bristolduke
Posts: 109
Joined: 12/7/2007
Status: offline
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Dec 19-23
Its been awhile since I've had a chance to update. Not much is happening particularly good things. I guess I can say I accurately reflected the Japanese mentality of detailed planning in the opening stages. The broad based aggressive attack was dependent upon it mostly working. The failure to take Singkawang and Kuchang with the initial invasions leaves a hole where I am unable to setup the long range bombing of Java and thus have to rely totally on fighters to protect Palembang. This is not only increasing our losses, but it also not very affective against Mike and Mike's aggressive countering. The initial plan called for utilizing most of the 14th, 15th,16th and 25th armies plus the Imperial Guard, in an attempt to overwhelm, Singapore and the Philippines. There were little in backup assets. Still I have some reinforcements coming to Singkawang. To be safe I preceded them with a battleship surface fleet covered by the carriers (also using the carrier search. They were hiding in Kuchang and came out the night of the 21/22. I don't think they realized this was not an invasion. the results were predictable.
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Singkawang at 56,87, Range 10,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato
BB Mutsu
CA Takao
CL Suzuya
CL Kumano
CL Tone
DD Nowaki
DD Arashi
DD Hagikaze
Allied Ships
CL Durban, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Van Nes, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
We searched for another couple of days and have found nothing. The invasion fleet should arrive tomorrow covered by both surface and air combat fleets. After taking Singkawang, I will move forces to Kuchang and take it. I will continue to try and find a way to air cover Palembang another few days despite the cost.
On the east side, the failure to take Tarakan has left him with a base to attack Miri by air. He has re-entered that base after it was clear my initial landing wasn't sufficient. I have decided to use the Fast transports in Saigon and Cam Rahn Bay to pick up the 61st Guards from the northern Burma efforts and re-inforce the Tarakan invasion. Which brings us to the Balikpapan operation. This has been and still is a lively theater. Because of his past history and naval hit and runs I thought I would try for a "significant" naval battle with Force Z on the assumption he would raid Balikpapan. A cruiser based surface fleet was stationed at the entrance to Balikpapan. I was right as he raided. but first it was a motor boat force on the 19/20th
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan at 64,98, Range 1,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CA Myoko
CA Haguro
CA Nachi
CA Ashigara
DD Mutsuki
DD Kisaragi
DD Yayoi
DD Mochizuki
DD Mazabuki
Allied Ships
MTB 7
MTB 8, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB 9
MTB 10
MTB 11, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB 12
Then on the 21st, Force Z showed up.
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Day Time Surface Combat, near Balikpapan at 65,98, Range 21,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
CA Myoko, Shell hits 7
CA Haguro, Shell hits 17, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Nachi, Shell hits 1
CA Ashigara, Shell hits 1
DD Mutsuki
DD Kisaragi, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Yayoi, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Mochizuki
DD Mazabuki, Shell hits 1
Allied Ships
BC Renown, Shell hits 2
CA Cornwall, Shell hits 3, on fire
CA Exeter, Shell hits 6, heavy fires
CL Tromp, Shell hits 5, heavy fires
CL Danae, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Glasgow, Shell hits 14, heavy fires
DD Tenedos
DD Sands, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD King, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Lawrence, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD John Barry, Shell hits 1
I didn't get the Renown, but did put a serious dent in Force Z which should help us in our Java operations. I tried to chase him, but he was still fast enough to get away. I am probably losing the Cruiser, but all in all it looks like a good encounter.
That is not the only action at Balikpapn. he has developed a very interesting defensive strategy, even though I have take the base. There are still mines at Balikpapan, he has apparently place 2 subs in the harbor as well. We damaged one on the 19th but as you see he didn't leave.
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ASW attack near Balikpapan at 64,97
Japanese Ships
DMS Shimushu
xAP Miike Maru
DD Nenohi
Allied Ships
SS S-40, hits 2
then following night
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TF 310 encounters mine field at Balikpapan (64,97)
Japanese Ships
DMS Shimushu
19 mines cleared
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Submarine attack near Balikpapan at 64,97
Japanese Ships
DMS Shimushu
Allied Ships
SS Perch
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ASW attack near Balikpapan at 64,97
Japanese Ships
xAK Amagi Maru
DD Nenohi
Allied Ships
SS S-40
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Submarine attack near Balikpapan at 64,97
Japanese Ships
DMS Shimushu
On the night of 21/22
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TF 310 encounters mine field at Balikpapan (64,97)
Japanese Ships
DMS Shimushu
22 mines cleared
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TF 310 encounters mine field at Balikpapan (64,97)
Japanese Ships
DMS Shimushu
24 mines cleared
on the 22nd
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TF 310 encounters mine field at Balikpapan (64,97)
Japanese Ships
DMS Shimushu
26 mines cleared
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Submarine attack near Balikpapan at 64,97
Japanese Ships
DMS Shimushu, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS Perch
So I am stuck with the problem of clearing mines and not losing DMS. If I escort the DMS in the mines hit the escorts and If I don't the subs get the DMS. I will probably try to bring in a large number of DMS covered by PB/PC and see if that helps. I still have to clear Singapore/Bataan and I don't want the losses to mount. We already lost a few DMS to one of his "surprise" surface raiders.
In the Philippines, Manila has proven stubborn. The approach was to use heavy ground attack from the air followed by deliberate attacks on the ground. However, only on the 2oth did that happen.
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Morning Air attack on Asiatic Fleet , at 79,77 (Manila)
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 14 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 57
G3M2 Nell x 27
G4M1 Betty x 39
Japanese aircraft losses
G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged
Allied ground losses:
107 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)
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Morning Air attack on Asiatic Fleet , at 79,77 (Manila)
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 25 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 8 minutes
Japanese aircraft
G4M1 Betty x 15
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 2 damaged
Allied ground losses:
82 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
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Morning Air attack on 91st PA Infantry Division, at 79,77 (Manila)
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2
G4M1 Betty x 19
Japanese aircraft losses
G4M1 Betty: 1 damaged
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Ground combat at Manila (79,77)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 29665 troops, 233 guns, 204 vehicles, Assault Value = 939
Defending force 40883 troops, 405 guns, 172 vehicles, Assault Value = 813
Japanese adjusted assault: 104
Allied adjusted defense: 721
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 6 (fort level 1)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
1533 casualties reported
Squads: 40 destroyed, 138 disabled
Non Combat: 26 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Guns lost 11 (5 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Vehicles lost 83 (66 destroyed, 17 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
915 casualties reported
Squads: 20 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 22 (3 destroyed, 19 disabled)
Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Regiment
4th Division
48th Recon Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
65th Brigade
16th Recon Regiment
9th Infantry Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
20th Infantry Regiment
2nd Recon Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
22nd Recon Regiment
Defending units:
57th PS Infantry Regiment
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
27th Avn Sup
91st PA Infantry Division
45th PS Infantry Regiment
51st PA Infantry Division
71st PA Infantry Division
35th Avn Sup
21st PA Infantry Division
192nd Tank Battalion
1st Constabulary Regiment
4th Marine Regiment
31st Infantry Regiment
194th Tank Battalion
41st PA Infantry Division
2nd Constabulary Regiment
803rd Aviation Engineer Battalion
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
Far East USAAF
Nichols Field AAF Base Force
!/23rd PS FA Battalion
Clark Field AAF Base Force
Asiatic Fleet
I/Prov'nl SPM Grp
Cavite USN Base Force
II/Prov'nl SPM Grp
24th PS FA Regiment
US Forces Far East
II Corps
86th PS Field Artillery Battalion
88th PS Field Artillery Regiment
I Corps
11th PAAC Avn Sup
24th Avn Sup
III/Prov'nl SPM Grp
the other days no air flew due to weather but the attacks went anyway and did nofare well.
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Ground combat at Manila (79,77)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 32182 troops, 266 guns, 129 vehicles, Assault Value = 831
Defending force 40468 troops, 402 guns, 171 vehicles, Assault Value = 776
Japanese adjusted assault: 67
Allied adjusted defense: 811
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 12 (fort level 1)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: disruption(-)
Japanese ground losses:
2608 casualties reported
Squads: 50 destroyed, 110 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 49 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 24 (20 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 36 (9 destroyed, 27 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
1024 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 51 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 52 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 12 (3 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Assaulting units:
47th Infantry Regiment
16th Recon Regiment
48th Recon Regiment
65th Brigade
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
9th Infantry Regiment
4th Division
20th Infantry Regiment
2nd Recon Regiment
22nd Recon Regiment
4th Tank Regiment
2nd Tank Regiment
Defending units:
35th Avn Sup
21st PA Infantry Division
31st Infantry Regiment
4th Marine Regiment
71st PA Infantry Division
194th Tank Battalion
27th Avn Sup
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
1st Constabulary Regiment
57th PS Infantry Regiment
91st PA Infantry Division
45th PS Infantry Regiment
51st PA Infantry Division
192nd Tank Battalion
41st PA Infantry Division
2nd Constabulary Regiment
86th PS Field Artillery Battalion
Clark Field AAF Base Force
803rd Aviation Engineer Battalion
88th PS Field Artillery Regiment
24th PS FA Regiment
II/Prov'nl SPM Grp
I/Prov'nl SPM Grp
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
Nichols Field AAF Base Force
Asiatic Fleet
US Forces Far East
11th PAAC Avn Sup
I Corps
Far East USAAF
II Corps
24th Avn Sup
Cavite USN Base Force
!/23rd PS FA Battalion
III/Prov'nl SPM Grp
With the disruption we waited a day, hoping the air attacks would continue, they did not. Then on the 23rd this
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Ground combat at Manila (79,77)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 32564 troops, 301 guns, 103 vehicles, Assault Value = 826
Defending force 43578 troops, 417 guns, 171 vehicles, Assault Value = 890
Japanese adjusted assault: 123
Allied adjusted defense: 745
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 6 (fort level 2)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
3160 casualties reported
Squads: 49 destroyed, 139 disabled
Non Combat: 22 destroyed, 89 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 17 (3 destroyed, 14 disabled)
Vehicles lost 48 (23 destroyed, 25 disabled)
Units destroyed 1
Allied ground losses:
834 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 81 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 37 disabled
Engineers: 3 destroyed, 10 disabled
Guns lost 15 (2 destroyed, 13 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (2 destroyed, 16 disabled)
Assaulting units:
2nd Tank Regiment
65th Brigade
4th Tank Regiment
48th Engineer Regiment
47th Infantry Regiment
1st Formosa Inf. Regiment
9th Infantry Regiment
20th Infantry Regiment
4th Division
2nd Recon Regiment
48th Recon Regiment
48th Field Artillery Regiment
16th Recon Regiment
22nd Recon Regiment
Defending units:
26th PS Cavalry Regiment
41st PA Infantry Division
57th PS Infantry Regiment
192nd Tank Battalion
45th PS Infantry Regiment
21st PA Infantry Division
51st PA Infantry Division
71st PA Infantry Division
91st PA Infantry Division
27th Avn Sup
1st PA Infantry Division
31st Infantry Regiment
4th Marine Regiment
1st Constabulary Regiment
194th Tank Battalion
2nd Constabulary Regiment
I/Prov'nl SPM Grp
11th PAAC Avn Sup
US Forces Far East
35th Avn Sup
86th PS Field Artillery Battalion
Clark Field AAF Base Force
II Corps
Cavite USN Base Force
24th PS FA Regiment
24th Avn Sup
!/23rd PS FA Battalion
803rd Aviation Engineer Battalion
Nichols Field AAF Base Force
Asiatic Fleet
88th PS Field Artillery Regiment
Far East USAAF
I Corps
200th & 515th Coast AA Regiment
II/Prov'nl SPM Grp
III/Prov'nl SPM Grp
He now has a level 2 fort back. They are just too strong to take on at the moment. While I wanted to have the Manila port (and all the VP with the forces), it is clear we need to choke them off a bit. Plus I don't want to drain alto of forces in this. The bigger surprie in not being able to take Bataan which he left undefended.
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Ground combat at Bataan (78,77)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 3818 troops, 25 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 125
Defending force 2320 troops, 110 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2
Japanese adjusted assault: 52
Allied adjusted defense: 35
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 1
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-)
Attacker: leaders(-)
Japanese ground losses:
25 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Allied ground losses:
35 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Assaulting units:
42nd Infantry Regiment
Defending units:
Manila Bay Defenses
Bataan USN Base Force
followed the next day with
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Ground combat at Bataan (78,77)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 3794 troops, 25 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 122
Defending force 2296 troops, 110 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2
Japanese adjusted assault: 47
Allied adjusted defense: 35
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker: fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
81 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Allied ground losses:
48 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Assaulting units:
42nd Infantry Regiment
Defending units:
Manila Bay Defenses
Bataan USN Base Force
Meanwhile the Midway operation is underway. I had split the KB and sent one way to the north to avoid detection and hopefully surprise the American carriers if they attempted to defend. The invasion force, covering surface fleet and carrier force came in from the west. It's a slow moving invasion force, so we certainly aren't going to surprise anyone. The plan didn't work because the fist force he spotted was the northern carrier force. So since that surprise didn't work they attacked the Kure base which showed some shipping, but none was found.
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Morning Air attack on Kure Island , at 157,90
Weather in hex: Severe storms
Raid spotted at 43 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 49
D3A1 Val x 78
No Japanese losses
So the next day we went after the Midway air bases,
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Morning Air attack on Midway Island , at 158,91
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 49
D3A1 Val x 78
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 2 damaged
Airbase hits 9
Runway hits 17
No planes were hit and none have attacked, so the assumption is he has evacuated Midway. The irony is the carrier TF coming from the west still has not been spotted. I expect the invasion to occur on the 25th.
Our only other highlight came on the 20th. I am moving the subs to the east of Pearl as the AWS activity is getting severe to the west. In doing so we passed to the North of PH and
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Submarine attack near Pearl Harbor at 181,107
Japanese Ships
SS I-175
Allied Ships
CL Detroit, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
We had hit here before, but this time we were taking no chances.
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Submarine attack near Pearl Harbor at 181,107
Japanese Ships
SS I-172
Allied Ships
CL Detroit, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
CL Detroit is sighted by SS I-172
Magazine explodes on CL Detroit
And then we found this down south
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Sub attack near Lahaina at 183,108
Japanese Ships
SS I-174
Allied Ships
CVE Langley, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Le Triomphant
Ammo storage explosion on CVE Langley
Going forward, I had planned to attack Java from both sides simultaneously. Given the forces still in Java I will take Ambon and Kendari next. I sent a carrier group scouting New Guinea to make sure no raiders are coming up and found nothing. I suspect they are laying in wait for me at attack Rabaul which is fine. The second carrier group is getting replenished, so I'll start those attacks just after Christmas.
I think that catches everyone up
Oh yea, one more. I was going to send the paratroops to Port Blair, hesitated due to the troubles at Palembang and Singkawang. Recon show he hmay have re-inforce Port Blair beyond the paratroopers ability to take it. However, first view of Ragoon shows nobody home. They have moved east to stop me at the river. if that is confirmed, then that will be the next drop.
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