At dawn we slept...in the cab on the way back from Olongapo

[Cap Mandrake]

*************M&M Enterprises Fuel Services, Dutch Harbor, January 1*********


Cpt. Henkle, CO USS Platte: $143,000 DOLLARS! I'll not pay it. That's war profiteering, sir. I'll report you to the Truman Commission.

Young sergeant with irrepressible optimism: The Truman Commission hasn't started yet sir. Besides, I have an order here from Sec Knox. <begins reading> "Pursuant to the Economic Stimulus Act of 1941 the United States Navy awards an exclusive naval and aviation
fuel contract for all ports in NorPac command area."

Cpt. Henkle, CO USS Platte: <reluctantly signs contract> Young man, you are a disgrace to the Army Air Force.


Young sergeant with irrepressible optimism: Yes sir, I get that a lot. Have a nice voyage. Watch out for icebergs but if something should happen we do dent removal too!

[Cap Mandrake]

Angry red splotches all over Solomon Sea, and they are headed South. That didn't take long

[Cap Mandrake]

We have tried to close Rabaul airfield for 2 days with Forts from PM but the airfield is crappy and there is not enough support.
Still wet behind the ears US Army dive bombers are sent in.

The only meaningful USN surface force is Southeast of Sydney because I was worried the carriers would keep coming south.

[Cap Mandrake]

It pains me to see the enthusiastic sergeant run circles around Cpt Henkle because I might be
related to him (on the Moravian side). Still, one has to be objective and only report what is happening.
That is the whole point of an AAR, after all.

[Cap Mandrake]

Defense of New and Improved Caledonia.

Free French
USMC Defense Bn
US Army Field Arty Bn

Arriving tonight:
Another USC Defense Bn
AA unit
21st Marine Air Group
804th Aviation Engineers

They may be headed to their eventual demise but them are the breaks.

[Cap Mandrake]

Defense of Fiji:

2 NZ Brigades and support units
2 US Army FA Bn
Fiji guys

Arriving tomorrow:

21st MAG
34 x B-26
42 x Dive Bombers
43 x P-39

[Cap Mandrake]

2 x USMC Regt and one US Army Regt headed to Auckland because they are on big cruise liners with swimming pools and shuffleboard and can't disembark at forward bases.

[Cap Mandrake]

Oz: We would be in better shape if we still had the USN to help but they were unavoidably detained.

18th Br Div landing at Darwin which, if we can get supply up there makes it a serious bastion.

Cairns and Cooktown...zero AV
Townsville 115
Rockhampton 129

Shockingly few fighters.

[Itdepends]

It's pretty easy to cut Darwin off from supplies (and retreat) by landing at Whyndham, Derby etc. Are you sure you want to put the 18th that far north?

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Itdepends

It's pretty easy to cut Darwin off from supplies (and retreat) by landing at Whyndham, Derby etc. Are you sure you want to put the 18th that far north?

Doesn't really matter - the way this works it's either brilliant or the staff's fault! [:D]

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: Itdepends

It's pretty easy to cut Darwin off from supplies (and retreat) by landing at Whyndham, Derby etc. Are you sure you want to put the 18th that far north?

That you would have to take up with Admiral Lord SPrior [:)] No fun to have the Raiding Reginment land behind you either. Otherwise the 18th could fall back on a landing at Wyndham.

[Cap Mandrake]

************January 1, 1942(e)**********

Sea of Okhotsk: Egress seems to go well. We run into a couple of AK's near P-J and sink them. No air or sub attacks.
Now, to run and hide before Jap carriers show up.

New and Improved Guinea: 33rd Div is landing at PM. Landings also at Buna and Milne Bay.

We try to fight back. Looks like Ryujo is around somewhere.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Port Moresby at 98,130

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 16

Allied aircraft
Hudson III (LR) x 2
P-40E Warhawk x 4

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson III (LR): 1 destroyed

CAP engaged:
Ryujo-1/B with A6M2 Zero (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(5 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 10000.
Raid is overhead
Ryujo-1/C with A6M2 Zero (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)

[Cap Mandrake]

Nice raid. At least we hit something with troops on it. Nicer would have been Ryujo.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Port Moresby at 98,130

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

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

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 17
P-40E Warhawk x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Banshee: 7 destroyed, 1 damaged
A-24 Banshee: 2 destroyed by flak
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Oi
xAP Kamakura Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
CA Kinugasa

Japanese ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Hard to hit a Jap DD from a passenger airliner.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Buna at 99,129

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 9 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 3

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Yayoi

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Hudson I bombing from 6000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb

These A-24 pilots are pretty damn green.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Buna at 99,129

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 2

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Mochizuki

Pretty cool..although transports at PM would have been nicer.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Buna at 99,129

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 10

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Sado Maru
TB Kari
AK Hirokawa Maru, Bomb hits 2

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

[Cap Mandrake]

Afternoon attacks. The CAP is getting tired. We left the cute stewardesses behind.

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Port Moresby at 98,130

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10

Allied aircraft
Hudson I x 3
P-40E Warhawk x 2

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Oboro

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Hudson I bombing from 6000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb

We go after a BB

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Fergusson Island at 102,132

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 13

Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Banshee: 5 damaged
A-24 Banshee: 1 destroyed by flak

Japanese Ships
BB Fuso
CL Kitakami

[Cap Mandrake]

33rd Div is not completely ashore. We might be able to leave the A-24's there another turn.

Ground combat at Port Moresby (98,130)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 2906 troops, 42 guns, 14 vehicles, Assault Value = 92

Defending force 2661 troops, 19 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 159

Japanese ground losses:
41 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Assaulting units:
30th Australian Brigade
Lark Force /1
505th Base Sqdn
14th RAAF Base Sqdn
Papuan Inf Battalion
13th Fld RAA Regiment
Moresby RAN Stn Base Force
Del Monte AAF Base Force /3

Defending units:
33rd Div /2

[Cap Mandrake]

Why did they land all these heavy guns at Buna? Are they going to drag them over the mountain?

Ground combat at Buna (99,129)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 808 troops, 33 guns, 84 vehicles, Assault Value = 18

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

Japanese adjusted assault: 14

Allied adjusted defense: 1

Japanese assault odds: 14 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Buna !!!

Combat modifiers
Attacker: shock(+)

Assaulting units:
Yokosuka 1st SNLF /1
2nd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Hvy.Artillery Regiment
3rd Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion

[Cap Mandrake]

We do need a speed bump at PM to get ready elsewhere.

Malaysia: Apparently, there was some quid pro quo with the King of Siam regarding Georgetown.

Ground combat at Georgetown (49,74)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 7465 troops, 49 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 311

Defending force 19323 troops, 133 guns, 53 vehicles, Assault Value = 539

Japanese ground losses:
86 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
41st Guard Battalion
6th RTA/A Division
14th Tank Regiment
6th RTA/B Division
6th RTA/C Division
1st RTA/C Division

Defending units:
15th Indian Brigade
6th Indian Brigade
5/14th Punjab Battalion
FMSV Brigade
28th Gurkha Brigade
1st Mysore Battalion
3rd SSVF Battalion
8th Indian Brigade
2/215th Bty 80th AT Gun Regiment
110th RAF Adv Base Force
2nd ISF Base Force
223 Group RAF
109th RAF Adv Base Force
109th RN Base Force

[witpqs]

************January 1, 1942(e)**********

Sea of Okhotsk: Egress seems to go well. We run into a couple of AK's near P-J and sink them. No air or sub attacks.
Now, to run and hide before Jap carriers show up.

But why would Jap carriers show up? They're probably happy to know the USN battleships are up there not hurting anything. [:'(]

[desicat]

At this point they would never expect the BB's to turn around and strike their initial intended target, what a surprise that would be! Of course they wouldn't expect the Spanish Inquisition either......

[Itdepends]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition