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It looks like your Defence Battalions at Shimushiri Jima are out-gunning his artillery - 1 or his 36 guns destroyed and 31 damaged is a great start. If your infantry needs to rest you should still bombard with your 155s.

Part of the trick to intercepting transports is figuring out the right altitude to set your LRCAP. Some AARs report luck using a very low level like 1000 feet, but that puts your fighters in range of the enemy's ubiquitous 7.7 mm AA guns. A setting of 3000 feet would get above that and most IJ units do not have many 25mm guns. If you have enough squadrons on LRCAP then altitudes should be staggered a bit.

you may have a very good point there - I usually LRCAP at max 2 different altitudes -and none were this low...
probably because my transports hardly ever go it at 1000...

thanks a lot!

September 9-10:

Slowly but surely we are making our move to push back Japanese Air units from Hokkaido, while making sure that Toyohara falls as quickly as possible.

Results are usually best after the B-29s have rested for 2-3 days and are completely fresh - the difference in results is sometimes staggering - even if fatigue was only at 10-15 per pilot.
At this stage we have not yet the ability to LRCAP with NFs over the desired target ensuring even better results later on in the war.

Night Air attack on Sapporo , at 120,51

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 47 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 1
Ki-45 KAIc Nick x 3

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
42nd I.F.Chutai with Ki-45 KAIa Nick (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters to 8000.
Raid is overhead

---------------------------

As mentioned above we start using our Air Forces to actually commence the process of Toyohara's capture:

Morning Air attack on Toyohara , at 124,46

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25D1 Mitchell x 24
B-25H Mitchell x 12
F4U-1A Corsair x 229
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 35
PB4Y-2 Privateer x 35
PBJ-1D Mitchell x 14
PBJ-1J Mitchell x 3
SBD-5 Dauntless x 7

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
150 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Airbase hits 7
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 36


----------------------

We capture Shimishiri-jima - as planned - thus taking the one target I was most worried not having had assigned enough troops to. - the overly hasty evacuation of the garrison was actually a huge relief for me.

Ground combat at Shimushiri-jima (132,51)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 16853 troops, 233 guns, 370 vehicles, Assault Value = 330

Defending force 2233 troops, 25 guns, 15 vehicles, Assault Value = 11

Allied adjusted assault: 198

Japanese adjusted defense: 11

Allied assault odds: 18 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied forces CAPTURE Shimushiri-jima !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
910 casualties reported
Squads: 44 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 19 destroyed, 78 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 19 (19 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 20 (20 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
17 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
111th(Sep) Infantry Regiment
5th USMC Tank Battalion
Wake (Det.) Defense Battalion
39th Aviation Base Force
158th USA Base Force
46th USN Naval Construction Battalion
1st Marine Defense Battalion
20th USN Naval Construction Battalion
41st USN Naval Construction Battalion
43rd USN Naval Construction Battalion
16th USN Naval Construction Battalion
159th USA Base Force
230th USN Base Force
14th Marine Defense Battalion
187th USAAF Base Force
5202nd Eng Con Bde
229th USN Base Force
839/841 Engineer Aviation Battalion
7th USN Naval Construction Regiment

Defending units:
2nd Amphibious Brigade
Maizuru 2nd SNLF
52nd Naval Guard Unit
52nd JNAF AF Unit /1

------------------------------

the 10th of September saw our first ground attack on Toyohara - having waited on another assault for around about a month now - all troops had arrived at this point except one Combat Engineer unit, which I was happy to wait on - expecting that the ones present would quickly be exhausted and in need of replacing anyway.

Ground combat at Toyohara (124,46)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 80472 troops, 1486 guns, 1992 vehicles, Assault Value = 3342

Defending force 24992 troops, 251 guns, 54 vehicles, Assault Value = 684

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Allied adjusted assault: 4520

Japanese adjusted defense: 1365

Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 4

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

Japanese ground losses:
3998 casualties reported
Squads: 88 destroyed, 211 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 28 disabled
Guns lost 38 (5 destroyed, 33 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
628 casualties reported
Squads: 20 destroyed, 154 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 37 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 43 disabled
Guns lost 55 (12 destroyed, 43 disabled)
Vehicles lost 54 (6 destroyed, 48 disabled)

Assaulting units:
711th Tank Battalion
762nd Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division
77th Infantry Division
131st Combat Engineer Regiment
6th Infantry Division
I Corps Cmbt Engineer Regiment
1st USMC Tank Battalion
706th Tank Battalion
670th Tank Destroyer Battalion
3rd Marine Division
93rd Infantry Division
4th Marine Division
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
18th Combat Engr Rgt /3
XI Corps Artillery
3rd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
607th Coast AA Regiment
96th Cst AA Rgt /1
190th USAAF Base Force
64th Coast AA Regiment
Eighth US Army /1
15th USN Naval Const Rgt /2
17th USN Naval Construction Regiment
48th Aviation Base Force
226th USN Base Force /2
860/865th EAB /3
259th Coastal Artillery Battalion
108th USN Base Force /2
XI US Corps
38th Aviation Base Force
179th USAAF Base Force /2
249th Field Artillery Battalion
8th USN Naval Construction Regiment
382nd Const Rgt /1

Defending units:
65th Brigade
89th Division
Karafuto Mixed Brigade
177th JAAF AF Bn
27th JAAF Base Force
178th JAAF AF Bn

VERY nice results for the first assault - the capture of Toyohara would go a lot quicker than expected - I suppose daily shore bombardments in combination with the ground pounding delivered by our planes did the trick in making this possible!

SolInvictus202 wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 10:44 pm you may have a very good point there - I usually LRCAP at max 2 different altitudes -and none were this low...
probably because my transports hardly ever go it at 1000...

thanks a lot!

Right - the rationale was that by flying at 1000 feet or so you can catch the transports as they take off or land, as the USAAF actually did to ambush German fighters at their air bases.
I have no proof that the game models the change in altitude for take-off and landing, but if the players who used this strategy found it successful, it tends to confirm the intercept algorithm includes comparing fighter LRCAP altitude to transport use of the airfield in the LRCAP hex.

September 11-12:

Today was the big day we have been waiting for - Toyohara falls after the 2nd assault following the over-land reinforcements from Shikuka. So basically 4 attacks in total.

I am quite happy with the result - I accepted that this might be a scenario, but of course I hoped my initial forces had been enough despite my limitations in shipping.

Generally speaking it the operation is going very well so far. Now we focus on building up the AF to lvl 9 as quickly as possible. some 2000 Engineers and 800+ vehicles should do the trick - right?
Well.. it should - in case one doesn't forget that Shikuka had the "stockpile supplies" option on - it took me a few days to figure that one out and stop wondering why no supplies were flowing from Shikuka to Toyohara via rail *silly me*

Ground combat at Toyohara (124,46)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 80606 troops, 1480 guns, 2013 vehicles, Assault Value = 3205

Defending force 21618 troops, 238 guns, 54 vehicles, Assault Value = 442

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Allied adjusted assault: 3136

Japanese adjusted defense: 231

Allied assault odds: 13 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Toyohara !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
6284 casualties reported
Squads: 138 destroyed, 373 disabled
Non Combat: 36 destroyed, 70 disabled
Engineers: 90 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 98 (54 destroyed, 44 disabled)
Vehicles lost 24 (24 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
793 casualties reported
Squads: 14 destroyed, 81 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 55 disabled
Guns lost 26 (3 destroyed, 23 disabled)
Vehicles lost 41 (2 destroyed, 39 disabled)

Assaulting units:
77th Infantry Division
93rd Infantry Division
3rd USMC Tank Battalion
706th Tank Battalion
6th Infantry Division
711th Tank Battalion
762nd Tank Battalion
1st Marine Division
4th Marine Division
3rd Marine Division
1st USMC Tank Battalion
670th Tank Destroyer Battalion
I Corps Cmbt Engineer Regiment
131st Combat Engineer Regiment
18th Combat Engr Rgt /3
108th USN Base Force /2
607th Coast AA Regiment
8th USN Naval Construction Regiment
15th USN Naval Const Rgt /2
64th Coast AA Regiment
259th Coastal Artillery Battalion
3rd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
48th Aviation Base Force
860/865th EAB /3
226th USN Base Force /2
17th USN Naval Construction Regiment
XI US Corps
96th Cst AA Rgt /1
190th USAAF Base Force /1
179th USAAF Base Force /2
XI Corps Artillery
Eighth US Army /1
249th Field Artillery Battalion
38th Aviation Base Force
382nd Const Rgt /1

Defending units:
89th Division
65th Brigade
Karafuto Mixed Brigade
27th JAAF Base Force
177th JAAF AF Bn
178th JAAF AF Bn


-----------------------------------------

additionally we had our one good day in the sub war on the 12th. got a couple of nice hits in - ensuring that KB would be deprived of another CV for some time - with them most likely running to HK and Shanghai tor repair the damage....
This was confirmed in a few days time with CA TFs running over subs stationed near Formosa...

I would like to commend the crew and captain of the USS Sea Devil - it is currently repairing in Seattle to have another go at the Japs in a few weeks' time.
ASW attack near Miyake-jima at 111,63

Japanese Ships
DD Shimozuki, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CLAA Natori

Allied Ships
SS Sea Devil, hits 1

SS Sea Devil launches 2 torpedoes at DD Shimozuki
Sea Devil diving deep ....
CLAA Natori fails to find sub, continues to search...
CLAA Natori fails to find sub, continues to search...
CLAA Natori fails to find sub, continues to search...
CLAA Natori fails to find sub, continues to search...
CLAA Natori attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub


---------------------

On the other hand we today got the intel that Wake Coastal Gun Bataillon had been transferred to Bihoro.... We have so few DMS as it is.... now we have 2 less (IIRC - not sure - I def lost one - but I believe the other got torped on the way back for emergency repairs..)

TF 376 encounters mine field at Bihoro (123,51) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

52 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
DMS Hobson, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DMS Forrest, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
DMS Chandler, Shell hits 6, on fire

Wake Coastal Gun Battalion firing at DMS Hobson
DMS Hobson firing at Wake Coastal Gun Battalion
Wake Coastal Gun Battalion firing at DMS Forrest
DMS Forrest firing at Wake Coastal Gun Battalion
Wake Coastal Gun Battalion firing at DMS Chandler
DMS Chandler firing at Wake Coastal Gun Battalion
8 mines cleared


------
based on this intel we forged the plan to use the cheaper AMs in the already decided invasion at Bihoro. These would be shipped over from Adak Island to stage at Paramushiro until needed for the next big push onto Hokkaido.

September 13-15:

The reason why I am combining 3 days into one post is simple: there is not a lot going on in these.

With KB now definitely being in repair mode - I have lost track how many CVs are actually left, but still enough to annoy me most definitely - I opted to send my CVs back into refit and repair mode as well. Adak has all the facilities and the heavy fighter cover needed for a fleet to be put back into action - 3 ARDs are present to deal with any floatation issues.

On the other hand today was the day we lost the DMS I was talking about in the last post:

Sub attack near Toyohara at 125,47

Japanese Ships
SS I-47

Allied Ships
DMS Forrest, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

SS I-47 launches 2 torpedoes

--------------------------------

a rare hit on a Tanker also happened:

Submarine attack near Balabac at 71,84

Japanese Ships
TK Noshiro Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage

Japanese Ships
TK Kyokuzan Maru, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Searaven

TK Noshiro Maru is sighted by SS Searaven
SS Searaven launches 2 torpedoes at TK Noshiro Maru

----------------------------------------

On a different note it was time to ramp up our Op-Tempo around Hokkaido: our first move was to use my beloved 6-10 DD Fletcher TFs to start hitting his shipping still very much present in the area.
These ships are mostly low value targets - probably even bait - but 0 react and bombardment TFs with max range setttings usually succeed in appraoching at night and being gone in the morning...

Night Time Surface Combat, near Sapporo at 120,51, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 51, Shell hits 5, and is sunk
SC Ch 52, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
SC Ch 53, Shell hits 1

Allied Ships
DD Cassin Young
DD Woodworth
DD Endicott
DD Sims
DD Helm

Low visibility due to Thunderstorms with 3% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Thunderstorms and 3% moonlight: 2,000 yards
Range closes to 28,000 yards...
Range closes to 26,000 yards...
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
Range closes to 22,000 yards...
Range closes to 20,000 yards...
Range closes to 18,000 yards...
Range closes to 16,000 yards...
Range closes to 14,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 14,000 yards


-----------------------

Night Time Surface Combat, near Sapporo at 120,51, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Shintohoku Maru, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Sekiho Maru, Shell hits 22, Torpedo hits 5, and is sunk
xAK Kenzan Maru, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Tosei Maru, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Cassin Young
DD Woodworth
DD Endicott
DD Sims
DD Helm

----------------------------------------

OUr first bombardment took place in Palembang - showing us that we need a lot more men, a lot more guns and a lot more air support!

Ground combat at Palembang (48,91)

Allied Bombardment attack

Attacking force 34713 troops, 688 guns, 915 vehicles, Assault Value = 1734

Defending force 40904 troops, 606 guns, 356 vehicles, Assault Value = 1109

Japanese ground losses:
68 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Allied ground losses:
377 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 13 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 18 (1 destroyed, 17 disabled)
Vehicles lost 54 (25 destroyed, 29 disabled)

Assaulting units:
34th Combat Engineer Regiment
268th Motorised Brigade
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
763rd Tank Battalion
2nd Australian Division
31st Infantry Regiment
24th Infantry Division
2/6th Armoured Regiment
766th Tank Battalion
1st Australian Division
Guides Cavalry Regiment
109th Tank Attack Regiment
226th Field Artillery Battalion
8th Medium Regiment
33rd Medium Regiment
6th Mixed A/T Mtr Regiment

Defending units:
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
21st Division
25th Ind.Mixed Brigade
24th Ind.Mixed Brigade
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
14th Tank Regiment
26th Ind.Mixed Brigade
18th JAAF Base Force
112th AA Regiment
35th Field AA Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion
1st RF Gun Battalion
31st Field AA Battalion
42nd Road Const Co
27th JAAF AF Bn
23rd Special Base Force
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
1st Air Defense AA Regiment
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
35th Fld AA Gun Co
3rd Mortar Battalion
35th JAAF AF Bn



--------------------------

last but not least a very great small battle within a battle occurred at Oosthaven - it was a great first day - our tanks see very little resistance in the small town and I expected a swift capture of the base. It doesn't play a vital part in my plans for Sumatra so I only sent in on Tank Bn to take it...

In the morning we got bombed by planes arriving out of nowhere - now those would have to be dealt with.... following the arrow on the screen Batavia was identified as the likely staging area - but more on that in the next post...

the bombing itself was mostly ineffective:

Morning Air attack on 767th Tank Battalion, at 48,96 (Oosthaven)

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B7A2 Grace x 25
N1K5-J George x 18
P1Y2 Frances x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y2 Frances: 2 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
16 x P1Y2 Frances bombing from 9000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb
25 x B7A2 Grace bombing from 9000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb
6 x P1Y2 Frances bombing from 9000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb

and our attack on Oosthaven was close but not quite successful.

Ground combat at Oosthaven (48,96)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 908 troops, 6 guns, 140 vehicles, Assault Value = 66

Defending force 1036 troops, 22 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 10

Allied adjusted assault: 35

Japanese adjusted defense: 18

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 6)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 5

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

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

Assaulting units:
767th Tank Battalion

Defending units:
23rd JNAF AF Unit

September 16-17th:

Our little game of cat and mouse continues today over Oosthaven - our lone tank bataillon got bombed last day by a few Frances - and so I decided to show my hand and use the heavy bombers assigned to this theatre, which I had kept hidden thus far - making my oppponent believe that all had left for the Shakalin-Campaign - and tried to raid Batavia...

The results were quite positive and showed my opponent that he better leave my ground troops on Sumatra alone

Night Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 52 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
Liberator B.VI x 5
Liberator GR.VI x 12
B-24J Liberator x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed on ground
B7A2 Grace: 1 destroyed on ground
P1Y2 Frances: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 4
Runway hits 5


Japanese aircraft losses
B7A2 Grace: 1 destroyed on ground
H8K2 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K5-J George: 2 destroyed on ground
Ki-84r Frank: 4 destroyed on ground
H8K2 Emily: 2 destroyed on ground
P1Y2 Frances: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M8 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-49-II KAI Helen: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese aircraft losses
H8K2 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M8 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese aircraft losses
P1Y2 Frances: 3 destroyed on ground
H8K2 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed on ground
P1Y2 Frances: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed on ground
P1Y2 Frances: 2 destroyed on ground

Japanese aircraft losses
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed on ground
P1Y2 Frances: 1 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed on ground
above are the summarized results of the night bombing - quite impressive for less than 50 bombers....


at the same time we were informed that my opponent had made a move to reinforce Oosthaven with elements of 2 mixed brigades - undoubtedly using the KAI Helen transports...
Following the night raid these units were left as they were - and no further reinforcements were flown in...
I had already diverted 3 more tank bns to reinforce my one unit - but in the end they could turn around since Oosthaven would fall after 2 more attacks.

---------------------

at the same time we started to show our opponent that we have more than just the B-29s in Shakalin and kicked off our preparatory bombing campaign against Hokkaido today:

I was most amused to see such great coordination - and the power my air force had achieved by now.. I mean - we can literally shut down a lvl 9 AF in a single day raid - and close half of one in a NF-support night raid, as we should soon find out!
We started our bombing campaign at Bihoro and over the next weeks would ensure that all of Hokkaido's AFs and eventually even all its ports would be completely trashed!
After initially encountering a bit of resistance we would soon dominate the entire night as well as the day sky over the island and could start using our dive and attack bombers to soften up those ground troops.

------------------------------


unfortunately our recon in the mean time showed us another R&D factory for advanced planes - this time a Ki-94-II - fully repaired at Osaka... we'd have to go in again...

I am still working on finally catching up in the general plan losses number. We are now only 150 planes apart - both just over 16k losses total. But I am definitely catching up after having been quite behind when I took over. Considering that the Japanese will now be able to produce less and less in due course, we should eventually be able to start attriting their pools of fighters - or at least make them fall back on great pools in older, no longer used models.

September 18-19:

Today we saw another DD-TF under the command of Mr Burke hit Hakodate with a bombardment run at max range to make a move against the shipping always going back and forth between Ominato and Hakodate...
I wish I could send those TFs in with react 1 or more - but the worry they would attempt to go through the straights and get hammered by the CD guns on both sides is too great - thus we are happy just to attempt to intercept shipping straight in Hakodate.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Hakodate at 119,53, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
SC CHa-54, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
SC CHa-55, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
SC CHa-56, Shell hits 5, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Fletcher
DD Anthony
DD Pringle
DD Renshaw
DD Stevens
DD Taylor
DD The Sullivans
DD Twiggs

Night Time Surface Combat, near Hakodate at 119,53, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
SC CHa-50, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-51, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-52, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
SC CHa-53, Shell hits 3, and is sunk

Japanese Ships
MTB G-151
MTB G-152
MTB G-153, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
MTB G-154, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
MTB G-155, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
MTB G-156, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
MTB G-157, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-158, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-159, Shell hits 4, and is sunk

Japanese Ships
SSX Ha-6, hits 10, and is sunk

tonight's tally wasn't too bad - I wish we would intercept a few troops laden TFs every now and that - but so far we only managed that once - and that was in the turn two days ago.

-----------------------------------

in the meantime we ramp up daily bombing runs on Hokkaido - today Wakkanai was on the menu.

Morning Air attack on Wakkanai , at 122,48

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25D Mitchell x 9
Mitchell II x 3
A-20G Havoc x 50
B-24J Liberator x 92
B-25C Mitchell x 3
B-25D1 Mitchell x 9
B-25G Mitchell x 6
B-25H Mitchell x 16
P-38J Lightning x 32
P-38L Lightning x 96
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 44
P-51B Mustang x 36
F4U-1A Corsair x 165
F6F-3 Hellcat x 16
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 3
PBJ-1D Mitchell x 17
PBJ-1J Mitchell x 11

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 35
Airbase supply hits 13
Runway hits 97

----------------------------------

Allied aircraft
A-20C Boston x 3
A-20G Havoc x 6
B-24J Liberator x 33
B-25D1 Mitchell x 21
B-25H Mitchell x 15
P-38J Lightning x 20
P-38L Lightning x 6
P-51B Mustang x 24
F4U-1A Corsair x 62
F4U-1D Corsair x 16
PBJ-1D Mitchell x 8

Allied aircraft losses
B-25D1 Mitchell: 1 damaged

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 25

Allied aircraft
Mitchell II x 9
A-20G Havoc x 8
B-24J Liberator x 7
B-25H Mitchell x 6
P-38G Lightning x 2
F4U-1A Corsair x 18
F6F-3 Hellcat x 8
PBJ-1D Mitchell x 8
.............................

and in the afternoon the NavB morning DBs join the fight - I believe you get the picture of the concentrated Allied Air power in that region... especially since I left out around 10-15 reports just like it on that day ^^
Afternoon Air attack on Wakkanai , at 122,48

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 16 minutes

Allied aircraft
P-38J Lightning x 16
P-38L Lightning x 44
P-51B Mustang x 16
F4U-1A Corsair x 106
SBD-5 Dauntless x 74
TBM-1C Avenger x 32

Allied aircraft losses
SBD-5 Dauntless: 5 damaged

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

Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 2

P-38G Lightning x 6
P-38H Lightning x 11
P-38L Lightning x 25
P-40N5 Warhawk x 14
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 16
P-51B Mustang x 16
F4U-1A Corsair x 70
F6F-3 Hellcat x 16
SBD-5 Dauntless x 73
TBM-1C Avenger x 16

------------------------------------

Additionally we got confirmation today that the remains of KB are somewhere near the Chinese coast - as expected repairing and refitting at HongKong and Shanghai.

ASW attack near Taihoku at 88,61

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
CL Yahagi
CL Noshiro
CL Agano
CL Oyodo
CLAA Natori
DD Asakaze
DD Wakazuki
DD Yunagi
DD Asanagi
DD Hayate
DD Oite

Allied Ships
SS Becuna, hits 1


-------------------------------

We also started hitting oil centers in the DEI to hurt his economy a bit - considering the forces we had available we probably were never going to shut it down completely - but every point hurts eventually!

Morning Air attack on Balikpapan , at 64,97

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 42 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 12

No Allied losses

Oil hits 11

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet *
City Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb

---------------------------------
Toyohara is finally free of troops - while he is concentrating his available subs well within range of my Catalinas and my SC ASW TFs - PF TFs would soon follow as well...
I must say those subs are brave - I usually sink about 1-2 per day -sometimes more... and so far I lost one CVE (reported already) a few minor ships to it - nothing else!

as you can see in the picture as well: Fuel and Supplies are shipped into Shikuka on an almost daily bases - somewhat coordinated to keep the port as empty and efficient as possible. Soon we would have more than 2 Million supplies and 1 Million Fuel on the island - by now more than tripple that.

September 20-21:

Today we continued our strat run at the major oilfields in the DEI within range of our AFs on Sumatra. I knew the window for hitting those was closing fast as he would redeploy fighters quickly enough. Fortunately we got a few nice hits in Balikpapan and Miri - and actually managed to shut down Samarinda completely. Once we had accomplished this the fighters had been redeployed and the fun was over.
Priorities for bomber replacements were in Shikuka - and thus I didn't want to waste the ones I had in the theater and started to concentrate on Palembang AF instead.
Unfortunately this meant that fuel and oil would still be able to be shipped out back to Japan - but honestly - what does it matter at this point - let him run his HI, which is getting smaller every day... let him produce a few fighters while he still can- with almost every factory in range of my bombers - I will win this war of attrition before Japan actually runs out of fuel and supply...
Generally speaking the 20th was a quiet day - we sunk an I-Boat off Paramushiro - attempting to make a run for one of our regular tanker convoys (it took the IJN quite some time to move some boats that way - but I guess it is a tough choice to make between going for some combat ships and the endless number of supply ships which I will never run out of anyway - I have more tankers in harbors than I could ever form convoys with ...

the only other thing of note was the flattening of another AF on Hokkaido - Kushiro today - one of our later invasion targets - but I guess the IJA was yet unaware of this - Kushiro I would also be a lot more worried about than Bihoro - further away and a forrest hex - thus not as easy for my tanks as the open hex at Bihoro.

Morning Air attack on Kushiro , at 123,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 103
P-38G Lightning x 6
P-38L Lightning x 74
P-51B Mustang x 16
F4U-1A Corsair x 112

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged

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

Airbase hits 65
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 212
Port hits 7
Port fuel hits 6
Port supply hits 1

-----------------------

the only thing of note we achieved on the 21st (at least what could be seen in the combat report) was the burning of Tokyo...it finally started - and our points would skyrocket within the day...

September 22-24:

A general overview of the situation on Sept. 22 - one can see the Jap Sub efforts concentrating at Bihoro and leaving our supply lines east completely untouched. This enabled us to build up in peace and ensure we would never leave again!

While the 22nd was rather uneventful we managed to get a good one in on the 23rd/24th. It appeared the Japanese hadn't quite given up on Hokkaido yet and kept lots of one and two-engine fighters in place to keep making runs at my heavy bombers...
Since Moonlight was still at 100% and the weather cleared up I started a multi day campaign at going after large concentrations of planes - simply to properly start the attrition of the Japanese air frame reserves...

Toyohara at that point had not turned into a lvl 9 Airfield yet, so I was still relying on escorts and sweeps from Shikuka - which meant drop tanks - which in turns would mean a lot higher losses than happening anyway due to the crazy Jap R&D advances. the best plane I have - the P-47 25 can barely keep up with Franks and Sams - no matter what altitude - and we are currently in the time period where I do not get ANY of them anymore, before the November upgrades into Mustangs...

I knew this was going to happen, but it is due to this fact that I carefuly preserved my fighters and was a lot more cautious as to ensure that I always had at least 200 of those in stock to be able to mount at least ONE large assault if the situation would come up and the fight was unavoidable.

By now I had started to employ NFs at LRCAP over the desired target as the only and very effective way of ensuring better precision of my bombers. I cannot wait to see Tokyo in range of my Black Widows ^^..

-----------------------------

Night Air attack on Hakodate , at 119,53

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIc Nick x 23
Ki-102b Randy x 8

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 31
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 2 damaged
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
A7M2 Sam: 4 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 4 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 29

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed on ground
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-102b Randy: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-102b Randy: 1 destroyed on ground


the 2nd run was at Sapporo on the 24th

Night Air attack on Sapporo , at 120,51

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-Sa Irving x 12
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 25

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 6
B-29-1 Superfort x 15
P-70 Havoc x 4
P-70A-1 Havoc x 3
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-Sa Irving: 1 destroyed
J1N1-Sa Irving: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
A6M8 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
A7M2 Sam: 2 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged
B-29-1 Superfort: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 23

Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
A6M8 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-Sa Irving: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 2 destroyed on ground
J1N1-Sa Irving: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M8 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed on ground

----------------------------------


having softened this air field up at night I decided to go after Sapporo in a day raid as well... A2A losses are still in favour of Japan somewhat - but boy did I catch a lot of those planes on the ground

an example for the preceeding sweeps:

Morning Air attack on Sapporo , at 120,51

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 71 NM, estimated altitude 38,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M8 Zero x 22
A7M2 Sam x 46
N1K5-J George x 32
Ki-84r Frank x 25

Allied aircraft
F4U-1A Corsair x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 2 destroyed
N1K5-J George: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1A Corsair: 3 destroyed

CAP engaged:
S-312 Hikotai with N1K5-J George (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters to 6000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 42 minutes
S-316 Hikotai with N1K5-J George (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 39370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 35 minutes
6th Ku S-1/B with A6M8 Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 13000 and 40800.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes
S-308 Hikotai with N1K5-J George (0 airborne, 3 on standby, 8 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 13000 and 39370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 40 minutes
S-317 Hikotai with N1K5-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 39370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 35 minutes
Soryu-1 with A7M2 Sam (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
3 plane(s) not yet engaged, 8 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters between 11000 and 42800.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes
Zuikaku-1 with A7M2 Sam (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 7 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.

---------------

and then the main event :

Morning Air attack on Sapporo , at 120,51

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M8 Zero x 20
A7M2 Sam x 39
N1K5-J George x 26
Ki-84r Frank x 21

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 89
B-25G Mitchell x 3
F4U-1A Corsair x 168
F4U-1D Corsair x 24
F6F-3 Hellcat x 8
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 3
PBJ-1J Mitchell x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M8 Zero: 2 destroyed, 14 damaged
A6M8 Zero: 4 destroyed on ground
A7M2 Sam: 28 damaged
A7M2 Sam: 5 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 2 destroyed, 20 damaged
N1K5-J George: 5 destroyed on ground
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed
J1N1-Sa Irving: 3 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 12 destroyed on ground
E13A1 Jake: 9 destroyed on ground
D4Y2-C Judy: 5 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 4 destroyed, 5 damaged
B-25G Mitchell: 1 damaged
F4U-1A Corsair: 5 destroyed
F4U-1D Corsair: 1 destroyed
PBJ-1J Mitchell: 3 damaged

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

Airbase hits 78
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 99

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M8 Zero: 1 damaged
A7M2 Sam: 2 destroyed, 13 damaged
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed on ground
D4Y2-C Judy: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1A Corsair: 1 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
PB4Y-2 Privateer: 3 destroyed, 7 damaged

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M8 Zero: 1 destroyed
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed
J1N1-Sa Irving: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged
B-25G Mitchell: 1 damaged
F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 2 damaged
-----------------

most of the sweeps unfortunately arrived AFTER the bombers went in - an annoying problem with the engine when being effectively restricted to a single lvl 9 AF - no control over what goes in first...
losses were light however and so we managed to get a good hit in - IIRC the next days would be even worse for the Japs and effectively ban the Japanese Air Forces from Hokkaido - seeing them withdraw to the greater Ominato area - from which they would in turn be pushed back in preparation of the Hokkaido landings in October.

I wish I had taken screenshots of overall losses at this stage - but the first one I have available will be for the 26th - with 112 Jap planes destroyed on the ground - which wasn't the record either.

September 25-26:

Today we continue our rather effective bombing campaign over Hokkaido. Now just because we are having a great time at the moment, this doesn't mean it'll always be that way - yesterday's turn for example had me lost 10:1 in planes - there was a reason for it - and I can live with it - but it shows that Japan needs one more big push to finally take out those white underpants and wave them up high - morale after controlling the Pacific for 3 years is still rather high...

Muroran was the target of our attacks on the 25th: As always an example attack:

Night Air attack on Muroran , at 120,52

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-102b Randy x 8

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 22
B-29-1 Superfort x 15
P-61A Black Widow x 3
P-70 Havoc x 3
P-70A-1 Havoc x 3
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 3
PB4Y-2 Privateer x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-102b Randy: 4 damaged
Ki-84r Frank: 21 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 3 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 damaged

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

Airbase hits 19
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 66

-----------------

One of our surviving subs finally got a nice hit in again - all those are welcome ^^

Sub attack near Iwo-jima at 106,73

Japanese Ships
DD Nagatsuki, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Mochizuki

Allied Ships
SS Redfish

SS Redfish launches 4 torpedoes at DD Nagatsuki
Redfish diving deep ....
DD Mochizuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mochizuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mochizuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Mochizuki attacking submerged sub ....
DD Mochizuki is out of ASW ammo
DD Mochizuki fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub

----------------------------

We also finally captured Oosthaven - just leaving Sabang and Palembang still as Japanese bases - both will fall in due course -I am in no hurry on that front.
I am no hurry on any front to be honest.

Ground combat at Oosthaven (48,96)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 844 troops, 6 guns, 141 vehicles, Assault Value = 65

Defending force 817 troops, 10 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 5

Allied adjusted assault: 27

Japanese adjusted defense: 6

Allied assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied forces CAPTURE Oosthaven !!!

Combat modifiers
Defender: preparation(-), fatigue(-), experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(+), fatigue(-)

Japanese ground losses:
57 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Assaulting units:
767th Tank Battalion

Defending units:
23rd JNAF AF Unit
29th Ind.Mixed Bde /1
28th Ind.Mixed Bde /1

-----------------------------------

On the 26th we got the big follow up attack in at Hakodate - today was a good day to be on the Allied side

Night Air attack on Hakodate , at 119,53

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIc Nick x 16
Ki-102b Randy x 6

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 28
B-29-1 Superfort x 7
P-70 Havoc x 4
P-70A-1 Havoc x 3
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 1 destroyed, 15 damaged
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-102b Randy: 4 damaged
Ki-102b Randy: 1 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 4 destroyed on ground
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M8 Zero: 2 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

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

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 43


---------------------------------------

At the same time we had reached our end date for destroying Oil in the DEI without paying a price - In total I would say that with Palembang in our hands we at least halved Japanese potential oil production - thus achieving or actually exceeding my "diversion" attack's goal.


Afternoon Air attack on Magwe , at 57,47

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 73 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 25 minutes

Allied aircraft
Liberator B.VI x 16

No Allied losses

Oil hits 15

Aircraft Attacking:
16 x Liberator B.VI bombing from 8000 feet
City Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

--------------------------------------

September 27-28:

A general summary of the coming days, weeks or even the next month would be as follows: The Allied Steamroller is in full swing - we are achieving our goals, but every now and then we are being stung by the Japanese. These stings hurt - without a doubt, but they are of no actual consequence.

With final preparations for the invasion of Hokkaido going well I am attempting to squeeze out even more days so I could possibly invade earlier. Why? Well we did put in that torp into the CV south of Honshu, if my dear readers remember. Along with the other repairs necessary from our little brawl south of Toyohara I figured about 1 month until he was willing to send his ships at me again.
While I do not necessarily need my CVs, CVLs or CVEs to cover the Bihoro Landings - since all of Hokkaido is well within range of my land based fighters, I would definitely feel safer if I had them around - the ships at the time were still undergoing repairs from the Shikaku invasion and were being made ready with all possible speed.

Bombings would continue and since I am quite click-fatigued I lose a few planes here and there every now and then.
While we sweep one or more bases over Hokkaido on a daily basis - accompanied by one or more large bomber raid as well - we also start putting pressure on the beleaguered troops in Palembang - I do want this base and then have the "mixed army" from India set on the next target

Raids such as the one below always annoy the heck out of me - 6 planes on CAP - I lose 4 of my escorts - and that after about 500 planes had swept the skies clear over Sapporo that day..
oh well - nothing to be done about it - still better than having your escorts actually on escort instead of LRCAP.

Morning Air attack on Sapporo , at 120,51

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Sam x 3
N1K5-J George x 3

Allied aircraft
B-25D Mitchell x 9
B-24J Liberator x 20
B-25D1 Mitchell x 6
B-25H Mitchell x 7
P-38H Lightning x 35
F4U-1A Corsair x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged
P-38H Lightning: 4 destroyed

Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 21
Port hits 17
Port fuel hits 1
Port supply hits 1

-------------------------------------------------------

We got another excellent raid on Muroran on the 27th as well - more destroyed planes on the ground.
I have halted R&D over Japan - but I am aware that his Ki-84r Frank and SAM factories are still producing at full capacity - there is nothing I can do about it yet - as losses would be too high without escorts. However that will change with the capture of Hokkaido.

Morning Air attack on Muroran , at 120,52

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M8 Zero x 40

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 144
P-51B Mustang x 9
F4U-1A Corsair x 14

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M8 Zero: 3 destroyed, 31 damaged
A6M8 Zero: 6 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 5 destroyed on ground
Ki-102b Randy: 4 destroyed on ground
A7M2 Sam: 11 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-84r Frank: 37 destroyed on ground
E13A1 Jake: 3 destroyed on ground
D4Y2-C Judy: 4 destroyed on ground
Ki-46-III Dinah: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 8 damaged
P-51B Mustang: 1 destroyed
F4U-1A Corsair: 2 destroyed

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

Airbase hits 44
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 168

--------------------------------------------------

the 28th saw one of those days when Japan would put up a fight - over Palembang today.
Over Hokkaido everything went according to plan - my entire air force was put to good use, keeping every base on the island completely suppressed.
Additional focus was set on bombing Ashikagawa - switching to ground attack to start getting those troops ready for a para drop - as well as Wakkainai and Bihoro with port attacks and ground attacks to shut down their expected and known CD gun units or fortresses.

Morning Air attack on 21st Division, at 48,91 (Palembang) . LRCAP from Singers - and my daily sweepers as always went in AFTEr the bombers.. oh well... we got our revenge in when the sweepers arrived in the PM phase.

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 38 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-84r Frank x 55

Allied aircraft
P-40N Warhawk x 9
Avenger I x 5

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
P-40N Warhawk: 3 destroyed
Avenger I: 2 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x Avenger I bombing from 22000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb

-------------------------

PS: I am aware that reading about some past events when it is already known that the Allied troops already landed at Hokkaido may appear quite boring - but OPSEC is necessary I am afraid - even this late in the game. I believe I already gave away one or the other essential info even while talking about stuff one month old

September 29-30:

Today we invaded Etorufu as a final stepping stone for the invasion of Hokkaido - we brought the full battle fleet in support, expecting at least SOME resistance when making a move to take a fine air port that would easily cover all of Hokkaido - but no - not a single enemy showed up and only a single JNAF unit had been left on that island.
as per usual our minesweepers paved the way for our large ships:

TF 265 encounters mine field at Etorofu (128,52)

Allied Ships
DMS Howard
DMS Palmer
DMS Long
DMS Trevor

44 mines cleared

-------------------------------

and then our amphib forces went in to offload our troops - worth some 300 AV.

Pre-Invasion action off Etorofu (128,52)

Allied Ships
BB New Mexico
CA New Orleans
APA President Monroe
DE Oberrender

Japanese ground losses:
Vehicles lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)

BB New Mexico firing at 51st JNAF AF Unit
CA New Orleans firing at 51st JNAF AF Unit
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 5,000 yards
Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 2,000 yards

---------------------------------

Of course one thing would have to go wrong with the operation - and that was I-8 getting in a lucky hit on Lexington II. My opponent was most happy about it - Fortunately for the Allied side the ship was only slowed to 7 hexes a turn - by now it is already back in action, having been repaired in Seattle.

Sub attack near Etorofu at 128,53

Japanese Ships
SS I-8, hits 8

Allied Ships
CV Lexington II, Torpedo hits 1
CA Boston
CA Baltimore
CL Cleveland
DD Benham II
DD Cushing II
DD Watts
DD Boyd
DD Barton II
DD De Haven II
DD O' Brien II
DD Preston II

SS I-8 launches 6 torpedoes at CV Lexington II
DD Barton II fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD De Haven II fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD O' Brien II fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Preston II attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub

The fact that my ASW efforts were unable to even sink the bloody boat annoyed the heck out of me.
---------------------------------

On the 30th we got another nice hit in on Ominato with multiple planes destroyed on the ground - these would be less numerous in the future as our opponent withdrew his planes SW of Yamagata on Honshu - this would provide him relative safety until we took Sapporo and put Tokyo back in range of our Black Widows

Night Air attack on Ominato , at 119,54

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A7M2 Sam x 29
Ki-102b Randy x 3

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 12
P-61A Black Widow x 8
P-70 Havoc x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 3 destroyed, 9 damaged
A7M2 Sam: 2 destroyed on ground
Ki-102b Randy: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-102b Randy: 1 destroyed on ground
A6M8 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
E13A1 Jake: 2 destroyed on ground
H8K2 Emily: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-29-1 Superfort: 3 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 22

----------------------------------------------

Most importantly I would like to show that the squadrons fighting over Hokkaido are no other than the best of the best - usually giving us 2:1 results when fighting our "average" F6F-3 landbased Hellcat and P-47 Thunderbolt Squads - so I am most happy about that.

Japanese aircraft
A6M8 Zero x 12
A7M2 Sam x 28
N1K5-J George x 5

Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 16

Japanese aircraft losses
A7M2 Sam: 1 destroyed
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 3 destroyed

CAP engaged:
Ominato Ku S-1 with A6M8 Zero (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 23000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 20 minutes
S-308 Hikotai with N1K5-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 21000 and 39370.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes
S-317 Hikotai with N1K5-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 12000 and 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes
Kaga-1 with A7M2 Sam (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 12 scrambling)
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
Soryu-1 with A7M2 Sam (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters between 13000 and 14000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
Hiryu-1 with A6M8 Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 7000 , scrambling fighters between 13000 and 21000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
Zuikaku-1 with A7M2 Sam (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 9000.
Raid is overhead
Junyo-1 with A7M2 Sam (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters to 16000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
Hosho-1 with A7M2 Sam (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters to 23000.
Raid is overhead
Chitose-1 with A6M8 Zero (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 6 scrambling)
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters to 37100.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 24 minutes

----------------------------------------------


Following today's sweeps over Hakodate we finished the trashing of all airfields over Hokkaido with a nicely coordinated raid over Hakodate. Sweeps were so-so - but the bombers never disappoint - I guess the Japs ran out of Airstrips on where to repair and store the damaged planes...

Morning Air attack on Hakodate , at 119,53

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 99
B-25D1 Mitchell x 9
F4U-1A Corsair x 13
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 33

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-84r Frank: 3 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 6 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 2 destroyed on ground
Ki-102b Randy: 1 destroyed on ground
A7M2 Sam: 4 destroyed on ground
A6M8 Zero: 5 destroyed on ground
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-46-III Dinah: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 4 damaged
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
SS I-58, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
ACM Misago Maru #11, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

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

Airbase hits 22
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 101
Port hits 3

---------------------------------------------

The final point of note would be the capture of Etorufu - the ships used in this invasion would then make their way to Shikuka to reembark troops used in the Shakalin invasion for secondary targets in Hokkaido - the main invasion of Bihoro and Kushiro was already planned with troops available in reserve and at 100% - but with beach landings secured I would then move in troops from the "front", which are planning for targerts like Sapporo and Hakodate.

Ground combat at Etorofu (128,52)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 16388 troops, 219 guns, 155 vehicles, Assault Value = 364

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1

Allied adjusted assault: 193

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 193 to 1 (fort level 4)

Allied forces CAPTURE Etorofu !!!

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

Assaulting units:
112th Cavalry Regiment
24th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
Fiji Brigade
15th RAAF Base Force
165th USA Base Force
15th USN Naval Construction Battalion
2nd RNZAF Base Force
14th USN Naval Construction Battalion
104th USN Base Force
145th USA Base Force
147th Field Artillery Regiment
148th Field Artillery Battalion
428th Coast AA Battalion

Defending units:
51st JNAF AF Unit /1


Eventually I would ask myself if I should have ever taken the time of actually taking all those small island bases - but personally I hate nothing more than some search plane unit popping up in the middle of nowhere and identifying my ships in an area I declared "safe" already. Thus I usually tend to be prudent and take away all those possible bases, just to be on the safe side

In a game about 8 years ago an Allied player took virtually all of the Kuriles and had landed on Hokkaido - seemingly secure all the way back to the West Coast of North America. The sly Japanese player outfoxed him by sneaking an AVD or two into dot base Ketoi Jima, then sending a horde of float planes there - Jakes IIRC. These ambushed the nearly unescorted troop transports and even some CVEs with no CAP up, sinking many. It was a painful blow to Allied plans and their feeling of security.
You are correct to believe that securing all those islands is a good idea!

October 1-3:

A new month has started in our game - a month with a lot of action! We would be able to capture all but one base on Hokkaido within this month and have a few stand offs between the two fleets very close to Honshu. We still have not broken Japanese morale entirely - which is actually good, since I read up on the manual that I am allowed to drop 2 Atom bombs without getting any penalties on the results - I hope I did not misread - "penalties" should only occur once you drop 3 or more.

a minor issue is the fact that for some reason October 2 has no combat report in my files - it's an empty one - probably overwrote the turn and forgot to play the replay again. Thus I have very little idea what happened on October 2 - my apologies for that.

Generally speaking - these upcoming turns are the final ones before we land on Hokkaido - thus final preparations are made to ensure that all air fields are shut down - the ground troops are properly softened up for a swift victory and that the enemy is given as little opportunity to intervene as possible.

Thus lots of bombing raids happen over Hokkaido with some diversionary attacks in the Ominato area ensuring that he cannot LRCAP any bombing raids over my beaches at Bihoro and Kushiro.

October 3rd saw another large raid on Tokyo - to ensure that it is still ablaze.
Furthermore we are being told that we also sunk CV Shokaku at Hiroshima earlier in September - I was very much unsure of that since I consider this ship and her sister ship more resilient than others like Hiryu etc...

Most importantly however we have identified the key target for our invasion of Hokkaido: the airfield of Asahikawa - it cannot be touched by sea and thus my opponent left it almost undefended - thinking I cannot touch it (or that is my interpretation of it anyway)
The issue however, I believe he failed to spot, is that the hex contains all possible railway routes towards my beaches - thus - if captured - any reinforcements to those beaches would have to "walk".
The moment I spotted this oppportunity I flew in all available transport planes and organized 11th Airborne Division and 503rd Parachute Regiment to prep for this operation.
Furthermore I would shift - as stealthily as possible" my ground bombing focus onto Asahikawa to cause as much disruption amongst the defenders as possible in preparation for the airdrop.

The image below is from a few days later - but I distinctly remember realizing this opportunity about a week before the landings happened. Additionally I would sub-invade two hexes that would further disrupt railway transport.
Since then the Japanese have occupied every coastal hex on Honshu to ensure I could no longer do that when I invade Japan proper.... Fortunately I have already devised a plan that would not require me relying on that

October 4-6:

Time to get through the final few days before next big D-Day - this time on Hokkaido.

Over the past couple of weeks we got more and more comfortable sending in SCTFs to disrupt the remaining shipping on Hokkaido as well as to start using those ships to add another level of harassment onto airfields and ground troops.

on the 4th one of my beloved CL-TFs got a nice run in near Sapporo:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Sapporo at 120,51, Range 10,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
PB Kyo Maru #2, Shell hits 3, on fire
xAK Hague Maru, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Havre Maru, Shell hits 18, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
xAK Naples Maru, Shell hits 19, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Ada Maru, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Momoyama Maru
xAK Muroran Maru, Shell hits 14, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
CL Denver
DD Halford
DD Richard P. Leary
DD William Porter
DD Stephen Potter
DD Halsey Powell

Improved night sighting under 92% moonlight
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 92% moonlight: 8,000 yards
Range closes to 28,000 yards...
Range closes to 26,000 yards...
Range closes to 24,000 yards...
Range closes to 22,000 yards...
CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 22,000 yards#

-----------------------------------------------

I usually tend to go for areas I am less worried about mines etc - I do not want lose a modern CL that has been slowed down by a mine hit and then destroyed in the air phase... so we are a bit more cautious - maybe we miss one or the other opportunity - but as I mentioned very early on in this AAR: CAs and CL will always be somewhat of a bottleneck for me, since so many have been lost in the campaign before I took over.
whenever I create a larger CV or BB TF I am always most worried about having one of these ships to actually complete the set I like to field.


Other than that: we keep the airfields surpressed in daily raids like these:

Night Air attack on Ominato , at 119,54

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 25 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-Sa Irving x 5
Ki-102b Randy x 23

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 33
B-29-1 Superfort x 12
P-61A Black Widow x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
J1N1-Sa Irving: 2 damaged
J1N1-Sa Irving: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-102b Randy: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged
Ki-102b Randy: 2 destroyed on ground
A6M8 Zero: 2 destroyed on ground
N1K5-J George: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 1 damaged
B-29-1 Superfort: 1 damaged

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

Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 7

----------------------------------------------

We sink those injured ships from the SCTF raids:

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sapporo at 121,50

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 12 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Allied aircraft
F4U-1A Corsair x 15
F6F-3 Hellcat x 33
TBM-1C Avenger x 25

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Momoyama Maru, Torpedo hits 5, and is sunk
PB Kyo Maru #2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
25 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo

---------------------------


Furthermore we attempt to get rid of the MTBs at Bihoro using expendable ships, which aren't really up to the task as it turns out however.

Day Time Surface Combat, near Bihoro at 123,51, Range 1,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
MTB G-7, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-1, Shell hits 1, heavy fires
MTB G-2
MTB G-3
MTB G-4
MTB G-5

Allied Ships
SC-522, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
SC-639, Shell hits 1
SC-640, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC PC-581, Shell hits 1


one of those ideas that are quickly dismissed and will never be used again ^^
----------------------------

Since the next post will contain the landings in full I will add an example day time raid to soften up Asahikawa here - 6-10 of this kind were used every day for over a week to get this AF ready for airborne invasion!

Morning Air attack on Asahikawa , at 121,51

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-25D1 Mitchell x 12
B-25H Mitchell x 27
PBJ-1D Mitchell x 38
PBJ-1J Mitchell x 10

Allied aircraft losses
PBJ-1J Mitchell: 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
79 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 29


---------------------------------------

We also use the time to get rid of any remaining shipping on Hokkaido itself, which could be used to evacuate any troops - this in combination of DD TFs attempting to shut down the Hakodate-Ominato straits should be enough to ensure that all troops currently on Hokkaido either die or become prisoners!

Morning Air attack on Muroran , at 120,52

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 27 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24J Liberator x 54
PB4Y-1 Liberator x 44

Allied aircraft losses
B-24J Liberator: 2 damaged
PB4Y-1 Liberator: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Kiyo Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAK Karachi Maru, Bomb hits 8, and is sunk
xAK China Maru, Bomb hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Pacific Maru, Bomb hits 11, and is sunk

Japanese ground losses:
97 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 44
Port hits 42
Port fuel hits 6
Port supply hits 6


--------------------------------


Next up: THE LANDINGS ON HOKKAIDO! - stay tuned!

October 07: D-DAY!
Let's take a closer look at the landings on Hokkaido:

Despite our best efforts we still had to fend off some MTBs while moving in to Bihoro landing zones. they didn't get a torp off but their appearance was enough to make a few ships lose nerv and make hasty maneuvers that would see them bump into each other... annoyed the heck out of me - but just like with Shikuka - not a single large amphib vessel was lost during the entire landings - all damaged ones would be repaired in time for the landings in Honshu

here are the culprits:

PF Hoquiam collides with APA Doyen at 123 , 51
LSD Oak Hill collides with APA Feland at 123 , 51
APA Starlight collides with APA Doyen at 123 , 51
APA Sumter collides with APA Doyen at 123 , 51
DD Eaton collides with APA Doyen at 123 , 51
AM Champion collides with APA Doyen at 123 , 51
DD Erben collides with APA Doyen at 123 , 51
DE Dennis collides with APA Doyen at 123 , 51
AKA Alshain collides with APA Feland at 123 , 51

--------------------------------------------------------

I already reported extensively on my use of AMs to clear the beaches from mines - so I will not repeat those reports - it was sucessful and most ships were able to be saved for later operations - AMs are this small that they can even be fully repaired in lvl 9 ports like Shikuka without the need of a repair yard!

----------------------------------------------------------

our escorts still did excellent work and some additional TFs ensured that our enemy was kept busy - for example DD TFs were employed to ensure that no additional support could be shiped in from Ominato to Hakodate - bombardment set to max ensured that the ships would arrive at night - but not face the full wrath of the coastal defenses in return!

Night Time Surface Combat, near Hakodate at 119,53, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
SC Ch 53, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
SC Ch 54, Shell hits 17, and is sunk
SC Ch 55, Shell hits 13, and is sunk
SC Ch 56, Shell hits 16, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Fletcher
DD Anthony
DD Pringle
DD Renshaw
DD Stevens
DD Taylor
DD The Sullivans
DD Twiggs


----------------------------------------------------------

Night Time Surface Combat, near Hakodate at 119,53, Range 2,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
MTB G-160, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-161
MTB G-162, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-163, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
MTB G-164, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-165
MTB G-221, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
MTB G-222, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-223, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
MTB G-224
MTB G-225, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Fletcher
DD Anthony
DD Pringle
DD Renshaw
DD Stevens
DD Taylor
DD The Sullivans
DD Twiggs


-----------------------------------------------------

following the usual bombardments on both beaches of Kushiro and Bihoro we sent in the amphibs to offload some 4000 AV worth of troops in the first wave:

an example bombardment:

Night Naval bombardment of Kushiro at 123,53

Allied Ships
BB Oklahoma
CA Chicago
DD Stembel
DD Spence
DD Smalley
DD Philip
DD O'Bannon
DD Mullany
DD Luce
DD Kimberly
DD Kidd
DD Johnston

Japanese ground losses:
140 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 0 disabled

Light Industry hits 2
Resources hits 1
Manpower hits 1
Fires 58
Airbase hits 12
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 61
Port hits 4
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1

I still opted to keep most of my BBs rdy in SCTFs in case the Japanese would make a move to intervene with the landings - unfortunately they never showed - I am sure my opponent is saving what remains of his fleet (which is quite significant in terms of BBs) for the "final" landing in Honshu - I am sure we will have loads of fun sinking his big ships then

------------------------------------------

Amphib landing example below: I must say that this late in the war the US no longer needs to rely on heavy naval vessels to support any landing properly - all those nice and useful LCIs with support capability are more than enough to soften up any beach!

Pre-Invasion action off Bihoro (123,51) - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force

98 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Allied Ships
BB Mississippi, Shell hits 1
CL Montpelier
DD Dyson
DD Dashiell
DD Daly
DD Converse
LCI(G)-468
LCI(G)-407
LCI(G)-406
LCI(G)-405
LCI(G)-404
LCI(G)-403
LCI(G)-401
LCI(G)-398
LCI(G)-397
LCI(G)-396
LCI(M)-588
LCI(R)-74
LCI(R)-73
APA Clay
DD Erben

Japanese ground losses:
827 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 68 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 25 (5 destroyed, 20 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
10 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

----------------------------------------

Several TFs went in to offload troops on both beaches without any further incidents - the skies were swept clear the entire day while almost 4000 planes ensured that enemy troops were properly softened up for next day's attack.

There was one attack launched by our main carrier fleet that not only showed that they were present (which was intentional) but also proved to me that my DBs would be able to hit smth if they got the chance - it was only a small one - but still - we finally got to sink a few ships again

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Hakodate at 119,52

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

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

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 19
F6F-5 Hellcat x 42
SB2C-3 Helldiver x 29

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAK Mansyu Maru, Bomb hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Rasin Maru, Bomb hits 9, and is sunk
xAK Yuri Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Syunsei Maru, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk

Aircraft Attacking:
14 x SB2C-3 Helldiver releasing from 2000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb
11 x SB2C-3 Helldiver releasing from 3000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb
4 x SB2C-3 Helldiver releasing from 4000'
Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Mansyu Maru
Massive explosion on xAK Mansyu Maru
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Rasin Maru
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Yuri Maru
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring xAK Syunsei Maru

----------------------------------------

The first day landings showed the following enemy strength on all 3 bases in question:

BIHORO: - our main port for Hokkaido from now on - we would assemble more than 1500 Naval Support here to offload everything within a day despite it being a lvl 4 port max eventually.

Ground combat at Bihoro (123,51)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1059 troops, 32 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 159

Defending force 73313 troops, 1143 guns, 2241 vehicles, Assault Value = 2315

Japanese ground losses:
464 casualties reported
Squads: 49 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 9 (9 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Assaulting units:
61st Ind.Mixed Brigade
51st Naval Guard Unit
Wake Coastal Gun Battalion
58th JNAF AF Unit

Defending units:
XIV Corps Combat Engineer Regiment
29th Marine Regiment
43rd Infantry Division
32nd Infantry Division
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
XI Corps Combat Engineer Regiment
209th Combat Engineer Battalion
22nd Marine Regiment
815th Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
710th Tank Battalion
671th Tank Destroyer Battalion
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
716th Tank Battalion
775th Tank Battalion
41st Infantry Division
185th USAAF Base Force
39th USN Naval Construction Battalion
8th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
9th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
38th USN Naval Construction Battalion
134th (East Ang) Regiment
50th Aviation Base Force
3rd USMC Air Wing Base Force
4th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
85th Medium Regiment
236th USN Base Force
Seventh USAAF
I Corps Artillery
181st USAAF Base Force
2nd USMC Air Wing Base Force
237th USN Base Force
105th USN Base Force /3


----------------------

KUSHIRO: Initially I never wanted much from this base - but it had to be taken out via landings since the integration in the infrastructure on the island is terrible and my troops would have walked for weeks to get there - so I opted for this spot as the 2nd landing zone - the fact that Wakkanai had a CD Fortress additionally supported Kushiro as the better option.

Ground combat at Kushiro (123,53)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 1246 troops, 12 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 216

Defending force 51996 troops, 908 guns, 1662 vehicles, Assault Value = 1914

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

Assaulting units:
60th Ind.Mixed Brigade
52nd Naval Guard Unit
51st JNAF AF Unit
59th JNAF AF Unit

Defending units:
44th Tank Battalion
6th Australian Div /6
81st Infantry Division
CenPac Amphib Tank Bde /12
5th Marine Division
1st Army Tank Regiment
98th Infantry Division
96th Infantry Div /10
X Corps Artillery
1st USMC Engineer Aviation Battalion
Tenth US Army
5th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
342 Wing
220th USN Base Force /6
USN Forwd AirCenPac
IX US Corps
XIV US Corps /6

-----------------------------------

Our Airborne invasion did really well, albeit not achieving victory in the first round - we would have to wait until tomorrow until the base would fall in my hands..
personally I believe this oversight to be the main reason why Hokkaido fell this easily - one brigade on Asahikawa and he could have kept me at the beaches a little while longer...

round combat at Asahikawa (121,51)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 1435 troops, 67 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 82

Defending force 3023 troops, 63 guns, 33 vehicles, Assault Value = 48

Allied adjusted assault: 14

Japanese adjusted defense: 9

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

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

Japanese ground losses:
188 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 28 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 8 destroyed, 4 disabled
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
64 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
503rd Parachute Rgt /1
11th Airborne Div /1

Defending units:
Maizuru 1st SNLF
34th Const Co
27th JAAF Base Force
21st Field AF Construction Battalion
35th Const Co
49th JAAF AF Bn

It looks like APA Doyen is the common factor in that game of "bumper-ships", so a review of the captain's skills is in order!

I was really surprised to see a sub patrolling the road NE of Asahikawa! I guess it was just an oversight that the map art put the land border right on the hex boundary line instead of leaving a patch of ocean there for the sub to be in the hex - but it does look very strange!

BBfanboy wrote: Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:12 pm It looks like APA Doyen is the common factor in that game of "bumper-ships", so a review of the captain's skills is in order!

I was really surprised to see a sub patrolling the road NE of Asahikawa! I guess it was just an oversight that the map art put the land border right on the hex boundary line instead of leaving a patch of ocean there for the sub to be in the hex - but it does look very strange!

actually this was one of the two SSTs operating in the area to sub invade the rail lines - but the perfect and brilliant Allied commander forgot to turn off the "do not unload" button...

this could have been an epic fail on my part... ^^

and indeed - APA Doyen's skipper has been reassigned to the salt corrosion control detachment in Norfolk, VA

October 8:

Without going into the endless combat reports of such "busy" days - I'd like to provide a few "honourable mentions":

first of all I spotted the AF at Hamatsu to be rather "vacant" of fighter aircraft - thus I sent in the few B-29s I had left and bagged a few Peggys... No it wasn't all that many, but considering that eventually my strategic bombing campaign will have an impact on his production capabilities I did not want to forgoe the opportunity to hit some of his twin engine planes, which are way more expensive to replace than the usual fighters I get to bag.

this was one of th raids going in:

Night Air attack on Hamamatsu , at 111,61

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-67-Ia Peggy: 1 destroyed on ground

No Allied losses

Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb


---------------------

Additionally I went after the Ki-94 II factory there to ensure it does not R&D any more...

Night Air attack on Hamamatsu , at 111,61

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 3

No Allied losses

Ki-94-II factory hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 8000 feet
City Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb


considering it was a night bombing raid we were quite successful I believe...

---------------------------------

The mighty Imperial Air Force responded with one single attack to my landings during the entire operation. and this was most likely a misclick... some 12 (or more, I forgot) Betties got bagged by the CAP....

Morning Air attack on TF, near Bihoro at 123,51

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
G4M2a Betty x 18

Allied aircraft
P-38J Lightning x 3
P-40N5 Warhawk x 2
F4U-1A Corsair x 9
F4U-1D Corsair x 6
F6F-3 Hellcat x 10
F6F-5 Hellcat x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M2a Betty: 12 destroyed, 1 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
DE Bebas

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x G4M2a Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo

----------------------------------------------

the map below shows the two locations I used to sub invade with a BF-detachment ensuring that the rail lines would be cut no matter the AF in central Hokkaido would be taken on that day (which it was) - the sub invasion plan was conceived before the airborne part of the operation - and perhaps should have been discarded in ordere to "reveal" this option to my opponent... oh well...
---------------------------------------------

Ensuring that the Airborne troops would actually succeed in their attack today, we decided to send in a few waves of naval bombers as well - this was one of the attacks in addition to the usual raids...
------------------------------------------

Last but not least I think I should report on the 4 land attacks today - some readers may think: hang on - what? FOUR? you invaded Bihoro, Kushiro and Asahikawa??
Well - as we all know by now; I like to combine strikes to ensure maximum moral impact - so I was carefully reinforcing Palembang all the while the invasion at Hokkaido was going under way... and decided to give it a first try today too... again attacking on both sides of the Empire on the map on the same day!
although I figured it would take longer, the conquest of Palembang would be achieved roughly at the same time Hokkaido would be mine entirely...

BIHORO FIRST:

Ground combat at Bihoro (123,51)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 70067 troops, 1143 guns, 2217 vehicles, Assault Value = 2326

Defending force 6728 troops, 84 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 137

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2

Allied adjusted assault: 692

Japanese adjusted defense: 3

Allied assault odds: 230 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied forces CAPTURE Bihoro !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
7897 casualties reported
Squads: 266 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 152 destroyed, 21 disabled
Engineers: 11 destroyed, 3 disabled
Guns lost 88 (82 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Units retreated 4

Allied ground losses:
194 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Vehicles lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
XIV Corps Combat Engineer Regiment
671th Tank Destroyer Battalion
209th Combat Engineer Battalion
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
29th Marine Regiment
710th Tank Battalion
XI Corps Combat Engineer Regiment
43rd Infantry Division
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
815th Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion
32nd Infantry Division
22nd Marine Regiment
716th Tank Battalion
775th Tank Battalion
41st Infantry Division
185th USAAF Base Force
105th USN Base Force
237th USN Base Force
50th Aviation Base Force
4th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd USMC Air Wing Base Force
85th Medium Regiment
181st USAAF Base Force
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
236th USN Base Force
3rd USMC Air Wing Base Force
39th USN Naval Construction Battalion
38th USN Naval Construction Battalion
Seventh USAAF
9th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
8th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
I Corps Artillery
134th (East Ang) Regiment

Defending units:
61st Ind.Mixed Brigade
Wake Coastal Gun Battalion
51st Naval Guard Unit
58th JNAF AF Unit

------------------------------------

Ground combat at Kushiro (123,53) SECOND

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 42797 troops, 904 guns, 1352 vehicles, Assault Value = 1916

Defending force 7337 troops, 100 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 209

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Allied adjusted assault: 2110

Japanese adjusted defense: 29

Allied assault odds: 72 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Kushiro !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
5729 casualties reported
Squads: 114 destroyed, 52 disabled
Non Combat: 90 destroyed, 38 disabled
Engineers: 32 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 73 (39 destroyed, 34 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Allied ground losses:
338 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 50 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
44th Tank Battalion
6th Australian Division
5th Marine Division
CenPac Amphib Tank Brigade
1st Army Tank Regiment
81st Infantry Division
98th Infantry Division
96th Infantry Div /10
342 Wing
Tenth US Army
1st USMC Engineer Aviation Battalion
IX US Corps
220th USN Base Force
XIV US Corps
5th USMC Field Artillery Battalion
X Corps Artillery
USN Forwd AirCenPac

Defending units:
60th Ind.Mixed Brigade
52nd Naval Guard Unit
51st JNAF AF Unit
59th JNAF AF Unit


------------------------------------------

Ground combat at Asahikawa (121,51) THIRD

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 3537 troops, 70 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 136

Defending force 1932 troops, 55 guns, 27 vehicles, Assault Value = 12

Allied adjusted assault: 50

Japanese adjusted defense: 2

Allied assault odds: 25 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied forces CAPTURE Asahikawa !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
855 casualties reported
Squads: 20 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 57 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 65 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 16 (15 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 15 (15 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 5

Allied ground losses:
16 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
503rd Parachute Rgt /1
11th Airborne Div /1

Defending units:
Maizuru 1st SNLF
27th JAAF Base Force
21st Field AF Construction Battalion
35th Const Co
49th JAAF AF Bn

----------------------------------------
And last but not least Palembang... Forts down to lvl 7 in the first run - Army is intact and we'll be ready to go in a few days... we are in no particular rush... only Indochina is left as a real prize in the area . and it may not be the obvious one

Ground combat at Palembang (48,91)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 114003 troops, 1964 guns, 2749 vehicles, Assault Value = 4539

Defending force 37847 troops, 539 guns, 356 vehicles, Assault Value = 1074

Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 7

Allied adjusted assault: 3368

Japanese adjusted defense: 8287

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 7)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1453 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 34 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 48 disabled
Engineers: 54 destroyed, 96 disabled
Guns lost 55 (5 destroyed, 50 disabled)
Vehicles lost 97 (55 destroyed, 42 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
4080 casualties reported
Squads: 28 destroyed, 460 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 115 disabled
Engineers: 73 destroyed, 96 disabled
Guns lost 98 (7 destroyed, 91 disabled)
Vehicles lost 129 (9 destroyed, 120 disabled)

Assaulting units:
34th Combat Engineer Regiment
Guides Cavalry Regiment
40th Infantry Division
22nd (East African) Brigade
11th Australian Division
15th NZ Brigade
1st Australian Division
637th Tank Destroyer Battalion
766th Tank Battalion
IV Corps Engineer Battalion
2/6th Armoured Regiment
31st Infantry Regiment
193rd Tank Battalion
1st Cavalry (Spec) Cavalry Division
2/4th Armoured Regiment
37th Infantry Division
763rd Tank Battalion
24th Infantry Division
82nd (West African) Division
2nd Regiment
3rd Australian Division
754th Tank Battalion
16th Chindit Brigade
268th Motorised Brigade
2nd Australian Division
44th (Support) Battalion
15th Indian Heavy AA Regiment
37th USN Naval Construction Battalion
II Australian
1st Indian Medium Regiment
6th Mixed A/T Mtr Regiment
1st RAA Jungle Regiment
2nd Medium Regiment
226th Field Artillery Battalion
33rd Medium Regiment
109th Tank Attack Regiment
IV Indian Corps
8th Medium Regiment
103rd RN Base Force
88th Medium Regiment

Defending units:
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
14th Tank Regiment
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
21st Division
25th Ind.Mixed Brigade
24th Ind.Mixed Brigade
26th Ind.Mixed Brigade
42nd Road Const Co
1st RF Gun Battalion
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Mortar Battalion
35th Fld AA Gun Co
112th AA Regiment
1st Air Defense AA Regiment
18th JAAF Base Force /1
35th Field AA Battalion
27th JAAF AF Bn /1
31st Field AA Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
23rd Special Base Force
35th JAAF AF Bn /1

------------------------------------



Conclusion: Another major invasion of a major Japanese Island - the last remaining major one besides Honshu - went really really well. The enemy did not show - I am unsure if he was just too afraid to waste his ships on Hokkaido or if I again managed to hit him before he was back from his repairs - both is a distinct possibility.
Again we did not lose any significant ships - a few smaller ones were sunk - but who cares really, nothing amphibious and nothing as large as a DD.
At the same time we are reducing Palembang daily through air bombardment and ground attacks every 3-4 days. I figured about 2-3 months until it would fall - I would be proven wrong as a month later the Allied flag would already fly over the base.
With Asahikawa already in my hands and no indication of any counter attacks from Sapporo (I expected him to at least go after my airborne troops to cash in some elite troops) I even decided to strat move some troops from Bihoro and Kushiro to hit Sapporo even quicker than I would have every hoped for!

The only thing not going perfectly I guess would be the strategic bombing campaign - with Japanese planes being the usual jet fighters due to no HRs and crazy R&D and my better planes only arriving in 45 it will be going like this for a while... Considering this disadvantage I should be rather proud of having inflicted over 10,000 points in strategic points by now, I guess...