Austria rules the seas - Castor Troy vs Swift

[wernerpruckner]

03/15/42
the usual in China and PI
Air raid on PM

03/16/42
China and PI the usual
Japanese MSWs and patrol ships find some minefields along the Malaysian and Burmese coast.
SS KXVI => AP Kaedesan Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire ( near Gerogetown )
Air raid on Diamond Harbour - nothing important hit.
There are still a few British forces holding on north of Singapore.

03/17/42
one of the blockade runners for Noumea was sunk this turn:
AK Proteus, Bomb hits 11, on fire, heavy damage
Big deliberate attack at Sian reduces the forts to 4 [:(]

03/18/42
the usual in China and PI

03/19/42
Enemy Invasion fleets are closing on New Caledonia......my Beauforts are chased away by Zeros...
Enemy Paradrop at Koumac ( base lost )

03/20/42
lots of ships are unloading at Koumac
All the same in China and PI

03/21/42
silent except China and PI

03/22/42
Sian is lost......140K troops lost [X(]

03/23/42
PTs vs destroyers at Noumea:
two of my 5 PTs are sunk:
PT PT-45, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
PT PT-46, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
but they manage to damage some Japanese destroyers:
DD Shiranuhi, Shell hits 2
DD Michishio, Shell hits 3
DD Arashio, Shell hits 1
DD Minegumo, Shell hits 2
and
DD Shiranuhi, Shell hits 4
DD Michishio, Shell hits 2

03/24/42
Naval bombardment of Bankha.
SS Cuttlefish => MSW Hinode Maru #18, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage ( Johnston )
Enemy landings at Waingapu

03/25/42:
PTs vs DDs part 2
DD Shiranuhi, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Michishio, Shell hits 1
DD Arashio, Shell hits 2
DD Natsugumo, Shell hits 2, on fire
but also one of my PTs was sunk
Beaufort => MSW Chitose Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage ( New Caledonia )
La Foa and Waingapu are lost today.

03/26/42
A cruiser TF visits Darwin:
MSW Cairns, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
MSW Deloraine, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
MSW Ipswitch, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
MSW Pieter de Bitter, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
MSW Eland Dubois, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
AK Langkoeas, Shell hits 22, and is sunk
THere is also another DD vs PT clash at Noumea:
once again a PT is lost
but is able to shoot at two DDs:
DD Michishio, Shell hits 1
DD Arashio, Shell hits 1
Enemy landings at Bankha

03/27/42
Atomic Naval bombardment of Noumea:
Beaufort V-IX: 3 destroyed
SBD Dauntless: 1 destroyed
Catalina I: 1 destroyed
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CA Haguro
CA Atago
CA Takao
BB Mutsu
BB Nagato


Allied ground losses:
4806 casualties reported
Guns lost 55
Vehicles lost 8

Airbase hits 18
Airbase supply hits 16
Runway hits 136
Also Medan was hit by a bombardment TF and later troops are landing at Medan


03/28/42
Enemy sweeps at Darwin and Ledo cost me several fighters and fighterbombers.

03/29/42
AP Kashu Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire (Takao)
the usual combats in China and PI

03/31/42
bombardment TF visits Medan.
landings at Tongatapu Island and Kuala
Tongatapu Island is lost

04/01/42
Naval bombardment of Darwin - not much damage done
Sweeps on Ledo ( once again several Allied fighters lost )
Bankha was lost today

04/02/42
Naval bombardment of Medan
Japanese shock attack at Noumea - Noumea is lost......nearly 30k troops lost....

04/03/42
this time my bomber forces in Northerb Australia were able to find a convoy and even to hit it:
AK Madras Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AK Toyo Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Kinko Maru, Bomb hits 11, on fire, heavy damage
AK Suruga Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
several of my bombers were lost due to the huge escort of Zeros and Oscars

04/04/42
Clark Field is lost today.....a really bad roll for the defending force:

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 218502 troops, 2336 guns, 1153 vehicles, Assault Value = 4548

Defending force 47721 troops, 417 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 1126

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese max assault: 4245 - adjusted assault: 3761

Allied max defense: 1009 - adjusted defense: 83

Japanese assault odds: 45 to 1 (fort level 3)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Clark Field base !!!


Japanese ground losses:
1464 casualties reported
Guns lost 113
Vehicles lost 19

Allied ground losses:
4395 casualties reported
Guns lost 166
Vehicles lost 1


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

[wernerpruckner]

.....first a few impressions of todays combats:

todays hits

CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 2
CV Soryu, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 1
CVL Ryujo, Bomb hits 1

vs

CL Adelaide, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
PG Fritillary, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Valiant, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Warspite, Torpedo hits 3, on fire

[wernerpruckner]

There are at least 6 CV and 6 BB around Rockhampton.......
There are also too many enemy A/C.....
and far too many enemy troops.....

there are nearly 40 enemy units at or near Brisbane......I have only a Division and a Brigade here....but in 5 turns a new Divison will be around.

[wernerpruckner]

Brisbane is the only real place to build up a fine combat defence....surrounded by woodland......and because Chris always was big on mobile warfare so far...I put some troops around.....

[wernerpruckner]

Chris is complaning and nagging all the time about everything in the game.....
if he makes an airstrike and hits something unopposed than everything is allright....if my pilots fly or ( how dare they ) even hit something, he screams bloody murder...

I do not complain about my recce showing me A/Fs with lvl 5 and 400 enemy A/C on it....the recce may be wrong
I also did not complain about my air units not attacking his ground troops for 20+ turns in northern Australia.......the same about his game start......or about the movement bug that will cost me 1500 combatpoints in northern Australia....or about his pilot training programm in China

at the moment he writes monologues about:
- my defence at Brisbane
- my sea defence at Brisbane
- my air defence at Brisbane
he thinks that I should dispand all ships in port....he wants to make a few nuke bombardments....there should not be that many ENG units in a city....why do I CAP with old A/C....and whatever........
.....forgot a major nagging point......he thinks that I have all ships at Brisbane in single ship TFs.......not true....only supply and replacement ships come in single, all other ships are in TFs with 4 ships!!

[wernerpruckner]

there are also other frontlines in Australia:

[wernerpruckner]

and the same in the middle of the continent.

I have more combat strength on these two fronts, but that will change soon...