Aurorus
Posts: 1314
Joined: 5/26/2014 Status: offline
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We are half-way through April. It is April 15th. Much of the fleet remains in port throughout SoPAC fixing up some damage. It will be 10-15 days before the IJN is ready to sortie again. The plan, for the moment, is to sortie 3 CA bombardment groups with fleet CVs to Noumea and then attack with the ground forces there to finish the battle for New Caledonia. Hopefully the 90 A6M2s and 72 Betties at Koumac can ward off the allies for 2 more weeks until the empire is ready to take to the island. From New Caledonia, it is now a decision: to go forward with the planned invasion of Australia or to invade New Zealand along with Port Hedland and try to cut Australia off. The real purpose here is to force a decisive naval battle in 1942. I have 1 division ashore in Australia around the Darwin region and 2 more divisions at Port Moresby, Rabaul, and Truk prepping for landings on the Northeastern coast of Oz. 3 Divisions are on New Caledonia, and 2 of these would join either campaign. If I do decide for the New Zealand langing, I will have to make that decision in the next few days to change my prep targets and give the units a couple weeks to prep for the landings. New Zealand would be interesting. It would be a challenge: both to take the islands and to extract most of the forces from that far south by the end of 1942. APs are returning with some DDs that are due upgrades to the Home Islands. These will perform the Luzon landings with a division bought out from Manchuria, which should begin in early May. The 65th Brigade and a division and the heavy artillery from Java will also participate in the initial drive on Manila and Clark Field. Most of Burma is in Japanese hands and it is now a matter mopping up a few scattered units. Apbarog put up only token resistance. I had been waiting for him to bomb some of my units moving through the open country in Burma. On April 11th, I spotted the first allied recon plane over a division moving through open ground. I had been alternating squadrons of CAP, but I decided that this lone recon plane was an omen that he was about to send in the bombers, so I set 1st and 11th Sentai of Oscar Ics at 100% LRCAP over that division. The next day, the 12th of April, the allies appeared. A fighter sweep of P-40s came in first and only 1 Sentai was on station. The other was still 30 minutes away and arrived just as the last allied planes were departing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 15th Army, at 57,45 , near Magwe Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 21,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 11 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 58 Allied aircraft P-40E Warhawk x 27 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 5 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed CAP engaged: 1st Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 29 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 11000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes 11th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 29 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 9000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 2 minutes 11th Sentai, which was on station at 11K, took the initial dive from the P-40s and faired well: fighting the Warhawks even, despite giving away altitude. The next raid to come in was B-17s at 10K. 27 Oscars from 1st Sentai gave the B-17Ds a tough fight. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 18th Division, at 57,45 , near Magwe Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 36 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 38 Allied aircraft B-17D Fortress x 8 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses B-17D Fortress: 2 destroyed, 5 damaged Japanese ground losses: 14 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 5 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 7000 feet Ground Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb CAP engaged: 1st Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 27 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters to 12000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 33 minutes 11th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 11 scrambling) Group patrol altitude is 9000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes Only 9 Oscars from 1st Sentai had any fuel or ammunition remaining to engage the next raid, which were B-26s. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morning Air attack on 18th Division, at 57,45 , near Magwe Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid spotted at 33 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 9 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 14 Allied aircraft B-26 Marauder x 13 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses B-26 Marauder: 5 damaged Japanese ground losses: 47 casualties reported Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled Aircraft Attacking: 13 x B-26 Marauder bombing from 10000 feet Ground Attack: 6 x 500 lb GP Bomb CAP engaged: 1st Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) 9 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 11000 , scrambling fighters to 7000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes 11th Sentai with Ki-43-Ic Oscar (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 5 scrambling) Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters to 7000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 41 minutes A final fighter sweep of P-40s came in last at 20K and caught 3 Oscars from 1st Sentai that remained: 2 Oscars were lost in that engagement. The final air tally for the day showed 11 Oscars lost in air-to-air combat and 6 lost to ops. Allied losses showed 8 P-40s lost in air-to-air and 3 to ops; 2 B-17Ds lost to air-to-air and 5 to ops; and 1 B-26 downed. So 17 Oscars for 19 allied planes. Since the air combat took place over my division, IJA pilots losses were light: 4 pilots KIA and 6 WIA. The long list of wounded pilots grows again.
< Message edited by Aurorus -- 12/29/2017 12:38:20 AM >
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