Matrix Games Forums

Mar 04, 1942 - cont

For the previous week or more, Allied 4E Bombers were flying in from New Caledonia hitting Lunga. Too small an airfield yet to deploy much defense, I have been jousting the air raiders with a Jake squadron to try and disrupt their accuracy until better options come along.
I have been mulling what it would take to strike that base.

Today's results -- the 4E's have shifted over to Northern Australia and sent a strike on Rabaul. They find Rabaul a much better defended base.

Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125
Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 30

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 9
B-17E Fortress x 9
LB-30 Liberator x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 6 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged
LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Runway hits 1

Currently 114 Engineers in Rabaul patch up this damage before the next turn loads.

In other news
The KB is about ready to leave Hong Kong for her next assignment.

ORIGINAL: DanSez
One thing I need to do is to forecast the reinforcements coming in the next 30-45 days and think about where they should go and getting transports/escorts moving in the right direction before they arrive.

Absolutely correct. I am finding this out equally the hard way from the Allied side, also my "first time." It's especially critical -- and difficult -- to make sure I have escorts ready for new capital ships that appear.

ORIGINAL: DanSez

Today's results -- the 4E's have shifted over to Northern Australia and sent a strike on Rabaul.

Any idea which airfield? I don't think any of them are even near level 5 so I wonder how he is doing this raid?

Mar 05, 1942

Best News of the Day
Device Mitsubishi Ha-43 advances R&D 8/45 (long way to go)

This engine is used for the A7M3-J Sam, J7W1 Shinden currently under R&D.
Other air frames of interest are N1K5-J George, Ki-74-I Patsy, Ki-83, and Ki-95.

Solomons
Still trying to stealth ships close to New Caledonia.
Allied High Command tries a couple more bites of the apple at Rabaul:

Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125 - Bite 1
Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 8
B-17E Fortress x 13
LB-30 Liberator x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed on ground
** the air field is a bit crowded so these Betties are sent back to Rabaul
** and a smaller Fighter Sentai sent here to help drain his 4E bombers.
** most pilots will be recovered over the base and I can replace Zeros easily enough

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged
LB-30 Liberator: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 5

Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125 - Bite 2
Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17

Allied aircraft
LB-30 Liberator x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Engineers smooth out all these holes before the next turn which is an eye-opening result of why my bombing of Singapore might not be slowing up the fort building there as much as I hoped.

Burma -
Attack of the Forgotten Task Force

While the 55th ID was sorting thru the abandoned city of Rangoon: An explosion offshore?

TF 57 encounters mine field at Rangoon (54,53)
Allied Ships
xAK Annalock, Mine hits 1, on fire

Pre-Invasion action off Rangoon (54,53)
204 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
xAP Duchess of Bedford

Allied ground losses:
58 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

xAP Duchess of Bedford firing at 55th Division
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 4,000 yards
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards

Amphibious Assault at Rangoon (54,53)

TF 57 troops unloading over beach at Rangoon, 54,53

Allied ground losses:
47 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Ground combat at Rangoon (54,53)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 12906 troops, 125 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 442

Defending force 95 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 6

Allied ground losses:
68 casualties reported
Squads: 11 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
55th Division

Defending units:
63rd Indian Bde /1



Burma Overall Picture
Allies retreating North, I am liberating towns as I cautiously move forward - waiting for other forces to come into the theater and to not be trapped with the limited units in an over extended place. I want to keep up the appearance of pressure. I will assault Taung Gyi as soon as I can, take Prome and push up the railroad toward Mandalay.

ORIGINAL: jwolf

ORIGINAL: DanSez

Today's results -- the 4E's have shifted over to Northern Australia and sent a strike on Rabaul.

Any idea which airfield? I don't think any of them are even near level 5 so I wonder how he is doing this raid?

He is taking a fair number of OPs losses, so I suspect Townsville (level 4 Air Field).
I think Townsville to Rabaul is near the max range.

Mar 06, 1942

Best News of the Day
Device Nakajima Ha-45 advances R&D 7/43

Burma
I just mentioned my interest if the Allies were going to hold at Mandalay.
I have a Lily bomber unit which I have been skipping between targets, hoping to not get caught in a CapTrap. That makes sense if your opponent is trying to outguess where you are going to strike next. It doesn't work when they park a cap and wait for you to wander into it...

I did have Escorts set but for some reason the Lily Sentai went solo into Mandalay, with poor results:
Morning Air attack on Mandalay , at 59,46

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 18

Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 7
Hurricane IIa Trop x 10
Hurricane IIb Trop x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 7 destroyed

No Allied losses

Noob Alert -- R&D Stumbles.
Early on, I decided to shift my 34 working Ki-48-Ib Lily factories over to the next generation (Realistic R&D OFF - no penalty shifting from production to R&D of the same upgrade line).

I thought I had plenty of planes in the pool, but then the grind over Malaysia/Singapore and my first encounters with CapTraps bled the Ki-48-Ib reserves down to under 10. Since then I have been using the Lily in more secure/reserve/uncontested areas or have successfully been avoiding traps with them.

My Ki-48-Ib pools ran out about 2 weeks ago. My 'thoughts' of investing in a short term R&D run to move the next Lily airframe up by one month is not to be. The month will end before I can push 100 pts of research to advance it.

So that was a wasted effort: a learning experience at best. I thought I should share that with the noobs.
I should have just kept the Ki-49-Ia in production and then switched it at the end of the month. The only 'bright spot' is that it kept me from overproducing an air frame that is being replaced with better models.

Back to the Battle - I am not sure why the Escorts didn't fly:
Chaing Mai has
Level 4 Airfield (Expanding)
11487 Supply
287 Support / 236 Support Required
119 Avaition Support / 121 Avation Support Required
64 Engineers
19 Flak

Here are the settings for the air groups at Chaing Mai before the above results:

Mar 6, 1942 - cont

DEI
More reinforcements just docked at Oosthavan:
Armor, Art, and the 6th Guards Div to add to the Palembang siege and to begin the clearing out of Sumatra.

The invasions/clearing of the lower Celebes continues on schedule.

Replacement forces headed to Balikpapan and Samarinda to free up the heavier Infantry units for future objectives.
Pace of Ops... those replacements should already have been there. Notes made for the future.

Singapore
Bombing continues.
The final piece of the Assault Units are almost ready to cross. Just a couple of more days and the last phase of Singapore's liberation will begin.

Solomons
4Es stand down from their raiding of Rabaul.

I am still thinking of how to strike Noumea.

And the KB just left port.
Reduced by the Soryu still in dry docks and the Kaga/Akagi doing duty with CarDiv2.

I am planning on reforming CarDiv2 with just the Kaga and 3 CVLs and sending Akagi to rejoin the KB somewhere East of the Philippines. That will get the KB back up to 4 Fleet Carriers.

Mar 6th, 1942 - Cont

Hong Kong/China Notes
Soryu took a heavy blow from that lucky torpedo run. It will be in dry docks for a reported 29 more days. I have not made this repair critical as I am not sure how that would impact the supply levels at Hong Kong. I am seeing a few sporatic Yellow Exclamation Marks popping up across China noting the lack of supplies.

I am loading up a couple of supply convoys for Hong Kong and a big one from Tokyo to Shanghai. With the replacements/upgrades completed/completing about 6 divisions, I want to keep an eye on supply levels as I am now moving out against Sian/Nanyang in force.

Ship: availability/production:
In production queues:
CV Junyo is 51 days from completion.
CV Hiyo is due out of the building slips on Jul 29, 1942.

I have been accelerating the Shimakaze line.
Four are projected to be in service
?? (in the month of December per game Ships Available screen)
?? (in the months of July/August per Tracker)
Any idea why the difference?

Mar 07, 1942

The Solomons Errupts:
As this goes, we have a planning phase then the Execution...

First I want to show the area map and a couple of notes on my 'plans'.

There are lots of Empire subs in the area as well, thankfully.

Mar 07, 1942 - cont

Solomons Errupts
CarDiv3: DL 10/10 -- moving North 4 hexes
CVE: Honsho/Taiyo
CS: Mzuho
CL: Nagara
5 DDs

SCFT 97: -- DL 10/10 -- moving North 2 hexes
BB: Yamashiro
CL: Tennyu/Yabari
3 DDs

This was to appear to be moving away. I wanted to get better DL on the Enemy TF and then maybe turn and attack. I also wanted the subs to gather and stalk.

CruDiv3: -- Undetected
CA: Nachi/Furutaka
4 DDs

I wanted to move 5 hexes East to stay out of search of the advancing Enemy TF and then with better info, maybe rush attack.

Unfortunately, my overall search of the area CruDiv3 was wandering was very weak.

Surprise Surprise Surprise.[X(]
Morning Air attack on TF, near Stewart Island at 119,137

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 21
SBD-2 Dauntless x 16
SBD-3 Dauntless x 51
TBD-1 Devastator x 25

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Nachi, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Yamakaze
DD Tadeshiwa
DD Kawakaze, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
DD Yugure, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires

And those 4Es show up again:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Russell Islands at 113,136

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 4
F1M2 Pete x 4

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 7
B-17E Fortress x 8

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 5 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Nagara
CVE Taiyo
CVE Hosho

The only good news from the day
Sub attack near Ndeni at 119,142

Japanese Ships
SS I-23

Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CA San Francisco
CA Minneapolis
CA Louisville
CA Northampton
CL St. Louis
DD Henley
DD Mugford
DD Mahan
DD Benham
DD Maury

SS I-23 launches 6 torpedoes at CV Enterprise

Looks like all the Allied CVs are gathered for this push, not just some scrubby Brit CVL raider group. Definitely more than I was hoping for.

Did you select the base for the fighters to escort to i.e. targeting?

One ftr squadron has poor morale. That could be its reason.

Mar 08, 1942

Solomons Errupts

Again a planning/results report:

Needless to say, the little CVEs and the untouched SCFT run NorthWest to escape the Allied Carriers.

CruDiv3 lost CA Nachi to flooding, CA Furutaka also is losing its fight to stay afloat.
By the morning, I have the two damaged remaining ships in their own Escort Task forces and the two undamaged DDs are running North as fast as they can.

In the game and Tracker sunk ships, it shows the 'Enterprise' as sunk, but I do not see any proof of that in the Planes Lost screen. I suspect it is still floating, but slowly moving.

The Mavis recon is closely focused on this single search vector to help the subs close in and at least get something back for the loss of the CruDiv3 ships.

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Did you select the base for the fighters to escort to i.e. targeting?

One ftr squadron has poor morale. That could be its reason.

No.
I just read in your AAR with Albert about setting the Destination of Escorts as well.
Never or rarely done that before.
Notes taken for future use.

Thanks

Mar 08, 1942 - cont

Solomons Errupt
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ontong Java at 119,132
Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 20
SBD-3 Dauntless x 17

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Yugure, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk

DD Yugure joins it's sister Kawakaze and now, both CAs under the waves... [:(]

KB Movements
KB is two days out of Hong Kong, so I used this turn to churn all the ships in an out of a couple of task force to give the possible impression that the KB or parts of the KB are just now leaving port.

Akagi TF leaving Balikpapan to rejoin the KB

ORIGINAL: DanSez

KB is two days out of Hong Kong, so I used this turn to churn all the ships in an out of a couple of task force to give the possible impression that the KB or parts of the KB are just now leaving port.

Interesting idea for a little deception.

ORIGINAL: jwolf

ORIGINAL: DanSez

KB is two days out of Hong Kong, so I used this turn to churn all the ships in an out of a couple of task force to give the possible impression that the KB or parts of the KB are just now leaving port.

Interesting idea for a little deception.

I've read a number of AARs that hinted to methods of OpSec. The Allies have a great advantage and (like the whole game setup) requires the JFB to work triple time to try and make up for it.

Historically the Allies did have a great advantage. The Japanese could have used better OpSec. That is what I am trying to achieve.

OpSec Tricks:
1. Set your planning to bases you have no intention to invade (for some units that are doing garrison or for backup invasion forces).
2. Do not set your taskforces to their true destination when you form them up and load them with troops. You can form a task force, set the destination to Port Moresby, set it to Remain on station, Load it with troops (for an example: you plan to reinforce Java but set to plan for Port Moresby). When the load it completed, you change the destination to some 'mid-point' like Saipan, and leave port (or let it move a turn or two toward the 'false' destination).
3. Create and disband task forces at random times (with random destinations) to fog the Allied SigInt.
4. Keep your main Carrier/SCFT task forces intact and just move a couple of ships in and out of repair as needed. That way there is no burst of activity when you reform the CarDiv/SCFT - probably nothing as I don't think Allied SigInt tells them when ship A is added to Task Force 33 - but I might be wrong on this.

Any wiser heads have some OpSec tricks they wish to share with me or any other noob following these notes?

or you could PM me some ultra secret info which I would promise Never to share ...


Yes, the above is a bit of 'extra work'. I am not sure how much of this translates into Allied confusion but if it only happens Once and helps create a situation where I have the possibility to sink a couple of Allied Carriers, then the added work throughout the whole game was worth it.

Mar 9, 1942

Best News of the Day
Japanese forces CAPTURE Taung Gyi !!!

Worst News of the Day
Pre-Invasion action off Lunga (114,138)
50 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Dale
DD Dewey
AP President Hayes

Pre-Invasion action off Lunga (114,138)
51 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
CL Concord
DD Gilmer
DD Aylwin
AP President Polk

Amphibious Assault at Lunga (114,138)
TF 93 troops unloading over beach at Lunga, 114,138
Allied ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (0 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 19 (0 destroyed, 19 disabled)
8 Aviation Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 1st USMC Air Wing Base Force /2

Amphibious Assault at Lunga (114,138)
TF 191 troops unloading over beach at Lunga, 114,138
Allied ground losses:
416 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 86 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 51 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 16 (0 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (0 destroyed, 7 disabled)

13 troops of a USA Rifle Squad accidentally lost during unload of Americal Infantry Div
13 troops of a USA Rifle Squad lost from landing craft during unload of Americal Infantry Div /5

Lunga looks to be lost for now. A huge flock of fleets appear and start downloading, buzzing around looking for trouble.

I wish I could have gotten the KB started this direction a week earlier. The game does a fair job of creating the vast distances you have to project power across. Movement and logistics takes TIME, time you sometimes just don't have. At this point, the KB is between Iwo-jimi and Saipan, still some time before I can engage this invasion force.

One good note, it looks like Akagi, loaded up on an existing TF in Balikpapan, will be able to escape the DEI without detection. Maybe my aggressive opponent is counting on only facing a 3 carrier KB.

What does he have now at this time of the war. If he collected everything he could in one spot, and he has had time to do it by now, I think it would be:
CV Enterprise
CV Lexington
CV Saratoga
CV Hornet
CV Yorktown
CV Indominable
CVL Hermes

Is the Long Island out my mid March 1942?
The Wasp gets on the board (West Coast) about now, but I doubt it could not be off Lunga now. We do have a +- 15 Day Reinforcement Variability.

So the above would be 6 CVs and 1 CVL. Pretty ugly even if I gathered the whole KB at one time.

On my side, I have the two little CVEs skirting around close to Rabaul and soon to join will be Akagi, Shokaku, Zuikaku and Hiryu. I am going to need some luck. The Torpedo strike looks to have eliminated or seriously damages one of the US carriers. That makes it 5CV/1CVL to 4CV/2CVE - not very favorable.

Here is a snapshot of the area before the March 9th orders executed and the Invasion force landed.

The isolated task force is moving very very slowly. If it is the damaged 'Enterprise' I am moving subs to swarm its hex and potential destination hexes.

Mar 9, 1942 - cont

More on the Solomons Front
Allied High Command has gone back to bombing Rabaul with poor results:

Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 2
B-17E Fortress x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged [:'(]

Runway hits 1

Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 12
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 1

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses


And at the end of the turn, bombardment Recon of a sorts...
Ground combat at Lunga (114,138)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1459 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 76

Defending force 2478 troops, 34 guns, 56 vehicles, Assault Value = 99

Assaulting units:
53rd Naval Guard Unit
10th JNAF AF Unit
11th JNAF AF Unit

Defending units:
2nd Marine Rgt /3
Americal Infantry Div /2
193rd Tank Bn /2
1st USMC Air Wing Base Force /1
43rd Const Rgt /1
46th Const Rgt /1
136th USA Base Force /3


No, the prospects of holding Lunga do not look good. But it was always just a pawn in the bigger picture.

Mar 9, 1942

In other News

Final assembly of the Singapore Liberation forces has been completed. Orders to cross the canal are given.

Hopefully this will be enough:

Mar 10, 1942

Best News of the Day
Aircraft G4M3a Betty advances R&D to 9/44
and the Imperial Navy gets a new DD:
DD Makigumo arrives at Hiroshima/Kure


Solomons Action

No hits on the slow task force hiding the crippled carrier.

Lots of intel on the invasion and other ships gathered around Lunga:
Invasion Support action off Lunga (114,138)
54 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Worden
AP President Hayes
DD Dale

Invasion Support action off Lunga (114,138)
24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
CL Concord
DD Gilmer
DD Fox
AP President Polk
DD Aylwin

Invasion Support action off Lunga (114,138)
26 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
xAK Harpoon
xAK Sage Brush
xAP Monterey
AP President Hayes
DD Dale

Invasion Support action off Lunga (114,138)
31 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
AP President Polk
DD Aylwin
DD Gilmer

Invasion Support action off Lunga (114,138)
24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
AP President Hayes
DD Dale

Invasion Support action off Lunga (114,138)
54 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
AP President Polk
CL Concord
DD Aylwin
DD Gilmer

Invasion Support action off Lunga (114,138)
24 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
AP President Hayes
DD Dale

Invasion Support action off Lunga (114,138)
25 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
AP President Polk
DD Aylwin
DD Gilmer

A few Allied troops killed along the way but far too few to have any real effect.

There are 4 ASW encounters off Lunga which gives me a little more intel and a beat up RO-boat.
It looks like she will be able to make it back to Truk.

and the ground attacks:

Ground combat at Lunga (114,138)
Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1462 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 77
Defending force 5909 troops, 80 guns, 150 vehicles, Assault Value = 226

Allied ground losses:
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
53rd Naval Guard Unit
10th JNAF AF Unit
11th JNAF AF Unit

Defending units:
Americal Infantry Div /2
2nd Marine Rgt /3
193rd Tank Bn /2
46th Const Rgt /1
43rd Const Rgt /1
136th USA Base Force
1st USMC Air Wing Base Force /1

Ground combat at Lunga (114,138)

Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 5263 troops, 70 guns, 120 vehicles, Assault Value = 226
Defending force 3212 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 77

Allied adjusted assault: 57
Japanese adjusted defense: 75

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

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
308 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled

Allied ground losses:
185 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
2nd Marine Rgt /3
Americal Infantry Div /2
193rd Tank Bn /2
46th Const Rgt /1
136th USA Base Force
43rd Const Rgt /1
1st USMC Air Wing Base Force /1

Defending units:
53rd Naval Guard Unit
10th JNAF AF Unit
11th JNAF AF Unit

Renewed Air Attacks on Rabaul
Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125
Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 21
Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 5
B-17E Fortress x 3
LB-30 Liberator x 2

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed on ground
H6K4 Mavis: 2 destroyed on ground --- Ouch, those damn things are expensive!

Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
LB-30 Liberator: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 5

Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125
Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 1

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged

Fragmented air assaults and some of those damaged are going to be Ops Losses since he is flying so far from his base.