Deja Vu All Over Again - apbarog(J) vs OPilot(A)

[BBfanboy]

Strange convoy that one. IIRC, Peter Kerr is one of the C2 Lassen class that can convert to 5400 capacity AEs - very valuable ships that should be converting already.

[apbarog]

27 Apr 42

Part of a Japanese division landed at Tandjoengpinang, adjacent to Singapore. I wanted to land before the beginning of May.

3 carriers of KB, the ones that went mostly to the east from yesterday, found a few surviving ships from yesterday's attack. Nothing else was spotted. I restricted all torpedo bombers from using more torpedoes. I don't want to waste them all on a few cargo ships when I could run into US carriers.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Penrhyn Island at 166,161

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
B5N2 Kate x 26
D3A1 Val x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 2 damaged
D3A1 Val: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
DMS Zane, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Weltevreden, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Sommelsdijk, Bomb hits 9, and is sunk

[apbarog]

28 Apr 42

RO-60 missed destroyer Farragut with 2 torpedoes southeast of Norfolk Island. Light cruiser St. Louis and 6 DDs spotted. I-169 fired 2 torpedoes at Farragut also and missed.

Near Cooktown, RO-62 sank xAKL Bangalow, which was moving with PC Swan.

Sallys from Noumea flew to Norfolk Island and found a bunch of carrier aircraft. 14 Sallys were shot down. The ones that survived turned back. I've been doing Zero sweeps off and on at Norfolk. None here. 2 big surface groups now at Norfolk. One could be a carrier TF, although no carriers were spotted. Some fighters were moved to Norfolk but not enough to account for what was engaged today. OPilot moved them up after seeing KB well to the east, east of Pago Pago. KB is coming, but it'll take some time.

I believe the enemy carriers are basing at places other than Auckland. Maybe Wellington. Maybe bases on the south island of New Zealand. Greymouth got SigInt detection today. KB will move towards Noumea and rendezvous with 2 AOs. Then there may be another New Zealand raid. We'll see how visible KB is on the approach.

But it is important to note that it appears that US carriers are still in the South Pacific.

6 B-17s, flying from Darwin, bombed the oil at Babo. I knew that this was just a matter of time. OPilot doesn't miss targets of opportunity. I don't have enough fighters to put some at Babo, and even if I had, B-17s are tough to do much about. Most of the oil facilities at Babo were destroyed. After I clear Darwin, I'll think about whether or not to rebuild them.

Near Geraldton, I-26 missed small tanker Talang Akar with 4 torpedoes. 2 TKs spotted. This is the third small tanker missed with torpedoes along the west coast of Australia. The tankers are not bringing oil or fuel from Java or Sumatra. The Dutch have lost most of the bases and no ships have been spotted. The tankers are probably bringing fuel to northwestern or northern Australia.

Tandjoengpinang, next to Singapore, was captured.

[apbarog]

29 Apr 42

I-169 missed APD Manley with 2 torpedoes near Norfolk Island. Some fighters based there, at least temporarily. Combat ships and carriers not spotted.

I-26 sank KV Thyme near Geraldton. The sub will move into Geraldton to see if the small tankers went there.

Nells from Rabaul bombed Horn Island's airfield, destroying some C-47s on the ground. Moderate base damage done. There's now 3 units there. Could be flying out troops from the interior base on New Guinea west of Lae. That base will be attacked by a naval guard unit today.

B-17s returned to Babo to finish off the oil installations. There's still a few oil facilities undamaged.

Nells from Kendari bombed Koepang's port, sinking 2 more HDMLs.

Cuttlefish missed small tanker TK Yuho Maru at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.

Dutch troops near Padang were again defeated and pushed inland. The 14th Tank Regiment will continue to hunt them down as long as they stay on a road or trail. The end is near for these Dutch troops.

KB is now southeast of Pago Pago and westbound. It is 41 hexes east of Norfolk Island, and continues to be spotted. OPilot knows that I'm coming. KB will need to refuel from AOs near Noumea before going hunting near New Zealand. If the enemy disbands its carriers and cruisers in a minor New Zealand port, they'll be hard to find.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: apbarog
If the enemy disbands its carriers and cruisers in a minor New Zealand port, they'll be hard to find.

Sometimes you can play 'commander choice' and fiddle with the range to avoid big ports. Other than that, recon....

[apbarog]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

ORIGINAL: apbarog
If the enemy disbands its carriers and cruisers in a minor New Zealand port, they'll be hard to find.

Sometimes you can play 'commander choice' and fiddle with the range to avoid big ports. Other than that, recon....

I do want those carriers. Better to engage now than later.

[apbarog]

30 Apr 42

Destroyer Inconstant hit I-32 with a depth charge west of Diego Garcia. The sub will have to move to Rangoon for some repair before moving to Singapore.

I've started to bombard Malang with 3 battleships. This will be a daily occurrence now, with the ships rearming just one hex away at Soerabaja.

42 Zeros swept Magwe and found 48 Hurricanes. The Zeros were at 20000 feet. The Hurricanes were at 15000, 25000 and 30000. 9 Hurricanes shot down for the loss of 15 Zeros.

2 Oscar units swept Kweilin, finding 23 P-40Es of the Flying Tigers. The Warhawks got the better of the fight with the first Oscar unit, but the second Oscar group fared much better. Oscars swept at 20000 feet. Warhawks were at 25000.

Tambor hit xAKL Ryuun Maru with a torpedo at Tabiteueua. The ship was unloading supply for the tiny ground unit there. The torpedo was not a dud and the ship will probably sink.

The Japanese took Kalidjati on Java. Bandoeng is starting to be surrounded, with a couple of divisions to move directly to Batavia.

Nells bombed enemy troops at Kokoda on New Guinea. The sizable enemy unit there is the 30th Australian Brigade, which had been forced out of Port Moresby months ago.

My first attack at Kokoda revealed a surprise: the enemy has supply.

Ground combat at Kokoda (98,129)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 1830 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 61

Defending force 3067 troops, 21 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 91

Japanese adjusted assault: 10

Allied adjusted defense: 103

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 10 (fort level 0)

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

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

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

Assaulting units:
41st Naval Guard Unit

Defending units:
30th Australian Brigade
2/4th Ind Coy
2/1st Ind Coy /1
Moresby RAN Stn Base Force

More troops will be brought in, and bombers will start to hit Kokoda daily soon. There's nowhere for the enemy to go. Kokoda has no airfield. Wau, to the north, was captured. The 63rd Naval Guard Unit at Wau will now make the long slow march south to Kokoda.

[apbarog]

1 May 42

Daily 3 battleship bombardment of Malang, next to Soerabaja. Assume that this continues until further notice.

B-17s, happy with their work at Babo, switch to bombing Ambon's port but do little damage. I'm in the process of pulling out the division there, sending it to Kendari to recover and then move on to Koepang and Darwin.

LB-30s in the Aleutians bombed Adak Island's airfield, doing very minor damage.

Mini-KB, south of Java, will attempt to cut off a small task force eastbound along the northern Australian coast.

Sabang was captured, with the enemy retreating south. The Japanese 41st Infantry Regiment will chase them down, down the trail on the coast.

[apbarog]

2 May 42

32 Zeros swept Norfolk Island at 20000 feet, finding 3 parts of VMF-212 flying at 15000, 30000 and 30000 feet. OPilot has noticed his success with higher CAP and staggered CAP. 18 Wildcats were there in all. 7 were downed, for the loss of 4 Zeros.

Nells from Chiang Mai attacked shipping that appeared at Ramree Island.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Ramree Island at 54,48

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 3 damaged

Allied Ships
xAKL Nanchang, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAKL Wosang, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AM Romney
xAKL Agnes, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x G3M2 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp

Probably a supply convoy for the small unit at Ramree.

LB-30s bombed the airfield at Amchitka Island, doing minor damage.

East of Norfolk Island, KB found some shipping.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Norfolk Island at 121,170

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
B5N2 Kate x 19
D3A1 Val x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AG Aldebaran, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AKE Horace Luckenbach, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
PC Cahoone, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AG Antares, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

and

Allied Ships
xAKL Lahaina, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAKL Georgian, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

The ships were headed on a line from Suva to New Zealand. However, KB had been spotted earlier, so they could have been going from New Zealand to Suva and then turned around after the KB sighting. I don't know which way they were really going. Always good to take out support ships. This may delay OPilot's plans in the South Pacific for a little bit.

Mini-KB sent a Zero unit to Broome to strafe AM Colac, doing little damage.

B-17s bombed Japanese troops advancing towards Toungoo. No damage was done in severe storms and jungle, but the 2 divisions were slowed.

On New Guinea, Wau was captured. The 3 tiny parts of the NG Rifles unit retreated north, towards a still-Allied dot base to the some distance away to the north. The naval guard unit will now have to follow them into the jungle. Too many unoccupied Japanese bases nearby, ones that the tiny enemy units could capture. Bombers will try to bomb the units out of existence. They are very tiny and almost destroyed, but that task will be tough in the jungle.

I had an xAK at Palembang with SYS 80 and FLOT 50. It would have taken almost forever to repair enough to move safely, so I took a chance and sent it towards Singapore. It made it about halfway and sank without warning.

[apbarog]

3 May 42

I-18 spotted some fast ships northeast of New Zealand. The ships were probably in the area of the task forces hit by KB. These ships escaped, moving faster than the rest. I-18 put a torpedo into AP Zeilin. No damage noted.

I-157 sank xAKL Nanchang near Akyab. The ship had been at Ramree Island.

The division that I am loading at Palembang will go to Rangoon instead of Haiphong. I need to reinforce Burma.

Blens and B-17s attacked Japanese troops at Prome. 59 Zeros were on LRCAP. The Blens evaded attack and did minor damage to the troops. The B-17s were effective sweepers against the Zeros. Just one tank destroyed by the bombing. 6 B-17Es were lost, for the cost of 5 Zeros. Nicks are starting to be built, and they will be important for trying to hit the enemy bombers. Nothing really works against the heavies, but some are an improvement.

Mini-KB found targets near Exmouth.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Exmouth at 53,128

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
B5N1 Kate x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
B5N1 Kate: 1 damaged

Allied Ships
AM Abraham Crijnssen, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
TK Angelina, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
TK Talang Akar, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk

The tankers had fuel loaded.

Prome is the most heavily defended spot in enemy controlled Burma at the moment. Forts were up to level 4.

Ground combat at Prome (55,50)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 33475 troops, 257 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 1118

Defending force 19114 troops, 201 guns, 98 vehicles, Assault Value = 703

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese adjusted assault: 805

Allied adjusted defense: 426

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 3

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), op mode(-), morale(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1277 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 123 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (2 destroyed, 7 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
509 casualties reported
Squads: 44 destroyed, 39 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
33rd Division
6th Tank Regiment
55th Division
1st RTA Division
15th Army
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
Railway BAF Battalion
1st Burma Division
3rd Burma Rifles Battalion
17th Indian Division

Casualties were high but the prospects look good. We'll try to bomb the enemy in clear terrain. We defended yesterday and hit the Blens and B-17s. I'm guessing that they won't return today.

Some Japanese troops moved into Toungoo. I ordered a probing artillery attack for today. A Chinese unit is spotted east of Toungoo, guarding the easternmost road north. 2/3 of a Thai division are moving to contact there.

KB is meeting up with 2 AOs northeast of Noumea.

[apbarog]

4 May 42

Grouper hit a mine at Izu Oshima. Izu Oshima is just southwest of Yokohama. Being that it is shallow water, shipping to and from Tokyo Bay pass through here, hoping to avoid enemy subs. OPilot generally stays in deeper water. Grouper went to Izu Oshima, and I had dropped some mines there, and moved an ACM there to tend the field. I didn't drop many mines, knowing that this would only work once.

3 Japanese battleships again bombarded Malang. Japanese troops will make the first deliberate attack on an equal sized Dutch force in the mountains. The enemy should be out of supply, but it will still be rough and may take awhile. Bombers will support.

Bombers hit enemy troops at Prome in Burma. Clear terrain. The attack went better than the first and the enemy shows signs of collapse.

Ground combat at Prome (55,50)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 32470 troops, 256 guns, 87 vehicles, Assault Value = 1000

Defending force 18492 troops, 202 guns, 100 vehicles, Assault Value = 637

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 458

Allied adjusted defense: 452

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
816 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 36 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 14 (3 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1202 casualties reported
Squads: 47 destroyed, 61 disabled
Non Combat: 29 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 10 (7 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Assaulting units:
33rd Division
6th Tank Regiment
55th Division
1st RTA Division
15th Army
21st Medium Field Artillery Battalion

Defending units:
Railway BAF Battalion
3rd Burma Rifles Battalion
1st Burma Division
17th Indian Division

East of Prome, at Toungoo, a probing attack shows Chinese units. OPilot moved the Chinese to the front instead of gathering them together in India to form a big Chinese corp. Japanese forces will attack. There will be forts, and this is jungle terrain, compared to Prome which is clear terrain.

Ground combat at Toungoo (57,50)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 972 troops, 63 guns, 109 vehicles, Assault Value = 858

Defending force 9909 troops, 19 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 347

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

Assaulting units:
21st Division
2nd Division
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st RF Gun Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
32nd Field AA Battalion

Defending units:
36th Chinese Division
200th Chinese Division
88th Chinese Division
106th RAF Base Force
107th RAF Base Force

[apbarog]

5 May 42

Japanese BBs bombarded Malang, as usual, and the troops attacked for the first time. It went pretty well, considering the mountain terrain.

Ground combat at Malang (55,105)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 5089 troops, 34 guns, 103 vehicles, Assault Value = 173

Defending force 3679 troops, 36 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 113

Japanese adjusted assault: 54

Allied adjusted defense: 61

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 1)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
186 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Allied ground losses:
677 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 31 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled)

Assaulting units:
85th Naval Guard Unit
20th Ind Engineer Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
46th Naval Guard Unit
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion

Defending units:
5th Cav Sqdn
XIII KNIL Battalion
VIII KNIL Battalion
II Marechausse Cdo
HQ III KNIL Division

Akyab was bombarded by 7 Japanese cruisers and 6 destroyers. I wanted to hit the airbase, destroy supply and hit the enemy unit there. 2 out of 3 accomplished.

Manpower hits 3
Fires 489
Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 53
Port hits 20
Port supply hits 5

Toungoo attacked for the first time. Went ok against 3 Chinese divisions and 2 RAF base forces. 2 to 1 attack, lowered forts to 2. Artillery will bombard while the 2 Japanese divisions wait for more supply.

Prome attack went good. 1 to 1 attack, fort lowered to 1.

Japanese ground losses:
468 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 48 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
1232 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 90 disabled
Non Combat: 23 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 25 (1 destroyed, 24 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Burma will be opened up shortly. The goal is to clear the inland bases, push the enemy that is inland back to India, and capture the Burma bases leading into China. I do not plan to push up the coast to Akyab but I will suppress those bases as needed.

[apbarog]

6 May 42

PC Swan damaged I-16 with a depth charge near Portland Roads. Vals are moved to Port Moresby. Swan was 7 hexes from Port Moresby, and probably didn't have fighters over it.

Prome is attacked again. It will be captured today.

Ground combat at Prome (55,50)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 31664 troops, 256 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 901

Defending force 16367 troops, 196 guns, 99 vehicles, Assault Value = 440

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 0

Japanese adjusted assault: 367

Allied adjusted defense: 202

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
510 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 39 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Allied ground losses:
979 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 75 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled

Toungoo will be attacked, as will the Chinese division to the east of Toungoo.

[apbarog]

7 May 42

Battleship Ise, light cruisers Tama and Kinu, and a few destroyers bombarded Horn Island. The ships are heading to the South Pacific and bombarded on the way to Rabaul. Some losses to the fortress unit there, and 4 C-47s damaged. Still C-47s at Horn, which is interesting.

Zero sweep, with elite pilots, does poorly at Norfolk Island. 32 Zeros at 20000 feet found 23 P-39Ds at 15000 and 15 F4F-3As at 30000 feet. 14 Zeros lost while downing 4 P-39Ds and 2 F4F-3As. Another Zero unit at Soerabaja will soon start to move towards the South Pacific to reinforce. I'm considering emptying some of the slower carriers in mini-KB to use the fighters at land bases. I don't have a mission for the smaller carriers at this time.

S-23 sank xAK Morioka Maru at Wake Island. 5 or 6 xAKs are there to pick up the port unit. The nice CD guns that appear at Wake have been lifted out and are on the way to Luganville.

Success at Toungoo and Prome:

Ground combat at Toungoo (57,50)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 28322 troops, 297 guns, 155 vehicles, Assault Value = 810

Defending force 9537 troops, 19 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 299

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 1

Japanese adjusted assault: 365

Allied adjusted defense: 117

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Toungoo !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
578 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 49 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
4577 casualties reported
Squads: 100 destroyed, 45 disabled
Non Combat: 78 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 21 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 15 (13 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 5

and

Ground combat at Prome (55,50)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 31268 troops, 256 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 869

Defending force 15588 troops, 196 guns, 101 vehicles, Assault Value = 331

Japanese adjusted assault: 488

Allied adjusted defense: 70

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Prome !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
213 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
6420 casualties reported
Squads: 197 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 271 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 61 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 85 (80 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 85 (83 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 2

[apbarog]

8 May 42

Pollack got a dud torpedo hit on xAK Uji Maru at Attu Island. OPilot sits on my bases with subs. Bases that don't have mines or sub chasers or ASW planes. Can't have them everywhere, and the Aleutians are a low priority.

23 P-40E's, Flying Tigers no doubt, swept Toungoo at 26000 feet. I was ready, with a similar number of Zeros, flying at 20000 feet. It was one-sided, with 10 Zeros shot down while just one P-40E was a ops loss. My Zero pilots are the elite of the elite. His Flying Tigers pilots are very good, but below the Zero pilot skills. I can only attribute his success to flying at maximum height. I've been flying at altitudes more reasonable for a Zero, but after today's losses, I'm giving in and going to play the stratospheric altitude game.

If I had multiple fighter squadrons, I'd stack them. That can help against the high sweeps. But fighter squadrons are hard to come by.

Blens and B-17s followed up hit the troops at Toungoo and the airbase.

Batavia was captured. It was lightly defended. Time to push the remaining Dutch into Bandoeng and isolate it.

Ground combat at Batavia (49,98)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 14597 troops, 134 guns, 112 vehicles, Assault Value = 989

Defending force 4306 troops, 20 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 62

Japanese adjusted assault: 442

Allied adjusted defense: 33

Japanese assault odds: 13 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Batavia !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Do-24K-1: 1 destroyed
PBY-5 Catalina: 1 destroyed

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
293 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 30 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2259 casualties reported
Squads: 48 destroyed, 20 disabled
Non Combat: 88 destroyed, 31 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 19 (18 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 5
Units destroyed 1

[apbarog]

9 May 42

North of Toungoo and Prome, it looks like a full retreat to the north for the enemy. Instead of trying to go north with everything from Prome, flanking the enemy that is east, I'm just sending the armor unit to flank. They'll move into clear terrain immediately and become a bomber magnet, no doubt. The divisions and other support will follow the enemy into the jungle to the north, after moving east from Prome first. Better road but jungle terrain. Northeast of Toungoo, the road is clear, and is a good road. For that reason, Toungoo has been the focal point for the enemy air. Fighters swept again today and bombers hit the troops and the airfield. I had pulled the depleted Zero unit back to Rangoon. I need to build up Toungoo's airfield. It's only a size 1. And with B-17s hitting it, that will be difficult. 50 enemy fighters at Medan spotted.

Other B-17s hit easy undefended targets: Adak and Port Moresby. Zeros are on the way to Port Moresby, coming from Soerabaja. Arrival in 2 days. The captured Aleutians will not get fighters in the near future.

S-35 hit xAK Juko Maru north of Kwajalein. The ship should survive and will divert to Kwajalein, carrying part of an airbase unit. The rest of the convoy, with other units, will continue to head south.

[apbarog]

10 May 42

Several US DMs spotted near Norfolk Island. If the island wasn't heavily mined, it is now.

The 2/3 of a Thai division east of Toungoo attacked the 96th Chinese Division again, and did better this time. The enemy is fatigued and took twice the number of Thai casualties. The enemy is showing movement north, but is not in movement mode.

My next offensive in China, in the far north, is starting. The attack will go towards Lanchow along the very long poor trail. This is the reverse of our last game, where OPilot took Yenan and pushed all the way to Lanchow, but couldn't take the base. Supply is nearly impossible for the Japanese to get to Lanchow. My goal is to show a big offensive up in the north, and get Chinese reinforcements to head to the far north instead of where my primary target of the war is: the mountains of western China near Burma.

I've decided to use the slower CVEs that are in mini-KB for ASW duty. They will use DBs and TBs for ASW and search, and will mostly train from scratch for use in a few months. The faster CVLs will join KB. I will use 2 large fast tanker convoys for hauling oil and fuel back to Japan, and the CVEs will escort.

[apbarog]

11 May 42

B-26s attacked cargo shipping at Adak, bombing at 1000 feet. In the morning, 4 Marauders missed xAK Taihei Maru, but in the afternoon, they hit xAKL Sunten Maru with 3 bombs, sinking the ship. I have small cargo task forces delivering supply to the Aleutians, and no fighters. That will have to change, but none are available at the moment. I'll send some from Japan when I can.

Buitenzorg, near Batavia, was captured. The enemy is now mostly at Bandoeng, in the mountain fortress, but also hold a few hexes west and southwest of Bandoeng. The stragglers seem to be heading for Bandoeng. I'm sending 2 divisions from Buitenzorg to Soerabaja for redeployment to China. Another division is at Batavia, and it also will rail south to load on ships to China. The China offensive will be big. It may not be successful, but it will be big. I'm stripping out many divisions for it, leaving a shell of a defense in many places. I know that will haunt me sooner or later. I hope to use smoke and mirrors and make it later. Other than in Burma, I will have one division pinning Bandoeng. No other divisions on Sumatra or Java. One division is at Kendari planning for Darwin. No divisions in the South Pacific. I'm relying on KB for South Pacific defense.

I have two interesting operations for today: paras dropping way behind the Burma line at Katha, and KB moving towards Norfolk Island to strike any remaining shipping there.

[apbarog]

11 May 42 - Norfolk Island

[apbarog]

12 May 42

I-24 spotted British destroyers Voyager, Vendetta and Vampire outside of Broome. Looks like a raiding TF heading to Darwin. My activity north of Timor has been lightly guarded lately. CVLs that went to Singapore are now headed back towards Kendari.

Lilys bombed light industry at Hengyang and got about 10 of them damaged. A strike on Changteh missed. Just switching things up a bit and hurting the Chinese supply situation a bit more.

Blens bombed the 6th tank regiment northeast of Prome, in clear terrain. This was expected. Enemy fighters swept the hex first but I didn't fly fighter protection. The real push is up the rail lines towards Magwe and Mandalay, mostly through the jungle. The enemy is retreating.

But I dropped paras way behind the lines at Katha, and found it undefended. It was captured. This will be a bit of a thorn in the side for the Allies, cutting off supply to the south and stopping any quick strategic moves in either direction. The paras will probably get kicked out of Katha, but it'll take some time and effort to walk troops there. It's mostly distraction but it may encourage a quicker enemy retreat towards India.

KB moved 5 hexes northwest of Norfolk Island, and spotted multiple task forces at Norfolk and 3 big task forces 2 hexes southeast of Norfolk. Carriers!