ADavidB
Posts: 2464
Joined: 9/17/2001
From: Toronto, Canada
Status: offline
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January 8, 1942 -
Some of my "planning and scheming" came together this turn as I surprised Treespider at Timor. Two turns ago my search planes spotted a Japanese transport TF to the Northeast of Timor, heading southwest. The odds were that it was heading for Lautem, so I moved the Dutch surface combat TF from Koepang to Lautem and sent the Asiatic Fleet surface combat ships from Broome to Koepang. I had the P-40Es from the Philippines covering the Timor air bases so I felt fairly confident that unescorted Japanese LBA wouldn't come and interfere with my plans.
At the same time I had my "wayward" US CV TF halfway between Broome and Java - I had been sending it towards Java in expectation of a Japanese move against Sumatra. So I turned it around and sent it at full speed towards the northeast of Timor. This was the same CV TF that hit the battleships off of Rabaul. I had sent it "stealthily" along the north coast of New Guinea instead of taking the obvious southern route, and the TF had gotten to the north coast of Australia unnoticed. Afterwards, when Treespider brought out a substantial part of the KB to support the invasion of Sorong I pulled my ships back from Darwin to Broome, which also meant that Treespider's spy subs only spotted my MSWs in Darwin, reinforcing the idea that things were pretty quiet in the region.
Last turn I was surprised to find that the Japanese had neared Lautem but hadn't reached it. It was obviously a regular transport TF and not a Fast Transport TF. That gave me time to send the Asiatic Fleet ships from Koepang to Lautem to wait along with the Dutch. This also gave my CV TF the chance to get on the east side of Lautem. Treespider has been very busy in recent turns using his LBA to blast various Allied bases from the air, so there was a very good chance that there wouldn't be any Bettys or Nells on "naval attack" in the region. And, lo-and-behold, things worked out as I planned; starting with an initial surface interception:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Lautem at 33, 78
Japanese Ships
DD Yamakaze, Shell hits 29, and is sunk
DD Shiokaze, Shell hits 1
DD Otori
DD Hayabusa
MSW Wa 14, Shell hits 1, on fire
AP Astuga Maru, Shell hits 1
AP Atsuta Maru
AP Hikawa Maru
AP Sangetsu Maru
AP Sasago Maru
AP Seizan Maru
AP Taihei Maru
AP Taizin Maru
AP Tango Maru
AP Teiryu Maru
AP Zyuyo Maru
AP Chinko Maru
Allied Ships
CA Astoria, Shell hits 1
DD Alden, Shell hits 2
DD Barker
DD Edsall
DD John D. Edwards, Shell hits 1
DD Paul Jones, Shell hits 1
DD Peary
DD Whipple
DD Stewart
Japanese ground losses:
13 casualties reported
None of the hits on the US ships were significant. Daylight found the Japanese TF sitting to the southwest of Lautem, and within the range of the dive bombers from my CV TF but, unfortunately, not within the range of the torpedo bombers. But the dive bombers, with the additional support of various Australian land-based bombers, still did a nice job:
Day Air attack on TF at 32, 79
Allied aircraft
F2A Buffalo x 11
SBD Dauntless x 33
Hudson I x 7
P-40E Warhawk x 18
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AP Seizan Maru
AP Teiryu Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Hayabusa
AP Taizin Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AP Zyuyo Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Taihei Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AP Tango Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
DD Otori
AP Atsuta Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
217 casualties reported
Guns lost 4
And the naval bombers got a second chance:
Day Air attack on TF at 32, 79
Allied aircraft
F2A Buffalo x 11
SBD Dauntless x 33
Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless: 2 damaged
Japanese Ships
AP Teiryu Maru, on fire
DD Otori
MSW Wa 14, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
AP Hikawa Maru, Bomb hits 4, on fire
AP Zyuyo Maru, Bomb hits 1
AP Sasago Maru
AP Atsuta Maru, on fire
Japanese ground losses:
100 casualties reported
Guns lost 1
The Australian LBA got additional chances too, but didn't score more hits. Only one MSW sank, but I expect that more ships will eventually succumb to their wounds, and I'm also moving subs in the way to see if I can catch a few more.
I've got the CV TF heading back to Broome, along with the Asiatic Fleet SC TF. The dive bombers may get one more shot at the Japanese TF on the way by, but that's not a priority. I expect Treespider to move LBA and some of the KB into the region very quickly, and I don't want to be caught. I am leaving the Dutch in Lautem for one more turn, because I think that I can get away with that because of the P-40Es riding cover over them. (I don't want Treespider to get "cute" and try to send the transport TF back to Lautem under the assumption that I will "hit and run".)
Lots of other things happened this turn, most of which didn't favor the Allies. For example, a BB-lead TF bombarded Kendari. Treespider must have been very thankful that my CV TF didn't find his bombardment TF as had happened at Rabaul. Sub I-153 played cat-n-mouse with a Dutch MSW off of Darwin. And an Alf spotted a US ship to the south of Guadalcanal.
Now, that's one to think about. Treespider has no aircraft in Shortlands as of yet, so that must have been a ship-borne scout plane. Does that mean that a Japanese TF with cruisers or AV/CS ships is in the Eastern Solomons? It so happens that the US ship spotted is part of yet another US CV TF. So just in case I can take advantage of all the "distraction" in the Timor region, the US CV TF that I was sending slowly down to Australia has now received orders to go back to the eastern side of Guadalcanal and look for "opportunities". I've also redirected a lot of subs into the "Slot". Of course, if that Alf was on a cruiser that is attached to part of the KB, I could be in very big trouble, but hey, you've got to take some chances as the Allied player! 
BTW - nothing occurred in the Aleutians this turn, so I have no idea of what happened to the Japanese DDs that pestered the US sub at Kiska, nor where those ships went. As mentioned before, I don't care what Treespider does in the Aleutians right now; any forces that he is wasting in the blizzards up there are not bothering me elsewhere, which is a good thing.
And in most of the "Big Elsewhere" that makes up the Far East, Japanese planes rained havoc over Allied bases with few exceptions. One of those exceptions was at Kweilin, where a third of the AVG caught an incoming Japanese air attack from above:
Day Air attack on Kweilin, at 44, 38
Japanese aircraft
Ki-27 Nate x 8
Ki-44-IIb Tojo x 8
Ki-51 Sonia x 27
Ki-21 Sally x 23
Ki-15 Babs x 2
Allied aircraft
P-40B Tomahawk x 21
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-27 Nate: 5 destroyed
Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 4 destroyed
Ki-51 Sonia: 2 destroyed
Ki-21 Sally: 2 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
P-40B Tomahawk: 2 damaged
Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 16
This will keep Treespider "honest" in this region. In addition, Dutch bombers hit another AP at Brunei, but missed a Japanese SC TF off of the south coast of Borneo. Some other Dutch base is likely to be bombarded this coming turn.
The ground war went much more in the Japanese favor. Clark Field was captured in a deliberate attack, with the troops escaping to Bataan. Georgetown was captured via a shock attack. Japanese troops also drove out some Chinese units that were sitting to the south of Kweilin. We are still playing "I-GO" in China, and as part of that a Japanese deliberate attack at Ichang failed, but not by very much. Wuchow and Johore Bharu only received artillery bombardments.
Things are fairly quite right now in Burma as Treespider consolidates his gains. I have my B-17 squadrons taking turns bombing the air field at Mandalay, just to keep it under repair and to use up Japanese supplies in that malarial base. I only have a dozen bombers in each of the former Philippine bomber units, so I'm not exactly "darkening the skies", but I am keeping Treespider on his toes in that region. And, thank goodness, I'll be getting Brit Hurricanes in a few days, which will make me feel a lot more comfortable in India.
Dave Baranyi
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Printable Version
RE: Blitzkrieg in Burma... - 
It might be worth your effort to send a single AK there to take the supplies to either Singapore or Soerabaja (since the game mechanics often don't go after a single ship TF). 
I hope big E escapes, but I sincerely doubt it will. After seeing what happened to your air groups, were I playing Japan, I’d split my CV’s into 2 CV fleets and spread them out to cover most of the possible escape routes. 
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