wobbly
Posts: 1095
Joined: 10/16/2002 From: Christchurch, New Zealand Status: offline
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Hi Dave - that could be what he is up to. It is strange if that is the case though as I have seen no surface ships and I would think twice about attacking the place when he knows the RN has been about. He may be offsetting that fear by bringing up the carriers - as we hypothesised. Anyway, his bombers have been destroying my aircraft but they have done stuff all to the base itself. It has 18.5K supplies, is size 3 port 5 airfield and has size 8 fortifications now. There are 3 base forces there, a tank regiment and an Indian Division (at about 1/3rd strength). In very close proximity are 3 Chindit groups with 3 Dakota sqds able to move them in. If he was really after it, why retreat teh 55th and 56th Divisions that were a hex south of their target but have since retreated - it will take a very long time to move them back into the action. He may instead be aiming for Chandpur or Diamond Harbour - but this is not the India that PzB attacked. It will be a far harder proposal now! Another day of bombing at Akyab AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 10/02/42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack at 42,50 Japanese Ships TK Shinkoku Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire PG Sozan Maru PG Nishho Maru PG Hakkaisan Maru Allied Ships SS Saury, hits 2, on fire The Saury finds a tanker north of the Philippines - presumably empty as no cargo appears to explode - very unlike the Depth charges that have done 52% float damage to the attacking sub. It is a long way to Darwin... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29 Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 19 Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 7 Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 27 Ki-49 Helen x 40 Allied aircraft Spitfire Vb x 20 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 4 destroyed, 1 damaged Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 7 destroyed, 1 damaged Ki-49 Helen: 4 destroyed, 12 damaged Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vb: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged Airbase hits 4 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 8 He may still be attacking Akyab but many are being turned back now and we can see there are no planes destroyed on the ground. The spitfires are racking up the kills and he is not really damaging the facilities. Everything is fixed by morning and progress is even made on the forts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29 Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 18 Ki-21 Sally x 23 Allied aircraft Spitfire Vb x 8 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 4 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vb: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged Aircraft Attacking: 20 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 32810 feet 3 x Ki-21 Sally bombing at 32810 feet I've left the altitude in on this raid. I don't hit any bombers but they don't do much in return either. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 27,30 Allied aircraft Buffalo I x 14 P-40B Tomahawk x 24 No Allied losses Japanese Ships AK Borneo Maru AK Clyde Maru, Shell hits 4 AK Cuba Maru, Shell hits 4 Some buffalos I have on naval attack have the legs to reach the ships sighted to the south of Akyab - they have moved North and to the West - away from marauding subs. Why is he using AKs though - to carry supplies? There just don't appear to be enough ships. The RN stay in Panaji awaiting events. More long range ACs are put on scouting missions - I need more info before the RN are deployed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 44,33 Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 39753 troops, 235 guns, 75 vehicles Defending force 17197 troops, 210 guns, 0 vehicles Allied assault odds: 3 to 1 Japanese ground losses: 237 casualties reported Guns lost 5 Allied ground losses: 401 casualties reported Guns lost 9 Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! I attack the blocking force of 1 Jap division below Chungking and this time they are forced to retreat. They join another unit 1 hex to the south. Hopefully that is an HQ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So the second day cames around and I thought I would move the Liberator group up to Akyab with the Tomahawks and another sqd of Spitfires. The spits for defence and the P-40Bs to escort the Heavies. The heavies had orders to hit ships and second the Rangoon airfield. Lets look at how it actually came to pass - massive air battles again! AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 10/03/42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Akyab , at 30,29 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 75 Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 13 Ki-21 Sally x 99 Ki-49 Helen x 39 Allied aircraft Spitfire Vb x 30 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 22 destroyed, 3 damaged Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 11 destroyed Ki-21 Sally: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged Ki-49 Helen: 2 destroyed, 8 damaged Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vb: 14 destroyed, 2 damaged B-24D Liberator: 2 destroyed Blenheim IV: 1 destroyed Allied ground losses: 20 casualties reported Airbase hits 19 Airbase supply hits 11 Runway hits 113 Truly huge numbers of bombers against Akyab again and again the spitfires do magnificently - only they have blown their bolt as it is all about numbers in this game. 75 zeros and 13 Tonys. Well the Tonys get hammered, the zeros take a poundding and the Spits - well they loose enough to require me to give up the airspace above Akyab. Again the fighters hardly bother the bombers despite the fact 2 sqds are perfectly position 1000 ft above the bombing height of the bombers. This time the damage to Akyab is noticed as 2000 supplies disappear. Once again the runways are open for business. ------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Port Moresby , at 53,91 Allied aircraft B-17E Fortress x 51 B-24D Liberator x 46 Allied aircraft losses B-24D Liberator: 4 damaged Japanese ground losses: 420 casualties reported Guns lost 14 Airbase hits 8 Airbase supply hits 8 Runway hits 166 I thought I had turned my own heavy bombers in Cooktown off... Obviously not as the reach out and hit PM again. They are definately resting now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF, near Rangoon at 29,34 Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 19 Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 27 Ki-61 KAIc Tony x 46 Allied aircraft P-40B Tomahawk x 30 B-24D Liberator x 26 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 damaged Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged Ki-61 KAIc Tony: 4 destroyed, 2 damaged Allied aircraft losses P-40B Tomahawk: 24 destroyed B-24D Liberator: 3 destroyed, 6 damaged Japanese Ships AK Malta Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire AK Koyu Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage Aircraft Attacking: 3 x B-24D Liberator bombing at 10000 feet Ahhh damn. The Liberators, with high morale and fighter support, decide Rangoon air is somewhere they can bust into to get at the shipping there. Unfortunately the Tomahawks are gutted in the attempt. I now only have 39 of these planes in the game! The bomb hits from 10K feet show the capability of the Liberator drivers though. So i revert yet another P-40E group - in Oz this time - to P-39s and this gives me the ability to upgrade the Tomahawk group to Warhawks. I am going to have to give Herb Akyab air superiority until I can get these extra planes air worthy. I need to defend with a massive overkill number - it seems to be the only thing that stops strikes cold. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on TF at 27,30 Allied aircraft Buffalo I x 13 No Allied losses Japanese Ships AK Borneo Maru, Shell hits 8 Here my Buffalos reach out and touch the shipping I expected the Liberators to target. These guys are now an average of 69 Exp - I upgrade them to Spitfires - while the mauled sqds (that were at Akyab) are reverted to Buffalos. They will take on new pilots and start training again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack at 27,30 Japanese Ships AK Borneo Maru, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1 Allied Ships SS KVIII, hits 2 One of the Akyab sub screen catches up with the target AKs. The hits she takes are not serious. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Kweiyang Japanese Bombardment attack Attacking force 74695 troops, 853 guns, 22 vehicles Defending force 61721 troops, 286 guns, 0 vehicles Allied ground losses: 26 casualties reported So the troops who have moved on Kweiyang outnumber mine there... I move some reinforcements back from Wuchow. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere I have 6 DDs retiring to Pearl for upgrades. I note some AKs on their way to Tarawa (I think) so they are deverted to cause some trouble. Baker Island is now airbase size 2 so some wildcats move there from Canton to provide support. There are many ASW attacks this 2nd turn with none catching a sub. I have many deployed in his shipping lanes now and he has upped the ASW effort. The main problem I have now is fighter numbers. The introduction of the P-38s should start to take effect but I will be low for some time. Burma is the main culprit and its hunger for aircraft has seriously reduced the defense of other locations. Thankfully I still have a few spits and Oz has Kittyhawks (with 200 in the bank) and central now has about 6 sqds of marine F4F-4s. I have no problem with bomber numbers - in Burma the largest bomber losses have been on the ground. My pilots are amazingly proficient. So far I have lost about 2040s plane while herb has lost 1900. The fact he at last started to augment his attacks in Burma with naval zeros shows he not only is serious about this part of the world, but that he might be lacking army AC numbers.
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