Iron Storm (Scenario 50): Playtest

[51st Highland Div]

Nice to see the Allies strike back in this one...as opposed to turning tail and running as best they can.[:D] Will definetely have to try out this scenario...
By the way the pictures add a lot to the AAR..so well done its appreciated [;)]

[Speedysteve]

LOL Captain Cruft. Reading station certainly is a hub! Not a very attractive one mind you.

Nice photos guys. Are you just searching and downloading these off the web?

[Captain Cruft]

The pictures are cool aren't they Nothing to do with me though I hasten to add.

The Royal Navy fast carrier task force (comprising Ark Royal, Illustrious, Formidable & Furious) had been sitting just to the west of Singkawang for three turns prior to this attack. The hex was carefully chosen to be out of range of Nell torpedo bombers from Saigon whilst remaining within Hurricane range of Kuching. Amazingly they had not been spotted at all before now ... I was hoping to catch some bigger fish with them but loads of empty transports, a PC and a MSW will do nicely anyway

--
To the north Japanese ships have finally been spotted heading west across the Gulf of Siam. I must now think carefully as to how to deal with the expected landings.

--
One more thing happened today: CS Mizuho sank, one hex away from sanctuary at Takao. She had received three 500lbers from B-17s right at the start whilst supporting the landings at Legaspi. That is a nice catch for the heavy boys

[Captain Cruft]

NEWSFLASH

The Japanese 18th Division is landing at Kota Bharu! A truly vast landing fleet is accompanied by at least 4 battleships (Kongo, Haruna & Ibana have been positively identified) and numerous cruisers.

Time for the Royal Navy to Engage the Enemy More Closely!

[Terminus]

Brilliant AAR, lads! [&o]

[Alikchi2]

Thanks Terminus! [:D] The next few days will be hectic!

51st Highland Div: Thanks again - and I hope you give it a shot!

Speedy: I'm mostly using Google Image Search, although the new Japanese ship "photos" have been edited by alt_naval (link here). And thanks for the comment! [:)]

On with the war!

12/15/41

[center]

He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all.

Montrose

[/center]

Early this morning, Japanese troopships, screened by innumberable escort vessels, arrived off the coast of Malaya near Kota Bharu with little incident. The only delay was caused by Daifuku Maru being torpedoed by the British submarine Tribune.

The leading convoy, carrying the redoubtable 18th Division, was preceded by a heavy bombardment from the 14 inch guns of Ise, Hyuga, Haruna and Kongo. Harima and Inaba held back, conserving their ammunition for the protection of the transports, should the Royal Navy sally forth and escape land- and carrier-based air.

[center]
What remains of a pillbox manned by Indian troops: the result of a working-over by Haruna.[/center]

Luckily, we achieved almost complete surprise. 18th Division landed with few casualties, and no aerial attacks were made upon the approaching transports. We believe that bad weather - and a bit of luck - worked in our favor this day. The 18th is still outnumbered by its opponents on the beachhead, but it has secured a considerable lodgement and a "safe zone" for future reinforcements.

[center]
Although British and Commonwealth response has been sporadic so far, the enemy is not without skill. A coordinated mortar bombardment of the beachhead inflicted several dozen casualties.[/center]

Tomorrow we hope to have landed sufficient troops to secure our lodgement on the peninsula. General Yamashita is certainly ecstatic that his troops have so far been protected by the Navy and the weather from sea and air attack - although how long this cover can be provided remains to be seen. More importantly we are not certain how the British will respond. If they move quickly, the beachhead could be contained - perhaps even crushed. We must flood the beachead with our own troops before the enemy can utilize his numbers advantage!

[center]
Opposing commanders: General Tomoyuki Yamashita (25th Army) and General William Slim (Malaya Army).[/center]

Will our Zeroes and battleships be able to defeat the inevitable sea-air counterattack by the enemy? If their air and sea power can be neutralized, then it only becomes a matter of time before Singapore is ours. If not, then contingency plans will have to be activated.

Farther south, the British humiliated us one last time at Kuching. The Exeter attack group bounced back to the harbor, sinking I-123 along the way, and bombarded our grounded and heavily damaged transports. Several more hits were scored - not enough to sink any ship outright, but nonetheless an embarrasment.

Strong IJNAAF assets have been transferred to Kuching, however, and we expect future attacks of this nature to meet with failure.

[center]
Zeroes over Borneo.[/center]

Also in Borneo, fighting broke out at Brunei, as our troops stormed ashore there. The Dutch have put up a fight so far, retreating from defensive position to defensive position, but we expect them to fold tomorrow. Isolated garrisons have no hope of lasting against the sustained might of the Empire of Japan!

Elsewhere in the Pacific, all was surprisingly quiet - even at Wake. All eyes are on Malaya. What will General Slim, Air Chief Marshal Park and Admiral Cunningham do?

[Captain Cruft]

It's the Brits at Brunei not the Dutch I am hopeful they may hold out for a bit longer (it is only the non-elite 12th NLF which has landed).

[51st Highland Div]

Yep ive already installed a 2nd copy of Witp and downloaded all the files.Had a good look around and liked what i saw.. I will have a play around and think about looking for an PBEM opponent.[:D]

[Captain Cruft]

Nice one

Make sure you have the correct pwhex.dat installed - press '1' and F6 while in the game and check that the real terrain and hexsides match up with the map.

[Alikchi2]

It's the Brits at Brunei not the Dutch I am hopeful they may hold out for a bit longer (it is only the non-elite 12th NLF which has landed).

All Japanese soldiers are elite! And psh - British, Dutch, they're all the same to Imperial Headquarters! [:'(]

Yep ive already installed a 2nd copy of Witp and downloaded all the files.Had a good look around and liked what i saw.. I will have a play around and think about looking for an PBEM opponent.

Awesome! I'd love to hear how your game goes if you give it a shot - I've created this mess and even I don't know how the war will go with the expanded British and Japanese. [:D]

If you can't find a PBEM opponent, I may be up for it - this is only a playtest, after all...

One small thing (that I probably should have mentioned in the readme) - CobraAus' ship icons are very cool and well done, but his style tends to clash with the default icons. One thing you can do is download his CHS icons package and then install the Iron Storm art over it.

On a game note, no turn today - I'm typing this from my laptop. Ran into some trouble installing my new processor! But tomorrow we should be back on our regular schedule of crushing the impudent Westerners. Hakko ichiu! [:'(]

[Alikchi2]

I hate to say it, but yesterday's optimism was unwarranted. The invasion of Malaya is a complete DISASTER.

12/16/41

The day started out fairly well, with troops of the 34th Division now joining the 18th unloading on the beach at Kota Bharu. No attacks on the convoys (other than the attack by HMS Tribune had yet been attempted and Yamashita was fairly pleased, with the coastal defences weak and his troops landing mostly unmolested.

The situation was about to dramatically reverse.

The first sign of trouble was a sighting report by I-155, patrolling off the coast of Malaya near Kuantan. I-155 reported "at least 4 destroyers, 2 cruisers and 2 battleships of the Queen Elizabeth type" heading northwards and maneuvered for an attack. Her transmission was sharply cut off as she was pummeled into the sea floor by depth charges.

Then our Mavises and Kates found the main force - a large British carrier task force advancing northwards roughly 120 miles east of Kuantan! Ark Royal was confirmed, along with Furious, Illustrious, Formidable, Indomitable, Prince of Wales and Repulse. Cunningham was throwing everything he had at us.

Unfortunately, the British had spotted us first. Admiral Yamaguchi, in overall command of the four light carriers providing cover to the landings - Junho, Unho, Taiho and Chuho divided into pairs - quickly reacted, pulling his carriers into Kate torpedo range, but the time lost in recalling CAP from beachhead cover and assembling a strike allowed the British carriers' first strike to arrive even as our attack force had just left the decks.

[center]
The British carrier Illustrious begins to launch her Swordfish. Photo taken from Furious. At this time, Yamaguchi was scrambling to reverse his aircraft from defensive to offensive operations.[/center]

Our defense was composed of a paltry 12 Zeroes, the rest either traveling south with the Kates or still flying at high speed towards the carriers from the airspace over Kota Bharu. They did not arrive in time. The British airstrike was composed of 27 Swordfish, 57 Albacores, 37 Sea Hurricanes, and 16 Spitfires launched from Kuantan itself. They sliced through our CAP (with mild losses to the Sea Hurricanes) and found Junho and Unho paired below, manuevering frantically.

The flak barrage thrown up was enormous but it was simply not enough. Junho and Unho "weaved" their way through several torpedo paths, owing to the CVLs' maneuverability, but 6 torpedoes struck Junho in the first 20 minutes. The first killed her rudder, the next 3 opened deep gashes in her hull and the final 2 sealed her fate. Massive flooding and fire damage forced Yamaguchi to abandon ship. CL Amagi picked up most of the survivors.

[center]
The fatal strike.[/center]

Unho fared little better. Although only four torpedoes exploded, rather than 6, it was more than enough to break the fragile CVL's back. The British 18" Type XV torpedo is a potent weapon. The ship almost immediately developed a massive list.

As the Stringbags, Albacores and Sea Hurricanes turned back towards their carriers after expending all their ordinance, 66 Kates, escorted by 48 Zeroes, arrived at the reported location of the British carrier task force only to be greeted by an absolutely massive flak barrage as seemingly every Pom-Pom in the Royal Navy opened fire at once.

[center]
A Kate from Unho has its wing completely torn off by a direct hit by a 4.5" AA gun on Ark Royal.[/center]

The Sea Hurricanes, which had previously been despised from our pilots as "lash-ups", displayed their superb abilities as fleet defence fighters today. Hovering over the fleet at 10,000 feet, they swept down upon our surprised Zeroes and sliced through the formation, downing many. Although our pilots eventually gained the upper hand, clearing a path for our Kates, our force had been seriously disrupted and came in piecemeal, easy meat for the British anti-aircraft gunners. One torpedo each was delivered to Illustrious, Formidable, and Furious. All seemed unaffected except Illustrious, which emitted a great gout of flame when struck and nearly heaved out of the British formation. We can only hope she is seriously wounded.

[center]
That torpedo must have hit something juicy![/center]

However, we had not done anywhere near enough damage as the British had to our (admittedly lightly protected) carriers and all of their flight decks were still open. While Yamaguchi committed ritual suicide in his rubber dinghy, Admiral Jiratsu frantically recalled the survivors to Taiho and Chuho. But their fate was to be the same as that of Junho and Unho. Cunningham's Sunderlands spotted the pair retreating east towards Saigon and another strike was assembled and set out for the remaining two Japanese CVLs. They arrived overhead at around 5 PM.

[center]

Zeroes are frantically prepared for take-off from Chuho as Ark Royal launches her remaining Swordfish.[/center]

Again, CAP and flak too little and not effective enough. Again we were caught flatfooted, with only 14 Zeroes in the air. The Swordfish and Albacores skimmed the waves, dropping their torpedoes at close range, while the Sea Hurricanes braved heavy 25mm flak to strafe our decks, destroying several Zeroes in the process of taking off and causing heavy casualties. Chuho was sunk almost immediately as half a dozen torpedoes from the first wave hit her dead-on - the stress broke her in two and she collapsed inward on herself, a Zero managing to fly off her deck just before the angle became too much. Taiho faced a slow, lingering death. Hit by 3 torpedoes on the port side, the ship just barely managed to stay afloat (thanks to the strenuous efforts of her damage control crews) and began to laboriously turn north, when a stray Albacore managed a ucky hit on the starboard bow. As took on more water, her screws continued to turn, slowly driving the ship forwards and downwards as her surviving crew made for the lifeboats. A massive explosion caused by a generator mistakenly left on sent the ship quickly to the bottom.

[center]
The second British strike.[/center]

By 7:45 PM, all remaining British aircraft had returned to their carriers. Four Japanese light carriers had been sunk or were in the process of sinking and the invasion convoy was now devoid of appreciable aircover. Despite Yamashita's protests, there was no choice - the IJN immediately scattered most of its remaining ships. The convoy carrying the 3rd Division, which had only recently arrived at the beachhead, turned about and headed back towards Indochina. The carrier escorts moved north as well, while the remaining troops of the 18th and 34th divisions would not have a chance to land. Their comrades, although well-supplied, were cut off from reinforcement and support.

[center]
Japanese troops ashore at Kota Bharu at the time of the disaster. They are the only Japanese on a hostile peninsula.[/center]

All in all, today has been a complete fiasco for Japan. Our losses are irreplacable. We can only hope that our troops at Kota Bharu hold out, that perhaps we can master the RAF by projecting power from Indochina, and that Nagumo may defeat Cunningham.

Our problems, with the current forces alotted, are insoluble.

Losses

[center][/center]

[Captain Cruft]

Nice writing!

It has been a great victory for the Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm - I could not have hoped for a better result. British flak was decisive, the escorts for the CVs were specifically chosen for their AA ratings (and speed > 25 knots).

One thing which did not help the Japanese here was the knackered Nells and Zeros of the 22nd Air Flotilla. They are now split between Saigon and Kuching. The Saigon crew did have a go at my fleets, putting a torpedo into HMS Valiant at Kuantan (which she shrugged off) but in the afternoon attack on the carriers all planes were driven off due to low morale. Meanwhile the Kuching portion got distracted and wasted themselves sinking a TK loading up with oil at Palembang and putting another torpedo into HMS Glasgow, sitting outside Singapore.

Illustrious is indeed looking a bit poorly and will return to Singapore. Otherwise the fleet is completely intact. I am almost tempted to pursue the enemy back to Saigon and finish 'em off. However, intel has no idea where the main KB is so that might not be a good idea ...

Now I must ponder just exactly how to eliminate the beach-head without exposing myself elsewhere.

[Terminus]

Damn! [X(] Japs fall down go boom...

[Capt. Harlock]

Nice writing!

I second the sentiment! Great writing and a remarkable use of graphics! (The Matrix server must be going nuts, but hard drives are cheap these days...) A pity you didn't have a surface battle as well.

[Alikchi2]

Thanks Cruft and Harlock! It was certainly fun to write it all out. My posts are gradually getting longer and longer, so expect a novel by page 3. [;)]

On a serious note, sorry about the delay in this update, everyone. I've been busy, and these are fun, but they take a while to write!

Oh, and about surface engagements? Your wish has been granted, to a point. [:D]

12/17/41

After yesterdays loss the Japanese fleet off Malaya - 6 battleships, innumerable supporting destroyers and cruisers, and dozens of transports - abruptly turned about and headed north towards Bangkok and southern Indochina.

Except for Admiral Kurita's BatDiv 1. It was decided that our newest battleships, Harima and Inaba would strike south with their battlegroup towards the reported location of the "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships yesterday, hoping to perhaps bag them and, more importantly, draw Cunningham's attention away from our vulnerable transports and other ships.

[center]
BB Harima, symbol of Admiral Shimizu's (architect of the IJN since 1930) victory over the "Black Shoe Fraternity" of the IJN. These two ships, using 8 of the 14" turrets from the Ise and Fuso class rebuilds, are 30% the cost of a Yamato.[/center]

Proceeding south at full speed during the night, Admiral Kurita arrived off the Malayan coast near Kuantan at roughly 2:30 AM. Luckily for Kurita, Barham and her escorts -
Valiant had headed back for Singapore due to torpedo damage - had actually already passed him, heading northwards, during the night. Barham was to deliver a damaging bombardment to the Kota Bharu beachhead, destroying much of the supplies that the Japanese had managed to reload and driving home the fact of Japanese isolation. In any case, though, Kurita soon found easy pickings in the form of a British tanker and supply convoy. Three tankers - Longwood, British Judge and Hermes - were promptly sunk under a fusillade of gunfire.

As the last tanker slipped beneath the waves, several other, faster ships were spotted in the distance - a small group of destroyers and a destroyer-minelayer. They immediately turned to attack. Kurita - a student of the Jutland battle and very respectful of the RN light forces - immediately shielded his battleships with his cruisers and destroyers.

[center]
HMS Kipling participates in the Battle of Paxoi off Albania in 1940.[/center]

DM Stronghold was the first to arrive and the first to be sunk - 5" fire from CL Suzuka detonated among the mines and the ship went up in a gargantuan explosion, exposing the 4 British destroyers (Nizam, Harvester, Jersey and Kipling tearing through the water towards them. The six Japanese destroyers, Takao and Suzuka
(Atago being out of position) immediately launched their Long Lances. Jersey was hammered by high-velocity 3.9" DP gunfire from destroyer Kiyokaze even as a torpedo from the same vessel smashed into her amidships. She sunk quickly. Harvester suffered a similar fate, with only a few assorted shells hitting her before a torpedo hit her head on - the ship did not sink as quickly as Jersey and many of the crew were able to make it to the coast.

Nizam, weaving through the spray of gunfire, managed to get in position to launch torpedoes against the Japanese force - unfortunately, all missed. In consequence, Inaba was able to bring "A" and "B" turrets to bear, and the ship was smothered in 14" gunfire. Chunks of her superstructure were found nearly 20 miles inland. Of all the RN destroyers, Kipling inflicted the most damage, scoring several damaging hits on CL Suzuka, before she too was gunned down and torpedoed under the water.

Admiral Kurita, considering his mission a success and not wishing to expose himself to daylight air attack, turned about for Bangkok. Once again, Barham and company were missed.

[center]
HMS Barham pre-war. Although receving the least extensive refit of her class, she still mounted powerful 15" guns and heavy armour. Kurita had had doubts all along about exposing his two modern Harima class battleships, designed as fast raiders, to the ponderous but deadly guns of Barham and Valiant.[/center]

As the naval forces diverged and morning broke, the air war resumed. IJAAF and IJNAF attacks had been hurriedly scheduled for early morning hours, in order to support the now-abandoned beachhead. 39 Lilies, escorted by 8 Oscars, arrived first - they were met by 3 Spitfires, which were outflown by the Oscars but proved highly resistant to their light machine guns. However 20 hits were made. The next raid, 51 "Liz" heavy bombers, did further damage, 46 hits - we hope to forestall the enemy building additional fortifications here.

[center]
Imperial General Headquarters would like it to be known that I really hate these things. Ignore the air filter! This picture was taken in Malaya. Malaya.[/center]

Unfortunately, the next air attack came from the British carriers, which had not disengaged as we had hoped. A strike of 31 Albacores and 15 Sea Hurricanes was launched at the retreating battleships Ise and Hyuga. (They were currently only 200 miles from sanctuary in Indochina and proceeding northeast at 29 knots.) 8 Albacores and 6 Hurricanes became seperated from the main force and stumbled upon the 34th Division's convoy - several torpedoes were delivered to Teikyo Maru and Ayatosan Maru, drowning many Japanese infantrymen - but the main force of 23 Albacores and 9 Sea Hurris found the force. A torpedo hit Hyuga, slowing the ship only slightly, but Cunningham had already launched his remaining Swordfish. 42 of them appeared over the battlefleet - which had no air cover - around noon.

Ise took three damaging torpedo hits, although it evaded many more, and soon lost speed. Hyuga received 4 18" torps and took on water at an astonishing rate. Although her crew fought valiantly to contain the flooding she floundered only 45 minutes later.

[center]
The final resting place of Hyuga.[/center]

As of this writing, Ise still remains afloat, although it is doubtful just how long she will last.

Other small torpedo strikes were launched by the British during the day, although the strike against Ise and Hyuga absorbed most of the effort. Two torpedoes were delivered to the already damaged cruiser Haguro and she sunk almost immediately - fortunately most of the crew had already been evacuated by, again, Ibuki. 4 Albacores showed remarkable skill and accuracy when, of 4 torpedoes dropped, two impacted the maneuverable Suzuka.

Luckily for us, not all the news was bad today. Japanese submarine I-165, patrolling in the area of Cunningham's operations, spotted his task force in the early evening recovering aircraft. Drawn to the area by the buzzing Swordfish, I-165 maneuvered within the protective destroyer screen and launched a spread at a "large battleship", later identified as HMS Repulse. Two torpedoes hit and large fires were observed - although we cannot be certain of the effect, we believe Repulse to be out of action for quite some time.

[center]
I-165.[/center]

This ends the naval engagements off Malaya for today. Hopefully tomorrow will grant us a respite. A quick count of our troops in Kota Bharu reveals 34,000 of ours versus an estimated 10,000 of theirs - perhaps we can overwhelm them before they reinforce?

In the Philippines, the enemy has been attacking us at Davao with his Fortresses - at the time we cannot respond, but no serious damage is being done. The same situation seems to apply for Vigan and Legaspi - although air facilities are still on the way, the enemy is making few hits. At Wake, we are actually outnumbered more than 2-1 by the defenders, while at Brunei we are making no headway against the British.

Hurry up, Nagumo.

[51st Highland Div]

Excellent writing guys..interesting to see what the Japanese will try now [:D]

[Terminus]

And nice to see the Royal Navy doing the beating for a change, instead of bending over and taking it...[:D]

[51st Highland Div]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

And nice to see the Royal Navy doing the beating for a change, instead of bending over and taking it...[:D]

[:D] Hope that HMS Glasgow is still afloat after getting hit earlier......

[Speedysteve]

For King and country boys

[Captain Cruft]

HMS Glasgow is fine but will not be taking part in ops for a while.

I am faced with an unusual situation in this game which is that I must actually send new supplies to Malaya. Java and India have little to spare but we will scrape something up. Also some oil to get the Singapore factories working again ...