apbarog
Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002 Status: offline
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9 Jul 43 DMS Hovey swept some more mines at Banjoewangi. I spotted PT boats on the west side of Java. Could be coming here. 5 US destroyers run into Ambon. First they find a tiny ACM, and quickly sink the minetender. Then they find a patrol boat escorting 3 xAKLs. The ships were docked at first. 2 xAKLs were sunk, with the other 2 ships heavily damaged and with heavy fires. No troops loaded on the ships. Then the destroyers find I-169 at Ambon, pummel it mercilessly in the shallow water, forcing the sub to surface. The 5 inch gunned destroyers finish off the sub. Near Madjene, sub Lapon spots a tiny minesweeper escorting an ACM. The sub fires on the minesweeper, and gets one hit. I suspect that these ships just left Makassar. Sub Cisco spots an xAKL task force east of Ominato, but torpedoes miss. Sub Stingray is spotted by E boats escorting some big xAKs while between Formosa and the Philippines. The sub takes moderate damage and sets course for Darwin. P-40s sweep Buin in the Solomons but finds no CAP. Makassar is swept by P-38s but no CAP is found. Most of the planes ordered to hit Kendari didn't fly, including the sweepers. 9 B-17s and 25 B-24s did fly, and some were lost, with 45 Zeros on CAP. Damage to the airfield was good, however, with a few planes destroyed on the ground. B-25s hit Makassar's airfield, destroying more planes on the ground. Walker finally gets a bit aggressive with his planes at Soerbaja, with Zeros and Oscars sweeping Denpasar. Japanese losses are higher than Allies. Kittyhawks, Warhawks, and Corsairs were on CAP. The F4Us did the best, as expected. I ordered 2 US carriers to strike Makassar's airfield if no naval targets were spotted. More enemy planes destroyed on the ground, but minimal damage to the airfield. Total air losses for today (on the ground): 14 Zeros 10 Oscars 8 Topsys(8) 7 Bettys(7) 2 Tojos(2) 1 Thalia(1) 5 B-24s 4 Kittyhawk IIIs 3 P-40Ks 2 B-17s Back on New Guinea, the enemy is finally trying to attack out of its isolated pocket. From the numbers, it looks like Walker attacked with smaller units, while the 1st Infantry Division just arrived in the hex today. It goes very badly for him. Hard to say if he'll try again with the division. I have an armor unit moving here from Terapo. It needs about another week to arrive. Ground combat at 97,126 (near Terapo) Japanese Deliberate attack Attacking force 2252 troops, 11 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 260 Defending force 3547 troops, 48 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 113 Japanese adjusted assault: 0 Allied adjusted defense: 391 Japanese assault odds: 1 to 99 Combat modifiers Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), experience(-) Attacker: supply(-) Japanese ground losses: 705 casualties reported Squads: 6 destroyed, 47 disabled Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Assaulting units: Sasebo 6th SNLF 1st Division 32nd Nav Gsn Unit 5th Air Div /1 Defending units: 158th(Sep) Infantry Regiment **************************** Today Makassar and surrounding bases will be invaded. US carriers will move just east of Makassar. Several ASW task forces start patrolling to the west and south of Makassar. Almost every hex has an enemy sub in it, so they'll find some, guaranteed. Makassar troops will be bombed, and Kendari's airfield will be hit again.
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