Matrix Games Forums

14-15 June

Quiet days. The allied CV's continue to hang about between Niue and Pago Pago. I am attempting to catch them with my subs but their random movements are thus far frustrating me. I lose the cripples from my Fijian search and the glen equipped subs fail to find them as well. The CV's are within escort range for my oscars and zeroes and tomorrow all the lost planes will have been replaced and some more planes will fly into Suva. Even now a strike would be stronger than the first one as my units are no longer set on 30% ASW and I have 60 val divebombers at Suva. The fighter escort would be somewhat lighter until they are replaced tomorrow but I could turn off CAP and probably get the same amount escorting.
Tempting... we will see if the carriers are still there tomorrow.


However there appears to be a pair of cruiser squadrons at Niue and SS-175 scores!

Sub attack near Niue  at 146,168
 
Japanese Ships
      SS I-175
 
Allied Ships
      CA Minneapolis
      CA New Orleans
      DD Bagley
      DD Jarvis
      DD Mugford
 
 
 
SS I-175 launches 4 torpedoes at CA Minneapolis

 ---------------------------------------------

Sub attack near Niue  at 146,168
 
Japanese Ships
      SS I-175, hits 10
 
Allied Ships
      CL Honolulu, Torpedo hits 2,  on fire,  heavy damage
      CL Helena
      CL St. Louis
      DD Farragut
      DD Monaghan
      DD MacDonough


SS I-175 launches 4 torpedoes at CL Honolulu

---------------------------------------------

I am 90% sure CL Honolulu sunk as I heard sinking sounds and 4 seagulls were reported destroyed on the ground today.
She's got 8 sys and 24 flot damage and is retiring to Luganville where an AS and AR will attempt to patch her up before sending her off to a shipyard. Still making 12 kts at cruise speed so she will likely be fine.

17 June

Its still quiet most places. The CV hunt in SOPAC continues.


-------------------------------------------------------

Submarine attack near Pago Pago  at 149,165
 
Japanese Ships
      SS I-3
 
Allied Ships
      xAK Hollywood, Torpedo hits 3,  on fire,  heavy damage
 
 
xAK Hollywood is sighted by SS I-3
SS I-3 launches 4 torpedoes at xAK Hollywood

-------------------------------------------------------

ASW attack near Ta'u  at 150,161
 
Japanese Ships
      SS I-19, hits 3
 
Allied Ships
      DD Gridley
      CA Exeter
      CA Cornwall
      CA Pensacola
      DD Norman
      DD Isaac Sweers
      DD Selfridge
      DD Downes
 
 
 
SS I-19 launches 6 torpedoes at DD Gridley
I-19 bottoming out ....
DD Norman fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Isaac Sweers fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Selfridge fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Downes fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Selfridge attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub

-------------------------------------------------------

Sub attack near Ta'u  at 150,161
 
Japanese Ships
      SS I-19, hits 13,  heavy damage
 
Allied Ships
      CV Hornet
      BB Prince of Wales
      BC Repulse
      CA Canberra
      CA Northampton
      CL Trenton
      CLAA Atlanta
      DD Allen
      DD Preston
      DD Fanning
      DD Brooks
      DD Nizam
      DD Nestor
      DD Napier
 
 
 
SS I-19 launches 2 torpedoes at CV Hornet
DD Brooks fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Nizam fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Nestor attacking submerged sub ....
DD Napier attacking submerged sub ....
DD Nestor fails to find sub and abandons search
DD Napier fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Napier attacking submerged sub ....
SS I-19 eludes DD Napier by hugging bottom
DD Napier fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Napier fails to find sub, continues to search...
Escort abandons search for sub
 
SS I-19 uses all her torps firing at DD Gridley and only has two left to shoot at Hornet, which of course miss. Hornet is shown smoking but appears to be still in company with a significant force of ships. I-19 is okay with 17 flotation damage (no major) and around 40 system damage. She is withdrawing.
No sign of the other CV's this turn so I am not totally sure where they have gotten off to.

Niue looks to be on its way to becoming a major base and Adak island is expanding. I will have to do something about that shortly.

18 June.

Still an excessive amount of nothing happening. Kfsgo keeps hinting about "something else" that is going on but i'm damned if I know what. Probably an invasion of Diego Garcia or some such, I kind of hope it is as I have a little surprise there for him.

Two SC TF's comprised of 2CL 3DD are going deep to strike at shipping in the Fiji area tomorrow. No sign of the allied CV's or heavy cruiser forces and they will be covered by LRCAP so I guess we will see how that works out. If the allied CV's show up to have a dig at my SC forces then I have a surprise for them, I suspect they have withdrawn for refueling and resupply however or are haring off somewhere.
Another possibility that occurs to me is the CV's are currently off to escort another invasion somewhere while Kfsgo hopes my CV's have been drawn to SOPAC.

As an aside I really cannot do as much as I would like to mess with the allied buildup in SOPAC due to fuel limitations. Capital ships are pretty much out of the question unless they have their own dedicated oiler force (KB has all the 18kt oilers) or I dedicate my 13kt oilers to tag along.
About a game month ago I reorganised my tanker routes and thanks to that fuel deliveries to SOPAC have been minimal. The routes are now set up and humming so there is a lot coming into Truk from the DEI it just needs to be distributed to Noumea/Fiji/Luganville. Luckily I have all the new STD class tanker conversions to do the risky stage of the trip.

19 June.

My Cruiser forces are spotted around Fiji today, I wonder what Kfsgo will do.
It looks like Niue has a bunch of Transport ships in port. Perhaps a single squadron of fighters is based there and it seems odd that he would leave a port with perhaps a dozen ships in in inside Betty range. There are 45 reported aux planes there so it is possible some of them are repairing fighters.

Meanwhile over in Burma today 100 B17 based at Calcutta smash another one of my northern airfields. They have been doing this every day for a week and all my northern airfields are shut down. The Burma valley however is heavily defended by fighters and AAA and he seems to be avoiding more confrontations over my territory.
Something appears to be up at Ledo. Possibly flying the AVG into China to mess with my bombing there?



Akyab is kept suppressed by Naval gunfire with a 25kt BB division visiting every few days. The 23 Indian div has recently arrived there. Chittagong is a decent airfield but he can't base many planes there as everytime he does I smash it with more Naval gunfire and get some planes on the ground. This is one of the major benefits of holding Ceylon as there is no real way for him to interfere with the bombardment runs and as of yet I haven't seen any subs or sub mines along the route.

As an aside has anyone had any experience with bombarding Calcutta? I think you can use CA, there is no native minefield and the shore guns at Diamond/Calcutta are mostly 6 inchers right?
I can't think of any other way to get at his B-17's and if left unopposed they can keep me from posting anything resembling a forward defense in the jungle.

20 June

I don't even want to talk about this turn it was too depressing

The good:

Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45
 
Weather in hex: Light rain
 
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 14
      Ki-21-IIa Sally x 94
      Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 66
 
 
 
No Japanese losses
 
 
 
Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 54
 
Aircraft Attacking:
      21 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
      19 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
      21 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
       9 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
      24 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Akyab , at 54,45
 
Weather in hex: Light rain
 
Raid spotted at 2 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 14
      Ki-21-IIa Sally x 15
      Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 20
 
 
 
No Japanese losses
 
 
 
Airbase hits 3
Runway hits 8
 
Aircraft Attacking:
      15 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
 

---------------------------------------------

Sub attack near Niue  at 145,167
 
Japanese Ships
      SS I-8
 
Allied Ships
      DD Gwin, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
      DD Monssen
 
 
 
SS I-8 launches 2 torpedoes at DD Gwin
DD Monssen fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Monssen fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Monssen fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Monssen fails to find sub, continues to search...
DD Monssen attacking submerged sub ....
Escort abandons search for sub
 
 
---------------------------------------------
 


The bad: (everything else)





Day Time Surface Combat, near Niue at 145,168, Range 14,000 Yards
 
Japanese Ships
      CL Natori
      CL Yura
      DD Hatsuharu
      DD Nenohi, Shell hits 1
      DD Hatsushima, Shell hits 1,  on fire
 
Allied Ships
      DD Meredith, Shell hits 1
      DD Monssen, Shell hits 1
 
 
 
Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions: 20,000 yards
Range closes to 20,000 yards...
Range closes to 14,000 yards...
CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 14,000 yards
CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 14,000 yards
CL Natori engages DD Meredith at 14,000 yards
DD Hatsushima engages DD Meredith at 14,000 yards
DD Meredith engages DD Nenohi at 14,000 yards
DD Hatsuharu engages DD Meredith at 14,000 yards
Range closes to 10,000 yards
DD Monssen engages DD Hatsushima at 10,000 yards
DD Meredith engages DD Nenohi at 10,000 yards
DD Meredith engages DD Hatsushima at 10,000 yards
DD Nenohi engages DD Monssen at 10,000 yards
DD Hatsuharu engages DD Monssen at 10,000 yards
Range closes to 7,000 yards
CL Yura engages DD Monssen at 7,000 yards
DD Meredith engages DD Nenohi at 7,000 yards
DD Hatsushima engages DD Monssen at 7,000 yards
DD Meredith engages DD Nenohi at 7,000 yards
Range increases to 9,000 yards
DD Hatsuharu engages DD Monssen at 9,000 yards
CL Natori engages DD Meredith at 9,000 yards
DD Hatsushima engages DD Meredith at 9,000 yards
Range increases to 12,000 yards
CL Yura engages DD Meredith at 12,000 yards
CL Natori engages DD Meredith at 12,000 yards
DD Hatsushima engages DD Monssen at 12,000 yards
DD Meredith engages DD Hatsuharu at 12,000 yards
Range increases to 16,000 yards
CL Yura engages DD Meredith at 16,000 yards
DD Hatsushima engages DD Meredith at 16,000 yards
DD Meredith engages DD Hatsushima at 16,000 yards
DD Nenohi engages DD Monssen at 16,000 yards
DD Meredith engages DD Hatsuharu at 16,000 yards
Range increases to 20,000 yards
CL Yura engages DD Meredith at 20,000 yards
CL Natori engages DD Meredith at 20,000 yards
DD Hatsushima engages DD Meredith at 20,000 yards
DD Hatsuharu engages DD Meredith at 20,000 yards
Range increases to 22,000 yards
CL Natori engages DD Meredith at 22,000 yards
Range increases to 24,000 yards
Task forces break off...


Morning Air attack on TF, near Niue at 145,168
 
Weather in hex: Clear sky
 
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
 
 
Allied aircraft
      SB2U-3 Vindicator x 18
 
 
Allied aircraft losses
      SB2U-3 Vindicator: 2 damaged
      SB2U-3 Vindicator: 1 destroyed by flak
 
Japanese Ships
      CL Natori, Bomb hits 1
      CL Yura, Bomb hits 1
 
 
 
Aircraft Attacking:
       8 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 4000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
       1 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 3000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
       3 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 2000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
       4 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 3000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
 
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on TF, near Niue at 145,168
 
Weather in hex: Clear sky
 
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
 
 
Allied aircraft
      SB2U-3 Vindicator x 14
 
 
Allied aircraft losses
      SB2U-3 Vindicator: 1 damaged
 
Japanese Ships
      CL Yura, Bomb hits 2,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
      CL Natori, Bomb hits 1,  on fire
 
 
 
Aircraft Attacking:
       6 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 2000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
       4 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 3000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
       4 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 4000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
 
Massive explosion on CL Yura
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CL Natori
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on TF, near Niue at 145,168
 
Weather in hex: Clear sky
 
Raid spotted at 48 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 22 minutes
 
 
Allied aircraft
      SBD-2 Dauntless x 10
 
 
No Allied losses
 
Japanese Ships
      CL Natori,  on fire
      DD Hatsuharu
      DD Hatsushima, Bomb hits 2,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
 
 
 
Aircraft Attacking:
       4 x SBD-2 Dauntless releasing from 2000' *
               Naval Attack:  1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
       2 x SBD-2 Dauntless releasing from 4000' *
               Naval Attack:  1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
       4 x SBD-2 Dauntless releasing from 3000' *
               Naval Attack:  1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
 
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CL Natori
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Hatsushima
 
 
---------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Niue at 145,168
 
Weather in hex: Overcast
 
Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
 
 
Allied aircraft
      SB2U-3 Vindicator x 4
 
 
No Allied losses
 
Japanese Ships
      CL Natori, Bomb hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
 
 
 
Aircraft Attacking:
       2 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 2000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
       2 x SB2U-3 Vindicator releasing from 4000'
               Naval Attack:  1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb
 
Heavy smoke from fires obscuring CL Natori


A remarkably piss poor showing by the IJN, the CL hardly even got a shot off.
Also the Cruiser TF was not supposed to be there at all. They just stopped after moving after 7 hexes at full speed and sat 1 hex away from Nuie the whole day, 2 Hexes outside LRCAP range. The Divebombers were based at Pago Pago.

Yura and Hatsushima sunk outright while I had to scuttle Natori the next day. DD Gwin sunk and 2 Divebombers shot down by flak.
This is especially frustrating because the ships did not withdraw for some reason (they were set to retirement allowed). I guess they just used all their Ops points hardly shooting at the US navy.

Subject: Re: Guns and thousand pound bombs
From: Kfsgo
To: Saros

if it's any consolation, a thieving fucking squirrel just ran off with my bird feeder in broad daylight

Onto the 23rd June.

On the 22nd an allied torpedo bomber apparently overflew Noumea. I have reinforced the fighter defenses there but there is no sign of the allied carriers, I hope it was a misidentified F-4 or something.

Meanwhile in China it looks like Kfsgo has made a bit of a blunder.



Kfsgo marched 100k+ Chinese out from the jungle onto the plans to cut off my blocking force in the 3x terrain. Unfortunately for him I had the entire 12th army waiting for just such a move and now he is going to have to face approx 4K AV of IJA troops in open terrain with bomber support. Once he realised the extent of his mistake he seems to have flown most of his B-17 force into Chungking to run interdiction missions to allow his troops to escape up the path through my blocking force (hexsides can cause some funny results [8|]) with some US fighters to defend the airfield.
From the recon it looks like he may be having a touch of trouble maintaining his heavies in China. I imagine supply must be pretty tight by now.
Time to go drop some bombs on them.

24 June

The day starts off with me sweeping the mountainous Chinese airbases between Burma and China. I expect some of his fighters he has transfered to China will have to stage back through them. It looks like I was right as well.
25 elite zeroes fall upon a dozen H81's over Kunming and shoot down six of them for no loss.



---------------------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Kunming , at 69,48

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid spotted at 21 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27



Allied aircraft
H81-A3 x 12


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
H81-A3: 3 destroyed



Aircraft Attacking:
25 x A6M2 Zero sweeping at 25000 feet *

CAP engaged:
3rd FG/32nd FS CAF with H81-A3 (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 15000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 10 minutes
11th FG/44th FS CAF with H81-A3 (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters to 10000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 17 minutes

---------------------------------------------------------

The second part of the Days air action kicks off shortly after. 100 Sallies and 27 oscars hit Ledo to try take out the planes reported on the ground. They were meant to be preceded by 120 sweeping oscars but for some reason the airbase they are flying from has disallowed drop tanks during the turn sometime (they were allowed when I gave the orders) and they don't fly. Luckily the Oscars keep the defending fighters away from the bombers at a cost of four of their number.
Unfortunately the bombers do almost no damage other than a few planes reported damaged in the combat replay by bombs.



---------------------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Ledo , at 65,38

Weather in hex: Heavy rain

Raid detected at 39 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-21-IIa Sally x 104
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 27



Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIb Trop x 16
Mohawk IV x 16


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21-IIa Sally: 1 damaged
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed

No Allied losses



Airbase hits 2
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 16

Aircraft Attacking:
25 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb
25 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb
25 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb
29 x Ki-21-IIa Sally bombing from 10000 feet *
Airfield Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
No.67 Sqn RAF with Hurricane IIb Trop (2 airborne, 6 on standby, 8 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 25000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes
No.146 Sqn RAF with Mohawk IV (2 airborne, 6 on standby, 8 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 25000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 25000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes

---------------------------------------------------------

Finally the China airforce hits the Chinese force in the open with fairly satisfying results.

---------------------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on 93rd Chinese Corps, at 86,43 , near Loyang

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid spotted at 22 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 45
Ki-48-IIa Lily x 33
Ki-49-Ia Helen x 32



Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 1 damaged
Ki-49-Ia Helen: 1 damaged


Allied ground losses:
494 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 63 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 35 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled


Aircraft Attacking:
9 x Ki-48-IIa Lily bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 100 kg GP Bomb
24 x Ki-48-IIa Lily bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 100 kg GP Bomb
32 x Ki-49-Ia Helen bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb
23 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 100 kg GP Bomb
10 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 100 kg GP Bomb
12 x Ki-48-Ib Lily bombing from 6000 feet
Ground Attack: 4 x 100 kg GP Bomb

Also attacking 92nd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 38th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 2nd Chinese Cavalry Corps ...
Also attacking 9th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 4th Chinese Cavalry Corps ...
Also attacking 95th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 33rd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 93rd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 27th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 1st War Area ...
Also attacking 40th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 93rd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 92nd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 38th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 92nd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 93rd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 92nd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 38th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 2nd Chinese Cavalry Corps ...
Also attacking 9th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 93rd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 92nd Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 38th Chinese Corps ...
Also attacking 92nd Chinese Corps ...

---------------------------------------------------------

Losses for the day are fairly light on both sides.

Here is the current map. I have marked up the Japanese defensive line and major hubs.



Currently I am attempting to decide what bases in Sumatra to build up and whether to move a serious occupying force into Port Moresby. I am aware that the major bases at Fiji and Noumea are somewhat vulnerable to being cut off so I am expending a lot of effort to make sure the west and east flanks are secure. The Kuriles are also marked for some decent reinforcements as well. I am also considering a move into the Aluetians as Kfsgo appears to be building a couple of bases there up in a big way.
Cocos island will be dealt with in a couple of weeks once my assault shipping comes out of the June xAk --> AK conversion.

Shokaku and Zuikaku are also back from refit today with freshly installed radar.

25 June

A flight of Blenheim iV's gets lost and shows up over Shwebo.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on Shwebo , at 59,45

Weather in hex: Thunderstorms

Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 17

Allied aircraft
Blenheim IV x 16

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV: 15 destroyed

Airbase hits 6
Runway hits 10

Aircraft Attacking:
1 x Blenheim IV bombing from 7000 feet
Airfield Attack: 4 x 250 lb GP Bomb

---------------------------------------------------------------------

And the Chinese in the open are hit again. Next turn my Ground troops should arrive.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning Air attack on 95th Chinese Corps, at 86,43 , near Loyang

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 17
Ki-48-Ib Lily x 63
Ki-48-IIa Lily x 36
Ki-49-Ia Helen x 35

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-48-IIa Lily: 1 damaged
Ki-49-Ia Helen: 1 damaged

Allied ground losses:
473 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 45 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 69 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
---------------------------------------------------------------------

26 June

Massed sweeps against Diampur on the Burma/India border see half a dozen P-38's go down for 5 zeroes and 1 oscar. 4 pilots KIA. Seems like a bargain to me!

We also see the return of our old friend the nightflying B-17.

---------------------------------------------

Night Air attack on Shwebo , at 59,45
 
Weather in hex: Clear sky
 
Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      no flights
 
Allied aircraft
      Blenheim IV x 9
      B-17E Fortress x 24
 
Japanese aircraft losses
      Ki-46-II Dinah: 2 destroyed on ground
 
No Allied losses
 
Airbase hits 15
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 58
 
Aircraft Attacking:
       9 x Blenheim IV bombing from 7000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  4 x 250 lb GP Bomb
      11 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 7000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
       4 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 7000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
       4 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 7000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
       5 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 7000 feet
               Airfield Attack:  8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

---------------------------------------------

228 bombs dropped with 79 hits. A 35% hit rate. This is all kinds of silly and I think I am going to have to ask Kfsgo about a house rule to keep night missions over 15k or something like that. Alternatively if he doesn't go for it I can send 300 helens/sallies to visit Calcutta at 6k every night and break some 4E's on the ground.

228 bombs dropped with 79 hits. A 35% hit rate. This is all kinds of silly and I think I am going to have to ask Kfsgo about a house rule to keep night missions over 15k or something like that. Alternatively if he doesn't go for it I can send 300 helens/sallies to visit Calcutta at 6k every night and break some 4E's on the ground.

I understood your point. 4E in low altitude are overpowered and in some point unnatural for me.
In my game with Docup we have HR about no flying 4E bombers below 10k. And about night bombings. We restricted them to 2 attacks on single hex in week before 9/43 and 4 after.

We will see is this is good HR or not but at lest we have it.

27 June

About 30 B-17 have a go at one of my bombardment TF's off the Indian coast. No hits and a few damaged planes from flak. Hopefully some will crash on the way home. The TF was lingering inside divebomber range to bait them out but for some reason the LRCAP did not show up.

Earlier it had a go at the Diamond harbor fortress to see how tough it is and hopefully break a few of the guns.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Night Naval bombardment of Diamond Harbour at 52,38 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

35 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.

Japanese Ships
     BB Fuso
     BB Nagato, Shell hits 2
     CA Chokai, Shell hits 1
     CA Maya, Shell hits 3,  on fire

Allied Ships
     AMc Calcutta, Shell hits 1
     MGB No. 363, Shell hits 1,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
     MGB No. 362, Shell hits 1,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
     AMc Agra, Shell hits 1,  heavy damage


Allied ground losses:
     98 casualties reported
        Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
        Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 25 disabled
        Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
     Guns lost 8 (3 destroyed, 5 disabled)

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 11
Port hits 5
Port supply hits 3

-------------------------------------------------------------

Maya has 10 Sys damage so nothing major.

As for Fiji I am moving to take back a few of the bases and establish airfields in easy fighter range of Pago Pago and Niue which has rapidly been built to a lvl 4 airfield. I want to see if I can prod Kfsgo into committing ships to the theatre and then jump them. I can also render Pago Pago and Niue very hard to resupply.

To be honest combat here suits me as its about as far away form anything important as you can be and I can't advance any further without running out my logistical tail. The greater range of INA/IJN planes is also a significant advantage in the south pacific and unless he commits some 4E to the theater he is restricted to mostly defensive actions without his carriers.




-------------------------------------------------------------

Afternoon Air attack on 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, at 138,168 (Tongatapu)

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 39
G3M3 Nell x 15
G4M1 Betty x 44

No Japanese losses

Allied ground losses:
31 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

-------------------------------------------------------------

The Marines at Tonatapu have been rendered combat ineffective and I will drop another Para bn on them tomorrow.

You did not state at what range you executed that bombardment .. did you set the minimum range or did yu let those BB's close to within the 6" guns? I taught my opononet to stay out to maximum range ...[;)]

I think the bombardment was set at range 6.

28 June

The Chinese get mauled.



 
Ground combat at 86,43 (near Loyang)
 
Japanese Deliberate attack
 
Attacking force 95788 troops, 753 guns, 195 vehicles, Assault Value = 3489
 
Defending force 71554 troops, 431 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2593
 
Japanese adjusted assault: 1108
 
Allied adjusted defense: 439
 
Japanese assault odds: 2 to 1
 
Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:
 
Japanese ground losses:
      3822 casualties reported
         Squads: 20 destroyed, 510 disabled
         Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 21 disabled
         Engineers: 2 destroyed, 30 disabled
      Guns lost 29 (1 destroyed, 28 disabled)
 
 
Allied ground losses:
      23399 casualties reported
         Squads: 768 destroyed, 419 disabled
         Non Combat: 815 destroyed, 508 disabled
         Engineers: 42 destroyed, 37 disabled
      Guns lost 64 (26 destroyed, 38 disabled)
      Units retreated 18
 
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

I blocked off all their retreat paths other than into the woods. I really should have pounded them from the air for another week to inflict even more casualties before retreating them but i'm happy with what I got. 27th Corps was essentially wiped out to a man and the rest heavily mauled. 63rd Div too about 150 disablements and the others only took 15-30. Should be back on form in no time. I have about 6 thousand AV in the north with maybe another thousand available soon to reinforce. Against that there is maybe 4-5 thousand Chinese AV with the 1500 or so just retreated in a sorry state.
I am unsure if I can break them in 3x Terrain which they will be fighting in on the defense and in all likelyhood aerial support will accomplish very little in that sort of terrain.

However I have just reconstituted the 1st and 2nd Tank divisions at Shanghai and I may send them on an adventure to the north while I draw Kfsgo's reserves south of Sian. If I can get them through to the open Terrain I hear they do all sorts of nasty things to Chinese troops in the open.

Current China Situation map. It had stabilized until Kfsgo tried to cut off my forward troops and now I think I can go on the offensive again up north to capture the Oil. The image is from a few turns ago as I forgot to take one during the turn.

Bombardment .. you can set your BB's out to maximum ranage but at least 15K and keep out of 6" penatration range. Actaully my IJ opponet had been just taking the defaut of '0' and getting creamed . so I explained this little tibit ..

The big BB's have much more extended range and do very well ...

Just a thoguht to save your BB's for certain destruction from shore batteries. [;)]

Well I was away on holiday so the game was on hiatus over Xmas/NY. Im (obviously) back now so we are moving onto the 1st July.

A few tussles over Chungking with me sending Zeroes to sweep the Chinese airforce out of the Sky. About 3-1 kill ratio on my side with 25-30 Chinese fighters downed in two days of fighting. P43, H-81 and I-15 just cant compete with zeroes in a dogfight.
Otherwise quiet other than a few Marine planes trying to supress my forward bases around Fiji.

Emily production is started, Mavis's will be mostly phased out as planes are available.

Kfsgo is massing a LOT of fighters at Calcutta, i'm not even sure if I have 450 fighters in the entire Burma/Ceylon theater, seems like a good chunk of the US army AF is hanging out in Burma these days. On top of that I ID'd an American division in India about a month ago. Possibly there is some sort of plan in the works to "do something" about Ceylon, I sure hope so as that is one battle I would love to fight before '42 gets away from me, although if it could just wait another month till the Tojo is in production that would be even better.



Finally an outpost east of Fiji calls in an interesting sighting. I think this just might be the US CV's back to say hello, seems a bit far for planes to be flying from Pago Pago.
If so we might be about to have a thrilling few turns.

2 July 1942

Literally nothing important happened today, at all. The most exciting part of the turn was a Jake being shot down by a submarine NW of Fiji.

3-5 July

The airwar in Burma is heating up. Kfsgo is comitting his 4E to attack lightly defended bases preceeded by sweeping with P-38 to catch leaking CAP. He is very reluctant to contest any even moderately defended base and most of my losses are small packets of leaking zeroes being massacred by P-38 sweeps. In China the Chinese airforce has pretty much been swept into oblivion. Not a lot of functional fighters left at all.

July 4 was the busiest day with only a little bit of skirmishing on  the 3rd and 5th



The three B-17 were lost to balloons hahaha as Kfsgo set them to fly at 6k feet.

My own bombers are refusing to strike at bases defended by even minimal CAP even when I assign twice as many fighters as at the target base to escort even before accounting for the fact that most of the defenders are actually away sweeping my bases.