Supplement to Zuluhours To young to die..

[Skygge]

Ground combat at 57,51 (near Toungoo)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 38618 troops, 708 guns, 1283 vehicles, Assault Value = 1552

Defending force 32129 troops, 302 guns, 359 vehicles, Assault Value = 946

Allied adjusted assault: 541

Japanese adjusted defense: 3772

Allied assault odds: 1 to 6

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1077 casualties reported
Squads: 3 destroyed, 56 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Vehicles lost 23 (2 destroyed, 21 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1550 casualties reported
Squads: 36 destroyed, 186 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 69 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 26 disabled
Guns lost 56 (7 destroyed, 49 disabled)
Vehicles lost 160 (14 destroyed, 146 disabled)

Assaulting units:
255th Armoured Brigade
21st Australian Brigade
50th Tank Brigade
18th British Division
25th Australian Brigade
254th Armoured Brigade
3rd Carabiniers Regiment
16th Indian Brigade
48th Gurkha Brigade
2/1st Lt AA Regiment
27th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/9th Fld RAA Regiment
2/13th Fld RAA Regiment
2/11th Fld RAA Regiment
2/215th Bty 80th AT Gun Regiment
2/2nd Hy AA Regiment
IV Indian Corps
137/155th Field Regiment

Defending units:
56th Division
16th Division
14th Tank Regiment
6th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
1st Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
30th Fld AA Gun Co
15th Army
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
31st Fld AA Gun Co
39th Field AA Battalion



The rough Jungle terrain does not allow the armor to deploy and the attack grind to a halt in the jungle vales and gorges.

Losses on both sides are fairly light, which to me seems realistic enough. The armor is mostly damaged by the artillery, which would figure if the tanks are caught in columns along the few roads and tracks- most of these would be salvaged during the night where the Japanese artillery would be less efficient.

[Skygge]

I see a bad moon rising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today.


Japanese forces are alerted.

[Skygge]

Sie Kommen

[Skygge]

The KB creeps out of its spider hole.

The Island of Lihir 80 miles west of Rabul

[Skygge]

Nasty start of a day.

I have noticed that the only successful attacks by subs on my carriers so far, have occurred when the carriers have ended up in a hex with unspent movement points and the attacking subs I suspect have also had unspent movement points.
In this case the KB only moved 7 hexes and the attacking sub 3 hexes I think. The sub was spotted last turn.
I will need keep my carriers on the move and not loiter too much.

[Skygge]

While my Rufe fighters get mauled over NG, the Betties get through the allied CAP.
Why I commited Rufes I can not reasonably explain.

[Skygge]

Air losses of the day

[Skygge]

Air battles
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 17, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Salamaua , at 98,127

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 10 NM, estimated altitude 35,550 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 86

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 14 destroyed

No Allied losses

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 89,126

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 23
G4M1 Betty x 32

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 6 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 3 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
AKA Almaack, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1
DE Crosby
APA Custer, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
DD MacDonough
DD Stronghold
DD Stuart
DD Allen

Allied ground losses:
1543 casualties reported
Squads: 58 destroyed, 32 disabled
Non Combat: 88 destroyed, 40 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 128 (128 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 19 (19 destroyed, 0 disabled)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 89,126

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 74 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 66
G4M1 Betty x 9

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 4 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
DE Crosby
DD Brooks
APA John Penn, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk

Allied ground losses:
1356 casualties reported
Squads: 42 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 115 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 57 (55 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 36 (36 destroyed, 0 disabled)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on 86th Naval Guard Unit, at 96,127 (Terapo)

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K2-J George x 102

Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 7 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on Salamaua , at 98,127

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 38,550 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 23

Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 2 destroyed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 89,126

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 16
G4M1 Betty x 12

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 7 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
DD Allen
LSI(L) Glenapp



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Merauke at 89,126

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 64 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 48
G4M1 Betty x 9

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 4 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
AKA Centarus, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
DD Stronghold
APA Du Page, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

[Skygge]

January 1944.

So finally I am in a game that has reached 1944. I am very grateful to Kurt for sticking out the hardship of the early war years.

The Japanese are ahistorical strong at the beginning of the war, and have so many options open to them, that they never had back then. Especially with PDU on. Allied players that can keep up the morale into 1944 deserve to be in the position of giving the Japanese back some.

[Skygge]

Burma :
Defense line runs from Ramree Island though southern Burma. The last 3 months have seen no land action here. In the Air there has been the regular Fighter sweep in force over Rangoon by P47´s and the occasional P-38´s.
These have been with varying results, but overall the Japanese Army Air force has hold their own. I stopped production of the Tojo´s and Oscar´s in mid 1943 and rely now entirely on the Frank, and almost all Army air fighter
units are now equipped with the Frank. 300 of which are based in Rangoon.
Monthly production is now 360 Franks a month, but I am thinking of expanding this to some 420 a month.
I understand from Kurt that he previously has been able to dominate the sky with P-47 sweeps, and the staying power of the Frank is higher than he expected.
As I fight only defensively, the loss of pilots is manageable. One day of particular massive fighter sweeps saw the loss of 88 Franks, but only 25 pilots KIA.

The allied has kept on sporadic but massive bomber raids of outlying Japanese bases, but with little result. Difficult terrain, level 6 forts and lots of AA seems to negate the massive tonnage dropped.
Japanese AA fire does little damage to the bombers coming in a fairly low altitude. I think their major contribution is to throw of the bombers aim.

I keep up a high air surveillance of the Allied troop concentrations so as to shift forces from one sector to another. Right now I see movement towards the west of the Irrawaddy valley and I will consequently
reinforce the Prome sector..

My greatest concern is an amphibious landing in the rear areas cutting my line of communication into Burma. To warn against this I have first a line of subs stretching from of the coast of Bombay to
Of the coast of southern Sumatra. Next in line is lot of air units doing on search missions. Here I find the Ki-46 Dinah III a great plane. Long legs, fast and durable.

Airbases all along the Malayan peninsular, on Sumatra and Java have been build up to 7.

Sumatra and DEI are covered by 6 I.D´s + 3 Tank D´s + various brigades. 2 of these ID´s are stationed together with AP´s and AK´s ready as a fast reaction force.

Large Airbases have been build up all along The Timor, Banda and Arafura Seas. Only Recon and search planes are stationed here, but bases have been build up and supplied to receive air units stationed on Java.

All BB´s but Yamato and Musashi are stationed in the DEI to contest any advance.
As are 700+ Helen´s, Peggy´s and Nick´s all trained in naval attack, so any landing will be a hazardous venture unless covered by massive Carrier forces.

Allied bases in Northern Australia are generally undeveloped; partly as Japanese SS´s, CA´s, CL´s and DD´s have kept up ongoing patrols along the coast intercepting occasional lone ships
These patrols have been supported by air stationed on Timor as support, and partly because The allied have invested little in opening up a sea route to these bases.

[Skygge]

PNG and the Solomon’s.

PM and Milne Bay still in Japanese hands as are Guadalcanal and Ndeni. Though the last bases have been largely isolated now by allied bases popping up overnight like mushrooms.
Both bases are pounded by bomber´s and allied cruisers and Battleships.

I have not really contested this allied advance, as I will not be at an advantage and these bases are delaying operations only. I have made 2 attempts to disrupt allied operation.
First was a surface group, but a CA took a torpedo from a US sub, so task force returned to Kavieng without getting near the allied task forces.
Second attempt was with Jill´s out of Guadalcanal as I hoped to catch as cruiser task force, but instead an allied CV task force showed up and Hellcat´s downed 60+ Jill´s and 30+ George´s
with minimal looses to themselves.

Ndeni is held by a Brigade and a few support troops.
Guadalcanal is much more heavily defended. 14 Army HQ with a full crack ID + tank and art. regiments have dug in here. Both places have enough supply to hold out for a while still.

Ndeni has been hit the hardest by allied BB forces, and the battle reports often state 400-500 casualties, but when I check the brigade is intact and little supply has been lost; the small base
Force though seem to take the brunt and slowly melt away.

I have now airlifted out most of the construction and port units and just leaving the combat units.

I have also started pulling out noncombat units that are not essential from the Rabul area. Strategy here is to delay and leave the combat units to hold or die.

[Skygge]

The Gilbert´s and Marshall´s.

I hold Tarawa, but base is all but isolated.
The Marshall´s have been evacuated but for static base forces and some small units. To leave larger units there will be a folly. Too many islands to hold and as soon as one or two fall rest will be isolated.

Nauru island is well defended and Ponape has been heavily fortified. Neither place will be a walk over.

Truk is now with level 7 forts and a full ID will hold or die here.



The Marianna’s and Bonin´s must be held. They are the line in the sand.

Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan, Pagan, Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima are all heavily fortified and all bases are in the process of being stocked for a long siege.


The Kuril´s and Northern Japan is now also garrisoned with enough forces to halt anything but an all-out allied effort. The massive reinforcement of infantry brigades that arrive end 1943 was very welcomed, but
most of all the lack of a Chinese front has produced ample reserves of quality troops from which to buy out.
Not one Division has been bought out from the Home Islands, and what has been possible of these to airlift to outlaying island has been airlifted, so the defense here is as strong as it can be.

[Skygge]

Economy :

I am in a bit of a loss as to how I am doing on the economy, but I am not overly confident of my management here.

Supply is churning out satisfactory for now. I am now close to 4 M. supply and stock is growing daily.
Is it enough for sustained heavy action? – that I am not sure of. Second half of 1943 has been fairly quiet, but then again I have expanded bases and fortifications heavily in 1943.

HI is at 1.4 M but is almost stagnant with only a minute daily growth.
On the positive side I am now turning out surplus Frank A´s , George 2´s , Judy D4´s, Peggy´s and France 2´s. All of these are planes that can function well into 1945. So any stock of these planes
will be untouchable reserves that can be called upon .. if they survive that long.

Fuel and Oil is only at 2 M combined but is steady at this level. This I think low, and I am much more selective when moving BB´s and CV´s.
I have experienced the first HI that fail to produce. That was the HI in Manchuria and China. I have now diverted more fuel from Borneo to go to the Chinese mainland.
- And I can assure you that the AI does pull oil and fuel from Urumchi. Stock of oil in the Northern Chinese base is down to 18K - All you have to do is create a critical demand though mismanagement.


The KB now have more than 20 carriers with all pilots trained into their 70´s and 80´s in necessary skills. All told they can launch 1.000 planes.
All fighters are the armored C version of the Zero. The Judy D4 carrying the 800 kg bomb is now entering service with 380 units produced pr. month. Not a match for the allied carrier forces I know, but enough to
make the allied vary.
I will not seek out carrier vs. carrier battles, but only accept battle if advantages are clearly in my favor - or in desperation.

When Kurt blew away my 60 Jill´s and 30 George´s for the price of some 50 cal. ammunition he warned me that this was just a rehearsal. I smart still from the sting.

I have pulled subs away from trying intercepting what comes their way, and put them on low threat tolerance and away from allied hubs. Many are now set up in a double scout line stretching from the Artic Sea to the Gilberts
or in the single scout line in the Indian Ocean. Allied ASW is now very hurtful.


War Goal for 1944 is to keep the oil flowing and allied bombers away from the Home Islands. That is all.

[Skygge]

I have started pulling further back in Burma.

For some months I have held a line going from Ramree Island overProme to Toungoo. This has been held by 4 stacks
A: 2 x ID on the coast blocking access to Ramree Island
B : 2 x ID on the road block access to Prome
C: 2 x ID in Toungoo
D. 2 x ID blocking road west of Toungoo

All 4 stack have been augmented by various HQ, ART; AT, AAA and Eng. units.
I addition an ID was in reserve at Moulmain and an additional ID has just disembarked in Rangoon.

Allied forces along the coast has now grown to 100.000+ with some 1.400+ AFV´s.... according to my intelligence, also allied forces threatened Prome from the Clear hex north of the river.

If one of my stacks had been overwhelmed I could easily have ended up in a rout in Burma.

Plan is now to slowly fall back from Prome towards Rangoon. Then slowly let the inland forces fall back towards Pegu, and finally fall back to the river lines around Moulmain.
Right now Thai divisions, Japanese 2nd line ID´s and brigades are moving into hexes along the Moulmain River line to make sure a defensive line has been set up here. Main forces can then fall back on these.

This will give the Allied Ramree island to build into an additional entry for supplies and in the end also the Rangoon area airbases, but the Japanese Army will remain intact in good defense positions.

If the allied get reckless with pursuits inland then I may have an opportunity to strike back when all my stack converge around Pegu. I will then have 10+ ID with lots of Artillery to face the allied. That translate into 200.000+ tropps
Geography will help keeping allied columns separated. I do not think Kurt will be so reckless as to give me the chance for a short but bloody counter attack, but I will look out for such an opportunity.

Elsewhere the allied is on the advance. Tarawa just fell with no impressive performance from the 6.500+ Japanese defenders. The 3rd Marine Division dislodged them with ease, The marines founds lots of rice, fish and beans on the Island.
9.000+ supplies still on hand when Island fell.

In the Solomons the allied is creeping towards Rabaul Island by Island. Not much I can do or intend to do here. All I can do is try slow allied speed.

[Skygge]

Mid March 1944

Burma :
Rangoon and Pegu are now in allied hands, but an intact Japanese Army is now behind the first river line
The withdrawal was undramatic from a Japanese viewpoint though I am not sure if Kurt had hoped to cut off my Army at Pegu, as a sizeable allied force with armor advance into Pegu from the North, but the large Japanese force there in level five forts
could easy have withstood any allied attack, but none never came. Instead an allied Regimental unit made a suicidal attack in Rangoon against the vastly superior Japanese force here. I wonder if this was an effort to try pin me or make me
try stay and defend Rangoon in force.
When the Japanese force from Rangoon joined the Pegu force, I could possible have made a counter attack here, but I decided against it, as the allied by then had entered Rangoon with some 120.000 troops.
I had no wish to fight a large allied armor force in the open terrain around Pegu with the threat of it being reinforced by the allied Rangoon force.
So I did chose the less heroic but undramatic action of an orderly retreat as this made sure I was still a day´s march or two ahead of the combined allied force.

More units are moving to reinforce the Jungle hexes behind the second river line, and when they are in place, the main Army will fall back to Moulmein.
Moulmein is the key defense position to protect against an allied advance towards Bangkok. Forts are at level six here and supply will be able to flow satisfactory from Thailand.
This good defense position will allow me to pull back 2 ID´s back into the general area reserve.

Airfields around Ranheng and Bangkok have been expanded with lots of Franks now at station in both areas to contest allied bombing.
The 1944 March expansion of the Japanese Army air force was quite massive. Lots of Daitais expanded to 59 air planes. All front line fighter units are fully equipped with the Frank and reserve aircraft of the Frank is now past the 600 mark and
growing monthly with 420 units produce pr. month.

I think it will be difficult for the allied to swiftly force their way through here, and I hope to be able to hold on in Northern Thailand until end 1944.

If the allied open up a new front with an Invasion of Java, Sumatra or Northern Malaya it will require extensive air coverage by carriers as allied losses otherwise will be staggering due to the massive Japanese air and Naval presence.
Imperial Army and Navy bombers have been training for Naval attack missions for 18 months now with very few losses, as there has been very little air action for them. The 10 Japanese BB´s in the area will be able to shut down any single Allied airbase
wrestled from Japanese defenders unless Allied carriers dominate locally – at least for a while.

Still all told the allied will eventually be able to overwhelm the Imperial Air forces and the Imperial Navy. Question is just when.

I just had a sighting of the new generation of the P-47 coming in on an unopposed sweep over Moulmein. – I think I am going to need all the Franks I can muster. Possibly I can introduce the Ki-100 II Tony very late in 1944.
No research has been undertaken for the later Frank´s as I plan for the Ki-100 II to take over guard duty. I hope it will hold up as well as the Frank has pleasantly done. I can not praise this fighter enough.
I am skipping actually building any Ki-100 I, as I have this preference of keeping my air force simple with as few different types as possible. This may be a misunderstood conception from my side.

When commencing this game, I vastly underestimated the value of being able to switch factories at will from production factories to R&R factories. Not so any more. The flexibility here is a huge advantage

[Skygge]

Pacific :

Port Moresby is still held by the Japanese but this base is slowly loosing its importance as the allied advance in the Solomon’s.

The Solomon Island Chain is now almost in allied hands.
The allied advance is deliberate and structured with the apparent preference of unloading lots of metal on any Japanese defenders and hold backland attacks until any stronghold has been pounded into near impotence.
Lunga Points is still held by the crack Japanese 18 ID. All the small units previously there have melted away under a month long hailstorm of bomb´s & shells.
Some night´s they are visited by up to 10 BB´s or CA´s and the day light bring wave after wave of bombers.
Most of the supporting (small) units of artillery, AAA and base units have melted away under this hailstorm. I think 6 units have now dissolved.

The 18 ID and two tank regiments have endured this month long siege and is still full of spirit with morale being 94 to 95 .
I wonder when will the allied land forces attack. Every day they hold is a gain for the Empire.

The KB has been stationed at Truk for the last months but I need consider moving it to stay out of sight of any preying eyes in the skies.
The mere existence of the KB can put a damper on allied movements. If the where about of it is know to the allied, it looses some of its effectiveness.

[Skygge]

Guadalcanal has fallen and the allied is close to isolating Raboul.

The IJA 18 Division died with glory holding out at Lunga Point for weeks and weeks against an overwhelming allied force.


The KB has (tried to) interfered twice.

First was an attempt to put a brake on the US BB forces which were pounded Lunga Point on a nightly basis.
I had for some weeks tested allied air search coverage NE of the Solomon’s for weak spots. I noticed that in bad weather I could have cruiser forces go undetected NNE of Lunga.
Hoping to get cover by bad weather the KB sallied forth from Truk and rain squalls hid the 20+ carriers in 4 task forces from air search.
A quick dash brought the full KB inside striking range of several allied taskforces. Result was rather disappointing as in the end very few planes actually took of from the KB. They only sank a CVE for the loss
of some 80 planes. I think the same bad weather that hid the KB also hampered sorties ..maybe combined with some commander bad rolls. I don’t know, anyhow result I could best describe as a Draw.

As the allied had some 6-10 BB´s in the area and the carriers were only covered CA´s I could not linger for a second day, and the KB retired slightly to the NNE. Next day found an allied Hunter Cruiser group inside strike range
and 2 US CA´s were sunk. That helped a bit on the over all result.


Next I did a dumb thing.

Allied forces were now invading bases close to Rabaul and with my air searches finding only what looked like some 6-8 carriers covering + some CVE´s with the invading forces, I sallied the KB forth again.
An inner voice screamed at me “DON’T DO IT”, but I managed to ignore this. Here years of practices of ignoring facts, overlooking warnings and setting aside common sense came me in good stead, and forth we sailed.

Result was a one side action. Allied Hellcats tore the Japanese formations apart. And this time the Japanese chose to get airborne in mass. More than 400 Japanese aircraft were downed for what amounts to no gain.
It was well played by Kurt and I sat with a felling of having been set-up somehow, having been baited into doing this. If that is the case I can only say I went for hook and line – perhaps not sinker, as I still kept the KB outside
effective range of allied counterstrikes. Still a resounding defeat and well played by my opponent,

Now this is not the end of the world for the Empire. No Japanese carriers were touched, I have spare aircraft in abundance and enough trained pilots to immediately replace losses with +70 trained pilots.
I can only hope I can take lesson learned to heart and stop doing things like this.- still the defeat smarts.

The Bismarck barrier has not yet been broken. Raboul, Kavieng, Manus and Port Moresby still have large well supplied Japanese garrisons and May 1944 is closing in fast.

Elsewhere things are pretty quiet apart from the sound of the pickaxes and shoves of the Japanese digging in everywhere.

Burma front is stabilized for now. The oil flows.
The Marianna’s are now heavily fortified as are Truk, Ponape and The Bonin´s.
Reserve aircraft of the Frank is now 980 planes, the George N1K5 will go into production next month with more than 200 planed pr. Month.
The A6M7 Sam will go into production during the summer of 1944 and the Tony 100-II I hope to introduce in the fall of 1944.

A lot of heavy fighting is still ahead for the Allied. The allied Juggernaut cannot be stopped dead in its track, but it can be hurt and most of all it can be delayed.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Skygge

Pacific :

The KB has been stationed at Truk for the last months but I need consider moving it to stay out of sight of any preying eyes in the skies.
The mere existence of the KB can put a damper on allied movements. If the where about of it is know to the allied, it looses some of its effectiveness.

Looks like you're doing well here. If he's is actively aiming to take already isolated bases like Lunga then you're already winning a victory there.

Looks like he's in range of Truk with the new 4E recon planes he'll have, so yes, I'd stash the KB slightly farther away.

Allied forces were now invading bases close to Rabaul and with my air searches finding only what looked like some 6-8 carriers covering + some CVE´s with the invading forces, I sallied the KB forth again.
An inner voice screamed at me “DON’T DO IT”, but I managed to ignore this. Here years of practices of ignoring facts, overlooking warnings and setting aside common sense came me in good stead, and forth we sailed.

Result was a one side action. Allied Hellcats tore the Japanese formations apart. And this time the Japanese chose to get airborne in mass. More than 400 Japanese aircraft were downed for what amounts to no gain.
It was well played by Kurt and I sat with a felling of having been set-up somehow, having been baited into doing this. If that is the case I can only say I went for hook and line – perhaps not sinker, as I still kept the KB outside
effective range of allied counterstrikes. Still a resounding defeat and well played by my opponent,

Now this is not the end of the world for the Empire. No Japanese carriers were touched, I have spare aircraft in abundance and enough trained pilots to immediately replace losses with +70 trained pilots.
I can only hope I can take lesson learned to heart and stop doing things like this.- still the defeat smarts.

Don't kick yourself about this too much. If you kept the CVs alive you probably "won" the engagement psychologically if not tactically. The Allied player will have to be cautious knowing you will take aggressive action with the KB. Now go back to the shadows and wait for him to put something out on a limb. Also, flank runs by fast groups only into logisitcs lines can have a good effect if you find he's not protecting the rear areas in Cent Pac.

Also, you have the Sam coming up quite early. This may be a shock to the Allied side. In game this plane (especially combined with the Grace and later Judy models) the KB stays very viable as an attacking force into 45. The Sam is slightly better than the Hellcat, so if number of planes are somewhat equal, you can really put a damper on the Allied efforts at some point.

PS - on some of these big days I;d love to see a snipit of the big strikes to have a look at numbers and damage done.

[Skygge]

Looks like he's in range of Truk with the new 4E recon planes he'll have, so yes, I'd stash the KB slightly farther away.

Thank you for the in-put. I have now withdrawn the KB to Guam, and I will try avoid direct confrontation with main Allied carrier TF´s and rather go for the flanks and rear.

It looks like Kurt is going for cleaning up all resistance in path of his main thrust, which I am now convinced is coming up from The Solomon area. Possible with the aim of going for the Marianna’s or Bonins.
He has just invaded Nauru, but initial shock attack has been rebuffed - (I will post screen shoot when I get home from work).

I hope he is going for this clearing all points of resistance, as my best option is to trade units and outlaying Islands for time, as long as it keep the HI safe.

Rabaul is defended by a good JID and has fort level 7 – and too much supply with more than 70.000
Kavieng has another JID but only fort level 4 and some 30.000 supply. I consider airlifting out what I can – after Kurt has build up overwhelming force, that is.
Right now only 2 units have been spotted moving up from the southern end of the Island.

Manus has yet another IJD. This is one I have airlifted out of Port Moresby.
Only a skeleton force has been left at PM with lots of AA to make a great show when his bombers come in - I hope this will convince Kurt that the base is still heavily defended – which it is not.
Anyhow PM no longer has much value to me, as the allied now has all of the Solomon’s and is closing in on Kavieng.

Ponape is defended by another IJD and I believe has fort level 6.
Truk is defended by 110 JID – the heroes of Wake Island, fort level is soon at 8. It will be a hard nut to crack.
Iwo Jima is almost maxed out with close to 30.000 defenders build around a crack JID and fort level 6 which seems to be the max level you can have here.

All the major Islands in the Marianna’s are heavily defended. I have moved most of what I could find of CD guns to here. All have fort level 6 with Saipan and Guam closing in on level 7.
Again I have an abundance of supply. Guam is at 100.000+,Saipan 70.000+ and the rest of the Island are not starving.

All in all I would say that allied amphibious operations in the Pacific will require lots of planning and tenacity.

Allied bases in Northern Australia seem to be undeveloped. I have recently conducted BB bombardments of Darwin and Broome, and allied fighters in both places seem to have retreated out of gun range.
I have kept up Cruiser sweeps along the coast to bag lone AKs trying to sneak in supply.
So I do not expect any sudden allied advance in this area.

My weak spot I think is up along the coast of PNG. The Allied may be able to advance along the Northern coast and into the southern Philippines. I am now trying to build up speed bumps along the way, and just maybe
the threat of a hidden KB will make Kurt wary of protection the flanks of such an advance.

This was one of the reasons why I chose not to fight for Rangoon. I need those 2 JID now freed up as Strategic reserves to throw into the path of an allied advance in PNG or the DEIs.
I have greatly benefitted from the (early?) conquest of China and the fact that few major actions have been fought all up through 1942 and 1943.
It has made it possible to build up reserves and strengthen defenses all around my perimeter. The heavy influx of infantry units in 1944 – though of general poor quality – help to beef up garrisons.

The Imperial Navy is intact – largest loss is one CA. – but then again the allied navies are also pretty much unhurt. They will be able to overwhelm any point of their choosing.

Another weak spot is oil. I now occasionally have HI that fail to produce, and reserve of HI has now dropped to 1.25 M.- on the positive side I have 1.000+ Franks in reserve and 400+ Judy D4Y.
The Grace will go in production in 9 days and supply level is at 3.7 M.

Japan will go down fighting to the very end.

[Skygge]

Allied 31st. Div hit wrong beach on Nauru?


Ground combat at Nauru Island (127,128)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 9205 troops, 202 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 188

Defending force 4902 troops, 75 guns, 103 vehicles, Assault Value = 148

Allied adjusted assault: 0

Japanese adjusted defense: 263

Allied assault odds: 1 to 99 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: forts(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
103 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2660 casualties reported
Squads: 53 destroyed, 134 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 42 (2 destroyed, 40 disabled)
Vehicles lost 11 (2 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Assaulting units:
31st Infantry Division
41st Base Group

Defending units:
2nd Ind.Mixed Regiment
5th Armored Car Co
11th Tank Regiment
1st Mortar Battalion
15th Ind.Medium Field Artillery Regiment
Jaluit Base Force