witpqs
Posts: 26087
Joined: 10/4/2004 From: Argleton Status: offline
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1943 January 22 The Empire captured: The Allies captured: There were Imperial amphibious operations at: There were Allied amphibious operations at: A redux of a strange attack in China, and another tough day at Kungchang. It seems that the Imperial unit there is simply recovering squads as fast as we can disable them. quote:
Ground combat at 73,49 (near Kweiyang) Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 1152 troops, 0 guns, 210 vehicles, Assault Value = 364 Defending force 15711 troops, 87 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 469 Japanese adjusted assault: 109 Allied adjusted defense: 367 Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), experience(-), supply(-) Attacker: Allied ground losses: 723 casualties reported Squads: 4 destroyed, 86 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: 4th Tank Regiment 10th Tank Regiment 66th Infantry Regiment 4th Ind.Mixed Regiment 11th Tank Regiment Defending units: 56th Chinese Corps 48th Chinese Corps 5th Chinese Cavalry Corps 50th Chinese Corps 79th Chinese/B Corps -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Kungchang (81,36) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 28230 troops, 69 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 747 Defending force 3227 troops, 26 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 64 Allied adjusted assault: 70 Japanese adjusted defense: 202 Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+) Attacker: fatigue(-), supply(-) Japanese ground losses: 79 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Allied ground losses: 330 casualties reported Squads: 4 destroyed, 21 disabled Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 5 disabled Engineers: 3 destroyed, 1 disabled Assaulting units: 1st Chinese Corps 9th Chinese Corps 4th Chinese Base Force 6th Chinese Base Force Defending units: 11th Indpt Infantry Regiment Washington repairs are finished. Midway has finished building fortifications and will now concentrate on the port for use as an advance submarine base. Our planes, both yesterday and today, delivered more destruction to Milne Bay. Imperial Navy on the move! quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Ndeni at 120,143 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 114 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 48 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 80 B5N2 Kate x 38 Allied aircraft P-39D Airacobra x 8 P-40E Warhawk x 8 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged Allied aircraft losses P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed P-40E Warhawk: 2 destroyed Allied Ships CL Java PT-39 CL De Ruyter DD Piet Hein DD Evertsen DD Banckert PT-48 Aircraft Attacking: 10 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 8 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 8 x B5N2 Kate bombing from 9000 feet Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb 12 x A6M3a Zero sweeping at 13000 feet 6 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 14 x A6M3a Zero sweeping at 12000 feet 6 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 10 x A6M3a Zero sweeping at 12000 feet 12 x A6M3a Zero sweeping at 12000 feet 8 x A6M3a Zero sweeping at 13000 feet 8 x A6M3a Zero sweeping at 13000 feet CAP engaged: 343rd FG/11th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling) (2 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 10000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 35 minutes 70th FS with P-39D Airacobra (2 airborne, 6 on standby, 0 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 9000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on TF, near Ndeni at 120,143 Weather in hex: Thunderstorms Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 51 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M3a Zero x 14 B5N2 Kate x 18 Allied aircraft P-39D Airacobra x 2 P-40E Warhawk x 4 Japanese aircraft losses A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed B5N2 Kate: 1 damaged B5N2 Kate: 1 destroyed by flak No Allied losses Allied Ships DD Van Nes CL De Ruyter, Torpedo hits 1, on fire CL Sumatra CL Java DD Van Ghent Aircraft Attacking: 7 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 9 x B5N2 Kate launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp CAP engaged: 343rd FG/11th FS with P-40E Warhawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 4 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters to 14000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 46 minutes 70th FS with P-39D Airacobra (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 2 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 9000 and 15000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes De Ruyter is now sheltering in harbor with -40(35)-0-0 damage. Our aircraft came out OK with losses for the day of: A6M3a Zero: 7 P-40E Warhawk: 5 B5N2 Kate: 4 P-39D Aircobra: 3 A6M2 Zero: 1 PBY-5A Catalina: 1 The IJN battleships and cruisers are now in position to shell the island base. Or, they might be there to destroy the two search plane outposts, Reef Islands and Duff Islands. The situation is shown below. The USN Battle Fleet, including 3 x fleet carriers and 8 x escort carriers, plus fleet carrier Wasp if she can catch up in time, will make to pass east of the Duff islands. As the Battle Fleet will be heading away from the five refitted CA returning from Pearl those ships will likely miss the party. They will head straight across north of baker/south of Howland to join any late action. It's just possible that DAW HQ believes that any remaining USN fleet carriers have departed for refit. Current distance from the KB to the USN Battle Fleet is 29 hexes. Ndeni is being cleared of non-essential aircraft. The three USA fighter squadrons will remain (2 x P-40E; 1 x P-39D), the search squadron (PBY-5A), one USMC dive bomber squadron with short range orders (SBC-4), and the lone float plane from De Ruyter. Vanua Lava has one P-38G squadron ordered to LRCAP Ndeni; one B-17E squadron that will fly against the carriers; plus one squadron each of USMC F4F-3 fighters and SBD-2 dive bombers. Luganville is packed to the gills and stood down a USMC SBD-2 squadron as their range will likely keep them from flying, and two USA fighters squadrons as there is no room for them in the active base area. Squadrons on duty include one B-17D, three B-24D, and one LB-30 to fly against the carriers; One USMC TBF-1 on search and attack; one P-40K on CAP; and Saratoga's entire air wing. Sara's air wing could be flown to the CV USS Ndeni in case the Battle Fleet finds a chance to engage near that island. In case airfield repairs are needed, there are presently 174 engineers and 52 engineer vehicles on Ndeni. 205 defensive mines protect the anchorage. Another 130 mines dot the approaches of the Reef Islands. Some bad news regarding the Gilberts operation - the beaches at Abemama will not be assaulted by US Army cavalry. There are enough USA 43 Rifle Squads to upgrade the regiment, so the soldiers will have to walk from the landing craft. As far as the date goes, the two refitted fast battleships will set the schedule. They'll take about a week to make Pearl Harbor and refuel. Then they will join the fleet on its way to the Gilberts, refueling at sea on the way. So, that means the invasion of Arorae will take place just after they leave Pearl Harbor. The units for Tabiteuea have much lower prep, so I might hold them back for a follow-on wave. If Tarawa goes well enough, though, it might be possible to use naval sea and air bombardment to allow the invasion of Tabiteuea just after. In Burma, tomorrow 4EB will begin hitting Katha and then the units in the jungle guarding the approaches from India to soften them up for the attack that is not going there.
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