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Operation MONKEY (april 17th - 18th 1943)


I think the name of this operation must be MONKEY. Simply because I want that "MONKEY" out of back...

The operation has scheduled landings at Pago Pago, Savaii, Upolu and Ta'uu. These landings are made by US forces.

The scheduled for the initial waves are D -2 turns!!! I have no intel about the base strenght nor do I know whether or not my forces have been spotted.

Well, they will be when next turn arrives and our carriers are setup accordingly.

Another landing force has now left Wellington. It is combined effort of NZ and US troops.

These guys are to hit Tongatapu and Eua. The main target here is Tongatapu.

In support to these landings there are heavy airstikes scheduled at Port Moresby. These bombers will take off from Cairns. Addition to this Umnak Island will be sweeped and bombed also.

As promised the "holiday mode" is over and lets get back to war!!! As said D-day for the landings is -2 turns...

ORIGINAL: aztez

First I want to "apoligize" due to lack information on this campaingn.

aztez no idea what you are apologizing for. [;)] I couldn´t handle 2 PBEMs, let alone 2 AARs included. Always nice to see updates here though.

Do you have any intel on Suva/Nadi? Maybe sneak a sub in the harbor?

LoBaron: Well, I didn't find the "appropriate" word for it. What I meant that the peace/silence took quite sometime. Too long for my personal taste too! [:D]

Absolutely none. It seems that these are lightly guarded bases but who knows. Well, we do when we hit the beaches. This is no minor operation and once we get lba foothold in Samoa and near Fiji you can write off Suva/Noumea region.

I don't even mind him fighting here. This is something I actually would like but I doubt he will.

What I expect to see though is his carreirs plus other naval assets. He will commit them for sure. Very suprised if he doesn't.

The invasion fleet is still about 4 days off their targets....

I did run the combat replay but didn't take too much note of it. I will get back into it once I get home.

ORIGINAL: aztez

What I expect to see though is his carreirs plus other naval assets. He will commit them for sure. Very suprised if he doesn't.

Hm I am not sure about this. If you were playing against me I´d think twice about commiting my naval assets to such a remote area in summer ´43.
Most of all if I alredy have the feeling that I had enough benefit from owning the Fijis for +1(?) year.
Maybe I´d just make a show to keep you guessing but concentrate my true forces on other high value areas.

Which leads me to: do you need to conquer the Fijis? Why not commit the same forces closer to HI areas and simply let the Fijis starve?


Commit. Strange word. Committ? Commit? Comit? Comitt? [&:]

LoBaron: That is an good point. I base this estimate on two things. 1) The fleet he had around Burma seems to have vanished and 2) It is mid 1943 and further he delays this the odds get worse due to more allied carriers and better aircraft.

Also the turn delay before he posted it back was longer.

We shall see. I think there is 80% of chance that we see major action very soon.

Yeah. We really do need to conquer the southern areas. I want to get Aussie and NZ troops into game too. Their airforce hasn't been involved that much so the pools in good condition.

Whether this actually has any bearing whether or not to cut off Rabaul and Truk.. well no. There are around 3000av ready for and "middle" push trough cenpac or aleutians.

I haven't decieded how to handle this yet. I want to see his reaction to these first.

Basically in addition we need New Caledonia or Fiji's. Not necessarily both since either one does cancel the other.

English is an cc "funny" language! [:D] ...damn, still another hour before this day over at work.

English is an cc "funny" language!

Can't argue with that , but oh so flexible and eloquent when folk are committed to using it properly [;)]. Being honest though, English is a real mongrel language made up from so many tongues and dialects (comes from being constantly invaded for 600 years 400-1066 AD.)Not to mention all the empire and colonial infuence on it over the more recent 3 centuries. Not forgetting our own British Isles languages such as Gaelic etc. Not suprisingly the English vocabluary is about 4 times the size of its nearest European rival French. And not forgetting the long Roman influence which affected pretty much all of Europe West of the Rhine. OK I'm babbling now .. [:-] time to shut up. although i will happily admit that there are most likely more words for snow in Finnish[;)]

Good luck on the invasions Aztez , I'm not sure he'll risk his main CV force here tbh, too much of a backwater.Maybe take this area then bomb suva into dust and then go past it, re-taking the place will take 2-3 months out of your schedule just to prep the troops (assuming you havnt already). If you have prepped troops then by all means use them and get it back, otherwise imo go round and starve it out.

Rob: Yeah! I must admit that it easier to understand Irish and others when you have drunk few beers. That "english" is quite diffrent that what I'am used to.

As for finnish well you might want to take few lessons. Your tongue might be shell shocked! [:D]

Thanks. I'am anxious to get this underway. We need those bases which to build up. I have troops prepped for Suva already but there are other possible targets as well.

It really all depends what his reaction will be but as you said we can even bypass Fiji's and New Caledonia if chosen to do so.

Intresting next few turns I must admit. I still have my money on CV vs CV action here...

Burma (april 20th - 21st 1943)


The airwar was intense last turn too. RAF/US bombers visited the airfield at Schwebo. I have lost count how many fighters and bombers have been lost but as said this must be done.

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Morning Air attack on Shwebo , at 59,45

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 22 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 22



Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIc x 12
P-40K Warhawk x 47


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40K Warhawk: 1 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Shwebo , at 59,45

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 45 NM, estimated altitude 31,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 2
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 11
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 8



Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 11
P-40K Warhawk x 14


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 1 destroyed
P-40K Warhawk: 4 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Shwebo , at 59,45

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 3
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 23
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 3



Allied aircraft
Blenheim VD x 11
Hurricane FR.IIb x 6
Liberator II x 16
Wellington Ic x 21
B-17E Fortress x 16
B-17F Fortress x 16
B-24D Liberator x 7
B-25C Mitchell x 16
F4U-1 Corsair x 1


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim VD: 1 damaged
Hurricane FR.IIb: 3 destroyed
Liberator II: 1 damaged
Wellington Ic: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-17F Fortress: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 5 damaged



Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 63

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Shwebo , at 59,45

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 16
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 27
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 4



Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 12
B-25C Mitchell x 16
P-40K Warhawk x 24


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 damaged
P-40K Warhawk: 10 destroyed



Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 9

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on Shwebo , at 59,45

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 12
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 24
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 2



Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 12
P-40K Warhawk x 16


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40K Warhawk: 2 destroyed



Airbase hits 2


...the focus is Mandalay next turn. There are fresh bombers and fighters enroute to India but it will take few weeks to get them here.

Another turn where there is no sign of his naval forces.

The ground assaults are moving slowly forwards...



Pacific


Operation MONKEY is moving closer to Samoa. I still don't know whether or not he has spotted these ships. Our submarines haven't seen any naval movement in this region.

The D-DAY is still some 3-4 days off. The invasion TF's will split up once they are closer to their targets.

Port Moresby and Umnak Island were bombed. Only light resistance were encoutered.

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Not suprisingly the English vocabluary is about 4 times the size of its nearest European rival French.

Sorry highjacking Aztez AAR;
Can't admit this commentary [:-].
French has much more words/meanings/notion than English .
Such words could be judged in the field at dawn, or just trigger another Hundred Year War, and this is a WWII AAR, not a middle-age on !


.........sorry, could not resist [;)].
Rob Brennan, no problem, i was jokking (almost)

And to Aztez: nice to see your AAR back to life, i like it

aztez, Where are you from? Your English writing is very good.

A question for you. I asked this of Canoerebel as well. Could you look at your seven Aussie tank regiments and tell me what they look like? Do they all now have 18 light tanks and about 40 mediums or do some of them have much fewer tanks. I just want to see if mine are filling up correctly after the replacement bug fix.

Thanks.

ORIGINAL: gladiatt

ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK

Not suprisingly the English vocabluary is about 4 times the size of its nearest European rival French.

Sorry highjacking Aztez AAR;
Can't admit this commentary [:-].
French has much more words/meanings/notion than English .
Such words could be judged in the field at dawn, or just trigger another Hundred Year War, and this is a WWII AAR, not a middle-age on !


.........sorry, could not resist [;)].
Rob Brennan, no problem, i was jokking (almost)

And to Aztez: nice to see your AAR back to life, i like it

<cough> like 'Le Weekend' and 'Le TV' .. does not count as French [:D]

Admittedly i did get the 4 times number from a usually very informative TV show , so i have absolutely no proof of that whatsoever ! .. long live heresay and speculation [&o]

Takes a LOT more than that to annoy me [;)].. If anything i was being incorrect on the 1st post and should in hindsight apologise to the poliically correct police before i get slapped on the wrist [:D]

crsutton . Good ole Jari/Aztez is from the Costa Brava of the Baltic .. Finland .. [;)] Sun Sand and Snow [:D]

gladiatt: No worries! My french is non-existant. So, really cannot comment on that...! [:)]

Thanks. The action is not going to ease up and rest of the 1943's look busy time for allied side.

crsutton: As Rob said born and raised in Finland. I did however spent an year in US in early 1990's so it helped.

The english language is quite well spoken here due to TV programs, schools etc. Personally I feel that my english is somewhat rusty though since I haven't spoken it that much lately.

Did you mean those units shown in below pic? If so than I'am seeing pretty much the same. They actually do have M/Lee's and all of them 18 Stuart Light tanks in their OOB.

Rob: Nice describtion there regarding my wherea abouts! [:D][:D]

Operation Monkey (april 22nd - 25th 1943)


The troop landings at Savaii, Upolu, Pago Pago and Tau'u will begin next turn.

The invasion armada has finally arrived into Samoa Islands.

Japanese numbers garrisoning these bases are still vague. It seems he has 4-5 units at Pago Pago if recon is correct.

I would assume that there similar numbers in all of these bases.

There were some enemy naval movement around Fiji's. Impossible to say what kind of ships there were.

We welcomed by some Zero's and Sally's last turn...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Ta'u at 153,158

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 24 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 26



Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 3
F4F-4 Wildcat x 101
F6F-3 Hellcat x 27


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Ta'u at 153,158

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 40 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 9



Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 3
F4F-4 Wildcat x 93
F6F-3 Hellcat x 27


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-Ic Sally: 3 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Ta'u at 153,158

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 40 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 13



Allied aircraft
F4F-3A Wildcat x 3
F4F-4 Wildcat x 93
F6F-3 Hellcat x 27


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-Ic Sally: 5 destroyed, 3 damaged


Allied Ships
CV Wasp
CVE Altamaha


In total when you add up operation phase losses the game indicated japanese lost some 60 aircraft at Samoa's.

Next turn we know more and the idea is to seize these bases swiftly.

US and NZ troops are also nearing their targets and start their operation within days.

ORIGINAL: aztez

gladiatt: No worries! My french is non-existant. So, really cannot comment on that...! [:)]

Thanks. The action is not going to ease up and rest of the 1943's look busy time for allied side.

crsutton: As Rob said born and raised in Finland. I did however spent an year in US in early 1990's so it helped.

The english language is quite well spoken here due to TV programs, schools etc. Personally I feel that my english is somewhat rusty though since I haven't spoken it that much lately.

Did you mean those units shown in below pic? If so than I'am seeing pretty much the same. They actually do have M/Lee's and all of them 18 Stuart Light tanks in their OOB.

Rob: Nice describtion there regarding my wherea abouts! [:D][:D]

Yeah, those are the one. Six armored regiments not seven (my mistake) So far, only three of mine have filled up. I wonder if it is post patch bug or if I just have to wait a while for more to fill the pools. Or if there is a certain date. I will wait a while before screaming to tech support. Thanks for checking.

How are your Hellcat pools looking? [:)]

Yamato_Blitzer: These actually should look good since I only have upgraded one single squadron into them.

I will check this tonight when I get home from work. I have been out two days due to flu.

The operation Monkey is going according to plans. Also update on this later tonight.

Yamato_Blitzer: Sorry, forget about those Hellcats. I will check the pools once the next one comes.


Operation Monkey (april 26th - 27th 1943)


The operation continues and only Pago Pago seems to be garrisoned.

Savaii, Upolu, Tau'u, Tongatapu and Eau are empty. Personally suprised to see this since now Fiji's are doomed for certain.

We should also capture Pago Pago next turn since I already have +1000av worth of troops on the beaches. There are just +100av worth of enemy troops here.

So naturally immediate shock assault is scheduled.

The coastal guns did not do much damage since our naval bombarrdments at Pago Pago were succesfull.

No sign of KB nor any other japanese naval assets. I have plenty of engineers with me so these bases are fully operational very soon.

I'am moving my lba bombers and fighters in immediately. They are fully trained and ready.

Also we will conducting recon missions over Fiji's. Now that he let us have Samoa Islands I want him to fight here BUT that is very unlikely scenario.

I wouldnt be suprised if suvas only got a token force in it tbh. No point japan wasting valuable troops in an easily bypassed/not very important place (anymore).

Rob: That is most likely since if he would commit into Fiji's than we would have seen stronger forces at Samoa's.
&nbsp;
Those bases not important to him as you said but somewhat important to me since I really need some good airbases on the map before the summer of 1943's.
&nbsp;
Otherwise those lba units will just enjoy the sun without doing good combat missions.
&nbsp;
The plans are moving accordingly. Once we get recon from New Caledonia and Fiji's time to deciede what to do with them. If strongly garrisoned then we will swing pass by them! [;)]
&nbsp;
I know you like evil plans and will try to serve you some! [:D]

What's up guys? Long time no see. Been really busy at work and digging out of all the snow around here. How is the game going?