apbarog
Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002 Status: offline
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7 Nov 43 Interesting turn. Bettys tried making some night naval attacks in the Philippines, going after AKs and APAs at Cotabato and Tawi Tawi. Bombs and torpedoes missed. I won't do any big nasty night bombing until an enemy night attack is successful. Then I'll send 100+ B-24s to Singapore or Bangkok or Manila at night. Then the night attempts will stop. Sabang was invaded. The only unit landing is an Indian engineer unit with decent combat capabilities. The base is held by 3 small enemy units. A big para drop will take place today, providing most of the attack strength. British sub Trusty sank ACM Seki Maru near Jesselton. Steelhead elected not to fire on an ACM just north of Legaspi. The E-boats with the ACM, however, did elect to fire on Steelhead, getting a depth charge hit. Kweilin got swept and bombed heavily, with aircraft coming from the Hanoi area for the first time. The number of aircraft at Bangkok dropped a lot today, so that's where they came from. 42 Franks started with a sweep and ran into just Hurricanes, which were no match. 9 Hurricanes were lost, with no Franks downed. The bad news for the day was near Namlea. Battleship Mississippi, with cruisers and destroyers, had moved adjacent to Namlea yesterday, with the base providing air cover. The location was chosen as the spot to prepare to run into Ambon for a bombardment. I pulled the fighters out, as they wouldn't be needed after the ships retired after the bombardment, but I forgot to order the Mississippi and friends into Ambon with a bombardment. So they stayed in place, with no aircover. Bettys attacked from Sorong, and reportedly put 3 torpedoes into the battleship. Damage is lighter than I expected, with SYS 17/FLOT 45-35/ENG 7-3/FIRE 0. The captain of the Mississippi, Rockwell Torrey, was not pleased. And he isn't the type of guy you want to get angry. Mississippi and escorts will move full speed towards Koepang, and should make 6 hexes and (hopefully) be out of enemy air search range. Sallys bombed Great Nicobar, just north of Sabang. C-47s had been there, dropping troops on Langsa, with no fighters there due to the lack of space. But the C-47s moved north to prepare to pick up and drop paras on Sabang, and fighters were moved back in. The Sallys were massacred by 15 Hurricanes and 24 P-40N5 Warhawks. 23 Sallys were downed. 10 B-25s attacked shipping at Hong Kong, setting 3 xAKs on fire. They were loaded with fuel. 8 Zeros were on CAP but were ineffective. The B-25s were set to 2000 feet and dropped down to strafe, but did poorly. I checked the pilots and they had no strafing training. Training will commence back at Ledo, where the unit redeployed. Sturgeon spotted a cruiser force near Quinhon, along the Vietnamese coast. Don't know which way the ships are heading. US troops attacked at Cagayan. Enemy bombers from Legaspi had disrupted one of the US divisions. Ground combat at Cagayan (79,89) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 26047 troops, 433 guns, 257 vehicles, Assault Value = 775 Defending force 8206 troops, 96 guns, 59 vehicles, Assault Value = 144 Allied adjusted assault: 396 Japanese adjusted defense: 265 Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3) Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-) Attacker: shock(+) Japanese ground losses: 814 casualties reported Squads: 4 destroyed, 81 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 21 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled Guns lost 28 (5 destroyed, 23 disabled) Allied ground losses: 671 casualties reported Squads: 4 destroyed, 105 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled Guns lost 16 (1 destroyed, 15 disabled) Assaulting units: 24th Infantry Division 3rd Marine Division 260th Field Artillery Battalion 131st Field Artillery Battalion Defending units: 10th Garrison Unit II/124th Infantry Battalion 4th Air Army /1 60th Field AA Battalion 1st Ship Engineer Regiment 65th Construction Battalion 16th AA Regiment 4th JAAF AF Bn /1 Empty Taytay and Balabac were captured, but Puerto Princesa was not. It's a battle of support units. My money is on the fighting Seabees. US battleships will bombard tonight. That should help. Followup troops will also start to land, but they have no combat value. Ground combat at Puerto Princesa (73,83) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 2237 troops, 0 guns, 51 vehicles, Assault Value = 27 Defending force 910 troops, 4 guns, 3 vehicles, Assault Value = 12 Allied adjusted assault: 2 Japanese adjusted defense: 43 Allied assault odds: 1 to 21 (fort level 0) Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), fatigue(-) Attacker: leaders(-), fatigue(-) Allied ground losses: 7 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Assaulting units: 16th USN Naval Construction Regiment Defending units: 22nd Port Unit An a part of the 1st USMC Tank Battalion advanced southeast out of Cotabato, crossing a river to attack the II/4th Infantry Battalion. Losses were light on both sides in a 1-2 attack. The better part of 2 infantry divisions will now start to move this way also. The enemy unit now shows movement to the northeast, into a mountain hex just west of Malaybalay. I'd rather it not get there.
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