John 3rd
Posts: 17178
Joined: 9/8/2005 From: La Salle, Colorado Status: offline
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Combat Report June 30-July 7, 1942 I have to apologies for the long period between updates. Life has been frightening and crazy in the Cochran Household. We are anxiously awaiting word about a fulltime Professorship in History at the community college that I Adjunct at. We are thinking GOOD THOUGHTS about landing the dream job… We have also had a slowdown due to my shifting locations where I stay when I am working at the casino on the weekends. The couple I am staying with had only dial-up and balky phone line at that. They are getting broadband and I should be able to get more turns and reports done once that has occurred. It has been a crazy period of time for the Japanese Empire: As I speak the July 8, 1942 turn will see the beginnings of landings on the coast of NW Australia. Operation Southern Fury FINALLY gets rolling! I will detail the preliminary fighting that has occurred within the report. The bulk of the Combined Fleet has made the turn from due south to west and I expect the landing at Dunedin, NZ to occur about the 18th. The allies seek to divert my attention and intentions by making a surprise landing at Port Moresby. They pay for this pretty severely… To the Regional Reports: North Pacific Kiska With the Port and Airfield going to Sz-3, I am moving an AE, AS, and several support ships to augment the small striking force that I have there. I have placed 3 CL and 8 DD there to try and harass the American shipping lands if anything gets spotted. Additionally, I have a Daitai of Zeros, Chutai of Kates, and Chutai of Emily flying from this base. On July 2nd, S-38 puts a TT intro an AK bringing supplies to the island. Central Pacific Midway The normal strikes from Johnson Island occur with B-17s. The base is minorly damaged by consecutive raids on the June 30th, July 1st, and July 2nd. Guam AF-3 South Pacific Woodlark Island Capture it on the July 1st and then move the SNLF unit to Gili-Gili to reinforce that garrison. Port Moresby This counter-attack catches me completely by surprise! Somehow…my Emily/Mavis Recon units don’t spot three separate TF approaching until they START LANDING on July 2nd. After the initial surprise wears off, I rapidly redeploy Betty/Nell/Zero Daitai to Lae and Rabaul and begin to HURT my opponents. Here is the chronicle of events: July 2nd Two TF begin landing at PM. I have a CD Unit, SNLF troops, an Aviation Regiment, and a Base Force. I immediately realize that cannot hold against the troops that are landing but perhaps I can lengthen the landing time for me to BLEED his shipping! My CD Unit makes his ships pay dearly for little to no bombardment: I hit 18 ships in the first phase and 16 ships in the second. Damaged/Sunk Ships of note: 4 US DD (MacDonough, Worden, Selfridge, and Ellet) with damage to CA Minneapolis, CLs Tromp and St. Louis, 3 more DD, and 15 AP/AK July 3rd Rapidly moving planes from Timor and New Caledonia to Lae/Rabaul! CD hits an additional 15 ships in first phase and 3 ships during the second. Amazingly, the Allies don’t try for a quick grab of the base! They bombard and I find that I am up against the following units: 1st Australian Corps HQ, 6th & 7th Aussie Infantry Divisions, 101st Aussie AT Regiment, and 2 American Base Forces. OUCH! This is a lot of firepower! The Allies could have taken the site on this day but don’t! It allows for my counter-attack to gather steam. Two Raids come in: Raid 1—9 Betty 2 MSW and CL Tromp take single TT hits. Raid 2—7Z and 45 Betty They SCORE! CA Minneapolis—5TT, CL Honolulu 2TT, CL Tromp 1TT, 4 AK/1AP each take a TT. The Allies lose CA Minneapolis and 3 MSW for the day. Move more planes! July 4th On the day AFTER the Allies should have taken PM, they elect not to attack AGAIN! Banzai! My CD hits 3 AK/AP and CL Adelaide. A B-17 raids hits my troops defending the town. Unfortunately, bad weather slows my aerial assault but several raids do come in to the landing area: Raid 1—5Z 19 Betty hit 2AK and CL Adelaide with 2TT. Raid 2—24 Betty hit CL Adelaide with 4TT and nail 4 AKs as well. Raid 3—6 Betty hit CL Tromp as it retreats with 1TT. Raid 4—12Z and 35 Betty hit 7 AK. The Allies lose CLs Tromp and Adelaide as well as 3 AK. July 5th Port Moresby finally is attacked and falls. My units retreat along the trail towards Buna where they can live to fight again. Good News—the AF is damaged at 35% and Port at 63%. I immediately shift some of my aerial assets to attack the AF tomorrow. If I can keep it non-operational, then I can starve the troops there and come back at my leisure to finish them… Aerial Action: Raid 1—7Z 53 Betty hit 1 MSW, 8AK, and 3AP with TTs. Raid 2—9 Betty hit an AP and 2AK. The Allies lose DD Patterson, 2 MSW, 1AP, and 7AK—Nice day’s work… July 6th I shift entirely to Aerial action: Raid 1—16Z, 49 Helen hit the AF—4 P-40, 93 Cas, and AF damage is raised to 46%. Raid 2—28Z, 47Betty/Nell destroy 1 P-40, 15 cas, and more AF Damage Raid 3—3Z 15 Betty hit 2AK Raid 4—16Z 36 Betty strike 4AK Allies lose 7 AK this day. July 7th PM AF is knocked out—58% Damage Raid 1—17Z and 58 Bombers destroy 2 P-40, 117 Cas, and AF. Allies lose 3 more AK… THOUGHTS: I will continue to pound PM from Lae with a force of 2 Zero Daitai, 3 Helen Sentai, and 2 Betty Daitai set for shipping attacks. Thursday Island is providing Recon now with 2 Emily Chutai and 1 Alf Chutai. I have reinforced Gili-Gili with an SNLF unit, 2 small Construction units, and have two Naval BF units headed there. Buna will get the retreating units from PM and begin building that up for a base. Salamaua (Sp??) is already at AF-1 and will soon move to AF-2. As long as I can keep PM’s AF out of commission, then I can really beat-up anything that approaches…they will need CVs to stop my attacks… New Zealand Operation Typhoon has its landing date set for July 18th. The KB FINALLY makes it into Suva and refuels on July 2nd. It heads south to cover the landings on the South Island. Allied LBA is driving me nuts with my SS! On July 3rd/5th/7th, I have SS damaged due to aerial attack. What a load of CRAP! NW Australia Operation Southern Fury is spotted and the fight begins! July 3rd My forces spot a MSW (left in the middle of the ocean to be a lookout and decoy) and sink it at hex 5,88. Alfs and Vals do the work so I am revealed to be in the area…an Ro SS is damaged at Perth while trying to recon the harbor. July 4th No sightings by either side this day. July 5th I am 7 hexes from my target beach and don’t get spotted… July 6th A small ASW TF is working around Perth—they damaged to Ro on the 3rd and damage an I-Boat on the 6th. I make sure that all aircraft are ready on my CVEs and CS’s…spot several TF operating outside of Perth… July 7th Only 2 hexes from my target, the action commences! It is a GOOD day and it is a not-so-good day! Allied Aerial Attacks: Three Small raids by Beauforts, B-25s, and Brewsters are decimated by my CAP of 29 Z Raid 4—the last raid, however, causes REAL trouble—14 Brewsters, 4 B-25, and 8 Beauforts attack. MY CAP does well and shots down 3 Brew and 6 Beauforts but the remaining planes bore in and get hits on CVE’s Taiyo (2 Bombs) and Unyo (1TT)! DAMN! Laser-Guided munitions I guess… Japanese Attacks: I spot a large STF comprising BC Repulse, CAs Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Exeter, and CL Hobart! WOW—Go get ‘em! My forces launch a total of four small strikes comprising Kates, Vals, Alfs, and Jakes. At the end of the day, they do WELL: BC Repulse takes 8 small and large bombs as well as FOUR TTs! CA Devonshire takes 2 bombs and 2 TTs. CA Exeter takes 3 bombs I expect Repulse to sink! Status: If not for the hits on TWO CVE’s, I would say that this is a good day. As is, I think I managed to take out the only Capital Ship in the area. This is good. The impact on my CTF is bad; however, nearly all the planes on Unyo shifted to CVL Ryuho and now she cannot launch planes (rated for 30 and has 48 aboard). Taiyo is not in bad shape (Sys-25, Flot-1, and Fires 13) and should be savable. Unyo though has Sys-36, Flot-34 and 11 Fires. I expect to lose her… I split the CVEs into separate TF and order them to withdraw. To remain viable, I must clear Ryuho’s decks! Order the CTF to move north for at least a day or two and launch the extra planes to Amboina. This will deprive my TFs of CAP but I need to do it so I can strike at any Allied counter-response coming from south Aussieland. I would expect at least 5-7 days of clear seas prior to reinforcements arriving… I begin my landing tomorrow. The Invasion TF is covered by BB Nagato, 3CA, 2CL, and 11DD. They should handle anything coming at them from the sea. From the air however… DEI Nothing of importance. Burma/India Allied airpower continues to rotate around and hit Mandalay, Akyab, and units that are holding hexes. On a mining mission, I-158 is hit by 5DC from a MSW Group. China Yenen—daily bombardments and airstrikes. July 5th I finally have enough Political Points to transfer an entire Infantry Division to the South Pacific. The 36th Inf Div (Experience 83 and Morale 73) is transferred to the SE Fleet and given Port Moresby for a planning objective. It will arrive at Shanghai on the 8th and be loaded aboard 12 large 14-knot APs and head for Rabaul. Combat Summary Ships Lost Japan—2 ships—1PC and 1AE Allies—34 Ships—1CA, 2CL, 5DD, 5MSW, 20AK, and 1AP Nice to see these ship numbers in MY favor for a change! Planes Lost Japan—38 total—14 Zero, 10 Betty, and 14 Floatplanes Allies—23 total—10 Fighters, 2 Bombers, and 11 Torpedo Planes Note: My Allies payed a VERY heavy price at the start of the month! They lost 2000 PP due to not withdrawing a British BB and 2 DD. Hmmm….. That is the report and summary of the action. What does anyone THINK???
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