Kitakami
Posts: 1302
Joined: 5/3/2002
From: The bridge of the DNTK Kitakami
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I have not posted in a few days, so I have four turns worth of reports. Dec 19-26, 1941.
The sub war
Subs continue to be annoying to both sides, as they should be. The tempo of sub anti-shipping operations has subsided, though. Here is the report:
- xAP Baranof, Shell hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage, near Channel Islands.
- xAKL Dona Nati, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage, near Busuanga.
- xAK Tantalus, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage, near Busuanga.
- xAKL Tatung, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage, near Exmouth.
- xAK Biwa Maru, Shell hits 2, near Tokara Retto.
- CA Yoshino, Mine hits 1, near Truk (sub-deployed mine).
- PB Isshin Maru, Torpedo hits 1, near Shimonoseki, and is sunk.
Four DMS’s are one turn away from Truk, where they will stay after clearing those mines.
The Pacific
With the Lexington officially safe in port, where it miraculously escaped form level-90 fires, The Shokaku CarDiv sailed back to port, with a severely depleted plane complement. Yet, it still let its presence felt, which was an unexpected occurrence:
Near Enderbury Island, over 3 days of attacks:
- TK British Princess, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires.
- AMC Monowai, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAP Murada, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAP Ville d'Amiens, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires.
- xAP Mildura, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAP Mungana, Bomb hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAP Rangitata, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAP Rangitiki, Bomb hits 4, on fire.
- xAK Rona, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAK Hauraki, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires.
- xAK Lewis Luckenbach, Bomb hits 1.
- xAK Asphalion, Bomb hits 2, on fire.
- xAK Bundaleer, Bomb hits 1, on fire.
- xAK Anna Odland, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage.
I know most of those will not sink but first, damaged xAPs tend to not to be used to transport troops and, second, my esteemed opponent will probably avoid the area for a while, thinking my carriers will be looking for targets there.
Midway is going to be assaulted soon. I have the Akagi CarDiv screening it, and my opponent tested the strength of those carriers last turn. Very few bombers flew, as the destroyers were at 8-hex range. Hopefully, that will lead my opponent to think I have less planes able to fly than I actually have… it would be fun to see the result of that:
Japanese aircraft: A6M2 Zero x 20, D3A1 Val x 13.
Japanese aircraft losses: D3A1 Val: 1 damaged, 1 destroyed by flak.
Allied Ships: DD Ellet, Bomb hits 1, on fire. DD Shaw. DD Ralph Talbot.
There are other two small destroyer task forces SW of Midway.
The Philippines
Slow going here, mainly because of 2-day turns. 48th Inf Div and 65th Inf Bde are moving to Clark Field this turn, along artillery and engineers. The airfield is 100% damaged now. In south Luzon, 16th Inf Div wil reach Lucena this turn, and attack its defenders next. 38th Inf Div would be useful here, but Hong Kong has not fallen yet (see China section).
Ground combat at Atimonan (80,79) - Japanese Shock attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 180 casualties reported
----- Squads: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
----- Engineers: 1 destroyed, 4 disabled
----- Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
- Allied ground losses:
--- 3974 casualties reported
----- Squads: 114 destroyed, 16 disabled
----- Non Combat: 143 destroyed, 0 disabled
----- Engineers: 16 destroyed, 0 disabled
----- Guns lost 32 (32 destroyed, 0 disabled)
----- Units retreated 2
I have stopped bombing Manilla port, as I only see one ship there now:
- AO Pecos, is sunk.
- AS Otus, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage.
- AS Canopus, Bomb hits 8, on fire, heavy damage.
- AO Trinity, Bomb hits 3, heavy damage.
- ARD YFD-1 Dewey, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAKL Palawan, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage.
- xAKL Corregidor, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAKL Bisayas, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- TK Gertrude Kellogg, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk.
- xAKL Paz, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAKL Sagoland, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk.
- xAP Rochambeau, is sunk.
The daily bombing of Cagayan continues, and the 2nd Inf Div is a couple of turns from invading Davao.
Dutch East Indies
Ternate continues to build up, and enough supply and engineers have already been deployed. An Air HQ is on its way, to provide torpedoes for the bombers.
Muntok was taken, and a small infantry unit is moving south, with engineers and an air HQ moving this way, BUT...
@ny51giants, your advice was timely! I see a CL parked in Benkoelen, with at least one more ship also there, and that might mean one or more brigades were sent to reinforce Palembang. Air recon (7/10) says there are 4 units and a bit less than 3k allied troops in Palembang, but reinforcements may be near, so I did something I didn’t want to do, as you will see. In a few turns we will know if it was the right thing to do or not. 56th Inf Div will assault Palembang this turn, and will unload over the two days of the turn, protected by Hyryu CarDiv and a heavy surface force consisting of the two Nagatos and the two Fusos, plus escorts. Even if the PoW were to come calling, those four should be enough to repel her. And if for some reason they were not able to do the job, the two Owaris are playing escort to the carriers, and could be detached in a pinch.
That is the nice part. But there is also the part that is not good for my cardiac muscle. It all started well, with the Fusos and escorts finding the out of fuel British MTB’s on their way to Sumatra, and taking care of them near Takao:
- MTB 7, Shell hits 1, and is sunk.
- MTB 8, Shell hits 1, and is sunk.
- MTB 9, Shell hits 1, and is sunk.
- MTB 10, Shell hits 1, and is sunk.
- MTB 11, Shell hits 2, and is sunk.
- MTB 12, Shell hits 1, and is sunk.
- MTB 26, Shell hits 1, and is sunk.
- MTB 27, Shell hits 1, and is sunk.
Then a pair of Dutch CL’s (and other minor forces) were found laying in wait near Kuching, Singkawang, and Pontianak:
- CL De Ruyter, Bomb hits 3, on fire.
- DD Banckert, Bomb hits 2, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk.
- CL Tromp, Bomb hits 1, on fire.
- AM Toowoomba, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk.
- AM Ballarat, Torpedo hits 2,and is sunk.
- PG Armand Rousseau, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk.
- AMc MMS C, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk.
- AMc MMS B, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk.
- AMc MMS A, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk.
- AMc MMS D, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk.
But then it got a bit scary. The CL’s Tromp and De Ruyter found the Hyryu CarDiv. Had they not been damaged the previous turn, they might have looked for a fight. As things stood, though, they merely disengaged. But in the morning they were on the receiving end of some rather heavy bombing near Palembang:
- CL De Ruyter, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- CL Tromp, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage.
They were nowhere to be seen later, so I consider them sunk at this point. The carriers then focused on cargo ships near Billiton:
- xAP Kedah, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk.
- xAK Enggano, Bomb hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAK Modjokerto, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAK Sloterdijk, Bomb hits 12, heavy fires, heavy damage.
- xAKL Circe, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk.
- xAKL Pahang, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk.
All was nice and peachy, until the CL’s Dragon and Danae were located and unsuccessfully attacked by B5N2’s twice near Balabac, and the turn ended with them about 4 hexes from the TF carrying the 21st Air Flotilla towards Muntok! I had to send that one running, and to hastily improvise a surface TF to counter the threat.
The result was in favor of the Japanese Empire, but not without cost:
Near Balabac:
- CA Takao, Shell hits 6.
- CL Abukuma, Shell hits 1.
- DD Usugumo, Shell hits 2, and is sunk.
- CL Danae, Shell hits 7.
- CL Dragon, Shell hits 39, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk.
- DD Vendetta, Shell hits 20, and is sunk.
There is nothing like reading something like this: “Miyamoto, Sadatomo crosses the 'T'” :)
CL Danae is still afloat, but now I know she is out there, and will make it a point not to grow careless again.
Now what I did not want to do. I half-expected my esteemed opponent to have a large cruiser force at Palembang, to block a possible invasion. But discovering the CL in the west coast of Sumatra worried me, so, I sent a bombardment TF consisting of the four Mogamis plus escorts to Palembang. They were to fight any surface combatants, let me know if there were enemy subs there, and soften the troop for the coming landing. Well, there were no enemies, so there was a too successful bombardment that may have damaged more than I cared for:
- Buffalo I: 7 damaged.
- Buffalo I: 1 destroyed on ground.
- 315 casualties reported
--- Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
--- Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 24 disabled
--- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
--- Guns lost 20 (11 destroyed, 9 disabled)
- Resources hits 3.
- Manpower hits 8.
- Refinery hits 1.
- Fires 786.
- Airbase hits 26.
- Airbase supply hits 14.
- Runway hits 116.
- Port hits 29.
- Port fuel hits 6.
The fires worry me, as at the end of the turn 99 were still alight. Well, we will soon see how much I goofed up with this one.
Malaya
Malaya is still slow going. Imperial Guards and 5th Inf Divs are being moved by train, to minimize fatigue, but the other three divisions are having to move by foot (although I will entrain 1 more division soon). Air recon tells me that enemy force dispositions are:
- 17k troops, 79 guns and 25 AFVs in four units in Kluong.
- 12k troops, 146 guns and 24 AFVs in six units in Mersing.
- 8k troops, 42 guns and 111 AFVs in seven units in Johore Bahru.
- 8k troops, 185 guns and 48 AFVs in 21 units in Singapore.
If I can hit Kluong before the forces at Mersing reinforce, I might have a shot. Otherwise, I may have to use either the 56th or the 38th (or both) Inf Divs to land at Johore Bahru, to cut their line of supplies. Time will tell.
Taiping and Temuloh have been taken, and Georgetown and Kuala lumpur will be taken this turn. Then all available forces will move forward by train. It is a question of time. Problem is, with 2-daay turns, it takes even more time to achieve things.
Burma
Tavoy has been taken, one Tk Rgt detached to take Mergui, and 55th Inf Div, teo Tk Rgts and one arty unit are moving north towards Moulmein. 33rd Inf Div has unloaded at Bangkok, and will move towards Burma soon.
China
Something puzzles me. My esteemed opponent has vacated some cities I think he should have fought for. Pakhoi, Kanhsien, Pucheng, and Wenchow he simply left empty. Ichang he did not attack, even though I gave him the courtesy of vacating the city. Chengchow he has not reinforced and, if he does not do so, as soon as 32nd Inf Div arrives in a few days, I’ll take the city... in early January! Maybe I am used to a more dogged style of defense in China, but I find it curious.
Now, his running doesn’t mean that I have not been able to catch him and make him bleed. Take a look:
Ground combat at Hong Kong (77,61) - Japanese Deliberate attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 271 casualties reported
----- Squads: 2 destroyed, 23 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
----- Engineers: 1 destroyed, 14 disabled
- Allied ground losses:
--- 370 casualties reported
----- Squads: 36 destroyed, 3 disabled
----- Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 17 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
----- Vehicles lost 8 (2 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Ground combat at Hong Kong (77,61) - Japanese Deliberate attack
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 389 casualties reported
----- Squads: 0 destroyed, 29 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
- Allied ground losses:
--- 524 casualties reported
----- Squads: 32 destroyed, 6 disabled
----- Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 26 disabled
----- Engineers: 2 destroyed, 7 disabled
----- Guns lost 8 (5 destroyed, 3 disabled)
----- Vehicles lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Ground combat at Hong Kong (77,61) - Japanese Deliberate attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 196 casualties reported
----- Squads: 1 destroyed, 13 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
----- Engineers: 1 destroyed, 2 disabled
----- Vehicles lost 2 (2 destroyed, 0 disabled)
- Allied ground losses:
--- 257 casualties reported
----- Squads: 5 destroyed, 14 disabled
----- Non Combat: 19 destroyed, 8 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
----- Guns lost 3 (2 destroyed, 1 disabled)
----- Vehicles lost 9 (2 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Ground combat at Hong Kong (77,61) - Japanese Deliberate attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 739 casualties reported
----- Squads: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
----- Non Combat: 14 destroyed, 12 disabled
----- Engineers: 20 destroyed, 2 disabled
----- Vehicles lost 4 (4 destroyed, 0 disabled)
- Allied ground losses:
--- 325 casualties reported
----- Squads: 10 destroyed, 11 disabled
----- Non Combat: 11 destroyed, 21 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
----- Guns lost 4 (3 destroyed, 1 disabled)
----- Vehicles lost 7 (2 destroyed, 5 disabled)
Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44) - Japanese Shock attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 762 casualties reported
----- Squads: 3 destroyed, 41 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
--- 676 casualties reported
----- Squads: 24 destroyed, 8 disabled
----- Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 30 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Ground combat at Chengchow (88,44) - Japanese Shock attack
Japanese Assault reduces fortifications to 0
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 322 casualties reported
----- Squads: 1 destroyed, 25 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
----- Guns lost 3 (1 destroyed, 2 disabled)
- Allied ground losses:
----- 644 casualties reported
----- Squads: 6 destroyed, 42 disabled
----- Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Ground combat at 91,33 (near Paotow) - Japanese Shock attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 78 casualties reported
----- Squads: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
- Allied ground losses:
--- 3595 casualties reported
----- Squads: 90 destroyed, 99 disabled
----- Non Combat: 89 destroyed, 14 disabled
----- Engineers: 7 destroyed, 5 disabled
----- Guns lost 19 (10 destroyed, 9 disabled)
----- Units retreated 1
Ground combat at Chuhsien (88,56) - Japanese Shock attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 380 casualties reported
----- Squads: 1 destroyed, 31 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
- Allied ground losses:
--- 3413 casualties reported
----- Squads: 77 destroyed, 43 disabled
----- Non Combat: 166 destroyed, 5 disabled
----- Engineers: 20 destroyed, 1 disabled
----- Guns lost 9 (6 destroyed, 3 disabled)
----- Units retreated 3
----- Units destroyed 1
Ground combat at 77,57 (near Wuchow) - Japanese Shock attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 102 casualties reported
----- Squads: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
- Allied ground losses:
--- 2757 casualties reported
----- Squads: 103 destroyed, 71 disabled
----- Non Combat: 39 destroyed, 0 disabled
----- Engineers: 3 destroyed, 2 disabled
----- Guns lost 8 (5 destroyed, 3 disabled)
----- Units retreated 1
Ground combat at 83,52 (near Changsha) - Japanese Shock attack
- Japanese ground losses:
--- 1540 casualties reported
----- Squads: 4 destroyed, 111 disabled
----- Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
----- Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
- Allied ground losses:
--- 6994 casualties reported
----- Squads: 356 destroyed, 0 disabled
----- Non Combat: 172 destroyed, 0 disabled
----- Engineers: 20 destroyed, 4 disabled
----- Guns lost 25 (19 destroyed, 6 disabled)
----- Units retreated 3
I decided to bombard Hong Kong for a few days before my next push. Hopefully disorganization and fatigue will go down a bit.
Losses
Naval losses continue to be light, while my enemy’s are starting to mount up:
- PB Ishin Maru, near Shimonoseki.
- DD Usuguma, near Balabac.
Those are the total Japanese naval losses in the last eight days!
I wish air losses were similar. I do hold an edge in fighters destroyed (and, hopefully, in fighter pilots killed), but total Japanese losses are larger than Allied losses, and that is not good! Total losses (as reported) so far are:
- 68 Ki-30
- 66 B5N2
- 64 A6M2
- 49 G4M1
- 35 D3A1
- 29 Ki-21-IIa
- 23 Ki-28-Ib
- 23 Ki-21-Ic
- 21 Ki-27b
- 21 G3M2
- 15 E13A1
- 12 Ki-15-II
- 10 Ki-43-Ib
- 8 H6K4
- 8 C5M2
- 7 Ki-57-I
- 6 L3Y2
- 5 B5N2-C
- 4 MC-21
- 4 F1M2
- 3 Ki-56
- 3 E14Y1
- 2 Ki-44-Ia
- 2 H6K2-L
- 87 P-40E
- 52 P-40B
- 45 Vildebeest II
- 38 SBD-2
- 36 Bufalo
- 32 Hurricane IIb Trop
- 28 F4F-3A
- 26 B-17D
- 23 Hudson I
- 18 F4F-3
- 15 TBD-1
- 14 SOC-1
- 14 F2A-3
- 11 PBY-5
- 10 PBY-4
- 9 Wiraway
- 9 H81-A3
- 8 SBD-3
- 8 P-36A
- 6 Do-24K-1
- 6 Blenheim IV
- 6 Blenheim I
- 4 OS2U-3
- 3 T.Iva
- 3 L-18
- 2 B-339D
- 2 Blenheim IF
- 2 DC-2
Plus other singles here and there.
The one irksome factor in the air war is the AVG. My opponent is quite good at sending two of the squadrons to spots in China where my fighters are not, and then they get two days to feast on the carcasses of my bombers. I have sent a couple of Zero units to the coast, and have a Ki-43-Ic chutai there, but that is not enough. Need to find a solution for this. Meanwhile, I have stood down all unescorted bombing operations in China.
Well, that is it. A lot happening in some quarters, not as much in others. As always, any and all comments are welcome!
_____________________________
Tenno Heika Banzai!
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