbase supply hits 15
Runway hits 356

Some losses are very painful, including Lighthings and Mitchells (I don't even receive the latter yet). I had no PT boats on patrol, because so far patrol boats proved themselves useless, always evading the combat even at night. Mines were in place, and the game tells me that they claimed a CL and a DD from the cover force, but I find this hard to believe. A destroyer, quite possible, but I doubt a cruiser died that easily (also, my intelligence just loves to report false losses of Japanese cruisers to mines and collisions), besides, NY59Giants seemed to be very happy with the results. Coast defences fired back, but were ineffectual, suffering disruption 70+ and inflicting no damage on Japanese mammoths.

This is quite a bad development. While most of the Allied squadrons that were hit still can recover fast (except for medium bombers and Lightnings I still have a surplus of everything) results like this mean that I must disperse them or face repeated obliteration. I got careless before, seeing how my opponent keeps his battleships out of combat. Of course, with KB still hidding I cannot deploy my own fast battleships forward.

[FatR]

June 14-22, 1942: Java invaded

Over four days, 19-22, NY59Giants landed 25th Army, with three divisions, two tank regimets and a bunch of support units at Semarang. SigInt revealed his intentions some time ago, so 7th Australian Division was lying in wait there. Unfortunately, field artillery did no damage to unloading ships, although casualties to landing forces were pretty significant, up to 2,5k. I made a large mistake, not noticing, that Batavia's CD unit is mobile. As Japanese held initiative and could have changed the landing zone, I did not really concentrate my forces at Semarang, and now I hope to get 7th Australian out of the hex, before it is routed. The last stand will be at Soerabaja, and now almost every unit on the island (including airlifted remnants from Borneo and Sumatra) rushes there.

Dutch aviation and PT boat expended themselves in the attempts to attack the landing fleed. Unescorted bombers, facing battleships flaktraps and bad weather, hit only one xAK. PT boats finally initiated some attacks, but their best achievement was a collision between two Japanese transports.

There is not much else I could do to interfere with the landing. My DEI sub force is in pretty bad shape, after constant patrols with little repair, and scattered far and wide. Now I'm evacuating them to Colombo. 3 subs available to intercept failed to make contact and I don't want them to enter Semarang hex, there are too many escorts there. As about RN, with only one weak carrier and only two beat-up fighters airgroups on Java, sending it against Mini-KB and massive LBA presence is suicide. I've sent most of it to bombard Japanese troops at Moulmein, just to make my capital ships (half of which withdraws soon) contribute something to the war effort. Japanese LBA did not interfere with my regular convoys to Rangoon so far, so this should be safe.


Burn, Netties, burn.

Meanwhile, Port Moresby was subjected to constant air raids, that destroyed many of my disabled planes on the ground and Japanese cruisers bombarded my troops at Milne Bay. But on the evening of 20th, runways have repaired enough to fly two well-trained Aircobras groups and one Beaufighter squadron in and put them, plus some repaired fighters from PM on CAP. Over 21th-22th, Allies won a great air victory over Port Moresby, shooting down over 20 Oscars and Zeros and totally destoying one naval bomber kokutai, plus two 9-plane units, at the cost of about 8-9 fighters. Beaufighters in particular distinguished themselves against bombers, taking down 20. It seems, that NY59Giants hopes to strangle PM after all, but I intend to make a stand there. Now I'm forming a strongly escorted to convoy to shuttle some of the recently arrived SeaBees and AA units from Noumea to PM - flak fire and the rate of airfield repairs seem to be inadequate.


Sub wars.

Loss of Soerabaja as a refueling base really hurts my sub efforts. And it seems that NY59Giants got better of me with his convoy routing, because for the last month my subs hardly ever encounter anything but ASW TFs. While the string of Japanese ASW successes was brief, and now we're back to the usual routine, with Allied subs sometimes sinking PBs and SCs, taking maybe a few non-penetrating hits in return, I think these small victories are too few and far between to be more than nuisance.

As about IJN subs, they seem to either be on defensive patrols, or deployed far in open ocean, rarely achieving intercepts. Also, there are no signs of sub presence on routes from Abadan and Capetown to Colombo and from SanFran and Seattle to PH, where the convoy traffic is heaviest by far. I'm losing only about 1-2 xAKs per month to them.

[Fishbed]

Hello FatR

Didn't see you're actually fighting the same war against the same guy, buddy. I'd gladfully exchange some views with you, although you're doing a much better job than I do (actually, I didn't see that Mersing thing coming, and I really got screwed). My war is soon to be fought on a theater way different than yours, in our backwaters, so all I can offer as far as experience is concerned is a beautiful nightmare scenario and list of not-to-do's

[FatR]

Well, to be honest, in your game NY59Giants simply uses the lessons learned here. Coming for Singapore and Luzon in historical way seriously delayed his operations. In Malaya, particularly, playing historicaly is a recipe for disaster - all Allied players seem to either evacuate everything for the defense of Singapore or to abandon Malaya entirely, so, normally, Japanese don't get a chance to batter Allied troops when advancing down the peninsula. As Japanese have KB-2 next to Singapore in CV Enhanced, going for Mersing is a no-brainer.
Also, I generally was lucky in this game. PH attack caused relatively little damage at considerable cost to Japanese, and a fortunate incident saved me from getting nearly the whole core of the Pacific Fleet crushed at Sydney.

[FatR]

More on the sub wars.

S-boats and RO-boats seem to be really inferior to large fleet boats. Not only in their operational range - they die more easily. Currently my S-boats (except for DEI survivors) attempt to blockade Japanese holdings in SWPac, but they don't have much success in this role. The problem with subs not getting repaired in ports without shipyards still persists.

As about fleet boats, Asiatic Fleet and Dutch fleet boats mostly patrolled Makassar Straight, around Tarakan, Camrahn-Saigon area and approaches to whatever seemed the current IJN forward base (Manado, then Kendari). ASW LBA eventually chased my blockade of Camrahn farther into the sea. As was said above, currently most of the are falling back to Colombo, where they will be repaired and upgraded. However, with loss of Northern Australia, I don't have a decent base to wage a sub war in DEI anymore. Will be doubly true once NY59Giants closes off all straights closer than eastern tip of Java with air ASW, mines and whatever. Once I feel that the Western Australia is secure (now I have a bunch of armor hiding in Calgoorlie, but otherwise the only reinforcements it got are remnants from Northern Australia, which marched across the desert) I'll develop Geraldton.

Pacific Fleet boats, including fresh reinforcements, mostly patrol around Japan and on both sides of Formosa. They refuel at Midway. But, as I said, there aren't many attacks on transports. Maybe NY59Giants sends his convoys through one of the staits south of Luzon. I also try to keep some fleet subs patrolling around Truk and Kwajalein, more in the hope of noticing fleet movements, than to sink anything.


Air situation.

PM raid really hurt my air offensive capabilities. Particularly because US Army does not even have any Lightnings or medium bombers produced currently. 4E production remains sluggish as ever. And I don't have a secure base from which to conduct a 4E bombing campaign in SWPac. Flying from Cooktown to Gasmata results in unacceptable operational losses after each tangle with CAP. So, until August I won't have much opportunity to strike at Japanese airfields - bombers already in the squadrons must be preserved for defensive naval strikes.
In fact, I now have a stronger bomber force in Burma and around, thanks to evacuating whatever is possible to evacuate from DEI and sending B-17s that defended DEI there as well. It is crippled by lack of forward airfields and air support in Burma proper (I didn't ship additional air support units Burma), however. My sole good airfield for medium bombers and fighters is Rangoon, and my fighters refuse to fly escorts from there to Pisanuloke, which is the closes active Japanese airbase. So far, my esteemed opponend made no attempts to bomb Rangoon, and therefore the air war on the western flank mostly boils down to pounding Moulmein and Japanese troops next to Pegu (night bombing at Pisanuloke and one-time 4E raid on Bangkok were inconsequential).

[Capt. Harlock]

But on the evening of 20th, runways have repaired enough to fly two well-trained Aircobras groups and one Beaufighter squadron in and put them, plus some repaired fighters from PM on CAP. Over 21th-22th, Allies won a great air victory over Port Moresby, shooting down over 20 Oscars and Zeros and totally destoying one naval bomber kokutai, plus two 9-plane units, at the cost of about 8-9 fighters. Beaufighters in particular distinguished themselves against bombers, taking down 20.

Nice move! Airacobras usually don't do so well against Zeroes, but pilot training always helps. How soon until you get Spitfires?

[FatR]

Spitfires will be available for Australians in October. Replacement rate is only 18, so I'm going to be stuck with Hurricanes as the main British/Commonwealth fighters until late 1943. The air war is bloody in this game.

[FatR]

June 23-26, 1942: About tempting luck

Right above I complained that my subs cannot find Jap convoy routes, and noted that IJN subs do not operate on my main shipping lanes. I also mentioned that sea around Burma was still safe from Netties. Well, the next two turns demonstrated that I shouldn't have tempted luck.

Not only one of IJN subs sank a small AMC that escorted a convoy from Capetown to Colombo, but Betties made a surprise appearance in Tavoy, catching a small convoy, that was hauling fuel out of Rangoon in the open sea and sinking it entirely. I lost 3 smaller TKs, 1 AO, 1 PG and 1 AM over two turns, as damaged ships made it to Rangoon but failed to disband into the port. CAP took down some of the attackers, but not nearly enough.

Thankfully, I was wrong about my own subs positioning too, as SS Grouper managed to intercept a convoy in Formosa Strait, south of Batan Island and sink a xAK.


New faces in the air.

Ki-44 and Ki-45 made their combat debut, with large numbers arriving in Burma theatre. In their first engagements, Ki-44s proved themselves decidedly superior to Allied fighters, except Hurricanes, and then only Hurricanes using stratoshere sweeps against them. It seems they are noticeably better than Hayabusas. Still too undergunned to stop B-17 (when I attempted to strike their base at Moulmein with a massed B-17 raid, more Tojos than my bombers went down) and even Hudsons with experienced crews managed to fight them off and take relatively light losses. Ki-45s contribution so far amounted to providing a few targets for night bombing.


Java operations.

7th Australian was pushed out of Semarang and took heavy casualties. Otherwise the evacuation to Soerabaja is successful.

Recon problems.

Allied long-range recon is nearly nonexistent. No recon planes are produced. British in Burma must rely on a single element of recon Mitchells models; in SWPac I simply have no planes capable of reconning Rabaul, Lunga or Rossel Island (which is built up to AF 1, Port 1 base by now). Looks like that is due to my own dumb mistake though, because revision of my recon assets allowed me to discover that F-4 Lightnings have enough range for my needs, when flying with droptanks, and that I have a pair of long-ranged Bufallo recons sitting on the West Coast too. Now I'm shipping all of that to SWPac. Unfortunately, as none of these planes are actually produced, if I start to lose them to flak or ops, I'm screwed until September at least. Fortunately, Japanese flak doesn't seem to take down planes flying recon and search. Allies, on the other hand, shoot them down regularly, if statistics are to be believed.

[Capt. Harlock]

Ki-45s contribution so far amounted to providing a few targets for night bombing.

let's hope it stays that way. Ki-45's are the best 4E killers the Japanese will get for the time being, if your opponent has the wit to deploy them properly. (That is, out of escorting fighter range.)

[FatR]

June 27 - July 2, 1942: The battle for air superiority in Southern Burma

As mentioned in the post above, NY59Giants finally activated Moulmein and Tavoy. As half of RN (a bombardment TF centered around BB Beatty, and an air cover TF consisting of Illustrious and escorts) was nearby, and its most precious ships had withdrawals pending, I decided to launch an all-out air and sea attack against the offending airfields. (Mini-KB still was hanging around Semarang at the moment and I doubted that KB was hiding in the same region.) Although I use most transport planes available in India for supplying Burma, reserves remained fairly thin even with a regularly running convoy from Madras, so I wanted Rangoon open for my shipping.

Unfortunately, basing my decisions on the need to use my capital ships somehow, before they are gone, proved to be a faulty line of thinking. Plus, luck was not with me. For some reason, my TFs stopped right next to the southwestern tip of Burma mainland, in seven hexes from Tavoy and were pummeled by Betties, despite being LRCAPped by fighters from Rangoon. Notably, some raids were escorted by IJA fighters. Beatty took one torp that barely scratched its paint. Then Illustrios finally ran out of luck, receiving three torpedo hits, followed by an ammo storage explosion. Miraculously, she's still afloat and Betties didn't molest her further. While I had to part with Illustrious anyway, I hope Michael won't get the points for her.

The next turn found my TFs in disordered retreat. I detached CL Emerald, another soon-to-be-withdrawn ships to bombard Moulmein, which they did succefully and retreated without harm, but the damage was not enough to deal a serious blow to Japanese CAP.

So my aviation failed to shut down Moulmein as well. Both of us rotated participating squadrons, the battle had ups and downs for both sides, my Hurricanes IIc proved that they are on the top of the totem pole, and B-17s did well too, but in the end my air force definitely not gave as good as it got. In particular, american Warhawks with EXP 45+, Air 60+ pilots proved to be totally not up to the task. Even Ki-45s had dominated them in dogfight.

In short, while not immediately cripping for me, this is a significant victory for Japanese, both in terms of destroyed aircraft and effect on my operation. Now I cannot keep up daylight bombing raids in southern Burma, except with 4Es. We'll see whether Japanese air force will go on the offensive now.

Position and condition of CV Illustrious on the evening of July 2. Note the reduction in torpedo stores after the ammo explosion:

[FatR]

Current situation on the Burma front: pretty much unchanged since winter. My force at Pegu and the Japanese vanguard still watch each other across the river. IIRC, I have 1312 AV at Pegu, and Pegu is built up to level 3 forts (only level 3 due to supply shortages). Chittagong, Cox's Bazaar and Akyab currently are building up their forts. Chittagong has 70th British Division and other bases a brigade-sized force + engineers each. As Japanese can seize control of the sea at any time, and the supply situation in Burma is relatively poor already, as described above, I'm afraid to deploy anything forward at the cost of weakening my immediate rear. PPs for Indian units are less of a concern, but for this reason I'll probably use my current savings for another US Division from West Coast.

[FatR]

Java: retreat to Soerabaja completed.

7th Australian successfuly slipped its pursuers, and almost every combat-worthy unit on Java, save for just enough AV to maintain garrisons have evacuated to Soerabaja. In the light of this, the major Japanese landing at Merak is hitting the empty space. Soerabaja now has level 5 forts and more than 1500 AV. We'll see if that will be enough to give Japanese a pause.

[FatR]

China: suspicious quiet.

The supply shortage is my greatest scourge for now. Thankfully, Japanese aviation ceased all activities but recon in China. Also, it seems, that destroyed Chinese units return with their experience level before the destruction. Veeery nice!

On the northern front my defensive line consists of Lanchow, Yenan, forests north of Tsiaotso, Tsiaotso, Loayng-Sian road, Nanyang and Ankang. Sian also has a strong garrison. I do not intend to hold Nanyang if Japanese move against it in force.

[FatR]

In southern China I'm holding Ichang, Changsha, Pingsiang and Kukong with strong garrizons. 22nd Japanese Division (possibly in the company of other units) was recently noticed south of Pingsiang, but disappeared into nowhere on the last turn. My planes are checking suspicious hexes.

[FatR]

Australia and SWPac: expanding in New Guinea and plans for Northern Austalia.

I'm moving Gull and Lark batalions + one US base force overland to Buna, which is still an Allied base. While Japanese will be able to push them back with a decent amphibious force, they'll need to knock out PM again to do so. Otherwise, skipbombers and divebombers will have a field day.

Meanwhile, a troop convoy carrying two SeaBees units and an AA regiment approaches PM, with the most powerful escort I've ever deployed so far - cruisers in the convoy itself and three old USN battleships in a separate TF. Fighters at PM (120 at all) are concentrated on CAP, while long-ranged bombers will try nightbombing various Japanese airfields. A low-value convoy, carrying supplies, is close on the heels of the main convoy.

And map of the situation in New Guinea. Note, that my esteemed opponent currently fortifies Hansa Bay. It probably indicates defensive intent in this region, but with Port Moresby being the lynchpin of my strategy for 1942, I prefer to be safe than sorry and keep at least 1000 AV there. Also note, that my already-ongoing buildup in Terapo remains unnoticed so far. Milne Bay is regularly bombed, though. I'm trying to airlift supplies there, so that my pixeltruppen can finally make the airfield operational, but these effort meet limited success so far.




Operation Arrow: retake Northern Australia!

After checking my armored forces in Australia and seeing that they are pretty impressive now, I decided to launch the first Allied offensive of the war, codenamed Operation Arrow. Its main purpose is to create a threat to Darwin area that can check further Japanese offensives elsewhere. Michael seemingly assumed an entirely defensive stance - Tennant Creek is Japanese-owned but unoccupied. I intend to be careful and methodical in my movements, because armor seems to be rather vulnerable for air bombardment, and because I don't want to face a large Japanese army with units that are out of supply. So, first of all, Tennant Creek will be taken and turned into Allied airbase. A base force already started moving there from Alice Springs, while tank units will catch up with it soon. Only then my armored horde, supported by 6th Australian Division, will mass for a real push. I'm shipping all transport aviation that I can find on the West Coast to Australia, to run an air bridge, if required.

[FatR]

July 3 - July 6, 1942: The end on Sumatra.

Surrounded Medan fell on July 5. With surrender of its defenders I don't have any military force to speak of on Sumatral. Australian pioneers delivered by the ill-fated convoy in late May, are currently being evacuated by flying boats from the northernmost tip. Damage to the oilfields was rather slight, although this battle proves that facilities can be damaged even if engineers do not retreat from the hex.


Under the sea.
In other news, S-44, which rammed a mine at Lunga almost a month ago, was pumped out at Noumea and sent to Brisbane for permanent repairs, floundered and sunk in the sea. She will be remembered as the first USN sub lost to other causes than port bombing.

I'm not at all satisfied with actions of S-subs in SWPac. So far, they have failed to sink anything. Fleet subs, with their faulty torps, had achieved more in the same region. Logistical problems preventing them from maintaining patrols are probably the main reason. At least it seems by now now Townsville and Noumea finally started to repair subs.

For a change of pace, I sent most of my operation subs in SWPac to lay mines over the last two turns (I used subs for minelaying in December and early January, and it seems that Mk10 mines have claimed a PB and a SC, but stopped this practice after running out of mines).


In the air.

I'm setting my B-19s at Chittagong to attack Camrahn now. I also plan to deploy a second squadron of these birds in Alaska/Aleutian regino, whom where they can reach Japanese Islands and stir some healthy fear for their security in Michael.

I continue to plan my first paradrop operation of the war too. Finschhafen remains extremely weakly garrizoned, so with three Marine paras batallions I can easily take it - if Catalinas can perform paradrops, too. If not, the operation will be rather more risky. In the second wave, my planes will transport a base force there, to set up fighters. As Finschhafen is well within range of my skipbombers from Moresby, attempts to retake it by sea are bound to be rather messy, and the weak force at Lae won't be able to do much.


And on the surface.

8 USN CVs have gathered in Pearl Harbor! Three fast BBs are there as well. By now, I've phased out Devastators from active carrier service, but, unfortunately, not SBD-2s. In fact, my supply of SBDs is so limited, that any carrier battle with indecisive outcome is bound to hurt me much more than my opponent. A mutual knockout with KB (which should have 8 large carriers by now) is also undesirable, in the short term, because with 6 carriers currently in Mini-KB, IJN can affort losses better, until 1943, and I'm not yet in position where I can advance with LBA and SCTFs alone. So, while I (after all Essex-class carriers are upgraded) will be willing to accept a defensive battle with KB, my carriers will remain in the role of a mobile reserve, at most, a CAP-booster for short jumps around New Guinea, rather than a strike force, until I get better odds (which will be rather soon, with 2 more Essexes due to arrive in 1942). Using all of this airpower for a deep strike is tempting, but being set back for a year in a day is all too possible.

[FatR]

July 7 - July 12, 1942: Nothing new.

Well, that's not entirely true. CV Illustrious sank on 8th, even if that was not unexpected. She was due to be withdrawn in less than two weeks, so no real loss to the Allied fleet. Still, VPs given to Michael the points for free will serve as a reminder about the perils of risking valuable assets just because you have nothing better to do with them.

Otherwise, Japanese advance in DEI continues, air attacks on Moulmein still go poorly, Allies take relatively large plane losses due to this and losing remaining Dutch planes (mostly inoperable already) on the ground, Allied torpedos still refuse to explode, and my troops still march towards Tennant Creek and Buna.


Supply problems.

Several AARs, probably played under earlier versions of the game, imply that getting supply overland to Northern Australia and Burma is easy. I don't see anything like this. Units involved in Operation Arrow already start showing supply shortages, before even reaching Tennant Creek. And I need to use nearly all transport planes of Tenth USAAF just to keep the supply situation in Burma from deteriorationg. By the way, not stockpiling 200-300k of supplies in Rangoon, when I could, was a huge mistake. But I discovered too late, that India actually has major suprlus of supply, just all of it concentrates in Madras. Now I'm even forced to run a shore convoy from Madras, just to stockpile enough supply for aircraft upgrades in Calcutta-Chittagong area.

[Smeulders]

Some hints for the supply situation, try moving command HQ's to Calcutta, they should seriously increase supply in the base. This can also be one of those instances in which using the supply draw function can be useful.

[FatR]

Yes, looks like most of my HQs were in Madras. I'll try moving them to Calcutta-Chittagong area immediately. Thanks for the advice.

[FatR]

July 13 - July 18, 1942

These days remained uneventful until 17th, when at least one large Zero Ku and two Tojo sentais tried to sweep Rangoon. Two British squadrons of Hurricanes and one unit of Warhawks from Tenth USAAF handled them rougly, despite being outnumbered: 14 Zeros and 3 Tojos (Zeros were first to appear on both days) are reported lost, in exchange for 6 Hurries and 6 Hawks. Only two kills were scored by Warhawks, though. What's even better, only four Allied pilots were wounded in this battle, and judging by Michael's comments, Japanese flyboys weren't nearly as lucky.

Subs also scored some successes, definitely sinking a Kiso-class PB north of Rabaul and a Minekaze-class APD near Tokio. Of note are (mis)adventures of SS Triton, which by now tangled with what looks the same subchaser TF near the coast of Japan around 10 times, without damage to either side (one time a SC was hit, but the torpedo was a dud). You see why I'm not very impressed by Japanese ASW. Unfortunately, it seems to at least draw most of the sub attacks in hot areas to itself.

In other news, forces participating in Operation Arrow are within one hex from Tennant Creek (tanks and the base force will enter the hex on the same turn or within one turn from each other), and first of my troops reached Buna.



Operation Recovery

I'm thinking about my future offensive in SWPac, and while I don't want to dig Japanese out from their strong positions in Solomons, if this can be avoided at all, I believe that their forward base on Rossel Island should be taken to secure the flank of my main thrust along the coast of New Guinea. Of course, even after Milne Bay becomes operational (now I finally have APDs in the area, to run fast transport missions there, and airfield is almost at level 1), this operation will require carrier support, but I believe that the operation will be swift enough to make the risk of engagement with KB minimal - the garrizon so far consists of three small units, so two decently prepared Marine regiments (they are in Suva and already planning for Rossel Island, just in case Michael manages to reinforce, the third regiment of the same division, now transported from the West Coast, also plans for Rossel) should be able to overrun them in one shock attack. And I have enough APs in SoPac to, hopefully, unload them in one, at most two turns.
I also intend to make the capture of Rossel Island coincide with the paradrop at Finschhafen, so that Japanese LBA hopefully will have less opportunity to pound my paratroops before I can airlift some air support in. This combined offensive will from now on be codenamed Operation Recovery.