Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Blackhorse

Congratulations (ever-so-slightly-in-advance), Lieutenant Colonel!

+1

Be safe out there.

[Kitakami]

Be safe, congrats, and Godspeed!

[witpqs]

Good luck, Mike!

[Skyros]

Good luck Mike and keep your head down.

[Mike Solli]

Just got my computer today. [:D] Family just came in town today so out to eat with them tonight. I want to install AE tonight to test it out. [;)] Haven't had a chance to run a turn but I'm still about a week ahead of the AAR. Ted's being very patient. Tomorrow is my last day of work for a year. [X(] I took a week off and mob next Friday. My list of things to do seems to get longer faster than it gets shorter. [8|] Even though I knew this may happen, the shortness of it all is still shocking. Kind of weird since I've done it all before (a couple of times). Anyway, just wanted to let you know I'm still around and am dying to run a turn.

By the way, I got a MacBook Pro. Very nice. I recommend it.

[Zorch]

Keep your head down when the 4E bombers come to visit, and may Washing Machine Charlie let you get a good night's sleep. May you never be caught in strategic mode by a deliberate attack.

[Mike Solli]

Great advice Zorch. Thanks. [:D]

[zuluhour]

Congradulations!

hearts and minds. out.

[Mike Solli]

Ok guys, the kids are out visiting their friends and the wife is working for a bit. I have a little free time to attempt to catch up. Just sent Ted the 25 Aug 42 turn.

18 Aug 42

Relatively quiet turn today. Ted visited Shortlands Island with his 4E bombers losing an LB-30 while destroying an Oscar and a couple of Betties in return.

I told you it was kind of quiet, didn't I?

I got the DD Susuzuki (Akitsuki class) today. She'll go to KB. I also got the 17 Tank Regiment in China. My vehicle pool is rather low so this unit will not receive replacements for a while.

The only other thing of note is that Wake's forts reached level 6. The engineer battalion there is heading down to Kwajalein to top off their forts.

The A6M5 R&D accelerated to March 43. The 6x30 factories for the A6M5 accelerate by 6-10% daily. Very nice.

[Mike Solli]

19 Aug 42

SE Fleet

Shortlands was hit again. Three Betties destroyed on the ground and an Oscar shot down in return for 2x B-24s shot down with another op loss.

SBDs went after a supply convoy at Milne Bay composed of an xAKL escorted by a PB and sank both of them. I forgot to put CAP over them.

Gasmata was also visited by 4E bombers. I count >100 available to Ted in this area. Not good.

Burma

Ted is sending massive numbers 2E bombers against the 18 Division a hex NE of Akyab. There were 91 today escorted by 8x P-40s. Seven Oscars opposed them shooting down 5 fighters for no loss, but the bombers got through. They did pretty much no damage, probably due to the jungle. That's ok. I'll keep whittling down the US fighters.

Australia

I attacked Daly Waters and ousted the riff raff there in a 3:1 attack. Losses were 39(0) Japanese to 933(162) Aussies. In addition, I caught 3x P339-23(PR) on the ground. The situation is pretty strange there right now. I control Daly Waters with the 20 Division and the 38 Division is about 5 hexes to the east headed there. Three hexes north is Katherine, currently controlled by me but there is an significant Allied force including the 3 Aussie Division. All I have there is the 11 Garrison Unit and an SNLF Para Battalion. Lots of maneuvering there.

[madflava13]

Loving this AAR. I've been away from WITP for a long time because of work committments, but this AAR is getting me back...

[Mike Solli]

Welcome back madflava. Good to see you again.

Well, I'm here at lovely Ft. Hood. Internet is a rarity. I just got the 1 Sep 42 turn to Ted. I wrote up brief comments for the turns up to that one but it's been a while and I can't remember everything. At any rate, I'll keep better notes from now on and update as I can. I'll have better internet after I get to theater but here goes (hope the internet doesn't go out). [:D]

[Mike Solli]

20 Aug 42

Not much out of the ordinary. One Oscar lost vs. 6x Allied fighters and a bomber.

Gasmata’s airfield took a hit from B-17s.

In Australia, the Aussies pushed me out of Katherine.

I’ve been chasing the former Yenan garrison. I caught them 4 hexes south of Yenan and gave them a beating. Total Chinese losses: 3 of 4 HQ, 1 of 1 Cavalry Corps, 2 of 3 Corps, 1 of 1 Division, 1 of 1 base force and 1 of 2 construction regiments. Japanese losses: 39(0). I’ll continue to chase them to finish them off.

[Mike Solli]

21 Aug 42

SE Fleet

Rabaul was hit by 43 B-17s. One was shot down with about a dozen Japanese planes destroyed on the ground. Damage to the airfield was in the 30s.

Gasmata attracted the attention of 34 B-17s. The Tojos there held them off allowing only light damage to the airfield. I don’t think it’s worth it to split up the B-17s at this point. 100+ bomber raids do much better than several small raids.

Burma

Nice results today. 7 of 9 P-40s (escorting 59 2E bombers) were shot down 1 hex NE of Akyab. Another Brit fighter was shot down over Cox’s Bazaar.

[Mike Solli]

22 Aug 42

Sub War

The I-153 was caught by an Allied ASW TF south of Ceylon and hit by a depth charge, sustaining light damage: 24-34(5)-11(5)-0. She’ll head back to Singapore for repairs. But, before she started heading to port, she caught the PG Lawrence, torpedoed and sank her.

SE Fleet

Ted went after Rabaul with a couple dozen B-24s and hit my ambush. I had 29 Tonys, 16 Zeros, 6 Nicks and 24 Oscars waiting for them. For a cost of 1 Oscar and Zero (no pilots lost), I shot down 7 B-24s. Banzai!!! The airfield damage was very minor.

Burma

Ted attacked my units sitting a hex NE of Akyab. I took a fair number of disablements but held on. The forces are heavily outnumbered, about 45k Brits/Indians to about 14k Japanese. There are numerous units heading there (2x Tank Divisions and 3x Infantry Divisions), but they have to traverse some jungle to get there so it’ll be a while. Hopefully they can hang on.

A bombardment force of 4x CA and 2x CL bombarded the Allied force above, but didn’t do a lot of damage. Another bombardment force will hit tomorrow. I hope it is more successful.

Other Stuff

The Kitakami and Oi completed their refits and will head back to Davao.

[Mike Solli]

23 Aug 42

Quiet day today. Just an Oscar and a couple of P-40s shot down over the hex NE of Akyab. Thankfully, the Allies didn’t attack again. My disruption level is pretty high.

[Mike Solli]

24 Aug 42

More of the same. Today, 2 Oscars shot down vs. 1 P-40……

[Mike Solli]

25 Aug 42

Sub War

I have ASW TFs everywhere. Today, a Dutch sub found one of them a few hexes from Soerabaja and torpedoed and sank the Ch-24. Her three sister ships retaliated and hit the sub with 2 depth charges. She isn’t showing up as sunk but she’s definitely hurting.

Burma

Today, 8x Oscars caught 76 unescorted Allied bombers and shot down 6 of them. Banzai!

The CA/CL bombardment force was as unexciting as yesterdays.

Australia

The 48 Division, at Daly Waters, made a deliberate assault to attempt to drive the 3 Aussie Division out of town. It was unsuccessful at 1:3 but caused 350(5) Aussie casualties to 143(2) Japanese. I’ll wait a bit to allow the disruption to drop.

Other Stuff

The 6 Hatsuharus entered refit at Manila.

[Mike Solli]

26 Aug 42

Not much of interest. For no loss, the Allies lost 4 fighters, 5x 2E bombers and a 4E bomber around the map.

I dropped 40 mines at Dutch Harbor. If you don’t recall, I took the place a while back and have built up the forts to level 3. There are 2x Naval Guard Units and an engineer company there. Ted has been bombing it with 8-10 B-25s daily and bombarded it once with some BBs and CAs. Since the naval bombardment damage was repaired, the B-25s have done little to no damage. There are also 2x midget subs there. The place is expendable, but I’ll give nothing away cheap.

Other Stuff

The Akagi and Kaga’s air groups have been reconfigured. They both had 27 Zeros and 27 Vals. I’ve changed that to 36 Zeros and 18 Vals. I will do that with the Shokaku and Zuikaku when I get enough A6M3a models in the pool. When that happens, I’ll have 203x A6M3a in KB.

[Mike Solli]

27 Aug 42

Sub War

The I-10, still patrolling north of Rangiroa, torpedoed and sank an xAP loaded with troops. Banzai!

The Dutch sub O21 caught an xAKL dropping off supplies at Milne Bay and sank her.

Not much else of consequence.

Other Stuff

I shut off Oscar production today. There are 128 Oscar factories operational. There are usually 40-50 Oscar Ic in the pool and I am also building 90 Tojo IIa a month. I’ve upgraded one Oscar sentai to Tojos in SE Fleet area and Burma. I’d like to upgrade at least 1 more in each theater. That’ll keep the Oscar pool flush. Also, I have 3x30 Oscar R&D factories going. I expect to have the Oscar IIa operational by 1 Oct 42. It is currently at Nov 42. You may recall that the Zero M3a is currently not producing either. There will be more on production at the end of the month.