RE: Mines in the Pacific

RE: Mines in the Pacific (Full Version)

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EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (5/26/2011 7:48:20 PM)
Here's a rare screenie of southern Burma / the naval situation. This is the day after his failed attack on the Allied CV force - he's lost 60 Judies and 40 Zeroes from his naval aviation so I guess an exchange now would be profitable for the Allies. Port Blair is totally wrecked, I've ordered another B24 raid out of Akyab to make sure it stays that way. The Allied CVs are advancing roughly SW. The ships at Rangoon - all 200+ of them - are done unloading now, and have been ordered to hug the coast up towards Akyab out of the way. There are 3 CVEs escorting. You can also see the breakout from Rangoon in progress. I fear that I might not have quite enough divisions to do what I want exactly, though with 14th Army hot on the heels of the Japanese in northern Burma there are certainly plenty of Allies in theatre. One British division is en route to Moulmein, one Australian division is headed NE from Rangoon, three divisions are headed NE from Pegu. I want to find a nice bunch of forest hexes to hole up in and pin him, while 14th Army stays in contact as he retreats. And he is retreating, in northern Burma. Next turn if I remember I'll take a screenshot centred on Burma as the situation there is become quite complicated. The amphibious assault on Rangoon has certainly achieved the objective of a massive dislocation of enemy positions, anyway! Even with all the cockups due to funky Allied game mechanics. [image]local://upfiles/10259/B6596257470E46A78B73BC76A236C424.jpg[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (5/28/2011 4:32:43 PM)
Here's Burma. 6-8 Japanese divisions in Burma right now. This is not going to be a pushover. I do think, though, that my chances are pretty good of pulling this one off. Not happy with the forces at Rangoon, I think I need more, or he'll be able to concentrate and push me out. I got some reinforcements earmarked, but they won't be able to sail for a good few weeks. The Chindits are going to run around grabbing bases to disrupt as much as possible in a near-suicide mission, I think I need as much havoc for the Japanese as possible right now. Oh, notice that Stillwell's NCAC boys have managed to actually sit athwart Japanese supply there, too! [image]local://upfiles/10259/7150566AFD08410DAB86C22A3DEB8D00.jpg[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (5/28/2011 5:07:08 PM)
Known Japanese lineup... One hex east of Akyab is ~3 divisions equivalent though quite badly bruised after some attritional battles. The Allied forces in that hex are an entire corps of 14th Army pretty much. The bombing hex contains 3 more division equivalents - this is the main threat atm as they are already on the rail network. Hence why almost every bomber in range is targeting them. There are 25,000 reported troops at Myritkina and Katha which are now trapped by the other 14th Army corps. I think most of them are engineers though. So probably a regiment, maybe, but doubtfully, a division. In the south Japanese presence is much lighter. There was one division at Rangoon but it's been smashed, and a regiment at Pegu - ditto. Pretty confident that while the Japanese are out of position in the north of the country they can sweep all before them, its a question of how many they can sweep before those three plus divisions arrive. The race to Toungoo is on!

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (5/30/2011 12:39:01 PM)
26th September sees an IJN raid on Gasmata with CA Mikuma + 7DD, which blows up about 15 barges and destroys 30 valuable engineering vehicles. Plenty more are ashore, though, so don't think it'll have any operational impact really. The naval engine burned my foe again as his cruiser lingered to fight barges by day as well as by night, however the air model burned me - bad weather in the morning, and in the afternoon the strike wasn't very lucky, a Beaufort scored a hit with a dud torp, and one 1000lb and 3 x 500lb bombs hit CA Mikuma. Lots of subs for that damaged cruiser to run over on the way home, plus I'm sortieing the Allied surface presence in the area - 2 CL + 3 DD - to the straits near Finschafen in the hope of an intercept. Operationally things are going well here, got another landing about to happen at Buna - unfortunately a single brigade which I doubt will be enough unless his supply has run out by now, which in fairness it may have. The marines are going to march from Gasmata to Talasea and take it overland which would open up many more possibilities (bear in mind I got about 60 transport aircraft in theatre which I could use to supply fighters at Talasea). [image]local://upfiles/10259/7098D7CC77154148A41B1D885C6905DB.gif[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (5/30/2011 12:51:28 PM)
Meanwhile in CENTPAC the Allies are advancing there, too. The three remaining Japanese islands are all built up and defended and capable of basing a lot of a/c if need be. HOwever constant Allied bombing has meant that he's mostly got them abandoned right now. I'm sure when he spots incoming units though a lot of air units can be brought in on short notice. There have been no convoys here for months, so I'd hope he's out of supply or almost out of supply. Wotje is going to be hit first, and then hopefully Roi-Namur about a month or so later. 1 Marine regiment + tanks are the first wave, I could send in more if need be but am hoping to avoid that. The invasion will be covered by 25 Airacrobras at nearby Maloelap which is only able to base 1 non-floatplane squadron atm. Given KB is elsewhere and I expect only reasonably light opposition the couple of carriers in the Pacific - a CVE and a CVL from Pearl which might not make it in time - will be deployed to catch any Emilies that may sortie. There has been no IJN presence detected here for some time, certainly no CVs. There are quite a few cruisers at Truk, recon suggests, but thats probably too far to intervene I would say. [image]local://upfiles/10259/F68B78AD99104E5884C397E0B77C8070.gif[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (7/11/2011 12:09:48 PM)
Long time since the last update, there was a hiatus due to holiday but we've done a lot of turns nevertheless. October 16th, 1943 BURMA/INDIA 14th Army has linked up with I Australia Corps at the western edge of Burma - it has little military significance but is a nice milestone. Mandalay fell on the 12th, heavy casualties to the Japanese 38th Division. Only a slim wedge of indefensible ground in central Burma is now in Japanese control, plus the trails to Lashio and from Taung Gyi to Pegu. The Aussies in the south have advanced up past Toungoo as far as Taung Gyi but the single division there is unable to capture the town. Reinforcements are en route asap but I think I might be too slow and so the Japs will have a way out of the central Burmese plain. This means that a large body of Japs will escape into the wilds of eastern Burma. It'll take them months to get out of there I imagine but get out of there they will in time, and it unfortunately means that Burma is going to absorb a couple of divisions at least as a garrison. Air war has been totally one sided, not even one Japanese sortie over Burma in all this time. At sea there have been a few fencing maneuvers. Picket ships off Sumatra picked up KB approaching Ceylon - the Allied CV force was scrambled in response. We were both well aware that we were in the Bay of Bengal, I moved the Allied CVs SE of Ceylon to protect the hundreds of transports there should he advance upon it, but he declined battle and moved NE towards Port Blair. He passed around the Andaman islands and headed back to Singapore as best we can tell. Then a few days passed of a couple of Japanese DDs hunting my pickets and the British submarines in the straits near Sabang. An AMC and an AK were sunk, the lack of forward pickets have compelled me to rebase the fleet to Cochin. This has its flaws, fuel on the Indian subcontinent rapidly drains away while on Ceylon it doesn't. I would love to sortie and invade Port Blair again but lack of fuel prevents me, bear in mind there are 200 odd ships at Cochin and a lot of them are gas guzzlers, the handful of TKs in the area are woefully inadequate to support operations. I assumed the short distance to Aden/Abadan would mean that I could keep the place in fuel no problem with AKs alone, however the small port sizes of Aden/Abadan limit how many AKs you can throw at the problem. 100 AK fuel convoys alas are no solution. Some TKs are en route from the Pacific Theatre but I suspect they will not arrive in time unless I choose to do further naval operations in the Bay of Bengal at the beginning of 44. A couple of tiny AKL convoys have resupplied Rangoon from Diamond Harbor, each convoy only is worth about 10k supply so this is an ongoing thing. Fighter squadrons at Rangoon have prevented him from attacking them but the IJN certainly could buzz Rangoon if he wants. Hence the use of expendable AKLs. Plans are to continue mopping up Burma for now. When the fuel situation is resolved more amphibious assaults become possible. I have two Chinese corps prepping for Port Blair, and the US div that failed taking Port Blair so spectacularly prepping for Sabang. By the time its fixed from that debacle it'll be at 100 prep points. Further ops would tie up the fleet for a long time but I think it's worth keeping the CVs here for the last quarter of 43, Sumatra is a big strategic prize. CHINA Chungking finally fell, on the 14th. The Chinese Army retreated in good order though and there are almost no reinforcements on the list for them, so largely intact. They are hightailing it out of there as fast as humanly possible, the plan is to hole them up on the China/Burma border, which is extremely defensible, and prevent the bulk of the IJA from interfering with Commonwealth operations in Burma or Malaysia. I'm hoping on getting supply to them in large amounts when central Burma and the Lashio road have been cleared, which I anticipate happening in the next month or so. SOPAC The cruiser raid mentioned above didnt encounter anything, the Japs slipped away. The cruisers did get lightly bombed by skip bombing Helens though so I had to pull them back to Sydney to be fixed. The DDs lingered at Gasmata though and saw action! (see below). The Marines advanced across New Britain to Talasea and took it. SeaBees were then shipped over by AK to Talasea but the port 0 there made it impossible to unload the vehicles, also the AKs took heavy damage from 200 odd sorties that came out of Rabaul ([8\|]). Didn't interfere with the Allied operation really as my AKs are near limitless, but still, this bypassing lark just doesn't work. Been bombing with the 100 heavies still to try and burn up Japanese supply, and it does appear to be working. Japan attempted one convoy run to bases on the north coast of PNG, the range was too far for an aerial strike so I ballsily sent a four DD flotilla up there at full speed. To my own surprise they didnt get attacked by bombers despite this being about 15-20 hexes from the front, so a deep raid, they found a convoy of AKLs escorted by some ASW craft, and set the lot ablaze. Not sure how many sunk but certainly no supply landed. On the 15th another convoy was spotted NE of Manus headed South. I attempted to assist my naval bombers by a) sweeping Manus and b) bombing the tar out of Kavieng, and moved the US surface fleet, which is quite substantial, up to Feni Islands from their bases in the Solomons. Turned out the Japs were headed for Kavieng, with a strong SAG including BB Fuso, and about 10 AKs. On the 16th battle was joined! Two Jap DDs buzzed Feni Islands where they met BB Colorado and four CAs and four DDs, the Allies of course couldnt hit a bean so the DDs managed to get away with it, no damage to either side but about 25 percent of the SAGs ammo used up. Allied air attacks were made, mostly attack bombers but some Dauntlesses and Avengers too, the sweeps mentioned above at Manus met nothing. The Avengers went in first and were shredded by 100+ on CAP despite heavy escort, then the B24s hit Kavieng and did some damage but not too extreme. They opened up the CAP enough for bombers to make bombing runs but only with heavy losses, the end result of the day was about 20 bomb hits on Fuso, who magnetically attracted all the firepower away from the AKs, but at a loss of 50 Allied aircraft, half of them Avengers. Fuso might be in a bad way after 20 hits though, heavy fires were reported. I'm sending in two SAGs and a PT boat squadron to Kavieng, and I'm certain he's barely unloaded anything so far, so if he wants to land he's going to have to linger. Colorado plus cruisers, and a lighter SAG with CA Indianapolis and CL Honolulu plus six DDs. The heavy SAG, as noted, is not on full ammo unfortunately. CENTPAC At the tail end of September I was moving warships from CENTPAC to SOPAC (the aforementioned Indianapolis/Honolulu SAG) when long range recon picked up several Japanese TFs near Ponape headed SE, to one of the atoll bases just at the edge of Allied heavy bomber range. As this was pretty much in the dead zone where neither of our airforces could intervene I diverted the Honolulu/Indianapolis SAG to patrol their suspected location and sent in BB Washington plus friends from Tarawa, where they are based. So some luck that he decided to come out just when I was redeploying. The cruisers found a minelaying TF of half a dozen light ships but again the incompetence of the Allies meant they got away from them pretty much scot free, no sinkings, a couple of light shell hits on Japanese light craft. Next day they were all in flight back to Truk, the cruisers were out of ammo, an angry red airplane symbol had appeared over the island SE of Ponape, and BB Washington was only just hoving into range, so I decided to pull the plug on the op and pull back. The BB shelled the angry red airfield and withdrew while Indianapolis/Honolulu continued to Munda. Meanwhile the campaign has been going quite well, Wotje has fallen to the Marines, Kwajalein and Roi-Namur are completely suppressed and, I believe, out of supply. A well prepared division is currently sailing to Kwajalein with an amphib HQ supporting, I'm confident it will fall quite quickly, I got units prepped for Roi Namur too so soon as the amphib TF is done the Roi-Namur invasion will proceed, hopefully both atolls will fall within a couple of weeks. Allied bombers are striking targets further in now, to the various atolls around Ponape. I got units prepping for Wake Island and Eniwetok, which will be the next couple of jumps. The Allied force now of 2 CVL and 1 CVE seem to be doing pretty well at keeping the rather limited Japanese aviation away from my BBs and landing craft given KB is elsewhere. But to leap to the Marianas I think would be rather difficult without the full fleet. Going to be quite a decision in late 43 I think to decide where to put the CVs, keep them in the Bay of Bengal to support an attack on Sumatra, or return them to the Pacific.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (7/13/2011 8:39:59 PM)
I think Burma is still the main theatre, so here's a screenshot of the current state of affairs. You can see the I Australia Corps, dumped in Rangoon, are now fully linked up with 14th Army that was pressing down from the north. A lot of 14th Army is stuck in the jungle border and didn't really do anything aside from fix his troops at the Indian border. Looks like he was smart enough for immediate evacuation and so he's saved a lot of units - thats 37 units at Taung Gyi there, mostly engineers, and they are on their way SE. He just made it out of there. Looks like about 10-12 units have been trapped behind the new Allied lines, I'd guess 2-3 divisions worth of combat troops. So he has limited his losses at least, it wasn't a battle of annihilation. But the lighting capture of Burma is quite a coup in its own right of course. I need to open up the corridor to Lashio, I think a division or two will be doing that asap. Then a garrison in Burma - another division probably. A bit of consolidation and then we can head for Tavoy maybe. I guess that wont happen until beginning of December. [image]local://upfiles/10259/9E2219B5E8EE4BBE93F62CCA397D74F1.jpg[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (8/29/2011 1:01:05 AM)
Fair few turns have passed but its mostly been attrition and slow grinding... mostly. The outer Japanese defensive line has been well and truly broken now. November 9th, 1943 BURMA/INDIA The entirety of Burma from Pegu to Myritkina is now in my hands with the exception of Lashio. An Indian division advancing along the road was defeated in the field by a surprisingly powerful Japanese division. I retreated the div to Mandalay but it really needs to be evacced back to India to rest I think. That means Lashio is still in Japanese hands. Aside from that it's all bad for the Japanese in Burma. Several massive defeats of Japanese units in the Burmese interior have meant about a division and a half worth of squads annihilated, and hes' finally been booted off the railway lines. An attempted Japanese assault on Pegu with an out of supply brigade was repulsed by a Bde of Aussies bloodily. Chindits took the dot hex NE of Lashio in a paradrop, and the Allies are gearing up for the next set of pushes - two or three divisions towards Lashio, the rest for Moulmein. 14th Army has now made it onto the railway network, I'm just waiting for the tanks to reach Pegu and then we'll launch our assault south of Burma. Naval superiority is, however, heavily contested with a slight advantage to the Japanese in that Port Blair is still in their control and thus means the Bay of Bengal is solidly reconned by Japanese search planes. Rangoon in particular is exposed - there have been several IJN cruiser bombardments of Rangoon in an attempt to shut it down but damage has actually been slight. The reason for the contested naval situation is that KB is based at Singapore and has regularly been ranging out in the Bay of Bengal. While the Allied CV force is based at Cochin I have declined to engage. This has meant that its been very hard to resupply Rangoon by sea, the only reinforcements I've managed to get ashore are a couple of Indian base forces, which are needed as a lot of Burma requires a garrison and I don't want to tie up my combat units. There was an aborted invasion of Port Blair around the end of October, but in the face of a KB sortie it was abandoned. Fleet in being very much in practice here... events elsewhere are maybe going to tug KB away though, and Port Blair will become less useful to him if the Allied advance breaks out of Burma. CHINA Complete collapse. The Chinese army - all 6000 AV, with supply for the entire army on 0 - is attempting to race for the mountainous Burmese border, while being bombed heavily every step of the way and with 4000 AV of Japs hot on their heels. If they can get there, especially if I can capture Lashio and get a supply convoy into Rangoon, maybe the Chinese can at least hold them off there. I suspect however that they are going to be mostly torn apart en route and butchered by the IJA. I can't really imagine China being liberated any time soon, I expect that'll have to wait for 1945. The Russians, even. So long as the Chinese can form a human shield between Imperial Japanese China and the Allied activities in Burma, I'll be happy. SOPAC The main advances have been in the Pacific lately. Talasea and Buna were captured by the Marines in late October and rapidly reinforced with baseforces. USAAF tactics changed a bit for a couple of weeks - rather than massed assaults on a couple of Jap airfields I've had 1 or 2 squadrons set for each IJ airbase in range. I'm not sure how effective this is in comparison but it's possible for me to moderately damage every Jap airfield in the theatre. Then my mini Allied CV force (see CENTPAC entry) covered an assault on Manus by one NZ and one US brigade, which was entirely successful with minimal casualties. The IJ airforce has made 1 appearance since the last update - he did attempt to hit the Manus invasion force with LBA. However the Hellcats aboard the US minifleet saw them off, ~80 Jap airframes shot down for almost no Allied losses at all. Manus being in my hands is a game changer. It's an airfield 6, and it's only 16 hexes from Truk, which means massed heavy bombers are going to be hitting him very soon. It also lets me threaten a great swathe of eastern PNG. This essentially means the end of the South Pacific campaign, really. It remains to see where we go next. CENTPAC Kwajalein and Roi-Namur have both been captured, as well as a tiny atoll to the NE - I formed up a mini CV force (2 CVE, 2 CVL) to cover the landings, and they proved more than adequate to keep whatever tiny number of Emilies he had on hand away. They've been reinforced but not yet supplied, still, Allied bombers are now reaching as far west as Ponape and as far north as Wake, now. That CV force then went to SOPAC and did good service there. There are so many Allied LCUs in CENTPAC that there literally isn't enough atoll space to house them all! Seems a shame to waste em, so the assaults will be continuing - units are prepping for Eniwetok, Nauru Island, and most importantly of all Kusai Island or whatever its called - equidistant between Ponape and Tarawa. Kusai Island would bring Truk into range, again. STATE OF THE WAR IJ scientists have been hard at work, seen a plethora of new aircraft on his side - Franks, Jacks, Jills. His airforce has been keeping fairly low lately mind with a few days of max effort - have to say though that his new toys are not proving to make much odds against the Allies, the P47 and Corsair eat him for breakfast, the P38 is plenty good when sweeping, and even the late model P40s seem to do better than his a/c can manage. First line a/c are still rare on the Allied side, not enough P47s by far and I'm still using a lot of P40Ks and later at the front. B24Js mean that I have no heavy bomber shortage for the first time in the war, in fact the pool is building up with B24Js rather than bumping along on 0. Medium bombers are still rarer than hens teeth, and unfortunately my honourable foe is not stupid so they've found very few targets to hit. Really I've barely touched the IJN at all in 1943. Allied strategic plans - I'm going to drive south from Burma and hopefully into Malaysia if all goes well. The objective is to completely dominate the straits between Malaysia and Sumatra with LBA, and then assault Sabang. With Sabang in my hands he's going to lose a lot of his oil. Meanwhile plans are afoot to move up Papua New Guinea on both north and south shores towards the Philippines, and also towards the Marianas - a long hop, that. I'm going to pull the Allied CV force back to the Central Pacific in readiness for the Marianas, which I imagine will happen in the first quarter of 1944. If 14th Army can capture down as far as Victoria Point I don't think I'll need the fleet CVs to land on Sumatra, the British can manage it with just their escort carriers / Illustrious, I would say.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (9/3/2011 8:33:16 PM)
The US force of 2 CVL and 2 CVE, about 100 planes, plus BBs and ample surface combatants, was escorting a convoy containing engineers to Manus when the Japanese CV force which had been spotted earlier in CENTPAC hove into view to the north. I knew this force to be embarking <100 aircraft, so assumed it was a couple of CVLs or one CV. I figured that the US could profitably attempt to engage this fleet, and thus cover the landings - bit of a gamble but I felt the advantage to be slightly mine, with Hellcats versus Zeroes and, I believed, more bombers. Didn't go well for the USN, as per usual. [8\|] Fortunately I had also considered the loss of a CVL to be fairly small beer in the great scheme of things, and just as well, as a CVL was sunk with absolutely nothing being achieved. Day 1 US transport fleet is one hex from unloading at Manus. Japanese CV fleet sighted 9 hexes due N of Manus. Day 2 Allied Spitfires moved to Manus despite poor state of runway and no av support to protect transports as they unload in case there's stragglers. Rest of force - two TFs (2 CVE in one TF and two CVL in another) ordered to advance N to engage. ...the CVLs ignore orders and rush on ahead leaving the CVEs a few hexes behind. The CVE fleet ends up stuck under bad weather as well, in a perfect re-enactment of the Allied disaster at Milne Bay earlier in the year, so it's now 2 CVL versus 1 Japanese CV at a range of only 2 hexes. Japanese fighters from Hollandia and Madang manage to coordinate perfectly with the Jap CV strike from the N ([X(][>:][:@]), CVL Cowpens gets hit. Allied return strike is just 8 Avengers ([:@]) and they all get shot down by the Japanese meeny CAP. CL Detroit + 3 DD are cruising around trying to force a surface engagement meanwhile as I figure there is only limited IJN carrier firepower. They don't find the CV, they do get lightly bombed, 25 sys to CL Detroit, but worth the attempt. Day 3 Timidity sets in in the Allied high command due to being served up yet another setback at sea and mistakes are made. The US CV fleet all bugs out entirely - my reasoning being that my aircrews are heavily depleted now and the Japanese have just pulled off yet another miracle, and CVL Monterey's fleet is almost out of AAA ammo after fending off air assaults. I'm worried that if the LBA manages another epic coordination like that then the rest is gonna get zapped. This saves the other flattops, as the Japanese do press the advantage. Cowpens gets lightly hit again and is now down to 2 knots speed so is clearly toast no matter what now. Day 4 The four DD flotilla finds the Japanese at night, but gets slaughtered. Cowpens gets hit again and sinks just off Kavieng. Errors were made on day 3 I think, I should have stuck to Cowpens like glue and brought her home. I think that would have been within my power still. However, seems to me that it was a worth the attempt - I believed (still do) that the Allied OOB had the advantage. The USN just can't handle the Japanese on anything like equal terms however... not even in late 1943, it seems. And I don't really think it was a Bad Idea, though the results of course sucked. The operational situation in SOPAC is, as usual, far better than the dismal naval experiences imply though. Manus was resupplied and when the runway is fixed is going to be a major thorn in the IJNs side, denying him Truk ultimately we hope. Also a number of bases like Lae and Finschafen are now ripe for the picking, well behind his main line of resistance. The next couple of weeks are going to see Manus built up and more Allied invasions of PNG. Here's the AARs with the SOPAC engagement alone included. AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 12, 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Manus at 101,119 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 31 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Japanese aircraft G3M3 Nell x 4 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 4 Japanese aircraft losses G3M3 Nell: 2 damaged G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak No Allied losses Allied Ships xAK Clarence Darrow Aircraft Attacking: 4 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Manus at 101,119 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft D4Y2 Judy x 11 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 12 Japanese aircraft losses D4Y2 Judy: 4 destroyed No Allied losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Feni Islands at 108,126 (This raid looks to have been bad luck on his part, the TF was actually at Feni Islands and there is a lot of LBA there. Actually today there was a lot less than normal due to various sweeps to support bombers trashing Kavieng and Madang, just in case). Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid detected at 143 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 37 minutes Japanese aircraft D4Y2 Judy x 19 J2M2 Jack x 14 Allied aircraft Kittyhawk IV x 2 P-40K Warhawk x 5 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 8 F4U-1 Corsair x 8 Japanese aircraft losses D4Y2 Judy: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged D4Y2 Judy: 2 destroyed by flak J2M2 Jack: 4 destroyed No Allied losses Allied Ships BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 1 BB Maryland, Bomb hits 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Manus , at 101,119 (This is the two CVLs that ran off on their own. And this is LBA from Papua New Guinea which is miles away somehow managing a sweep! Soon as I saw this I just knew the dice had rolled snake eyes for the Allies again... [8\|] A lucky sweep-over-a-TF. This damaged a hell of a lot of Hellcats before the CVs even clashed) Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 102 NM, estimated altitude 38,440 feet. Estimated time to target is 25 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 15 Ki-84a Frank x 22 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 12 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed No Allied losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Madang , at 97,123 (Here the buggers are) Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft B-24D1 Liberator x 39 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed on ground Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground No Allied losses Airbase hits 14 Airbase supply hits 7 Runway hits 44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Manus at 101,115 (This came from Hollandia and Madang combined) Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 19 Ki-49-IIa Helen x 11 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 28 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 4 destroyed Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed, 7 damaged Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 destroyed by flak Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed Allied Ships CVL Monterey CVL Cowpens -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rabaul at 106,127 (Transport TF evaccing from Manus got hit a bit but the ships hit were unloaded luckily) Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 5 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 1 minutes Japanese aircraft B6N2 Jill x 23 J2M2 Jack x 19 Allied aircraft Kittyhawk IV x 1 P-40K Warhawk x 5 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 10 F4U-1 Corsair x 8 Japanese aircraft losses B6N2 Jill: 2 damaged J2M2 Jack: 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed Allied Ships xAK Beltana, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk xAK Bundaleer, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk xAK Pierre S. Dupont, Torpedo hits 1 AM Madras xAK Aldinga xAK William T. Sherman, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Manus at 102,114 (Here's the big hit, Army Oscars from Hollandia managed a link up over an enormous distance... [8\|] nothing went the Allies way this day, nothing at all [:(] A lot of Oscars are shot down but they act as human shields for the bombers which is the main thing) Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 26 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 17 A6M5 Zero x 23 B6N2 Jill x 24 D4Y3 Judy x 17 Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 29 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 28 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed A6M5 Zero: 2 destroyed B6N2 Jill: 15 damaged B6N2 Jill: 3 destroyed by flak D4Y3 Judy: 6 damaged D4Y3 Judy: 4 destroyed by flak Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 5 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed Allied Ships BB Alabama CVL Monterey, Bomb hits 1 CVL Cowpens, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Satawal at 101,111 (Meanwhile the best the Allies can manage is one tiny strike package from what looks like a single CVL) Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 36 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 11 A6M5 Zero x 19 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 12 TBF-1 Avenger x 8 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed TBF-1 Avenger: 5 destroyed AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 13, 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Manus , at 101,119 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 45 NM, estimated altitude 37,440 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-84a Frank x 19 Allied aircraft Spitfire Vc Trop x 8 F6F-3 Hellcat x 1 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-84a Frank: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed Aircraft Attacking: 12 x Ki-84a Frank sweeping at 34440 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Manus , at 101,119 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 17 Ki-49-IIb Helen x 14 Allied aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIb Helen: 1 damaged Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 damaged Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed on ground F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 damaged Allied ground losses: 13 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Airbase hits 1 Runway hits 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Manus at 104,116 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 25 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 8 D4Y3 Judy x 5 Allied aircraft P-38H Lightning x 3 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed D4Y3 Judy: 2 damaged No Allied losses Allied Ships CVL Cowpens, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage (this dooms her [:(]) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Manus at 103,113 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid detected at 64 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 9 B6N2 Jill x 3 Japanese aircraft losses B6N2 Jill: 2 damaged B6N2 Jill: 1 destroyed by flak Allied Ships DD Kidd Aircraft Attacking: 3 x B6N2 Jill launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kavieng at 105,123 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 32 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Japanese aircraft G3M3 Nell x 3 (from Truk.) Allied aircraft Kittyhawk IV x 1 F6F-3 Hellcat x 13 (from nearby CVEs) Japanese aircraft losses G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged No Allied losses Allied Ships BB Colorado Aircraft Attacking: 1 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Manus at 103,113 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 70 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 23 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 16 A6M5 Zero x 9 B6N2 Jill x 11 D4Y3 Judy x 4 Japanese aircraft losses B6N2 Jill: 3 damaged D4Y3 Judy: 1 damaged D4Y3 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak Allied Ships CL Detroit, Bomb hits 2, on fire (25 sys, nothing major) DD Kidd -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kavieng at 105,123 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 25 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft G3M3 Nell x 4 (Truk again) Allied aircraft Kittyhawk IV x 1 F6F-3 Hellcat x 13 Japanese aircraft losses G3M3 Nell: 2 destroyed No Allied losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Manus at 103,113 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 19 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft G3M3 Nell x 6 Japanese aircraft losses G3M3 Nell: 5 damaged G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak Allied Ships DD Kimberly CL Detroit, heavy fires Aircraft Attacking: 6 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Nov 14, 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Manus at 104,113, Range 8,000 Yards Japanese Ships BB Hyuga DD Fubuki DD Asagiri DD Fumizuki, Shell hits 1 DD Asanagi E Yanagi Allied Ships DD Anthony, Shell hits 1 DD Conner, Shell hits 20, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Kidd, Shell hits 2 DD Kimberly, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk [8\|] WTF, come on Allies? 2000 yards to a BB and they didnt even fire torps. Rabbits in headlights. [image]local://upfiles/10259/F7145A4D5CD24435B402BCE9256504B4.gif[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/4/2012 5:39:34 PM)
We're still ticking along, I've just been very lazy updating this thread. It's mid January 1944 now. Stephen has babies growing up now, and just didnt' have enough time for the game anymore. So the Japanese have a new commander. He only took over a couple of turns ago so there's nothing to say beyond that really, not sure how scared (or not) I should be, suffice to say I know the guy, and he's a dangerous adversary in every other game i've played with him. I put together another precis of the war to date, hence this post. WitP, from 1941 to the end of 1943, in one page. DECEMBER 1941 Pacific Japanese begin the war with a strike on Pearl Harbor. No BBs sunk but most seriously damaged, some effectively out of the war. Japanese landing at Tarawa heavily beat up by CA Pensacola, though the Japanese take the atoll. Battle of Malaya Japanese begin landings at Kota Baru. Heavy fighting in the north of the country - Georgetown is taken by the mid month. At the end of December the Japanese make a secondary landing at Mersing and the Allies begin a general retreat, but too late, the Malayan Army gets cut in half at the Mersing line. Royal Navy does a good job inflicting heavy damage on the Jap ships at Mersing, though, with PoW getting involved. By the end of December the RN has to pull back as Netties close in on Singapore. Battle of the Philippines Japanese landings at the north of the country. Jap shipping harried badly by PT boats, Boise and Houston however are sunk by superior Japanese surface forces after doing little damage. High intensity fighting, by the end of the month ABDACOMs Dutch cruisers are the only Allied naval assets in the area. JANUARY 1942 Battle of Malaya By 7th January all Malaya bar Singapore in Japanese hands and the Japanese have total air superiority. Port Blair is taken by a Japanese battalion. Singapore falls on the 20th. Battle of the Philippines Bataan falls on the 17th, marking the end of serious resistance in the Philippines. Borneo All northern Borneo under Japanese control by January 1st. Then the Japs begin to encroach on more southerly bases in middle January. Battle of the Makassar Strait is a 3 day clash in the Makassar area with US carriers + ABDACOM cruisers coming up against KB and chums. USS Lexington sunk, some damage to Japanese CS's and cruisers, surface battles between ABDACOM and Japanese BBS with ABDACOM coming out the worse. Rabaul Aussie navy wipes out a Japanese landing force in mid January at Rabaul. Java KB raids Java at the end of January, inflicting heavy damage to the Dutch air force. FEBRUARY 1942 Battle of Sian in China. Uber-artillery causes thousands of Chinese casualties per day and this goes on for a whole month. Japanese strategic bombing of Chinese begins in earnest, but mostly mis-aimed at resources in the early days. Battle of Burma begins on the 1st February with the advance guards at Moulmein being forced back to Pegu, which has been reinforced with several Indian units and 7th Armoured. Pegu under siege for the rest of the month but holds well. Royal Navy sink a couple of Japanese DDs and transports at Port Blair. DEI Campaign Sumatra is invaded finally with Palembang falling early in the month. Landings at Merak at the northern coast of Java on the 7th. Dutch PT boats inflict serious damage on the Japanese landings. Dutch KNIL forces manage to bottle him up at the landing grounds at Merak - just. CV Saratoga raids Makassar Strait mid month again, sinks an entire convoy loaded with troops. [:)] Rabaul Second attempted landing by the Japanese at Rabaul. Big surface clash between Allied and Japanese cruisers, Allies massacred by Long Lance attack at night. CA Australia and CA Pensacola sunk, Rabaul conceded to Japanese control. MARCH 1942 China Loyang falls, the artillery patch has arrived, but too late for the now extremely battered Chinese Army! Battle of Burma/India Third naval clash between RN and IJN at Port Blair. CA Exeter sinks some AKs and is in turn damaged by BB Nagato, there follows an indecisive long range carrier clash. RN pulls back to Ceylon. Indian campaign begins with Japanese landings at Diamond Harbor. Allies race to build a defensive line at Patna-Jamshedphur-Howrah while Calcutta is under siege. RAF massacred in the air but somehow manages to hold out just about over March. Japanese landings at Chittagong and multiple paradrops outflank and pin down several units in East Bengal, including an Indian division. Meanwhile ALlied high command begins to scrape up units from all over the map and sends them to India before total disaster. I Australia Corps is the first to leave, and is involved in all the big battles of the campaign to come. Battle of Java Batavia falls in the first week when he reinforces his landings. The KNIL put up quite a fight though and he's forced to fight for every yard over the course of March. Port Moresby Port Moresby falls to the Japs in a ballsy lightning raid, a few days before Aussie reinforcements were due. Sakhalin Raid BB Colorado makes a daring raid into the waters around Hokkaido, doing little damage but causing much paranoia in the Japanese High Command. [:D] APRIL 1942 Battle of Bengal Japanese have total air superiority over Bengal by now, the RAF are reduced to night bombing. Calcutta proves a tough nut and the Japs move to outflank via Jessore. The AIF at Jessore hold him off for a few days but are forced to retreat with Japanese armour hot on their heels - they manage to fall back in good order. Dacca falls to a paradrop. RAF reduced to Fabian tactics - night bombing and hit and run. USMC Dauntlesses at Cuttack begin hitting Japanese shipping in the Bay of Bengal with some success. But all this is giving the defenders the chance to build up the chosen main line of defence... Japs attempt para landings in the Indian interior and at Vizagapatnam on the east Indian coast, but these are seen off by armour. Battle of Java Soerabaja besieged, falls on the 22nd. Sumatra, Java and Borneo now wholly in Japanese hands. SOPAC US presence building at Noumea/Efate/Luganville. Japanese activity light. Hokkaido Raids Allied High Command sends most of the S-boats to Hokkaido where they meet poorly defended convoys. Many Jap convoy ships torpedoed. MAY 1942 Indian Campaign P38s arrive and immediately make their presence felt as they get the very best pilots, Flying Circus style. Attempts to bomb Japanese shipping in Bay of Bengal mean massacre of SBDs though. On the ground things are as close as they could get. Allied main line of resistance at Ranchi-Jamshedphur-Howrah now under siege as the Allies at Calcutta fall back to Howrah. Japanese assault on Ranchi foiled by an Indian division arriving to save the base literally in the nick of time. It's fall would have unhinged the entire Allied defence! Allied units formerly in Burma which have been attempting to retreat are by now surrounded at Imphal. However most of them are successfully evacuated by air to Howrah, which is just in range. RN attempts to interdict shipping in the Bay of Bengal are repulsed brutally by Japanese battleships. Battle of Sian Sian finally falls on the 24th, mainly due to the crippling damage inflicted on the Chinese army by artillery. Japanese strategic bombing switches to Chinese light industry. Timor Campaign Japanese landings at Koepang meet light Allied resistance. Timor falls entirely during this month. Japs also land at Ambon and begin bombing Darwin heavily. Allied attempts to resupply Darwin soon prove bloody. JUNE 1942 Bengal Campaign Line stabilised at the Ranchi-Jamshedhpur-Howrah line. Allied attempt to flank the line at Asansol provokes huge air battles as Japanese army aviation bombs the tar out of the LCUs involved. Heavy damage inflicted to Sallies/Helens by P38s, but the LCUs are badly bashed up and the flank attempt is aborted. However the Japanese give up their siege of Ranchi, and begin to focus more on the Jamshedphur-Howrah part of the line. Imphal falls but he delayed too long, most of the worthy Allied units escaped, with the exception of 7th Armoured who can't be airlifted and were destroyed. Another RN raid of Japanese supply in Bay of Bengal. CVE Hosho sunk in a surface encounter with RN cruisers. Indian Ocean Raid KB raids Ceylon, inflicts serious damage to the RN - Formidable, Hermes and Warspite all sunk at Colombo. SOPAC Japanese battleships raid Luganville, do no real damage. JULY 1942 Indian Campaign Raipur turned into a major Allied bomber base supporting the R-J-H line. B17s there make their presence immediately felt. First signs of the tempo of combat getting to the IJ pilots, the earlier massacres are becoming more even exchanges as Japanese attempts to shut Raipur down mean Hurricanes slaughtering them. Deadlock on the ground, Japanese focus shifts from Ranchi in the north to Jamshedphur in the middle. Heavy WW1 style combat drags on all month - things are close a few times but the Japanese are unable to break through. Howrah at the southern end of the line falls, but the Allies retreat in good order, and the R-J-H line becomes the R-J-C line as Cuttack becomes the new front line, though in the event he never advances on the coastal road. Battle for Ceylon begins with Japanese landing at Trimcomalee, initially met with incredulity by Allied high command. SOPAC/CENTPAC Preparations are made to get the US really into the war. The Japs at Guadalcanal are plastered by B17s. Arorae and Tabiteaua begin to be built up as a springboard for future offensives. AUGUST 1942 Battle of Ceylon becomes an avoidable disaster as Allied attempts to attack an armour unit in the highlands of central Ceylon run into massed Japanese infantry. One ill timed attack thus disables half of the entire Allied defence, at a stroke giving the enemy the island. The campaign immediately shifts to an attempt to evac as much as possible via air. R-J-C Line in India still at stalemate for the first half of the month, but then the Allies begin an offensive aimed at recapturing Howrah which fell last month. It is wildly successful, and the Battle of Howrah turns out to be the first ground battle where the IJA is decisively beaten. Attempts by the Japanese to reinforce Howrah from Calcutta come adrift literally as they shock attack across the river and get pasted. A Jap division equivalent is lost in the process. An Allied pincer meanwhile moves SE from Ranchi to Asansol to try and relieve pressure from Jamshedhpur. Battle of the Indian Ocean sees the RN effectively destroyed as a fighting force as with the fall of Ceylon they find themselves trapped at Madras with an angry KB nearby. All the 'R' battleships and all bar CV Illustrious sunk. Illustrious somehow manages to make it out of there, the RN takes no further significant role in the fighting here and Illustrious is later reassigned to CENTPAC. Darwin is abandoned after the third convoy of AKLs sent to supply it is massacred. It's a long walk for the units there to get to Sydney... but off they go! Yenen falls in China as the Chinese Army begins to fall apart from lack of supply due to strategic bombing and the cutting off of the air bridge as East Bengal is in Japanese hands. Guadalcal Campaign begins on 8th August as US Army/USMC forces land at Lunga, and NZ forces land at Tulagi. Fighting takes place over a week before both bases are in Allied hands. No real Japanese response at this time. SEPTEMBER 1942 Battle of Ceylon ends on the 3rd with the fall of Colombo. Air battles rage over Ceylon, ending badly for the Japanese. By the end of the month he's given up flying constant CAP as it just gets massacred. He keeps the Allies on their toes though by occasionally flying massed 50-100 a/c CAP which inflicts more even losses. The air war is clearly going the Allied way by now though. Battle of Bengal ends as he suddenly decides to call it quits, and the entire IJA force begins to retreat to the India/Burma border. Allied forces retake Calcutta, Dacca, Darjeeling, Rangpur, Chittagong all without resistance. The Japs meanwhile are holed up at the Dimapur-Imphal-Kalemyo line. Kukong Offensive begins in China with the Chinese Army managing to take back an essentially undefended Kukong and very nearly Wuchow as well. However the Japanese counter at Wuchow and inflict heavy damage on the Chinese. Perth Raid - KB shows up off Perth and sinks a supply convoy and their escorting WW1 cruiser that was headed from Cape Town to Australia. Chinese Lanchow Campaign Lanchow and Sining rapidly fall to the Japanese as the loss of Sian opened the door to northern China. Chinese Army is pretty much on 0 supply across the board, that they can hold anything at all is quite an achievement. Guadalcanal Campaign hots up as the Japanese at Rabaul begin heavily bombing the Allied positions. Repeated Allied attempts to resupply Lunga are thwarted by KB, which is welded to the place all September. Japanese move to take Munda under KB cover. Allied attempts to bomb them result in Allied massacre. KB raids Luganville in the First Battle of Luganville, sinking CA Dorsetshire and inflicting heavy damage to Allied shipping. Allied aircraft are the underdog but a Jap CL and DD are sunk by Lunga regardless. CV Soryu torpedoed by O19 for an ammo storage explosion off Lunga, believed sunk, but apparently not... OCTOBER 1942 Operation Hammer and Anvil begins in East Bengal. Anvilforce blocks the route NW of Silchar where there are large numbers of Japs, preventing any Jap flanking by pressing into India proper. Meanwhile Hammerforce heads for Dimapur. The objective is to force open the route to Ledo so the beleagured Chinese can be helped. First strategic bombing of Burma, as USAAF B17s destroy the oil at Magwe. First appearance of the Tojo as well, but the P38s wipe the floor with it. Still heavy air combat over Ceylon, with the Allies generally winning. Guadalcanal Campaign at its low point for the Allies. Lunga is reliant on supply shipped over by APD and transport aircraft, which are now being massed at Ndeni. Lunga is under siege by a Japanese division but just about holds on by a thread, mainly because the Japs are far too timid, perhaps unrealising just how bad the Allied situation is. Japanese cruisers raid Ndeni and wipe out a convoy loaded with combat engineers. Continuing Jap landings at Shortlands and Munda. Repeated attempts to resupply Lunga result in huge numbers of sunk AKLs as KB and the IJN just will not let go! An Allied demonstration with pretty much the entire Allied battleline shelling Tarawa didn't prise him off Guadalcanal. Battle of Munda sees an Allied cruiser SAG run into a Japanese cruiser SAG escorting a convoy, in a night battle despite crossing the T and being roughly equal in force the Allies get massacred, two cruisers lost. NOVEMBER 1942 Operation Hammer and Anvil goes into effect in India and is a resounding success. Dimapur, Ledo and Imphal fall to Allied forces over November and the air bridge to China is reopened. Massed Japanese forces at Kalemyo and Cox's Bazaar make further advance impossible. Battle of Trivandrum sees Japanese cruisers clean the clock of the remainder of the RN, with BB Valiant being torpedoed at night in a thunderstorm and sunk by Jap cruisers. Naval Battle of Lunga is another Allied disaster as CA Takao and DDs find the Allied APD force and sink about half of it. Thus putting Lunga's supply situation into an even more dire position. CV Wasp torpedoed and sunk by an I boat off Nanumea. Second Battle of Luganville as KB raids again, this time bumping into the US CV force. No ships are lost oddly enough but the Japs lose 200 carrier aircraft to 100 Allied, and the Jap carriers receive a light sprinkling of 1000lb bombs which no doubt wouldn't do their sys damage any good. Battle of Ndeni soon follows with BB Kirishima being sunk by Allied CVs north of Ndeni. This changes the naval situation around Guadalcanal significantly and the Allies waste no time in bringing large amounts of supply to Lunga and Tulagi, which with the IJN finally spanked at least temporarily, is opposed only by Netties, which inflict damage, but acceptable damage. Probably marking the last chance the Japs had to take Guadalcanal. Liuchow falls in China as the Chinese Army continues its collapse. Mountain Campaign in China as the Japanese Army is checked in its advance towards the Chungking interior by Chinese forces in the mountains between Sian and Chungking. DECEMBER 1942 Guadalcanal Campaign stays hot as Japanese attempts to resupply Shortlands and Munda come under reinvigorated Allied air attack. Air superiority is very much contested with massed Tojos meeting P40Ks and giving as well as they get. Heavy bombers based at Lunga for the first time thanks to the SeaBeas. Allied landing at Russell Island with SeaBees meets a huge Japanese response, which result in a few empty AKs being sunk for nigh on 100 Japanese aircraft destroyed, mostly Netties. The end of Hammer and Anvil and the strategic deadlock in Burma/Ceylon means another major strategic redeployment, as Allied High Command decides to shift the focus of the war in 1943 towards SOPAC/CENTPAC. I Australia Corps ordered from the Burma border back to Australia. JANUARY 1943 Air fighting over the India/Burma border as Tojos sweep Allied bases. The Allies respond with night bombing the airfields with 4Es. Heavy damage to both sides. Allies mostly disengage from the IJN at Tarawa, both sides apparently content to lick their wounds/resupply. Heavy fighting in the Solomons on several islands now, USMC raiders meet IJ paras in the southern Solomons, Marines eventually prevail. A 4 x DD USN flotilla raids around Shortlands, sinking some AKs. Near the end of the month a brigade of New Zealanders land and capture Munda half way up the chain, KB arrives and wrecks the transports. USN cruisers that were escorting find and engage KB at night, but the Allies get their ass handed to them in a night battle, CA San Francisco is sunk, one 8 inch shell hit on Soryu. Just after this battle 3 battalions of Allied commandos and a base force land at an undefended Milne Bay, CL Java is torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine during the operation. 2 American destroyers raid Paramushimo Jima in the far north and find two Japanese DDs, there's a minor engagement, the US DDs come off worse but damage is light regardless. FEBRUARY 1943 Kalemyo on the Indian/Burmese border falls to the Allies - IJ holds no Indian bases besides Ceylon now. Battle of Milne Bay. Surface battles rage at the SE tip of PNG, with the USN losing. Allies lose 2 CA and a CL, Japanese lose 1 CA. Japanese manage to counterinvade with a brigade and soon the Allies are holding on by a fingernail. Heavy fighting for weeks on end, both sides losing 50 a/c a day and mostly around Papua New Guinea as the Allies try and prevent Japanese resupply. Vella Lavella captured and reinforced in the Solomons. The Japanese have air superiority over PNG, but the Allies rule the skies over the Solomons. MARCH 1943 Battle of Tarawa. BB Prince of Wales as a fast BB SAG, a slow BB SAG, and carriers all converge on the atoll. Prince of Wales badly damages CA Haguro in a night clash, next morning Haguro, CL Isuzu and some DDs are sunk by American carrier air. BB Mutsu takes 4 torpedoes. Next day BBs Yamashiro and and Mutsu death ride and charge. They slip past the cover force to get through to the transports, but they are defended by BBs Arizona, California and Colorado, and the American BBs are clearly better in daytime, sinking both Yamashiro and the already badly damaged Mutsu. The Japanese heavy shells were unable to penetrate the American BB armour at 12,000 yards. Tarawa falls to the USMC. Bloodless victory for the Allies, three capital ships lost by the IJN. Battle of Milne Bay. IJ surface forces prevent resupply by barge, by the end of the month US CVs are deployed. 8 American flattops meet 9 Japanese ones, but the Americans and bad weather do horribly, the US fleet scatters and half of it disappears under the stormclouds, so it ends up 9 Japanese CVs versus 4 Allied ones. CVs Victorious and Yorktown, BB Massachusetts and CVE Chenango with Hornet heavily damaged in exchange for CVL Shoho being heavily damaged in pretty much a reverse Midway. The Allied CV force is down to 3 CVs after this! Plans are afoot in India for a recapture of Ceylon, which is entirely isolated and being bombed into the stone age. APRIL 1943 Second Battle of Ceylon. BBs Kongo and Haruna and a couple of DDs contest the landing. The RN only has CAs and old ones at that, CA Frobisher is sunk and CA Hawkins heavily damaged but the Japanese don't get into the transports. The RN don't do very well, despite having so many torpedoes on their ships they barely fire any, though they do fruitlessly expend a lot of ammo against BB belt armour. Colombo falls almost immediately though. Allied ground forces swiftly move to cut Ceylon in half, cutting Koggala off from Trincomalee. Battle of Milne Bay. Milne Bay eventually runs out of supplies and falls. Another Bde of Allies go into the POW camps - hopefully the last brigade. The ground losses are minor compared to the losses at sea and in the air, though. Transport aircraft manage to evacuate some of the units but the operation as a whole has been a debacle for the Allies. Battle of Vella Lavella. In the Solomons the Japanese airfields north of Munda are being obliterated by attack bombers, which prove very effective. Vella Lavella is invaded, fighting takes place over a couple of weeks there and eventually 3 American regiments are involved. Nearby LBA makes all the difference, unlike Milne Bay this is an Allied victory, Vella Lavella falls. Battle of Makin. Makin atoll is assumed to be undefended by the Allies, in fact there is an SNLF unit defending the place. Lazy recon. Fortunately the USMC tanks detailed to capture it are well prepared and despite the rude surprise of Japanese marines, Makin falls. It is quickly reinforced and built up. MAY Second Battle of Ceylon. Koggala falls to the Allies. Situation really deteriorating fast for the Japanese, who have 3 divisions on the island totally cut off. With Milne Bay no longer absorbing Allied resources the advance in the Solomons picks up steam. Rabaul is being obliterated by heavy bombers now and is soon no longer tenable as a major Japanese airfield despite various Japanese ingenuities and major commitment of Tojos. IJN raid around Makin and Tarawa, KB sinks a Canadian CLAA and retires. JUNE 1943 Second Battle of Ceylon. Indian tank regiments break the Japanese at Trincomalee, the rest are driven north to Jaffna. There they are finally wiped out and the liberation of Ceylon concluded. 33rd Division, 23rd Division, 74th Infantry Regiment, 12th Division and 14th Naval Guard are led off to the tender mercies of Winstons POW camps. Commonwealth eyes now turn to Burma... Chinese are being defeated inch by inch, Kweilin falls. Landings at Shortlands in the upper Solomons. IJN attempts to intervene with cruisers but CA Kinugasa is sunk by CA Quincy and a CL. Shortlands proves well defended, and does not immediately fall despite landing in divisional strength. Near Kwajalein the first skip bombing raid by Liberators prove successful. USN heavy bombers manage a really long range strike and obliterate Japanese merchants who thought they were safe being out of B25 range. Japanese attempting to reinforce CENTPAC where the bombers at Tarawa can't touch, this proves harder than they thought. JULY 1943 Commonwealth begins plans for Burma. The plan is to deploy strong forces along the Indian/Burmese border to push the IJA and attempt to get him to commit reserves. When the time is judged ripe, a multidivisional landing will go for Rangoon and hopefully catch him out of position. To that end, Bill Slim is put in charge of 14th Army and Commonwealth forces begin to mass at Coxs Bazaar and Imphal. I Australia Corps and a division of Americans are slated to land at Rangoon, more Americans and Chinese are earmarked to invade Port Blair. 14th Army is soon marching Burmawards, the Imperial Guard are found and defeated on the road to Akyab. BB Mississippi sunk by a submarine off Mili, Mili is taken though. P47s in action for the first time, in the Solomons. Up till now the Tojo has been a major problem. The P47 proves to be its master. Two aces made in the first day of combat against the Tojo. Soon aggressive sweeps over New Britain are causing Japanese pilots to die like flies. A small Japanese convoy at Rabaul is hit hard by USMC Dauntlesses. Japanese start making a major push for China. Most of the IJA bomber force now seems to be operating in the Chinese Theatre - scared of the T-bolt probably. The Chinese, who have been out of supply for months, have no airforce at all and are soon bleeding. Allied attempts to reinforce with P40Ks just mean the Tojos have some easy meat - with no supply the Allies are always outnumbered 3 or 4 to 1. American reinforcements mean we have 6 CVs again. They head surreptitiously to the Indian Ocean. AUGUST 1943 Akyab falls to 14th Army, P47s are soon slaughtering the Japanese over Burma as well. By now 5-6 Japanese divisions are fixed on the Indian/Burma border by 14th army, according to plan. Recon suggests this is the bulk of the IJA force in Burma. Another atoll hop in CENTPAC towards Kwajalein. Maloelap atoll is quite a long hop and KB intrudes, many merchants are sunk but the LCUs get ashore and Maloelap becomes part of the Allied sphere. Kwajalein and Roi-Namur now not very far away. Two Allied convoys wiped out by IJ bombers at Feni Islands and Deboyne Islands despite fighter cover. LRCAP is very much hit and miss. Chinese situation deteriorating rapidly and the frontline crumbles almost completely. The Japanese advance as fast as they can march. Before too long they are at the gates of Chungking itself! SEPTEMBER 1943 Landing at Rangoon Allied fleet masses at Colombo and the invasion of Burma is launched. KB known to be in the Pacific and the Allies are only spotted 2 days out from Port Blair. Unfortunately the Allies are stymied by a special evac rule - the American division landing at Port Blair apparently failed a morale check and the commander ordered them to reboard the landing craft - despite massively outnumbering the enemy. This had the effect of disabling the entire division. Despite this incredible act of self immolation which means Port Blair will remain in enemy hands, the show must go on. Rangoon duly falls. (This division is still foobed as of January 1944, well done guys, top job). The delay gives him time to bring up CVs but they are scattered, no doubt from lots of full speed orders. They strike Rangoon but too late, the Allied Hellcats butcher them horribly. P47s are soon flying over Rangoon and then the Allied CVs retire. Japanese forces are greater than anticipated, the total IJ ground presence is actually 8 divisions. However they are totally out of position and the Allied breakout from Rangoon is rapid. Pegu falls scant days later and then the Allies are sweeping north, towards Mandalay, while a covering force sits at Pegu and Rangoon. First landing on New Britain, with Shortlands in Allied control and Rabaul out of action there's a daring leap to Gasmata with three Marine regiments. Gasmata falls. OCTOBER 1943 Liberation of Burma. Mandalay falls on the 12th to troops from Rangoon. Heavy casualties to the IJ division defending it. 14th Army manages to link up with I Australia Corps around the 20th as the entire Japanese defence falls apart. Allied high command breathes a sigh of relief, if I knew how many Japs were in Burma I probably wouldn't have had the stones to try it! In CENTPAC Wotje falls, only Kwajalein and Roi-Namur left around there. USMC marines march from Gasmata overland to Talasea on the north coast of New Britain, Talasea falls. Two Allied airbases on New Britain now, they are soon built up and reinforced. Chungking in China falls to the Japanese! Chinese Army retreats in disarray towards the Burmese border. NOVEMBER 1943 Mopping up in Burma completed, all bases now in Allied hands. 14th Army splits in half - half go south to Moulmein, the other half continue to mop up and attempt to press towards Paoshan on the Chinese border. At sea though not nearly so rosy, resupplying Rangoon proves very difficult with KB based at, presumably, Singapore, and with Port Blair still in Japanese hands and providing very good warning of Allied fleet sorties. An attempted re-invasion of Port Blair is aborted when KB arrives in force. The IJA in Burma has been gutted horribly, about 5 divisions worth of troops were wiped out to a man, another 3 or 4 escaped mauled and by the skin of their teeth. Along with the Ceylon invasion, a bad year for the IJA, outside of China anyway. Allied high command realises, oops, there are no radars in Rangoon, as the Japanese begin to fight back and things go badly in the air. A pretty major oversight. A reinforcement convoy MUST get through but the Allied CVs are already en route to the Pacific again. 3 CVEs are drafted. The bulk of KB meets them - 2 CVEs are sunk. But the radars are landed at least. An expensive error. Attempt in SOPAC to capture the island of Manus north of New Britain. This island is key as it puts Truk in comfortable heavy bomber range. A CVL and 2 CVE head north escorting an amphibious force but the CV force reacts to a single Japanese CV and then... vanishes under bad weather during the morning. The Allied invasion fleet gets mauled. In the afternoon the weather clears but the Japanese manage to coordinate a strike from half a dozen bases and their CVs and CVL Cowpens is blown away without achieving anything in return. Four American DDs find the Japanese CVLs at night but are butchered by the escort rabbit in headlights style. Manus invasion called off. Buna is captured on Papua New Guinea, the base at Gasmata means the fiasco of March is not repeated. A brigade marches overland to Port Moresby and captures that, too. Merauke, halfway across PNG, is defended by a battalion of SNLF but is taken in a coup de main by two battalions of Aussie commandoes. In an amazingly short time Merauke is built up by SeaBees and soon P47s are ranging all over Papua New Guinea. A Japanese attempt to resupply his bases on the north coast result in slaughter at the hands of Dauntlesses and P47s, so most of PNG is now cut off. Manus is captured by a barged invasion force at about the same time and rapidly built up. Thank god for barges! Kwajalein invaded at the same time, proves easy to crack after months of being cut off and bombed. Roi-Namur falls days later. Victory in CENTPAC! Allied submarines are really starting to reap the waves, a sinking a day is probably the average now. The western and southern approaches to the Home Islands is now a continuous line of subs. DECEMBER 1943 Japanese in Burma now all but mopped up. However, stalemate at Moulmein as Japanese reinforcements plug the gap. Paoshan meanwhile falls to 14th Army as they try and link up with fleeing, routing Chinese, and Rangoon, now with radar, is unbeatable by the IJ airforce. Japanese CVs are no longer in theatre and with air superiority at Rangoon the Japanese can do little to prevent Allied resupply. The Chinese are being mostly wiped out. A few corps are airlifted to Ledo, the rest have to walk. About half are cut off en route, the other half are trudging over the trackless wastes to India. The Chinese are basically out of the war, though they might make a re-entry at the end of 1944. There already four Chinese corps in Calcutta replenishing, up to about 500 AV now but give it six months and it'll be a major force again. Battle of Rabaul. 2 divisions land at Rabaul, find 2 Japanese divisions heavily entrenched and apparently well supplied. Siege begins. Have some misgivings, but Rabaul has been cut off for a long time and I expect minimal supply, and I could use a well protected, built up base to replace Noumea. Can't take that long to fall... right? Landings at Finschafen, and Manus is now built up enough for B24s to be based there. Truk is night bombed and heavy damage is done to fleet/airfarce there. Then Truk is hit by aerial mines as Allied submarines hound fleeing IJ ships. A dozen merchants are sunk. Attempted invasion at Wake is bloodily repulsed by KB, and BB Colorado is sunk along with 90% of the USMC regiment sent to capture it. Thought KB would not be near given the nearest safe anchorage is now a long way away with Truk being hit by LBA, turns out it was waiting, possibly for months on end, in the open ocean north of Wake along with a replenishment TF. As of end of January 1944 KB was confirmed to still be in that ocean, so he likes sitting out at sea much more than I do. Invasion of Kaseui Island near Ponape is pulled off without a hitch though. The noose noticeably tightening around Hirohitos throat! JANUARY 1944 Finschafen and Lae fall to the Marines, so the SE corner of PNG is now firmly Allied. Rabaul holding out - both sides have a division and a half - but the Allies have an enormous artillery advantage with 5 arty units there and every medium bomber in SOPAC has Rabaul as a secondary target. The Japanese are getting noticeably worn down, they've lost a number of forts already. Battle of Moulmein. 14th Army builds up at Moulmein and manages to drive out the 1500 AV of Japanese defending it with heavy casualties. An armoured thrust of Shermans roars down the road towards Tavoy driving all before them. Looks like they will get Tavoy, but the long thin strip of coast between Rangoon and Tavoy looks very fragile given apparently major Japanese forces over the border in Thailand - all those who made it out of Burma plus reinforcements. However, I'm confident I can hold and build up Tavoy, which is one of those Significant milestones - the oil in northern Sumatra is in 4E range from Tavoy. Future plans - in the Pacific, to focus on the north and south coasts of Papua New Guinea and advance as far as the opposite end of the strait to Mindanao. In SEAC, hang fire at Tavoy and shift to a naval offensive - Port Blair first, and then island hopping until ultimately a landing at Sabang (Winston would be proud). Ideally cut off Malaya by land. However, the Allied ground situation seems less steady than I'd like and I think a change of axis of advance is needed.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/14/2012 12:08:04 PM)
February 2nd 1944 now. Turns coming fast, opponent seems passive atm though, but as he's only just taken over I'm sure he's just getting to grips with whats going on. Taking over Japan in 1944 is being tossed into the deep end, I'm sure. 14th ARMY/SEAC Nettie activity from a multitude of IJAAF bases - Port Blair, the Andamans, Victoria Point etc. mean I've temporarily ceased sending convoys into Rangoon. Each convoy would be hit, few ships sunk but quite a few damaged and its quite a risk convoying LCUs in waters like that. I'm gonna wait until the USAAF at Bassein and Rangoon can clear out most of those airfields before sending any more. On the ground we have a stalemate immediately east of Moulmein, or even a slight Japanese advantage in terms of numbers, approximately 6 divisions facing each other. Southwards Allied armour thrusts south and takes Tavoy, which was my immediate objective (means some of the oil on Sumatra is now in 4E range, also cements my control over the Bay of Bengal so I can attempt some more amphibious operations). I'm now a little bemused as to what to do next. Allied objectives are ultimately the oil on Sumatra, and plans are afoot for amphibious assaults at the Andamans, Port Blair and Sabang, but what should 14th Army do now? The obvious thing to do is to hook around and hit Bangkok, which would cut Malaysia off, as well as secure the frontline (which I feel is very precarious, stretched out along the road from Pegu to Tavoy). I have about 800 AV at the front I could immediately spare, 500 AV of reinforcements at Diamond Harbor which would have to run the gauntlet of Netties to land at Rangoon, and another 500 AV from the Burmese interior that I can now spare, question is is that enough... [image]local://upfiles/10259/26DE07C85B71470CB8BDB1532CD00D01.jpg[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/14/2012 12:22:32 PM)
The other hot zone is Papua New Guinea. Rabaul just fell to the Allies, it took a month of sieging with a division, 2 regiments and a boatload of artillery. The Aussie division is fine but the regiments have taken 75% disablements and need R&R. But few squads actually destroyed, so relatively painless. I aim on roaring up the north and south coasts of PNG, and then hopping northwards towards Babeldoab and Mindanao. Meanwhile out in CENTPAC I will move on Wake and then Marcus Island in something of a feeble pincer movement. Japanese resistance in this area is so far quite limited, certainly no major LCUs have been spotted anywhere in my path of advance. I think Timor might be held in force, but given the Commonwealth is pressing quite hard on Sumatra I don't think a thrust in that direction by the US/Aussies is really required. [image]local://upfiles/10259/3F59253E7CBC4FA98B00D5DFFAB3BABD.jpg[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/14/2012 12:27:31 PM)
Naval aside - the US now has about 1000 carrier air in its main strike force, currently at Makin Atoll. If I can avoid using them until March, it'll be up to about 1500 carrier air, and I think that is enough to go KB hunting. The Allied CVE force is currently at Townsville, and is used to escort convoys to Wessell Island, which are otherwise in Netty range. I think this is fairly low risk given the decent naval search I got in that area, the IJN so far have had no presence at all around Timor or SW of PNG. The last I saw KB was about a week ago and it was headed towards Guam. The Royal Navy is mostly refitting in Cape Town and is the main holdup on further advances in the Sumatra area. I have what I hope to be adequate forces prepping for Sabang (which is heavily defended, at least a division there), Port Blair, and the Andamans. It's going to take about 50 days before the RN is ready - they'll be bringing 3 CVE, 1 CVL and a CV, with their airgroups heavily adjusted in favour of fighters. If KB is busy in the Pacific then that should be more than enough to protect against LBA, especially as the Allies can reach out and touch any threatening airbases in the area with heavy bombers at Tavoy - when Tavoy is up and running, which it will be in under a week.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/14/2012 12:30:00 PM)
In fact KB is at Guam right now, confirmed by ultra long range heavy recon from Manus.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/14/2012 12:41:56 PM)
Here's the strategic map... you'd think if I was daring I'd be going for the Marianas right now. Unfortunately whenever Allied CVs have met Japanese ones in this game its always been a horribly one sided beatdown, so I have no confidence at all in the Allied CV force to overcome the enemy. So everything has to be done within LBA range, and hops along Dutch Papua seem the best way to advance in the vague direction of vital areas without having to leap across vast expanses of ocean. By mid 44 I'm hoping this will change, and it will be about then that I feel confident enough to make moves on Marcus Island and maybe the Marianas themselves. If by May Sumatra has been cut off and the Allies are in bombing range of Mindanao and Babeldoab, I figure that'll be reasonable progress which will allow us to really thrust into the heartlands in the second half of 1944. [image]local://upfiles/10259/C7BD3A3143DE4206BBFAEB5B941C510D.jpg[/image]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/14/2012 6:37:25 PM)
7th February 1944 SEAC Managed to get a convoy of xAPs into Rangoon without suffering air attack. Now the main heavy bomber base under SEAC is at Bassein, and given time to do their work, I've managed to seriously hammer the main Japanese bases in the area and I think this has probably proven decisive. It's carrying engineers, and will carry back 51st African Division, which is on 51 AV after almost the entire division became disabled in the fighting. 14th Armys' armour rolls into Mergui and seizes it, before turning southwest. Tavoy now has aviation support and engineers, I moved up some Beaufighters and P51As to cover the tanks, which have attracted Helens. Really need more LCUs, my forces are getting very thin as I stretch the frontline out so long, but I guess the same applies to the Japanese. Either way, I feel unbalanced, and only more advancing will help refuse the line. PNG Dagua has received several convoys of engineers, and is now an airfield 3. Wessell Islands, ditto. I have marines already prepped for Sarmi, when Dagua is level 5 I think the time is ripe and I will make the next hop. I'll need CVE and maybe even CV cover. Speaking of the CVs, KB has stayed at Guam throughout. The American carriers are headed towards Guam through the dead zone my capture of Eniwetok created in his search patterns, the chance of them getting past the Truk-Wake Island line undetected seems thin... but I guess its worth a shot. Isnt it? Bah. I always get the feeling I'm doing something really bad, but I end up doing it anyway. [8\|] The Japanese airforce has been conspicuous in its absence, there's no opposition to Allied aerial attacks at all. Helens are bombing the tar out of the Chinese still, but thats it. He must have humungous aircraft pools...

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/17/2012 7:41:41 PM)
February 12th, 1944 SEAC Four RN destroyers raid around Great Nicobar, turns out the red ships there were mostly Japanese ASW flotillas. There are a few DD nightfights, the RN of course comes off worse, an R type DD is sunk for no real gain. Nothing larger than a DD though, and next day CL Emerald is coming in with some DDs, maybe she'll do better, if any Japs are still loitering (they have at least expended a lot of torps fruitlessly). Thunderstorms predicted and B24s have flattened all the airfields but Sabang, Sabang itself seems curiously empty despite being a level 7 airfield. Not sure whats going on there, but as I saw a hole and have a bunch of semi-useless RN cruisers sitting around I figured, what the hell. I've decided to aim at Bangkok after all, so I've allocated an Indian division and all the armour and possibly some more brigade size units to start marching over the border into Thailand. Paratroopers are all prepping to drop on various bases east of Bangkok to cause maximum disruption - there doesn't look to be a whole lot there. I've started moving the air units up, the heavy bombers are moving from Bassein to Moulmein, and the mediums and fighter/bombers at Moulmein are headed to Tavoy and, when its been built, Mergui. His Andamans bases are looking pretty exposed then, and after they fall, Sumatra and the oil is the next hop. Looking on schedule to be in Sumatra in force in a couple of months. SOPAC/SWPAC Dagua has been massively reinforced with SeaBees and baseforces and an airfield has sprung up there already since last update. Now Mitchells and SBD-5s roam at will over Papua New Guinea, looks like all of this is going to fall into the Allied hand pretty soon. An attack on Sarmi is next, which is quite a big jump - the fleet will support it just in case. I have some more units planned for Hollandia as well though so I'll control all the airfields on PNG, not really bypassing anything much. Wessell Islands has also been built up to an airfield 3, I've started to trickle in bombers now which means the Selaroe-Aru Island line is all in Mitchell range as well. Japanese resistance is basically nil. To the point that I bombed the airfield at Boela and blew up 9 Oscars on the runway but nothing was in the air. Its like the entire IJ airfarce has been stood down. I'm not sure I get what is going on... Stuff is going on and orders are being given as I see submarines taking potshots at convoys entering and leaving the Home Islands and headed up the strait to Merak, but still. It's uncommonly quiet, even more so than my previous foes empty airfield strategy.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/18/2012 11:02:43 AM)
Just got sent this by my new opponent... [img]http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-hjT8qXF/0/L/i-hjT8qXF-XL.jpg[/img] [:'(]

castor troy -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/18/2012 12:21:06 PM)
you had quite a lot of surface engagements me think... [:D]

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/18/2012 12:42:34 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: castor troy you had quite a lot of surface engagements me think... [:D] I do like my raiders and surface combat, it is true. Means I'm a bit of a sucker though given the IJ are so much better at it. In this case its ASW TFs operating N of Sabang, with the Andamans airfields knocked out and Sabang itself apparently empty. I was hoping that the enemy would be in ASW TFs and therefore at a disadvantage to a surface combat TF, but the RN didnt cover themselves with glory. Got serious misgivings about using a cruiser the day after, but meh what the hell, the RN have a bunch of interwar cruisers useless at anything other than surface combat. Need to at least try to engineer some surface combat...

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/19/2012 9:11:34 PM)
February 13th SEAC CL Emerald and 4 DD bumped into 3 Japanese DDs during the day of all times, Emerald didnt fire a single round despite day experience 75. The Japs clearly had barely any ammo. Dismal. Oh well. Emerald retired. He did move Netties to Sabang but only a tiny number had torpedoes for whatever reason, Emerald took a single 250kg bomb but thats it, 20 sys. She won't be out for long. On the plus side there were only 40 Netties and I think the RN carrier force being amassed will probably be able handle that number if the CAP actually fully engages. 14th Army is amassing troops for the Thailand invasion meanwhile, I got a few more I can bring up. Also got some convoys being loaded at Diamond Harbor for Rangoon, more reinforcements, the USAAF is busy suppressing all dangerous Japanese bases in readiness atm. SOPAC Aitape falls in Papua New Guinea, the marines marched from Dagua. Now they are en route to Hollandia via Vanimo. It'll take a long time. I also have an amphibious assault planned on Vanimo which is about a month away, so we'll be in force in >divisional strength which is probably enough to handle Hollandia itself, which is the big prize. Then the heavies at Lae will be moved to Hollandia for a while. Major invasion force aimed at Sarmi, on the far side of Hollandia, will be embarking from Manus tomorrow, the CVE force and maybe the CVs will be in attendance just in case. Paratroopers are ready to take the NW tip of Papua New Guinea, which looks to be ungarrisonned and undeveloped, in a lightning campaign. I'm also eying up Woleai, which looks to be useful for reconnaissance purposes, and pondering an invasion via submarine bourne paratroopers. 2 Jap CV still at Guam and still under observation, AFAIK its the entire KB. [&:] CENTPAC In a position to launch an assault on Wake Island again - they'll be able to embark from Tarawa in about a week. I think it'll be longer than that as I want CV support and the CVs are in Papua atm. Marcus is contingent on CV support also, I have LCUs already allocated to it.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/24/2012 7:35:11 PM)
19th February 1944 There's 3 and a half active fronts at the moment really. BURMA/CHINA FRONT I've got 2500 AV in Paoshan behind level 6 forts facing a huge Japanese army (5000 AV?) which has been camped one hex away for some time now. Nobody is doing much, until today. I see the Japs are now in part advancing and in part falling back, so not sure what's going on over there. BURMA/THAILAND FRONT The static frontline up around Moulmein is still quiet and unless new Japanese forces are brought in it looks pretty secure to me. LCUs are gathering near Tavoy in readiness to cross over the border into Thailand. We've got about 1500 AV, a lot of it being tanks. Otherwise there's a lot of bombing of empty Japanese airfields (as ever), the Commonwealth are hurrying engineers and baseforces to Mergui though which is really bad news for Japan, as that puts Palembang within bomber range. PAPUA FRONT/SOPAC Amphibious invasion force escorted by the CVEs is one day out from Sarmi in Dutch New Guinea - my two brigades should be more than enough, recon suggests a single baseforce there. The Marines are still headed towards Vanimo from Aitape, that'll take a while. Really the action on northern Papua has all the hallmarks of a mopping up operation rather than an assault, Japanese resistance is negligible. The invasion force hasnt been spotted so it looks like the Japs have no naval search at all off the northern coast of Papua now, it's pretty much an Allied lake. Bit more active on the DEI side of Papua. Allied destroyers raided Ambon and actually managed to get away with it, they sunk half a dozen xAKs despite a SAG being present. Also Allied heavy bombers hit Ambon and crippled a number of merchants left carelessly disbanded in Ambon harbor. Aru Island, Taberfane, Saumlaki are all heavily suppressed. Wessell Islands is still being built up. Some mopping up in SOPAC still going on, commandoes landed at Milne Bay today, looks like a single malnourished baseforce present, more Marines are headed towards Japanese held Nadzab from Lae. CENTPAC MAking my move on Wake Island again. KB still believed to be at nearby Guam but this time the Allied CV force is sortied in strength. I don't think he'll make a move given his so far very passive play, but we shall see. I'm happy to fight off of Wake, the island itself has been bombed to smithereens so no Jap LBA around, and it's closer to my bases than his in the event of crippled carriers. Also he'd have to run across three lines of submarines to get to me. In general the Allies are advancing as fast as they can march/prep invasions.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/25/2012 1:38:40 PM)
Just got a turn, at work, but I got the combat report at least. [;)] AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Feb 19, 44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Milne Bay (101,133) Allied Ships LST-451 LST-458 LST-464 LCI-223 DD Hull LST-451 fired at enemy troops LST-458 fired at enemy troops LST-464 fired at enemy troops Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Izu Oshima at 113,63 Japanese Ships xAK Syoto Maru, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage PB Showa Maru #5 Allied Ships SS Halibut SS Halibut launches 6 torpedoes at xAK Syoto Maru PB Showa Maru #5 fails to find sub, continues to search... PB Showa Maru #5 fails to find sub, continues to search... PB Showa Maru #5 attacking submerged sub .... PB Showa Maru #5 fails to find sub, continues to search... PB Showa Maru #5 fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Guam at 105,97 Japanese Ships DD Yudachi DD Murasame Allied Ships SS Seal, hits 1 SS Seal is located by DD Yudachi Seal diving deep .... DD Yudachi fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Murasame attacking submerged sub .... DD Yudachi attacking submerged sub .... DD Murasame fails to find sub and abandons search DD Yudachi fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yudachi attacking submerged sub .... DD Yudachi fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Izu Oshima at 113,63 Japanese Ships xAK Syoto Maru, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage Allied Ships SS Seahorse SS Seahorse launches 6 torpedoes Pre-DB change subs, fire all tubes!!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Rota at 109,97 Japanese Ships DD Michishio DD Akatsuki Allied Ships SS Saury, hits 1 SS Saury launches 4 torpedoes at DD Michishio Saury diving deep .... DD Akatsuki fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Michishio fails to find sub and abandons search DD Akatsuki fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Akatsuki attacking submerged sub .... DD Akatsuki fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Akatsuki fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Akatsuki fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Guam at 105,97 Japanese Ships DD Yamagumo DD Yudachi DD Murasame Allied Ships SS Flasher, hits 1 Guam is ringed with subs, so his carriers arent getting out without risk... SS Flasher launches 6 torpedoes at DD Yamagumo DD Yudachi fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Murasame attacking submerged sub .... DD Murasame is out of ASW ammo DD Yudachi fails to find sub and abandons search DD Murasame fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Murasame fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Murasame fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Murasame fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Murasame fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Milne Bay (101,133) Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force 2 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships LST-123 LST-43 LCI-400 LCI-329 LCI-223 LST-123 fired at enemy troops LST-43 fired at enemy troops LCI-400 fired at enemy troops LCI-329 fired at enemy troops -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Guam at 104,96 Japanese Ships DD Yamagumo DD Yudachi Allied Ships SS Batfish SS Batfish launches 6 torpedoes at DD Yamagumo Batfish diving deep .... DD Yudachi fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yudachi fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yudachi attacking submerged sub .... DD Yudachi is out of ASW ammo DD Yudachi is out of ASW ammo DD Yudachi is out of ASW ammo DD Yudachi is out of ASW ammo DD Yudachi fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yudachi fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Guam at 103,95 Japanese Ships DD Yudachi DD Yamagumo Allied Ships SS Lapon SS Lapon launches 6 torpedoes at DD Yudachi Lapon diving deep .... DD Yamagumo attacking submerged sub .... DD Yamagumo fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yamagumo fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yamagumo fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Yamagumo fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 40,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 2 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 9 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 45 NM, estimated altitude 39,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 10 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 9 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan This is his huge army by Paoshan. Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 45,500 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft Spitfire VIII x 9 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Spitfire VIII sweeping at 41500 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 38,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 10 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 10 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 43 NM, estimated altitude 34,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Allied aircraft P-40K Warhawk x 11 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 11 x P-40K Warhawk sweeping at 29000 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 255th Armoured Brigade, at 54,60 (Tavoy) Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIa Helen x 6 Ki-49-IIb Helen x 12 Allied aircraft Beaufighter VIc x 5 P-40N5 Warhawk x 7 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 7 P-51A Mustang x 5 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIa Helen: 3 damaged Ki-49-IIb Helen: 3 damaged No Allied losses Allied ground losses: 5 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 12 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb 6 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb CAP engaged: 5318th PAU/FS with P-51A Mustang (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (5 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 5 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 31350 Raid is overhead 80th FG/88th FS with P-47D2 Thunderbolt (7 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 7 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 31000 Raid is overhead 80th FG/90th FS with P-40N5 Warhawk (7 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 7 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 31000 Raid is overhead No.177 Sqn RAF with Beaufighter VIc (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 5 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 12000 Raid is overhead Also attacking 50th Tank Brigade ... Also attacking 85th British AT Gun Regiment ... Also attacking 255th Armoured Brigade ... Also attacking 50th Tank Brigade ... Also attacking 255th Armoured Brigade ... This is where 14th Army is forming up ready to cross the Thai border. Really, ground attack is a waste of time here I think, they are in jungle terrain. Be better off going for airfields, but they are all heavily defended, this is LRCAP/bleeding CAP. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 2nd Chinese Corps, at 76,49 , near Chihkiang Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIb Helen x 29 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIb Helen: 2 damaged Allied ground losses: 138 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 17 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 29 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 86th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 2nd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 86th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 2nd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 86th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 2nd Chinese Corps ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 52nd Chinese Corps, at 72,48 , near Kunming Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIb Helen x 22 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 98 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 16 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb 6 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 4th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 60th Chinese/C Corps ... Also attacking 52nd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 60th Chinese/C Corps ... Also attacking 52nd Chinese Corps ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 6th Division, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D Mitchell x 6 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 6 x B-25D Mitchell bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Tanaka Detachment, at 56,55 , near Moulmein Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Allied aircraft Wellington B.X x 9 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 60 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Wellington B.X bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Tanaka Detachment, at 56,55 , near Moulmein Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D1 Mitchell x 14 Allied aircraft losses B-25D1 Mitchell: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 37 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 14 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 39th Division, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft Vengeance I x 15 Allied aircraft losses Vengeance I: 1 damaged Aircraft Attacking: 7 x Vengeance I releasing from 3000' Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb 8 x Vengeance I releasing from 2000' Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Ponape , at 119,113 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Allied aircraft B-24J Liberator x 16 No Allied losses Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 7 Aircraft Attacking: 9 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 7 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Ambon , at 76,109 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-61-Ib Tony x 35 Allied aircraft B-24D1 Liberator x 20 B-24J Liberator x 22 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged B-24J Liberator: 2 damaged Japanese Ships CL Katori, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Taizan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Kowa Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk xAK Senyo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Tohuku Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Yamahuku Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage xAK Nippo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Akagisan Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Tango Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Kikukawa Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage xAKL Taganoura Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Taito Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage Port hits 9 Port supply hits 1 Aircraft Attacking: 8 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet * Port Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb 7 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet * Port Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb 7 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet * Port Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb 7 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet * Port Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb 4 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet * Port Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb 9 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet * Port Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb CAP engaged: 50th Sentai with Ki-61-Ib Tony (1 airborne, 3 on standby, 31 scrambling) 1 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 37730 , scrambling fighters to 37000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 42 minutes These are ships already damaged by a previous bomber raid, I think they must have been leaking quite badly so he didnt bother evacuating them. CL Katori certainly was hit hard before. I expected Tonies to chew up B24s but looks like he's got no radar judging by the short raid warning. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Ambon , at 76,109 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 2 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 0 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-61-Ib Tony x 34 Allied aircraft B-24J Liberator x 10 No Japanese losses No Allied losses Japanese Ships xAK Yamahuku Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage PB Busho Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires xAP Tango Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Kashima Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Katori, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Taizan Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Akagisan Maru, and is sunk Port hits 2 Aircraft Attacking: 10 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet * Port Attack: 5 x 500 lb GP Bomb CAP engaged: 50th Sentai with Ki-61-Ib Tony (9 airborne, 0 on standby, 24 scrambling) (9 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 9 plane(s) intercepting now. 1 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 37730 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 37000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 41 minutes Massive explosion on xAP Kashima Maru -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Boela , at 80,110 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 42,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Allied aircraft P-38G Lightning x 9 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 9 x P-38G Lightning sweeping at 39000 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 46th Chinese Corps, at 74,55 (Liuchow) Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 22,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 10 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 damaged Aircraft Attacking: 10 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo bombing from 20000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 46th Chinese Corps, at 74,55 (Liuchow) Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 10 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 4 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 10 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo bombing from 100 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 27th JNAF AF Unit , at 101,133 (Milne Bay) Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Allied aircraft P-38H Lightning x 25 PBJ-1D Mitchell x 9 SBD-5 Dauntless x 16 Allied aircraft losses SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 19 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 12 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Ground Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb 9 x PBJ-1D Mitchell bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb 4 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Ground Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Hansa Bay , at 97,121 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Allied aircraft F4U-1A Corsair x 48 TBM-1C Avenger x 24 No Allied losses Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 6 Aircraft Attacking: 24 x TBM-1C Avenger bombing from 5000 feet Airfield Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 27th JNAF AF Unit , at 101,133 (Milne Bay) Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Allied aircraft Beaufort VIII x 34 PV-1 Ventura x 15 B-24J Liberator x 15 P-40E Warhawk x 17 P-40N5 Warhawk x 22 PV-1 Ventura x 15 Allied aircraft losses Beaufort VIII: 3 damaged PV-1 Ventura: 1 damaged PV-1 Ventura: 2 damaged Japanese ground losses: 43 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 15 x PV-1 Ventura bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb 15 x PV-1 Ventura bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb 12 x Beaufort VIII bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb 22 x Beaufort VIII bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb 15 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 18th JAAF AF Bn , at 94,118 , near Aitape Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 34 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Allied aircraft DB-7B x 17 Kittyhawk IV x 32 A-20G Havoc x 30 B-25D1 Mitchell x 14 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 17 Allied aircraft losses A-20G Havoc: 1 damaged B-25D1 Mitchell: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 25 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 17 x DB-7B bombing from 1000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb 14 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb 16 x A-20G Havoc bombing and strafing from low level Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb 14 x A-20G Havoc bombing and strafing from low level Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 27th JNAF AF Unit , at 101,133 (Milne Bay) Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Allied aircraft Mitchell II x 21 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 5 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 21 x Mitchell II bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Tanaka Detachment, at 56,55 , near Moulmein Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 8 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 2 minutes Allied aircraft Beaufighter TF.X x 16 Beaufort VIII x 8 P-39N1 Airacobra x 12 Allied aircraft losses Beaufighter TF.X: 2 damaged Beaufort VIII: 2 damaged Japanese ground losses: 20 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 8 x Beaufort VIII bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb 16 x Beaufighter TF.X bombing from 100 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Tanaka Detachment, at 56,55 , near Moulmein Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D1 Mitchell x 8 P-40N5 Warhawk x 12 Allied aircraft losses B-25D1 Mitchell: 2 damaged Japanese ground losses: 32 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 8 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Invasion action off Sarmi (91,114) 48 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships CA Northampton LCI-435 LCI-436 DMS Hovey Allied ground losses: 23 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled CA Northampton firing at 111th Naval Construction Battalion Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 5,000 yards Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amphibious Assault at Sarmi (91,114) TF 64 troops unloading over beach at Sarmi, 91,114 Allied ground losses: 174 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 38 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 12 (0 destroyed, 12 disabled) Vehicles lost 13 (0 destroyed, 13 disabled) 10 Support troops accidentally lost during unload of 22nd Marine Rgt Quite bad given this is just two and a bit fully prepped brigades. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Sarmi (91,114) Japanese Bombardment attack Attacking force 1604 troops, 10 guns, 9 vehicles, Assault Value = 88 Defending force 8034 troops, 137 guns, 80 vehicles, Assault Value = 333 Assaulting units: 1st South Seas Det. 111th Naval Construction Battalion Jaluit Base Force 112th JAAF AF Bn Defending units: 22nd Marine Regiment 131st Combat Engineer Regiment 14th NZ Brigade Sarmi will fall in a day most likely. Going to be a lot of B24s in support tomorrow... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 56,56 (near Moulmein) Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 29292 troops, 762 guns, 832 vehicles, Assault Value = 886 Defending force 34504 troops, 472 guns, 194 vehicles, Assault Value = 1187 Japanese ground losses: 34 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled) Allied ground losses: 41 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled) Assaulting units: 2nd British Division 5th Indian Division 2/9th Field Regiment 2/11th Field Brigade 30th Field Artillery Regiment 2/13th Field Regiment 8th Medium Regiment Defending units: 3rd INA Azad Regiment 2nd Tank Regiment 38th Division 33rd Division 20th Infantry Regiment 61st Division 2nd RTA Division RTA Cavalry Division 3rd Hvy.Artillery Regiment 7th RF Gun Battalion 55th Mountain Gun Regiment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Milne Bay (101,133) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 927 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 70 Defending force 127 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 2 Allied adjusted assault: 45 Japanese adjusted defense: 1 Allied assault odds: 45 to 1 (fort level 1) Allied forces CAPTURE Milne Bay !!! Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-) supply(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 55 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Units destroyed 1 Assaulting units: 2/7 Cavalry Cdo Battalion 2/9 Cavalry Cdo Battalion Defending units: Kure 3rd SNLF 27th JNAF AF Unit /1 Those commandoes have been waiting a whole year almost for another crack at Milne Bay. The war has long since moved on, but I figured may as well mop up given I got a couple of battalions ready to roll. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 56,55 (near Moulmein) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 5643 troops, 41 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 226 Defending force 1733 troops, 14 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 66 Allied adjusted assault: 205 Japanese adjusted defense: 33 Allied assault odds: 6 to 1 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 588 casualties reported Squads: 19 destroyed, 21 disabled Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 9 (2 destroyed, 7 disabled) Units retreated 1 Allied ground losses: 27 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! Assaulting units: 96th Chinese Division 30th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment Defending units: Tanaka Detachment Part of that static frontline near Moulmein, I pulled a Bde out and replaced it with a Chinese division. In so doing, saw an opportunity to cause some damage. This doesn't mean I can really advance though, he holds the border in force east of here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japanese Unit(s) Wiped Out at Milne Bay by attrition!!!

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/25/2012 2:24:08 PM)
For those (few [;)]) reading this, do you want more combat reports do you think? I've generally just put up a precis of the important events of the prior week rather than doing things day by day, and have kept the combat reports to a minimum. But I guess it does cut out a lot of knowledge of what is going on.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/26/2012 8:07:58 PM)
21st February 1944 THAILAND FRONT The 21st of Feb proves somewhat interesting as the unit on the road to Bangkok turns out to only be a battalion of Japs. They get brushed aside by the lead division of 14ths Army advance into Thailand. Looks like Bangkok is in trouble, though I need to do a paradrop to prevent the rapid evacuation of his units from the Burma border to the north. At least, the place is going to be sieged, how long that'll take is anybodys guess. Heavy bombers hit Sabang for the first time as well from Tavoy, extended range, still torched 32 Netties though. Mergui is just a couple more crucial hexes that will get Palembang also into range. PAPUA FRONT Sarmi was captured essentially bloodlessly, it'll be a short while before engineers and paras are in place. The paras are going to storm the NW tip of Papua, there are no more Japanese garrisons of significance on the island. The only redoubts of importance are Hansa Bay, which is held in divisional plus strength and is bypassed, and Hollandia, which is in similar strength but I'll actually move to take it as its a fairly short march from Vanimo, which I want. Wessel Islands still being built up, the Allied strength in engineers and baseforces is now significant. CENTPAC The fleet is now 1 hex from Wake, will be storming it tomorrow. KB appears to still be at Guam, and he's had time to deploy them so I doubt there'll be a contest over it. My CVs are moving west of Wake anyway just in case, bombardments and suchlike are scheduled. Odd though, Catalinas at Eniwetok picked up a small 6 ship TF east of Guam which is apparently merchants. If they go any further east, they are gonna get nailed. My foe is rather careless, this may be a symptom of that...

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/26/2012 8:12:08 PM)
Having read Greyjoys AAR, it may be fun reading but I think I would bust a nut if that happened to my beloved CVs. [:D] I'm envisaging a rather more boring approach to the end game here. I seem to be well on schedule to have Saipan and maybe Guam in my hands by April, which means the B29 is going to get a chance to strut its stuff. Given we have no houserules on night bombing or the like, I think the strategic bombing aspect of the game is going to get a thorough test from summer '44 on. Palembang is going to get snipped off fairly soon too if the Commonwealth can keep up their momentum (which is admittedly flagging). Be interesting to see what the true strategic import of that is in the late game for Japan.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/27/2012 12:05:12 AM)
Today the Wake invasion happened. The IJN is in evidence. Not KB, which skulks under heavy fighter cover at Guam, but what looks like a flotilla of DD raiders. I moved my CVs well to the west though so the DDs got nobbled. There's another Jap TF of 3 ships, identified as cruisers, NW of Wake, so might be a two pronged raid. Too late now anyway, the Allies are ashore and the amphibious TF ordered to pull out. The CVs have used up a lot of ops points trying to blow away elusive destroyers, so I've ordered them to only move a tiny distance NE towards Wake just in case those other Japs decide to make targets of themselves, for fear of the CVs getting split up. This is ~1000 CV air btw, which is the lot pretty much. CVL San Jacinto and CVL Bataan are still en route. It's probably as weak as the CV force is going to be. As I'm fighting under Catalina recon range, and long range naval Liberator range, I'm a little more daring than usual with them. After the Wake op though I hope to retire for a bit again and accept more flattop reinforcements. AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Feb 22, 44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Submarine attack near Fukue-jima at 99,57 Japanese Ships xAK Taian Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire Allied Ships SS Balao xAK Taian Maru is sighted by SS Balao SS Balao launches 6 torpedoes at xAK Taian Maru -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Nakadori-jima at 101,56 Japanese Ships SC CHa-17 Allied Ships SS Flying Fish Captain of SS Flying Fish elects not to launch torpedoes at this target SC CHa-17 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-17 attacking submerged sub .... SC CHa-17 is out of ASW ammo SC CHa-17 is out of ASW ammo SC CHa-17 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-17 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-17 fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Night Naval bombardment of Wake Island at 136,98 Allied Ships BB Pennsylvania BB Arizona CA Astoria CL Montpelier DD O'Brien DD Thompson DD Sigourney DD Abner Read DMS Perry Airbase hits 1 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 2 Port hits 5 Port supply hits 1 OS2U-3 Kingfisher acting as spotter for BB Pennsylvania BB Pennsylvania firing at Wake Island BB Arizona firing at Wake Island CA Astoria firing at Wake Island CL Montpelier firing at Wake Island DD O'Brien firing at 48th Naval Guard Unit DD Thompson firing at Wake Island DD Sigourney firing at Wake Island DD Abner Read firing at Wake Island DMS Perry firing at Wake Island -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Invasion action off Wake Island (136,98) Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force 27 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships BB Idaho DD Spence DD Burns LCI-65 LCI-64 LCI-61 LCI-402 LCI-331 LCI-524 Japanese ground losses: 196 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled BB Idaho firing at 48th Naval Guard Unit DD Spence firing at 64th Naval Guard Unit DD Burns firing at 9th JNAF Coy LCI-65 fired at enemy troops LCI-64 fired at enemy troops LCI-61 fired at enemy troops DD Burns fired at enemy troops Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 4,000 yards Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards One LCI blew up this turn, reason for sinking 'unknown'. Got Mutsu'd maybe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amphibious Assault at Wake Island (136,98) TF 357 troops unloading over beach at Wake Island, 136,98 Allied ground losses: 45 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 9 (0 destroyed, 9 disabled) Vehicles lost 3 (0 destroyed, 3 disabled) 13 troops of a USMC Rifle Squad 43 lost overboard during unload of 21st Marine Rgt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Wake Island (136,98) Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force 9 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships BB Idaho DD Burns LCI-535 LCI-65 LCI-64 LCI-61 LCI-331 DD Spence LCI-535 fired at enemy troops LCI-65 fired at enemy troops LCI-64 fired at enemy troops LCI-61 fired at enemy troops Defensive Guns fire at approaching troops in landing craft at 1,000 yards -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Submarine attack near Hengchun at 85,68 Japanese Ships xAK Hakodate Maru, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage Allied Ships SS Whale xAK Hakodate Maru is sighted by SS Whale SS Whale attacking on the surface [X(] Unescorted merchants in the Straits of Formosa??? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 36,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 9 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 27 NM, estimated altitude 38,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 9 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 255th Armoured Brigade, at 54,59 , near Tavoy Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 49 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 15 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIa Helen x 9 Ki-49-IIb Helen x 15 Allied aircraft P-51A Mustang x 1 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIa Helen: 4 damaged Ki-49-IIb Helen: 1 damaged No Allied losses Allied ground losses: 6 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 12 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb 9 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb CAP engaged: 5318th PAU/FS with P-51A Mustang (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (1 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 1 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 31350 Raid is overhead Also attacking 85th British AT Gun Regiment ... Also attacking 254th Armoured Brigade ... Also attacking 255th Armoured Brigade ... Also attacking 85th British AT Gun Regiment ... Also attacking 255th Armoured Brigade ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 46th Chinese Corps, at 74,55 (Liuchow) Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 26,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 10 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 damaged Aircraft Attacking: 10 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo bombing from 20000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 86th Chinese Corps, at 76,49 , near Chihkiang Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 13 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIb Helen x 29 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIb Helen: 2 damaged Allied ground losses: 89 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 16 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 29 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 28th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 86th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 28th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 86th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 28th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 86th Chinese Corps ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 4th Chinese Corps, at 72,48 , near Kunming Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIb Helen x 19 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 60 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 16 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb 3 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 21st Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 20th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 4th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 20th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 4th Chinese Corps ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 2nd Prov Chinese Corps, at 74,55 (Liuchow) Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 9 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 7 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo bombing from 100 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 100 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 22nd Division, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D Mitchell x 4 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 4 x B-25D Mitchell bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Tanaka Detachment, at 57,56 , near Rahaeng Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft Wellington B.X x 9 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 5 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Wellington B.X bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb Also attacking 11th Division ... Also attacking Tanaka Detachment ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 39th Division, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 11 Hurricane FR.IIb x 8 Vengeance I x 16 Allied aircraft losses Vengeance I: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 9 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 8 x Vengeance I releasing from 4000' Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb 8 x Vengeance I releasing from 3000' Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Ponape , at 119,113 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 64 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Allied aircraft B-24J Liberator x 14 No Allied losses Airbase hits 1 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 8 Aircraft Attacking: 7 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 7 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb These guys are, incidentally, an example of limited airfield space. Ponape is being bypassed, theres no real reason to bomb it, though keeping it out of action can't hurt I suppose. But there is no airbase space at the forward tip of the axis of advance - Merauke and Buna - to profitably move them further to the spear tip. This is a pretty major issue for me in 1944. More bombers than airfield space! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Division, at 57,56 , near Rahaeng Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D1 Mitchell x 12 Allied aircraft losses B-25D1 Mitchell: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 3 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 12 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 16th Engineer Regiment, at 59,56 (Uttaradit) Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 39 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Allied aircraft B-24J Liberator x 3 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 9 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 3 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 32,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Allied aircraft P-40K Warhawk x 6 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 6 x P-40K Warhawk sweeping at 29000 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Eniwetok at 123,98 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 29 minutes Allied aircraft F4U-1A Corsair x 39 F6F-3 Hellcat x 133 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 68 SBD-5 Dauntless x 204 TBF-1 Avenger x 33 TBM-1C Avenger x 63 Allied aircraft losses SB2C-1C Helldiver: 4 damaged SBD-5 Dauntless: 4 damaged TBF-1 Avenger: 2 damaged TBM-1C Avenger: 2 damaged Japanese Ships DD Kamikaze DD Urakaze, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Shiranui, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Kishinami, Bomb hits 1, on fire DD Kikuzuki DD Sawakaze DD Asakaze, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk Aircraft Attacking: 5 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 12 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 12 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 9 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 13 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 11 x SB2C-1C Helldiver releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb 13 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 13 x SB2C-1C Helldiver releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 12 x TBF-1 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 17 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 13 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 12 x TBM-1C Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 11 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 7 x TBF-1 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 7 x TBF-1 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 7 x TBF-1 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo 16 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 13 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 20 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 17 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 15 x SB2C-1C Helldiver releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb 16 x SB2C-1C Helldiver releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 12 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 8 x SB2C-1C Helldiver releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb 5 x SB2C-1C Helldiver releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 9 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 11 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 2 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 18 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Shiranui Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Urakaze Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Kishinami Magazine explodes on DD Asakaze -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Eniwetok at 123,98 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 21 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft PB4Y-1 Liberator x 3 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Kikuzuki Aircraft Attacking: 3 x PB4Y-1 Liberator bombing from 1000 feet * Naval Attack: 2 x 500 lb SAP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Eniwetok at 123,98 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 15 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft TBF-1 Avenger x 7 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Kishinami, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Shiranui, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk Aircraft Attacking: 7 x TBF-1 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Eniwetok at 123,98 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 16 minutes Allied aircraft TBF-1 Avenger x 7 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Kishinami, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Aircraft Attacking: 7 x TBF-1 Avenger launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 35,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 13 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 13 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Hansa Bay , at 97,121 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft F4U-1A Corsair x 23 TBM-1C Avenger x 18 No Allied losses Airbase hits 1 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 2 Aircraft Attacking: 18 x TBM-1C Avenger bombing from 5000 feet Airfield Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Madang , at 97,123 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 16 SBD-5 Dauntless x 17 No Allied losses Runway hits 3 Aircraft Attacking: 5 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb 8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb 4 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 19th Division, at 97,121 (Hansa Bay) Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 1,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 2 minutes Allied aircraft DB-7B x 18 Kittyhawk IV x 12 Allied aircraft losses DB-7B: 1 damaged Aircraft Attacking: 18 x DB-7B bombing from 1000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Eniwetok at 123,98 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 28 minutes Allied aircraft F4U-1A Corsair x 15 F6F-3 Hellcat x 32 SBD-5 Dauntless x 33 Allied aircraft losses SBD-5 Dauntless: 4 damaged Japanese Ships DD Kamikaze, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires DD Kikuzuki, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Sawakaze, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires Aircraft Attacking: 15 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 13 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 5 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Sawakaze Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Kamikaze Heavy smoke from fires obscuring DD Kikuzuki Plenty of dead sailors, though the DDs took a LOT of sorties to score hits. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Invasion Support action off Wake Island (136,98) Defensive Guns engage approaching landing force 7 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Allied Ships LST-449 LST-125 LST-88 LST-82 LST-78 LST-72 LCI-535 LCI-533 LCI-526 LCI-448 LCI-444 LCI-334 LCI-65 LCI-64 LCI-61 LCI-331 LST-449 fired at enemy troops LST-125 fired at enemy troops LST-88 fired at enemy troops LST-82 fired at enemy troops LST-78 fired at enemy troops LST-72 fired at enemy troops LCI-535 fired at enemy troops LCI-533 fired at enemy troops LCI-526 fired at enemy troops LCI-448 fired at enemy troops LCI-444 fired at enemy troops LCI-334 fired at enemy troops LCI-65 fired at enemy troops LCI-64 fired at enemy troops LCI-61 fired at enemy troops -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Wake Island (136,98) Japanese Bombardment attack Attacking force 2740 troops, 21 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 118 Defending force 5655 troops, 100 guns, 236 vehicles, Assault Value = 240 Japanese ground losses: 765 casualties reported Squads: 47 destroyed, 13 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 10 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 7 (1 destroyed, 6 disabled) Assaulting units: 48th Naval Guard Unit 64th Naval Guard Unit 9th JNAF Coy Defending units: 763rd Tank Battalion 627th Tank Destroyer Battalion 21st Marine Regiment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Wake Island (136,98) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 5655 troops, 100 guns, 236 vehicles, Assault Value = 240 Defending force 2481 troops, 20 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 62 Allied adjusted assault: 46 Japanese adjusted defense: 25 Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 6) Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 5 Combat modifiers Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), fatigue(-), experience(-) Attacker: op mode(-), shock(+), leaders(-) Japanese ground losses: 337 casualties reported Squads: 7 destroyed, 32 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 8 (1 destroyed, 7 disabled) Allied ground losses: 66 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 10 disabled Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 33 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 12 (5 destroyed, 7 disabled) Vehicles lost 54 (9 destroyed, 45 disabled) Assaulting units: 763rd Tank Battalion 627th Tank Destroyer Battalion 21st Marine Regiment Defending units: 64th Naval Guard Unit 48th Naval Guard Unit 9th JNAF Coy Wake is toast, even with the forts, looks like it'll take a little while though and I'll need to barge up supply probably. There is more supply in the amphib TF but caution has compelled me to get out of Dodge asap so one day of unloading is all they got. Just in case raiders get lucky. Hate to have my battleship sunk like a sitting duck. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 56,56 (near Moulmein) Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 29262 troops, 761 guns, 832 vehicles, Assault Value = 880 Defending force 34476 troops, 471 guns, 193 vehicles, Assault Value = 1183 Japanese ground losses: 65 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Vehicles lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled) Allied ground losses: 6 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 2nd British Division 5th Indian Division 2/13th Field Regiment 2/9th Field Regiment 30th Field Artillery Regiment 2/11th Field Brigade 8th Medium Regiment Defending units: 2nd RTA Division 33rd Division 2nd Tank Regiment 3rd INA Azad Regiment 38th Division 20th Infantry Regiment 61st Division RTA Cavalry Division 3rd Hvy.Artillery Regiment 7th RF Gun Battalion 55th Mountain Gun Regiment

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/27/2012 10:56:57 AM)
Wake falls... Japanese CVTF sighted north of Wake, ~10 hexes or so, the Allied max ranged naval search on their CVs caught them. No need to press matters so I'm pulling back to around Eniwetok. After the Epic Destroyer Bombing all my bombers and Hellcats have fatigue in the 30+ range. He'd need to go well south of Wake to engage now and he'd be in Liberator range - and the USN libs are very well trained in low naval attack... AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Feb 23, 44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Fukue-jima at 99,57 Japanese Ships xAKL Kaimyo Maru, Shell hits 6, on fire Allied Ships SS Balao SS Balao attacking on the surface SS Balao low on gun ammo, Crane, R.H. breaks off surface engagement and submerges Unescorted AKL off Japan now... [X(] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Taihoku at 88,62 Japanese Ships SC CHa-45, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage SC CHa-61 Allied Ships SS Lancetfish SS Lancetfish launches 6 torpedoes at SC CHa-45 Lancetfish diving deep .... SC CHa-61 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-61 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-61 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-61 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC CHa-61 fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub Part of the sub force between Formosa and China. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Saishu To at 99,56 Japanese Ships xAKL Kaimyo Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage Allied Ships SS Cod SS Cod launches 6 torpedoes The unescorted baby AK does not make it... that was a death sentence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Toyohara at 125,48 Japanese Ships xAK Liverpool Maru, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage xAK Ryoka Maru xAK Uga Maru xAK Asaka Maru #3 xAKL Rozan Maru PB Toshi Maru #1 Allied Ships SS Bowfin SS Bowfin launches 6 torpedoes at xAK Liverpool Maru Bowfin diving deep .... PB Toshi Maru #1 fails to find sub, continues to search... PB Toshi Maru #1 attacking submerged sub .... PB Toshi Maru #1 cannot establish contact with SS Bowfin PB Toshi Maru #1 fails to find sub, continues to search... PB Toshi Maru #1 fails to find sub, continues to search... PB Toshi Maru #1 fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub Got a couple of subs marking Hokkaido still, Bowfin is one of them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 38,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 13 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 13 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 40 NM, estimated altitude 42,500 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Allied aircraft Spitfire VIII x 10 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 10 x Spitfire VIII sweeping at 41500 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Kusaie Island at 124,115 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Japanese aircraft E13A1 Jake x 2 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 3 Japanese aircraft losses E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed No Allied losses CAP engaged: VMF-225 with F6F-3 Hellcat (3 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 3 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 10000 Raid is overhead Launched from Ponape, guess its good the airfield is out of action after all! The target was a TK convoy from Rabaul->CONUS which had its waypoints set rather laxly and got a bit too near Jap held Ponape. Bypassing is only semi effective, you still have to avoid the teeth, even bases on 0 supply can put up a/c for a while at least. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 5th Chinese Cavalry Corps, at 76,49 , near Chihkiang Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 26 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIb Helen x 29 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIb Helen: 2 damaged Allied ground losses: 202 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 21 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 29 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 2nd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 5th Chinese Cavalry Corps ... Also attacking 2nd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 5th Chinese Cavalry Corps ... Also attacking 2nd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 5th Chinese Cavalry Corps ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 21st Chinese Corps, at 72,48 , near Kunming Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIb Helen x 19 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 76 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 16 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb 3 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb Also attacking 14th Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 52nd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 21st Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 52nd Chinese Corps ... Also attacking 21st Chinese Corps ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 37th Division, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D Mitchell x 3 P-40N Warhawk x 6 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 3 x B-25D Mitchell bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 41,500 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 11 Spitfire VIII x 6 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 6 x Spitfire VIII sweeping at 41500 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 31st Infantry Regiment, at 67,46 , near Tsuyung Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft Mosquito FB.VI x 2 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 2 x Mosquito FB.VI bombing from 10000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 37,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 16 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 8 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * 8 x Hurricane IIc Trop sweeping at 35600 feet * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Division, at 57,56 , near Rahaeng Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft Wellington B.X x 12 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 12 x Wellington B.X bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Division, at 57,56 , near Rahaeng Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D1 Mitchell x 15 Allied aircraft losses B-25D1 Mitchell: 2 damaged Japanese ground losses: 17 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 15 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb Also attacking Tanaka Detachment ... Also attacking 11th Division ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 104th Division, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft Vengeance I x 15 Allied aircraft losses Vengeance I: 2 damaged Aircraft Attacking: 11 x Vengeance I releasing from 2000' Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb 4 x Vengeance I releasing from 4000' Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 10th JNAF AF Unit , at 98,125 (Nadzab) Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 29 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Allied aircraft Spitfire VIII x 11 B-24D1 Liberator x 21 B-24J Liberator x 24 B-25G Mitchell x 6 P-39N1 Airacobra x 17 P-40N5 Warhawk x 12 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 40 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 12 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 12 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 9 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 12 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 6 x B-25G Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb Not like the Marines really needed such vast air support against a bunch of starving engineers but they got nothing else to bomb so why not. Buna is now too far behind the front to be an effective heavy bomber base, but Merauke is already at max stacking. I need to get Sarmi and maybe Hollandia online asap. Engineers are debarking at Sarmi this very turn actually. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 10th JNAF AF Unit , at 98,125 (Nadzab) Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Allied aircraft F4U-1 Corsair x 10 SBD-5 Dauntless x 16 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 14 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 3 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' Ground Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb 8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Ground Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb 5 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Ground Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Ponape , at 119,113 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid detected at 62 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Allied aircraft B-24J Liberator x 14 No Allied losses Airbase hits 4 Runway hits 3 Aircraft Attacking: 7 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 7 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Saumlaki , at 78,117 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft B-24D1 Liberator x 16 B-24J Liberator x 22 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 4 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Airbase hits 18 Airbase supply hits 4 Runway hits 62 Aircraft Attacking: 6 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 3 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 5 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 5 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 9 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 4 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb 6 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 8000 feet Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb Heavies at Merauke keeping the Japanese bases on the axis of advance well toasted. Will be advancing here soon, a couple of weeks I would guess. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 10th JNAF AF Unit , at 98,125 (Nadzab) Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 42 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Allied aircraft B-25G Mitchell x 9 P-40N5 Warhawk x 24 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 9 x B-25G Mitchell bombing from 8000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 3rd Ind. Engineer Regiment, at 59,56 (Uttaradit) Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft B-24J Liberator x 3 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 9 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 3 x B-24J Liberator bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 11th Army, at 66,44 , near Paoshan Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 29,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft P-40K Warhawk x 7 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 7 x P-40K Warhawk sweeping at 29000 feet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 21st Chinese Corps, at 72,48 , near Kunming Weather in hex: Light rain Raid spotted at 41 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIb Helen x 3 No Japanese losses Allied ground losses: 31 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 3 x Ki-49-IIb Helen bombing from 6000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Madang , at 97,123 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft Kittyhawk IV x 24 SBD-5 Dauntless x 17 No Allied losses Airbase hits 1 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 1 Aircraft Attacking: 9 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb 8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' Airfield Attack: 1 x 1000 lb GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 19th Division, at 97,121 (Hansa Bay) Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft DB-7B x 17 Kittyhawk IV x 11 P-38H Lightning x 22 No Allied losses Aircraft Attacking: 17 x DB-7B bombing from 1000 feet Ground Attack: 2 x 250 kg GP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 46th Road Const Co Regiment, at 56,61 (Ayuthia) Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 27 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D1 Mitchell x 12 P-40N5 Warhawk x 17 P-51A Mustang x 10 Allied aircraft losses B-25D1 Mitchell: 6 damaged Japanese ground losses: 72 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 12 x B-25D1 Mitchell bombing and strafing from low level Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb Intelligence bombs. This is the base one hex NE of Bangkok, and sitting on the rail line. The rail line is essential to bring his troops out of Burma, as its rail or trail. There are 2 units here, ~3000 reported men, looks like one is engineers. A Chindit Bde is prepping for a paradrop from Rangoon to cut the rail link as soon as my troops are out of the Burmese jungle and into Thailand. The intelligence bombs suggest 120 AV of Chindit should be more than enough. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on 18th JAAF AF Bn , at 94,118 , near Aitape Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 4,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Allied aircraft A-20G Havoc x 31 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 17 Allied aircraft losses A-20G Havoc: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 17 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 15 x A-20G Havoc bombing and strafing from low level Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb 16 x A-20G Havoc bombing and strafing from low level Ground Attack: 4 x 500 lb GP Bomb Aitape attack bombers, they are on naval/ground, keeping the routed Japs fleeing into Papua honest - and earning good experience in so doing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Wake Island (136,98) Japanese Bombardment attack Attacking force 1777 troops, 20 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 40 Defending force 5331 troops, 96 guns, 228 vehicles, Assault Value = 210 Japanese ground losses: 285 casualties reported Squads: 26 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled) Assaulting units: 48th Naval Guard Unit 64th Naval Guard Unit 9th JNAF Coy Defending units: 763rd Tank Battalion 627th Tank Destroyer Battalion 21st Marine Regiment Clearly counterbattery fire is just fecked! [X(] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Wake Island (136,98) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 5331 troops, 96 guns, 228 vehicles, Assault Value = 210 Defending force 1970 troops, 18 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 30 Allied adjusted assault: 54 Japanese adjusted defense: 5 Allied assault odds: 10 to 1 (fort level 5) Allied forces CAPTURE Wake Island !!! Japanese aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses E13A1 Jake: 2 destroyed Combat modifiers Defender: forts(+), leaders(-), disruption(-), fatigue(-) Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-), supply(-) Japanese ground losses: 2521 casualties reported Squads: 101 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 180 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 4 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 20 (20 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units destroyed 2 Allied ground losses: 172 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 15 disabled Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 19 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled Guns lost 13 (3 destroyed, 10 disabled) Vehicles lost 24 (4 destroyed, 20 disabled) Assaulting units: 627th Tank Destroyer Battalion 763rd Tank Battalion 21st Marine Regiment Defending units: 48th Naval Guard Unit 64th Naval Guard Unit 9th JNAF Coy The Marines roll over the defenders which is just as well, as you can see they only had enough supply landed for 2 days of fighting. 2 days is all they needed. Defenders BANZAI and are totally destroyed. Overall a fairly bloodless operation for the Allies. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Nadzab (98,125) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 4762 troops, 97 guns, 123 vehicles, Assault Value = 154 Defending force 250 troops, 8 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 3 Allied adjusted assault: 187 Japanese adjusted defense: 1 Allied assault odds: 187 to 1 (fort level 3) Allied forces CAPTURE Nadzab !!! Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), disruption(-) preparation(-), fatigue(-), morale(-), experience(-), supply(-) [X(] Attacker: shock(+) Japanese ground losses: 275 casualties reported Squads: 6 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 32 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 8 (8 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units retreated 1 Allied ground losses: 7 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! Assaulting units: 25th Marine Regiment 640th Tank Destroyer Battalion Defending units: 10th JNAF AF Unit In 1955 some of these guys will still be fighting the war in Darkest Papua I think... The Marines clear up southeastern PNG at their leisure. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at 56,56 (near Moulmein) Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 29251 troops, 761 guns, 832 vehicles, Assault Value = 881 Defending force 34431 troops, 471 guns, 192 vehicles, Assault Value = 1181 Japanese ground losses: 60 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Allied ground losses: 21 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 2nd British Division 5th Indian Division 2/11th Field Brigade 2/9th Field Regiment 2/13th Field Regiment 30th Field Artillery Regiment 8th Medium Regiment Defending units: 33rd Division 2nd RTA Division 3rd INA Azad Regiment 38th Division 20th Infantry Regiment 61st Division 2nd Tank Regiment RTA Cavalry Division 3rd Hvy.Artillery Regiment 7th RF Gun Battalion 55th Mountain Gun Regiment

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/28/2012 12:50:21 PM)
Settling back into routine turns now, mopping up in SOPAC, troops inching across the Thai border. I'll do another big update when something of import happens. In the mean time. I thought it'd be interesting to look at the last months record for Allied subs, as barely a turn passes now without at least 1 sinking. The super-E has not yet been in evidence really but apparently they are still in the pipeline. So in the last month Allied subs have accounted for... 6 SC 3 PB 1 CM 12 AK 3 AKL 1 DD All kills by American submarines, Gato or Balao class. The British submarines have had a much harder time in shallow waters and with less traffic and more ASW, so didnt get any kills at all. The US has lost 2 submarines, Aspro and Crevalle. Aspro to a 250kg bomb and Crevalle to depth charges. The Brits have lost 2 T and one S class submarines, all to depth charges, all while undertaking mining missions around Sumatra.

EUBanana -> RE: Mines in the Pacific (1/28/2012 12:52:38 PM)
I have been using wolfpacks quite a lot and keeping the American subs to deep waters only around Japan. All the important areas have subs working in pairs, but there are a lot of single submarines as well. It's not very scientific but it seems to me that paired subs do a lot better, almost never failing to attack and seemingly much more resistant to enemy ASW efforts as well, but thats not really very scientific, more a gut feeling. 2 x SS TFs does seem to work well for me though.

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