FeurerKrieg
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War Report 3/20/42
A very active day in the War!
The more routine action saw a large strike on Imphal that torched 4 Blenheims on the ground and shut the airfield. Chinese troops were hit by Alf and Sonias in southern China. Nate's from Nanning were over Kweiyang again, with less favorable results today. Only 1 I-16c was downed, while the AVG knocked out 7 Nates.
Chinese troops launched a strong counterattack at Ichang and drove out the 1 Para Regiment that had been holding the area for several days, the Para's retreated southeast towards Wuhan.
The SS Narwhal was attacked again north of the Phillipines, this time taking a direct DC hit.
Southern Borneo: Plenty of action here. The task force carrying the 16th Division was on orders to again attempt a landing near Balikpapan, somewhat to the east of Signal Hill. As the ships prepared to launch their landing craft, distant flashes, followed by shell splashes in the water announced the arrival of enemy ships. The task force reacted as well as it could with most transports moving at full speed under cover of the night out into the straight. Several transports were already very close to the enemy ships when they were spotted and had no chance of getting away. Late morning reports would later confirm the arrival of a strong surface group consisting of the battleship Resolution, the heavy cruiser Dorsetshire, light cruiser Emerald and the destroyer Panther. These ships mercilessly pounded those transport unlucky enough to be on the western edge of the task force. The AP Husimi Maru took multiple 15inch shells and broke into two parts before it even sank. The AP Karachi Maru took multiple 8 inch shells from the Dorsetshire and also sank quickly. In all three troop transports, and one minesweeper were sunk. Casualties amoung the 16th Division were heavy, with almost 3000 men lost at sea since rescue operations could not be undertaken due to the proximity of the enemy.The 16th Division is set upon again.
A second transport group, having begun to unload further up the coast, did not abort immediately but rather began to unload elements of the 4th AF Construction Bn, 23rd Engr Reg, and 31st SBF. Through the evening, SNLF elements of the 31st SBF moved inland and managed to block the primary connection between Samarinda and Balikpapan.
Near Samarinda, a trio of battleships, the Hyuga, Yamashiro and Mutsu pounded the airfields in order to ground the T.IVa's that had been harassing our ships for the past few days, this did a fair amount of damage, destroying a Brewster 339D in the process. Also, three regiments of tanks stormed the coastline and began unloading without incident. The 4th, 7th and 14th Tank Regiments all began to surround and cutoff Samarinda.
After a rough night, the daytime brought no relief.
The group unloading the engineering units, already on the lookout for heavy British surface ships, suddenly spotted incoming British carrier based aircraft!When Stringbags attack.
Apparently the Brits were not happy about the Sazanami sinking the Glasgow and decided to send in the Stringbags to take out the destroyer. The ship again earned its stripes though, outmanuevering multiple groups of Swordfish and not taking a single torpedo hit.The skillful Sazanami survives again.
The PC Ch2 and AP Anzan Maru were not so lucky however and both took multiple torps. Both of these ships were already damaged and broke apart rapidly, taking many crewmembers down with them. Thankfully the Anzan had offloaded many soldiers in the night or casaulties could have been worse.
In a small victory, the IJN big guns continued to pound Samarinda throughout the daylight hours, destroying a few T.IVa's on the ground and severly damaging the airfields there.The situation in Borneo.
Feurer Krieg Area Report
Again, to start with the minor activity, Upolu was bombed by long range naval bombers from Suva and Canton Island doing minor damage. Zero's at Nandi moved back to Suva as the battleships they were flying cover for will move out of range through the upcoming night.
Zero's from Rabaul flew to Port Moresby and were met by several waves of Wirraways and Kittyhawk I's. The Kittyhawk's performed fairly well, shooting down a couple of our less than experienced aviators. Most of our superior pilots mopped up well however, shooting down over twenty enemy planes for the loss of five Zeros.IJN Combat School.
Beauforts attacked Salamaua again today, with little effect.
Komorebi started in earnest as the sun's rays fell upon the islands of the south Pacific today. While the expected fly by of a distant Catalina in the morning hours was not a cause for alarm, the Zero's on CAP were alert as ever given the proximity to two significant airbases at Luganville and Noumea.
Early in the morning, 11 two-engined bombers were spotted flying in from the east. The Zero's dove on these bombers, splashing them all in short order. A couple Zeros were damaged in this attack, but most regained altitude just in time to see a second small group coming from the south. This group was small, 4 fighters escorting 3 LB-30's. The P-40B's were quickly dealt with, but the LB-30s were bristling with machine gun fire and actually shot down two Zeros. Only one LB-30 was downed but another was damaged. They managed to release their bombs but they fell well wide of their target, the AP Kyosei Maru in the invasion force task group.
Some Zeros landed to rest and refuel, while others took off and went to altitude. They were at good altitude again when the major attack of the day came in. 36 Heavy bombers and 3 mediums, escorted by two dozen P-40B's came in around 6000 feet. The Zeros dove on the assault with determination, the previous loss of the Kaga solid in their minds. The Zeros split off, with some occupying the escorts and the rest bravely attacking the formations of heavies. Those attacking the escorts faired well, destroying 75% of them and driving off the rest. The planes attacking the bombers hit again and again, but the large planes proved hard to bring down. The limited amount of 20mm ammo limited how much damage could actually be done before disengaging, as the 7.7mm MG bullets had virtually no impact on the armored bombers. Still, several heavies were shot down, and nearly all of them damaged to some extent or another. Tons of bombs were dropped near the valuable carriers, but most fell wide. Some however, hit their mark, with the Skokaku being hit 11 times. Although the bombs did start some fires on the deck, none managed to penetrate the deck of the ship and cause any major damage. The fires are worrysome, and all efforts are being made to put them out.
One last small strike of 4 heavies and 4 escorts arrived as the sun was going down, and again all the escorts were downed, but only one heavy could be shot down. The remaining three, although damaged still dropped their bombloads, and one bomb from each plane managed to hit the Hiryu. One bomb did penetrate the flight deck and hit an aircraft ammunition storeage area causing a fair (but not catastophic) amount of damage to the hanger deck. Repairs will be effected, and fires fought throughout the night.Allied LBA attacks.
And the results...
As night falls, the situation is still reasonable. The battleships remain undetected, and will arrive just a few miles off the coast of Nouemea tomorrow, ready to spend a full evening bombarding the airbases there the following day. Because the battleships will be so near, the Carriers will begin moving away from the area this evening, which will put them at the very edge of the range of the P-40Bs. The P-40Es and P-39s at Noumea will continue to be out of range of the carriers, but not the invasion force or the battleships.
One group of Zeros will fly LR CAP over each (the invasion group and the battleships). While it is likely a strong attack will get through, the landing forces are spread quite thinnly over many ships and losses there should be light. The battleships armor should be able to resist the GP bombs the bombers are dropping due to the less than ideal airfield size they are flying from (Size 4). By tomorrow the invasion group will be able to hit the beaches at Koumac the following night, the same time that the battleships will be hitting the airfields at Noumea.
Hopefully the amount of destroyed and damaged planes today will make any strikes tomorrow less effective. CAP levels of the carriers has been increased to the maximum for tomorrow as it is the last high risk day, since the next day will see the carriers in range only of unescorted bomber attacks, as they move north and begin to provide LR CAP over the invasion group only, from outside P-40B range.Situation near Noumea.
Sub Ops:
No activity today.
Non-Ops Air Losses
Allies
P-40B Tomahawk - 26
Wirraway - 17
Hudson I - 11
Blenheim I - 7
LB-30 Liberator - 6
B-17E Fortress - 4
Kittyhawk I - 4
T.IVa - 3
I-16c - 1
B-25C Mitchell - 1
Brewster 339D - 1
Swordfish - 1
Imperial Air Force
A6M2 Zero - 18 (+6 Ops)
Ki-27 Nate - 7
G4M1 Betty - 2
E7K2 Alf - 1
At-Risk Damaged Ship Report
AK Katuragi Maru 88/90/21 (Samarinda)
AP Chojun Maru 25/38/0 (Tarakan)
AP Kumagawa Maru 79/60/0 (Balikpapan)
AP Hanakawa Maru 94/87/24 (Balikpapan)
AP Shinko Maru 52/31/1 (Balikpapan)
PC CH32 41/16/0 (Balikpapan)
AK Arimasan Maru 21/23/1 (Tarakan)
ML Tsubame 40/30/4 (Samarinda)
PG Kyo Maru #8 17/0/3 (Pago Pago)
CV Hiryu 19/1/20 (Noumea)
CV Shokaku 10/0/20 (Noumea)
Ships lost today:
AP Karachi Maru
AP Husimi Maru
AP Kamo Maru
MSW Rikusen Maru
PC Ch2
AP Anzan Maru
 Attachment (1)
< Message edited by Feurer Krieg -- 8/28/2006 6:59:42 AM >
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