Sangeli
Posts: 1132
Joined: 3/29/2012
From: San Francisco
Status: offline
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February 24th 1944
First let's talk about those pesky subs. They caused more issues again this turn:
quote:
Submarine attack near Bathurst Island at 78,123
Japanese Ships
SS I-17
Allied Ships
TK H. M. Storey, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
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Submarine attack near Bathurst Island at 78,123
Japanese Ships
SS I-17
Allied Ships
TK H. M. Storey, Torpedo hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Obviously that tanker would sink. Though of course I am periodically sinking Japanese tankers of my own, including this turn. I just don't usually post the combat snippets because by now that is pretty much standard 
But this time the Japanese would hit a more important target:
quote:
Sub attack near Darwin at 77,124
Japanese Ships
SS I-28, hits 8
Allied Ships
BB North Carolina, Torpedo hits 3
BB Alabama
CLAA Atlanta
DD Ingersoll
DD Perkins
DD Maury
DD Morris
DD Endicott
The BB North Carolina is moderately damaged and seeking repairs in Darwin.
quote:
ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
Too bad you can't carpet bomb those ocean hexes!
I did the closest thing I could. I created around 5 different ASW fleets, set my torpedo bombers to 30% ASW, and brought two 18 bomber squadrons of trained ASW pilots to scour the area. This turn I attacked a few subs but don't think I sunk anything.
Well, after many days of inaction in the South Pacific, the Japanese finally come alive. A couple of different CAP traps and a Lilly DB attack. But it is very clear that these are the second tier Japanese squadrons as most of the George's and Frank's are in the DEI. Faced against Zeroes and Tonys with no doubt sub-par pilots, my fighters could not be stopped:
quote:
Morning Air attack on Buna , at 99,129
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid detected at 13 NM, estimated altitude 23,580 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M7 Zero x 33
A6M8 Zero x 48
Ki-61-Id Tony x 54
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 16
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M7 Zero: 7 destroyed
A6M8 Zero: 7 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 1 destroyed
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Morning Air attack on Buna , at 99,129
Weather in hex: Partial cloud
Raid detected at 43 NM, estimated altitude 27,440 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M7 Zero x 15
A6M8 Zero x 25
Ki-61-Id Tony x 53
Allied aircraft
P-38J Lightning x 15
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-61-Id Tony: 7 destroyed
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Morning Air attack on Arawe , at 102,126
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 49 NM, estimated altitude 28,440 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M8 Zero x 18
A6M8-J Zero x 76
Allied aircraft
P-38J Lightning x 25
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M8 Zero: 7 destroyed
A6M8-J Zero: 11 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-38J Lightning: 1 destroyed
If Kittyhawks are getting 14-1 ratios in 1944, there MUST be a problem with Japanese pilots. The Kittyhawk III is pretty much on par with late model Zeroes.
And that one Lilly DB attack got annihilated:
quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Tulagi at 114,137
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 108 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 31 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 32
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 35
Ki-48-IIb Lily x 24
Allied aircraft
P-40K Warhawk x 4
F4U-1A Corsair x 36
F6F-3 Hellcat x 56
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 4 destroyed
Ki-48-IIb Lily: 15 destroyed, 2 damaged
No Allied losses
Allied Ships
BB Mississippi, Bomb hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x Ki-48-IIb Lily releasing from 1000'
Naval Attack: 4 x 100 kg SAP Bomb
I later had a strange battle over Tulagi where I sent in torpedo bombers to do ground support. I really did not count on Japanese CAP here. But since my CVEs were in the same hex, the CAP added to the strike:
quote:
Afternoon Air attack on 5th ADU Coastal Gun Regiment, at 114,137 (Tulagi)
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 75 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 35 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 61
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 72
Allied aircraft
F4U-1A Corsair x 26
F6F-3 Hellcat x 53
TBF-1 Avenger x 40
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 10 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 14 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 3 destroyed
TBF-1 Avenger: 15 destroyed, 7 damaged
Aircraft Attacking:
2 x TBF-1 Avenger bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
2 x TBF-1 Avenger bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
7 x TBF-1 Avenger bombing from 10000 feet
Ground Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
So somehow despite my Avengers being shredded, I actually came out ahead in planes destroyed. Those Tojos were no match for my Corsairs and Hellcats. On the whole, the Allies came out ahead about 170-70 on plane losses. Very good considering probably half those losses were Avengers and bombers.
The ground was a different story. I thought Tulagi was going to be a relatively quick battle. I was wrong!
quote:
Ground combat at Tulagi (114,137)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 34234 troops, 834 guns, 621 vehicles, Assault Value = 1202
Defending force 18128 troops, 123 guns, 16 vehicles, Assault Value = 275
Allied adjusted assault: 1556
Japanese adjusted defense: 2008
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 8)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
587 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 23 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 12 disabled
Guns lost 10 (2 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Vehicles lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
1407 casualties reported
Squads: 52 destroyed, 108 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 7 destroyed, 16 disabled
Guns lost 50 (17 destroyed, 33 disabled)
Vehicles lost 14 (6 destroyed, 8 disabled)
Assaulting units:
27th Infantry Regiment
19th Infantry Regiment
161st Infantry Regiment
151st Combat Engineer Regiment
7th Infantry Division
35th Infantry Regiment
24th Marine Regiment
21st Infantry Rgt /1
223rd Field Artillery Battalion
249th Field Artillery Battalion
226th Field Artillery Battalion
2nd USMC Field Artillery Battalion
V US Amphib Corps
9th Marine Defense Battalion
30th Field Artillery Regiment
Defending units:
29th Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th ADU Coastal Gun Regiment
1st Guard ADU Coastal Gun Battalion
2nd Air Flotilla
6th Fleet
8th Base Force
111th Naval Construction Battalion
36th JNAF AF Unit
That level 8 fort in 3x terrain is going to be very tough to bring down. I am quite glad the Japanese did not bring reinforcements. Luckily, I have two more infantry regiments in the Gilberts and Marshalls I can bring over. But since I have to use the transports that dropped off these units, they probably will not land for another 3 weeks. In the meantime I am going to use my battleships and cruisers to smash the base like I was doing in the CentPac. With Lunga built up to a level 4 port, I can base my AEs there and just tee off on the Japanese. By the time those reinforcements land, Tulagi should be much easier to take.
Rangoon was not pretty. This probably was the most soldiers I lost in a battle in a single day since 1942:
quote:
Ground combat at Rangoon (54,53)
Allied Deliberate attack
Attacking force 185492 troops, 2966 guns, 2739 vehicles, Assault Value = 6444
Defending force 64481 troops, 695 guns, 345 vehicles, Assault Value = 2105
Allied engineers reduce fortifications to 5
Allied adjusted assault: 5902
Japanese adjusted defense: 10679
Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 5)
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
3098 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 195 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 59 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 47 disabled
Guns lost 53 (2 destroyed, 51 disabled)
Vehicles lost 16 (1 destroyed, 15 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
15796 casualties reported
Squads: 151 destroyed, 1396 disabled
Non Combat: 89 destroyed, 297 disabled
Engineers: 55 destroyed, 196 disabled
Guns lost 221 (48 destroyed, 173 disabled)
Vehicles lost 160 (31 destroyed, 129 disabled)
Assaulting units:
26th Indian Brigade
7th Indian/C Division
7th Indian/A Division
25th Indian Division
11th Indian/A Division
7th Australian Division
5th Indian Division
72nd British Brigade
5th Chinese/C Corps
5th Chinese/A Corps
29th British Brigade
6th Chinese Corps
2nd British Division
6th Australian Division
Provisionl Tank
5th Chinese/B Corps
11th Indian/B Division
7th Indian/B Division
19th Indian Division
7th New Chinese Corps
17th Indian Division
14th Indian Division
268th Motorised Brigade
11th Indian/C Division
6th Mixed A/T Mtr Regiment
2/13th Field Regiment
14th Army
134th Field Artillery Battalion
1st Medium Regiment
8th Medium Regiment
28th Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
2/11th Field Regiment
2/9th Field Regiment
97th Field Artillery Battalion
5th Field Regiment
Defending units:
16th Division
2nd Division
10th Division
8th Division
1st RTA Division
1st RF Gun Battalion
Burma Area Army
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
11th Shipping Engineer Regiment
3rd Ind. Mountain Gun Regiment
1st Medium Field Artillery Regiment
10th RF Gun Battalion
My AV dropped to under 5,000 after that attack. Luckily, I did bring down the fort a bit. And I have a small trickle of reinforcements heading to Rangoon as well. Still, this battle is going to be a long and bloody affair no doubt.
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