The Turning Point: floydg (A) & Coach Z (J) -- Luganville liberated

[floydg]

May 1942 Summary - Part 3

Japanese ship losses:




These are the top ships lost. He also lost some MSW, PC/PG, an AO and some transports. The biggest ship sunk was a CL, so I'm really hoping for a big score soon.

[floydg]

May 1942 Summary - Part 4

Aircraft losses:




He's lost a lot of Zeros; I really hope these will be hard to replace.
I lost a lot of fighters, and the SBD's are ones that went down with the Yorktown or got shredded in my failed carrier attacks, as you can see, only 7 to flak, so I'm really not getting in too many chances to drop bombs...
I'm also hoping that the Kate and Val losses are hard to replace - especially the pilots.

[floydg]

May 1942 Summary - Part 5

The situation in China. This region is the one bothering me the most.




He is sieging me at Ichang, Homan is threatened, and I can't seem to make headway at Nanning. It seems like supply is at such a premium, I can't do much (if anything). At Canton, I'm just haging out outside the city, since I don't think I'd make a successfull siege there.

How do people get enough supply to operate in China? I am flying some in from Burma, but it's not enough.

[floydg]

May 1942 Summary - Part 6

In Burma, things are fairly quiet.

He's been bombing me constantly, but with no real purpose, it seems. And since he's not making any aggressive moves in the region, I can only think he's building up for something much later, or is laying a trap for me. I think it's the latter, since I have some troops making their way to take Myitkyina (defended by BF and Infantry Division), but now I'm having second thoughts to sending troops that deep in the jungle, in case he makes a move for India once he sees me commit in Burma.

Any thoughts?

[floydg]

June 1, 1942

Highlights: Small skirmishes here-and-there

• Troops continue to unload at Lunga.
• The Japanese return to bomb Changsha again, but this time the AVG is in better spirits and shoot down 3 Oscar for 1 P-40B.
• LB-30’s bomb the resource center at Taung Gyi and score some hits.
• Outside Rangoon, the SS KIX is hit directly with a depth charge.
• Japanese bomb Merauke and cause some damage.
• The Chinese and Japanese troops NW of Nanning each get bombed, causing a handful of casualties.
• Japanese bomb Darwin and the bombers come unescorted. Two Nell and one Betty are shot down by CAP, but several planes are destroyed on the ground.
• SE of Hengchow, a lone Chinese corps is attacked by a Japanese division; and the Chinese are routed and retreat to Hengchow.
• North of Canton, a lone Japanese division is attacked by a few Chinese corps. The Chinese do little and suffer a bit more casualties.
• The Americal division at Lunga attacks the two SNLF units and suffers almost 300 casualties to only 50 for the Japanese.
• Taipei expanded to a level 2 airfield.

Analysis: Not much going on, but I did get intelligence that the 4th Tank Regigment is loaded on some APs and on their way to Wyndham. We shall see what happens in that region in a few days, but more aircraft are on the way up from the south, as well as some troops...

[floydg]

June 2, 1942

Highlights: Japan captures Amchitka Island; Submarine and ASW action for both sides

• More elements of the Japanese 7th Division land at Amchitka Island. The SS Haddock in the area was hit several times by depth charges. The Japanese finally capture the island and destroy the 5 PBY’s abandoned there a while back.
• The AK Lena Luckenbach and the PG Moa hit Japanese sub-laid mine at Noumea.
• The SS Sculpin scores a torpedo hit on the DD Hayashio and then later the AP Uji Maru near Koepang.
• At Efate, the SS I-153 scores two torpedoes and then surfaces and scores two shell hits on the AK Missourian.
• Japanese begin a second wave invasion on Luganville. SBD and A-20B Boston from Luganville hit the Japanese invasion TF and scored 5 bomb hits on the CL Kashima.
• Japanese bomb Yenen with barely a scratch.
• The Chinese bomb the resource center at Wuhan and do slight (if any) damage.
• The Japanese continue the aerial bombardment of Changsha. 39xSonia and 19xOscar are met by 18xP-40B and 6xI-16c. One Oscar is shot down and one P-40B, but 4xSonia were also downed. Slight damage was done to the airbase.
• Darwin is bombed again, but this time with fighter escort. The CAP was mostly ineffective, but AA reports damaging 8 of 22 Nells.
• Hudsons and A-20B Boston from Darwin twice strike a suspected invasion task force NNW by Kai Island. A bomb hit is reported on three of the 9 transports.
• B-26B locate and attack the BB Yamato SW of Dutch Harbor, doing no damage and coming back with shredded wings.
• The American BB TF was making its way back to Luganville from Noumea and was struck by carrier planes west of Luganville. The BB Mississippi took two bomb hits, the Tennessee took 1, Idaho took 2, West Virginia took 1 and the CA San Francisco took two bombs and had explosions reported. Anti-aircraft fire did a decent job and of 31 Vals, 10 were destroyed and 11 damaged; while of 8 Kates, 3 were destroyed and 2 damaged.
• North of Pearl Harbor, the SS I-8 was hit directly twice by an ASW attack. Ten near misses were also reported.
• The TK Paul H. Greg sunk on its way back from Midway to Pearl Harbor after the attack on May 30.
• The Americans attack at Dutch Harbor. Japanese take almost 200 casualties to over 400 Americans, but the commanders are confident that the Japanese will be broken soon.

Analysis: The CV Shokaku, Zuikaku, CVL Shoho and Zuiho inch closer to Luganville and hit my BB TF coming back out to test the waters. He did a decent amount of damage to the CA San Francisco, so now I need to limp back to Noumea. I hope those SBD at Luganville strike the carriers - even one bomb hit would make me happy. And it would be good revenge, since these are from the CV Lexington, which is about to enter Sydney harbor to begin repairs.
In Northern Australia, it looks like the invasion is beginning, since there are a lot of transports milling around and the ones I hit reported casualties.

Pictures coming up...

[floydg]

Here is the situation in the Aleutians.

A = BB Yamato [X(] and escorts. Wonder what he may be up to. Maybe bombard Dutch Harbor, or a rescue/reinforce mission there?
B = CV Hornet, which is on-station for now.
C = CV Enterprise, just about to limp into Anchorage (Sys=67, Flt=56, fires all out finally)
D = CVE Long Island and one SBD squadron, just in case

[floydg]

And the situation in Northern Australia/Timor.

A = APDs, Transports and escorts; plus the SS Sculpin (out of ammo)
B = Transports and CA/CL TF
C = AK/AP TF my bombers hit
D = CA/CL SCTF coming in for the "ambush"
E = 23rd Australian Bde on its way to Wyndham

[floydg]

June 3, 1942

Highlights: Reinforcements at Luganville; Attack on carriers ineffective; Invasion of Australia immenent

• Japanese troops disembark on Ogliuga Island.
• The Japanese unload troops at Luganville to reinforce the South Seas Detachment. Coastal guns report one hit on the DD Wakaba. The Japanese attack does very little.
• Outside Anchorage, the I-174 torpedoes the MSW Courtney, scoring one hit causing the ship to quickly sink. The other three MSW in the TF fire depth charges and score one direct hit and 8 near misses.
• At night, NW of Luganville, the SS S-40 locates a task force. Before the sub could submerge and attack, the DD Nagatsuki blasted it with shells and two torpedoes, sinking the sub.
• Japanese planes attack the Americal Division at Luganville and later the airfield, causing slight damage. The SBD squadron at Luganville strikes the Japanese carriers and several make it past the large CAP, but score no hits. Most of the American fighters and dive bombers are shot down, only damaging some Zeros. A few land-based A-20B also make a go at it, but miss two destroyers.
• Darwin is bombed again, with slight damage.
• 20xHudson and 5xA-20B from Darwin attack a Japanese TF near Lautem, but score no hits.
• Close by Wyndham, the SS Permit finds a Japanese invasion force. The sub attacks, but scores no hits.
• The American troops at Dutch Harbor mount another attack and push the Japanese back to their beachhead. Major General Vandegrift claims that victory will be days away.

Analysis: Well, I did get in a strike on the carriers by Luganville. It was nice to see the Shokaku and Zuikaku on the receiving end of the naval attack screen - too bad no hits. And my planes were shredded, so I probably won't get another chance. But I did unload a BF at Efate, so now my LBA can repair and maybe score a hit on his carriers (well, more like floating CAP stations now, since it seems like he's run out of bombers -- his ground attack was with Jakes from an AV, while he had about 60 Zeros on CAP here-and-there).
The invasion of Northern Australia is coming tomorrow - a pile of transports were spotted two hexes from Wyndham. But I'll have two Infantry Brigades waiting, and an armor regiment less than a week out. Hopefully that will be enough. It seems like my LBA didn't do anything this turn, and I'll have to carefully manuver in my SCTF.
Up in the Aleutians, I'm fairly sure he's gonna get pushed back into the (cold) water at Dutch Harbor. But he has some big guns in the area, so I'm still concerned about what he's up to. I'm not ready to start counter-invading, if that's what he's afraid of -- I'll wait until late summer (gotta beat the freeze, though).

[floydg]

Okay, for those reading this AAR and willing to offer some advice or insights...

While I'm sure I should probably just sit back and be on the defensive until at least later in the year, but I see some possible openings and they just feel like traps I should avoid.

Coach Z has been aggressive in the Aleutians and the South Pacific, as I expected.
He's starting something in North Australia, but that has no real benefit to him except force me to re-deploy to push him out (if I want to).
In China, it seems like he's not being ambitious and in Burma/India, things are really quiet, except for bombing runs.

So he's pulled out forces from Java and Philippines (one division each that I know of) to support his invasions elsewhere, so these areas are weakened. Granted, of my 5 USN CVs, one is sunk, one is massively damaged and two are moderately damaged; I still have Hornet, CVE Long Island and two RN CV's, so carrier support would be light. But I think his carriers are short on aircraft (and 2 of 7 are hurting to some degree).

I have started marching some brigades in Burma towards Myitkyina (and some Chinese ready to cross over, too), but maybe it would be a waste of time (and it will take a long time to get there). Maybe he wants me to do that and then hit me from "behind" at India.

I was thinking the Indian Ocean area has been too quiet.

So, is this a sit back and wait time, or make some waves time?

[floydg]

June 4, 1942

Highlights: Australia invaded

• Japanese continue to disembark on Ogliuga Island. Later, Japanese troops begin to unload to begin the invasion of Australia. The Japanese conduct a surface bombardment of Wyndham. 2xCA, 1xCL and 2xDD cause moderate damage to the facilities and wound some of the defenders. Allied LBA attack various ships, but cause no damage.
• A supporting air raid on Darwin causes light damage to the airbase, but destroys several aircraft.
• Japanese troops continue to unload at Lunga.
• American ASW attacks near Pearl Harbor yielded a direct hit on the SS I-166 and SS I-165.
• The Japanese bomb the airbase at Merauke. 10xKittyhawk intercept and the escort of 38xZero shoot down 7 with no Japanese losses. Moderate damage is done to the airbase.
• A small number (21xVal) of Japanese carrier planes bomb the airbase at Luganville. The defending CAP is decimated and light damage is done to the field.
• The Japanese attack at Lunga and do little damage.
• The Americans attack at Dutch Harbor again, but don’t make much headway.

Analysis: The invasion of Australia began as expected. I have two brigades at Wyndham, which should slow him down. I also have a SCTF coming in, which may throw him for a loop.
Lunga will soon fall, I predict, but I have reinforcements loading up now for Luganville, since it appears he has a weak air strike force in the area and most of my reinforcements should survive.

[pat.casey]

Seems like he's largely moving east and south. Perhaps an amphibious counterattack into Burma or malaysia? That base on the NW tip of Sumatra has good air number and can really give the Japanese fits if you get established. A quick invasion from the NW can often race in before LBA can really get involved, and once you get a decent force there, you can load it up with British aircraft.

[floydg]

Yeah, that's what I've been staring at. But the Imperial Guards Division is right there. I was thinking to hit Sumatra further south (east?) or go for Java, where he's pulled out troops for his other exploits.

I haven't seen any ship movement in the area in about a month, so I'm thinking it's a "trap". I'm sure some of his expansion is not a take-and-hold case, but rather a make-me-retake case.

But I am pushing in overland in Burma, but it's painfully slow and big supply issue.

[floydg]

June 5, 1942

Highlights: Japanese capture Luganville; surface combat at Wyndham

• Japanese unload more troops at Lunga. Betty’s bombard later and cause a little confusion among the Americal Division defending the base. The later shock attack causes over 900 Japanese casualties to only 22 American.
• Japanese continue to unload at Wyndham. Coastal guns report hitting many troops as they unloaded.
  An Allied SCTF intercepts and the transports flee. Escorting Japanese ships are engaged at night. The Allies have 3xCA, 3xCL and 5xDD, while the Japanese have 2xCA, CL and 2xDD. With just a hit on the DD Dale, the CL Tama was blasted and later sunk.
  A second night engagement with the transports and DD and PG escorts put a few hits on the Allied DDs and CLs, but at a cost of the DD Chidori and PG Chitose Maru, with significant damage to the DD Kari (by some mystery, the transports were untouched).
  Allied land-based air later attack the Japanese ships in the area, scoring hits on two loaded AP’s, a minesweeper, and the DD Kari (which later sinks).
  The Japanese then strike back with planes from the CV Junyo. CAP of 12xWirraway intercept and between them and anti-air, a significant amount of the attackers are damaged. Still a bomb scores a hit on the CA Australia and a torpedo hit on the CA Chicago and CL Adelaide.
• The Japanese bomb Darwin, destroying aircraft in the air and on the ground.
• By Efate, the SS I-22 put three torpedoes into the AK Kentuckian, which quickly sinks.
• The American BB/CA TF was found at Efate and the SS I-153 put a torpedo into the CA Pensacola. Later, Japanese carrier planes from CV Shokaku, CV Zuikaku, CVL Zuiho and CVL Shoho strike this BB/CA TF. Anti-aircraft downs some planes, but a few bomb hits were scored on the BB Tennessee, BB California, BB Idaho and BB West Virginia.
• The SS S-35 in the Aleutians attacked a transport TF and was hit with depth charges from an APD.
• At Dutch Harbor, an American ASW TF found the SS RO-61 and hit it with a depth charge. Later on that day, the sub was found again and hit with another depth charge.
• Two Japanese CA and a CL bombard Luganville and cause a little damage.
• 42xLB-30 bomb the oil fields at Mandalay. 23xOscar intercept and damage some bombers, who put up a good defense by shooting down an Oscar and damaging several more. Moderate damage to the oil fields is reported.
• 9xBetty from Attu attack the American ships at Dutch Harbor, but P-39 CAP destroys or damages most.
• 7xB-26B at Dutch Harbor strike the BB Yamato at Adak Island and score two bomb hits.
• The Japanese attack at Luganville and the defenders surrender. About 15 aircraft on the ground are destroyed.
• 85,770 Japanese attack 46,443 Chinese at Ichang. The defenders hold and over 2000 Japanese casualties are reported to a little over 800 Chinese.
• About 40,000 Japanese attack the same number of Chinese NW of Canton and report over 1800 casualties to just under 400 Chinese.
• The American attack at Dutch Harbor yields little result again.
• The Japanese capture Ogliuga Island.

Analysis: Well, I didn't think I would lose Luganville that quickly, as I had some reinforcements on the way. I'll wait a little and the 2nd USMC Div should be in the area, along with other troops, I should be able to make an attempt to re-capture the base.
I may have pushed back enough at Wyndham to save it, but he has an awful lot of shipping in the area and my SCTF has been pretty banged up.

[DanielAnsell]

It looks like you are seriously on the wrong side of the carrier war. If it was me, I'd start thinking seriously about pulling in your horns for a few months, building up Dutch Harbor and points east, with lots of LBA, and letting him have the Solomons. Since he has New Guinea anyway, the supply line to Oz is already badly screwed up, at least from the U.S.

Get your carriers repaired, and whatever good planes on them you can get your hands on, reinforce N.Z. with as much LBA and LCU and supply as you can ship in, and give your much bigger economy time to work.

Play defensive, for now, till you can field a four CV group and try to chew up whatever of his carrier force you can through massed LBA.

I think you are still laboring against the Zero bonus, too, which is hurting you in the air battles.

Lastly, get a division or two on the huge numbers of AK the Brits have, and use the Royal Navy to escort them to Java, then fly in swarms of LBA. Get the AVG out of China, and use them as LBA to support the Brits.

Just my nickle's worth of cheap advice.

[floydg]

Carny -

Good ideas.

Yeah, I'm really at the short end of the carrier war. But I think the Soryu and Hiryu are in bad shape (opponent seems to think one will sink soon). I have my three most damaged carriers in ports now repairing.

I have two divisions available for action in the New Caledonia area. I was thinking to make a go of a counter-invasion of Luganville, since he didn't really have much offensive there (South Seas Detachment), and they must be seriously tired after two weeks of fighting. Or maybe I should just use that to reinforce Noumea... My LBA in that area is pretty weak.

His Australia adventure seems to be a waste of his time (no real strategic goal except to force me to come out and defend myself, exposing my forces to his carriers and LBA). That has sort of worked for him, except he's coming out on the losing side so far.

I do need to make a strike in the west, since it's been too quiet.

Floyd

[DanielAnsell]

The thing is, with his CV advantage, he can mass effective force a lot quicker then you can in any given place. If you send your divisions to the Solomons now, or even to New Caledonia, he can cut them off from supply pretty much at will. So unless you are able to drop a mountain of supplies, ample base forces and engineers, and bunch of LBA into the pot in one go, you might want to move all those troops you have moving into the Solomons down to NZ, and use that as your big support base.

Java might be a bit too exposed for your western thrust, since it has the same problems the Solomons have. Both RN CVs together are a poor substitute for just one US CV, and really can't give adequate air cover to a force. So any force landing in Java needs to be pretty much self-supporting, at least in the short term, till your air power can build up, either through massed LBA, or CV builds/repairs.

Is there anywhere in India/Burma you could drop an invasion force for profit? Someplace where you could grab up a AF 4 straight off would be excellent.

[floydg]

ORIGINAL: Carny

The thing is, with his CV advantage, he can mass effective force a lot quicker then you can in any given place. If you send your divisions to the Solomons now, or even to New Caledonia, he can cut them off from supply pretty much at will. So unless you are able to drop a mountain of supplies, ample base forces and engineers, and bunch of LBA into the pot in one go, you might want to move all those troops you have moving into the Solomons down to NZ, and use that as your big support base.

Java might be a bit too exposed for your western thrust, since it has the same problems the Solomons have. Both RN CVs together are a poor substitute for just one US CV, and really can't give adequate air cover to a force. So any force landing in Java needs to be pretty much self-supporting, at least in the short term, till your air power can build up, either through massed LBA, or CV builds/repairs.

Is there anywhere in India/Burma you could drop an invasion force for profit? Someplace where you could grab up a AF 4 straight off would be excellent.

Thanks for the ideas.

He has split the KB into several divisions. One in the Aleutians (Soryu and Hiyu) is in bad shape, so another is on the way (Kaga and Akagi, with Hosho), and the Junyo is in North Oz and Shokaku/Zuikaku and two CVL are around Luganville. Since his carriers are all concentrated in the East, the West seems open. I also have the Lexington repairing in Sydney (Sys=32), but a full compliment of aircraft.

In Burma, all I can see is Akyab and Rangoon. But he a lot of LBA in the area and I don't have much long-range CAP planes for Akyab (except the AVG), so it would probably be a slaughter of my ships. I am marching inland for Mytykina, but that will be a slow campaign, and he now has a division defending there. Perhaps I could use that as a diversion and then hit the coast if he moves up reinforcements...

I just feel I need to do something offensive to slow him down, even if it doesn't work.

[floydg]

June 6, 1942

Highlights: Invasion continues at Wyndham, but Allies fight back

• Japanese transports sneak by Allied naval ships and unload more troops at Wyndham.
• The SS Salmon scores a torpedo hit on the MSW W.15 by Lautem, which quickly sinks.
• 30xLB-30 bomb the resource center at Pagan and report 6 hits.
• 67 Japanese bombers hit Merauke. The 42 escorts protect the bombers well from the 7xKittyhawk that intercept. Moderate damage is done to the facilities.
• Allied bombers from Efate attack the ships at Luganville, but are shredded by the CAP and get no hits.
• Hudsons and B-25C based in Northern Australia score hits on several APs loaded with troops bound for Wyndham. The Japanese counter-strike the ships at Wyndham with carrier planes, scoring a bomb hit on the CA Canberra and a bomb and torpedo hit on the CA Australia. The Japanese also bomb Derby, with slight damage to the airfield.
• Japanese carrier planes attack the ships in Dutch Harbor. The P-39D CAP defends well, but the CA Louisville takes one bomb hit.
• Coastwatchers at Shortlands note the CL Jintsu sinking just outside the port (the CL was badly damaged in the surface combat at Luganville on May 27).
• Another American attack at Dutch Harbor further wears down the Japanese defenses.

Analysis: His transports snuck by my CA/CL/DD screen at Wyndham, which is annoying, since how could they not know the transports are there? So now I have more enemy troops (now tanks!) to contend with. I assume he brought the tanks to make some sort of "blitzkrieg" move, but I now have tanks of my own on the way up and should be near him in under a week.
In the Aleutians, it seems like he may be trying to rescue the troops at Dutch Harbor. I'll pull back my SC TF, but the fighters and bombers should be able to hold him off a bit. He has moved the Kaga and Akagi up there now, so things could get dicey. I still have the CV Hornet and CVE Long Island in the area (hiding).

[DanielAnsell]

Sounds like quite a fight going at Wyndham.

I've often (at least against the AI) noticed that ships tend to wander right past each other. I think it's just a certain percentage chance of engaging, and if you don't get lucky, no shooting

As far as the Western offensive is concerned, just be ready to lose, or at least see badly mauled, whatever you put into the attack. Also remember that he can rebase LBA with disturbing speed, so be ready to deal with that, if possible.

That said, maybe Java will work, if you can give the attack serious support, and move some of your own LBA quickly into the area to counteract his.