Bettys in the sky with diamonds- Gladiatt (A) vs John_Smid (J). No John please

[gladiatt]

7th and 8 th July 1942

The weather keep being on japanese side. Nearly no allied bombers took off to attack my ennemy.

Burma
At Mandalay, my army is trying to "punch" the 3 japs units (4th Bde, 33rd div, 55th div), but these are strong units. My troops are some scattered remnants of the withdrawal of the early year.

I had some hope to cut the supply line of these troops, but (see previous map of this front) 1st jap Tk reg has come to tangle with the small chinese unit now south of Mandalay. No side manage to take the upper hand here.
The lack of air support (because of bad weather ) don't help me much here.

Andaman is the new target of the japs. The place is isolated; many AK had been sunk trying to resupply the base. No fighter can reach the place (too far away for the short range of the brits aircraft). Not enough supply to recover the airlosses.....



SOPAC
The jap CV TF (3 cv supposed to be there, can i still call it KB ? ) was south of Noumea, and has sailed toward Norfolk Island, but didn't catch anything.

Koumac and Efate didn't suffered my daily bombardement or more than 5 days because of weather [:@].

My CV are still too far away to try to tangle with the japs CV. With their state (many damage caused only by sailing) i am still wondering if i should send them back to West Coast for refit, or try to fight with KB....

[gladiatt]

9th july

India

Here are the pesky night raiders that my Beaufighter try to catch each night, and fail. (the flak is more accurate than my night fighters).

[gladiatt]

9th july 1942

DEI

Here is a front where the jap keep growing.

Bulla (south of Ambon) had been captured.
Maumere ( north of Koepang) had been captured.
Koepang has been shore bombarded




SOPAC

KB has vanished !! i have absolutely no clue to guess where it goes. South, toward Auckland ? East, toward Fiji ? North, toward New Guinea and maybe back to Rabaul ? West and raiding Brisbane and Austalia ???

[gladiatt]

11th July.

So, dear reader, look at the Burma map at post # 131;
The jap 1st Tk Regiment had hammered my 22nd chinese div south of Mandalay for 3 days.
Once more, the bad weather prevented my planes in India to support this unit.
And a small jap unit (according to a bombing raid, it is a base force) sneak behind my unit, just west of Mandalay.

All this lead to my unit being surrounded rather than the big jap stack in Mandalay.
And 22nd chinese division decided to take hollidays in a POW camp !! [X(] .The unit surrender ! (+26 ground victory point for the jap this turn).

I think we are going for a stalemate here for months !!

Malaya
Since 5 days now, the jap have resume air raids against Singapore.; but this place still hold [X(][X(].
I don't expect to save it: too far away to receive supply/reinforcement/ planes/else.
The losse of this base will make a huge dent in my force, a big raise in jap victory point, and the "release" of the besieging troops.

CHINA
Nanning , a japanese sweep wipped my CAP of I-153, 4 polykarpov are destroyed....didn't seen anything coming.
Jan is able to surprise me once in a while...Good game [:)].

[gladiatt]

11th July 1942

SoPac

1) KB is unspotted. No idea where it could be.
I have roughly 12 subs scattered between New Caledonia, Australia, New Zeland, trying to find these ships.
I need to know where it is, to send supply convoy in Noumea: my air activity here and ground offensive is swallowing supplies by hundred each day.

2) In Noumea, my BB Arizona, West Virginia and Maryland are docked in Port, pumping water and extinguishing fire. These ships are out of war for months, but they are so strong that they didn't sunked !

3) Now, finish to play you bastard jap [:-] (well, kidding of course, Jan is a cool guy and a great player, at least for my level).
Now is time to counter attack (if supply can run in New Caledonia).
2 US div managed to reduce fort from level 1 to level 0; delib attack 2/1, 400 casualties on each side. Real casualties seem low, mostly disabled squad on my side. Don't know what could be the state of the japanese units , but since nearly 10 days there are no japanese bombardement ....lack of supply?
Another US RCT is on the way to New Caledonia, but as for supply convoy, i need to know where KB is first !
New OOB in Koumac :

[gladiatt]

12th july- 16th july 1942

CHINA

In the North, japanese raids occur quite daily around Sian. Sometimes 20 bombers gather to cause a few casualties.
From time to time, Ki-15 babs on reccon are damaged by flak; sometimes some are downed.
On 15th of july, 3 A6M3 encounter above Sian my CAP of 11 I-153; no japanese planes survive the fight, for no chinese losses [&o].

Center, around Changsa .
The japanese dive bombers and a few Helens are having their playground here.
In 5 days, more than 200 sorties cause some 500 casualties. But the base force in Changsa have been reinforced (allow replacement), and with more AA tubes, down 7 dive bombers and damage 27 planes.

South.
Well, just have a look at the map

[gladiatt]

12th July - 16th July

DEI

Sumatra
The troops trying to escape from Palembang area are bombed daily by the japs, and there is nothing i can do about this free training.
81st Naval Guard tried to capture some ABDA soldiers, but my troops just disapeared in the jungle after a deliberate attack scoring no loss for me. Anyway, with the attrition rate of walking through the jungle without supplies, i wonder how many i will save (if any).

North of Sumatra, a few dutch base force are scattered; no one will come evacuate them (not important enough), and the supply is slowly deacreasing. Once Singapore will fall, nothing will hold the japs to do some landing there to grab these places.

Koepang
319 sorties by japs bombers in 5 days had slowly raised the damage level of this base. No fighter could take off from there, so i am harmless on this front.
At Maumere, on 15th of july, SS K IX shoot at an AP and miss....

[gladiatt]

12th July - 16th July 1942

Burma

Andaman is the new target of the japs. Nells and Bettys make 312 sorties against this small base, along with zeros and Oscar escort.
The buffalos of 243rd squadron have a hard time; they managed to shoot 3 bombers and 4 Oscar in these 5 days, but loosing 14planes !! The only flying Hurricane of 20th squadron is still in action, but score no hits.
The base receive 37 runway hits, some supplies and base hits, and all this hinder the raising of forts (still too few engineers here to build things quickly, struggling to reach level 4 of forts; seems to be impossible with the jap harassment).



Rangoon.; on 13th july a raid is tried against the airfield, by my B-17 of 19th BG at max ceiling. 25 of them fly the mission. At this height, only the Oscar can climb, but this planes don't have enough gun to down my planes. Anyway, 13 bombers are damaged, and even with a tough plane, 3 crash on the return way. 1 Oscar is downed by my gunners, and 3 planes destroyed on ground. Damage non significant on base. The fatigue level is so high that i doubt this could be interesting as a raid.
And the thunderstorms prevent me to trying another.
The same day, 13th july, 11 LB-30 Liberators of 7th BG attack Pagan, but there is a bunch of AA unit there. All 11 planes are hit, one downed in flames, for no paticular result.

The rest of the week, a few squadron take off randomly to attack the japanese troops at Mandalay, the weather still being on japanese side.

On ground, the japs seems to have found a better artillery officer, or supply is running to the troops, because the land bombardement and artillery duel give now even loss rate. Stalemate for months..

[gladiatt]

12th July - 16th july


SoPac

Port Moresby each night, the usual pesky Kate of A-I and A-II Datai come raid the place, suffer some damage from my Flak, and manage to destroy a few planes on ground....

Koumac although it is thousand of miles away of Burma, it seem to have the same weather: thunderstorms, cloud, rain, all prevent a 100% activity of my bombers against the airfield or the troops.
An attack on 12th of july cause 400 japs casualties, 600 for allies. I wait a few days, recovering disruption, and on 15th of july, the 3rd Australian Tk regiment launch an attack to shaken the defenders (169 japs casualties for 17 allies), followed by a new infantry attack of my 2 divisions on 16th july, but wich fail (odd 1/1, casualties 400 japs for 900 allied).
This will take some time.... [8|];

North of Koumac, my B-17 are on aggressive patrol, and on 13th of july score some hits on the japanese oilers

[gladiatt]

SoPac

Luganville, after weeks of rest, is once again a target for the japs, and they fight hard to damage the place and down my planes.
Japs CV are hitting along with bettys from Rabaul.
The 8th FG at Luganville don't fight well.
From 14th july to 16th july, japanese bombers (CV or land based) make 305 sorties, along with zeros (180 sorties).
Results are pretty good for the japs: 2 Vals and 1 zero destroyed, for 4 catalina, 12 A-24 and 14 P-39 !! OUCH [:(];
The base , although it have some good EAB unit, have damage growing steadily, suffering 10 airbase hits and 91 runway hits in 3 days.
I must find something to protect this base, but the Corsair is not in my arsenal for now...

[gladiatt]

Wanted to take a screenshot of the OOB , but i got a rather randomly "paint", and that really bother me [8|].
Anyway, here is the screenshot that my computer was willing to take.



After the Mighty Mens of Manilla (Bataan didn't last enough to win a nickname), here are the
" Silly Scum of Singapore".
Jan-Sama was probably so disapointed with this fortress that he bringed 3 or 4 more divisions, 2 engineers regiment and artillery to hammer me !
The simple crossing between Johore and Singapore triggered a Shock attack with a 9/1 ratio.
What Jan could not know, but that i am willing to tell right now, is that Singapore was empty of supplies ( 0, nil, nothing, nada) since 3 weeks !!

Now, Jan has captured 124 000 fuel, a shipyard, and the right to sail in Malacca Strait. Don't know what Jan will do with this opening.
The fact that Andaman is bombed daily since more than a week could mean a threat there. And i have nothing to stop him, because my others base are too far away to help this place.
We will see...

[gladiatt]

19th july - Ambush fail

To be honest, and before the fall of Singapore, i tried a ambush at Nanning.
Daily sweep by japanese force usually gathered 3 zero, 10 or so Nate and 27 Oscar.

I based at Nanning and Wuchow 6th FSq (P-39) and 615th sq (hurricane II), and put a CAP , hoping to make casualties for the japs.
The ambush went badly for me : 4 Oscar are downed, for 6 Hurricanes and 6 P-39 !

[gladiatt]

19th July - 21th July 1942

CentPac
- At Johnston Island, the bettys and Vals on ASW duty manage to hit 3 of my subs ! SS Dolphin, SS S-43, SS S-35 all have heavy damages with high flotation damages.
In the followings days, SS S-35 has nearly handle it's damages, but the others 2 subs have floatation damages rising, so probably should sink.....

SoPac
Around Noumea , swarms of japanese subs try to catch my convoy. In a week, my LBA on naval search (usually 10% ) manage to hit 3 of them....i 'd like to learn these subs have sunk.

At Koumac, i launch an attack against japanese lines; odd 1/1, casualties 170 japs for 320 allies. But one jap unit has disapeared....and i don't know it it's attrition or if Jan managed to evacuate it.

Luganville is heavily hammered by bombers from KB and from Rabaul. In one week, i lost 12 P-39, 4 catalinas. The japs loose 2 zeros and 2 kate..... I hope one day i will be able to detter this kind of hammering.

BURMA
Andaman still under daily raid.
The buffalos are not top-kind planes, but sometimes manage to shot planes.
And i still have a lone Hurricane at the airfield.
On 21th July, Flt Lt Usher of 20th sq, flying this last Hurricane, down 3 zeros by himself. The week costed me 6 buffalos, and costed the japs 5 zeros and 1 nell. My airfield suffer from the bombing, but my planes are still able to fly; for how many times ???

[flaggelant]

Hey,

im usually not a great reader of allied AAR, but since there seem to be only a hand full of AAR's left i'd say thats a good reason to start reading an allied one [8|]

on the airlfield on the andamans, i think its a battle of exhaustion (if its really written that way [:D]) the more damage to the airfield you receive, the fewer planes will fly, and if you get less planes up against the strikes you suffer more losses, so its a circle that will end in losing more planes.

so you might want to stay out of the andamans with planes for a while, only to return with a larger group when the time is there.
(i think the only reason he IS bombing it is because you got a couple of planes there?)

[gladiatt]

ORIGINAL: flaggelant

Hey,

im usually not a great reader of allied AAR, but since there seem to be only a hand full of AAR's left i'd say thats a good reason to start reading an allied one [8|]

on the airlfield on the andamans, i think its a battle of exhaustion (if its really written that way [:D]) the more damage to the airfield you receive, the fewer planes will fly, and if you get less planes up against the strikes you suffer more losses, so its a circle that will end in losing more planes.

so you might want to stay out of the andamans with planes for a while, only to return with a larger group when the time is there.
(i think the only reason he IS bombing it is because you got a couple of planes there?)

Was thinking it could be this. For the moment, i have some squadrons on Andaman that can't be transfered (lack of range) and are depleted to 0 planes !!! (yes , indeed). I thought i could down a few planes myself (and i did so in last turn, not yet on AAR).
But usually when i start being on the wrong side of the stick, i evacuate the base (Koepang is a good example of this, and Luganville too).
But NOW that Malacca Strait is open to his ships, who know exactly what's going on ???
And thanks for reading [:)]

[gladiatt]

22th July.

CHINA
-an ambush is this time a success: just north of Changsa, 6 Hurricane of 615th sq and 9 P-39 of 6th FS ambush 34 Nate, 42 ann, 32 mary and 76 sonia. For the loss of 1 P-39, i down 2 nate and 8 dive bombers.

- Koepang, Andaman, Luganville, are bombed, as usual.

- KB is trying to hunt some convoy near Fiji, and launch a strike on the port at Suva.
6 of my P-39 (8th FG/C) are destroyed, for 1 zero, 1 val and 3 Kates. Negligibles damages on port.

[gladiatt]

23 th July.

CentPac
ASW patrol boats at Johnston may have find a way to search and destroy my subs ?
Today, it is SS S-31 that get hit by a depth charge in the area of this japanese base....

At Tarawa, SS S-27 sink an MSW

BURMA

23th FG, 72 P-40B, had arrived 14th of july in Karachi.
Transfering the planes and resting the pilots, repairing the few damages, i had to wait (with as much patience i could find) until today to launch a big sweep on Rangoon.
66 fighters of this Group attacked with success the CAP of Rangoon: of the 30 Oscar defending the base, 22 were downed, for 2 P-40 !!



CHINA
This front is about to see a huge battle (or maybe a quick one ???) because Death Star has moved: 45 japanese units are north of Canton (just the hex south of Wuchow).
Not sure i can handle this one.
If Wuchow fall, than maybe the whole railway line (hengchow, kweilin, changsa) could fall, and then, maybe all the rest of China;
I will try to resist and to give headaches to my opponant.

[flaggelant]

damn! clobbering an entire oscar squadron in one go [:D]

on the cap vs the divebombers on the 22th, jap dive bombers (at least to my xp) seem to have severe losses just by using them, if they have low xp.
do you keep track of what is destroyed air to air? (for the progress of aces etc?) or are all losses just added up in the pile?

in China, the railroad is hard to keep, once its been opened up, is Chunking allready fully prepared?

[gladiatt]

ORIGINAL: flaggelant

damn! clobbering an entire oscar squadron in one go [:D]

-Hmm, not finish....next day was good, will tell in next AAR; but i was really pleased of course. My opponant stated in mail that he was very disapointed, and i can understand;

on the cap vs the divebombers on the 22th, jap dive bombers (at least to my xp) seem to have severe losses just by using them, if they have low xp.
- It seem to depend: if attacking stack in the open, losses can be very few. But attacking my cities, there are from time to time a good result of my flak. What is difficult for me is to ambush the divebombers with my fighters, but avoiding his fighters. Some ambush did turn really badly.


do you keep track of what is destroyed air to air? (for the progress of aces etc?) or are all losses just added up in the pile?
- I keep track almost daily of the total amount of losses. I could list all the losses (but not the ennemy unit) because i write every combatreport. It help me to write my AAR, to keep track of operation, or else.
When i have good result, i take note of my unit, and look the status of pilots, to see if there are aces appearing or killed.


in China, the railroad is hard to keep, once its been opened up, is Chunking allready fully prepared?
-Chungking has raised fort to level 8, but i stopped because it burn a lot of supplies, and i need a lot to rebuild units that where destroyed in Sining in march. Chungking is a center of "rebuilding". Others Base are as much pepared as i can (Changsa forts level 9), but probably supplies and number of units are the point important. One thing that threaten me is the lack of punch of the chinese bomber squadrons , and the fact that they fly very rarely. The chinese fighters squadron, although having scored some kills, are really obsoletes, and i needed to send british or american squadron (with a politic of rotation).

[flaggelant]

airplanes suck up supplies really hard as well, might want to check if the ambushes/ bombing raids arent to expensive at some point

the chinese bombers are probably in low morale/disrupted, keep them at bay for a while, or set them to operate under english bases for some time to
get them into a higher xp rating (and especially under the british supply levels!)