Great Tides that Ebb and Flow: Apbarog (A) vs Walker (J) DBB-B Scen 28

[Walker84]

India / Burma

Two Allied air raids on Diamond Harbour are seen off with heavy losses to the attackers and the airfield is hardly touched. Nineteen B-26s, 5 P-39s and 4 P-40s are downed.

Vindicators are more successful against my shipping withdrawing towards Akyab but lose 7 of their number to the new Tojo unit based there. P-39s based at Chittagong launch a low level attack and are more successful still...

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 7

Allied aircraft
SB2U-3 Vindicator x 11

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
SB2U-3 Vindicator: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Himalaya Maru, Bomb hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
4 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb

CAP engaged:
87th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (7 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 15000.
Raid is overhead



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 27 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 3

Allied aircraft
P-39D Airacobra x 20
P-40E Warhawk x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
xAKL Tonegawa Maru, Shell hits 5, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Keihuku Maru
xAK Himalaya Maru, Shell hits 3, Bomb hits 2, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
19 x P-39D Airacobra bombing from 100 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
18 x P-40E Warhawk sweeping at 10000 feet

CAP engaged:
87th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
(1 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes

[Walker84]

July 18, 1942

Air battles over Guadalcanal

The majority of today's action is confined to air battles over Lunga after Roger moves a goodly number of P-40s in to CAP the newly-built size 1 airfield. Vals and Kates based at Shortlands and Buin escorted by Zeros hit a number of AKs, AKLs and APDs which were still unloading at Lunga but the raids prove costly for Japan, with 20 A6M2s and 14 Vals downed for 10 P-40Es. Although a number of hits are scored, there is no confirmation of how many vessels were sunk during the action. There is no sign of Allied naval air but I must assume carriers are still in the vicinity. It would be nice to torpedo another US flat-top before the KB arrives in theatre...

The problem with Shortlands is that the Vals are flying at maximum range which reduces their bombload to 60 lb over Lunga. The Kates are able to deliver 250 lb bombs at this range. I will need to rest most of my pilots next turn.

[Walker84]

July 19, 1942

Guadalcanal - second day

Twenty-five A6M2s sweep the island but losses are about even with one P-39 and two P-40s shot down for two of ours. I hope to establish air superiority if I can before the Allies build the bases up too much. Naval bombardments are an option, although my opponent may have mined the bases as a deterrent.


China

My southern offensive continues with a Ground combat near Kwangchowan. As usual the Chinese fold pretty easily but stiffer opposition can be expected as we head north.

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 27064 troops, 253 guns, 61 vehicles, Assault Value = 831

Defending force 4231 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 111

Japanese adjusted assault: 774

Allied adjusted defense: 21

Japanese assault odds: 36 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
113 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
2412 casualties reported
Squads: 68 destroyed, 53 disabled
Non Combat: 68 destroyed, 16 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 21 (4 destroyed, 17 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Burma

Something is happening along the border north of Myitkyina. I had an infantry regiment pulling back after probing towards Ledo but it is now locked in position and can't move south any more. I assume this is due to the effect of enemy zones of control so I am moving a division forward in support.

Some additional Allied units have also appeared at Paoshan to the east of Lashio. One is green which might mean some kind of US base unit? I thought the AVG base unit withdrew at some point in '42 but will need to check this out.

[Walker84]

July 20 - 24, 1942

A 5-day lull in the fighting in most theatres as the protagonists concentrate on moving men and materiel around in preparation for the next phases of the campaign.

Solomon Islands

I ran a cruiser TF down towards Lunga looking for targets of opportunity but found only a few PT boats home, so nothing doing. The TF will now withdraw to repair accumulated minor damage and support the KB when it arrives in theatre.

I have not carried out any fighter sweeps in the Solomons for the past 5 days. Firstly, the pilots and planes were showing signs of fatigue and needed to be rested. Secondly, a number of Japanese carriers resize their fighter airgroups in July '42, which has put a strain on my pilot pool and A6M2 replacement airframes. I have used the time to move a lot of pilots around between front-line and training formations, plus converted one 45-plane unit to the new A6M3. I also want the KB to be at full strength when it arrives in the Solomons in case there is a decisive showdown.

Sub wars

Quite a few attacks going on in various parts of the map. Allied ASW patrols are stepped up around India and Ceylon and I am forced to withdraw a couple of subs for repairs.

My escorts get lucky on the 23rd for some reason. PB Tatebu Maru gets 5 hits on SS Searaven near Yap, then PB Nigitsu Maru gets 8 hits on SS KXIV as the sub tries to penetrate Soerabaja harbour.

[Walker84]

Burma/India

A bombing run on Paoshan reveals that 102nd RAF Base Force is deployed there, plus other unspecified units. I will need to keep a look out for any incursions from the east towards Lashio.

The Allies try a rare bombardment attack at Calcutta, no doubt to find out whether I have pulled any units out. The Allies have 1908 AV and the Japanese 1383. There are still three Japanese infantry divisions in place there, plus one more at Diamond Harbour.

Japanese reinforcements arrive at Port Blair to start building up the defences there, and a naval guard unit lands at Great Nicobar to start consolidating the Andaman Islands.

DEI

On 24 July, Japanese forces launch the attack on Batavia which contains a lot of units but is very weak in AV. The town should fall in the next attack.

Ground combat at Batavia (49,98)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 16527 troops, 258 guns, 232 vehicles, Assault Value = 881

Defending force 15338 troops, 66 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 73

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 226

Allied adjusted defense: 199

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 2

[Walker84]

July 25, 1942

Batavia falls to a second deliberate attack at 4:1 odds and 15 defeated Allied units retreat to Buitenzorg.

Japanese ground losses:
161 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Allied ground losses:
5651 casualties reported
Squads: 44 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 213 destroyed, 76 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 48 (39 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Units retreated 15
Units destroyed 1

Three bases still to capture on Java, although the only tricky one is likely to be the mountain holdfast of Bandoeng, where it looks like 16 Dutch units are still holed up. Even so, a number of surplus Japanese units are already making their way to the ports to embark for other theatres including Burma and the SW Pacific.

[Walker84]

July 26/27 1942

Bay of Bengal/India/Burma

Smallish transport TFs have been deployed to Diamond Harbour, Cox's Bazar and Akyab where they are unloading supplies. I want to keep my opponent guessing as to my overall intent but the end game is to pull another division out of the Calcutta Cauldron. With my fighter concentration at all three locations, I'll be more than happy if they tempt Allied fighters and naval attack aircraft to intervene, although the only action so far has been the sinking of a couple of xAKLs by subs at DH.

I have several strong ground units moving north from Warazup to help extricate a regiment that Roger has cleverly managed to cut off using ZOC movement. We'll see what his single brigade on point thinks when it's shock attacked in divisional strength across the river.

All of the components of the 1st & 2nd Armoured divisions have now been bought out of Korea and are being shipped to Rangoon to join up with the armoured regiments that were evacuated from Diamond Harbour successfully. I'm still pondering if one of the divisions should be deployed to S Pacific.

[Walker84]

DEI

A cruiser TF sallies from Singapore to sink four Dutch HDMLs that were spotted near Billiton the previous day. Ketapang is the latest Dutch base to be occupied - we are using Fast Transport to get around the multitude of islands more quickly.

SW Pacific

Elements of the KB round the top of New Guinea and head towards the war zone. Additional ships will join them from the Home Islands as they finish refitting.

I launch a big sweep of Lunga with three units of Zeroes and one of Oscars. About 25 P-40s are reported shot down or lost operationally versus 10 A6M2s.

Still no sign of Allied carriers or indeed any warships bigger than APDs north of Luganville. Lunga is now a level 2 airbase however and Tulagi's port is currently being built up to level 2.

[Walker84]

July 28-30, 1942

DEI

Japanese forces fan out after the fall of Batavia, taking Merak on the 29th and cutting the road from Buitenzorg to Bandoeng preventing the last two Dutch pockets on Java from linking up.

China

The 13th Tank Regiment attacks 64th Chinese/A Corps defending Pakhoi repeatedly, wearing it down and reducing the forts pretty nicely. Meanwhile, a division moves in to Kwangchowan ready to assault the town.

SW Pacific

Japanese land-based air is back to full strength after recent operations. Time to go back on the offensive over Tulagi and Lunga.

India / Burma

Still moving small transport TFs around in the Bay of Bengal. Roger finally attacks the regiment that became isolated near Warazup. The result is more than tolerable:

Ground combat at 63,39 (near Jorhat)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 6972 troops, 42 guns, 20 vehicles, Assault Value = 244

Defending force 4725 troops, 42 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 136

Allied adjusted assault: 160

Japanese adjusted defense: 805

Allied assault odds: 1 to 5

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
81 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
275 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 36 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled

Assaulting units:
36th Indian Brigade
2/2nd Pioneer Battalion
3rd Indian Brigade

Defending units:
144th Infantry Regiment

[vicberg]

I'm about to get back into this game after being gone for quite a few years. After reading through your AAR, I'm wondering if you are using float planes in your surface groups/carrier groups on ASW? AVs make great ASW platforms as do CS. Also, do you use search arcs or just set to full circle searching?

He's maneuvering around your search and you are taking a beating by subs. I'll need to find some type of solution for this.

[Walker84]

Vicberg, thanks for the comments.

I am certainly using float planes on ASW and getting plenty of detection levels on his subs, which is valuable in itself as if I know where they are I can avoid them quite a lot of the time. Floats on ASW don't tend to damage many subs at this stage of the war in my experience but it all helps to keep their heads down.

I have had multiple SCTFs in the Bay of Bengal for months now guarding against Allied bombardment TFs hitting Diamond Harbour and (BIG touch wood now!) none has taken a torpedo there so far. I have lost a few AKLs running supplies to India but see that as unavoidable. All in all I have lost very few ships to Allied subs to date although a carrier took a torpedo near Truk and had to return to HI for a month of repairs. I also have a lot of TKs hauling oil and fuel with no serious interdiction so far. I realise that this picture will change as Allied torpedoes improve.

I don't tend to set search arcs as such. I used to in prior games but have read in several threads that this does not increase the effectiveness greatly for the amount of micro-management involved.

Good luck with your new game - I hope you find a good and reliable partner!

[Walker84]

July 31, 1942

India/Burma

Morning Air attack on 144th Infantry Regiment near Jorhat. In an indication that the front line is shifting from Calcutta to the Burmese border, Allied P-43A-1 Lancers sweep the skies and manage to down a solitary Oscar. I expect my opponent to reinforce the front and try to eliminate the trapped unit which my reinforcements are battling through the jungle to rescue.

DEI

Japanese forces capture Buitenzorg inflicting 15982 Allied casualties as 14 trapped units are destroyed (mostly HQs and base forces). The last bastion Bandoeng is a mountain hex and will be steadily reduced as it will be difficult to assault with stacking limits.

Padang Cdo, the last Allied unit on Sumatra as far as I know is wiped out at Djambi by attrition.

[Walker84]

China

Pakhoi and Kwangchowan both fall on the same day:

Pakhoi

Allied ground losses:
536 casualties reported
Squads: 18 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Units retreated 1

Assaulting units:
13th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
64th Chinese/A Corps

Kwangchowan

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13315 troops, 110 guns, 37 vehicles, Assault Value = 407

Defending force 3061 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 95

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Japanese adjusted assault: 368

Allied adjusted defense: 21

Japanese assault odds: 17 to 1 (fort level 2)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Kwangchowan !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
65 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
4530 casualties reported
Squads: 207 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 162 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 25 (25 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 2

Assaulting units:
6th Division
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion

Defending units:
64th Chinese/B Corps
64th Chinese/C Corps

[Walker84]

SW Pacific

My air attacks do not go according to plan today. Oscars sweep Lunga (empty) but, meanwhile, P-39s have flown in to Tulagi overnight where 5 Nells are shot down after losing their escorts. Escorted Betties attack next, but their torpedoes fail to hit the small PC and AKL in the hex, and two Zeroes are lost for one P-39. At least I now know that I have two operational Allied airbases to contend with.

[Walker84]

Aug 1 - 6, 1942

This will be a relatively short update as most of the past week's activities have been going on 'behind the scenes'.

Flat-top update

Having repaired their battle damage and completed most upgrades, nearly the full complement of Japanese carriers is available for service once more. The exception is Kaga, which is still looking at about 90 days yard time after the extensive damage suffered during the 'Battle of Shortlands'.

KB has now left the Home Islands and is steaming south in several groups which will rendezvous at an as yet undisclosed location in the SE Pacific theatre to resume operations.

Solomons

Little offensive activity as both sides concentrate on developing their bases and reinforcing key strong-points. I plan to go on the offensive again pretty soon however now that my LBA has been strengthened, and the KB is available to provide support for planned operations.

DEI

The remaining Dutch forces are holed up in Bandoeng where they can do no damage and will be winkled out in due course.

India / Burma

I have successfully extracted the Imperial Guards division from Diamond Harbour, although one xAK took a sub torpedo and is now trying to offload its troops at Akyab before the fires spread too far. No further Allied air attacks experienced this month so far. Three crack infantry divisions plus supporting elements remain in place at Calcutta and DH for now.

The Allies have a fairly sizeable force advancing SW from Ledo and I have forces moving north to meet them. As its jungle/rough and a river to cross everything on this front seems to be happening in slow motion.

There are fewer units along the central frontier but I have now allocated an armoured division and several divisions freed up from Java to India. We'll just have to see who gets there 'firstest with the mostest'.

China

Limited war of manoeuvre going on in the south close to the Vietnam border. I simply don't have the units deployed to outflank the Chinese in a big way down here.

[Walker84]

Aug 7-9, 1942

Strategic Summary

We are still in a mid-'42 'phoney war' stage where neither side is attacking much. I have pretty much established my intended perimeter as follows:

India / Burma

Front line established along the Cox's Bazar - Kalemyo - Warazup axis.

I still own Diamond Harbour and have a foothold in Calcutta following an opportunistic landing there which failed to develop the necessary weight to turn the Allied flank in India.

DEI

All bases are now occupied bar a couple of islands and Bandoeng on Java.

Philippines

A couple of islands still to capture, plus the remnants of the Mindanao defenders remain holed up in the mountains.

Australia

All northern bases between Port Headland and Darwin have been taken as well as Daly Waters further south. I only have light forces in place here currently but elements of 14th Army are being transferred down from Java as we speak.

New Guinea

Port Moresby has a division-plus in place and, with the outposts at Buna, Lae and Horn Island should discourage Allied incursions round the eastern seaboard of Australia.

New Britain / Solomons

Sizeable forces at Rabaul and bases at Kavieng and Manus being built up in support. The Solomons have sizeable LBA deployed at Buin, Shortlands and Torokina with reasonable land forces. Munda is also held but the Allies control the bases around Lunga and Tulagi and are building up rapidly. As they are filtering in using APDs and small TFs there is not much that my subs can do about it. And although I keep sweeping the US army fighters out of the air I don't want to risk my Netties on such small targets.

Marshalls / Gilberts

Holding all the bases down to Tabiteau, although most have nothing more than a naval guard and small air force / engineer unit in situ so must be considered vulnerable to attack. The plan here as well as in the Solomons is to use the newly-reconstituted KB as a reaction force to forestall any further Allied advances at least in '42 while I continue to develop my defences. My opponent lost quite a few carrier planes to LBA during his operations in the Solomons and I hope to make him pay dearly if he comes forward again.

China

Pretty static lines here as I am concentrating on building an MLR so that I can buy out more units for the southern fronts.

Aleutians

I have established a base on Attu and - at least so far - Roger has shown no interest in developing a Northern hook strategy to threaten the Kuriles.

[Walker84]

Aug 7-9, 1942

Operational summary

India / Burma

CA Haguro, part of my Bay of Bengal blocking force takes a torpedo hit from HMS Trusty as the TF goes in to bombard Chittagong.

The Imperial Guards div unloads at Akyab and will be joined by armoured forces to push towards Chittagong. The calculation here is that Roger has moved significant forces to Ledo so he either has to continue slogging south through the jungle or pull back again to reinforce Chittagong. Ledo has about 100 transport aircraft incidentally, which is why the Chinese look increasingly supplied I guess.

From the map, movement can be seen both away from Calcutta and also towards DH. I think the latter is a feint as there are only light forces reported in the hex. I have a full division-plus in DH and the forts should soon reach level 4. If the Allies withdraw some units from Calcutta I can shuttle units back and forward depending on where the greatest threat is, I guess.

[Walker84]

SE Pacific

The map shows current bases on both sides. Zeroes and Oscars swept Tulagi on the 8th, shooting down ten P-40Es for the loss of one Zero. My opponent has suddenly shown an interest in Ocean Island. B-24s bombed the port at long range on two successive turns after I moved an AV there. The bases in the Gilberts and Marshalls might look tempting as I have not really developed them and they are not covered by LBA until you get closer to Kwaj. For this reason I am going to deploy a close reaction SCTF as well as increasing my search in the area. If anything heads this way I would like enough time for the KB to give a warmer welcome than was the case at Tulagi!

[Walker84]

Southern China

[Walker84]

Aug 10 - 13, 1942

India / Burma

All of the components of the 1st Armoured division assemble at Rangoon and the unit is reformed, only to find that it still needs building out with reinforcements. Still, its a highly encouraging development for the IJA forces in the theatre.

Sallies bomb the Allied stack approaching Diamond Harbour from the south-east. There is no CAP from Calcutta and so no losses on our side. 7th Armoured Brigade and Burma Corps take about 200 casualties in clear terrain.

On August 12th, SS I-123, one of my picket subs, takes an ASW hit from DD Griffin near Trincomalee. No other vessels are sighted so it could either be an ASW mission - or else Griffin is escorting a bigger force. In the absence of further intel, two naval forces are scrambled towards Diamond Harbour as a precaution and all available LBA set to search and naval attack.

On the 13th it becomes clear from naval search that an SCTF has been vectored east from Ceylon towards Akyab, where I have been unloading ships recently. Another SCTF is heading NE, presumably to make a bombardment run against DH. Unfortunately for the Royal Navy, it's a long run in and Warspite is caught in the middle of the Bay of Bengal with devastating results.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 46,45

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 24 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 27

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged

Allied Ships
BB Warspite, Torpedo hits 5

Aircraft Attacking:
27 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp
-----------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 46,45

Weather in hex: Overcast

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

Japanese aircraft
G3M3 Nell x 24

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M3 Nell: 7 damaged
G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
Walrus II: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Warspite, Torpedo hits 6, and is sunk
CL Capetown
DD Thanet

Aircraft Attacking:
23 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp

Kind of makes up for the Nettie pilots missing Force Z earlier on in the proceedings.

The map shows the dispositions at the end of the day, allowing a good chance that the Japanese surface forces will intercept the Allied survivors. I wonder if the more northerly Allied TF will attempt to complete its mission or run for cover now?