Sept. 9, 1943
This turn was a mixed bag, with the allies no doubt facing their share of hair pulling moments, while I was tempted to throw the computer out the window at one point.
Let us take things more or less in order:
First came invasions of Wotje and Maleolap. The CD guns managed to put some serious hurt on the allies. Three allied destroyers are listed as sunk. I would guess that a few of the transport ships were also sunk. (As a side note, during the damage control phase later in the turn, I also heard a sub sink. Apparently, one of my ASW patrol planes scored. This is the third allied sub my ASW planes have sunk as confirmed by the sinking sound.)
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Pre-Invasion action off
Wotje
18 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
xAK Iron Prince
PC Travis
xAK Illisos, Shell hits 3
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140 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
CL Concord
DD Carmick, Shell hits 3, on fire
AKA Bellatrix
DD Ralph Talbot
APA George F. Elliot
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276 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
CL Concord, Shell hits 11
DD Ralph Talbot, Shell hits 4
DD Mugford, Shell hits 8, on fire
APA George F. Elliot
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28 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
AKA Bellatrix, Shell hits 7, on fire
CL Concord
DD Mugford
DD Ralph Talbot
APA Zeilin, Shell hits 1, on fire
APA George F. Elliot, Shell hits 6, on fire
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Pre-Invasion action off
Maloelap
25 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
xAK Iron Crown
PC Vigilant
xAK Ellaroo, Shell hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Iron Knob
xAK Iron Master
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197 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
CL Detroit, Shell hits 8, on fire
DD Mustin, Shell hits 4, on fire
AKA Thuban
DD O'Brien
APA Sheridan
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93 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
DD O'Brien, Shell hits 4, on fire
APA Sheridan
CL Detroit, on fire
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23 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
xAK Ellaroo, heavy fires, heavy damage
PC Vigilant
xAK Iron Crown, Shell hits 4, on fire
xAK Iron Master, Shell hits 2
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31 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Allied Ships
xAK Iron Crown, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
PC Vigilant
xAK Iron Master, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
The allies landed 3 regiments on Wotje and 2 on Maleolap. Unfortunately for them, they got a very bad roll at Wotje:
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Ground combat at Wotje (135,115)
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 11285 troops, 219 guns, 220 vehicles, Assault Value = 391
Defending force 2214 troops, 39 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 41
Allied adjusted assault: 62
Japanese adjusted defense: 29
Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 4)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2
Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), leaders(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)
Japanese ground losses:
283 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 36 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Allied ground losses:
1455 casualties reported
Squads: 45 destroyed, 52 disabled
Non Combat: 36 destroyed, 85 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 26 (7 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Vehicles lost 32 (12 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Assaulting units:
21st Marine Rgt /1
159th(Sep) Infantry Rgt /1
7th Marine Rgt /1
110th Combat Engr Bn /1
Defending units:
Wotje Naval Fortress
Wotje Base Force
47th JNAF AF Unit
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Ground combat at Maloelap (136,117)
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 8774 troops, 188 guns, 90 vehicles, Assault Value = 341
Defending force 3453 troops, 51 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 92
Allied adjusted assault: 50
Japanese adjusted defense: 26
(Almost 2-1!)
Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 4)
Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3
Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
820 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 64 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Allied ground losses:
1053 casualties reported
Squads: 19 destroyed, 57 disabled
Non Combat: 64 destroyed, 43 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 32 (21 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 19 (9 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Assaulting units:
9th Marine Rgt /1
23rd Marine Rgt /1
102nd Combat Engr Rgt /1
Defending units:
44th Naval Guard Unit
Maloelap Naval Fortress
Maloelap Base Force
1st JNAF AF Unit
This result is very, very good for me, and very bad for the allies. First off, it denies bases for LBA to the allies. Also beneficial, from my perspective, is that I now have a hex my fighters can target rather than dealing with the insane escort routine.
Which brings me to my own hair-pulling moment: My "split-level" naval attack did not come off. Instead, only one Helen formation launched a naval attack, meaning the enemy CAP could concentrate at one level, i.e. above mine, and slaughter my escorts. Really, looking at these results one wonders how people can say the air model is just fine. If this modeled reality, no one in WWII would have volunteered to escort a bombing mission except for Kamikaze pilots. Escorts were able to defend themselves, not just soak up the attacks meant for the bombers. Every single allied fighter got a chance to roll on bouncing the escorts. Not once did the escorts get to dive on the allied fighters. Over 130 fighter escorts were only able to shoot down 4 CAP fighters. Tell me that is realistic. [8|]
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Maloelap at 136,116
Weather in hex: Heavy cloud
Raid detected at 200 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 63 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 28
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 107
Ki-49-IIa Helen x 3
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 35
F6F-3 Hellcat x 327
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 8 destroyed
(13 lost A2A, 1 ops)
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 17 destroyed
(32 lost A2A, 2 ops)
Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
(2 lost A2A, 3 ops)
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
(2 lost A2A, 3 ops)
Again, at base, the problem here is the altitude/bounce routine. Allied fighters were able to scramble to a higher level than the incoming raid and so every one of the allied fighters got a chance to roll for the bounce, all 350+.
This is why the allied invasions of Wotje and Maleolap are important: I don't need to rely on escorts to attack the enemy CAP. I now have a fixed position that my fighters can LRCAP and engage the enemy on favorable terms.
Fighters from Roi-Namur/Kwajalein are set to LRCAP Wotje at 25k feet while a formation of Helens is set to ground attack Wotje at 10k feet. As the allied fighters dive down to the level of the bombers, they will be bounced by my fighters on LRCAP. I have set up a similar "trap" for Maleolap using fighters and bombers from Mili.
The intent here is to wear down the allied CV CAP before the KB attacks the day after tomorrow. For tomorrow then, I will be doing the LRCAP/ground bombing routine. On the day after, it will be an all-out naval strike. I have fresh formations of Tojo's and Zero's ready to fly in after tomorrow's action. My LBA will then be used as escorts on naval strikes with the intent of disrupting the enemy CAP. If I am a little bit lucky, and plot out the distances correctly, the LBA strikes should arrive before the KB strikes. I plan on positioning the KB 6 hexes away from the allied carriers while the LBA will be striking from between 4-5 hexes. It may not work, but it is my best shot of achieving a victory.
Meanwhile, the KB made it almost all the way to Einewetok without running across any subs. So its position is still a secret (there are no detection levels listed on any of the task forces that make up the KB). Unfortunately, the KB split up into 3 groups, so it needs to be brought back together again. I have seen this happen when using the follow command most often when the group is about to reach its home port. In this case Enewetok is set as the home port for the KB. Chalk it up to an over-anxious desire to reach home.
I will post about the composition of the KB next time.
To
bklooste: Thanks for the tip on using green pilots. I realized I was throwing away good bomber pilots on suicide missions when I didn't need to. So I stripped my "bait" Helen formations of their good pilots and filled them up with newbies.
