[font="Times New Roman"]July 13-16, 1944[/font]
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SW PAC: [/font] A few strange turns here. First the Allies send one brigade to Aitupe overland and it runs into the 1st South Seas Det. plus a bunch of base force fragments. They have level 4 forts in jungle though, and this is plenty to ward off the Aussies in their current strength. Maybe he's in for the long haul here, but if he'd sent two brigades he'd be done by now and my positions at Hollandia and Sarmi would be gin to be much less tenable. As it is I'm still running supply in quite openly with only Allied subs to interdict, and the fields are wide open and unchallenged even by the numerous Jugs, Corsairs and Spit VIII in the area.
The Aussies get a 1:2 on the 13th and will have to grind this one out, possibly over a month or more, especially if I decide to fly anymore in to force an additional unit to be sent here.
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OZ: [/font] Down South the Allies make their first big push for Darwin again, and again it's a "surprise" strike with the 4Es leading and getting sent into a meat grinder. He had sweeps set but they all arrived after the main action had finished and didn't even get to shoot down tired CAP.
This is probably the 4th or 5th time recently the Allied 4Es have been sent in without any previous sweeps to either test strength or wear down defenders. In the interest of the game I hope Sqz changes this up as it's not good management of his forces. I think he's intimidated by the low CAP, but there should be thousands of Hellcats by now that could even start the proceedings effectively to prepare for the more precious P-47s, Corsairs and Spits to follow.
On the 16th he swept high, getting 3.5:1 against my high CAP set to get over some sweepers if he didn't max them out. Still not bad against the Jugs, but he came back with an odd response. He said it felt "dirty" to get the dive and the 30+kills to 9 lost. Huh???[X(]
A bit confused. This is what the Allies are supposed to get, and did get, in the war. I simply don't understand. What is he expecting? It seems like whatever happens there is something not quite right.
So I have no idea how this is going to develop. He says now he'll not fly over 31k for the rest of the war even though we just agreed to no altitude restriction for the rest of the game. I don't get it. [:(]
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BURMA: [/font] Still shifting the main stack here. No idea where it'll end up. I've now moved the Taung Gyi troops into the x3 block next to Toungoo. That allows other troops to shift toward Prome in case, for some unforeseen reason, he's going back that way. One of the pointers is moving that way, and I've decided the most vulnerable hex is the one between Prome and Toungoo, so I'll make sure there is enough in Prome to shift there in case he does go that way. If not I can block in the x3, move in two tank divisions within two turns, and stop him in the x3 on the North side.
So the wait is on. Which way will they go?
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR July 13, 44
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Ground combat at Aitape (95,118)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 4756 troops, 60 guns, 43 vehicles, Assault Value = 154
Defending force 4006 troops, 44 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 78
Allied adjusted assault: 54
Japanese adjusted defense: 119
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(-)
Japanese ground losses:
204 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Allied ground losses:
95 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Assaulting units:
3rd Australian Brigade
Defending units:
1st South Seas Det.
61st JNAF AF Unit /2
39th JNAF AF Unit /1
54th JNAF AF Unit
4th JAAF AF Bn /2
43rd JNAF AF Unit /1
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR July 15, 44
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Morning Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid detected at 63 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 6
A6M5b Zero x 45
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 49
Ki-84a Frank x 37
Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 3
B-24D1 Liberator x 22
P-38J Lightning x 69
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 2 destroyed, 12 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak
P-38J Lightning: 3 destroyed
Japanese Ships
LST T-113, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
LST T-115, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
8 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
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Morning Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid detected at 68 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 5
A6M5b Zero x 35
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 42
Ki-84a Frank x 33
Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 6
B-24D1 Liberator x 16
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 destroyed
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak
B-24D1 Liberator: 7 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak
Port hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
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Morning Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 2
A6M5b Zero x 12
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 27
Ki-84a Frank x 17
Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 10
P-38J Lightning x 22
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 2 destroyed
Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Port Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR July 16, 44
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Morning Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 45,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 18
A6M5b Zero x 13
N1K2-J George x 24
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 8
Ki-84a Frank x 8
Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 20
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 2 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-84a Frank: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x P-47D25 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet *
CAP engaged:
S-305 Hikotai with A6M5 Zero (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 38500 , scrambling fighters between 38000 and 38500.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes
Ominato Ku S-1 with A6M5b Zero (0 airborne, 9 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 38500 , scrambling fighters between 38000 and 38500.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes
Ryuho-1 with N1K2-J George (0 airborne, 16 on standby, 0 scrambling)
8 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 35300 , scrambling fighters between 35000 and 35300.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
19th Sentai with Ki-84a Frank (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 34440 , scrambling fighters to 34000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 17 minutes
26th Sentai with Ki-43-IIIa Oscar (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 37400 , scrambling fighters to 37000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 17 minutes
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Morning Air attack on Darwin , at 76,124
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 45,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 16
A6M5b Zero x 7
N1K2-J George x 20
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar x 7
Ki-84a Frank x 3
Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 20
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 1 destroyed
N1K2-J George: 2 destroyed
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 2 destroyed
Aircraft Attacking:
8 x P-47D25 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet
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[font="Trebuchet MS"]The toll is high, again. [/font]

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill