Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apbarog(A) vs OPilot(J)

[CaptBeefheart]

I think cancelling the Truk op is a good move. Although as a bystander I love seeing titanic struggles, I think that one would have been pretty painful for you. Good luck rolling up the DEI.

Cheers,
CB

[apbarog]

21 Jul 43

A strong enemy force bombarded Great Nicobar. It's very close to Sabang. I'm doing recon of Sabang from there. But it's unimportant to my plans. It's just a focal point for the enemy.

Night Naval bombardment of Great Nicobar at 43,66 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
Catalina I: 4 damaged
Lysander II: 4 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Kumano
CA Suzuya
CA Mikuma
CA Mogami
CL Nagara
DD Shikinami
DD Uranami
DD Murakumo
DD Isonami
DD Shirakumo
DD Usugumo
DD Shinonome
DD Fubuki

Allied ground losses:
202 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 16 (3 destroyed, 13 disabled)
Vehicles lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled)

Airbase hits 17
Airbase supply hits 17
Runway hits 65
Port hits 52
Port supply hits 5

This task force ran over Sealion in the shallow water east of Medan, as the ships retired towards Singapore. 2 depth charges were reported to hit the sub, but damage is light considering, if that correct. The sub has moderate damage and will retire to Darwin.

Tojos swept Tavoy. Bombers came in with escorts. But Allied flak has been increased there, and 4 Sallys were shot down when flying at 6,000 feet. Many Sallys damaged.

In northern China, Oscars swept Chengtu, then Oscars with 20 Sallys bombed heavy industry. Chengtu is north of Chungking. I've had no fighters there, ever. 45 heavy industry was destroyed. I guess OPilot was looking around for some other strategic targets. I moved the recently formed X-men squadron to Chengtu. They have P-38Hs.

Capelin spots the damaged enemy carrier task force as it nears southern Japan. Capelin didn't actually see the carrier, but saw enough of the escorts for me to know that it was here. 2 torpedoes missed destroyer Hamakaze. OPilot could go around the eastern tip to go to Hiroshima, but there's a couple of deep water hexes to go through. Or he could go due north, through small Japanese island bases, with shallow water all the way to Nagasaki. Capelin will cover the first 2 hexes of shallow water and hope for some luck.

Mataram follow-up reinforcements will leave Derby with carrier escort. The shipping, including good APAs, will retire to Roti and Koepang to load for the Kendari area invasions.

[apbarog]

22 Jul 43

Two Allied convoys moving to Darwin ran into I-22 in the shallow waters near Wessel Islands. 2 torpedoes miss xAP Edwin M. Stanton, and the sub was hit by a depth charge. I-22 didn't get a shot at the second convoy, and was hit by another depth charge, and was reporting heavy damage.

I got aggressive with a 3 ship subchaser task force at Ponape. Long range Australian bombers, trained in ASW, have been spotting about 6 subs between Ponape and Truk, in 2 lines forming a barrier. The closest were 5 hexes from Ponape. I decided to take a chance and send the subchasers through the sub lines. The first engagement with a subchaser resulted in RO-67 getting a torpedo hit on SC-639, sinking her. Then 13 Bettys arrived and sank SC-644 with a torpedo. So, 2 out of 3 US subchasers sunk, and 2 enemy subs damaged but not in danger of sinking.

On the previously mentioned convoy route from Balikpapan to Babeldaob, Dutch sub KXVII fired 2 torpedoes at E-boat conversion W-15. No hits. W-16 hit the sub with 3 depth charges, forcing her to surface. The sub then fought it out with W-14, W-15 and W-16. W-16 was hit once and set on fire. W-15 was hit with 2 shells from the sub. But KXVII was finished off with many small caliber rounds. KXVII got 2 torpedo hits on an xAK on the third day of the war near Mersing, a hit on an xAK near Ponape in May '42, and another 9 days later near Ponape. In June '42, it hit an AO with 2 torpedoes near Ontong Java, sinking it. KXVII hit destroyer Fumizuki with a torpedo near Kusaie Island in November '42, and sank another AO with 2 torpedo hits near Donggala in May '43. The Dutch boat had an excellent showing.

Submarine Hoe had a dud torpedo hit on a YO in the same area west of Babeldaob today.

Between Truk and the Mariannas, Pompon fired 4 torpedoes at xAP Hakone Maru. 2 torpedoes hit but one was a dud. The task force also had an AK and an AS, with multiple E-boats escorting.

I did a 4 squadron sweep of Truk. First, 37 P-38Gs swept at 20,000 feet, finding 90 A6M5 Zeros. Then 22 P-38Hs at 25,000 feet, and then another 21 P-38Hs. Total air losses were 55 Zeros for the cost of 15 P-38Gs and 8 P-38Hs. Fair results, but not sustainable for the US. P-38Gs are out of production, and I get only 40 P-38Hs a month. The enemy could be producing 40 A6M5 Zeros a month, or 200 A6M5s a month. Whatever OPilot is choosing to spend his HI on. The limiting factor for the enemy is good pilots. I want to keep showing interest in Truk while moving my forces away. I am moving some Fletcher DDs to Ponape, where they'll be seen, and some transports will be there loading a couple of units.

The bad news over Truk was the loss of my two top scoring pilots in the war: Major F.L. Lawlor got his 19th kill over Truk before being shot down. Captain B.D. Wagner was lost, having 16 kills in the campaign. He had an experience level of 90. Another pilot lost had 13 kills. But the P-38 squadrons have elite pilots. There's 5 more pilots with 15 kills just in one squadron.

SigInt says that the 57th Division is loaded on an AMC and headed to Batavia. No doubt part of the anticipated reinforcement of Java. Had I been able to land 3 divisions at Banjoewangi instead of 1, I could have been approaching Soerabaja soon. I didn't anticipate such a weak defense. I'm tentatively advancing out of Banjoewangi with less than divisional forces. If the defense increases, I'll pull back into Banjoewangi and the nearby mountains. I'm still planning an end-around at Tjepoe, west of Soerabaja, later on.

Shipping for the upcoming Kendari area invasions have been assigned orders, and are sorting themselves out, mostly at Derby. Most of the troops will load at Roti and Kavieng, after the reinforcements land at Mataram. The carriers are escorting those reinforcements, and some APAs are being used there. With Kendari being fairly well defended, I'm going to use a division at Kolaka and then land another division for the push to Kendari. A third division will land to the west, at Watampane, to threaten Makassar.

[apbarog]

22 Jul 43 - Burma and Thailand

[apbarog]

22 Jul 43 - Northern China

[apbarog]

22 Jul 43 - Southern China

[apbarog]

22 Jul 43 - Marshalls and Truk

[apbarog]

22 Jul 43 - North of Australia

[apbarog]

22 Jul 43 - Solomons and New Guinea

[apbarog]

22 Jul 43 - Sumatra

[apbarog]

23 Jul 43

Little to talk about today. Dutch sub KXVIII was hit by a depth charge in the shallows near Donggala. It will return to Darwin. Lanchow was swept and bombed by the enemy, a regular occurrence. 28 Zeros swept Namlea and 51 Bettys bombed. The base is almost 100% damaged in all respects. No supply. A small amount filters in from my dot base on the island, which is supplied by subs. I have plans for a big push of supply into the area soon.

Light cruisers Honolulu and Phoenix ran into each other. They are in a carrier task force heading to Mataram. Honolulu will return to Darwin with a destroyer. Honolulu has 12 flotation damage. Phoenix has very minor damage and will continue the mission.

Banjoewangi built a size 1 airfield. More SigInt about an enemy infantry division on ships headed to Batavia. US subs are waiting nearby. Recon of Batavia will begin with planes flying from Banjoewangi.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

Light cruisers Honolulu and Phoenix ran into each other. They are in a carrier task force heading to Mataram. Honolulu will return to Darwin with a destroyer. Honolulu has 12 flotation damage. Phoenix has very minor damage and will continue the mission.

Always better to be the rammer than the rammee!

[apbarog]

24 Jul 43

Finback hit E-boat Iki out in the middle of the South China Sea, southeast of Cam Ranh Bay. Iki did the Iki shuffle and sank. Albacore hit small tanker Kanto Maru near Tawi Tawi with 2 torpedoes, sinking the empty tanker.

22 P-47s swept Soerabaja and found 40 Tojos. Total losses were 16 Tojos and 6 Thunderbolts. 5 of the Tojos lost were ops losses, possibly due to the still damaged airfield at Soerabaja.

3 heavy bomber squadrons bombed Ambon's airfield, doing moderate damage. No CAP.

The Japanese landed at Biak, an island off of the eastern side of northern New Guinea. It's been an Allied dot base the entire war. OPilot is attending to some of the dot bases now behind his lines.

Fighters from Chungking are ordered to Nanking and Kweilin in southern China. Maybe we'll guess right and catch some enemy planes. If not, it'll show that I'm still trying to. OPilot continues to use lots of sweeps and escorts, fighters that could be used elsewhere. I don't try these traps often, but often enough. They occasionally work and keep the enemy more careful than they'd be otherwise.

ARD Dewey has made it to Gove, but it got the message "Sustains damage while under tow" again! That's twice in a week! Considering that it moved from Manila to Pearl Harbor to Funafuti to Luganville with just minimal damage, it's surprising to get this random event again, so soon. Dewey is now SYS 14(+6)/FLOT 18(+11)/ENG 7(+2)/FIRE 0. I don't want to take any chances with the most famous ship in the US fleet. It'll stay at Gove and repair. Repairs will take 30 days.

[BBfanboy]

So can you put an ARD in another ARD to repair floatation damage?

[apbarog]

I don't know BBfanboy. Fortunately, Dewey has no major damage, so everything can be repaired without an ARD or shipyard.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I don't know BBfanboy. Fortunately, Dewey has no major damage, so everything can be repaired without an ARD or shipyard.

[&:]
Your report says it has 18(11) float damage.

[apbarog]

My post was confusing. I meant that the SYS went up +6 today, as did the FLOT +11, and ENG +2. All of it is minor damage.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

My post was confusing. I meant that the SYS went up +6 today, as did the FLOT +11, and ENG +2. All of it is minor damage.

OK - so the byword is "ARD, heal thyself!" [:)]

[apbarog]

25 Jul 43

Grouper hit PB Senyo Maru with a torpedo near Toboali, after Grampus missed the patrol boat closer to Batavia. The already smoking PB is headed towards Singapore, but it might not make it now.

29 Sallys bombed Namlea. The base is already completely wrecked, but a Spitfire was destroyed on the ground. There's a few damaged Spits stuck there now.

I guess right at Kweilin, but all that showed up was a big sweep of 42 Oscars. 12 P-43s and 16 Hurricanes intercepted. 6 Hurricanes were lost and 2 Oscars were downed. Not what I was hoping for. The Hurris are sent to nearby Nanking to augment other fighters there. The P-43s are sent back to the capital.

Catalinas did the first recon of Paramushiro Jima. That should get OPilot's interest up in the north. I'm obviously building the bases near Attu Island, and Adak is huge.

There could be enemy forces closing on Banjoewangi and Denpassar. Enemy destroyers are spotted near Soerabaja, and another task force is south of Balikpapan.

The Allied focus now is loading at Roti and Koepang for the invasion of the Celebes.

[apbarog]

26 Jul 43

Sub Capelin was patrolling the shallow water near Wenchow. It spotted a cargo convoy. 4 torpedoes were fired at xAK Hakkai Maru. One hit. The ship may have split off from the convoy, as Capelin attacked again. 2 more torpedoes were fired. One hit, sinking the ship, judging by audio.

Ground combat at Loemadjang (56,106)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 3925 troops, 67 guns, 41 vehicles, Assault Value = 183

Defending force 378 troops, 0 guns, 71 vehicles, Assault Value = 40

Allied adjusted assault: 52

Japanese adjusted defense: 28

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

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 0

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

Japanese ground losses:
Vehicles lost 18 (2 destroyed, 16 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
24 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Assaulting units:
762nd Tank Battalion
37th Infantry/B Division

Defending units:
4th Tank Regiment

The US 752nd Tank Battalion arrived in the hex but did not participate in the combat. It will today. The base will be captured if no enemy rails in. I know that enemy reinforcements have landed at Batavia. It's just a question of whether or not anything can get to Loemadjang in time.

Then we have to hold it, with minimal forces. Allied reinforcements have been landing at Bandjowangi, but most are support troops, not combat troops. The bigger plan is still to draw in the enemy and land on the north coast, west of Soerabaja, later.