Walker84
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Joined: 7/5/2009
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Dec 25, 1942
Japanese Plan
The Allies have moved 70-plus fighters to Milne Bay with the carriers close by. Two crack Zero groups will sweep the base today to degrade the defences and hopefully allow my bombers to attack the following day.
Meanwhile, I will land elements of a division at Munda to contest the island after Vangunu falls (with recent Allied reinforcements this is expected to happen today). The landings will be supported by sizeable SCTFs plus additional CAP flown in to Buin and Shortlands. KB will move to the East of Buin to attack enemy shipping close to Munda assuming it has not fled overnight as is often the case with Apbarog's landings.
Air battle over Milne Bay
The Zeroes go in and encounter about 50 Allied fighters - Kittyhawk IA, Spitfire Vc Trop, P-40K Warhawk and F4F-4 Wildcats. The Zero groups fly in separate waves and a couple of planes arrive late as well blunting the overall impact of the attack, but at least the losses are roughly even at about 12 on each side.
Air battles over the Solomons and Rossel Island
The Allied carriers have moved closer to Rossel overnight and something unplanned takes place as a unit of Jakes which was set to naval attack goes in escorted by many KB fighters. I had checked that all navy bombers were set at a range of 7 but thought the floatplanes were set to navsearch or ASW, so this is an example of not checking every possible eventuality before ending the turn. As it happens, the Zeroes don't perform badly but this was not the sort of error I needed at this critical juncture!
quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Rossel Island at 107,138
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
Raid detected at 77 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 38 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 97
E13A1 Jake x 8
Allied aircraft
Fulmar II x 27
F4F-4 Wildcat x 107
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 13 destroyed
E13A1 Jake: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Fulmar II: 3 destroyed
F4F-4 Wildcat: 6 destroyed
Allied LBA then attacks my SCTF near Munda and, apart from a couple of hits on Kongo, the CAP works pretty much as planned...
quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 13
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 34
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 19
Allied aircraft
P-40E Warhawk x 16
SBD-3 Dauntless x 17
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed
SBD-3 Dauntless: 8 destroyed, 6 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Arare
BB Kongo
Morning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 17
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 31
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 16
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 12
P-40E Warhawk x 25
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 3 damaged
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Bomb hits 2
BB Yamato
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x B-25C Mitchell bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 3 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
Morning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 19 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 14
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 35
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 15
Allied aircraft
Albacore I x 11
SBD-2 Dauntless x 11
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
Albacore I: 7 destroyed, 1 damaged
SBD-2 Dauntless: 8 destroyed
Japanese Ships
DD Kuri
xAK Sinsyu Maru
orning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 15 NM, estimated altitude 3,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 11
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 20
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 12
Allied aircraft
B-25C Mitchell x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 9 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed by flak
Japanese Ships
DD Nokaze
BB Kongo, Bomb hits 1
DD Sawakaze
If that had been the end of the day's activities we would have been pretty satisfied, however the Allied carriers' overnight movement brings them in range of Munda...
quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 5
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 19
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 6
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 90
TBF-1 Avenger x 30
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 2 destroyed, 15 damaged
SBD-3 Dauntless: 1 destroyed by flak
TBF-1 Avenger: 5 damaged
Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Bomb hits 1
BB Yamato, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAK Kasagi Maru, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Teika Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Ansyu Maru
PB Okiyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAK Sinsyu Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
DD Yuzuki
PB Aso Maru #7, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Sendai, Bomb hits 2, on fire
PB Ronsan Maru
Japanese ground losses:
2343 casualties reported
Squads: 48 destroyed, 16 disabled
Non Combat: 56 destroyed, 82 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 5 disabled
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Munda at 111,134
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 15
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 5
Allied aircraft
F4F-4 Wildcat x 18
SBD-3 Dauntless x 18
TBF-1 Avenger x 30
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 damaged
TBF-1 Avenger: 6 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Kuri
xAP Teika Maru, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
DD Kiku
DD Nokaze
xAK Kasagi Maru, and is sunk
PB Ansyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Sawakaze
PB Aso Maru #7, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Ronsan Maru
PB Okiyu Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
Japanese ground losses:
5006 casualties reported
Squads: 72 destroyed, 44 disabled
Non Combat: 100 destroyed, 140 disabled
Engineers: 16 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 12 (7 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Then the blasted Jakes attack the Allied carriers again in the afternoon and more Zeroes and Jakes are lost. As a tiny consolation, KB Kates manage to sink one APD out of a TF of seven near Tassafaronga.
To cap a brilliant day, the Allied overnight reinforcements attack and capture Vangunu.
Summary
In terms of plane losses we held up reasonably well - 106 Allied to 96 of our own. It would have been even better without the two Jake suicide missions.
Yamato and Kongo have moderate damage and will be fine as long as they do not run into Allied subs when withdrawing.
KB is still intact but will need to withdraw to take fighter replacements.
The most pain inflicted was in losing the infantry squads when the transports went down at Munda. This means I only managed to land an additional 40 AV ashore to contest the inevitable Allied push north from Vangunu.
And worst of all, my opponent still has the initiative as a result of today's multiple setbacks for Japanese arms. No doubt the Allies will especially enjoy tucking into their Christmas dinner .
_____________________________
The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most -
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 -1882)
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RE: Great Tides that Ebb and Flow: Apbarog (A) vs Walke... - 
Kudos on catching onto the Allied bombing threat at Port Blair. I'm very much enjoying following both of the AARS and you two are putting up a really good fight!
Some breaks for each side there, but the really big ones went to the Allies in that turn. I'm wondering about the inadvertent Jake raids which went badly. Aside from the loss of planes in those missions, did they also pull Zeroes away from possible CAP duties in those critical Allied strikes against your transports? 
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