apbarog
Posts: 3769
Joined: 5/23/2002
Status: offline
|
6 Nov 42
The combat task force accompanying KB had four battleships.
Night Naval bombardment of Milne Bay at 101,133
Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei
BB Haruna
BB Kongo
CA Kinugasa
CL Tatsuta
Allied ground losses:
128 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Airbase supply hits 3
Runway hits 5
Port hits 6
Port supply hits 4
This is a very weak bombardment. On the way home, destroyer Hatsuharu hit a mine at Normanby Island. At least 5 of the ships of this task force moved no further than Normanby by the end of the day, within range of many bombers at Port Moresby. But the enemy had good luck, with bad weather covering the task force.
For most of 1942, I've awaited an enemy air strike at Ledo. At times, I kept multiple P-40 squadrons here, discouraging any attack. No attack ever came, even with a weaker air defense. Until today. With so much Japanese air power in Burma, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.
32 Oscars swept, finding 32 Hurricane IIc Trops on CAP. The British were mauled. 25 Sallys with 12 Oscars then arrived and went up against what was left, which was just 7 Hurris. The Hurricanes did well, but planes started to be hit on the ground. Then a bigger strike of 29 Sallys with 36 Oscars ran up against just 3 Hurris. Flak was about the only defense. More planes destroyed on the ground.
On the other side of Burma, I had spotted ships at Akyab, and another big task force about to arrive there. I assigned a strong sweep, heavy bombers hitting the airfield and port, and all of the naval bombers I could muster set up in Chittagong.
First 25 P-38Fs swept, doing well against 42 Oscars and 12 Tojos. Then 25 P-40Ks swept, also doing well against 25 Oscars and 9 Tojos. Then the heavy bombers arrived: 15 B-17s and a few B-24s. They did very little damage to the airfield and port, but they helped wear down the CAP some more. Then 9 more B-17s. Then 8 B-24s, which did hit I-153 with a bomb in port. The naval bombers didn't fly until the afternoon, but CAP was much reduced.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 19 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 8
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 2
Allied aircraft
Fulmar II x 12
Hurricane IIc Trop x 31
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
Fulmar II: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed
Japanese Ships
xAP Suwa Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAP Keihuku Maru
Japanese ground losses:
45 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Aircraft Attacking:
8 x Fulmar II bombing from 100 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb
and
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 12 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 5
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 1
Allied aircraft
SBD-3 Dauntless x 17
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
SBD-3 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 3 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAP Keihuku Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAP Argentina Maru
xAP Baikal Maru
Japanese ground losses:
17 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)
and
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid detected at 7 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 1
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 1
Allied aircraft
Vengeance I x 15
No Japanese losses
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AMc Choun Maru #7, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
Unfortunate choice of target by that squadron of Vengeances.
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid spotted at 5 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes
Allied aircraft
Vengeance I x 12
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
xAP Baikal Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Kongo Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
xAP Keihuku Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Heian Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
Japanese ground losses:
115 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Vehicles lost 14 (10 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Nice xAPs hit and they all had men loaded on them. Audio of something sinking after the combat.
Total air losses for all activity today were 26 Oscars, 9 Sallys and 6 Tojos for 21 Hurricanes, 9 C-47s on the ground, 5 SBD-3s, 5 P-38Fs, 4 DC-3s on the ground, and 3 B-24s, 2 of which were on the ground.
Finally, the Allied troops at Horn Island shock attacked, which was unexpected. Horn Island is a medium sized atoll according to the manual. In some old version of WitP, shock attacks occurred with atolls. When the size of the island started to matter, I thought the rule was that shock attacks occurred with very small and small islands, regardless of being an atoll or not. Obviously I've gotten this wrong.
Allied troops land at Horn Island.
Ground combat at Horn Island (91,128)
Allied Shock attack
Attacking force 14614 troops, 231 guns, 213 vehicles, Assault Value = 486
Defending force 8793 troops, 111 guns, 18 vehicles, Assault Value = 228
Allied adjusted assault: 604
Japanese adjusted defense: 104
Allied assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 2)
Allied forces CAPTURE Horn Island !!!
Combat modifiers
Defender:
Attacker: shock(+), fatigue(-)
Japanese ground losses:
1085 casualties reported
Squads: 41 destroyed, 64 disabled
Non Combat: 23 destroyed, 17 disabled
Engineers: 46 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 62 (51 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 14 (14 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Allied ground losses:
395 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 40 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 12 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Assaulting units:
3rd Marine Division
627th Tank Destroyer Battalion
21/22 Field Arty Regiment
Defending units:
18th Naval Guard Unit
4th/A Division
4th/B Division
39th JNAF AF Unit
1st Naval Construction Battalion
29th Fld AA Gun Co
47th JNAF AF Unit
But the attack goes well and the base falls. The enemy still needs to be mopped up, but the attackers need a day or two of rest. No rush here though, the mission is accomplished.
So the first 3 targets of this continuous set of invasions have been taken: Port Moresby, Milne Bay and now Horn Island. Carriers will support landing of the followup troops today, then move to cover the occupation of the Allied dot bases of Gove and Wesel Islands. The two CVEs will leave today to cover transports coming from Normanton. Then it's on to Taberfane and Dobo.
KB was in a threatening position yesterday, but it pulled back to the north, not wanting to go after the US carriers, Port Moresby, or Lunga. At least not so far. KB did run a gauntlet of Allied subs without being engaged. That luck has to run out eventually.
 Attachment (1)
|
Printable Version
RE: Did You Know I Used to Drive a Rollercoaster?: Apba... - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread