Operation Joukai

Operation Joukai (Full Version)

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FeurerKrieg -> Operation Joukai (8/10/2008 7:33:14 AM)
Planning for our next major operation, Operation Joukai is complete. Here is the OOB: [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/joukai1.jpg[/image] Below is a map illustrating the plan. The Northern China Army will move from Ichang and attack southwest to cut off Changsha at Hengchow. Several smaller units have been allocated to the 11th Army, and these will spread out to prevent any Chinese attempts to cut our tenuous supply line. At the same time, or slightly after, the SAA with seven crack divisions, veterans of Singapore, Manila and New Zealand, will attempt to break the stalemate at Liuchow and route the Chinese units there. Then, elements of the Chinese Expeditionary Force will either occupy Liuchow, or pursue the Chinese units northwest, either way, the goal is prevent a Chinese attempt to cut our supply line through Liuchow. Meanwhile, the SAA units will head east towards Hengchow and attempt to connect with the NCA. Once that connection is made, the SAA will head to Hong Kong via the road south out of Hengchow and load up to head to Burma. It is our plan to have these troops in Burma/Malaya no later than the end of September. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/joukai2.jpg[/image] Operation Joukai major movements

FeurerKrieg -> July 6th, 1942 (8/12/2008 4:44:32 AM)
July 6th, 1942 P-40E's over Adak flew a sweep mission, presumably to clear the way for bombers that would attack my supply ships at Adak. Our Zeros were caught in poor position on defense and we lost 6 of them. No enemy planes were downed, although two were damaged. One pilot was rescued. The ships had left in the night though, so there were no targets for the bombers. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/adak5.jpg[/image] Air action over Adak Island In the Chinese pocket, the 4th Group Army and 33rd Group Army surrendered. 5300 POWs were taken. With their leaders surrendered, the 41st and 55th Chinese Corps will likely surrender tomorrow, freeing up our troops in this pocket to join the NCA attack in Operation Joukai.

FeurerKrieg -> July 7th, 1942 (8/12/2008 5:01:55 AM)
July 7th, 1942 Air attacks on Changsha. In the pocket, as expected, the remaining Chinese troops surrendered. 12,000 POWs taken. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/china37.jpg[/image] A pocket is finally crushed 141 B-17E's at 35,000ft attacked Johnston Island today, destroying one Zero on the ground. Damage was otherwise light. The Nick fighter can't arrive soon enough!

FeurerKrieg -> July 8th, 1942 (8/13/2008 3:35:46 AM)
July 8th, 1942 Extremely quiet today - only three entries in the entire combat report. Bombing on Changsha and the troops there shelling each other. Myitkyina expanded its airfield today (sz 3). A supply convoy from Tokyo arrived at Rangoon today to unload about 50,000 tons of supplies. The Southern Area Army continues to sail towards Canton. Large supply convoys have loaded up at Tokyo and will head to the various islands of the Pacific to keep them all over 20,000 supplies. Another 200,000 supplies will be delivered to Canton for the SAA to use in Operation Joukai. Yesterday a shipment of oil arrived at Auckland. The factories there now have enough oil to last for about one year.

FeurerKrieg -> July 9th, 1942 (8/15/2008 6:40:33 AM)
July 9th, 1942 Bombing at Changsha and Wallis Island expanded its airfield. (sz 3) [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/china38.jpg[/image] No more Lily-I's on the front line. Weather for tomorrow in Burma is 'only' rainy, so we will try another attack on Dacca. Wish us luck!

FeurerKrieg -> July 10th, 1942 - Major air battle at Dacca! (8/15/2008 7:18:44 AM)
July 10th, 1942 Today we had some action! Our plan in Burma went off perfectly. Keeping with the strategy of not fighting unless we can do significant damage, we gave the Allies a sting today at Dacca. Sensing something was up, the Allies launched a sweep and a small bombing run on Mandalay. The Oscars based there were on LRCAP over Magwe so the bombers did not destroy any planes on the ground. However, the sweep of 39 Hurricanes and 35 P-40E's was more than the 3 Tojo's flying from Magwe could handle. Two more Tojos joined the fight, but they too were lost. One Tojo pilot did manage to take a Hurricane with him. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/burma41.jpg[/image] One Ki-44 gets revenge After that though, our first strike hit Dacca. Over 100 A6M3 Zeros flew sweep against the Hurricanes and P-43A's on CAP there. 9 Zeros were lost in the fight, but 29 enemy planes, mostly of the RAF were shot down. One of our pilots, LTJG Koizumi with 2 kills (and 86 Exp) bailed out and was rescued and returned to his unit. On the heels of the sweep, over fifty Army bomber flew in low and braved heavy flak but hit the airfield hard destroying several enemy planes. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/burma42.jpg[/image] First strike - fighters on sweep A short time later, our larger strike arrived. The deplete CAP of 5 Hurricanes were no match for the 54 A6M2's escorting our long range bombers. The Liz and Betty bombers pounded the airbase even harder than the army bombers, destroying many airplanes on the ground, including some of the hated enemy four engined bombers. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/burma43.jpg[/image] Second strike - fighters on escort Losses for the day amounted to 32 aircraft lost for Japan versus 86 aircraft of the Allies. Of those, the Allies lost 35 planes in A2A and Japan lost 14. On the ground, the Allies lost: 15 Hurricane IIb 14 Blenheim IV 2 Hurricane IID/IV 5 B-25C Mitchell 4 LB-30 Liberator 4 Wellington III 3 B-26B Marader 2 Liberator III Our planes will fly back to safer bases immediately and rest. The bombers especially took a lot of damage, although not a single Liz bomber was lost.

FeurerKrieg -> July 11th, 1942 (8/16/2008 7:14:26 AM)
July 11th, 1942 A handful of Allies bombers hit Magwe, but our planes were long gone. B-25 bombers hit Adak Island also, but all the bombs missed the island and no damage was taken. SS KXVII was hit by a Lily II while trying to enter the Java Sea. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/sub21.jpg[/image] Dutch sub is hit Saipan finished work on its airfield. (Sz 5)

FeurerKrieg -> July 12th, 1942 (8/16/2008 7:19:40 AM)
July 12th, 1942 Many enemy submarines were spotted near Truk today. A Val hit SS Tambor and an Alf hit SS Narwhal. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/sub22.jpg[/image] High levels of submarine activity Other than that, it was quiet.

FeurerKrieg -> July 13th, 1942 (8/16/2008 9:32:12 PM)
July 13th, 1942 Several of our Destroyers dropped depth charges around Truk, but no confirmed kills. SS Narwhal was reported hit by a Helen bomber. Wau, Sian and Shanghai all expanded their airfields today. (4, 4, 6)

FeurerKrieg -> July 14th, 1942 (8/16/2008 9:37:00 PM)
July 14, 1942 Little action today other than bombign and bombarding at Changsha. A new aircraft was spotted on CAP over Calcutta today with Chinese markings - the P-66 Vanguard. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/P-66.jpg[/image] Vultee Vanguard in Chinese service quote: In 1938, Richard W. Palmer started the detailed design of the V-48 fighter member of the quartet. The aircraft featured a metal covered, semi-monocoque fuselage and fully retractable landing gear powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial air-cooled engine. During construction of the first prototype, a decision was made to lengthen the propeller shaft and install a tight cowling to provide a pointed nose to reduce drag. The first aircraft flew in September 1939, and was assigned registration number NX21755. The fighter was named the Vanguard. Flight tests revealed the aircraft was suffering from inadequate cooling. Measures to modify the cooling ducting were of little avail. After re-evaluating the design, and noting that the insignificant drag decrease was not worth the added weight and ducting problems, the second prototype, which was assigned the model number V-48X and registration NX19999, was modified with a conventional cowl and the first aircraft were similarly modified. The second aircraft first flew on 11 February 1940. As a result of flight tests, a number of changes were made to the design including substantially increasing the areas of the horizontal and vertical tail surfaces.

FeurerKrieg -> July 15th, 1942 (8/16/2008 9:41:47 PM)
July 15th, 1942 97 B-17E's attacked Johnston Island today, destroying 5 Zeros and 1 Nell on the ground. Damage to the airfield itself was light. Replacement aircraft are en route. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/b17e.jpg[/image] B-17E Flying Fortress

FeurerKrieg -> July 16th, 1942 (8/17/2008 3:09:54 AM)
July 16th, 1942 SS Thresher was attack at Efate, but we did not sink the sub. Makassar completed the airfield there. (sz 4) Soryu began the installation of new AA guns today. Once finished it will return to Truk where it will replace Hiryu, which is heading back to the Home Islands at the moment for August upgrades. Hiyo will be finished in a couple days as well and once it fills out its air groups it will head to Truk as well. Once some of these moves are finished, the carriers will move to Kwajelein to be in position to repel an attack against Johnston Island. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/soryu1.jpg[/image] Soryu Upgrade

FeurerKrieg -> July 17th, 1942 (8/17/2008 3:17:24 AM)
July 17th, 1942 SS Grunion attempted to attack a small convoy headed south. Fortunately our best ASW's ships were escorting and they found and sunk the Grunion. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/sub23.jpg[/image] Grunion submerges for the final time.

FeurerKrieg -> July 18th, 1942 (8/17/2008 4:24:47 AM)
July 18th, 1942 No air action today at all, just the shells flying back and forth at Changsha. Units continue to unload at Canton and the North China Army slowly trickles into Ichang. Soon the NCA will start its march through the swampland, while the SAA will attempt to break through at Liuchow. Port Blair and Sorong expanded air facilities today. (sz 3 and 4)

FeurerKrieg -> July 19th, 1942 (8/17/2008 4:27:55 AM)
July 19th, 1942 Another quiet day. Savaii and Tongatapu, both in the South Pacific, completed their airfields today. (both sz 4)

FeurerKrieg -> July 20th, 1942 (8/17/2008 7:44:43 PM)
July 20th, 1942 Two transports pulling into Canton struck enemy mines laid by submarine. Thankfully damage was light and there were only 33 casualties. 53 B-17E's hit Johnston today, but the weather was cloudy and none of the bombs hit the island. Tomorrow the weather forecast is merely overcast in Burma, so we will attempt another Dacca type strike, but this time we will hit Calcutta to keep those Allies guessing.

FeurerKrieg -> July 21th, 1942 - Calcutta Air Battle (8/17/2008 8:12:38 PM)
July 21st, 1942 Another big day in the air in Burma and India. Our first strike goes off well, although the resistance encountered was much more determined than that at Dacca. Perhaps these were veteran RAF's pilots we shot down today? In any case, the AVG was present and 11 of 12 AVG pilots were sent to oblivion. Hopefully this will help keep that group weak a bit longer. The real star of the enemy today was the Kittyhawk. These planes survived our attack and proceeded to shoot down several of our Sally and Helen bombers! [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/burma44.jpg[/image] First strike The second strike however, finished off the enemy defenders (except a couple Kittyhawks) and our naval bombers went in unmolested. In both strikes enemy Flak was murderous, destroying 31 of our bombers, even 4 Liz bombers went down! We will be sure to use greater care if we attack Calcutta again anytime soon. These attacks are mainly to buy us time to get better Army fighters in place to defend our troops against the enemy 4E bombers. In this it seems to be working so far, we haven't been attacked for over a week. Our next operation might be to lure the Allies into a sweep over Magwe. We will move in like usual, but instead of attacking, we will put up a massive CAP of Zeros and Tojos and catch the enemy fighters over our territory. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/burma45.jpg[/image] Second strike 56 P-40E Warhawks flew sweep over Magwe, but wisely our planes were nowhere to be found, having all flown to Calcutta or stayed on the ground. All air losses were exactly even for the day, however fighter losses were much more in our favor which is good, because it's the fighter pilots we need for the defense of Burma. Fighter losses: 21 Japan vs 62 Allied 19 A6M3 Zero 2 A6M2 Zero ---------------- 27 Hurricane IIb 15 P-40E Warhawk 9 P-43A Lancer 6 P-66 Vanguard 5 Kittyhawk I Bombers: 41 total; 6 A2A, 31 to Flak, 4 operational losses 19 Ki-21 Sally 13 G4M1 Betty 5 G5N Liz 4 Ki-49 Helen

FeurerKrieg -> July 22th, 1942 (8/17/2008 9:48:19 PM)
July 22nd, 1942 Nothing much happened today. A Lily was shot down during our daily attack on Changsha. Only one troop convoy left that needs to reach Canton. It is carrying the 38th Division. The Home Islands are getting low on resources. About 25 days left. I recently mapped out two Resource Extraction routes. A north one that goes to Haiphong and then returns along the South China coast, and a southern route that goes to Nauru Island, Noumea and then up to northern NG, and then up through the DEI, Malaya, Indochina and on home. That one takes longer, but will have some 300-400K resources when it reaches home. The China route will pull in about 200K this time, but not as much in the future. Both convoy routes are sailed by two large convoys made up of 5000 capacity AKs and heavy escort. Since Burma is on the front, resources are only taken out of Rangoon when supply convoys come in. Up to this point, most resource and oil movements have been made to allow all non-Home Island areas to have enough stocks to last about a year, so for the next ten months or so, everything will be headed to the Home Islands.

FeurerKrieg -> July 23rd, 1942 (8/18/2008 6:02:57 AM)
July 23rd, 1942 Minesweepers arrived at Canton today and began clearing away mines. Recon indicates all bombers have left Dacca and Calcutta. Apparently our attacks had a desired affect, and the bombers have temporarily left the theater.

FeurerKrieg -> July 24th, 1942 (8/18/2008 6:08:31 AM)
July 24th, 1942 As the minesweepers continue their work at Canton, a cargo ship struck a mine today. Around 120,000 tons of war materials began to unload at Canton today. These are the supplies that will feed the Southern Area Army on its attack against Liuchow. 90,000 tons are due to arrive in Shanghai tomorrow to feed the northern side of Operation Joukai. All aircraft in the area have stood down as well so they can rest before being assign new targets. Recon units has been reassigned so that all enemy units behind the river will be reconed. The airfield at Aitutaki in the Cook Island was expanded today. (sz 2)

FeurerKrieg -> July 25th, 1942 (8/19/2008 4:07:52 AM)
July 25th, 1942 105 B-17E's attacked Johnston today, destroying 1 Zero and 1 Nell. The Nell will be upgraded to Bettys. These were the last front line Nells in service. They will now all be used in a training role only. Shokaku began adding additional AA guns today, similar to Soryu. Zuikaku should begin in a couple days as well. Soryu has set sail to Truk and will finish repairs there in case the Carrier Strike force needs to sail on short notice. Hiryu took Soryu's place at Maizuru, and it will add AA guns in a week or so. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/shokaku.jpg[/image] Shokaku Upgrade

FeurerKrieg -> RE: July 25th, 1942 (8/20/2008 3:11:00 AM)
July 26th, 1942 117 B-24D Liberators attacked Johnston Island from Hawaii today. The Nick will begin production in just a few days, which should stop, or at least slow down these bombing runs. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/B-24.jpg[/image] B-24D Liberator Abemama finished its airfield. (sz 4)

FeurerKrieg -> July 27th, 1942 (8/22/2008 5:16:51 AM)
July 27th, 1942 B-17E's hit Johnston, but the strike was smaller today, only 57 bombers attacked us. O19 was hit by a Sally while trying to escape into the Indian Ocean from Malaya. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/O19.jpg[/image] SS O-19

FeurerKrieg -> July 28th, 1942 (8/22/2008 5:23:38 AM)
July 28th, 1942 No action at all today other than artillery fire at Changsha. Most of the KB is relocating to Kwajelein. I have also sent heavy cruiser Myoko off to Singapore to balance the surface assets that are based there. We had two battleships, but only one heavy cruiser. Four battleships and some cruisers remain at Truk to finish minor maintenance, and also to act as a reserve in case of an attack from Australia. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/myoko4.jpg[/image]

FeurerKrieg -> RE: July 28th, 1942 (8/24/2008 1:02:47 AM)
I'm a couple days ahead of the AAR, its 8/1/42 and looks like some action in the Pacific. How many US carriers could I be looking at in August? Can 5 CV & 4 CVL (Shokaku, Zuikaku, and Hiryu are in the HI) take them on? My CV's, CVLs are in Kwaj (just moved them there a couple days ago), Soryu is one day out from Kwaj. Thoughts? [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston3.jpg[/image]

FeurerKrieg -> July 29th, 1942 (8/25/2008 12:41:36 AM)
Let's get caught up here so you guys can get in on the action at Johnston. July 29th, 1942 For the last few days, recon indicated no fighters at Ledo, but many transport planes. Therefore today, 76 Betty bombers from Rangoon hit Ledo destroying 12 Dakota I's and 9 C47's on the ground.

FeurerKrieg -> July 30th, 1942 (8/25/2008 12:45:19 AM)
July 30th, 1942 No action today outside of shelling at Changsha. Our armies are on the march near Ichang, heading west across the swamps, and in the south at Wuchow, heading to Liuchow. Operation Joukai is under way. Bombers will begin to hit Liuchow on August 1st.

FeurerKrieg -> August 1st, 1942 - Action at Johnston!! (8/25/2008 1:38:38 AM)
August 1st, 1942 August proves to be a big day in the war. The Nick two engined fighter, capable of stopping high altitude Allied bombing runs, and the new Kawasaki powered Ki-61 'Tony' fighter both rolled their first production units out today. SS Porpoise attacked AP Josho Maru on the surface south of Saigon. The ship was carrying elements of the 11th Aviation Rgt, recently reassigned from Manchukuo to Burma. The majority of the unit was on other ships. This ship will likely sink tomorrow. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/sub24.jpg[/image] Submarine attack! Weather scrubbed our opening air attack on Liuchow, but we still have a couple days before the attacking army arrives there. To draw war supplies from Liuchow, our army launched a heavy attack on Changsha today. The really major event is the apparent intention of the United States to invade Johnston Island. A Glen floatplane reported a large fleet northeast of the island, heading directly towards Johnston. Unfortunately this Glen was shot down by enemy carrier planes before he could return to his sub, I-26. I-26 was also found by enemy SBDs and bombed. Damage crews were able to stabilize flooding and the sub should be able to make it back to Kwajelein. The sub had arrived from being repaired just four days ago, so it is no stranger to damage. Johnston itself was bombed before sunrise by 9 B-17Es and 12 B-24D's but these did no damage. In the daylight, 66 B-17E's attacked and came in between 9,000 and 14,000 feet. 41 Zeros rose to stop them and did a fair job. 19 of the B-17's were shot down, although 5 Zeros were lost as well. The remaining bombers did a fair bit of damage to the airbase, destroying 9 Betty bombers and 1 Zero on the ground. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston4.jpg[/image] Enemy bombers shot down 4 Zeros and 3 Bettys on patrol found the fleet and attempted to attack as well, but were jumped by over a hundred enemy fighters, including P-38Fs. Our Zeros managed to take down 1 F4F-4 and shot up another and a P-38 enough that they were considered losses. Thankfully the majority of our fleet arrived just a couple days ago at Kwajelein. The bulk of the fleet is sailing out immediately to be on hand in case the opportunity to damage enemy assets presents. Battleship Yamato is leading a powerful surface combat group, and every carrier and light carrier outside of Zuikaku, Shokaku and Hiryu are in strong TFs with Battleships and numerous cruisers. The fleet will likely stay to the south of Johnston and attempt to sink enemy ships unloading at the island. They may not arrive in time to stop the initial invasion, but hopefully the many coastal guns and mines we have set up with be enough to slow the enemy assault. Soryu was due to arrive in two days, but will speed up and arrive tomorrow to take on fuel and form up a task force and head east to catch up with the rest of the fleet before it engages the enemy. Since the fleet will take a couple more days to arrive, nearly 200 aircraft are flying into Johnston and will attempt to attack the enemy fleet tomorrow. It will likely be a bloody affair, and any surviving aircraft will fly back to Kwajelein the following day so they are not lost if the atoll is captured.

FeurerKrieg -> August 2nd, 1942 - Action at Johnston!! (8/25/2008 7:16:04 AM)
August 2nd, 1942 The heaviest blow was dealt to us today, not by the Americans, but by the weather. Storm clouds at Johnston Island kept our planes grounded today. As the clouds began to clear, our aircraft began to prepare for takeoff to attack the enemy, and then the skies darkened again with enemy planes. 50 F4F-4s and 34 F4F-3's flew sweep over the airfield, but met no opposition as our planes were still organizing on the ground. Then 110 B-24D bombers arrived and destroyed many airplanes and damaged the runway enough that our planes could not take off. 86 SBD bombers also hit the airbase, destroying more planes. We lost some 80+ planes today, 48 of which were Zeros. Most of the pilots are fine, but I doubt they will be able to get off Johnston if it falls soon. Our AA guns brought down six of the SBD's at least, and that will hopefully be less bombers our own carriers will have to worry about. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston5.jpg[/image] SBD's attacking Johnston Some SBD's also bombed our MSW Wa14, sinking it with multiple 1000lb bombs. Thankfully they didn't find Wa19, and it will remain on station to attempt to distract the enemies battleships for a bit when they arrive tonight. In China at least, the weather lifted and 100 of our bombers hit Liuchow. Tomorrow they will begin to target the front lines more directly. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/liuchow2.jpg[/image] Liuchow comes under air attack

FeurerKrieg -> August 3rd, 1942 - Battle of Johnston Island - Day 1 (8/25/2008 7:46:02 AM)
August 3rd, 1942 Johnston Island has been invaded by the Americans! The 1st Marines and Americal Divisions are largely ashore, but it wasn't without some cost. Two enemy surface groups came in to bombard the atoll before the landings. The first, consisting of battleships Warspite, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma came in and their escorts DD's Mahan and Cummings both hit mines. Then MSW Wa19 made a suicide charge against the large ships, surprising them, but Oklahoma was still able to easily hit the ship with a round of 14" shells. This group them shelled the island. Damage was light and our guns set CL Trenton afire. Next came battleships Mississippi, New Mexico, Idaho and Colorado. This bombardment did more damage than the previous. Our guns were still in operation, though, as several DMS ships tried to clear a path for the troops. Eight DMS's were all heavily damaged and most took upwards of 20 hits from our defense guns. DMS Lamberton sunk before the sun came up. When the sun did rise, SBDs from the carriers attacked our ground troops. As the troops came in, APs Westralia, Harris and Torrens all stuck mines. The enemy did get ashore with fairly light casualties, however when the sun came up their attack failed to breach the main beach defenses, but they did gain enough ground to gain a foothold. (Assault was 0 to 1 odds, forts did not change, they stayed at 2) [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston6.jpg[/image] First assault on Johnston - Japanese hold Our carriers will meet up tomorrow, and based on how the land battle goes we will decide how quickly to charge the atoll. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston7.jpg[/image] Situation at Johnston In China, our planes attacked Liuchow again.

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