about the raid against Dutch Harbor (June 1942)

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about the raid against Dutch Harbor (June 1942)

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> War In The Pacific - Struggle Against Japan 1941 - 1945 >> about the raid against Dutch Harbor (June 1942)

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about the raid against Dutch Harbor (June 1942) - 1/31/2005 6:30:26 PM

rotor911

Posts: 40
Joined: 12/13/2004
Status: offline

I just read magazine article with unusual level of detail (exact number of planes, precise losses) about the Japanese raids against Dutch Harbor (Aleutian Islands) in June 1942 and I noted several interesting things.
First, I'm impressed by WITP : the numbers of planes and losses reported in the article could have come straight out of a combat report. On the contrary, several facts were rather different from what happens in my games.
- the escort fighters straffed systematically the target, with some results, even during port attacks.
- D3A dropped their bombs from 1000 feet, not 2000, at least during this particular attacks

- Recon and naval search missions were a lot more dangerous during this campaign than they are in WITP : several floatplanes, both Japanese and American, were shot down by enemy CAP (nearly all those which found something in fact). You could even think reading the article that naval search was the most dangerous mission during this war.
- B17 naval attacked VERY low (1000 & 2000 Lb bombs at 900 feet!)
- last, but not least, the fact which intrigued me the most : the zero of a pilot named Koga Tadayoshi being damaged, he tried an emergency landing on an Akutan island. He was killed but the plane was intact. Found some weeks later by the Americans, he was quickly brought to Seattle and studied in detail. And this event, says the author of the article, is the most important of the Aleutian campaign because it "allowed Americans to developped
the tactics which ended the Zero invincibility". In June 1942.. Looks like the "Zero advantage", in the author's opinion, lasted much longer than in WITP..
Voila. The magazine is "Histoire de Guerre", February issue, and there's a site. Yes, it's in French.

Post #: 1

RE: about the raid against Dutch Harbor (June 1942) - 1/31/2005 6:37:40 PM

WhoCares

Posts: 653
Joined: 7/6/2004
Status: offline

Didn't Brady post a picture of that particular Zero in one of his 'Name this...' riddles, probably two month ago. I remember a lively discussion about this particular event and its effects in that thread.

Edit: You might check Bradys post history to find all his 'Name this...' threads and than check them one by one

Edit2: It was a shot of the Zero from behind on a plain with a hill/mountain in the background, iirc.

< Message edited by WhoCares -- 1/31/2005 5:40:55 PM >

(in reply to rotor911)

Post #: 2

RE: about the raid against Dutch Harbor (June 1942) - 1/31/2005 6:42:26 PM

AmiralLaurent

Posts: 3351
Joined: 3/11/2003
From: Near Paris, France
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rotor

I just read magazine article with unusual level of detail (exact number of planes, precise losses) about the Japanese raids against Dutch Harbor (Aleutian Islands) in June 1942 and I noted several interesting things.
First, I'm impressed by WITP : the numbers of planes and losses reported in the article could have come straight out of a combat report. On the contrary, several facts were rather different from what happens in my games.
- the escort fighters straffed systematically the target, with some results, even during port attacks.

Fighters with orders naval attack or airfield attack will sadly not escort your bombers. While in most cases in RL, escorts will have secondary targets once the skies were cleared.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rotor
- Recon and naval search missions were a lot more dangerous during this campaign than they are in WITP : several floatplanes, both Japanese and American, were shot down by enemy CAP (nearly all those which found something in fact). You could even think reading the article that naval search was the most dangerous mission during this war.

It was. WITP losses of naval search planes are almost never shown on the screen (only if an ace scored the victory or AA shot down the plane) but exist.

Everybody will agree that the most dangerous mission of the war (outside kamikazes) was a torpedo attack. All airforces suffered huge casualties in those attacks.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rotor
- B17 naval attacked VERY low (1000 & 2000 Lb bombs at 900 feet!)

You can set them at 1000 feet in WITP. Note they didn't hit anything in RL, like they do in most games in 1942. They became more efficient later.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rotor
- last, but not least, the fact which intrigued me the most : the zero of a pilot named Koga Tadayoshi being damaged, he tried an emergency landing on an Akutan island. He was killed but the plane was intact. Found some weeks later by the Americans, he was quickly brought to Seattle and studied in detail. And this event, says the author of the article, is the most important of the Aleutian campaign because it "allowed Americans to developped
the tactics which ended the Zero invincibility". In June 1942.. Looks like the "Zero advantage", in the author's opinion, lasted much longer than in WITP..

I doubt the end of the Zero advantage could be linked to any given event. Every combat experience would have gave ideas to the surviving Allied pilots that dogfighting was Zeroes was a bad idea. So the idea slowly reached every unit and especially the training schools.

I think an ace aboard Yorktwon (Tatch or something like that) developped a really efficient method against Zeroes in May 1942.

(in reply to rotor911)

Post #: 3

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