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Stockpiles graph. Supplies and fuel doing well. Oil and resources holdings distorted by the fact that this graph doesn't include current ship-borne cargoes.

Intelligence Summary:

Strategic Map. For the Japanese, not likely to get much better than this.

Summary for May 1942

The month saw a number of further Japanese successes at minimal cost.

On 2 May Myitkyina fell to a combined assault by 33 Div and a Bde from 55 Div, thereby severing the Burma Road.

On 4 May Manila fell to the Japanese 14th Army, bringing to an end organised resistance to the Japanese in the Philippines.

On 23 May 2 Chinese infantry corps and 2 HQ's that had been pocketed to the east of Nanchang were eliminated. The Japanese forces involved have subsequently been moving into position for an attack upon Pucheng, where the Chinese defenders number rather more than 57000 men in 6 units. The reduction of this base is expected to begin in early June.

American activity has been observed at Adak, no doubt to develop a base from which attacks against Japanese-held Attu can be launched. Lt Cdr Kishigami's I-124 laid a minefield in the harbour approaches that snared the large transport West Point on 26 May. So far attempts to contact and sink the damaged vessel have failed. However, damage to West Point went some way to make up for the loss of I-170 off Nukufetau on 25 May.

Throughout the first part of the month Allied bombers repeatedly targeted Port Moresby, but on 22 May they were met by a full kokutai of A6M3's and an additional chutai of A6M2's that had been flown in from Rabaul to meet them. One group of B17's was turned back and a member of another was destroyed. This appears to have deterred further attacks on the base.

In Burma, repeated Allied air attacks have been launched, primarily against Mandalay and Lashio. Mostly the raids have been made by Wellingtons and Blenheims escorted by Hurricanes. Although the Japanese have been unable to make much impression upon the bombers, the Ki-43's defending Mandalay have given a surprisingly good account of themselves, successfully knocking down a number of escorts. Undoubtedly the Japanese are benefiting from being the defenders of their home plate, suffering low loss rates and little fatigue.

The month's most notable event was the major Japanese operation directed against Darwin. The base fell on 14 May to overwhelming Japanese forces, which have subsequently been engaged in headlong pursuit of the Australian defenders, who elected to make no stand at Katherine and show signs of retiring from Daly Waters also. Japanese probes at the latter base have determined that it hosts 31st and 32nd Australian Infantry Bdes, 23rd Bde AIF, Gull Force and a rag-tag of base force units. What looks like another base force appears to be retiring down the road towards Tennant Creek.

The paratroops and NLF inserted at Wyndham proved insufficient to dislodge the defenders, so the Japanese shipped 2 rgts of their 4th ID across from Darwin, covered by Vice Adm Komatsu's bombardment group. Thereafter Wyndham fell to shock attack on 24 May, at a cost to the Allies of an additional 3197 casualties, since all defenders surrendered, including elements of the US 4th Marine Rgt.

Total shipping losses sustained by the Japanese in their Darwin operation consisted of one fleet oiler, Kuroshio Maru, and moderate damage to a small freighter. The oiler took a 1000-pounder at Lautem, but successfully made port at Kendari, where Adm. Koga's 8th Fleet repair ships conducted what ultimately proved to be a losing struggle against the flotation damage. Initially it looked as though the ship might be saved, as flotation damage declined to about 76% before catastrophic failure of shored bulkheads took her under. Frankly this was a small price to pay, and far less than the shipping losses that had been anticipated.

Mid-month saw an Allied probe in the direction of the New Hebrides by a task force that included CVE Long Island. Kido Butai sortied in the hope of catching intruding Allied naval units, but the Allied TF retired shortly after it was detected. Allied reconnaissance aircraft continue to over-fly Tarawa, Efate and Espiritu Santo on a regular basis. Tarawa has been reinforced and should resist everything short of a properly coordinated divisional assault, but the New Hebrides are still thinly held and look like being the next targets for amphibious attack.

Excellent progress. How far south are you planning to go in Australia? And are there plans for India?

Thanks! Whilst getting to Darwin I think I had more than my share of lucky breaks with bad weather concealing my task forces' approach. However, I really enjoyed organising a multi-divisional Japanese amphibious op. against a fairly strongly defended base, even though my opponent bugged out once I'd got my forces ashore. Incidentally, I think he made a mistake in doing so: his forts at Darwin were level 6 or 7 and I think he would have done better to sit tight and force me to take losses reducing them. Instead, his retreating units are now in danger of being bowled over, because I've just grabbed Tennant Creek with a drop by 1st Parachute Rgt, isolating his troops at Daly Waters where they now face attack from a greatly superior Japanese force.

My 1st priority is to destroy these erstwhile defenders of Darwin. That opens the road south to Alice and beyond, but whilst I may exploit in that direction with my armour, I see dangers in trying to sustain a strong, infantry-heavy offensive over the roads that cross Central Australia. Doing so would involve a big drain on precious supplies.

India? Well, we're now in June 1942, and I think that a major offensive on the sub-continent risks more than it promises. In particular, it threatens serious unbalancing of Japanese ground force dispositions, leaving too many of them out on a limb and unable to respond to threats on the other side of the perimeter. OTOH, a landing in India has the merit of causing him an lot of consternation, and I've had hints that he remains concerned by this possibility. Playing on those fears could be fun.

Ground war update for 2 June 1942:

Ground combat at Daly Waters

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 136319 troops, 664 guns, 89 vehicles, Assault Value = 2994

Defending force 29441 troops, 140 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 427

Japanese max assault: 2795 - adjusted assault: 1947

Allied max defense: 432 - adjusted defense: 287

Japanese assault odds: 6 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Daly Waters base !!!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Martin 139: 1 destroyed
C-60A Lodestar: 1 destroyed

Japanese ground losses:
1580 casualties reported
Guns lost 24
Vehicles lost 2

Allied ground losses:
39834 casualties reported
Guns lost 104
Vehicles lost 1

That effectively destroys Allied opposition in N. Australia. There remains what appears to be a support unit that was trying to get away from south of Daly Waters to Tennant Creek. However, prior to the paradrop at TC I had been conducting a double envelopment of DW with my armour, so a tank rgt is now in the same hex as the Allied unit and will attack it next turn.

The loss of nearly 40,000 more troops has got to hurt the Allied cause somewhat.

A Minor Clash off Adak, June 1942 - Part I

For the best part of a week R Adm Onishi Shinzo's Attu Guard Force has been marking time some 120 miles west of the island after which it is named. Every other day the force tops off its tanks from fast oiler Hishi Maru, hoping for an opportunity to intercept an American raiding group. Previously such raiders attempted to catch a convoy of Japanese transports that were unloading in Massacre Bay, but timely warning by Attu's contingent of Type 0 reconnaissance seaplanes afforded the transport group an opportunity to retire from the danger area. Now the Japanese hope to surprise any repeat of the American raid.

Unfortunately the Americans show no signs of staging a repeat visit. However, whilst Onishi's force patrols in vain, other reconnaissance seaplanes operating from tender Kimikawa Maru, some 250 miles to the east, detect a number of groups of Allied ships operating in the vicinity of Adak. Evidently the island is receiving a significant contingent of enemy forces, and Lt Cdr Kishigami's I-124 is diverted from its intended minelaying operation at Dutch Harbor to deposit its load in Adak's waters.
W/T intercepts indicate that the large US trooper West Point has struck one of these, suggesting the presence of a sizeable ground force being landed.

The Japanese would dearly love an opportunity to disrupt this Allied build-up, but Onishi's force, comprising only light cruiser Tama and elderly destroyer Okikaze, is judged too small to make a worthwhile impact. Accordingly Tama's sister Kiso and Fubuki-class destroyer Sazanami are ordered to rendezvous with Onishi 'with all despatch'.

Meanwhile Kimikawa Maru's seaplanes are building the picture around Adak and by 2 June, Kiso and Sazanami having joined Onishi, the Japanese believe they have a clear appreciation of the naval forces arrayed against him.

There is, however, one disquieting element in the Japanese assessment. During the morning of 1 June a garbled transmission was received from one of Kimikawa Maru's seaplanes in which the words 'fighter attack' were discernible. The Type 0 was flying a search line taking it into the proximity of Dutch Harbor, and it is now so long overdue as to be presumed lost. In Tama's flag quarters the news is received with apprehension: did the lost seaplane fall to Dutch Harbor-based interceptors, or - perish the thought! - is a US carrier force prowling the area?

Regardless, Onishi is under orders to penetrate the US anchorage at Adak that night, and, bearing in mind that in these northern latitudes darkness comes late at this time of year, he instructs the strengthened Attu Guard Force to assume cruising disposition Y-22, and bends on 18 knots, a rate of advance designed to bring him into Adak waters close to midnight on 1/2 June.

A Minor Clash off Adak, June 1942 - Part II

Arrived in Sitkin Sound between Adak and Great Sitkin Islands, the Guard Force is hoping to encounter the US minesweepers despatched to deal with the 'presents' left by I-124, for the sinking of these ships would complement and enhance Japanese minelaying operations in the area. But it is not to be - the sweepers, if they remain in the vicinity, are taking care not to reveal themselves.

Onishi's ships press on to Kuluk Bay, and presently detect one group apparently consisting of two ships, and a singleton lying close off Zeto Point. In the eerie glow of Japanese star shells the guns of the Guard Force begin to engage these targets, and for the following half hour the crack of their discharge rebounds from the mountains that surround the anchorage. Tiring of the merchantmen's obstinate refusal to go down to his guns, Onishi takes Tama in close and lets fly with a salvo of torpedoes at the largest freighter, Will H. Point, which is making a vain attempt to break out for the open sea and freedom to manoeuvre. There is a roar as two Type 93's detonate against her hull and the Japanese, confident of her demise, train their directors on other targets. Shortly thereafter Will H. Point slips beneath the chill Aleutian waves.

Unseen by the Japanese, the freighter Coldbrook lurks in Sweeper Cove and thereby has the good fortune to escape their attention.

Less fortunate is the single ship lying off Zeto Point, which proves to be large tanker L. P. St. Clair. She receives a torpedo and a number of 5 inch hits, and begins to burn fiercely.

Dawn is now but a few hours away, and, anxious to be well clear of the area by daybreak and as far removed as he can from possible carrier-borne retribution, Onishi signals his ships to break off the action and retires to the west at high speed.

For the two days following the ships of the Attu Guard Force run westwards as if the devil himself were on their tail, but eventually, with bunkers rapidly emptying, they enter the Sea of Okhotsk and come under the protection of naval fighter cover operating from Shikuka. Monitors of enemy w/t traffic have meanwhile confirmed the sinking of the tanker and freighter North Coast. The bag is not as great as the Japanese had hoped, but aside from a single shell from the tanker that failed to penetrate Tama's armour, the Guard Force has come away from the action untouched.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Adak Island at 97,38

Japanese Ships
CL Tama
CL Kiso
DD Sazanami
DD Okikaze

Allied Ships
AK Coldbrook
AK Will H. Point, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AK North Coast, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Adak Island at 97,38

Japanese Ships
CL Tama, Shell hits 1
CL Kiso
DD Sazanami
DD Okikaze

Allied Ships
TK L. P. St. Clair, Shell hits 14, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

The end of June 1942 has been reached, so I'll post my usual set of end-of-month reports, supplemented with something to show progress over a six-month period.

I'll begin with aircraft production and summary figures for the economy.

The stockpiles graph:

Intelligence summary:

Now for something I don't recall seeing before in an AAR: selected graphs generated by Woos' fantastic utility.

Until mid-April the manpower pool seemed to undergo periodic draw-downs and so maintained a relatively constant level. After mid-April the pool has maintained steady upward growth, the reason for which escapes me. Reduction in manpower requirements for re-inforcements, perhaps?

From the start of June I cut back on a number of areas where production appeared excessive, principally in merchant and aircraft construction. In particular I've been seeking an elusive 'sweet spot' at which shipbuilding pools remain fairly constant: currently that means that only 2 merchant yards are actually producing. The cutback on production of specifics seems to have boosted HI reserves substantially: currently I'm adding 10,000 points to the HI pool every 4th or 5th day. At that rate of increase the pool would top the million mark in just over a year (1943, Q3), but I doubt that this rate of increase can be sustained.

Woos' utility is particularly helpful because it takes account of cargo in transit, so I get a much more accurate indication of trends than appears from my own stockpiles spreadsheet, which has to be based upon oil and resource levels as revealed by the game's intelligence screens. As can be seen, there's a slight but healthy upwards trend in oil stockholdings, and a correspondingly worrying decline in resource stocks.

Note the 2 step-downs in oil output at about the 180- and 200-day marks. None of my oil centres suffered any damage at these times, so the reason for the production drop is something of a mystery. Can anyone supply an explanation?

Oh, and I do know how to spell 'Fall', but for some reason the second 'L' seems to have gone walkabout due to some side effect of JPEG compression. <edit - weird, as uploaded it appears OK, but not in my computer's image viewer>

And a second set of graphs, this time covering equipment and victory points.

From about the end of April the armaments pool began to show a fairly steady rate of enlargement, presumably due to expansion in capacity reaching the point at which production is consistently outpacing the demand for replacements both at the front lines and from arriving re-inforcements.

The vehicle graph has, until recently, followed a reliable pattern in which accumulated stocks are drawn down almost in their entirety at intervals of approximately 10 days. However, the last cycle began on 16 June and there has been no subsequent withdrawal from pooled stocks, giving a current pool level of 2279 units. Daily production has grown, but only slightly, so some other factor is at work here.

Summary for June 1942

C-in-C Combined Fleet's pre-war prediction has been made good in part: Japan has had unbroken success for 6 months. But the rate at which those successes have been harvested has slowed considerably, and Japanese gains in June have been meagre compared to what has gone before.

On 2 June, with nowhere to run, the Australian defenders of Daly Waters turned to confront the pursuing 16th Japanese Army. To no avail! One unit to the south of Daly Waters continued to elude the Japanese, but, after repeated attacks upon it by the single brigade of infantry and regiment of tanks assigned for the purpose it surrendered on 24 June, proving to be ANZAC HQ. Pleased though I am to have eliminated a command HQ, I'm told by my worthy antagonist that it respawns in due course. I assume, however, that SWPac HQ was already based in Australia, so the damage to the Allied cause is probably not great.

On 4 June a Japanese force having an adjusted AV of 3355 assaulted the defences of Pucheng, which promptly collapsed, with the result that Chinese defenders totalling 26,754 became captives or casualties, as against Japanese casualties of 2,732. The victorious units immediately began their laborious march out of the woods, some towards the sole remaining Allied enclave in E China at Wenchow, the others towards a new campaign at... well, that can be a story for another day.

Elsewhere in China, Chinese forces have been repeatedly bombarding Japanese defenders of the woods immediately to the west of Nanchang, and moving additional units into this area. Whether this presages a Chinese infantry attack remains to be seen, but if so it seems likely the attackers will be repulsed.

Meanwhile, Chinese forces advanced into Canton, launched some exploratory bombardment attacks, seem not to have cared for the force level they encountered and have apparently begun to retreat again!

On 11 June the Japanese began a landing operation they had better accomplished back in February: the first troops went ashore at Thursday Island under cover of bombardment by battleship Kongo and cruiser Mikuma. On the same day a small force of paratroops descended on Portland Roads and occupied it briefly before being withdrawn by seaplane tender Mizuho and accompanying minesweepers.

For some reason US submarines had frequently been observed at Portland Roads, and one had been regularly patrolling Port Moresby. Confident that any submarines in the area would immediately converge on the invasion forces at Thursday Island, the Japanese took the opportunity to run supplies and re-inforcements into Moresby, and these were landed without interference from submarines. Simultaneously, R Adm Hara's fast replenishment group transited Torres Strait and joined the transports at Moresby, where these task forces combined for a maximum speed run to Rabaul. This move has ensured that ample oiler support is now available for future operations in the Solomons and points east.

Anxious to avoid unnecessary exposure to submarine attack at Thursday Island the bombardment group retired on Merak, there to rendezvous with battleship Haruna and hold ready to respond to any Allied surface intervention. Alas! The Japanese surface search effort was not equal to the task, and a joint US-Australian task force took the invaders' naval forces in the vicinity by surprise on 12 June:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Thursday Island at 49,91

Japanese Ships
DD Mikazuki, Shell hits 17, on fire, heavy damage
APD Patrol Boat No. 39
PC Kunashiri
PG Keiko Maru
PG Kure Maru #5

Allied Ships
CA New Orleans, Shell hits 2
CL Perth
CL Raleigh
DD Bagley
DD Patterson
DD Jarvis
DD Mahan, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Cummings
DD Case

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Time Surface Combat, near Thursday Island at 49,91

Japanese Ships
DD Mikazuki, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
APD Patrol Boat No. 39
PC Kunashiri
PG Keiko Maru, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
PG Kure Maru #5, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
CA New Orleans
CL Perth, Shell hits 1
CL Raleigh
DD Bagley
DD Patterson
DD Jarvis
DD Mahan, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Cummings
DD Case, Shell hits 2, on fire

Faced with an overwhelmingly superior force, V Adm Hosgaya's ASW group gave an admirable account of itself in the circumstances, twice successfully interposing itself between the Allied task group and the near-defenceless transports. Those transports remained untouched, but it was at heavy cost to the ASW group. Mikazuki was mortally struck in the first engagement and went down early in the second, having achieved nothing by her torpedo salvo. Kaibokan Kunashiri and APD 39 bore charmed lives, but the two patrol craft Keiko Maru and Kure Maru #5 subsequently succumbed, Kure Maru being scuttled at Moresby, whilst Keiko Maru actually made it to Rabaul but could not overcome accumulating flotation damage. Would that Haruna and Mikuma had been retained on station!

Although the Japanese immediately re-inforced Lae with land attack aircraft, none of them subsequently contested the Allied raiding group's retirement down the E coast of Australia, notwithstanding minimal fatigue to the bomber crews and the raiders having remained under observation.

Thursday Island duly fell to 4th Mixed Rgt's assault on 13 June.

At the end of a quiet month there was something of a flare-up, as on 29 June a US carrier group centred on Hornet raided Tarawa and caught a re-supply convoy there. Japanese float fighters seem to have taken some of the sting out of the attacks, which nonethless left destroyer Akebono and a transport moderately hard hit.

Meanwhile, at the western extremity of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, Dutchman KXVIII sank a torpedo into the side of destroyer Tanikaze at Penang, wounding her severely. However, Tanikaze's consorts counterattacked with vigour, apparently doing serious damage to the interloper.

And this same day a group of merchantmen sailing suspiciously close to Akyab came under attack from Rangoon's land attack planes:

Day Air attack on TF at 29,27

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 9
G4M1 Betty x 19

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Dunedin Star, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage <subsequently sinks>
AK Coquina, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AK Empire Avocet, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AK Dardanus, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage <subsequently sinks>

Aircraft Attacking:
2 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet

So with six, nearly seven months gone, can we now confound Yamamoto Isoruku's pessimistic assessment? -

"For six months I shall run wild and win victory upon victory, but after that I have no expectation of success."

I was missing this AAR, nice to have it continued.

Let's hope Yamamoto was wrong in this war. Nice progress, smells like an auto victory come 1942. Not much he can do to prevent it.

Thanks! I'll try to keep the updates coming, normally at intervals of game-months unless some notable action takes place.

Jonathan has been a first-class opponent to work with, and I've approached this game on the basis that he deserves the opportunity to get his own back. So auto-victory, though 'nice to have', isn't really a consideration - I'm assuming we play beyond it if it's attained, on the footing that the US would not have gone back on a demand for unconditional surrender.

However, if he wants to forestall auto-victory it looks as though he's going to have to make a major effort somewhere before the end of the year. After getting his nose bloodied at Tarawa I'm guessing that his main effort is most likely to be towards New Hebrides/New Caledonia, with a 'Northern Route' campaign as a less likely alternative. In either case, I'm looking forward to opportunities to inflict losses through defensive battle, so the next six months could prove to be interesting.

It is late June 1942. Outside, the early summer air is warm, and in the new annexe to the Navy Department building in Kasumigaseki the windows of the Plans Room have been thrown open. Within, Rear Admiral Fukudome Shigeru and Captain the Baron Tomioka Sadatoshi, head of the Plans Division of the Naval General Staff, gaze upon a vast map of the Pacific. They are contemplating an intractable problem: how to bring the US Navy to battle whilst the Imperial Navy still retains parity, if not a degree of ascendancy over its foes.

The problem is intractable because there is no reason to expect that the Americans will come out to play at the bidding of the Japanese. How and where can the Japanese provoke a US response other than on terms that favour the Americans? Fiji, Samoa, or the Line Islands? Traffic analysis shows that all are bristling with land-based air assets. Midway? Although it is apparently lightly defended, there is no reason to suppose that the Americans will be sure to respond to its seizure. And the Japanese are well aware of the perils of assault upon an atoll. The Aleutians? Why would anybody want to contest tenure of this barren island chain? From the purely naval viewpoint, therefore, the Japanese have absolutely no reason to suppose that the Americans will choose to sally forth until their economic superiority has shifted the balance of naval force firmly in their own favour.

And yet… Fukudome and Tomioka have the sense that one of the thrusters is in charge of US naval operations in the Pacific. The first hint of this came from the imprudent landings upon Tarawa and Makin in April, which the Japanese rudely repulsed. On 23 May a light carrier was spotted some 200 miles east of Efate. Again, on 9 June carrier Enterprise was glimpsed just west of Fiji. And reports have just been received of a carrier raid, apparently by Hornet, on Tarawa. The Americans seem prepared to risk their carriers on pinprick raids directed towards the Gilberts and the New Hebrides, where the bulk of their bombing and reconnaissance effort suggests their first counter-offensive is most likely to be launched.

The Japanese naval planners are encouraged by these straws in the wind. The North Fiji Basin is a battle space they can dominate. They already have deployed several units of torpedo-carrying land attack aircraft at Noumea and Lunga that can mount escorted strikes far into this area. And at both these locations they also deploy the finest maritime patrol aircraft in the world: the Kawanishi Type 2 flying boat, supplemented by its Type 97 predecessors based at Espiritu Santo. Furthermore, Tulagi has now been developed sufficiently to act as a forward base and battle repair facility for the fleet carriers in 1st Mobile Force. The basic elements of the Japanese plan, therefore, are to stage their striking force to point lying to the west of the Santa Cruz Islands. They will do this provided sufficiently early warning is received, probably from Noumea’s Type 2’s, of a carrier sortie coming out of Fiji. The hope is that 1st Mobile Force can then pounce with its full force, supplemented by the efforts of Noumea’s land attack aircraft. The Japanese superiority at the point of contact is expected to be decisive.

As it happens, the first essay of such a scheme coincides conveniently with arrangements to reinforce Espiritu Santo. Accordingly, 1st Mobile Force will precede the reinforcement convoy into the area, ready to intervene if the convoy is threatened by an American carrier raid. Simultaneously a second convoy will reinforce the Lower Solomons; this will be accompanied by two newly-delivered repair ships that will base on Tulagi and provide immediate assistance to carriers damaged in any scrap that may develop.

Fukudome and Tomioka expect the Americans to be wary, however. They judge that their foe may need re-assurance before committing his carriers to another raid in the South Pacific. Therefore, they plan to provide that re-assurance by mounting a carrier raid in the North Pacific. Dai-ni Kido Butai – 2nd Mobile Force – has been covering a re-supply convoy to Attu, and disposes some 260 aircraft: not so many as its more illustrious stablemate, to be sure, but enough, the planners hope, to encourage an American belief that the preponderance of Japanese carrier strength is deployed in the North Pacific.

For some time Japanese reconnaissance aircraft have been feeling out the extent of Allied activity on Adak, and it has become clear that major port and airfield development is under way here, with a corresponding increase in the number of naval attack aircraft hosted. Further east, however, the Americans have yet to extend their facilities on Unalaska. Whilst the vulnerable light carriers of 2nd Mobile Force would be exposed to grave peril from the air in an attack upon Adak, the planners judge that a strike against Dutch Harbor can only be opposed by interceptors, and may yield excellent results against Allied vessels in the anchorage there.

The strike against Dutch Harbor requires some careful planning. Allied search aircraft based at Adak preclude a direct approach of the strike force along the Aleutian chain. Instead, 2nd Mobile Force must be routed well to the south through the empty wastes of the North Pacific, following a route substantially similar to that taken in the Hawaii Operation. Careful positioning should then permit the strike force to make a high speed run-in unseen, hit the base and then retire within the space of two days, it is hoped thereby evading Allied counter-measures. The operation is higher risk than those projected for the South Pacific, as the strike force will be operating in territory well beyond Japanese air surveillance. For success it must rely upon exclusively upon surprise and indirectness of the approach.

Fukudome and Tomioka cast about for a codename for the operation. It is to be one in two parts: a feint to the north and a strike to the south, and its burden will largely fall on the Japan’s naval air arm. They remind themselves that much of the training for the strike on Pearl Harbor took place in Kagoshima Bay, under the shadow of the multiple peaks that make up the highly active volcano Sakurajima. Very well then, ‘Sakurajima Sakusen’ shall be the operation’s name, and its two elements abbreviated to Sa-GO Hoku and Sa-GO Nan: the North and South sub-components. And in a manner reminiscent of the Hawaii operation the planners allocate activation codes for the two parts of the operation that reflect the names of the northern and southern peaks of Sakurajima: ‘Kitadake wa haretari’ (‘Kitadake has cleared’) and ‘Minamidake wa haretari’.

It is the morning of 7 July 1942. Charging through the swells of the South Pacific some 180 miles east of the New Hebrides at close to her maximum speed, the USS Enterprise is turning into the wind to launch her strike aircraft against Espiritu Santo. The radar watch aboard has been monitoring a distant bogey in the north-west quadrant, but hitherto this has been left to its own devices whilst it remains outside visual range. Now, however, the watch note that the bogey’s range is closing, and a division of F4F’s is vectored towards it for an interception.

Presently the division leader sights the intruder and as the fighters draw near it is identified as a large Kawanishi flying boat with parasol wing. The Japanese snooper is not slow to realise it’s been spotted, and the big aircraft abruptly banks away towards the nearest cloud formation. Too late! The Grummans are tearing in and their leader’s second burst rakes the wing in the vicinity of the port inner engine which immediately erupts oil and seizes but mercifully for the crew fails to ignite. Further bursts from the American fighters reduce the tail assembly to tatters and kill the gunner in the tail gun position. Now, however, the Kawanishi has found the sanctuary of the cloud and the frustrated interceptors mill around its margins in the vain hope of regaining contact, whilst within the cloud the flying boat’s wireless operator is busy keying his report of the engagement back to base.

Some 90 minutes later the damaged flying boat flops into the waters of Palikulo Bay on the east side of Espiritu Santo (where it will later be adjudged a write-off) just ahead of the arrival of the US carrier strike. 14 SBD’s plunge down on Luganville, doing negligible damage but suffering no loss in return. Even as the harsh roar of their engines recedes to the east, retribution is on its way in the shape of a small formation of Type 1 Land Attack aircraft belonging to the Genzan kokutai based at Noumea. Alerted by the Kawanishi’s action report the Japanese have moved with lightning speed to launch a counter-strike, notwithstanding that it must seek a target some 600 miles distant, at the extreme range of the 3 Reisen that accompany the bombers.

It is mid-afternoon before the Japanese gaggle attains the predicted position of the American task force, but luck is with them as the captain of the Rikko on the extreme left of the formation glimpses ship wakes some miles off to port. The group splits into two 4-aircraft sections that separate in an attempt to catch the enemy in a deadly scissors attack, but soon they are having to contend with the 5-strong CAP of F4F-3’s. The accompanying Zeroes are largely successful in fending the Grummans off one group of bombers, but the other group suffers repeatedly from the fighters’ attention, and it is not long before one of its number blooms into a spectacular blaze that is only quenched when the bomber falls into the sea below. Not for nothing will the Rikko become known to its crews as the ‘Type 1 firelighter’.

As they bore in on Enterprise, the intense small-calibre fire put up by its gunners suffices to throw off the aim of six of the seven survivors, but this is an attack from which the carrier will not emerge unscathed, for the determined Petty Officer at the controls of the seventh holds his machine steady enough and long enough to put his aircraft’s weapon into the water accurately. The Type 91 torpedo knifes through the swells and strikes the carrier abreast of a magazine. The ship shudders from the concussion as a geyser of water from the exploding torpedo soars above flight deck level, followed shortly after by a plume of smoke shot with fire as ordnance in the magazine begins to cook off in a series of induced explosions.

Still harried by the F4F’s as they retire to the south-west, the crews of the surviving Rikkos occasionally cast awe-struck glances back the column of smoke that roils ever higher from the stricken carrier, and in their leader’s plane the wireless operator is tapping out his success message to Noumea, reporting the grid square in which the attack took place and that the hoku bokan attacked has been left burning.

07/07/42
Day Air attack on TF at 74,112
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
G4M1 Betty x 8
Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 6 damaged
Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet

With the successful torpedo strike by Noumea’s aircraft on 7 July, the Japanese operation Sa-GO Nan bears fruit far sooner than expected. The American carrier is wounded and on fire, but presumably still capable of making reasonable speed out of the danger zone.

Unfortunately for the Americans, they have more to contend with than land based aircraft. The American carrier strike has happened to coincide with the move south by 1st Mobile Force as it covers the reinforcement convoy proceeding to Espiritu Santo. By the evening of 7 July all six Japanese fleet carriers are concentrated sixty miles west of Ndeni. On learning of the successful strike by aircraft of the Genzan kokutai that afternoon, they commence a high-speed pursuit on a south-easterly course.

The Japanese commanders have to contend with two likely scenarios: the American task force will retire towards Fiji and will make port at Suva by one of two possible routes: northabout between Vanua Levu and the Yasawas to the west, or a more southerly course that will take it round the west coast of Viti Levu. The solution adopted is to bisect the angle between these two courses and rely upon the carriers’ speed to close by up to a further 120 miles (max react 2) once the enemy’s location has been established. Calculations indicate that, even if the American carrier has been able to resume something approaching full speed, she should still come within range of Japanese carrier strikes on the following day, whilst the Japanese forces should remain outside torpedo strike range from Nandi.

As it turns out, Enterprise has been obliged to move at greatly reduced speed and has only made a day’s run of 360 miles by the time she is attacked by Japanese carrier aircraft. Moreover, the damage suffered from the initial torpedo hit has sufficed to preclude flight operations, so leaving her utterly defenceless but for AAA.

The result is something of an anti-climax, and more in the nature of an execution than a real fight:

07/08/42
Day Air attack on TF at 80,112
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 17
A6M3 Zero x 12
D3A2 Val x 76
B5N2 Kate x 70
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 1 destroyed, 23 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, Bomb hits 45, on fire, heavy damage
CA Vincennes, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CL Detroit, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Anderson, Bomb hits 6, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
8 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
5 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
3 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
=============================================
07/08/42
Day Air attack on TF at 80,112
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
D3A2 Val x 26
B5N2 Kate x 49
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged
Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, on fire, heavy damage
CLAA Atlanta, Bomb hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
8 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
=============================================
07/08/42
Day Air attack on TF at 80,112
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
D3A2 Val x 42
B5N2 Kate x 21
No Japanese losses
Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, on fire, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
3 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
3 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x B5N2 Kate bombing at 18000 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
=============================================
07/08/42
Day Air attack on TF at 80,112
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 47
A6M3 Zero x 11
D3A2 Val x 101
B5N2 Kate x 124
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 4 damaged
Allied Ships
CV Enterprise, on fire, heavy damage
CL Detroit, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hammann, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Aircraft Attacking:
3 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
2 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
2 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
3 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
6 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
3 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
8 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
2 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
7 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
7 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
7 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
2 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
5 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
9 x D3A2 Val bombing at 2000 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet
4 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet

In exchange for two carrier bombers destroyed, the US carrier suffers hits from no less than forty-five 250 kilo bombs, whilst in a subsequent strike USS Detroit suffers the impact of five torpedoes. Both are observed to sink, and the Japanese in addition do significant damage to Vincennes, Atlanta, Anderson and Hammann.

Equally anti-climactic is the other element in Japan’s Sakurajima operation: Sa-GO Hoku. Notwithstanding the success of the southern element, the Japanese command judge that the damage a strike on shipping at Dutch Harbor will inflict warrants the risks involved, and the activation code ‘Kitadake wa haretari’ is accordingly flashed to Yamada’s 2nd Mobile Force on the evening of 9 July. The force thereupon begins its own high-speed dash to a launch point 180 miles south of the target, only to find on arrival that weather conditions are so atrocious as to prevent the launch of any strikes either during the morning or afternoon. This is all the more galling as reconnaissance sorties over Unalaska confirm that the anchorage is packed with a rich assortment of targets including the bombardment group that hit Attu two days earlier.