Lokasenna
Posts: 9297
Joined: 3/3/2012 From: Iowan in MD/DC Status: offline
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Walls of text/pictures incoming... April 17 - 20, 1943: The Arafura Shuffle Some skirmishes that go almost entirely my way in the Arafura Sea and surrounding area. Some background... April 4-6 I orchestrated a small combined assault on Merauke on April 4-5. Australia paratroop brigade attacked on April 4 and got only 1:4 odds, however most of the unit made it there and 1 IJ unit was destroyed. On April 5, I land a USN Base Force to help with subsequent unloading trips and provide a modicum of air cover - Merauke is only in danger of being bombed from Hansa Bay (AF8), Buna (AF7), and Hollandia (AF5), the former 2 bases are within easy strike range from Portland Roads and therefore he risks losing bombers on the ground. 61 4Es sortie from Normanton and surprise the defenders. 71 Zeroes are on CAP, but there is no radar and the time to target is only 4 minutes, with 40 minutes for all planes on CAP to intercept. Clearly, this is an 81-plane unit that he moved in after my recon of the base at 9/10 DL for 2 days revealed bombers and auxiliary planes, but no fighters. The airfield gets trashed in that raid and followup raids, with at least 7 Zeroes destroyed on the ground in addition to air/ops losses. Minimal losses for the Allies. On April 6, 65 4Es sortie against Taberfane again, getting at least 12 planes on the ground this time. April 6-7 Helens from Hansa Bay bomb Merauke, with fighters also strafing, but Allied troop losses are minimal.An enormous raid comes in, but still very light Allied troop losses. This is surprising, but good for us. CL Tama and 4 DDs slip through from the west before my DDs can get around the NE Australian Rhino Horn and sink AP McCawley and a gaggle of LCIs/LSTs just outside Horn Island. At least they unloaded a giant NZ AA Brigade first. A big bombardment TF of mine is sighted east of Cooktown, but I decide to send them in to Moresby anyway. April 8 Merauke is liberated. Moresby is bombarded, but the TF is hit by laser guided Betty torpedoes 6 hexes later, and I lose 2 old BBs when all is said and done, bringing the tally up to 4 for the war. Enough of that, 28-knots and over from here on out. Prince of Wales also has to head for repairs. On the way in, the TF ran into DD Akikaze and crippled her, but given that she was sighted on April 9 or 10, she may have survived. 65 4Es bomb Taberfane's port, with a good DL (USN Recon Liberators rock). CL Kinu and DD Tsuta are sunk at their moorings. Zeroes and Oscars are on CAP, but we punched through with light losses. Lack of radar really hurt him here. Warhawks from Horn Island cripple 2 DDs accompanying Tama, as well as damaging the cruiser. I believe DD Shirakumo sunk from fires. April 9 - MegaFighterUnit escort note 79 Zeroes escort only about 25 Nells on a strike against some xAKLs at Portland Roads. I'm finding these 81-plane units to be a real hassle and they're delaying my advances because I simply can't rely on my escorts to shoot down air strikes. At all. I only lose an APD in this raid, and my relatively meagre 39-plane CAP (the Warhawks are at Horn Island...) shoots down a bunch of escorts, but no Nells until after they've dropped their torpedoes. This has led to some 99% civil back-and-forth between MM and I about night bombing, as I perceive large 4E raids at night to be my only available counter at this point and the Allies simply can't afford to be delayed until late 1943 on their initial counteroffensive. But I just don't have the Corsairs and Hellcats in enough numbers to provide CAP and LRCAP to cover invasions. On the plus side, large numbers of planes destroyed on the ground is really helping my VP ratio, day by day, drop by drop. April 10-17 Portland Roads is now Port 4, so can rearm DDs. I begin using it periodically for DD bombardments and patrols against Moresby and Milne Bay. On April 17, 19 Lily dive bombers are escorted by 57 Zeroes from Buna and damage DD Nicholas outside Cooktown, which is later sunk by 13 Nells with 25-ish Zeroes on escort. 3:1 escort to strike package ratio because of that 81-plane unit... IJAAF Transports fly in the 1st Raiding Regiment, 2nd Raiding Regiment, and Yokosuka 4th SNLF to Merauke. They failed to take the base after I flew in most of a regular Australian brigade and are now trapped, with daily supply shipments being interdicted by flak. I don't have enough Corsairs to base at Merauke regularly, but did so while able to keep them in the air. Looking forward to killing these crack paratroops.
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