June 26, 1942
Who Was That xAP I saw You With Last Night?
1) Ah, AE's search routines. So much fun. So much lying. [:)]
Yesterday I saw a TF moving up the west coast of Sumatra. It had a pretty nice escort of CLs to TBs, and an xAP. I figured it was either coming to collect the base force sitting at Benkoelen, bring it supplies, or bring a Naval Guard or SNLF to stiffen it up. The TF with BBs and at least Kaga was sitting offshore about two hexes interdicting the approaches to Benkoelen. Fine.
I had a small DD TF up north on the coast dodging Vals. I decided to send it in to harass, and to take its chances dodging the air wing. This is what it found at Benkoelen. Later it escapes scot-free. Not even a bunch of Magic Mavis can hit it.
The battle was one-sided, but not decisive. About 50-60% of a division got ashore and took Benkoelen.
Night Time Surface Combat, near Benkoelen at 45,91, Range 11,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CL Isuzu, Shell hits 4
CL Yura
DD Harukaze, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Matsukaze
xAP Tatsuta Maru, Shell hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Katori Maru
xAP Kokuryu Maru, Shell hits 3, on fire
xAP Kamo Maru
xAP Kobe Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
xAP Teikyo Maru
Allied Ships
DD Hammann
DD Russell
DD O'Brien
Japanese ground losses:
34 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Ground combat at Benkoelen (45,91)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 5972 troops, 124 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 284
Defending force 3561 troops, 87 guns, 48 vehicles, Assault Value = 80
Japanese adjusted assault: 267
Allied adjusted defense: 19
Japanese assault odds: 14 to 1
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-)
fatigue(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
151 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
914 casualties reported
Squads: 42 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 74 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 15 (8 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (8 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 1
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
Assaulting units:
53rd Division
47th Naval Guard Unit
Defending units:
22nd (East African) Brigade
-----------------------
The 22nd is gutted. It will move back to PBang, getting bombed the whole way no doubt.
So. Now I have a different set of options for the 32nd. Remember that what's on the water is just the infantry squads, about 215 of them. Everything else is already at PBang.
1) Go to DG, unload, combat load.
2) Swing south, then NE and run at Oosthaven, taking massive damage and possibly losing the force plus escorts. Or, try this after hiding out the west hoping the BB/Kaga TF leaves. Problem is the LBA enviro on Sumatra is terrible already and will get worse.
3) Land them on Java. They could get ashore on the west coast most likely and train to Soerbaja for a couple more days. Maybe.
4) Take them to Colombo, wait for the heavy gear to be destroyed at PBang (maybe months, maybe weeks) then re-build as a theater reserve.
5) Move them to CT, to the Canal, and into the Pacific, without their gear.
6) Try to thread several needles and take them to Rabaul
7) ??
2) Japanese LBA all over the place is massive. Lose over 400 men in the Chengtu stack, another 400-600 in the Pegu-bound stack. The 22nd at Benkoelen is also hard hit. I do not have fighters to use. It's a matter of just take it. Getting really old. He does take AA losses sometimes, and the loss ratio is 3327 his to 2698 mine.
3) Three B-17 do a night AF raid on Balikpapan. Take out one Betty.
4) Light Resource bombing in China.
5) He sends a TF up to Pt. Blair. It sinks the lone ASW asset in the harbor, but doe snot bombard. Not sure if this is a test for TBs, a bombardment waiting for me to move into Pegu's hex, or what.
Day Time Surface Combat, near Port Blair at 46,58, Range 20,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
CL Naka
CL Natori
CL Kuma
CL Tama
DMS W-3
DMS W-5
DMS W-11
DD Tatsuyuke
Allied Ships
PG Hindustan, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
6) Continued moves into Eniwetok. Makin gets more troops and a bit of transported supply. There could be a fight at Eniwetok if his Kwajalein reaction force keeps coming.
7) SST lands troops at Tarawa where a construction unit labors alone. This one and the next should alert him that something new is up.
Ground combat at Tarawa (136,128)
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 125 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 17
Defending force 888 troops, 6 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 1
Allied adjusted assault: 3
Japanese adjusted defense: 9
Allied assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 0)
Combat modifiers
Defender: leaders(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker: op mode(-), shock(+), leaders(-), fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
43 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 3 disabled
Assaulting units:
3rd Marine Raider Bn /2
Defending units:
17th Naval Construction Battalion
8) SST work again.
Amphibious Assault at Hollandia (93,116)
TF 437 troops unloading over beach at Hollandia, 93,116
