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Avenger -> A work in progress. The Campaign. (6/11/2002 5:53:20 PM)
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May 1, 1942 to June 17, 1942 (Campaign runs until Dec 1943). AAR by Avenger (33 hours so far).
If you want to understand history, or at the very least the history of World War II, then you've got to remember a few things. The most important thing is, in real life you are never THAT lucky. By THAT lucky, I refer to the myths of, "The Battle of Coral Sea" and "The Battle of Midway." In real life you, as the commander of SOPAC, know that the Japanese are more experienced in naval warfare than the Americans, and by a wide margin. They have more carriers than you, and you were probably wise not to force a confrontation so soon. So, remember as you read this story, that history is, as yet, unwritten.
As intelligence reported, the Japs made a thrust towards New Guinea. Their ultimate goal was Port Moresby, but my own intelligence forwarned me that they'd start with a thrust at Buna and Gili Gili. Defending Buna wasn't that difficult. I formed four squadrons of transport planes, nearly 100 transport planes, at Cooktown and just started sending troops to the makeshift airfield. By the time the 1200 Japs arrived in their landing craft, the once deserted airfield boasted nearly 3000 of the fightingest Aussies you ever saw. They cut down those Japs like wheat.
Defending Gili Gili was more difficult. The Japs had their 3 CV's stationed within striking distance of the base. Furthermore, Gili Gili has no airfield. There is also no serviceable road from Gili Gili to any other point on the tip of New Guinea. This would take some doing. First thing I did was load up a huge force of Aussies on Troop Transports. Nearly 10,000 men. The second thing I did was park these transports out of the striking range of those Jap CV's.
Now I had to play a waiting game. The couple of times that we had heavy rains, I lost sight of the Jap fleet, and those were very nervous times. On one such occassion I took a chance and sent three Heavy Cruisers to blockade the port at Gili Gili, and I had a real stroke of luck. Moments after the fleet pulled in, here comes the main Japanese invasion force. A sea battle! 3 CA's, 2 CL's and 5 DD's on my side, 2 DD's and 8 troop ships on their side. I indeed sank the whole thing. As soon as victory was declared, I got the heck out of dodge. With their forces in tatters, the Jap CV's pulled back. As soon as they did so my troop ships established a base at Gili Gili.
That wasn't even the end of my luck. I took all of the undefended bases on New Guinea without taking a scratch. I didn't press too far inland, and I couldn't gather enough troops to take Lea, but I had a very firm hold on New Guinea, after just two weeks. This was all too easy!
Pressing my advantage I mobilized huge amounts of troops and sent them to Guadalcanal. The bases at Tulagi and Lunga were building up nicely as I ferried more and more troops and supplies in. I was indeed changing history. The Japs would never take Guadalcanal from me.
This was nearly a month into the campaign, and then the worm turned. First thing, before I start talking about the worm, that you need to know is that my foothold in the south pacific wasn't all that firm. It wasn't nearly as easy as I've made out. My own fleet of 2 carriers couldn't travel north of Port Moresby. The Japanese VAL's are able to hit that far, all the way from Rabaul. They can hit to Port Moresby in the south, to Guadalcanal in the East. I was just playing at victory. My carriers saw very little action. There were moments of joy, as my Carriers sent a few strays to the bottom, but there were no great victories.
Now we'll begin with the worm. Recon of Lae, in New Guinea, showed that it was defended by less than 2000 Japs. This would be my dessert, or so I thought. I gathered 10,000 Aussies and grouped them with a couple of Destroyers. I then sent them around the north of New Guinea to make a landing at Lea. There was some pretty heavy damage to this fleet as it came in close to Lea, and the Japs hit it hard from Rabaul when they heard that it was there. I split off some 700 men and sent them to take the undefended base at Frenchurt. About 75 miles north of Lea. They took that base without a hiccup. Their troop transport, as it was returning, was sunk entire. A small loss. The other 8 troop ships took a beating. Only 5000 men survived to land at Lea. They landed in dribs and drabs, and when they landed it wasn't pretty. The recon was off by just a smidge. Instead of 1970 Japs defending Lea, there were nearly 40,000. They decimated my force. Only about 300 men were left as the fleet was sent packing. These 300 were quickly sent to a watery grave as the fleet was sunk as it retreated. Oh, a few ships weren't sunk outright, but before reaching Brisbane they'd all die. Fires, Damage, and faulty controls; one ship, the last, was in sight of Brisbane when the "floatation" damage reached a high enough level to sink her. So my whole fleet was eventually lost, just not all at once.
The next time I saw the Japanese Carrier group, they were cruising in, "the slot." My own carrier fleet was caught by them not once, but twice, and we were lucky to escape intact. Minor system damage and we ran like schoolgirls. This was the Japs catching us at their maximum range. My own planes couldn't reach them. The Japs would reach us with about 10 bombers. The Japs would eventually own the slot, but not before dishing out some heavy payback. They caught my supply convoys and my troop transports en route to Guadalcanal about a dozen times. They paid me some staggering losses. Millions of tons of supplies, ships and thousands of men. By the time I'd had enough to sortie my two carriers, at the beginning of June, the Japanese CV fleet had grown to FIVE carriers. They were pounding Guadalcanal, day and night. The Battleship group, headed by Kongo, was bombarding my base there. Their carrier group was at 40 total ships, and they were getting brave. They ventured south of the Slot and started pounding anything I brought near them. I'm desperately trying to hold onto Guadalcanal, but sooner or later it will fall. The Hornet, a very small CV (Jeep carrier), arrived a few days ago, but I fear that it isn't enough. The Jap pilots have alot of experience and my own pilots are green. As June staggers on I'm finding myself in a losing war. There will be no Midway. The battle is in this theater now. If only I had a plan! .
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