RE: The Solomons Situation

RE: The Solomons Situation (Full Version)

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports

Message

LoBaron -> RE: The Solomons Situation (3/10/2012 5:51:36 PM)
Sep 06/07, 43 Nothing worth mentioning so just an update on the best time for sinking IJN assets in the war: AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 06, 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub attack near Daito Shoto at 97,73 Japanese Ships xAP Teifu Maru, Torpedo hits 3, heavy damage xAP Kamo Maru DD Oite Allied Ships SS Runner SS Runner launches 6 torpedoes at xAP Teifu Maru DD Oite fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Oite fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Oite fails to find sub, continues to search... DD Oite attacking submerged sub .... DD Oite fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub Mike begins to lose ships to subs on a regular basis in the Pacific.

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: The Solomons Situation (3/11/2012 11:19:59 PM)
Brutal air combat over Moulmein for 2 days. CW command decided to take advantage of the heavy bombardment by the Royal Navy and sent in the bombers with (what was thought enough escorts) .. sweeps of P47's in addition. It did not go well. Day 1 Sweeps hit 100+ defending fighters but did well none the less. Bombers arrived with P47 but no hurricanes on escort. (weather was appalling) Very little damage to the runways and heavy bomber losses. A few further small bomber groups got caught and mangled THEN the hurricanes arrived in force oddly 1/2 way through the animations 20 odd bombers appeared as if by magic and made it through Never seen bombers turn up mid combat animations before (same happened day 2 too) Day 2 was scaring me. Afternoon Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 26 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 63 Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 35 Ki-61-Ia Tony x 44 Ki-61-Ic Tony x 8 Allied aircraft Liberator II x 6 Liberator GR.III x 9 B-17E Fortress x 15 B-17F Fortress x 9 B-24D1 Liberator x 12 B-25C Mitchell x 18 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 21 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 damaged Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed, 22 damaged Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses Liberator GR.III: 1 destroyed B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged B-17F Fortress: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged B-17F Fortress: 1 destroyed by flak B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 5 damaged B-25C Mitchell: 5 destroyed, 4 damaged P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 5 destroyed Airbase hits 4 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 11 Afternoon Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 18 Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 9 Ki-61-Ia Tony x 15 Ki-61-Ic Tony x 3 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 40 B-25D1 Mitchell x 6 B-26 Marauder x 9 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIc Trop: 2 destroyed B-25D1 Mitchell: 1 damaged B-26 Marauder: 2 destroyed B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed by flak Runway hits 1 Day 2 Big raid with all of 6 P47s flying escort , eek ! .. bombers did make it in however for some good damage BUT losses are unsustainable for both the RAF (especially) and the limited B17's still in service. B25's are lining up to be used as replacements. Wellington's and Brit liberators are rare as hens teeth. Afternoon Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 25 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 52 Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 23 Ki-61-Ia Tony x 36 Ki-61-Ic Tony x 7 Allied aircraft Liberator II x 8 Liberator GR.III x 8 Wellington B.X x 11 B-17E Fortress x 8 B-17F Fortress x 9 B-24D1 Liberator x 18 B-25C Mitchell x 21 B-25D1 Mitchell x 9 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 3 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 13 damaged Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 6 destroyed on ground Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 7 damaged Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 3 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed, 35 damaged Ki-61-Ia Tony: 5 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ic Tony: 2 damaged Allied aircraft losses Liberator II: 6 damaged Liberator II: 1 destroyed by flak Liberator GR.III: 4 damaged Wellington B.X: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged B-17F Fortress: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed, 8 damaged B-25C Mitchell: 3 destroyed, 10 damaged B-25D1 Mitchell: 4 damaged Airbase hits 14 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 48 Overall a very expensive day for the allied bombers in Burma. Time to rest and rebuild them, think ill pull off 1-2 units for anti naval duty (with LR aircraft for use in port Blair).. as not much to do in Burma as we cannot hit infrastructure till 44 (house rule). [image]local://upfiles/7467/D99B691953704CF28D20A1CF3F20B2D9.jpg[/image]

LoBaron -> RE: The Solomons Situation (3/15/2012 11:01:03 PM)
Sep 10/11, 43 I wrote a 5nm long analysis of the initial phase of operation Stepstone, the attempt to achieve air superiority over Rabaul. [sm=00000018.gif] Did a bold mouseclick about 3 pixels too far to the right, and then, YAY, blank page. I am too angry to write all of it again, so this is a bit shorter than required to explain the whole situaiton and the results in detail. OP Stepstone: Goals: Phase 1) Achieve short term air superiority over Rabaul with sweeps originating from Shortlands: USMC Corsairs and Wildcats on sweep, Warhawks on escort Munda: Army Lightnings on sweep Lunga: Liberators on airfield attack Phase 2) Maintain air superiority with a favourable kill/loss ratio and remove Rabaul as an offense platform Phase 3) Prevent relocation to and buildup of Bismark Archipelago, or at least make this process as costly as possible. The timing is, as already explained in my last post, in order to shift Mike´s focus to this area, and so bind a second large force concentration (besides Burma) to further improve chances of Java OP success. The affair will be bloody, but I know that. The Japanese had, before today´s combat, about 270-300 fighter aircraft at Rabaul, this is more than the Allies can muster. Advantage for the Allies is a higher overall quality of planes (Corsair/Lightning), but already the first Georges are arriving so this balance will tilt if we cannot establish superiority fast. Today, as feared but not completely surprising, the first loss figures favour the Japanese. Mike defended extremely well and used a CAP layer with Georges on top, Tonys at med alt and Zekes as low alt bait. It worked, many allied pilots lost their lives today. But I did not start this op with empty pools, and the first turn losses can be replaced. The next turn will decide whether I need to take a break or am able to keep up the pressure. These are the loss figures of Phase 1 until now, B-24s will only start contrubuting today: [img]http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshots/images/656Stepstone.png[/img]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: The Solomons Situation (3/16/2012 3:28:49 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 12, 43 Sept 12/13 was a busy few days for both allies , and Risky ones too, but they paid off imo. The Dutch sub found a Japanese BB SCTF in the south DEI and holed a CL for fun. The ASW was a bit Anaemic and did no damage. Sub attack near Bara at 74,106 Japanese Ships CL Tenryu, Torpedo hits 1, on fire BB Mutsu CA Kako CA Furutaka CL Kiso CL Jintsu CL Naka CL Sendai DD Yunagi DD Kikuzuki DD Sagiri Allied Ships SS O16 Mean while in Burma the Japanese airforce struck at Rangoon under the cover of night. No night fighters were operating as all available hurricanes were on daylight air cover over the Royal Navy group heading to hit Moulmein from the sea again. 2 Japanese subs were encountered with the TF in question. One on the way in scared me silly as i imagined all the ops points being used up and the Attack stalling or leaving the ships at moulmein come dawn. Fortunately this did not occur and the egress attack by an I boat missed a DD and Allied ASW had run out of ammo. ASW attack near Moulmein at 54,55 Japanese Ships SS I-24, hits 15 Allied Ships BB Royal Sovereign CA Frobisher CA Hawkins CL Kenya CL Emerald DD Isaac Sweers DD Rotherham DD Racehorse DD Tenedos DD Witte de With The Bombardment was truly a sight to behold and even lit up the skies over Rangoon and Pegu many miles away. Night Naval bombardment of Moulmein at 55,55 Japanese aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 60 damaged Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 3 destroyed on ground Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 68 damaged Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ia Tony: 74 damaged Ki-61-Ia Tony: 8 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ic Tony: 11 damaged Allied Ships BB Royal Sovereign CA Frobisher CA Hawkins CA Shropshire CL Kenya CL Emerald DD Rotherham DD Racehorse DD Tenedos DD Witte de With DD Van Nes DD Tjerk Hiddes DD Van Galen DD Isaac Sweers Japanese ground losses: 110 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 26 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled Guns lost 13 (4 destroyed, 9 disabled) Vehicles lost 10 (4 destroyed, 6 disabled) Manpower hits 5 Fires 435 Airbase hits 12 Airbase supply hits 4 Runway hits 44 Port hits 4 Port fuel hits 1 Port supply hits 2 200 Planes damaged ! maybe wildly over optimistic but the follow up sweeps hit only a dozen Tonys compared to the many mixed Tony and Nick flights the previous day. The Elite P47's units chopped their way through them with surprising ease. Tomorrow the Bombers are heading back to Moulmein just to add to the hurt. Escorts arigned from Rangoon, while the sweeps continue. The USA has some big action over Rabaul too. LoBaron can fill you in on this however. PS. The Royal Navy bombardment group is heading back to Ceylon for some repairs as accumulated fatigue is beginning to hurt the slow old BB, maker her even slower. Rangoon will eventually become a good CA base (narrow river approach is too small for the BB) but unless Japan really puts some serious naval attack units in place I'll be happy here. Actually the entire point of this is to attract Japanese naval attack groups away from Java. [image]local://upfiles/7467/EDFDE13AC1E849268E265943EF41783A.jpg[/image] Edit .. as you can see the Andaman islands are being built up nicely to act a threat to mainlanf Malaya. CW troops and esp naval support units are readying to take 2 more small dot bases for a truly interleaving airfield defence. Japan's missed an early re-take of these, however not knowing what japan has in mind is a bit worrying. And come 44 we are allowed to hit resource centres in the DEI. might as well have some nice airfields to launch them from in January. PPS edit , chang Mai is the next objective with Moulmein being the big focus.

LoBaron -> RE: The Solomons Situation (3/17/2012 6:51:03 PM)
Sep 12/13, 43 Only short update. OP Stepstone proceeds nicely, losses are bearable, Corsairs suffered heaviest and might be relieved soon. Both sides are wearing out slowly, but the Japanese faster than me. I got lots of reserves to take over should the kill/loss ratios tilt. For all who expected more than 3 lines while the war is just getting more interesting, say thanks to the guys in General Discussion for making me reinstall IL-2. [8D]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: The Solomons Situation (3/18/2012 1:47:46 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 14, 43 Japanese night bombing continues over Rangoon and elsewhere. Rangoon has good flak defences now and several Helens were shot down for no damage (weather was appalling). We did lose a couple of skytrains in the south DEI where i was using them to rearrange some base units in the area for maximum AV support. Night Air attack on Saumlaki , at 78,117 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 42 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIa Helen x 17 Allied aircraft no flights No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses C-47 Skytrain: 2 damaged C-47 Skytrain: 1 destroyed on ground Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 65 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 20 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIa Helen x 15 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIa Helen: 4 damaged Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 destroyed by flak Moulmein was devoid of fighters in the air today and the bombers hot the airfields to kill off as many fighter frames as we could (for free) .. large coastal airfields are very vulnerable and I for one am happy that Japan never cottoned onto this when i used chittagong/akyab/rennel island and cox's bazarre as maajor fields in the past. Morning Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 80 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 24 minutes Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft B-17E Fortress x 12 B-17F Fortress x 15 B-24D1 Liberator x 24 B-25C Mitchell x 15 B-25D1 Mitchell x 27 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ia Tony: 4 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ic Tony: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed on ground No Allied losses Airbase hits 24 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 18 Morning Air attack on Moulmein , at 55,55 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid detected at 72 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 22 minutes Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft Liberator GR.III x 2 B-17E Fortress x 12 B-17F Fortress x 15 B-24D1 Liberator x 24 B-25C Mitchell x 3 B-25D1 Mitchell x 18 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-61-Ia Tony: 2 destroyed on ground Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 3 destroyed on ground Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ic Tony: 1 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged B-24D1 Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese ground losses: 13 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Airbase hits 12 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 46 OH , and the US had an eventful turn too ! [image]local://upfiles/7467/46DEE3DBF0E949A79337DBC6BF9771F5.jpg[/image]

LoBaron -> OP Stepstone (3/18/2012 3:39:35 PM)
Sep 14/15, 43: Mixed turn for the US forces, as Rob mentioned we have some really good news, and some not so good ones. First the not so good: OP Stepstone requires to keep the pressure up on Rabaul without pause. If I stop operations to R&R the units in combat, I provide the same opportunity for the Rabaul defenders - not a good option. The problem is, I would be able to handle all CAP fighters, except for the George. That plane is a formidable opponent with a single drawback, the SR 3. There are two obvious options to fight George equipped units into submission: numbers, or an equally strong fighter type. The only fighter available to fight the George on eye level is the P47, which was so skillfully used by Rob in the destruction of the Japanese Burma airforce. We had a short exchange on this topic and I understand perfectly well that Rob needs all Tbolts ready for Java. Rabaul is only a secondary target and so I will do without the USAAF high performance airframe. This leaves me with numbers. I haven´t got enough Corsairs and P38s to do the job alone and so need to put Warhawks and Wildcats on target, which clearly cannot compete with the George. In addition I need to phase out my single P38G unit to make them available for Java, which leaves me with a small pool of P38H. Last turn the results were mixed. We kill Georges, but not in the numbers I would prefer. The Tony and Zero units should be in really bad shape by now though and I am still confident that the Georges will wear out. Our losses spread over the whole spectrum, last turn was worse because of weather. This time the B24 attack went in without protection and got handed a good one, with 12 planes lost over the course of the last 2 days. [img]http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshots/images/2721.png[/img] The Japanese losses are similar in numbers to the Allied ones, but bear in mind that many of the destroyed planes - and all ground losses - are numbers on the CW scoreboard in Burma. Total Georges destroyed up to now is about 20 (my estimate when comparing combat animations to the clearly exaggerated loss board) [img]http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshots/images/2272.png[/img] Below is an overview of current Stepstone key bases and intel on the Japanese defenders of Rabaul. What already can be called a success is that the numbers of ready fighters at Rabaul dropped from initially 240 to 36. This is not as great as it looks on first glance though, as available fighters on US side dropped by roughly 40-50% as well. Still, as pointed out in the last post, were wining the numbers game. [img]http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshots/images/8283.png[/img] And now for the good news: I introduce OP Backyard, main mission a small CV raid on Truk and the shipping in this area. To be honest I dod not expect a smashing success. It is just another op to give Mike the feeling I am free to roam in the Pacific and pull away attention from Java. Because of this - and becaus the major combatants are already preparing for the invasion - the limitations on TF composition and striking power prevented the option to overwhelm with numbers. So I had to compromise and sneak in, strike hard, and run like hell. The run like hell part is yet to come btw, so fingers crossed. Below you see the TF composition which raided Truk. The prerequisite was that my intel showed high air concentrations on Rabaul and the Bismark Archipelago bases, but next to nothing at Truk. [img]http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshots/images/4354.png[/img] The attack was twophased, first a port attack on extreme range on day 1, and then, depending on traffic either another port strike or attack on naval targets in the area. The decision to strike form max range (and improving chances of port attack because of lower ranged naval search) was a succes, with 20/20 hindsight I even should have left Lexington II´s DB group on port attack only, but this was a too high risk for my tast. Now for the smashing results: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on Truk , at 112,108 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid detected at 35 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 12 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 22 Allied aircraft SBD-5 Dauntless x 35 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses SBD-5 Dauntless: 2 damaged Japanese Ships CVE Hosho, Bomb hits 1, on fire CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 2 CV Katsuragi, Bomb hits 2 CS Chitose, Bomb hits 1 CV Amagi, Bomb hits 1, on fire Port hits 2 Aircraft Attacking: 8 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' * Port Attack: 1 x 500 lb GP Bomb 17 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' * Port Attack: 1 x 500 lb GP Bomb 10 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' * Port Attack: 1 x 500 lb GP Bomb CAP engaged: Hosho-1 with A6M3a Zero (4 airborne, 10 on standby, 8 scrambling) 4 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 36750 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 36000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes Paint scratchers, but thats 3 flattops less for Java. [:D] And the next day: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Truk at 112,108 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 14 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 8 F6F-3 Hellcat x 22 SBD-5 Dauntless x 34 TBF-1 Avenger x 23 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships xAK Cuba Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Cheribon Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires xAK Taian Maru, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAK Bandoeng Maru xAK Nikki Maru xAK Italy Maru xAK Kusuyama Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Victoria Maru xAK Ayato Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Thames Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Enzyu Maru xAK Eli Maru xAK Hokuriku Maru, Torpedo hits 1 xAK Yosyu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires xAK Kazan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Kosei Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Truk at 112,108 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 13 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 7 F6F-3 Hellcat x 20 SBD-5 Dauntless x 34 TBF-1 Avenger x 17 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed F6F-3 Hellcat: 3 destroyed Japanese Ships xAK Chile Maru, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk xAK Clyde Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Enju Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Enzyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Thames Maru, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAK Holland Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Hokuzyu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Kazan Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Bandoeng Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire xAK Hokuzyu Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage I guess it is clear that I am very pleased with this outcome. Now, as Rob already mentioned in his last mail, it is time to RUN! Run where is the big question... [;)]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (3/20/2012 6:29:19 PM)
Next turn Not much to report from the CW side .. Japanese bombed Rangoon at night and met some hurricanes on night fighter duty , all very dull 2-3 shot down over 2 days as well as the AAA impact means a fair few Helens not returning to Bangkok (as a guess).. Allied bombers hit jap fields and KO a few day fighters on the ground 3-4 maybe , while dive bombers hit Chang-mai in daylight for little effect apart from some valuable intel on the defending forces. 3 jap brigades there as a minimum. However the big news is operation "Flat foot" (Java invasion) , has begun loading up at Perth .. all ships heading to points west of Cocos to avoid jap recons .. then we hit Tjiljap hard , allied recon is looking all over Java/Sumatra so as not to give away too much. [image]local://upfiles/7467/9CFFAF19F5F645FBB606C3DD92164C2B.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (3/23/2012 4:24:52 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 18, 43 2 more quiet days for the CW. Small bombing runs on Chang Mai and some troops moving out of Pegu/Rangoon area to slowly approach the target. Rangoon and Pegu are both horribly low on supply (again the Burma supply annoyance comes back to haunt me) . transport TF coming from Madras to help out with c 20k tons of supply. I really gutted the merchant marine in India for the Java invasion. not many large ships left here and only small short legged AP/AKL are able to help. 1st British spits are now flying over Rangoon , shame I have no access to the Aussie ones as their pool is pretty healthy. Only bad thing about spits is the lack of drop tanks , hurricanes have them and really helps range (7) compared to 4 normally. Fortunately Moulmein is only 2 hexes from Rangoon , and even if Japan has left the air fields there we can at least dominate the airspace when we move up. bombing Chang mai does give nice info .. eg. Morning Air attack on 2nd INA Gandhi Regiment, at 58,53 (Chiang Mai) Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 38 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 8 Vengeance I x 13 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 6 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 11 x Vengeance I releasing from 4000' Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb 2 x Vengeance I releasing from 3000' Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb, 2 x 250 lb GP Bomb Also attacking 1st INA Subhas Regiment ... Also attacking 2nd INA Gandhi Regiment ... Aussie and US bombers from New Guinea also help out the Americans in the SW Pacific , these have been flying for weeks now and despite their bad bombing skills (mostly) they are at least getting good exp . most are dedicated search or ASW/torpedo bombers . ground pounding is secondary . hence the high alt attacks to preserve the pilots. Morning Air attack on 86th Naval Guard Unit, at 109,130 (Torokina) Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft Beaufighter Ic x 9 Beaufort VIII x 22 Hudson III (LR) x 12 Mitchell II x 12 B-24D1 Liberator x 12 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 36 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Piccie if the Perth exodus/ Java invasion fleets . fastest ones have been reduced to cruise speed. Its all a real mess if I am honest. But given the enormous numbers of transports and CV/SC/ASW TF's here , cannot micro manage too much else my head will implode. Plan is to meet up east of Cocos .. then land them as follow on from the cocos invasion TF. After so long at sea the troops loaded at Perth will be heavily disrupted and fatigued. So landing unopposed is a major consideration here. As for the timetable ?? anyone's guess .. most likely end Sept .. I don't want to wait till October as the longer this lot is at sea the greater the chance I'll get detected . TTFN [image]local://upfiles/7467/4CD48B7BF9D440D0BF8B97226F0EFCDE.jpg[/image] PS . Please note that the Base info is for china .. was just map browsing when the screen shot was taken. China now the Burma road is reopen should start upgrading and rebuilding the large corps in Chungking . The air bridge from Ledo has been closed due to a huge supply shortage (again) . Gievn i have million of supply elsewhere in India , the lack at Ledo is annoying to say the least. Indian theatre HQ heading there to hopefully draw in more supply . Why Madras is overflowing with the stuff i have no idea ?

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (3/28/2012 12:39:01 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 22, 43 Slow updates right now , apologies. However the game is slowing down anyway for a few days. The US air attack has been halted on Rabaul for now as Allied discussions have an alternative plan for the place. The final departures from Perth are happening today , Its the Brit CV Victorious (due to withdraw shortly grrr) .. and the CVE Benning with RAF fighters aboard.. Basically a bit of a 'bait' TF if needed. Only combat today was some unexpected low level Mitchell strikes on Japanese shipping east of new guinea. I had no idea they were even there . LR Liberators must have noticed them and radioed for attack a/c to be deployed. This is the entire Combat report text as an illustration of how damn quite the turn really was. TF 314 encounters mine field at Rabaul (106,125) Allied Ships DMS Hovey 5 mines cleared -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Pagan at 106,84 Japanese Ships SC Ch 5 SC Ch 12 SC Ch 8 Allied Ships SS Pompano SS Pompano is located by SC Ch 5 SC Ch 12 fails to find sub and abandons search SC Ch 8 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC Ch 8 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC Ch 8 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC Ch 8 fails to find sub, continues to search... SC Ch 8 fails to find sub, continues to search... Escort abandons search for sub -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 23, 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Hollandia at 93,116 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft Beaufighter VIc x 7 Mitchell II x 4 No Allied losses Japanese Ships xAK Koto Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage Aircraft Attacking: 4 x Mitchell II bombing from 1000 feet Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Aitape at 97,116 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 4 minutes Allied aircraft Mitchell II x 6 No Allied losses Japanese Ships xAK Midori Maru, Bomb hits 1 xAK Meiten Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire Aircraft Attacking: 6 x Mitchell II bombing from 1000 feet * Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb Picture is of New Guinea .. White circles are the two hexes attacked today. Recon has been directed to hollandia to check if Japan has troops here now (was empty) also sent to the red circled ones as we have paras in Madang prepped for these 2. if empty we'll grab them in a few days. [image]local://upfiles/7467/33930EC2507948B0A25C995C0586D008.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/1/2012 5:06:09 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 24, 43 The war continues at a slow pace for now - LoBaron is away in Barcelona ? (somewhere in Spain anyway) until Thursday. I hope he has a great little holiday and I am tempted to play the US in the interim but decided that common sense dictates that I don't [;)] I do know the new plan for Rabaul is to hammer it from the sea - US minesweepers have been dodging in and clearing a few over the past week. Commonwealth naval officers have persuaded the US that a bombardment group of CA's should be able to hit the place and not worry about mines too much so long as the escorts do not bombard either. As mines are sewn close to shore in most cases all should be well for the Yanks. BUT recon today showed some possible CV's in Rabaul ?? true ?? i doubt it as CA's are commonly reported as carriers. Still the US Heavy Cruiser TF is refuelled in Shortlands and should imo go in regardless as he might catch some CV's in port ! It's worth a gamble. Even if Japan creates a CV fleet he might catch it at night as it forms up. Australian Transports carrying more support elements to Lae have been diverted to Milne bay as a precaution to CV activity in the area. It might have been more prudent to sail them back to Townsville but as i stated earlier i do not really think he has CV's in Rabaul. Meanwhile Hollandia has some troops in it , recon shows 1900 and 11 fighters so Japan has finally started to make some defences in north New Guinea, We will still start the para drops next turn regardless as spits can now reach the landing bases to provide some LR CAP. 1st Australian Para Battalion will land on Wewak. Covered by spitfires. 2/6 Cavalry commando battalion will land on Aitape. Covered by Hurricanes. How I can keep these places is a bit moot as they are more of a diversion to the main attack (see below)the next big Goal(s) for the Aussies are Gasmata to help isolate Rabaul, this will be v risky landing but now we have Finchaven up and running as a fighter base we will attempt to invade it in a week or so. Planners havnt set much in the way of troops to take the place but we do have sufficient Base forces to get it to a useful state relatively fast once its secured by the 2/11 Armoured Car Battalion and the 2nd RAA Jungle arty regiment. the Port Moresby defence Battalion can be shipped over if needed too (which it probably will be). 1st Australian HQ is also 100% Prepped to help keep the place once taken. Our main attack will be on Manas in the Admiralty islands , but only once Rabaul is closed for business. both 1st and 4th Australian Divisions are preparing (being on refit in Sydney right now) along with SW Pac HQ and 2nd Australian HQ. Both or either of these divisions could also be railed to Perth for use in Java too if needed. So its more of a strategic reserve right now. JAVA INVASION WE have roughly the following troops loaded up :- 11th West African division 5th Australian Division 5th Indian Division Several Batallions/brigades , one motorised and one Tank TD and artillery Base forces and Air HQ for Torpedo usage upon capture for land based air. most is prepped for Tjiljap but the follow on and one HQ is prepped for Batavia as next target. This will ofc be subject to change as Japan reacts. Over 100 P47's have been assembled in Christmas island for Land based fighter protection , along with search a/c . The bases ASW squadrons have been withdrawn to Cocos as the base was overloaded with groups. Its now 100% safe and functional to maximise the fighters which i suspect we will need badly. Some smaller fighter units are also present ( P40E/P40N1/hurricane and spits arriving) as added numbers. While albacore and swordfish provide the anti shipping punch. Being Commonwealth we don't have dive bombers. Additionally we have another African Division in Mombasa preparing for Java while filling out and refitting. by the time i get AP's there it should be upto 100% with a 72 skill leader. The lead invasion TF's have been spotted near Cocos so its time to push everyone forward to Christmas island and send in the landing next turn. I was preparing for a very detailed landing order but this has gone completely out of the window as some TF's have gone a lot faster than others, We will just use the kitchen sink approach and try and bully our way in ASAP. This whole operation could be end of the CW forces if it all goes wrong , OR we can start denying Japan its vital Oil mid war, potentially driving her economy into the ground in 44 (I hope). America has been most generous in its loaning od large numbers of APA/LST and AP ships along with the essential Carriers and escorts needed for this operation. Burma .. Port Blair was hit by Japanese bombardment a/c . WE NEED an Air HQ in the region badly to allow the stationing of longer range torpedo a/c in the Andaman islands .. range 6 Vengeance dive bombers just don't work well at all. Night Naval bombardment of Port Blair at 46,58 Allied aircraft no flights Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIc Trop: 21 damaged Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed on ground Hudson IIIa: 68 damaged Hudson IIIa: 3 destroyed on ground Catalina I: 26 damaged Catalina I: 1 destroyed on ground Vengeance I: 28 damaged Vengeance I: 1 destroyed on ground Japanese Ships BB Yamashiro BB Fuso CA Aoba CA Takao DD Maikaze DD Kiyonami DD Hayanami DD Onami DD Tamanami DD Takanami DD Makinami Allied ground losses: 445 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 12 destroyed, 41 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled Vehicles lost 6 (4 destroyed, 2 disabled) Airbase hits 34 Airbase supply hits 10 Runway hits 49 Port hits 1 Losses were minimal I'm happy to report , one Hudson and 2 vengeance .. many damage a/c however. Allied ships hit Boela again , and for just one CL and some dinky DD's the damage is great (if true) Night Naval bombardment of Boela at 80,110 Japanese aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 7 damaged Ki-49-IIa Helen: 34 damaged Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ia Tony: 7 damaged Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed on ground A6M3a Zero: 10 damaged A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed on ground Allied Ships CL De Ruyter DD Piet Hein DD Vendetta DE Express DE Decoy Japanese ground losses: 36 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Airbase hits 14 Airbase supply hits 3 Runway hits 31 CL De Ruyter firing at Boela DD Piet Hein firing at Boela DD Vendetta firing at Boela DE Express firing at Boela DE Decoy firing at Boela Allied planners are sending down large numbers of liberators to cocos islands for both long range naval search and ground attacks in Java as needed. That just about covers the Allies turns and CW plans for now , + we are landing at Car Nicobar, in the Andaman's as yet another airfield to threaten Sumatra and Malaya. Again its a distraction for Japan but damn useful if i can keep it. As its a level 0(0) port , naval support has been maximised to help it build up and unload eng. vehicles (i hope). [image]local://upfiles/7467/7D9226EAC5C94B6BB797C8D23039A8A7.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/10/2012 12:16:04 AM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 28, 43 The game is Afoot .. Last turn we assembled in Christmas island for the strike into Java .. this turn we met japan ! As I'm posing this and watching the turn at the same time I'll divide it into chunks .. Chunk 1 Japan sends sweeping a/c to Burma against my forward infantry and aux units advancing on Chang Mai .. the small hurricane and spitfire defence units got sucked out of Rangoon and beaten piecemeal .. not a great day for the RAF .. actual losses yet to be assessed .. Next is New Guinea .. we took Aitape and Wewak with para drops last turn , this turn japan arrived to bomb us .. some few aussie fighters intercepted the helens and bagged a few freebies. Morning Air attack on 1st Australian Para Battalion, at 96,119 (Wewak) Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-49-IIa Helen x 70 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb Trop x 6 Spitfire Vc Trop x 4 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged No Allied losses Allied ground losses: 132 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 21 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 4 (2 destroyed, 2 disabled) Aircraft Attacking: 28 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 14000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb 22 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 14000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb 16 x Ki-49-IIa Helen bombing from 14000 feet Ground Attack: 4 x 250 kg GP Bomb JAVA . barring anything else happening , we will concentrate here .. First thing at dawn Japan sent in sweeps over Christmas island and caught the P47's heading off to LRCAP Tjiljap. and mixed it up with the local defending hurricanes and warhawks .. Morning Air attack on Christmas Island IO , at 45,104 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 45,010 feet. Estimated time to target is 10 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 29 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 28 P-40N1 Warhawk x 17 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 40 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 4 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIc Trop: 4 destroyed P-40N1 Warhawk: 1 destroyed P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed Morning Air attack on Christmas Island IO , at 45,104 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid detected at 37 NM, estimated altitude 41,740 feet. Estimated time to target is 10 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 29 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 15 P-40N1 Warhawk x 14 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 36 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 6 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed Aircraft Attacking: 4 x Ki-44-IIa Tojo sweeping at 36740 feet * Then a large Helen raid tried to hit the airfields , fortunately we had enough fighters up in the air and on call to put a lot of the bombers off target .. minimal damage we hope Morning Air attack on Christmas Island IO , at 45,104 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid detected at 76 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 24 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 13 Ki-49-IIa Helen x 60 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 7 P-40N1 Warhawk x 11 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 33 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed Ki-49-IIa Helen: 3 destroyed, 13 damaged Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed by flak Allied aircraft losses P-40N1 Warhawk: 1 destroyed P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 damaged Runway hits 2 [image]local://upfiles/7467/9078504022A7408495E8962EABD573B4.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/10/2012 1:35:43 AM)
Cont .. Much to my surprise , day was just the same as day 1 , Japan attacks Burma/NG/Christmas islands and apart from 12 (now dead) jills attacking the ships and one failed (and sunk) sub attack .. nothing scratched the ships or caused the Allied attack planes to sortie. The Burmese a/c losses were pretty bad as the hurricanes had been set to 10k LRCAP to cover the incoming convoys and got diverted inland where they were bounced badly , pilot losses were 6 in total .. i.e. not much ,, planes are easily replaced. The landings in Java went very smoothly , only one ship damaged (badly) limping back to CI with small MS escort. Piccie is what's landed so far .. more to come .. much more ! Shock attack ordered before railed troops arrive. [image]local://upfiles/7467/5A4681192D574DFAB64458CDECBCE641.jpg[/image]

LoBaron -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/10/2012 6:26:20 AM)
Beautiful work my friend! D day +2 and more than 70k troops ashore. Mike has to fight for Java. And I guess he will. On US side not much to report, except that Stepstone is proceeding at a bit slower pace than expected because of Japanese employment of the new George fighters, but the overall picture does not change by much. Losses are about 1:1 - 2:1, and my supply paths are clear, the Japanese aren´t: quote: AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Sep 28, 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASW attack near Truk at 108,111 Japanese Ships CL Noshiro, Torpedo hits 1 BB Haruna BB Kongo CA Ashigara CA Chikuma DD Kisaragi DD Hatakaze DD Mochizuki Allied Ships SS Sunfish Mike moves a lot of hardware around, far away from Java. Hope I can convince him to stay in the area a bit longer.

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/12/2012 1:32:23 AM)
Mike will most definitely fight for Java .. today had me alternating between terror and mayhem [;)]. The night time turn was uneventful for the CW (not the US) .. but i was getting very very nervous about Task Forces being moved due to the prescence of Japanese ships .. come daylight i can see why ! .. This HURT badly , but I am grateful that more was not lost as the majority of the amphib groups had pulled back one hex to the CV's . Sadly this one did not .. What was lost i have no real idea .. Day Time Surface Combat, near Tjilatjap at 51,102, Range 20,000 Yards Japanese Ships BB Fuso, Shell hits 1 BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 1 CA Takao CA Aoba DD Makinami DD Takanami DD Tamanami DD Onami DD Hayanami DD Kiyonami DD Maikaze Allied Ships DE Austin, Shell hits 18, and is sunk AM Deloraine, Shell hits 1, and is sunk AM Firm, Shell hits 1, and is sunk xAP Benjamin Lundy, Shell hits 15, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Charles P. Steinmetz, Shell hits 7, and is sunk xAP Daniel Drake, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Henry J. Raymond, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk xAP John A. Rawlins, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk xAP John C. Calhoun, Shell hits 9, and is sunk xAP Leslie M. Shaw, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk xAP Morrison R. Waite, Shell hits 4, and is sunk xAP Peter Donahue, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Peter Silvester, Shell hits 16, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Athlone Castle, Shell hits 12, and is sunk xAP Durban Castle, Shell hits 51, and is sunk xAP Dunnatar Castle, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk xAP Rajula, Shell hits 20, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Indora, Shell hits 17, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Khandalla, Shell hits 12, and is sunk xAP Poelau Bras, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk xAP Tjisaroea, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk xAP Raranga, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk AM Bombay, Shell hits 4, and is sunk AM Punjab, Shell hits 2, and is sunk AM Bengal, Shell hits 6, and is sunk Allied ground losses: 25898 casualties reported Squads: 95 destroyed, 127 disabled Non Combat: 917 destroyed, 1410 disabled Engineers: 132 destroyed, 68 disabled Guns lost 317 (303 destroyed, 14 disabled) Vehicles lost 334 (309 destroyed, 25 disabled) We will however get revenge .. But not from the dedicated allied heavy SCTF that was one hex away with reaction orders and a good commander , as a mater of fact they did squat all the entire 2 days. more to come [image]local://upfiles/7467/69959D8B2AA6442E8FD23EE10113B73A.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/12/2012 1:42:42 AM)
Cont .. New guinea was not quiet either ,, allied sweeps over Manaus hit determined Japanese defenders and its was pretty even all round. Japan did send in the bombers to Wewak again unescorted and the small spit and hurricanes had a field day. Then oddly japan launched a ground attack on Lae itself ! and only 3 allied planes intercepted , no idea why it was so bad but nothing was lost a few helens bagged. Thats enough about NG .. JAVA again . directly following the horrible SCTF result Japan sortied a huge number of helens and i was very fearful they were on naval attack as out CAP failed to break through.. fortunately they tried to hit our ground forces .. PHEW ! Morning Air attack on 15th USN Naval Construction Regiment, at 51,102 (Tjilatjap) Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 112 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 35 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 41 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 40 Ki-49-IIa Helen x 167 Allied aircraft P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 12 F6F-3 Hellcat x 131 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 13 destroyed Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 7 destroyed Ki-49-IIa Helen: 20 destroyed, 36 damaged Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 destroyed by flak Allied aircraft losses P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed F6F-3 Hellcat: 4 destroyed Allied ground losses: 9 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled October saw these groups returning BUT in smaller packets that we utterly decimated .. EG Morning Air attack on 5th Australian/A Division, at 51,102 (Tjilatjap) Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 116 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 36 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 10 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 4 Ki-49-IIa Helen x 29 Allied aircraft Sea Hurricane Ib x 6 Martlet IV x 8 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 6 F6F-3 Hellcat x 109 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed Ki-49-IIa Helen: 16 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed However , back to the time line , ground attack phase arrived and the allied troops already ashore massacred the defenders so we do now have our toehold in Java ! this was worth the loss of the Transports realistically. Ground combat at Tjilatjap (51,102) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 57758 troops, 1169 guns, 1133 vehicles, Assault Value = 2351 Defending force 5695 troops, 162 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 171 Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2 Allied adjusted assault: 6586 Japanese adjusted defense: 51 Allied assault odds: 129 to 1 (fort level 2) Allied forces CAPTURE Tjilatjap !!! Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), op mode(-), preparation(-) Attacker: shock(+) Japanese ground losses: 1748 casualties reported Squads: 59 destroyed, 47 disabled Non Combat: 131 destroyed, 38 disabled Engineers: 62 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 137 (113 destroyed, 24 disabled) Units retreated 6 Units destroyed 1 Allied ground losses: 1421 casualties reported Squads: 9 destroyed, 114 disabled Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 44 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 52 disabled Guns lost 51 (2 destroyed, 49 disabled) Vehicles lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled) Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! We will rest a turn or 2 in Java and I'm tempted to pull back to CI for a few days as possible CV's sighted in the Indian ocean. Although i suspect its not the KB. So what happened to the Japanese SCTF ? Its got murdered from the air thankfully , although it took a lot of strikes and we still have not quite got them all. In addition 3 DD's and 4 ASW ships were sunk in SOerbaja (no jap cap) .. I'll have to check on torpedo load out for the CV's before deciding to stay or resupply .. [image]local://upfiles/7467/6F96A941A1064D94A4DE3BE4160C88AB.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/12/2012 1:43:18 AM)
CV's ?? very small if they are .. [image]local://upfiles/7467/F710AE5B5EFE4406AE1132AEDD4A3A02.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/14/2012 5:37:31 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 02, 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Decision was reached to withdraw the forces to CI as all the transports were empty (or nearly so).. Better safe than sorry and we have more Men prepped and ready to load up in CI for Java. The threat of KB is still a real worry and with that in mind i want as many land based airfields as we can grab in the shortest possible time. Air Hq is already in Tjiljap to facilitate Torpedo bombers. Things quietened down a little these past 2 days. However overnight on the 2nd , 2 Jap DD's managed to bump into 4 Allied CV TF's .. Fortunately only one engagement and that was concluded when the CV Enterprise landed a 5 inch shell on the Jap DD .. I guess they were out of torpedoes (thankfully). Night Time Surface Combat, near Tjilatjap at 49,103, Range 4,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Tamanami, Shell hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Onami Allied Ships CV Enterprise CV Hornet CVE Chenango BB Washington BB Prince of Wales CA Suffolk CL Richmond CL Detroit DD Hutchins DD Jenkins DD Philip DD Radford DD Patterson DD Maury Japanese Subs also tried to get into the action, while Allied ASW kept all but one attack away we lost an AK returning from the landing zones and a second AK running supply to Rangoon. Submarine attack near Christmas Island IO at 48,104 Japanese Ships SS I-37 Allied Ships xAK Michael Embiricos, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage xAK Michael Embiricos is sighted by SS I-37 SS I-37 attacking on the surface -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Submarine attack near Rangoon at 51,53 Japanese Ships SS I-176 Allied Ships xAK Marpessa, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage xAK Marpessa is sighted by SS I-176 SS I-176 launches 6 torpedoes The Japanese had a few bombers try to hit Tjiljap today buy hastily flow in P47's kept them away and downed a few for no loss. I'm guessing Mike forgot to reset the orders (easily missed when multiple airfields have been involved). Morning Air attack on 4th RAAF Base Force, at 51,102 (Tjilatjap) Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid detected at 108 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 34 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 9 Ki-49-IIa Helen x 11 Allied aircraft P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 22 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 3 destroyed Ki-49-IIa Helen: 2 destroyed No Allied losses While Allied heavy bombers hot and closed a nerby fighter airfiled (now empty) .. but all helps. Morning Air attack on Bandoeng , at 50,100 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft Liberator II x 9 Liberator B.III x 9 Liberator GR.III x 9 B-17E Fortress x 8 B-24D Liberator x 6 B-24D1 Liberator x 30 No Allied losses Airbase hits 20 Airbase supply hits 9 Runway hits 82 Burma isn't forgotten as the RAF Went for an all out fighter sweep over Chang Mai , seems honours about evens. But im happy to keep the pressure up with the least tired groups. Morning Air attack on Chiang Mai , at 58,53 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 49 NM, estimated altitude 39,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 10 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 42 Allied aircraft Spitfire Vc Trop x 11 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed Morning Air attack on Chiang Mai , at 58,53 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 41,600 feet. Estimated time to target is 8 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 34 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 80 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIc Trop: 2 destroyed Tomorrow we will try and catch the retreating units with armour before pushing onwards in Java (see piccie). [image]local://upfiles/7467/A36395630BF445178293421D7D614273.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/15/2012 7:07:03 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 04, 43 Hello again. Time for me to switch hats (To US one) as the US has been in action over past weeks but Lenny has been awfully busy IRL and I for one rather he spent his time playing the game. In brief the US now has air dominance over Rabaul. the Naval bombardments combined with incessant and bloody air sweeps have finally pushed Japanese Air from the place. It seems most Jap ac have retired to Manus and Kavieng. This leads up nicely to the planned Aussie invasion of Gasmata in the coming week. In New guinea the poor paras in Wewak have been blown out of existence but Aitape holds on with air dropped supply (tiny para unit there) . We will have to find any spare eg inf to try and fly them in if possible to level 0 airfields .. else its a fast dash with single AP from Madang. ASW ops have detected and hit (allegedly) some jap subs off the NG coast. In Java the retreating Japanese had a very very bad day , hit from the air :- Morning Air attack on 16th Infantry Regiment, at 50,101 , near Tjilatjap Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid spotted at 21 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft Liberator II x 6 Liberator B.III x 6 Liberator GR.III x 10 B-17E Fortress x 3 B-24D Liberator x 6 B-24D1 Liberator x 33 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 4 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 61 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled And then run over by advancing allied troops :- Ground combat at 50,101 (near Tjilatjap) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 7001 troops, 255 guns, 129 vehicles, Assault Value = 770 Defending force 2577 troops, 97 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 32 Allied adjusted assault: 200 Japanese adjusted defense: 28 Allied assault odds: 7 to 1 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), op mode(-) Attacker: shock(+) Japanese ground losses: 1259 casualties reported Squads: 54 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 56 destroyed, 11 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 22 (16 destroyed, 6 disabled) Units retreated 6 Allied ground losses: 15 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! Assaulting units: 641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion 255th Armoured Brigade 7th Indian Division 1st Motor Brigade 5th Australian/A Division X' Force 24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment Defending units: 16th Infantry Regiment 18th Mountain Gun Regiment 10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment 20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion 5th Field Artillery Regiment 56th Field Artillery Regiment Day 2 Allied bombers followed the retreating Japanese and hit Bandoeng. Recon had suggested high numbers of Japanese troops here (18k) and seems at least one division has parked. I doubt he's prepped for this hex, but then again neither am I. Some armoured units have been ordered to break out East across the island and try and nab a few/outflank strongly held Japanese bases. I strongly suspect that Japan will rush in troops in short order. With that in mind Australian 1st and 4th Divisions (refitting in Sydney) have been railed to Perth so as to be shipped up at a later date. FYI a second African Div is Prepping for Batavia in Mombasa and Ak;s are heading there for pick-up. Morning Air attack on 6th Air Division, at 50,100 (Bandoeng) Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft Liberator II x 12 Liberator B.III x 7 Liberator GR.III x 12 B-17E Fortress x 7 B-24D Liberator x 15 B-24D1 Liberator x 29 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 34 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Japanese subs are now infesting the waters between CI and Java. 3 Allied ASW groups are set to patrol the area and while I would love some good ASW air groups in CI , its only an AF 5 so i really do not want to overload it (50planes/size) .. not sure its a house rule , but its a self imposed one on my part except units set to rest (ignored). [image]local://upfiles/7467/1BBC0B918EC2434BBCF8E9BDBFB354EF.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/19/2012 5:05:46 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 06, 43 Mixed bag of results today. The Subs west of Java are extracting a heavy toll on allied combat ships while also suffering themselves. CVE Sangamon suffered 50%flotation damage and is being ordered into Tjiljap port asap to unload its fighter wing to help the defence. While the BB Ramilles (all new and shiny from refit) was badly damaged too and will head back to CI with escorts for quick repairs before heading back to CT (again!) for lengthy repairs. grr. Still we bagged the sub responsible and ASW groups reportedly damaged 2 more this turn. Sub attack near Christmas Island IO at 48,104 Japanese Ships SS I-164, hits 5 Allied Ships CVE Sangamon, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage CA Astoria DD Converse DD Walke DD O'Brien Sub attack near Tjilatjap at 49,103 Japanese Ships SS I-123, hits 23, and is sunk (by gunfire on the surface , so definitely a kill Allied Ships BB Ramillies, Torpedo hits 2 BB California BB Arizona CA Wichita DD Abbot DD Hughes DD Frazier DD Bancroft DD Bailey Supply ships reached Tjiljap and are unloading rapidly while the reinforcement TF got bogged down with ASW attacks and is still 60 miles from landing. Large (actually huge) supply and fuel convoys from CT are approaching cocos and CI in a well timed move (by pure accident) to keep the ammo dumps and oilers at full capacity. with plenty left over for shuttling to Java in smaller supply ships. The new torpedo bombers in java had a baptism of fire today when Japanese Tankers were spotted in Soerbaja harbour. Swordfish with P47 escorts and Albacores with hurricanes made a great pincer attack and looks to have wiped out most of the convoy. A follow on attack vs DE's was roughly handled by Japanese CAP and the P47's got a bit batterd. Time to stand down and sweep next turn. While refitting the damaged fighter groups. Tjiljap airfield has be expanded to size 6 (from 3) in 4 days ! gotta love American engineers. Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Soerabaja at 56,104 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 24 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zero x 8 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 8 Ki-61-Ia Tony x 24 Allied aircraft Swordfish I x 18 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 40 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-61-Ia Tony: 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 2 destroyed Japanese Ships TK Noshiro Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage TK Hofuku Maru, Torpedo hits 1 TK Bushu Maru PB Kakyu Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Soerabaja at 56,104 Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid detected at 41 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 24 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 5 Ki-61-Ia Tony x 8 Allied aircraft Albacore I x 20 Hurricane IIc Trop x 19 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships TK Bushu Maru TK Hofuku Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk TK Urato Maru TK Hachijin Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk TK Seiwa Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Soerabaja at 56,104 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 51 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zero x 8 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 7 Ki-61-Ia Tony x 17 Allied aircraft Swordfish I x 18 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 23 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 4 destroyed Japanese Ships DD Fumizuki Given the weather conditions the torp bombers did superbly , but then again the pilots are the crème de la cream of the Fleet air arm. Elsewhere in Burma the allies heavily bombed Chang Mai over 2 days with no interferance and managed ok results given the appalling weather conditions. EG.... Morning Air attack on Chiang Mai , at 58,53 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D Mitchell x 3 SB-III x 3 Blenheim VD x 12 Hurricane IIb Trop x 11 Hurricane IIc Trop x 9 Vengeance I x 16 Wellington B.X x 3 B-25C Mitchell x 3 B-25G Mitchell x 3 P-40E Warhawk x 15 No Allied losses Airbase hits 9 Runway hits 28 RAF Hurricanes had been sweeping the base in the AM phase for jap fighters but none were encountered. America too has been busy and much to my surprise invaded and took Eniwetok in the central pacific. I do wonder if the CW efforts in Burma and now in Java are having a detrimental effect of jap garrisons in the Pacific. It would seem so if this place was empty. Well spotted and managed without fleet CV support too. Rabaul cant seem to repair itself in time to get any decent air cover up anymore, the Naval attacks seem to have tipped the balance here and the daily Liberator visits just keep bagging a few more planes. Good news as the Aussies will be invading Gasmata in the very near future (just assembling ships atm). Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 68 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 23 minutes Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft B-24D1 Liberator x 18 B-24J Liberator x 5 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-56 Thalia: 2 destroyed on ground J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed on ground L3Y2 Tina: 1 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses B-24D1 Liberator: 5 damaged Japanese ground losses: 4 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Airbase hits 6 Runway hits 30 For now lets hope the damaged ships can get to safety . Im thinking of sending off 2 CV's to south Java as some jap ships spotted here last turn. CV victorious will go (as shes due to withdraw soon) along with one American CV. Heres hoping for a few freebies .. [image]local://upfiles/7467/28E85085386C4F8D832638A89BFB696F.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/21/2012 8:47:44 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 08, 43 SW PACIFIC The CV sweep to south java was uneventful so they retired in good order. I lied about Rabaul as this turn American air got badly hurt sweeping over the place, also 2 jap BB's identified and attacked by low naval B26 bombers .. the Bombers got devastated over 2 days and even the B24's were hurt badly .. Looks like Japan's fighting for Rabaul after all. To assist the RAF has LR torp bombers in range of Rabaul with LR beaufghter escorts. JAVA Japans also moved in ground troops to hexes that are forward occupied by an australian brigade. ALL bombers inc the naval air ones have been assigned to hit this (poss division ??) .. Allies have more men advancing to help but holding here would be a great advantage. so to Quote star wars " let them see the power of this fully operational battle-station! " .. so barring huge CAP over it fingers croeed it'll be badly mauled. P47s will sweep in advance (i hope) Anyhoo air losses for comparison .. [image]local://upfiles/7467/75F17B003D0E4FF59839CEAEB8A93D6E.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/24/2012 9:28:22 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 10, 43 Two area to concentrate on today , Rabaul and Java. However I would like to say a thank you to PzB for coming round to visit last Sunday, it was great with beer and curry all round ! Not to mention 2 free books [;)]. And yes i did get some handy tips. Anyhoo , on with the AAR Rabaul .. From a recent communication with USN HQ in the SW Pacific " we have a plan for Rabaul and the 2 BB's there. Could you place the small Dutch SCTF under US command for a few days ? " OFC the admiralty had no option to agree with the USCV'c operating for the British near Java. The response from the Dutch commander is unknown. (don't think anyone asked them ). Admiralty sources now state that the 'plan' is completely unknown to our staff and the whole thing is the USNs responsibility. Australians agreed to cooperate and placed LR torp attack a/c in range of Rabaul if called for and P47's in NG sent on a sweep mission to assist. At midnight on 10th Oct the radios sprang to life with reports of multiple US subs hitting mines in Rabaul harbour. TF 371 encounters mine field at Rabaul (106,125) Allied Ships SS Balao, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage Allied Ships SS Gar, Mine hits 1 Allied Ships SS S-35, Mine hits 1, heavy damage Allied Ships SS S-45, Mine hits 1, heavy damage USN forces then ambushed a small jap naval patrol and gutted it. Night Time Surface Combat, near Rabaul at 107,126, Range 9,000 Yards Japanese Ships PB Chokai Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk PB Hozugawa Maru, Shell hits 7, and is sunk Allied Ships CA Houston CA Pensacola CL Leander DD Caldwell DD Anderson DD Selfridge DD Balch DD Monaghan DMS Elliot Improved night sighting under 89% moonlight Then the USN surprised the main japanese force and utterly botched the attack ,, high moonlight levels mean they engaged from longer range and that helped the large BB guns immensly. and also hampered USN escape attempts , Some damage was inflicted but not much. Night Time Surface Combat, near Rabaul at 106,125, Range 11,000 Yards Japanese Ships BB Kongo BB Haruna CA Chikuma, Shell hits 1 CA Ashigara, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Kisaragi, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Satsuki, Shell hits 1 DD Mochizuki, Shell hits 1 DD Hatakaze, Shell hits 3, on fire Allied Ships CA Houston, Shell hits 2 CA Pensacola, Shell hits 4, on fire CL Leander, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Caldwell, Shell hits 2, on fire DD Anderson DD Selfridge DD Balch DD Monaghan, Shell hits 1 DMS Elliot, Shell hits 4, and is sunk Then Daylight arrived and the small Dutch CL led TF was surprised to see 2 large shapes on the horizon just 40 miles N of Rabaul. Had the Japanese left Rabaul ? The porr ill informed Dutch commander did not know and sadly we will never find out as hit flagship was destroyed by heavy shell fire along with one DD. Day Time Surface Combat, near Rabaul at 106,124, Range 20,000 Yards Allied aircraft no flights Allied aircraft losses C.XI-W: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships BB Kongo BB Haruna, Shell hits 2 CA Chikuma, Shell hits 1 CA Ashigara, Shell hits 1 DD Kisaragi DD Satsuki, Shell hits 1 DD Mochizuki DD Hatakaze Allied Ships CL De Ruyter, Shell hits 14, and is sunk DD Vendetta, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage Sank on the return trip DD Arunta, Shell hits 2, heavy fires DD Kortenaer, Shell hits 3, and is sunk DD Piet Hein, Shell hits 1, on fire Notice that DD Arunta once again survived contact with superior Japanese forces. This small ship is now a legend in Australian Naval circles and a must have posting for anyone wishing to live through the war [;)] The combined allied sweeps over Rabaul were successful and did allow both USN and Aussie air to target 2 small jap DD's just north of Rabaul the following day. Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 46,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zero x 48 J2M2 Jack x 13 N1K1-J George x 17 Ki-61-Ia Tony x 3 Ki-61-Ic Tony x 12 Allied aircraft P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 23 F6F-3 Hellcat x 10 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zero: 6 destroyed J2M2 Jack: 1 destroyed Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed Ki-61-Ic Tony: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 2 destroyed F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Rabaul at 106,124 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D1 Mitchell x 6 B-25G Mitchell x 6 No Allied losses Japanese Ships DD Hatakaze, Shell hits 2, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage Sunk DD Mochizuki JAVA The expected ground attack from Japan was a division sized unit and allied air did indeed manage to hurt it badly and allowed the Australian brigade to hold (for now) .. losses were heavy among the front trenches (fort lvl1) and the aussie unit is about 60% broken. more men are dispatched to help. here are 2 example air attacks , many more were conducted and no jap fighters opposed us. Morning Air attack on 4th Division, at 52,101 , near Semarang Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft Albacore I x 20 Swordfish I x 18 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 94 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled) Morning Air attack on 4th Division, at 52,101 , near Semarang Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 20 Spitfire Vc Trop x 10 B-17E Fortress x 3 B-17F Fortress x 6 B-24D Liberator x 6 B-24D1 Liberator x 15 B-25D1 Mitchell x 9 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 35 Allied aircraft losses B-17F Fortress: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 275 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled The ground attack :- Ground combat at 52,101 (near Semarang) Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 11401 troops, 113 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 373 Defending force 3841 troops, 54 guns, 43 vehicles, Assault Value = 153 Japanese adjusted assault: 83 Allied adjusted defense: 87 Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 Combat modifiers Defender: Attacker: disruption(-) Japanese ground losses: 144 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Allied ground losses: 546 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 75 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 14 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled) Assaulting units: 4th Division Defending units: 5th Australian/B Division Ouch ! , but the USCV's had not attacked the day before due to a bad weather front coming in off the Indian ocean , today they arrived in force :- Afternoon Air attack on 4th Division, at 52,101 , near Semarang Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 7 minutes Allied aircraft Sea Hurricane Ib x 10 Martlet IV x 18 F6F-3 Hellcat x 143 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 69 SBD-3 Dauntless x 58 SBD-5 Dauntless x 36 TBF-1 Avenger x 100 Allied aircraft losses SB2C-1C Helldiver: 1 damaged SBD-5 Dauntless: 1 damaged TBF-1 Avenger: 3 damaged Japanese ground losses: 771 casualties reported Squads: 3 destroyed, 43 disabled Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 26 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled Guns lost 16 (1 destroyed, 15 disabled) Artillery should arrive tomorrow with 2 more brigades and some light armour en-route. The second wave has unloaded in Tjiljap and been sent out to designated targets. Also we will trade shellfire with the heavy jap defenders north of Tjiljap and see what's here. The CV's are to pull back and rearm in Christmas island. I hope tomorrow is nice and quiet in Java , although the bombers are still heading into ground attack duty. TTFN [image]local://upfiles/7467/4B6168ADFE6941D992CDDBD0C3C884EC.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/25/2012 2:17:21 AM)
Double update today ! The war expanded into new(ish) territory today with alled air attacks on a convoy loading up oil in Boela. Japanese CAP was heavy but high up so the low level attacks went in even with limited escorts. Losses are however bad for the allied air crews but the Dutch (b25C) were hit hardest. And with nil new replacements we have a limited pilot replacement system going on. (Basically trying to train up every Dutch pilot in multiple skills at Aden) .. Still 2 TK's is a good haul. Morning Air attack on TF, near Boela at 80,110 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 74 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 12 A6M5 Zero x 8 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 17 Allied aircraft Beaufighter VIc x 11 Beaufort VIII x 10 Mitchell II x 4 B-25C Mitchell x 5 P-40N1 Warhawk x 8 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Beaufighter VIc: 1 destroyed Beaufort VIII: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged P-40N1 Warhawk: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships TK Tsushima Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage PB Okuyo Maru SC Ch 25, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage SC Ch 44 SC Ch 15 Morning Air attack on TF, near Boela at 80,110 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 16 A6M5 Zero x 15 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 20 Allied aircraft B-25C Mitchell x 9 Mitchell II x 6 P-40N1 Warhawk x 9 Japanese aircraft losses A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged Mitchell II: 1 destroyed, 1 damaged P-40N1 Warhawk: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships TK Tsushima Maru TK Otoriyama Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage SC Ch 15 Aircraft Attacking: 8 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 1000 feet * Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb 6 x Mitchell II bombing from 1000 feet Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb Elsewhere the US plan actually makes some sense now as the US CVL fleet hit the approaches to Truk in an attempt to get the jap BB fleet. I think the BB's escaped due to bad weather (or good luck if your Japanese) and only a pair of DD's in truk were engaged while the escort fighters took a pounding but did a great job protecting the bombers. Morning Air attack on TF, near Truk at 112,108 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 59 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 21 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 23 SBD-5 Dauntless x 18 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 5 destroyed Japanese Ships DD Mochizuki, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage USN ships again bravely hit Rabaul airfields and when the allied air sweeps went in no fighters were encountered for 2 days .. stood down ? or too much field damage to fly ? unknown right now. Night Naval bombardment of Rabaul at 106,125 Japanese aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses L3Y2 Tina: 10 damaged L3Y2 Tina: 2 destroyed on ground A6M5 Zero: 9 damaged Ki-56 Thalia: 3 damaged Ki-56 Thalia: 1 destroyed on ground N1K1-J George: 12 damaged N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed on ground Allied Ships CA Vincennes CA Salt Lake City CA Northampton Japanese ground losses: 112 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 19 disabled Engineers: 2 destroyed, 1 disabled Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled) Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled) Airbase hits 7 Runway hits 41 Over in Burma the allied bombers took advantage of full moonlight to hit the main Japanese fighter base in Thailand , clear weather greeted the surprised pilots over the target and while a whole string of small raids proceeded the parked a/c did take a few hits. as its night I don't trust these reports on principle , but here is just one of many that flew on both nights. Night Air attack on Rahaeng , at 58,56 Weather in hex: Clear sky Raid detected at 55 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft Wellington B.X x 6 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-61-Ia Tony: 1 destroyed on ground No Allied losses Meanwhile in Java, allied air hit the enemy 4th division hard today with many heavy and medium bomber strikes , once again no sign on Japanese aircraft. Morning Air attack on 4th Division, at 52,101 , near Semarang Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid spotted at 12 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 20 Liberator B.III x 8 Liberator GR.III x 12 Spitfire Vc Trop x 10 B-17E Fortress x 3 B-17F Fortress x 12 B-24D1 Liberator x 21 B-25C Mitchell x 25 B-25D1 Mitchell x 9 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 35 Allied aircraft losses B-17F Fortress: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 706 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 54 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled There was one heart stopping moment when a jap sub fired on CV Lexington ,, and missed ! Phew Sub attack near Tjilatjap at 51,104 Japanese Ships SS I-34 Allied Ships CV Lexington BB North Carolina CA Astoria CLAA Reno DD Walke DD O'Brien SS I-34 launches 6 torpedoes at CV Lexington Also we have a clear idea of what's now defending Bandoeng in Java. I am unsure whether to just try and hammer it with air and try and push through in a few days or pull back a div + tanks and just pin him here . I think I'd rather not get bogged down in a mountain fight for now and pull back. leaving a force to stall him. In china japan started to shell some front line positions ,, no idea why and the intel is as valuable for me as it is for him . Ground combat at Bandoeng (50,100) Allied Bombardment attack Attacking force 24773 troops, 573 guns, 497 vehicles, Assault Value = 1078 Defending force 28717 troops, 450 guns, 88 vehicles, Assault Value = 969 Assaulting units: 1st Motor Brigade XV Corps Engineer Battalion 641st Towed Tank Destroyer Battalion 5th Indian Division 7th Indian Division 5th Australian/A Division X' Force III Indian Corps 24th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment Defending units: 38th Division 16th Infantry Regiment 65th Brigade Yokosuka 1st SNLF 54th/C Division 3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment 10th Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment 18th Mountain Gun Regiment 20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion 5th Field Artillery Regiment 5th Mortar Battalion 3rd Mortar Battalion 56th Field Artillery Regiment 14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion TTFN .. piccie of Boela , in case you'd forgotten where it is:- [image]local://upfiles/7467/9F28F46C17484CE0B0661C9D8B50642D.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (4/27/2012 7:14:19 AM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 14, 43 Lots of sub and ASW action on both sides today, The Jap subs around Christmas island get a let of attention from allied ASW efforts but all that was achieved was the loss of a very good destroyer escort! lucky subs. ASW attack near Christmas Island IO at 43,101 Japanese Ships SS I-178, hits 3 Allied Ships DD Relentless DD Redoubt Sub attack near Christmas Island IO at 43,101 Japanese Ships SS I-178 Allied Ships DE Edward C. Daly, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage DD Relentless American subs also scored a few kills , including an escort and an AO (part of a tanker group so not with KB .. might have been valuable intel otherwise). ASW attack near Laoag at 82,70 Japanese Ships E W-17, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage PB Hayakafuku Maru xAK Achou Maru xAK Victoria Maru PC Ashi Allied Ships SS Dorado Sub attack near Taytay at 74,80 Japanese Ships AO Notoro, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage PB Eiko Maru #2 PB Chitose Maru #2 AO Tsurumi AO Erimo TK Ryusho Maru TK Ayayuki Maru TK Jinei Maru TK Manju Maru TK Eiyo Maru PB Kenan Maru PB Kasyu Maru PB Kamitu Maru PB Hirota Maru Allied Ships SS Bonefish Batavia took a few hits today too from P47 sweeps and follow on dive bomber attacks on AK's in port. The George is a mighty opponent and im guessing honours are even this turn, but the George has a worse service rating so will hopefully be less on patrol next turn when I have doubled the P47 sweeps to 100 a/c and the air wings from 7 CV's will hit the airfields (secondary target) if no naval units detected. There on we might be in a position to keep it shut for a while with heavy bombers from Cocos. EG day 1 sweeps. Morning Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 12 NM, estimated altitude 45,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 3 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 54 Allied aircraft P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 25 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 4 destroyed CAP engaged: 253 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (0 airborne, 16 on standby, 13 scrambling) 7 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 41010 , scrambling fighters between 37000 and 41010. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes 261 Ku S-2 with N1K1-J George (0 airborne, 12 on standby, 0 scrambling) 6 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 41010 , scrambling fighters between 41000 and 41010. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 49 NM, estimated altitude 43,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 30 Allied aircraft P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 24 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 3 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-47D2 Thunderbolt: 1 destroyed Aircraft Attacking: 2 x P-47D2 Thunderbolt sweeping at 42000 feet CAP engaged: 253 Ku S-1 with N1K1-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 19 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 41010 , scrambling fighters between 41000 and 45000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 47 minutes 261 Ku S-2 with N1K1-J George (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 9 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 41010 , scrambling fighters between 39000 and 44000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Batavia at 49,98 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 57 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 24 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 27 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 18 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 36 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 5 destroyed SB2C-1C Helldiver: 4 destroyed Japanese Ships xAK Hiteru Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Daisin Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires xAK Ryoyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage PB Kinsyo Maru #4, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAKL Nissen Maru #2, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAKL Nanka Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Tonegawa Maru xAK Burma Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires xAKL Hoki Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage xAK Tihuku Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage xAK Yae Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires A few torpedo bombers tried to hit soerbaja too , but with no escort it went badly for them , although we did sink another TK (loaded with oil) . Is Japan making a last ditch effort to grab everything from Java ? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Soerabaja at 56,104 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 29 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 13 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 34 A6M5 Zero x 6 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 13 Ki-61-Ia Tony x 17 Allied aircraft TBF-1 Avenger x 18 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses TBF-1 Avenger: 9 destroyed, 3 damaged Japanese Ships TK Bushu Maru, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk TK Nanrei Maru Allied bombers keep the heat on the Jap 4th inf division. Next turn we will shock attack with the newly arrived African Div and several arty and lt armour units. AV looks favourable from bombardment attacks. Morning Air attack on 4th Division, at 52,101 , near Semarang Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Allied aircraft Liberator II x 3 Liberator B.III x 11 Liberator GR.III x 12 B-17E Fortress x 3 B-17F Fortress x 12 B-24D Liberator x 15 B-24D1 Liberator x 21 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 517 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 15 disabled Non Combat: 5 destroyed, 52 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled RABAUL -- Is now devoid of fighter cover .. interesting .. and I'm loading up a small invasion force for Gasmata in Lae .. escorts arrive tomorrow , courtesy of the USA as replacements for the lost Dutch and British units vs the BB's a few days back. Morning Air attack on Rabaul , at 106,125 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid detected at 72 NM, estimated altitude 18,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 24 minutes Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft B-24D1 Liberator x 15 B-24J Liberator x 5 Japanese aircraft losses L3Y2 Tina: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-56 Thalia: 1 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses B-24D1 Liberator: 1 damaged No piccie today as i forgot to paste the image before typing this up .. was not ver interesting anyway. One bit of very very good news is that Japanese forces have withdrawn from Djoerkata . the small inf unit that's arrived will capture next turn and a lot of engineers and better troops are boarding trains in Tjiljap to dash in and start building up a secondary airbase .. much needed. Im also going to strip the south DEI and north Australia of any planes i can fly into java .. its a far far more important theatre right now and I'm running out of fighter groups to assign. AKV's are heading to broome for the shorter range units , while most can relocate by air , esp when the new base is on-line. TTFN

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (5/2/2012 2:25:45 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 16, 43 This is a double update for 4 days. Good start to the day with another AO being sunk to the wst of the Phillipines. Sub attack near Busuanga at 76,79 Japanese Ships AO Notoro, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage PB Kenan Maru Allied Ships SS Corvina Lets start with Burma. Allied medium bombers hit moulmein on the 16th and Chang Mai on the 18th , neither had any fighter cover and deep recons are showing only a few fighter in Bangkok as the nearest enemy planes. Even Raheng is now empty. Troops have arived at chang mai on the 18th and next turn we'll start shelling the place with continued allied bomber raids on the defending troops. ( airfields been damaged for ages with little repair , so no recent fort building). We are also moving to moulmein with the bulk of the army. Given the river crossing i will have a more technical question next turn for any readers. EG..:- Morning Air attack on 80th Garrison Battalion, at 58,53 (Chiang Mai) Weather in hex: Overcast Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 5 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D Mitchell x 11 Hurricane IIc Trop x 10 Hurricane IId Trop x 10 Vengeance I x 2 Wellington B.X x 15 A-20G Havoc x 15 A-36 Mustang x 25 B-25C Mitchell x 3 B-25D1 Mitchell x 15 B-25G Mitchell x 15 P-40E Warhawk x 32 Allied aircraft losses Wellington B.X: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 233 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 13 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled The main action has of course been in Java, and some surprising news .. 16/17th Oct saw heavy sweeps from the Thuds and CV a/c flew as intended after killing off the last of the AK's in Batavia harbour. 18/19 saw the CV's recalled for new a/c as the losses in hellcats was quite bad c.30. The land bombers were split 50/50 on sirfield attacks and port attacks. NO Japanese fighters were encountered at all and the last few docked ships were destroyed. while the airfields got a punding and will hopefully be closed for a few days. Morning Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 78 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 21 minutes Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft Hurricane IIc Trop x 14 Liberator II x 9 Liberator B.III x 3 B-17E Fortress x 3 B-17F Fortress x 12 B-24D Liberator x 6 B-24D1 Liberator x 21 B-25C Mitchell x 16 B-25D1 Mitchell x 7 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 15 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 destroyed on ground N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-46-III Dinah: 1 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses Liberator II: 1 damaged Japanese Ships xAKL Nissen Maru #2, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Florida Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAKL Nanka Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage Airbase hits 12 Runway hits 27 Port hits 7 Port fuel hits 4 Afternoon Air attack on Batavia , at 49,98 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 57 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 24 minutes Japanese aircraft N1K1-J George x 21 Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 11 Allied aircraft F6F-3 Hellcat x 55 SB2C-1C Helldiver x 36 TBF-1 Avenger x 18 Japanese aircraft losses N1K1-J George: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed Ki-49-IIa Helen: 3 destroyed on ground Allied aircraft losses F6F-3 Hellcat: 5 destroyed SB2C-1C Helldiver: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged TBF-1 Avenger: 1 destroyed Japanese ground losses: 7 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Airbase hits 21 Runway hits 38 Japan has also moved out ! of the mountain city that looked to be such a thorn in allied plans.. I suspect thats because of the flank march by armoured columns up the east coast of Java. Allies have stopped this march and ordered them back as to meet that large army would be suicide. But that's job done and another base will be ours next turn. (hopefully with forts intact)... WE are also perusing the 4th div south on the East coast and railed in large engineer contingents to Djakarta which is now a forward recon/search base. There has been a problem getting replacement a/c for the CV's so we have disbanded them in CI .. im not overly happy about this as it does leave them vulnerable . BUT 70% of the thuds have been sent back to provide air cover along with the air contingents from the CV Victorious , which is overdue for withdrawal and planners have decided she needs to get home asap. So heading to Perth at flank speed with DD escorts. The sir groups will remain in theatre. One odd occurrence around N Australia .. jap CA group ?? maybe was detected near boela and sailed past a few of my bases at night causing the CS groups to dash away to safety. Come daylight however the air force was semi ready and while weather in bases closest forced a no fly day. 12 beuforts flew from Darwin and hopefully hurt a CA .. its a perma restricted unit that just finished training up new torp bomber pilots. they did well. Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Molu at 80,116 Weather in hex: Light rain Raid detected at 68 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 23 minutes Allied aircraft Beaufort VIII x 10 Allied aircraft losses Beaufort VIII: 2 damaged Beaufort VIII: 1 destroyed by flak Japanese Ships CA Chokai, Torpedo hits 1 CA Atago Aircraft Attacking: 9 x Beaufort VIII launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 22in Mk 13 Torpedo [image]local://upfiles/7467/B0D1C2F02F8D4A23A3323C68BF5BD50E.jpg[/image] NOTE :- .. with the CV's in dock ,, all land based bombers are on naval search this turn as im beginning to get very nervous about Japanese naval involvement in the area. Is he trying to slip through around Timor ? or even up the straights from Singapore ? .. the malacca straight is reasonably well cover by search a/c but the southern route is much more open with holes in the search patterns (lack of decent search a/c). Anyway ,, if im disbanded in port its unlikely he will have port attack as a mission even if he appears from nowhere this turn.. I hope ! EDIT - on a technical note I'm using PP's to covert bases to ABDA command. this is the only way I can use the restricted dutch air units back in Java. Sadly the Dutch get nil fighters forever so the fighter groups saved are a waste of space , however the bombers can use old US B25's so are very handy search/asw units with some superb pilots. The search a/c are limited too and groups tiny (3) ,, they clog up airbases and arent much use , BUT with the new base in Java (Djakarta) we can use them there as its coastal (just). TTFN

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (5/4/2012 10:21:01 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 20, 43 The Japanese CA force in the south DEI bombarded Dobo after sinking the small AK on CS supply runs. No great loss and the effect was minimal despite the combat report :- Night Naval bombardment of Dobo at 83,116 - Coastal Guns Fire Back! Allied aircraft no flights Allied aircraft losses B-25C Mitchell: 24 damaged B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed on ground Mitchell II: 31 damaged Spitfire Vc Trop: 13 damaged Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 destroyed on ground Beaufighter VIf: 15 damaged Catalina I: 6 damaged 22 Coastal gun shots fired in defense. Japanese Ships CA Chokai CA Atago CL Tatsuta CL Kiso CL Jintsu CL Naka CL Sendai DD Tokitsukaze DD Shiranui DD Yukikaze DD Natsushio Allied ground losses: 293 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 67 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled Guns lost 9 (1 destroyed, 8 disabled) Vehicles lost 16 (2 destroyed, 14 disabled) Airbase hits 27 Airbase supply hits 3 Runway hits 57 In actual fact 2 spits , 1 Mitchell C were destroyed, and by morning the AF was repaired and ops continued as per normal. There were a few pilot spaces that needed filling , but not sure if they died due to the attack or just op losses and wounded in action. The invasion of GAsmata occurred and Japan did intervene with a few sporadic air raids from judys/Betties/Helens and Lilys , none were escorted and the LRCAP of P47 and beaufighter scored numerous kills. The only casualties were the hits on the CL Honolulus radar which was blown off and a 60kg bomb hit the AP Fiona. The invading a/c battalion (armoured car) wass as a test of invading with vehicles off AP's , it worked fine and al unloaded in 2 days with sufficient supply. The base is ours without a fight and the Aussies have base forces and a decent inf regiment waiting to head over. Morning Air attack on TF, near Gasmata at 103,127 Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 33 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-48-IIb Lily x 18 Ki-49-IIa Helen x 18 Allied aircraft Beaufighter Ic x 2 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 5 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-48-IIb Lily: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged Ki-48-IIb Lily: 1 destroyed by flak No Allied losses Allied Ships xAP Kaiping xAP Fiona CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 3 DD Lardner Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Gasmata at 103,127 Weather in hex: Partial cloud Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 14 minutes Japanese aircraft D4Y1 Judy x 2 G3M3 Nell x 3 Allied aircraft Beaufighter Ic x 4 P-47D2 Thunderbolt x 5 Japanese aircraft losses D4Y1 Judy: 1 destroyed G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed No Allied losses Allied Ships xAP Fiona, Bomb hits 1 Burma Chang Mai fell to the 1st assault from the Indian troops and we took the place with little loss of life. Allied bomber attacks surely contributed to this win as the mas 2E bomber units were flown with large escort and made a big impact on readiness and disruption. Ground combat at Chiang Mai (58,53) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 10735 troops, 146 guns, 166 vehicles, Assault Value = 486 Defending force 3358 troops, 39 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 148 Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 2 Allied adjusted assault: 461 Japanese adjusted defense: 115 Allied assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 2) Allied forces CAPTURE Chiang Mai !!! Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), preparation(-), experience(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 1292 casualties reported Squads: 52 destroyed, 29 disabled Non Combat: 40 destroyed, 8 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 8 (3 destroyed, 5 disabled) Units retreated 4 Allied ground losses: 178 casualties reported Squads: 4 destroyed, 30 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled) Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! Assaulting units: 3rd Carabiniers Regiment 17th Indian Division IV Indian Corps Defending units: Yokosuka 3rd SNLF 2nd INA Gandhi Regiment 1st INA Subhas Regiment 80th Garrison Battalion Java The town of Bandoeng fell to the allied forces today as Japan had abandoned the place. It had/has level 6 forts !!! I am damn glad we did not assault this place earlier and gut instinct was correct on this occasion. WE will garrison with a weakened div and bit of arty. rest of the troops have left for pastures new in Java as the south seems to be less well defended. The large search effort will be scaled down a bit as nothing has been found and the CV's will be out of port next turn too. TTFN [image]local://upfiles/7467/9D3740B5B463488982FF86086D31798E.jpg[/image]

Rob Brennan UK -> RE: OP Stepstone (5/8/2012 5:19:41 PM)
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 22, 43 Hello again reader(s). Both the CW and the US had bombardments in mind fof this turn ,, CW on Moumein from Rangoon , should be a very safe and repeatable attack that will go in daily so long as supply remains steady. The US hit one of the few operational jap airbases in the SW Pacific. Night Naval bombardment of Moulmein at 55,55 Allied Ships CA Frobisher CA Hawkins CA Sussex CA Shropshire CL Kenya CL Emerald DD Rotherham DD Racehorse DD Tenedos DD Witte de With DD Van Nes DD Tjerk Hiddes DD Van Galen DD Isaac Sweers Japanese ground losses: 86 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled Vehicles lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled) Airbase hits 14 Airbase supply hits 1 Runway hits 23 Port hits 1 Port supply hits 1 Night Naval bombardment of Kavieng at 106,122 Japanese aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses E13A1 Jake: 12 damaged E13A1 Jake: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-49-IIa Helen: 9 damaged Ki-49-IIa Helen: 1 destroyed on ground Ki-61-Ic Tony: 9 damaged Ki-61-Ic Tony: 1 destroyed on ground G3M3 Nell: 22 damaged G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed on ground A6M5 Zero: 37 damaged Ki-48-IIb Lily: 23 damaged Allied Ships CA Salt Lake City CA Northampton DD Aylwin DD Balch DD Porter DD Buchanan DD Claxton DD Bush DMS Hamilton Japanese ground losses: 159 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 42 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled Airbase hits 30 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 48 Port hits 7 Port supply hits 2 This is a useful tactic as it prevents forts building due to runway and port damage getting auto priority. Rabaul also seems devoid of fighters these days and we now have gasmata as a small operational airfields in very close range to Rabaul. The Australians have offered the base services to the USA to help the long range fatigue build up from planes based in shortlands or even further away. The Aussie airforce in the area is more a self defence set-up as most has been sent elsewhere for the foreseeable future.. ie N Australia and some to Java. Allied bombers continue to harass the retreating Japanese from Chang Mai with great success and still no sign of jap fighters in any quantity to worry about (for now) .. Morning Air attack on 2nd INA Gandhi Regiment, at 59,54 , near Chiang Mai Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid spotted at 10 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 2 minutes Allied aircraft B-25D Mitchell x 12 Blenheim VD x 3 Hurricane IIc Trop x 13 Vengeance I x 2 Wellington B.X x 15 A-20G Havoc x 15 B-25D1 Mitchell x 33 B-25G Mitchell x 3 P-40E Warhawk x 15 Allied aircraft losses Wellington B.X: 1 damaged Japanese ground losses: 61 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled In Java the Japanese 4th division trying to defend an east coast town was hammered from the air then obliterated in a great assault from the east African division (with friends) Morning Air attack on 4th Division, at 53,102 (Semarang) Weather in hex: Severe storms Raid spotted at 42 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Allied aircraft Liberator B.III x 12 B-17E Fortress x 6 B-17F Fortress x 6 B-24D1 Liberator x 6 B-25D1 Mitchell x 7 No Allied losses Japanese ground losses: 253 casualties reported Squads: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Ground combat at Semarang (53,102) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 20309 troops, 388 guns, 389 vehicles, Assault Value = 923 Defending force 7577 troops, 112 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 142 Allied adjusted assault: 624 Japanese adjusted defense: 1 Allied assault odds: 624 to 1 (fort level 1) Allied forces CAPTURE Semarang !!! Combat modifiers Defender: op mode(-), leaders(+), disruption(-), preparation(-) morale(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 6201 casualties reported Squads: 179 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 141 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 40 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 96 (96 destroyed, 0 disabled) Units retreated 1 Allied ground losses: 16 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Defeated Japanese Units Retreating! Assaulting units: 632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion 4th Armoured Brigade 11th (East African) Division 14th Canadian Brigade 100th Indian Brigade 5th Australian/B Division 134th Field Artillery Battalion 22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment Defending units: 4th Division That Japanese division is now a complete wreck and we will pursue it south. As a point of interest the Japanese surface force that wiped out my AP convoy with huge loss of life and vehicles have left the 11th East African div on 50% TOE , however the sharp end (i.e combat squads and guns) are all ok , it was the support and mot support that got hammered. Will a lack of support matter much if HQ's can make the required number up ? I'm guessing not as it seems its the total in hex rather than for each unit. One other div is down to 45% TOE in the same situation , its the 4th Indian and for now it'll be on garrison duty in the new level 6 Fort and on rest orders to try and regain some lost support squads. 3 mor divisions are heading to cocos right now , 2 Australian (1st and 4th) and the next East African one. There will be needed for any push north , for the near future we will continue to try and head south to Soerbaja. Recon is not showing up much in the way of heavy troop numbers so I really do not want a huge jap convoy arriving .. However given the lack of KB recently I suspect its covering a huge troop convoy from the jap home islands.. So next turn the Thuds will hit soerbaja and try to clear the skies .. Not guaranteed by any means but Mike (our opponent) does not seem to enjoy massed air attacks and even if i take large losses he will likely withdraw. With no LBA the ailed CV's will lurk to the west Javanese coast in the hope of catching any troops ships in Soerbaja .. 40 odd torpedo bombers are land based in Java now too as an additional threat. Question Time Look at the piccie below pls .. IF i say split my troops so 50% head down the arrow to the east of Moulmein and then move in ,, will the rest have to shock attack if i move over the river ? I'd really like to know as I suspect this is a line in the sand base for Japan and will be very well defended .. anyone know for sure ? Thanks in advance is i get any replies .. PS .. the other arrow is the advance down from CHang Mai .. Note we have transport planes in Mandalay just waiting for the runways to get cleared in Chang Mai before flying in base forces and AV support. The supply situation there might be nasty given the lack of good overland supply routes so no more troops planned to go that way. but we will push down towards Raheng. [image]local://upfiles/7467/AA95196CF19444FBB770418058E365FD.jpg[/image]

KenchiSulla -> RE: OP Stepstone (5/8/2012 5:48:17 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK Look at the piccie below pls .. IF i say split my troops so 50% head down the arrow to the east of Moulmein and then move in ,, will the rest have to shock attack if i move over the river ? I'd really like to know as I suspect this is a line in the sand base for Japan and will be very well defended .. anyone know for sure ? Thanks in advance is i get any replies .. [/color] Try to recon the hex you are moving into. I believe it depends the amount of AV (enemy and friendly) already in the target hex so there is no way of answering your question with the information provided.

KenchiSulla -> RE: The Solomons Situation (5/8/2012 5:59:51 PM)
Apparantly it depends on the amount of AV that has crossed the hexside previously (minimum 1/3 AV of defending forces). If you want to prevent shock attack you should cross the river next to occupied hex and move in from the flank. When hex is cleared move remaining forces over the river... This is why I like to split divisions in Burma (playing as the Japanese). I hold a long thin front with all flanks secured. Then I use reserve divisions to reinforce if a hex is under attack or about to come under attack... 1/3 of a division can hold of a superior force in the jungle for at least a week when dug in. [image]local://upfiles/30342/70407D2B51D3407F91D62B0794F5C036.jpg[/image]

Alfred -> RE: OP Stepstone (5/8/2012 6:04:23 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Rob Brennan UK Question Time Look at the piccie below pls .. IF i say split my troops so 50% head down the arrow to the east of Moulmein and then move in ,, will the rest have to shock attack if i move over the river ? I'd really like to know as I suspect this is a line in the sand base for Japan and will be very well defended .. anyone know for sure ? Thanks in advance is i get any replies .. [image]local://upfiles/7467/AA95196CF19444FBB770418058E365FD.jpg[/image] Read page 16 of this thread. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2859420&mpage=16&key=river%2Ccrossing� Alfred

Page: << < prev 14 15 16 [17] 18 next > >>

Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI

0.625