Matrix Games Forums

June 8th, 1943


Economy:


War Material Stockpiles:

HI: 819,191 NS: 873
ARM: 153,684 MS: 3,335
Veh: 38,698

Even after cutting my Armament production by two-thirds I am still holding steady and slowly increasing my pools. I know people are cautioning me about cutting Armament and Vehicle production, but right now I'm more worried about stockpiling HI for aircraft production than armaments.

My convoy re-org must be going good as this next turn I will have basically emptied Hokkaido of surplus resources.I am going to redirect the extra convoys to Port Arthur and possibly the long haul from Singapore / Soerbaja.



India/Northern Burma:


One new division has arrived in Rangoon and the second is leaving Singapore after refueling. I am thinking of moving them up to the line and giving the British a good push and see if they topple or not. Two divisions might be enough to push through the jungle and and put pressure on the whole Imphal - Ledo line of bases.

The Chinese have moved into Paoshan and my two original reserve divisions have moved here and are about to push them back. The question is whether to just smash them and stop or push them back in china and take Tsuyung and Kunming as well.

I have moved my artillery back into the jungle hex east of Cox to provide fire support against the horde of british troops there. All base forces and engineers have left Cox and are sitting in Akyab. I will no longer waste supply rebuilding the facilities at Cox and the level 3 forts will have to hold. I have 300 AS sitting in Cox safeguarding the base and another 750 AS in the hex next to it.

I got brave and sent a cuiser-led TF up the river and into Calcutta to hit the ships sitting there. I was not sure if the CD guns would intercept me or not, but they did not. I ran smack into the RN raiding force I was hoping to find and over a couple fights sunk 3 DDs and 1 DE, leaving 1 DE left. My cruiser and 1 Escort took minimal damage and have repaired at Rangoon already.



Australia:


Heavy air bombardment slowed the 65th Brigade down and they were caught by the Ozzie stack and destroyed. I have bought them back, but they won't appear for a month and will need several weeks to fill out back in Tokyo.

The Aussie troops seem to be holding 2 hexes south of Daly Waters except for a small group heading west along the trail. Not sure if they are providing flanking protection or trying to sneak around me to hit Wyndham. I have dispatched the 2nd Division westward to keep an eye on them.

I have decided to go for broke in Northern Australia and am gathering my armored units from china. Most of them were bought out of Manchuria into the Southern Army so all I need to do is load them up at Hong Kong for travel to Darwin - I have found a hole in his sub patrols and plan to exploit it. I plan on landing the armor at Darwin and moving them cross country east of the trail / rail and try to hit Cloncurry - where he is basing his heavy bombers. Recon of the whole NE coast of OZ show very few army units and I and considering taking the entire NE area. Just taking it and leaving it mostly undefended. This will eliminate any base forces / engineers he has in the area as well as the ability to use the airfields and ports.

I am looking at mostly a policy of denial in Australia for as long as I can.Deny him the bases he needs to launch any successful attacks into the DEI or New Guinea.



South West Pacific:

I have almost completely evacuated my forces from SW Pacific. Only Ndeni and Luganville have any troops left - I have even evacced from Noumea. Base forces are moving to Rabaul to help enlarge that port and combat troops are being spread around.



South Pacific:

The air war between US-held Tabiteuea and Tarawa is at a standstill. Several allied sweeps met no IJN planes in the air (was resting them and awaiting replacements). I put the back into the air the last turn and they have hammered a couple unescorted attacks against Tarawa airfields by SBDs.



Wake Island:

US CVs showed up a couple turns ago and hit Wake and then disappeared. Just last turn they appeared up north and hit Paramushiro and Onnekotan islands. They did a little damage to the airfields and disabled a few men. I think he is just roaming my perimeter hitting me trying to draw my CVs out to engage him.



CV Fleet:

Only the Akagi and two CVls (Ryujo and Ryuho) are left refitting at Hong Kong, the rest of the CVs are finished. I am waiting for Akagi to finish and then heading back into the Central Pacific to meet with Kaga who is docking at Saipan. I am moving fuel and AKEs to Saipan to provide rearming and refueling options for my CVs as I think they will base out of here for a while.

Once the CVLs are done, they will load up fighters and kates and head to Port Hedland to finish off the POW and then raid the ports along the coast of Oz.


Unryu will arrive in 5 days (3 turns), with Amagi in 13 days and Katsuragi in 40 days. Still not sure what to do with them. Perhaps a separate CarDiv to harrass the allies somewhere, or perhaps use them as backup for the main KB.



General Ramblings:


Rob has mentioned that he has never played a late war game as the Allies and deparately wants to actually invade Japan. He has also mentioned that most Allied players ignore the DEI and come at japan from the South, Central or North Pacific. Is this true ? Should I not worry about the DEI as much and reinforce the Central and North Pacific routes ?

I am continuing to build airfields and forts in Japan with restricted units and am even starting to work on some of the southern Korean bases as well. Okinawa is going good with forts as is Formosa. I have just moved a division to each of Guam, Saipan and Iwo-Jima in preparation of eventual invasion. I figure he has to take the Bonins at least to think about invading Japan. The Marianas would also give him his first bases with range to hit the home islands if he is coming from the south.

All of the Kuriles have base forces currently and some have Naval Guard units as well. All are scheduled for 50-60 AV of combat units as soon as I can move them out of the Japan. I have a division at Etorofu, Kushiro and Sapporo currently.

June 20th, 1943


Economy:


War Material Stockpiles:

HI: 881,291 NS: 1,641
ARM: 153,477 MS: 2,536
Veh: 39,841

I have removed all but 2 small convoys from Hakkaido and moved them either hauling from Port Arthur (1.5 mil) or from Sakhalin Island (2 mil).



India/Northern Burma:





My new divisions are committed to battle near Katha beating up on a British Regiment and forcing it back into the jungle. I am moving both divisions north with the intention of continuing north to Imphal. I am not planning on holding these bases but hoping to destroy both ground and air units as well as force him to redeploy the bulk of his troops from the coast to further inland thus spreading his forces out more so he will have to defend all his bases if he wants to keep them.

More AA units bought from Korea are also arriving in Rangoon and will move north to Akyab and a few other bases to increase the damage to his low flying medium bombers.


Units committed to Burma:
Divisions: 33rd, 2nd Guards, 5th, 43rd, 1st Guards, 18th, 38th
Regiments: 7th Independant, 15th Guards, 13th Garrison, 11th Garrison, 148th, 146th, 5th Guards, 143rd, 7th Burma Militia, 112th
Armor: 7th Independant Brigade, Guards Tank Division, Tank Regiments (10th, 6th, 14th, 23rd, 8th, 11th)

Plus a ton of Base Forces, Engineering Units and AA units.

Not sure, but what is the concensus on having that many units there ? Too many ? Not enough ?



Australia:





Three small Australian units are moving west along the trails - a base force and two motor units. I am bombing them with helens but then keep moving. I may have to air lift some troops over there to stop them once they get close to my bases.

The first convoys hauling tank units from china are arriving in theater over the next turn or two. Once unloaded I will be sending these units south along the eastern edge and hope I can move them without being seen. Their goal is to grab the large airbase at Clonclurry. Not sure I can get there undetected, but will try. If spotted, the units will probably be destroyed by heavy bombers but they are completely expendable.

I would love to grab NorthEast OZ too, but not sure I want that distraction.


South West Pacific:

A small TF evacuating a base force from Luganville got caught in a bombardment attack by 3 allied DDs and completely decimated - 4 PBs and 3 xAKLs were lost with 2000 troops onboard.




South Pacific:


Looks like Rob has given up on bombing Tarawa and seems more content on defense of the island. He still flies some sweeps over Tarawa with P-38s trying to engage my CAP which I have stood down last couple days to train pilots more.




CV Fleet:


All of my Carriers (except Akagi) have completed their 43 refits and are assembling at Hong Kong for travel to their new staging area at Saipan.AKEs are arriving at Saipan next turn for rearming purposes and fuel will begin arriving in large quanties to support CV operations. I will also stage a couple small AO (8k ton) here for a small replenishment TF just in case.

Unryu is sitting in Yokohoma bay upgrading / training her air groups. She will wait for the Amagi (2 days) and Katsuragi (28 days) to arrive before being deployed. CV Ikoma and CV ASO are both now under accelerated construction. CV Kasagi will be accelerated as soon as the Katsuragi arrives.



General Ramblings:


I have pulled my BBs out of the south pacific. A few will head to Hong Kong for refits while the rest go to Saipan for fleet operations.

My subs had a good day sinking an xAKL off the Australia coast as well as CL Montpelier and CVE Copahee. CVE Copahee was sporting damage from somewhere as it had smoke coming off it in the sub attack animation. My sub hit it with 2 torpedoes and got away freely from the escorting DDs. Losses on the air screen points to its demise. This is the 4th CVE I have sunk with subs so far this war - if only they were CVs.

CL Montpelier was damaged twice by other subs (each with 1 torpedo hit) near Baker Island and finished off this past turn with two more torpedoes hitting her.

Unfortunately the unoccupied Baker Island was invaded and captured this turn but the Allies.

In Burma/India front I don't see a problem with the amount of troops if you can keep them supplied, and you don't get cutoff via an end run...

Wake is an Atoll -- I would defend it with maximum amount of troops, especially if you are leaving the CD battery there, one of the best Japan has. Its not like we are talking about a lot of troops. If the Allies choose to attack there they can suffer nicely...but if you choose not to defend there, I would move the CD battery somewhere it can make a difference.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

In Burma/India front I don't see a problem with the amount of troops if you can keep them supplied, and you don't get cutoff via an end run...

Wake is an Atoll -- I would defend it with maximum amount of troops, especially if you are leaving the CD battery there, one of the best Japan has. Its not like we are talking about a lot of troops. If the Allies choose to attack there they can suffer nicely...but if you choose not to defend there, I would move the CD battery somewhere it can make a difference.

I have Wake full of troops - the wake CD unit and another combat unit. I am hoping to do some damage when the allies land, but last time between CV bombing and half a dozen BBs bombarding the troops where smashed. I also have a small piece of each unit pulled off the island via transport planes so when the island falls the small fragment will turn into the parent and rebuild faster than buying it back and rebuilding it.

If he waits long enough for my CVs and BBs to assemble at Saipan I will need to decide whether or not to fight for wake or not. Part of me hopes he doesn't wait. The other part wants the fight. Just worried of losing the KB over a piece of rock I don't need. Would much rather lose KB over the Marianas or Bonin islands.

On the CVEs of yours that currently sit idle: you probably use their fighter groups as training units or even in combat somewhere(not idle), but what are those couple of strike aircraft groups doing? You could attempt to rectify your ASW issues with these CVEs operating strike aircraft(groups resized to use the full capacity) on naval search and ASW, probably in the South China Sea. After all ASW and NavS are more much more effective at range 1-6 than further(most likely now all your anti-sub NavS and ASW sorties are flown from land or shore bases).

Do you still have all of the 4 CS cruisers?

ORIGINAL: Erkki

On the CVEs of yours that currently sit idle: you probably use their fighter groups as training units or even in combat somewhere(not idle), but what are those couple of strike aircraft groups doing? You could attempt to rectify your ASW issues with these CVEs operating strike aircraft(groups resized to use the full capacity) on naval search and ASW, probably in the South China Sea. After all ASW and NavS are more much more effective at range 1-6 than further(most likely now all your anti-sub NavS and ASW sorties are flown from land or shore bases).

Do you still have all of the 4 CS cruisers?

All IJN Air groups not currently on a Carrier is sitting at a base training pilots. I have fighter, torpedo, naval and ASW units training. Another month or so and I should be able to start fielding 60+ exp units of planes for ASW work (train to 60+ in ASW, Nav Search and Low Naval attack). This should decrease the number of contacts with enemy subs at least and maybe get in a few hits too.

I also plan on fielding these units to my inner ring when the time comes - Bonin and Marianna islands.

I still have all CS cruisers, currently 3 in Japan and 1 at Singapore. I have used them to resize float groups and they are training away for mostly asw duties. Some are doing Low Nav for upcoming kamikaze duty in other planes.

Wake has fallen to the US marines. As expected they invaded and took Wake. I am at work and will post more information this evening. But high points are numerous mine hits reported, IJN subs do a good job and a lot of US BBs spotted along with all 6 US CVs and even some British CVs were there for fun it seems.

In other news... Efate and Tanna have fallen to US invasions as well.... stay tuned for more information.

July 2nd, 1943


Economy:


War Material Stockpiles:

HI: 894,586 (~10k a turn)
ARM: 152,813
Veh: 41,701
NS: 3,260
MS: 1,757

(Counting only the island of Honshu)

Oil Reserve: 1,893,014 (233 days)
Fuel Reserve: 1,843,104 (156 days) plus 1,132,589 on Kyushu
Resource Reserve: 6,107,045 (54 days)
Supply Reserve: 2.083.583



India/Northern Burma:

Not much going on just moving troops to oppose small British incursions along the jungle north of my rail. The 268th British Motorized Brigade moved out of the jungle and into the open near Magwe and I have been hammering it every turn with helens. I'm guessing its down to 50% or less effective strength.

AA units have arrived in Rangoon and are being slowly shipped up to Akyab along with supplies. Once he begins his offensive against these bases the new AA units should help a lot against the medium bombers.

I am moving the new INA units from Singapore up to Rangoon as well. Looks like they will be around 60 strength each, so the four of them will be equal to a Brigade.



Sumatra:

Looks like some Allies have landed at Siberoet. My recon spotted the transports and Netties moved to Singapore got in some good hits, but looks like a bunch of troops landed. I am bringing a fresh division from Japan to take the island and kill everything there, but I'll need to scrounge up some combat ships and air support too.



Australia:


Looks like the the 7th RAN Base Force and the 3rd Motor Brigade are heading west along the trails towards Nookanbah. My Helens from Darwin are saying hi and doing good damage. Sweeps from Katherine have been hammering Australian fighters flying LR CAP over these units. Once they get close enough I will airlift in some troops to Nookanbah to hold the place. I have a tank unit landing at Derby in a turn which will move to Nookanbah to finish off these beat up units.

The last of the armor units are unloading in Darwin right now, which will give me 6 Tank Rgt / BN to use in my end rush. Roughly 240 assault strength in armor should be plenty to do what I want. I have some mobile AA and Arty going with them as long as they don't slow them down. I want them to make good time so they don't get spotted.



South Pacific:

The Fiji Cammandos have been busy in the south pacific. After landing at Tanna, they have been air dropping all over the place, grabbing bases I have abandoned: Efate, Noumea, Koumac, etc..

I would send some troops back to kill them, but I'm pretty sure he has some DBs at Tanna so without air support its a suicide mission. But I am contemplating it.



Wake:

As reported, Wake has fallen to the US Marines. The inevitable invasion came and went in one turn. Two Marine regiments, plus tanks stormed ashore wiping out the CD unit and a Naval Guard unit there without any effort. At least 6 US BBs bombarded the island as well as 6 US fleet CVs and at least 1 RN CV providing ground support missions.

During the invasion I heard at least 3 mine explosions and Rob was kind enough to say that a US DD was lost to a mine, as well as several LSTs. My sub force in the area also claimed 1 DD sunk, another damaged and a solid hit on BB Mississippi. Several IJN subs were damaged but all will make port and be repaired for future action.

I have bombarded Wake with my BB fleet (7 BBs with escorts) and caught some YMS cleaning up the last of my mines - 3 YMS were obliterated by BB gunfire. Over a thousand US casualties were reported from the bombardments, as well as heavy damage to the AF and several fighters and catalinas destroyed.



CV Fleet:

My fleet CVs will all rendevous at Saipan next turn and the BBS should return from Wake as well. They will sit in that vicinity until I get some recon on where his CVs have fled. The CVs are full of A6M5c Zeros and B2N1 Jills and Kates. I will be bringing the DB units back to the ships as D4Y3 Judies and the 500kg bomb should help against enemy combat ships. Once the DBs arrive, I will be ready to meet his next foray with full force and see what happens - providing I can get some LBA fighter cover as well. Two CVLs are with the fleet CVs and are carrying a 100 Zeros between them for extra cap.


CarDiv 3 (Shokaku and Zuikaku) have arrived off of Port Hedland and attacked. The BB POW in port took a couple hits but has not sunk yet. I am pulling out of range of port Hedland's air for a turn, while the LBA Zeros at Broome rest to provide LR CAP and sweeping mission support over Port Hedland for the next attack.

Once done, I will hit the developing base at Exmouth and maybe Carnarvon if fuel holds before returning to Soerbaja. CarDiv 3 will then proceed to Singapore to support the attack on Siberoet Island most likely or to hunt the allied CVEs that are in the area somewhere.



General Ramblings:

Rob seems surprised I have withdrew from the SW Pacific, but I figured the 2 Division of troops I had there would be easily cut off without committing my CVs to the are full time - which I didn't want to do. Those bases are just to far south to supply for fuel and supplies. The men I withdrew are helping to garrison the Rabaul area and the Marianas - which are more important.

Aug 1st, 1943


Economy:


War Material Stockpiles:

HI: 995,625 (Was over 1 million until 50k was spent for training)
ARM: 157,475
Veh: 47,080
Ns: 2881
MS: 1791


Convoys from Fusan and Port Arthur are moving resources and I've just added a fourth convoy back to
Hakodate to ominato as the resoures are piling up over a million again in Hokkaido.



India/Northern Burma:




I have divided Burma into a few sections as different things are happening in each.


Area A: Rob has moved a regiment sized unit though the jungle and I have moved the 11th Garrison
unit to block them. Joining the 11th are 5 tank regiments and the1st Guards Division is marching into the
hex from the east. once the Division arrives I will attack with over 100 bombers in support. I hope to
push him back north. Then I will move north and push again.

Area B: The 4th Tank Regiment is chasing the battered 268th Motorised Bde northward. This is the
unit that popped out into the open and was hammered by my Helens for several days and pushed north by the
4th Tank Regiment. I plan on using the 4th Tanks to push the allies north into Kalemyo.

Area C: Last turn my force pushed the 111th LRP Brigade into Kalemyo and are following them. I will take the dot base and that will open the road north to Imphal and the eastern bases to Ledo. My force here is 3 Artillery units, the 25th Army HQ and 5th & 43rd Divisions.

Area D: The 1st & 2nd Burma Brigades are blocking (and moving to reinforce the block) of my rail.
Both units are very beat up and I'm guessing around 20 AS between the two. I am moving the 7th Independant Tank Brigade from Myitkyina to push these units back north and open up the supply line again.

Area E: Warazup - The 9th Australian Division is digging in here despite my attempts to dislodge
them. The division seems to be at or near full strength so 400+ AS. Opposing them is the Guards Tank
Division, 146th Infantry Regiment and 4 artillery units. Not sure I have enough strength to dislodge them
from their foxholes, but I can pin them here fairly easily.

Area F: Paoshan - I have given up on Paoshan - just not worth the effort needed to keep it. There
are 3 Chinese Corps sitting there (I destroyed one) and another battered corp working its way through the
mountains to the north. I have pulled my men out and we will hold the last mountainous trail hex. I have
the 18th & 38th Division, plus 3 Regiments here. Once I establish my new holding, the 2 divisions will
rejoin the Burma Theater reserve.


The influx of 6 more AA units to Akyab has made a noticable difference (at least to me) and the number of
medium bombers damaged and shot down while attacking Akyab has increased.



Indian Ocean:

The British Navy based on the BB Ramilles bombarded Akyab a ways back and is supported by at least some
small carriers (either CVEs or CVLs) as fighters are present over the BB TF. I rushed CarDiv 3 into the
Indian Ocean in an attemtp to catch them, but they disapeared.

With the CVs in transit, I rerouted them towards Diego Garcia my favorite port to bomb. Glen-equipped subs have been reporting activity in this area over the last couple weeks, so I thought I would take a look while I'm in the vacinity. If empty, I can move north an hit Ceylon before retiring.

To my surprise I showed up and hit 2 different TFs - one at Diego and 1 in transit from off map. Sinking
several merchies and tankers, I decided to hangout here a while. Unfortunately the weather was against me
and over the next couple turns, not sorties were launched. Finally a couple more sorties were launched at
the port and more merchies sunk and damaged - finally I had to retire to refuel and rearm.

During the time CarDiv 3 was hitting Diego, the RN tried to hit Akyab again. BB Ramilles was catch a
couple hexes out from Akyab by Betties from Rangoon. The apparent LR CAP over the TF failed to engage my
Betties and I put 4 torps into Ramilles sinking her. Nothing else was damaged, but I enjoy the trade of BB Ramilles for 3 Betties shot down by flak.



Sumatra:

The allies still hold Siberoet with what appears to be the 5th Indian Division, some engineers and some AA units. I am planning on dealing with this little toehold soon, but the operation in Java held more
importance and came first.



Java:

The 46th Infantry Division landed at Christmas Island IO and after a couple attacks managed to destroy the 18th British Division & 8th Belfast Heavy AA Rgt that were there. Several pieces of other units were there too but I don't remember which. The division is boarding transports for the invasion of Cocos Island where more allied troops have been spotted. I believe the troops at Cocos are the stragglers from Christmas Island. Once the division takes Cocos, it will return to Singapore for a few days rest and to gain replacements before talking the invasion of Siberoet in Sumatra. I will be providing CV support for this attack using CarDiv 3 which is returning to Singapore this next turn after a successful campaign in the Indian Ocean.



Australia:




As in Burma I have split this theater into 3 small areas to discuss.


Area A: Nookanbah - between Helens flying from Darwin and the 1st Recon Regiment sitting at
Nookanbah, I have destroyed the 7th RAN Base Force and 3rd Motor Bde which were attempting to move west
along the trails from the main battle area at Daly / Katerine. The 1st Recon Regiment will remain at
Nookanbah for the time being.

Area B: Daly Waters - The stack of allied troops - heavily supported by 100+ Heavy Bombers from
Clonclurry - managed to push me out of Daly Waters before reinforcements could march from Katherine. the
troops are all moving back to Katherine despite heavy air attacks daily. My fighters from Katherine are
claiming a few victories agains the allied heavy bombers, but mostly upsetting their attacks which cause
less casualties.

I have just upgraded my first air unit to J2M3 Jacks and they are resting one more turn at Katherine
before being thrown into the mix against the P-38s and heavy bombers. I'm hoping with the 4 20mm cannons
that the Jack has I can get more damaged and killed heavy bombers. Or else I will slowly be pushed out of
Australia purely by air power.

Area C: Two allied support units are spotted here. One of the units is the Southwest Pacific HQ so
I'm guessing Rob is moving them within range to give bonuses to combat and help draw more supplies north.



Central Pacific:




The allies have captured Wake a few turns ago but I am trying to make life hard for them. The facilities
on the island were all severly damaged in the allied invasion and i don't believe much headway has been
made in repairing them. I have sent several bombardment TFs against the island and have yet drain an naval air attacks - there are fighters there as some Netties from Kwajalein discovered.

The past turn a Surface Combat TF arrived at Wake and ran smack into a small merchant convoy. The allied
convoy was escorted by DDs Ward and Chew and in a close night engagement the allies gave better than they
got. The IJN force sank 1 xAKL and damaged several others, as well as minor damage on both allied DDs. In
return the DDs crippled 1 IJN DD and landed a torpedo hit on the CA Kingasa. The damage is not bad, and
the IJN TF is staying another turn to bombard the island before returning to port.

There looks to be another allied TF there, so maybe I can hit that TF as well as bombard the island this
next turn.

As the allied merchants fled east Netties from Kwajalein spotted them and sank 2 more xAKLs with
torpedoes. I am guessing this was a supply convoy - only question is how much was unloaded?

The US invaded Marcus Island and took it with a couple tank units, but by the time I was able to respond
with some warships he had fled. My Cvs managed to catch some fleeing LSTs and sink them, along with a
bunch of men and vehicles - tanks I'm assuming. When I bombarded Marcus the next turn nothing was there. I have since recaptured it and withdrew my men off the island again. I will keep it empty using it as
possible bait for Rob.



CV Fleet:

All of my fleet CVs are at Saipan and ready for action. I am still moving DB groups back to select CVs,
but currently 6 CVs, 2 CVLs and 9 BBs sit in Saipan's harbor waiting for action. I am hoping to detect the next allied Carrier thrust in time to foray out and catch them - its just a matter of time.

CarDiv 3 (as reported earlier) is approaching Singapore and will be used in that area for a while yet.
The three new Unryu CVs are gathering together in the Home Islands, carefully avoiding subs and upgrading
/ training their air crew. Once ready, they will probably join the rest of the CVs in the Central Pacific.
The remaining 3 Unryus in the build queue are accelerated and will arrive in roughly 1 year (1 year ahead
of schedule).



General Ramblings:

I am finding it a bit difficult to not conduct any major offenses, but I am fighting that urge every turn. I am attacking still in Burma, but that doesn't require any naval assets so I don't consider that an offensive. The only naval assets involved are cargo ships hauling supplies to rangoon and picking up
resources from singapore on the way home.

I have a bunch of Construction UNits arriving in 10 days or so and these will be split between the Kuriles and the Bonins, Marianas. Defenses are coming along nicely, but I want lvl 6+ forts on all those islands before the allies show up.

I am still wondering if Rob will bypass the south pacific and just cut them off by taking the Marshalls,
isolating Truk and then try to hit the Marianas. I have a free division sitting in Nagasaki and I am
trying to decide where to send them.

In other news, besides the new J2M3 Jack naval fighter, production has started on the new Ki-100-I Tony
army fighter as well. I am hoping these two new fighters will make some change in the slowly degrading air situation for me. The A7M2 Sam and Ki-83 fighters are a year plus out whereas the Ki-84r Frank will be my next fighter - it is slated for production in 1/44, but R&D efforts are trying to bring it in earlier.

Aug 9th, 1943


Slow couple of turns the only action has been near Sumatra.


Sumatra:



CarDiv 3 was sent to begin bombardment of Siberoet Island in preparation for its invasion and to keep any
reinforcements from arriving. Last turn as CarDiv 3 rounded Sumatra and was near Benkoelen I-11 put a torpedo into CVE Suwannee in the area and got hammered by her escorts. LR Netties from Singapore also
spotted amphibs due west of Siberoet. It was a tough choice - go after enemy CVs or amphibs.. I decided
Siberoet was more important than enemy CVEs as if they hold that island and build it up it is within range of numerous oil fields which I cannot afford to lose. So CarDiv 3 was sent to hit the amphibs and react was set in case the enemy CVEs came into range.

The AM air phase opens with 44 Netties attacking the amphibs from Singers. unfortunately some Wildcats
popped up but they proved mostly ineffective in stopping my bombers. The bombers went in but the shear
amount of flak thrown up by the TF caused issues and not a single torpedo exploded on target - had two
duds [:@]


Morning Air attack on TF, near Siberoet at 42,85

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 58 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 20
G4M1 Betty x 24

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 16 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CA Shropshire
CL Newcastle
xAP Arawa
xAP Cap St Jacques
DD Rotherham
xAP Empire Star
DD Relentless


Then it was CarDiv 3's turn - they did a bit better. I do like 500kg bombs - they seem to be able to hurt
allied CAs [:D]


Morning Air attack on TF, near Siberoet at 42,85

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 73 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 26
B6N2 Jill x 26
D4Y3 Judy x 26

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
B6N2 Jill: 1 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak
D4Y3 Judy: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
xAP Arawa, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Empire Star
CA Shropshire, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Newcastle, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage (Heavy smoke)
xAP Glenartney
xAK Gausdal
AMC Hector, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Rotherham

Allied ground losses:
2976 casualties reported
Squads: 104 destroyed, 63 disabled
Non Combat: 43 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 37 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 55 (54 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 22 (22 destroyed, 0 disabled)


In the afternoon the rest of the Netties arrived.


Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Siberoet at 42,85

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 17
G4M1 Betty x 15

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 3 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 4 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
xAP Arawa, Torpedo hits 1
xAK Itola
DD Redoubt
DD Rotherham
CA Shropshire, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Relentless
xAP Australia Star, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Cap St Jacques
xAP Indora, Torpedo hits 1

Allied ground losses:
1734 casualties reported
Squads: 62 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 104 destroyed, 51 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 60 (60 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 31 (29 destroyed, 2 disabled)


And CarDiv 3 couldn't let the LBA bombers outshine them...

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Siberoet at 42,85

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 26
B6N2 Jill x 32
D4Y3 Judy x 50

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y3 Judy: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed

Allied Ships
xAP Empire Star, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CA Shropshire, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Tjitjalengka, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage (Heavy Smoke)
xAP Moreton Bay, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Rotherham
DD Redoubt
DD Relentless
xAP Felix Roussel, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage (Massive Explosion) (Heavy Smoke)
DD Racehorse, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires (Heavy Smoke)
xAP Indora, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires (Heavy Smoke)
xAK Gausdal, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Arawa, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAP Glenartney, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAP Empire Pride, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires (Dead in the Water) (Heavy Smoke)
xAK Itola, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Cap St Jacques, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Allied ground losses:
4679 casualties reported
Squads: 130 destroyed, 72 disabled
Non Combat: 313 destroyed, 76 disabled
Engineers: 10 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 79 (60 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Vehicles lost 84 (80 destroyed, 4 disabled)

After Day 1 I was happy with the results against the Amphibs but a little dissappointed that the enemy CVs didn't come and play... I was wrong they came over to play a little bit. The enemy CVs moved over and
CarDiv 3 reacted to them - moving within 7 hexes and attacked.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Siberoet at 31,85

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 13
B6N2 Jill x 18
D4Y3 Judy x 25

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 4 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CL Helena
CVE Chenango
CVE Altamaha, Torpedo hits 1
BB West Virginia
CVL Hermes, Bomb hits 1 (A lie as later attack showed no smoke - thus no damage)

(Multiple torpedoe duds hit enemy ships as well.. Not happy with the dud rate.) I was not happy with the
performance of the attack, but weather caused many planes to not fly including most of the escort - I was
worried until I saw what little CAP was present - they must all be over Siberoet.

The enemy CVs launched one attack at my Carriers but it was repulsed with heavy losses for them. No planes actually attacked my ships.


Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Siberoet at 38,86

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 36 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 28

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2
TBF-1 Avenger x 9

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 6 destroyed


Then a bunch of Jills went in to attack the enemy ships unescorted and I was worried. Luckily enemy CAP
was not on their game and only shot down 1 on the way in and 1 on the way out. The brave Jill pilots did
much better than their escorted brethren.. Maybe I should send all bombers in unescorted??


Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Siberoet at 31,85

Weather in hex: Severe storms

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

Japanese aircraft
B6N2 Jill x 14

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
B6N2 Jill: 2 destroyed, 9 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CVE Chenango, Torpedo hits 2
CL Java, Torpedo hits 1
CVE Altamaha, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CVL Hermes


At the end of the turn the following enemy ships were reported sunk:

CA Shropshire
CL Newcastle
AMC Hector
xAPs: Arawa, Australia Star, Emprie Star
xAK Itola

No large ops losses for enemy planes which means all enemy carriers are still floating.


I have ordered CarDiv 3 (with only her DD escorts) to head northwest to try to catch the enemy Carriers
and sink them. I have no torpedoes but the Judys carry 500kg bombs and they should be able to hurt
everything there but the BB. Even if I can only cripple the enemy Carriers with 250kg bombs it will be
worth it.

I have dispatched the BB Kongo and heavy cruisers (Tone, Chikuma, Haguro, Nachi and Ashigara) to break
from CarDiv 3 and bombard Siberoet. If Rob leaves his damaged ships there to unload during the night
phase, my ships should sink them and then hopefully close the airfield. if he disbands them, the ships may damage them during the bombardment. Either way the combat ships will sit on Siberoet until the CVs return to hit anything hiding in port.

One the scary side, at least 15 B-25D1 Mitchells are based at Siberoet and they attempted to bomb the oil
at Palembang. Luckily I keep fighters there all the time and the zeros there shot down a total of 7
bombers and flak got 2. No oil or Refineries were damaged.

I am moving fighters to Medan and Singapore just incase he manages to get more bombers off the ground
before I close the airfield.

Aug 11th, 1943


Follow up action near Siberoet.



Sumatra:


Turn starts off with my SAG running into a lone allied DD at Siberoet. DD Rotherham is sunk with 3 hits from BB Kongo.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Siberoet at 42,85, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
CA Tone
CA Chikuma
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CA Ashigara

Allied Ships
DD Rotherham, Shell hits 3, and is sunk


My bombardment of Siberoet proved ineffectual and Swordfish TBs attacked my SAG sitting there. Luckily they did not carry any torps, but only 500 # bombs. Kongo took numerous hits throughout the turn, but nothing penetrated her armor so damage is minimal (around 12 sys I believe).

LBA Netties from Singapore pushed through the Wildcats on CAP over Siberoet and hit the amphibs that the
SAG refused to engage. Over multiple attacks all 4 xAPs were sunk along with DD Racehorse. Roughly 8
Netties were lost to enemy fighters.


CarDiv 3 located CVE Chenango and hit here with 13 bombs sinking her.

SS I-157 found CVE Suwannee north of the Siberoet battle area and put a torpedo into her. She sank afterwards.

Sub attack near Koggala at 30,62

Japanese Ships
SS I-157, hits 1

Allied Ships
CVE Suwannee, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Napier



3 allied DDs bombarded Maloelap for some unknown reason causing no damage. Maloelap Naval Fortress
returned fire damaging 2 of the DDs.

Night Naval bombardment of Maloelap at 136,117 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

318 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
DD Nestor, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
DD Fox
DD Dale, Shell hits 1

So I am looking at the SW Pacific. I am trying to decide whether to invest large numbers of troops and support in the Solomons - mostly Tulagi and Lunga ? Or Ndeni ? My biggest concern is that if I invest heavily in this area, my opponent can bypass it by hitting Kavieng or Rabaul - thus cutting off my men. What do you guys think I should do ? Invest in the Solomons ? or in Rabaul / Kavieng ? I have an extra division I'm pulling out of OZ and want to send it somewhere useful.

Aug 23rd, 1943


Economy:


War Material Stockpiles:

HI: 1,114,047
ARM: 158,355
Veh: 50,420
Ns: 1154
MS: 2192



India/Northern Burma:


Burma is going well. The RAF has disappeared since their failed attempts to hit tanks and men in the jungle mountain hexes.

The massed bulk of British and Indian troops in hex 55,43 keeps bombarding my men and losing hundreds a
day. Not sure why he is doing this but free kills are nice.

Allied troops at 55,43:

20th Indian Division
25th Australian Brigade
7th Indian Division
23rd Indian Division
254th Armoured Brigade
19th Indian Division
25th Indian Division
26th Indian Division
75th Indian Brigade
4th British Brigade
3rd Indian Brigade
103rd RN Base Force
100th RAF Base Force
25th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment


My spearhead has reached and taken Kalemyo and is preparing to move north along the trail to Imphal and
the lightly defended bases to the east. Recon shows nothing in the area which has the strength to stop me.

He'll have to bring in reinforcements from India or withdraw from his units that are deep within the
jungle. My spearheads consists of: 2 Divisions, 3 Artillery Units and the 25th Army HQ. The only issue I
forsee will be supplies - hoping to capture enough to keep moving. If not I will move my transports up and fly in supplies.



Indian Ocean:


ASW attack near Koggala at 26,52

Japanese Ships
SS I-164

Allied Ships
CL Java, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

SS I-164 launches 2 torpedoes at CL Java
I-164 diving deep ....
Sub escapes detection



Sub attack near Koggala at 26,52

Japanese Ships
SS I-164

Allied Ships
BB West Virginia

SS I-164 launches 4 torpedoes
I-164 diving deep ....
Sub escapes detection


That's the 2nd torpedo the Java has taken so maybe she'll sink before reaching Ceylon, or at least be in
repairs for a long time.

Can't believe I missed the West Virginia. That would have been nice to cripple the BB as well.



Sumatra:

Siberoet is still there and staging B-25s and now B-17s from here runways. I have been sweeping the base
with zeros and am killing off his fighters. My fighters flying CAP over my oilfields are damaging and
killing bombers as they attack. I am amassing troops and ships to hit Siberoet but it takes a while.



Australia:

I landed and took the small base of Normanton which triggered heavy air attacks against my landing troops
as expected. I evacced them and ran. This past turn an enemy unit entered the base and captured it without combat. The unit come up from the coast. There cannot be much left on the North East coast of Oz and it is a tempting target.




North Pacific:

A lone sub on patrol south of the Aleutians spotted and sank a nice juicy target. My guess is it was
moving (without escort) to Adak or Amchitka to support his subs.

Sub attack near Atka Island at 164,53

Japanese Ships
SS RO-34

Allied Ships
ARD-6, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

SS RO-34 attacking on the surface



Central Pacific:

The KB has appeared near Wake and struck a merchant convoy unloading there. In a single attack, aircraft
from the KB sunk all enemy ships at Wake: 2 AMs, 3 xAKs and 1 SC. No men were declared lost so it was just supplies being offloaded.

I also hit the port the next day and sunk 3 LSTs sitting in port.

I am contemplating a counter invasion to recapture Wake but am not sure if its worth the effort.




South Pacific:

US Marines and friends landed and captured Luganville this turn against very light defenses. Subs in the
area failed to score any hits against the invasion fleets and RO-65 was lost to ASW efforts of the
invasion fleet.



China:

I am bombing Chihkiang again with my ragtag air force in china. Over 2000 casualties were reported last
turn. There must be 200k men at Chihkiang which is like double the limit. Should be easy kills for a while until he either brings in adequate fighter cover or moves the men out.



CV Fleet:

The KB just hit Wake and is withdrawing to Truk for resupply and refuel. There is will sit a couple turns
and see if I can detect Rob's next move. He bombarded Maloelap for a reason so perhaps he is looking to
invade there ? It is a nice size 4 airfield and can only hold 6,000 men so it is a juicy target. I have
Netties in the area and may commit the KB to its defense.

CarDiv 3 is at Singapore and will soon be headng back to Siberoet to support the invasion of that island.
My 3 new Unryus are leaving Japan with heavy ASW escorts and will gather near the Philippines. I am not
sure where to commit them yet. I am thinking either to the Siberoet attack or to send them to help the KB
against the huge numbers of Carriers Rob is employing - last info estimated at least 10 US carriers (CVs,
CVLs and CVEs) together in one hex. That is probably too much for the KB to handle. I'm not afraid of
losing planes and pilots, but want to preserve my Carriers as much as possible as that is all that is
keeping Rob cautious at this point.



General Ramblings:

My air fleets of Jakes are finally finishing their training and are being deployed. They are already
sighting multiple subs each turn - but so far no attacks. I'm happy right now just with sitings - a
spotted sub is nearly useless. But I am hoping soon I will start getting some attacks and hits.

Allies invade Maloelap and IJN Carriers move into position, causing Allied Carriers to react. Large aerial battle results with the IJN getting the short end of the stick. Poor performance by IJN attack planes lead the Battleship club to wonder why the navy spent all those resources on carriers ?? More details to follow tomorrow.

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Allies invade Maloelap and IJN Carriers move into position, causing Allied Carriers to react. Large aerial battle results with the IJN getting the short end of the stick. Poor performance by IJN attack planes lead the Battleship club to wonder why the navy spent all those resources on carriers ?? More details to follow tomorrow.

Looking forward to it. Happy to help with post mortem.

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Poor performance by IJN attack planes lead the Battleship club to wonder why the navy spent all those resources on carriers ??

Ouch ...

Sept 2nd, 1943



India/Northern Burma:




Burma is still progressing. The IJA Spearhead is approaching Imphal and nothing looks like it can stop
them. The RAF is no where to be found except small bombings at Warazup and fighters over most troops
locations making it hard for my LBA to bomb them.



Sumatra:

Nothing has flown from Siberoet for a couple days so I'm guessing he has pulled his bombers out - probably to India / Burma. Supplies should be getting low on the island while my invasion troops are preparing for the assault. The 48th Division is almost out of Darwin and will soon make its way to Singapore.



Australia:




Rob has stepped up his bombings at Katherine as his stack of troops approach from the south. I have been
sweeping his LR CAP over his men and bombing with my helens daily. Not doing much damage, but every bit of disruption / fatigue will help in the coming battle.

Once his troops enter the base, I will move my fighters back to Fenton and perform LR CAP over Katherine
until the troops are pushed out.

I have 1300 Assault Strength at Katherine behind level 4 forts (almost level 5) including tanks and some
artillery. I'm hoping he will assault and I will hold inflicting heavy losses upon his men. If I lose
Katherine I will heavily consider withdrawing from OZ as it will take some time to move all my men out.



Central Pacific:




Well the Clash of the Titans has happened as reported previously. A little background first.
Rob bombarded Maloelap a week or so ago with several DDs which was odd, since there is a Naval Fortress
there. The Fortress hit one of the DDs but nothing heavy and the bombardment did no real damage, but did
reveal the forces present. I took that as a possible prelude to a landing so I tried to move some more men into the base and brought my CVs nearby.

Three turns ago I detected enemy Carriers with LR Patrol planes. Two turns ago they moved closer and
several TFs were spotted 1 hex away from Maloelap so I knew it was coming. My reinforcements (more troops
and some tanks) were still a turn away - a turn I didn't have - so I turned them around. I moved my CVs up and was hoping he would do his normal and keep his CVs back and just provide LR CAP over the invasion
forces, which I positioned my CVs to hit. Well I was kind of correct.

The turn started with a bombardment TF hitting the island. The enemy ships exchanged fire with the Naval
Fortress only. I would have thought the Naval Fortress would have done better but they have small guns
(15cm was biggest) and it was night time.

Night Naval bombardment of Maloelap at 136,117 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

150 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Massachusetts
BB Washington, Shell hits 8
BB Oklahoma, Shell hits 9
BB Maryland
CA San Francisco
CLAA San Juan
CLAA Juneau
CLAA Atlanta

Japanese ground losses:
287 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 20 (1 destroyed, 19 disabled)


At this point I was thinking ok, the troops are doing good - only the Fortress got hit and not too bad.
Then the invasion TF struck.

Pre-Invasion action off Maloelap (136,117) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

86 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
DD Woodworth
DD Stanly
DD Pringle
DD Foote
DD Abbot
APA Fayette
DD Gillespie

Japanese ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Allied ground losses:
74 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Once again only the Naval Fortress was targetted. I was disappointed at its performance, but if you look
closely above a lot of the guns were disabled by the BB bombardment. Then the actual invasion itself.

Amphibious Assault at Maloelap (136,117)

TF 227 troops unloading over beach at Maloelap, 136,117


Allied ground losses:
1074 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 222 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 123 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 33 (0 destroyed, 33 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (0 destroyed, 18 disabled)


I thought I was doing good with that many disables - roughly 2 regiments were 'wounded' in the landing.
Then the second round of support fire.

Invasion Support action off Maloelap (136,117) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

90 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
DD Gillespie
DD Stanly, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Aulick
DD Ammen, Shell hits 4, heavy fires
DD Abbot
AP Hunter Liggett, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Gansevoort
DD Bailey
AP Heywood, Shell hits 1
AP George F. Elliot
DD Woodworth
APA Fayette

Allied ground losses:
63 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

My men did a decent job of return fire while not taking any losses. At this point I thought I was doing
good and might actually hold the island - depending on what he brought.

Then there was a couple sub attacks...

Sub attack near Maloelap at 140,118

Japanese Ships
SS I-4, hits 8 *sunk*

Allied Ships
AO Niobrara, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
AO Millicoma
AO Lackawanna
DD Renshaw


ASW attack near Maloelap at 137,118

Japanese Ships
SS I-6

Allied Ships
DD Eaton
AO Millicoma
AO Niobrara
DD Renshaw


Sub attack near Maloelap at 137,118

Japanese Ships
SS I-6, hits 4, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CVE Santee
DD Dunlap


Then the morning air strikes. The IJN opened up with a strike at the enemy landing force.


Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 136,117

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
A6M5c Zero x 104
B6N2 Jill x 84
D4Y3 Judy x 15

Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 12
F4F-4 Wildcat x 7
FM-1 Wildcat x 24
F6F-3 Hellcat x 148

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 33 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 22 destroyed, 17 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 5 destroyed by flak
D4Y3 Judy: 5 destroyed, 5 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
FM-1 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 6 destroyed

Allied Ships
AP Fuller, Torpedo hits 1
LST-343, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Terry
DD Gillespie
DD Stanly, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
APA Sumter, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Woodworth
DD Sampson, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
APA Du Page
DD Gansevoort
APA Warren
DD Aulick
APA Sheridan
AP President Hayes
APA Ormsby
LST-344, Bomb hits 1, on fire
APA Pierce
DD Reid, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Pringle
DD Charles Ausburne

Allied ground losses:
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (2 destroyed, 5 disabled)


I was a bit disappointed at the results, especially the enemy ground troops lost. Then I realized he
unloaded almost completely in the night phase - I was counting on killing a lot of his troops on the
ships. This wasn't good.

The allies followed up with attacks on Roi-Namur and Maloelap.

Afternoon Air attack on Roi-Namur , at 132,114

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 3
F6F-3 Hellcat x 10
SBD-5 Dauntless x 32

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged

Runway hits 4


Afternoon Air attack on Roi-Namur , at 132,114

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 8
SBD-5 Dauntless x 55

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 3 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 6


Afternoon Air attack on Maloelap , at 136,117

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 32 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
A6M2-N Rufe x 2
A6M5c Zero x 23

Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 2
FM-1 Wildcat x 10
F6F-3 Hellcat x 51
SBD-3 Dauntless x 30
TBF-1 Avenger x 108

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 7 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
96 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 4
Runway hits 8


Afternoon Air attack on Maloelap Naval Fortress, at 136,117 (Maloelap)

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 14
A6M5c Zero x 17

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 4
FM-1 Wildcat x 4
F6F-3 Hellcat x 5
TBF-1 Avenger x 60

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
FM-1 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled


The the actual attack... The pointless bombardment by my men.

Ground combat at Maloelap (136,117)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1984 troops, 31 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 80

Defending force 20103 troops, 262 guns, 153 vehicles, Assault Value = 584

Japanese ground losses:
84 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
70 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)


And the killing blow by the Allies..


round combat at Maloelap (136,117)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 18819 troops, 261 guns, 133 vehicles, Assault Value = 580

Defending force 4281 troops, 50 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 73

Allied adjusted assault: 67

Japanese adjusted defense: 5

Allied assault odds: 13 to 1 (fort level 6)

Allied forces CAPTURE Maloelap !!!

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed
A6M5c Zero: 13 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
2698 casualties reported
Squads: 88 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 279 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 28 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 67 (67 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 4

Allied ground losses:
1978 casualties reported
Squads: 100 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 10 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 30 (23 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
4th Marine Division
7th Marine Regiment
1st Marine Rgt /1
1st Pioneer Battalion
23rd US Naval Construction Battalion

Defending units:
86th Naval Guard Unit
Maloelap Naval Fortress
Maloelap Base Force
1st JNAF AF Unit


I really thought my men would have resisted better behind level 6 forts and a Naval Fortress as well. I'm
hoping the fact that the island was so small I could only have 6000 men on it factored in as well, but
this does not give me any confidence moving forward into the war of holding any island against the initial allied Shock Attack.

The next day the Carriers duked it out. The US CVs TF reacted towards me individually several times during the two days. And my CAP was 'reacting' to the enemy carriers as well - whatever that means. The Allies get the first air attack of the day...


Morning Air attack on TF, near Namorik at 132,119

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 37 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 222

Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 5
F6F-3 Hellcat x 55
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 70
SBD-2 Dauntless x 12
SBD-3 Dauntless x 29
SBD-5 Dauntless x 58
TBF-1 Avenger x 91

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Martlet IV: 3 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 16 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 33 destroyed, 10 damaged
SBD-2 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 10 destroyed, 4 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 9 destroyed, 5 damaged
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 33 destroyed, 6 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 2 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CV Junyo, Bomb hits 1
CV Hiryu
CV Hiyo, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CVL Ryuho, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVL Ryujo
CV Soryu, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Asagiri
DD Niizuki
DD Inazuma
CLAA Tatsuta

Then to screw with me, the game conducted other air attacks elsewhere on the map before my air strike
happened. It had me worried for a bit that I wasn't going to attack the enemy carriers - not that it
mattered.


Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 136,118

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 116 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 38 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 29
B6N2 Jill x 74
D4Y3 Judy x 15

Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 7
F6F-3 Hellcat x 84

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 14 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 20 destroyed, 21 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 17 destroyed by flak
D4Y3 Judy: 9 destroyed
D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CV Yorktown II
CV Victorious
CA Chicago
CV Essex
CV Yorktown
CV Enterprise
CL Mobile
CV Hornet

I was very upset at the lack of hits. Any hits would have been welcome, but my attackers achieved nothing
at a high cost in planes and pilots.

Then the second allied air attack came in.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Namorik at 132,119

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 38 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 160

Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 3
FM-1 Wildcat x 4
TBF-1 Avenger x 59

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
FM-1 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 19 destroyed, 8 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi, on fire
CVL Ryuho, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Junyo, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Hiyo, on fire
CV Kaga, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Soryu, on fire

This is the attack that actually hurt. Torpedoes hitting IJN CVs is never good.

We each tried to attack the other once more but nothing was accomplished accept the killing of planes and
pilots.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 136,118

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 3
B6N2 Jill x 13

Allied aircraft
Martlet IV x 5
F6F-3 Hellcat x 44

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 2 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 9 destroyed

No Allied losses


When I saw his last attack come in I was nervous.. Luckily my CAP did their jobs.


Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Namorik at 132,119

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 36 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5c Zero x 85

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 20
SB2C-1C Helldiver x 20
SBD-2 Dauntless x 4
SBD-3 Dauntless x 14
SBD-5 Dauntless x 9
TBF-1 Avenger x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5c Zero: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 5 destroyed
SB2C-1C Helldiver: 7 destroyed
SBD-2 Dauntless: 3 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 10 destroyed
SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 2 destroyed



South Pacific:

Recon has spotted amphibs heading north towards Ndeni. I have a feeling Ndeni will be invaded in the next
turn or two. I have nothing close enough to send there to stop it.



CV Fleet:

Well the battle in the Marshalls was very bloody in the air and definately a victory for the Allies. They
not only took Maloelap but destroyed the IJN Air Arm and possibly several Carriers. I am impatiently
waiting for the next turn from Rob to see if I escape or if he hunts me down and finishes me off.

If Rob doesn't pursue me only 2 CVs are really in danger - both are on fire and may sink. The other ones
are either not damaged or have moderate damage. Either way I see lots of yard time for them.

My 5 other CVs will be docking with Singapore this turn to refuel and depending on what happens with the
survivors from the clash at Maloelap they will probably be heading back east to reinforce my defenses. The operations against Siberoet will have to be safeguarded by LBA fighters.



General Ramblings:


I am really down from the results of the attack and I guess I thought my Air power would still be a bit
relavent, but allied fighters and flak are just to powerful. Am considering sending all my carrier-based
aircraft to bases and stick the carriers somewhere safe and not use them anymore. What do you guys think
of IJN Carrier usage ?

Alright. Couple of things, but before I dig into them... you were so close here! At least you didn't lose all of your CVs. It would sting to lose Kaga and Ryuho, but it's not the end of the world.

First, your strike appears under-escorted. Only 29 planes against his CAP of 91. Your strike package had a very small chance to actually hit, as I'm sure they were chewed up on the way in to dropping their payloads. On the flip side of that, you had a very large CAP. It chewed up his dive bombers and escorts pretty good. However...

Second - your CAP doesn't appear that it was set up to deal with torpedo bombers. It says the estimated altitude was 7,000 feet. 7 Wildcats and 59 Avengers against 160 Zeroes? I realize the Zeroes had already engaged other strikes, but those torpedo planes should have been jumped on just like the following strike of diver bombers was (which is evidence that your CAP wasn't worn out). It's possible you got bad rolls, but I think it more likely your CAP was higher up and you didn't have a low band CAP around 5,000 feet. If not, I think that's your problem. If you did, then... I don't know, maybe you just lost a die roll, or maybe I don't understand things as well as I think I do.


What were your fighter group settings? What percentage of CAP, what percentage rest? Were any doing "double duty" - flying CAP as well as escorting strikes?

One last thing. I'm not terribly experienced with this, but doesn't including slower ships (like Junyo/Hiyo and the CVLs) with faster ships (the true CVs, Kaga/Akagi/etc.) hurt the maneuverability of the faster ships? I know ship speed is taken into account for torpedo hits at the very least, and if your faster CVs were limited to 25-knots or slower because of the inclusion of slower ships... Just something to think about. I hope someone can confirm if the speed of the TF affects hits in air actions - it seems so in naval actions (including BBs with xAKs, for example).

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Alright. Couple of things, but before I dig into them... you were so close here! At least you didn't lose all of your CVs. It would sting to lose Kaga and Ryuho, but it's not the end of the world.

First, your strike appears under-escorted. Only 29 planes against his CAP of 91. Your strike package had a very small chance to actually hit, as I'm sure they were chewed up on the way in to dropping their payloads. On the flip side of that, you had a very large CAP. It chewed up his dive bombers and escorts pretty good. However...

The Carrier strikes happened on day 2 of the turn after I hit his invasion force. The initial Escort force was 104 Zeros. A third (33) of that was lost in the amphib attack and figure another 1/3 damaged.

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
Second - your CAP doesn't appear that it was set up to deal with torpedo bombers. It says the estimated altitude was 7,000 feet. 7 Wildcats and 59 Avengers against 160 Zeroes? I realize the Zeroes had already engaged other strikes, but those torpedo planes should have been jumped on just like the following strike of diver bombers was (which is evidence that your CAP wasn't worn out). It's possible you got bad rolls, but I think it more likely your CAP was higher up and you didn't have a low band CAP around 5,000 feet. If not, I think that's your problem. If you did, then... I don't know, maybe you just lost a die roll, or maybe I don't understand things as well as I think I do.


What were your fighter group settings? What percentage of CAP, what percentage rest? Were any doing "double duty" - flying CAP as well as escorting strikes?

After looking at the combat report it looks like I had all fighters at 15k - a mistake. Usually I have my cap layered (by CV) at 15k and 10k. My normal CAP % is 50 or 60 with the rest set to rest.

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
One last thing. I'm not terribly experienced with this, but doesn't including slower ships (like Junyo/Hiyo and the CVLs) with faster ships (the true CVs, Kaga/Akagi/etc.) hurt the maneuverability of the faster ships? I know ship speed is taken into account for torpedo hits at the very least, and if your faster CVs were limited to 25-knots or slower because of the inclusion of slower ships... Just something to think about. I hope someone can confirm if the speed of the TF affects hits in air actions - it seems so in naval actions (including BBs with xAKs, for example).

I don't believe anything but the individual ship's manuerver matters during air attacks. But if that is incorrect someone please let me know.

OK got the turn from Rob and ran it and currently all carriers are alive and floating - some barely, but they are. It looks like Rob hauled ass to the East or South East leaving his Division plus on Maloelap and a couple ASW DD groups. Everything else is gone - and I'm searching a ways out from Kwajelein using some Mavis. Looks like he left damaged ships in port as well - nice target for some attacks.

My carrier status is as follows:

I broke the carriers into groups by damage / speed to try to save as many as possible.

CV Group 1: This group fled due west and is away and safe.
CV Hiryu - no damage
CVL Ryujo - no damage
CV Soryu - damage 9/19(16)/1 (Major)

CV Group 2: This group fled due west and is away and safe.
CV Junyo - damage 5/38(36)/1

CV Group 3: This group is currently at Nauru Island and safe.
CV Akagi - damage 42/15(6)/22(1)
CV Hiyo - damage 35/11(4)/8(1)

CV Group 4: This group fled to Namarik and disbanded in port after some extra flooding damage.
Namarik is a size 0 port but I was able to offload all remaining aircraft from crippled CVL.
CVL Ryuho - damage 94/41(4)/35(1) with fires of 66.

CV Group 5: This group fled to Jaluit and disbanded in port after a lot of extensive flooding damage.
Jaluit is a size 3 port and I was able to offload all remaining aircraft from crippled CV
CV Kaga - damage 86/98(24)/43(3) amd fires of 56

Without a freak flooding accident all carriers should survive to make port except possibly Ryuho and Kaga. I believe leaving them disbanded in the ports is the best method to fight the fires and pray for some miraculous repair work. I do not believe a ship will sink in a port without further damage, so once the fires are out the ships should be safe unless attacked, correct ? If so, I may move an AR to Jaluit and try to save Kaga. I would like to save them both, but Kaga is move valuable and luckily at the better port. What do you guys suggest for saving the carriers ?