John 3rd
Posts: 17178
Joined: 9/8/2005 From: La Salle, Colorado Status: offline
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Combat Report April 1-15, 1942 North Pacific No action at all. Central Pacific Canton My blissful peace here is RUDELY interrupted by the arrival of the American Fleet! On April 2nd and 3rd, Canton is pounded. I manage to shot down some Wildcats and Dauntless but MISS the CV Hornet with a 18Z and 13 Betty. I had 8 planes drop bombs (Canton AF is ALMOST Size-4) without a hit--DAMN! On the first day, I number of my planes are caught on the ground and that tilts the battle immediately towards the Allies. A small CA TF bombards the island on the night of the 3rd. US Fleet departs smugly NE on the 4th. It is lucky for me that I had no combatant shipping present when the US Fleet arrived. I lose a couple of AK but nothing else. My CVs were busy sinking a convoy to the south of Suva at the time… Midway is now picking up the occasional B-17 strike from Johnston Isle. SS trade attacks throughout the area over these two weeks. SE Pacific The reduction of Suva and my planned invasion of Pago-Pago dominate activities in this arena. Noumea My build-up at Noumea continues. Suva/Nandi On April 3rd Suva falls! I capturing the base, several Allied planes are destroyed, 2AK/1AP scuttled and 4,000 POWs become mine. Immediately move supplies and aircraft there. These land units started prepping for a Pago-Pago attack about 10 days ago. They are tired and will rest for a little while before heading out for Pago-Pago. Upolu The base there is slowly expanding the AF. Want to get it operational by the time of my invasion. Pago-Pago I bombard P-P (8th/11th/12th/13th) several times, destroy a number of aircraft, and cause a goodly number of casualties. Tongatapu Two Base Forces are furiously expanding the AF! It moves to Lvl 3 on the 12th. Move planes there to begin serious attacks upon P-P. KB-2 (Shokaku, Zuikaku, Shoho, Zuiho). Several AK and TK are attacked and sunk South of the island as I do some raiding while Canton is hit by the US Carriers. KB-1 (Akagi, Kaga, Soryu) Stay close to Suva. With the Canton Raid, I order my CTF to rendezvous at Suva, get some rest, and prepare for the Pago-Pago Operation. Japanese SS I have 7 I-Boats with Glens set-up in an arc running due north of Pago-Pago to SE of the island. Allied SS SS are filling the waters between Noumea and Nandi as well as Nandi to Tongatapu. Several ships are hit and I damage a few of his SS. Pago-Pago Invasion Force I begin loading my assault force on the 9th. I am not fooling around--my intelligence reports 6 units and 30,000 troops there. My preliminary guess is an Infantry Division, a CD unit, an Art Reg, and several BF. I will have to fight my way ashore so I load ALL I can for the first wave: Initial Assault: 4th Inf Div, 56th Inf Div, South Seas Detachment, 9th Brigade, 4 smaller Inf units, and 4th Aviation Regiment. This is nearly 60,000 troops. 2nd Wave: Figuring that these will probably NOT be enough, I start loading at Noumea the two China Brigades, 2 Art Regiments, and an Engineering Regiment. This would be another 30,000+ troops. They will land about a week after the initial wave. Distant Reinforcements: If the above cannot do it, I have 3 Inf Div moving eastward from Java. They are meant to attack New Zealand (Operation Southern Fury) but can be shifted as needed. Philippines The enemy is down to just Bataan. I spend this two week period reducing the Fortress while offering a surrender opportunity to General Macarthur. Unfortunately--he downs it down…There are daily air attacks as well as ground bombardments. I attack on the 3rd/8th/13th and begin reducing the Forts from 6 down to 4. Just a matter of time and patience… NW Aussieland To reflect new Campaign direction, the Eastern DEI Heading has been replaced with this. Kai Island MY opponents send regular raids to attack this island after I captured it earlier in the month. Amboina Begin slowly moving units here in a build-up that will, ultimately, end up in the invasion of NW Australia. This operation is tentatively scheduled for sometime in July. It will use ALL the troops currently in the Philippines. Western DEI My opponents SS operations continue to be a pain during this time. More ships hit and a couple are sunk. MY ASW efforts continue by damaging 2 SS during the same time. Don’t get any sinkings but do knock some out for a while. KB-3a and 3b With the British Fleet getting a little frisky (more later), I decide to reorganize this CTF into two units. They will operate together but in separate TF. Here is the new layout: KB-3a---Junyo/Hiyo/Ryujo (62Z, 34DB, 53TB) and CS Nisshin (20FP), 3CA, and 8DD KB-3b---Hosho/Taiyo/Unyo (5Z/18DB/41TB) and CS Mizuho (17FP), BB Nagato, and 6DD This re-org occurs at Batavia on the 15th of April. They shall move NW and LOOK for the British Fleet! The Floatplanes will scout while all available strike aircraft wait to attack. They have operational freedom for 3 weeks but then they need to move to Noumea to support Operation Southern Fury. Burma The British Navy arrives in the area between Rangoon, Andaman, and Padang, Sumatra over the days of April 8-10th. It would appear to be an all-out effort by 2CV, several BB, and numerous smaller fleet units. I am caught totally flatfooted (just like at Canton!) with my Betty and Nell Daitai refitting (from Mandalay fighting) at Palembang. Initially, I am angry at this but then sense a chance. I LET the Brits do what they want and begin a reorganization of the area CVs as well as land-based air. WHEN they come back, I will be ready…this might be called an old fashioned ambush! I FINALLY take the upper hand with the air battle taking place over Mandalay. Facing initiall heavy resistance, large strikes are flown against Mandalay and Akyab in an effort to keep them down. I also bombard Akyab several times. Pagan moves to AF 2 on the 10th and two Daitai of Fighters move there immediately. Mandalay On the 12th, I effectively move to one step from encircling his army at Mandalay. I take the hex directly east of the city. My two Brigades then split--one heads for Lashio and the other moves to cut the rail line from Mandalay going north. Rangoon Reinforcements arrive in the form of an Inf Div, Eng Reg, and 2 Art Reg on the 14th. They head for Mandalay. I taunt my opponents by telling them that 40,000 fresh boots are walking off ship right then! China Yenen Everyday still sees a heavy air strike come in to try to keep the Forts from going up TOO rapidly. Troops from here shuffle southwards to help the drive to clean out the railway. Wuchow The vanguard of my army starts to arrive there on the 10th. On the 14th it appears that the Chinese are withdrawing! The Chinese try to come down across the river to the west of Changsha and North of Wuchow and are bloodily repulsed TWICE! Kweilin On a hunch that my opponents have stripped their defenses to hold Changsha-Wuchow, I move a small force of 2 Inf Div and 2 Brigades to this town and TAKE IT on the 6th. With these developments, China seems to be opening up some. My Allie and I converse as to opportunities and we shall see how things pan out. China-to-Pacific: the 10th Ind Brigade has its HQ changed to 4th Fleet and begins loading in Shanghai for operations in the SE Pacific. This is now the 4th Ind Brigade I have pulled from China to help with Pacific Operations. Totals for the Two-Weeks: Ships Sunk Japanese 16 Total--1PG, 1SS (I-123), 1MSW, 4AK, 6AP, 1MLE, and 2TK Allied 18 Total--1MSW, 13AK, 1TK, 1AP and 2SS (S-43 and ???) Aircraft Losses Japanese 65 F, 50 B, 1TB, 3DB, and 1R---Total: 120 aircraft Heavy Losses--the fighters are lost over Burma/Canton and the bombers at Burma/Canton/Pago-Pago. Allied 79 F, 4 B, 12DB, and 9 Recon--Total: 104 aircraft My opponents have lost 153 Fighters in 4 weeks their fighter pools must REALLY be low.
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