August 4th, 1942 - Battle of Johnston Island - Day 2

August 4th, 1942 - Battle of Johnston Island - Day 2 (Full Version)

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FeurerKrieg -> August 4th, 1942 - Battle of Johnston Island - Day 2 (8/25/2008 8:08:46 AM)
August 4th, 1942 Today both enemy bombardment groups shelled the island, although the results were less spectacular, most likely the large ships are low on ammo. More troops continued to unload, AP Canberra, Mariposa and MacDonough all hit mines. AP Harris struck a mine as well, its second hit. The enemy DMS's were again shot up heavily as they tried to clear away mines. Four more were heavily damaged, Trevor, Hovey, Boggs and Hopkins. Plus, six more of the eight DMS's hit yesterday sunk. That is seven sunk DMS's so far. During the day, 73 B-17E's hit the 53rd Naval Guard unit, which was the main fighting force on the island. This attack really hurt the defenders and today the Marines were able to take over most of the island. Most likely we will lose control of the airfield tomorrow and several planes and pilots will be lost. A few more did manage to fly out today at least. Emily patrol planes and Mavis transports at Wake, Midway and Palmyra will fly in to try to evacuate as many men as possible from the island. Because it is unlikely our carrier's intervention could stop the island from falling tomorrow, they will move slightly more cautiously to a place just out of range of the island. This may cause the enemy carriers to move towards ours, but we will be ready for them while they may simply be trying to get in range of us. If they do not attack, then the next day we will move to sink any transports or supply ships that might be bringing in engineers and support units to man the island after our troops have been finished off. Even if the island falls, it will take a few days for them to repair the airfield so we will be safe from LBA attack for a short time. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston8.jpg[/image] Fleet movement In China, the 39th Division and the 15th Tank Regiment easily captured Sining as the 8th Chinese Air Base Force surrendered. Another division will arrive at Hami in a couple days and should capture that base, thus ending the campaign in north central China. Kai Island airfield expanded today. (sz 3)

FeurerKrieg -> RE: August 4th, 1942 - Battle of Johnston Island - Day 2 (8/25/2008 8:17:28 AM)
Had a look at the scenario files. Appears the Allies have only 13 DMS's until late 43/early 44 when they get 3 more, and then no more until late 44. That means that the seven DMS that just went down is more than 50% of his available DMS capacity for a long time yet! This should certainly make his next assaults that much more difficult.

FeurerKrieg -> August 5th, 1942 - Battle of Johnston Island - Day 2 (8/26/2008 3:53:43 AM)
August 5th, 1942 Johnston Island falls! The evening began as some MSW's tried to continue the work started by the DMS's. 4 of them were shot up and 2 sunk. The enemy surface ships continued to bombard the island, but damage was light as they are only firing secondary guns at this point. CL Trenton was again hit many times, but nothing that penetrated the ships armor. 47 B-17Es and 43 SBD's hit the troops during the day. Again, several were damaged. Two strikes of Betty bombers from Palmyra reached the enemy today, the first strike of 13 fought through 30 Wildcats and put torpedoes into two cargo ships. A second strike also made it through, but missed some MSWs. 4 of the 19 Bettys were shot down, but two of the Wildcats were knocked out of action. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston9.jpg[/image] Bettys score some hits Throughout the the day our troops were pushed off the airfield (9 to 1) and control of the island shifted to the Americans. Twenty aircraft, two AA units and the coastal battery were lost, but our Nav Gd unit and three base forces are still well supplied and fight on. We will continue to try and rescue them with our float planes. Today the enemy CAP kept the float planes from attempting any evacuation. Tomorrow our carriers will move into position to attack any enemy ships that remain at the island. Jake and Dave float planes from the carrier fleet spotted enemy subs, so the enemy may well be alert to our presence now. Whether he will retreat or attack is hard to say. Two Betty units at Palmyra and one at Midway will attempt to aid any attacks against enemy shipping. With luck, the enemy planes are getting tired and won't be fighting at their peak. They have been on LRCAP over Johnston for 4 days now, and the rest have been flying escort with the SBD strikes against ground targets on the island. The TBDs will be well rested, but hopefully our Zeros can bring them down. Pago Pago airfield was completed today. (sz 4)

FeurerKrieg -> August 6th, 1942 - Carrier Battle!! (8/27/2008 6:44:00 AM)
August 6th, 1942 Carrier battle at Johnston Island! Today our carriers engaged the Americans in a vicious air battle. Unfortunately the Americans came out on top in the contest, but thankfully, we still have a very large portion of our carrier fleet safe at the Home Islands, whereas every US carrier was involved in this battle. The battle isn't over yet though, and we may still get some licks in tomorrow with LBA from Palmyra, and likewise, things could go from not-a-victory to a real defeat if the enemy carrier continue their attack! Through the night many minesweepers were clearing our mines at Johnston. There were some 2500 mines still in place when the island was captured yesterday. As day broke, float planes and scouts from both sides spotted enemy carriers and all carrier task forces reacted in unison, moving to within 120 miles of one another. Both sides launched strikes around the same time. The American strikes came in against the Japanese fleet and the initial group was relatively small, 22 F4F-4's and 15 SBDs. These ran into a CAP of 123 A6M2's. All the enemy fighters were shot down, as were 10 SBDs, 5 turned and headed back to safety. Next, 15 SBD's arrived with no escort. These were all shot down easily. Finally, the main US strike of 6 F4F-3, 41 F4F-4 and 73 SBDs arrived, facing a still potent, but tiring, CAP of 80 some A6M2s. The battle was rough and although our fighters performed very well, downing nearly all the enemy fighters, there were just too many SBDs to stop them all. Some 54 SBD's approached our carriers, and several of those were shot down from heavy AA fire. Even so, Junyo, Hiyo, and Soryu each took 1, 2 and 3 1000lbs bombs respectively. Thankfully at this point none of the ships were heavily damaged, although Hiyo did suffer from a Fuel explosion. All three carriers did have fires to contend with however. Another smaller strike arrived of 14 F4F-4s and 29 SBDs. Only 48 Zeros remained aloft at this point, and although they took down most of the fighters, they only dropped 5 of the bombers. Thankfully many of these bombers attacked battleship Fuso, scoring two hits that did negligible damage. One SBD did manged to hit Soryu again. Finally the last morning strike arrived. This one consisted of 18 F4F-4 and 30 SBDs. Again, nearly all the fighters were shot down, but most of the bombers made it through. They hit Junyo once more and put two more bombs into Soryu, which was definitely hurting after these last two bombs. Seeing all these fighters made me think that perhaps the defending CAP would be low, but the lack of TBDs on attack was soon explained when our first strike hit the enemy. Even though they had attacked us with 95 F4F-4s and 6 F4F-3s, they still had 99 F4F-4s and 6 F4F-3s up on CAP. Still, I was hopeful with a large strike we could get through. The first attack was small, 9 Zeros, 26 Vals and 28 Kates. The Zeros on escort had a tough time against so many enemy fighter, but they damaged 9 of the enemy at least. After 21 bombers were shot down, the rest headed for home, realizing they wouldn't make it to the target. Still, this attack did tire the enemy CAP a bit. Our next attack was very well coordinated, consisting of 44 Zeros, 60 Vals and 111 Kates. Our Zeros fought very well even though they were outnumbered, taking down 28 enemy fighters while 32 of the Zeros went down. Some 45 bombers were shot down, but 83 Kates and 44 Vals lined up on target. With so many planes I was sure we would score many hits, especially considering many of these pilots were veterans of Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately though, the spirits weren't with them today. Out of 127 bombers attacking, the only hits scored were a 60kg GP and a 250kg AP bomb hit on CV Enterprise. Our last morning strike of 9 Zeros, 21 Vals and 23 Kates managed to get about half of their planes through the CAP. These faired a bit better, although all the Kates still missed. The Vals put two 250kg AP bombs into CV Hornet. Both side were pretty well spent, but more planes were launched in the afternoon. The US strike of 39 F4F-4 and 16 SBD hit a weak CAP of 31 Zero which shot down 7 fighters and 1 Bomber. CV Kaga took a bomb hit, but it did little damage to the big ship. The Japanese strike of 17 Zeros, 13 Vals and 24 kates did no better, scoring no hits on the enemy ships, although they lost few of their number since the enemy CAP of 33 fighters was also very weak. To finish the air combat, 3 Bettys arrived at Johnston and put two torpedoes into a cargo ship there. Some 28 Bettys from Palmyra and Midway had attempted attacks but got lost enroute to their target. Clearly, the enemy carriers had swapped TBDs for extra fighters. The good news is that they are out of range for TBDs to fly in from Hawaii since they reacted towards our carriers. In contrast, our Carriers have flown off all operable Val and Kates to Palmyra, and flown in several Zeros from Kwajelein. Tomorrow we should be able to maintain a CAP of 60-80 Zeros. Hopefully it will be enough to protect our carriers as they head back to Kwaj. Some 120 Bettys and Nells have arrived at Palmyra and will also attempt to continue their attacks now that the enemy carriers CAP has been severely weakened. If our carriers can avoid any more hits, they may well make it back to Kwajelein where repairs can get underway. Losses for the day: F4F-4: 107 F4F-3: 11 SBD-3 Dauntless: 75 A6M2 Zero: 98 B5N2 Kate: 102 (34 of these were ops losses) D3A2 Val: 70 Nine floatplanes were also lost in air-to-air while they were on naval search. Carrier status: Soryu: 93/39/49 Hiyo: 48/29/38 Junyo: 39/23/20 [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston10.jpg[/image] First carrier battle of the war! In China, our air units continued the attack against Liuchow and the lead elements of our army arrived there today. The bulk of the army should arrive tomorrow. Some enemy reinforcements have arrived, hopefully we can still push them back.

FeurerKrieg -> RE: August 6th, 1942 - Carrier Battle!! (8/27/2008 6:05:14 PM)
If anyone is reading this is considering CHS 160, I'd suggest it. It think this battle is an improvment over stock (although I didn't like the results!). Lots of bombers on both side got through the CAP, yet, AA wasn't super lethal like in NikMod (although many planes still went down to AA), and most importantly, you can see that aerial torpedo attacks are much less likely to hit fast ships. While 3 Bettys scores 2 hits against transports, 83 high experience Kates all missed fast moving combat ships. While some of that is just bad luck, I don't think it can be claimed we had an unrealistic hit rate with our torpedo bombers. It was our dive bombers that hit, and the enemies DBs that hit also, which I think historically DB's tended to hit more often.

FeurerKrieg -> RE: August 6th, 1942 - Carrier Battle!! (8/28/2008 8:03:59 AM)
Hi all - too late for a full update, but just wanted to let you know OSO pushed on with his carriers. Apparently he has some Avengers and he added those to his strikes today. We did better in the air, but our three damaged carriers still go hit. Another carrier got hit also, but is only at 2 flood, and can make 15 knots (Shoho maybe?). It was nice to see that most of his torpedoes missed also, gives me some hope for the future. His torpedoes did hit Hiyo (fair enough, Hiyo was moving slow from damage yesterday) and Hiyo sunk. I think Soryu and Junyo are lost causes as well, so I'm taking the rest of the carriers and running towards Palmyra. If he retreats, and Soryu and Junyo get some good damage rolls, they might live. Otherwise they are toast. If he follows my main fleet, a whole lot of Bettys and Nells will attack him, and his CAP is really getting low now. He had F23-A Buffalos flying escort today - I don't think I've EVER seen those on combat duty. The lesson from this battle - in CHS 160 - save your Kates to kill slow ships, or damaged warships. Use DBs and extra fighters first. Then bring the Kates.

FeurerKrieg -> August 7th, 1942 - Carrier Battle Continues!! (9/1/2008 8:08:26 AM)
August 7th, 1942 The American carriers press on with the attack today! Clearly they are getting low on fighters, as we saw F2A-3 Buffalos attacking today. However, Our fighters were tired from fighting yesterday, and the reinforcements had just landed so they were tired also. Still, we shot down nearly twice as many enemy carrier aircraft as we lost today. Most of the planes we lost today were land based units flying from our carriers. Summary of the battle: First strike: 14 F4F-4, 12 F4F-3, 4 F2A-3, 28 TBF Avenger, 15 SBD-3 Dauntless vs 65 A6M2 24 TBF, and 8 SBD penetrate the CAP, but the only hit is a 1000lb bomb on BB Hyuga which does no damage. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston11.jpg[/image] First strike Second strike: 4 SBD-3 versus 57 A6M2 This strike is complete shot down. Third strike: 7 F4F-4, 15 TBF, 17 SBD-3 vs 57 A6M2 11 TBF, 12 SBD penetrate the CAP, CVL Shoho is hit by a 1000lb GP bomb. Fourth strike: 10 F4F-4, 9 TBF, 20 SBD-3 vs 47 A6M2 9 TBF, 18 SBD penetrate the CAP, Junyo takes two bombs and Fuso takes 1, which does no damage. Fifth strike: 7 F4F-4, 2 F4F-3, 14 TBF, 4 SBD-3 vs 43 A6M2 12 TBF, 4 SBD penetrate the CAP. Junyo takes three more bombs and is in a bad way. The first carrier attack torpedo hit a target as two torp his Hiyo, sinking the carrier. Sixth strike: 15 SBD-3 vs 40 A6M2 14 SBD penetrate the CAP. Junyo take two more bombs, Soryu takes 2 bombs and CA Kinugasa gets hit as well. Kinugasa's damage is minimal. Soryu and Junyo will likely not make it home. The silver lining is that the enemy's carrier aviation should be a shambles for a while, while we can still field a very effective force. Nearly all our pilots that survived the initial battles were able to get off their carriers and will reorganize over the next week or so. Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku will leave for Truk in a couple days and these three large carriers will add some 250 aircraft to the carrier force. Also, Junyo and Hiyo are two of our smaller carrier. The loss of Soryu though, will certainly be felt. Thankfully today, with the enemy carriers unable to provide CAP over Johnston, our Bettys and Nells at Palmyra managed to damage some enemy ships there. In a series of unopposed attacks, DD Alwyn was sunk along with 3 MSWs. One PC, one AP and 5 AK's were also hit with torpedoes. DMS Bogg an MSW Bobolink, hit previously, were reported sunk today. Seeing another DMS go down was very nice. Carrier status: Soryu 99/59/34, Junyo 99/77/49, Shoho 44/2/23. In China things are going better than planned. After one unit entire Liuchow yesterday, the enemy attempted a counterattack. Thankfully, our entire force arrived today and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy attack. Tomorrow our force will take advantage of the fact that the enemy is probably disorganized after this attack and launch a shock attack of our own. Zero's flew sweep over Chungking and shot down several P-43A, I-153C and I-16C for practice and also to ensure the Chinese air force does not build up strength. Manokwari, a base in northern New Guinea, expanded its airfield today. (sz 2).

FeurerKrieg -> August 8th, 1942 (9/1/2008 8:30:45 AM)
August 8th, 1942 Finally the US Carriers don't attack. They attempt to provide CAP for Johnston, but they don't seem to have many fighters left. A pair of F3F's is all that put up a fight against our Bettys and Nells today. Few of the bombers attack today, after the extensive attacks yesterday, but a few do manage to hit DD Warden and AK Bridge. Two of the AK's hit yesterday are reported sunk. Tomorrow, the bombers range has been extended to see if we can catch the enemy carriers with a weak CAP. Unlikely, but it is worth a shot. Our troops are attacked on Johnston, but they manage to hold for another day. If they can last a couple more days, there are two submarines almost to Johnston that will be able to evacuate a few squads. Carrier status: Soryu 98/84/14, Junyo 99/87/17, Shoho 46/4/7 In China the first attack of Operation Joukai goes much better than planned and the base may fall tomorrow or the day after. (5 to 1, forts 9 -> 4)

FeurerKrieg -> August 9th, 1942 (9/1/2008 8:47:28 AM)
August 9th, 1942 Our submarines approaching Johnston we attacked today. I-26 was sunk, while I-17 took a shot at CLAA Atlanta, which missed. I-17 was then attacked and hit, but not sunk yet. 85 SBDs, 106 B-24D and 48 B-17Es attacked our defenders on Johnston, and with that support, the US Marines there were able to wipe out our forces. The two ships hit yesterday, AK Bridge and DD Worden, both sunk today. A PC and MSW hit two days ago were also reported sunk. One small group of Bettys attempted to attack the enemy carriers, but they have managed to reinforce their CAP. Tomorrow, the Bettys and Nells have returned to limiting their range only to Johnston Island. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston12.jpg[/image] Bettys are shot down Junyo sunk today. Soryu 99/90/5, Shoho 47/4/2 In China, 45 Liz bombers and 86 Army bombers from Canton added to our attack and although the base did not fall it should definitely fall tomorrow. (4 to 1, forts 4 -> 0) In New Zealand, Hamilton airfield expanded. (sz 5)

FeurerKrieg -> August 10th, 1942 - Liuchow captured!! (9/1/2008 9:10:28 AM)
August 10th, 1942 Things are quieting down at Johnston now. AK Arcata, which was damaged in the initial assaults, sunk en route to Pearl Harbor. Soryu 99/97/1, Shoho 49/1/0 In China, Liuchow was easily captured (8 to 1) well ahead of schedule. Some 60,000 Chinese troops retreat east to Kweilin. This now means there are a lot of Chinese troops between Liuchow and Changsha (and in Changsha) that are all drawing supplies from Hengchow. My guess is that these units are going to have a hard time staying in supply. And to keep up the pressure, our troops at Changsha will attack again in two days. As planned in the Operation, the SAA will march east to try and push back the disorganized troops that just retreated, while the China Exp Army heads north to Tuyun to protect the supply lines of the SAA. Before marching, all our troops will rest in Liuchow for 2-3 days. Our troops coming from Ichang are about two or three weeks away from crossing the river. With any luck, the Chinese will have diverted troops south to defend Hengchow, and our crossing will be that much easier. An SNLF unit in Nanning, will move to garrison Liuchow since there is no immediate threat to Nanning now. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/china39.jpg[/image] China situation Lashio airfield was expanded today. (sz 3)

FeurerKrieg -> August 11th, 1942 (9/2/2008 6:39:34 AM)
August 11th, 1942 Soryu finally expires today, and Shoho has completely stopped all flooding and fires. Our bombers attacked Kweilin to attempt to keep the retreated Chinese troops from recovering. Far to the northwest, we captured Hami. A Chinese garrison unit retreated towards Urumchi, but we will not attempt to take that base as the Soviets have been occupying it for some time. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/hami1.jpg[/image] Last base in northwest China captured Across China, reactions to our movements can be seen now. Unit counts in Kunming and the adjacent base have declined, Changsha has declined, and Hengchow has declined. Anything that moves west from Hengchow is good as it will open the way for the Northern China Army to capture the base once they make it through the swamplands and cross the river. We will attempt to move some small units into Kunming and the other base near Burma to stop the flow of supplies out of those areas. If Hengchow gets very empty, we have a brigade that can cross the river and attempt to disrupt supply and troops movements there as well.

FeurerKrieg -> August 12th, 1942 (9/2/2008 6:50:52 AM)
August 12th, 1942 An empty barges hit a mine at Port Moresby. MSW's from Rabaul will go and sweep those mines. Zeros sweep over Chungking. 4 Zeros are lost, and 9 Chinese are shot down. Troops begin marching out of Liuchow. SAA and CEA HQ's relocated from Wuchow to Liuchow. Tomorrow the Army will attack Changsha to take advantage of the enemy troop reduction there, and also to burn supplies they will need to hold Kweilin. Another 100k supplies will be sent to Canton in the next week.

FeurerKrieg -> August 13th, 1942 (9/3/2008 6:13:19 AM)
August 13th, 1942 Liz's hit Kweilin and our troops attack at Changsha. A few Chinese units have moved into Luichow, so we will force them back tomorrow and resume our march.

FeurerKrieg -> August 14th, 1942 (9/4/2008 4:04:56 AM)
August 14th, 1942 The troops that arrived at Liuchow were the same that had been forced out three days ago. They were easily routed today. Having retreated twice in four days, while our troops have rested, those units must be pretty ineffective at this point. Our troops will march after them immediately to try and prevent them from slowing us down again. Unit count continues to drop in Changsha - currently at 16, was at 21 just a week ago. It seems everything is moving to Kweilin, which is okay, since the Northern China Army will have that much easier of a time once they make it across the river.

FeurerKrieg -> August 15th, 1942 (9/4/2008 5:56:13 AM)
August 15th, 1942 Liz bombers from Camranh Bay and army bombers from Canton attacked Kweilin today. Zeros flew over Chengtu and shot down 8 I-153c fighters. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/I-153_2.jpg[/image] Soviet example of the I-153

FeurerKrieg -> July 42 Stats (9/4/2008 6:40:41 AM)
Stats show July was a VERY quiet month. Any month that Japan doesn't lose a single ship is a good month in my book. As we know, August is anything but quiet and the losses for August will be higher for ships and aircraft. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/July42SB.jpg[/image] [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/July42ShipLosses.jpg[/image] [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/July42Airlosses-month.jpg[/image] [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/July42Airlosses-fullwar.jpg[/image] [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/July42SubRatio.jpg[/image] [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/July42SubLeaders.jpg[/image] [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/July42TopGuns.jpg[/image] [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/July42Prod.jpg[/image]

FeurerKrieg -> August 16th, 1942 (9/8/2008 4:43:52 AM)
August 16th, 1942 Liz bombers from Camrahn Bay and Army bombers from Canton attacked Kweilin as our troops begin to move on the base.

FeurerKrieg -> August 17th, 1942 (9/8/2008 4:53:29 AM)
August 17th, 1942 Air attacks on Kweilin again. Zeros sweep over Chengtu shooting down 6 I-153c. One new A6M2 pilot was careless and got shot down. We are losing two - three transport planes a day as the full transport fleet is flying supplies to the regiment that is marching on Kunming in the far western reaches of China. Several airbases expanded today, Shortlands, Chichi Jima and Nandi. (sz 2, 3 and 4 respectively) [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/china40.jpg[/image] Zero combat training

FeurerKrieg -> August 18th, 1942 (9/8/2008 4:59:26 AM)
August 18th, 1942 Liz bombers continue to hit Kweilin. The Army bombers at Canton switch to pounding enemy ground troops at Hengkow as our regiment is about to cross the river on a raiding mission to disrupt supply lines on the other side of the river. 13 Betty Bombers evade 9 P-38Fs at Johnston and manage to put a torpedo into AK Alaskan. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/johnston13.jpg[/image] Enemy ship hit at Johnston Island

FeurerKrieg -> August 19th, 1942 (9/8/2008 5:06:39 AM)
August 19th, 1942 Army bombers supported our river crossing today at Hengchow, but casualties were still very heavy, nearly 30% of the unit's strength was lost. Still, they did get across the river and will disrupt supply production and flow for a day at least. They will likely be forced back across the river tomorrow. Kweilin got a break as the Liz bombers stayed at base to rest up. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/china41.jpg[/image] Cross river raid in China Munda airbase was completed today (sz 4).

FeurerKrieg -> August 20th, 1942 (9/8/2008 5:23:51 AM)
August 20th, 1942 Liz bombers hit Kweilin, Army bombers hit Hengchow. Our troops are forced back from Hengchow and they resume their positions on our side of the river. To keep up pressure on Chinese supplies, our troops at Changsha made an assault. But the best development of the day was that the enemy troops at Kweilin, as at Liuchow, attempted to attack the lead element of our force, but 4 regiments of tanks and another division arrived in time to inflict heavy damage on the enemy forces. We will wait one more day for the rest of the SAA forces to arrive and then we will begin the assault on Kweilin, hopefully the enemy is now disorganized after their failed attack. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/china42.jpg[/image] SAA advances on to city number 2 - Kweilin Operation Joukai is moving along well. Enemy units now appear to be moving from Kweilin/Hengchow up towards Tuyun. This is excellent, as it makes it easier to obtain the stated objective of this operation - the isolation of Changsha. Plus, if the CEA can at least hold its position in Tuyun, then when the NCA troops cross the river, and take Hengchow, they will be able to threaten Kweiyang, which would cut off Tuyun, and therefore the Chinese will have to withdraw from Tuyun or risk getting cut off there as well. The more we can force the Chinese to withdraw without a fight, the better we are doing. A sweep over Chengtu gets two more I-153c. Since our fighters are not to tired we'll fly sweep again tomorrow.

FeurerKrieg -> August 21st, 1942 (9/8/2008 5:29:02 AM)
August 21st, 1942 Liz bombers hit the rear area support and supplies at Kweilin while the army bombers hit the front line troops. A unit of Lily-II's at Hankow attacks enemy ground troops moving in the backfield north of Hengchow. Instead of I-153c's at Chengtu today, our Zeros found 9 P-66 Vanguard fighers. 8 of them were shot down with no loss to our own aircraft. Our pilots will rest a couple days and then resume their sweeps. Tomorrow is the first attack on Kweilin.

FeurerKrieg -> August 22nd, 1942 (9/8/2008 5:37:22 AM)
August 22nd, 1942 Kweilin is pounded by Liz and Army bombers. First attack goes well, reducing enemy fortifications and inflicting heavy enemy casualties. (1 to 1, forts 7 -> 6) [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/china43.jpg[/image] 1st Attack on Kweilin The airfield at Christchurch, New Zealand, was completed today. (sz 4)

FeurerKrieg -> August 23rd, 1942 (9/8/2008 5:40:23 AM)
August 23rd, 1942 The assault on Kweilin continues from the air and on the ground. Today's attack does well also. (2 to 1, forts 6 ->5)

FeurerKrieg -> August 24th, 1942 (9/8/2008 5:57:28 AM)
August 24th, 1942 Assault on Kweilin continues to advance. (3 to 1, forts 5 -> 4) Our troops will rest tomorrow and then resume the attack. We expect to capture the base within 3-4 more days. In Burma over the last few weeks we have been upgrading our fighters. There are some 150 fighters in Meiktila now, mostly Ki-44IIb Tojos and 36 Ki-61 Tonys. Today the Allies flew sweeps over Mandalay and Magwe to draw our outer patrols into combat. At Magwe, although outnumbered 22 to 5, we lost no Tojos and shot down 1 P-40E. At Mandalay, outnumbered 22 to 12, we lost three Tojos, but took down 3 P-40Es of the AVG. These results speak well of the Ki-44s abilities against the P-40E. Hurricanes and Spitfires don't have the legs to threaten our bases so much, but the problem we currently have is keeping our CAP limited to the base we want it at. I am debating about whether to push more fighters into all the bases, since their leaky CAP will be mutually supportive, or to pull back my fighters until the enemy attempts to begin another bombing offensive. I do not want to fight long attrition battles with my well trained army pilots. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/burma46.jpg[/image] Good showing by Ki-44-IIb's in Burma We also now have Nick two engined fighters at Port Moresby. PM is out of range of any Allied fighters and the Nick should do well against unescorted heavy bombers with its reasonable gun platform and higher durability against enemy bomber machine guns.

FeurerKrieg -> Update (9/12/2008 5:35:26 PM)
Hi all - I haven't forgotten this AAR. We've been cranking out two turns a night so I just haven't had the time to update. I'll probably do so this weekend, but for now I can say that Operation Joukai is going great. We've capture Kweilin and its small resources there. Our troops are holding their positions at Tuyun so our supply line is safe. Our troops crossed the river north of Changsha and the initial attack forced the Chinese back! Due to this, OSO abandon Changsha and we were able to capture that level 9 fort base easily and now the bulk of the CEA can join in on the push to Kweiyang, possibly cutting off the enemy troops at Tuyun. Plus there is some 50+ resources and 6 HI in that base. And also 290 'auto supply' for the Chinese is now out of their hands. The race is now on to see if we can trap a big chunk of these enemy troops in Hengchow and the road north of Hengchow and force a couple mass surrenders. This operation definitely served its purpose of breaking the stalemate at the river, and now it seems that the Chinese are fighting with low supplies and out of their prepared defensive positions. Good stuff! More details coming when I complete the daily updates. Game date is now at Sept 1. I think we blasted through August in just two weeks!

FeurerKrieg -> August 25th, 1942 (9/14/2008 5:15:43 AM)
August 25th, 1942 I-3 hit by MSW Penguin near Johnston Island. The sub should be able to make it back to Kwajelein. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/sub25.jpg[/image] I-3 takes a hit. Zeros over Chungking take down 4 P-43A, 2 P-66, and 2 I-16c. One Zero is lost. Kweilin bombed by Liz and Army bombers. Our troops rest today, but will resume the assault tomorrow.

FeurerKrieg -> August 26th, 1942 (9/14/2008 5:24:47 AM)
August 26th, 1942 I-3 is nearly hit again as it retreats to Kwajelein and a dud torpedo saves AK Isuzu Maru from damage by SS Pickerel. Kweilin is bombed and attacked again. (1 to 1, forts 4 -> 3) The CEA troops have entered Tuyun - tomorrow the Chinese will probably attempt to drive us out, we must hold here to keep our supply line to the SAA secure. Several airfield expanded today - Baguio in the PI, Onnekotan Jima and Koumac. (all size 3)

FeurerKrieg -> August 27th, 1942 (9/14/2008 5:54:05 AM)
August 27th, 1942 In the South China Sea, SS Tarpon attacks AP Nichibi Maru on the surface and gets some hits in before being chased off by a hit from the transport's 3" gun. The transport was carrying elements of a base force for Jahore Bharu. It will detach from the convoy and unload at Singapore. Elsewhere, escorts chase off SS Gar and Porpoise. Chinese bombers (9 SB-3c and 4 IL-4s) attack our troops at Tuyun, and our Sallys return the favor on the Chinese. The expected Chinese attacks comes and.... our troops hold! I feel much better now. Kweilin is on the verge of falling as today's attack pushed forward. (4 to 1, forts 3 -> 2) [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/tuyun1.jpg[/image] A critical line is held

FeurerKrieg -> August 28th, 1942 (9/14/2008 6:11:06 AM)
August 28th, 1942 A critical day for Operation Joukai! First, Liz bombers shift their target to Tuyun to support our troops there, bombing rear areas of the enemy and their supplies. Sallys from Canton target the front line troops, and our troops begin to dig in. Zeros over Chungking today take down 2 P-66 and 2 I-16c, but lose one Zero. As expected, Kweilin is captured! (5 to 1). This important base has some small supply/resource production, and also the capture deprives the Chinese of autosupply from the base. That is great news, and the SAA will immediately begin marching on Hengchow. The bulk of the NCA troops crossed the river west of Ichang today and did better than hoped. Their attack across the river was so overwhelming, not only did they establish a beachhead, they routed the Chinese forces on garrison duty there! (18 to 1 attack results) Our position is excellent now, as the enemy must either stay in Changsha and get cut off or retreat and let Changsha go without a fight. Either option is excellent for the Empire. Troops from the NCA will now mostly move towards Hengchow to cut off the exit from Changsha, but will also move in all other directions to protect their supply line, and also to stop supplies from coming in from Kweiyang/Chungking area. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/china44.jpg[/image] An unexpected blast forward Picton airfield in New Zealand expanded today. (sz 2)

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