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August 19, 1943

The western end of Java is now mostly under Allied control. The bases of Djokakarta and Soerakarta were taken by airborne forces.
The hex West of Soerabaja was cleared of enemy troops who have retreated into Madioen.


Ground combat at 55,104 (near Soerabaja)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 13441 troops, 213 guns, 522 vehicles, Assault Value = 504

Defending force 9842 troops, 92 guns, 26 vehicles, Assault Value = 229

Allied adjusted assault: 412

Japanese adjusted defense: 41

Allied assault odds: 10 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
3953 casualties reported
Squads: 129 destroyed, 75 disabled
Non Combat: 120 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 22 (15 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 7 (4 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Units retreated 3

Allied ground losses:
47 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 21 (2 destroyed, 19 disabled)

Defeated Japanese Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
2/9th Armoured Regiment
2/7th Armoured Regiment
32nd Infantry Division
1st Army Tank Regiment

Defending units:
38th Division
89th Naval Guard Unit
11th Militia Regiment

========================================================
42 Betty and Nell bombers in 4 waves did a night naval attack against my TF stationed in the Soerabaja hex.
No hits, but 15 bombers were lost, 2 air-2-air, 10 flak and 3 ops.

My bombers in Burma flew. I lost a B-25C and a B-25D1 to flak, there must be a unit with good AA there, but I haven't seen it yet.

I lost an xAKL to D4Y4 Judys flying from Sorong, it was delivering supply to Boela.
4 800 kg AP bomb hits did not leave much left.

CA Atago showed up on the sunk ship list today.

Here is what the SRA looks like now
and the combat report

August 20, 1943

Weather grounded almost all flight today. There was one notable exception.
I send a squadron of P-38Es sweeping Batavia at 21,000 feet
They met 26 x N1K5-J George and 27 x Ki-84r Frank. This is the first sighting of the Frank r model
The combat result has me losing 6 to 4, but tracker paints a slightly different picture.
Tracker shows I lost 12 P-38Es to air-2-air( I lost 7 pilots )
and that he lost 9 N2K-5Js( 5 air-2-air and 4 ops) and 3 Ki-84rs( 1 air-2-air and 2 ops )
The P-38E is the weakest of my major USAAF sweepers so the result is not serious and informative.
The combat animation showed that I was able to handle the George quite well, but the Frank is going
to be a problem. I will have to see what happens later when I get a major airbase somewhat closer to
Batavia and I can send in P-47D25s.

Morning Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98

Weather in hex: Light rain

Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 27,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K5-J George x 26
Ki-84r Frank x 27

Allied aircraft
P-38E Lightning x 24

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K5-J George: 3 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-38E Lightning: 6 destroyed

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 20 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 20000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 16 minutes
286 Ku S-1 with N1K5-J George (0 airborne, 20 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 23000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes

=========================================================

August 21, 1943

I ordered 60 B-24D1s to fly a night airbase attack against Batavia, 34 of them found the targert
They were opposed by Ki-44-IIc Tojos, starting with 29 and dwindling down to 14.
The bombers shot down 10 and 2 more were ops losses while losing 1 bomber to ops.
Recon shows only 1 airfield damage.

In the daylight I tasked a P-47D25 squadron to fly a sweep over Batavia.
They were met by 26 x N1K5-J George and 27 x Ki-84r Frank fighters.
They lost 10 aircraft( 7 air-2-air and 3 ops, and 4 pilots ) while tracker shows
the enemy losses at 8 N1K5-J( 7 air-2-air and 1 ops) along with 4 Ki-84r Frank( all air-2-air).
Again, not the ratio I need to succeed, but two things come to mind. Both of these
fighters are SR 3 aircraft while my P-47s are all SR 1, so I can slowly tire them out
and the George is a IJN fighter and I know that he is low on IJN pilots, so any I kill
are a bonus.

My fighters flew at 15,000 feet, tomorrow I will send a different squadron at 20,000 feet.

Morning Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98

Weather in hex: Partial cloud

Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
N1K5-J George x 26
Ki-84r Frank x 27

Allied aircraft
P-47D25 Thunderbolt x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
N1K5-J George: 4 destroyed
Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-47D25 Thunderbolt: 4 destroyed

CAP engaged:
50th Sentai with Ki-84r Frank (0 airborne, 20 on standby, 0 scrambling)
7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 16000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 19 minutes
286 Ku S-1 with N1K5-J George (0 airborne, 20 on standby, 0 scrambling)
6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 9 minutes
==========================================================================

No strike aircraft flew in Burma, bad weather again. The forecast has been for thunderstorms for days
and again tomorrow.

August 22, 1943

My minesweepers finally found the mine field(s) and swept 88 mines. The mine symbol is still there so we will see what happens next turn.

I landed forces on Kusaie Island and will take the undefended island tomorrow.

In the air I send B-24s to night bomb the airfield at Truk. I also sent both B-17s and B-24s to night bomb the airfield at Batavia.
And again I sent a squadron of P-47D25s to sweep Batavia in the daytime.
Since I encountered some of the same models of fighters at each base, I can not really tell how many of the losses he incurred were where
so I will just post a picture of the total losses
The only aircraft that flew in Burma was one of the sweeps, no bombers.
Thunderstorms are forecast again for tomorrow. Crap.

Very good progress has your opponent said anything about his eco this game? cause with how fast DEI falling if he stocked up on oil and fuel might only have at least a year left. Also, any sign of KB lately can't remember if you sank it or it's just hiding.

I have not sunk any of KB, I put a torpedo into a couple of them but none of them sank. I think he is waiting for the Sam to show up, right now my Hellcats are better than any Zero he can field.

He has bemoaned about losing Palembang in the near future with me taking Java. But I might not even bomb Palembang and I might not land on Sumatra. It just depends on how I feel.
I am really unsure how his economy is doing, I have not sunk many merchants that might have been carrying resources or oil.

I am just now opening up the Central Pacific offensive. I landed at Kusaie Island and in a turn or two I will land on Ponape. That will give me a base in P-47 range of Truk. I think I might
land at Truk before Sumatra. The Marianas are going to be tough. It appears he has built them a good amount, I have seen a lot of intel that units are moving to those islands. Plus by the
time I have the enough attack transports available he will surely have the Sam available for his CVs. Then he has airframe superiority and I will need to have numerical superiority to be
able to operate. I don't get Corsairs until October of 1943 and I need them to fight off the Sam fighters.

what about a NG push? I don't remember if you own Rabaul or not but if so Ng push might be viable allowing for two routes into PI or just going through the Celebe's to Pi once Java is finished.

Sounds like I need to post more screen shots. Here is NG, Sorong will be next on the list after the Ponape operation concludes.

Ya it would extend your supply lines but could completely cut off DEI and give massive base's to work from for once B-29s arrive.

August 23, 1943

27 more mines swept at Soerabaja and the minefield symbol is gone.

On the approach to Ponape we found a sub and it is now gone
Submarine attack near Ponape at 119,114

Japanese Ships
SS I-175, hits 13, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DE Gilmore
DE Peary
DE Paul Jones

Sub slips beneath the waves
======================================================
Kusaie Island flipped at the start of the turn, engineers landing now

Invasion went in at Ponape, lots of enemy guns fired in the pre-invasion phase, but only 2 in the invasion phase
and no ground bombardment attack from the enemy. All my troops landed and have gobs of supply and will
attack today.

On the ground in Java, Madioen was taken, the enemy troops there can not retreat anywhere, so they get to die there.

Ground combat at Madioen (54,104)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18777 troops, 237 guns, 1174 vehicles, Assault Value = 877

Defending force 10877 troops, 117 guns, 30 vehicles, Assault Value = 215

Allied adjusted assault: 510

Japanese adjusted defense: 181

Allied assault odds: 2 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Madioen !!!

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

Japanese ground losses:
792 casualties reported
Squads: 23 destroyed, 78 disabled
Non Combat: 15 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 29 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 58 (52 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Vehicles lost 14 (14 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
46 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 19 (1 destroyed, 18 disabled)

Assaulting units:
1st Army Tank Regiment
32nd Infantry Division
192nd Tank Battalion
194th Tank Battalion
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
2/9th Armoured Regiment
2/7th Armoured Regiment
4th Armoured Brigade

Defending units:
38th Division
18th Naval Guard Unit
11th Militia Regiment
89th Naval Guard Unit
39th/B Division

====================================
At Soerakarta he had moved some of the troops from Madioen and they were attacked.
Even at 4-1 odds they did not retreat.

Ground combat at Soerakarta (53,103)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18651 troops, 223 guns, 212 vehicles, Assault Value = 825

Defending force 3856 troops, 39 guns, 17 vehicles, Assault Value = 72

Allied adjusted assault: 311

Japanese adjusted defense: 73

Allied assault odds: 4 to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
432 casualties reported
Squads: 12 destroyed, 12 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
139 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
1st Australian Division
1st Australian Para Battalion
4th Australian Division
148th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd Medium Regiment

Defending units:
39th/A Division
39th/C Division

================================

Night bombing of Truk will have to stop. He has put too many fighters up on CAP at night.
I will change that some when I get Ponape occupied and built up so I can fly day sweeps
That will lessen the number of fighters he can put up at night. I lost 9 B-24s over Truk last
turn, that is way too many to sustain.

Only my B-17s flew at night against Batavia doing no airfield damage.
I flew two squadrons on sweep, a P-38G and a P-47D25.
the P-38Gs did fair, but the P-47D25s did much better.
Tomorrow the big hammer will fall on Batavia. I have 3 squadrons of P-47D25s flying sweep,
2 P-38s squadrons escorting 72 B-24s and 36 B-17s on an airfield attack. If thing go mostly
right I should score big.

On the day I lost 14 fighters and he lost 48 fighters.

Weather again grounded all air attacks in Burma. Forecast is again, surprise, surprise, surprise, THUNDERSTORMS.

August 24, 1943

I should understand than most things just do not go the way we want them to.
At Batavia my fighter sweeps did not fly until the afternoon phase, so the bombers
basically went in alone. It looks like I lost 18 B-24s and 2 B-17s in the raids.
He lost a lot of aircraft on the ground, but that does not kill pilots.
I destroyed 115 aircraft on the ground but only 1 air-2-air victory.
By the time the sweeps went in, there were no aircraft in the air.
=============================================
My bombers in Burma finally flew and hit Mandalay, they did some disablements
It is hard to do much damage when they only fly 1 day a week.

===========================================
Ponape is mine now

all his units at Soerakarta have been retreated

His units in Madioen suffered high losses, it will take a couple more days to eliminate them.

The hack to prevent bombers from going in during the morning phase is to set them to Naval Strike, with a secondary mission of Airfield Strike.

I do know that, but it can lead to other problems too, plus it is just something I don't do. I just take my lumps when things go wrong, I might complain, but that is the way things go sometimes.

It is painful at times, but in this game, as Gloria Gaynor said, "I will survive."

One other item is that Batavia airfield is at 58% damage, we will try again tomorrow to get things coordinated.

August 25, 1943

A bit of tit for tat in the sub war.

I got 2 BOOMS and a DOINK

Sub attack near Davao at 80,93

Japanese Ships
xAK Kaiko Maru, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
xAK Osaka Maru
xAK Hokuan Maru
PB Taiko Maru

Allied Ships
SS Triton

Japanese ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
---------------------------------------------

Sub attack near Davao at 80,93

Japanese Ships
xAK Osaka Maru
PB Taiko Maru

Allied Ships
SS Triton

Then he got a BOOM also

Submarine attack near Banjoewangi at 57,107

Japanese Ships
SS I-154

Allied Ships
xAK Iron Crown, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage

===============================================
More carnage at Madioen, one unit is wiped out and the other takes more causalities.

Fighter sweeps and bombers all flew to Batavia as scheduled, no opposition, but the airfield is further damaged

Fighter sweeps and bombers flew against units in Mandalay for the second day this week. Light damage inflicted, hopefully disruption is occuring.

================================================

August 26, 1943

On the ground at Madioen more eliminated enemy elements, probably one more turn will finish them off

Only fighter sweeps flew in Java, over Bandoeng which recon shows some fighters, but no aircraft opposed my sweeps.
No flights to Batavia, weather at Batavia I am sure since I have flights from at least 2 airbases ordered to fly.

Everything flew in Burma, more surprise. Some disablements and a few airbase and airbase supply hits.

I see movement arrows leaving Semarang and Tjilatjap, is he abandoning more bases?

My DS1 has been lurking SE of Ponape to see if anything shows up. I have LB fighters at Ponape and my CVE fleet is still there
DS1 is showing no detection level and naval search has shown a number of small TFs in the Northern Marshall Islands.
So I am moving to see if I can sink some shipping there. I think most or all of it is small merchants, but there may be
some troops aboard and maybe a TK or two.


And the combat report

From tracker does your opponent have the A6M8 yet?

Not yet, he does have Franks, but the Sam is a few months off yet, but soon.
It is at 3/44 now, but that will move up some more. I am expecting it about 1/44, so I have a few months until it arrives.

expect it sooner if it's 3/44 and average around 25 day's 12/43 plus fac's will be repairing so 11/43 in my game I almost a some fac's repaired and the plane is on 6/44 so he definitely has some repaired by now so estimate at least two month's earlier

Actually when I say I expect it 1/44, that is when I think he will have finished the R&D and gotten enough into production to be useful. It will take him a month or more to build enough to be useful.

true but it really depends I had like 2 fac's on it from the begging of the game almost done and he's 3 months closer so I suspect at least 1 or 2 addition on top of the 2 he probably started with but yes 1/44 is probably when he'll have full production going which is scary as the Allies as it's a gen 4 plane while your still have gen 2 carrier plane's