mind_messing
Posts: 3393
Joined: 10/28/2013 Status: offline
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The IJN goes all in, and the first contact outside Yokohama bodes well... quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Yokohama/Yokosuka at 114,62, Range 8,000 Yards Japanese Ships BB Haruna BB Kirishima, Shell hits 1 CA Suzuya DD Kiyokaze DD Taekaze DD Kiyousuki DD Ozuki DD Hazuki, Shell hits 1, on fire Allied Ships DD Franks, Shell hits 1, and is sunk DD Halligan DD Lewis Hancock DD Haraden, Shell hits 2, on fire ..but once the screening destroyers are batted aside an Allied SAG proves a tough nut to crack... quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Yokohama/Yokosuka at 114,62, Range 9,000 Yards Japanese Ships BB Haruna BB Kirishima, Shell hits 18, heavy fires, heavy damage 8 inch penetrating hits for the most part! Detaches and runs for cover CA Suzuya, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Kiyokaze, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Taekaze DD Kiyousuki, Shell hits 1 DD Ozuki, Shell hits 2 DD Hazuki, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk Allied Ships CA Pensacola CA Salt Lake City, Shell hits 1 CA Baltimore, Shell hits 1 CA Pittsburgh, Shell hits 6, on fire CA St. Paul, Shell hits 2 DD Quiberon DD Quickmatch DD Quadrant DD Saumarez DD Teazer, Shell hits 6, heavy fires DD Vigilant DD Virago, Shell hits 2, on fire Thankfully the Mutsu picks an excellent moment to pounce, following up on the earlier damage dealt by the two Kongo-class battlecruisers. quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Yokohama/Yokosuka at 114,62, Range 8,000 Yards Japanese Ships BB Mutsu, Shell hits 7, on fire DD Sakaki DD Hishi, Shell hits 4, on fire DD Satsuki, Shell hits 1 Allied Ships CA Pensacola CA Salt Lake City, on fire CA Baltimore, Shell hits 2, on fire CA Pittsburgh, Shell hits 1, heavy fires CA St. Paul, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Quiberon DD Quickmatch DD Quadrant DD Saumarez, Shell hits 1 DD Teazer, heavy fires DD Vigilant, Shell hits 1 DD Virago, on fire However, the time when the IJN would dominate naval combat in the dark is long past, and a relic of 1941 reappears at the close of the IJN's dream in 1945. quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Yokohama/Yokosuka at 113,61, Range 7,000 Yards Japanese aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses E13A1b Jake: 2 destroyed Japanese Ships BB Haruna, Shell hits 29, and is sunk CA Suzuya, Shell hits 31, and is sunk DD Kiyokaze, Shell hits 11, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Taekaze, Shell hits 4, on fire DD Kiyousuki, Shell hits 17, and is sunk Allied Ships BC Repulse, Shell hits 21, heavy fires Oddly poetic to have this ship here. BC Renown, Shell hits 2 CB Guam, Shell hits 2 CL Boise, Shell hits 6 Ditto DD Douglas Fox DD Haynsworth, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Lyman K. Swenson, Shell hits 5, heavy fires DD Chevalier II CL Trondheim, Shell hits 3, on fire CL Hedeby, Shell hits 1 CL Kattegat Daylight exposes the sad plight of the CVL Ibuki, the only operational Japanese aircraft carrier. It is sent empty on a suicide mission to the south, hoping to draw Allied attention away from the landing beaches. It succeeds, to some extent... quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Utsonomiya at 115,61, Range 16,000 Yards Japanese Ships CVL Ibuki, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk Allied Ships BB Iowa BB New Jersey BB Wisconsin BB Missouri, Shell hits 1 DD Drexler DD English DD Hugh W. Hadley DD Hyman DD Maddox DD Mansfield In the air, it is pure exasperation for me. Despite marshalling hundreds of aircraft and doing everything in my power to maximize co-ordination, Japanese strikes are at best fragmented and at worst utterly random. LRCAP over the invasion hexes helps somewhat, but Allied CAP simply is too dense. Despite aircraft attacking from 39k down to 100ft, almost every strike is completely mauled long before it gets to see Allied ships. In the occasional scenario that planes get through, flak tends to murder the rest. Frustrating. In total, IJ air losses are 1767 for the day, against 405 Allied. 3 kamikaze hits are reported on Allied CVE's. Allied 4E bombers smash into Tokyo's airfields, smashing the already fragile groups concentrated there for the strike against the Allied fleet. Strikes are conducted elsewhere on Japan, netting a total of 501 aircraft destroyed on the ground. Not limiting themselves to airbases, 4E bombers focus on the invasion beaches, carpet bombing Japanese fortifications. quote:
Morning Air attack on 1st Ind.Tank Brigade, at 114,61 (Chiba) Weather in hex: Heavy rain Raid detected at 79 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 27 minutes Japanese aircraft J2M3 Jack x 8 J2M5 Jack x 24 J7W1 Shinden x 10 N1K5-J George x 21 Ki-84r Frank x 11 Ki-94-II x 12 Ki-201 Karyu x 2 Allied aircraft Hellcat F.II x 2 B-29-25 Superfort x 258 B-29B Superfort x 20 FM-2 Wildcat x 2 F4U-1A Corsair x 7 F4U-1D Corsair x 18 F6F-3 Hellcat x 9 F6F-5 Hellcat x 22 F8F-1 Bearcat x 1 PB4Y-1 Liberator x 8 Japanese aircraft losses J2M3 Jack: 1 destroyed J2M5 Jack: 2 destroyed N1K5-J George: 4 destroyed Ki-84r Frank: 2 destroyed Ki-94-II: 2 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Hellcat F.II: 1 destroyed B-29-25 Superfort: 8 damaged B-29B Superfort: 1 damaged F4U-1D Corsair: 2 destroyed F6F-3 Hellcat: 2 destroyed F6F-5 Hellcat: 3 destroyed F8F-1 Bearcat: 1 destroyed Japanese ground losses: 7 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 31 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Vehicles lost 71 (1 destroyed, 70 disabled) Several more raids, smaller in nature, followed this. The end result was that by the time the Allies attacked in Chiba, the Japanese defenders were severely disrupted. quote:
Ground combat at Chiba (114,61) Allied Deliberate attack Attacking force 92639 troops, 1368 guns, 1871 vehicles, Assault Value = 3302 Defending force 24715 troops, 286 guns, 769 vehicles, Assault Value = 881 Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 4 Allied adjusted assault: 1315 Japanese adjusted defense: 268 Allied assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 4) Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 4 Combat modifiers Defender: forts(+), disruption(-), experience(-) Attacker: Japanese ground losses: 4273 casualties reported Squads: 33 destroyed, 374 disabled Non Combat: 7 destroyed, 130 disabled Engineers: 2 destroyed, 49 disabled Guns lost 113 (18 destroyed, 95 disabled) Vehicles lost 191 (46 destroyed, 145 disabled) Allied ground losses: 1794 casualties reported Squads: 11 destroyed, 193 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 52 disabled Engineers: 4 destroyed, 62 disabled Guns lost 47 (2 destroyed, 45 disabled) Vehicles lost 62 (11 destroyed, 51 disabled) While fresh reinforcements are being moved in rapdily to the region, given the open terrain and massive preponderance of Allied air and naval power and near complete freedom of action to employ it, the outcome is in doubt. The only glimer of hope lies in the fact that the Allied beachhead at Utsonomiya seems to be contained, for the moment... Whith such catastrophic losses in the air, the back of Japanese air power is firmly broken, and while the replacement pilots and planes exist to mend it, the requsite supply to mobilize these resources is lacking. Only Tokyo has any more than 20k supply, and replacing some 1700 planes will quickly lead to massive shortages in essential war products throughout the Empire...
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