The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1943-1946 LilJoe v Rob

[LittleJoe]

5th May - 6th May 1943


China

Today was the big attack, the Chinese forces where to be destroyed against the the Soviet Border, the attack achieved 7 to 1 odds and...they retreated towards a Soviet Base, definately not Nationalist Chinese forces then. [8|]

So in general a massive waste of time, ill leave a Division on the road and send the rest back to the crossroads, to eiether try and directly encircle Yenen, or march on Lanchow etc.




Gonna bring in some long legged recon AC (Perhaps that prototype squadron of Irvings, to try and recon Langchow, see how well garrisoned it is.


Aleutians


He continued bombarding Attu from the sky and sea, only a matter of time before some kind of ground forces turn up,the majority my subs are hunting his 'Carrier' taskforce, the rest continue removing cadres.

A new marine squadron launched from that carrier tf, VMSB-144 or somthing like that, so perhaps two carriers carrying marine dauntlesses...hummm

Kido Butai remains on stanby just north of Kwaj, think im gonna send it back south though tbh, this smells rotten.

Managed to destroy 8 B-17s that where unlucky enough to attempt a long range naval attack towards APD'S outside Lae.


Day Air attack on TF, near Lae at 54,87

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 20
A6M3a Zero x 19
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 47
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 54

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 damaged
A6M3a Zero: 3 damaged
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 5 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 8 destroyed


Had three ASW groups encounter US subs, all three managed to be pounced upon by the sub before counterattacking, lost one MSW, and two APDs (i think) where hit, which really isnt good as ive lost a lot of APDS over the past 9 months. [:(]

[LittleJoe]

7th May - 8th May 1943


The I-33 got smacked up and sunk, looking for this elusive Carrier formation, and he continued to bomb ground forces in Burma, nothing much esle..

ASW attack at 93,34

Japanese Ships
SS I-33, hits 10, heavy damage

Allied Ships
DD McCalla
DD Lardner

My Bettys on naval search out of Songkhia spotted two CA's outside Chandapur (think thats its name) dunno what exactly, i sent the sub ive got in the bay of Bengal to hug the Burma coastline and maybe get a closer look.


Made one big order this turn though, sent a CS north a few hundered miles SW of Attu, in the middle of one of his sub fields, hopefully the CS's floatplanes will make him think a surface group/carrier group is coming towards him, or perhaps make him move outside the LBA umbrella.

The Kido Butai is retiring to Truk, Kwajalien is dry of fuel for the time being, and i doubt Rob will make any move on the Gilberts until he gets his Essexs...i hope.

Annoying times, i want to use my carriers, but i cannot, as i dont want to lose PM or anyother of the critical bases on my perimeter until i can no longer realistically defend them.

Waiting games...

[LittleJoe]

Bump just so you know this is still alive.

Nothing major has happened snice last update, its now the 25th of May, still dont know where robs CVS are but im gonna try and draw them out, by doing some bombardment raids on his perimeter, sending my Cvs and BBs to Nanomea, to try and smack it up a bit..

[LittleJoe]

An RO sub off Brisbane was attacked by a TBF, im acting, sending Kido Butai down the East Coast of Aus to sit off Brisbane, once he gets Hellcats and his 6 other Essex carriers, all my carriers will be useless as a combat force.

So were going in!

[LittleJoe]

27th - 28th May 1943

Its been a year or more since i crushed Robs Carrier forces off of Canton Island, and now the Kido Butai is looking for the elusive American Carriers once again, the Hiyo and a few Cve's and Cvls will also join them, going to try and sail into what i hope is a blind spot for Robs naval search, even if it isnt im probably not going to turn back.

Only a lack of fuel will force me to turn back i think, pretty certain Rob's Cvs are in brisbane, he even admitted a month or so back he was retiring them to the place, but i had presumed they had moved on. The Ro parked itself outside Brisbane and was attacked by Kingfishers/Dauntlesses, surely American warships!

He probably knows i know his CVs are in the place, but hell probably just hole up in Brisbane, behind his torpedo nets/flak guns and LBA, no need for him to feel into the ocean to lose me anymore, so a port attack may be nessacary. It will bloody, and cripple my pilots expierience but, like i said before, he gets 6 or so Essexs in...50 days time, and im not sure, but Hellcats cant be far behind, so weve got to act now.

An I-boat is headed to the area, ill send more, and do some Glen recon of Brisbane to make perfectly sure that somthing valuable is in Brisbane port before any port attack though..

A Bombardment group hit that base to the SE of Guadacanal, and is now going to hit Rennel, this is important, as search planes off of Rennel are probably the most likely to expose my Cv's prematurely, so hitting the place should disable the airfield long enough to allow my Carriers to sneak through into the Coral Sea.


In China ive got around 1,000+ assualt points to attempt a encirclement of Yenen, Rob will probably see it coming and pull out, 500 assualt points into his rear, but its worth a go.


As you can see im getting more and more wreckless with my forces, as they're all going to be doomed soon enough. [:)]


Ill get this AAR looking prettier again soon, probably when i have time, more screenshots will be forthcoming.

[LittleJoe]

31st May - 1st June 1943


My bombardment group hit Rennel last turn and this turn, destroying a fair amount of Corsairs/P-38s/F4Fs he had on the ground obviously with a mind to sweep the Canal, rob threatened that if i continued my Battleships would go 'Glug glug'

This looks like an empty threat unless his subs get lucky, the Kido Butai and Hiyo attachment will sit off Rennel to the West of the island for a few turns, theres no airfields large enough to load torps to hurt my BB's, so maybe he has somthing more personal in mind. We'll see.

Im sending another Bombardment group to hit Ndini, lead by the Nagato, maybe i can rile him into protecting his weak perimeter outposts, and get rid of the need for me to go to him, maybe, just maybe.




Rob did a cheeky raid on my port at Taan, smacking up several Aks, thats it really.

[LittleJoe]

4th - 5th June 1943


Continued to hit Rennel, decent operation, the Allies arent short of airframes for any of these aircraft, but i suppose i have to have the attitude that every point i score is three he has to score for 44'.

Also hit Ndini, just damamged some base facilities, nothing major, sunk an AK that was unfortunate enough to be outside the base though.

As to remind myself of the danger my carriers face this far from home, there was an extremely long range raid on transports in Lunga by Liberators flying from Lunganville/Efate. Hope my carriers do not encounter any similar raid.

Rennel appears to already be fully operational as well, more SBD's flew from the place, escorted by several fighters hit a PG outside Tulagi, ordered the ASW taskforce home to Rabaul, and docked the damaged PG in Tulagi.


Rennel remains open

Watched the replay of my glorious Carrier battle victory over Rob, turns out my memory is totally wrong, and it happened in mid Feb not May, so its been around 470 days snice, so that puts my estimate at around 80 odd days till he gets his Essex's.

Eiether hes receiving them earlier than that, (manual says around 550 days) or his memory was too a little bit rusty in remembering when his new shiny carriers will arrive.

My carriers on the other hand have moved into the 'slot' and appear to be unsighted, not let us hope thier fortuntune extends to the American Carriers venturing outside of Brisbane harbour.

Attu defenders are still doomed, not much i can do...

[LittleJoe]

The CV raid on the Aussie East coast was a success, although nothing to hurt the Allies more than temporarily, the Kido Butai stumbled across several sizeable AK/TK convoys and pretty much sunk every ship, i guess around 15-25 maybe more where sunk, some of the Tankers had fuel on board, but the AK's like with the Indian ocean where eiether empty or just carrying supplies.

Quite a nice co-ordinated strike too, if i had know id be able to summon up a strike like this, i may have risked the port attack on Brisbane!


Day Air attack on TF at 58,110

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 6
D3A Val x 160
A6M3a Zero x 38
B5N Kate x 110

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
AK William L. Garrison, on fire, heavy damage
AK Edgar Luckenbach, on fire, heavy damage
AK Steel Worker, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
AK Steel Voyager, on fire, heavy damage
TK Alfred Clegg, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Lena Luckenbach, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Steel Ranger, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
TK Empire Granite, on fire, heavy damage
AK Nathaniel Currier, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Christopher Greenup, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage




Banzaiii!


Rennel continued to remain a pain, he hit up a few AK's outside Guadacanal with Avengers and Dauntlesses flying from Rennel, escorted by a few Corsairs and Wildcats, my A6m3s on cap lost three of their number for one Wildcat, and damaged a few Avengers (they seemed to be tough to shoot down)

[LittleJoe]

Thank you everyone for one thousand hits. [:)]

Ive turnt back the Carrier forces, no point staying where we are not welcome, i doubt Rob will sally out his Carrier forces eiether.

On the way back the Kido Butai will hit Rennel airfield, ive also been hitting the place with some land based bombers from Lunga, with some sucess, but the airfield remains open, and has hit a few merchants in the soloman chain, so i might as well make it costly for him.

Rob launced deliberate attacks up at Attu, the defenders there wont last far into July i reckon..if that, they accounted for themselves well on the first few days of the assualt, losing around 300 of thier number for around 2,000 Allies, but i reckon they've used they're last few piles of ammunition staving off being overrun and once the Allied forces have recomposed theyll inflict massive casualties.

[LittleJoe]

My CV's hit Rennel on the way home, bit pointless really and only served to destroy a few airframes and further weaken the strength of my Carriers fighter arms, once the replacements file in at Rabaul and i can see how badly my expierience levels have been hit, i may consider retiring my carriers one at a time to the Kendari area and training up thier fighter groups there, im gonna need all the help i can get in the coming months..

He's marching on another base in Sumatra..Medan i think, nothing i can do here, and itll only give him a level 2 fighter base to sweep over Malaya from, no threat to Palembang so i wont react, i will bombard the place with surface groups from Singapore if he does take the place.

Not sure why he doesnt just paradrop into the place, theres only a empty shell of a para regiment dying there...

Talking of surface groups, im going to steam in on Rennel with another Tokyo express run, my recon says theres no bombers there anymore, whether this is true or not im not sure, but ive stood down my fighters from hitting Rennel and theyll cap the taskforce incase it does get caught..


Nice raid on Rennel, Lightnings are deadly though!


Haruna group is going in!

[LittleJoe]

24th - 25th June 1943


Past few weeks fighting in the southern Solomans has produced a good results, it seems the American's have abandoned Rennel airfield!

He doesn't want to overstack the place (quite honourably) so hes stuck with around 50-100 aircraft at the place, my repeated air attacks on the place made him fill the place with Corsairs and Lightenings, so i whent in with a Tokyo express attack which provided nuclear results, which im sure rob whent in detail about.

I guess if he balances the place with half fighters half bombers, he wont be strong enough to ward off eiether air attacks or naval attacks, so his aircraft have flown home, giving me temporarily at least a nice frontline 'training' base to bomb into the stoneage!



Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 34
G3M Nell x 25
G4M1 Betty x 20
H8K Emily x 8
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 16
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 6
Ki-21 Sally x 26
Ki-48 Lily x 29
Ki-49 Helen x 23

Allied aircraft
no flights

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged
Ki-21 Sally: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged
Ki-48 Lily: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged
Ki-49 Helen: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-38G Lightning: 2 destroyed
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed

Destroyed 7 Corsairs and 7 Lightnings on the ground over the two days, aircraft loses for the turn where once again equal, every turn like this lengthens the war!

Recon sighted what appears to be some light Carriers at Baker,not worth running the gaunlet in a air or naval attack to try and hit them, but ill keep an eye on them, not sure why he needs them there...maybe was just ferrying air squadrons around and needed refueling? Seems unlikely hed refuel on such a frontline base...hmmm



Finally in suspcious goings on theres been seemingly dozens of sub sightings up and down the Mallacca straight, of course last time he did this he landed in Sabang, so perhaps a naval landing of Medan, or perhaps Malaya is on the cards?

Malaya is still very weak against a concentrated land invasion, and any invasion would have to be stopped on the beaches, Medan has already fallen pretty much nothing i can do to save it.

Ive continued to mine the Malaya coast, i sortied the mini KB to sit off of the Eastern Malaya coast, from there it can hit anything enterting the channel, likewise with my airforce at Songkhia, ive set all my level bombers to naval attack with a maxiumum range of 5, so not to be drawn into a slaughter over Sabang.. Neverous times, i desperately need more ground reinforcements of Malaya..but from where?

[LittleJoe]

26th - 27th June 1943

Found my ground reinforcements for Malaya, the 4th Fleet area army recevied several new units a while back, they're sitting on their hands in Tokyo, gonna send them out to Singapore asap, as 4th fleets frontline (Tarawa/Apanama) is well defended, Rob would need 3 or more Division to eject the defenders, and not until he has his Essexs, which will be a while, Malaya is the weak link in my chain currently.

Managed to inflict some harm to Robs Submarine fleet, damaged two subs with naval ASW outside the Shortlands and Tarawa, and a Jake floatplane managed to his another sub outside Paraisusmo Jima, which is nice...


Arare scores a hit on a sub outside Tarawa

Got slaughtered in the skies above Burma too, put some cap over my rear guard unit in the jungle, as he was heavily bombarding the place from the air, but only escourting with a few Beautfigters, typically this wasnt the case with time a 55 highly expierienced P-40Es swiped down my cap, wounding my top war ace (17 kills) [:(]

Day Air attack on 38th Division, at 31,33

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 17
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 29
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 9

Allied aircraft
Liberator VI x 3
Hudson I x 3
P-40E Warhawk x 55
B-25J Mitchell x 17

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 7 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 26 destroyed
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Hudson I: 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 6 destroyed, 3 damaged
B-25J Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged

Ouch!


Along with that Rob continued to bombard Attu from the air and sea, looks like hes got most of the surface ships on the USN up there, wouldnt dare venture into the amount of LBA hes got up there though, so its out of bounds..

Ordered my own bomardments, gonna hit Rennel with a couple of bomardment groups,one of them lead by the freshly repaired Yamato, Tokyo express style, although it may become a more permanent bomardment if we can shut down the airfield completely.

Recon revealed a CLAA now in port at Baker, but no Carriers...wierd, put some cap over Kwajalien, incase hes planning a raid into my rear (ohh err [;)])

Did some extremely long recon missions on Brisbane and Noumea, lots of merchants in Brisbane, minimal cap, 16 or so Corsairs and a load of Mowhawks, Noumea was pretty much empty... Ordered the two H8K groups to recce Townsville and Luganville this time, maybe ill find somthing jucier. Its really looking as if his CV'S arent in Brisbane, if they aren't worryingly, i dont have a clue where they are..Hiding no doubt until his Essexs arive.

[LittleJoe]

28th - 29th June 1943

Surface groups hit Rennel today, with good results, many dead/wounded American intruders! Continued to plummel the place from the air too, Airfield damage is in the 50's now, just scoring some cheap points now really..Continued to hit the place from the air now as well

Rob came over and hit Songkhla too, brushed aside my relatively 'minimal' cap due to being on standby for some kind of naval invasion down the Malacca straight, for some reason he only hit the resources there, he can do that all day if he wants, as long as the airfield there is intact...

Decided where to place my 4th fleet reinforcements, 48th Division (i think thats its name) around 480 assualt points will head to Malaya, along with a another 100 points of a spare Ind Brigade i think.

Im also sending another one of those small Ind Brigade's to Parasumho Jima, which Rob is eyeing up lately, wont allow him a level 4 airfield in range of Hokkaido just yet..

As i admitted to Rob, ive gone from moaning about a lack of reinforcements, to having too many, i dont want to overstack my perimeter defences, and lose too many vital troops in the opening stages of my defence, and i havent a clue what route Rob intends on taking to P.I/Marinas/Luzon, so i dont want to commit too many troops to my 'second' line of defence just yet..

[LittleJoe]

Sending some more of my new found reinforcements to Munda, the other level 4 airfield that Rob could realistically take in the Solomons if he wanted to bypass the Canal.

But i guess if i were rob, i'd try to sneak it one more landing before he receives his Essex's and i think that will be at Lautem, like Baker he can bomb it and supress it from his land based air at Derby/Darwin, my troops are also running out of supplies, and its becoming harder for me to resupply it from the sea, as a result my troops are being to wither on the vine, im gonna attempt some LCAP on the place, and try to resupply it to keep the troops alive a while longer.

I have surface forces ready to pile in at Ambonia, and some land based bettys at the place, and i think ill send KB to Kendari soon, if i where in robs shoes i would land there.

Unlike Baker, its a level 4 airfield and can actually lead somewhere without overwhelming carrier support..

Hmm..


No news from the past turns, apart from the usual sub/asw action, Rob did a 202 B-17 raid on Lunga from Luganville, pretty nice raid, 50 airfield damage, but the place is still operational and ive put full cap over Lunga for next turn, another Tokyo express raid is steaming towards Rennel now its going to be receiving less attention from the air, KB minus Akagi is moving into the Coral sea to support it, incase Rob sees this one coming and tries to intervene.

[LittleJoe]

6-7th July 1943

Some small sucesses for the Japanese this turn, managed to sink a sub NW of Kuching the S-37 i think, and damaged another outside that big Resource island east of Palembang.

ASW attack at 29,54

Japanese Ships
PG Taiko Maru
PG Seisho Maru
MSW W.6
MSW W.1
DD Satsuki
DD Wakaba

Allied Ships
SS S-37, hits 2, on fire, heavy damage Sinks


However he's recently moved into the rich pickings in the straights north of Luzon, over the past few days hes hit around five tankers of which a couple have sunk. Moving in more ASW assets to try and clear out this problem.

On the ground Rob's performing a withdrawal from the jungles in Burma, i launched a deliberate attack on the last few stragglers to kick them out of Japanese territory uncremoniously, even though i took more casualties in the attack, its a nice small psychological victory that im denying him any land in Burma.

Whilst we're on the subject of the ground effort, im sending the last unit of 4th fleet (91 assault points) to Tarawa, as im sure my Pacific holdings in the Gilberts and Marshalls will be hit the hardest once Rob gains his massive Carrier supreiority, i get another large ground unit reinforcement in four months or so, so i can afford to stuff a few extra men into my perimeter bases, gonna try and russel together some more reinforcements for Guadacanal too..

In the air i sent some Zero's to strafe PT'S rob placed outside Rennel, they damaged one of my Destroyers on another Tokyo express run, and could have gotten the Yamato at 1,000ft, so im gonna try and clear em out from the air before continuing my bombardment, i m sending in some Destroyer/PG taskforces in as well to smack them up.

[aztez]

I do like your idea of reinforcing Tarawa. Sending additional 90 assault points can cause him 3x harm. Propably meaning that he will have commit additional division for anykind of an amphibitious operation.
 
Just a word of warning though. As said personally I like your plan of forward atoll defense. (It can be very costly if done properly) ..BUT keep in mind that Rob can bypass some of the atoll bases and propably will do so. So, basically reinforce those bases you know in 99% certainty he will come after. Yes, he will have an CV superiority but you do have an advantage when it comes to ground combats. [:)]

[LittleJoe]

Yes, i am reinforcing some of the islands in the Marshalls also incase he gets ambitious, hell eiether take Tarawa or Apanama, i think it would be silly of him to think he has to take both, the attractive island to take would be Tarawa, as the majority of my fighter cap for the 'twinned' islands is placed there, and it has good port facilities as well as a good airfield, hence im gonna give it more troops.

As long as my Carrier strength remains 100% intact which it is at the moment, Rob cant bypass THAT deep into my territory, so im still expecting him to come after one level 4 airfield close to the perimeter,somewhere..problem for me is, due to his strength in North Aus, and his capture of Sabang, that level 4 airfield he wants could be anywhere from..Malaya..Timor..Port Moresby..Solomons (Canal/Munda) or Tarawa or Apanama.

If i where rob with all the Essexs he owns, id go for the Pacific Atoll route, is the terrirtory he can most use his Carrier superiority to full effect, any of the other places, Japanese land based air would be a major factor, in the Pacific Atolls, only takes the Death star to park off Tarawa for a month or so to flatten the place of any air resistance, whereas in Malaya/Timor/Solomons, i can field air resisitance from many airfields and attrit his forces better..

Thats my thinking anyway. [:)]

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

A quick question regarding your first posted image. I see arrows pointing to two dutch bases with the words "Training bases." Could you explain that?

My assumption is that bombing undefended bases is better for gaining experience that setting the AF's to 'training'. Is this correct?

[LittleJoe]

Yes, sending airfield there to bomb the airfield to train them up, only up to 70 expierience though, basically a 'basic' combat training lesson, i could train them up to the 80's 90's, but aces never got created by dropping bombs onto tarmac unoppossed.

Oh yeah we have the sync bug under 1.804, looks like my strafing of the PT'S did it...don't know how, it was ment to be fixed, Rob combat report claimed that he hit my CVE'S on the east coast of Malayasia...

[8|]

[LittleJoe]

8 - 9th July 1943

Two big air combats today, both which where quite favourable to Japan in 1943, one over Koepang, with rob trying to shut down Koepang airfield, perhaps for a future invasion of Timor.

Day Air attack on Koepang , at 28,77

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 61
Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 20

Allied aircraft
Catalina I x 3
Beaufighter Mk 21 x 21
B-25J Mitchell x 51

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 7 destroyed, 12 damaged
Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 11 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Catalina I: 1 damaged
Beaufighter Mk 21: 19 destroyed
B-25J Mitchell: 9 destroyed, 11 damaged

Some of my Zero/Tony losses where on the ground, quite a convincing aerial victory for the IJA! I've sent in a 36 plane Tony squadron to reinforce the place, incase he comes again with more force. He tried closing down Koepang before earlier in the year and failed, ill try and ensure he doesnt win this time.


The second one was a much closer affair...but one the Allies should have really won convincingly

Day Air attack on Haiphong , at 37,38

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 15
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 51

Allied aircraft
P-40N Warhawk x 94

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 3 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 27 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40N Warhawk: 37 destroyed, 7 damaged


I think it proves the Japanese beleif that the Chinese are an infreior race that they cannot make advantage of such a large numerical advantage, against some of poorest pilots in the IJA airforce!



In other unrelated news, i stupidly somehow threw some of the last few precious APD's in surface combat against those PT'S outside Rennel, i lost one, along with a destroyer, and only managed to sink the same number of PT'S, very discouraging...

Rob's PT'S should be going ome anyway, as ive no effective way of clearinfg them out anymore, not it seems the sync bug is still present.