Mike Solli
Posts: 15792
Joined: 10/18/2000
From: the flight deck of the Zuikaku
Status: offline
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7 Dec 41
Subs
This restart is very different from the last one, and it all started with the sub war. The only incident involving subs was between the I-153 and the DD Tenedos. Initially, the Tenedos spotted her and dropped a few depth charges ineffectually and the I-153 got away and came back around to launch a couple of torpedoes at the Tenedos, again ineffectually.
So much for the sub war. 
Pearl Harbor
This was your typical raid. I once again separated Kaga out from the group to send to the SRA so there were only 5 CVs involved. One Akagi Zero found a P-36 on a training mission and promptly shot it down. Here’s the combat report:
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 90
B5N2 Kate x 117
D3A1 Val x 108
Allied aircraft
no flights
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kate: 9 damaged
B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak
D3A1 Val: 4 damaged
D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak
Allied aircraft losses
P-36A Mohawk: 1 destroyed, 15 damaged
P-36A Mohawk: 2 destroyed on ground
A-20A Havoc: 22 damaged
A-20A Havoc: 2 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 17 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
PBY-5 Catalina: 41 damaged
PBY-5 Catalina: 5 destroyed on ground
B-17D Fortress: 31 damaged
B-17D Fortress: 3 destroyed on ground
SBD-1 Dauntless: 26 damaged
SBD-1 Dauntless: 3 destroyed on ground
B-18A Bolo: 25 damaged
B-18A Bolo: 4 destroyed on ground
R3D-2: 1 damaged
R3D-2: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40B Warhawk: 55 damaged
P-40B Warhawk: 4 destroyed on ground
O-47A: 7 damaged
C-33: 3 damaged
F4F-3 Wildcat: 14 damaged
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed on ground
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 2 destroyed
Allied Ships
BB Arizona, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 5, on fire, heavy damage
BB West Virginia, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Manini, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AG Argonne, Torpedo hits 1
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 4, on fire
CA New Orleans, Bomb hits 1, on fire
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 4
BB California, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
DM Tracy, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
AVD Thornton, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
AO Ramapo, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
BB Oklahoma, Bomb hits 1
Allied ground losses:
4 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Airbase hits 29
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 75
Port hits 8
Training flight from 15th PG/46th PS has been caught up in attack
Magazine explodes on BB Nevada
Magazine explodes on BB California
Only 3 ships are showing as sunk but note the two BB magazine explosions. Banzai! Total losses for KB were as follows:
Akagi – 1 Kate and 0 pilots
Shokaku – 1 Val and pilot, 3 Kates and 2 pilots
Zuikaku – 1 Val and 0 pilots
Total estimated Allied plane losses on the ground are 66, so I suspect the majority of them were here.
I can live with that. KB is now heading due west to support the Wake invasion in 3 days.
Philippines
There were various bombing raids at Iba, San Fernando and Clark Field to soften up the invasions and wear down enemy air power. At the cost of 1 Betty and 1 Zero lost, I shot down 7 enemy fighters and destroyed at least 3 more aircraft on the ground.
I opted for the initial forces to be concentrated and used in the invasion of Iba. I’ll attack that place on 8 Dec. Assuming it is successful, I’ll rid myself of a couple dozen P-40s. If Ted disbands them, they’re gone and if not, I’ll destroy them on the ground. I’d much prefer the latter, but I’ll take the former as a quick fix to reduce Ted’s fighter strength by 25%. The invasion is composed of an SNLF and two detachments which, when combined, form the 2 Formosa Regiment of 48 Division, along with supporting units. I am going to combine units as soon as I can. I learned in the last game that small units in large battles get smashed very easily. The San Fernando invasion will be composed of the remainder of the 48 Division, 65 Brigade and more support. It’ll land in 2 days. I also paradropped the Yokosuka 1 SNLF at Cabanatuan, which I took. It is really a nuisance force. Hopefully, it’ll take Ted’s eye off the real invasions.
Here are the opposing forces at Iba:
Allied units:
31st PA Infantry Division
1st PI Base Force
The Good Guys:
Tanaka Detachment
Kanno Detachment
The two dets above form the 2 Formosa Reg/48 Div.
Sasebo 1st SNLF
21st Ind. Engineer Regiment
3rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
2nd Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
15th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
8th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
9th Ind.Hvy.Art. Battalion
28th JAAF AF Bn
40th JAAF AF Bn
9th Field AF Construction Battalion
3rd Engineer Construction Battalion
56th Const Co
14th Army /1 (remainder of HQ is still unloading)
Note the two IJAAF AF Bns with 48 AS. This will allow me to move some short range IJA fighters and 1E bombers here for attacks against Clark Field.
I landed an IJAAF AF Bn at Vigen which it will take today. This will allow me to station 2 Zero chutai and a naval recon chutai there tomorrow for close fighter cover.
The mine laying sub beginning the war at Bataan laid her eggs and remained in the hex, but there was no contact of any kind. She’ll sit there today as well hoping to get a shot at something.
Once I take San Fernando, I’ll station a Nell/Betty daitai there along with as much of the 5 Air Division fighters and 1E bombers as I can to support the bombing of Clark Field. My goal is to get all of the 5 AD and most of the 22 Air Flotilla on Luzon as quickly as possible. The 22 Air Flotilla will be used to pick off as many ships as they can while the 5 Air Division will perform the land bombing.
China
The initial garrison shuffle, a couple of bombings and one attack. Pengu was taken in a DA. My losses were 27(0) to 748(44) Chinese casualties. Banzai!
Hong Kong
The attack force is moving toward Hong Kong. I bombed the airfield a couple of times to prevent an increase to the fort level. The 3 DDs stayed in port this time. Bettys paid them a visit twice causing no damage to either side.
4 Fleet
The Wake invasion force was augmented by the NG originally assigned to invade Tarawa. They will reach Wake in 3 days, at the same time as KB and the 4 Aobas, which will provide bombardment support.
SE Fleet
The 144 Regiment is headed to Truk to spearhead the invasion of Rabaul. Gds Bde will be bought in a few days and will also head to this theater. 90 Regiment will be bought next from Kwantung Army to augment this force for the Pt. Moresby invasion.
5 Fleet
The 7 Base Force is loading for an early invasion of Adak.
Burma
The 15 Army is loading up on trains to begin the trek to their jump off point.
Malaya
I opted for no invasions on 7 Dec. I think I am going to delay moving my invasion force today as well. Ted did something interesting. I got the following spotting report:
E13A1 Jake sighting report: Allied BB at 51,82 near Mersing , Moving West
I think Ted set some waypoints for Force Z in the hope of catching a Mersing invasion force. I never saw the BB again and my Netties didn’t attack any ships. I did set the Netties secondarily to ground attack so they plastered Kuantan repeatedly.
Ted sent several 1 DD TFs to seek out my invasion TFs west of Mersing. I think he had hoped to find one and attack it with a DD, then hit it with the RAF in the afternoon. No luck. The Brit DDs did nothing, my naval attacks didn’t occur, and I plastered Kuantan (and Kota Bharu) by air. In addition, I had sent a CA TF to bombard Kuantan, which it did very nicely. It’s going to high tail it out of there today, on the off chance that the BB is still hanging around. I think it’s gone, but I don’t want to take that chance. Hopefully, it’ll catch and pick off one of the DDs.
Anyway, the air war wasn’t bad. At the cost of a Sally and Lily, I destroyed 3 Buffalos, 6 Hudson Is, 3 Blenheim IVs, a Wirraway and 8 Vildebeests! I would have liked to have destroyed more Buffalos, but I’ll take it. The Nates were ineffective, but I didn’t lose any so that was a positive. The Oscar Ia sentai didn’t shoot down any planes either. The Oscar Ib sentai shot down 11 planes! That’s currently the lead air unit. Very nice. I upgraded the 77 Sentai det to the Oscar Ic (12 planes) today. They’re stationed north of Malaya at one of those 2 bases that is now filled with 4 sentai and 1 chutai of Nates and Oscars.
I particularly like seeing all those Vildebeests go down. Not sure how many Ted has, but now he has fewer. Heh, heh, heh….
I’m now contemplating whether or not to send in the amphibious TFs today or tomorrow. I’m leaning toward tomorrow because of the lack of knowledge of Force Z’s whereabouts. I’ll probably wait a day. The Kuantan Invasion force is stationed 6 hexes due east of Kuantan and has not been spotted. It’ll take 2 days to reach Kuantan. I may move it a couple hexes west to bring it to within 1 day’s sail. It’ll have Kaga (36 Zeros) with it tomorrow so it’ll be rather safe. The Mersing Invasion Fleet is congregating 1 hex SW of Soc Trang. It’ll sit there a few days until I clear out any enemy surface threat, establish an airbase with Zeros at Kuantan and whittle down the RAF some more.
Speaking of Kaga, she was at Soc Trang when 4 Hudsons found the Mersing Invasion Fleet, one hex away. A Kaga Zero and 6 Claudes showed up for CAP. The Zero shot down 2 Hudsons and drove off a third. The fourth was shot down by flak before it could ID any ships. Those Claudes were from the 9 plane det of Yamada Det. They were upgraded to Zeros today and, once the planes are repaired, they’ll fly to Kaga to bring her Zero complement up to 45.
Other Stuff
I turned off Shinano and left all other ships alone. We’ll see what the Naval Build Point total looks like tomorrow.
Supply is down about 245k, which is not surprising. Over 110k is on xAKs headed to the SRA. Half will go to Miri and the other half will probably go to Malaya. Most of the remaining missing supply is loaded on invasion TFs.
Everything else looks good considering we’re 1 day into the game.
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