Rising Sun or Sunset? - Jumper vs Joseph - NO JOE HERE, PLEASE!!!

[jumper]

A lucky day. And also a succesfull one..

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/09/43

On its way to Rabaul, KB was attacked by US subs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 61,90

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo - miss
DD Wakaba
DD Nenohi
DD Hatsuharu
DD Yamakaze
DD Murasame

Allied Ships
SS Gurnard

I´m lucky..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 61,89

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima - miss
DD Mochizuki
DD Satsuki
DD Uzuki
DD Yayoi
DD Kisaragi
DD Mutsuki

Allied Ships
SS Muskallunge

and I´m lucky again!!![:D]

After these two attacks KB arrived safely in Rabaul finally. Air groups draw replacement planes and another 80 planes was upgraded to A6M5. KB will now head to Truk for some rest and repairs. It seems there will be very low allied naval activity in this area so i think I can afford it. Only aerial activity is increasing again, when US bombers from Australia bombs our Port Moresby garrison. One day I will ambush them by LRCAP from Lae, but not yet. At this point I´m happy my air force has time to repair.
 
 
This day was a good day in India as both my attacks succeeded. Both allied units were hit hard by IJAAF bombers and then chased away. Tank rgts defeated weak burma brigade easily:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 25,6

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 4514 troops, 0 guns, 288 vehicles, Assault Value = 162

Defending force 4312 troops, 38 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 110

Japanese max assault: 302 - adjusted assault: 256

Allied max defense: 60 - adjusted defense: 35

Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
57 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 5

Allied ground losses:
218 casualties reported
Guns lost 7

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Now the big group of allied troops is cut off. Unfortunatelly I´m not strong enough to hold them, so both tank units are heading back now..

Good news arrived from 28th army too. They met and attacked 255th Indian tank brigade. Fortunately the numbers were on my side and after a shor fight the indian tankists fled from the field:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 25,8

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 68721 troops, 796 guns, 24 vehicles, Assault Value = 1474

Defending force 7196 troops, 32 guns, 375 vehicles, Assault Value = 225

Japanese max assault: 2840 - adjusted assault: 3089

Allied max defense: 123 - adjusted defense: 127

Japanese assault odds: 24 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
596 casualties reported
Guns lost 16
Vehicles lost 8

Allied ground losses:
504 casualties reported
Guns lost 11
Vehicles lost 12


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!



I think the situation in India is much better now. I doubt he can keep the advance on Lahore without clear supply path, so he has to stop  until the path is clear. My reinforcements (two divisions) will have more time to arrive. At the same time one of his best units is routed and suffered heavy losses and my own supply path to Ahmadabad is open again..



Edit: correct picture attached..

[jumper]

I suppose a couple of calm days are ahead. I´m afraid it migh be a bit boring for readers, so I will try to enrich the posts with some overviews etc..

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/10/43

India
 
I´m holding my line with 3 armies which include 9 infantry divisions, 2 infantry brigades, 1 tank division, 4 tank regiments and many other support units. 2 fresh divisions are now heading from Ledo to Delphi (ETA 2 weeks) and they will nicely boost my defence. I´m confident I will hold this line as long as I can keep air superiority over my main bases in Ahmadabad and Delphi.
The backbone of my fighter wing here is made of 150 crack J2M "Jack" fighters which will be very soon upgraded to N1K1 "George" (this nice plane should enter production in 20 days). They are covered by about 360 army fighters Ki-61 "Tony" and Ki-44-IIb "Tojo", mostly piloted by crack crews as well. They will put a stiff defence. My plan is to hold the ground here at least till the end of 43´. Then I will consider slow retreat to Jamhespur-Asansol-Ledo triangle and then to Burma. In the mid-to-late 44´ I would like to have whole my Indian expeditionary force positioned back in Burma/Malaya/Sumatra. The reason for this voluntary retreat is the fear, that at this date I expect allies to have the shipping capacity and aerial superiority to conduct amphibious operation at any place in this region. I don´t want to have several Indian divisions at the gates of Singapur, while the whole army is sitting near Karachi. So I will probably choose to loose the ground, resource centers, oil and HI in India then risk the chance to be cought with pants down and loose much much more.
Still it will be true hell to get the army from India in some decent shape. [;)]

Meanwhile my bombers are bombing his exposed units all around, while he bombs empty Bombay to the stoneage. I don´t mind.. It is an Indian city after all..

Solomons/NG

overview in some of the next posts.. [;)]

US subs are now very active. Yesterday they tried to attack 2 BBs and today they sunk AK:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 69,73

Japanese Ships
AK Fukushu Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 4,  on fire,  heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Crevalle

Empty transport goes down near Truk
 
And also the barges near Lae were attacked:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 61,90

Japanese Ships
AG AG-2063, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Gurnard

While my own submarines didn´t score:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Thursday Island  at 49,90

Japanese Ships
SS RO-68

Allied Ships
AE Pyro

Torps miss.. [X(] The captain received friendly and polite reminder from imperial HQ about the unfulfilled expectations: "Sink something! Sink yourself if you can sink anything else, but SINK SOMETHING!!!"
 

9th division in Port Moresby and C regiment from 30th division in Tiomeka are bombed daily. Nothing serious in a short term, but very dangerous in the long term. Fortunately I´m playing Japan so I don´t have to bother with any serious long term planning. Everything will be bombed in the next year..[:D] 


My current concern is clearing the potential supply path from Salamua to Port Moresby. Those stupid paratroopers just don´t want to die:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Salamaua

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2141 troops, 9 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 111

Defending force 540 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 14

Japanese max assault: 94 - adjusted assault: 82

Allied max defense: 12 - adjusted defense: 19

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
36 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
21 casualties reported

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/11/43

Besides the standard bombing missions only submarines scored today:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Thursday Island  at 49,90

Japanese Ships
SS RO-68

Allied Ships
LST LST-22, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Thursday Island  at 49,90

Japanese Ships
SS RO-68

Allied Ships
AE Pyro, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage

Yesterdays reminder to the captain of RO-68 was a good move as today he attacked carelessly and finally reported some good news. LST went down immediedtly and AE followed soon. RO-68 is now out of torps and is heading back to Rabaul. Unfortunatelly it was hit by patroling US bomber and is heavily damaged now.
 
 
Also US subs scored:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 55,88

Japanese Ships
AK Tsuneshima Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Searaven
 
Empty AK goes down near NG..
 
 
 
 

[jumper]

I was wrong, when I though calm days are ahead. Joe is an attacker..

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/12/43

During the night, submarine patroling between Noumea and Brisbane, spotted big US convoy heading west. I-174 send the message, submerged and tried to attack unconspisious enemy:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 58,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-174

Allied Ships
AK George S. Boutwell

Unfortunatelly all tropedoes missed..
 
And it wasn´t the only convoy in this area. Another submarine, I-21, was surprised by escort ships of another convoy:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 55,112

Japanese Ships
SS I-21

Allied Ships
APD Little
APD Gregory

Fortunatelly I-21 avoided all attacks and lived to report new convoy heading from Noumea northwest to Townsville. Pack of 6 I-boats was immedietly divided and 3 boats will shadow the convoy heading to Brisbane while other 3 will try to attack convoy heading to Townsville. Both convoys were spotted a bit too late so my submarines will have to operate very close to Australian coast, under the nose of a few thousand allied bombers. I hope I will send some more AKs to the bottom..

After the succesfull mission near Thursday Is, heavily damaged RO-68 was replaced by RO-63. RO-63 spent only a few hours in operational area before it was attacked and damaged:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Thursday Island  at 49,90

Japanese Ships
SS RO-63, hits 4

Allied Ships
MSW Tern
MSW Quail
MSW Tumult

Moderate damage and RO-63 is heading back to Rabaul. RO-64 will take its place in Thursady Is. It VERY costly to operate submarines here, but also there is good oportunity to score..

It seems it will be mostly the submarine warfare here for a while. I can´t do much else. Only try to ambush his milk runs against PM. Tommorrow his bombers should meet mixed LRCAP of 2E night fighters and fighter bombers (99 total) backed by a few Ki-44-IIb (36). I look forward to see how well those heavily armed 2E planes will handle unescorted bombers during the daylight. I expect very poor show, but I want to test it..

And finally one of the para units in Salamua gave up:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Salamaua

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2672 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 105

Defending force 470 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 9

Japanese max assault: 86 - adjusted assault: 43

Allied max defense: 7 - adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 43 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
9 casualties reported

Allied ground losses:
193 casualties reported

The last paras should be destroyed tommorrow and then the supply path to Port Moresby will be clear. Then I will try to dump some big amount in Lae and hope it will find its way to Port Moresby..
 
 
India is full of surprises. When the 130k men heading to Lahore were cut off from their supplies, I fully expected Joe will turn around and retreat. Instead he attacks my deffensive line! Today 2 of his units (one of them is 23rd India Division) arrived in the sector secured by 5th IJA division. 5th division is strong enough to hold these units, but I expect the rest of his army to arrive soon and it would be way too much for single division. Therefore the 20th army reacts and all units except 2 Tank rgts will join the 5th division. Besides that all availible bombers were directed to this sector.
 

 
RAF and attached USAAF units are now taking part in this offensive and their fighters dared to challange my CAP over Ahmadabad:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Ahmadabad , at 24,8

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 31
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 49
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 59

Allied aircraft
Corsair IV x 16
P-40B Tomahawk x 16
P-40E Warhawk x 46

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 4 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 8 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Corsair IV: 16 destroyed
P-40B Tomahawk: 16 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 32 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Ahmadabad , at 24,8

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 19
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 26
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 25

Allied aircraft
P-40N Warhawk x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 7 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40N Warhawk: 23 destroyed

No chance to break my CAP when the core of the attacking force is made of 2nd rate planes. 87 allied fighters was shot down at the cost of 21 japanese. But most of my pilots survived! The hero of the day was Lt.Hidiki, who shot down 7 planes! Neverthless I was displeased with how many planes were in the air. Considering the huge concentration I would expect much better CAP. I got the answer a minute later. While the Ahmadabad was attacked, part of its defenders were send to cover 2nd Tank Regiment, which was under attack:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 2nd Tank Regiment, at 25,6

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 7
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 19
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 26

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 33

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M Jack: 1 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 4 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 20 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
50 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 4

This will teach him to bomb my units..[:)]
 

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/13/43

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1122 encounters mine field at Thursday Island (49,90)

Allied Ships
PT PT-349, Mine hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 1091 encounters mine field at Thursday Island (49,90)

Allied Ships
AK William Dawes, Mine hits 1

My minelaying subs are busy.. [:D]

And "normal" subs too:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Thursday Island  at 49,90

Japanese Ships
SS RO-64, hits 1,  on fire

Allied Ships
AK William E. Channing, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage

Another sub is damaged, but once again it was during the succesfull mission. One more AK is sunk. The hunt on allied convoys heading to Brisbane and Townsville continues without any succes today..
 
Some US subs were spotted near Formosa. Local ASW TF was send to chase them, but it didn´t work as expected:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 45,46

Japanese Ships
PC Takunan Maru #2, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
PC Ch 18
PC Ch 16
PC Takuna Maru #7
PC Shonan Maru #6

Allied Ships
SS Silversides, hits 5

As I hoped the Lae was operational and LRACP over Port Moresby was at its place when the allied bombers arrived. Unfortunatelly main Australian bases were clauded, so I have ambushed only a very small group: 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 9th/B Division, at 53,91

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-S Irving x 17
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 10
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 12
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 15

Allied aircraft
PB4Y Liberator x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 5 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y Liberator: 7 destroyed

Exactly as I have expected these 2E fighters (80+ xp) are worthless even against unescorted and outnumbered bombers. Despite more then 40 succesfull attacks they didn´t managed to shoot down a single plane. I suppose the problem is their armament. The accuracy of their big cannons is so bad, that they mostly hit only with machine guns. And machine guns are not good weapon against heavy bombers. So after a dozens attacks, they 40x DAMAGED those attacking bombers, but all those 7 kills were achieved by Tojos only![:(]
 
The last paras in Salamua surrendered today!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Salamaua

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 2992 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 106

Defending force 340 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3

Japanese max assault: 88 - adjusted assault: 178

Allied max defense: 2 - adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 178 to 1


Allied ground losses:
468 casualties reported


In India it is getting interesting even more. It begun when Joe forget to stand down some fighter group in Malir:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Ahmadabad , at 24,8

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 44
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 41
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 49

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed

Then arrived larger strike from Karachi:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Ahmadabad , at 24,8

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 45
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 44
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 54

Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 4
P-40N Warhawk x 13
A-36A Apache x 43

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 8 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 7 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 4 destroyed
P-40N Warhawk: 13 destroyed
A-36A Apache: 19 destroyed, 5 damaged

I was surprised how well those A-36A fought against my crack pilots. Most of the kills goes to them. For some reason allied planes allways bounce my CAP everywhere on the map..[:@]
 
Nevertless I can live with such loss rate pretty long. Again half of the pilots survived and planes were easily replaced. So why the situation is more interesting? Well, it is because allied ground offensive gradates. 6 new units joined 23rd Indian division in the sector of 5th division (now 8 enemy units is there), while not a single unit from 20th army arrived. They managed to travel just 30 miles..[:(] They will arrive tommorrow and hopefully it will not be too late!
I was thinking about reinforcing the remaining two tank regiments from 20th army by one division from 28th army and surround the advancing forces, but such ideas are now worthless. Unidentified (number of spotted men and guns indicates it is at least a division) allied unit arrived in sector of 28th army, which means that Ahmadabad is now cut off and all units of 28th army are blocked unless they want to fall back to Delphi. And I expect more enemies to arrive tommorrow!
Well, such moves make my decisions easy as they leaves only one possibility: 28th army has to attack and clear the way at all cost! Half of the availible bombers will support them, while the second half will support 20th army in their defence. I can´t loose anywhere..
BANZAI!

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/14/43
 
Brisbane/Townsville convoy hunt:
my subs shadowed these two convoys one more day and finally got a chance to score. Now it is clear that convoy to Townsville is made of tankers loaded with fuel. And one of them was hit:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 49,101

Japanese Ships
SS I-3, hits 3

Allied Ships
TK Richmond, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire
TK S.C.T. Todd
TK H.M. Storey II
APD Little
APD Gregory
 
The ship will live but most of its cargo is lost and burning.. Unfortunatelly Brisbane convoy made it safe into the port. I-174 will follow, but remaining three subs will go back to their positions between Noumea and Brisbane. So far it was very unsuccesfull mission. Two convoys arrived in Australia and only one TK was damaged. It costs me one heavily damaged sub, because I-2 was hit by patroling Liberator near Townsville. Tommorrow is the last chance to improve the score..
 
Despite the yesterdays ambush, Port Moresby garrison was bombed heavily again. Maybe it is time for another try and this time with my best planes..
 
News arrived from India. 28th army attacked the unidentified unit east of Ahmadabad just to find out it was a division, which is now reinforced by another two divisions (2nd and 18th UK and 25th Indian)! In total 3 divisions of 28th army faced very similar oposition:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 25,8

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 68362 troops, 791 guns, 23 vehicles, Assault Value = 1455

Defending force 43737 troops, 466 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1034

Japanese max assault: 2790 - adjusted assault: 2596

Allied max defense: 972 - adjusted defense: 584

Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
1525 casualties reported
Guns lost 113
Vehicles lost 12

Allied ground losses:
731 casualties reported
Guns lost 44
 
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!


 
Banzai! 3 important allied units were routed and it will now take some time until they will be combat capable again. The long march, probably lack of supplies and daily air attacks affected their combat strength significantly. And despite the fact that todays weather closed all AFs in India and 28th army was missing the promised air support, they were unable to hold their ground.
On the other side the 20th army is now nearly complete and ready to repulse expected allied attack in its sector.
 
And last but not least: N1K1 George entered production today!!! Factories on 250 planes per month are ready and running and it is expected that 270 J2M Jack factories will autoconvert very soon..

[pauk]

hmmm, jack's factories do not upgrade to Georges, IIRC.

good stuff, keep it going.

[jumper]

ORIGINAL: pauk

hmmm, jack's factories do not upgrade to Georges, IIRC.

good stuff, keep it going.

I just checked the database and you are right.. For some reason I was sure the current upgrade path is Jack-George-Shinden, but it is not. Jacks upgrades directly to Shinden.. [:(][:@]

I have kept those 270 Jack factories closed for a few month for nothing. So I will change them now while I could do it 4 months ago. Great..

[jumper]

Wow.. A submarines day.. 

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/15/43

Despite the fact the allied convoy reached Brisbane, I-174 proved it is still far away from being safe:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Brisbane  at 46,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-174

Allied Ships
AK Christopher Greenup, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage

AK went down immedietly, hopefully full of supplies.. The chaos in allied port allowed one more attack:
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Brisbane  at 46,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-174

Allied Ships
AP Katoomba, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire
DD Abbot

Every AP which is out of combat is a good one..
 
Then another convoy in Cairns was attacked too, when I-3, after yesterdays succesfull attack on US tanker, moved northwards:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Cairns  at 47,100

Japanese Ships
SS I-3, hits 6

Allied Ships
AK Empire Rowan, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire
AK Empire Seal
AK Empire Voice
AK Empire Oryx
DMS Elliot
DD King
DD Kennison
AK Empire Rainbow
AK Empire Lynx


Allied ground losses:
26 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

I-3 is moderately damaged, out of torps and is heading to Rabaul and Truk for repairs, but AK with troops aboard is hit. And the last hit of the day goes to.........THURSDAY IS! Yes, fresh sub and fresh hit:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Thursday Island  at 49,90

Japanese Ships
SS I-181

Allied Ships
MSW Quail, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage
MSW Tern
MSW Tumult

I don´t even know how many ships I have sunk in Thursday Is by subs, but I like it. On the other side succesfull attack usually means damaged sub so nearly every succes was paid for.. 

Allied subs tried to response, but without any luck today. And Dolphin will never jump to the air anymore:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASW attack at 79,78

Japanese Ships
PC Toshi Maru #3
MSW W.22
MSW W.21
MSW W.20
MSW W.17
APD APD-37
APD APD-36
APD APD-31

Allied Ships
SS Dolphin, hits 11,  on fire,  heavy damage

byebye..


While the night phase was interesting, the day was calm with only two "recon" attacks:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Ahmadabad , at 24,8

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 40
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 37
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 66

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Siador , at 54,85

Japanese aircraft
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 7

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 2 destroyed

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/16/43

Enemy subs mined Kwajalein and I found it out when I wnated to lay my own minefield:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 78 encounters mine field at Kwajalein (79,79)

Japanese Ships
ML Hatsutaka, Mine hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
 
Hatsutaka sinks..[:(]
 
And my subs come to play:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 72,102

Japanese Ships
SS I-34

Allied Ships
AK Titania, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
SC SC-638
SC SC-636

Probably "lost" allied convoy near Ndini. I-34 is monitoring this area against possible allied invasion on Solomons..

And another LST goes down in......Thursady Is again:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Thursday Island  at 49,90

Japanese Ships
SS I-181

Allied Ships
LST LST-21, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 3,  on fire,  heavy damage

How many ships I will get here yet?[:D]
 
Otherwise the situation in NG/Solomons is calm with allied expeditionary forces in Port Moresby slowly regaining its strength. My fighter force is 100% operational again with main base in Lae, while the navy bomber units in Rabaul are still slowly being filled with new replacement planes. Some army bombers are repositioned to Lae and I will start my own bombing campaign against those US troops partying in jungle.. It will force Joe to LRCAP them with his own fighters. So far he posses 2 AFs lvl 4 what means he can use max 400 planes. Probably 200 fighters are tied to CAP and I expect him to use another 100 over Port Moresby once his troops will start to scream for air cover. It leaves him only 100 planes for other use and I can handle this easily..
 
 
Some action took place in India, when Joe sends his planes against Ahamdabad and Lahore:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day Air attack on Ahmadabad , at 24,8

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 50
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 40
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 60

Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 9
A-36A Apache x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M Jack: 1 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 9 destroyed
A-36A Apache: 24 destroyed
 
This time those "Apaches" were eaten alive and the attack was repulsed. Not sure I should mention following "strike":
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Ahmadabad , at 24,8

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 37
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 38
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 61

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 3

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Another wave of allied bombers targeted Lahore:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Lahore , at 28,6

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 21

Allied aircraft
PBY Catalina x 3
PBM Mariner x 5
Wellington III x 24
Liberator VI x 76
Beaufighter VIC x 11
P-40N Warhawk x 11
B-25J Mitchell x 16
B-24D Liberator x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 3 destroyed, 6 damaged
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged
Liberator VI: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged
Beaufighter VIC: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-40N Warhawk: 9 destroyed
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 10

47th sentai fought extremely well and shot down 23 enemy planes. And the remaining bombers were so shaken, that most bombs ended far away from the airfield.
Personaly I think it is a mistake not to concentrate the whole his airforce against single target, but maybe he is just trying to spread my forces all around and THEN concentrate against single target. Well, it is not going to work, because I will not weaken the defence of Ahamdabad no matter what and where he boms. And meanwhile his ground units are bombed. Today 17th, 23rd Indian division and A´Indian artillery rgt were targeted and lost together about 250men and 2 guns..
 

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/17/43

Another pesky sub laid mines found at Tarawa:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 116 encounters mine field at Tarawa (85,91)

Japanese Ships
AP Konron Maru, Mine hits 1,  on fire

Japanese ground losses:
32 casualties reported

Fortunatelly the damage is very light and AP will stay in formation. I´m now shipping 52nd Nav Guard from Tarawa to Eniwetok. With so many US troops in Port Moresby I doubt he will launch new invasion here. So I will redeploy some units from Gilberts/Marshalls in my inner perimeter..


Port Moresby facilities were nearly repaired so I moved float plane recon chutai there. It triggered huge allied responce: 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Port Moresby , at 53,91

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Sunderland x 9
Liberator VI x 27
P-38G Lightning x 107
B-17E Fortress x 206
PB4Y Liberator x 27
B-24D Liberator x 346

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 4 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 4 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
152 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 36
Airbase supply hits 16
Runway hits 802

600 4Es escorted by 100 P-38 closed the base again.. I´m now running supply convoys from Truk and Rabaul to Gili Gili and from Gili Gili the supply flow on barges to PM. I have now about 25k supplies and the barge convoy will unload another 500 tommorrow.
 
Another 40 4Es then attacked the 3rd division defending PM. But today was a first day of "japanese responce":
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Americal USA Division, at 53,91

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 39
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 30
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 19
Ki-49 Helen x 37

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
164 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Americals suffered and I´m sure they are not happy about that. I wonder what I will meet tommorrow.. [;)]

This is new! But my bet is it is just another try to spread my forces:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Hollandia , at 49,79

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Empire x 5
Wellington III x 21
Liberator VI x 13
B-25J Mitchell x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-25J Mitchell: 3 damaged

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 11

And this really suprised me:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Port Moresby

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 54230 troops, 320 guns, 215 vehicles, Assault Value = 1051

Defending force 35119 troops, 275 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 644

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 8

Allied max assault: 889 - adjusted assault: 672

Japanese max defense: 570 - adjusted defense: 3289

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 8)


Japanese ground losses:
491 casualties reported
Guns lost 9
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
582 casualties reported
Guns lost 28
Vehicles lost 3

I´m sure his forces are still far away from being in good shape, but still he attacks.. And breaks one of my fortifications.. It is just a pure luck, but still I don´t like it all..

 
In Rabaul, the first J2M daitai is upgraded to N1K1 and more will follow soon. But I´m a bit surprised as it seems George is nearly the same as Jack with lesser range..[&:]
90% of A6M3a aboard the KB were already changed for A6M5. Not as good as Corsair, but every bit helps..[:)]

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/18/43

Nothing intersting during the night, but the day brought good news. US troops besieging Port Moresby apparently didn´t like being bombed and Joe, as expected, tried to protect them. An ambush which didn´t worked:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 32nd USA Division, at 53,91

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 17
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 58
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 6
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 15
Ki-49 Helen x 16

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 31 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
68 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
 
My bombers arrived with good and experienced escort to meet awaiting US fighters. Originally only 16 P-38 were on their place, bur more and more were arriving during the fight. Still the numbers and experience were on my side and it was one sided battle when 31 US fighters were shot down at the cost of 2 mine. All bombers made it through without a scratch and positions od 32nd US division were hit. And soon arrived second wave to bomb 43rd US division. This time no allied planes tried to interfere:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 43rd USA Division, at 53,91

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 28
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 23
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 29
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 54
Ki-49 Helen x 21

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Both strikes caused only insignificant losses, but both divisions were so disrupted, that they were unable to fullfill their parts in another allied attack. Thanks to that the attack was bloodily repulsed:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Port Moresby

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 52996 troops, 283 guns, 214 vehicles, Assault Value = 947

Defending force 34539 troops, 267 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 618

Allied max assault: 313 - adjusted assault: 155

Japanese max defense: 575 - adjusted defense: 3341

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 8)


Japanese ground losses:
259 casualties reported
Guns lost 10

Allied ground losses:
1481 casualties reported
Guns lost 18
Vehicles lost 5

Unless Joe reinforce his troops, or I run out of supplies, it is going to be a very long siege. Meanwhile I have evacuated some of the unimportant and decimated units. The whole CD guns regiment, 90% of the construction regiment and now I´m flying out the IJN BF. All these units were 90-100% disabled and therefore were just "eating" supplies for combat units..

[pauk]

You may try to bomb enemy units with tactical bombers - TBs. They are much better than japanese "strategic" bombers, even if they fly on max altitude. You may attack them with KB, moving it close to Buna...(if you do not want to hide KB, but i think your opponent expects that KB is near PM)...

[jumper]

pauk - I will give it a try. Most of them is training in China, but I will move some of then to Lae.. But I´m using them already in India and it seems their result is only slightly better then those IJA bombers. Neverthless the losses are not so important (I will never be able to cause enough casualties). What is important is the disruption, fatigue and supply consumption. And last but not least the morale effect which will force him to try to protect his troops with some of his precious fighters.. [;)]
 
KB is now disbanded in Truk and I don´t plan to use it against ground targets. I still have crack pilots aboard and such mission is not worth of losing single one of them..
 
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/19/43

Today Gili Gili was hit hard:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Gili Gili , at 56,94

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Sunderland x 12
Liberator VI x 27
B-17E Fortress x 172
PB4Y Liberator x 27
B-24D Liberator x 278

Japanese aircraft losses
E7K2 Alf: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Sunderland: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 3 damaged

Japanese Ships
AG AG-355, Bomb hits 8,  heavy damage
AG AG-353, Bomb hits 13,  on fire,  heavy damage
AG AG-120, Bomb hits 9,  heavy damage
AG AG-352, Bomb hits 8,  heavy damage
AG AG-119, Bomb hits 7,  heavy damage
AG AG-354, Bomb hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage

Japanese ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

Airbase hits 47
Airbase supply hits 26
Runway hits 433
Port hits 15
Port supply hits 7
 
Why there were those barges? I´m trying to have at least a few small barges in every port, so the "anchor symbol" is everywhere. If you can´t prevent sensitive informations flowing to enemy, the other good way is to overwhelm him with all informations.. And then let him find the treasure in such garbage..[:)] For the record: Gili Gili port is now clearly clear..
 
Surprisingly the strike is followed by attack on our garrison in Woodlark Is..[&:]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 8th NLF , at 59,94


Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 56


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
35 casualties reported
 
What does it mean? Invasion is coming? "Recon" fligh? Well, if such raids will continue, I will send KB there, but otherwise I´m going to ignore that.. I have a very strong feeling, based on the very strange LCU targeting in India, that Joe has certain amount of his bombers left on the "commander decision"..
 
And this could be that case too. Gili Gili garrison is targeted:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 71st Division, at 56,94


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 20
B-24D Liberator x 17


Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
54 casualties reported
Guns lost 6
 
India situation:
 

 
 
 
In Australia the "LEFT WING" is moving towards Derby. My outpost was overided by huge enemy army:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 20,89

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 37946 troops, 326 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 1802

Defending force 440 troops, 4 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 18

Allied max assault: 1562 - adjusted assault: 1085

Japanese max defense: 15 - adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 1085 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
132 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Allied ground losses:
32 casualties reported
 
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!


 
16th Army is ready and waiting..

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/20/43

During the last week many allied subs were spotted heading into SRA to interdict my shipping lines. Some of them were damaged and repulsed by naval or aerial ASW, but still several got through. Some of them are now operating in Batavia-Palembang-Kuching triangle, where the intensive shipping activity can be expected. This area is well monitored by recon planes, but I lack any real ASW planes or ships here. I´m now moving one of my ASW hunter-killer TF and 1-2 crack LBA sentai will follow soon. I just have to find where I can spare them. I have a lot of crack IJA bombers, but I have them dispersed all around the empire. Now I have to find some spot, where the allied sub activity is insignificant and rebase the assets. Up to now my inner perimeter was nearly unprotected as PjH was using all his subs in one huge wolfpack on the front line. Joe is using them much more in their historical task and it is going to cause me a trouble.
Well, the truth is I could easily muster 20 crack Ki-21/Ki-49 sentais, form them into the line from Sumatra to Derby with 100% naval search at 1000ft, and in 2-3 weeks sweep the seas from west to east..[;)]  I was thinking about it for some time and decided to follow less efficient way of much lesser concentration of LBA and will try to hunt them down with specialized ASW TF (what is more fun anyway). It is enough that Solomons are already unintentional deathtrap for US subs because of large concentration of bombers on naval attack with 10% naval search. Even on 6000ft they are attacking spotted subs daily and every 3 days at least one sub is hit.. Not much I could/want to do about that. Proper naval search is vital for deffence and effective strike and 10% is the lowest possibility I can choose..


My transports heading to Toboali (70k supplies is waiting to be loaded) were attacked. It is first sub attack in this area from the march 42´:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 20,59

Japanese Ships
AK Kinko Maru, Shell hits 7

Allied Ships
SS Snook

At Port Moresby US troops were bombed again:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 43rd USA Division, at 53,91

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 37
Ki-45 KAIb Nick x 31
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 19
Ki-49 Helen x 33

No Japanese losses


Allied ground losses:
29 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

But still they attacked again [&:]:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Port Moresby

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 51800 troops, 268 guns, 210 vehicles, Assault Value = 829

Defending force 34401 troops, 275 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 609

Allied max assault: 396 - adjusted assault: 237

Japanese max defense: 602 - adjusted defense: 3423

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 8)


Japanese ground losses:
393 casualties reported
Guns lost 6

Allied ground losses:
1259 casualties reported
Guns lost 21
Vehicles lost 8

At this rate they must be totally ruined.. Maybe I should start to think about counterattack? The nearest allied base is Thursday Is, so if I would succeed with my attack, woudl his troops retreat into the jungle toward Thursday Is, or will they remain undestructable at the beaches?


During the a.m. phase RAF attacked some units of 20th Army:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 6th Tank Regiment, at 26,7


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 14


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 3rd Tank Div , at 26,7


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 9


No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Vehicles lost 1


They tried to attack during the p.m. phase again, but this time the fighters from Ahmadabad came to help:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 56th/A Division, at 25,7

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 14
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 30

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 9
Liberator VI x 6
A-36A Apache x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M Jack: 3 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 7 destroyed
Liberator VI: 4 destroyed
A-36A Apache: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
4 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 56th/C Division, at 25,7

Japanese aircraft
J2M Jack x 14
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 28

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 6
Liberator VI x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M Jack: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 4 destroyed
Liberator VI: 6 destroyed

Also Bombay was hit again (port facilities and garrison), while japanese bombers hit allied troops all around.

[bigbaba]

@jumper:

first of all, let me say to you, that your AAR is the most informative and entertaining AAR i ever found here! damnd good work and also a good read.

i enjoyed the "operation adlertag" and also your CAP slaughters against the 4E heavis of your opponent.

very impressive what samurais can do in real fighter planes...since i play only UV PBEM games, i never can see this in my games where my pilots are reduced to crappy "one time lighters" like zeros ans oscars.

from your AAR, i think that you are from germany or at least capable to speak german. if WITP AE comes out, i realy look foreward for a match against you!

[jumper]

Hi bigbaba,
thanks for comments. I´m really glad you like my AAR. With the new oponent the things slowed down significatly and the game might be a bit boring for readers, but I expect Joe to attack as soon as he will have his toys where he wants them. And maybe we might see another "Adlertag" and a lot of 4E sloughtery then..[;)]

I have never played UV so I don´t know what planes are availible there, but good plane is only half of the success. In WITP everything is about pilots. Japanese planes are good but aren´t superior and therefore they can´t substitude the pilot quality as for example Corsair or P-47D usually do. For me it all goes to simple "gather the best planes and pilots and fight where superior allied fighters aren´t". If it works, the results are excellent. If not..

BTW I´m from Czech republic, so your guess was a close shot [:)] Frankly said my german sucks. I learned german several years, but as I have never used it frequently, I slowly forgot most of it. I look forward to AE, although I´m a bit worried it might be at certain points "too historical accurate" for me to play Japan again. But who know..

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/21/43

Well, I really don´t know what to write about today. Nothing happened. Except bombing. We are bombing each other everywhere we can, but that is all.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/22/43

The same as yesterday with the exception my sub near Thursday scored again:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Thursday Island  at 49,90

Japanese Ships
SS RO-61

Allied Ships
MSW Tumult, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
MSW Tern

Besides that bombs are raining all around. 3 navy daitais in Rabaul are rearmed to N1K1 George while all fighters aboard KB (in Truk) are now armed with A6M5. Because the garrison in Gili Gili and Woodlark Is is being bombed daily now, I´m thinking about sending KB there. It really might be preparation for invasion..
 
I´m sorry guys for such short reports. I will post pics with next post and hopefully something will happen soon.. [;)]

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/23/43

Convoy which succesfully brought 28th air flotilla HQ to Truk was attacked on its way back to Tokyo:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 64,74

Japanese Ships
AP Montevideo Maru, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Bluefish

The attack took place only 180 miles north of Truk, so AP might be saved..

Another sub attack was reported near Singapore. US sub was spotted there 2 days ago and ASW TF was despatched to deal with it:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 25,54

Japanese Ships
PC Matsuwa, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
PC Ch 10
MSW W.14
MSW W.4
MSW W.1
PC Sado
PC Oki

Allied Ships
SS Steelhead

Didn´t work as planned[;)] PC Matsuwa is heavily damaged but only 180 miles from Singapore. Fingers crossed.. There is now about 3-4 subs in this area. Unfortunatelly for them no convoys are on the way. Only ASW TFs are closing..
 
 
In India the Rawalpindi was attacked:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Rawalpindi , at 30,5


Allied aircraft
Catalina I x 5
Liberator VI x 58


No Allied losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 7

This strike was followed by attack on Bombay and its garrison. Frankly said I don´t see any sence in this pattern. Basicaly he is attacking only secondary targets without any importance to me. He should already know that I will NOT disperse my assets to cover these places. He should use all his forces to gain air superiority above his LCU pushing through Ahmadabad and its vicinity at all cost. Then he could use RAF to support his ground offensive. As it stands now it is me who controls the skies above the battlefield and I attack his troops daily. And as long as my bombers can keep his ground units disrupted he has no chance for any breakthrough I think.

And he should now think the same:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at 26,7

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 69748 troops, 617 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1778

Defending force 68601 troops, 627 guns, 941 vehicles, Assault Value = 1529

Allied max assault: 1096 - adjusted assault: 118

Japanese max defense: 1529 - adjusted defense: 2335

Allied assault odds: 0 to 1


Japanese ground losses:
443 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
1948 casualties reported
Guns lost 116

This was a probing attack against the lines holded by 20th army. Probably only chinese corps attacked and was repulsed bloodily.
 
 
On New Guinea the reconquered base of Timoeka is under daily attacks. Base force is just being unloaded and 2E nightfighters are based here now. They will try to stop these unescorted raids:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 135th IJNAF Base Force, at 20,10


Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 3
Liberator VI x 27
B-25J Mitchell x 37
B-24D Liberator x 3


Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 1 damaged
Liberator VI: 2 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 3 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
122 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Timoeka at 45,81


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 5
B-25J Mitchell x 4


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Mutsuyo Maru
AK Tsukuba Maru

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Timoeka at 45,81


Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 4
B-25J Mitchell x 4


No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Lima Maru
AK Kyokko Maru

I was lucky so far as all bombs missed and most of the troops is already on the ground and neccessary supplies flow steadily.. Anyway this is just a sideshow. My eyes are still tied to Port Moresby. And I must say I´m VERY happy with the situation here:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Port Moresby

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 47127 troops, 249 guns, 1 vehicles, Assault Value = 781

Defending force 33766 troops, 269 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 587


Japanese ground losses:
11 casualties reported

Allied AV is "pathetic" considering the fact my troops are well supplied, behind lvl 8 forts in jungle terrain. Even the daily attacks by hordes of 4E from Australia can´t turn the tide. And my bombers from Lae are busy too (some KATEs and VALs arrived to assist..) Another bright spot is that there is no real blockade and therefore barges are transporting supplies from Gili Gili without any troubles. Once a week I´m able to bring 500 supllies. It is enough to cover defenders daily needs if there is no fight. More barges are already on the way and my goal is to double this amount.
 
Current situation:
 


From the map you can see the allies are pushing me at three different places and they even managed to gain some ground. BUT their gains in India and Australia are worthless until they will be able to capture some base. Until then all their gains are worthless and they can camp in the wilderness till the end of the days.
Only New Guinea campaign bothers me. Here my oponent can finally challenge my air force and start the real war of attrition under the satisfying conditions. Without those bases (Thursday and Merauke) all he could use against me were 4Es with only limited escort of long range fighters fighting at the very end of their range and still only against very few bases. It allowed me to concentrate and defend nearly everything. It has changed with the fall of Thursday Is and Merauke. Corsairs, Thunderbolts and other superior planes can join the game  now and negate my advantage of better pilots. And P-38G/J now covers a lot of bases. In the long term I will loose here.

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/24/43

One of my subs spotted allied convoy heading to Noumea and another sub was send to wait for it. Unfortunatelly wrong target was chosen:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Noumea  at 68,113

Japanese Ships
SS I-23, hits 2

Allied Ships
SC SC-638, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
SC SC-636
 
What a wasting..[:(] And I-23 is moderately damaged and has to go back to Truk for repairs. Will be replaced by other I-boat..
 
2E nighfighters from Timoeka enjoyed the 1st day against unescorted bombers exactly as I hoped. 1st round:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on 30th/C Division, at 45,81

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-S Irving x 13
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 18

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 6
Liberator VI x 6
B-25J Mitchell x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-S Irving: 4 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Liberator VI: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported

Unfortunately they are nearly toothless as their machine guns are unable to shoot down anything while cannons are too inaccurate to hit anything. And what is even worse they usually suffer more hits then they inflict. In my point of view it makes them the most useless planes in japanese arsenal..
 
2nd round:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Timoeka at 45,81

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-S Irving x 13
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 18

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 7
Liberator VI x 9
B-25J Mitchell x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 4 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 1 damaged
Liberator VI: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Lima Maru
AK Kyokko Maru
AK Kosei Maru, Bomb hits 1
AK Komaki Maru
 
3rd round:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Timoeka at 45,81

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-S Irving x 16
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 13

Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-S Irving: 2 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator VI: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
AK Mutsuyo Maru
 
In total during these 3 fights they inflicted 8 hits with only 1 kill. At the same time they suffered 19 hits. 4 planes crashed and 2 of them are counted as A-A losses. Great.. Is there any reason for these planes to exist?

[jumper]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 09/25/43

New sub arrived at Noumea:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Noumea  at 68,113

Japanese Ships
SS I-30, hits 7,  on fire,  heavy damage

Allied Ships
AK Tecumseh, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire
AK William W. Mayo
PC Reliance
DD Rathburne
DD Warramunga
DD Dunlap
DD Dyson
DD Boyd

I-30 is lost with all hands, while AK is only damaged. Not a good exchange.. [:@]
 
My 2E fighters from Timoeke met unescorted allied bombers once more:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on Timoeka , at 45,81

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-S Irving x 17
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 20

Allied aircraft
Wellington III x 10
B-25J Mitchell x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-S Irving: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington III: 4 destroyed, 2 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
32 casualties reported

Airbase hits 2
Runway hits 7

1 night fighter was lost in A-A, 1 was lost in accident while other 3 were destroyed on the ground. Allies lost 5 bombers.. Exchange ratio of 1:1 s not in my favour, especial when you consider I´m loosing planes "expensive" to build. Currently I´m seriously thinking about withdrawing these planes from combat duties and not building them at all. They seem to be wasting of resources. Instead of those 5 planes lost today I could build 10 first rate fighters and they would do better job then 40 of these crapy planes.. It is pity the NF sentais can´t be armed with other type of plane..
 
Whole day we bombed each other in Port Moresby loosing 200-300 men each. After that allies launched another desperate attack!!![X(][&:]


 
I really don´t get this. His units must be in tatters. When 5 divisions and 3 tank regiments can put together only 580AV.. OK, he is slowly attriting me, but he attrits himself much more. At this rate he will be still attriting me in 1950..[;)] Tommorrow 550 supplies will arrive (one barge was lost today because it was hit from 15k feet by B-24 at naval search. Probably some laser guided bomb.).
The weather prediction in this area is "clear" so all airfields should be operational and maximum number of allied planes will take off. I hope they will take off to attack Port Moresby, because all fighters from Lae are LRCAPing this base. Lae is defended only by 2 datais of N1K1 George (too short legs to participate in ambush) and 3 sentais of Ki-43-II Oscar (LRCAP from Rabaul). Fingers crossed..
 
Both heavily damaged ships (PC near Singapore and AK near Truk) arrived in port and were disbanded. Float damage is in high 90´so they might still go down.