mind_messing
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March 22nd to April 4th, 1945
There is no doubt now in my mind that we are fast approaching the terminal stages of this game. Yet, Japan still remains firmly in the fight. Industry in the Home Islands is intact, and while the last dregs of fuel are being consumed, industry pools are sufficient to tide Japan on for quite some time yet.
Philippine Islands
A series of major events transpire here in late-March, with the Allies putting troops ashore in large numbers on Luzon, at Naga in the south of the island.
Japanese efforts to interfere with the landings are shattered by massed B-29 strikes from low altitude at night on Japanese airbases on Luzon. The damage to the plan for the defence of Luzon is catastrophic - the ability to assemble a critical mass of aircraft to seriously damage an invasion fleet is removed, and what strikes that go against the US forces landing are dealt with by a strong CAP supplemented by land-based fighters from bases to the South.
USN carriers swiftly follow this with a raid on Manila, where the four Kongo-class battleships are at anchor, damaging one with a torpedo hit and forcing the battleships to withdraw back to Japan.
The IJN commits the KB to interdicting the US landings on Luzon, but with few land-based squadrons in fighting form after the night airbase raids, there are insufficient aircraft to do serious damage to the US Fleet, and the KB is forced to withdraw after heavy losses in aircraft and pilots. The Japanese carriers do, however, make a clean escape back to Japan.
The outcome of the battle is fairly one-sided. The Allies suffer the loss of two CVE to Japanese aircraft. The battleship USS West Virginia is likely sunk by an IJN submarine. The French battleship Richelieu and the fast battleship Missouri are both damaged, but no damage is inflicted to the USN fast carriers. IJN torpedo bombers on night naval attack missions in the following nights damage a further USN CVE.
Japanese losses are something along the lines of 1,300 planes, mostly on the ground. A large number of squadrons are shattered by these losses and most are pulled back to Formosa to regroup and recover. However, no major warships are lost.
The Allies are now firmly lodged on Luzon, and in force. In repsonse, troops and supplies are being ferried from Formosa to Luzon to help stiffen the resistance, while Japanese fighters on the island fly sweeps over the Allied lodgement at Naga.
Despite the free run the Allies have managed to have getting on to Luzon, I hope to be able to stall this campaign out as long as possible. There is 2000AV in Manila, and 1200 AV in the hex adjacent to it. One IJA division and two brigades are earmarked for air transportation in to Luzon, and fast transport task forces are already moving supplies in preparation of the Siege of Manila.
North Pacific
Just as March turns to April and the situation on Luzon calms down, a massive US naval presence appears in the North Pacific, heading for the Kuriles.
Unlike 1942, this time the Allied ships are spotted in plenty of time, and massive preparations are made to attempt to fend off the Allied ships.
The Allies land on April 2nd, 1945.
The Japanese naval and air response is massive. Large numbers of aircraft, staging from Hokkaido, are ready to intervene against the Allied fleet, while large numbers of IJN warships, mostly E-class coastal defence ships, are mobilised to interdict the landings. Allied carrier aircraft are kept on a tight leash, and there are no naval strikes attempting to clear the waters of these combatants. The KB was instructed to make a quick replenishment stop at Nagasaki and move with all speed to the Kuriles.
The Allies put troops ashore at Onnekotan-jima, Shimushiri-jima and Shasukotan. Both Onnekotan-jima and Shimushiri-jima have a single division in garrison and level 6 forts, while Shasukotan has a token garrison of an IJA battalion.
While the Allies are unloading troops, the IJN ships off-shore move in to make their attacks on the Allied armada. Confused by several forces of IJN warships operating close to them in the darkness, USN surface combat groups covering the invasions let a trio of IJN destroyers slip in to the CVE force covering the landings in daylight, to devastating effect:
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 132,51, Range 8,000 Yards
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 13 destroyed
Japanese Ships
DD Natsuzuki, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Keyaki
DD Nashi, Shell hits 4, on fire
Allied Ships
CVE Anzio
CVE White Plains
CVE Ommaney Bay
CVE Cape Esperance, Shell hits 1
CVE Wake Island, Shell hits 1
CVE Windham Bay
CVE Bismarck Sea, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Makin Island, Shell hits 1
CVE Admiralty Island, Shell hits 4
CVE Takanis Bay, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CLAA Juneau
DD Hall
DD John Hood
DD Rowe
DD Sigourney, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Cassin Young
DE John C. Butler, Shell hits 1
DE Richard S. Bull
DE Eversole
CL Hedeby, Shell hits 1
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Day Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 132,51, Range 7,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Natsuzuki, on fire
DD Keyaki
DD Nashi, Shell hits 1, on fire
Allied Ships
DE Eugene E. Elmore
DE Hodges
DE Holt
DE Jobb
DE Daniel A. Joy
DE Charles J. Kimmel
DE Lough, Shell hits 1
DE McNulty
APD Enright
APD Gantner
APD George W. Ingram
APD Ira Jeffery, Shell hits 1
APA Marathon, Shell hits 3, on fire
APA Renville
APA Rawlins
APA Pickens, Shell hits 1
APA Sibley
APA Magoffin
APA Navarro, heavy damage
APA Effingham, Shell hits 15, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
28 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
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Day Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 132,51, Range 3,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
DD Natsuzuki, on fire
DD Keyaki
DD Nashi, on fire
Allied Ships
APD Belet
APD Burke
APD Lee Fox
APD Witter, Shell hits 8, heavy fires
APA Fremont
APA Montour, Shell hits 41, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Bedford Victory
AK Canada Victory
AK Manderson Victory, Shell hits 10, on fire
AK Navajo Victory
LCI-786
LCI-794, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
Allied ground losses:
448 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 18 destroyed, 43 disabled
Vehicles lost 12 (3 destroyed, 9 disabled)
However, the accumulated damage was too much for the damage control teams on the IJN destroyers, and all three sank before making it back to a safe port.
By the end of D-Day on April 2nd, the situation became quite clear in that Allied forces had landed in sufficent strength to take Onnekotan-jima, but were stalemated on Shasukotan and Shimushiri-jima.
IJN interference with the landings continued on the night of April 3rd, with a force of Japanese motor-torpedo boats breaking past the covering Allied warships and making a effective attack on ships unloading troops at Shimushiri-jima:
quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 132,51, Range 1,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
MTB G-1023
MTB G-1024
MTB G-1025
MTB G-1030
MTB G-1031, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
MTB G-455, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
Allied Ships
DE Oliver Mitchell
DE O'Flaherty
DE Oberrender
DE Thaddeus Parker
APA Henrico, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 6, and is sunk
APA Catron, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
APA Edgecombe, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
APA Drew
APA Mountrail
APA Montrose
APA Marvin McIntyre, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
APA Gage
APA Menifee
AGC Spencer, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Allied ground losses:
2154 casualties reported
Squads: 26 destroyed, 26 disabled
Non Combat: 125 destroyed, 67 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Vehicles lost 74 (67 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Several more engagements followed this one, with IJN MTB's engaging Allied LST's, sinking several and disrupting landing operations.
The USN gets some revenge, sinking the CL Sakawa off Hokkaido with three torpedoes. This recently completed ship saw no real combat service and was sunk on it's way north to the combat area.
Daylight on April 3rd brought more surface engagements with IJN E-class ships, which generally resulted in a net loss to the IJN. However, a force of the E-class warships were able to again engage a USN task force of LST's and further disrupt landing operations.
Japanese attempts at air attack on the USN ships were hampered by poor weather and poor co-ordination, leading to heavy losses amongst the attacking squadrons. However, a single IJA Peggy bomber was able to ram the CVE Anzio.
By April 4th, the IJN had been able to bring large numbers of warships in to the combat zone, which effectively clouded the battle area for USN carrier operations. The key engagement occurred at night between a group of IJN E-class warships and the main USN carrier group.
quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 133,51, Range 30,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
E No.57
E No.186, heavy fires, heavy damage
E No.205, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
CV Yorktown
CV Enterprise
CV Randolph
CV Shangri-La
CVL Independence
CVL Belleau Wood
CVL Cowpens
CVL Bataan
CVL San Jacinto
CV Lexington
CV Illustrious
CV Essex
BC Renown
CL Emerald
CLAA San Juan
DD Lewis Hancock
DD Healy
DD Heermann
DD Luce
DD McNair
DD Mertz
DD Owen
DD Halsey Powell
DD John Rodgers
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 133,51, Range 30,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
E No.118
E No.154
E No.190
Allied Ships
CV Yorktown
CV Enterprise
CV Randolph
CV Shangri-La
CVL Independence
CVL Belleau Wood
CVL Cowpens
CVL Bataan
CVL San Jacinto
CV Lexington
CV Illustrious
CV Essex
BC Renown
CL Emerald
CLAA San Juan
DD Lewis Hancock
DD Healy
DD Heermann
DD Luce
DD McNair
DD Mertz
DD Owen
DD Halsey Powell
DD John Rodgers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 133,51, Range 2,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
E No.3, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
E No.47, Shell hits 6, on fire
E No.63, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
E No.74, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
E No.76, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
E No.82, Shell hits 1
E No.102, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
Allied Ships
CV Yorktown
CV Enterprise
CV Randolph
CV Shangri-La
CVL Independence
CVL Belleau Wood
CVL Cowpens, Shell hits 4
CVL Bataan
CVL San Jacinto
CV Lexington
CV Illustrious
CV Essex, Shell hits 6
BC Renown
CL Emerald
CLAA San Juan
DD Lewis Hancock
DD Healy
DD Heermann
DD Luce
DD McNair
DD Mertz
DD Owen
DD Halsey Powell
DD John Rodgers
While the damage to the USN carriers was minimal, this triggered their retreat back eastwards. In game terms, these surface engagements sent the US CV TF back to it's home base in the Aleutians.
While the US CV's were returning east, land-based torpedo bombers took off on night attack missions on the US ships off Shimushiri-jima in what was the most effective night attack of the war to date.
quote:
Night Air attack on TF, near Shimushiri-jima at 133,52
Weather in hex: Clear sky
Raid detected at 59 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 19 minutes
Japanese aircraft
B6N2 Jill x 14
Japanese aircraft losses
B6N2 Jill: 1 damaged
Allied Ships
APA Gage, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
APA Mountrail, Torpedo hits 1
Allied ground losses:
3183 casualties reported
Squads: 37 destroyed, 35 disabled
Non Combat: 161 destroyed, 45 disabled
Engineers: 40 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 111 (110 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 51 (51 destroyed, 0 disabled)
With dawn on April 4th, the situation was dire for USN forces off Shimushuri-jima. Their escort carriers were bloodied and their fleet carriers steaming the wrong direction, and the front-line warships of the IJN had been committed to destroying them.
The only American surface combat group that managed to interfere with the IJN warships was a destroyer force led by the CLAA Flint, which inflicted significant damage to the slow battleship element of the IJN fleet, but suffered serious losses in turn.
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 132,51, Range 9,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
BB Nagato, Shell hits 6
BB Mutsu, Shell hits 4
BB Ise, Shell hits 8
DD Hinoki, Shell hits 24, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kashi, Shell hits 26, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Kaya, Shell hits 17, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Kaede, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Tsubaki, Shell hits 20, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Tachibana, Shell hits 11, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
Allied Ships
CLAA Flint, Shell hits 20, and is sunk
DD Borie, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Douglas Fox
DD Hubbard, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Wallace Lind
DD Lowry, Shell hits 3, and is sunk
DD Massey
DD Putnam, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
DD Zellars, Shell hits 1
DD Algonquin, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
DD Fat Albert
DD Ganoes Paran, Shell hits 1
DD Draconus
DD Aaron Ward II, Shell hits 5, on fire
While the slow battleship force was battered, the BB Hiei was able to close and engage the force of USN escort carriers covering the invasion. The lightly armed American ships were not capable of effectively resisting and the poorly armoured CVE's did not stand up well in a surface engagement,
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Shimushiri-jima at 132,51, Range 6,000 Yards
Allied aircraft
no flights
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 15 destroyed
Japanese Ships
BB Hiei, Shell hits 3
DD Shii, Shell hits 1
DD Sumire, Shell hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Enoki, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Kusunoki, Shell hits 8, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
CVE Anzio
CVE White Plains
CVE Ommaney Bay, Shell hits 1
CVE Cape Esperance, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Wake Island, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Windham Bay, Shell hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
CVE Makin Island, Shell hits 2
CVE Admiralty Island, Shell hits 11, and is sunk
CLAA Juneau
DD Hall
DD John Hood
DD Rowe
DE Richard S. Bull, Shell hits 1
DE Eversole, Shell hits 1, on fire
CL Hedeby
While the USN CVE's off Shimushiri-jima were being battered, the IJN added insult to injury when a further group of E-class warships managed to sneak in to range of the CVE force covering Onnekotan-jima. While lacking the speed, armament or armour of the first-rate IJN warships, these small escort ships were able to cause problems for the lightly armoured CVE's.
quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Onnekotan-jima at 136,48, Range 5,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
E No.4
E No.12
E No.18
E No.40, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage
Allied Ships
CVE Corregidor
CVE Shipley Bay
CVE Munda
CVE Attu
CVE Commencement Bay
CVE Block Island, Shell hits 11, on fire
CVE Stalker
CVE Striker, Shell hits 2
CVE Activity
CVE Tracker, Shell hits 2
CVE Rajah
DE Alvin C. Cockrell
DE Conklin
DE Corbesier
DE George E. Davis
DE Dufilmo
DE Formoe
DE French
DE Goss
With the Allied CVE force harried severely by the surface warships of the IJN, it offered the Japanese squadrons based on Hokkaido and other Kurile Islands a free hand at attacking Allied shipping. Over a series of attacks, most unopposed, what had been started by the warships of the IJN was completed.
The summary of the damage:
Escort Carriers
- CVE Windham Bay: Kamikaze hit 1, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage, confirmed sunk
- CVE Anzio: Bomb hits 3, Kamikaze hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
- CVE Bismarck Sea: Kamikaze hit 1, confirmed sunk
Battleships
- BB Texas: Bomb hits 1
- BB New York: Torpedo hits 1, Bomb hits 2, Kamikaze hits 1, on fire
- BB Arkansas: Torpedo hits 2, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
Transports
- APA Marathon: Bomb hits 1, on fire
- APA Magoffin: Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
- LSD Shadwell: Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
- Aprox 4 LSI/LSM ships
Destroyer Escorts
- DE John C. Butler: Kamikaze hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
- DE Walton: Kamikaze hits 1, heavy damage
- DE Eugene E. Elmore: Bomb hits 2, on fire
- DE Tabberer, Bomb hits 1, on fire
- DE Marsh: Kamikaze hits 1
Ashore, the Allies seem to fare somewhat better. While the attack on Shimushiri-jima is stalled, the Allies attack at Onnekotan-jima, knocking forts down to 5 on the 3rd, and down to level 4 on the 4th. The massively outnumbered defenders are doomed. Meanwhile, on Hokkaido, preparations are underway for the rapid reinforcement of Shimushiri-jima, with the goal of driving the Americans back into the ocean. The KB, refueled and ready for combat, will pursue the American warships for the decisive battle.
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Printable Version
RE: Skynet - 
Anyway, you are also correct that you want your best fighter model on either CAP or Night CAP and so yes you need a ton of your last model fighter. George/Jack work well in the night CAP role through '46 ... both are fast enough, have 4x20mm, armor, and decent DUR. So I tend to use those pools in night CAP roles as I replace the day airgroups with SAM/Shinden. At some point, I have enough production to start putting Sam/Shinden into night CAP. 
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