The last charge: Toraq´s fight against Timtom

[toraq]

Our second game, but this time I´ll play the IJN. Just some characteristics

1) We play scenario 8, 100% commitment, Japs subs off, and some house rules

a) No more than 70% of CAP over CV TF
b) Land based air units not able to operate from CV
c) Only 2 sqd. can attack at night
d) No decoy TF

2) This scenario is 3 months long (Oct 42- Dic 42), with Allies up 100 points.

3) Allies are well spread out the Coral Sea: Lunga in Marines hands, as well as GG and PM.

4) Forces available

As I´m now (in scenario 19) playing as Allies I know well how many forces they have.
I´ll make some comparisons:

a) Air power

8 Zero Datais, 1 Oscar Datai, 4 Betty Datais and 3 Nells Datai: 205 Zeroes, 79 Betties and 42 Nells, 36 Oscar
vs.
3 F4F sqd, 5 P-40 sqd, at least 6 sqd of P-39(or P400): 70 F4F, 100 P-40 and 120 P-39
6 to 8 B-26 sqd, 8-10 Heavies, 2 Hudson sqd, 2 B-25 sqd, 2 A-20 sqd: 100 B-26, 100 B-17, 36 Hudson, 36 B-25, 36 A-20.
Also got 5-7 C-47 sqd, which give him a lot of flexibility

Allies are quite superior in numbers but quality is in our side. 100 Heavies are enough to put any airport out of action in one attack.

Naval Power

I got 6 BB!! 2 CV, one 1 CVL and one CVE. many CA and DD, 5 APD, 4 ML, 20 APs...
Reinforces will come in the form of 2 CV!!! (53 a/c each) 2 BB and more CA and APs

My opponet has 1 BB and one to two CV. I calculate 10 CA, unlimited DD, deadly CL and enough APs

Here the superiority of the IJN is obvious. But Allies got enough power to strike back and to defend quite hard.

Surface Power

I got some regiments in Guadalcanal, in Tassafaroga?, but need supplies now. In the Shortlands rest my crack regiments

He has the entire 1st Marine Division and also 1 Rgt of the second. Americal Division, 2 more INF Rgt are present in Noumea.
Troops presence in GG and PM, but it seems to me that some Australian cities are without INF Rgt.

Marines will put a fierce fight and he has enough reserves to reinforce any weak point in his defensive line (PM-GG-Lunga)

Strategic Options

I need to get VP if I want to win the game. I need to take the offensive although I don´t have a overwhelming power. On the other hand, his power gets bigger everyday so the sooner the better!!

Now I´m studying two options

a) The invasion of Lunga: bomb, isolate and assault the island. This would give me about 240 VP and as many as that figure if I exterminate his Marine garrison. This could give me the victory.

b) The invasion of GG: GG has 180 VP. It´s a good base from which I can threaten some Aus. bases (Caims and Cooktown) which got 1200 VP. This wil surely give me the victory but it would be far more difficult to get.

[toraq]

Some action...allied activity is minimun. I know why. He is deploying BF, support units and planes to the front line. This will take some time, but not much.
To prove the brave of my pilots I launched 2 sweeps missions to PM. Air to air losses 4 on jap. side vs 6 on allied side.

A small victory [:'(]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 10/02/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-R Irving x 2
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 35

Allied aircraft
P-40E Kittyhawk x 11
P-40E Warhawk x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk x 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk x 1 damaged


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-R Irving x 2
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 30

Allied aircraft
P-40E Kittyhawk x 11
P-40E Warhawk x 11

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 destroyed
P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 damaged
P-40E Warhawk x 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk x 5 damaged

And here is a map of the Guadalcanal area

[toraq]

Here is the last combat report. Due to a terrible headache (a friend´s birthday is guilty), I was unable to post another one. Not much to say but no presence of Allied forces except an air attack to Buna. 6 P-39 shot down due to AA [;)].


AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 10/04/42

Weather: Thunderstorms

Sub attack at 21,30

Japanese Ships
DD Isokaze

Allied Ships
SS Sculpin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naval bombardment of Lunga, at 38,40 ***First Tokio Express with 2 BB and 2 CA escorted by DD****


Allied aircraft


Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 2 destroyed
SBD Dauntless x 2 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 186
Vehicles lost 1

Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 66


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 34,37

Japanese Ships
ML Hoko

Allied Ships
SS Grampus


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 34,37

Allied Ships
SS Grampus

[toraq]

More strategic thoughts

Well, I don´t know where to hit (yet). Lunga or GG. I decided to wait and see what happens. My naval presence in Short (just in the middle) allow me to strike GG or Lunga.
If my opponent reinforce Lunga massively (which he could) I will have to invade GG. Or if he decides to empty GG to hit Buna, I will surprise him with an invasion.

Now I sum up some information about different things

Lunga

It seems to me that he is not reinforcing the Garrison there. No troops, no planes, no supplies. Maybe he doesn´t want to commit more troops to avoid high supply requirements.
I think he is making a mistake. Now I have my entire fleet there. I divided my warships in three TF which will turn to bomb Lunga everyday.
Tomorrow I will have mined the route to Lunga and Tulagi, making it difficult to FT supplies or troops. Soon, I´ll get two more CV which will allow me to completely isolate the island. Moreover, in a week or so, a new airport will be ready in Vella Lavella so I will LCAP Lunga to avoid air supply.
When he feels the lack of supplies he will have to do big efforts to supply the Garrison. This will be a good opportunity to force a favourable naval battle.

Submarine Warfare

This is one thing that worries me a lot. He has many SS. I´ve already discovered some near Rabaul, Short and Truk. I´ve send 3 CS packed with floatplanes which will protect ships around Lunga. (especially when Tokio Express is around)

I´ve changed the usual routes to bomb Lunga just to avoid the subs. near Short.
Some Vals and Emilys have been cahnged to ASW patrol, TF with 10 or more DD are patrolling hot areas. No success yet.

Air opperations

I´m building Buka, Buin and Short airports, along with a new one in Vella Lavella. This will give me some flexibility to maintain an air offensive against Lunga (or GG). I have to avoid great concentrations of aircraft in Rabaul: good target for heavies.

However I made an exception today. My recon flights have detected almost 400 planes in PM. I decided to send all my bombers there, escorted by Zeroes and with a previous sweep mission. I don´t expect a great success but I want him to feel threatened and thus spending many planes in CAP.

Naval warfare

My entire fleet is busy transporting troops (mainly to NG) or ready to strike Lunga. When the first thing is done, I will put more DD on ASW patrols

Nueva Guinea

To my surprise, there are not many Jap. troops here. I´ve ordered many movements. This is the natural area where my enemy has to act. He has a good airport (PM) and many VP available (Buna, Lae).
Buna and Lae will be reinforced. 2 Rgt and a strong NG unit will be the main forces in Buna. Also I have to avoid easy invasion of Salamaua or Finschafen with FT missions. Naval Garrisons ordered to these places also.
My air presence here will be minimal.
I attach a picture of the area.

[toraq]

Well my surprise attack to PM ended in a bloody air battle.
Losses have been high for both sides. If I hadn´t lost so many Betties and op. losses, it would have been a IJN success.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 10/05/42

Weather: Rain

Sub attack at 32,32

Japanese Ships
BB Yamato [X(][X(] But finally the torpedo missed.

Allied Ships
SS Sturgeon


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Buna , at 12,38


Allied aircraft
P-40E Kittyhawk x 19
P-40E Warhawk x 8
F-5A Lightning x 5
B-26B Marauder x 44
A-20B Havoc x 29

Allied aircraft losses
B-26B Marauder x 1 damaged
A-20B Havoc x 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 39

Port hits 2
Port supply hits 1

*********Well he has learned the lesson. His aircraft made the run at 15000 feet. No many losses******


SURPRISE ATTACK TO PM

Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft The fighter sweep finds strong CAP
A6M3 Zero x 16
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 32

Allied aircraft
P-40E Kittyhawk x 18
P-40E Warhawk x 42

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 3 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Kittyhawk x 1 destroyed
P-40E Kittyhawk x 1 damaged
P-40E Warhawk x 8 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk x 4 damaged

COL K. Kira of 24th Sentai is KILLED This was an excellent pilot [:@]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 45
G3M Nell x 10
G4M1 Betty x 48

Allied aircraft
P-40E Kittyhawk x 9
P-40E Warhawk x 28

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 5 destroyed
A6M2 Zero x 2 damaged
G3M Nell x 1 damaged
G4M1 Betty x 9 destroyed *****Too many Betties lost, his CAP manage to reach the bombers********
G4M1 Betty x 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Kittyhawk x 3 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk x 9 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk x 3 damaged
P-39D Airacobra x 2 destroyed ****On the ground****
P-39D Airacobra x 2 damaged

PO1 V.Murakami of F1/253rd Daitai is credited with kill number 2

LCDR F.Ibusuki of G1/Kisarazu Daitai is KILLED


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 13

Airbase hits 11
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 22
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
G3M Nell x 15
G4M1 Betty x 9

Allied aircraft
P-40E Kittyhawk x 5
P-40E Warhawk x 20

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M Nell x 2 damaged
G4M1 Betty x 1 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Kittyhawk x 1 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk x 6 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra x 2 destroyed ****On the ground****
P-39D Airacobra x 2 damaged

ENS C.Fujiwara of F2/1st Daitai is credited with kill number 2


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 12

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 11

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 15 *****Second sweep mission of the day*******
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 28

Allied aircraft
P-40E Kittyhawk x 15
P-40E Warhawk x 15

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Kittyhawk x 2 destroyed
P-40E Kittyhawk x 4 damaged
P-40E Warhawk x 2 destroyed
P-40E Warhawk x 1 damaged

WO E.Green of 8th FS is credited with kill number 3 ****My aces only got 2 victories****

SLDR L. Jackson of No. 75 Sqn RAAF is KILLED


ALLIED NAVAL ATTACKS

Many air activity. The 9 SBD of Lunga showed its teeth...

Air attack on TF, near Gasmata at 17,32

Allied aircraft
Beaufort x 12

no losses

Japanese Ships
PC Ch 12
AP Boston Maru

Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x Beaufort at 15000 feet ****Too high to get a hit***
9 x Beaufort at 15000 feet

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Gasmata at 17,32


Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIC x 24


Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter VIC x 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CL Yura
CL Tatsuta, Bomb hits 1
DD Hatsukaze, Bomb hits 1, on fire

This I call it luck. In our last PBEM, my Beaufighters were quite useless against DD. But here they score 2 hits. Damage from 20 to 30. I guess they will be able to operate in some way
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF at 36,35


Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 8
SBD Dauntless x 9


no losses

Japanese Ships
ML Hoko, Bomb hits 1, on fire

At least he was able to mine Tulagi. He is not heavily damaged
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Air attack on TF, near Buin at 28,33

Allied aircraft
Beaufighter VIC x 21


Allied aircraft losses
Beaufighter VIC x 15 damaged ****3 lost*****

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna
CA Haguro


Well I think this turn ended in a allied minor victory. They scored some hits, but this had to happen. My ships are spread all over the map and sometimes they take some risks.
I had many losses during the attack to PM. I can´t have such attrition rates, specially in bombers.
However, this has shown him that PM is not a safe place and thus strong CAP is needed. Also, it is not a good place for heavies.

[toraq]

The air losses yesterday were (more or less):

Allied
21 Warhawks[:D]
8 Kittyhawks
4 P-39
3 Beaufighters

Japanese
12 A6M2
6 Oscar
8 Betties

The Oscars perform quite well against P-40s. However the morale of the Sentai has dropped to 23, I think due to the loss of the Sentai Commander.
Betties did suffer a lot but their morale is still high.
Zeroes suffer 6 Op. losses. So only 6 were lost in air to air combats.

[toraq]

Not much action since I have ordered all my Datais to stand down and rest after yesterday´s big battle.

Submarine warfare

Today I formed a TF with 18 ships on ASW patrol. They´ll go to the slots

Sub attack at 34,36

Japanese Ships
PC Ch 6
PC Ch 16

Allied Ships
SS Grampus, Shell hits 2, on fire

****Well, the first victim of my great ASW effort in the Slot. I´ve already spotted 4 and counting.*****
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 20,3

Japanese Ships
DD Nowaki

Allied Ships
SS Wahoo


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack at 32,35

Japanese Ships
ML Hoko, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage (and sunk)

Allied Ships
SS Sailfish

****Here, first blood to the US****
[/i]

Ground attacks

He attacked Lae. I think hoping to catch my planes there (the ones that made the sweeps last day). They´re resting in Wewak!

Naval warfare

A lot of movements to avoid submarines. My naval bombers unable to launch an strike against Lunga. [&:]

[toraq]

Little things to report

Lae

A-20 attacked the airport. Runway is 90% damaged.

Buna

Visited by B-26, attacking port facilities. I guess he wants to reduce my supply points. The good thing is that I can supply it with fast transports, with almost no risk.

Allied aircraft
B-26B Marauder x 40

no losses

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 47

Port hits 3
Port fuel hits 2
Port supply hits 1


Lunga

I sent the Tokio express today but I forgot to change the order to bomb the place so I failed to strike the base.

However I sent some Betties to say hello. No CAP present, so the bomb run was a clear success.

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 19
G3M Nell x 15
G4M1 Betty x 25

Allied aircraft

no losses

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 damaged
SBD Dauntless x 1 destroyed


Allied ground losses:
Men lost 124

Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 40

To my surprise he still doesn´t have any AA or CD units there. So I can send my bombers at 3000 feet without losing any of them. Soon Zeroes will fly sweep missions at 100 feet to strafe everything

Naval warfare

My CV are around Lunga to avoid any enemy attempt to reinforce the place by sea. I´m taking many risks here (due to subs mainly). But this won´t last forever.

An island invasion

It´s an experiment. I need a place close to Lunga and close to my main Airports to provide a place (beach) when my Tokio Express retires from Lunga. With this I avoid the slot (and thus, his subs). I may use this tactic sometimes

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 249 troops, 3 guns, 0 vehicles

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles

Japanese assault odds: 10 to 1 (fort level 0)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Bolitei base !!!

Points

I´m losing some points. The reason is that he can build bases more quickly than I can. I have to check this up.

[toraq]

Operational MAP

[toraq]

Lunga

I bombed again, scoring many hits in the Airbase facilities. After that, my naval bombers did their job quite well, bombing everything that moved down there.
My escort figthers were unable to intercept the enemy CAP and one Val was shot down.

My air offensive against Lunga is going quite well. Not so well under a naval point of view, as you may see now

Submarine warfare

Almost a heart attack. Two submarine attacks to the Tokio express. One on a BB, the other on a CA. No hits scored, but this turns the Tokio express a very dangerous thing. He got the entire SS fleet there, but he is diverting the attention of Buna and NG. My ships go there, again and again with no opposition.

Two ASW patrols activated. One with PC (for short range) one with DD to hit subs near Lunga without being attacked by SDB. More DD will be put on ASW in a week or so, when my reinforce effort in NG come to an end.

NG

Lae´s airport still damaged. Oscar´s morale below 50. I think I´m going to put them in Vella Lavella, close to Lunga to get easy victories to increase the morale.
One SNLF in its way to Salamaua from Kavieng
One SNLF will reinforce Lunga from Rabaul
4th NG complete (100 assault points) in Buna + one AA unit
I put some bombers in night naval attack. I´ve never tried. Let´s see if they can only launch an strike.

Air warfare
Still no B-17 presence. This a surprise to say the least. I don´t want to be confident, so I rotate my datais almost everyday using the available airports of the Solomons Island

[toraq]

Tokio express
Again I made a mistake and a TF was sent to Lunga in surface combat and patrol orders. It could have been disastrous, but Lunga is so severly damaged that could not send some planes out.
[:'(]
Anyway, I have to be more careful.

Lunga
Today it was visited by my betties as it´s going to be tomorrow. No opposition was found and my Zeroes strafed and killed some men.

Buna
More than 60 bombers there. My CAP was able to shoot down 1. Poor results but he will surely send more escorts in the future. Buna supplies going down.

Reinforces
Tomorrow I get new ships. DD will be sent to escort AP or to ASW TF. CL will be used as FT to NG. They are maravellous doing this.

[toraq]

Lunga

My surface combat TF ("the mistake") arrived at Rabaul safe. Now all my battleships have been replenished and got fuel and ammunition to visit Henderson Field.
Everything goes fine, faster than expected, mostly due to enemy inactivity.

Submarine warfare

I think most submarines are trying to intercept my carriers. No more sub spotting along the slots. Now they´ve moved inside the Coral Sea.
My ASW patrols are failing to detect subs. so I send them to where naval search planes spotted subs last turn.

Carriers

I sent them in a hit and run mission in an area between Lunga and Luganville. No enemy ships spotted

Air activity

My planes bombed Lunga but my escort fighters again failed to intercept. Why?. They hit hard the place but Henderson Field is now operative.
No more enemy activity. It seems that my enemy is waiting. Probably they will show their faces (better to sasy this in spanish, "jeta") when I send my invasion to GG or Lunga.

[toraq]

Yesterday, South Pacific area

Sorry for not writting yesterday (if anyone is reading). However nothing happened. I kept my pressure against Lunga one more day: a Tokio Express visit that ended with the Chikuma? torpedoed (although little damage was done, 13,13,0) and some Nells dropping bombs. Again his CAP intercepted my bombers without engaging my escort figthers.

Rabaul´s was heavily bombed by B-17. At last they showed their teeth.
I launched a night mission against PM with poor results

TODAY´S REPORT

Tokio express
One more run with the same ships that raided tha airfield yesterday. But this time his retirement path was different. Set the Home Base Buna and they skip the subs in the slots. However they were spotted and attacked by beauforts from GG. No hits and 2 of them lost. And I guess morale´s squadron depleted.

Naval bombardment of Lunga, at 38,40

Allied ground losses:
Men lost 119

Airbase hits 6
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 110
Port fuel hits 1

Air warfare
No more air activity. My bombers are resting and my fighters are also resting or doing CAP missions.
Incredibly his B-17 didn´t fly again. [:'(] Good, very good!

Rabaul
I guess he doesn´t know but his attack to Rabaul was so devastating that the airfield is closed. Runway damage was 81 and air service 30 or so. I got few engineers in Rabaul (60) so the bombers and fighters there are still trapped. I need them!
This is the main drawback of deploying engineers in every airport. They are so few that it takes several days to open the runway again.
I´ll try to solve it moving some engineers from Buna. I got 180, and they finally managed to build up another fort level. I´ll send some Emilys to fly them to Rabaul.

Lunga
Everything is almost ready for the big moment. In the next post I will write the details of operation Kentoku.

[toraq]

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 10/16/42

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Submarine warfare
Another TK torpedoed. When they´re hit they burn like matches. I think this one will survive but not sure.
Some escorts found a sub (don´t know exactly where) but they failed to launch depth charges.
My ASW patrols found nothing![:@]. I need to clear the slot for the invasion of Lunga!!![:(]
The good news: the CA torpedoed two days ago is almost repaired!!!. Only 13 sys damaged. Flotability reduced to 4.

I realized that there is one ship in Tulagi´s port. I guess it is the SS previously hit, some turns ago.

Air warfare
B-17 over Rabaul. Rabaul destroyed from corner to corner. Some aircraft written off on the ground. Runway and Service damage are 91 and 56 [X(].
Morale among my bombers is still quite high (except the Nells heavily damaged during this day).
Enemy lost 3 B-17 and 1 B-24.

Air attack on Rabaul , at 21,28

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 15 ****They fight with enthusiasm but with poor results****

Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 78
B-24D Liberator x 10

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed ***by a B-24***
A6M3 Zero x 5 damaged
G3M Nell x 4 destroyed
G3M Nell x 9 damaged
G4M1 Betty x 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress x 1 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 129
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 114
Port hits 3

Lunga invasion
Preparing a map for this...

[toraq]

I forgot to tell you. A IJN ML was attacked when mining a place near GG. He fired with everything and shot down 1 Beaufort. A medal is underway!!!
This is why I like UV more than WitP. I enjoy this little battles, and watch them without skipping. In WitP only big battles are looked with interest. Small battles are mostly skipped. Combat replays are too long

Allied aircraft
Beaufort x 7
Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort x 1 destroyed
Beaufort x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
ML Hirashima

But finally was caught by those devastating torpedoes!. I think he will survive.

Allied aircraft
Beaufort x 3
Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort x 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
ML Hirashima, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

[Fux]

I really enjoy reading the AARs from you and your opponent Mr. "Viking" Timtom [;)]. I especially like those maps!

Exzellent read and a lot to learn from you!

Suerte para la invasión de Lunga!

Fux

[toraq]

Operation KENTOKU
IJN forces committed for Lunga invasion

Carrier Force 1: commander Fujita

CV Zuikaku, Junyo
CVL Zuiho
Escorts: BB Yamato, 2 CA, 5 DD
A/C: 64 Zeroes, 44 Vals, 40 Kates

Carrier force 2: commander Joshima
CV Shokaku, CV Hiyo
Escorts: Mutsu, 1 CA, 5 DD
A/C: 46 Zeroes, 44 Vals, 27 Kates
Mission: provide CAP to invasion TF. Prevent any enemy attempt to attack invasion TF with air or carrier forces

Invasion TF
Invasion group 1
10 AP, 5 DD, 1 MSW, 1 PG
Troops carried: 16th and 29th Rgt (2nd Division), 2nd division HQ, 9th Ind AT.

Invasion group 2
11 AP, 3 DD, 1 MSW
Troops carried : 228th and 229th Rgt (38th Division), 38th Division HQ, 4th FA Rgt

Troops ready to be transported by FT missions
230 Rgt
Plus elements of the 38th ARM, 1 Recon Btll., elements of 29th Rgt. which refiused to load into the transports!!
Mission: support landings in Lunga, avoiding enemy counterattack while disembarking

Assaul troops in Tassafaronga

3 INF regiments (35 brigade and 2nd Division) reduced to the streght of 1 Rgt.
3 ART Rgt. (elements)
Mission: support landings in Lunga, avoiding enemy counterattack while disembarking

SURFACE TF

TF Gold: commander Komatsu
BB Nagato and Musasi (plus probably Yamato) 2 CA, 1 CL, 5 DD
Mission: defend invasion TF from enemy surface units

TOKIO EXPRESS

TF Tanaka: Commander Tanaka
5 CA, 5 DD
Mission: Fast reaction TF, and Tokio Express TF

TF Kongo: Commander Nishimura
BB Kongo, BB Hiei 3 CA, 5 DD

TF Kirishima COmmander Matsuyama
BB Kirishima BB Haruna, 3 DD

Mission: hit and run Henderson Field, avoiding further use of the airport

ASW PATROLS

TF Bear: 15 PCs, DD and PG
TF Wolf: 16 APDs. DD and PC

Mission: search and destroy enemy subs in the slots

FALSE CARRIER FORCE

1 CVE, 2 CS, 5 DD
A/C: none only float planes
Mission: confuse enemy spotting, so he think some CV are North of Lunga. Attract enemy subs.

AIR SUPPORT

In Vella Lavella: f2/ 1st Datai, 24 Sentai
Number of planes: 26 Oscar, 24 Zero
Mission: LCAP invasion TF

Shortlands: f2/Tainan Datai and F1/Tainan Datai
Numbers: around 40 Zeroes
Mission: LCAP invasion TF

Buin: 2 Datais of Betties, 1 of Nell. F1/6th Datai
Numbers: 53 bombers and 20 Zeroes
Mission: attack Henderson Field facilities

Buka: f1/ Tainan Datai and F1/253 Datai
Numbers: 42 Zeroes
Mission: Tactical reserve

SUBMARINES

6 SS
Mission: cut enemy supply lines to Lunga

Ufff the entire IJN fleet is committed for this mission. Exceptions: planes trapped in Rabaul and some DD in FT mission.
I didn´t mention the ML which are mining hexes in Lunga and TK and so. As I said, every ship is supporting thius operation.

[toraq]

THE MAP with the position of every ship

[toraq]

Sorry that was NOT the MAP!!!!!!!!!!![:@]
THIS is the MAP

[toraq]

Thx Fux. I really appreciate your words. I´m spending a lot of time doing maps but I think the moment deserves it.

OPERATION ORDERS

Destroy enemy air capacity
Carrier divisions will escort the two invasion TFs for one turn. Then they will launch a massive strike against Henderson Field using Vals and Kates.
After that they´ll move to a place southeast of Lunga, just to threaten any enemy movement to hit the invasion group.
I don´t want a carrier battle because I can lose more VP that I can get. (Damaged carriers are very weak to sub attacks). My primary mission is to invade Lunga and avoid future reinforcement efforts.

Protect the ships
TF Gold is a very strong surface combat TF which is ideal to protect the invasion ships against any enemy attempt to sink the AP. Intelligence says that there is no CD presence at Lunga [:)]

Tokio express
The other TF will hit Lunga continuously, doing runs every turn, using the clockwise route.
If some enemy ships are spotted, they will help to destroy them.

Spot enemy presence
One AV will be sent as an alarm ship. Its mission will be to spot enemy ships approaching to Lunga area from Noumea or Luganville.

Air cover
Once the invasion group reaches Lunga, land based Zeroes will provide LCAP. This is when the invasion group is weaker. That´s why I send my carriers to avoid massive air missions (especially from his SBD)

ENEMY ATTEMPTS TO AVOID OPERATION KENTOKU

1) Carrier strike: enemy power is maybe two CV. Fortunately CVE don´t come until late
42. (if my memory is right). 2 CV are not enough to beat my CVs, but who knows?. Anyway, IJN CV mission is to scare away enemy CV not to engage them!

2) Surface TF to Lunga: 3 BB including the best IJN ships should be enough also. And IJN carriers are around

3) Massive air strikes from Henderson. That´s why my Tokio Express is going to hit Lunga everyday (if possible).

4) Massive B-17 air strikes: I´m sure he will use them in Lunga battle. If he put them in naval attack I don´t know what could happen.
Anyway he was attacking Rabaul two days ago. That means two or three days needed to deploy them within Lunga range.

5) Submarine attacks: His powerful resource. My ASW didn´t hit any in the last week or so. But I have to keep going. No other choice I guess