Pin Ups in the Pacific - Da Big Babes 2x2 - Allies Only please

[vettim89]

April 10-12

KB continued patroling the waters around Tahiti during this period. Theyfinally found my light forces in port on the 11th. Total loss for the KB raid is 2 AVP, 2 AKL, an xAP, 2 xAK, and a PC (I think). An AS, AM, and PC are damaged seriously but not at risk for sinking. KB is about 300 NM NW of Tahiti now heading W. I am slowly moving units back towards the area but not full bore yet. I do not want to risk a quick reversal of course by the IJN CVTF's. An S-boat is heading toward the retreat path; maybe I'll get lucky.

The USN is largely in hibernation right now. The attached image shows why. The list goes down an entire additional page below what is shown here. Everybody needs an April upgrade it seems. The VF's are being upgrade to F4F-4. One of the biplane DB sq on CV Hornet has converted to SBD-3. It is going to take a couple of months to fully convert the VS/VB to this model. That of course means the Marines are horribly understrengthed or flying obsolete a/c. The 40th ID has been bought out and is heading to SD. It will embark and head to NZ for now. Of course we need some ships to escort that unit down first.

There has been some fierce fighting up at Darwin between the 49th PG and IJN A6M2. While the USAAF has been coming out on the short end of a roughly 1.5:1 loss ratio, FOW says over 30 Zeroes have been shot down. Hopefully many of those pilots are lost too. The Japanese are coming from Koepang on Timor. This is a good thing as far as I am concerned. My fear was that after the Sumatra campaign has concluded, our opponents would go into rest and training mode. Even though I am losing this battle, the atttrition of their air power needs to be on going

[vettim89]

13 APril 1942

The IJN came calling at Darwin in the form of a SCTF built around two BB. Not much damage done by either side. THe KB and a SCTF still are lurking NW of Tahiti. Will not beleive they are truly gone until I see them disappear to the west. IJN subs are prowling off the WCUSA, Darwin, and NZ. Once the USN DD's are out of the yard I will try to get rid of some of these. RAN DD's will organize around Darwin to deal with that lurking menace.

[vettim89]

14-15 April 1942

The IJN appeared off Port Hedland and started unloading on the 14th. Fortunately I had a convoy near by and detached two destroyers. They ran in and sank two xAK and a PB but not before enough troops could be unloaded to take the base. The small BF is retreating south. Not sure if this is an invasion opening or just a raid. Leaning toward a raid but unsure

A raid on Darwin cost the Japanese a bunch of A6M2 today for minimal damage. Between here, Sumatra and some successful intercepts by Ken in China we achieved a 50 to 10 air loss ration today with the good guys being on the right end of that ratio. Hopefully our continued efforts to nip around the edges will help us control the Japanese pilot pools so that we don't end the year with huge numbers of competant pilots all flying Ki-44's.

Tahiti reopened on the 15th with the arrival of a USN SCTF built around some cruisers. More fuel and supplies will be arriving soon.

[Nomad]

They have been flying a lot of bomber raids in China, with a lot of them either not escorted or lightly escorted, so over Liuchow I put up some P-39s and P-400s.

Morning Air attack on 86th Chinese Corps, at 74,55 (Liuchow)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 24 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-Ic Sally x 27
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 28
Ki-51 Sonia x 3

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 8
P-400 Airacobra x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-Ic Sally: 4 destroyed, 6 damaged
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 1 damaged
Ki-51 Sonia: 2 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 56th AT Gun Regiment, at 74,55 (Liuchow)

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 41 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-51 Sonia x 24



Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 8
P-400 Airacobra x 8


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-51 Sonia: 9 destroyed, 1 damaged
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And the air losses screenie.

[Nomad]

And I notice that my partner is better than me at doing an AAR, but I post more pinups.

[vettim89]

16 April 1942

The USN found but failed to significantly hurt the IJN sub SW of SD. Fired a whole bunch of ASW ordinance for only one hit reported. What saddens me is that this is as good as USN ASW will get in terms of ASW value on their DD's The DE, SC, and PF arriving later get a little higher but six is the max you get for the DD's. Hopefully EXP will eventually make a difference.

That would have been the image for the day except the KB reappeared in the gap between Tahiti and NZ. The found a small convoy and sank four or five xAK. I mentioned to Ken that I think the reason for these KB raids is that the Japanese player hopes to find a juicy target like and Infantry Division or some fighter squadrons aboard ships at sea. Well they haven't come close and worse they have yet to even hit a loaded xAK. Now they are burning a lot of fuel. KB started near Oosthaven, transverse the Java Sea down throught the Banda Sea, through the Gulf of Carpentaria, then across the Coral Sea to Luganville. Then they raided Tahiti and circled that area for five full days. Now the appear over 500 nm south of Suva. It did suddenly raise the concern to me that this may be a signal our opponents are not in the game for the long haul. If they realized they likely will get Palembang only after a prolonged siege, they may have concluded they will not have enough fuel to sustain the Economy beyond 1943. Ergo, they may be playing a short game. I think we need to consider this as we go forward

Oh, our opponents are now doomed for sure. First the surprise attack on PH; now they sunk the Maine! I need to see if there is a USS Alamo in the OOB. If there is I am sending it to Tokyo to be sunk.

[vettim89]

Well you had to know there was a pretty good chance. Wonder if our opponents would get it if I sent her on a suicide mission?

[vettim89]

One for Ken

[Nomad]

Since they have been bombing around the Changsha, Hengyang, Ichang area with lightly or unescorted bombers I put 3 fighter units in Chengteh to see what happened. I liked it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 68th Chinese Corps, at 83,48 (Ichang)

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 42 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 6
Ki-30 Ann x 18
Ki-36 Ida x 14
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 12
Ki-51 Sonia x 12



Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 6
P-39D Airacobra x 12


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
H81-A3: 1 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 79th Chinese Corps, at 80,52 (Shaoyang)

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 12



Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 1
P-400 Airacobra x 12


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 6 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on 2nd Chinese Corps, at 83,48 (Ichang)

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-32 Mary x 11



Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 2
P-39D Airacobra x 3


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-32 Mary: 2 destroyed
-----------------------------------------------
and then they tried a shock attack at Liuchow

Ground combat at Liuchow (74,55)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 10630 troops, 148 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 559

Defending force 15582 troops, 117 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 419

Japanese adjusted assault: 169

Allied adjusted defense: 101

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
1194 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 55 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 69 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
519 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 61 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled


Assaulting units:
104th/A Division
66th Infantry Regiment
19th Ind.Mixed Brigade
102nd Infantry Regiment
104th/B Division
23rd Army
21st Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
31st Chinese Corps
86th Chinese Corps
9th Group Army
56th AT Gun Regiment

[khyberbill]

but six is the max you get for the DD's.

I have USN DD's with an ASW rating of 8, not many but I will take what I can get. Then comes the Fletcher Class with ASW of 8. I am now into March 43 in my DaBigBabes PBEM and have sunk about 30 IJN subs, most with DC-three are "unknown" and I presume from A/C.

[vettim89]

17-20 April 1942

The IJN CVTF withdrew to the north after hitting that convoy. Until I can position more subs in the NZ-French Polynesia (FP) Gap, I am rerouting all convoys to the south edge of the map. While this may not give them 100% safety, it should deny our opponents the "low hanging fruit".

Unloading has preceded nicely at Tahiti and almost all the backlog created by the last CV raid has been cleared. I now have a huge pile of engineers here which should help complete the facilities to their max (AB 6, Port 5) in short order. Forts are at 4 and growing. AS is about 500. Once Tahiti is done, I plan to build at least one additional base in FP before moving more substantially into the Cook Islands.

Which brings us to the 20th when an undetected AMPH TF snuck into Mangaia (SSE of Raratonga). I have a cruiser based SCTF at Tahiti and it will move full speed to interdict this attempted landing. Question is how strong did the IJN come? Is this in essence another nuisance raid? Is it a test to measure what our response will be? Or are they intending a full on occupation of the Cook Islands? I am leaning toward the first possibility as at the moment this is a completely unsupported move - one TF. I have a Sep Rgt up at San Diego that could start prepping to take back this base. By the time it arrives in theatre, the Prep would most likely be advanced to bearable levels. Time will tell what is happening here, but I decided this would be my "line in the sand" as far as eastward expansion. What confounds me about this move is that Canton Islands, Baker/Howland Islands, and some of the Gilberts remain Allied.

[vettim89]

21 April 1942

UGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Well my SCTF annihilated the AMPH TF at Mangaia sinking a DMS, E, PB and 3 xAK. The island fell anyway and they brought a small BF. This means the island is a must as far as retaking. I need to be able to operate around Tahiti in relative anonymity. I bought out the last Raider BTN plus the Marine Para BTN. They are prepping for Mangaia and will depart within the week.

Unfortunately I either missed or my search a/c missed KB approaching NZ. In truth I think they sprinted in from the north. Well a nasty port raid gave me this result. The Shipyard is trashed 1(14). Port and AB not so much. I had a sizable fighter force down here but had them training down at Wellington. I assumed any KB raid would give me at least a one turn warning. I now have 122 fighters at Auckland on 70% cap. There are also 30 A-24 on NavAttack. If they get greedy I hope to get at least a few planes next turn. So far they've only lost 3 Vals and a Kate in this little venture.

The USAAF fighter pools are stressed. This is not the time to be involved in prolonged air warfare. Unfortunately we have to meet our enemies on their terms for now.

[Nomad]

We are at the end of April 1942 and not a lot has happened on the West side of the map.

In China as can be seen on the screenie, they have taken Changsha and Siantan. I am not too worried about this, I have forces in the forest hexes to keep them from going too far. They were able to move to Siantan and take it so in order to not get surrounded I moved out of Changsha.

Liuchow has been lost, but I have moved back in to keep the stack of enemy units away from Kweilin.

[Nomad]

In Burma I have sent a large force back into Burma. I evacuated all the units that start there early because they are very weak. These units are not so weak. I noticed from what I have seen other places, my recon, and what they took the bases with, that they probably only have a few independent brigades in Burma. As you can see, I have a some serious ground forces moving in to Burma.

All of the unrestricted units are moving in. I have 2 AA and 2 Base Forces moving from Ledo.

[Nomad]

Now we come to Sumatra.

Palembang still holds with no problems( they moved a couple of units in and they have been rejected with extreme prejudice [:)] ) I was looking at the economics of Palembang. I have 900 oil wells and 1020 oil refineries. Note that the oil wells only operated when they are not in the hex, but the refineries operated at all times. The fuel limit at Palembang is 129,000. The current fuel stocks are at about 415,000. So we have two modes to look at:

1. Turns when they have no ground units in Palembang. There is 9000 oil produced and the refineries use 10200 oil for a net loss of 1020. There is 1020 supply generated and 9180 fuel generated.

2. Turns when they do have a ground unit in Palembang. There is no oil generated but all the rest is the same. Meaning that the oil stocks drop by 10200 per turn.

There are less than 90,000 oil in Palembang now and it looks like there will be close to 0 when they do take it. Much of the fuel gain is being eaten by spoilage. The refineries are producing 9180, but the fuel at Palembang is only growing at about 417 per turn, so they are losing about 8760 fuel every turn. At some point they will invest Palembang shutting off the oil production and only 6-8 turns later all fuel production will cease. At that time the spoilage will be some descending amount but should start at about 10,000+ per turn.

So, for all you Japanese Empire players, don't think that Palembang is just storing fuel and oil for you, you need to take it quick to keep it from being used and/or spoiled.

BTW, I now have over 2400 AV in Palembang, in a swamp hex with size 6 forts that are 55% of the way to 7. And I have over 115,000 supply.

[Nomad]

And to keep the troops moral up:

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Nomad

BTW, I now have over 2400 AV in Palembang, in a swamp hex with size 6 forts that are 55% of the way to 7. And I have over 115,000 supply.

I had (IIRC) ~1,100 or 1,200 in Palembang when we aborted and started over in very late Feb or very early Mar '42. Could you post a screenie of the land units there?

[Nomad]

Here are the first two pages of units, there are 2 more pages but most have no AV.

[witpqs]

Holy cow - you've been sending guys in from India? [X(]

[Nomad]

Well, not really. The 9th and 11th Indian Divisions start in Malaya. The 18th British Division and the 46th Indian Brigade start in Transport TFs headed for Malaya and Burma, so I sent them to Sumatra. It's going to be a fine party in Palembang.