AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 05/04/42
Surface Combat
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Day Time Surface Combat, near Lunga at 67,97 - interesting battle!
Japanese Ships
CL Katori, Shell hits 38, on fire
CL Kashima, Shell hits 34, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships - the Allied ships are heavily escorted!
CL Adelaide, Shell hits 11
CL Detroit, Shell hits 7
DD Conyngham, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Preston, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
DD Schley, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
DD Waters, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Santa Rita
AK Kanlaon II
AK Morazan
Air Combat
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lunga at 67,97
Japanese aircraft - have we seen this before?
G3M Nell x 18 - bombers approach enemy target defended by CAP without a fighter escort
G4M1 Betty x 13
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
P-40B Tomahawk x 10
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 16 destroyed, 2 damaged - and pays for it
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed, 7 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
CL Detroit
CL Adelaide
DD Schley
Aircraft Attacking:
All Betty and Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lunga at 67,97
Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 3
G4M1 Betty x 22 - and again....
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 15
P-40B Tomahawk x 9
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 13 destroyed, 2 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
P-40B Tomahawk: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
DD Conyngham
CL Adelaide
CL Detroit
DD Schley
Aircraft Attacking:
All Betty and Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Port Moresby at 53,91
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2 - a mini strike, at least with an escort [:'(]
G4M1 Betty x 3
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk I x 7
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 3 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Surigao, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Ground Combat
Ground combat at Calcutta
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 125114 troops, 1015 guns, 792 vehicles
Defending force 52732 troops, 334 guns, 484 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 7) -we fail to reduce the forts [:(] Have to rest before trying again!
Japanese ground losses:
2474 casualties reported
Guns lost 49
Allied ground losses:
569 casualties reported
Guns lost 41
Vehicles lost 12
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Situation Report
India
I didn't like that the forts are so hard to reduce at Calcutta - will move in reinforcements and rest for another few days before trying again.
Got 2 regiments that will move in - more engineer, AA and a tank regiment are still struggling in the jungle. No airstrikes were launched even though the weather was favourable!
At Madras I have now moved in 27 Zeros and 100 bombers - it should now be possible to hit any Allied ships withi 10-20 hexes.
Port attacks against Karachi is also an option, will try to time it with the fleets raid!
One division, 2 engineer regiments and 1 arty battalion have been ordered to march north towards Bangalore!
They're all rested and should easily capture the base if the garrison is made up from the troops that retreated from Madras itself.
China
In China there are now 25!! Chinese units just west of Sian?? Looks like Wobbly will try a counterattack...poor him. Got 70000 troops and 6 forts there.
Going to move in some reinforcements - half of the Army in Kungching has also been ordered to march south, this will take some time though.
South Pacific
Interesting events in the South Pacific today! The 2 old cruisers (that originally were fast transporting in supplies) that were ordered to engage the Allied transports
that were observed heading towards Lunga yesterday, found more opposition than they appreciated!
3 Allied transports were escorted by 2 light cruisers and 4 destroyers - and overwhelming force for the 2 old 18kt cruisers.
A prolonged battle took place during the day - first from 20000 yards which decreased to 9000 before again increasing to 18000! Must have been at least 7 or 8 rounds.
At first the Allied 6" guns failed to penetrate, but as range decreased damage started to accumulate. The old cruisers 5.5" shells failed to penetrate the armor of the US cruisers, but they were nevertheless riddled! All 4 of the destroyers were hit, one was put on fire, one blew up while 2 others were heavily damaged! An amazing effort by such a feeble force.
The Katori will head back to Shortland, 38 sys damage and 30 fires - perhaps she can be saved. The Kashima looks lost, but will see emergency harbour at Tulagi.
The Allied convoy has now turned back - a small victory in itself!
The air force's contribution wasn't so swell: It's really annoying that it isn't possible to order bombers to turn back if their escort doesn't turn up - cause this happens more often than not! Twice today, my Betties and Nells were ravaged by Allied fighters - 20 were lost. I've now ordered them to stand down, I can't sacrifice my good pilots against relatively low value targets when my Zeros time and again stays home.
Enemy subs were spotted in the base hexes of Wotje and Maloetap!? Mining or recon effort - hm, have to keep a keen eye on this.
Situation Map: Surface Combat off Lunga
