RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/17/2016 8:13:19 PM

apbarog

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11 Feb 43

Enemy sub spotted near Canton Island again. Subchasers don't hit it, but SBDs based at Canton do later in the day.

Vals escorted by Zeros attack my PTs at Vangunu. I thought that you had to strafe PTs to get planes to attack but I am mistaken. No bombs hit. Tojos sweep Vangunu afterwards but find no CAP. I'm sure that these Tojo pilots are excellent but this unit always seems to be late to the party.

About 30 B-17s bomb Port Moresby's airfield, keeping it damaged. No CAP. Enemy search/recon planes do show up here during the day though, and immediately see lots of my task forces on the Australian coast. Port Moresby has been empty for months, bad timing for me.

Here's the situation for Tabiteuea. My task forces are starting to approach from the south. Enemy ships are at Tarawa. I moved bombers and escort to Nauru and hope to hit this task force before my task forces are seen to the south. Remember, my first Tabiteuea invasion was nixed by a few cruisers and destroyers, sinking 2 of my old battleships and some of my transports. Can't let that happen again.

My task forces to the southeast are a bit behind schedule, and need to move more northwest before my other task forces start their move.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/17/2016 8:14:27 PM

apbarog

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11 Feb 43

Now for Horn Island.

Lots of my ships at Cooktown were spotted today. Not the best news, but we continue. 5 US carriers move up from the south. Fighters inland cover the transports moving along the coast. B-17s move to Cooktown and will bomb Merauke. B-24s move to Cloncurry and will bomb bases south of Darwin. Note that my invasion task forces have troops not only for Horn, but for Merauke also. 2 divisions for Merauke!

And to top things off, I started loading troops for Taberfane and Dobo, targets further northwest of Merauke.

KB is not to be seen, and has been absent from Rabaul for over a week. I really hope that my spotting of a big task force very near to Japan yesterday means that KB is back at the Home Islands. That would be great timing for me.

I'm reserving the option for loading for Buna also. My troops and ships are in place should I decide to do that. I would consider it if there is a reaction to Merauke/Taberfane/Dobo, reactions on the west side of New Guinea. Then I'll go all out for Buna and Port Moresby.

As a diversion, a Dutch surface group is at Perth and will move up the western coast of Australia. Enemy subs have been watching here for quite awhile. Unfortunately, my ships weren't spotted today.

Back in Burma, where nothing has been happening for a long time. my B-17s will attack Medan's airfield. I'm seeing about 40 fighters and about the same number of bombers. No plans here, just hitting out of the blue.

There's been a lull in the fighting as these ops were being prepared, now it's time for some action.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/18/2016 4:03:59 AM

jwolf

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quote:

Back in Burma, where nothing has been happening for a long time. my B-17s will attack Medan's airfield.

Magwe? Medan is on Sumatra. Or can you reach that far?

Anxious to see the results of your invasions.

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Post #: 933

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/18/2016 4:12:02 AM

apbarog

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Yep, Magwe. :)
I'm anxious for the next couple of days also.

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Post #: 934

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/18/2016 11:24:34 PM

apbarog

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12 Feb 43

Sub Whale finds some xAKs southeast of Babeldaob, fires on one, and hits it. Probable sunk.

Very much out of the blue, 12 Bettys attack ground troops in China at Tsuyung. This is in the mountains near Burma. Looks like an intel gathering mission.

At Horn Island, I send a token force of 12 Wirraways to bomb the troops, but they hit nothing.

At Merauke, however, all of my Australian B-17s bomb the airfield, doing heavy damage. 30 Ki-43IIc Oscars are on CAP, but they are brushed aside. I suffer 2 bomber ops losses.

My Indian B-17s bomb Magwe's airfield, finding 28 Oscars and 3 Nicks. Damage to the airfield is moderate, and a Dinah is destroyed on the ground. I forget to stand down today so the bombers go again tomorrow.

A squadron of B-25s and one of B-26s bomb the enemy troops at Port Moresby, hitting nothing. Just a small attempt to show interest here with my shipping on the move.

I also sent 12 B-17s from the Solomons to Gasmata on a nuisance raid. Damage is light to moderate on the airfield, and no CAP is encountered.

B-24 attacks at Katherine and Fenton do light damage and find no CAP.

None of my Tabiteuea invasion shipping is seen yet. It'll be a few days till the invasion. There is a cruiser force still at Tarawa, and my bombers didn't fly today. I try again. I also spot what looks like a cruiser task force north of Ontong Java, southbound. Could be a bombardment task force or just going to the Solomons. It could change directions toward Nauru too.

As for my Horn Island shipping, a few of the task forces are spotted on the Australian coast. Doesn't necessarily look like an invasion yet, but tomorrow everything will stop 2 hexes south of Horn Island. My carriers were not spotted today.

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Post #: 935

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/20/2016 2:04:23 AM

apbarog

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13 Feb 43

RO-65 takes a shot at Dutch sub KXV near Milne Bay but misses.

Sub Snook spots 2xAKs, 2 PBs, and a DD northwest of Marcus Island, fires on a patrol boat, and misses. The enemy is starting to see my subs all over the place.

Enemy subchasers go after Wahoo near Ponape Island, but get no hits. This has been a high detection level area for quite awhile.

Wildcats sweep Merauke, but find that the Oscars left. I stood down my B-17s in Australia.

But I forgot to do so in Burma, and they go back to Magwe. This time there's Tojos, and 6 B-17s are lost. B-17s do great against Oscars but not so well against Tojos. Some airfield damage is done but this is a distraction that has run its course.

An enemy cruiser task force is found at Jaluit, maybe the one that was at Tarawa before. B-25s fly a low level bombing mission, find no fighter CAP, but all bombs miss.

As for today, it was one of those turns that takes a lot of time but is extremely enjoyable to do. All of those turns of logistics and now it's time for a turn or two of excitement.

First Horn Island.

There's no surprise here, I'm coming and it's obvious now. I sent a minesweeper to the straits south of Horn, and no mines were found. A small task force with 1 CA, 1 CL, and 1 DD will bombard Horn and stay there. An invasion task force will arrive at night. Some light bombers will hit the enemy troops during the day. My Merauke invasion forces will move 2 hexes WNW of Horn. My carriers will move just west of Horn, providing ranged CAP for all ships. Another task force will bombard Merauke. It has the same makeup as my Horn bombardment task force. A big cruiser task force escorts my Merauke shipping.

Other ships, destined for the dot bases stretching from Normanton up toward Darwin, will pass by Horn and follow the coast south. 3 dots bases that are still Allied will be occupied. Wesel Island (barely visible on the west edge of the map) will be invaded, but after the other landings. That task force will refuel at Normanton first, and will take advantage of my carriers in a few days. I am starting to airlift a base unit to Groote Eylandt. I will base some Cats there tomorrow.

Shipping for Taberfane and Dobo (off the map to the northwest) are headed north from Townsville now.

I'm sending several squadrons of B-24s to hit Hansa Bay's AF. I've never reconned this base, and it is now a large airbase. I'm hoping for surprise here. This base is almost as big a threat as Lae. As for Lae, I've never bombed it, as it has over 100 fighters. Today, my B-17s go after it, hopefully after multiple fighter units sweep from Milne Bay. I expect this to be very ugly. My fighter squadrons are small. I know that losses will be high. But I want to put a few holes in the runway there and maybe lessen the effectiveness of bombers basing there. Like I said, it will be ugly but I accept that for today. Maybe I'll have some luck and find a bunch of fighters on escort duty instead of CAP. Could happen. I haven't attacked here before.

2 P-38 squadrons have unloaded in southwestern Australia and are hitting the rails for northeast Australia. It'll take 6 days to arrive, then more time to repair. They have the best of the best pilots, and will come in handy very soon.

SigInt says that there's heavy activity at 63,109. This is southeast of Java, north of the island chain. I strongly suspect that this is a reaction force that was at Soerbaja. It will probably go to Koepang or Darwin. I got the same message for Babeldaop.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/20/2016 2:05:29 AM

apbarog

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13 Feb 43

And now for Tabiteuea. My ships have been spotted. As I said, an enemy cruiser force was spotted at Jaluit and ineffectively bombed. It will move elsewhere today, that I am sure of.

My plan is to move everything to 2 hexes south of Arorae today. Tomorrow, Arorae will be occupied. It is still Allied. My carriers and ships destined for Tabiteuea will move to just west of Arorae.

So far, I've been fairly predictable with my landings. I like to move to a point where I can invade during the night phase, to unload the maximum number of troops. Last time at Tabiteuea, the enemy cruisers ruined the party, sinking 2 slow battleships and aborting my invasion before any troops had left the ships. This time, I am going to pause in place when I'm at and adjacent to Arorae, and just send in a small cruiser task force. It is very likely that they will run into those enemy cruisers, or a similar task force that I'm not seeing. My combat task force is small, and that battle may not go well, but it won't be with my invasion shipping. If any of his ships linger after the battle, my carriers will take care of them. Then I should invade.

Onotoa will be invaded by a small force then also.

It could be a couple of days until I get a turn back. My opponent's busy part of the week is the latter half of the week, and he senses that big things are about to happen, and he'll need more time than usual.

I replied that if he saw anything, the ships are just native fishermen trying to earn a living. :)

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/20/2016 7:06:29 PM

jwolf

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quote:

I replied that if he saw anything, the ships are just native fishermen trying to earn a living.

Heh. I don't think he's going to buy it.

Good luck with the landings and related ops. Will be very interesting to follow the next few turns.

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Post #: 938

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/22/2016 1:01:41 AM

apbarog

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14 Feb 43

One of my carrier task forces runs over I-156 near Horn Island. I-156 takes 2 good depth charge hits and is badly damaged if not sunk. No carriers are spotted by the sub. A similar encounter occurs with I-20, with I-20 being moderately damaged.

Horn Island is bombarded by my 3 ship task force, and does tremendous damage to the enemy troops in the clear terrain.

Merauke is bombarded by a similarly sized task force, with even better results to the troops, with the bonus of some airfield and port damage.

Then the Horn Island unloading begins.

During the day, some B-26s bomb enemy troops on Horn Island, doing moderate damage.

B-25s bomb troops at Merauke, but hit nothing in the jungle terrain.

28 B-24s attack Hansa Bay and its big airfield, finding just 6 Dinahs on CAP. Damage to the airfield is light to moderate, with a Dinah and a Thalia destroyed on the airfield.

12 B-24s bomb Port Moresby's AF, doing moderate damage. No CAP.

Buna is swept by a small unit of Kittyhawks, finding no CAP.

My big sweeps of Lae do not fly. All of my B-17s in Australia do not fly to Lae. Weather. I decide not to try again today. Horn is taken and I don't see bombers moved into Lae.

Finally, Horn Island is shock attacked, and the island is taken with 14 to 1 odds. Only 3 units were at Horn: Kure 2nd SNLF, 37 Construction Company, and part of the 3rd JNAF Coy. Some enemy troops remain on the exposed island and won't last long. A minefield appears on the map. None of my ships hit a mine, fortunately. It may be that the minefield was just dropped by sub. I send minesweepers into Horn and the surrounding area.

It's worth noting that Horn was taken with the same 13 Australian Brigade that failed at Horn back when I tried earlier. The brigade was rebuilt and it returned to finish the job.

What was the difference this time? I unloaded more troops faster. Last time, I had to leave with only half of the brigade unloaded. Then enemy battleships showed up and destroyed my troops on the exposed beach. Also, enemy paras reinforced the base after that first day. Not this time.

Merauke will be invaded today. My carriers will support just to the southwest. My big cruiser force will sit at Merauke, just in case. 2 divisions plus support will unload at Merauke.

Cats have been moved to Groote Eylandt, and I'm flying support in. Task forces head to Groote and Mornington. The Wesel invasion task force heads to Normanton to refuel, then it will go to Wesel. My carriers should be passing by there about that time, on the way to support the invasions of Taberfane and Dobo, along with the occupation of Timoeka, the Allied dot base east of Dobo on the New Guinea coast.

All of this, of course, assumes that the enemy does nothing to interfere.

The enemy has a tough time of things, here, I think. Merauke is just a size 1 airfield. Darwin is big but fairly far away. Hansa Bay is big but distant also. Everything is within Betty range, of course, but my carriers are supporting. Taberfane and Dobo is not built up. There just isn't a big prepared defense here.

I have sent some naval bombers to the Milne Bay area, just in case the Japanese try to run some combat ships past Milne Bay to threaten Horn from behind me.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/22/2016 1:02:28 AM

apbarog

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14 Feb 43 (continued)

Now for Tabiteuea.

I will land combat engineers on the still Allied dot base of Arorae. I will not be landing at Tabiteuea today. My invasion shipping and carriers will sit just west of Arorae.

The enemy cruiser task force keeps moving between islands, and is now at Makin. It could rush into Tabiteuea tonight. I won't be there.

The deceptive part of my plan will be tomorrow, when I will sit in place and still not invade Tabiteuea. I will wait a day, then move in.

I figure that I didn't have surprise with all of this. I know that that cruiser force will be the problem. I hope to either get lucky and have it move to Tabiteuea before I get there, and be a target for my carriers, or have it move to Tabiteuea, at night, looking for me, then run back north at full speed.

When I do land at Tabiteuea, I will be landing at Onotoa also.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/23/2016 2:29:53 AM

apbarog

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15 Feb 43

With the shallow waters between Horn Island and Merauke, lots of enemy subs are spotted and attacked. One sub is definitely sunk, another is a probable sinking, and there's a few other damaged subs. Not torpedo hits from them.

Troops unload at Merauke. Parts of a US infantry division and a Brit infantry division unload.

Allied minesweepers sweep the minefield at Horn Island completely.

At Lae, lots of Allied fighters sweep. I canceled my order of trying to bomb Lae, but forgot to cancel the sweeps. The fight was tough, and losses were fairly even. 13 Zeros and 9 Oscars were downed. 11 P40Ks, 7 F4F-4s, and 5 Kittyhawks were lost. Ok by me.

At Horn Island, I shock attack again, getting 78 to 1 odds and hurting what's left of the Kure 2nd SNLF. I'll deliberately attack.

First the plans at Tabiteuea.

How many times have I almost invaded Tabiteuea? I've lost count. Let's add another instance.

I spot an enemy carrier task force coming from the Kusaie Island area. At normal speed, I could invade Tabiteuea now but only stay for that one day to unload. This also discounts the possibility that the cruiser task force at Makin steams down to Tabiteuea at full speed at night to disrupt the landing. There's also the possibility that the enemy carriers move at full speed to put Tabiteuea in range immediately. I decide that it isn't worth the risk.

With my landing of troops on the already Allied dot base of Arorae, I've really accomplished what I wanted already. I'm putting pressure here, and the enemy is reacting here and is not elsewhere.

I will divert one infantry regiment to help defend Arorae. The rest of the invasion shipping will return to Pago Pago. The Allied carriers will take some risk and jump northeast to get into range of Makin. The enemy cruisers would hopefully be the target, whether they stay there for the day, or return there after a high speed run into Tabiteuea. The enemy carriers would be out of range if they move at normal speed, but could be a problem if they make a high speed run.

I'll take the chance and then run away.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/23/2016 2:30:59 AM

apbarog

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15 Feb 43 (continued)

Now for the Horn Island area and beyond.

I'll deliberately attack at Horn Island. The enemy is about done for here.

I'm seeing some detection levels northeast of Darwin. It could be from search planes from Darwin, or it could be a task force inbound. It is about the right amount of time for the task force that left Soerbaja awhile back to be here. I'm guessing that if there are ships here, they are surface combat ships, not carriers. I move my carriers northwest to a blocking position. If the enemy does have carriers, I guessed that they would move to a point northwest of Merauke, along the New Guinea coast. My move covers this possibility. If the enemy brings in just a combat task force, my carriers will be further northwest than expected, and I may get a shot at them.

Unloading continues at Merauke. The followup units will start unloading at Merauke, and I deliberately attack here.

My ships at Groote Eylandt have not been spotted yet. Other ships are inbound, and Cats are here for search. Other task forces start to head for Gove and Wesel Islands.

Should there not be an enemy response in this area, my Taberfane and Dobo invasion task forces will continue north and we'll land there also. If that happens, the enemy has to start panicking a bit. I do think that the concentration of enemy forces from Buna to Lae to Rabaul to Shortlands will lessen. I will be ready for that possibility with my planned invasions of Buna and Port Moresby, maybe followed by Lae.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/23/2016 7:53:14 PM

apbarog

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16 Feb 43

More troops unload at Merauke without incident.

I-122 is pummeled by depth charges near Merauke and is probably sunk.

East of Sorong, at the northern tip of New Guinea, sub Haddo gets a torpedo hit on an xAK, and there are troops on the ship.

At Munda, I sweep with P-40Es and do well. About 10 enemy aircraft are downed for the loss of a couple.

Remnants of the Kure 2nd SNLF are bombed on Horn Island by Wirraways.

B-25s bomb enemy troops at Merauke.

B-26ws bomb enemy troops on Wessel Island.

One B-17 squadron bombs the airfield at Katherine, destroying at least one Ki-15iII Babs on the ground. Just search planes based here, no CAP.

One unit of B-17s and one unit of B-24s bomb Hollandia, on the east side of New Guinea, doing slight to moderate damage to the airfield.

An obviously highly skilled Zero group sweeps Nauru Island, utterly destroying the F4F-3 CAP there for no loss of their own.

I sweep Makin with carrier F4F-4s, finding a like number of Zeros, and again, my fighters are slaughtered, for no loss to the enemy.

18 SBDs escorted by 21 F4F-4 from the Lexington/CVE group attack shipping at Makin, but only find an xAKL and a PB. The cruisers left and are now with the enemy carriers nearby. The xAKL is sunk, but two thirds of the SBDs are shot down.

At Merauke, the US and British infantry divisions attack with overwhelming odds capturing the base and destroying the five small enemy units there: 8th Indpt SNLF Coy, 4th JNAF Coy, 37th JNAF AF Bn, 3rd Naval Construction Battalion, and the 13th JAAF AF Coy. The rest of the US 32nd Infantry Division will continue to unload, but ships with the rest of the 18th British Division stop unloading and go back to Australia. I'll pick up the rest of the Brits when I can. The 18th British Division will then be split and will garrison Tulagi, Kirakira, and Ndeni, freeing up a US division that has been prepping for Darwin.

The Australians shock attack at Horn Island and eliminate the remaining enemy, the Kure 2nd SNLF unit.

Horn Island and Merauke are complete successes. I brought more than I needed to Merauke, but that's better than not bringing enough.

Now for the Tabiteuea area situation:

My carrier strike of Makin failed. The enemy cruiser task force left, and my aircraft did poorly over Makin, despite sinking an xAKL. My carriers will now run full speed to the southeast. Note that this carrier group has Lexington, Hermes, and 4 small CVEs. 2 CVEs had broken off to protect shipping at Arorae.

The enemy carriers are now northwest of Makin, with the surface group that I was hunting. Almost all of my shipping at Arorae will now run south. I left one xAKL to continue to unload supply, as more supply is really needed for the troops just landed. I did lay 75 mines at Arorae.

I say for sure if the enemy carriers are KB or mini-KB, but I'm outnumbered apparently either way. It's time to vacate the area. But I am extremely happy to see the enemy carriers here. They are here, and not on the other side of New Guinea, or at Rabaul for that matter.

I've temporarily withdrawn my fighters and bombers from Nauru. The fighter group was hurt badly by the enemy fighter sweep. I can't stand up to the enemy carriers at this time.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/23/2016 7:54:07 PM

apbarog

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16 Feb 43 (continued)

Now for the situation on the western side of New Guinea. With Merauke and Horn Island secure, my carriers will move 2 hexes to the west. My big cruiser force, that was protecting shipping at Merauke, will move to my carriers, as will my invasion shipping for Taberfane, Dobo, and Timoeka. Task forces approach Wessel Island and will not make it there today but will tomorrow. All of my shipping south of a line at Merauke is not being spotted.

My subchasers are doing great work here in the shallow water. It's become extremely dangerous for the enemy subs.

I spot some kind of task force moving south near Ambon. The sighting is poor, only seeing a CL and a DD, so I don't really know what is coming. I did spot a sub at Taberfane yesterday, so it may be mined now.

I've decided to use Normanton as a bit of a forward base for this area. I started to move some support shipping there. I'll have a variety ship types, including an AE, AD, AG, AS, and even an ARD eventually (it has a long trip to make from Ndeni).

I have no way of knowing yet how my plan will work out, but it appears to me that the enemy was caught unprepared in this area. I'll know for sure in a couple of days when I get to Taberfane and Dobo. Of course, this could be some kind of elaborate trap that I'm not seeing, but I'm really liking the looks of things so far.

One thing I have noticed is that the airbases stretching from Lae to Shortlands now have fewer fighter aircraft. The enemy has had to start spreading out the defenses. Lae still has over 100 fighters, but Rabaul is down to 84, Torokino has 27, Buin has 39, and Shortlands has 25. There's now aircraft at Truk and also Hollandia.

If everything goes as planned, I'd like to complete taking Taberfane and Dobo, and as my carriers withdraw back south past Horn Island, they meet my huge invasion task force for Buna. Then I can work on my long-standing plan of cutting off Port Moresby.

The key to me going ahead with Buna is seeing the enemy carriers and surface groups away from the Rabaul area. Anything sitting right at Rabaul can hit Buna immediately, and I plan on landing 3 plus divisions, and many support units. I can't have that much interference.

The way things are going, though, exploiting this apparent breakthrough west of New Guinea may be the better plan.

Now let's see how the enemy is going to respond.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/23/2016 9:08:13 PM

BBfanboy

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British 18th Div is highly experienced and it is a shame to break it up for garrison duty. Aren't there some US (separate) regiments that could be used? Or Australian or NZ Brigades?

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Post #: 945

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/23/2016 9:54:51 PM

apbarog

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I don't think that I can find 3 regiments that aren't prepping for something. I would just leave the broken up US infantry division at those 3 locations, but the division has been prepping for Darwin for awhile, and I think that is going to be useful very soon. I'll see what I can do to dig up another option. Thanks BBfanboy. That Brit division is very good. I was just trying to avoid combat more combat with it, since the Brit replacement pools are much shallower than the US ones.

I will search for other options.

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Post #: 946

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/24/2016 3:10:28 AM

apbarog

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17 Feb 43

No night activity. P-40Es again sweep Munda. Losses for both sides are about 3.

Enemy APDs show up at Buna. 2 more units are spotted at Buna, so troops are landing. This surprised me. I didn't expect ships to show up so close to Milne Bay. Unfortunately, I had moved a bunch of old torpedo bombers here, and didn't provide any fighter escort. Lots of Albacores fly alone into heavy CAP at Buna. Most are shot down. A few drop torpedoes and miss. 22 Albacores are lost.

I did a nuisance bombing raid of troops at Terapo, northwest of Port Moresby. Since I did the same last turn, today Tojos were on LR CAP. No bombers are lost, as the CAP is ineffective at this range. I just wanted to show an indication of possibly landing here next. Which I'm not.

I also did another B-17 nuisance raid of Katherine. Today I switch to Darwin, which only has search planes.

Now for today's plan:

Lots of enemy carriers moved adjacent to Tarawa. I've already fled south as quickly as possible with everything, except for an xAKL unloading supply at Arorae. It was just out of enemy range. The xAKL will flee south today and hope for the best. Arorae needed the supply, so I stayed a day. Arorae may be on its own for awhile, with many carriers just to the north now.

This will hopefully be the end of the latest aborted attempt to take Tabiteuea. I still say, "Mission Accomplished" though. The enemy's attention is here and this is a sideshow for me.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/24/2016 3:11:23 AM

apbarog

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17 Feb 43 (continued)

Now for the action west of New Guinea.

Enemy carriers are spotted at Ambon. 2 CVEs are seen, with very low plane numbers displayed, but the detection level was low, so the information is suspect. Ambon is a size 4 airfield.

I can't get to Taberfane today and start unloading, so I decided to go northwest to a point 2 hexes from Taberfane and 3 from Dobo. This may keep some doubt in my enemy's mind as to what my intentions are. It looks like I'm charging him. I'm taking risk here, moving to a point 8 hexes from his current location. But I think he has mini-KB here, and I have 5 US CVs. I do send the Timoeka task force directly to its destination.

Wessel Island will be invaded by combat engineers. Gove will be occupied.

Unloading at Merauke continues. The unloaded ships that still had Brit troops on it have left, along with every empty transport. The US division continues to unload, and those ships will reload the Brits that landed. Fighters are now at Merauke and Horn Island.

I did a recon of Koepang on Timor and found many ships disbanded in port, including AKEs and xAKs. This appears to be the area main base of operations, and where any combat ships would be going to rearm. It isn't in range of my heavy bombers yet, but it could be very soon.

So, next turn there could be a carrier battle northwest of Taberfane. Taberfane, by the way, just became a level 1 airfield. I'm hoping there isn't a major ground unit there. I'm landing a regiment and support.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/24/2016 3:52:00 AM

jwolf

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Joined: 12/3/2013
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Everything will go well as long as the Japanese don't respond.

It will be interesting to see what Walker does here, just how much ground he is willing to concede before the sparks fly. Thanks for the great maps and detailed descriptions of your ops.

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Post #: 949

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/24/2016 5:26:20 PM

Xilana

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I need to look through your entire AAR, but just from watching the last few pages, you've made some very bold forays in early 1943. Historically the Allies were just starting to move up the Solomons at this stage. Good luck at Dobo/Taberlane; that could be this game's Guadalcanal!

EDIT: What is the status of the IJN?

< Message edited by venividivici10044a -- 1/24/2016 6:27:58 PM >

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Post #: 950

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/25/2016 1:42:26 AM

apbarog

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Welcome VVV.
I don't know how bold I've been really. My current foray up the west coast of New Guinea probably does qualify. I've tried to be opportunistic. I landed in the Solomons a bit early, as it was lightly defended. I then just dug in there, mostly. I've tried to invaded Tabiteuea several times, and canceled every time, with one attempt failing without any troops leaving the ships.

I am determined to keep my opponent guessing and thinking defensively. The fight got really concentrated in the Solomons after India and Burma went quiet. Lately I've been trying to expand the fighting to other areas, and hopefully force the defenses to spread out more and open up the Buna/Lae/Rabaul/Shortlands area more for me.

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Post #: 951

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/25/2016 1:43:52 AM

apbarog

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18 Feb 43

It was a dramatic day, but what happened was completely unexpected.

First I start unloading at Wessel Island. I'm landing part of a combat engineer unit. Part was left back in Australia somehow. I may not have brought enough. We'll find out.

Sub Thresher spots I-166 but misses with 2 torpedoes.

And then the real surprise:

Sub attack near Ocean Island at 131,127

Japanese Ships
CV Akagi, Torpedo hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
BB Kirishima
BB Haruna
CA Furutaka
CS Nisshin
DD Asagumo
DD Naganami
DD Ushio
DD Yugiri
DD Asagiri
DD Shirakumo

Allied Ships
SS Pompano

Ammo storage explosion on CV Akagi

Plane losses confirm that a big carrier was indeed sunk. This is huge. This will only reinforce my opponent's use of the carriers defensively, not making aggressive moves. All of those subs that I've placed in the area between Truk, Kwajalein, Nauru, and Rabaul have finally paid off. And 4 working torpedo hits from a US sub before October 1943!

8 B-24s hit Taberfane's airfield, doing minor damage.

KB is now 4 hexes northeast of Nauru Island. The enemy cruisers are now at Tarawa.

Now for the action for today.

I jogged west of Taberfane yesterday. I hoped to keep my invasion targets undefined. Enemy carriers stayed at Ambon. With my current position, I don't expect them to advance toward me, as it looks like I'm coming toward Ambon so far. But I will now invade Taberfane and Dobo. My cruiser task force will sit on Taberfane. My carriers will move to the south side of the island and range CAP both landings. It's worth noting that my ships at Timoeka, on the New Guinea coast, were not spotted. I'm happy about that. Those ships could be vulnerable to aircraft from the east coast.

I was really tempted to run my carriers west 8 hexes toward Timor. I could have stopped 6 hexes from Koepang, and there's a lot of shipping in Koepang's port, disbanded, including several AKE's. It has 30 or 40 fighters there. I was tempted. But I would have had to leave my landings unprotected, and that is the mission and the priority. So it was a risk that I chose not to take.

At Merauke, the landed Brit troops start to reload on ships, to head back to Australia. I will keep the Brit 18th Infantry Division available for combat. That was a good suggestion BBfanboy. It is an excellent unit. I scrounged up 3 Australian brigades for garrison duties. I did have to buy all 3 of them out, which was expensive, but I decided that it is worth the cost.

Darwin still has just search aircraft.

Monitoring enemy troop strength on New Guinea, there are more troops at Buna than before. Current estimate is almost 22000 men there. Port Moresby has 27000. Lae has almost 18000. Shortlands has 13000. A lot of strength, worth avoiding and maybe bypassing, but also worth isolating, attacking, and destroying.

I have so much combat power prepped for Port Moresby, Buna, Lae, and surrounding smaller bases. I can't decide if a big landing into this strength is smart or foolish. We may find out rather soon.

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RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/25/2016 2:02:14 AM

jwolf

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Kudos on that sub attack! Looks like good news all around so far. I admire your discipline in considering various tactical objectives but not letting them get in the way of the strategic priorities. I'm curious which direction you will go after Taberfane etc north of Australia -- Darwin, Koepang, Ambon, ...? I suppose all will become clear in due time.

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Post #: 953

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/25/2016 2:12:41 AM

apbarog

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Thanks jwolf. We'll see if I can take Taberfane and Dobo. If I can, and more importantly can keep and build them, I can go various directions from there, as you say. I have a US division mostly prepped for Darwin, but nothing beyond that. Darwin would probably be next. The Japanese have too many islands to defend all around Taberfane.

It is worth considering using my divisions that have prepped for Buna, Port Moresby, and Lae, and continuing the breakout west of New Guinea. But I don't know. Port Moresby is still a thorn in my side, with all of my shipping have to go past on the way to Horn Island. I still think a titanic ground battle on southern New Guinea could be worth it for me if I can eliminate enemy divisions.

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Post #: 954

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/25/2016 5:15:55 AM

Crackaces

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It is possible to build up Alice Springs and the bases to Darwin and move supply. It takes transport aircraft to fly supplies to engineers.
No risk of a SAG/CV task force interrupting the attack on Darwin but it takes a dedicated focus ..

The loss of a key CV for the IJ I think means not dividing up CV's and focusing on DEI or Marshalls

But in my opinion I love the IJ to sail BB's and CV's into the Marshalls because that is a lot of fuel spent
It takes AO's too full of fuel to keep things moving .. It might not seem so but the best thing could
be if the IJ decide to run BB Bombardment TF's as that takes a lot of supply, that needs ships to move burning fuel ..

The odds of your victory was P(0.20) ^4 = 0.0016 about 1 out of 100

better than one card to make a royal flush! Jackpot!

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Post #: 955

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/26/2016 1:05:00 AM

apbarog

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19 Feb 43

Crackaces --- And the odds were really longer than that. The sub had to spot the task force and choose the carrier as a target. It fired 6 torpedoes. 4 hit, and none were duds. It was amazing and very lucky.

More troops unload at Taberfane and Dobo.

Zeros from Lae swept Horn Island. Sea Hurricanes defend, and losses are about equal. Then Bettys escorted by Oscars arrive. Minor damage is done to the airfield. Then Helens arrive with more Oscars. More minor damage.

Nauru Island is attacked by Nells escorted by Zeros. The port is attacked, both ACMs are found and hit. One is severely damaged, the other lightly damaged. I leave them in port. There is no CAP here. Not worth defending until I can have several squadrons here, and I can't do that now.

Total air losses for the day are 11 Sea Hurricanes, 5 Zeros, and 4 Bettys.

I attack at Wessel Island with 5 to 1 odds, taking the base. A remnant of the 69th JAAF AF Coy remains.

I avoided what could have been a real disaster at Taberfane and Dobo. My carriers were plotted to go to a coastal hex on the south side of the island. (Marked with a black circle on the map) There is a blue hexside here. My ships stopped one hex short, even though they had plenty of movement to make it there, and fuel also. I wonder if the map hexside doesn't match the underlying code for the map. I've read that this has been found in places before.
<EDIT> The reason it could have been a disaster was that I had my carriers with range 1 CAP to cover the landings, but the carriers stopped 2 hexes away.>

Anyhow, the enemy did not intervene around Taberfane. The CVEs at Ambon were not spotted today. Nothing was seen there today. I should have search and recon at my new bases after I take them today.

I did see that the enemy pretty much emptied the port at Koepang. I had been tempted to jump west for a port strike, when I saw dozens of ships in port there, and it's just as well that I didn't try. My opponent was thinking along those lines also, and all I see there today is 2 AKEs.

I continue to unload a regiment at Timoeka. Those ships are still not spotted.

The last of the British division at Merauke is now loaded and will leave for Townsville.

One of my subs got a high detection level between Menando and Balikpapan today. No idea what that could be. I'm suspect that the enemy is in panic mode, trying to rush men and material to stop my new advances west of New Guinea. I'd guess that KB will eventually make its way over here.

SBDs on my big carriers reorganize in 9 days, with search squadrons withdrawing and bomber squadrons expanding. I want to be back at Townsville for this. Then I may kick off the big show with a landing at Buna. Maybe.

The order for Taberfane and Dobo is take the base, dig in, and resupply and reinforce if I can. My carriers aren't going to stay and will leave with my invasion shipping.

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< Message edited by apbarog -- 1/26/2016 2:12:33 AM >

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Post #: 956

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/26/2016 4:41:41 AM

IdahoNYer

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From: NYer living in Boise, ID
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Quite the impressive run for the last few days!! Getting the Akagi is icing on the cake - amazing! Can't recall ever seeing a US sub bag an undamaged CV with 4 torp hits!

Your tempo is truly remarkable - have you been prepping units for these objectives, or are you landing with low preparation and taking advantage of the situation as it develops?

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Post #: 957

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/26/2016 5:29:10 AM

apbarog

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Thanks IdahoNYer. This plan originated when I decided to pull lots of troops out of India and send them to Australia. That included the 2 Brit divisions. The troops that landed on Horn Island were completely prepped. This was easy to do, since they were the same troops that tried to land there earlier and failed, then got rebuilt. The US division that landed at Merauke was completely prepped, and the Brit division with it was around 60 or so. The regiments for Taberfane and Dobo were prepped 60 or 70 I think. So I did plan on hitting these bases in order, but only if I found a weak defense, and that is what I found.

My tempo isn't so good when you consider how many times I almost landed at Tabiteuea. I just aborted another attempt. But at least it pulled KB in that direction, so I'm happy about that.

I've tried to keep up pressure and expand the areas of conflict. I still may hit Buna with 3 divisions in a couple of weeks, depending on how things go up until then.

I was extremely lucky with Akagi, no doubt. But I've been extremely unlucky with my slow battleships, losing a number of them. And also Langley that was out doing ASW south of Milne Bay, trying to help the badly damaged Idaho get back home. Lost Langley and Idaho. Sometimes luck goes for you, sometimes against.

I am happy with my current position. Taberfane and Dobo will be a point of concern for the enemy for awhile. That's when I hit somewhere else.

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Post #: 958

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/26/2016 6:45:12 PM

Xilana

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Well played SIR! No Guts No Glory; you have done amazingly well. Several thoughts...

1. I agree with your thoughts that Port Moresby is a potential problem. If I were your opponent, I'd beef up here, and use that as the anvil, while the hammer comes down from Ambon and the North.
2. I would be prepping for Darwin and the North Coast of Australia at this point.

Its now time to consolidate your gains! Good luck and good hunting!

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Post #: 959

RE: See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-... - 1/28/2016 12:24:09 AM

apbarog

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20 Feb 43

My landing at Taberfane continues. It is not interfered with.

Near Munda, I-21 fires on sub Snapper but misses with 2 torpedoes.

At Buin, I send a squadron of P-40Ks on a sweep mission. Losses are heavy, with 12 P-40Ks lost, downing about 8 enemy planes. Some Zeros, some Nicks. That's ok though, they led the way to a maximum effort by my B-17s. The raid fragments quite a bit, but the CAP is not effective. I'd hoped to catch some bombers on the ground, and I did. 11 Vals and 9 Nells are destroyed. Some fighters are downed. Damage to the airfield is heavy.

One thing that contributed to the success at Buin was that a big squadron of Zeros swept Milne Bay from the Buin area. Good luck for me. The stacked defenders at Milne Bay do well, destroying far more enemy than lost.

The port at Ocean Island is attacked today with Kates, probably from Tarawa. Very minor damage is done, and there aren't any ships here. The enemy was probably looking for ACMs like they found at Nauru.

Total air losses for today were 12 P40Ks, 3 Spits, 2 Kittyhawks, and 2 B-17s, while downing 21 Zeros and 4 Nicks, and destoying the 11 Vals and 9 Nells on the ground at Buin.

My newly arrived troops on Arorae, near Tabiteuea, are bombed by Nells. It is an atoll, and losses are heavy. All of the losses are to the engineers, all disruptions.

I attack again at Wessel Island, and destroy more of the 69th JAAF AF Company.

Unoccupied Dabo was captured without a fight. Digging in and building starts.

At Taberfane, the 147th Infantry Regiment attacks. The terrain helps the defenders which include the 25 Independent Engineer Regiment and the 8th Port Unit. The odds were 1 to 1, lowering the forts to 0. The enemy takes more casualties, losing more non-combat and engineers, while the US troops lose more infantry squads.

Today I bombard with a couple of cruisers and bomb with some B-24s, and hope to take the base with another attack.

My ships at Timoeka, on the west coast of New Guinea east of Dabo, are still not spotted. My infantry regiment continues to unload. Engineers are on the way in another convoy.

A base called Nabire caught my interest today. It's a dot base, still Allied, on the east coast of New Guinea, just 2 hexes from Timoeka. It would be very interesting to get troops there and start building, unobserved. A base on the east coast could be very useful. It's close enough to Timoeka to draw supply, and far enough from any enemy bases that it would only be attacked by sea. Could be a forward refueling base for undamaged subs, a very nice seaplane base behind enemy lines, and eventually a nice airbase. We'll see if I get to it in time. I've tasked an Indian para unit to occupy the base after being shipped into range at Merauke. I bought out another Australian brigade to eventually occupy Nabire.

I'm starting to wonder what I could have accomplished if my US Marine divisions had prepped for bases beyond Taberfane and Dobo. I didn't anticipate such a quick advance past Horn Island. If I had, I could be landing at Darwin or Timor or Ambon or Sorong right now.

I did make the decision today to delay any landings at Buna or Port Moresby. It's almost March 1943, and all of those APs that upgrade to APAs do so then. I have a lot of them in Australia, and those ships are needed for Buna. I decided to upgrade them and delay an invasion. The upgrades are just too good to pass up, and I'd hate to throw them all away at Buna before doing so. I don't think this is a big deal really. The enemy infantry divisions aren't going anywhere anytime soon. And if they do, so be it. The landings would be easier. My transport shipping that isn't due to upgrade will now move to Townsville to help support moving units past Horn Island and Merauke to my new bases. And maybe a new base or two by then.

I got SigInt that there is an enemy battleship moving to Legaspi. Could be coming from Japan with Legaspit as a waypoint headed south. Eventually my western New Guinea moves will be countered in one way or another.

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Post #: 960

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