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A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO

 
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A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO - 6/23/2008 2:36:28 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		Drew Black told me "I love to play vs Ai... but i have lost patienece in the non-existance of it.."
This applies to me, too. So agreed to play a game as Japanese against him. It will be a quite slow game, though, because we both don't have that much time. I only played against AI yet. This is my first PBEM ever (not only in witp) - I'm not very experienced, you see.

I just played the 3rd turn, and now I'll try to do an AAR, too. Maybe sharing my experiences can help to improve the RHS-scenarios, too.

Our settings:
Scenario: RHS CVO 7.79.75 (I just finished my first turn when .90 came out - and didn't want to do it all over again)
1 day turns
historical first turn off
allied damage control on
advanced weather effects on
reinforcements fixed
PDU on
sub doctrine off for both sides
Surprise ON


Houserules
On turn 1, I was allowed to make new task forces and send them ca. 15 hexes, but not closer than 5 hexes to the next enemy base. The Allies were not allowed to form new task forces and to change orders of their air forces. I had only one port attack on turn 1.

It turned out tha Drew didn't give any orders at all on turn 1. I sent out some extra troop transports and some other task forces (mostly relocation of warships and auxiliary ships), but not very many. First I didn't want to overdo it, second I was a bit tired and wanted to see some action. There is so much to do for a Japanese turn 1...

Besides this, we use the rules from the RHS handbook - especially the "primary house rule" - "Don't do it, if the historical commander would not or could not do it."

Special rules resp. clarification of the primary rule we will use:
- Max 50-55 aircraft per airfield size. Overstacking allowed for transfer only.
- Max 450 ship based aircraft per hex.
- Max 50 aircraft per airfield size fly transport missions TO a base (planes full of paras don't count).
- Japan does no strategic bombing in China.
- No strategic bombing from carriers.
- No B-29 on naval attack. Min AF size 6 for B-29.
- No 4E-bombers except B17E on naval search, none on ASW
- Minimum altitude for naval search/ASW is 6000 feet for everything but floatplanes.
- Max 6 PT per hex, max 6 ships per ASW-TF (pairs count as 2 ships).
- No sub invasions
- No invasions or paradrops on non-base/non-dot hexes.
- cutting off units only with "real" combat units

We did not discuss this, but of course I will pay PP if I move units from Kwantung area to China, and I'm going to keep a reasonable amount of AAA, ART and ENG units there.

If you are Drew Black, you should stop reading here. The Allied Sigint is mighty enough, me thinks
Post #: 1
RE: A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO - 6/23/2008 4:15:42 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		Let's start with the first turn. One strange thing I noticed when making the turn: All Japanese pilots start the game at ca. 15 fatique. They did some excessive drill over the last days of peace, eh? The high fatique will limit my operations somewhat over the next days.


Ok, headline of the day is of course the attack against the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor.

Day Air attack on Pearl Harbor [Oahu] , at 114,72

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 41
D3A2 Val x 135
B5M/B5N Kate x 144

Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 1 Sweeps and escorts failed to take care of this bugger, so he shot down 2 Kates The pilot probably got the first medal of the war in the USA.

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 11 destroyed, 11 damaged
B5M/B5N Kate: 19 destroyed, 21 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 41 destroyed
B-18A/B-23/F-2 Bolo: 16 destroyed
... I forgot to take notes of how many AC were really destroyed (I don't have the game and internet on the same computer). I will post a summary over the first days soon.

Allied Ships
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage *sunk*
BB California, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 4, on fire
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AP St. Mihiel, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 1, on fire
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 1
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Schley, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Helena, Torpedo hits 1, on fire


Allied ground losses:
21 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Airbase hits 54
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 377 Very low ground losses and no port hits - strange

I am quite satisfied with the result - at least one BB sunk, many damaged. The Nevada is barely scratched, though.

90 Sallys attacked the arifield of Alor Star, 54 Lilys visited Khota Bahru, 278 bombers devastated Clark field. Here the escorts did very well and shot down all 18 CAP fighters. Small strikes against Rangoon, Hong Kong and Wake didn't achive very much.

Small airstrikes sink the AK Paney and damage a few other small ships - nothing exciting.

just before sending the turn I had a crazy idea: Don't set those Navy bombers at Saigon on airfield attack against Singapore, set it on naval attack, then airfield Singapore - maybe I find force Z or sometihing like that. I will never do that again, although I got away with it quite good. They didn't find any ships, and then they attacked Singapore in the afternoon - without escort, without surprise:

Day Air attack on Singapore [UK] , at 22,51

Japanese aircraft
G3M2 Nell x 62
G4M1 Betty x 20

Allied aircraft
Buffalo/F2A x 25

Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 2 destroyed, 9 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 3 destroyed, 11 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo/F2A: 11 destroyed, 3 damaged A2A losses were 6 Buffalos vs. 8 bombers - very lucky!
Vildebeest/Vincent: 6 destroyed
Blenheim IV/Bolngbrk: 2 destroyed
Swordfish I: 2 destroyed

That was really the best I could hope for. Drew was hit by the sync bug, and in his report I didn't get a bloody nose, I got a bloody face... I tested this attack a few more times, and it was always worse than this one here.

Allied bombers sent some payback:

Day Air attack on TF, near Laoag [Luzon] at 45,48

Allied aircraft
Vildebeest/Vincent x 3 from Hong Kong

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
DD Hatsukari, Bomb hits 1, on fire This caused heavy fires, damage something like 25/10/45, IIRC. Taan was nearby, so the ship survived.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF, near Legaspi/Sorosgon at 45,54
Japanese aircraft
F1M2 Pete-FF x 7

Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 2 Cagayan.

No Japanese losses

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
CS Chitose, Bomb hits 1 damage 30/0/2
Another B-17 raid from Cagayan hit the CL Nagara once, but didn't cause any damage.



Ok, so much about the air forces, let's look at the sailors.

First a sub scored a hit:

Sub attack at 22,54

Japanese Ships
SS I-156

Allied Ships
TK Ebonol, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

This sub has what it takes to become famous. I sent it a bit closer to Palembang to intercept more tankers. Then a quite annoying combat took place:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Wake Island [USA] at 85,72

Japanese Ships
CA Aoba
CA Kinugasa
CA Furutaka
CA Kako
DD Oboro
DD Uzuki
DD Kikuzuki
DD Yuzuki

Allied Ships
AP William Ward Burrows, Shell hits 35, and is sunk

An Allied AP sunk - fine. They don't have enough. But this was a bombardment TF ordered to ensure victory for our invasion troops. Because of the surface battle, the bombardement was too weak, and the shock attack failed:

TF 16 troops unloading over beach at Wake Island [USA], 85,72

85 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
AK Canton Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CL Yubari, Shell hits 2
CL Katori, Shell hits 3

Japanese ground losses:
237 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 2

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 1447 troops, 10 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 44

Defending force 1733 troops, 32 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 3

Japanese max assault: 88 - adjusted assault: 0

Allied max defense: 2 - adjusted defense: 8

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


Japanese ground losses:
328 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
23 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Other surface combat and bombardments sunk the PG Peterel (already heavily damaged by airstrikes) and damaged the AP Ariadne Moller, AK Anshun and MSW Lark & Whipporwill.

Japanese troops landed at Laoag, Legaspi, San Fernando, Aparri, Kota Bahru, Guam and Wake.
Paras landed at Sorong. This is the only base captured at turn 1 - an AVD and 3 patrol aircraft were scuttled. The paradrop didn't go in as planned, though. The transport flying boats refused to fly (probably because of high fatique - 15 from the pre-war drill plus ca. 20 from transfer), and so it became a "micro drop" (Attacking force 266 troops), which I should not do. Thus I continue to fly in the complete batallion.





I probably need some help with the Japanese economy:

- It seems RHS has almost infinte amounts of oil. Borneo alone can feed most of my HI. Should I expand HI very much?
- Which aircraft output should I try to have? I expanded a bit, but not very much until now. I dont have much experience not did I find AARs which show the typical need for the various aircraft classes.
- I need way too many merchant shipyard points. I produce some 1600 per turn, and witptracker says I needed 3000! Those barge groups are very expensive, and I can not halt them. Oilers and tankers are very expensive, too. Is all of this intentional? How should I manage the merchant production? Big expansion or halt almost everything?

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 2
RE: A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO - 6/24/2008 2:57:53 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/08/41

The headline of the day is provided by the sub I-156. As I wrote yesterday, I moved it a bit closer to Palembang to intercept more tankers. But no tanker were found, so the captain attacked something else:

Sub attack near Muntok [Banka] at 21,55

Japanese Ships
SS I-156, hits 7, on fire, heavy damage Will not make it back to Saigon unless a miracle happens.

Allied Ships
BB Prince of Wales, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage BANZAI!
DD Electra
DD Express

This is great. I don't think "Force Z" will attack my landings at Malaya any more. Maybe the ship sinks, but I didn't see British floatplanes destroyed on the ground, yet.

I guessed right, that Drew would not engage the KB with his carriers that early, so I sent it closer to PH and ordered a second attack against the base. Only one Val squadron was set to naval attack. The attack against the base went well, but not great:

Day Air attack on Pearl Harbor [Oahu] , at 114,72

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 55
D3A2 Val x 102
B5M/B5N Kate x 119

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 4
P-36A Mohawk x 6
P-40B Tomahawk x 13 This time, most of the CAP was shot down or turned away.

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 1 destroyed
D3A2 Val: 8 destroyed, 13 damaged
B5M/B5N Kate: 10 destroyed, 11 damaged


Allied Ships
DMS Wasmuth, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
PT -36/37/38, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CL Raleigh, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
AV Tangier, Bomb hits 1
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 2, heavy damage
DMS Lamberton, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Selfridge, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Minneapolis, Bomb hits 1

Only 2 BB in PH! Then those Vals on naval attack added to my surprise:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lahaina [Maui] at 115,73

Japanese aircraft
D3A2 Val x 23

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 5 destroyed, 2 damaged

Allied Ships
BB California, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage This one at sea? It ate 4 eels yesterday!
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage

In the PM phase, even a few Kates attacked. This was a nice surprise - none were set on naval attack. Probably an aggressive commander decided they should not rest after the port attack in the morning:

Day Air attack on TF, near Lahaina [Maui] at 115,73

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 50
D3A2 Val x 13
B5M/B5N Kate x 29

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 1

Japanese aircraft losses
B5M/B5N Kate: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage *sinks*
BB California, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Other airstrikes sink PG Wake, MSW Lark & Whipporwill, AP Ariadne Moller, AK Ravnaas and Hai Lee. Most of yesterday's airport attacks were repeated without any remarkable results. Allied planes did a few attacks, but scored not a single hit today. There were no B-17D at Cagayan any more - maybe Drew mistook my invasion TF for a bombardment one.

Surface ships and subs sink DD Pope, PT PpA # Q 111/112/113, AK La Florecita, Churruca and Governor Wright - all fleeing from PI or Hong Kong. There are still many ships in the port of Manila. I-164 hits the ML Soemenep with a torpedo east of Balikapan - one minefield less.

Landings start or continue in Khota Bahru, Aparri, San Fernando, Legaspi, Laoag and Guam.

My troops capture Legaspi, Laoag, Aparri, San Fernando and Guam in the first assault against no or weak defenses. Drew did not evacuate the port of Guam (in my game against the AI, I forgot that, too) - so an AO and a MSW were scuttled.

At Kota Bahru I was less successful, at least the only fort level was removed:

Ground combat at Kota Bharu [Malaya]

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 18720 troops, 183 guns, 405 vehicles, Assault Value = 488

Defending force 17123 troops, 68 guns, 1503 vehicles, Assault Value = 139

Japanese max assault: 247 - adjusted assault: 244

Allied max defense: 123 - adjusted defense: 163

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

Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0

Japanese ground losses:
105 casualties reported
Guns lost 2

Allied ground losses:
188 casualties reported
Guns lost 5

At Wuchang I got a setback. I had ordered reinforcements from the north, and I thought they had to shock attack, because of the river. So I ordered my troops there to assist them with a deliberate attack. But the reinforcements did not attack, and those poor guys were bloodily repulsed:

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24608 troops, 285 guns, 172 vehicles, Assault Value = 916

Defending force 15467 troops, 173 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 594

Japanese max assault: 581 - adjusted assault: 54 Huh - < 10%? Ok, they were a bit short of supplies, but not completely without them!

Allied max defense: 651 - adjusted defense: 709

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


Japanese ground losses:
1671 casualties reported
Guns lost 36

Allied ground losses:
196 casualties reported
Guns lost 5


Troops marching to Hong Kong didn't shock attack, too. But this had no negative consequences. Bad thing: If a hex border is passable by ground forces and ships, it is always white. It is impossible to see if it is rated as river or not from those hex sides. Isn't it possible to give a hint via the map art? E.g. you could show a bridge or so if there is a river which doesn't cause a shock attack (like in Wuhan).

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 3
RE: A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO - 6/25/2008 5:55:35 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/09/41

Today nothing deserves the title "headline of the day". There were neither great achivements nor big setbacks. We had a peculiar technical problem today: I did some tests recently and thus the combat animations were still turned off when I did my turn. Because of this, neither I nor Drew saw any combat animations this time. It seems that those options are fixed in the savegame and you can not change them after completing the turn.


I will start the reoport with the airforces again. This time I set all KB bombers on naval attack and moved the carriers a few hexes to the east (117-70). But for some reason, 3 squadrons still did a base attack against PH. I lost another 13 bombers for 3 torpedo hits agains BBs:

Day Air attack on Pearl Harbor [Oahu] , at 114,72

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 47
D3A2 Val x 18
B5M/B5N Kate x 28

Allied aircraft
F4F-3 Wildcat x 2
P-36A Mohawk x 2
P-40B Tomahawk x 8

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 2 destroyed
D3A2 Val: 2 destroyed, 3 damaged
B5M/B5N Kate: 11 destroyed, 6 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
P-36A Mohawk: 1 destroyed
P-40B Tomahawk: 6 destroyed
B-18A/B-23/F-2 Bolo: 1 destroyed
A-20B Boston: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB Pennsylvania, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

All 3 naval attacks from the KB were unescorted, but they didn't meet more than 4 fighters, so only one Val and one Kate were lost.

The first 2 attacks went against a cruiser TF. Bad thing: No Kates paticipated:

Day Air attack on TF, near Pearl Harbor [Oahu] at 114,72

Japanese aircraft
D3A2 Val x 15

Allied Ships
CA San Francisco, Bomb hits 4, on fire
CL Helena, Bomb hits 1

second wave:
Japanese aircraft
D3A2 Val x 20

Allied Ships
CA New Orleans, Bomb hits 13, on fire, heavy damage

Then 19 Kates attacked the lone DD Litchfield, but failed to score any hits. I was not amused - they could have finished those cruisers! I set those groups who attacked PH to naval attack (again?) and move the carriers one hex closer to Hawaii.

Nells and Bettys from Taan sink the AK Elcano, Parcita, Ravnaas and Norse Carrier. The AK Thedens was heavily damaged at Tavoy by Sallys from Indochina (7 bomb hits). There were some searchplane hits, too:
H6K4 Mavis has spotted Isabel at 43,52 Isabel is reported HIT
D3A2 Val has spotted New Orleans at 114,72 New Orleans is reported HIT
D3A2 Val has spotted McFarland at 114,72 McFarland is reported HIT

Other bombers did some more attacks against airfields or ground forces in Malaya, Hong Kong and China. Today our army fighters had their first air combat - 6 Hawk 75 were shot down in a Oscar sweep over Kunming (1 Oscar op loss), and Nates on CAP over Aparri leaked to Laoag and shot down 2 of the 3 attacking Vildebeests.

Because of high fatique I had to rest the LRCAP over Kota Bahru. There were promptly some attacks against our unloading transports - 2 AKs got one bomb hit each from Vildebeest torpedo bombers (20 casualities/1 gun lost). Good thing that these operated at extended range! Other Allied attacks failed to score hits.

Our ships and subs patroling the escape routes from the PI sunk the AK Soochow, Morazan and Anshun. A flotilla of the PT 39/40/41 attacked a strong surface group lead by the CA Maya and Ahigara in daylight - bad idea: Shell hits 32, and is sunk

Landings start at Makin, Manado, Cagayan (two of the extra TF I created in turn 1) and Batan Islands (a tank company from Taan - I realized that it was a bad idea not to take it on turn 1, my ships did detours around it).

My ground forces throw the Chinese out of Sinyang and capture Batan Islands, Makin and Viet Tri (34 out of 150 resource centers were damaged by no defenders - I hate that!)

At Hong Kong the first assault gets 1:1 odds (exactly: 893:841) and reduces forts to 5. At Khota Bahru I get only 1:1 (124:107) again. I set all army bombers in Indochina to ground attack that place next turn.

< Message edited by Bogo Mil -- 6/25/2008 6:01:36 PM >

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 4
RE: A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO - 6/25/2008 7:28:41 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/10/41

Headline of the day is that the AAR catches up with the game. I played the turn in the morning and didn't finish my orders, yet. Animations are working again. Today we don't see any decisive action again. Some things went against me, but nothing serious.

Today I start with the ships and subs:

RO-33 on a patrol in the Macassar strait fires almost all its ammo against the TK JMG den Hartog (sinks). 60 miles apart, I-164 sets the TK Colina on fire with one torpedo hit. The Maya TF sinks the AK Don Jose west of Luzon. AK St. Quentin hits a sub layed mine at Zamboanga (heavy damage). None of the transports I hit so far had troops on board - it seems he doesn't evacuate anything.

My ASW campaign does very badly. I've seen nothing but a few near misses so far, and now this one:

Sub attack at 41,51

Japanese Ships
APD Patrol Boat No. 36, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
APD Patrol Boat No. 39
APD Patrol Boat No. 38
APD Patrol Boat No. 37

Allied Ships
SS Saury

Argh! The ship need luck to survive the journey back to Taan (9 hexes). Much depends on how they get the fires under control.

Last but not least another PT flotilla executes a brave daylight attack - this time against nothing less than the KB:

Day Time Surface Combat at 116,71

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi
CV Kaga
CV Soryu
BB Hiei
CA Tone
CL Abukuma
DD Kagero
DD Shiranuhi
DD Tanikaze
DD Arare

Allied Ships
PT -33/34/35, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

3 hits, 3 vessels sunk - not bad. Maybe we will use suicide tactics, too, should we ever come into a desperate situation

The KB privides a good transition to the air action today.

Either I am stupid and incompetent, or there is a bug: Again KB bombers attacked Pearl Harbor. It is really strange: Each day since day 2 some KB bombers do things I did not order.

Day Air attack on Pearl Harbor [Oahu] , at 114,72

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 38
D3A2 Val x 17
B5M/B5N Kate x 11

Allied aircraft
P-36A Mohawk x 2
P-40B Tomahawk x 3

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 3 destroyed, 4 damaged
B5M/B5N Kate: 6 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
P-36A Mohawk: 1 destroyed
P-40B Tomahawk: 3 destroyed
P-400 Airacobra: 1 destroyed
PBY-5 Catalina: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

P400 destroyed on the ground - did he upgrade one of the depleted fighter squadrons? KB bombers on naval attack find nothing but a few destroyers at Lihue. They sink 2 of them (Hendley and Ralph Talbot) and damage another one (DD Patterson, Bomb hits 2, on fire)

KB leaves to the northwest. I didn't see any sign of the American carriers for 3 days - I hope I can reach the replenishment TF before they find it (2 days to travel). Besides this, I don't want to run out of sorties completely - its a long journey back. And there are more small TFs nearby which were not attacked by our bombers - probably more PTs. I don't want to run into them at night.

Kates from the Ryuho sink the AP Legazpi and damage the AK Ben Nevis with a torpedo (only "on fire", but fuel cargo and loong way to the next port). 15 Sallys finish off the Thedens with another 9 bomb hits (plus 2 from naval search).

There were heavy air attacks against Hong Kong. 69 army bombers attack the Hong Kong Fortress. There are only 52 casualities (3 guns, 1 vehicle), but enough disruption to bring the assault odds almost to 3:1 today (692:241, forts reduced to 4). I'm going to do a shock attack today - maybe we can capture the place very early.
Besides the ground attacks 26 Sonias finally do a port attack (they are ordered to do so since day 2):
Allied Ships
ML Redstart, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
PG Tutuila, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PG Moth, Bomb hits 1
TK Mei Hsia, Bomb hits 1

I don't know why he didn't evacuate his ports early. There are still more than 20 ships in Manila, too. The escaoe will not become easier when I have more bases...

Kota Bharu was clouded in, so no attacks were started. Nice for my ships because the Allies stayed home, too, but bad for my ground forces. Again only 1:1 (393:343), and disruption reaches 55. I rest my forces for one day and will try it again tomorrow. I didn't expect to fight so long for this place - Hong Kong might fall earlier than Kota Bharu! Unloading troops at Singora and San Fernando is almost finished, so I can probably start some more movements tomorrow. The division at Aparri starts its march to the SW today (forgot the name of the destination).

Other ground combat: I get 3:1 on a railroad hex in China (52,33), but the defenders (guerilla) are cut off and cannot retreat.

All my troops are ashore in Menado (Celebes) and will attack today. The landing started in Rabaul. Only some engineers are still on the ships, so I will attack there today, too. Some Ansons attacked my transports there, but the Allied bombers didn't score any hits today.

< Message edited by Bogo Mil -- 6/25/2008 7:30:28 PM >

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 5
RE: A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO - 6/28/2008 1:41:23 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/11/41

The turn sequence is quite fast atm, so I'm lagging behind one turn with the AAR again.

Headline of the day is the awful weather all over Asia. Besides some small attacks in northern China, no bombing missions were flown and so the shock attack in Hong Kong failed miserably.

The only surface combat today took place west of Bataan. The PG Mindanao and Isabel tried to escape from Manila, but were cornered by my blockade force (CA Idzumo and DD Hiyodori) and sunk.

An empty convoy returning from Singora was attacked by the Dutch sub K XI, but neither the sub nor the escorts fired any weapons. Later this sub became very unlucky: A Sally hit it with a 50kg-bomb , and the boat sank immediately. That's what they call "critical hit", isn't it? The sub was never damaged before, but it's detection level was probably higher than the temperature in Kelvin. Btw, this was the first hit by an airplane against a sub of the entire war.

The KB was not very successful in avoiding PT boats. While the leading half traveled according to my plans, the second task force moved only one hex at night and was attacked by 6 PT boats. The escorts did well, drove them off and sank 3:

Allied Ships
PT -83/84/85
PT -86/87/88, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

In the morning, this task force moved only 1 hex again (ended up 2 hexes NE of PH) and 3 other PT attacked (-74/75/76). This time these pests achieved surprise, fired theyr torpedoes against a destroyer (no hits) and disengaged successfully. My ships didn't even fire a shot. The only attack launched from the KB was a small sweep (9 Zeroes), which shot down a Tomahawk over PH for no loss.

I still don't know where the USN carriers are. The last sign were Vindicators spottet by subs near Midway 3 days ago. My replenishment TF is save now - tomorrow it will be covered by at least the leading half of the KB.

The CVL Ryuho was sucessful again: Their Kates sank the large AP Ben Nevis (10.000 tons). Some Nates found out that bombs bonce from the surface of water and scored one hit against the AP Montoro at Victoria Point using the new technique. No other naval attacks were made. There are surprisingly few ships around, and as I said before: Weather was terrible everywhere. A first sweep over Manila shot down 7 Warhawks (1 Zero lost).

A small attack against one of my task forces (3 Vildebeest) was repulsed by 4 Petes. One of the attackers even crashed on the way home - so the Petes are really not completely useless.

The ground forces failed to take Hong Kong because of the lack of air support:
Ground combat at Hong Kong [UK]

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 41469 troops, 324 guns, 70 vehicles, Assault Value = 498
Defending force 13775 troops, 103 guns, 1103 vehicles, Assault Value = 241

Japanese max assault: 934 - adjusted assault: 506
Allied max defense: 158 - adjusted defense: 565 Even a small air attack would have been sufficient for 1:1

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

Japanese ground losses:
1090 casualties reported
Guns lost 41

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

Disruption is heavy, so the troops have to rest for at leat 2 days. I should study the weather forecast before ordering shock attacks...

But there were some sucessful attacks, too. A 1:1 at Rabaul reduced the forts to 2, Naga, Vigan (both undefended), Cagayan and Manado [Celebes] were taken.

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 6
RE: A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO - 6/28/2008 4:36:26 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/12/41

The headline of the day is a sad one: We suffered the first ship losses today. The small AK Canton Maru sank from the damage caused by the CD guns at Wake on day 1. I never had any hope to save the ship, so I used it as a picket halfway between Wake and Midway. I'm actually wuite surprised that it survived that long. Off Vigan (Luzon) I had to scuttle the APD Patrol Boat No. 36 hit by SS Saury the day before yesterday - damage was 73/95/15. I didn't scuttle I-156 yet (damage 63/89/0), but it might sink the next turn, too. I'm willing to pay that VP for the tiny chance of a miracle .

The turn itself was a quiet one. Troops marching from Indochina to Malaya will reach Songora soon, and more reinforcements will arrive per ship over the next days. So this theatre will become much more busy soon. Today Singora received its first aviation support and I moved some Oscars and Sonias (for ground attack against Kota Bharu) there.

There wwere no surface combat or successful sub/ASW attacks today, but CL Nagara and 6 DDs bombarded Cebu. Main target were the Kingfisher floatplanes operation from there (4 were destroyed on the ground), and I wanted to see what he has in the harbour:

Allied Ships
AK Gold Star, Shell hits 2, on fire
AK Governor Smith, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
AK Ethel Edwards, Shell hits 1
AK Antonio, Shell hits 1

Nates hit the AP Montoro again. It was the first hit against a ship loaded with troops (5 casualities, 1 vehicle) - he tries to evacuate the baseforce of Victoria Point. I replace those Nates at Bangkok with Nells today to sink the AP.

I ordered one Zero group of the KB to strafe PTs. They attacked, but failed to score any hits. The same at Hong Kong: Claudes from swatow attacked the MTBs there, but no hits. The KB is out of range for the Hawaiian PTs now, so all fighters do escort missions again. The Claudes will continue to harass those MTBs - maybe they hit them eventually.

Port attacks damage ML Redstart, AK ROC Hong Kong XptGp (at Hong Kong) and AK ROC Wenchow XptGp (at Wenchow). Fighter sweeps over Manila and Clark field shot down 9 Warhawks and one P35A for the loss of 3 Zeros (1 A2A, 2 ops).

54 army bombers use a short period of somewhat better weather to attack the IA 21BtyMtnAty + 8th Brigade ath Kota Bharu: 180 casualties, 2 guns, 1 vehicle demaged. Weather forecast is overcast again, but I ordered a new deliberate attack. I'm confident that they will at least get a 1:1 again.

On the ground we were repulsed at Rabaul today (49:75). I rest the troops for 2 days. They have enough supplies, but there is no assistance from the air or heavy warships available. More troops are on the way though, so the place will fall eventually.

Good progress is made on Mindanao: Cotabato changed sides for free, and the 7th tank regiment, which shock attacked and pursued at Cagayan yesterday captured Butuan today. Now they are in Surigao in the NE corner of the Island. I ordered deliberate attack today, I don't want to chase that depleted baseforce over all those tiny islands between Mindanao and Luzon (there are roads on the RHS map).

In China, a guerilla corps was driven off the railroad Suchow - Kaifeng. In Thailand, an EAB captured Chang Mai by shock attack after crossing the river there. This place has a minimum garrision - I thought those were necessary in China only? It's not a problem, though - the EAB is sufficient, and it came to stay anyway.

The next turn will bring a decision on Wake. Reinforcements will finally land (they were close to the Island 4 days ago, but turned away for no known reason), so I ordered another bombardement by 4 CAs and the already stranded troops will shock attack, too. They have recovered the disruption from the first attack and have good stockpiles of supplies. If this attack failes again, I probalby have to evacuate. I don't have more reserves at hand (at least none who are prepared for that atoll).


Last, but not least, there is a good news: I finally learnt how to make screenshots! The AAR can become a bit more "colorful" now. The first one is not from the game itself: I promised to give a summary of the aircraft losses, so I loaded the old savegames again and took some notes:



Air losses by type:


It is remarkable, that already 18 floatplanes and patrols are destroyed in A2A - 3/day on average. Air search seems to be much more dangerous in RHS than in CHS.

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 7
RE: A new emperor - Bogo Mil vs. Drew Black - RHS CVO - 6/28/2008 11:53:01 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/13/41

Headline of the day is the seizure of the long contestet places Wake and Kota Bharu. The rest of the turn was much less boring than the last week, too.

The night started with a small naval skirmish. CA Iwate and 1 DD attacked the PG Ciscala fleeing from Hong Kong. The PG was damaged, but managed to escape. I hope the airforce can locate the burning boat easily tomorrow. I-164 damaged the TK Hermes with a torpedo (only on fire, but oil cargo should cause additional trouble).

Warships bombarded Wake, Cebu (another 2 Floatplanes destroyed) and Kota bharu. The latter attack by 4 BB, 2 CA and 6 DD caused 440 casualities and was probably the decisive factor for the ground combat in the evening - the planes failed to attack again. I didn't count how many consecutive turns of overcast and heavy percipation I had - I want some good weather soon!

In the afternoon SS Saury scored again:

Sub attack at 41,51

Japanese Ships
CA Idzumo, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

Allied Ships
SS Saury

Damn. No other Allied sub hit anything yet, but the Saury hits it's second warship! The damage is surprisingly low for 2 torpedoes: 5/50/23. If the fires are put out fast, the ship won't be out of the war for long.

Today I had to scuttle the I-156 (float damage reached 98). The Manila barge group sank at Takao because of low production quality. I have another 3 barge/junk groups in Saigon, which fight heavy floatation since day one. At least one of them will probably sink soon, too. I don't understand why Japan starts the game with ships in sinking condition. High sys damage is ok to "delay" the ship, but why floatation?

The KB completed refueling, but did not do anything spectacular today - at least not actively. But it was spotted by a SBD! There are no bases nearby, so it must be a carrier. Drew wrote something about I was close to hitting both carrier groups yesterday and may get the one today. I don't know if he wants to confuse me or what. I think I can take on the American carriers (have 50-60% of the sorties left, but already lost many bombers and morale of the bomber crews is not very good), but I don't mourn if there is no battle. Well, I increased air search and sent KB and the oilers sttraight to the north - I will see what happens. I will not play cat and mouse until I run into a lucky sub. If there is no contact, I will send everyone home and fill out the airgroups.

Although many bombers stayed home because of the weather, there was a lot of air action today.

The sweep over Manila finds no enemies today. Where are they gone to? Well, this was answered promptly: The first airstrike from Cagayan find at least 13 of them at Jolo. 3 are shot down by the escorting Zeros for no loss, and the AP Van Diemen was hit with 4 torpedoes. But it took another strike from the Ryuho sink the sturdy transport. This one was escorted only by Claudes, and 2 of these were lost.

The Nells from Bangkok sunk the AP Montoro as planned. Port attacks against Hong Kong and Wenchow finally sink the ML Redstart and damage the TK Mei Hsia and the AK ROC Wenchow XptGp again.


The MTBs from Hong Kong are traveling to the PI, and strafing Nates from Formosa actually hit something:
PT RN 3rd MTB Division, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Not very impressive for 32 planes with highly experienced pilots, but better than nothing.

But the most exciting action happened near the tiny "Great" Natuna Island: I sent a small air combat TF there to cover a landing force against the island. First the Allies attacked my carriers (2 reports merged into one):

Day Air attack on TF, near Great Natuna I [DEI] at 27,52

Japanese aircraft
A5M4 Claude x 4
A6M2 Zeke x 2

Allied aircraft
Martin 139/B-10 x 3
Blenheim IV/Bolngbrk x 9
Vildebeest/Vincent x 13

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Blenheim IV/Bolngbrk: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Vildebeest/Vincent: 3 destroyed, 7 damaged

Japanese Ships
CVE Hosho
CVL Zuiho
CVE Taiyo [Kasuga Maru]
Very lucky I was! Only 7 Vildebeests actually launched their torpedoes (the rest was turned away), but they could have caused serious damge... Then the carriers launched a small "counterstrike":

Day Air attack on TF, near Singapore [UK] at 22,51

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 6
B5M/B5N Kate x 10

Allied aircraft
Buffalo/F2A x 26

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zeke: 1 destroyed
B5M/B5N Kate: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo/F2A: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CL Kanimbla, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage

The CL is not reported sunk yet, but it should be pinned in Singapore fo a while.

I do not understand why I didn't have more fighters in the air. The ships have 11 Zeros (CAP 80%), 16 Claudes (CAP 80%) and another 11 Zeros (for some reason CAP only 8%). Thus I would expect ca. 10 Zeroes and 13 Claudes as CAP and 10-11 Zeros as escort! Does someone know why I had such a tiny CAP?


The base Khoan Kaen [Thai] became Japanese "for free", the tank regiment at Mindanao captured Surigao. I turn it around now and send it towards Davao in the south.

The rest of the ground combat was already portrayed in the headline of the day: The Sasebo NGF NavGd came ashore in very good shape (6 CL and 4 DD in the TF helped a lot...) and overran the defenders:

Ground combat at Wake Island [USA]

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 2828 troops, 22 guns, 8 vehicles, Assault Value = 67

Defending force 1905 troops, 42 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 4

Japanese max assault: 126 - adjusted assault: 40

Allied max defense: 3 - adjusted defense: 8

Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 1)

Japanese forces CAPTURE Wake Island [USA] base !!!


Allied aircraft losses
F4F-3 Wildcat: 4 destroyed 10 F4F-3 destroyed on the ground including the bombardement

Japanese ground losses:
166 casualties reported
Guns lost 2
Vehicles lost 1

Allied ground losses:
1824 casualties reported
Guns lost 53

At Kota Bharu I got 4:1 (393:97) in a deliberate attack

Allied ground losses:
8814 casualties reported
Guns lost 9
Vehicles lost 930 supply sink surrendered

Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Today the last reinforcements arrived in Wuhan (central China), I ordered a deliberate attack. If everything goes well, I will soon own that city, too. I din't notice any offensive movements of the Chinese, yet.

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 8
RE: Lexington sunk! - 6/30/2008 11:39:15 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/14/41

This day was a black one for the USN. The BB Arizona sank south of Hawaii from old damage, and in a hopeless battle against the KB the CV Lexington was sunk and 2 cruisers heavily damaged.

The misery of the USN started in the night: Near Manila, the lone DD John D. Ford ran into a surface group lead by the CA Maya and was sunk immediately by the first torpedo spread. North of Ambroina a battle group (BB Fuso and Yamashiro, 2 CL, 2 DM) sank the AP Ruth Alexander. West of Singapore, the AK Taiping was sunk by 2 attacks of the sub I-157.


The morning phase was relatively quiet. The carrier forces spotted each other, but no attacks were launchend. Most busy place of the morning was Gerogetown (Malaya). I ordered lots of army bombers to attack the airfield there. unfortunally they came in three waves, and only the first attack was escorted. 21 Oscars shot only 2 out of 10 Buffalos down, so I lost 2 Sonias to A2A in the first wave. Then 50 Lilys and 102 Sallys attacked unescorted and another Sally was shot down. The attacks destroyed several Blenheim NF on the ground and claimed a lot of casualities:

Allied ground losses:
551 casualties reported
Guns lost 16
Vehicles lost 6

Allied ground losses:
375 casualties reported
Guns lost 8
Vehicles lost 5

I will rest the bombers and do a fighter sweep tomorrow. A sweep over Manila found Warhawks again, but their morale is abysmal. One was shot down, the rest fled immediately.

Another tiny strike (3 Kates escorted by 6 Zeros) by the CVL/CVE group near Great Natuna Island shot down 3 Buffalos and put the Coup de Grâce into the "CL" (AMC) Kanimbla. Ryuho's Kates sink the TK British Judge - this CVL is almost out of sorties now.

In the afternoon, the carriers finally launched their planes against each other. The Americans got the first strike, but it was mostly obliterated and didn't achieve anything:

Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 4 A lower CAP rating would have been better, imho. These bombers had virtually no protection!
SB2U-2 Vindicator x 14
SBD-3/4 Dauntless x 31
TBD Devastator x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
SB2U-2 Vindicator: 10 destroyed
SBD-3/4 Dauntless: 18 destroyed
TBD Devastator: 9 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Hiei
CV Kaga, Bomb hits 1 belt armour hit - damage 2/0/2. The Kaga is a cursed ship. In all my games she is the first KB carrier which is hit...
CV Soryu

Aircraft Attacking:
13 x SBD-3/4 Dauntless bombing at 2000 feet
3 x TBD Devastator launching torpedoes at 200 feet

The counterstike was more successful. My bombers were not very accurate (probably because of low morale), but quantity has a quality of its own, so it was more than enough to sink the Lex:

Day Air attack on TF at 110,61

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 44
D3A2 Val x 47
B5M/B5N Kate x 35 Another 30 stragglers didn't find the Lexington any more.

Allied aircraft
F2A-3 Buffalo x 13

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 5 destroyed, 6 damaged
B5M/B5N Kate: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
F2A-3 Buffalo: 8 destroyed

Allied Ships
CV Lexington CV-2, Bomb hits 16, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
CA Chicago, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
CA Portland, Bomb hits 1
CA Astoria, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Porter

I move the KB some hexes to the SE to make sure the damaged cruisers don't return. The area around Hawaii is the only place on the map will clear weather all the time... Maybe I catch some destroyers, too.

The first strike of the land based Kates at Manado (Clelebes) sinks the AK St. Quentin, another port strike against Hong Konk damages 3 small ships. Claudes do 30 sorties against patrol boats, but don't score a single hit. Those PTs are almost invincible to air attacks...

It's time to present a list of the warships sunk so far. 2 ML (Somenep and Redstart) are not shown.



Good news come from China. The ground forces attacked at Wuhan today. I was quite optimistic, but 29:1 surprised me: Allied max defense: 564 - adjusted defense: 65 - they probably suffered heavy starvation. The city is captured without any damage - great. At 52,33 a guerilla batallion surrendered after several days of constant attacks - 1139 casualties reported. A new attack at Hong Kong achieved 1:1 (977:544) again and reduced forts to 3.

In the SW, a small part of a navy landing force takes Great Natuna Island. I don't need that dot base, but at the moment I don't have enough escorts to send those tiny LCU from indochina to the Pacific, so I mop up some unimportant places with fragments. Losing such a fragment is not serious.

Tomorrow my troops will enter the Badaglio pass on Luzon. There are 3 Allied units at the moment, we will see if I can secure that important place by a coup de main. Offensive movements start at Malaya, too.

Here is the actual intelligence screen. Btw, as predicted another barge group sank because of low production quality in Saigon today. 2 Junk groups will follow if the weather doesn't improve soon.



_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 9
RE: Lexington sunk! - 7/2/2008 3:21:41 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/15/41

Headline of the day is that the destruction of the Lexington task force was completed - all 3 cruisers and one DD were sunk, 2 more damaged.


At night the British PG Ciscala ran into an ASW task force of 4 DD and was sunk. I-155 damaged the AK Empire Peri with a torpedo close to the Australian north coast.

The battle group which supported the conquest of Kota Bharu did a "drive by bombardement" against Kuantan and destroyed 4 Buffalos on the ground. In the south a small bombardment force lead by the old BBs Yamashiro and Fuso bombarded Amboina. Target were the Hudsons, which did a couple of attacks against Sorong and Japanese ships. The result was very meager, not a single bomber was destroyed:

Naval bombardment of Amboina [Ambon], at 40,74 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!

28 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
Japanese Ships
CL Oi, Shell hits 8
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 4
BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 1
BB Fuso, Shell hits 1

Allied ground losses:
172 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
Vehicles lost 4

Shell hits even against battleships! I'm very glad that I discarded the plan to capture Ambroina early (and went for Manado instead)! This base will be a tough nut to crack, I'm afraid.

In daylight the most hated Allied sub - the SS Saury - ran out of luck. It was the first Allied sub which to sank an Japanes ship (the APD Patrol Boat No. 36), and now it got the retribution from 2 sister ships of it's victim and became the first Allied sub sunk by Japanese ships, too:

ASW attack at 41,51

Japanese Ships
PC Shirataka
APD Patrol Boat No. 35
APD Patrol Boat No. 34
APD Patrol Boat No. 33
APD Patrol Boat No. 32

Allied Ships
SS Saury, hits 5, on fire, heavy damage

Besides a small skirmish between CA Iwate + DD Kasasagi and an MTB division (no hits scored) there were no more surface battles today, so let's look at the air forces.

As I already said, the KB managed to locate the fleeing escorts of the CV Lexington. I did not expect to catch the CA Portland, which was only very slightly damaged yesterday, but for some reason it moved only 2 hexes farther than the two crippled cruisers. The KB launched huge strikes against those ships, larger than yesterday:

Day Air attack on TF at 112,62 3 Strikes merged into one report, all in the AM phase

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 49
D3A2 Val x 89
B5M/B5N Kate x 86

Japanese aircraft losses
D3A2 Val: 1 destroyed
B5M/B5N Kate: 1 destroyed

Allied Ships
CA Portland, Bomb hits 18, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage sinks
DD Lamson
DD Mahan, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage sinks
DD Drayton, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damagee
DD Flusser, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Air attack on TF at 111,62 PM phase. Again 3 strikes agains 3 TF merged

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zeke x 48
D3A2 Val x 88
B5M/B5N Kate x 78

No Japanese losses

Allied Ships
CA Astoria, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage sinks
CA Chicago, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage sinks
CA Portland, on fire, heavy damage

Kates from the CVL Ryuho sink the AVD Heron east of Celebes and Bettys from Cagayan sink the small AKs Ethel Edwards and Dumaguete south of Jolo (they carried parts of a US base force). The CVL Ryuho has to return to Palau now - it is almost out of sorties, and I have enough Zeros in the pool to upgrade it's Claudes.

There's not much more to report. Sweeps kill 3 Warhawks and 3 Buffalos, Claudes do more futile attempts to sink MTBs, some milk runs against Hong Kong and guerilla in northern China.

The Allied air forces are surprisingly inactive. Today only 3 Hudsons attacked the Yamashiro TF, no other attacks all over the map. For several days my recon planes report AVG fighters in China, but they did not try to intercept my bombers, yet, although those are only escorted by Nates or completely unescorted.


The ground forces achieved another 1:1 in Hong Kong (400:292 after 977:544 yesterday , forts reduced to 2). I do another attack today and then rest 2 days for the final assault. In the south, a small landing force secured the undefended Biak Island.

On Luzon my troops entered Baguio Pass. There are 3 enemy units with 11300 men reported, I ordered only a bombardment today. I want to see what it is before I blunt a division in a failed attack. At Ilagan a tiny independent tank company took the airfield after a quite devastating attack against the defending batallion by 36 Nates (32 casualities reported - only another 32 were left defending the place). I thought that batallion would surrender because Baguio is contested. But no, they fled into the mangroves east of Clark field. That means I have to garrision Ilagan and Bguio pass against guerilla warfare... Good thing: All 150 ressource centers are still intact

Here is a small overview of the Situation in Luzon:


Garrisions (assault values in paranthesis):
Laoag
none
Aparri
JNAF 231 EAB (55 AV support) - running the size 2 AF with 48 Zeros, 36 Nates, 3 Babs
65th Brigade Div (202) --> Baguio Pass
1st Const Bat
14th Amphib Army --> Baguio Pass
Vigan
none
S. Fernando
48th Motor B Div (339)
Bako SNGF Nav Gd (21) --> Baguio Pass
23th Kokusentai BF (223 AV support) - will be moved to Baguio Pass, then Clark field as soon as these places are Japanese
Ilagan - here is a small bug in the map art - it calls the place "Llagan"
5th Ind Tank Co 10 --> Baguio pass
Baguio Pass 3 Enemy units -- 11320 men / 131 Guns / 2 AFV
16th Draft B Div 363
6th 15cm Heavy FA Rgt
6th Rapid Fire Gun Bat
Lingayen 6 Enemy units reported
Bataan ?
Clark Field 13 Enemy units reported
Mauban/Lamon Bay 2 Enemy units reported
Manila 12 Enemy units reported
Lucena empty
Naga
Kure 1st SNLF (AV 53) - wait for reinforcements, then advance to Lucena
Legaspi
nothing, but ships arrived and start unloading now:
8th Tank Rgt
17th 15cm Heavy FA Rgt
1st Eng Rgt

I'm not certain how I will proceed after the conquest of Baguio Pass. If I go to clark field directly, I can cut of 6 units at Lingayen and everything at Bataan. But this would leave my lines thin and I'll be vulnerable to a counterattack. More conservative is the detour to take Lingayen first, but then he has everyone to defend Manila.

Soon I'll give an overview for Malaya, where things are beginning to move, too. Today I was a bit lucky there - only a ART unit moved from Kota Bharu to the SW, but Drew already pulled all units out of this hex, so this unit stayed and did'nt flee back immediately with ruined morale.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 10
RE: Lexington sunk! - 7/4/2008 7:37:34 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/16/41

Headline of the day is, that the weather forecast predicts "partly cloudy" for SE Asia - the first day of nice weather after a week of overcast. Besides this, the turn was a very quiet one.

In the night, a destroyer devision lead by CL Natory destroyed the RN 1st MTB Division - one of those 2 pesky PT flotillas operating from Hong Kong. Then there was some sub action in the Makassar straight: RO-33 damaged CA (gunboat) Soerabaja with a torpedo and I-164 hit the TK British Lord twice (only "on fire", but oil cargo - I hope it sinks).

The KB tries to retreat to the west, but is split up again. Maybe it is because of the subs in the area (although no attacks were made):


To my surprise 4 DDs (Lamson, Porter, Flusser, Drayton) of the Lexington TF were still in range, so they were all sunk by quite small airstrikes (41 D3A2, 31 B5N in 3 strikes). The morale of the dive bombers improves, so does their accuracy. I don't expect to find more ships today, so I set most Vals to naval search. Maybe they can destroy a sub.

Drew tells in his mail he was glad that the KB uses up its sorties and is forced to leave soon. Well, actually his actions in the area slowed down my planned retreat by several days. First his PTs stopped the movement of some of my carriers, then I hit the Lexington TF and go back towards Hawaii to catch the cruisers, now half of the carriers are lagging behind again.

Claudes near Hong Kong fail again to hit a MTB flotilla. You really can not hurt pests from above. Highly experienced pilots did some 200 sorties against them and scored nothing but 1 bomb and 4 MG hits. I already lost 2 Claudes in these attacks...

Hong Kong itself was heavily bombed today: 83 army bomber of various types attacked the garrision and the harbour. This payed off immediately: A deliberate attack got 2:1 and killed 405 defenders (only 75 Japanese casualities). Forts are down to 1 now.

Another deliberate attack against Rabaul failed (18:27, fort level 2 not reduced), but again the defenders suffer higher losses (48 vs. 24). Reinforcements are on the way, so the base will fall within one week. It's no blitzkrieg down there...

Sansapor (NW tip of New Guinea) became occupied without troops.

The bombardment attack at Baglio pass revealed 1 Pp Division, 1 US base force and 1 depleted batallion, Defending force 7077 troops, 125 guns, 2 vehicles, Assault Value = 228. I will try a deliberate attack today, I hope he doesn't reinforce just in time.

I don't have air support on Luzon because Hong Kong still holds... If the bombers don't stay at home, this will change tomorrow. I hope I get that HI undamaged.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 11
RE: Lexington sunk! - 7/4/2008 8:44:11 AM   
F6frc


Posts: 112
Joined: 4/8/2008
From: The Arsenal of Ohio
Status: offline 		Nice start on the war and the AAR keep it up!

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 12
RE: Lexington sunk! - 7/7/2008 10:27:22 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		Thanks for the flowers!

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/17/41

Headline of the Day is a speech of Admiral Yamamoto in the radio. He said: "Some names cause a special obligation for their owners. The commander of the Sasebo NGF Naval guard unit, Captain Banzai, is a man who understands how to satisfy this obligation. Other commanders often think, that their units were in a perfect shape at some point, and then they lean back idle. But not Captain Banzai. He realized, that you are never perfectly prepared, and improvements are always possible. Captain Banzai shall be a shining example for all commanders of the Imperial Japanese Navy!"




Ok, back to the war. I expected a very quiet turn today. It became a bit less quiet than that, mostly because of the submarines.

The night went as expected: The Allied tanker Ebonol sank from old damage, nothing else happened.

But the day was less quiet: First I-17 intercepted a troop convoiy in the middle of the ocean:

Sub attack at 126,62

Japanese Ships
SS I-17

Allied Ships
AP Henry T. Allen, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Smith
DD Preston

Allied ground losses:
56 casualties reported
Guns lost 1

Later I-17 hit the same ship with another torpedo. A similiar event happened near Manila: I-159 hits the large AP President Madison with one torpedo, later it hits it again with 2 more eels (again loaded with troops). RO-34 made the triumph of the IJN complete when it hit the ML Prins van Oranje with one torpedo in the Makassar Straight. None of the ships are reported sunk yet, but I don't think they can survive.

SS KXIII missed a IJN DD and received 2 near misses in return. No serious damage was done. Another ASW attack against S-38 failed without any hits.

Kates from Manado sank the small AK Bicol in the morning and damaged DD Alden with a 250 kg bomb in the PM phase (disabling it's depth charges). Betties from Kota Bharu attacked 2 fuel loaded AKs at Georgetown - the Makassar sank outright, the Colborne is hit twice, but only "on fire".

The army air force did fly 96 bomber sorties against Hong Kong today, but the attack did not even achive 1:1 odds. I'm very disappointed. The troops will rest for 2 days, then attack again.

Things went a lot better in Alor Star: After Attacks by 74 army bombers, our troops achieved 5:1 and captured the place in the first attack (only 3 out of 120 ressource centers damaged). A Fwd Air Stn EAB and an ISF Base Force retreated, the supply sink surrendered. Both attacking divisions were 100% prepped for Alor Star, this probably helped a lot. The next bases will not fall that easily.

A deliberate attack at Baguio (Luzon) got 1:1 (263:181) without any air support and reduced forts to 2. In China a Guerilla Rgt was pushed away from the railroad at 51,36. In the east, we captured Tarawa without resistance.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

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Post #: 13
RE: Lexington sunk! - 7/7/2008 12:29:23 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		I wanted to give an overview for Malaya. I'm advancing in 2 coolumns: The operation "Blitz" is a tank-heavy push from Khota Bharu to the SW. Main objective is to cut off as many units as possible in Malacca, Kuala Lumpur and north of it. Some troops will enter Kuantan in the southeast to secure the flank of the "blitz".

The second column took Alor Star today and will continue its advance along the western coast. The plan is to attack Kuala Lumpur from both sides and force the surrender of as many enemies as possible. Then the united forces will mop up southern Malaya and attack Singapore.



I'm certainly not good in logistics. When I made the overview, I realized that I have a lot of AAA in Malaya, but not a single Air HQ. I will try to correct this in the near future. I'm low on aviation support anyway. Many army bombers (Sally and Lily) still operate from Indochina. I can bring some of them to Alor Star tomorrow or the day after (when the airfield is repaired), the rest to Kota Bharu when more support arrives.

Here is the list of the troops involved now. The numbers are not well visible on the map, sorry. I go from south to north:

1
5th (Motor) "A" Div (441) --> Blitz
2nd Curved Gun BN --> Blitz
2
4th Ind Mixed Rgt (105) --> Kuantan
3rd Tank Brigade (242) --> Blitz

Kota Bharu
8th Const Bn (3) --> Blitz
JAAF 18th AirSect HQ EAB (V 103) -- 42 Oscar I, 30 Mary, 27 Betty, 9 Babs
Southern Area Army HQ
35th Heavy AA Bn --> Blitz
34th Heavy AA Bn --> Kuantan
28th Mixed AA Rgt --> Blitz or Kuantan
18th 15cm Heavy FA Rgt --> Blitz

3
14th Tank Rgt (88) --> Blitz
14VH Curved Gun Rgt --> Blitz

Singora
13th Ind Eng Rgt (14) --> West
4th Ind Eng Rgt (15) --> West
56th "Division" Bde (242) --> Blitz
JAAF 15th AirSectHQ EAB (V 113) --> West
JAAF 35th EAB (V 49) --> West
25th Amphib Army HQ --> West
IJN 11th Special Base Force (V 30) -- 30 Oscar I, 30 Sonia, 13 Babs

Alor Star
18th (Motor) "A" Div (475) --> West
Imperial Guards Div (354) --> West
1st MC AA BN --> West
3rd 15cm Heavy FA Rgt --> West

4
21th Ind Mixed Brigade (171) --> West

5
48th ind Construction Battalion (3) --> Singora, then then robably West

6
15th Army HQ --> Singora, then probably Blitz

On transports between Camranh Bay and Hong Kong:
TF 12: JAAF 36th EAB (V 50) + JAAF 54th EAB (V 50) --> Kota Bharu
TF 97: 3rd + 10th Mtn Gun Rgt, 15th Ind Eng Rgt --> Singora
TF 15: Sasebo 3&8 CSNLF Brigade + 3rd Curved Gun Btn --> Kuantan
TF 88: 1st 15cm Heavy FA Rgt + 4th Tank Rgt + 11th VH Curved Gun --> Singora
Still near Okinawa:
TF 49: 2nd (Draft) "B" Div --> Singora



_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

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Post #: 14
RE: Lexington sunk! - 7/7/2008 5:27:18 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/18/41

Today was a quite boring day. There were several small skirmishes, but nothing really big happened. Drew wrote that the float damage of the Prince of Wales was going out of control and the ship will sink soon. If it's true - great news.


It started quite unpleasant for the subs, but they were all lucky. 5 ASW attacks were made in a row: 2 against Allied subs - no damage; 3 against Japanese subs - 6 near misses total, no serious damage.

In daylight the misfortune of the DD Alden continued: After the bomb hit yesterday, it catched a sub torpedo from I-166 today. I hope this is enough for such a small ship. I-17 hits another troop transport (AP Wharton) far east of Hawaii (124,63), but damage seems to be small.

To my surprise there were some naval strikes west of the PI - I didn't expect more Allied ships in that area. First, Betties sank the DD Pilsbury SW of Mindanao. Then they found tankers near Palawan - PG Genesee and TK Manatawny were sunk outright, TK Alfred Clegg was heavily damaged by 3 torpedoes and will certainly sink, too. Betties from Kota Bharu sink the already damaged AK Colborne.

The KB bombers attacked Midway today, but this was a failure. In the port they hit the AK Regulus with one 800 kg bomb (only "on fire), and they destroy 3 Caltalinas on the ground. This was not worth the losses (4 Kate + 3 Val). The KB will continue its retreat towards Kwajalein or Truk.

Again there was not a single Allied air attack. There are some CAP fighters over Georgetown, Kuantan and probably Manila, but no offensive missions for several turns. But I continue to put a small LRCAP over the spearhead of "operation Blitz" in Malaya - you never know when he changes his mind...

There was no decisive ground combat - troops were marching or resting everywhere. I did the first step to Burma: Tavoy was captured by a division which arrived yesterday. No defenders were present, but again 51 out of 300 ressource centers were damaged . Today arrived a baseforce there, so I can set up a CAP immediately. 2 construction batalions are on the way. That's all my Burma army until Singapore falls...

On Luzon we captured Lucena south of Manila (undefended). I ordered 4 squadrons of Nells and Betties to ground attack Baglio Pass today and do another deliberate attack there. He reinforced the garrision with another unit, but my troops are in good shape, so I risk the attack.

In Hong Kong I have to rest for another day (at least). I ordered an attack on the rail hex between Wuhan and Changsha in central China. If I can enter Changsha, all Chinese units in the south are in deep trouble.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 15
RE: Lexington sunk! - 7/9/2008 8:32:57 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/19/41

I have to catch up 3 turns, turn ssequence became a bit fast over the last days. Headline of the day is the seizure of Baguio/Balinta Pass with all its 300 ressource centers intact.


It started with something big, which ended up quite small: SS Thresher attacked the KB! But it didn't attack a carrier, only an escorting CL, and it missed. The destroiyers dropped a few DCs, but got only 3 near misses.

S-38 was not that lucky. Well, it was fighting an ASW group with very high detection level. In the first attack, it got nothing but a near miss, which caused a fuel leak. But in the daylight, it's luck ran out. One of the ASW-Kates from hit the sub, and then the same ASW group attacked again, scoring 2 direct hits and many near misses. S-38 is no more.

I-169 damages AP Harris (loaded with troops) with a torpedo, but the ship will survive that. AS Janssens hits a sub laid mine in Darwin, but will survive, too.

Betties from Cagayan sink the AP President Madison (loaded with parts of a US base force) and the large TK Alfred Clegg. Kates from Menado damage AS Holland with only 1 torpedo hit, Betties sink the small AK Kinta at Jahore Bahru.

We see a few Allied bombers again: 9 B-17 from Port Moresby attack unloading transports at Hollandia and Rabaul (no hits).

Lots of aircraft attacked enemy ground forces all over the map. Most remarkable attacks were flown by 32 Nates, 50 Nells and 39 Betties against the Pp Army 41st Division at Baguio. The "reinforcment" he sent there was only a small batallion, and so this division was the only solid defending unit. Because of this my deliberate attack achieved 6:1 odds and captured the place (fort level was 2). I did not expect that, I hoped for an 1:1 to lower the forts!

Another unexpected result comes from northern China: A full division was repulsed 0:1 by a guerillia regiment! I was a bit overconfident to attack in a jungle hex without any air bombardment. In eastern China the Hopei Militia Regiment surrendered after some days of resistance, now I'll increase the pressure on southern China. The attack between Huhan and Changsha achieved 1:1 and ca. 1:1 losses.

Dipolog near Cagayan was occupied without troops. I rest the troops in Hong Kong for another day. Some have still 40 disruption, and I don't want another defeat.

In Malaya was only a small attack at 23,48, the defenders retreat to Luala Lumpur - nice! A lot of troops are marching forward.



_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 16
RE: Lexington sunk! - 7/11/2008 10:28:33 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/20/41

Headline of the day was the fall of Georgetown in western Malaya. Besides this it was relatively quiet. The KB is still shadowed by subs, but will soon be out of sight for the Catalinas at Midway. I'm very confident that they'll reach a save place without damage. I just don't know what I should do with the KB next. Sent it to the DEI, or use it in the south Pacific area? Any suggestions? Drew's defense seems to be quite passive so far...


At sea, one of my subs intercepts another troop convoy east of Hawaii: AK Steel Ranger is damaged by 2 torpedoes.

Kates sink the AS Holland near Celebes. It's crew showed a heroic defense and shot down 2 planes!
A tiny strike by 4 unescorted Nells from Bangkok attacked the AK Vitorlock at Rangoon. They evaded the CAP (9 buffalos) and sank the ship - medals were rewarded, of course. 18 Betties from Formosa did much worse: They failed to hit the AS Canopus N of Palawan and sink only the escorting PG Napa.

168 Army bombers attacked the IA 9th Division Arty Field Artillery Regiment in Georgetown. When my troops attacked later, this unit completed it's retreat and they only meet the static fortress and supply sink - odds were 28:1. We got 93 out of 120 ressource centers intact, not bad for a defended base.

The other column in Malaya continued it's advance and didn't see combat today. The 4th Ind Mixed Rgt slowed down and so a AAA unit entered Kuantan alone They retreated immediatel, of course.

In China, the rail hex between Wuhan and Changsha was secured today (5:1, but quite heavy losses and disruption, will have to rest a bit). The troops at Hong Kong recovered their disruption, so I order a deliberate attack for tomorrow.

Small landing forces capture the undefended bases Hollandia (New Guinea) and Puearto Princessa (Palawan). Rahaeng in Thailand became Japanese without troops. The reinforcements at Rabaul finished unloading, so I will attack there tomorrow, too. The B17s didn't show up again.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 17
Hong Kong falls! - 7/11/2008 11:38:03 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/21/41

Today Hong Kong finally falls! after weeks of air bombardement and several ground attacks, my troops achieve 2:1 today (673:226 - 3:1 missed by 5 points...) and capture the place. The great news: Nothing is damaged! I desperatly need that HI!


At sea, the AK Steel Range is hit by another 2 torpedoes (from I-169) and sinks. Parts of the 2nd USMC Division are rescued.

Betties from Alor Star find 2 Dutch CL at Palembang. The Dragon is hit twice (heavy damage), the Durban is not even on fire after one hit. I move my small air combat TF closer to singapore to sink tthe ships.

Kates from Menado ignore some easier targets and attack the DD Peary without success. The AS Canopus, which was missed yesterday near Palawan, is not spotted again. I hope I will find it... It really helps the Allies if sub tenders manage to escape from Manila.

The transport TF 15 landed the Sasebo 3&8 CSNLF Brigade at Kuantan, supported by a big bombardment TF. This provoked a reaction of the RAF, so we saw a few Allied bombers again. Results are not exactly encouraging for Drew:

Day Air attack on TF, near Kuantan [Malaya] at 24,48
Japanese aircraft
F1M2 Pete-FF x 9

Allied aircraft
Swordfish I x 4
Blenheim IV/Bolngbrk x 8
Vildebeest/Vincent x 4

Allied aircraft losses
Swordfish I: 2 destroyed
Blenheim IV/Bolngbrk: 2 destroyed, 4 damaged
Vildebeest/Vincent: 2 destroyed one shot down by the biplanes

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Ise
BB Nagato

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x Blenheim IV/Bolngbrk bombing at 7000 feet
2 x Vildebeest/Vincent launching torpedoes at 200 feet
2 x Swordfish I bombing at 5000 feet

Sweeps against Rangoon and Manila shot down 9 fighters. The Allied air losses are very low all over the map because their planes simply don't fight...

The army bombers in Malaya are busy again. 187 sorties against Indian troops in Taiping were flown. There was no ground combat in Malaya today (except the Allied bombardment triggered by the landing in Kuantan). One enemy unit entered the hex south of Malacca. This canceled the movement of the 3rd tank brigade

Our troops finally capture Rabaul. Progress is slow in this area. I have neither many troops nor a strong navy there. I'm especially short of aviation support. Perhaps I should really bring the KB to make sure I can capture and hold all strategically important bases in the region.

I start to invade in the Aleutians. Today I captured Kiska Island and started to unload troops at Adak Island. Landing up there in the winter causes huge disablements to my troops, even without any defenders... I don't have any big ambitions in the north (like attacking Dutch Harbor or even further), I simply want to prevent a quick Allied offensive there.

In China, I captured Hong Kong as described above. Besides this, 2 Divisions were repulsed 0:1 when they attacked superioro Chinese forces without proper air support (at 47,38 and 50,38). I should not underestimate the combat power of undisrupted Chinese units any more...

While catching up with the game, I mixed things up a bit. Today we got Rahaeng in Thailand without troops. Yesterday it was Catanduanes [Samar] - an unimportant dot in the PI.

I received a lot of Thai troops and aircraft today or yesterday (can't recall exactly). I'm not sure how freely I can use them according to the "primary house rule"... My plan is to use them in Malaya and Burma, I hope this is ok.

The Thai navy is delayed because of economic problems and will arrive slowly over the next week.

Bad thing: The Thai fighter units shall have Axis Hawks, but I don't have nearly enough of these in the pool. So one unit arrived with only 5 planes, 2 units are still "organizing". They will probably arrive upgraded to Oscar I once I have produced enough of them. One of these biplane bomber units arrived upgraded to Mary, because I didn't have a large enough pool of these crappy planes, too.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 18
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/12/2008 7:33:06 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/22/41

This turn the Allies got a couple of small victories in the war between surface ships and subs.

The first ASW-attack went well for us - I-20 evaded 4 DDs unscratched. But it became worse. SS Permit was attacked by 5 Japanese destroyers and received only one near miss. Then the worst thing happened:

Sub attack near Palau [Nanyo] at 51,68

Japanese Ships
DM Ikitsushima, Torpedo hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
SS Searaven

I was very worried that the large DM would sink (64/56/38). Well, the AAR is still one turn behind, so I know that the ship will most probably survive (72/59/1 today). GREAT firefighting in the size 4 port of Palau! (There's a MLE in the port - does it help repairing a DM, or only ML?)

By the way, Drew loves to park his subs in my port hexes. First I figured on a lot of minefields everywhere, but no, these subs stay there and wait for ships, they don't lay mine fields. I already intercepted some Allied minelayers, but I didn't encounter a minefield, yet.

Then the Allies had another 5 ASW attacks. 3 of them were not successful, but I-20 and I-164 were damaged by one direct hit and some near misses each. Both subs will survive, but their missions are over - they need extensive repairs.

Our aircraft dealt out some revenge:
The bombers of the CVE/CVL task force attacked those Dutch CLs again. The Dragon was sunk by another 2 torpedo hits, the Durban is heavily damaged by 1 bomb and 1 torpedo hit.

Betties and Nells from Gerogetown and Saigon attacked shipping at Singapore and sank the ML Kung Wo and heavily damaged the DMS pair Burnie & Maryborough. They miss another DMS pair, a PG and a PC pair, though.

Kates from the Ryuho sink the AP Van Imhoff at Kendari, a strike from Menado sinks the AK Joan Moller.

Allied bombers from Singapore attacked my BB group at Kuantan again - they lost another 2 Vildebeest and 2 Swordfish for no hits.

In Malaya, Taiping was attacked by 187 bombers again (all attacks hit the IA 22BtyMtnAty + 6th Brigade). My troops entered Taiping and Kuala Lumpur in the south, so there is no more retreat path for Taiping. I order a deliberate attack.

There are some problems in the south. I have troops in the hex between Malacca and Jahore Bharu. But Allied troops from Malacca can still enter this hex. Today I attacked and a Ghurka brigade retreated - towards Jahore Bharu. I can never move to Malacca or Jahore Bharu if some Allied troops enter this hex at least every other turn, thus most of the troops in Malacca might escape to Singapore. I hope I can force one retreat for them at least, so they will have low morale.

In the north I capture Adak Island without resistance, no other ground combat occured.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 19
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/12/2008 8:45:23 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/23/41

The AAR catches up again. Today I mailed to Drew, that the Allied subs seem to use Japanese sub doctrine. They didn't hit a single transport yet, but today my first capital ship was damaged - by a sub. That's 4th warship hit by those pests...

Besides this, today the first non-static LCUs surrendered.


Let's start with the worst, the sub attack against my BB force:

Sub attack near Kuantan [Malaya] at 24,48

Japanese Ships
BB Ise, Torpedo hits 1
DD Maikaze
DD Hagikaze
DD Hibiki
DD Asashio
DD Arashi
DD Nowaki

Allied Ships
SS S-40, hits 1 direct hit, but that's a small comfort...

Damage isn't too bad. I use the opportunity and give a list of all warships with more than 5 sys damage:



That's all, only one sub and one APD are sunk. You see, my fleet is still in a very good shape - mostly because of the inactivity of the Allied air forces, I think.

I-169 failed to deal out the revenge immeditely - she found the BB Nevada -- but missed her. It's reversed history - my subs do better against transports. I-160 sinks AK Siaoe in the Makassar Straight, I-158 heavily damages the very small AP Basilan (loaded with troops) off Brunei.

I-24 hit AK Mercury near Palmyra and received one direct DC hit from it's escorts in return. The replay said "critical damage", but it is only 3/39/0. I move the sub out of the shipping line for a few turns, then the floatation should be down even at sea.


Betties from Cagayan sink the large AK Absaroka (loaded with troops) and heavily damage PG Tulsa at Bataan.

I took a risk and sent my CVE/CVL task force at full speed to the Java Sea. This was a failure - 18 Kates and 13 Vals attacked a ASW TF of 3 DDs and score nothing but a single bomb hit on DD John D. Edwards. The Dutch response was laughable - 6 Martins escorted by a single Brewster attacked at 15,000 feet. The CAP shot the fighter down, but didn't hit a bomber (3 Zekes were dmaged by the gunners!), but they didn't hit the ships from that altitude, of course. My TF turns around immeditely.

No other naval strikes were flown - one of the most quiet days in that area so far. I really expected more action.

After another strike of 143 aircraft, my troops attacked sucessfully in Taiping. They got 4:1 (647:139) and captured the place completely intact. The retreat path was closed, so the first "real" troops surrendered:


Allied ground losses:
13797 casualties reported
Guns lost 61
Vehicles lost 845
My forces will be united soon. The new year will probably start with the first attacks against Singapore.

For some reason, there appeared an Allied Unit in the hex east of Malacca. I don't know where they came from - the hex was Japanese controlled and I have troops in Kuala Lumpur. Did they come from Malacca? There is no road connecting these hexes... Or can a unit from singapore "jump" over a occupied hex in a 2-hex-movement? I asked Drew in my mail, I'll see if he answeres this.

To stop such things, I try an Attack in Kuala Lumpur today. My army isn't strong, there, but a bombardment attack showed only 88 defending AV vs. 773 attacking, so I think it's worth the risk. I count on these ~150 army bomber which will attack the city today.

In China I was unwary again and got another 0:1 on a road hex. Losses weren't high, though. At 51,31, I push back a guerilla unit.

Troops capture the undefended places Khorat (Thailand) (only 2 out of 120 ressources damaged) and Amchitka Island (Aleutians).
Chang Rai (northern Thailand) was converted without troops (30 ressources).



_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 20
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/15/2008 11:51:43 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/24/41

Headline of the day is the fall of Kuala Lumpur with very low damage (12 ressources and 5 oil damaged, IIRC). All non-static units had left the city before the attack took place. All in all, it was a very quiet day and thus the AAR is fairly short.


There's not much to report from the seas I-158 sinks the damaged AP Basilan with another torpedo hit. In return, SS Salmon hits AP Daigen Maru near Palau. The AP has half of an construction batallion aboard. I'm optimistic, that it can unload at palau before it sinks.

Our Navy did many ASW attacks, but didn't score solid hits. But today the ASW aircraft did a great job: SS Dolphin was hit by a Val from the KB, a Mavis hits S-41, Marys hit S-39 and SS Trusty. Four hits after four days without any hits!

Kates from Manado damage the AK Forafric with a torpedo. an attack off CVL Ryuho sinks AK Sagoland with 3 hits. Betties from Cagayan hit TK Gertrude Kellog with 3 torpedoes near Palawan, but miss AV Langley. There were some TFs fleeing to that direction over the last days, I send my CVL/CVE force near Kuching to catch the survivors.

There were several small attacks by Martins and Blenheims against BBs and CA Nachi, but no hits.


On the ground I capture Kuala Lumpur as I wrote above. My troops were quite weak and got only 2:1 against the supply sink, but it was enough. unfortunally most of his troops managed to flee to Jahore Bharu or will probably make the escape very soon. Next step is to take Malakka, and then organize the attack against JB and finally Singapore.

Besides this, we capture Kavieng in the south and Adak Island in the north. The invasion force for Attu is still in Japan (now loading on transports), this will conclude my campaign in the Aleutians. I don't want to go further east. I hope Drew will not start his first counteroffensive in the north - I don't like that area at all.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 21
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/16/2008 2:39:00 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/25/41

The headline today are dominated by heavy air battles. Unfortunately the Allies won some of them...
Besides this, we see some surface combat again.


First I can report a success in my ASW campaign. After several unsuccessful sorties, a ASW group (5 DDs) finally manages to sink SS Permit with several direct DC hits. This sub camped in the port of Camranh Bay for several days.

In a surface fight near Palawan CL Natori and 3 DDs sank the heavily damaged TK Gertrude Kellogg.

I took some risk and detached CA Nachi and 2 DDs from the Ryoko task force and sent them out to raid Balikapan. I moved the CVL with it's remaining destroyers farther into the Makassar Straight as well.

The first part of the gambit worked quite well. First my raiders met a ASW group of 4 flush deck DDs. It was a short skirmish without many hits. DD Barker was set on fire by one shell hit. DD Parrot got a hit, too, but without serious damage. Then my ships met the lone TK P. J. Duinker and sank it. Then there was another short skirmish with those 4 DDs, but no hits were scored (actually only one American DD fired a single burst).

In the morning, the CVL sent out 12 Kates escorted by only 4 Claudes to attack the destroyers. They met a CAP of 14 Warhawks . I think it was a good thing that the escort was not larger - the Claudes don't have the slightest chance against Warhawks... I lost all Claudes and 2 Kates. But the remaining bombers sank the burning DD Barker, so it was probably worth the losses. A afternoon strike by 9 Kates went unescorted - I lost another Kate and damaged the TK Anastasia with one torpedo hit. Now I reunite the TF and send it to Indochina to upgrade the fighters and replace the lost bombers.

The other CVL and CVEs reached their new patrol area between Singapore and Kuching just in time to catch some ships which escaped from Manila to the west. The bombers sink the MSW pair Quail & Tanager, AK Princess of Negros and AS Otus. Another AS (Canopus) was set on fire by 2 bomb hits. I think they can sink it today. They missed the AK Palawan and Dos Hermanos - these might escape to Batavia.

Betties from Cagayan sink the damaged AK Forafric.


I did a first Zero sweep against the AVG group in Hengchow (China). It went quite well - 6:1 losses. Oscars sweeping Rangoon shot down 2 Buffalos for no loss. But the largest battle was over Jahore Bharu: 169 Army bombers (on airfield attack) escorted by 20 Oscars met a CAP of 31 Buffalos and 6 Wirraway. The escort put up a good resistance, but they were too few, so our losses were quite high:

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-I Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-32/30 Mary/Ann: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged
Ki-21-II Sally: 6 destroyed, 3 damaged

Allied aircraft losses
Buffalo/F2A: 5 destroyed, 4 damaged
Wirraway CA-1: 4 destroyed

Overall, we lost 32 planes today vs. only 20 Allied losses:


There was no ground combat in Malaya today. I'm going to consolidate my position over the next 2-3 days - move troops in place to assault Jahore Bharu and then Singapore and (most important) move aviation support and air groups to the south. Most of it is still concentrated in Georgetown and Kota Bharu - that's too far away for the battle for Singapore.

In Burma I capture Victoria Point and Ye - both without resistance and undamaged. These are probably the last easy captures there: Moulmein is defended by 4 units, I have only one division in the theatre (soon reinforced by a small Thai "division"). My division will enter Moulmein to stop the Allied supply production there, but then this front will probably become static until Singapore falls. It's a similiar situation on Luzon: I entered Lingayen and will enter Clark Field soon, but there's no way to advance until substantial reinforcements are available.


_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 22
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/17/2008 11:53:20 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/26/41

Today the HMS Prince of Wales sank SW of Ceylon! This is great news - the best Allied BB is gone.
Besides this, today was a very quiet turn. I didn't lose a single aircraft - I think that never happened before.


The night started with a successful ASW attack - S-39 is hit by one DC N off Luzon and got "heavy damage". Another small sub (S-41) was hit by an Ida search plane in the afternoon.

Then were was a very "unfair" surface action: The name "Fortuna" didn't provide any luck. Two hexes west of Kuching the small AK and 2 of it's sister ships (Governor Taft and Governor Wood) were attacked by a huge TF of 3 BBs, 2 CA, 1 CS and 5 DD. Of course they were all sunk (loaded with some troops from Luzon). For some reason this battlegroup moved into the hex of Kuching in the morning. I have no idea why... At least they didn'f find mines there .

In the afternoon, PG Oahu was sunk by I-154 (2 torpedo hits against the tiny ship - great aiming )


The planes of my CVE force didn't find AS Canopus again. They only launched a largely oversized strike (26 planes) against the small, already damaged (by searchplane) AK Lipis at Jahore Bharu. The ships are almost out of sorties now, but I let them stay for another day.

Nells from Tavoy sink 2 river AK (CW Bassein and CW Hinzada) at Hinzada, Burma. No other naval attacks were flown. A Mavis hits a ship with the name "Luzon". I don't know what it is (PG?). One of my subs was spotted by SDBs at 126,76, so there is at least one CV southeast of Hawaii. Will he try to oppose me in the South Pacific? Time will show... The KB passed Kwajalein in the north and will reach Truk within a few days.

The Allied planes try a few very small high altitude attacks (2-6 planes, always above 10'000 feet) every day now. Again they didn't hit anything.

Many aviation support units are marching in Malaya, thus it was a very quiet day there, too. A small strike by Thai biplanes revealed, that the unit on the trail between Kuching and Mersing is only a Fwd Air Stn EAB, so I won't need much garrison at these bases.

In ground combat, one brigade and a small support unit were forced to retreat to Jahore Bharu. I didn't order movement into JB today. Tomorrow more troops will arrive and most of my planes will have AV support again. Then I'm going to advance.

I capture Udan Thani [Thai] without resistance, only 1 ressource center damaged. The last DDs of the Thai Navy arrived today. They are all very small and useful as convoy escorts only. One of the 2 "organizing" Thai fighter units arrived today - with one Axis Hawk and 1 pilot (max 27). Very annoying it is!

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 23
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/21/2008 11:11:40 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/27/41

Today there's not much to report. At Midway the AK Regulus sank, thus the bombing run by the KB on 12/18 did actually achieve something.


At sea, almost nothing happened today. RO-33 missed both PG Soemba and ML Krakatau near Kendari - I'll need some MSWs when I invade there .

The CVE force finds AS Canopus again - to my surprise it went further to the east. Kates hit with 2 torpedoes, so the ship will most probably not survive. Kates from Menado hit DD Parrott and DD Balmer with one bomb each (Balmer is at "heavy damage").


In China, another sweep against the AVG in Hengchow does very well (8:0 losses). After airstrikes by 87 bombers we throw the ROCA 25th Field Army and a guerilla battalion out of the important road hex 50,37 west of Nanking. The supply situation in central China should improve now. The weather forecast predicts thunderstorms all over China, so I down most airgroups today to avoid unnecessary op losses.

That's it for today. My troops didn't capture any new places, but I got Mamburao (SW of Manila) for free.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 24
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/21/2008 11:37:04 AM   
bigbaba


Posts: 1238
Joined: 11/3/2006
From: Koblenz, Germany
Status: offline 		nice read and nice start in the game, bogo. keep em coming.

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 25
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/21/2008 11:56:01 AM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/28/41

Another quiet turn without decisive action. But my subs were very busy all over the map.

The Allies are getting serious with their ASW campaign. There were lots of ASW attacks against my subs today. Most were unsuccessful, but 1-160 was moderately damaged by DD Paul Jones in the Makassar straight. And they scored their first searchplane hit today: I-153 was hit by a Catalina near Balikapan. Damage is quite heavy (53/66/0), I hope the boat survives.

But my subs are not only victims yet. Close to the NW coast of Australia, I-155 heavily damages AK Siantar with 1 torpedo and 2 shell hits (but misses AK Van der Bosh later). RO-33 made up for it's failure yesterday and sinks ML Krakatau on it's way back.

A small strike by only 7 Betties hits the oil loaded tankers Seirstad and P. P. Buisman with 2 torpedoes each south (well, on the left side of the map...) of Sumatra. nice hit ratio!

Tomorrow the KB will complete it's journey and arrive at Truk. CVL Ryoko will reach saigon as well. There will be a heavy hit on my pools of navy planes and pilots.


On Luzon, Aparri expands the airfield to size 3. I need size 4, so level bombers can attack with full bomb load from there.

In the Malaya campaign, a sweep over Singapore meets only 6 Buffalos (and downs 5 of them). I think all the fighters do LRCAP over Jahore Bharu. The spearhead of my troops will enter this place tomorrow. I order sweeps and airstrikes. With a size 4 airfield that close to Singapore, I can start to soften the fortress.

A construction batallion captures Fakfak in SW New Guinea. I'm going to build a strong base there to protect the flank of Timor and to defend northern NG. Paras from Truk capture Admirality Islands.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 26
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/24/2008 12:00:57 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/29/41

Today was probably the last of a series of quiet turns - first troops entered Jahore Bharu and will attack tomorrow. If everything works as planned, I will capture Mersing and Kuantan on New Year's Day and start the first assault against Singapore less than one week later.


The Thai navy had it's first combat today: SS RTN Blajunbol SSC attacked AK Matang near Riouw and set her fuel load on fire with 4 MG hits. The torpedo missed, though. Then there was a surface combat. Think small:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Johore Bahru [MLA] at 22,50

Japanese Ships
PT Gyoraitei Division 1

Allied Ships
LCVP RN Singapore LCP Grp, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire

Only "on fire" after 2 torpedo hits - quite sturdy barges...

Today was the first day of the war without any Japanese naval attacks. The Allies attacked a transport TF at Fakfak with 6 Hudsons, but didn't hit.

AP Daigen Maru sinks in Palau - my 4th ship lost to enemy action (SS Salmon, 5 days ago).

The first air attacks against Jahore Bharu met a CAP of only 8 Buffalos (5 destroyed) and 2 Wirraways (1 shot down). Not much - I think he evacuated some of his fighter units already.

118 army bombers attacked in 2 waves. Both waves hit the AA 27th (++) AIF Brigade, it is probably by far the largest of the 4 defending units. They lost 166 men, 11 guns and 4 vehicles.

A small landing force captures Morotai in the south. Other troops throw a guerilla unit out of the road crossing east of Hanoi (38,37). There is another unit north of this crossing, I have to find out what it is.


A big welcome party took place at Truk - the KB returned from it's great voyage. I filled out all the squadrons without looking at the pools first - I needed 99 pilots for carrier planes and 10 for float planes. Then I checked the pilot pool - 1 (in words: one) navy pilot left. Schwein gehabt - no rookies in the KB . The Ryuho wll have to wait in Saigon for 2-3 days, she need 6 pilots to upgrade the Claudes to a full strength Zero unit. The Val pool is down to 8, Zeroes ca. 30 (I'll need many Zeros to upgrade obsolete Claudes all over the map). The Kates have a comfortable pool (ca. 60). Maybe I produce to many of them...

I'm still not sure what to do with the KB now. It will be needed when I start my campaign against Port Moresby, but this will not start before late February or even later (How long will Singapore hold?).
Maybe I should do a raid to Fidji or Sydney? I don't think I need the KB in the SRA now, and I'm not planning a huge India campaign.

< Message edited by Bogo Mil -- 7/24/2008 12:08:10 PM >

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 27
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 7/29/2008 3:18:25 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/30/41

Last turn I messed something up. I did half the turn and then quit the game without saving, then I had to do everything again. Unfortunally I forgot to do something... So the troops in Jahore Bharu didn't attack and it became another quiet turn. Good news: CL Durban sank from old damage.

A turn can hardly be more quiet on the seas. There was not a single naval combat, ASW or sub attack today. The only attacks by aircraft were two small strikes (3 Martins, 6 Hudsons), which didn't hit anything. In Burma, some Nells sank a river transport (CW Mandalay) - but that's not "at sea", is it?

At Jahore Bharu, sweeps destroy another 10 British fighters. The bombers stayed at home, there is terrible weather all over Malaya and China again. Now I really ordered the attack (yes, I double checked it ). It will be quite huge, since most of my army is in the hex already...
Next turn there will be the first landings on Borneo (Kuching and Jesselton). I'm still reluctant to take the big production centers, because I don't want to divert fighters to defend them, yet. But I think I will take most of Borneo in the second half of January.

Turn sequence is very slow at the moment. First I had some stress (see first paragraph...), now Drew has vacations. Well, we expected this it to be a slow game, I'm actually more surprised that we are at the end of '41 already. I'm going to post some summaries on in the first week of the new year.

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 28
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 8/22/2008 6:59:45 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		The game goes very very slow at the moment. There are vacations, and we lost another week because one mail didn't arrive for some unknown reason. Well, Drew is away again and I have some time to catch up the 2 (in words: two) turns we did over almost a month.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/31/41

Headline of the day is a hopefully decisive battle at Jahore Bharu. Our troops advanced very fast and managed to cut the retreat path to Singapore. Thus 3 brigades (AA 27th, IA 44th and 45th) and a small EAB were forced to retreat to Mersing, where they are trapped.

The naval action focused on 2 Japanese subs: I-5 was attacked by an ASW group close to the American west coast. It got only 5 near misses (inlcuding one fuel leak), but sys damage 12, so I sent her home. Farther south, I-26 did much better and damaged the troop loaded APD Gregory heavily with a torpedo.

The CVL TF launched several strikes against the crippled AS Canopus, of course it is sunk now. Besides this, there were not many airstrikes - mostly because of bad weather., but also because I had to rest some airgoups.

As mentioned above, I captured Jahore Bharu. I immediately pushed our stacking limit of 55*AF size and placed 203 level bombers and 14 Oscars there. Tomorrow we'll see the first attack against Singapore since the initial strike on 12/7!

Besides this, I captured Aitape (NG) without troops. Yesterday I got New Hannover Island that way, but forgot to mention it in the AAR.

I promised some summaries. First the intel screen. Unfortunally I missed a 1:1 point ratio:



Allied warships sunk (plus 12 DD, 2 AVD and several patrol and mine vessels):



Japanese warships lost: 1 APD, 1 SS.

Finally a summary of the air losses in Dec 41:


_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 29
RE: Hong Kong falls! - 8/22/2008 8:07:35 PM   
Bogo Mil

 

Posts: 286
Joined: 1/28/2008
Status: offline 		AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 01/01/42

Headline of the day is a naval battle near Balkapan. I sent CL Natori and 3 DDs there to catch some loading merchants. Maybe they were spotted, maybe it was pure coincidence: They met two CL and and an old DD instead, and a series of fierce firefights started:

First we achieved surpise. Our DDs aimed their torpedoes very well and hit all enemy vessels:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan [Borneo] at 31,64

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, Shell hits 12, on fire
DD Murakumo
DD Sazanami
DD Satsuki, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
CL Marblehead, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CL Boise, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
DD Stewart, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage


Then the Boise struck back:

Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan [Borneo] at 31,64

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
DD Murakumo, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Sazanami, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Satsuki, Shell hits 1, on fire

Allied Ships
CL Boise, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Stewart, Shell hits 6, and is sunk

Finally we find a merchant ship. But prolonged firefights are not good for heavily damaged ships - float damage increases each round. I had to scuttle CL Natori at 87/97/27 damage. The enemy TK will probably survive.

Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan [Borneo] at 31,64

Japanese Ships
CL Natori, on fire, heavy damage
DD Murakumo, on fire
DD Sazanami, on fire
DD Satsuki, on fire

Allied Ships
TK Benakat, Shell hits 10, on fire

Later another Allied DD showed up and sank DD Sazanami, which didn't retreat from Balikapan for some unknown reason:

Day Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan [Borneo] at 31,64

Japanese Ships
DD Murakumo, Shell hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sazanami, Shell hits 12, and is sunk

Allied Ships
DD Paul Jones

Well, let's summarize: I lose CL Natori and 1-3 DDs (DD Murakumo is at 68/36/43, DD Satsuki 55/45/20 -- both may sink). The Allies lose CL Marblehead and a flush deck destroyer, CL Boise and a small tanker are damaged. Doesn't look very well - equal losses are good for the Allies. On the other hand, this battle crippled the ABDA fleet. Two Dutch CL were already sunk, now Marblehead is gone and Boise has severe damage - at least in the short run the result is good for me. I send my CVL force south again - maybe I can catch the burning Boise. This would turn the draw into a Japanese victory, I think.


A Dutch sub scored against one of my ASW groups, but got hurt in the process, too:

Sub attack at 29,47

Japanese Ships
APD Patrol Boat No. 37, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
PC Shirataka
APD Patrol Boat No. 39
APD Patrol Boat No. 35
APD Patrol Boat No. 33

Allied Ships
SS KXIV, hits 5, on fire


Because of the naval battle, the prefigured event didn't make the headline of the day. But I can announce that the air raid against Singapore went very well. Our fighters score 8:1 against the defending Buffalos, we destroy 9 bombers on the ground. 7 Sallys and 2 Dinahs were lost to the flak, but they had to pay a lot of blood for this achievement:
Allied ground losses:
1203 casualties reported
Guns lost 28
Vehicles lost 21

Tomorrow our first troops enter Mersing, so Kuantan won't have a retreat path any more. I order an attack with good air support, this will give me another size 4 airbase in striking range to Singapore tomorrow if everything goes well.

Today Japanese troops capture Kuching (fortress surrendered, more troops retreated west), Jesselton and Taytay. Now I passed 1:1 VP ratio (11631:11579).

_____________________________

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Benjamin Franklin)

(in reply to Bogo Mil)
Post #: 30
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