Shadow of the Condor
Posts: 394
Joined: 2/9/2004
From: Chicago
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17 Mar 43
Wx: Overcast
Rendova (et. al.), the landings on Tulagi and Munda were in fact reinforced probes. Quark knows the danger of letting me build up Irau and now with my forces on the ground at Taivu, it's only a matter of time that Lunga is hit. I was contemplating whether to hit the Russell Is. base as opposed to Munda, but I decided a strike at Munda would cause more concern for my worthy foe, causing him to possibly draw off reinforcements from Lunga.. It didn't turn out that way (see below) but the probe into Tulagi revealed a very weak defender, which the Marines quickly eliminated, taking possession of the anchorage.
I believe the beauty of the successive landings at Lea Lea, Taivu, Lunga, Tulagi, and Munda is that the IJN doesn't know which one is a feint - the best part is that they all could be, or none of them could be. It allows me the option to concentrate where his response is weakest. This time, it was Tulagi. The Allies now have a level two port only 30 miles from Lunga. If I can get fuel and supplies in there life for the defenders at Lunga is going to get very uncomfortable.
As to yesterday's combat, it was somewhat one-sided in the Allies favor. 22 IJN aircraft were lost to only 6 Allied planes. At Munda, my FT TF surprised and sunk an IJN DD (probably on a FT run of its own). One APD did hit a mine, but it will make it back to Irau and repair within a few weeks (enough to make short distance runs). Meanwhile, the DMS and MSW ships continue to sweep away at the "Type 93 triangle" of Lunga, Tulagi, and Taivu. This allows the ALlied forces to once again sail into Lunga. This time, however, two TFs sail in. The first TF is 13 PT boats which surprise the IJN DD Minekaze and two PC escorting three small APs. At 1000 yards, PT111 announced their presence in the night when two of her torpedoes blew the IJN PC Ch 30 in apart. The IJN destroyer responded quickly, bracketing PT163 with shells. The destroyer was mobbed immediately, and the second ship to fire at it, PT66 scored with both her torpedoes. The destroyer was silenced, and PT66 began to rake the ship with .50 cal. machinegun fire. Each of the hits either poked a hole in the belt armor of caused internal explosions and fires. Four of the destroyers AA gun platforms were put out of commmission. In the end, the destroyer was sunk, and the remaining PC hurriedly escorted the APs to what was believed to be safe waters, only to stumble into the arms of Indianapolis and her TF. The battleship easily picked off each AP in turn, but the IJN AP Takunan Maru bravely returned fire while the PC just sat there. while the battleship was concentrating on the other two transports, ablaze in the morning sky, the Takunan Maru may have been able to sneak away, but instead opened up on the task force and actually scored an internal explosion hit on the DMS Dorsey. Once the third transport showed herself, however, it didn't fare any better than her sisters. In the end, the only IJN survivor of the encounter, PC Ch 12, was herself torpedoed and sunk by a flight of Beauforts later that day.
So all in all, a very good night for the Allies. Ground combat at Lunga revealed the exact strength of the defenders (ALT-Print Screen pasted to Paint works very nice, thank you). I'll share the screen with you at the end of this post.
Meanwhile, the combat report awaits:
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 03/16/43
Weather: Partly Cloudy
Night Time Surface Combat, near Munda at 31,37
Japanese Ships
DD Harukaze, Shell hits 27, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
APD Talbot, Shell hits 1, on fire
APD Waters
APD Brooks, Shell hits 1, on fire
APD Humphreys
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 10
Clash of the FT TFs
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Lunga at 38,40
Japanese Ships
DD Minekaze, Shell hits 69, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
PC Ch 12
PC Ch 30, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AP Kashi Maru
AP Takunan Maru
AP Kembu Maru
Allied Ships
PT 37
PT 39
PT 44
PT 46
PT 66
PT 111
PT 121
PT 128
PT 150
PT 152
PT 157
PT 162
PT 163
Don't you just love those PT boats?
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Lunga at 38,40
Japanese Ships
PC Ch 12
AP Kashi Maru, Shell hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
AP Takunan Maru, Shell hits 13, on fire, heavy damage (sunk)
AP Kembu Maru, Shell hits 14, and is sunk
Allied Ships
BB Indiana, Shell hits 1
DD Saufley, Shell hits 1
DD Waller
DD Brownson, Shell hits 1
DD Woodworth
DMS Dorsey, Shell hits 1
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 816
Guns lost 7
With the destroyer out of the way, the transports are doomed.
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Lunga at 38,40
Japanese Ships
AG 115, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
AG 117, Shell hits 2, and is sunk
AG 118, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
AG 121, Shell hits 1, and is sunk
AG 123
AG 351, Shell hits 5, on fire, heavy damage (sunk)
AG 361
AG 364
Allied Ships
BB Indiana
DD Saufley
DD Waller
DD Brownson
DD Woodworth
DMS Dorsey
More wreckage on the water.
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Air attack on 4th Naval Garrison Unit, at 9,39
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 8
no losses
no losses
Attacking Level Bombers:
8 x B-24D Liberator at 20000 feet
Again from Cooktown.
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Air attack on 21st Naval Garrison Unit, at 38,39
Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 14
A-20G Havoc x 12
B-25J Mitchell x 30
A-20G Boston x 9
no losses
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 91
Attacking Level Bombers:
9 x A-20G Boston at 6000 feet
7 x B-25J Mitchell at 100 feet
7 x B-25J Mitchell at 100 feet
12 x A-20G Havoc at 100 feet
6 x B-25J Mitchell at 100 feet
10 x B-25J Mitchell at 100 feet
Softening up the defenders at Tulagi before launching the ground assault.
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Air attack on 158th Regiment, at 9,39
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 8
B5N Kate x 18
no losses
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 13
Attacking Level Bombers:
18 x B5N Kate at 5000 feet
Once again, the 158th bears the brunt of Quark's training runs. I ought to FT in an AA unit just to P**s him off.
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Air attack on 158th Regiment, at 9,39
Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 21
J1N1-R Irving x 2
no losses
sigh.
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Air attack on 158th Regiment, at 9,39
Japanese aircraft
G3M Nell x 5
G4M1 Betty x 67
no losses
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 37
Attacking Level Bombers:
6 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
9 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
6 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
9 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
4 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
4 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
5 x G3M Nell at 2000 feet
3 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
6 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
11 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
9 x G4M1 Betty at 2000 feet
Sigh x 2.
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Air attack on TF, near Irau at 42,43
Japanese aircraft
D3A Val x 15
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 24
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 14
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A Val x 4 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 3 destroyed
1LT F.Pierce of VMF-223 is credited with kill number 6
Allied Ships
AK Cetus, Bomb hits 1
AK Celeno, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Serpens, Bomb hits 1
AK Murzim, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AK Mercury
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 23
Guns lost 1
Celeno has been removed from the TF and will not sail. She'll survive, but will be docked for repairs. More AKs on the way.
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Air attack on TF, near Lunga at 38,40
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 38
Allied aircraft
F4U-1 Corsair x 21
Beaufort x 16
P-38G Lightning x 14
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero x 2 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 5 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F4U-1 Corsair x 1 damaged
Beaufort x 1 destroyed
P-38G Lightning x 1 damaged
1LT F.Pierce of VMF-223 is credited with kill number 8
Japanese Ships
PC Ch 12, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x Beaufort at 200 feet
4 x Beaufort at 200 feet
4 x Beaufort at 200 feet
4 x Beaufort at 200 feet
Now the captain of the PC won't have to report his failure at escorting the IJN troops.
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Ground combat at Lunga
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 42712 troops, 559 guns, 77 vehicles
Defending force 602 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles
Japanese assault odds: 479 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 32
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 184
An impressive force arrayed there. I bet they get hungry after a while though...
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Ground combat at Lea Lea
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 5230 troops, 84 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 5254 troops, 21 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 0 to 1 (fort level 0)
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 81
Allied ground losses:
Men lost 75
Guns lost 1
Keeping the attack going while I try to get the base built.
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Ground combat at Tulagi
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 922 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles
Defending force 173 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles
Allied assault odds: 10 to 1 (fort level 0)
Allied forces CAPTURE Tulagi base !!!
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 231
The first success of Act II.
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Almost forgot to mention, Lea Lea is up to 20% complete on the airfield. Supplies should be dropped off tomorrow.
Quark's CV TF was spotted about 150 miles SW of GG. What they're doing there I have no idea. Maybe he wants to interdict my FT runs to Lea Lea. Whatever they're doing there, they won't be doing it long. I've set every 4E bomber to 6000 feet and Naval Attack, with 50% search. I also have six submarines closing on the CV TF from the NE, N, and NW. I e-mailed my opponent that if I was supposed to wet my pants upon finding the CV TF in the Coral Sea it didn't happen (protective undergarments, you see - but that's another story). I told him my FT runs were about complete (truth), and invited him to sail closer to Oz. My own CVE TF has run back to RH.
Complicated? Probably. But taking things one step at a time, I do hope to hit Quark from so many places he doesn't have the capability to respond to all of them. His transports are a mess, as are his destroyers. Both Marine divisions are earmarked for Noumea. I'll probably also send in the 43rd from Irau as well, and maybe even the 25th from LV. I have more troops at Noumea but I believe Quark is totally defensive now. Still, it never hurts to make sure my bottom isn't hanging out somewhere...
More to come...but first, take a look at the defenders at Lunga...
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RE: Return to the Valley of the Sun - 
. It's mid March 43, and I'm about 6000 points down. I don't know if I can make up that ground in time, but we'll keep plugging along. At least I can get some more training.
What a waste... ) 
. So we wait as the days flip by on the calendar...
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