MichaelU
Posts: 285
Joined: 9/8/2009
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March 28, 1942
It's a pretty big day in the war, as the first Japanese troops storm ashore at Kalidjati. Assume he picked this base, rather than Batavia, because it is lightly defended. By infantry at least. Because we got a couple of days warning from sigint that this was where we was landing, we had every aircraft in Java focused on defending this hex.
Mike's subs get multiple sightings and a few attacks, including a 4 torp spread against CVL Karasu. But alas, no hits. Our PT boats venture into the Makassar Strait where they run into BBs Hitachi and Tosa with lots of friends. They press their attack, lose one of their number and score zero hits. So far so good for the Japanese.
Sure enough, the first light of dawn reveals a massive Japanese transport flotilla sitting off Kalidjati. Our bombers have been taking off since before dawn, and the first wave to make it over the beaches is the Dutch, escorted by a squadron of B339Ds. They run into a buzzsaw of Zeros, we assume flying from the carriers sitting about 4 hexes off the coast, and get cut to pieces. Those that make it through hit nothing.
But we didn't expect them to do anything, they are just there to distract the air defenses for the Banshees and Vildebeest. Which now start to appear in small groups. The CAP has been scattered all over by the time the first Banshees arrive, and our boys get to work. I'll post in a series of attack reports.
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Kalidjati at 50,99
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 14
P-40E Warhawk x 17
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Kinka Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Kenyo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Sakura Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kogyo Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
165 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 37 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 14 (4 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Vehicles lost 18 (6 destroyed, 12 disabled)
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Kalidjati at 50,99
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
Allied aircraft
Vildebeest III x 11
Hurricane IIb Trop x 5
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Tosan Maru
AK Kinka Maru, on fire
xAK Kogyo Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
Japanese ground losses:
78 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 51 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 8 (3 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Vehicles lost 115 (83 destroyed, 32 disabled)
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Kalidjati at 50,99
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
Allied aircraft
Vildebeest III x 11
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Sakura Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Sasako Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
DD Asashio, Bomb hits 1
AK Tosan Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
Japanese ground losses:
636 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 29 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 12 (9 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Vehicles lost 19 (18 destroyed, 1 disabled)
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Kalidjati at 50,99
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 1 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes
Allied aircraft
Hurricane I Trop x 16
A-24 Banshee x 14
P-40E Warhawk x 17
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AK Sasako Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kenyo Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kokai Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Ayatosan Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
Japanese ground losses:
486 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 15 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 20 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 6 (1 destroyed, 5 disabled)
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Kalidjati at 50,99
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 4 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes
Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 11
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
xAK Asakasan Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Ayatosan Maru, heavy fires
AK Tosan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Yamaura Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
Japanese ground losses:
916 casualties reported
Squads: 6 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 19 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kalidjati at 50,99
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 3
Allied aircraft
Vildebeest III x 11
Hurricane IIb Trop x 1
No Japanese losses
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
CL Chikuma
BB Owari, Bomb hits 1
DD Ayanami
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kalidjati at 50,99
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 1
Allied aircraft
Vildebeest III x 11
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
Vildebeest III: 1 destroyed
Vildebeest III: 1 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
BB Owari, Bomb hits 2
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x Vildebeest III bombing from 8000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
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Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kalidjati at 50,99
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
Allied aircraft
A-24 Banshee x 25
P-40E Warhawk x 8
Allied aircraft losses
A-24 Banshee: 5 damaged
Japanese Ships
BB Owari, Bomb hits 3, on fire
CA Atago
We obviously have incomplete intel, but it certainly looks like a massacre. Interesting is that there was no report of any unloading before the bombers went in, so only transports that survived will have put any troops ashore.
The other thing about the turn is that were a series of attacks by Kates on some of the low value targets we have in the area, mostly coastal minesweepers covering the various ports. None of the Kates strikes are escorted though, and our fighters just rip them to pieces. Tracker shows 34 Kates downed, and one of our Dutch pilots makes double ace in one day. This is a grievous weakening of Japanese carrier striking power.
It's not the first time we've seen carrier strikes go in without Zero escort, and get punished for it.
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