Headhunter - Lokasenna (A) vs. mind_messing (J) - No MM yet

[Lokasenna]

Banda Sea, Sansapor/Sorong - actions on August 6, 1944

Several posts in a row here, one to cover each piece of the larger action.

We have some spare P-47s, although I wonder now what would have happened if I had placed them on more LRCAP over Sorong and Sansapor. I set all of my available fighters (staying under stacking limits) at Kaimana, Biak, Noemfoor, and Manokwari on LRCAP over Sorong for this turn, leaving a couple of short ranged units behind on regular CAP with a small radius to protect from Frances/Netties on the ships at Biak-Manokwari.

I think we caught some mediocre pilots in these Jacks and Nicks, or else they just got completely dominated. My hunch is that, given the level of his aircraft losses, his pilot quality must be starting to deteriorate.

Note how the P-38s do worse, despite an already-weakened CAP. My pilots in P-38s are still "veteran" level - 70+ XP/Air, but the really top guys go into P-47s most of the time. Still... I really don't think the P-38 has proper data. I think the durability is rated as too low. It's only 37. For reference, the Hellcat is 32, the P-47 is 36, and the Corsair is 35. I know the P-47 was legendarily durable, but...

We bombed the crap out of the AFs at Dili and Lautem with B-24s and B-25s later. 100+ hits on each, plus airbase and supply hits, although not as many supply hits as I would like.

Morning Air attack on Ambon , at 76,109

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 44,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIc Nick x 22

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 10 destroyed

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
19 x P-47D2 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet

CAP engaged:
21st Sentai with Ki-45 KAIc Nick (3 airborne, 15 on standby, 0 scrambling)
18 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 17000 , scrambling fighters between 17000 and 35200.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 44 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Ambon , at 76,109

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid detected at 17 NM, estimated altitude 44,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIc Nick x 3

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 2 destroyed

No Allied losses

Aircraft Attacking:
22 x P-47D2 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet

CAP engaged:
21st Sentai with Ki-45 KAIc Nick (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 17000 , scrambling fighters between 35200 and 45000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 42 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Lautem , at 72,115

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid spotted at 41 NM, estimated altitude 48,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M3 Jack x 16

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 21

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M3 Jack: 9 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x P-47D2 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet

CAP engaged:
S-602 Hikotai with J2M3 Jack (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(5 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 1 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 5000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 40 minutes
Sasebo Ku S-1 with J2M3 Jack (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
(3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 11 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 2 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Dili , at 71,115

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 20 NM, estimated altitude 48,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M3 Jack x 51

Allied aircraft
P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 22

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M3 Jack: 12 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 2 destroyed

CAP engaged:
S-602 Hikotai with J2M3 Jack (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 16 scrambling)
12 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 38380.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 18 minutes
Sasebo Ku S-1 with J2M3 Jack (0 airborne, 7 on standby, 13 scrambling)
7 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 35000 and 38380.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 20 minutes



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Morning Air attack on Dili , at 71,115

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 46,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J2M3 Jack x 22

Allied aircraft
P-38J Lightning x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
J2M3 Jack: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38J Lightning: 3 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
11 x P-38J Lightning sweeping at 44000 feet *

CAP engaged:
S-602 Hikotai with J2M3 Jack (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
11 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 38380.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 53 minutes
Sasebo Ku S-1 with J2M3 Jack (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 1 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 20000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 40380.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 26 minutes

[Lokasenna]

So, this happened - possibly because I was silly when I set up my SCTFs, although they had to pass through the same hex as the IJN... I guess mine just passed through first, and his later. I did see these guys coming in.

A small secondary strike from KB during the day did enough damage to Cavalier and John Land to make them lost causes.

[Lokasenna]

There's no guarantee that my guys would've caught his first, but not setting PZs definitely didn't help. I was concerned with the cruisers reacting out of CAP, but Fletchers can take care of themselves.

[Lokasenna]

A wild KB appears!

I was wondering if he would boost them this way, hoping to sink a lot of ships. He sunk some, but I don't think he was coming after these. I think he thought that I would send fleet carriers for this, and maybe he thought the previous CVE TF I had here (sent away for something else several weeks ago), which he got some poor DL on with its 17 CVEs so lots of planes, was a group of CVs. I haven't shown him CVs in months.

In any case, there's wreckage, but it's not so bad. I counted up the air groups shown in the replay. I don't normally post walls of text from the replay text file, but here we go.

Present were the air groups from CVs: Hiryu, Akagi, Zuikaku, Kaga, Unryu, Taiho.

The total strike numbers (and fighters on map with DL 10/10 shown post-strike) match up with 8 CVs, so I either didn't "detect" 2 of them or he resized to favor bombers and sent all his fighters on escort (KB strike escorts were all from the CVs themselves, as no additional lines were shown to signify LBA escort or LRCAP). Given the number of fighters remaining and that I shot down 50-60 A6M's, I think he stayed somewhere close to the default sizing. The morning strikes consisted of 106 TBs and 141 DBs. 260 bombers (plus those spotted on search) plus 250 or so fighters tells me he has to have more than 6 CVs present. Akagi (81) + Zuikaku/Kaga/Taiho (72) + Unryu (63) + Hiryu (71) = 431. Even overstacking each CV by 10% or 15% that's only 460. So I'm thinking 8. The reason this is so important will become apparent when I get to posting about August 7-8.

Shokaku is sunk. Other than Unryu, he could have the other 5 built by now, but I think 2 others must have been with these at least. That leaves 3, plus Soryu, unaccounted for. Those could be the ones that tried to raid Rangoon a while back... that looked like a 4-CV grouping to me. Chitose/Chiyoda are unaccounted for, as are Ryujo/Zuiho/Shoho, but 4 of those are babies. Nisshin is still a CS, I'm pretty sure.

If I had known he would react so strongly to Sorong (I suspected but not enough to do it), I could've sent all my CVs/CVEs here to have a good ol' battle. I think I would have annihilated KB as a fighting force for the next 6 months at least if I'd had 12 CVs, 8 CVLs, and 25 CVEs here. Maybe next time [;)].

Morning Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 8
A6M5b Zero x 92
B6N2 Jill x 38
B7A2 Grace x 33
D4Y3 Judy x 105

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 4
Thunderbolt I x 2
Kittyhawk IV x 2
P-38J Lightning x 1
P-40K Warhawk x 3
FM-2 Wildcat x 126
F4U-1A Corsair x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 1 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 7 destroyed, 9 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak
B7A2 Grace: 4 destroyed, 2 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 21 destroyed, 22 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 4 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk IV: 1 destroyed
FM-2 Wildcat: 4 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Thetis Bay
CVE Sargent Bay, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Steamer Bay, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Shipley Bay, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVE Sitkoh Bay, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Mobile
DD Sigourney
DE Fair
DE LeHardy
DD Yarnall
CVE Petrof Bay, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVE Shamrock Bay, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
DD Haggard
AKA Jupiter, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKA Almaack, Torpedo hits 1

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Manokwari at 85,109

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet. Attempted strato-telepor-does
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 20
P1Y2 Frances x 22

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 5 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
LCI-627
AKA Artemis
AP Gen. W.M.Mitchell
DE Gendreau

Aircraft Attacking:
22 x P1Y2 Frances bombing from 31000 feet *
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 73 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B6N2 Jill x 24

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 3
Thunderbolt I x 2
Kittyhawk IV x 1
P-38J Lightning x 1
P-40K Warhawk x 2
FM-2 Wildcat x 99
F4U-1A Corsair x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
B6N2 Jill: 7 destroyed

No Allied losses

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 17
B6N2 Jill x 15
B7A2 Grace x 13
D4Y3 Judy x 10

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 1
Thunderbolt I x 1
Kittyhawk IV x 1
P-38J Lightning x 1
P-40K Warhawk x 2
FM-2 Wildcat x 96
F4U-1A Corsair x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 2 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 9 destroyed, 1 damaged
B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak
B7A2 Grace: 8 destroyed, 1 damaged
B7A2 Grace: 1 destroyed by flak
D4Y3 Judy: 5 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
FM-2 Wildcat: 4 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Petrof Bay, on fire
CVE Thetis Bay
CVE Sitkoh Bay, heavy fires, heavy damage

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 32,000 feet. Oh yeah, strato-kamis
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 15

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 1
Thunderbolt I x 1
Kittyhawk IV x 1
P-38J Lightning x 1
P-40K Warhawk x 2
FM-2 Wildcat x 74
F4U-1A Corsair x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 10 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CVE Shipley Bay, on fire
CVE Petrof Bay, Kamikaze hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CVE Thetis Bay

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Ki-49-IIb Helen flying as kamikaze
Kamikaze: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
B7A2 Grace x 12

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 1
Thunderbolt I x 1
Kittyhawk IV x 1
P-38J Lightning x 1
P-40K Warhawk x 2
FM-2 Wildcat x 55
F4U-1A Corsair x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
B7A2 Grace: 7 destroyed, 1 damaged

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
CVE Shipley Bay, on fire

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 67 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D4Y3 Judy x 6

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 1
Thunderbolt I x 1
Kittyhawk IV x 1
P-38J Lightning x 1
P-40K Warhawk x 2
FM-2 Wildcat x 52
F4U-1A Corsair x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y3 Judy: 4 destroyed

No Allied losses

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Sansapor at 84,107

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 8
B7A2 Grace x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
B7A2 Grace: 5 damaged
B7A2 Grace: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
APA Cavalier, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
APA James O'Hara, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires

Allied ground losses:
89 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Sansapor at 83,107

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 8 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet. My mistake here - no CAP here and I meant to withdraw
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D4Y3 Judy x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y3 Judy: 2 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied Ships
LST-338, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
LST-122, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
AM Gladstone, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
LST-343, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC-751, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
LST-350, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires

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Morning Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 65 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 21 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D4Y3 Judy x 11

Allied aircraft
Thunderbolt I x 1
Kittyhawk IV x 1
P-38J Lightning x 1
P-40K Warhawk x 2
FM-2 Wildcat x 52
F4U-1A Corsair x 4

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y3 Judy: 4 destroyed

No Allied losses

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-IIc Lily x 14

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 17
Thunderbolt I x 7
Kittyhawk IV x 6
P-38J Lightning x 6
P-40K Warhawk x 12
FM-2 Wildcat x 36
F4U-1A Corsair x 29

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIc Lily: 5 destroyed

No Allied losses

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5 Zero x 14
A6M5b Zero x 58
B6N2 Jill x 13
B7A2 Grace x 15
D4Y3 Judy x 43

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 12
Thunderbolt I x 5
Kittyhawk IV x 4
P-38J Lightning x 4
P-40K Warhawk x 8
FM-2 Wildcat x 34
F4U-1A Corsair x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5 Zero: 5 destroyed
A6M5b Zero: 16 destroyed
B6N2 Jill: 2 damaged
B7A2 Grace: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 4 destroyed, 12 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk IV: 1 destroyed
F4U-1A Corsair: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Thetis Bay, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Shipley Bay, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CVE Petrof Bay, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DE Levy
DE Bangust, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DE Sanders, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DE Acree

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 25 minutes

Japanese aircraft
D4Y3 Judy x 21
J2M3 Jack x 9
Ki-100-I Tony x 11

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 9
Thunderbolt I x 2
Kittyhawk IV x 3
P-38J Lightning x 4
P-40K Warhawk x 4
FM-2 Wildcat x 21
F4U-1A Corsair x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
D4Y3 Judy: 14 destroyed
J2M3 Jack: 1 destroyed
Ki-100-I Tony: 1 destroyed

No Allied losses

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Sorong at 82,107

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M5b Zero x 46
B7A2 Grace x 15
D4Y3 Judy x 41

Allied aircraft
Corsair II x 9
Thunderbolt I x 2
P-38J Lightning x 2
P-40K Warhawk x 3
FM-2 Wildcat x 12
F4U-1A Corsair x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M5b Zero: 4 destroyed
B7A2 Grace: 5 destroyed, 6 damaged
B7A2 Grace: 1 destroyed by flak
D4Y3 Judy: 10 destroyed, 8 damaged
D4Y3 Judy: 2 destroyed by flak

Allied aircraft losses
FM-2 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
F4U-1A Corsair: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CVE Thetis Bay, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Lardner
DD McCord
DD Bennett
APA Feland
CL Leander
DD Haggard
DD Yarnall
DD Rowe, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DE Levy
DD Erben
DD Perkins
APA Fuller, Bomb hits 1, on fire

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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Manokwari at 85,109

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 31,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-49-IIb Helen x 19

Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 12 destroyed
Ki-49-IIb Helen: 1 destroyed by flak

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
AK Phobos, Kamikaze hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Fat Albert, Kamikaze hits 1
AK Caelum, Kamikaze hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
78 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

[Lokasenna]

Where I'm from, this is referred to as DAKKADAKKADAKKA sometimes. If only I'd had more dakka, though. I lost about 70 planes in the theater, counting the 40 lost aboard CVEs. Looking at the VP changes for the day, I got 348 of his planes. Aside from 1-2 Judys on the ground at Moulmein, it was all here. About half to 2/3 of the air wing on a presumed 8 CVs for what ends up being 6 Jeeps and a strategic trigger point.

[Lokasenna]

Here's what the map looks like. I'll withdraw back to Noemfoor, and then Biak, with all the stuff at Sorong/Sansapor... except for the CAs and DDs. They'll head NE, on the slim chance he doesn't retreat with his CVs (the DDs) or sends more cruisers towards the beaches (the CAs).

[Lokasenna]

As for what got ashore...

Ground combat at Sorong (82,107)

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 5049 troops, 51 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 253

Defending force 1820 troops, 37 guns, 57 vehicles, Assault Value = 55

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

Assaulting units:
2nd Amphibious Brigade
4th Raiding Rgt /1
18th JAAF AF Bn
26th JAAF Base Force
46th JNAF AF Unit
19th JAAF Base Force
27th Special Base Force
77th Field AA Battalion
209th JAAF AF Bn

Defending units:
34th Combat Engineer Regiment
223rd Field Artillery Battalion
131st Field Artillery Battalion


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Ground combat at Sansapor (83,107)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13296 troops, 244 guns, 246 vehicles, Assault Value = 558

Defending force 9721 troops, 109 guns, 48 vehicles, Assault Value = 198

Allied adjusted assault: 140

Japanese adjusted defense: 115

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 3

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

Japanese ground losses:
245 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 29 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
295 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
27th Infantry Division
24th (Sep) Infantry Regiment
112th Cavalry Regiment

Defending units:
51st Ind.Mixed Brigade
17th Ind.Mixed Regiment
56th Construction Battalion
16th Field AF Construction Battalion
29th Fld AA Gun Co
13th Field AF Construction Battalion
37th JNAF AF Unit

We should be fine at Sansapor, although supplies there are lower than I'd like. Sorong was more lightly defended than I thought, but since the ID wasn't able to make it there I'm going to have to try to lift out some of the combat engineers to save the unit from complete destruction over the next few days.

[savelius2]

Yeah, I keep seeing these late war turkey shoots, and it doesn't seem like they get the consideration they should from the Japanese side. If it takes 400 planes (not to mention pilots) to sink a handful of APAs that isn't really a net gain. CVEs, sure, if it were possible to keep control of their numbers it would help a lot with the late war, but a couple losses here and there won't stem the tide.

[Lokasenna]

I think we'll call this:

Operation Hangman - August 6, 1944

I imagine some people will think I'm misusing these on ground attack, but it is for a larger strategic purpose. Plus, I've already seen in my other game the level of destruction they can cause on ground troops - especially in the open and/or without fighter cover. About 10 units of them can completely wipe out a division in a matter of 4-5 days (as in dead, not shattered - dead).

As it is, this looks to be about 1/4 of the division disabled from just these strikes. The division wasn't there yesterday - it was just a smaller unit, which I was hoping to completely wipe out for what was coming next.

Afternoon Air attack on 33rd Division, at 61,59 (Udon Thani)

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 14

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
440 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 36 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 18 (2 destroyed, 16 disabled)

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 2000 feet
Ground Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
7 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 2000 feet
Ground Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb



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Afternoon Air attack on 33rd Division, at 61,59 (Udon Thani)

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 20

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
612 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 43 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 21 (1 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (2 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 2000 feet
Ground Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 2000 feet
Ground Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
7 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 2000 feet
Ground Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb



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Afternoon Air attack on 33rd Division, at 61,59 (Udon Thani)

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-29-1 Superfort x 13

No Allied losses

Japanese ground losses:
331 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Vehicles lost 6 (3 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 2000 feet
Ground Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb
6 x B-29-1 Superfort bombing from 2000 feet
Ground Attack: 20 x 500 lb GP Bomb

And what came next:



More of those drops to come, although I'll have to come back for Udon Thani. He's left a large number of these bases undefended. Keeping a close eye out for any movement dots west of here from here on out.

I lost this turn in progress while I was doing it and it costs me a little bit the next day when I redo the orders, as I get riskier than I did the first time doing them.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: savelius2

Yeah, I keep seeing these late war turkey shoots, and it doesn't seem like they get the consideration they should from the Japanese side. If it takes 400 planes (not to mention pilots) to sink a handful of APAs that isn't really a net gain. CVEs, sure, if it were possible to keep control of their numbers it would help a lot with the late war, but a couple losses here and there won't stem the tide.

This brings me up to 15, plus Long Island. I get 90 in total and still have 43 active right now. I'm not trying to trade them for no sunk IJN in return, but I was willing to lose some here - which is why I only sent 7. Probably enough to stand up to most of the LBA, but if I'd had 25 here that still wouldn't have been enough to stop KB's air wing completely and I still would've suffered a fair amount of damage. I also know there are 4 roaming Kongos and if he's using AKEs he could've been back here.

[Lokasenna]

Alright, by now I assume everyone reading both threads knows what I'm up to at current game date. Here's a before and after shot.

The CVs and AOs have been hanging out SE of Ceylon in case his little KB showed up in the Andaman sea again. 5 USN CVs, 1 British, and 2 CVLs should be plenty to handle the grouping he showed last time, and we've got almost double that sitting at Colombo ready to set out... which they will today.

[Lokasenna]

It was actually 185x xAK at Colombo, not 170. Plus some xAKLs (some were used to form a TF to take advantage of the timing to get supplies to Cocos as well).

[Lokasenna]

The next day comes, and whoa! Everything loaded in a single day. All 331 ships or so? Wowza.

I initially think D-minus-5 here, based on the speed of my slowest TFs just off Koggala right now. Going to use some more xAKs to make some followup supply TFs. If they don't get the chance to unload, that's fine, but just in case. I'll use it if I can get it ashore.

PS - there's still 6300 AV at Colombo (some of it is static, obviously).

[obvert]

[Lokasenna]

Interlude - August 7 and August 8, 1944

South of Honshu, we sent some subs back to a common place that the routing algorithm sends ships outbound from Japan. We hit LSD Shinshu Maru just east of Daito Shoto on August 6, and then on August 7 an adjustment in patrol zones gets hits on an xAP and an xAK (which we think sinks), all with troops onboard. Late in the day on August 7, 2 more xAKs are hit. Not bad for 3 subs.

At Biak, those 3 DDs heading SW from the middle of the ocean contact our supply-laden AKs first and make a mess, also sinking 2 empty LCI's. However, 2 of the 3 are sunk during the day by a mix of B-25s, A-20s, and my own DDs.

The CA group sinks 2 or 3 E-class vessels at Sansapor, so that's nice. Then they get DD Take.

The DD group sent NW from Sorong contacts some merchants outside Talaud-eilanden, and cripple at least 3. Unknown cargo, if any. During the day, the DDs don't make it far enough back towards Biak and a few are lost to air attacks.

A B7A2 is spotted on ASW/search duty over 77,95 - KB is heading back NW as expected.

Kamikazes finish off 2 of the remaining 3 CVEs outside Sansapor and also get a couple of DEs. I knew one of the CVEs wasn't going to make it, but I tried to save the other 2 with LRCAP. I got 1 back, at least. She should return to action in a few months as damage is only moderate.

Sure enough, the Kongos come to Sansapor to bombard, which affects our attack today:

Ground combat at Sorong(82,107)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 15924 troops, 172 guns, 136 vehicles, Assault Value = 252

Defending force 1863 troops, 39 guns, 58 vehicles, Assault Value = 51

Japanese adjusted assault: 140

Allied adjusted defense: 43

Japanese assault odds: 3 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
388 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 27 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
106 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled

------------------------------------------------
Ground combat at Sansapor (83,107)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13070 troops, 244 guns, 246 vehicles, Assault Value = 528

Defending force 9427 troops, 106 guns, 47 vehicles, Assault Value = 175

Allied adjusted assault: 164

Japanese adjusted defense: 124

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
403 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 38 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled

Allied ground losses:
211 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

The biggest blow is the loss of 81 transport planes on the ground at Chiang Mai on August 7. When I redid the orders, I thought, "Nah, I'm gonna go for it even though I know he sees 120 auxiliary planes here," and tried to get some more paratroop attacks off on Ubon and Pakse. I paid for it, setting back my transport pools by multiple months - and I was already running somewhat short. I'm going to see what I can do to transfer some of the TR's I've got sitting idle around Darwin-Hollandia right now. I could maybe move half of them to SE Asia.

However, that is offset by this:

[obvert]

You're definitely breaking through here and I love the infiltrating units on the Indochinese coast!

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: obvert

You're definitely breaking through here and I love the infiltrating units on the Indochinese coast!

I just need to stop myself from salivating over the LCU VPs he has exposed between Bangkok and Moulmein. There's no guarantee that he won't be able to get them out before the noose tightens. We're up to mid-9000s on IJA LCU VPs now. Not too shabby, as eventually I'll get a couple of big stacks somewhere.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: obvert

You're definitely breaking through here and I love the infiltrating units on the Indochinese coast!

Ah, another couple of points about that.

He's bombing the troops themselves now, at Vinh or outside Luangprabang mostly. If he bombed the airfield, I wouldn't be able to drop supplies and more troops. As it is, I'm going to fly in engineers soon, and a few hundred supply has already been landed.

I think he was expecting to be able to just slowly retreat to the E/SE from the Moulmein-Tavoy coast, defending again at Ayuthia/Bangkok and then the traditional steps backwards. That's still possible, but he's going to have to retake these bases first, which means they'll be at forts 0 (they had forts 0 or 1 when I took them anyway). Even if he marches all his troops back now and maintains a solid front, it's going to be vastly weaker than it should have been.

Thailand sucks to defend anyway. He never should've ceded lower and eastern Burma to me.

[Lokasenna]

The invasion is off. I have the combat replay and text file, but will have to wait for the turn until MM returns from a trip. Everything for the invasion itself went off perfectly on day 1, but over in New Guinea a couple of CAs each took a torpedo because the bombardment they were ordered to do from 6 hexes away with full fuel/ammo/ops points/etc. didn't go in, so they got caught with their pants down. I thought Michael had fixed that. [8|]

Will get caught up with screenshots and such later this evening/tomorrow.

[Lokasenna]

I'm in this weird place where I have a ton of screenshots for August 12th or so, but don't want to skip over the intervening days.

Trying to destroy planes here and shut down the airfield, then I'll try to do the same to Chungking. A bit of a speedbump today, though - August 8.