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October 30, 1942

More of the same. Still eliminating the enemy at Akyab
Bombing of Rabaul continues.

I had some SBDs reach out to Kavieng, surprised there were no fighters there.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Kavieng at 106,122

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
SBD-3 Dauntless x 29

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
PB CHa-6
PB Kensin Maru, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
PB Mikage Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB CHa-3, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Sansei Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PB Kamitu Maru, Bomb hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 2000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
8 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 4000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
8 x SBD-3 Dauntless releasing from 3000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring PB CHa-3
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring PB Sansei Maru

October 31, 1942

Another month.

More bombing of Rabaul, a few aircraft destroyed on the ground, more runway damage to make sure
he does not build larger forts, and some supply hits.

Continued ground combat at Akyab, I need to eliminate all enemy presence.

November 1, 1942

Same again, not much.

Bombing of Rabaul, DA at Akyab.

But, all the ships of the DS have upgraded and repaired and are no together and off to cause some more mayhem.

November 2, 1942

More of the same, bombing of Rabaul and a DA at Akyab.

November 3, 1942

Same thing again.

November 4, 1942

More of the same

November 5, 1942

More of the same

November 6, 1942

Mostly the same with an added bit.
This TF reacted from Shortlands to Kavieng!!! That is 9 hexes.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Kavieng at 106,122, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Magane Maru, Shell hits 24, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL Leander
CL Achilles
CL Perth
CL Glasgow
CL Caledon
DD Meredith
DD Gwin
DD Grayson
DD Monssen
DD Sims
DMS Wasmuth
DMS Elliot

Japanese ground losses:
76 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 38 (19 destroyed, 19 disabled)
/snip

A FT landed a part of the 12th Australian Brigade on Rossel Island

November 7, 1942

And again my CL SCTF reacts a good distance, from Torokina to Milne Bay, with a stop near Woodlark Island
A sub sinks a DMS, but we demolish the sub.

ASW attack near Woodlark Island at 105,132

Japanese Ships
SS I-8, hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DMS Wasmuth, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
CL Caledon
CL Achilles
DD Gwin
DD Sims
DD Monssen
DD Grayson

SS I-8 launches 2 torpedoes at DMS Wasmuth
DD Sims fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Monssen fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Grayson attacking submerged sub ....
Debris floats to surface in area of attack!
Escort abandons search for sub

Then at Milne Bay

Day Time Surface Combat, near Milne Bay at 101,133, Range 16,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Keijo Maru, Shell hits 38, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL Leander
CL Achilles
CL Perth
CL Glasgow
CL Caledon
DD Meredith
DD Gwin
DD Grayson
DD Monssen
DD Sims
DMS Elliot

Japanese ground losses:
290 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled

Not really a big sinking, but again the RF reacted 9 hexes.

Xargun put up so Tojos over Kavieng and it cost us some aircraft
We lost 1 Corsair , 6 SBD-3s and 7 B-25Bs in air-2-air combat, but did manage to shoot down 7 Tojos.

In total I lost 23 aircraft to his 11, such is life.
But one thing I did notice is this

Morning Air attack on TF, near Kavieng at 106,122

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 20

Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 17
SBD-3 Dauntless x 30

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 13 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Yamashiro
BB Mutsu
CA Takao

I have to prepare for a Naval Bombardment, I have a number of good BBs at both Shortlands and Torokina.
I hope they do well
Another thing he will not be expecting is my DS 2 Hexes South of Rabaul. If any of his BBs are damaged the DS will have its chance
It does contain 45 Avengers with British torpedoes, they work. And it will be in range of Kavieng, which I am sweeping with some
Corsairs from Torokina.


More squads destroyed at Akyab. More bombing at Rabaul.

November 8, 1942

Well, not much happened.

I did finally eliminate all the enemy forces at Akyab.

I swept Kavieng but there were no fighters on CAP there.

The DS is two hexes South of Rabaul but has no detection listed.
There are no TFs shown anywhere, so it would appear that he got
cold feet and retreated his BB TF.

November 9, 1942

Nothing much happened.

November 10, 1942

I landed troops on Tagula Island

That is about all.

November 11, 1942

Not much happened. DD Chew dropped some depth charges on a Sub near to Torokina
and got one direct hit and some damage htis.

Tagula Island switched to my controll.

Bombers hit Rabaul.

Corsairs were given orders to sweep Kavieng, but they didn't fly, I guess weather.

November 12, 1942

nothing.

November 13, 1942

Bad day over Rabaul.
I thought that weather grounded my fighters, but it would appear that some turns ago when I spotted a BB TF at Kavieng
I changed and moved a bunch of air units. I have now determined that I did not properly reset the fighters orders
when I moved them back. A very expensive screwup on my part. The bottom line is a lot of lost bombers.

It is not a pretty picture at all

November 14, 1942

Since recon showed there were aircraft on Kavieng I sent in two Naval Bombardments.
I did not destroy many aircraft but damaged a large number of them and closed the airfield.
I will do something I rarely do, use the bombers on the DS to bomb the airfield.

Night Naval bombardment of Kavieng at 106,122 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 19 damaged
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M2 Zero: 8 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 9 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

2 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB North Carolina
BB New Mexico
BC Repulse
CA Exeter
CA Cornwall
CA Canberra
CA Australia
DD Scout
DD Litchfield
DD Aylwin
DD Porter
DD O'Brien

Japanese ground losses:
629 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 36 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Airbase hits 27
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 52
Port hits 23
Port supply hits 2
=========================================
Night Naval bombardment of Kavieng at 106,122

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 damaged
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 6 damaged
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi
BB Idaho
DD Copsy
DD Bamback
DD Paul Jones
DD Sterett
DD Stack
DD Lang

Japanese ground losses:
259 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Airbase hits 14
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 37
Port hits 21
Port supply hits 2

I also send a Naval Bombardment mission to Rabaul

Night Naval bombardment of Rabaul at 106,125

Allied Ships
CL Caledon
CL Glasgow
CL Perth
CL Achilles
CL Leander
DD Sims
DD Monssen
DD Grayson
DD Gwin
DD Meredith
DMS Elliot

Japanese ground losses:
312 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 26 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 51
Port hits 2
Port supply hits 1

I landed troops on Deboyne Islands

November 15, 1942

Bombing Kavieng did not net many more destroyed aircraft.
A Naval bombardment of Kavieng reported more damaged aircraft.
A Naval Bombardment of Milne Bay reported some damaged Vals.

That is pretty much all.

November 16, 1942

Two more Naval bombardments of Milne Bay closes the airfield and destroys a Val

17 Vals from somewhere attacked a CA/DD SCTF just North of Rabaul and bounced a bomb off of
CA Astoria. One Val shot down by Flak.

November 17, 1942

Not much. Lost some Hurricanes over Cox's Bazar.

November 18, 1942

I enticed some Vals to attack a TF well covered by Marine and USAAF fighters.
Shot down 17 of them. Always glad to shoot down IJN aircraft, hope many pilots went down with their aircraft.