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Enemy Patrol aircraft snooped the 40th US Div Convoy as it began unloading on the 14th of May 42. The enemy struck the Port Moresby Aerodrome in a series of attacks on the 14th, apparantly unaware of the ships in port due to heavy cload cover. GEN MacArthur reports US and Australian pursuit aircraft gave a good acount of themselves.

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 35 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 24
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 32
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 13



Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk IA x 23
P-40E Warhawk x 38


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 5 destroyed
Ki-48-Ib Lily: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk IA: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
G4M1 Betty x 21



Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk IA x 29
P-40E Warhawk x 47


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 4 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk IA: 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed

Morning Air attack on Port Moresby , at 98,130

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 28 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
G4M1 Betty x 26



Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk IA x 6
P-40E Warhawk x 4


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed, 7 damaged

**British 70th Div proves it's jungle skills**
14 May 42
The British 70th Division has completed the distruction of two regiments of the once mighty IJA Imperial Guards Division vicinity Cox Bazaar. The enemy division's advance from Akyab was halted (with heavy casualties) 40 miles from Chittigong by the 18th Division and the RAF. The battle was handed off to the 70th Division which pursued the enemy and brought him to battle in the deep jungle. The 70th destroyed the remnants of two enemy regiments.

Ground combat at 55,43

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 9855 troops, 280 guns, 159 vehicles, Assault Value = 303

Defending force 3596 troops, 60 guns, 23 vehicles, Assault Value = 54

Allied adjusted assault: 315

Japanese adjusted defense: 11

Allied assault odds: 28 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1771 casualties reported
Squads: 120 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 105 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 6 (5 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 8 (7 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Units retreated 2


Allied ground losses:
42 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
70th British Division
14th British Brigade
16th British Brigade

Defending units:
Imperial Guards/B Division
Imperial Guards/C Division

I thought I would restart this AAR now that my daughter is a year old and I have some more time in the evenings.

We have not been moving very fast because of my schedule. Miller41 has been exceptionally reliable about turning his turns around.

Good to see you back!

I will post some maps over the next couple of days, but here is a narrative description of the key points of the war so far...

First Year of the War Summary
Miller41 (j) v Wirraway_Ace (a), Scenario 2, Dec 7, 1941 – Dec 7, 1942

The forces of Imperial Japan rapidly overran the Philippines, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. Their first major check came at Port Moresby, where the MacArthur committed the 1st Australian Corps, reinforced with a US Division, to maintain this strategic toe-hold on Papua New Guinea. Japanese attempts to isolate the beachhead by air and naval forces were ultimately unsuccessful, although over 30 small Allied freighters were sunk in a single week trying to resupply the garrison; mute testimony to the ferocity of the air and sea battles. The Japanese conceded defeat in late August 42 with bomber losses climbing to unsustainable levels. Since the end of August, 1st Australia Corps has retaken Buna and Milne Bay. P38s now routinely sweep the great Japanese bastion of Rabual.

The 2nd check to Japanese ambitions came in Northern Australia. In a 5 month campaign from May to October, great battles were fought in the forbidding Northern Territories. Australian, US and UK forces initially gave ground to 4 crack enemy divisions. However, by late summer, the arrival of adequate quantities of Grant tanks to fill out the Australian armoured formations proved decisive in the wide open tank country. By October, the Japanese were in full retreat back to Darwin from which they were able to extricate approximately two-thirds of their tattered formations. 30,000 Japanese remain trapped in the hideous marshes west of Darwin. Allied air losses in the campaign were heavy, particularly during the attempts to interdict the evacuation from Darwin. A RAF Air HQ was responsible for coordinating the attacks, but unescorted strikes were common and enemy fighter cover heavy. At the end, the Japanese Navy committed much of its carrier strength to cover the evacuation and the battle was left to Allied submarine commanders with only marginal results.

In Burma, the Japanese made numerous attempts, eventually with as many as 6 divisions, to drive the Chinese out of Lashio. The large Chinese Army held firm in the difficult terrain setting the stage for an eventual British invasion of Northern Burma in late 1942.

In the Gilberts and Marshals, the I Amphibious Corps made initial landings at Makin and Mili to unhinge the Japanese defenses in these island chains. The battles around resupplying the Marines on these atolls precipitated the only Carrier versus Carrier battle of the war to date. Japanese surface task forces and as many as six carriers had been committed to interdict the resupply of these beachheads. SOPAC had floated a plan months before to seize the Southern end of the Solomon Chain with three US Divisions. Such an operation required commitment of all the available assault transports, CVs and CVEs. This was approved. CENPAC decided that a major resupply effort would be possible while the enemy’s attention was fixated on the Solomons. The old battleship Colorado was the flag of the close escort to Mili.

Nimitz recast the phasing of the operation such that the resupply effort to the Marshalls would enter the enemies airsearch umbrella 2 days before the SOPAC operation was expected to be sited by patrol aircraft in the southern Solomons. Two additional Marine fighter squadrons were allocated to the air defenses at Mili to provide cover to the resupply convoy.
Fleet intelligence estimated that the IJN carriers were operating in two Mobile Strike Forces, one made up of the six original fleet carriers and the other a mix of new CVs, CVLs and CVEs. Both were believed to be at Truk at the beginning of November. D-day was set for November 2nd.

Colorado reported being snooped by enemy patrol aircraft only after the TF arrived at Mili. However, it now appears likely that KB 2 was loitering to the NE of Mili because within 24 hours, Jap carriers were sited only 500 miles away and bearing down on the unlucky TF. The large enemy carrier aircraft strike quickly sank of the old battlewagon with 4 well placed torpedoes. Three other transports were also sunk. Enemy aircraft losses were moderate, but fleet intelligence suggested that the smaller enemy carriers would be low on sortes after the multiple strikes on the convoy.

Submarine pickets off Truk brought alarming news: the rest of the Japanese carriers also appeared to be at sea. Nimitz recast the plan again. Gormley’s SOPAC invasion TF was ordered to proceed and was sited the next day by Jap patrol aircraft as it approached the Southern Solomons. The three escort carriers remained with the invasion TFs, but all six fleet carriers, lying undetected to the SE of the invasion fleet, slipped east of the Santa Cruz islands and out of enemy patrol range.

As anticipated, as soon as the Invasion TF was sited, KB2 quickly changed course and headed at high speed towards the Southern Solomons while KB1, still NE of Rabaul, was also assumed to be making for the battle area. But the two mobile strike forces were over 1000 miles apart, and all six of the USN CVs in the Pacific were undetected and positioned to intercept one of the coming blows. Nimitz made up his mind quickly. He ordered the invasion forces to withdraw and sent his carriers after KB2. The intercept course was an easy plot, and a few hours after dawn on the 2nd of November, 1942, Enterprise and Yorktown (Fletcher), Wasp and Hornet (Spruance) and Lexington with her sister ship Saratoga (Mitscher) launched their strikes. The battle of Ocean Island had begun.

The battle of Ocean Island continued:

The Japanese were not caught completely unaware. Their scout aircraft identified enemy carriers and they launched their own strikes, however, after the attrition of the attacks on the Mili resupply convoy, they were sorely outnumbered.
Over the next 12 hours, USN Carrier Aircraft sank four enemy carriers, damaged 2 others and caught a surface action group of Battleships and Cruisers, sinking 2 BBs and 2 CAs along with a handful of DDs. Lexington was hit by 2 torpedoes from Kates that slipped through the heavy CAP, but was still able to make 20 knots.

Nimitz ordered his carriers to retire and not pursue the enemy. Strike aircraft losses had been significant and he did not relish having the tables turned. He would need his carriers for future operations. Without the CVs for cover, the invasion was also postponed.