England vs Germany - #17

[bigbaba]

true. your AA fire is deadly like in the battle of santa cruz:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_ ... uz_Islands

The Japanese, on the other hand, lost 148 aircrew members including two dive bomber group leaders, three torpedo squadron leaders, and 18 other section or flight leaders.

Forty-nine percent of the Japanese torpedo bomber aircrews involved in the battle were killed along with 39% of the dive bomber crews and 20% of the fighter pilots.

The Japanese lost more aircrew at Santa Cruz than they had lost in each of the three previous carrier battles at Coral Sea, Midway, and Eastern Solomons.

By the end of the Santa Cruz battle, at least 409 of the 765 Japanese carrier aviators who had participated in the Attack on Pearl Harbor were dead.The Japanese lost so many aircrew members that undamaged Zuikaku and Hiyō were also forced to return to Japan because of a scarcity of trained aircrew to man their air groups.

it was simply stuppid to put elite pilots in planes without any armor or self sealing tanks.

[xj900uk]

Very true. Battle of Santa Cruz was the last time the IJN could put an elite strike force on their carrier group. Lost around 35-40% of it but inflicted serious damage on the US (sunk Hornet, badly damaged Enterprise which was forced to retire) in their last contribution to the Pacific War.
After that it was all downhill, and IMHO Yamamoto made a serious tactical error in stripping what was left from the CG's at the end of '42 and sending them to reinforce Rabaul in strikes/operations down the Solomons chain. They lost the remainder of their experienced pilots there & achived little so by the time they were withdrawn in Spring '43 there was practically nobody left with any experience to go back to the carriers.
Also the Japanese policy of letting trainee and rookie pilots finish their advanced combat training with the front line groups in combat against the americans also contributed to their appalling losses

[bigbaba]

after few quiet days, the IJN set sails to...port moresby. constant heavy bombardements from sea (7 BB, 20 CA/CL in 4 bombardement TFs) and air (110 betty and nells from rabaul, 220 vals and kates and 50 float planes from lae and the mighty KB) supressed the airbase there enough to go in with 3 transport TFs with totaly 50.000 troops. in adition to that, 30.000 men will arrive from buna right in the time, when the transport TFs should finish the landing operation at PM. with 80.000 men (HQ, INF, ENG, AA, ART, TK), it will hopefully be a short fight for this important base. i count many many ENG troops and also 4 australian INF units (maybe the kanga force and 3 aussie brigades) at PM. further bombardements should eat up some supply and make the fight easier for the IJA regiments.

last recon flights report around 50 AC at PM (down from 160 spotted AC before the general assault begun) and 72 runway damage. few attacks were started from PM and damaged 1 DD and 2 CA but the transport fleets are intact and should beginn the landing operation in the next turn.

at the same time, allied transport TFs continue to supply lunga but i can not do anything againt them yet without supressing the AFs at lunga and irau. the empire can not preform 2 simultany big assaults and so, lunga has to wait after PM is secured.

the KB lost so far 1 CVL. 1 other CVL and 2 CV are damaged but under repair and the rest should need some time to replace the AG loses but the more i wait, the harder will the fight for PM be. so they are in nearly constant action since 2 weeks.

[RGIJN]

at which date you´re operating about? Still July 42? How about an overall status report / map? Would be nice...[:)]

[xj900uk]

I actually have more combat ground troops at PM than bigbaba's recce planes have spotted. Actually it's over 45,000, of which at least half are combat troops. Also I have spent ages building up the airbase to a level 7 + both supplies and fortifications
More to the point I also have now almost 300 planes there (two & a half airbases for support) as well (clearly the Japanese pilots can't count, a common problem during WWII) - the moment I realised he might be going for it I rushed every available 'plane there, other than a few Dakota's I don't have a single 'plane now on the Aussie west coast, & have also stripped everything from the Solomons & Luganville etc that could make it across.
However, on the debit side runway damage is keeping a lot of them on the ground where they are being destroyed/damaged (30 this turn alone) [:@], despite the heroic efforts of the engineers (5 units there including lots of diggers) to keep them open

[RGIJN]

I wonder how much intel you both guys are willing to reveal here in the open... Just look into the AAR and you´ll get a clue of your opponents assets & dispositions...[X(]

[xj900uk]

We occassionally talk to each other, sometimes to boast! However it is getting consistently annoying with BB as this will now the the 3rd heavily defended (& by far the biggest) base he's walked into & knocked out without my defences able to get a shot, bomb or torpedo off...

[bigbaba]

8 japanese regiments are now at PM. this turn saw the first japanese attack there and i am intrested to see the results.

thats the situation at 08/11/1942:

[xj900uk]

In other words, bloody awful for the allies. There are over 275 strike & fighter planes on the ground at Port Moresby unable or refusing to fly [:@], that is over half my entire remaining airforce - I have about another 200+ around the southern Solomons (the remains of my SBD carrier groups & two marine squadrons). At Cooktown I have 3 PBY's and about a dozen or so Dakotas & that is the absolute lot. Every aircraft reinforcement squadron is being rushed to PM

One crumb of comfort is that in the first major Japanese attack he knocked out 500+ troops but I managed to airlift in 750 crack troops + their hardware from the elite US 41st division now at Cairns. Also one of my subs managed to torpedo and knock out the Yamato on the first day of bombardment

Maybe MacArthur and his cronie Sutherland were right about the lack of fighting Aussie spirit, so far I am yet to see any of it...

[bigbaba]

banzai! banzai! banzai!

PM falls after the first japanese shock attack. 85.000 troops storm the town and most of the allied troops surrender or are driven to the beach where they will be captured tomorrow.

the allied ENG units destroyed most of the remaining allied planes on the runway which was succesfully closed by constant aerial and naval bombardements.

the AC loses of the day are heavy for the anglo-american aggressors[;)]:



now the IJN units need some days of R&R. all carriers and most capital ships have 10+ sys damage and the battle for lunga/irau will be hard enough since the allied had enough time to develop this bases into real fortress.

[xj900uk]

Go ahead and grin! I lost 311 planes on the ground at Port Morseby in one day, which, when you include planes destroyed on the ground there in the past 10 days & also operational losses trying to get there, crashing on the runway or Dakota's being shot down over the town bringing in supplies and the 41st division, the number probably exceeds 400 [:@] in total for the past week and a half. I was ferrying in planes all week and not a single one would fly... [:(]
More to the point I've lost well over 40,000 troops there, including the remainder of the New Guinea Division, the 3rd & the 7th + a sizeable portion of the 41st. Add to this a couple of base forces, HQ's loads of engineers, their vehicles and 4 x AA regiments, and it comes to quite a sizeable haul... [:(]
If BB chooses to, he could invade the Aussie mainland and I wouldn't be able to do a thing about it

[RGIJN]

congrats to your success, Bigbaba Shogun!

As it looks, the South Pacific is your oyster now. What´s your strategy? An autovictory looms at the horizon...[:)]

[bigbaba]

chris and i agree that i dont go for AV as the japanese. i find it simply unrealistic.

[AbeSimpson]

40 4e bombers lost in one day, 80 in the whole campaign. That´s really hard because of the slow repleacmentrate of those babys. Iguess the bombingcampaign will start a little bit later than usual.........[;)] 

[xj900uk]

I actually have given up using the B17's as bombers, both of landbases & also ships. we agreed in advance no 4E bombing below 15,000 feet (which was the official USAAF doctrine until May arrived in '44 and instigated a low-level night firebombing of Japanese cities) but BB has had no problem in either shooting down my B17's or else loosing them to non-combat operational losses - my squadrons were averaging somehting like 20%-25% attrition rate per sortie purely from Op losses so I've simply given up on that. 
As 15,000ft+ is a ridiculous height to do naval search I've found a far better use for them as supply transports (and, unlike Dakatoas, they can fight back!)

[bigbaba]

its 08/29/42 now and it seems that the biggest battles are not behind but ahead us.

north guinea is safe and the next targets must be lunga and irau. KB already made a attack on allied shipping around this 2 bases in the last turns (and there is alot of traffic there). i exchanged 45 planes for several bomb and torpedo hits on allied warships (CA, DD) and transporters. KB still has 7 CV/CVL/CVE (2 CV and a CVL are under repair and also the mighty yamato which got 35 system damage from a single allied torpedo) but needs some time to replace the loses of its AGs. the carrier squadrons are nearly at 2/3 of their authorized strength.

chris has big airfields on lunga and irau with alot of ENG troops so this time, it will be much much harder to supress allied LBA then it was in the battle of port moresby. i will have to keep 2 AFs closed AND to cover also the vulnerable landing fleets.

[xj900uk]

True. I've used the available time to build up the garrisons, dig fortifications, emplace coastal guns and stockpile supplies. Both are now at level 9 forts, in addition Irau is now a deepwater level 3 harbour/port where damaged or tired ships can anchor. Also I've been busy sowing mines in every square inch of sea, even roping in my subs to bring a couple up with them before refueling at Irau and going off on patrol.
Subs seem to be the only thing I have in abundance on the seas, other than PT boats which have been steadily arriving - perhaps High Command at Pearl knows somehting I don't as they won't release much of anything else. Given that I haven' thad much success with anything else against the IJN, they could be on to something.

With his recent probe of the carrier units down between Rennell and Irau, he hit one medium-sized convoy but only succeeded in sinking three tranports (one outright, two scuttled) although several warships were damaged, non fatally. The airbattles were fairly bloody, both sides loosing 40+ planes in the air.

Theatre-wise the Australians have very little left with not much in the way of aircraft coming through, most of their armies at stuck at Brisbane as I have little to move them and they don't fancy the long walk up to Cooktown.
The Americans & NZ however in the SE have been able to build up a few squadrons, which they have learned from PM the folly of keeping everything ready on the front line bases. In stead they have been building up a few small island airfields N of Luganville where planes can wait, rotate and rest, ready to move the moment his fleets are spotted

[bigbaba]

quiet days in our game. chris is upgrading lunga into some sort of "death star"[;)] while my pilots enjoy some free days at rabaul....where is (what chris told to me) no beach because of all the vulcano activities there. thats the main strategic reason why i must have lunga beach....as a R&R center for tired japanese samurais.[:D]

the attack on lunga will come...and hopefully we can get thos nasty marines out of their earth holes fast.

[xj900uk]

The reason your troops are enjoying quiet days at Rabaul is that I've got nothing other than my subs (remember those?) that can get there... Furthermore looking at the reinforcement list there's not much to come for some time, probably not before '43.

Munda and Shortlands though I can just about visit and drop something in on you, if nothing else to deny you access of the runways & force everything not carrier based to come from Rabaul. Which in theory will increase the attrition rate as your Zero's will be operating at maximum range - it is estimated that in the Guadacanal campaign, something like 10% of sorties from Rabaul never ever got to Guadacanal, and were lost because of poor navigation, mechanical failure or bad weather

Re Irau and Lunga, take my advice and stay well away from them, they are maleria-infested hellholes that you don't really want anyway

[bigbaba]

quiet days over new guinea. in the solomon chain on the other hand, the imperial HQ sees an increased allied air activity.

the zero units at shortland and munda had to defend their bases against several attacks coming from lunga and irau. the attackers consisted navy planes (wildcats and SBD) and also some army bombers. over the last week around 25 zeros were lost in A2A combat or at the ground while we expect 50 or more allied planes lost to the CAP or the OP loses.

the combined fleet is waiting for enough army regiments to ensure the success of the lunga operation which must be started before the enemy gets lightnings or even corsairs.

edit:

in the last turn, the lose rate was better. 14:45 for the empire. although some SBD made it through the CAP and hit 2 small marus at munda with 4 bombs. the 2 AP may sink but 15 of the SBD pilots also will never come back home.