AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 08/31/42
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TF 1052 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1052 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Patna
PG Nigella
PG Jasmine
DD King
DD Sands
AK Canadian, Mine hits 1
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1052
2 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Sands
Allied ground losses:
50 casualties reported
the mines seem to really have NO effect at all...
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TF 1053 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1053 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Kingfisher
DD MacDonough
DD Hull, Mine hits 1
AK Exmoor, Mine hits 1, on fire
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1053
2 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied ground losses:
335 casualties reported
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TF 1054 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1054 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Penguin
DD Monaghan
AK Sea Thrush, Mine hits 1, on fire
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1054
Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
with all those CD guns I had there it would have been nice if they wouldn´t have been 100% knocked out by the enemy´s nuke nav bombardments... no counterfire from CD guns at all...
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TF 1057 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1057 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Turkey
AK Legazpi, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1057
2 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
MSW Turkey
Allied ground losses:
436 casualties reported
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TF 1058 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1058 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Rail
DD Worden
AK Idaho, Mine hits 1, on fire
AK Jeff Davis, Mine hits 1
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1058
4 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD Worden
Allied ground losses:
182 casualties reported
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TF 1059 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1059 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Agra
AP Crescent City, Mine hits 1
Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1059
Allied ground losses:
256 casualties reported
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese Ships
CA Kumano, Shell hits 3
CA Aoba, Shell hits 3
CA Kinugasa
CA Furutaka
DD Fubuki
DD Kisaragi
DD Yayoi
DD Fumizuki
DD Nagatsuki
DD Mochizuki
Allied Ships
DD Kennison, Shell hits 36, and is sunk
DD Crane
MSW Baroda, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
MSW Cuttack, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
AP Ormiston, on fire, heavy damage
AP Orungal, on fire, heavy damage
AK West Planter
AK West Shipper, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
AK McCormick Terminal, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AK Ernest Meyer
AP Meigs, on fire, heavy damage
AK Silksworth, on fire, heavy damage
AK Shinkuang
AK Jalarajan
AP Taiyuan, on fire, heavy damage
AP Buyskens, on fire, heavy damage
AP Van Riebeek, on fire, heavy damage
We send in two cruiser squadrons today, this one is lead by Admiral Tanaka! Miller has retreated all his warships to Darwin to keep them safe. This way our cruisers get a chance to shoot up the more or less empty invasion TFs without being in real danger... CA Kumano lost a 8 inch turret to a 4 inch hit...
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese Ships
CA Kumano
CA Aoba, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire [>:]
CA Kinugasa
CA Furutaka
DD Fubuki
DD Kisaragi
DD Yayoi
DD Fumizuki
DD Nagatsuki
DD Mochizuki
Allied Ships
DD Sands, Shell hits 47, on fire, heavy damage [8|]
DD King
MSW Patna, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK American
AK Arizonan
AK Arkansan
AK Californian
AK Canadian
AK Carolinian, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Manoa
AK San Rafael
AK West Camargo
AK West Ira
AK West Nilus
PG Nigella
PG Jasmine, on fire
another round and this time Tanaka ordered his cruisers to close in to 2000 yards to make use of the newly equipped Japanese secret hyper weapons: the 25mm AA gun and the 13.2 mm MG!!! DD Sands is made a Swiss cheese, DD King answers this attack with an ancient weapon: 15 inch torpedo! [8|] CA Aoba is retiring on fire, will end up with sys damage around 30...
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese Ships
CA Mogami, Shell hits 1
CA Mikuma
CA Suzuya
DD Wakaba
DD Yugure
DD Ikazuchi, Shell hits 2
DD Inazuma
DD Shinonome
DD Mutsuki
Allied Ships
DD Hull, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD MacDonough, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
MSW Kingfisher, Shell hits 16, and is sunk
AP Tasker H. Bliss
AP President Fillmore, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP President Johnson, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP American Legion, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK John C. Fremont
AK Robert Morris
AP Empire Attendant, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
AK Boero
AP Le Maire
AK Sinabang
AK Sipirok
AP Van Cloon
AP Van Neck
AP Van Overstraten
AK Exmoor, on fire
AK Liberty
AK Haraldsvang
Allied ground losses:
476 casualties reported
this is the second cruiser TF and it engages another troop convoy... but that´s it then. Out of 6 or 7 TFs still being in the hex we engage only 3. Killing those ships remains mainly a task for the airforce...
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TF 1057 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1057 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Turkey
DD Farragut
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1057
6 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
MSW Turkey
Allied ground losses:
299 casualties reported
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TF 1058 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1058 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Rail
DD Worden
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1058
8 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
MSW Rail, Shell hits 1, on fire
AP President Garfield
Allied ground losses:
222 casualties reported
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TF 1059 encounters mine field at Lautem (33,78)
TF 1059 troops unloading over beach at Lautem, 33,78
Allied Ships
MSW Agra
DD Rathburne
DD Kane
AP McCawley, Mine hits 1
Coastal Guns at Lautem, 33,78, firing at TF 1059
Allied ground losses:
29 casualties reported
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Day Air attack on Karachi , at 21,3
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 36
Ki-21 Sally x 37
Ki-49 Helen x 100
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 1 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 6 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 1 destroyed
Hudson I: 1 destroyed
Runway hits 7
Aircraft Attacking:
10 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 21000 feet
I will soon retreat those bombers... doesn´t make sense to attack anyway... [8|]
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Day Air attack on Maumere , at 28,73
Japanese aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 98
LB-30 Liberator x 29
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed
Ki-49 Helen: 2 destroyed
Ki-46-II Dinah: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 4 damaged
LB-30 Liberator: 1 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
209 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 25
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-17E Fortress bombing at 10000 feet
the usual affairs... I move aircraft to an airfield, Miller can see it immediately, the bombers show up and kill my ac on the ground as they didn´t attack in the morning...
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Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77
Allied aircraft
PBY Catalina x 6
B-25C Mitchell x 19
Allied aircraft losses
PBY Catalina: 6 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 17 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
48 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 19
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-25C Mitchell bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
Ki-27 Nate x 34
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 209
No Japanese losses
Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 83
Aircraft Attacking:
32 x Ki-43-Ic Oscar bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on Kainan Guard SNLF, at 33,78
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 23
B-26B Marauder x 23
Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-26B Marauder: 4 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
34 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x B-26B Marauder bombing at 10000 feet
Miller has no problems launching ground attacks on extended range... doesn´t matter, my troops have no chance against the force Miller has landed anyway...
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Day Air attack on Kainan Guard SNLF, at 33,78
Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 55
Wellington III x 28
Hudson I x 21
B-25C Mitchell x 79
Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 1 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 2 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
119 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-25C Mitchell bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on 35th Division, at 50,26
Allied aircraft
IL-4c x 10
Allied aircraft losses
IL-4c: 1 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
14 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x IL-4c bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on 26th Division, at 50,26
Allied aircraft
IL-4c x 13
Allied aircraft losses
IL-4c: 3 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
27 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x IL-4c bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on 10th Tank Regiment, at 34,23
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb x 20
No Allied losses
Japanese ground losses:
11 casualties reported
Vehicles lost 1
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Hurricane IIb bombing at 2000 feet
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Day Air attack on 5th Base Force, at 33,78
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 26
B-26B Marauder x 43
Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder: 5 damaged
Japanese ground losses:
45 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-25C Mitchell bombing at 10000 feet
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Day Air attack on 69th Chinese Corps, at 50,26
Japanese aircraft
Ki-49 Helen x 11
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 1 damaged
Allied ground losses:
12 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 11000 feet
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Day Air attack on 69th Chinese Corps, at 50,26
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 36
Ki-21 Sally x 48
Ki-49 Helen x 59
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 2 damaged
Allied ground losses:
79 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
Aircraft Attacking:
24 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 11000 feet
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Day Air attack on 99th Chinese Corps, at 50,26
Japanese aircraft
Ki-49 Helen x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 1 damaged
Allied ground losses:
20 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Aircraft Attacking:
12 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 11000 feet
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Day Air attack on 99th Chinese Corps, at 50,26
Japanese aircraft
Ki-21 Sally x 30
Ki-49 Helen x 16
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49 Helen: 1 damaged
Allied ground losses:
59 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 11000 feet
lots of ground attacks today...
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and now our airstrikes against the helpless but empty invasion TFs begins again...
Day Air attack on TF at 34,78
Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 10
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AP Taiyuan, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Ormiston, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 6
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Jalarajan, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK West Planter
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 34,78
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 3
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
PG Nigella, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 32,77
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 39
G3M Nell x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 36
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AP President Fillmore, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
G4M1 Betty x 3
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 3 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Sea Thrush, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 48
G3M Nell x 25
G4M1 Betty x 53
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 3 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 3 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Lepus, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP Largs Bay, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AK Red Jacket
DD Dewey
AP Manunda, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP Royal T. Frank, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Farragut
AP Chaumont, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
AK Luzon, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AP Moreton Bay, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Willimoto, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Sawokla, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
50 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
first big raid today, this TF is pretty much obliberated now. Am using only Betties/Nells from Kendari and Amboina as the Helens/Sallies can´t achieve anything with their reduced bomb load...
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 6
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Allied Ships
AP Largs Bay, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Latouche, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 26
G3M Nell x 26
G4M1 Betty x 10
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 2 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged
Allied Ships
AP President Polk, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Jeff Davis, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Worden, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Mauban, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP President Monroe, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AP President Hayes
AK Kanlaon II, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK City of Elwood
AK Magallanes, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
next TF hit hard... seems to be a good day...
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
G4M1 Betty x 3
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AP Crescent City, Torpedo hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 34,81
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 14
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
AP Talthibius, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP Empress of Asia, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP Dardanus, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
this invasion will cost Miller a lot of APs, for his next attacks he will have to rely on AKs I guess as there are not hundreds of APs around for the Allied at this stage of the war...
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Day Air attack on TF at 32,77
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 83
G3M Nell x 33
G4M1 Betty x 28
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 11
Ki-49 Helen x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Sipirok, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Boero, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP Van Cloon, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP Le Maire, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AP President Fillmore, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Robert Morris, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AP Van Overstraten, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP President Johnson, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Exmoor, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Sinabang, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AP Tasker H. Bliss, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
AK Haraldsvang, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
AK Liberty, Torpedo hits 1
Allied ground losses:
100 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Ki-49 Helen bombing at 6000 feet
1 x G3M Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet
combined strike out of Maumere and Kendari. The IJA bombers are based at Maumere. A lot of shipping is hit again, our main problem will be the fact that those ships only have to go 6 hexes and they can be disbanded at Darwin. Another problem for the Japanese when the Allied attacks out of Northern Australia, he can make use of his ports there. When the Allied attack in the Pacific, they have most times a looong way to the next level 6 or higher port and one torp can be devastating for an AK. In this case, one torp won´t sink a big AK/AP.
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Day Air attack on TF, near Lautem at 33,78
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
G4M1 Betty x 28
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
AK Latouche, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Sawokla, on fire, heavy damage
AP Empire Trooper, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Farragut
AP Thomas Jefferson, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Lepus, on fire
AP Largs Bay, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
64 casualties reported
Aircraft Attacking:
1 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
what would I have given for such attacks the first day when not a single bomber launched and 80% of the enemy troops were still on the ships waiting to get unloaded. We could have sunk a lot of troops on their ships as Miller did nothing with his carriers other than positioning them 5 hexes off the invasion site. This could have caused a lot of casualties but once again, he gets away with it. Of course it would not have had any influence on the invasion being a success, even 1/3 of the troops that were landed on the beaches could take the base.
I have to go up with the numbers of expected sinkings, I guess in the end Miller will something around 40 ships. Sounds high for one invasion, is nothing for this war winning move though...
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Ground combat at Sian
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 14254 troops, 460 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2697
Defending force 117242 troops, 657 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3710
Allied ground losses:
60 casualties reported
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Ground combat at Lautem
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 2803 troops, 15 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 157
Defending force 64283 troops, 781 guns, 142 vehicles, Assault Value = 1648
Allied ground losses:
4 casualties reported
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Ground combat at Yenen
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 65565 troops, 704 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 3551
Defending force 43809 troops, 233 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1256
deliberate attack tomorrow...
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Ground combat at Kweiyang
Japanese Bombardment attack
Attacking force 15923 troops, 200 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3362
Defending force 210780 troops, 631 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 4710
Allied ground losses:
8 casualties reported
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Ground combat at Lautem
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 64153 troops, 781 guns, 142 vehicles, Assault Value = 1647
Defending force 14330 troops, 40 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 157
Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 4
Allied max assault: 2644 - adjusted assault: 2588 [8|]
Japanese max defense: 108 - adjusted defense: 49 [8|]
Allied assault odds: 52 to 1 (fort level 4)
Allied forces CAPTURE Lautem base !!!
Japanese ground losses:
774 casualties reported
Guns lost 14
Allied ground losses:
311 casualties reported
Guns lost 5
Vehicles lost 6
Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!
this retreat costs us 200 points for ground losses, this is 40% of our total losses so far...
The Allied units landed until today and they get a higher adjusted av with a deliberate attack than their base av... what can I say, it doesn´t matter anyway, even if they get their av halfed, they still easily take the base.
The plan was to sink ships during the landing with mines and heavy CD fire but this plans are just phantasy as Miller will be able to always nuke my bases and therefore he won´t ever see real CD gunfire, no matter if I place 1 or 20 CD units in a hex. If I place 20 units there, only my losses will be 20 times higher.
Miller now have 5 division and a lot of artillery sitting here, I didn´t spot a single base force but I´m sure those will come in soon and then he has a level 6 airfield ready to bomb Kendari and Maumere to dust with unescorted bomber raids. All bases up to Kendari can also be reached by 4Es from Northern Australia and this means I will have to evacuate those bases in two months at the latest! LOL
Like I´ve mentioned earlier, IMO this attack was a war winning move. Not points wise, but campaign wise. We will still trigger autovictory in three months (if we don´t lose all of KB) but the game was won by Miller today! Therefor it proves now that my invasion of India was wrong. Not because I could use those divisions on Timor. Using them there is senseless when you have your troops in range of 1000 undestructable Allied bombers so I couldn´t use them there anyway. Wrong because my first plan was to attack Northern Australia as I always see an attack out of this area as the MOST dangerous! I´m all the time amazed that many Allied players don´t seem to realize that it´s the BEST direction of attack as you are immediately within the heart of the Japanese most important area. If you manage to advance up to Maumere, it means game over for all your oil and resources in Sulawesi, Java and Southern Borno as then your ships are in range of Allied 4Es - which can´t be stopped at all in Nikmod but I´m only repeating myself on and on.
As it stands now, I will thrown in the kitchen sink as I´m sure that Mille won´t ever change his major attack direction. The problem are still the same though. He can trash my bases just like he wishes to without having to fear my flak nor my fighters. He can also trash KB with one strike as KB´s fighter can´t defend KB against 150 Mitchells. I can attack his shipping... and that´s it! I can not attack his bases! Why? Because of Allied flak! What do you think I will achieve with 200 medium bombers from Kendari when they attack Lautern at 11.000ft? I will achieve 50 runway hits and will lose 30 bombers to flak in one attack with 90% of the rest being damaged. Then the 4Es will show up over Kendari and torch 150 of the damaged bombers at Kendari. The 50 runway hits will be repaired by a dozen sea bea units in one day.
In stock, this wouldn´t be a real desperate situation as we´re still early in the war and I could easily counterattack. Nikmod flak and Nikmod Allied bombers unfortunately don´t give me this possibility. If he gets just ONE succesful attack on Kendari then he will keep it closed easily... one attack and he can make his next jump another 7 hexes North...
I guess it will be a bloody fight the next weeks, perhaps two months, then my airforce, navy and perhaps the army will be totally exhausted and I will just have to wait for the autovictory to pop up and to ask Miller for peace and admit that I can´t stop him from moving into the SRA. It´s depressing that employing 600! fighters on two bases in Timor where not enough to keep us in the game against unescorted bomber strikes. And those bomber strikes are the reason I have to give up sooner or later.
Miller won´t have many more divisions available than those he commited at Lautern, so he probably will have to bring some of them out again, at the latest when he starts his next invasion. This could be the time when I could throw 10 of my divisions at Lautern for a counterattack but I´m 100% sure that the enemy 155mm guns from several of his art units, USMC CD units and USN base forces would eat my ships alive during the landing and my divisions would come ashore at perhaps 50% combat readiness. Then 600+ medium bombers from Wyndham and Darwin and 200 4Es from Derby would attack my shipping... this is when the IJN will go down in a blaze of glory.