AAR: Istfemer (A) vs zeke99 (J)

[Capt. Harlock]

Zeke evidently wanted to intercept my escaping Eastern Fleet ships. So much, in fact, that he sent his Kido Butai after them.
2 ACTFs even. One with 5 carriers. The other with 6 carriers.

If the KB is that far out of position, do you have any offensive plans for the Pacific?

[Istfemer]

Situation on 5/31/42
---
CBI:
Strategic situation in India is looking bad. My coastal bases are all isolated. It's been almost a month already since they were.
I don't know for how long I'll be able to hold India if they stay that way.
I can't seem to suppress Japanese air zones in the region no matter what I do.
---

This week it's air war only in the CBI theater.

Vizagapatam. Allied airforce gave a few explosive parting presents to the Jap invaders before Zeke withdrew his troops from my base. 2 sqds, 8 arty, 2 afvs destroyed.
Calcutta. Jap air losses: 13 fighters, 9 bombers. Allied air losses: 30 fighters + 12 a/c on the ground.
Dacca. Jap air losses: 20 fighters, 2 bombers. Allied air losses: 27 fighters + 2 a/c on the ground.
Akyab. I ordered yet another airstrike on an airfield here. Allied air losses: 12 fighters and 5 bombers. Jap air losses: 10 fighters shot down in the air.

China as usual.

Australia:
Rockhampton. Airstrikes on LCUs: Jap airforce destroyed 4 arty pieces of mine. Allied airforce destroyed 2 sqds, 5 arty, 1 afv.

Elsewhere:
Nauru and Santa Cruz depots as usual.

Japanese submarines sank 3 Allied MCSs this week. The Jap Empire lost only 1 of its own in return -- why are there so few contacts?
I also lost 2 subs: an S-class and a K.XIV-class were sunk near Andaman. They're near-useless, but it still stings.

[Istfemer]

If the KB is that far out of position, do you have any offensive plans for the Pacific?

As it happens, I do. Espiritu Santo is my target.

By the way, when I was preparing my next turn I ran into a bizarre bug. Vizagapatam base somehow shifted its hex position 1 row down (to 18,7) from default (18,6), so that Vizagapatam was now sitting in the middle of the sea.
Had to redo my turn because of the fear of possible bugs creeping up. I did not keep the save but I had made a screenshot.

PACWAR continues to surprise me.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 6/7/42
In the Indian Ocean, Kido Butai plays cat and mouse with the Eastern Fleet -- it's a chilling thing to watch.
Alas, KB did manage to catch some of the mice this time.
In the South Pacific, Allies launch an offensive to retake Espiritu Santo.
---
CBI:
Yamaguchi's fast CV force performed a lightning-fast leap towards Addu Island and, when it was passing near Colombo, it spotted my TF53 -- the latter had been too slow to move out of the base.
LBA stationed at Colombo and Trincomalee was not much help. Only a single Wellington did any noticeable damage to the Japanese -- a Shokaku-class CV took a 2** hit.
TF53 withstood one air attack largely undamaged but was overwhelmed by the second one and...

+ Goodbye DD Tjerk Hiddes - we hardly knew ye. You could have done so many more glorious deeds.
+ Goodbye 1st AMC transport - you chose not to leave India for the Pacific back then and now it's too late for you to move anywhere but down, down & down.
+ Goodbye CV Formidable - you were formidable enough to sink. Japs had spent 8 250kg bombs and 4 air torpedoes on you and you still refused to go down during that battle.

The bulk of TF53 managed to escape into the sea. Soon afterwards, Nagumo's SCTF with 3 Kongo-class BBs and 2 Mogami-class, 1 Myoko-class CAs came to Colombo and sank the disabled ships and their escorts...

+ Goodbye x2 Paladin-class DDs - you really, really should have allowed Formidable to sink in the solitude.
+ Goodbye BB Revenge - an air torpedo wounded you, an 800kg bomb crippled you and a storm of shells finished you.
+ Goodbye x3 Napier-class DDs - companions to Revenge, your attempt to protect this BB was a valiant undertaking. (but ultimately a hopeless one)

Later, Ozawa's slower CV/CVL force showed up near Colombo and the rest of my still surviving LBA planes killed themselves on it.

Calcutta-Dacca. Japanese planes bombed LCUs/depots at these bases. My LCUs in Dacca suffered considerable losses in heavy equipment.
Vizagapatam. Wildcats shot down some 8 Bettys. These Bettys bombed my airfield but their aim was very off.

China as usual.

Australia:
Rockhampton. Japanese planes bombed my LCUs, Allied planes bombed the airfield -- the only casualties here were Allied planes hit by flak.

South Pacific:
### Operation "Liberation of Espiritu Santo" has just begun ###

Timing was exactly right. Zeke had most of his squadrons withdrawn to other places (specifically to India and the Home Islands).
Espiritu Santo and New Caledonia (both AF 5 bases) each had just 1 fighter and 1 bomber squadrons present.
Espiritu Santo was protected by x48 Ki-27 Setsus and x36 B5Ns. New Caledonia was protected by x48 Zeroes and x36 Bettys.

Espiritu was garrisoned by a single Japanese brigade. (1/5th Inf Bde)
Unfortunately, this one is an uber strong brigade - around 90xp.
I think (and hope!) I can capture Espiritu relatively quickly.

Here's how the invasion goes:
B-17s bomb New Caledonia airfield - 5 B-17s lost for 14 Zeroes destroyed on the ground. Should have bombed Espiritu instead.

CV Hornet takes a 2** torpedo hit from a Betty bomber. 7 Allied APs are sunk by Japanese aircraft (B5Ns) - bad!
3 of them were weak Dutch KMP transports though. Strange that my Air Combat TF didn't provide any fighter cover over them.

My weak naval bombardment destroys 8 sqds, 10 arty, 17 afvs. It also hits supply depots: HEAVY and light damage is reported - good!

25th US Inf Div and 1st Corps Engineers, later also the 1st NZ Inf Bde and 8th NZ Inf Bde land on Espiritu Santo.
Total land combat losses: 61 sqds, 4 arty, 1 afv for Allies vs 3 sqds for Japanese.

What to say here: not enough bases for friendly LBA, not enough CV air cover, not enough preliminary bombardment... Not enough everything.
Those 10 CAs and 9 CLs I lost near Australia in spring would have been so useful now.

Elsewhere:
Nauru and Santa Cruz depots as usual.

Upd:
3 Allied MCSs were sunk this week. One in the Bay of Bengal, one near Espiritu Santo and one I-don't-know-where.

My submariners worked hard this week.
Another batch of casualties among imperial merchant shipping: no less than 43 MCSs and 3 TKs were reported sunk!
Japanese subs sank their first US tanker in this war and heavily damaged another.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 6/14/42
---
CBI:
Kondo's 4-CA, 3-CL TF bombards Trincomalee. My LBA responds: the lead CA receives a 4**** hit (Beaufort's torpedo), 2 CLs receive 2** and 1* hits.

During the return phase, Ozawa's CV/CVL ACTF reacts to my other surface TF! 75 Zeroes and 84 carrier bombers strike my ships.
My other TF loses 2 Ardent DDs and 2 Odinia tankers. One BB and two CLs are damaged.
Yamaguchi's ACTF retires and on its way back triggers multiple reaction strikes from all Allied airgroups on Ceylon. Sadly, my LBA is unable to penetrate enemy defences.

Japanese LBA planes bomb LCUs/depots in Mandalay and Dacca.
Allied freighters delivering supplies to Calcutta are strafed by Ki-27 Setsus - none are sunk and shipments of supplies finally reach India.

China as usual.

Australia:
Rockhampton. Ki-32s bomb my troops here. Mitchells/Warhawks bomb enemy troops/depots in response.

South Pacific:
B17s and Wellingtons bomb Espiritu - 7 B-17s shot down for 11 Setsus destroyed. When flown by experienced pilots those small nimble fighters sure do bite!

Yorktown takes a fatal 5***** torpedo hit from a Betty. Hornet is heavily damaged and will be out of action for a while.
AP losses: 1 LST + 3 remaining Dutch KPM transports are all sunk at Efate.
128 Japanese planes are destroyed/damaged by air bombings and naval bombardments at Espiritu Santo - a nice number.
What is even more nice: my naval bombardments devastate enemy supply depots. Moderate, HEAVY, HEAVY & HEAVY damage is reported.

Results of land combat: 17 sqds, 1 afv for Allies vs 8 sqds for Japanese.

Elsewhere:
Clemson DDs bombard Paramushiro, which turns out to be empty.
No attacks on Nauru and Santa Cruz this week. The Japs are too busy defending Espiritu Santo.

Zeke and I both lost 1 submarine each.

[zeke99]

As my opponent is busy and the game is proceeding at a very slow pace a short update:

The battle for Espiritu Santo rages on for many turns now while everything else is rather quiet.

It took the Allies several turns and costly reinforcements to finally take the base.
However, Japs counterattacked and retook the base. Now an equivalent of 2-3Divs is stranded there.

Last turn the Allies decided to send a BBTF with APs attached to either resupply or evacuate troops. It cost them 3BBs (one sunk by sub & 2 in combat against Jap BBTF). Jap G3 & G4 proved ineffective, not scoring hits
The Jap CVTF in New Caledonia did not engage in reaction move [:@]

I hope our game will take up speed again. (BTW still looking for a 2nd opponent[&o])

[Istfemer]

Yeah... Zeke's successful defence of Espiritu left Allied naval forces in bad shape.
AP losses were very heavy: 25+ lost. Japanese bombers showed no mercy.

I'll try to fill in the blanks.
(By the way, we are now playing with the modified Pac.exe v3.2.4)

[Istfemer]

Situation on 6/21/42
---
CBI:
Japanese LBA planes bombed LCUs/depots in Calcutta and Mandalay. My fighters did not engage them.
Allied LBA at Trincomalee & Colombo managed to land a few hits on Kondo's TF. The exact damage done could not be determined because of the lying VCR.

China as usual.

Australia:
The action here was practically the same as the previous turn.

South Pacific:
The waters in the NewCa-SantaCruz-Fiji triangle are infested with Japanese subs. Surely an alarming development!
2 Allied APs & 5 MCSs were sunk near Espiritu Santo.

Effects of airstrikes & naval bombardment:
Japanese a/c losses: 5 fighters, 29 bombers and 74 a/c on the ground.
Allied a/c losses: 29 bombers.
Japanese 1/5th Inf Bde lost 6 squads, 4 arty, 3 afvs.

No land battles were fought at Espiritu this turn.

One Allied MCS was sunk by a submarine.
Catalinas sank 2 Japanese subs in response.

[bradk]

ORIGINAL: Istfemer

I see you're not playing with a rule that IJ garrison conquered areas. I've noticed recently IJ AI garrisons.

[Istfemer]

I see you're not playing with a rule that IJ garrison conquered areas. I've noticed recently IJ AI garrisons.

Our game has no specific garrison requirements beyond these:
Japan: 1 Div has to stay in Indochina */Phnom Penh – Saigon – Haiphong/*
UK : 8th Aus Div has to stay in Singapore (Churchill's order)

[Istfemer]

Situation on 6/28/42
Surface clashes at Espiritu Santo - More ship carnage! (Allied ships, mostly [:(])
---
CBI:
It was relatively quiet here. Japanese LBA bombed Dacca and Mandalay.
At Mandalay, Jap planes were greeted by 2 groups of Warhawks and 2 groups of Wildcats. My planes performed okay.

China as usual.

Australia:
Nothing new here. At Rockhampton, airstrikes on Japanese LCUs continued.

South Pacific:
B-17s and Wellingtons attacked the airfields of Espiritu Santo.
Ki-27 Setsus on Espiritu are something fierce. Many B-17s were shot down. Not good.

++ 1st Surface Engagement ++
Rear Admiral K. Doorman the Unlucky brought his TF 55 too early! - and suffered terribly for it.
In two rounds, Nagumo's TF (3 BBs, 3 CAs, 3 CLs, 21 DDs) sank at least half of Doorman's task force.
4 CLs (Perth, Sumatra, Tromp, Adelaide) and 3 CLAAs were sunk, along with a bunch of DDs.
I'm sure the loss of those three CLAAs will haunt me for a long time! [:@]

++ 2nd Surface Engagement ++
Admiral Scott and his strong Surface TF 52 (BBs North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada; CAs Astoria, Quincy, Vincennes; 33 DDs) found and clashed with Nagumo's task force. In the following battle the Allies lost one Mahan-class DD. The Japanese somehow lost nothing. [&:]

++ 3rd Surface Engagement ++
Finally, the glorious !leaderless! TF 53 (BBs New Mexico, Aidaho, Mississippi and nothing else) successfully intercepted the tough-but-battered Nagumo's TF and gave the Japs a thrashing they long deserved.

Round 1:
BB New Mexico opened the round and her very first salvo completely destroyed the lead Kongo-class BB. (5*****)
In retaliation, BB Mississippi was hit by a long lance torpedo. Mississippi's anti-torpedo bulge must've absorbed most of the damage - the ship sustained only 1* of criticals. Yay for American damage control!
Round 2:
New Mexico did it again. And with her first salvo, no less. A Kitakami-class CL was blasted and sank very, very quickly. (5*****, again)

Post-battle intercept of enemy radio transmissions revealed that Admiral Nagumo went down with that battleship!
---

My surface TFs prevented the landing of 2 Japanese Cargo TFs carrying supplies to the Japanese garrison on Espiritu.
One of my Transport TFs was ambushed by Japanese submarines. Enemy subs claimed a few APs of mine. Bad.
I also lost 2 merchants somewhere, don't know where.
Fortunately, I captured Espiritu Santo at the end-of-turn! Zeke lost 92 aircraft on the ground.
Now I have to hold on onto it until friendly reinforcements arrive. (there still are Japanese LCUs on the island)

Elsewhere:
Nauru depots were bombed again. Who really cares about them at this time?

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
We sank 2 Japanese merchants and 1 tanker.
We sank 1 Japanese submarine.

[Istfemer]

And what about K. Doorman?
Doorman is forbidden to command TFs for an indeterminate amount of time.
Poor guy. His track record in the Pacific War is nothing but a huge disaster. So many Dutch (and non-Dutch) ships lost under his command.
Some American and British leaders even suspect that Doorman has had a hex put on him. Lt. General Poorten seems to think so too.
Indeed, what else can explain the extraordinary string of military disasters that have hit Doorman so far?
It's not like Doorman is an incompetent buffoon or anything. He's just bad luck.
---

Nagumo C. confirmed KIA

[Capt. Harlock]

It's not like Doorman is an incompetent buffoon or anything. He's just bad luck.

Well, that's historical.

Not surprising that a Kitakami-class would go up like a firework, considering the number of Long Lance torpedoes exposed on deck. That may be why the IJN re-converted them into fast troop transports after a year.

[Hattori Hanzo]

very interesting AAR !!!

I recently decided to come back to this old good Monster: I will follow you [:)]

[Istfemer]

Not surprising that a Kitakami-class would go up like a firework, considering the number of Long Lance torpedoes exposed on deck. That may be why the IJN re-converted them into fast troop transports after a year.

Kitakamis may be combustible, but their torpedoes certainly are intimidating.
Fortunately, the are only 2 ships in the Kitakami-class and I've sunk one of them already. I think it was IJN Kitakami that New Mexico destroyed.
In Pacwar, I find it dangerous to engage Japanese torpedo cruisers (especially Myoko-class CAs) in surface combat and usually strive to sink them from above ASAP. But in this game Zeke's warships often demonstrate remarkable survivability.
My bombers failed to sink them on so many occasions. Beaufighters. I need Beaufighters.

very interesting AAR !!!

I recently decided to come back to this old good Monster: I will follow you

Good to know there are people out there who read my AAR. [:)] Thank you.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 7/05/42
---
Bad news/old news: Despite the high losses they took, the Allies succeeded in liberating Espiritu Santo. Alas, it did not last.
The Japanese recaptured the island and many Allied soldiers are now left stranded there, with their supply lines cut off.
What, what are the Allies going to do about it? The Allies say: "We have Plan B." Or maybe they don't.

CBI:
Japanese bombers destroyed 2 tanks at Mandalay. Nothing else important happened in the CBI theatre this week.
Even the promising nighttime air raid on Rangoon (from Trincomalee) failed to cause any damage to supply depots.

China? China as usual -- nothing unusual there -- nothing unusual in this.

Australia:
"It's high time to liberate Rockhampton!" I said to myself and ordered the Australians to attack.
Australian II Corps (let's call it that) [1 div, 3 bdes, 1 rgt] under command of Lt. General Slim marched on Rockhampton and immediately attempted a blitzkrieg-type attack there. Their blitzkrieg against 2 Japanese regiments [Sas SNLF and 56th Grp] was not successful. Their readiness was too low and I underestimated the readiness & entrenchment of enemy LCUs. Those were still high, despite the long, continuous bombing of IJA troops and supply depots by Allied aircraft.

###
Losses at Rockhampton --- 51 inf squads, 7 arty, 4 afvs for Allies vs 1 arty for Japanese. Odds 0.
Ri-diculous. Lesson learned: do not attempt land blitzkrieg against the Japanese without superior firepower firmly on your side.
We shall try again next week, better prepared.

South Pacific:
Emperor Zeke wasn't going to simply abandon Espiritu and now Japan counterattacks.
Japanese bombers from Guadalcanal and New Caledonia attack Espiritu Santo's airfields. Rear Adm. Takama bombards the base.

### Lt. General Mutaguchi prepares to attack Maj. General Geiger's land forces. Japanese try to recapture Espiritu...
1st round losses --- 36 inf squads, 3 arty, 2 afvs for Japanese vs 3 inf squads for Allies. Odds 0.

### ...and succeed.
2nd round losses --- 13 inf squads for Japanese vs 57 inf squads, 8 arty, 2 afvs for Allies. Odds 8 and we lose Espiritu Santo.

### Good defense here, guys, but we've lost the base already.
3rd round losses --- 70 inf squads, 6 arty, 3 afvs for Japanese vs 8 inf squads, 3 arty for Allies. Odds 0. Ha.

Many perfectly serviceable Allied planes (SBD Dauntlesses and others) had to be destroyed to prevent them from falling into the enemy's hands. Sad turn of events.
We lost 1 AP and 1 MCS somewhere, probably to some of the numerous Jap submarines prowling this area.

++ Surface Engagement ++
TF 52 [damaged BB West Virginia and damaged CL Honolulu, CL St.Louis, 14 DDs, 6 APDs, 14 APs, 17 MCs] commanded by Rear Adm. Lee engage a Japanese cruiser TF 33 [3 CLs, 2 DDs, 23 MCSs] near Efate.

Round 1: Lee's TF 52 achieves surprise. 11,000 yards.
BB West Virginia opens the round with a great shot on IJN Katori (a torpedoless CL in Pacwar but not IRL), a shot that promptly sends the light cruiser to the bottom (5*****). Honolulu, St.Louis and various American destroyers (from 5 different classes) shell the rest of Japanese warships. Manley APDs, Henderson APs and EC2 Liberty merchants gang up on defenseless 6000t Marus. One Maru is left severely damaged.

Round 2: 2,000 yards. Close & personal.
West Virginia fires a generous salvo at the closest Kamikaze-class DD. Why? Because overkill. 5*****, naturally. Debris EVERYwhere. Porter-class DD manages to score three 2** shell hits in a row on the remaining Kamikaze-class. Later, a Clemson DD adds a fourth and the last Japanese DD is doomed. Farragut-class DD puts a 1* shell into the crippled 6000t Maru and adds a torpedo on top of that. 5***** — it says all. Aided by Hendersons and Liberties, CLs Honolulu and St.Louis inflict serious damage on the fleeing Katori-class CLs.

Summary:
Zeke lost 1 Katori-class CL, 2 Kamikaze-class DDs and a 6000t Maru. Two other Katori-class CLs were heavily damaged.
I lost nothing and my ships sustained only superficial damage.

It was great fun watching Hendersons and Liberties fire their flak guns at obsolete Japanese warships/Marus. They even got some criticals. More shows like this, please.
By the way, TF 33 was a Transport TF. Lee actually prevented a Japanese landing at Efate.
Too bad the strategic value of this was close to nil. I was going to garrison Efate & reinforce its airfield, hoping to retake Espiritu, but then a *bad* bug happened and I had to abandon my Plan B.

Elsewhere:
There were no 'elsewhere' this week. Everyone was too focused on Espiritu Santo.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
We sank 4 Japanese merchants.
Japanese sank one Allied merchant.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 7/12/42
---
The Efate Incident. Over 2000 soldiers MIA, all of them New Zealanders and Americans. Where did they all go?
"Those were no Japanese. They were monsters! Monsters straight out of pulp magazines!" told us one of the alleged witnesses, a psychotic NZ sergeant.
Rumours of monsters in the South Pacific are bad news indeed. Joint US-NZ investigation is already underway.
Rear Admiral Lee, Lt. General MacArthur and countless others will be questioned about this shocking event.

CBI:
Calcutta was bombed, no damage was done. Good to know that it's not only Allied pilots who have problems hitting anything on the ground.

China as usual.

Australia:
Emperor Zeke withdrew most of his aircraft to the (occupied) South Pacific bases.
Australians finally liberated Rockhampton. What took you so long?

Lt. General Slim vs Lt. General Hyakutake.
###
1st round losses --- 43 inf squads, 3 arty for Allies vs 42 inf squads, 1 arty for Japanese.
###
2nd round losses --- 22 inf squads, 1 arty, 1 afv for Allies vs 29 inf squads, 2 arty for Japanese. Allies captured the base.

South Pacific:
Espiritu Santo. More Japanese airstrikes & shore bombardment.
Undersupplied Allied troops commanded by Admiral Chester Nimitz himself successfully repulsed a Japanese attack led by Lt. General Mutaguchi.
###
Losses at Espiritu: 24 inf squads, 5 arty for Japanese vs 1 inf squad for Allies.

Nimitz ordered immediate evacuation of Allied soldiers stranded on Espiritu Santo.
Unfortunately, I don't have enough AP groups to evacuate everyone and I'm forced to put APs in a SCTF, else they'll get slaughtered. In two turns we'll see what happens. Putting APs with troops in a SCTF didn't work out so well for me last week. See below.

Efate. A most mysterious disappearance.
90 troubled infantrymen are all that remains of the 14th NZ Inf Brigade. 1120 NZ infantrymen MIA. 24 artillery guns & 9 tanks are also missing. All men in the supporting US seabee battalion vanished without a trace. 1080 seabees MIA. To add more to the strangeness, the 1/37th US Inf Bde, which was supposed to dig in and defend Ellice I., somehow ended up on Fiji instead. Ellice I. was left exposed. (seabees alone don't really count as a fighting force, even on an atoll)

Bug: Last turn I examined my TF 52 and was surprised to discover that nearly all my troops aboard transports had vanished. The 14th NZ Inf Bde was down to 9 squads and the 2/SeaBee Engr was down to 0. This turn, when TF 52 returned to Fiji and I examined it again, I was even more surprised to find that the 2/SeaBee Engr had been replaced by the 1/37th US Inf Bde from Ellice I. I actually had two copies of the latter: one on transports in TF 52 and another on Ellice. When I disbanded TF 52, that brigade that was on Ellice disappeared.

I have only one such brigade now, on Fiji. Looks like this is not an uncommon bug in Pacwar. Something to fix.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
We sank 2 Japanese merchants.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 7/19/42
---
CBI:
Japanese attacked my airfield at Mandalay. We lost 80 fighters in the air, for 35 Japanese fighters and 13 bombers destroyed. Allies bombed Japanese supply dumps at Rangoon.

Australia:
Rockhampton. Lt. General Eichelberger (land rating 7) was killed in a friendly fire accident this week. Airstikes REALLY should injure/kill friendly base commanders less often. It's the enemy base commanders who should be hit more often. As it is, it looks like the odds are stacked in favor of friendly fire.

South Pacific:
I was prepared to lose one BB but three? Three sunk battleships is tough to handle for anyone.
BB Arizona was ambushed and torpedoed by some lucky Japanese sub. 5*****. Not an auspicious start for me. The escorting DDs sank another Japanese sub that tried to torpedo a transport.

++ Surface Engagement ++
Allies [4 BBs, 2 CAs, 15 DDs, 30 APs] vs Japanese [4 BBs (incl. one Yamato- & one Nagato-class), 4 CAs, 2 CLs, 20 DDs]. 11,000 yards.

Summary:
I lost 2 good BBs, North Carolina and a Colorado-class.
Zeke lost nothing, not even a single ship. Utterly disappointing. Yes, I did a lot of damage, but to what end?...

TF 51 provided some desperately needed shore bombardment, destroying 5 squads, 21 arty, 12 afvs and 64 Japanese planes.
Japanese bombers sank 3 APs. Japanese LCUs also landed on Efate.

Land battles at Espiritu Santo:
### Terauchi vs. Nimitz
Losses: 13 squads, 1 arty for Japanese; 129 squads, 19 arty and 3 afvs for Allies. Odds 9. Some Allied units surrendered.
### Horii vs. Nimitz
Losses: 4 squads for Japanese; 26 squads, 3 arty for Allies. Odds 29.

TF 51 has evacuated everyone it could and is escaping east, maneuvering all the time, trying hard not to trigger any Japanese reaction strikes.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
We sank 2 Japanese merchants and 1 submarine.
Japanese flying boats sank 1 Allied submarine.

[Hattori Hanzo]

"Those were no Japanese. They were monsters! Monsters straight out of pulp magazines!" told us one of the alleged witnesses, a psychotic NZ sergeant.

[Istfemer]

Situation on 7/26/42
---
CBI:
A few ineffective Jap air raids hit Mandalay. Nothing serious.

Allied tac bombers attacked Tientsin and did moderate damage to the oil industry there.

Australia:
Zeke withdrew his LCUs from Rockhampton, but not before my bombers gave them some explosive parting gifts.

South Pacific:
Japanese landed on Santa Cruz I. and eliminated the last remaining Allied unit on Espiritu Santo -- the 1/27th infantry brigade. Then the reaction strikes came. Zeke's ACTFs 1 and 2 reacted to my fleeing task forces (TFs 51 & 52) and the horrible sinking began. Each ACTF hit us twice + my task forces were additionally bombed by various aircraft from Espiritu Santo, New Caledonia, Guadalcanal and Rennell I. I lost 14 APs, ugh. This is not how you win wars, guys. This is how you lose them.

I think the loss of Efate was what really did me in. I had a squadron of Catalinas stationed there on "anti-reaction" duty. Efate was captured last turn (at the most inconvenient time) and I lost my only anti-reaction cover.

Weekly sub/antisub operations:
We sank 7 Japanese merchants.
Japanese sank 1 Allied merchant. Another merchant and an escorting DD were damaged.
---

Hattori Hanzo,
Nice pic! Adds some warm colours to this thread, I think. [:D]