|
ADavidB -> Pummelling at Pontianak... (9/15/2005 12:02:38 AM)
|
March 3 -
It was a long day for Tophat at Pontianak, but at the end of it he finally obtained his objective, albeit at a cost. First off, the Dutch Blasters hit the invasion TF at Pontianak at night, and sure enough the protective combat TF was gone. But Tophat must have had a fairly tough commander for his invasion TF, as well as well-trained crews in the escorts because the five Dutch PT boats didn't get a hit in while the Japanese sank a PT boat. But the presence of the PT boats caused the invasion TF to pull away to the South and left them open for air attacks the next day.
And the weather gods were on the side of the Dutch that day as all of the Martins and even the Hudsons in Java flew multiple times to hit a number of the ships in the transport fleet. AP Meiten Maru was hit ten times and set on fire. A second AP was hit and set afire in another raid. Then a PC was hit hard, and the light cruiser Isuzu was hit again. Finally a DD was hit hard and set on fire. Then, to add to the "fun, fun, fun" (as Tophat put it in his email) the Dutch Blasters got a second chance and put a torpedo into the helpless Meiten Maru, finally putting her under the waves.
But despite the heroics of the air crews and the Dutch Blasters, it was too little, too late because Tophat had already landed enough troops to capture Pontianak with a deliberate attack. As an epilogue to the action, the Japanese MSW which had been hit the previous day at Pontianak sank while trying to sail to safety.
Elsewhere, things were not necessary so clear cut for either side. Tophat bombarded Balikpapan with a cruiser/destroyer TF, but he damaged no planes and caused little damage to the airfields. Thus my Dutch torpedo bombers were able to take off the next day. However, they once again went after the heavy cruiser Maya and got no hits. Tophat now has an invasion TF nearby so I've pulled the TBs back to Banjamasin from where they can still hit a TF at Balikpapan.
Tophat tried another deliberate attack at Palembang, and while he lowered the fortification level down to two and achieved a 1:1 attack ratio, he still lost twice as many men as the Dutch defenders and the base remains in my hands. Tophat also tried a deliberate attack at Hengchow. His engineers reduced the fortifications down to level five, but he was rewarded with a 0:1 combat result and nearly equal losses on both sides. And I will have another combat unit move into the City next turn.
Tophat did have a couple of clear cut successes. His troops captured Rabaul, but I had pulled my troops out two and a half months ago, so he was able to take the base with only one small naval landing unit and a couple of base forces. In addition, one of his long range subs torpedoed an empty tanker near San Francisco while avoiding the escorts. This particular TF had come all the way from Australia. I doubt that the tanker will make it to port, but I attached an escort to it anyway and we will see what happens.
One of the more interesting things that I found out this turn was that Tophat has stationed that combat TF of his with the five battleships at Amboina. I don't believe that Darwin is within the range of a non-stop bombardment run from Amboina, particularly since those ships must have some system damage from their previous missions, but I'll watch the situation carefully. Maybe he is just using it as a convenient place to prepare them for another run at Kendari.
Dave Baranyi
|
|
|
|
