A quasi-historical AAR vs. the AI, with screenshots

[Grotius]

I've been playing as the Allies against the AI on "Hard" setting, and I'm now up to late July, 1942. I've deliberately imposed a series of "house rules" on myself in an effort to produce a game that plays out in a roughly historical fashion. E.g., I haven't piled all my troops into any particular base for a "last stand"; I've left ABDA forces more or less in place; I've built up in the South Pacific rather than starting an offensive in the Central Pacific; and I'm accepting a stalemate in China, even though I'm sure I could take many bases there against the passive AI there.

Anyway, here's a brief history of my war, with pictures.

[Grotius]

10 December 1941: The raid on Pearl Harbor sank one major ship: the BB Tennessee. Another half-dozen BBs were seriously damaged and sent to the USA for repairs. KB retired after the attack, and I sent Lexington to Wake to bust up the invasion forces there. I sank most of the invading ships, and I also managed to hold Wake Island. (OK, it's not a *completely* historical AAR, just quasi-historical.) Meanwhile Japanese forces streamed into Malaya and the Phillipines.

Here's a look at the Phillipines as of 14 December.

[Grotius]

Don't worry, I don't plan a picture for every day of the war, but I happened to take a number of screenies of the action in the Phillpines early on. Here's the situation on 18 December 1941:

[Grotius]

A few days later, I was moving a squadron of crated B-17s to Noumea, when I learned the hard way that it's a vewy vewy bad idea to send such things without escorts. A Japanese submarine torpedoed the transport a couple hundred miles east of Noumea, and it sank just outside port. I also learned what happens when crated planes are sunk: they count as "operational" losses. Heh.

[Grotius]

8 January 1942: The siege of Singapore begins.

[Grotius]

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AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/19/42

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ASW attack at 44,63

Japanese Ships
MSW Asahi Maru #2
MSW Aoi Maru
DD Tokitsukaze
DD Yukikaze

Allied Ships
SS KXVI, hits 2, on fire

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Sub attack at 49,48

Japanese Ships
TK Moji Maru, Shell hits 2

Allied Ships
SS Seawolf

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Naval bombardment of Singkawang, at 25,57

Allied aircraft losses [on the ground]
Martin 139: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged
Brewster 339D: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
DD Usugumo
DD Fubuki
DD Hagikaze
DD Arashi
DD Nowaki
CA Kumano
CA Suzuya
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami

Allied ground losses:
81 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 4
Runway hits 52
Port supply hits 1

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Day Air attack on Rangoon , at 29,34

Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 19
Ki-21 Sally x 27
Ki-46-II Dinah x 2

Allied aircraft
Buffalo I x 3
Hurricane II x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-21 Sally: 5 destroyed, 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo I: 2 destroyed
Hurricane II: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied ground losses:
53 casualties reported

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 22

Aircraft Attacking:
25 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 7000 feet
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Day Air attack on Manila , at 43,52

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 27
G4M1 Betty x 21
Ki-21 Sally x 9

Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged

Allied Ships
AK Governor Wright, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AS Holland, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD John D. Ford, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Allied ground losses:
27 casualties reported

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 12000 feet
8 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 16000 feet
3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 12000 feet
6 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 16000 feet
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Day Air attack on TF at 22,51

Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 3
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 4

Allied aircraft
Swordfish x 5

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish: 13 destroyed, 2 damaged

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Day Air attack on Taung Gyi , at 33,32

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
G4M1 Betty x 9

Allied aircraft
Hurricane II x 13

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Hurricane II: 2 destroyed

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 12000 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty bombing at 12000 feet
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ASW attack at 44,63

Japanese Ships
DD Minazuki

Allied Ships
SS KXVI, heavy damage


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Ground combat at Clark Field

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 52329 troops, 392 guns, 167 vehicles

Defending force 25485 troops, 235 guns, 20 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 4)


Japanese ground losses:
1407 casualties reported
Guns lost 27
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
767 casualties reported
Guns lost 26
Vehicles lost 3


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Ground combat at Naga

Japanese Bombardment attack

Attacking force 23236 troops, 316 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 8961 troops, 47 guns, 2 vehicles

Allied ground losses:
95 casualties reported
Guns lost 3
Vehicles lost 1

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Ground combat at Singapore

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 81083 troops, 592 guns, 105 vehicles

Defending force 26127 troops, 158 guns, 3 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Singapore base !!!

Japanese ground losses:
820 casualties reported
Guns lost 19

Allied ground losses:
30746 casualties reported [Yes, 30,746 casualties]
Guns lost 136

[Grotius]

And a screenshot to memorialize the sad event:

[Grotius]

Early February 1942: The Japanese turn their attention north, toward Burma. The situation there:

[Grotius]

19 February 1942: Clark Field falls.

[Grotius]

March 1942: the Battle for Java begins. Here's the situation around Batavia in early March.

[Grotius]

22 March 1942: Japan begins bombing Darwin from bases in the Dutch East Indies. It also invades western Timor. The bombing of Darwin continues without halt for months.

[Grotius]

10 April 1942: My effort to re-open the Burma Road ends in disaster. Several Chinese Corps had marched out of China toward Lashio and Myiknyik, but they were promptly dismissed by the IJA garrisons there, which were larger than my recon seemed to show. Japan takes Akyab, but its march into Burma stalls there.

[Grotius]

Mid-April 1942: Dutch bombers sink the CVL Zuiho, drawing first blood in the carrier war.

[Grotius]

27 April 1942: A USN submarine ventures into Tokyo harbor. Woo hoo, we're in Tokyo! The sub is promptly depth-charged and sunk.

[Grotius]

7 May 1942: US armed forces at Bataan surrendered today. 15,000 or more US troops were taken prisoner and began the infamous march across the Bataan peninsula, on their way to POW camps. The timing is quite close to the actual surrender of Bataan historically, May 9, 1942. Consider my timeline versus the historical one (in parenthesis after my dates):

My timeline:

7 Dec 1941 - Pearl Harbor (same historically)
December 1941 - US holds Wake Island (fell 23 Dec 1942 historically)
9 December 1941 - Guam falls (11 Dec 1942)
December 1941 - Manila holds out (fell 31 December historically, I think)
19 January 1942 - Singapore falls (15 February 1942 historically)
February 1942 - Burma Road cut, Rangoon falls (10 March 1942)
22 February 1942 - Clark Field falls (January historically? I dunno)
March-May 1942 - Battle for Java (Java falls 9 March 1942 historically)
Late March 1942 - Japan begins bombing Darwin (19 Feb 1942 historically)
7 May 1942 - Bataan falls (9 May 1942 historically)

[Grotius]

Manila falls a few days later, and Japan starts to mop up in the rest of the Phillipines. The battle of Java, however, still rages; Batavia and Soerajava cling to life. Here's the situation in the Phillipines, 9 June 1942:

[Grotius]

Note the Allied Surface TF at Puerto Princesa in the preceding screenshot, and the IJN ships just east of them. The Allied TF is a bunch of PT boats (refugees from Manila), and the IJN ships are Zuikaku and Shokaku, which the previous day stumbled upon the PT boats and engaged them in a surface battle! The carrier task force sank one of the PT boats, but a cruiser did the firing, not the CVs. It was quite amusing. I've posted screenshots elsewhere in these forums, so I won't consume bandwidth to post them again.

[Grotius]

20 June 1942: Batavia and Soerabaja fall in quick succession, ending the three-month battle for Java. Meanwhile the Battle for Timor heats up, as my B-17s out of Northern Oz pound the western base (owned by Japan) and Betties bomb Lautem (my base on east Timor) and Darwin itself.

In the meantime, I begin Operation Chef (building up Baker Island), and I prepare Operation Castle (reinforcing and building up Lunga). I already have float plane bases at Ndini, Efate, and Nanoumea Island, and Louganville is well-developed. The Japanese bomb Port Moresby periodically, and my P-39s struggle to respond.

[Grotius]

21 June - 1 July 1942: I land a Marine raider batallion, an RCT, an AA unit, a couple of batallions of Sea Bees, and a base force at Lunga, as Lexington and Saratoga hover just off the southern end of the island providing air cover. Astonishingly, the TF is only spotted once, by an enemy submarine's float plane. This seems odd because the Betties out of Rabaul do appear to be conducting air search; they spot my submarines, for example. (Perhaps they're only on ASW?) The operation goes forward without a hitch. Here's a shot:

[Grotius]

5 July 1942: enemy transports and surface vessels suddenly appear north of Guadalacanal, and my dive-bombers sharpen their swords. But the CVs have been on station a long while, and even with a Replenishment TF on hand, I'm having trouble keeping every ship fueled up.