December 29th, 1942 - Line Islands (Full Version)

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FeurerKrieg -> December 29th, 1942 - Line Islands (12/2/2008 7:00:51 AM)

December 29th, 1942

30 Lily bombers and many fighters hit Chungking today.

Line Islands
As the KB retires westward, it attempts to hit enemy ships at Palmyra, but weather frustrates our attempt. A Val on naval search did manage to hit an AK though.

Instead, we had to be content with mine damage. 8 AK, 1 AP an 1 PC all struck mines. One of those AK's hit 2 mines. The AP and PC both sunk. Our naval guns sunk another subchaser and damaged an AK and an AP.

Unfortunately though, without our battle fleet around to disrupt the landing, the enemy troops did much better and managed to force our troops from the airfield after only 3 days of fighting. (15 to 1) 5 A6M2-N Rufes were captured by the US Forces.
[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/palmyra8.jpg[/image]
Palmyra is captured - the Line Islands are now in American hands


Some Mavis floatplanes were damaged while sneaking troops off of Christmas Island. A couple submarines also picked up some troops. These will eventually make their way back to Osaka for rebuilding.

After our experience at Christmas Island with the P-38s, the KB will not attempt anymore attacks against Palmyra. Instead it will head southwest to meet up with the tanker group at Canton Island. From there it will head to Tarawa and then Kwajelein to reorganize our aircrews and take on some well trained replacement pilots.

The battle of the Line Islands appears to be over, although I expect we will see reports of ships sinking for a few more days as all these damaged transports attempt to return to Pearl Harbor. Barring any surprise attacks from the US CV's, the KB should make it back to Kwajelein with its aircrews largely intact and many kills richer. One enemy CV and CA taken down plus some CLs, DDs, and many transports. Damage inflicted on battleships and many casualties caused at sea, thus requiring his LCU's to need to rest and rebuild for a bit. All this for the loss of a few planes and about 50,000 troops. Overall, I think the battle went well.



FeurerKrieg -> December 30th, 1942 (12/3/2008 2:12:42 AM)

December 30th, 1942
AP Japara is reported sunk as it heads back to Hawaii.

Our troops continue to hang on to small corners of both Palmyra and Christmas Islands. Mavis transport planes are flying in when weather and darkness permit and evacuating a few troops per plane. Submarines also assist with the evacuation effort making runs from Canton Island to Christmas and Palmyra at full speed. Two of our minelayer subs will unload mines at Palmyra and then pick up troops and head to Canton Island.

I-29, hit several days ago, is barely afloat at Canton Island and is docked next to an AR in an attempt to save the ship. (flooding is at 91, port size 2 with AR docked)





FeurerKrieg -> December 31st, 1942 (12/3/2008 4:17:45 AM)

December 31st, 1942
A quiet day to end the year.

Our fighters fly over Chungking, but the bombers stay home.

Enemy troops shell our survivors on Palmyra and Christmas Island as Mavis planes continue their evacuation.

As 1942 comes to an end, the Empire is still vast. Although a couple outposts have been lost, these losses have bought time for resources and oil to be sent home, allowing us to increase production of ships, airplanes, guns and tanks. Although the US Army has new and powerful airplanes, they still cannot reach from one island to the next. The US must continue to rely on carrier based air power or unescorted heavy bombers for any advances.

Meanwhile, new IJA air units are being formed up and these will be augmenting our naval aviation defenses in the Pacific. Although we have lost some carriers, two of those lost were small ships. By Mid-march we will have two Unryu class carriers and by June we will have 2 more Unryu's plus Chitose and Chiyoda will have completed their conversions to CVL's. The A6M3a has proved at least capable against the F4F-4, and unless the US has a new navy fighter coming out soon, we should be fairly well set for the next couple battles.

Burma and China are secure as is the DEI. Offensives out of Australia are a risky idea for the enemy since there are no carriers there to support such an attack. Therefore, New Zealand remains secure as well and the factories there also support the war effort.

In the Northern Pacific, our bases are now well fortified and our second line of defense at PJ and OJ are both well supplied size 4 airbases.

Interior bases are being built up as well. Airbases across the Philippines, in the Marianas, at Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima are all being constructed and/or fortified. In the event we must fall back to these positions, the US will find hard fights ahead of them.






FeurerKrieg -> Maps & Capital Ship Losses (12/3/2008 5:27:10 AM)

Jan 1, 1943


[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42CapShips.jpg[/image]
Capital ship losses of both sides.


[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42Map.jpg[/image]
I've put in a dotted line to show the extent of the Empire versus where it is at now.


[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42StratMap.jpg[/image]



FeurerKrieg -> End of 1942 Stats (12/3/2008 7:03:20 AM)

The exchange on ships was very favorable, the air units certainly less so. Just looking at A2A though, we still came out ahead and A2A is where the pilots are killed the most.

The sub kill to loss ratio has dropped below 1. Our subs need to pick up the kills or stop dying!

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42SB.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42ShipLosses.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42AirLossesMonth.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42AirLossesWar.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42SubRatio.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42SubLeaders.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42TopGuns.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/Dec42Prod.jpg[/image]



FeurerKrieg -> January 1st, 1943 (12/4/2008 6:33:04 AM)

January 1st, 1943
127 Lilys, 24 Sallys with escorts hit Chungking today.

Liberators and A-29 Hudsons hit our troops at Palmyra in support of an effort to remove our troops. Our remaining soldiers are dug in well though and the enemy takes fair losses trying to wipe us out.

At Christmas Island though, our troops do give out. Most of the men fight to the death, but some are captured. Approximately 12,000 of our troops are lost on the island.

Makin Airfield is now operational. Engineers are building the airstrip rapidly to support the defense of Tarawa, which will become critical if Canton Island is attacked and/or lost.

The airfield at Davao was also expanded today. (sz 3)



FeurerKrieg -> January 2nd, 1943 (12/4/2008 6:42:33 AM)

January 2nd, 1943
Liz and Helens hit Laysan and B-24s and A-29's hit our troops at Palmyra. Today the 641st US Tank Destroyer Bn attacked our troop on its own, taking significant casualties. (0 to 1)

Submarine I-3, on its way in to evacuate troops at Palmyra, managed to hit MSW Rail with a torpedo before moving in to the beach to pick up a couple dozen soldiers.

We also saw today some fruits of our mining effort at Palmyra - 3 AK's and 1 AP were all reported sunk en route back to Pearl Harbor.




FeurerKrieg -> January 3rd, 1943 (12/4/2008 6:46:02 AM)

January 3rd, 1943
Today 128 Lily II and 26 Sallys, with escort hit Chungking.

The US troops at Palmyra rested today while shelling our troops.

AK Nightingale was reported sunk.



FeurerKrieg -> January 4th, 1943 (12/4/2008 6:55:18 AM)

January 4th, 1943
Liz and Helens hit Laysan.

Today's attack on Chungking meets some unexpected resistance. 7 P-43A and 6 I-16c attempt to stop the attack. Thankfully our pilots, though fairly new, were up to task of shooting down Chinese fighters. 4 Tojos were lost, but we took down 7 P-43a and 5 I-16c. The bombers destroyed another P-47 and 2 I-16c on the ground.
[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/chungking8.jpg[/image]
Chinese fighters are back...and shot down again


SC Timmins and AK Nebraskan were reported sunk heading to Pearl Harbor.

Funafuti airfield expanded today. (sz 3)



FeurerKrieg -> RE: January 4th, 1943 (12/4/2008 6:55:57 AM)

The AAR is all caught up to the game now! Hopefully I'll be able to keep it from falling too far behind again.



FeurerKrieg -> January 5th, 1943 (12/5/2008 4:39:12 AM)

January 5th, 1943
AK Puerto Rican was reported sunk heading back to Pearl Harbor.

In Burma, 24 Hurricanes and 19 P-40E Warhawks flew over Mandalay and engaged 10 of our Tojo fighters. 8 of our fighters went down while the enemy lost 3 Hurricanes and 2 P-40E.
[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/mandalay1.jpg[/image]
Dogfights over Burma


Our fighters on training sweeps over Chungking encountered 3 P-43A and 1 I-16C today and shot all 4 down with no losses.

Laysan was bombed.

Four heavy cruisers shelled our troops on Palmyra, B-24s and A-29s bombed them, and yet they continue to fight on!

Morotai airfield was expanded today. (sz 3)



FeurerKrieg -> RE: January 5th, 1943 (12/6/2008 5:42:53 AM)

January 6th, 1943
AK Admiral Day was reported sunk at Pearl Harbor.

All three AVG units were waiting for us at Chungking today. While I'm sure some of them are (or were) fairly green pilots, our guys aren't so hot either (45-60 exp), which is why they are flying against the Chinese. We took down quite a few of the P-40Es, but lost more planes overall. One unit of Tojo's took the brunt of the fighting and lost over 20 fighters. All the other planes did pretty well, the Tonys did the best, but even the Oscars got some kills. We will attack again tomorrow. If there are any damaged planes on the ground perhaps our bombers will hit them.

Losses from the air battle in China:

Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 23
A6M3a Zero: 5
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 3
Ki-61-Ib Tony: 2
Ki-48-II Lily: 11
Ki-21-II Sally: 1

P-40E Warhawk: 21 (1 on the ground)
I-16c: 2

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/chungking9.jpg[/image]
Chungking attack



FeurerKrieg -> January 7th, 1943 (12/6/2008 7:45:28 PM)

January 7th, 1943
Another day, another AK sunk. This time it was Coquina.

Near Batavia, SS Porpoise was hit by our APD's, but damage seems light.

Our planes hit Chungking again, and as hope they manage to hit some P-40E airframes on the ground. 1 I-16c was shot down and 4 P-40E's hit on the ground. The AVG had left.

Laysan was bombed as well.

Several bases on on the outer perimeter are maxed out on forts, either level 9 or whatever level the size of the atoll will support. Several of the construction units across the Pacific are being pulled back to build up the defenses closer to home as well as in the DEI.



FeurerKrieg -> January 8th, 1943 (12/9/2008 4:06:43 AM)

January 8th, 1943
Our airplanes attack Chungking again, destroying a couple Chinese fighters.

Liberators, Hudsons and heavy cruisers assailed out troops at Palmyra today and they could take it no more. All of our troops remaining on the island were killed or captured. Losses were around 22,000. Approximately 5-7% of the troops were evacuated before the surrender over the past few days. These units will be sent to Osaka to rebuild and will then be redeployed to a new hot spot.

Laysan was attacked by our bombers at Midway.



FeurerKrieg -> RE: January 8th, 1943 (12/9/2008 5:11:48 AM)

January 9th, 1943
Chungking bombed.

Lucena in the Phillipines expands its airfield. (sz 3)

The US now have an operating airfield at French Frigate Shoals. Our bombers will stand down for a couple days while we investigate to see if P-38's show up on LRCAP over Laysan. We do have 70 Oscar IIa's at Laysan that can fly escort.

Below is a map showing the actions of the KB since the beginning of the war. The one trip that each carrier took back to Japan was for upgrades.

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/KB.jpg[/image]
KB Movements Dec 7, 1942 - Jan 8, 1943



FeurerKrieg -> January 10th, 1943 (12/10/2008 2:31:44 AM)

January 10th, 1943
Our bombers hit Chungking.

Marine paratroopers from Palmyra or Christmas Island land on the unoccupied Jarvis Island and capture the place. Facilities at Palmyra and Fanning are being developed rapidly by the US Engineers.



FeurerKrieg -> January 11th, 1943 (12/10/2008 2:33:17 AM)

January 11th, 1943
Chungking is bombed.

One of our cargo ships, the AK Bunzan Maru, that was hit in the Aleutians many days ago finally sunk about 300 miles from Tokyo.



FeurerKrieg -> January 12th, 1943 - Oscars beat P-38G's(!) (12/10/2008 3:42:06 AM)

January 12th, 1943
Bombers at Chungking again.

In the Pacific, our fully rested force at Midway attacked Laysan expecting to see some resistance and they weren't let down. Our Oscar's actually did quite well against the enemy P-38G's, most likely due to the odds (67 vs 9) and the fact that the P-38Gs were on a long range CAP from the small strip at FFS. 3 Oscar's were lost, but 8 P-38G's went down.

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/laysan8.jpg[/image]
P-38G's get bested by Oscars



Mistmatz -> RE: January 12th, 1943 - Oscars beat P-38G's(!) (12/10/2008 10:36:16 AM)

Great AAR. I joined a few pages ago but I'll try to read the whole story during the holidays as I'm very interested in your NZ strategy. I rarely notice this strategy in AARs and it seems it worked out well in your case.

Thanks for the time and effort you put into this AAR. [:)]



Alikchi2 -> RE: January 12th, 1943 - Oscars beat P-38G's(!) (12/10/2008 12:37:14 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Mistmatz

Great AAR. I joined a few pages ago but I'll try to read the whole story during the holidays as I'm very interested in your NZ strategy. I rarely notice this strategy in AARs and it seems it worked out well in your case.

Thanks for the time and effort you put into this AAR. [:)]


Seconded! Both the graphics and writing are top notch, as always. And NZ was wondefully audacious and even better, successful.

Speaking of all this, have there been any signs of life from Australia? I haven't seen Oz even mentioned for weeks.



FeurerKrieg -> RE: January 12th, 1943 - Oscars beat P-38G's(!) (12/10/2008 4:50:02 PM)

Hi guys - thanks much for the compliments!

NZ Strategy: The key here is taking NZ early enough that you isolate Australia from the USN to the east and the Royal Navy to the west. To do so you need at least a small carrier/floatplane fleet in Java to prevent any attempts at British carriers heading through the Indian Ocean. Won't be possible to block that in AE because of the improved shipping lanes. Eventually of course, the British will have a strong enough force to get through, but every week that goes by is a little victory to me.

Australia: There has been no life in Australia. I don't think even heavy bombers have the range to get there. Darwin has a unit or two of fighters and recon planes, but otherwise the place is very quiet. A big pile of ships are over in Perth, but I think they are just sitting there so I don't catch them with a port raid from New Zealand. Lots of ground troops in Australia though. Thankfully until they can get some carrier cover they really can't threaten the Empire.



FeurerKrieg -> January 13th, 1943 (12/11/2008 6:32:00 AM)

January 13, 1943
Rain prevented the bombing of Chungking today.

Our bombers hit Laysan and this time 30 Oscars ran into 4 P-38Gs. We lost one Oscar and damaged all 4 of the P-38's.



FeurerKrieg -> January 14th, 1943 (12/12/2008 6:08:30 AM)

January 14th, 1943
Pretty quiet today. Our troops in the mountains of China continue to whittle down a pocket of Chinese troops. The armies at Chungking continue to shell each other.



thegreatwent -> RE: January 14th, 1943 (12/12/2008 6:18:31 AM)

Fun AAR, I like that fact that CHS makes the Ki-43 a bit more viable plus your Midway army airgroups seem to be gaining exp even while taking on P-38s. Well done[:)].



FeurerKrieg -> January 15th, 1943 (12/15/2008 6:29:04 AM)

January 15th, 1943
The AVG was back in China today, but our fighters did better this time around.

47 P-40Es were destroyed total (43 A2A, 4 on the ground)

We lost 10 Oscar IIs, 6 Tonies, 5 Tojos and 1 A6M3c. Some of our pilots were rescued and the rest continued to gain valuable experience.

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/chungking10.jpg[/image]
AVG returns to China for more punishment



FeurerKrieg -> January 16th, 1943 (12/15/2008 6:37:27 AM)

January 16th, 1943
In the evening, 18 Liz bombers attempted to hit French Frigate Shoals airfield at night, but had a hard time locating the target. They release bombs but it is unclear if any damage was inflicted.

The next morning, American carriers were spotted to the east of Midway. 180 SBD dive bombers hit the airfields at Midway, damaging many planes which were on the ground since the air units there were resting for a couple days.

Losses:
17 Oscar II
12 Helen
10 Liz
4 Emily
2 Kates

We did managed to bring down 5 SBD's with AA fire. The airfield is pretty rough, but our engineers will get to work ASAP. No counter attack is planned, as no transports have been spotted and the carriers probably have many fighters for protection at the moment.

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/midway1.jpg[/image]
Carriers near Midway!


Over Chungking, 2 I-16cs were shot down.

Aitutaki and Weda both expanded their airfields today. (sz 4 and 2)



FeurerKrieg -> January 17th, 1943 (12/15/2008 6:47:03 AM)

January 17th, 1943
At Chungking, a couple I-16c's were shot down and then 2 more destroyed on the ground along with 2 SB-2c.

The American carriers moved in closers to Midway, but bad weather prevented them from launching any attacks. All of our aircraft are on naval search so that they won't be hanging out at the air field, nor will they waste themselves against the American carriers.

[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/midway2.jpg[/image]
Carriers move in closer to Midway.



FeurerKrieg -> January 18th, 1943 (12/16/2008 3:26:27 AM)

January 18th, 1943
3 SB-2cs attempt to bomb our troops at Chungking, 1 is shot down by AA fire.

In the Pacific, enemy carriers head east away from Midway.

The enemy is using a large fleet of submarines to supply Laysan. Our mine laying submarines are en route to see if they can make the approaches to Laysan more dangerous for these stealthy suppliers.

With the carriers heading east, bombing of Laysan will resume.

The first batch of 4 Kagero and 2 Yugumo destroyers have finished repairing from their upgrades and will head to Kwajelein. 14 other destroyers, along with Oi and Kitakami are in port having just begun their upgrades. They will head to Kwajelein as fast as they can as we have a destroyer shortage at Kwaj since so many are getting upgraded at once. But all that AA and radar is well worth the trouble.

Shokaku and Zuikaku are due for upgrades in February. If there is no action by the 27th, they will head home to Japan at full speed, get their upgrades and then head back to Kwaj at cruise. The next four or five months have at least one carrier class getting upgraded each month. Our DBs and TBs are getting upgraded as well. First is the D4Y Judy.

quote:

The aircraft was a single engined all-metal low winged monoplane, with a wide-track retractable undercarriage and wing mounted dive brakes. It had a crew of two: a pilot and a navigator/radio-operator/gunner, seated under a long glazed canopy which provided good all-round visibility. The pilot of bomber versions was provided with a telescopic bomb-sight. The aircraft was powered by an Aichi Atsuta liquid-cooled inverted V-12 in-line engine, a licenced copy of the German DB 601, a rated at 1,200 hp. The radiator was behind and below the three-bladed propeller, as in the P-40.

It had a slim, elegant fuselage that enabled it to reach high speeds in horizontal flight and in dives, while low wing-loading gave excellent maneuverability, with the Suisei having superior performance than contemporary dive-bombers such as the SB2C Helldiver. In order to conform with the Japanese Navy's doctrine of ensuring that its aircraft could outrange potential enemies, weight had to be minimized with the result that the D4Y was not fitted with self-sealing fuel tanks and armor. In consequence, the D4Y was extremely vulnerable and tended to catch fire when hit. This made the D4Y extremely vulnerable to any enemy aircraft that could catch it.

Bombs were fitted under the wings and in an internal bomb bay, something rare in a single-engine aircraft. It carried one 500 kg bomb, but there were reports that the D4Y sometimes carried two 250 kg bombs, for example during the attack on USS Princeton. Only 30 kg bombs were carried externally. The aircraft was armed with two 7.7mm machine guns in the nose, and one 7.92mm Type 1 machine gun in the rear of the cockpit. (The 7.92mm was carried because of its higher rate of fire.) Later the 7.92mm was replaced by a 13mm Type 2 machine gun. This light gun armament was typical for a Japanese carrier bomber. The forward machine guns were retained in the kamikaze version.


[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/judy.jpg[/image]
The D4Y Judy



FeurerKrieg -> January 19th, 1943 (12/18/2008 5:19:37 AM)

January 19th, 1943
Oscars tangled with P-38's over Laysan. Our pilot got many shots in from behind, but those enemy planes are hard to bring down. A glancing blow brought down one of our own Oscars easily though.

Our planes flew over Chungking and brought down a couple I-16c.

At Chungking, our massive army attempted a real attack on the fortress. 580,000 highly experienced veteran troops, including thousands of engineering troops, attacked 410,000 reformed Chinese troops. We suffered 70,000 casualties, 369 guns disabled, and 26 tanks damaged while the enemy losses were estimated at only 2,220 casualties, 14 guns and 1 tank. Given these results, that capture of Chungking will be considered not worth the effort. Instead, artillery will surround the based and shell it until the war is over, while some of the infantry units move to take up garrison positions across China to prevent any para attacks. Also, some large units will be moved to Hong Kong or Shanghai and eventually released to either Burma/SE Asia or the Pacific theater. (Adjusted odds were Japan: 1,794 vs China 118,405!!)

Thankfully, nearly all the casualties are wounded or damaged - nearly no kills.




FeurerKrieg -> January 20th, 1943 (12/18/2008 5:30:06 AM)

January 20th, 1943
Oscars over Laysan lost 2 today.

Kunming airfield and Noemfoor both expanded today. (sz 5 and sz 2)

Another new aircraft that is now coming off the production lines:

Nakajima J1N1-S Gekko (Moonlight) IRVING

quote:

Originally designed as a three-seat, daylight escort fighter plane by the Nakajima Aeroplane Company, Ltd., and flown in 1941, the IRVING was modified as a night fighter in May of 1943 and shot down two American B-17 bombers to prove its capability. The Gekko (meaning moonlight) was redesigned to hold only two crewmen so that an upward firing gun could be mounted where the observer once sat. Nearly five hundred J1N1 aircraft, including prototypes, escort, reconnaissance, and night fighters were built during World War II. A sizeable number were also used as Kamikaze aircraft in the Pacific. The few that survived the war were scrapped by the Allies.


[image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/J1N1-s.jpg[/image]
J1N1-S Nightfighter



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