apbarog
Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002 Status: offline
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4 Aug 43 Enemy cruisers start to retire from Munda, but PT boats react to them and engage, this time at night, and at 2000 yards with little moonlight. PT boats do launch 2 torpedoes, but both miss. 2 of the 4 PT boats are sunk. Sub Truant is located by 2 subchasers near Bataan, but is not hit. Truant just laid a minefield at Bataan. Cruisers Northampton, Louisville, and Salt Lake City, with 3 destroyers, sprint from Milne Bay to Torokina, hoping to intercept the retiring enemy cruisers. The cruisers are not found, but lone xAK Unkai Maru is found docked, and the cargo ship is sunk easily. Near Puerto Princesa, on the oil route from northern Borneo to Manila, sub Skate spots the usual tanker convoy, fires 4 torpedoes at tanker Ayazone Maru, gets 2 hits, but one of the hits is a dud. The one good hit sets the tanker on fire, as it has fuel loaded. An Allied sub just dropped some mines southwest of Osaka, in the shallows in the exit to the area. A destroyer and subchaser finds the minefield immediately, and starts sweeping. Too bad. Was hoping for something big here. Isolated enemy troops at Koepang are bombed by B-25s. Allied troops attack to good effect: Allied assault odds: 5 to 1 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 1887 casualties reported Squads: 68 destroyed, 43 disabled Non Combat: 13 destroyed, 26 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 27 (14 destroyed, 13 disabled) Allied ground losses: 206 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 21 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Guns lost 8 (3 destroyed, 5 disabled) Losses are acceptable, so I will continue to eliminate the enemy after a couple of days of rest. In Burma, an Allied offensive has begun. Heavy bombers hit Cox Bazar and Akyab, and will continue. Allied troops attack on the road between Chittagong and Cox Bazar. Ground combat at 55,43 (near Cox's Bazar) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 33646 troops, 476 guns, 737 vehicles, Assault Value = 1143 Defending force 14692 troops, 206 guns, 435 vehicles, Assault Value = 474 Allied adjusted assault: 590 Japanese adjusted defense: 995 Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), supply(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 1461 casualties reported Squads: 5 destroyed, 87 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 39 disabled Engineers: 2 destroyed, 40 disabled Guns lost 92 (12 destroyed, 80 disabled) Vehicles lost 70 (8 destroyed, 62 disabled) Allied ground losses: 420 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 35 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 30 disabled Guns lost 37 (1 destroyed, 36 disabled) Vehicles lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled) Assaulting units: 9th Indian Division 641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion 14th Indian Division 268th Motorised Brigade 255th Armoured Brigade 3rd USMC Tank Battalion 26th Indian Division XXXIII Indian Corps 78th Light AA Regiment Defending units: 1st Tank Division Imperial Guards/A Division 5th Field Construction Battalion 8th RF Gun Battalion 5th Mortar Battalion 15th Army /1 Things went surprisingly well for me. I expected an attritional battle here, one that could be long and require swapping fresh troops in and out. Results are encouraging. Allied troops will attack again today. Rest will probably be needed after that. I do believe that there is an infantry division at Cox Bazar. It could come in as a reinforcement, or it will be the next target. It will be nice to defeat the 1st Tank Division here. At Kendari, Allied artillery attacks continue as we wait for the combat engineers and armor to arrive. No hurry here. Allied carriers and the big ARD will make it to Gove today. Then I'll try again to use the ARD to repair Saratoga. Another guess as to why it didn't work at Groote Eylandt is that Groote Eylandt had about 13,000 supply. Maybe that isn't enough? Just guessing. The next test will be at Gove. It has lots more supply, as well as being a size 5 port, while Groote Eylandt is just a size 3 port.
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