A Good Place to Start - Matthew (A) v Fokko (J) - Bottlenecks Mod

[CaptBeefheart]

Did you manage to get all of the 147th on the Queen Mary, or did the dockside quartermaster find better uses for some of the motorized support?

Cheers,
CB

[M Peaston]

Did you manage to get all of the 147th on the Queen Mary, or did the dockside quartermaster find better uses for some of the motorized support?

Cheers,
CB

Queen Mary hasn’t finished loading up yet, but on past experience I expect that the US Army will be making its usual ‘voluntary’ contribution towards Sergeant Bilko’s burgeoning haulage business.

[M Peaston]

13th April 1942




INDIA/BURMA

The Light Cruisers Mauritius and Caledon return from their patrol of the Andaman Sea, reporting no Japanese activity other than an encounter with a submarine off of Port Blair. At India HQ Wavell tries to reconcile this information with the intelligence from aerial reconnaissance showing Japanese troopships at Rangoon and Japanese reinforcements heading towards Toungoo. Wavell cabled Vice-Admiral Layton at Colombo, would he mind sending a couple of cruisers back to the Andaman Sea for another little look? He thought about adding that perhaps they could take some binoculars this time, but decided against it; after all, he rather needs Eastern Fleet's cooperation at the moment.

With more Japanese forces heading towards Toungoo, and possibly trying to outflank the position, 17th Indian Division, 13th Indian Bde and 27th Indian Mountain Gun Rgt are ordered to begin the long retreat to Shwebo.



ABDA

Another bad day for the Allied air forces, 6 P400 Airacobras, 4 Hurricanes and a Warhawk are lost over Semarang in return for 4 Zeros claimed. I’m reluctant to let up at Semarang, but the Allied fighters need a break. Indomitable and Formidable will be in position to strike on the 15th, so for maximum effort then the Allied fighters will stand down tomorrow.

164th Rgt starts disembarking at Darwin. Allied ground forces at Darwin now include:

Australian 4th Division (2nd, 3rd and 6th Australian Bdes)
19th MG Bn
US 125th (Sep) Rgt
164th Rgt (Americal Div)
223rd Field Art Bn,
1st HK&S Heavy AA Rgt
3rd HK&S Light AA Rgt
'A' Battery Heavy Coastal Art.
Plus engineers and support units.



SWPAC

Things at Milne Bay are not quite going to plan. A Japanese 3-ship TF, including the Heavy Cruiser Izumo, unexpectedly turned up at Milne Bay. More worrying was that attacking Marauders were met with Zuikaku’s Zeros. There is also an unidentified 8-ship TF just SW of Rabaul. Are the Japanese undertaking their own landing at Milne bay, or are they just probing Allied defences? Are the Zeros operating from land, or from Zuikaku? If Zuikaku, is she alone or with other carriers? Is this a trap, with KB lurking in the Solomon Sea?

Blamey makes his decision: the 2nd Marine Rgt shall return to Townsville. This is the mid twentieth century, and fighting at sea is no longer considered the optimum use for marines. However, the cruisers Chicago, San Francisco and Adelaide will continue on to Milne Bay and see what’s what. They’ll be covered by fighters from Port Moresby. Fireworks are expected tomorrow!



SUBMARINE WARFARE

Off of Uruppu-jima Gudgeon torpedoes xAKL Shino Maru. Typical! Allied subs only fire dud torpedoes at any kind of high value target, but somehow manage to find a working torpedo for an already crippled xAKL. Still, a sinking is a sinking.

Trusty tries to attack a troop convoy (possibly empty and returning to Singapore) but takes 5 nasty depth-charges for her pains and is returning to port.

Tambor comes off worst in a tussle with two Japanese sloops at Wake Island, and is also returning to port for repairs.

I-30 sinks two small sailing ships attempting to resupply Tulagi.

[M Peaston]

14th April 1942




INDIA/BURMA

Six B17Es raided the airbase at Rangoon; 3 B17s suffered minimal damage and didn’t do much damage either.

AVG intercepted a Sally/Oscar raid at Toungoo. Seven Sally IIa’s were claimed to have been shot down in return of the loss of one H81-A3.



ABDA

Dutch motor launches from Cheribon attacked towards Semarang, sacrificing themselves in order to distract the covering Japanese SAG and allowing the MTBs from Soerabaja a free run at the Japanese shipping. All went exactly to plan until the MTB flotilla commander decided to break contact before a shot was fired.

The Imperial Guards Division occupied Soerakarta.



SWPAC

Fireworks at Milne Bay all right! Things worked out well as Chicago, San Francisco, Adelaide and two Destroyers encountered CA Izumo and four Destroyers escorting a small invasion force. Cue obliteration of the Japanese forces! Only it didn’t quite work out that way…….

….The USN heavy cruisers stood off and offered moral support from the sidelines while Adelaide and Izumo engaged in a brutal gun duel. Adelaide took a beating but barring some unforeseen catastrophe will make port okay. Izumo also took a beating but the Japanese invasion force landed unhindered at Milne Bay. Marauders from Port Moresby carried out over 30 sorties against the Japanese ships, but failed to register a single hit. Luckily they didn’t suffer any losses either, despite the best efforts of the Zeros. The day wasn’t a disaster by any means, but it could and perhaps should have gone a lot better than what it did.

1st Marine Tank Bn and 2nd Marine Field Art Bn begin unloading at Melbourne.



SOPAC

A convoy carrying the 6th Marine Rgt from Australia arrives at Suva. 6th Marine Rgt will act as the SOPAC reserve for now.



SUBMARINE WARFARE

Grayling sinks xAKL P122 approximately 240 miles south of Etorofu.



PANIC HQ

Blackadder questions Dai Station about the cable he’s just received from Nimitz. Operation Neptune has to be postponed. Yorktown and Hornet are all ready to go, the problem is that the oilers aren’t ready. According to Nimitz it’s Dai Station’s fault. Dai Station explained that it is all to do with building up fuel stocks at Pearl Harbor. Rather than dipping into these stocks for Neptune, it made far more sense to send to the oilers to the USA to pick up fuel, refuel the Carrier Group where necessary, then unload any surplus fuel at Pearl. This way the operation would increase, rather than deplete, fuel stocks at Pearl Harbor. Admittedly the oilers are still two days out from Seattle and won’t be in position for about a week, but this way is a far more efficient use of the oilers’ valuable time rather than just tramping around after a bunch of fuel-thirsty Aircraft Carriers for days on end.

Blackadder had to explain to Dai Station that sometimes efficiency has to give way to military necessity, but he is not sure that Dai Station really understands.

[M Peaston]

15th April 1942




INDIA/BURMA

AVG is in action over Toungoo again, claiming 8 Sally IIas and 5 Tojos for the loss of one H81-A3, though I’m doubtful about the number of Tojos downed. Boyington cements his position as the leading Ace in theatre with his 10th and 11th ‘kills’.



ABDA

The Dutch torpedo boats press home their attack at Semarang this time. Unfortunately they didn’t hit anything in the confused night-fighting but they did manage to get away with the loss of just one of their own.

The ‘Day of Maximum Effort’ at Semarang proved anything but. The controllers at Soerabaja airbase are just not used to dealing with such a large and diverse number of aircraft. “Sixteen B17s! I was expecting eight; where are we going to put them?” “What do you mean you haven’t enough bombs for them? Well, if they’re still at the docks get them brought up!” “What’s that Stringbag doing in the middle of the runway?” I can see it’s aborted takeoff, but get it moved. Bulldoze it off if you have to”. Well, if it’s carrying a live torpedo then bulldoze it off very carefully!” “We are going to have to land the Hurricanes, Sir - they’ve been circling for two hours waiting to form up with the bombers , they won’t be able to reach Semarang without refuelling.” "Why did you let the Hurricanes take off first?" "We had to make room for the B25s and Warhawks, sir." And so on and so on…. In the end not a single sortie flew against Semarang. Not one!

“How on earth are we going to explain this to HQ?”

That evening AHQ Far East at Darwin received the following message: “Poor weather prevented Air Operations at Soerabaja; no flights possible”.

Fleet Air Arm had to go it alone. In the end, losses were very light, but the results were disappointing. The escorts were able to get all 28 Albacores to their target, but only one ship, xAP Tachibana Maru, was damaged by a torpedo. Total air losses were 1 Martlet, 7 Fulmars and 1 Albacore. Two Zero pilots suffered the ignominy of being shot down by Fulmars.

A handful of Liberators and B17Ds bombed Manokwari. No damage was caused but the bombers were met by Claudes of Ryujo-1, and ships were reported in harbour, confirming Allied suspicions that the Japanese are up to something at Manokwari. Allied Intelligence suspects that Manokwari might be used as an airbase to support operations in the eastern DEI. USS Argonaut has been ordered to mine the harbour and another sub tasked with making a nuisance of itself there.



SWPAC

Milne Bay was captured by the Japanese 65th Naval Guard unit. Blamey suspects this might be a diversion, or perhaps an opportunistic move by the Japanese. Dammit, just one more day and the US Marines would have been there first!

Blamey’s first thoughts are to let the Japanese have Milne Bay. He’s not been there himself, but by all accounts there’s not much there. However, his orders are to keep the sea lanes open for Allied shipping between Sydney and Darwin, and if the Japanese are allowed to build upon their presence this could be problematic. Blamey considers the forces he has at hand: the 2nd Marine Rgt still aboard the transports at Townsville, and also available at Townsville is 2/7 Commando Bn. There’s the 1st Marine Tk Bn and 2nd Marine Field Artillery Bn newly-arrived at Melbourne. Port Moresby is probably over-garrisoned; he could spare a couple of infantry brigades from there. There is fighter cover and medium bombers at Port Moresby, and Townsville is within B17 range of Milne Bay. The weaknesses are that surface warships to protect any troop movements are a bit thin on the ground, and the absence any aircraft carriers in theatre to cover any landing. Blamey’s ADC interjected with what he thought was a very important point, namely that ships can’t actually be thin on the ground, they’d have to be thin on the water. Blamey said he didn’t think this comment very helpful, or words to that effect.

Blamey thinks he could counter-attack swiftly and retake Milne Bay, and without weakening Australia’s defences anywhere else. Another good reason to react quickly is the formation of the new SWPAC HQ in Australia. MacArthur is slated as the new commander, with Blamey to be in charge of land forces, but if Blamey can pull of a successful combined operation at Milne Bay before then, well who knows……

The question is, how much are the Japanese willing to invest in holding their new-found possession?



SUBMARINE WARFARE

Shark sinks a landing barge off of Izu Oshima

I-30 sinks xAKL Dalu off of Rennell Island. Dalu was the last of three sailing ships attempting to get through to resupply Tulagi.

Bass torpedoed and damaged xAKL Bison Maru in the straits between Hokkaido and Sakhalin, and somewhere managed to find another working torpedo to finish her off.

S-43 sank three landing barges at Wide Bay, New Britain.

While monitoring Davao for Mini-KB, Skipjack was attacked by DD Usugumo and is now heading to Darwin for repairs.