Spidery
Posts: 1821
Joined: 10/6/2012 From: Hampshire, UK Status: offline
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January 26th 1944 SC Ch 28 is blown to smithereens by a torpedo from SS Cero near Balabac. I-6 surfaces and sinks xAKL Chippewa (1600 tons, 2 VP) East of Pearl Harbor. The Allied forces in the Banda Sea move to near Kendari. Army bombers out of Koepang are unable to find targets and Nells out of Davao fail to launch an attack. Allies land at Woleai, a limited BB bombardment hits first. B7A2 out of Guam strike and there are no fighters on CAP over the base! 41 attack in the morning; DE Wyman, 2 hits and sunk, AKA Alhena 1 hit, APA Neville 1 hit, LSI(L) Kanimbla 2 hits. 19 attack in the afternoon and score no hits. 15 B7A2 lost in the attacks. The damaged ships must have off-loaded all troops during the night as no troop casualties inflicted. However, the land combat does not go well for the Allies: quote:
Ground combat at Woleai (101,103) Japanese Bombardment attack Attacking force 2481 troops, 13 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 172 Defending force 12115 troops, 232 guns, 148 vehicles, Assault Value = 365 Japanese ground losses: 1555 casualties reported Squads: 80 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 7 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Guns lost 13 (12 destroyed, 1 disabled) Allied ground losses: 585 casualties reported Squads: 29 destroyed, 22 disabled Non Combat: 6 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled Guns lost 6 (3 destroyed, 3 disabled) Vehicles lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled) Assaulting units: 14th Naval Guard Unit II/84th Naval Guard Unit 83rd Naval Guard Unit 24th Infantry Rgt /1 82nd Nav Gd /1 Maloelap Base Force 19th Port Unit 3rd JNAF Coy 89th JAAF AF Coy 107th JAAF AF Bn 4th JAAF AF Bn /1 Defending units: Americal Infantry Division 154th Field Artillery Battalion 209th Field Artillery Battalion -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground combat at Woleai (101,103) Allied Shock attack Attacking force 11613 troops, 229 guns, 146 vehicles, Assault Value = 325 Defending force 5717 troops, 27 guns, 7 vehicles, Assault Value = 115 Allied adjusted assault: 5 Japanese adjusted defense: 117 Allied assault odds: 1 to 23 (fort level 4) Combat modifiers Defender: forts(+), disruption(-) Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-) Japanese ground losses: 1173 casualties reported Squads: 32 destroyed, 33 disabled Non Combat: 21 destroyed, 19 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Guns lost 9 (4 destroyed, 5 disabled) Units destroyed 3 Allied ground losses: 2592 casualties reported Squads: 159 destroyed, 75 disabled Non Combat: 20 destroyed, 18 disabled Engineers: 9 destroyed, 3 disabled Guns lost 49 (32 destroyed, 17 disabled) Vehicles lost 13 (8 destroyed, 5 disabled) Assaulting units: Americal Infantry Division 154th Field Artillery Battalion 209th Field Artillery Battalion Defending units: II/84th Naval Guard Unit 14th Naval Guard Unit 24th Infantry Rgt /1 19th Port Unit 83rd Naval Guard Unit Maloelap Base Force 82nd Nav Gd /1 107th JAAF AF Bn 3rd JNAF Coy 89th JAAF AF Coy 4th JAAF AF Bn /1 One naval guard unit is still in good condition so, if I get lucky and the Allied bombardments do not damage that unit, may be able to last another day. VP loss by the Allies is 69 so that is 200+ devices destroyed, assume 30 lost at Truk suggests about 170 lost at Woleai Allies attack again at Truk and continue to destroy the defense while taking few losses themselves. Toungoo flips to the Allies, cutting the rail line North from Pegu. Looks like Allies have run some recon over Naga, may be he is planning to push on for Luzon in a hurry.
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