PzB74
Posts: 5076
Joined: 10/3/2000 From: No(r)way Status: offline
|
Such things are good for morale Long time Fish, still in China? Will reduce altitude next time Admiral! The goal with my massive Betty strike was two fold: 1. To destroy enemy B-29s on the ground and hurt Andy's bomber offensive against the Home Island. It will take quite some time to repair and replace damaged and lost ac and regain morale. 2. Force Andy to place fighters on Wake Island. This will reduce the number of B-29s he can operate out of there. If I don't find CAP fighters there I wil send 300 Betties back Think I have some 400 Betties and 200 Frances, the latter has a max range of 15 - the Betties stretch to 20! Most of the crews have medium exp and I doubt they will be very effective against CAP'ed enemy TFs. Losses will be horrendous. 5 days ago I sent Emily's on recon mission over Wake and they didn't find any CAP fighters. Didn't dare to repeat the recon and give our plans away. Today we faced some deadly Black Widow nightfighters on CAP. Beats me why NFs were on daylight CAP. A bunch of them tried to bomb Tokyo from Marcus today. Pauk, Andy also wanted to ask me about releasing some 'splits' for airgroups. He was surprised that I only had 2. He 'gave' me one today, I asked to be granted half of the 'splits'. Andy has been playing weel lately, it's mostly the usual matters that concerns me. They kinda escalates together with the war. AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 04/28/45 Sub/ASW Attacks Dutifully I place a sub in the path of the convoy approaching Iwo..kablammo! Much more the hunted than the hunter. ASW attack at 64,53 Japanese Ships SS RO-50, hits 18, on fire, heavy damage *sinks* Allied Ships - looks like a supply run! AK Pierre Victory AK Luxemburg Victory AK Hastings Victory LCI LCI-796 LCI(G) LCI(G)-540 MSW Execute MSW Ardent MSW Dour MSW Diploma MSW Device MSW Design MSW Density MSW Devastator DE McNulty DE Leslie L. B. Knox DE George A. Johnson DE Doherty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another 'broomstick' attack! Sub attack at 66,44 Japanese Ships PC Amami PC PC-104 PC PC-83 Allied Ships SS Billfish, hits 7, on fire, heavy damage *sinks* ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the afternoon a huge enemy naval TF passes by the giant sub I-401 and gives her a trashing. She will survive, but has to limp home. ASW attack at 95,55 Japanese Ships SS I-401, hits 14, heavy damage Allied Ships DD Black DD Anthony DD Ammen DD Taussig DD Massey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Surface Combat Our picket destroyer was easily sunk by the enemy.... Night Time Surface Combat, near Iwo Jima at 63,53 Japanese Ships DD Keyaki, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk Allied Ships DD Charles Badger DD Tingey DE Vammen DE Rolf DE William Seiverling -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So was a transport that had just finished unloading: Night Time Surface Combat, near Iwo Jima at 63,53 Japanese Ships AP Ryusei Maru, Shell hits 14, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk Allied Ships DD Charles Badger DD Tingey DE Vammen DE Rolf DE William Seiverling -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ..as well as some barges Night Time Surface Combat, near Iwo Jima at 63,53 Japanese Ships AG AG-116, Shell hits 2, and is sunk AG AG-117 AG AG-5032 AG AG-5069 AG AG-5090, Shell hits 5, and is sunk AG AG-5117 AG AG-5138, Shell hits 3, and is sunk AG AG-5143 AG AG-5162, Shell hits 2, and is sunk AG AG-5188 AG AG-2088 AG AG-2529, Shell hits 37, and is sunk Allied Ships DD Charles Badger DD Tingey DE Vammen DE Rolf DE William Seiverling -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Air Combat Andy wanted to show me how futile night bombing is against the home islands today. We got a lot of night fighters over Tokyo, results are very meager to say the least. Today they had to tangle with Black Widows in a night bombing role. The P-61's shot down 3 while loosing one of their own. Night Air attack on Tokyo , at 66,43 Japanese aircraft J1N1-S Irving x 24 C6N1-S Myrt x 56 Ki-45 KAIc Nick x 14 Allied aircraft P-61A Black Widow x 37 Japanese aircraft losses C6N1-S Myrt: 3 destroyed, 1 damaged Allied aircraft losses P-61A Black Widow: 15 damaged Aircraft Attacking: 6 x P-61A Black Widow bombing at 2000 feet 6 x P-61A Black Widow bombing at 2000 feet 8 x P-61A Black Widow bombing at 2000 feet 5 x P-61A Black Widow bombing at 2000 feet 5 x P-61A Black Widow bombing at 2000 feet 7 x P-61A Black Widow bombing at 2000 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Air attack on Tokyo , at 66,43 Japanese aircraft J1N1-S Irving x 24 C6N1-S Myrt x 53 Ki-45 KAIc Nick x 14 Allied aircraft B-29 Superfortress x 40 Japanese aircraft losses J1N1-S Irving: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged C6N1-S Myrt: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged Ki-45 KAIc Nick: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged Allied aircraft losses B-29 Superfortress: 1 destroyed, 11 damaged hits 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Air attack on Hiroshima/Kure , at 60,41 Japanese aircraft J1N1-S Irving x 5 C6N1-S Myrt x 10 Allied aircraft B-29 Superfortress x 110 Japanese aircraft losses J1N1-S Irving: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged C6N1-S Myrt: 4 destroyed, 2 damaged Allied aircraft losses B-29 Superfortress: 8 damaged Daylight Air Combat This is the biggest airstrike I've ever managed to fly of a size 7 AF! Moved them in 5 days ago and rested them dispersed on all Mariana islands. Took two days before they launched. Was afraid that Andy either had CAP'ed Marcus or that the B-29s were away bombing Tokyo. Must be satisfied with the results! Day Air attack on Wake Island , at 82,63 Japanese aircraft G4M2 Betty x 284 Allied aircraft P-61A Black Widow x 8 Japanese aircraft losses G4M2 Betty: 12 destroyed, 25 damaged Allied aircraft losses P-61A Black Widow: 3 destroyed, 2 damaged B-29 Superfortress: 18 destroyed TBM Avenger: 2 destroyed Mosquito PR.IX: 1 destroyed Allied ground losses: <- this was encouraging! 1466 casualties reported Guns lost 7 Vehicles lost 17 Airbase hits 20 Airbase supply hits 8 Runway hits 99 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 destroyers that were patroling 5 hexes away from Iwo reacted and was bombed. Fortunately the enemy strike was small. Escort carriers are mostly equipped with an Uber CAP... Day Air attack on TF, near Iwo Jima at 63,53 Japanese aircraft Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 6 Allied aircraft FM-2 Wildcat x 18 F6F Hellcat x 5 F4U-1 Corsair x 18 F4U-1D Corsair x 10 TBM Avenger x 12 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 6 destroyed Allied aircraft losses TBM Avenger: 8 damaged Japanese Ships DD Odake DD Kaba DD Hatsuume -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KAMI ATTACKS! Day Air attack on TF, near Iwo Jima at 63,53 Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zeke x 24 Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 16 Allied aircraft FM-2 Wildcat x 30 F6F Hellcat x 7 F4U-1 Corsair x 14 F4U-1D Corsair x 14 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zeke: 24 destroyed Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 16 destroyed Allied aircraft losses FM-2 Wildcat: 1 damaged Allied Ships - Yeah! Another cve is toast! CVE Lunga Point CVE Shipley Bay, Kamikaze hits 3, on fire, heavy damage CVE Shamrock Bay -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I sent the Taiho on a raid 5 hexes from Iwo. Hoped the enemy cv's would react but they never even saw her coming. 200 Oscars were on LRCAP over the Taiho. She had 24 Zekes on 20% CAP. Again the escorts failed and instead of 20 escorts we got 4....of course ALL attacking ac were shot down. Conventional attacks is a waste of time and effort! Day Air attack on TF, near Iwo Jima at 63,53 Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zeke x 4 D4Y Judy x 22 B7A Grace x 33 Allied aircraft FM-2 Wildcat x 30 F6F Hellcat x 7 F4U-1 Corsair x 14 F4U-1D Corsair x 14 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zeke: 4 destroyed D4Y Judy: 21 destroyed B7A Grace: 33 destroyed Allied aircraft losses FM-2 Wildcat: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Second kamikaze attack targets the supply convoy! Day Air attack on TF, near Iwo Jima at 63,53 Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zeke x 27 Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 12 Allied aircraft FM-2 Wildcat x 29 F6F Hellcat x 7 F4U-1 Corsair x 14 F4U-1D Corsair x 14 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zeke: 27 destroyed Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 12 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4U-1D Corsair: 1 damaged Allied Ships AK Paducah Victory, Kamikaze hits 1, on fire DE Shelton, Kamikaze hits 1, on fire MSW Execute -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No Jap CAP over Bonin, would be suicide with Mustangs around! Day Air attack on Bonin , at 65,52 Allied aircraft P-51D Mustang x 24 No Allied losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Bonin , at 65,52 Allied aircraft P-51D Mustang x 24 No Allied losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEI I'm 'smuggling' a huge supply and resource convoy from India - Java - Borneo - PI. Placed a lot of LRCAP over the ships but the enemy T-bolts and Lightnings massacred them. Splitting up the convoy is the best defense. Day Air attack on TF at 27,54 Japanese aircraft Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 8 Ki-84-Ic Frank x 24 Ki-100 Tony x 10 Ki-102a Randy x 5 Allied aircraft SB2C Helldiver x 6 P-38J Lightning x 9 P-47D Thunderbolt x 10 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 1 destroyed Ki-84-Ic Frank: 6 destroyed Ki-100 Tony: 5 destroyed Ki-102a Randy: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged Allied aircraft losses SB2C Helldiver: 1 destroyed P-38J Lightning: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged Japanese Ships AK Uyo Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 27,54 Japanese aircraft Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 8 Ki-84-Ic Frank x 20 Ki-100 Tony x 7 Ki-102a Randy x 4 Allied aircraft SB2C Helldiver x 20 P-38J Lightning x 29 P-47D Thunderbolt x 30 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 5 destroyed Ki-84-Ic Frank: 21 destroyed Ki-100 Tony: 9 destroyed Ki-102a Randy: 5 destroyed Allied aircraft losses SB2C Helldiver: 1 damaged P-38J Lightning: 3 destroyed P-47D Thunderbolt: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged Japanese Ships AK Okitu Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire AK Nagato Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground Combat This was even more painful than I feared Leaving the enemy to whither on the whine. Our attack burned a lot of supplies and a large bunch of engineers are casualties. Ground combat at Iwo Jima Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 119428 troops, 1025 guns, 616 vehicles, Assault Value = 2247 Defending force 56764 troops, 491 guns, 142 vehicles, Assault Value = 1246 Japanese max assault: 2436 - adjusted assault: 2790 Allied max defense: 1060 - adjusted defense: 1945 Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 Japanese ground losses: 5611 casualties reported Guns lost 112 Vehicles lost 5 Allied ground losses: 568 casualties reported Guns lost 15 Vehicles lost 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Saigon Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 98091 troops, 641 guns, 94 vehicles, Assault Value = 2462 Defending force 49907 troops, 362 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 962 Japanese ground losses: 194 casualties reported -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Air Losses We lost a lot of ac today, mostly because of our CAP effort at Borneo and out strikes at the enemy at Iwo! The raid on Wake also cost us 27 Betties. I lost the screenie of the enemy positions around Wake and the huge armada's of ships moving from Midway towards Marcus. The strike group that ran over our I class sub was heading NNW almost due north of Midway. This was no supply convoy, but a massive invasion armada! It could be a re-newed offensive against the Bonins, or something else. Will continue to shadow the enemy. Now with 2 subs and 3 seaplane tenders. One of the latter ended up 2 hexes from a massive grouping of enemy convoys and fleets. Everything from BBs to LCMs reported.
Attachment (1)
_____________________________
"The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without" - Dwight D. Eisenhower
|