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I had been glued to this thread and despaired when it appeared to have ended. That the epic contest in the Pacific between the wily Zeke99 and the indefatigable Istfemer might resume bodes well for 2019. Good Luck.

-C

Thank you for watching this AAR. I appreciate your interest and only hope that our game will keep entertaining you.

While I have been issuing orders during my current turn, an unpleasant development happened.
Vizagapatam apparently decided it had nothing better to do than to jump into the Indian Ocean AGAIN.

Here's how it looked the previous time this bug happened to me: Vizag goes for a swim for the first time ever
Since I have no easy means of fixing this bug, I'll just have to redo my turn. Again. [:@]

Ok, that's a new bug for me! [X(]

Situation on 5/9/43
---
CBI:
The oil industry in Japanese held Haiphong was lightly damaged in a nightly raid by [s]Wellingtons[/s] B24 Liberators from Dacca.
My Rangoon-based squadrons bombed unprotected Japanese LCUs stationed at Bangkok. Japanese flak fire did down several Allied planes though.
Jap casualties: 1 squad, 7 arty, 9 AFVs.

Australia:
Tough air battles were fought over Rockhampton and Brisbane.
Losses at Rockhampton:
10 Allied fighters, 124 bombers damaged/destroyed in the air.
68 Japanese fighters damaged/destroyed in the air and 9 Japanese a/c destroyed on the ground.
Losses at Brisbane:
112 Japanese fighters, 20 bombers damaged/destroyed in the air.
66 Allied fighters damaged/destroyed in the air and 11 Allied a/c destroyed on the ground.
Japanese fighters also executed a few unpleasant sweeps over Brisbane. Both the Japanese supply depot in Rockhampton and the Allied one in Brisbane sustained Moderate damage.

4 P-38G Lightnings attempted a TF strike! Their target was a very lightly defended 4-AV,2-DD,CD,4-AP,4-MCS TF, but 4 fighter-bombers by themselves are no credible threat to a TF this big.
2 planes got through the CAP before realizing that the numbers weren't on our side that day. They disengaged.

At Townsville, the cutoff Australians shrug off numerous aerial bombing raids on their positions (including those launched from nearby Japanese carriers) while Japanese bombardment TFs are grinding down their fortifications.
I think I have managed to isolate Rockhampton after all.

Central & South Pacific:
Many Allied TFs were sailing around all over the Pacific Ocean this week. I fortified Tarawa and Ellice Island. Ponape and Nauru continue to attract Allied bombs.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
My subs off the coast of Japan spotted a fat Japanese AP (Aikoku Maru-class, likely carrying LCUs) and attempted an intercept. Alas, Japanese patrol planes chased my subs away before they could get into a proper firing position. Curses. Foiled again. [:@]
We sank 5 Japanese merchants.
Japanese submarines sank 1 Allied merchant near Trincomalee.

Thanks for the write up Istfemer.

Re CBI: my VCR showed the attack been done by B24's not Wellingtons, interesting.

You are quite right, Zeke. It was a squadron of B24s, not Wellingtons, that bombed Haiphong. My mistake.

Situation on 5/16/43
---
CBI:
We bombed the supply depots of Andaman I. for light & Moderate damage, and those of Bangkok for light damage twice.
At Kweilen, the IJA airforce resumed their anti-LCU operations. 4 arty, 2 afvs destroyed.

Australia:
Cloncurry. A squadron of Wellingtons from Adelaide pulled off a night raid at max range, targeting the exposed depots of occupied Cloncurry. Light damage.
Meanwhile, 25 Jap night bombers from Cloncurry staged a raid of their own. (on the supply depots of Brisbane) No damage was done though. [:D]
Townsville. The Japanese aerial & naval bombardments continued, same as the previous week. Amazingly enough, two imaginary land battles were fought at Townsville this week. In those two battles the Allied defenders of Townsville soundly kicked Japanese ass, inflicting on the enemy approximately 11 times the losses they took themselves. The dreamscape was shaking under the weight of Allied artillery barrages. In the closing hours of the second battle, after repelling the final wave of Japanese attackers, the triumphant Aussies proudly raised the Australian flag atop Castle Hill. And then the Aussies woke up from their collective dream.
Well... it was a morale booster for sure, but I'd have liked it better if the results didn't evaporate at the break of dawn. Or at the break of the Allied Orders phase for that matter.
Rockhampton. My aerial bombing effort in the area failed to suppress Rockhampton properly enough. One asterisk of suppression achieved intead of the needed two. Rockhampton regained its AZOC.
Some very good news: the CMF and ABDA commands successfully executed a joint resupply operation!
The brave Australian Rear Admiral J.Crace made a perilous dash from Sydney to Rockhampton aboard the destroyer HMAS Vampire. Moving stealthily along the Australian coast (like her namesake, I suppose), Vampire successfully evaded all enemy aircraft. By using mad deception tactics Crace forced the Japanese resupply TF 93 bound for Rockhampton to abort its mission. The Japanese TF's leader must have been very surprised to see active Allied ships in this area and possibly mistook my scrap iron DD for a modern CL. Crace even bombarded the base afterwards a little. Did not hit anything worthwhile, sadly. Dutch Rear Admiral K.Doorman brought a TF of x24 cargo ships that delivered loads of supplies directly to the frontline at Rockhampton. 5 Ki-27 Setsus tried to strafe his force, but Doorman was not in the least intimidated. 2 enemy fighters shot down by flak; the rest dispersed. No damage done to our side whatsoever.

Central Pacific:
Allied surprise (or not?) invasion of Ponape went smoothly. Two CVTFs screened my transports from air attacks. Fighters had a very busy time defending the carriers.
We shot down scores of Betty bombers and with incredible ease too. 62 Betties shot down.(from Kavieng and Rabaul) Only 1 of them made it through the CAP intact, only to be instantly torn down by flak.
Ki-43-II Hayabusas from Truk were another matter. They did hurt. 57 Ki-43-II Hayabusas shot down for 76 F4F Wildcats destroyed/damaged. Must have been some well-experienced squadrons.

No preparatory bombardment was done or even necessary.
41st Inf Div took the base in one go. Odds 8. Allied losses: 11 squads, 1 arty.
41st Inf Div & 503rd Par Rgt attacked together at the end of turn and eliminated all opposition on the island (represented by the battered Mai 3rd Bn). Odds 122. Japanese losses: 44 squads, 12 arty.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
An enemy submarine spotted a large Allied supply convoy midway between Wotje and Johnston. The sub tried to get closer for an attack but was detected by Allied escorts on its approach. Manley APDs swiftly sent it to the bottom of the sea.
We sank 5 Japanese merchants, 1 tanker and 1 DE.

Situation on 5/23/43
---
CBI:
My squadrons from Rangoon (x2 Lightnings & x2 Beaufighters) re-focused on harassing the Japanese LCUs at Bangkok: 5 squads, 7 arty, 11 afvs destroyed.
Allied long-range bombers raided Medan. Huge quantities of ordnance were dropped on defenseless Japanese warehouses and refineries. Among the many 2-engined frames passing overhead in the clear morning sky, the Japanese onlookers on the ground could spot a conspicuous 4-engined silhouette: B-17 Fortress, last seen operating in this area about 8 months ago. Supply depot received Moderate damage; oil industry received Moderate, light & light damage. Smoke rises high above Medan, reaching stratosphere.

Australia:
Wellingtons hit Cloncurry depots for light damage again, except they did so in a day raid this time.
Indeed, it can be said that in this particular theater the current week was a repeat of the previous week in almost everything. Sole exception: Allied cargo ship losses.
5 Allied cargo ships (including one EC2 Liberty) were sunk by Japanese LBA during the 2nd Allied resupply mission to Rockhampton. Crace and Vampire kept enemy transport TFs at bay before finally retiring to Sydney. Japanese TF 3 led by Rear Adm. Shima was forced to abort its mission twice. One Seiwa/Africa Maru-class AP in TF3 was hit 3 times by Beaufighters -- and not a single asterisk from three 500 lb. bomb hits. ... This is ridiculous, and not in a funny way either.

North Pacific:
With this year's summer nearly upon us, the Japanese decided it would be a perfect time to pay the Aleutians another visit. 1st (INA) Div captured Attu I., which was empty.

Central Pacific:
Predictably enough, Ponape endured multiple airstikes on its airfield. (from Truk and Saipan)
36 Japanese fighters and 20 bombers shot down in the air.
22 P-38Gs shot down in the air. 21 Allied plane destroyed on the ground. Ponape supply depot received Moderate damage.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Allied submariners were fantastically effective this week. We sank 17 Japanese merchants and 5 tankers.
1 Allied sub (a Dutch one) was lost to Japanese ASW near Tokyo.

RE Aleuttans: I thought it would increase the low experience level of that unit but it did NOT [:@]

Situation on 5/30/43
---
CBI:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 8 Jap squads, 16 arty, 8 afvs destroyed.
Japanese anti-depot air ops in China continued as before.

Australia:
Wellingtons continued their ops against Cloncurry. Its depots were hit twice for light damage.
Japanese naval bombardment ops against Townsville continued as well. Two land battles (the real, not imaginary ones) were fought here this week, initiated by Zeke.
1st land battle of Townsville. Odds 2.
Japanese losses: 108 squads, 13 arty, 9 afvs. Allied losses: 55 squads, 1 arty.
2nd land battle of Townsville. Odds 2.
Japanese losses: 108 squads, 9 arty, 8 afvs. Allied losses: 30 squads, 6 arty.

Allies kept to their routine of bombing Rockhampton.
9 Allied cargo ships were sunk off Rockhampton by Japanese LBA while trying to retire to a safe area. Most of the sinkings came from torpedoes.

Central Pacific:
C-47 Dakotas airlifted some supplies & fuel to Ponape from Maloelap. Ponape continues to be a hot spot, with constant Jap raids on its airfields and the like.
Our intelligence (not SIGINT specifically) reports that the Combined Fleet HQ is seriously obsessed with Ponape for some reason. Could Ponape be a target for an imminent invasion then, hmm?
Or maybe it's just a decoy, like that recent Japanese adventure in the Aleutians. We'll see.
Nauru continues to be the favorite target for Allied aircraft to practice their bombing skills on.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
We sank 5 Japanese merchants.

Situation on 6/06/43
---
CBI:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 1 Jap squad, 6 arty, 9 afvs destroyed. Night-Wellingtons from Akyab did Moderate & light damage to supply depot.
The other nighttime Wellington raid targeted Andaman I. The Japanese supply depot on that island sustained light damage.
I like Wellingtons so much. Their long reach is great for this kind of raids on exposed enemy bases and their even longer ferry range allows to shuffle them between far-flung theaters with ease.
Sure, they're weak, but if performance is needed they can upgrade to Beaufighters on the spot. Just don't forget to produce enough aircraft of both models. [;)]
On many, many occasions in our PBEM game the Allies would have found themselves in big trouble were it not for Wellingtons coming to the rescue, every time.

Australia:
June 1943 has brought some uncharacteristically hot weather to Australia and promises to become hotter still in the following weeks.
Cloncurry.
I forgot to change the air mission of my Adelaide-based Wellingtons and as a result they took some stinging blows from Ki-27 Setsus. 12 bombers shot down/damaged. Oh well.
Cloncurry depot still received Moderate & light damage in spite of Japanese air resistance, so at least something went right.
Townsville.
The Japanese Bombardment TF, led by Rear Adm Nishimura S. {6 BBs,3 CAs,22 DDs}, keeps pounding the cut off but highly-entrenched Aussies.
The Aussies continue to shrug off bombardments with minimal losses. Not even a Yamato-class BB can suppress them enough.
1st land battle of Townsville. Lt Gen Sano T. vs. Lt Gen P. Christson Odds 1.
Japanese losses: 141 squads, 6 arty, 9 afvs. Allied losses: 18 squads, 10 arty.
2nd land battle of Townsville. Lt Gen Sano T. vs. Lt Gen P. Christson Odds 3.
Japanese losses: 37 squads, 1 arty, 3 afvs. Allied losses: 41 squads, 8 arty.
Rockhampton.
An Allied counteroffensive has begun!
1st land battle of Rockhampton. Lt Gen W. Slim vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 3.
Allied losses: 166 squads, 17 arty, 5 afvs. Japanese losses: 90 squads, 9 arty, 5 afvs.
2nd land battle of Rockhampton. Lt Gen W. Slim vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 5. - same as terrain!
Allied losses: 65 squads, 8 arty, 3 afvs. Japanese losses: 59 squads, 5 arty, 2 afvs.

Allied airforce destroyed large quantities of Japanese artillery at Rockhampton this week.
Rear Adm Yamada S. brought a surface combat/bombardment TF to Rockhampton {2 CAs,8 CLs,16 DDs}. It destroyed quite a lot of our tanks, unfortunately.
Beaufighters took a couple of good shots at it though. No sinkings (grr!), but a few Japanese cruisers will require extensive repairs in port. [:'(]
1 CA: ***
1 CL: * & ****
1 CL: ****
1 CL: *

Central Pacific:
Ponape.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 43 Ki-43-II Hayabusas, 13 Ki-49 Donryus.
Allies: 33 P-38G Lightnings.
7 Allied bombers were destroyed on the ground. Allied depot here sustained Moderate & light damage.

CV Cabot together with CVLs Independence & Belleau Wood have arrived in harbor of Wake Island. Allied carriers are always welcome here.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Execution phase ops: A small group of Gato subs intercepted a TF of x14 6000t Marus delivering fuel & supplies to Ambon I. and sank 2 of them. Nice!
Convoy phase ops: We sank 18 Japanese merchants and 2 tankers.
A British "T"-class submarine was lost to Japanese ASW not far away from Bonin I.

I love the Vickers Wellington too.. !!!

my first serious 1/72 Airfix model kit in the early seventies.. [8D]

Situation on 6/13/43
---
CBI:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 2 arty, 8 afvs destroyed; Moderate damage to supply depot.
Allied long-range bombers tried a night raid on Saigon's oil refineries, but Zeke had a fighter squadron on night duty present there, which complicated things.
1st raid achieved nothing and the follow-up one was easily repelled by hostile fighter planes. 13 Allied bombers damaged/destroyed. Not a single bomb hit the intended target. Meh.

Australia:
Townsville.
Rear Adm Tanaka R. {4 BBs,2 CAs,2 CLs,1 CLAA,8 DDs} relieved Nishimura as he took over bombardment operations in this area. The surrounded Aussies continue to shrug off bombardments with minimal losses.
1st land battle of Townsville. Lt Gen Hyakutake H. vs. Lt Gen F. Messervy Odds 1.
Japanese losses: 123 squads, 5 arty, 3 afvs. Allied losses: 29 squads, 6 arty.
2nd land battle of Townsville. Lt Gen Sano T. vs. Lt Gen F. Messervy Odds 2.
Japanese losses: 41 squads, 4 arty, 5 afvs. Allied losses: 31 squads, 7 arty.

Rockhampton.
Major Allied counteroffensive has been augmented by a major Allied amphibious operation!!
1st amphibious landing at Rockhampton. Rear Adm D. Barbey vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 4.
Allied losses: 141 squads, 18 arty, 11 afvs. Japanese losses: 124 squads, 11 arty, 4 afvs.
2nd amphibious landing at Rockhampton. Adm C. Nimitz vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 1.
Allied losses: 163 squads, 27 arty, 13 afvs. Japanese losses: 47 squads, 3 arty, 1 afvs.
3rd amphibious landing at Rockhampton. General D. MacArthur vs. General Terauchi H. Odds 4. -- battle of HQ generals! [X(]
Allied losses: 115 squads, 33 arty, 12 afvs. Japanese losses: 75 squads, 7 arty, 2 afvs.
4th amphibious landing at Rockhampton. Vice Adm R. Spruance vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 4.
Allied losses: 116 squads, 20 arty, 7 afvs. Japanese losses: 45 squads, 7 arty, 2 afvs.
5th land battle of Rockhampton (one final joint assault). Lt Gen W. Slim vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 7!!! Allies CAPTURE Rockhampton.
Allied losses: 57 squads, 9 arty. Japanese losses: 61 squads, 11 arty and 32 aircraft on the ground.

That was intense. Now the Japs in Australia are cut off as well. 2 Jap divisions out of 4 have been reduced to below half battalion strength. Congratulations to everyone who made our victory a reality on the ground, and to Slim...
...dammit, Slim, had you attacked at the beginning of the week as you were told to do, we wouldn't have had such large casualties during amphibious landings later on. The blame for these rests squarely on you & Mountbatten.
###

DD Vampire & x2 Quickmatch DDs provided limited shore bombardment, which destroyed a few enemy planes & afvs. F4U-1 Corsairs from AV Langley flew protective CAP over my invasion TFs.
One lucky D4Y Suisei dropped a 250kg bomb right onto Langley. Only 1*, but it was a nasty hit regardless. Still, Langley will continue to operate as long as I deem necessary.
Allies lost 4 APs and 8 MCSs sunk during this operation. Almost all of them were sunk by Jap LBA from Rockhampton.
Four TFs did not reach their destination due to the damage they accumulated slowing them down. They all stopped one square SE of Rockhampton. They will reach Rockhampton next week.

Central Pacific:
The Japs hit Ponape airfieds yet again.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 27 fighters.
Allies: 34 P-38G Lightnings.
9 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground. Allied supply depot sustained light damage.
Ponape burns, but Allied defenders manage the fire-fighting task just fine.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Convoy phase ops: We sank only 3 Japanese merchants this week.
'Where could all those Marus be sailing these days?' wonders ComSubPac. 'Maybe they're all busy hauling supplies from New Guinea to Australia?' hypothesizes ComSubSoWesPac.
One Allied sub was lost to Japanese ASW somewhere.
Japanese submariners woke from their brief slumber and reaffirmed their stance on Clemson DDs: hate.
One Clemson DD, part of a large heavily-escorted convoy heading for Melbourne with military supplies onboard, took a surprise 4**** torpedo hit just southwest of Los Angeles.
The escorts (7 Clemsons and 5 DEs) were depth-charging the area like mad while searching for the dastardly offender -- to no effect. The enemy sub simply dived deep and slipped away.

Situation on 6/20/43
It has been a long time since the Japs had any major warships sunk. This week we bagged one and reset the counter.
---
CBI:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 1 squad, 6 arty, 3 afvs destroyed; Moderate & light damage to supply depot.
Allied long-range bombers attacked the Japanese LCUs sitting at the gates of Kweilen. 2 Jap squads were killed and 1 artillery piece was destroyed.

Australia:
Townsville
It was unusually quiet here. Zeke didn't send a BBTF to Townsville this week.

Rockhampton
Allied counteroffensive continued.
1st land battle of Rockhampton. Lt Gen W. Slim vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 6.
Allied losses: 79 squads, 9 arty, 6 afvs. Japanese losses: 83 squads, 14 arty, 3 afvs.
2nd land battle of Rockhampton. General D. MacArthur vs. General Terauchi H. Odds 16. -- HQ generals took the lead again.
Allied losses: 21 squads, 2 arty, 6 afvs. Japanese losses: 69 squads, 8 arty, 5 afvs. -- 2/52nd Inf Div (JA) ELIMINATED

Central Pacific:
Iwo Jima -- 'Hunt for the cruiser'
ACTF 58 under Halsey's command sortied out from Wake to Ulithi but didn't find anything worthwhile to sink there. On its way back, TF 58 spotted and sank a Mogami-class heavy cruiser two squares west/southwest of Iwo Jima -- the very target CenPac hoped to catch. [8D] SIGINT reports it was CA Kumano that we sank. Enemy TF 9 (a single-ship task force) departed Manila for Pagan with standoff range of 2 and was probably going to return to one of the ports on Formosa when Admiral Nimitz caught it and sent it to the bottom. (Halsey was unavailable for some reason) Can't say those Mogami-class CAs aren't sturdy ships: Kumano ate x4 500lb. bombs (x1 *), x1 Mk-13 Torpedo and x4 1000lb. bombs (x2 **) before the cruiser finally choked on the fifth 1000lb. bomb (another **) that my SBDs dumped into its mouth. By the way, this was the first combat deployment of the Grumman F6F Hellcat in our game.

Halsey later said that he had felt somewhat "sorry" for the Kumano stumbling into an Allied death trap like that and he decided the honor of blowing up the first major Japanese warship in months would fit Nimitz better.
Nimitz, who was present during the action on the bridge of CV Saratoga together with Halsey, was not available for comment.

Saipan
Allied navy sortied out from Maloelap to Saipan -- a long stretch of water to cover.
ACTF 52 under Montgomery's command hit the airfield on Saipan. Two surface/bombardment TFs ## 67 & 68 led by Lee & Scott hit Saipan's garrison next.

Cumulative losses in the air for TFs 52 & 58: 30 Hellcats, 68 Wildcats and 44 bombers. Quite high, I'd say.
Cumulative losses in the air for Saipan-based Jap squadrons: 110 A6M2 Reisens and 37 G3M Chukous. The enemy fighter pilots here are well-experienced. Or were. [:)]
2 A6M2 Reisens and 3 H6Ks were destroyed on the ground at Saipan. The 53rd Inf Div (JA) lost 14 squads, 25 arty, 10 afvs to shore bombardment.

There were many underwater Japs in the Marianas who tried to put a torpedo into the passing Allied ships, but my ships outran them all.
Nimitz wisely chose the northeastern return route. Four Allied TFs have all finished their movement at the spots roughly along the Pagan-Iwo Jima axis. They shouldn't have much trouble getting to safety.

Ponape
Losses in the air were practically equal:
Japanese: 52 Ki-43-II Hayabusas and 4 bombers.
Allies: 55 P-38G Lightnings.
7 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground. Allied supply depot sustained light damage 4 times. Night-Betties worked hard indeed.

New Guinea:
Milne Bay
Kido Butai has finished repairs and appears to be readying for offensive operations somewhere. Where?

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Execution phase ops: Allied subs tried really hard to intercept a few enemy task forces with heavily damaged warships in them off Port Moresby and Milne Bay, but all attempts were unsuccessful.
One Japanese sub was sunk northeast of Saipan by the escorts of TF 67.
Convoy phase ops: We sank 4 Japanese merchants and 2 tankers.

Situation on 6/27/43
--
CBI:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 1 squad, 2 arty, 6 afvs destroyed; light damage to supply depot.
Allied long-range bombers attacked the Japanese LCUs sitting at the gates of Kweilen. 3 squads, 6 arty, 1 afv destroyed.
Japanese army flak claimed 14 or so Wellingtons. Oof.

Australia:
Rockhampton
Allied counteroffensive continued.
1st land battle of Rockhampton. General D. MacArthur vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 19.
Allied losses: 35 squads, 4 arty, 1 afvs. Japanese losses: 47 squads, 11 arty, 3 afvs.
2nd land battle of Rockhampton. General D. MacArthur vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 51.
Allied losses: 18 squads, 9 arty, 3 afvs. Japanese losses: 50 squads, 2 arty, 1 afvs.

Yet another Japanese raid on Rockhampton airfield was successfully repulsed.
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 38 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 11 F4U-1 Corsairs.
3 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground.

Darn. W. Slim KIA by friendly fire from above. First Eichelberger, and now Slim too. Very bad luck. Rockhampton is the graveyard of Allied generals. [:(]
In our game, leaders on both sides tend to die on the spot rather than spend months in a hospital recuperating from wounds.

Central/North Pacific:
2 Allied ACTFs split ways: Montgomery went to Midway to restock aircraft, but Halsey ventured north to Paramushiro. What did he expect to find there?
Don't know, but he found nothing of interest. Nothing of interest apart from 16 Betties, of course, that attacked his TF from Aomori. Every hostile plane was downed by Hellcats.

Kido Butai (3 TFs) didn't attack anywhere, but went to the spot 2 hexes south of Saipan. It screened a Jap cargo TF on resupply mission to Saipan.

Ponape
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 42 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 33 P-38G Lightnings.
23 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Convoy phase ops: We sank 5 Japanese merchants.

<<23 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground.>>

what "a/c" stand for ?

Hattori Hanzo,
"a/c" means aircraft, particularly undifferentiated aircraft. (usually fighters and/or bombers of one or several models on a bombed airfield)

By the way, it's worth reminding everyone: combat reports in Pacwar lump together planes that were completely destroyed during an air action/shore bombardment with planes that were only damaged during it.
These are the numbers I usually list as losses, because I'm too lazy to include the precise tallies of destroyed and damaged planes. (it's very inconvenient)
I should say that I have not been entirely consistent in my reports of air losses throughout this AAR, especially in the beginning. Sometimes I reported precise figures, which I calculated separately.

What more can you do when odds of 51 fail to remove the Japanese from Rockhampton?

-C

Randomizer,
What more can you do when odds of 51 fail to remove the Japanese from Rockhampton?

Push for the odds of 126. [;)] Alternatively, keep assaulting them until every enemy division gets reduced to 0 squads and is eliminated automatically.
Seriously though, there isn't much of a fighting spirit left in those three rump Japanese divisions. They're not the threat they used to be.
They are getting weaker with each subsequent turn, while my divisions/brigades/regiments are only getting stronger.

Situation on 7/04/43
FLASH: Allied carriers raid Sapporo. Sink a dozen Marus. Devastate a Jap factory producing Zeroes.
---
CBI:
Allied anti-LCU air ops at Bangkok continued: 3 squads, 7 arty, 6 afvs destroyed; Moderate damage to supply depot.
Allied long-range bombers attacked the Japanese LCUs sitting at the gates of Kweilen. 2 artillery pieces destroyed.

Australia:
Rockhampton
Allied counteroffensive continued.
### Lt Gen I. Swift vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 32.
Allied losses: 13 squads, 2 arty, 2 afvs. Japanese losses: 35 squads, 10 arty, 3 afvs.
### Lt Gen I. Swift vs. Lt Gen Horii T. Odds 35.
Allied losses: 6 squads, 2 arty, 3 afvs. Japanese losses: 11 squads, 6 arty.

There were only 24 squads left between the three cutoff Jap divisions after the end-of-turn battle.
By the way, one of the engineer units I withdrew, the 2 Corps Engr (AUS) now consists of a *single* squad of engineers, down from its proper TO&E strength of 108.
It joined in an assault on 6/20/43 and took a fair beating even though it hadn't been activated. If you're not following clear orders, don't complain when things get ugly for you as a consequence.

North Pacific/Japan:
Sapporo
Allied ACTFs have been itching for a port raid like this for what, months? years? the whole war?
In any case, SIGINT peeked into the ports of Japan this week and found a prize: x50 3000t Marus sitting in an unprotected harbor at Sapporo. No air cover, no nothing.
Only a small Betty squadron stationed at Aomori next door. You know what this means, don't you?

[s]BANZAI[/s] CHARGE!!!!!
Not one but TWO Allied ACTFs sortied to Sapporo:
Halsey [CV Cabot, CV Saratoga, CVL Independence and others], coming from the spot 3 hexes southeast of Paramushiro.
McCain [CV Essex, CV Wasp, CV Hornet and others], coming all the way from Midway.

x12 3000t Marus were sunk. I had hoped it would be more, but Halsey's TF didn't engage the Marus in port. Neither did it engage them as they escaped into a task force.
The possible reason is that it was low on PPs after 3 turns of continuous operations. Oh well, 12 Japanese vessels sunk in one go is a good starter.
The A6M2 Reisen factory at Sapporo was devastated: x3 Moderate & x1 light damage was reported. So nice. [:'(]

Cumulative air losses for Allied ACTFs: 27 fighters, 30 bombers. Base flak hurts.
Cumulative air losses for Jap Betty squadrons (from Aomori, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka): 32 Betties.
My ACTFs withstood 1 daytime and 9 nighttime strikes by Betties, none of which did any damage.

Central Pacific:
Ponape
Losses in the air:
Japanese: 36 Ki-43-II Hayabusas. Allies: 41 P-38G Lightnings.
11 Allied a/c were destroyed on the ground.
P-47 Thunderbolts had been transferred to Ponape earlier this week. They engaged the enemy, but Hayabusas somehow managed to evade them in the first battle and in the second one Hayabusas shot down 7 Thunderbolts for 10 lost of their own.
Huh? Not so great a performance for a combat debut in the Pacific theater. Do better next time and batter those Oscar baddies. I know you can.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
Convoy phase ops: We sank 5 Japanese merchants, 2 tankers and 1 DE. I get many contacts each week, but not nearly as many sinkings.