War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

2 December 1942
Massive enemy casualties in Burma crossing bridges under fire in Moulmein and Rahang, surrounded armies at Foochow just about done

Indian Ocean
Harbor patrol craft spotted an enemy sub near Karachi and dealt it some moderate depth charge damage before it got away. A second pair of patrol craft reacquired it and were much more accurate, forcing it to surface. It was a little worrysome when that happened because these craft's biggest gun is a 40mm "pom-pom". After an exchange of fire, the sub went under again--probably still under control--but realistically, this far from home, a sub barely clinging to life isn't going to make it.


Burma and Thailand
We clashed with enemy fighters for control of the skies over Moulmein--the enemy Tojo fighters there were highly effective, shooting down 3 P-40s without loss, but we got 4 Zeroes to avenge those losses. Neither side was able to stop the other's bombers-so both armies on opposite sides of the bridge took significant bombing disruption.

The enemy apparently divided their forces, with 2 nominal divisions and change (approximate actual strength 1.5 divisions--thanks, bombers!) going straight into Moulmein under fire and at least 1 division crossing over into an adjacent hex to flank us. Which raises the question--why not send the whole offensive force to the flanking hex, so you can attack overland in force instead of over bridges? Another think to ask him later. Casualties were 11,000 to 844--that's more than half his force killed or wounded.

The forces coming up from Tavoy have made it all the way up to the road to Ragheng. We held Moulmein as long as we had to. All my units with less than 50% of their requested supplies are evacuating to the east. Those with 50% or more of requested supplies are going to take advantage of the carnage and counterattack, hopefully putting these 2 enemy divisions out of action more or less permanently.

Another RTA "division" crossed the bridges at Raheng under fire, taking 808 casualties without inflicting any on me. There are still more troops that haven't crossed, and it looks like they're moving to the adjacent base, which I actually hold with more troops now than I'm holding Raheng with (because I don't have fortifications there and there's no river limiting access). I actually couldn't ask for anything more--the Raheng troops pretty much killed everyone they could and are now low on ammo. And now he's going to attack my fresh troops instead? Please and thank you.

This is also a good time to mention that I am an idiot. This whole time, that mountain supply route? The one supposedly keeping Raheng in operation and hopefully tricking supplies to the armies near Moulmein and Tavoy. I don't think it ever existed. The "road" terminates in a hex with a rail route, which I thought was good enough because railroads are assumed to have "trails" that give land units movement bonuses, I thought that would move supply too. But I checked supply status using an interface hotkey, and it looks like everything south of that intersection is completely unconnected to supply movement. So that's why Raheng dwindled to nothing in spite of apparently being connected. That said, this wouldn't have changed the plan. We still can't go north because the enemy has more troops there and we'd be the ones crossing bridges. We couldn't go south to Bangkok because we'd get bombed in the open terrain, just like we're doing to them in northern Burma now, and then we'd have to cross bridges into fortified and well-garrisoned positions. East has always been the only option...and it keeps our forces alive the longest, even if he does hunt them down eventually. I'd say I'm about a week from being able to launch a major offensive out of Australia.

Another thing worth mentioning now...I think he had about 7 divisions in Burma, but what we're seeing now looks like 3-4 divisions at Moulmein, 1 division at Raheng, and probably not even a division moving up towards Mandalay. There's at least 1 division not in play in any of these moves...and I've been getting a lot of SIGINT about preparation for an attack on Ceylon. And there's plenty of ship traffic going into Rangoon now. Odds are, this is his next operation, to happen after he's done in Burma. But it's at least possible that he thinks he can catch Ceylon off-guard with another surprise landing.

https://i.ibb.co/FBDG379/1942-December-2-Burma.png


Solomons
I moved a Beaufigther squadron from Australia to Rossel and had it attack the enemy port at Tulagi, based on scout reports that a pair of subchasers were docked there. We found a subchaser...and a sub. The sub took 5 bomb hits and multiple strafing runs and sank, the subchaser was hit by one bomb plus a few cannon bursts, and will likely join the sub at the bottom of the harbor.


Banda Sea
Mostly quiet. The 1st surface task force, I think, was spotted hanging out at Koepang, along with a bunch of fighters and bombers at the base standing back and standing by. Unsettling. The 2nd surface task force has disappeared, presumably it went back to Ambon to rearm.

I'm shifting some forces around to deal with this problem. I'll be sending more ground forces from Port Morseby as it's clear even with the extra infantry on Babar, I'm not going to kill those 2 enemy regiments. I also need more airpower to deal with the surface threats--Beaufighters and P-38s are great for transports and destroyers, but cruisers (and maybe battleships) take something that hits a bit harder.


China
3 of the 5 units in Foochow (4 of which are infantry divisions) have been eliminated. Not sure which ones. One even surrendered, a rarity for Japanese units. That was another 7900 killed/wounded/captured to add to the IJA's awful day.


Reinforcements
SS Snook arrives at San Francisco
45th Indian Brigade arrives at Karachi
18th British Division arrives at Aden
^---both of these are empty commands, and I don't think I'll have squads to fill them out with anytime soon thanks to the urgent need for replacement troops in Burma.

[Molon Labe]

3 December 1942
All enemy solders at Foochow eliminated; enemy armies at Moulmien & Raheng routed


China
A heavy cruiser and 2 destroyers shelled my troops at Foochow overnight, causing a few casualties. Much too little, much too late. Some of our P-40s tried to attack one of the cargo ships that were delivering supplies (or maybe now are trying to evacuate troops?) were driven off by a CAP of Zeroes and Oscars; with two each Oscars, Zeroes, and P-40s shot down.

Our army attack finished off the last of what was once four divisions and an aviation support battalion--another 10,000 enemy casualties. I suppose we might not have completely eliminated all of them if a few got on the boats, but even if that happened, these units were all shadows of their former selves when they embarked. We won't be seeing them again.

Burma and Thailand
We fought a bit to control the skies over Moulmein, with him winning--I just don't have enough operational fighters to keep up. We lost a P-40 and a Hurricane with no victories, and his bombers got through unmolested in the afternoon. Ours got through as well, but without any shootdowns by his fighters. So once again, we had mostly offsetting air support. But his troops hadn't recovered from yesterday's shellacking. Our counterattack routed them, chasing them back across the river with an additional 2744 casualties (to our 504) and destroying 110 combat squads and 208 support squads, plus a bunch of equipment. I'd estimate the 4th and 33rd Divisions were at just 25% strength for today's attack, and by destroying the majority of disabled squads and equipment, I think we just locked that number in. It's going to take them so long to get back to normal strength that they're effectively eliminated from the campaign for the foreseeable future.

We also kicked the enemy out of Raheng, although it was apparently only the 15th Army HQ that was left there. Odd, I didn't think they could evacuate in just a day or two, and even if they could why would they leave the HQ behind? Maybe the RTA units were wiped out?

Also, along the northwestern coast, the units we have moving into the region from India caught up with some of the broken troops that once occupied Akyab, and engaged them a bit. That was another 300 enemy casualties.


Banda Sea
The fight over Babar is slowly tipping in the enemy's favor. Today we suffered a significant aerial defeat, failing to fight off a sweep of Nicks, Oscars, and Zeroes. We shot down just one Oscar and a Nick, while losing a P-38, 3 P-40s, and 5 P-39s.

Our airbases are getting overcrowded and what we have isn't getting the job done. The two enemy regiments on Babar are starting to look like actual regiments in strength. We're badly outnumberd and the only thing that's kept the island in our hands has been the constant suppression of the enemy troops by air and sea bombardments, and the enemy surface and air surge is reducing that.

Lex and Sara had been working their way back here, and lucky us, they had subs waiting for us around Horn Island. We didn't get attacked but the subs and our Avengers had mutual detections. I'm sure he can make the inference--he did at Guadalcanal a few days ago. It's starting to look like there's a submarine surge in this area, from Horn Island all the way to Darwin.

East Australia
I'm about 3 days late reporting this, but a troop transport that was damaged in the KB's raid on Noumea months ago was finally repaired enough to try to move it to Sydney. But on the way, it suffered a catastrophic bulkhead failure in the engineering spaces. It's still afloat, but it's taken so much water it can only move at 1 knot. Over the last few days, the flooding's been getting slowly, but progressively worse. I've ordered them to stop at a nearby island, which they should arrive at tomorrow. It will give the crew a chance, hopefully, to dewater the "extra" spaces that flooded (they can't do anything about the huge flooding in engineering) and try again to get to Sydney.

Refits
SS Snook taken out of commission to begin refit at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

4 December 1942
Attacks on Darwin, Babar, and Colombo imminent; supply convoy sunk by carrier aircraft near Colombo


Burma
Sallies and Helens are bombing my ground forces pulling out of Moulmein. The bombing seems more effective now that I'm on the move. Raheng is done for as a fighter base as we've got no more fuel, ammo, or parts to fly the remaining (disabled) aircraft. It's going to be a long walk for these guys, getting bombed daily as they try to pull out.

I tried to hit Rangoon's port with the B-24s today, taking advantage of the lack of urgent tasking for them with the land-based threat to Moulmein neutralized for the moment. Not only did we fail to catch any ships, but we lost 9 bombers to the CAP. We took 6 fighters with us, two each of Oscars, Nicks, and Tojos.

Enemy paratroopers retook Akyab, routing a unit of AT guns that was passing through at the time. I'm not planning an immediate response to this, the base is a wreck and it'll take time before he can use it against me, assuming he even wants to.

Evacuating through Indochina is starting to look like a bad idea. Recon in the Hanoi area is promising, but I checked the manual about militia forces, and if I'm reading it correctly they get to spawn as much as 4 divisions of militia in Indochina if my troops enter. It looks like going through the mountains to northern Burma or China makes more sense, and while I'm doing that, I can capitalize on the enemy's recent losses at Amoy and Foochow to launch offensive in China that capture enemy factories so that the backwards flow of supplies down the Burma Road stops being stupid.


Bay of Bengal
A supply convoy from Colombo to Diego Garcia was bounced by 46 Vals with 27 Zero escorts. All 4 cargo ships were fatally damaged in the first wave. A follow-up strike sank the minesweeper that was providing ASW services. My CVBG--at Diego Garcia to try to keep it out of the way of an attack on Colombo--reported enemy scout plane overflights, so they should know we're there. 20 enemy Kates flew a few long distance flights, trying to bomb a heavy cruiser about to report in to Colombo, just arriving in theatre, but they all missed. This looks like 2 carriers worth of planes, but it's possible there are more CVs standing by.

The enemy has a choice to make, now. We have a lot of traffic at Colombo right now...tankers and transports. And we've got the fleet at Diego Garcia. Which does he want more?

I'm glad I pulled my dive bombers out of Raheng when I did, because they're at Colombo now, along with some Beaufort torpedo bombers. If the enemy fleet closes to let their Vals attack, we should get a shot at them.

Luzon Strait
USS Grunion hit a cargo ship in a convoy near Bataan Island with 3 torpedoes, one of which actually detonated. We can credit our aerial surveillance for this intercept--they were spotted yesterday and I put two subs in their path.

Banda and Timor Seas
https://i.ibb.co/yYV9xsD/1942-Dec-4-Timor-Sea.png

The surge has arrived. Two surface task forces and a CVBG coming in from the west--at least 2 carriers. There's a transport task force reinforcing Bandar that's basically caught here, it can't retreat fast enough to get away. I'm going to leave their fate to the fighters based on Bandar. As for enemy surface forces, well, we have PTs and a minefield. I have a decent sized group of surface combattants here, but they won't be able to compete with battleships, especially if they get softened up by a an airstrike first.

I had a bunch of other convoys inbound--more troops, supply, and fuel--they're all far enough to turn around and get out of the way.

I have plenty of strike assets in the area, I've even moved level bombers out of here to make room. They actually attempted a strike today, but failed to find the enemy thanks to storms. Maybe tomorrow. But tomorrow I mostly want to play defense and try to find out what I'm really up against. Right now it looks like 2 carriers in that CVBG, but it could be more. There's a lot of potential danger to both of us right now, I'm just crossing my fingers right now hoping he's trying to do to much at once like he's doing in Burma.


Reinforcements
180th USAAF Base Force arrives at Seattle (unrestricted, 70% strength)
4th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

5 December 1942
Enemy carrier air raids target transports near Colombo and Babar, Darwin shelled by Yamato, large amphibious task force approaching Babar

Bay of Bengal
Today's overnight festivities began with an enemy sub being spotted by the destroyer escort USS Kenneson, which was escorting a pair of (relatively) fast tankers to Colombo. Kenneson managed to connect solidly with one pattern and managed another damaging near miss. It's possible that was enough to send it home.

The enemy carriers chose to attack Colombo rather than our CVBG (which backed off from this, I don't have enough attack aircraft there to get a good result against even one fleet carrier). The first raid was 27 Zeroes and 9 Kates against 22 Sea Hurricanes, as well as several Beaufighters that were on a training flight. We got 8 Zeroes and lost 2 Beaufighters and a Hurricane. The Kates, apparently flying at extended range without torpedoes, attacked a troop transport from high altitude and missed. A second wave of 19 Zeroes and 18 Kates was opposed by 15 Hurricanes--we got 7 of these Zeroes without losses, and once again, the Kates all missed.

They stayed too far away for any of our planes to reach them. If they want to get their Vals involved, that might change. The newer D3A2 variant would have to get inside our attack range, while the older D3A1 can reach us at extended range--and a severely reduced bombload.

Just as we're seeing in the Timor Sea action, it appears that the enemy is keeping at least one carrier's airwing in reserve to make it look like it's just one fleet carrier here. I'm fairly sure it's at least two, if not the whole KB-west.

We got some SIGINT with three valuable bits of information: that the 14th Division is planning to attack Ceylon, and that the 14th Division is currently at Port Arthur, Korea, and that they are currently split of in fragments that suggest they're being loaded onto ships right now. If they leave today, I'd expect them to arrive around December 23rd. So the attack on Colombo seems like it's trying to prepare the battleground by eliminating the British fleet there or by cutting off reinforcements.


Battle of the Timor Sea
My surface task force withdrawing southeast from Babar spotted a sub and made an ineffective attack on it.

The heavy cruiser Suzuya and three destroyers, which I presume detached from the enemy CVBG, attacked Port Hedland, Australia, a small port that collects a ton of resources. I've had small, unescorted convoys running from there to Perth since day 1 of the war. We lost two light cargo ships.

The lead enemy heavy surface task force approached Darwin to shell the base. We had 5 PT boats attempt an intercept, at night, but sadly they didn't get any hits even though the attacked from just 1000 yards. No casualties on either side in that exchange. The task force--comprised of the battleships Yamato and Hyuga, the heavy cruisers Maya and Kingusa, and 11 destroyers--continued, sinking a coastal minesweeper before hitting the base. We suffered 131 troop casualties at Darwin. Aircraft losses (damaged numbers are estimates): 3 Wildcats destroyed, 23 damaged; 4 SBDs destroyed; 1 Beaufrighter destroyed, 8 damaged; 3 PBYs destroyed, 9 damaged; 2 B-17 destroyed, ~8 damaged; 15 B-26s damaged, 1 transport aircraft destroyed, 6 damaged. The runway damage is at 47% and service damage at 41%.

80 miles west of Babar, the KVIII took a shot at a cargo ship in the approaching amphibious task force, but missed. It took a rare hit from a type-95 depth charge in deep water--perhaps this boat can't dive deep enough? Flooding is moderate. At least we got good intel; the task force is 1 CA, 1 CL, 9DD, 1 APD, 2 PB, and 6 xAK. That we know of, anyway, there could be more.

The first air attack was a sweep of Babar by 6 Oscars from Ambon. We had 10 P-40s, 7-P-38s, and 15 P-39s greeting them. 1 Oscar was shot down.

Next was a pair of attacks from CVW-6 out of Darwin, although the fighters for this attack were VF-3 instead of VF-6. CVW-6 had to rebase from Rossel Island, but VF-6 didn't have the range to make it to Darwin. But they could make it to my carriers, so the Saratoga lended VF-3 to CVW-6 and CVW-6 lended VF-6 to the Saratoga. I'm very disappointed that the AI commanders decided to split this strike into two instead of just picking one target, considering they were already beaten down by the pre-dawn bombardment.

Against the enemy amphibious task force, we had 9 Wildcats (led by Jimmy Thatch) and 9 Dauntlesses against 65 Zeroes, 3 Rufes, and 3 Oscars. It looks like 80% of the CAP came from the enemy carriers, which joined up with the 'phibs, with the rest coming from Koepang. With numbers like that we obviously weren't going to do well--we shot down 1 Zero and 1 Rufe while losing 5 Wildcats and all 9 SBDs.

Against the Yamato's task force, we had 10 Wildcats and 11 Dauntlesses against 27 Zeroes and 9 Oscars--probably all from Koepang. We lost 3 Wildcats (including one flown by this world's version of Albert Vorse, killing him), and again, all 11 Dauntlesses. We had no kills of our own--very disappointing considering how elite the VF-3 pilots are--but we did manage to get 6 SBDs through to the Yamato before they were shot down, enough for a single hit that destroyed an AA gun mount. The bomb was just a 500lb SAP instead of the usual 1000lb thanks to the extended range of the strike.

Darwin also sent 8 flyable B-26s to bomb Babar; thanks to the strikes against the enemy task forces, enemy CAP did not intervene.

The enemy carriers--at this point preliminarily identified at the Shokaku and Hiryu, plus a CS probably a CVL and one more fleet carrier (of the fleet carriers, only two have been involved so far, I think he's keeping one in reserve)--attacked our amphibious task force at Babar. This was 27 Zeroes, 6 Kates, and 26 Vals, opposed by 10 Australian P-40s, 7 P-38s, and 14 P-39s, all flying directly from Babar itself. We lost 1 P-39 while taking down 7 Zeroes, 16 Vals, and 3 Kates, but that left plenty getting through:
xAK Centaur, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Yochow, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage (sank later)
xAK Johanne Justesen, Bomb hits 2, on fire (sank later)


In the afternoon, the enemy launched another strike, but it fragmented. First, 5 Kates and 13 Vals arrived without escorts, we picked off all 5 Kates and 4 Vals. But, more hits:
xAK Yunnan, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage (sank later)
xAK Autolycus, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
Then 21 Zeroes and 18 Kates went after a pair of minesweepers on an ASW patrol between Babar and Darwin. It was close enough to Babar that our fighters responded, 6 P-38s and 5 P-39s, enough to shoot down 5 Zeroes and 6 Kates without losses. The Kates failed to get any torpedo hits on these rather small targets.

The action ended with torpedo attack by USS Greenling against the amphibious group, bouncing a dud Mk14 off one of the cargo ships. It evaded counterattack.

During all this, VT-3 Avengers were hunting enemy subs, reportedly bombing two of them around noon. We currently have detections of 6 subs in the Arafura sea, making me nervous of a repeat of the Enterprise debacle.

As I mentioned earlier, although this enemy force is holding itself out to be centered around two fleet carriers, based on scout reports it really looks like 3 to me, 4 is even possible (i.e., the KB is back)--that plus the likely CVL and support from Koepang is more than the Lex and Sara can handle. I'm not counterattacking today, instead I'm going to try to get away from the subs, get under some P-38 protection, and see if he wants to come to me. If I pick up the P-38 support while he loses Koepang, our odds are pretty even. If he stays to cover the landings, there are plenty of opportunities for me to cause attrition...subs, PT boats, mines, my defensive CAP, and I'm going to send what's left of VF-3 on a high altitude sweep. I'm sending another PT squadron from Darwin to Babar, they'll hold off to avoid attacking in the day, but I should be able to get two consecutive nights with PT attacks in low moonlight. With a little luck, tomorrow we'll be looking at a weakened and vulnerable Kido Butai.

The heavy enemy surface task force is pulling out to rearm. He may be faced with a bit of a tradeoff--with the heavies headed to rearm, and with a detachment broken off to hit Port Hedland, his surface forces at Babar are somewhat limited. Will he bombard the island to neutralize the airbase overnight? If he does, those ships will need to rearm too and won't be much use if I send my surface forces in to have a knife fight with him. But if he doesn't, he's going to have to deal with those fighters in addition to my carriers, plus whatever I can throw at him from Darwin.


Solomons
The S-44 put 2 Mk10s into a troop-carrying cargo ship near Ontang Java, sinking it.

CENTPAC
I've greenlit the Midway operation. I'd be really surprised if they had a carrier ready to intervene with what we're seeing around Darwin, but I have CVEs for added protection. We were ready in advance for this, so it will proceed quickly.

E. Australia
I'm tentatively organizing a new offensive based out of here as well. The last pieces are coming into place now, but because of the proximity to events in the Timor Sea this isn't as certain to go forward as the Midway op.


Reinforcements
224 Group RAF arrives at Aden (AirHQ)
LST-447 arrives at Portland - that makes two, off to Pearl with them
TK Gulfwave arrives at Balboa
317th TCG/40th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (unrestricted and full strength, but most valuable as a training unit at the moment)

[Ostfriese]

Almost one year into the war now.

Despite all the losses, his air training blunder and his resource consuming he's still going strong, but I've got the feeling that he's just one major naval defeat away from crumbling, maybe even collapsing.

His plane losses seem to be excessively high, especially in the carrier air groups. How long can he endure and replace such losses?

[Molon Labe]

Almost one year into the war now.

Despite all the losses, his air training blunder and his resource consuming he's still going strong, but I've got the feeling that he's just one major naval defeat away from crumbling, maybe even collapsing.

His plane losses seem to be excessively high, especially in the carrier air groups. How long can he endure and replace such losses?

I wish I knew. It kinda looks like my resource denial strategy completely failed. There's really never been a point where it looked like he didn't have replacement aircraft available, his naval optempo has taken a few dips but nothing that's stopped him from doing what he needed or wanted to do. The one place where it looks like he's hurting is China.

https://i.ibb.co/XYR91HR/1942-Dec-5-AC-Losses.png

[Ostfriese]

These numbers are insane.

I'm aware WiTP is a game and not a repeat of real history, but I'll still make a comparison:

Japanese aircraft production (all types):

1939: 4,467
1940: 4,768
1941: 5,088
1942: 8,861
Total: 23,184

I do not have the numbers of aircraft produced before 1939, but the number was much lower, and the aircraft were less modern, but with the war in China already raging there were also losses, and most aircraft he lost are Zeros and Oscars, which were produced from 1939 onwards.

He lost about a third of the aircraft Japan historically had produced up to this point. With his current ops coming up he's on pace to lose another 1,000 to 1,700 aircraft (40 - 70 per day) before the end of 1942, so his losses could eventually outnumber the historical production numbers, all this at a time when your aircraft production has only begun to increase (and still the US produced about 48,000 aircraft in 1942 alone).

I know that WiTP allows the Japanese player to influence his industry, but to sustain losses like this he would have to ramp up aircraft production by some 20% to 30%, and this for the duration of the war, not just for a few days.

[Molon Labe]

6 December 1942
Close call for USS Wasp; Colombo disengaged, more transport losses at Babar while enemy avoids significant losses

Battle of the Timor Sea
Our transport group encountered an enemy surface group (2 C, 4 DD) approaching Babar. They took a few hits as they retreated, but they weren't the enemy's actual objective today and were able to get away.

The PT squadron crept within 1000 yards of the enemy task force before opening fire. The CL Kitikami was raked with .50cal fire (in real life, this would have been aimed at the bridge and searchlights) but we failed to get any torpedo hits against the fast, manuevering ships. One PT was sunk and another was damaged by small-caliber AA gun hits.

At Port Hedland, enemy detachment there hunted down 4 more cargo ships that had been running resources from there to Perth.

Back to Babar--the surface group made it through the minefield without hitting anything and shelled the base. Fortunately, this rather underpowered group didn't accomplish much--1 P-38 destroyed and as many as 10 fighters damaged but probably less (each instance of a plane being damaged is reported, many of which are the same plane being damaged multiple times). Facility damage to the airbase was insignificant.

The O20 and KXIII attempted attacks on enemy surface combat forces near Babar, but both were spotted by escorts and failed to get into attack position.

That was all before the sun rose. During daylight, the enemy would launch airstrikes that finished off all the transports that hadn't bugged out (5 cargo ships and 2 minesweepers--with some equipment lost due to an embarked land unit fragment). They didn't go after the Lex and Sara, in fact the KB even backed off a bit, taking a position where we'd have to expose ourselves to fighter-escorted Betty raids from Koepang if we wanted to take a shot at the carriers. The raids resulted in the losses of 7 Oscars, 10 Betties, 1 Zero, 2 P-39s and 2 P-40s. One of the lost cargo ships had been intended to be used to refuel PTs cycling into Babar, so that loss is going to interfere with my ability to keep PTs on station.


Strait of Luzon
USS Tautog torpedoed and sank an unescorted troop-carrying cargo ship off the southern coast of Taiwan. Two shots, two hits, two detonations, confirmed kill. Not bad at all.


SouthPAC
Near Starbuck Island (south of Palmyra) an enemy sub fired a 6-torpedo spread at the Wasp. We got lucky and all of them missed. I presume this was fired from extreme range due to the number of escorts--12 destroyers in this group. We prosecuted the sub afterwards but only scored one damaging near miss on it before it got away.

This is still a bad result for us, as the enemy now knows the Wasp isn't among the carriers threatening them near Babar.


Burma
I send my second-rate medium bombers to hit Akyab, mostly thinking it would be an easy training run for the rookie pilots in those groups. But they had Oscars protecting them and we lost 1 Blenheim and 1 Hudson.

Enemy land forces (regiment strength) attempted an attack against the brigade serving at the tip of the daschund's tail in the Moulmein area evacuation and once again found themselves understrength for the task. Casualties were 43 to 458 favoring us.


Reinforcements
SS Harder arrives at Balboa
W Flight RAF arrives at Sydney (0/6 Beaufighters Ic, unrestricted--I have enough VIc models to transition a full-sized squadron, that will free up Ic models to bring these to full strength)

[Molon Labe]

7 December 1942
Enemy carriers backing down in Timor Sea?

Burma
We got a little payback for the bombers splashed over Akyab, with the Canadian P-40s that were formerly based at Raheng sweeping over the base and downing 5 Oscars.

Japanese paratroops tried to take Cox's Bazaar but were routed by the garrison.

Solomons and New Britain
We swept Rabaul with P-38s but no one came up to play. B-17s followed that up with an attack on the airbase, which did little damage (probably due to severe storms interfering).

Timor and Banda Seas
Really quiet here today as the enemy carriers aren't here to be seen anymore. Doesn't mean they're actually gone. We had some bombers hit Babar and one of our subs took a shot at their amphibious reinforcements and missed, but that's all.

Refits and Reinforcements
CA Northampton beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
CA Quincy beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Gridley taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Benham beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
DD Ellet beginning refit in shipyard at Pearl Harbor
SS Seadragon taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane
SS Haddock taken out of commission to begin refit at Adak Island

CL Cleveland arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

8 December 1942
Chaos in Burma; PTs miss amphibious transports, but they turn around anyway?

Timor Sea
We had 11 PTs take on their amphibious group--which had only an APD and 2 PBs as escorts, on a moonless night with combat breaking out at just 2,000 yards. We managed one torpedo hit, which was a dud. 4 of our PTs were lost to return fire.

I'm not sure why, but this group ended up turning around. My best guess: he lost sight of my carriers yesterday and thought they left and ordered his fleet in, but when the enemy scouts spotted my carriers today, the AI commander of the amphibs chickened out. And not irrationally--it did save them from a punishing airstrike.

There was a Betty raid on Darwin; our CAP shot down 1 Zero and 1 Betty before they turned around.

The Yamato's group made it back to Koepang; the O20 and KXIII took shots at them near the base but missed.

An enemy sub took approached the Lex&Sara's replenishment group, got caught and got depth charged for moderate to heavy damage. The CVBG's Avengers also reported another hit on a sub. It looks like there are at least 6 in the area, though.

It's my turn to push a little, I need to get supplies and fuel into the area pretty badly, and at least for now we're not seeing enemy carriers, and my carriers are in position to support the fleet movements.


Caroline Islands
USS Herring torpedoed and sank a PB that was part of an ASW group hunting it.


Solomons and New Britain
Nicks came out to play with the P-38s this time, we shot 3 of them down along with 5 Dinah recon aircraft that were apparently on a training flight.


Burma and Thailand
https://i.ibb.co/mHmLbX3/1942-Dec-8-Burma.png
What a mess. We lost Swebo to paratroops. Not a huge deal but it will likely slow down supply flow to us. The bulk of the enemy tanks arrived in Mandalay, hot on the heels of our retreating Rangoon base forces. We have some fortifications there, and a decent number of troops, but not a whole lot of antitank guns. The B-25s and B-24s are going to work together to try to suppress them tomorrow. While that's going on, I'm trying to pull some more base forces back so if I can move planes out of here, I'd hate to lose squadrons on the ground if there's a rapid overrun.

In Thailand, the western evacuation continues with tons of bombing slowing us down. At the nose of the procession, the enemy has moved the equivalent of 2 divisions into Uttaradit. So much for my hope of short-term local force superiority. I'm close to that, but not quite. The best thing I can do for now if let the procession continue and hope I build up a critical mass faster than he does, all the while getting bombed and with supplies continuing to be consumed.

Refits and Reinforcements
SS Sunfish begins refit while under repair at Seattle (She made it!!!!)
AK Carina arrives at Alameda
SC PC-1077 arrives at Los Angeles
VS-2D13 arrives at Seattle (restricted, full strength floatplane unit--training duty)
5th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

9 December 1941
Magwe under attack in Burma, Timor area mostly quiet for now


Japan
A 3-tanker convoy got past our subs near Okinawa. USS Gunnel managed one dud hit on one of them.


Timor and Arafura Seas
The local surface action group is making its way back to Darwin to hopefully resume bombardment missions. A sub intercepted it on the way, but we spotted it in time and depth charged it pretty good. The Lex/Sara CVBG was also approached by a sub, but the escorts spotted it and forced it to break off.

My carriers are backing off a bit, trying to avoid the subs and leaving the defense of Babar and Darwin to their local air forces.

New Britain
He tried protecting Rabaul with Tojos but that didn't work any better, 3 shot down with no P-38 losses. Damage from the B-17 raids looks like it's starting to accumulate, so I might be able to disable the airbase if I keep it up. With the base nearly empty, though, am I just disabling it against my own future use?

Burma and Thailand
The tip of the evacuation train at Uttaradit drew pretty much every enemy bomber in theatre, it had to be over 200 aircraft. Except for 6 Anns that bombed Moulmein. The jungle is pretty thick here so this isn't the best use of them, but it will mean we can't counterattack effectively. The enemy land forces attacked, causing 654 casualties while taking 1194. The combat report indicated the enemy had a slow supply alert, but not me. Good to see that the garbage infrastructure of the area is hurting him as much as it's hurting me. Really no excuse, though, he has a rail line from Bangkok to here and nothing stopping him from landing supplies in Bangkok. Except, perhaps, that his strategic-level supply picture is actually bad and keeping Bangkok supplied wasn't a priority.

We suffered 7 more Blenhiem losses thanks to poor fighter-to-bomber coordination near Magwe. Late arriving Hurricane sweeps got 2 of the responsible Zeroes, but suffered 2 losses of their own. Over Magwe itself, our Hurricanes shot down 5 Zeroes and 2 Oscars while taking just 3 losses, helping our B-25s and B-24s get through to the tank-heavy enemy units below. But the fighter numbers are titling in their favor up here now, too. I wish I could say it was going to get better soon, but it's not. He attacked here with his land forces--mostly tanks--dishing out 400 casualties while taking 190--and not taking significant armor losses. That's bad, really bad.

We finished off the remaining paratroops at Cox's Bazaar.

[Molon Labe]

10 December 1942
Kido Butai returns to Arafura Sea--looks to be challenging Lexington and Saratoga to a brawl. Midway liberated, Magwe captured.


CENTPAC
Midway fell to my marines with barely a whimper from the enemy. The battleship New Mexico and cruiser Pensacola bombarded the shores overnight, and the Marines hit the beaches right after that, supported by suppressive fire from the Nevada. The enemy garrison was wiped out--the 42nd Naval Guard Unit and 28th JNAF Unit, about 3000 enemy troops. We had 393 casualties. There was an enemy midget sub or two here but they failed to make any attacks.


Burma and Thailand
Both of us poured bombers into Magwe to try to influence the ground battle there. That cost 3 Zeroes and 1 Hurricane. As hard as we hit the tanks with B-24s and B-25s, it wasn't enough, Magwe was overrun; casualties 1951 to 179 favoring them. I foolishly thought we'd last one more turn after the relatively modest set of losses yesterday, so I hadn't pulled my Hurricane squadrons out, resulting in the loss of 8 aircraft and several pilots when the base was overrun.

Babar Island and the 3 Seas Around It
Betties attacked Babar in two waves--the first probably going after a pair of minelayers I sent there. The first wave of 7 Betties and 9 Zeroes was routed with just one Betty shot down before they turned around. The second wave was 33 Zeroes and 18 Betties, this group pressed and paid the price for it--7 Zeroes and 18 Betties shot down, no Allied losses. 3 Betties made it through to the base and dropped a few bombs on our ground forces--nothing they couldn't handle.

As the Lex and Sara took a sort of meandering path southeast to avoid the enemy subs, VT-2 and VT-3 were still finding plenty of them even if they weren't directly in our path. They reported SIX bomb hits on surfaced subs. SIX!!!

An enemy convoy was detected on the coast of Timor, with the enemy carriers apparently gone I had decided the environment was non-threatening enough to allow the Beaufighters to resume operations, so this contact was referred to them. They strafed 4 cargo ships while getting 3 bomb hits each on two of them; the two hit by bombs we believe sank.

EDIT: I left out the most important part! We reacquired the KB on the east side of the Timor Sea, close enough to our carriers that it's a bit surprising we didn't already start slinging planes at each other. He's too far away to get any help from Koepang. I'll be headed southeast to make it easier for the P-38s at Horn Island to help, I should get a little help from P-38s from Darwin as well.
https://i.ibb.co/RcthvRj/1942-Dec-10-Timor-Sea.png

[Molon Labe]

11 December 1942
Major Naval Defeat in Arafura Sea; Lexington and Saratoga lost, we only get the CVL Shoho in exchange

Burma
Battles over Magwe continue as that's the greatest area of concentration of enemy troops right now. We shot down 6 Oscars and a Zero, losing 2 P-40s.


Arafura Sea
Sigh. Alright, before I go here, I want to say a few things in my defense. Strategically speaking, encroaching the enemy slowly to maintain airpower over what I'm taking was only half-working, and the reason it isn't working so great has been the KBs ability to take over the airspace of anywhere it goes. I needed to cause some carrier attrition to change that. The status quo was making it look like we'd lose Babar soon, and with it, probably any hope of getting to Java before the enemy is done with Burma.

Tactically speaking, I thought I was being appropriately cautious, letting him lose planes to my land-based forces first, refusing to engage when he had extra help from land bases, and in the end, luring him into range of my own bases so that I'd have plenty of P-38s helping to protect my ships.

Here's the order of battle for this fight:
Allies:
CV Lexington
CV Saratoga
BB Washington
2 CA, 2 CLAA, 12 DD

35th Fighter Squadron (Horn Island) ~18 operational P-38s
No75 Sq RAAF - (Horn Island) 16 P-40s
VF-3 and VF-6: 72 Wildcats
VS-2, VB-2, VS-3, VB-3: 72 SBD-3 Dauntless
VT-2, VT-3: 30 Avengers (we'll call it 15 because half are on ASW duty)
[Also, about 15 operational P-38s in Darwin providing cover as the task force moves from the eastern Timor Sea into the Arafura sea towards Horn island; the battle took place after these guys were out of range or close to it, so we won't count them]
Total fighters: 106
Total attack: 87

Enemy:
CV Shokaku (27 Zeros, 27 Vals, 18 Kates)
CV Zuikaku (27 Zeros, 27 Vals, 18 Kates)
CV Hiryu (26 Zeroes, 26 Vals, 17 Kates)
CVL Shoho (18 Zeroes, 12 Kates)
BB Kirishima
BB Kongo
5 CA, 8 DD
Total fighters: 98
Total Attack: 145

Looks pretty even, but with pilot quality probably being a big boost, and tremendous AA on our side to help in a pinch, right?

Except, despite the battle only being about 120 miles from Horn Island, well within the range of the P-38s and even a comfortable distance for the P-40s, they mostly sat the fight out, so even though we had the superior number of fighters, we were outnumbered in the Fighter column in every wave.

Wave 1:
64 Zeroes, 76 Vals, 49 Kates vs 44 Wildcats, 3 P-38s, 1 P-40
As has often been the case with naval air battles, the enemy managed to keep our fighters away from his bombers despite taking heavy fighter losses, in this case 13 Zeroes to just 3 Wildcats and the P-40. The whole strike package made it to our ships. The flak made the Kates work for it, shooting 5 of them down and damaging most of the others, but seemed ineffective on the Vals. None were shot down, and of the Vals that weren't picked off by fighters after the attack, only 1 did not participate in the second attack.

The first torpedo to hit the Lexington set off an ammunition explosion. Towards the end of the wave, a Val's bomb set off a fuel explosion on the Saratoga. Those hits individually put the ships in danger of loss, but of course they weren't the only ones.
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
DD Caldwell, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
BB Washington, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires
CLAA Atlanta, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Lardner, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Porter, Bomb hits 1, on fire
We shot down 3 Vals and a Kate as they tried to leave.


Counterattack: 26 Wildcats, 60 Dauntlesses, 13 Avengers vs. 52 Zeroes and 3 Rufes.
Half of the Wildcats should have gone on this attack--maybe 10 of them turned around to help defend the ships? Anyway, the air battle was pretty different. We only shot down 1 Rufe, while we lost 4 Wildcats--and then the CAP had an absolute field day on the SBDs--22 total (2 after the strike)l, a third of the strike. 7 of the Avengers also drifted out of formation and got lost, so they ended up arriving late and with no help. Those 7 were also shot down.

So, not only did we have a difference in the number of bombers getting through, but our accuracy was much lower - 18% vs 12.5% for the dive bombers and 11% vs 0% for the torpedo bombers:
CV Zuikaku, Bomb hits 1
CVL Shoho, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CA Mikuma, Bomb hits 1, on fire

I don't know why the Shoho got more love than anyone else, but one of those bombs set off an ammo explosion on her, too. 3 1000lb bombs might have been enough to do her in even without that, so I'm calling that a kill. The hit on Zuikaku somehow hit her in the side instead of through the deck and ended up being mostly deflected by her armor, so she's still fully operational.

Wave 2: 33 Zeroes, 27 Kates, 72 Vals vs 1 P-40, 2 P-38, 4 Wildcats. With both my carriers knocked out, my aircraft diverted to Horn Island. There were minimal aircraft available to resist the second attack. We traded 2 Wildcats for 2 Zeroes but the planes otherwise made it through. Flak got 3 Vals and a Kate.
CV Saratoga, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CV Lexington, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Washington, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 5, and is sunk
CA Portland, Torpedo hits 1
CA Chester, Bomb hits 2, on fire
CLAA Atlanta, Bomb hits 1
DD Meade, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

So, that happened. Nothing left to do but try to pick up the pieces.

We had one other strike in the area, the Beaufighters went after a surface group near Babar--probably the Yamato's group, though they wisely didn't attack anything bigger than a heavy cruiser. The CL Kitikama and CA Maya suffered strafing damage, but we didn't get any bomb hits. Neither ship appeared to be badly damaged.

CENTPAC
A subchaser escorting a mine tender sank a midget sub trying to intervene at Midway.

Reinforcements
ZP-31 arrives at Los Angeles (zepplins)
35th FG/41st FS arrives at San Francisco (24/25 P-39s, unrestricted)
1st USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme
15th Indian Brigade arrives at Karachi (empty command)

[Ostfriese]

Ouch.



This means Wasp is your only remaining carrier, right?
Time to do what Enterprise did historically.

[Molon Labe]

Ouch.



This means Wasp is your only remaining carrier, right?
Time to do what Enterprise did historically.

Yeah, unless you count the CVEs or the Illustrious & Hermes.

[Molon Labe]

12 December 1942
KB searches for surviving wounded ships


Arafura & Banda Seas
A sub finished off the torpedo-damaged destroyer Caldwell.

The Yamato, along with 2 cruisers (the two that were strafed yesterday) and 2 destroyers, shelled Babar, destroying 1 P-38 and damaging 7 other fighters.

I'm trying to gather the Lex's and Sara's surviving aircraft at Port Morseby. This usually doesn't go well if the "core" unit goes down with the ship, which is the case here. I may just have to disband them and start them over in a month or two. The KB hasn't moved far, apparently searching for crippled ships to finish off. The Caldwell was really the only ship in that category, though. The rest of the former battlegroup is making good speed south towards Sydney, everyone else is headed out of the area too.


Burma
We got 3 Oscars at the cost of 3 Hurricanes over Magwe. A B-25 was shot down by flak, plenty more were damaged. I'm going to have to increase the bombing altitude here.

Japan has moved back into Moulmein.


CENTPAC
We sank another midget sub at Midway.


Reinforcements
CVE Chenango arrives at Balboa (two more about to arrive; I'll wait)
DD Saufley arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

13 December 1942
Wasp, Seawolf, and Beaufighters sink a few merchants as KB vanishes


South China Sea
HMS Truant picked off a lone fuel-carrying cargo ship near Sinkawang, Borneo.

Side note: The game often gives a sinking ship soundeffect when a ship sinks outside of combat--which is most of the time they sink. We got two of those SFXs after this, and I'm pretty sure the last ship I seriously damaged was the Shoho, so that's more or less confirmation. I'll try to confirm via aircraft losses as well. [EDIT: yes, the intel screen shows 3 Zeroes and 4 Kates "destroyed on the ground" this turn, and that defintely wasn't a result of bombing an airbase, so I'll take that as confirmation--the Shoho is gone.]


China
A heavy cruiser and a destroyer shelled Foochow. I've been noticing a building of transports on the other side of the strait. An attack on Foochow is a bit late now that his armies are all gone... so, is he softening this base up for a landing?


Philippine Sea
USS Seawolf is stationed near the exit of one of those "shallow water routes" through the Philippines, this one near Legaspi. It approached one well-escorted convoy of tankers (3 TK, 2 DD, 1 TB, 1 E, 1 PB), but was spotted and driven off.

Well, kudos to the captain, because he broke contact, sprinted back ahead of them, and tried again in the afternoon, this time scoring a hit on the Nisshin Maru #2 (Tonan Whaler class, 13340 tons), which was quickly engulfed in flames thanks to its volatile cargo. The Seawolf was briefly picked up by the TB escort but got away undamaged.


Burma
The enemy CAP over Magwe is including an increasing number of Nicks and Tojos, which are proving effective against our heavy bombers. We lost 5 today to the CAP, one more to flak. The bombers shot down 1 Nick, a later P-40 sweep got 3 Nicks and an Oscar. We also lost a Hurricane over Mandalay that was trying to reach enemy Sallies but was shot down by a Zero.

Enemy bombers are probably split 1:6 Mandalay:Raheng right now. We might actually have local force superiority at Raheng/Uttaradir thanks to all the evacuating troops arriving, but an attack would be really risky due to the amount of bombers hitting the troops, and the persistent supply shortages.


New Britain and the Solomons
I think my bombing of Rabaul is offending him, because he's moved in more to bomb. A Nick and a Tojo tried to fight off the B-17s, which had P-38 escorts this time (who were actually on bomber escort duty in the event the KB approached Port Moresby, but that didn't happen, so good call on the AI commanders I guess). We ended up trading a P-38 for the Nick. We destroyed a Betty and a Tina (transport) on the ground.

Yesterday, we'd detected a troop transport convoy approaching Tulagi/Guadalcanal. For today, I split a raid of B-17s from Efate between both ports hoping to catch them at one of them, but that raid came up empty. That was followed up by Beaufighters from Rossel Island, after scoutplanes reacquired the convoy at Guadalcanal. They strafed an escorting minelayer and put 3 bombs into a cargo ship. USS Wasp, which had been steaming towards the Arafura Sea to reinforce the Lexington and Saratogo, sprinted north from Noumea to participate in this attack as well. Sadly, the Wasp's reduced aircraft compliment was felt here, we managed just 27 SBD-3s in this raid, not enough to wipe the convoy out. But lots of damage:
CM Takashima, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Hokutai Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Atutasan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Shanghai Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
xAK Canberra Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Shinanogawa Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Ryuzan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Kamakura Maru
There are no troop casualties being reported here, which probably means he wanted to pull troops out of Guadalcanal and move them somewhere else. Like Babar.

I'd love to let the Wasp follow this up to wipe the convoy out, but without knowing where the KB went, she needs to bug out.


Banda Sea
Perhaps the result of a too-aggressive range setting on my Beaufighters, they attacked a troop convoy near Timor, running into a CAP of 5 Oscars. Fortunately that was within their ability to handle, each side lost 2 and we made it to the ships. They hit one troop-carrying cargo ship with 2 bombs and several cannon bursts, 83 casualties were reported and it's likely the ship will go down.


Reinforcements
DD Hobby arrives at San Francisco
AM Motive arrives at Alameda
317th TCG/39th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (transport aircraft, training for now)

[Molon Labe]

14 December 1942
Japanese subs add their own minefield to Babar, US and UK subs rack up kills


Java Sea
HMS Truant put two fish into an unescorted fuel carrying cargo ship off the west coast of Borneo. This was about 120 miles south of where it sank a similar ship yesterday.

Just 240 miles south of that, USS Grampus put a functioning Mk14 into another one of these cargo ships, almost certainly from Surabaya based on its location--and the fact that it was also carrying fuel that immediately burned. But Grampus wasn't done. Yet another one of these singleton fuel-carriers showed up; Grampus engaged on the surface in broad daylight, taking a few gun hits in the process, but successfully getting 1 Mk14 to explode after about 5 duds (and lots of misses), and getting several deck gun hits on the highly flammable ship. This sub was actually transitting to a patrol area in the South China Sea, and she used up all her torpedoes in these two attacks, so I'm ordering her back to Darwin.

https://i.ibb.co/YWLJDzD/1942-Dec-14-Java-Sea.png
It's an interesting route that they seem to be taking, avoiding the Strait of Makassar in favor of the South China Sea. The furthest north of them has turned slightly east, so we can rule out destinations like the Strait of Malacca and Bangkok--they're either headed for Japan or stopping somewhere along the way. These don't look like especially long ranged ships and solo ships aren't going to have an easy time getting through the Strait of Luzon, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're running a medium-range shuttle to Cam Rahn Bay or Manila and letting a proper tanker convoy take it from there.


CENTPAC
We got another midget sub at Midway. We've moved a Catalina squadron here to start bringing the new base to life. Fuel and a sub tender to follow.


Burma, Thailand, and India
Six destroyers shelled our airbase at Chittagong, India. This is further northwest than they've been for awhile. Damage was minor.

We had some air battles over Magwe and Mandalay, total losses there were 3 Zeroes, 2 Oscars, a Nick, and 1 of our Hurricanes. Our bombers took the day off while we tried to get a handle on the enemy fighter presence. I'd like to do better than 6 kills before we send the bombers back.

I made a probing attack at Uttaradit to see if it made sense to try to attack here, and unfortunately it looks like his presence has surged to over 3 divisions. My total assault value is greater, but I need to discount that for my supply shortage and take into account the defensive bonus conferred by the jungle. I'm better off letting him try to attack first.


Japan
USS Whale torpedoed and sank an escorted small tanker 320 miles south of Tokyo.


Banda Sea
We lost 2 PTs to a minefield. I'm sure it was just planted here. Will need to get on this soon. We had some supplies land today, I'm glad the PTs found the minefield instead of the transports. There was also a sweep by 4 Oscars that splashed a P-40 and got out before we could retaliate.

I took a bit of a chance and ordered the O24 to approach a convoy at a non-sub proof port on Timor--it got spotted and took moderate depth charge damage. At least we got a contact report out of it: 2 AMCs, 1 AO, 2 DD.


Solomons, New Guinea, New Britain
I split up the B-17s raids from Port Morseby to see if I could find diverted planes from Shoho at any of the airstrips on the northern coast of P-NG. No luck. We hit Rabaul too with P-38s escorting, 1 P-38 was lost along with 3 Zeroes, minor damage to the airbase. Actually, that this recently empty airbase had a substantial CAP--13 Zeroes (reportedly from Akagi's airgroup) and a Tojo, is the most significant fact about this raid.

With the Wasp bugging out to prevent the KB from reappearing in range of it, the followup strike on the troop transport convoy at Guadalcanal went to the B-17s at Efate. We hit and sank a minelayer, and damaged a cargo ship. 6 Zeroes, reportedly from Ryujo's airgroup, tried to stop the raid, one of which was shot down by the bombers.


Philippine Sea
USS Saury took a shot at the same tanker convoy the Seawolf engaged yesterday. It missed, but now I know which direction it's going--northwest, back towards the Philippine coast. So it looks like he thought he was far enough out to sea to avoid my patrol areas, but I snagged him, and now he's headed back to the shallow water I mostly avoid. Which is fine by me, because I know this route ends with the littorals of the Luzon Strait, and I'll have multiple boats waiting for him there.


Reinforcements
CVE Sangamon arrives at Balboa
CVE Suwannee arrives at Balboa
DD Warramunga arrives at Cape Town
VMF-223 arrives at Santa Ana (2/18 FM-1 Wildcats, restricted)
144th USA Base Force arrives at San Luis Obispo (full strength, unrestricted)
36th Aviation Base Force arrives at March Field (full strength, unrestricted)
1st Manchester Battalion arrives at Aden (hollow command)

SS Gar begins refit while under repair at Seattle

[Ostfriese]

IIRC the American torpedoes will become better on Jan 1st. Your submarine campaign, which should already be a pain in his back, will become even worse from then on.

[Molon Labe]

15 December 1942
Japan's subs get their turn, 3 Allied cargo ships sunk as surface threats forces convoy to scatter; VS/B-6 dive bombers cripple a CL


Babar and surrounding seas
Between the surface contacts near Babar last turn, and spotting a task force northeast of Babar that was likely to be the KB, I ordered all cargo ships that didn't have room to dock at Babar back to Darwin. But, I'd also ordered their ASW escort, a minesweeper, to stay behind to do its titular job. Enemy subs pounced, sinking 2 cargo ships in this convoy. The minesweeper cleared 7 mines.

A task force of cruisers and destroyers approached Babar and was handed off to CVW-6 at Darwin along with some A-29s I just moved in. The A-29s got lost, and 8 of the SBDs fell out of formation and actually arrived on target before the main group, almost resulting in an intercept by 5 Zeroes and 3 Oscars trying to keep watch over the ships. Those 8 SBDs got 2 hits on the light cruiser Naka, and also attacked the heavy cruiser Aoba. The main raid was 18 Wildcats and 18 SBDs--the CAP did intercept this group but failed to get to the bombers. 2 Zeroes were shot down by the Wildcats. Sadly, this group of SBDs completely failed to score any hits. 7.7% accuracy. Ugh. One SBD was shot down by flak, another was scrapped at base due to flak damage.

The fate of the Naka will be up to their firefighting teams.


Coral Sea
Not content with 2 cargo ships down near Babar, a sub in the Coral Sea (which was probably part of the large anti-CVBG deployment in the Arafura Sea a few days ago) attacked and sank an escorted cargo ship retreating south from the vicinity of Port Moresby. The minesweeper escorting it scored some damage on the sub with a near miss, but nothing serious.


Burma and Thailand
A coastal defense battalion retreating east from Moulmein fell behind the infantry unit at the end of the evacuation train, allowing the enemy to attack and force them to surrender. LOL, just got to the combat report, that "unit" was just two guns.

Further north at the new frontline, the enemy bomber sorties against Mandalay were insufficiently escorted, allowing our CAP get get 14 Sallies with only one P-40 shot down by Zero escorts. Nextdoor at Magwe, our Hurricane sweeps fared poorly against the Tojos and Nicks on CAP, losing 3 while only splashing one Nick.


Solomons and New Britain
We had a whole bunch of ships reported in port at Guadalcanal, which I assumed were mostly damaged remnants from the troop transport convoy the Wasp trashed. We sent B-17s to bomb the port but came up empty. A few Tojos and Zeroes intercepted but they were mostly kept at a safe distance by the gunners, no losses.

Rabaul got a day off from the B-17s, but still had to deal with P-38s. We shot down 11 Zeroes and a Dinah, no losses.


Reinforcements and Refits
SS Albacore taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor

[Molon Labe]

I'll hold off on the report for the 16th because nothing really happened. Well, there was this:

https://i.ibb.co/gzwtRJc/1942-Dec-17-Hiryu.png

I'll get him someday.

[Molon Labe]

16 December 1942
Babar makes like a nail and waits for the hammer

Banda Sea
Babar was attacked by the surface task force that the Dauntlesses gently welcomed to the area the other day. The damaged Naka was still with the group. They destroyed the minesweeper, but not before it finished clearing the enemy minefield. They also somehow managed to surprise my PT squadron right after killing the minesweeper, 1 PT was sunk before they were able to break off. A few torpedoes were fired but no hits. With the PTs out of the way, the bombarded the airbase, destroying a P-38 and damaging a few other planes.

As per the above post, the Scorpion got a shot at the Hiryu passing nearby and hit it. With a dud. She also was able to engage a pair of unescorted AOs following the KB, but missed.

Burma and Thailand
The evacuation isn't going so great. 1st Manchester Battalion deserted due to being out of supply for so long. They probably won't be the last. At Uttaradit, I have enough troops gathered there to defeat the enemy forces "on paper", but due to supply shortages I don't think any more than half of them are in shape to fight. I'm hoping he attacks so my forts can inflict losses, but so far he's not taking the bait.

Reinforcements
AM Strive arrives at Eastern USA
SC-749 arrives at Balboa
No.79 Sqn RAF arrives at Chittagong
317th TCG/46th TCS arrives at Eastern USA
175 Wing arrives at Aden

-------------------------------------------------
17 December 1942

East Australian Coast
There's a surge of submarines coming down towards Sydney, at first I though these were the Arafura Sea patrol being retasked, but some of them are too far ahead already. At least part of this surge is a new deployment coming from Rabaul or Truk. One of these guys got a shot at the Lexington and Saratoga's escorts as they're trying to make their way to Sydney for repairs. A Wirraway at Brisbane reported a hit on a sub, and a minesweeper managed a damaging near miss on another.

I'm also a little concerned about having a concentration of forces at Sydney that I can't defend. At least for now the KB is still around Timor but that could change at any time. I'd start evacuating ships now, but, with all the subs around, he'd probably figure out where they were going.

CENTPAC
We killed another midget sub at Midway. I think that's the last. I'm already sending a CVE to snoop Wake and getting marines ready for that operation. Might as well take advantage of his attention being focused around Darwin and the Solomons to make some moves here.

Burma
Our fighters at Magwe proved to be completely insufficient to support a bombing raid we attempted on troops right next door to the base. We shot down 2 enemy fighters but they otherwise had a field day with our bombers, 8 Blenheims and 6 B-25s lost. I was trying to maintain a CAP over the hex, next time I'll try sweeps. I already know the escorting is just going to result in coordination SNAFUs. As some consolation, the enemy unit below looks like it's just the 48th Division and it's really beaten up.

Refits and Reinforcements
DD Hammann taken out of commission to begin refit at Noumea
SS Thresher taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
120th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden
24th NZ Pioneer Coy arrives at Auckland

--------------------------------------------------------
18 December 1942

Eastern Australian Coast
One of our ASW-minesweepers got another 3 damaging near misses on an enemy sub near Newcastle. There are at least 6 enemy boats off the coast now, 5 of them near Sydney.

Burma
Switching to sweeps at Magwe did protect the bombers better, but we were throwing our fighters to the wolves. 3 P-40s downed without getting any kills. We lost 3 Blenheims, 2 B-25s, and 1 B-24.


New Britain
Recon flights said lots of fighters at Guadalcanal but none at Rabaul, so I sent a bunch of B-17s to Rabaul. And they ran into a bunch of fighters, mostly Zeroes. Two B-17s down and 2 Zeroes taken out by the gunners. We probably bombed from higher up than we needed to, 15,000ft, and damage was light. We did get a Mavis on the ground though. Speaking of Mavises, 3 of them tried to attack a supply convoy making a delivery at Milne, which actually doesn't have a CAP right now because I transferred it to Port Morseby so that a Port Morseby squadron could go to Horn Island to participate in the battle there. You know, to be one of the squadrons that sat the fight out and watched my carriers die right off the coast. Despite the convoy only being a few cargo ships escorted by a subchaser, and the Mavis being a relatively large, durable plane, they put up enough flak to take one of the Mavises down. Their torpedoes missed.

Banda Sea
I attempted a land attack on the enemy encampment on the island, figuring its not going to get any better than it is now. Hoping for an enemy supply shortage and broken morale from all the bombings. No such luck. Casualties 218 to 323 favoring them.

All enemy task forces have vanished. The can't be that far, one of my subs patrolling off Timor was attacked by a Kate (and the Kate got the worst of it, limping home damaged).

Reinforcements and refits
DD Walke taken out of commission to begin refit at Sydney
AVD Thornton beginning refit in shipyard at Brisbane
AVD Hulbert beginning refit in shipyard at Brisbane
SS Tambor begins refit while under repair at Adak Island
DD Radford arrives at Balboa
AP John Penn arrives at Cristobal
VMF-216 arrives at March Field (We've built up a pretty nice reserve of USMC fighter squadrons, which in turn have built up a good reserve of trained pilots. Starting probably around 2/1943 I'm going to start buying these restricted units out, loading them up with Corsairs, and sending them to the front)
145th USA Base Force arrives at Corvallis
171 Wing arrives at Aden
15th Indian Engineer Battalion arrives at Madras


------------------------------------------------------
A really uneventful set of turns, right now it looks like he's building up something big around Timor. I'm expecting him to finish off Babar; the Lex and Sara were really all that was stopping him before. He's probably having some trouble finding the troops to do it with, hence the empty troop transport convoy we shot up at Guadalcanal a few days ago.

[Molon Labe]

War Record of USS Porpoise

8 December 1942 - deployed to Luzon Strait
12 December 1942 - Sinks xAKL Kumakawa Maru with gunfire (Miyati class - 2050 tons)

6 January 1942 - Patrolling Japanese home waters. Sinks xAK Nasusan Maru (Gozan class - 2375 tons) with Mk14 torpedo

6 March 1942 - Patrolling Luzon Strait. Sinks xAK Ryuyo Maru in night gun/torpedo attack (Ehime class - 3425 tons).

April 1942 - Patrolling near Bangkok in support of Operation Kinky Boots (UK invasion of Thailand)

12 May 1942 - Patrolling off Cam Rahn Bay. Sinks xAK Calcutta Maru (Aden class - 4875 tons) with gunfire.

August 1942 - Patrolling Sulu Sea

December 1942 - Patrol area diverted from Sulu Sea to Banda Sea to interdict invasion or naval forces headed to Babar.

21 December 1942 - Sights Kido Butai accompanying heavy surface task force, heading west towards Koepang after bombarding Babar. Engages IJN Shokaku with 4 Mk14 torpedoes, scoring one hit and inflicting serious damage. Engaged by multiple escorting destroyers.

21 December 1942 - On eternal patrol.
Total credited tonnage: 12725

https://i.ibb.co/THRwQph/1942-Dec-21-Porpoise-v-Shokaku.png

[Ostfriese]

This should put Shokaku out of action for quite some time.

[Molon Labe]

19 December 1942
ASW superstar Stuart back on the job, China receiving reinforcements


East Australian Coast
An ASW task force including the Luganville operation veterans Stuart and Nizam engaged and seriously damaged an enemy sub off Sydney. Maybe not an actual kill, but should at least be a mission kill.


Burma
Contesting the skies over Magwe was just about the only air combat this turn, aside from relatively routine bombing missions. Our bombers rested as we focused on making the skies safer for them in the future. Enemy losses were 4 Oscars, 8 Zeroes, and 4 Sallies; that cost us 3 Hurricanes.

I'm ordering some troops to fall back to Mandalay, we can't hold more than one base on this front---we probably can't even hold one.


China
This could be a first of the war--Wenchow, China, has received reinforcements from the sea. Troop levels shot up from 6500 to 38,000 per recon patrols. I tried to hit the port where they were disembarking but only caused light facility damage.

Banda and Timor Seas
The O24 was hit by a 250kg bomb from either a Val or a Kate and is critically damaged. The Spearfish was also bombed, but probably just by a floatplane as it was hit with a 60kg glorified hand grenade and is able to remain on station. The KB is detecting most of our subs in the area; I'm rotating the spotted ones away and bringing in undetected ones to throw the enemy off.


Reinforcements
317th TCG/41st TCS arrives at Eastern USA (transports - training)
78th Light AA Regiment arrives at Aden (close to full strength - to Colombo)
-------------------------------
20 December 1942
Mandalay standing by to be overrun, aircraft evacuated, O24 scuttled


Banda and Timor Seas
The KXII attempted to engage a heavy bombardment task force as it approached Babar, but was spotted by escorts. It fired its torpedoes at one of the approaching destroyers--this is usually just to force them to zigzag and isn't expected to hit anything. But this time it did, IJN Shikinami is gone. The KXII got away undamaged.

The task force shelled Babar quite effectively, with 4 P-38s and 2 P-39s destroyed on the ground, and the rest of the aircraft mostly damaged. Facility damage is heavy, and we lost quite a bit of our supply stockpiles, which are low to begin with.

The KB pretty much moved into Babar this turn. A transport plane run went ahead as scheduled, as much as AI commanders are able to scrub plans you'd think they'd scrub this, but they didn't--13 planes shot down by the CAP. We also lost a B-25 that was part of our daily bombing of the enemy encampment there, along with a P-40, but the escorting fighters took down 3 Zeroes.

The O24 lost control of its flooding. There's no hope she can make it to Darwin; I ordered the boat scuttled. The O19 and KXII were also hit by bombs. O19's damage is moderate; she's returning to port; KXII's relatively light and is sticking around for now.

Burma and Thailand
Unescorted bombers appeared over Mandalay, we got 5 Helens and 3 Sallies. The ones that got through caused moderate troop casualties. At Magwe our sweeps ended up trading 2 Hurricanes for 2 Oscars.

The beaten-up enemy division has arrived at Mandalay and there will be more to come. The planes will be evacuated for tomorrow--if they can fly, anyway. Some of the troops falling back here will arrive in time if they attack tomorrow, but I doubt that will buy us more than 2 days.

At Uttaradit, we suffered an enemy attack and held them off. Casualties 3012 to 299. But no way I can manage a counterattack with my supply shortage. This seems to be to my benefit, I get to inflict disproportionate casualties playing defense while the large army that could actually defeat me outright is chasing from behind. They can catch me eventually thanks to the bombing slowing us down, so the attacks at the front of the procession seem unnecessary. But I'll take it. 1st Burma Auxiliary AA Regiment deserted due to the supply shortage.


Solomons
I ordered a sweep of Guadalcanal; 3 P-38s got separated from the group and actually arrived early. We lost 2 of those. The rest of the squadron arrived and shot down 2 Tojos and a Zero without further loss.


Refits and Reinforcements
SS Narwhal beginning refit while under repair in shipyard at Brisbane
SS Grenadier begins refit while under repair at Adak Island
SS Gunnel begins refit while under repair at Adak Island
1st Middlesex Battalion arrives at Aden (reforming unit, empty command)

[Molon Labe]

21 December 1942
KB covers heavy surface task forces back to Koepang, Shokaku hit in sacrifice by USS Porpoise, Babar supplies nearly exhausted

Burma, India, Thailand
Yesterday I noticed that there was a task force near Rangoon along the coast, my guess was they were going to bombard Chittagong, where most of my medium bombers are based. So I pulled them back to Calcutta. My read was correct, they bombarded Chittagong with a force including Hiei and Haruna. They still caused significant troop casualties and some facility damage, but we didn't lose any planes. One of their destroyers also took a pretty bad hit from a coastal defense battery.

A second task force landed a small number of troops at Cox's Bazaar, but I don't know if they're done landing. The rebased medium bombers tried to attack these ships but failed completely--at least 33 bombers participated. The troops are the 65th Brigade, or at least part of it. They were last seen in Tavoy, which probably means they were the garrison we kicked out, so they might only be at partial strength.

I suppose they might be looking into continuing into India after they finish off Burma. But I think it's more likely bait for the British fleet to head into the Bay of Bengal and get trapped between the coast and the KB-West.

In Thailand, we suffered another attack at Uttaradit, which went even worse for the enemy than the last one as they are now also suffering supply shortages. Casualties 149 to 2019.

Babar and surrounding seas
The Yamato and Kongo's task force shelled Babar, disabling about 10 planes, damaging runways, and once again hitting our very limited supply stores. On their way out, we had plenty of subs waiting. Greenling made a run on the Yamato's group but was spotted and driven off. Next was the Porpoise, with the result I reported early: it managed 4 torpedo shots at the Shokaku, getting one hit which appeared to cause serious damage. Three escorts broke off to pursue the Porpoise, at least one of which was armed with the deep-reaching depth charges that Japanese ships often don't have, and it was quite accurate. Porpoise took at least 3 solid pattern hits, plus several damaging near misses, and was forced to surface, where all three prosecuting destroyers opened fire on it. Spearfish and Finback were next, both were spotted and prosecuted by the same 3 destroyers that killed Porpoise. Fortunately they were not as accurate this time, Finback was lightly damaged and Spearfish got away clean.

IJN Hiyo is reported to be with the KB now, so that's a transfer from the Indian Ocean fleet.


Solomons and New Britain
We did P-38 sweeps on Rabaul and Guadalcanal. No one came out to play at Rabaul; at Guadalcanal we shot down 5 Zeroes and 1 Tojo without loss. B-17s followed up the Rabaul sweep and inflicted heavy damage on the airbase.


China
We'd been bombing a unit near the river crossing south of Keifeng daily for probably the last 3 months. For the first time since then, he put a CAP up to defend them, which cost us 3 SB-III bombers and a P-40 escorting them. It'll just be sweeps for awhile.

There's also a convoy in Hong Kong now, not yet sure if he's reinforcing or if he's dropping off supplies and/or loading resources to take back to Japan.

In response to the reinforcement of Wenchow, I'm making a move to engage the army sitting outside Chusein. I'm going to defeat them before they have an opportunity to form a larger force with them. I started making this move 2 days ago I think; today we noticed troop movements from Shanghai headed west towards this location. So probably a good thing I ordered this right away.

Refits and Reinforcements
SS Plunger begins refit while under repair at Brisbane
SS S-23 taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane
40th Coast AA Regiment arrives at Anchorage (restricted)
2/9th Field Regiment arrives at Sydney (empty unit, no guns in pool)
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment arrives at Karachi (empty unit, few guns in pool)
111th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden (empty unit, needs to get in line)

[Ostfriese]

It's become quite quiet. Everyting OK with you and your opponent?

[Molon Labe]

It's become quite quiet. Everyting OK with you and your opponent?


We both came down with computer issues almost simultaneously. We're both actually running new systems now. I just got mine up and running, and getting WITP back in action was the third thing I did after getting Windows installed (behind installing my antivirus suite and making sure I could still log into work)!


It looks like I'm back in business, he's still having some Windows 10/11 compatibility issues but I think he'll be good in another day or so.

[Ostfriese]

That's good to hear. Can't wait to read more of your reports - war reports which are far less depressing and much more interesting than those we are flooded with these days.

[mapuc]

You had me worried too-and like Ostfriese I'm also looking forward to read your AAR.

Markus

[Molon Labe]

22 December 1942

Just completed our first turn in awhile. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot to report. In retribution for "yesterday's" shootdowns in China, we took down 5 Oscars over Kaifeng without loss. P-38 sweeps also got a Tojo over Rabaul. It looks like the enemy is pulling their fighters out of Rabaul and the Solomons overall, I might step up the bombing soon if that's the case.


Our preemptive land battle near Wenchow was a draw; we outnumber them but they have substantial defensive bonuses. I'm going to try a shock attack tomorrow instead of a deliberate attack to see if that puts us over the top on them. They also have several maluses--supply and disruption among them, so I think the risk of heavy losses in a shock attack is somewhat mitigated.



The KB is hanging out at Koepang, giving me a chance to lick my wounds at Babar. Supply is becoming a problem both at Babar and Darwin.


Landings at Cox's Bazaar continue, and my medium bombers and even Beaufighters are failing to score hits despite numerous runs. I'm adding a dozen torpedo bombers for tomorrow to see if that changes anything. I hope I'm not just getting them out of the way for an attack on Colombo, which I expect to materialize any time now.


USS Dolphin has withdrawn from the theatre.

[Ostfriese]

So, either there are ongoing computer problems, or both Molon Lobe and his opponent are planning major operations and have imposed strict radio silence :D

[Molon Labe]

So, either there are ongoing computer problems, or both Molon Lobe and his opponent are planning major operations and have imposed strict radio silence :D

The first. Sorry, guys. But yeah, I was successful making the transition to Windows 10, but my opponent hasn't. I was hopeful the solutions that worked for me would work for him since the problems seemed so similar, but it hasn't helped. As it stands he considers WITP unplayable and he's working on reverting an old system to Win7 to continue the campaign.

That said, there has been some progress, so let's get caught up:




23-25 December 1942

Babar Island Campaign: The KB parked between Timor and Babar and drew airstrikes from Darwin on 23 and 24 December. We lost 3 F4Fs and 27 SBDs on the 23rd and 2 F4Fs and 16 SBDs on the 24th with not even a Zero shot down to show for it. We got some payback on Christmas as unescorted Vals attacked cargo ships delivering supplies--we got 19 of them and the ships were not attacked. The situation remains fluid with neither side's army apparently strong enough to attack, just defend, and I'm sure we're both having supply issues. My supply problems extend to Darwin as well, though, the overland routes unable to provide enough support for the current OpTempo and cargo runs having been disrupted by the naval battles in the area.

We lost the S-37 and KXV to the KB's Kates, and several more subs are limping to Darwin or Brisbane for repairs.

Burma and Thailand: All evacuating units have reached our fort at Uttaradit, and the whole group has been ordered north through the mountains towards Burma/China. SIGINT reports a tank regiment rebasing from Singapore to Bangkok that's likely intended to chase us, not along with the 40,000 or so troops already on the other side of the frontline at Uttaradit. Left behind are about a dozen unflyable aircraft at Pisanouke.

The Beaufort torpedo bombers did manage to sink a loaded transport off Cox's Bazaar, and one of the level bombers even managed to get a hit which appeared to cost them a transport as well. The torpedoed transport ship had some kind of support unit aboard. This cost me, though, the squadron is now down from 12 planes to 5, I only have 5 more defending Colombo, and I have no replacements on the way. I pulled the torpedo bombers out on 12/24, and the transports left by 12/25 anyway. He landed enough troops to take Cox's Bazaar, but I really don't see the point. I suppose he could push northwest and take an airbase from me, but after that any further push into India would take a major commitment.

Mandalay is still in my hands, for now--he clearly has enough troops to take it. Right now I'm essentially fighting a delaying action, fighting here because that's where my fortifications are so that's where I can cause the most casualties to him. We'll eventually be forced to retreat to Lashio, near the Chinese border. If Lashio falls, we probably won't have any chance of saving the evacuating armies from Thailand, as this base and the roads near it are at the source of the supply line through those mountains.


CENTPAC
I have Marines on the way to Wake. I don't expect much resistance. Midway is coming along nicely and now has a submarine tender, and its bunkers are being filled with fuel for submarine operations. A pair of PCs are now on patrol to try to prevent enemy subs from setting up a minefield. I have Marines prepping for Tarawa and even Saipan now, but I'll probably give Canton another attempt while those are prepping. Basically, I'm trying to take advantage of the KB being parked off Timor to take back space and threaten to reach the Philippines. My major strategic goal for the moment is to enable multiple options for major amphibious operations somewhere with industry that could make a invasion at least partially self-sustaining. As long as the KB says together, he can only defend one such option, and right now he's essentially denying Java as an option.


SOUTHPAC
We've achieved air superiority over Rabaul and Guadalcanal, as P-38s sweep both bases with only token resistance, our bombers hit both bases unopposed, and few aircraft are being detected at either base by recon sweeps. We haven't actually knocked out either airbase though, so this is far from a permanent state. But, it should mean supplies on both bases are dwindling, and there's another opportunity for me to cause damage while the KB is occupied. I've had my eyes on the Shortlands for awhile, so I'll probably greenlight that operation in the next 2-3 days--I just need to make sure the garrison is still as weak as it used to be and organize the task forces. The purpose will be to set up a strong airbase there that should make it nearly impossible to resupply Guadalcanal or Rabaul.

[Molon Labe]

26 December 1942

I usually like to wait after the replay to get the actual game save file before I do a turn's AAR, but I have no idea how long it's going to be until that happens this time. But I do have the replay, so might as well while the memory is fresh.


Babar Island
The enemy broke off a detachment of destroyers and subchasers to try to deal with my subs. They didn't hit anything this turn. They also sent an amphibious force to land more troops on the island, which drove my amphibious supply run off. The troops are (from) the 56th Division, last known to be in Sumatra. The PT squadron failed to engage as is ended up being baited away by the ASW detachment.

In the air, Babar was swept, then CAPed by the enemy. The sweeps cost us 7 P-39s and 4 P-40s while shooting down only 3 Zeroes and 2 Oscars. Our medium bomber raid took heavy losses to the CAP: 2 P-38s, 5 B-25s, and 9 B-26s, with 5 Zeroes and 2 Rufes shot down.

The bomber losses will hurt, but if the KB is close enough to put a CAP on Babar, maybe I can wear them down with sweeps of my own.


EDIT: Got the save file, info there showed that the transport sub Argonaut had been bombed unloading supplies at Babar. It's limping to Darwin for a patch-up, then to Brisbane for real repairs.

Burma
We lost a B-24 at Mandalay to flak, the bomber formation shot down an Oscar. Damage to the enemy was light (poor weather affecting accuracy), but they didn't attack so Mandalay is still ours for now.

[Ostfriese]

Hopefully you guys get your computer problems sorted out.


On a funnier note: it's been Christmas in your game for five weeks now. Ain't that nothing? :Kaleun_Cheers:

[Molon Labe]

27 December 1942
-really uneventful. We lost 4 Hurricanes and 3 Hudsons to enemy CAP over Cox's Bazar, and traded 2 P-39s for a Zero over Babar. More troops are coming ashore at Babar, and it looks bad... I'm evacuating the aircraft and pilots so I don't lose them if we're overrun.


28 December 1942


Guadalcanal has an insane amount of flak. We lost 2 B-17s bombing their airbase even though we flew at 15,000 feet.
We shot down 3 Tojos over Rabaul--they seem to be slowly reinforcing this squadron.
A Japanese shock attack at Mandalay took our forts all the way from level 3 to 0. It will fall tomorrow.
It looks like the whole 56th Division is landing on Babar. They're giving us a chance to hold on, though, making an attack while the unit is still unloading and unorganized. Casualties 1642 to 143 and our forts are holding. The KB looks like its headed away to the northwest





29 December 1942
Mandalay and Cox's Bazar fall -- scouts lose track of the KB.

Babar
The S-47 hit a cargo ship headed to Babar with a Mk10, which we believe sank it. The ship was carrying vehicles. We don't have a track on the KB anymore but we're still seeing a lot of Kates patrolling so we don't think it's gone far. Still, setting my medium bombers to hit their troops again and letting my SBDs, Beaufighters, and A-20s attack ships tomorrow if any are spotted in range. The P-38s will try to provide top cover over Babar while Wildcats provide escorts.


Burma
Headline says it all. Mandalay fell as expected and Cox's Bazar was overrun too. My remaining forces in Burma are falling back towards Lashio, on the Chinese border. We'll try to keep that supply line to the troops in Thailand open as long as we can. We lost 2 B-25s to flak and a Hurricane to CAP over Mandalay trying to disrupt their troops; we took an Oscar down in the fight.

I'm probably about 1 week from being able to launch a truly large-scale invasion from Australia. We'll see how long we can keep the enemy land forces busy in Thailand/Burma and were the KB decides to loiter. The Philippines really aren't a feasible option if we can't guarantee a supply lane, which probably means the Marianas are a pre-condition.


CENTPAC
We're close enough to Wake that the CVE tagging along with the marines is making recon sorties and they know we're coming. We'll be on the beach tomorrow or the day after...damn LSTs really are slow.


TWO DAYS UNTIL THE FACTORIES START PRODUCING CORSAIRS!!!!!

[Molon Labe]

31 December 1942
The revenge of CVW-6: Amphibious task force struck in high-low attack by SBDs and supporting Beaufighters. Wake captured.


Babar
The PT squadron that had been displaced from Babar ran out of fuel on its way back to Darwin. I sent another squadron to Babar and had a cargo ship meet up with the others to gas them up. The replacement squadron ran into a massive enemy ARG unloading at Babar: CA Furutaka, 13 DD, 6 PB, and 17 AK. The Furutaka sank one of the PTs and forced them to break off. The appearance of the PTs did manage to disrupt their unloading, which might end up being a big deal.

The rest of the day here consisted of raids from Darwin targeting the ARG. There was a relatively light CAP of Oscars from Koepang supporting them. For whatever reason, our Wildcats failed to fly their escort mission, but I had also assigned P-38s to fly high cover over Babar itself, so those fighters ended up helping the bombers get to their targets, and it was enough. VB-6, VS-6, and the Beaufighter squadron each flew two sorties to hit the task force, and we managed not to take any losses. The P-38s shot down 3 of the Oscars on CAP. As for the ships:
xAK Hankow Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage; (2nd wave: Bomb hits 3, and is sunk)
xAK Chitose Maru #2, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Rakuto Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Akagane Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Osaka Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kanko Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage; Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Bingo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires; Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage; Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk
xAK Tonan Maru, Shell hits 6, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires; Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Imizu Maru, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 1, on fire; Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Sinsyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 1, on fire; Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage (all 4 bomb hits are from the SBDs, so those are 1000lb SAPs and not 250lb-ers from the Beaufighters)
xAK Bunzan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Akiura Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nanman Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage; Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk
xAK Seian Maru, Shell hits 10, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage


So I count 14 of the 17 AKs at least damaged. "Heavy fires" or "heavy damage" is usually a death sentence for a civilian ship, so most of these are done for.

We also had 33 medium bombers attacking the troops on the beach.


Solomons
We lost a P-38 in our daily sweep of Rabaul as the enemy Tojo squadron continues to grow. They had 5 planes in the air today. Hopefully some of the ones we're damaging are crashing, or being lost to the craters in the runways.


Burma
We're both trying to get our bombers to the armies in and around Madalay. That cost us 2 Hurricanes, and him 2 Oscars, 3 Zeroes, a Nick, 2 Sallies, and a Helen. The bombers are getting through on both sides and hurting the troops.


CENTPAC
The Marines hit Wake and immediately captured it. There were only two enemy units there, a construction battalion and an aviation support company, little to no combat troops.

[Ostfriese]

1942 is in the books.


Could you give us an overview of the strategic situation and the outlook for the next few months? The American industry should now start to produce real numbers of everything, so the balance should begin to shift.


How much use will Wake Island be? In reality the Allies bypassed it and it never played any major role, but in the game right now it's about the closest area (apart from the Asian mainland) to Japan's home islands you control.

[Molon Labe]

No problem!


https://i.ibb.co/ZGyrdNT/WITP-stratpicture.png
Here's a quick look at the strategic map, and I've added the intel I have about the unrestricted divisions that Japan has. You can see just how heavy he is into Burma relative to everything else.

I don't think Wake is important, it's more that it's someplace I can just take at no cost while at the same time decreasing the amount of ocean the KB might be hiding in when I don't have a track on it. The Marshalls seem to be the one place in the Central Pacific he cares about, and I haven't even seen that much activity there since the KB moved to the Java Sea. But the Marshalls do seem to be his "staging ground" for the KB, they're centrally located and in theory would allow him to send it out to respond to my activities. So attacking the Marshalls is a bit lower of a priority for me as that would require more of a commitment, and I really don't think I'll get that much out of it. Midway and Wake--possibly Marcus and the Marianas next--were/should be relatively easy.

My main strategic focus right now is trying to take advantage of all those troops being far, far away in Burma. So the Marines are opening a corridor through the Central Pacific towards the Philippines, while the Army is looking for an opportunity to get into Java or Sumatra. Taking Babar was part of that operation, and that threatened him enough to have the KB do something about it.

The KB still owns the sky wherever it goes, so he has the ability to stall either one of these prongs, but I'll advance along whichever one he's not countering. Losing the Lex and Saratoga badly complicated this, though, because I'm no longer sure I can deter him from splitting his carriers to deal with both. But, he's not sure he got both ships, and he still has doubts he even took down Hornet.



Next, let's look at US reinforcements. Below are the US Army and US Navy fighter production schedules, and the arrival dates for major warships and carriers specifically:

https://i.ibb.co/hBxFc5L/WITP-reinforcements.png


I've highlighted what I think is especially important:


1. Current P-40K production is rather high, combined with P-39 production its allowed me to re-activate some squadrons that were effectively eliminated at Pearl early in the war while still maintaining my frontline units.
2. July 1943 is going to be huge. P-40 production is going to jump from 65/month to 125/month, and I'm going to get Thunderbolts at 56/month. On top of that, July is when I get 2x CV and 2x CVL.
3. Corsair production begins now, but this is not a carrier capable version and it's being produced at a low rate of just 30/month. So the Wildcat is still going to be our mainstay for awhile, while I'll be trying to get the Corsairs to key frontline land bases--perhaps the Shortlands soon enough.
4. Hellcats arrive in 4/1943 and at a whopping 130/month. The carrier fighter squadrons are going to convert very quickly.


EDIT: Not shown on these charts but also noteworthy:
5. My SBD production rate is currently a pitiful 21 per month, not nearly enough to maintain force levels if the squadrons are seeing combat, and further taxed by several new USMC squadrons arriving plus destroyed USN squadrons being reorganized. The recent losses around Babar nearly wiped out my replacement pool. In April 1943, production increases to 67 SBDs/month plus 45 SB2C/month.
6. B-24 production is currently at 15/month, will go to 33/month in February.
7. Avenger production isn't increasing until November, but we currently have over 100 replacement aircraft available and producing 30/month, so there's no issue there.

[Ostfriese]

Great summary, thanks.
The KB still hanging around is annoying, but with all the aircraft and pilot losses they should be quite a bit away from their original strength by now.
I get your point about Wake. Marcus Island should fall in the same category. Losing the Marianas, however, would be a major blow for your opponent, because it all but encircles the Marshalls, and with your increasing air and submarine power the Marshalls will become quite difficult to supply without the Marianas. All the best for that operation. Show him!

And if I remember correctly, your submarine torpedoes will get a boost on Jan 1st, as well.

[Molon Labe]

Great summary, thanks.
The KB still hanging around is annoying, but with all the aircraft and pilot losses they should be quite a bit away from their original strength by now.
I get your point about Wake. Marcus Island should fall in the same category. Losing the Marianas, however, would be a major blow for your opponent, because it all but encircles the Marshalls, and with your increasing air and submarine power the Marshalls will become quite difficult to supply without the Marianas. All the best for that operation. Show him!

And if I remember correctly, your submarine torpedoes will get a boost on Jan 1st, as well.


I actually hadn't even considered that I might be able to deal with the Marshalls just by cutting them off. It may be a little tricky because these small islands have limited capacity to base aircraft, and I have limited squadrons to assign--so a blockade would probably be some system of maritime surveillance enabling submarine or surface intercepts. But it is feasible.


Yep, torpedoes are going to get better. The dud rate will still be high, but I think it should come down enough that the subs attacking on the surface will be able sink their targets without depleting all torpedoes aboard in the process. Also more hits on escorted convoys will be nice.

[Molon Labe]

1 January 1943
An uneventful turn after the fireworks of "yesterday". The PTs of Babar tried to attack the shattered enemy task force--and they did put one torpedo into one of the surviving cargo ships, at the cost of 4 of the PTs being felled by the escorting destroyers. The CA is still afloat, but also still engulfed in flames. Enemy sweep attempts over Babar cost them 2 Zeroes.

There's also some enemy army units trying to surround my forces in Chusein, China, but I've been holding back some units of my own for an offensive operation nearby, so I'm just moving them to block the encirclement attack while bombing the enemy manuevering units.

In Mandalay we traded 2 Hurricanes for 5 Tojos, and lost a B-24 to flak.

[Molon Labe]

2 January 1943

We're still moving at a crawl here due to technical problems.


A mostly uneventful day. Scoutplanes are reporting escort carriers headed back to Babar, although I wouldn't be surprised if that's actually the KB. Our ships at Wake were overflown by several scoutplanes, some of which were described as "torpedo bmbers" and "dive bombers". Thanks to fog of war, those reports could be generated by Betties flying out of the Marshalls, but for now I'm assuming they're carrier-based and pulling out.


Our abandoned base at Raheng has been captured, along with about a dozen disabled aircraft. We had a bit of a furball over Mandalay; with just 2 Hurricane losses we got 3 Betties, 6 Tojos, and a Zero. We also got enough replacement aircraft into 2 Hurricane squadrons to bring them back to full strength, so it looks like we're starting to pull ahead in the air campaign over northwestern Burma.


We bombed Rabual with minimal interference from maybe 2-3 Tojos at most. No shootdowns, but damage to the base was light. The Shortlands op is on standby until we get a fix on the KB a safe distance away.

[Ostfriese]

2 January 1942

We're still moving at a crawl here due to technical problems.


And it starts with numbering the year :D
Sorry, couldn't resist. Hope you can solve your technical problems soon.

[Molon Labe]

And it starts with numbering the year :D
Sorry, couldn't resist. Hope you can solve your technical problems soon.


Ha. Thanks for calling me out on that.


We're still super inconsistent. And my reporting's been slow...wow, April 10th since I was last here. Yeah, my life got a little crazy the last 2 weeks.


3-4 January 1943 has been pretty uneventful. What is noteworthy is that he's got carriers back near Babar again but it doesn't look like the whole KB anymore (confirmed: Hiryu, Zuikaku, Hiyo). They supported the landing of additional troops, the "A" 1/3 of the 14th Division. Despite the air protection, my Beaufighters got at that troopship and hit it pretty hard. It hit the beach burning and probably sank after delivering its troops, minus however many died on board. The extra troops have started attacking and have taken my forts down from level 3 to level 2. And the carriers are preventing resupply.



Oh, and my SBDs tried to hit their CVBG, and this time the Wildcats didn't bother flying escorts. Had some help from P-38s on patrol over Babar, but I ended up losing 23 SBDs--completely unsustainable losses that, added up with prior losses are going to deplete my reserves. Fighter losses in that fight were 18 to 7 in my favor, so at least I had that going for me--and against his best pilots.

[Oubaas]

What OS are you running this on? :06:



I've got my eye on, "War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition", but I'm wondering if it will run on my Windows 10 64-bit OS.


I have, "Gary Grigsby's War in the West" and it runs perfect. No compatibility mode, nothing. It just works. All I did was disable Steam Cloud saves, VR Theater, and Steam Overlay under, "Properties" in the Steam interface, and then did something that I learned from, "Battlestations: Midway". I restarted my computer before touching the new installation.


I figured out through trial and error that, "Battlestations: Midway" is dead on arrival on my modern machine unless I restart before launching. And it will not forgive you. You'll have to uninstall, clean up, and reinstall if you dare touch the game before re-starting. If you re-start before launching, it works perfectly. So I did the same with, "War in the West" and didn't have any problems like so many others have.


Anyway, I'm not sure, but I think, "War in the Pacific" runs on approximately the same engine as, "War in the West". So there may be hope for it to run on Windows 10 64-bit.


:Kaleun_Salute:

[Molon Labe]

What OS are you running this on? :06:



I've got my eye on, "War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition", but I'm wondering if it will run on my Windows 10 64-bit OS.


I have, "Gary Grigsby's War in the West" and it runs perfect. No compatibility mode, nothing. It just works. All I did was disable Steam Cloud saves, VR Theater, and Steam Overlay under, "Properties" in the Steam interface, and then did something that I learned from, "Battlestations: Midway". I restarted my computer before touching the new installation.


I figured out through trial and error that, "Battlestations: Midway" is dead on arrival on my modern machine unless I restart before launching. And it will not forgive you. You'll have to uninstall, clean up, and reinstall if you dare touch the game before re-starting. If you re-start before launching, it works perfectly. So I did the same with, "War in the West" and didn't have any problems like so many others have.


Anyway, I'm not sure, but I think, "War in the Pacific" runs on approximately the same engine as, "War in the West". So there may be hope for it to run on Windows 10 64-bit.


:Kaleun_Salute:


We'd both been running it on Windows 7. The transition to 10 caused both of us problems, but it's at least running OK for me now, probably him too.

[mapuc]

We'd both been running it on Windows 7. The transition to 10 caused both of us problems, but it's at least running OK for me now, probably him too.

That sounds very good are really missing your After Action Report.

Markus

[Molon Labe]

5-8 January 1943

We've been getting through turns slowly and the turns themselves haven't involved much going on. So, quick summary:




Babar has finally fallen. That last group of troops from the 14th Division that started coming ashore made the difference.
The KB is still hanging out in the Babar area
I'm reluctant to make my move on the Shortlands with the KB still at Babar. I certainly can't make a move on Java.
The Wake operation got a little spooky with carriers potentially being detached from the KB. I pulled most of the ships out before I got aircraft mechanics ashore. I've since moved back, I'm getting the base force (with mechanics) ashore, and they're supporting a Catalina squadron and a few Wildcat recon variants (with drop tanks, they were able to make the flight from the nearby CVE, the F4F-3s on the CVE couldn't use drop tanks, so they'll probably arrive 9 January. Enemy Betties from the Marshalls have been harassing the transports without success (flying at extended range with bombs instead of torpedoes).
Once Wake is fully secure, I'll start taking a look at the Marianas or the Marshalls. On second thought, I'll make another attempt on Canton, and Baker along with it. Those are just annoying me.
8 January was a good day for us in submarine warfare. After a long dry period, the Snook got a cargo ship off Okinawa, we took out a midget sub attacking a bombardment group hitting Guadalcanal, and we traded a coastal patrol craft for a B1-class sub near Colombo.

[Ostfriese]

The war has been on halt for about three months now. I hope you can sort out your computer problems soon. I'm waiting eagerly for the continuation of your reports.


Good luck to both of you.

[Skybird]

This thread and match reminds me of my time in correspondence chess, when it was still done the old fashioned way, with postcards and numberstamps. It was my thing. A match lasted months, over half a year, sometimes almost a year. I won three sequential qualification tournaments in a row and ended up in what in the German Fernschachbund was/is called "Meisterklasse". That was in the late 80s - killer software played no role yet since it did not yet exist.
Having a TBA on the chessboard would have come handy in some matches...:D

[Molon Labe]

9 January 1943
KB still won't leave Babar

Bay of Bengal/Burma Theatre
The submarines that we attacked near Colombo left some presents for us. The minesweepers found them before anyone got hit and they're clearing them out.

Air raids continue on our forces slowly retreating through the mountains. A lot of the squads are already disabled, so we're seeing a lot of them destroyed. But the terrain is helping a lot--this isn't an efficient use of their airpower.

Babar and Arafura Sea

Enemy destroyers are trying to clear our mines here. Doesn't seem like the best approach, do they really not have minesweepers in this area? The KXI took some depth charge damage as their ASW patrols try to clear out our submarine barrier around the little island.

An enemy sub tried to get through the Torres Strait, and did, but got depth charged a bit by a minesweeper escorting a pair of small cargo ships.


Rabaul
B-17s splashed a Tojo over Rabaul--the only shootdown of the turn.

Wake
Betties tried to get my transports again. I had 2 recon-variant Wildcats on patrol, but they were apparently too high to react in time to intervene. No ships were hit. I've since sent the recon variants back to the CVE and sent a regular USMC Wildcat squadron to protect Wake, so the next wave of Betties is going to get trashed.

China
Inflicted 466 casualties and destroyed a small unit that tried to sneak behind Chusein--severing a supply line maybe? If that's the end of the offensive threat to Chusien, it may be time for me to advance and try to seize some industry before the supply situation in China gets worse than it already is.

Reinforcements and Refits
SS Halibut taken out of commission to begin refit at Pearl Harbor
DD Conway arrives at Eastern USA
LCI-62 arrives at San Francisco
6th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme
2/11th Ind Coy arrives at Sydney
2/9th Ind Coy arrives at Sydney
XIII US Fighter Cmd arrives at Noumea

[Molon Labe]

10 January 1943
Heavy B-24 losses in attempted port strike at Rangoon

Burma
We're still working on the minefield at Colombo. As per the headline, I tried to hit Rangoon port after seeing a lot of traffic there, hoping to get troop ships in port. But the CAP was quite strong, including Nicks and Tojos. We ended up losing 8 B-24s while shooting down 2 Tojos and an Oscar. We didn't damage the port or any ships at all.


Enemy airpower concentrated on Uttaradit, which was later attacked by enemy land forces. We significantly outnumbered the enemy, even so, I was surprised that we won that fight as bad as the supply situation is. Casualties 3500 to 130.



Babar
A Dutch sub got a torpedo hit on a destroyer that was hunting it--but it was a dud.


Solomons and New Britain

Rabaul's got 50 fighters now. No strikes this turn due to weather. I'm going to cancel bombing for a bit and just sweep these guys for now.

[Molon Labe]

Got 11 January done today but it was uneventful except for a huge furball over Rabaul. 15 Zeroes, 6 Oscars, and 3 P-38s went down. There are a lot of ships hanging out around Guadalcanal, I'm going to see if the Army can handle a naval strike with medium bombers now there there aren't any enemy fighters based there.

[Molon Labe]

12 January 1943


The enemy carriers are finally moving off from Babar. And they're leaving a bunch of ships there unprotected. Going to sweep tomorrow to make sure it's not a feint. Day after the SBDs will be flying again if they have targets.
Splashed two Zeroes over Mandalay, clearing the skies for B-25 raids on their armies in northern Burma.
Another major air battle over Rabaul: 3 P-38s down vs 2 Oscars, 5 Zeroes, and 1 Tojo.
We're struggling to move troops efficiently on and off the beach at Wake--enemy Betties tried to take advantage, slipping past the Wildcats flying CAP over them and making a bombing run. No hits.

[Molon Labe]

13 January 1943


An enemy sub hit a mine at Wake. We finally finished emptying one of the phibs there and can use that boat to start taking the frontline Marines off to make room for the base forces.
USS Sawfish torpedoed and sank a destroyer near Babar
USS Albacore was severely damaged in a retaliatory depth charge attack after it attacked a cruiser-destroyer group off Legaspi (Philippines). We may lose her.
Hurricane sweeps over Mandalay resulted in one Hurricane shot down with no enemy fighters (Tojos) shot down. The B-25s all got through to try to interdict ground forces.
All enemy fighters appear to have vacated Rabaul.
The KB is hanging out west of Babar. Not sure why.
USS Amberjack scored two torpedo hits on a troop-carrying cargo ship south of Japan, almost certainly a kill.

[Molon Labe]

14 January 1943


The Brits splashed one Tojo near Mandalay; this was a 12-to-3 sweep where we had an altitude advantage. The pool of well-trained British fighter pilots has been exhausted thanks to the Burma campaign, and it's showing in terms of poor results like these the last two days.
It looks like our retreating armies in Burma are far along up the mountain trail that the lead units are back in supply. But there are a lot of units on empty not getting any of that yet.
There was another attempted Betty raid on our ships at Wake; they missed again but this time the Wildcats got to them on the way out. 3 Betties down.
Two ships reported as cruisers are approaching Wake from the southwest. I also have 2 cruisers, so unless the report is garbage (and they often are) I can at least go toe-to-toe with them. I'm also flying in some SBDs from Pearl via Midway, but it's going to take another day for them to get here.
The KB was not spotted this turn.

[Ostfriese]

Good to see that the reports are finally back. I hope you are well :)

[Molon Labe]

Good to see that the reports are finally back. I hope you are well :)


Thanks, I hope you're doing well too.


15 January 1943
Ghost ship Kako reappears, only to be sunk again

https://p4.wallpaperbetter.com/wallpaper/549/182/427/anime-anime-girls-kantai-collection-kako-kancolle-wallpaper-preview.jpg
That pair of cruisers near Wake was actually just the heavy cruiser Kako, a ship that graced these pages after she tried to get through the Strait of Malacca, out of ammo and alone, eating a torpedo from bombers based out of Singapore around May 1942. Kako originally appeared to have been saved by Aoba and a few destroyers, but intel later reported she sank after all. Intel was wrong.

Kako approached Wake at night and ran into a blocking force consisting of the CA Indianapolis, CL Houston, and two destroyers. We fought two rounds; in round one Kako took a penetrating armor hit early, but otherwise we mostly exchanged shots that weren't getting through each other's armor. Houston eventually took a penetrating hit, nothing too serious. Kako realized she was outgunned eventually and ran off.

But the non-penetrating hits were still starting fires. Kako lost control of those and entered round 2 at a disadvantage. We closed range and got a lot of hits on her. The cost of closing was one of the destroyers took a devestating main battery hit, incapacitating her. And Houston ate enough rounds that she'll be at Pearl for a week or two for repairs. Kako disengaged again, severely damaged. Our ships lost track of her on radar and our scoutplanes never found her in the morning. Pretty sure she's gone this time.

A lot of the phibs that cleared out from Wake when I suspected there was a threat before are now back, hopefully we get the frontline Marines out and the base forces in efficiently now.


Rabaul now has Nicks on CAP. They were no match for the sweeping P-38s, we shot down 5 with no losses.


At Mandalay we got another Tojo, but their CAP stayed strong enough to claim a B-25 later in the day.


Not much else going on. Still no KB.

[Molon Labe]

16 January 1943


Near Okinawa, USS Kingfish put two fish into the Kamakaru Maru, a 9500-ton troop transport. And yes, it had troops aboard. The Kingfish wisely surfaced to finish her off with one more torpedo and gunfire.
At Babar, I've resumed medium bomber raids since there are no fighters around anymore. We did spot a single carrier hanging out hear Timor. Maybe that's the KB waiting to see if I re-invade?
Lost another B-25 to Tojos near Mandalay

[Molon Labe]

17 January 1943


A pair of light cruisers shelled the airbase at Chittagong, India, but were not effective. One of them took a hit from a coastal battery. I have 3 new attack squadrons coming online near here: Vengeance dive bombers, Beaufighters, and a night-fighter Beaufighter variant. I'm hoping the night fighters in particular might be able to do something about these raids. I had two subs along the expected path and they got nothing.
USS Runner torpedoed and sank a troop-carrying Std-C class cargo ship (2900 tons) near Naha, Okinawa. Like the Kingfish yesterday, Runner re-engaged the stricken ship to make sure it went down.
I've resumed Hudson raids on Rabaul due to lack of fighter protection there.
We lost 2 medium bombers today, a B-25 near Mandalay and a Wellington near Wenchow, China.

[Molon Labe]

18 January 1943


USS Permit torpedoed the heavy cruiser Kinugasa in the Strait of Makassar. She'll survive, sadly.
Japanese marines took Saumlaki, just east of Babar.
Our Hurricane sweeps got 1 Tojo near Mandalay. Their flak picked up the slack, downing one of our B-25s later in the day.
We lost a B-24 to flak bombing Wenchow, China

19 January 1943


In Burma, we eliminated a small unit fragment occupying Katha, northeast of the frontlines.
We have an army at Hong Kong. We attack tomorrow.
I was also hoping to make a land attack against Wenchow, but I think it's too well defended. Going to have to figure out what to do with all those troops in the area now if they're not going to attack.
The SBD squadrons at Darwin, having been back at full strength for awhile now, targeted enemy merchant traffic near Babar. My read on this is these ships were going to pull the victorious armies out.

Strike 1 (20 SBDs):
AK Arima Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AKE Kiso Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Cheribon Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage

Strike 2 (16 SBDs)
xAK Hiyoshi Maru, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
PB Yamabato Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires

Strike 3 (14 Beaufighters)
DD Tsuga, Shell hits 4
DD Yakaze, Shell hits 1
xAK Cheribon Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Arima Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

[Ostfriese]

Hitting transports always helps.

About transports: historically Japan was very short on transport ships from the moment the war started, and this was felt long before the US submarines overcame the initial problems.
Does WiTP represent that? Does the Japanese player feel every lost transport ship, or does this only come once the American player can fully implement the unrestricted submarine war?

[Molon Labe]

Hitting transports always helps.

About transports: historically Japan was very short on transport ships from the moment the war started, and this was felt long before the US submarines overcame the initial problems.
Does WiTP represent that? Does the Japanese player feel every lost transport ship, or does this only come once the American player can fully implement the unrestricted submarine war?


IMO, it depends on the type of transport. Japan has a lot of really crappy, slow transports. You don't feel those. But large, fast transports, the kind you need to get troops to places and deal with supply shortages all over the growing empire... those you never have enough of.

[Molon Labe]

20 January 1943
Hong Kong Liberated!


China
The enemy forces in Hong Kong were all REMFs. Our army easily took the city. The enemy armies just to the north in Canton (which was going to be my original target until I saw how much fewer troops there were in Hong Kong), instead of sallying south to try to take Hong Kong back from me, are headed east, towards consolidated Japanese control. Thus is appears he's conceding Canton to me as well and trying to prevent his armies from being surrounded.


Yesterday I wondered what my army near Wenchow was going to do, now I know. They're going to block the Canton forces' retreat.


This could be a huge turning point in the China campaign. Losing Rangoon was causing massive supply shortages all over China. I have plenty of resources here, but lack the factories to turn that into usable supply. Taking Hong Kong gives me a lot more factories, and so will Canton if I really do get that too. Also, if I really do eliminate the Japanese in the south, that lets me shift forces to the east, essentially letting me work my way north up the coastline to threaten Shanghai.


Burma
Things are looking bad for the units in the rear of the mountain trail. Their supplies are nearly completely exhausted, and their movement has been reduced to nothing or near-nothing by enemy artillery as additional units close in. This is about 17,000 worth of troops, mostly base forces. The rest of the procession appears to be back in supply, so they'll probably be OK, although there's always a chance they'll have to deal with an enemy force on the other end of the trail. Right now there is a large enemy force near there, but they're trying to off-road through mountains, which would work with infantry, but this army is very tank-heavy. So that's a mistake that's helping me.


Zeroes replaced the Tojos near Mandalay, and my Hurricane pilots loved it. We shot down 7 of the 8 that came up to greet us, no losses..

[Ostfriese]

Liberating Hong Kong is no small feat. Congratulations.



What are REMFs?

[Molon Labe]

Liberating Hong Kong is no small feat. Congratulations.



What are REMFs?
Thanks!

Rear Echelon Mother ......ers


---------

21 January 1943


USS Stingray had a chance at a pair of tankers near the Marianas but got spotted by an escort. But it's noteworthy that fuel traffic is moving through this area. Maybe Japan trying to resupply Truk?
Japan resumed a CAP over Babar with a Zero squadron. It looked like this group was made up of a combination of elite pilots and total newbies, as the enemy evaded my P-38 sweep very effectively early in the fight and sent a lot of my planes home full of holes. But then the wheels came off and Zeroes started falling out of the sky everywhere. 10 Zeroes to 1 P-38 in the end.
The Zeroes also tried to engage the medium bombers that followed up, but the F4Fs escorting drove them off with no shootdowns.
The F4Fs fueled back up and escorted SBDs in the afternoon for a strike on transports near Babar. A few Zeroes remained; one was shot down but they got 2 Wildcats and 2 SBDs. A single Zero engaged the Beaufighter flight but was shot down.
The Tojos in Burma came back, this time attacking my base at Lashio instead of flying CAP over Mandalay. They were badly outnumbered, 5 Tojos vs 7 Hurricanes and 19 P-40s. 3 Tojos and 1 P-40 were shot down.
All enemy troops at Hong Kong have been mopped up

SBD Strike (36 planes, really poor accuracy vs transports):
xAK Unkai Maru #3, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Oita Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Sanju Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Zyuyo Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PB Takunan Maru #8, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Beaufighter strike (14 planes, including the stragglers)
xAK Sanju Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Zyuyo Maru, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
---(2 stragglers: xAK Zyuyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk)
xAK Oita Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires


EDIT: I'm preparing to greenlight the Shortlands operation again and also moving my "major amphibious operation" into a state of readiness that I could initiate it in about 3 days of spotting the KB far away. One slight problem is that I expected to be done with Shortlands awhlie ago, so there are about 6 ships involved in that operation that I need for the other op, part of the reason I want to move on it now. I've got 3 replacements departing Pearl now, so the shortfall shouldn't be so bad that the op fails.

[Ostfriese]

Thanks!

Rear Echelon Mother ......ers



And I thought it was something sophisticated :D :Kaleun_Cheers:

[Molon Labe]

22 January 1943


Burma: Looking really bad for the base forces at the rear end of the retreat. An enemy unit of unknown strength has passed through the mountains and occupied a river crossing in front of them. Just about every unit that's already made it across that river, though, is fully supplied. I'm actually turning a few units around that are in fighting shape to see if the enemy unit is weak enough to engage and maybe help the rest of my procession get through.
Sweeps over Mandalay got 8 Zeroes with just 1 Hurricane lost.
Babar: Attacked the enemy base with a cruiser-destroyer group. They finished off a damaged transport (Sanju Maru) that had been left behind.
Canton Island: We spotted a cargo ship here, probably a supply run. Diverted a destroyer that was escorting our own cargo ships south of Canton and sank it without any real resistance.

[Molon Labe]

23 January 1943


A destroyer-minesweeper finally got to work on the rather large minefield I left behind at Babar.
I lost a P-40 on the ground at Lashio to a night bombing raid.
Major bombing raid on Guadalcanal: 32 B-17s attacking the airbase and 28 B-25/B-26s attacking the port. The airbase sustained moderate damage, the port not so much.



24 January 1943


Sweeps by Tojos over Lashio took down another P-40.
We lost a B-24 to flak over Canton, trying to soften it up from the troops approaching from Hong Kong.
Raided Guadalcanal again, this time there were 12 Zeroes in the air to greet us. We shot down 2 and lost a B-25 to flak. As with yesterday, the airbase took moderate damage but the port isn't getting hurt much.



25 January 1943


An enemy army is approaching Lashio in northern Burma, my main remaining base in the country. I don't think we can hold, only delay.
Canton has been liberated. Thanks to major roads, we got from Hong Kong to Canton fast. I didn't even realize we were already there and I forgot to switch my forces from "move" mode to "combat" mode, and we automatically shocked attacked due to a river crossing. Didn't matter, just a token force here on defense, just like Hong Kong. And only Level 1 Forts.

Between capturing Hong Kong and Canton, we've added a ton of industry that is going to significantly improve the supply situation in China.


I'm preparing to make a move on Canton Island. I've lost there before but any troops there will be suffering supply shortages by now. After that I'll be looking at the Marshalls and Marianas.



https://i.ibb.co/M9DqXP5/25-January-1943.png

[Ostfriese]

So, a major blow for your opponent in China. Seems your opponent put too many resources into fighting you along the pacific.
Does this make it likely that the Chinese will completely defeat the Japanese on their soil? How bad is this going to hurt your opponent's overall ambitions (aka: is this as bad as losing the KB)?

[Molon Labe]

So, a major blow for your opponent in China. Seems your opponent put too many resources into fighting you along the pacific.
Does this make it likely that the Chinese will completely defeat the Japanese on their soil? How bad is this going to hurt your opponent's overall ambitions (aka: is this as bad as losing the KB)?


That's a really good question. The complete lack of serious forces protecting Canton/Hong Kong was shocking. It means my victorious armies get to move northeast and start throwing them out of the Shanghai area. Plus my supply shortages aren't going to be nearly as bad. How far can we go? Not sure. But it feels like I already have a bit more than them there, so once those armies from Hong Kong get there, I should have some momentum. I'm fairly sure I can take Wenchow in a couple weeks, however long it takes to reorganize and redeploy. Actually taking Shanghai itself would be amazing. It seems possible.


As bad as losing the KB? No. That could shift momentum anywhere/everywhere.

[Molon Labe]

26 January 1943


East of Taiwan, USS Trout got 2/2 hits on a cargo ship and they both detonated, sending it straight to the bottom.
P-38 sweep shot down 2 Zeroes over Guadalcanal
A pair of Tojos swept Lashio, one was shot down but they got a P-40.
A regiment strength enemy unit is attacking the middle of my retreating procession Burma. Right now it's a stalemate but I'm already having resupplied units back up to try to extract others, so I think this enemy unit is going to lose in a few days.

27 January 1943


First combat for night fighters. The nightfighter Beaufighter variants that I'd hoped to use to attack ships I'd reassigned to Lashio to try to get the Sallies bombing our airbase at night. The enemy showed up tonight and lost a single Sally.
During the day, Oscars tried to sweep Lashio; they got one P-40 but lost 5 of their own.
Enemy ground forces, probably division strength, have arrived at Lashio.
In the Horn Island straight (north of Australia) an enemy sub approached one of our minesweepers, then declined to engage...but was spotted anyway. Our minesweeper was dead-on accurate with its depth charges, contact was lost with the sub after sounds of it breaking up were heard on sonar.

[Molon Labe]

28 January 1943


The minesweeper Vireo, acting as an ASW escort for a cargo ship delivering supplies to Wake, ironically hit a mine at Wake and sank. There was a second AM-AK pair approaching Wake; I've detached the AM to sweep the rest of the mines, it will escort both AKs back to Pearl after wake is clear. I'm also dispatching 4 yard minesweepers from the west coast to split between Midway and Wake for permanent local minesweeping assignments.
We shot down 2 Oscars over Lashio
My retreating base forces finally made the river crossing out of Uttaradit, where they had been pinned down by artillery and air raids for weeks it seems. An enemy marine unit was waiting from them on the other side, but we so heavily outnumbered them that we defeated them despite the supply shortage.
Just north of that, our 6th Indian Brigade is deuling the 112th Infantry Regiment (both are at equal strength, about 2000 troops), which is also trying to block the retreating base forces. It's a stalemate for now, I'm hoping troops that we've turned around will make the difference.

29 January 1943


USS Hake sent in a contact report on a major troop transport convoy at the north end of the Strait of Malacca. It was driven off by an APD, but got back ahead of the convoy and re-engaged, sinking a cargo ship. No troop casualties were reported, so it seems likely this convoy is intended to pick up excess troops from Burma. My best guess, this is the move against Sri Lanka we've been anticipating.
No air-to-air losses for either side today



30 January 1943


Looks like we cleared the minefield at Wake already
The enemy attempted another night attack at Lashio, the night fighters splashed a Sally and a Helen.
Lashio was a major target during the day, but mostly by inexperienced Zeroes. We shot down 12 Zeroes with no losses. They got plenty of bombers through, though. As did we.
The enemy land attack on Lashio reduced our fortifications from level 4 to 3. Not a good sign. Supplies are becoming a problem too, as pretty much everything they have is getting airlifted from India, and it's too dangerous to have the transports fly directly there now.
Enemy bombing raids on our retreat through the mountains failed to anticipate the resupply of several units, which cost them 7 medium bombers to flak and dozens more damaged.
Despite reinforcements arriving and now outnumbering the enemy 18,000 to 2,000, we failed to dislodge the 112th Regiment from its blocking position. Our supply levels substantially reduced the combat ability of many of our units. Casualties 274 to 168 in our favor.
A P-38 sweep over Guadalcanal met significant resistance, getting 2 Nicks and a Tojo while losing 1 aircraft, and many more damaged. It's not clear to me why he's suddenly surging fighters here after giving me probably a week of free reign to bomb him here and Rabaul.
At Cape Town, South Africa, the conversion of the AMC Manoora into a Landing Ship (Infantry) has completed, as haVE repairs of HMS Revenge. It will be about a week before we have a couple destroyers available to escort these to the frontlines. (Revenge was torpedoed by a submarine near Columbo 1 July 1942.0

[Molon Labe]

31 January 1943

Burma
More night raids on Lashio, these cost him a Helen and two Sallies. During the day, they had Zeroes try to stop our bombing raids, escorting Hurricanes shot down 5 with no losses. They rested their ground fores, and we rested ours (on the mountain trail south of Lashio). The majority of their bomber forces are now focusing on my partially-supplied armies trying to clear out the blocking force. I don't think I'll be able to clear the blockers out like this.



Japan
USS Haddo torpedoed and sank an unescorted cargo ship near Kanoya.


Solomons and New Guinea
An enemy sub tried to intercept a supply convoy headed for Rossel Island, it was slighly damaged by an escorting destroyer.


At Guadalcanal, we lost a P-38 sweeping but shot down 3 Tojos, 2 Zeroes, and an Oscar.


Strategic Outlook
I'm probably just a few days away from sending amphibious raids against Marcus, Canton Island, and Shortlands. And while I would like all of these, they're really a diversion. The big one is ready to go except for one late-arriving fighter squadron. I'd like to run a test-loading of the main raid just to see how many days it takes to load everyone into the ships, but if I get a KB sighting far away, I might just run with it. It's been a long time since I've seen any sign of carriers, right now my best guess is they're hanging out at Truk, because at least there my subs on patrol are getting spotted by aircraft. I wouldn't rule out that they might support the operation against Sri Lanka, although it would be overkill IMO.

[Molon Labe]

1 February 1943

Japan
USS Tautog was transiting to its patrol area near the Luzon Strait; southeast of Tokyo it encountered a convoy of 2 large tankers escorted by at least one PB. It engaged and hit one of the tankers. The tanker looks like it will survive and did not catch fire, so it's probably empty.

This is further east than I would expect to see tankers. So either this is a return trip from resupplying the Marshalls, or, he's kicking his tanker routes to the southern resource area really far east to try to avoid my submarine cordons. If the later is the case, I'll still have a chance to catch these guys when they turn back west, maybe south of the Philippines?

I'm going to try to grab some real estate east of Babar to try to get PBY patrols as close to the Philippines as I can get.


China
In a move surprising enough that I emailed my opponent about it, a single cargo ship started dropping off troops from the 8th division in Hong Kong. It's not a true amphibious ship and there's only one of them, so it's unloading slowly into a hail of gunfire from my troops. Over 800 enemy casualties so far with nothing for them to show for it. They have 3000 left against my 5000, I have reinforcements and air support on the way, so this is only going to get worse for them unless there's another convoy backing them up.


EDIT: He told me this was a complete accident, the ship had been headed there for a long time and he'd forgotten about it. At his request, I'm letting him retreat.



Solomons
P-38 sweep got 2 Zeroes, a Nick, and 2 Tojos. No losses.

[Molon Labe]

2 February 1943

Burma
The night fighters at Lashio had their hands full as bad weather fragmented waves of Nicks and medium bombers. Fortunately the weather also hampered the accuracy of the bombers, the base was essentially undamaged. One Nick was shot down by flak, the Beaufighters shot down one Sally.

During the day there was an ongoing fight for air superiority over our base. It look place mostly at high altitude, to my advantage, and it appears to me that his pilots here still aren't up to the task. We lost 1 P-40 that was baited into engaging away from the base--it got into a 2-on-1 but still shot down one of those Oscars. But overall, we got 9 Oscars and 6 Zeroes for just that single loss.

My opponent contacted me after the turn to discuss an altitude restriction house rule to try to stop these lopsided losses. I'd really rather not do this--at the Matrix forums, altitude restrictions are popular with many players, but the really experienced ones all say they're unnecessary because players that just put their planes as high as they'll go are likely to just send their planes against an enemy with superior performance at altitude, and likewise if your planes are better lower, you can keep them low and bait the enemy down. So I responded with a graphic of the altitude matchup between the Oscar and Hurricane, which clearly shows the Oscar at a greater advantage the lower the altitude--then asked him why he was sweeping at 38,000ft per the combat reports. We'll see where that goes.


Indian Ocean
A destroyer escorting reinforcements to Columbo spotted an enemy sub; the sub fired 6 torpedoes at the destroyer and missed; the destroyer inflicted moderate depth charge damage on the sub before it lost contact.


Solomons
There's a convoy of at least 4 ships, unclassified, approaching the Solomons from the north. I'm moving some somewhat-well-trained Beaufort squadrons to Milne and Rossel Island--if they approach Shortlands or Guadalcanal either them, or Avengers and Beaufighters, might get a shot at them, especially with the enemy fighters in the area under severe pressure from my P-38 sweeps.

After taking a few days off to reduce the enemy fighter presence at Guadalcanal, I've ordered bombing to resume starting tomorrow. No enemy fighters came up to greet my P-38s today.

[Molon Labe]

3 February 1943

Burma and India

A whole bunch of units from the back end of the procession made it across the river to the main mountain trail; I have sufficient control of the hex that this did not trigger a shock attack. Cool.

The enemy now has about 20,000 troops in Lashio and they've reduced my forts to Level 2. It's not going to hold more than a few more days, and once that happens my supply routes down the mountain trail are going to be severed more or less permanently. So the supplies I'm getting to those beleaguered troops now are probably going to be the last, and at that point our retreating procession will be blocked on both ends.

But at least we're killing their planes and pilots. One more Nick went down to flak.

I've engaged the enemy at Cox's Bazaar, India, but they're at more than brigade strength and I didn't bring enough troops to budge them. The good news is maybe these enemies never leave. I'm sending some armor to help out here. I could do more but I'm being conservative in case they try another landing somewhere I don't expect.

Solomons
Lost track of the convoy.
Shot down 3 Tojos over Guadalcanal, allowing our bombers to attack without interference. From fighters anyway; we lost a B-26 to flak even though we're way up at 20,000 ft. The base looks like it's in pretty bad shape. Oh, and the bomber crews claim they got an Oscar, a Mavis, and a Jake on the ground.

Shortlands op is greenlit. We go tomorrow. We'll be in and out before they can respond. They're going to love it when there are Corsairs escorting torpedo bombers out of there in a week or two, especially with Rabaul and Guadalcanal bombed into submission.


Bay of Bengal
USS Scamp penetrated the harbor at Port Blair and torpedoed a tanker unloading there, sinking it. This is a major airbase right now, but not a major port (hence why a sub was able to get in) so I'm confused that he's moving fuel here while there is a major troop movement about to take place in the region. This base is too small to support that operation.

[Molon Labe]

4 February 1943
Amphibious blitz begins: Shortlands, Ndeni, Canton Island, Marcus all targeted

Japan
USS Halibut gunned down a light cargo ship off the coast of Tokyo.


Banda Sea and Darwin
We spotted a tanker unloading at Ambon. I would expect there are far more important thirsty bases, especially since I don't see a lot of other ships operating out of Ambon lately. I'm having subs nearby swarm to try to get this high value target.

The severely damaged USS Albacore has been stabilized at Darwin and is now headed to Brisbane for more permanent repairs.


Solomons
Increasing our bombing altitude vs Guadalcanal still got a B-17 shot down today, but our accuracy was crap. The weather was bad too, probably more of a factor. Resting them for a bit.

That convoy popped up again at Guadalcanal, and the Beaufighters pounced. We sank a cargo ship (lots of equipment loss reported, they're probably trying to move equipment out) and a PB; one Beau was shot down by AA.

The Shortlands assault force has departed. We also have a force assembling to hit Ndeni.


CENTPAC
We have operations against Canton Island and Marcus nearly ready to launch.

I'm hoping between the flurry of activity from the Solomons to Marcus, and the large troop movement about to happen in the Bay of Bengal, the enemy carriers come out of hiding for a bit and I can decide whether now is the time to unleash The Rumbling.

[Molon Labe]

5 February 1943

Banda Sea
USS S-28 entered Ambon's hex and torpedoed and sank a cargo ship there. So much for that being a tanker. Troop losses reported.

Solomons
Sweeps got 1 Tojo and 3 Zeroes, no losses to the P-38s.

Indian Ocean
I guess I got careless...the British surface fleet that I've been keeping on standby to defend Columbo has been detected.






6 February 1943

Banda Sea
S-28 found another cargo ship at Ambon but ran itself out of torpedoes trying to attack it. The ship proved to be too heavily armed to take in a gunfight, both ships disengaged with minor damage.

We swept the east end of Timor to try to open up future Beaufighter raids on ASW groups. 6 Zeroes splashed there with no losses.

Solomons
P-38 sweeps found no fighters over Guadalcanal, but they were around... We had a Beaufighter strike on some enemy ships just slightly past Guadalcanal that got bounced by Zeroes. We lost 4 Beaufighters for that, but did damage one cargo ship rather badly with a pair of bomb hits.

I shelled Guadalcanal with 2 CAs and 2 CLs, hoping to disrupt their base and catch some of that transport traffic. The raid was ineffective, and I ended up taking 7 shell hits between the 4 ships. No serious damage.


China
A large enemy force has massed near Wenchow. Looks like theyre ready to go on an offensive here.

[Molon Labe]

7 February 1943



2 Tojos shot down over Guadalcanal.
Our Shortlands invasion task force has been spotted, but could easily be mistaken for a supply convoy as they're still southwest of Rossel Island.
Otherwise an uneventful turn



8 February 1943


We've invaded Shortlands. Should be ours tomorrow.
An enemy sub is poking around where the British surface task force near Columbo used to be. It found an AO escorted by two PGs, or I should say the PGs spotted it. Light depth charge damage before it escaped.

[Molon Labe]

9 February 1943
Shortlands Captured



We spotted another pair of tankers transiting the small island chain stretching southeast from Tokyo. USS Steelhead took a shot at one and missed. But it's fairly clear that he's running tankers south out of Tokyo and turning them west at some point to reach the Southern Resource Area. Just need to figure out where.
Two enemy subs snuck into the harbor at Wake. One torpedoed and sank a cargo ship while our minesweepers were depth charging the other (for light damage). Both enemy subs then hit mines and are unlikely to survive.
Two Tojos tried to stop our medium bombers attacking enemy troops at Shortlands; the CVE escorting the invasion task force gave the bombers 7 Wildcat escorts--they got both Tojos.
The 3rd USMC regiment has captured the Shortlands. There was only a company strength marine unit defending the base. We also landed an aviation support unit and Seabees. They're getting right to work building an airbase.



10 February 1943
Canton Island captured


One of the two crippled submarines at Wake was spotted surfacing near a cargo ship. A surface gun battle briefly broke out...but it wasn't really an attack, the sub had just surfaced because it couldn't maintain depth. The PG escorting the cargo ship soon joined in, scored a few gun hits, and finished the crippled sub off.
A B-17 raid on Rabaul (intended to disrupt any potential counterattack against Shortlands) ran into 7 Tojos. One B-17 was shot down and damage on the ground reportedly included a Kate destroyed.
Beaufighters found a pair of destroyers near Guadalcanal to harass. We got a bomb hit on one of them--just a 250-pounder, the ship appears only moderately damaged.
The 7th USMC Regiment landed at Canton Island and immediately captured it. The enemy had one proper marine unit, fragments of two others, along with substantial aviation support. These guys have been trapped here for months, occasionally getting bombed by B-24s from Pago Pago.
I've moved the Black Sheep off the CVE involved in the Shortlands op to Rossel Island. I immediately converted them to Corsairs in preparation to be moved to the Shortlands airstrip once it's ready for them. I also intend to base Avengers or Beauforts there to really try to make it hard for ships to reach Rabaul or Guadalcanal.

[Molon Labe]

11 February 1943


I sent a P-38 sweep to Rabaul since they're apparently sending out Tojos from there. We shot down 1 Oscar and 2 Zeroes, several P-38s were shot up but they all were able to disengage and RTB. Followup B-17 raid lost one bomber to the remaining Tojos.
We've been raiding Babar with medium bombers more or less continuously. It's been relatively safe, but today we lost a B-26 to flak.
On a whim, a sent a raid of British B-24s to Pescadores, in the Taiwan Strait, to attack the port there. They sank a mine tender.
The D1 version of the B-25 is being rolled out, which is a version classified as an "Attack Bomber"; i.e., it specializes in low altitude attacks, making it deadly to ships. Right now, the A-20 is the Army level bomber fulfilling that role, and it's range is so short I'm not even sure it's seen anti-ship combat in this war so far. The B-25D1 has double the A-20's range, so this could be a game-changer if I'm able to deploy them around the Solomons or the Dutch East Indies.

https://i.ibb.co/tLQ1kbX/A20v-B25-D1.png

[Molon Labe]

12 February 1943
Lashio Captured, major losses to local airpower


Solomons
Three IJN destroyers shelled the small port facility at Shortlands. Fortunately they didn't run into any of the small supply convoys I'm running there to keep the CBs stocked with building materials. An enemy sub had better timing and found the destroyer-minelayer Pruit, shooting 4 torpedoes and missing. The Pruit retaliated but ran out of depth charges before inflicting major damage. It was able to complete its mission and lay a small minefield there.

During the day, 20 Betties, probably from Rabaul, bombed the USMC positions at Shortlands, causing a few casualties. I'm switching my fighter priority from offensive counter air to flying CAP around Shortlands and my supply runs.

B-17/25/26 raids took out an Emily and a Betty on the ground at Rabaul and caused light base damage, while P-38 sweeps got 3 Zeroes and a Tojo over Guadalcanal.

I somehow messed up my raid on Ndeni. The landing craft all arrived empty, and the troop ship backing them up only had supplies and support units. So now those support units are coming ashore with no shooters backing them up. I've sent the landing craft back to pick up the troops they were supposed to still have and I'm trying to get the support units back on the troop ship.


Burma and India
2 light cruisers, the Kiso and the Juntsu, shelled our airbase at Chittagong, India. Damage was minimal. I'm moving a Vengeance dive bomber squadron further south from Calcutta to try to protect these coastal bases a bit better.

Nicks raided Lashio overnight, 4 Nicks were shot down by night fighters and a fifth was lost to AA. One of a night fighters was also shot down. Base damage was minimal.

During the day, 4 Tojos tried to sweep Lashio and met 16 fighters on defense, 3 Tojos were shot down with no enemy victories.

I hadn't noticed that an enemy armor division reinforced their attacking armies at Lashio, giving them overwhelming strength. Despite still having level 2 forts, our positions were overrun. We took 3800 casualties to their 1000, while losing the fighter squadrons based there (and many of their pilots, who were quite elite):
Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 1 destroyed
Hurricane IIc Trop: 19 destroyed
Beaufighter VIf: 5 destroyed
P-40K Warhawk: 11 destroyed

(I think those loses are understated, actual losses were closer to 60 aircraft total)
Losing the planes was a major error on my part. I should have seen the writing on the wall and not waited until the last possible moment to pull them out.


South China Sea
USS Peto took a shot at an escorted tanker convoy and missed. Looks like a Palembang to Japan run; we should get another chance at them in the Luzon Strait.


China
The enemy has advanced on Chusien. Looks like about 40,000 troops, could be a major battle coming up. I have similar numbers and Level 6 forts here, I expect to hold.

[Molon Labe]

13 February 1943


Moving the Vengeance bombers south proved fruitful; the Kiso and Juntsu were spotted off the coast of Akyab, India and attacked by both the Vengeances and Beaufighters out of Calcutta. The 14 dive bombers scored 7 hits on the Kiso (a mix of 500 and 250 lb SAPs, each bomber carries 2 of each), leaving the ship mortally wounded. The Beaufighters failed to score any bomb hits, but hit the Juntsu with enough 20mm cannon fire to start a fire.

[Molon Labe]

14 February 1943
Another Valentine's Day sees another IJN carrier burning


https://i.ibb.co/VxSMCyH/1943-February-14-Kaga-Hit.png

Banda Sea
The USS S-28 strikes again at Ambon, this time finding none other than the Kaga in harbor. It fired 4 torpedoes, hitting Kaga twice, leaving the ship fighting for her life. One really nice thing about the Kaga getting hit at Ambon is the port there isn't big enough to provide shelter from subs, so this crippled ship can probably be finished off if she stays there. And she'll probably sink and/or be attacked again if she tries to move.


Further south, a large fleet of destroyers, must have been at least 10 of them, approached Babar and drew a strike from Darwin. They maintained a CAP of 3 Zeroes from somewhere, which were enough to shoot down an escorting Wildcat before bugging out, costing them one of their Zeroes. The SBDs hit 3 destroyers and 1 APD. One of the destroyers and the APD are confirmed sunk, but I doubt any of these survive 1000lb SAP hits.


Japan
The US sub fleet was busy here too. USS Haddock sank a light cargo ship off Aogoshima with a torpedo hit, USS Runner torpedoed and sank a PB escorting cargo ships near Naha, and USS Saury sank a light cargo ship in a gun/torpedo night surface attack near Aogoshima.


Solomons and Coral Sea

A single enemy destroyer arrived at Shortlands, causing a supply convoy of mine to abort unloading and retreat. The destroyer didn't feel like engaging either.

3 Kates, probably from Rabaul, tried to interdict one of my supply convoys headed for Shortlands, but we had 8 P-38s overhead. All 3 were splashed.

An enemy sub approached a supply convoy in the Horn Island straight and was depth charged by an escorting minesweeper. I'm seeing so many subs here I don't think they're transiting anymore, I think they're patrolling here.


Burma
The Vengeance dive bomber squadron went after the Jintsu again, but this time there was a substantial CAP protecting it. We had 17 Hurricane escorts against 15 Zeroes and 20 Oscars. Each side lost a fighter (theirs was a Zero) but the Vengeances got torn up, 10 shot down between two sorties. 5 bombers made it to the target, but all missed.

[Ostfriese]

If you can't get the KB together you sink them one by one :)

[Molon Labe]

15 February 1943


We damaged another enemy sub sneaking through the Horn Island strait
4 more Kates went after our supply convoys headed to Shortlands, we shot them all down with P-38s.
A CAP at Babar tried to intervene in our raids, they lost 4 Zeroes and 1 Oscar for their trouble.



16 February 1943


A task force comprised of the battleship Kongo, CL Oi, and 7 destroyers suddenly appeared at Shortlands and sank a supply convoy (1 minesweeper escorting 3 light cargo ships). They disappeared before we could retaliate from the air.



17 February 1943


USS Blackfish sustained moderate damage in a depth charge attack near Aogoshima, Japan. I've ordered her back to Pearl for repairs. The advantage we've been enjoying against Japan for not having many ships equipped with deep-reaching depth charges may be coming to an end.
We finally got the landing craft, with troops on them this time, back to Ndeni.


18 February 1943


I tried to attack Ambon with 6 PB4Y-1 Liberators. The Kaga's Zero squadron and 11 Nicks were waiting for them. We lost 4 bombers, which took 2 Zeroes down with them. No hits on the port (and no indication that the Kaga is actually still there).
I raided Rabaul but had a coordination SNAFU. The B-26s arrived first without escorts; 8 were shot down, taking 1 Oscar with them. B-25s and B-17s arrived with escorts, which took care of 3 Zeroes without loss. A followup sweep got two more Zeroes and a Tojo. Damage to the base was moderate.
Ndeni has been secured.
Aussie paratroops have seized Taberfane (east of Babar). I'll get some engineers there in about 4 days and see if I can build an airbase. Or maybe they'll intervene just like they did Babar, but their troops are more or less locked down at Babar by my SBDs, so they'll probably have to find more, and risk them getting locked down too. Note that with Shortlands and Ndeni captured, Guadalcanal is pretty much locked down too, or soon will be, so that's about 40,000 troops stuck there.

[Molon Labe]

I was away on a road trip for most of last week but I'm back now. Got a few turns to catch up on:


19 February 1943


Bombarded Funafuti island in CENTPAC with a CA, CL, and 2 DD. This island has an IJN Marine unit and an aviation unit and they seem quite exposed, they've been taking heavy casualties from B-24s and this hurt them too.
Dutch sub KXI sustained moderate depth charge damage in the Ceram Sea when it was spotted approaching a cruiser-destroyer group.
We laid a large minefield at Shortlands while an enemy sub was on patrol there. It hit 3 of them trying to get out.
B-17 raids on Rabaul inflicted moderate base damage and destroyed an Emily and a Zero on the ground.
I mixed up my raids on Babar a little bit my letting my SBDs attack the port, looking to finish off any damaged ships that might be sheltering there. Didn't catch anyone.
One of the retreating armies in Burma is in contact with an enemy unit. The enemy is of inferior strength, but my attacks aren't succeeding due to low supply levels

20 February 1943


The destroyer Tsuga was spotted by USS Plunger retreating from Ambon. It fired 4 torpedoes and missed... but the destroyer was so badly damaged (probably by an SBD hit a few days ago) it couldn't retaliate against the sub, so the Plunger lined up another shot and made it count this time.
An escorted convoy with 6 tankers evaded an attack from USS Amberjack near Chichi-Jima, southeast of Japan. I think I know where the tanker route is now. He's playing connect-the-dots from Japan to the Marianas, probably from there to Palau and then running up coastlines in the Dutch East Indies. I've adjusted some sub patrol areas to test my theory. I'll probably get some subs ready for minelaying duty as well.
Raids on Rabaul got a Betty on the ground and dealt light base damage
Our armies retreating from Lashio suffered another attack by Japanese armor, taking another 1200 casualties and routing again.

21 February 1943


At least one enemy sub is poking around Karachi, India. All we have for ASW here are some motor launches and light bomber patrols.
4 USN Liberators attacked the port at Dili, Timor, hitting a destroyer in docked there, setting off a large fire. I doubt I sank it, but probably disabled for several weeks.
In China, it looks like the enemy is getting smarter. Instead of a frontal assault on Level 6 forts at Chusien, the enemy is sending a detachment to surround our base and cut off the supply road. I'm seriously considering retreat. I may be able to delay the detachment long enough for the excess Hong Kong area armies to get here as reinforcements, but I'm not sure.

[Molon Labe]

22 February 1943

CENTPAC
Heavy Cruisers Wichita and Indianapolis bombarded Marcus, with marines coming ashore just afterwards via LSTs and LCIs. Marcus is better defended than we realized, they have what appears to be a full marine unit in addition to aviation support. Our USMC Defense Batallion coming ashore probably won't be enough.


Burma, India, and Western China
An Oscar sweep hit Kunming airbase in western China, which I'm now using to try to support my retreat from Burma. 3 Oscars and 1 P-40 were shot down.

We've retaken Cox's Bazar in southeastern India. Casualties 1881 to 264.


Banda Sea
We lost B-26 to flak over Babar.


Bay of Bengal
A heavy-cruiser-led task force is approaching Sri Lanka from the southeast. I started redirecting traffic away from Colombo in response, and started moving my British heavy TF west to hopefully keep them undetected.


Solomons and New Britain
We spotted a battleship-led task force at Rabaul, just as the Seabees at Shortlands expanded the airstrip big enough go support ASUW missions. I ordered VT-6 to Shortlands to try to catch them. We don't have an airHQ for them just yet, so this will be bombs only, no torpedoes.





------------------
23 February 1943
Battle for Sri Lanka (Ceylon) about to kick off, IJN Kongo battered by Avengers of VT-6


Solomons
VT-6 flew 2 sorties against the IJN Kongo, hitting it with (i think) 15 total 500 lb GP bombs. 2 Army Banshees also participated but missed, one of those was scrapped due to damage. None of the bombs got through the armor, but we started enough fires to hopefully deal real damage.


Bay of Bengal
https://i.ibb.co/vc0wL2N/1943-February-23-Bay-Of-Bengal.png
Sorry for the odd shape, I combined screenshots to get all the enemy task forces plus Ceylon at the same time.

We now hold contact on 4 task forces in the Bay of Bengal, plus a sub near Diego Garcia, so it appears that the expected invasion on Sri Lanka is imminent. I've redirected yet more tanker traffic to keep them clear, and moved a few B-24 squadons from Calcutta to right across from Sri Lanka. They'll bomb any troops that make it ashore, while the Vengeance dive bombers and Beaufighters go after the ships.


Banda Sea
Another destroyer task force went to Babar and rang the dinner bell. SBDs and Beaufighters pounced, hitting at least 6, with at least 3 confirmed sunk.

CENTPAC
Marcus isn't looking good. We expected very little resistance here and ended up with a full marine unit on defense. Despite heavy cruiser bombardment, they're holding on pretty well. I'm sending more troops but it's going to take time, neither Midway nor Wake are big enough to act as staging areas so they're coming from Pearl. I might send the Wasp to help... but there's already a task force headed from Truk to Marcus and for all I know, that's the KB finally getting drawn out.

If Marcus doesn't turn into a disaster, PBYs from there can reach the Marianas, hopefully spotting their tanker routes.

[Ostfriese]

Banda Sea
Another destroyer task force went to Babar and rang the dinner bell. SBDs and Beaufighters pounced, hitting at least 6, with at least 3 confirmed sunk.



Could it be that your opponent is losing a staggering amount of destroyers? And how much would a shortage impede his operations?

[Molon Labe]

24 February 1943
Combat debut of Judy dive bombers, LST sunk at Marcus



CENTPAC
Heavy cruisers Wichita and Pensacola and 4 destroyers bombarded Marcus to try to give our outnumbered Marines a chance. The damage to the base was significant, including 7 Kates disabled.

One of those task forces included carriers. They sent 27 brand new Judy dive bombers (with 13 Zero escorts) against a lone LST and sank it. This LST and one other are on their own due to sustaining damage on reefs while landing troops, they can't keep up with the main force getting away from the carriers. I'm willing to bet at least one major fleet carrier is here since the KB would be the first to get the upgrades from Vals to Judies.

Banda Sea
Beaufighters attacked 3 light cargo ships off the coast of Timor. All were damaged significantly, I'd say 2 probably sank.

We traded 2 Wildcats for 2 Nicks as the Nicks intercepted a B-26 raid on Babar

China
Lysander light bombers, which I usually use for Recon, attacked Pescadores in the Taiwan Strait, sinking a pair of mine tenders

Most of the enemy cleared out of Chusien as they manuever into a seige position. I attacked the stragglers, inflicting 1929 to 1646 casualties in our favor, but in terms of disabled vs destroyed squads we came out far more ahead than that. We've got Liberator and Wellington bombers attacking the flanking forces, trying to buy time.



Could it be that your opponent is losing a staggering amount of destroyers? And how much would a shortage impede his operations?Probably not, but Japan doesn't have enough destroyers for its escort needs to begin with so it really can't afford to lose them like this even if it's just a handful. It's hard for me to guess at the operational-level significance because I'm not sure what their mission was. Fast transport maybe? If that's the case, then he probably does less fast transporting. The unsunk destroyers allocated to that task might be reassigned to escort duties.

[Molon Labe]

25 February 1943


USS Grayback and Herring spotted the Kongo's task force approaching Truk, both were spotted by destroyers and driven off.
We lost a B-24 trying to support the British army's retreat near Lashio, Burma; one of the Nicks responsible was shot down as well. The defending force included Tony fighters, I think this is their first time in combat
B-17 raid on Rabaul caused moderate base damage and destroyed an Emily and a Zero on the ground.
A Betty (flight of 7) was shot down by the Marines on Marcus. The Betties' raid was ineffective. Not that it mattered much, the enemy Marines advanced and overwhelmed ours, forcing a surrender. Not sure when I'll be back. At least we learned where the enemy is willing to let us go before the carriers respond.
VF-6 was the victim of a small turkey shoot over Babar. Enemy Nicks managed to shoot down 8 of these supposedly elite fighter pilots. 3 Nicks were shot down, but I think 2 of them were by P-38s following up the B-26 raid the Wildcats were escorting. One B-26 was lost to flak.

[Molon Labe]

26 February 1943


9 Nicks intervened in our daily B-26 raid on Babar, 3 were shot down (1 by Wildcats, 2 by P-38s) but they got 2 Wildcats.
Rabaul continues to take a pounding. Moderate base damage and a Betty destroyed on the ground



27 February 1943


Frustrating day for the Silent Service

Two tanker convoys spotted (by Amerjack and Halibut) and engaged near Japan. Only got one hit, and it was a dud
The S-45 was caught in shallow water by a PB and depth charged for moderate damage. It's returning to base for repairs.

The ships in the Bay of Bengal seem to be coalescing in one hex. Why are they doing that in range of my Catalinas?
No B-26 raid on Babar this turn, just a sweep. Got 4 Nicks.

28 February 1943


USS Steelhead and Snook tried to engage 2 more tanker convoys; Steelhead was spotted first, Snook fired 4 and missed.
We've lost contact on all enemy ships in the Bay of Bengal.
I've got a sub sniffing around Marcus plus PBY patrols trying to find the carrier task force that sank the LST; they've disappeared.

[Molon Labe]

March 1 1943
A P-38 sweep of Babar took out 5 Zeroes with no losses. Afterwards, SBDs and Beaufighters attacked another destroyer group there. 1 Wildcat was shot down by the defending fighters, and we got one of the defending Zeroes. One SBD was lost to flak. But we got some good hits:
SBDs:

DD Wakatake, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Sawakaze, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Shirayuki, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
Beaufighters:
DD Wakatake, Shell hits 9, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Murakumo, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Probably 2 kills, maybe 3.

The enemy task force in the Bay of Bengal has massed in front of Diego Garcia.

2 March 1943


The Battleship Hyuga supported a small but adequate compliment of IJN marines ashore at Diego Garcia, capturing it. One cruiser and two transports were hit by shore batteries, good chance one of the transports goes down.

Prior to the capture, the enemy carriers launched a supporting airstrike. It's the KB: Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiyo, Akagi, and Hiryu


P-38s had a turkey shoot at Babar while my B-26 raids remain paused. We got 4 Nicks, 7 Zeroes, and an Oscar--no losses.
There were still destroyers at Babar, so the SBDs and Beaufighters went again. Despite the P-38s wearing down the defenders, their CAP was still good enough to shoot down a Wildcat and 2 SBDs. But we got 2 more destroyers:

SBDs:
DD Shirayuki, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk (this was yesterday's "maybe" sunk)
DD Murakumo, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Beaufighters:
DD Murakumo, Shell hits 2, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk

So for both days we probably sank 4 destroyers.

With the KB now far out of the way, I intend to make a move on Java, possibly the Marianas too. But first, let's update the carrier situation:

---------------------------------------------------
Where are the Carriers?

Fleet Carriers - Kido Butai

Akagi: Torpedoed by S-29 on 23 June 1942. Damage did not appear serious at the time. Intel reported sunk 6/24/42, then reported still in service 9/20/42. Fighter squadron seen operating in Chengchow, China on 4 Sept 42, but appears absent on 20 Sept 42--airwing likely returned to ship after repairs completed. Likely received 7/1942 upgrade while under repair. Believed to be participating in invasion of Sri Lanka operation as of 2 March 1943.

Soryu: Sunk by CVW-2 14 Feb 1942

Hiryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku: Operational, believed to be operating with Kido Butai. KB last seen near Canton Island 8 Sept 1942. Not believed to have received 7/1942 upgrades prior to 8 Sept 42.
--Multiple carrier fleet deployment to Solomons 1-8 November 1942; likely included Hiryu and Shokaku, retired towards Marshalls
--Unconfirmed carrier sighting approaching Solomons from Marshalls/Gilberts 12 November 1942.
--The KB may have split into two divisions (Hiryu, Shokaku ; Akagi, Zuikaku) to allow for upgrades, appears to be focused on Marshalls and Solomons.
--Shokaku hit by torpedo from USS Porpoise 21 December 1942.
--As of 2 March 1943, all 3 believed to be operating in Bay of Bengal for imminent invasion of Sri Lanka


Kaga: 31 October - 1 November 1942 supporting Rangoon landings. 19 September 1942, torpedoed by Albacore in Bay of Bengal operating with Junyo (and probably Hiyo). Continued flight operations after torpedo hit. Confirmed to have NOT yet received 7/1942 upgrade as of 19 September 1942, does not appear to have it as of 31 October 42 either. Prior damage from CVW-8 Devastator on 16 June 42 in Coral Sea, causing aviation gas explosion. Torpedoed twice by S-28 14 February 1943 at Ambon, believed to have survived but expected to require lengthy repairs.


Fleet Carriers - Indian Ocean Fleet
Junyo: Believed present for Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November1942.Confirmed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942. Previous deployment as part of the KB, 21 July 1942, supporting the evacuation of ground forces from Lahaina, Hawaii. As of March 2, 1943, NOT spotted supporting Sri Lanka operation and may be present in CENT/SouthPAC.

Hiyo: Confirmed present supporting Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942. Believed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942 (fighter squadron reported present). Present for battle of Port Blair 20 August 1942. Hit by 2 torpedoes from Albacores on 31 July 1942. Intel reports sunk 8/25/42, report stricken upon sighting near Rangoon. Believed to be present in Sri Lanka operation as of 2 March 1943.

Light and Escort Carriers:

CVL Ryujo - hit by two heavyweight torpedoes on 1/17, definitely disabled, likely sunk. Intel reports sunk 1/31/42.
CVL Shoho - May have been present in Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942. Damaged by heavyweight torpedo hit 2/3/42. Damaged by CVW-8 Helldiver 16 June 42 in the Coral Sea. Sunk by 3 bomb hits from CVW-2 and -3 in Battle of Arafura Sea, 11 December 1942.
CVL Zuiho - likely sunk 2/14/42 (4 bomb hits, 1 air-dropped torpedo hit). Intel reports sunk same day.
CVE Hosho - sunk by 2 heavyweight torpedo hits 1/19/42
CVE Taiyo - sunk 2/14/42 (6 bomb hits)
CVE Unyo: Hit by torpedo from Albacore 20 August 1942 off Port Blair, damage did not appear severe. Intel originally reported sank same day, but was later reported to still be in service.


CS Chiyoda: Coastwatcher report 11/13/42 in port at Guadalcanal. May be operating with KB (or a division thereof).
CS Nisshin:
Rufe float fighters have been spotted with the Kido Butai as well as the CVBG operating in the Bay of Bengal, indicating these ships are operating with the fleet carriers.
CS Chitose: sunk in surface action in Celebes Sea as part of an amphibious task force (USS Marblehead leading formation), 10 December 1941
CS Mizuho: Torpedoed by USS Sargo south of Celebes 10/31/42 with major fires breaking out. Believed to have sunk on 11/3/42 due to intel reports of destroyed floatplanes.

Should be in service, but have yet to appear:
CVE Chuho: 11/22/42
CVL Ryuho: 11/24/42
CV Taiho: 1/27/43 (cost: 206)


Unfinished:
CV Unryu: 4/8/43 (cost: 122)
CV Amagi 4/10/43 (cost: 122)
CV Katsuragi: 5/14/43 (cost: 122)
CV Shinano: 5/31/43 (cost: 314)
CVE Kaiyo: 12/3/43
CVE Shinyo: 12/19/43
CVE Yamashira Maru: 2/4/45
CVE Shimane Maru: 2/8/45
CVL Ibuki: 4/26/45
CVE Chigusa Maru: 6/22/45
CV Ikoma: 6/20/45
CV Aso: 6/24/45
(cost-adjusted arrival dates represent previously-calculated acceleration)
------------------
My take on this is that he left a single carrier (probably the new Taiho--it arrives with Judies, and none of the KB carriers had Judies yet) to guard CENTPAC (which sank LST near Marcus) and a single carrier (the Kaga) to guard the sourthern resource area. The CVEs are probably supporting the Sri Lanka operation, as is the Hiyo just based on its deployment patterns so far.

[Molon Labe]

3 March 1943


I bombarded Funafuti with the battleships North Carolina and New Mexico and the heavy cruiser San Francisco, causing nearly 300 enemy casualties and severely disrupting the base.

7th USMC regiment came ashore in the chaos and captured the island, eliminating 2 enemy marine units and an aviation support unit.


USS Barb torpedoed and sank a PB that was hunting it near Sabang, Sumatra (northwest end of the Strait of Malacca)
I've resumed B-26 raids on Babar now that the enemy fighter presence has been reduced/deterred. P-38 sweeps are still flying, but no one is answering.
Enemy scoutplanes spotted the British heavy task force, currently handing out west of the enemy that just took Diego Garcia and now appears to be moving on to Male. I don't want to sacrifice this fleet to the KB, but it may be useful if the KB tries to chase these guys west or north.

4 March 1943


USS Saury spotted 3 minelayers outbound from the Tokyo area and torpedoed and sank 1 of them. My guess is these guys were headed to the Marshalls to try to cause some attrition as I invade.
As the combat in Burma gets closer to the Chinese border, I've had opportunity to get P-40s involved from Chinese bases. Today, a sweep took down 4 Tojos, 3 Oscars, and a Tony while only suffering 1 loss.
I expect them to take Addu tomorrow. As of now, we've lost sight of the KB though, which makes me a little nervous. The British fleet is beating feet towards Bombay.

[Ostfriese]

Does going after the Indian Ocean targets mean that he is going for softer targets? I don‘t really see the point why he operates so far west. His carrier forces are superior to yours, but this isn‘t going to last with the Essexes on the horizon.

[Molon Labe]

Does going after the Indian Ocean targets mean that he is going for softer targets? I don‘t really see the point why he operates so far west. His carrier forces are superior to yours, but this isn‘t going to last with the Essexes on the horizon.


I think he's being methodical. Like he did with Hawaii, he's going to establish air/supply bases in the vicinity of my major base to cut it off and give his fleet someplace close to refuel/rearm to maintain a high OpTempo. I still think Sri Lanka--really, the naval base at Columbo--is the real target.


Strategically speaking, as for why he wants to take Sri Lanka down? I'm not sure. It's mostly a midway point for keeping Australia full of middle eastern fuel and a base for the British fleet, which is a shadow of its former self anyway. Let me check the point values of those bases and the auto-victory conditions...conquering Sri Lanka would increase his VP 1136 points over mine. The score right now is 34,831 to 31,231, he'd need 4 to 1 for an autovictory in 1943, so this is nearly worthless if that was his goal. Taking India, on the other hand, would move that needle significantly. Calcutta alone is over a 1,000 point swing. Sri Lanka can't really do much to defend a land invasion of eastern India though. You'd still want to do it, but at the expense of leaving most of the Pacific short on carriers?


I'm really nervous that his carriers haven't "checked in" with me by bombing Addu, but at least for now it doesn't look like he's defending Java all that well, especially with the Kaga--his apparent insurance policy--laid up with nasty torpedo damage. I have a couple subs moving into position off Sumatra to try to give me some warning if he really did detach a few to send south, also I have 4 minelayer-destroyers acting as scouts before they jam up a channel. Let's see how soft this underbelly really is.

[Molon Labe]

5 March 1943

CENTPAC
USS Stingray was spotted by a cruiser-destroyer group in the Mariannas and depth charged, sustaining significant damage. It's returning to base for repairs. At least we got a good contact report out of it: CA Aoba, CA Maya, CL Oi, CL Oyodo, 7 destroyers. So these guys, plus a CVBG, are probably defending the Marianas.

Solomons
We lost a patrol boat tender as it tried to relocate from Rossel Island to Shortlands. An enemy sub spotted it and torpedoed it multiple times from the surface.

Banda Sea
I raided Dili, Timor with Navy Liberator bombers (following a P-38 sweep--no one greeted them) after recon reported a destroyer in harbor there. The 12 Liberators scored a single 500-lb hit on the destroyer, setting it on fire. I do not expect this to be a kill--although it is likely the reason that destroyer was there was because it needed repairs after being bombed/strafed near Babar.

I sent a P-38 sweep to the large enemy base at Koepang, Timor, where they shot down an Oscar and a Nick, no losses. Recon is reporting many ships at harbor there, including troop transports, with about 30 fighters at base. I'll be sweeping them in greater force tomorrow--with the Navy Liberators and Aussie B-25s following behind to try to hit those ships.

B-26 raids resumed on Babar to little effect. No enemy CAP.


Bay of Bengal
Enemy troops (16th Division) came ashore in Addu, the next island base in the chain north of Diego Garcia. We got ridiculously fortuntate in this engagement--despite the troops benefiting from suppressing fire from the Hyuga and 5 cruisers, our base's 6" gun batteries scored hits on 2 cruisers and 6 transports. 5 of those transports were set on fire, one severely. As a result of this, the troops were unable efficiently disembark to make an effective attack and suffered 262 casualties on the beach. They'll probably still take the base tomorrow.

An enemy carrier fleet is still present and looks to be acting as a blocking force to make sure the British fleet doesn't come down on rain on their parade. The scouts, unreliable in their classifications as ever, seem to be reporting a smaller carrier fleet though. It's possible one or two detached.

[Molon Labe]

6 March 1443
Addu captured, air raid on Koepang sinks a sub and more


Bay of Bengal
Two transports were still on fire in the morning from the shelling they took yesterday. As the sun rose, our batteries started getting hits again, hitting one of the damaged ships plus two more. The damaged ship that was hit was in all likelihood finished off.

The KB launched a massive airstrike on Addu--210 attack aircraft and 79 fighters. That's not less than 4 carriers worth; combat reports mentioned squadrons from: Akagi, Hiryu, Zuikaku, Shokaku, and Hiyo. Same as 2 March.

The airstrike was probably unnecessary due to my troops just being outnumbered. The land combat was 2723 troops vs 802, and most of mine weren't grunts. Addu belongs to Japan now.

Male is probably next. At least I hope it is--keep bringing the KB up, please!


Banda Sea
The air raid I planned on Koepang went well. There was only 1 Oscar on CAP, and it accomplished nothing.
SC Ch 8, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
AD Choko Maru, Bomb hits 1
--stragglers: AD Choko Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Okuyo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS I-3, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAK Marei Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Konsan Maru, Bomb hits 1

We can safely say the sub, the destroyer tender, and the subchaser are sunk. The Okuyo Maru is likely done for as well.


Japan & CENTPAC
USS Haddo spotted and engaged a convoy with 4 minelayers near Aogashima (south of Japan), hitting one of them twice and sinking it. I've also spotted 4 mine tenders at Marcus. So, if that classification is accurate, it looks like he's trying to make any future attempt on Marcus rather tedious.


Intel
I'm taking a second look at the combat report from the sinking of my LST on 24 February. The enemy forces were 13 A6M5 Zeroes and 27 Judies. I didn't notice the first time around that those were A6M5s--that was a combat debut for those as well as the Judies. The A6M5 isn't supposed to be in service until August, and the Judy comes online in March. Aircraft R&D can be accelerated just like ship production can, so it's entirely possible he has both in production already--but everything showing up in the Indian Ocean right now are older models: A6M2 Zeroes and Vals. The one fleet carrier we really haven't accounted for is the Junyo. Junyo's default airwing is 18 Zeroes, 15 Vals, and 6 Kates. So, if that was the Junyo, she'd need to have a new CVL/CVE backing her up to get those numbers. But, we also know there are light carriers escorting the phibs in the Indian Ocean, we just haven't actually confirmed which ones. But we pretty much sank all of them--so that pretty much means carriers covering the phibs are the new ones. The Taiho, on the other hand, has a default airwing of: 27 A6M5 Zeroes, 27 Judies, and 18 Jills. So that's pretty much a perfect fit. Half the Zeroes escorted, half were on CAP, and the Jills are on scout duty. So that's damn near positive ID: The Taiho is complete, and it's probably operating out of the Marianas.

[Molon Labe]

7 March 1943

Banda Sea
I shelled Babar with 3 cruisers, causing surprisingly high casualties after so little effect from so many B-26 raids. The real purpose of this is a bit of a feint, in case they're spotted I want it to seem like there here to harass the Babar garrison rather than to support a landing on Java.

P-38s swept Koepang, shooting down 9 Nicks with no losses. The follow-up air raid didn't hit any ships, looks like everyone left after yesterday.

Burma
I put a CAP over some retreating troops he wasn't expecting, shooting down 12 unescorted medium bombers.

Bay of Bengal
KB disappeared again, but I think the pattern is established. I still think Male is next. With his pattern in mind, I've moved some of the Liberators from Calcutta to Colombo, and I'm going to try to bomb his support ships in harbor at his newly-captured supply bases. But as with the Babar bombardment, I'm not actually after his support ships. I want to force the KB to provide air coverage. Hopefully I'll end up with a good idea of how many carriers remain in the area. If they move out, I'll abort the Java op, but I'll also move the British heavy fleet down to mess with the invasion.


Java
All quiet along the southern coast. My minelayers are nearly all the way to Sumatra and haven't even been overflown by a scoutplane. No activity for the subs, either.

Solomons
We now have an AirHQ at Shortlands, so torpedo bombers can actually carry torpedoes. I've moved in some Beauforts to supplement the Avengers.

Rabaul is pretty trashed, so I've switched my B-17s to Guadalcanal.

[Molon Labe]

8 March 1943

Burma
We lost 4 P-40s assigned to long-range CAP to try to protect retreating British troops--the bombers were escorted by Zeroes this time.


Indian Ocean
We hit Addu's port with 22 B-24s:
AMC Nosiro Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AMC Awata Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage



Scoutplanes report the KB is with an amphibious group ready to hit Male.

[Molon Labe]

War Record of USS Scamp


Entered service 24 November 1942 on US east coast. Assigned to Indian Ocean to be homeported at British base at Columbo
Arrived in Columbo approx 11 Jan 1943. Assigned to interdict enemy shipping off coast of Burma.
3 February 1943: Penetrates port at Port Blair and sinks enemy tanker Ceram Maru, a 6400 ton Type-1 TM class medium tanker.
8 March 1943: Returns to Columbo for refueling/rearming, assigned to the Maldives island chain with orders to close on enemy warships based on Catalina contact reports.
9 March 1943: Ordered to vicinity of Male to engage Kido Butai
10 March 1943: Locates KB and penetrates ASW screen. Fires 6 Mk14s at IJN Hiryu, scores 3 hits, all 3 detonate. The third torpedo causes a secondary fuel explosion. Scamp is pursued and engaged by multiple destroyers, is forced to surface from depth charge damage, and is gunned down by the destroyers on the surface. The chances the Hiryu survived are virtually zero (tonnage 17,300).

Total tonnage: 23,700


https://i.ibb.co/YRK3Vvr/1943-March-10-Hiryu.png

[Ostfriese]

This one is painful, and exchanging an American sub for a IJN fleet carrier is well worth it.

Congratulations. :Kaleun_Applaud:

[Molon Labe]

This one is painful, and exchanging an American sub for a IJN fleet carrier is well worth it.

Congratulations. :Kaleun_Applaud:
As a nice bonus, because I hit them early in the morning, they probably only had a few aircraft on CAP but everything else was aboard ready to fly--there's no way the ship was capable of flight operations after those hits, so all of those planes are gone too. It'll take them months to reorganize the airgroups and possibly deploy them as land-based squadrons or put them on a new boat or whatever.

[Molon Labe]

9 March 1943
Male captured

Indian Ocean
Tons of troops from the Imperial Guards Division and 4th Division came ashore at Male and captured it. The silver lining was the unloading was a disaster for them, using non-military merchant ships as troop transports resulted in some sort of mishap that cost them 9 infantry squads. Let's call it a capsized landing craft. The KB supported the landings with a massive airstrike (A6M2 Zero x 88, B5N2 Kate x 86, D3A1 Val x 14, D3A2 Val x 119)

Burma
The Japanese army took about 2000 casualties trying to attack my retreating armies near Lashio with 1 armor regiment and 1 infantry regiment. We had about 60,000 troops against their 2800, so we pretty much slaughtered them even though we are desperately short on supplies.



------------------

10 March 1943
IJN Hiryu sunk off Male

Solomons
In a rather pathetic and unfortunate incident, an enemy sub hit a mine trying to get to our supply and transport fleets at Shortlands. Apparently that drew the attention of nearby destroyers, creating an "ASW Attack" event against the sub. Despite being severely damaged, the game gave the destroyer the usual low-percentage defensive torpedo shot before it goes fully evasive... and it hit the DMS Southard, sinking it almost instantly. I don't have that many destroyer-minesweepers, so that actually hurts. Two destroyers pummeled the already-mortally wounded sub, sending her on eternal patrol.


Indian Ocean
I'd been shadowing the enemy fleets in the Maldives with two subs, hoping they'd stay still long enough to allow an attack. I got quite lucky as today, the KB didn't even move from its location yesterday before the Scamp was able to get to them. As already mentioned, Scamp scored 3 hits on the Hiryu, all of which detonated, resulting in a secondary fuel explosion that almost certainly sank the ship (the flooding alone from 3 torpedoes probably would have been enough). Scamp was mobbed by destroyers afterwards and was unable to escape.

[Molon Labe]

After a flurry of activity in the Maldives, we've had a number of quiet turns. The KB has disappeared and that has got me backing off from Java...


11 March 1943


3 Helen medium bombers attacked Changsha. That normally wouldn't be significant enough to report, but the enemy hasn't done any bombing in China for months. There were 6 Vanguard fighters on patrol that failed to engage the bombers.
A Navy Liberator raid on Keopang caused heavy damage to the airbase and destroyed a Topsy transport on the ground.
Our retreating units in Burma suffered 1000+ casualties in an enemy armored assault

12 March 1943


USS Haddo scored 2 detonating Mk14 hits on a cargo ship in an escorted convoy off Aogoshima, Japan, sinking it.
The Helen bombers came back to Changha, China, but this time the Vanguards were ready; all 3 were shot down

13 March 1943


Two enemy subs attacked Wake, laying a minefield and attacking our ships.

One targeted a surface action group, putting 3 torpedoes into the cruiser USS Richmond, mortally wounding it. The destroyer Alywn retaliated, pinning the sub down in shallow water and causing enough damage to force it to surface, where the cruiser Cleveland pounded it with 6" and 5" guns. The Richmond even took a few shots at it as it sank.
The other targeted a supply convoy, making my heart skip a beat because one convoy was delivering a new fighter squadron. But it only hit a cargo ship delivering supplies. That ship is severely damaged but will probably return to service if it doesn't burn to a crisp in port. The submarine was attacked by the convoy's minesweeper escort for moderate damage.
The minefield was immediately detected by the on-duty minesweeper, which cleared 9 of them. I ordered two more out of the harbor to help clear the mines.

We lost a Wellington bomber to flak while attacking enemy ground forces near Foochow, China.
I'd detected 40 fighter at too-small of a base in Addu, so I sent the B-24s to pound the airfield. The fighters were gone by the time they got there. The airfield took serious damage.
There's a fairly large convoy at Guadalcanal all of a sudden. It's in range of attack aircraft from Rossel and Shortlands so I'm irritated nothing's flown already. They have no fighter protection; my B-17s are still hitting the airbase and nothing's coming up to try to stop them (except lots of heavy flak).

14 March 1943


24 more mines cleared at Wake
Still no sign of the KB in the Bay of Bengal. I'm sending a sub to check out Diego Garcia. I have another near the tip of Sumatra, which was the launching point for the Rangoon op. And I have a sub near Rangoon, and a few off the western coast of Sumatra. No one is reporting any aircraft spottings so far.

The put a lot of troops on Male, so that's what the B-24s are going to hit. And as I promised before, if the KB leaves, the British fleet will come out and play. So Male is about to get shelled in a couple days if they don't get some serious air cover.

The convoy is still at Guadalcanal, and our attack aircraft still aren't flying. I'm adding an attack squadron to Ndeni now that that base is coming online, so that's now 3 potential vectors of attack we have on these jerks.

[Molon Labe]

15 March 1943

Solomons
A pair of destroyers I sent to chase subs away from Shortlands found and lightly damanged an enemy sub.

Maldives/Sri Lanka
The B-24 raid I mentioned last time happened, hitting Male and causing nearly 900 enemy troop casualties! With just 14 planes! This is what happens when you put a whole bunch of troops on a small island with no natural cover.


Still no sign of the carriers...
----------------


16 March 1943

Solomons
A task force of 3 enemy destroyers made their way from Guadalcanal to the Shortlands area enroute to Rabaul. One of the destroyers was badly damaged. They met my ASW group at night and traded shots. One of my mine was hit twice, causing moderate damage and setting it on fire. We got a single hit on one of theirs.

The Avengers (18) and Beauforts (11) of Shortlands found 2 of the enemy destroyers during the day, but even the damaged one was nimble enough to evade the torpedoes. 39 wasted torpedoes! The destroyers shot down one Beaufort.

We lost a B-17 over Guadalcanal to flak.


CENTPAC
I sent the USS Lapon into the harbor at Marcus to try to sink support ships. It hit a mine and is headed back to Pearl for repairs.

Maldives/Sri Lanka
B-24 raids on Male took out another 440 enemy troops.
------------




17 March 1943

Maldives/Sri Lanka
It's not just B-24s anymore. Battleships HMS Ramillies and HMS Royal Sovereign, and heavy cruisers HMS Exeter and HMS Devonshire shelled Male pre-dawn for a surprisingly light 53 casualties. Still no sign of carriers...they'll rearm at Colombo, then head back northwest to re-group with the main force. The B-24s came back, but storms limited their accuracy, just 75 casualties.

Still no carriers!!!! But the appearance of the British fleet may change that.

CENTPAC
USS Tinosa torpedoed a troop-carrying cargo ship in the middle of the Marianas.

Burma
We lost a P-40 to an enemy sweep near Lashio. I'm surprised they have so many sweeps going on and so few CAPs. I have B-24s and B-25s hitting their troops in northern Burma daily with no intervention. Casualties are light due to the rough terrain, but still.

An enemy infantry attack against our retreating troops resulted in 487 to 180 casualties in our favor, once again we badly outnumber them. They're basically hoping we're completely out of supplies... we're not out, we're just low.

--------------------




18 March 1943

CENTPAC
USS Tinosa found the ship it hit yesterday, abandoned by its convoy. She put two more fish into her and sent it to the bottom.

I used 4 PBYs from Wake in an attack role against Marcus, trying to kill what the Lapon couldn't. They spotted a seaplane tender in the harbor and hit it with 1 500-pound bomb. The enemy had 2 Irving fighters (night fighters, I think) on patrol, but they failed to intercept.

Solomons
My ASW 2-ship found another enemy sub and dealt it some damage. These two deep-water engagements have had very low accuracy and expended a lot of ammunition. I'm taking them off-station to rearm and repair.


Maldives/Sri Lanka
B-24 raids on Male caused 385 casualties. Fish in a barrel. This time, 11 Zeroes responded..ineffectively. Combat report says they're from Shokaku. Have they divided the KB? And if so where did the others go?

And the Shokaku wasn't done...it sent a few light raids against the bombardment detachment trying to rearm at Columbo. First, 3 Kates escorted by a whopping 26 Zeroes. 14 Hurricanes came out from Colombo to protect the ships. We got 1 Zero, and lost 1 Sea Hurricane. The Kates made it through, but were apparently at too long of range to carry torpedoes, they dropped bombs at the Devonshire and missed. Then the rest of the Kates, 10, arrived without escort. So they had a bit of a coordination SNAFU. We got 7 of them. One of the Kates hit the Royal Sovereign with a 250kg bomb. There was a true 2nd wave in the afternoon, 24 Zeroes and 15 Kates; we only managed 9 Hurricanes this time. We got 4 Zeroes this time, but the Kates got through and hit the Ramillies and Royal Sovereign with 1 bomb each. Damage to the Royal Soverign was surprisingly high, while Ramilies barely had her paint scratched. I'll be leaving Royal Sovereign in Colombo for repairs, hoping the fighters based there can keep her safe for a few days. We'll have a much stronger CAP over Colombo itself than we do a few hexes out to sea.


Burma
Our retreating armies in Burma suffered another land assault, this time combined infantry-armor all out shock attack. But we outnumbered them 2 to 1 and the terrain favors the defender. Casualties 1480 to 189 favoring us.

[Molon Labe]

19 March 1943

Maldives/Indian Ocean
A near disaster as an enemy sub located our main force and tried to penetrate it. A destroyers spotted it and drove it off before it was within visual range of the carriers... but he still knows I have a large fleet up here now.


Solomons and New Britain
Another B-17 down over Guadalcanal. At least it looks like we're wearing this base down.

I sent a few B-25s to Rabaul to try to get that damaged destroyer that passed by the Shortlands, and sure enough we found a destroyer in port there and hit it with a 500-pounder.
---------------



20 March 1943
Major naval engagement at Colombo; massive British air losses, IJN Yamato and HMS Ramillies sunk.

Sri Lanka
Japan was apparently determined not to let my bombardment detachment get away, and sent a heavy task force backed up by the full KB (no, it didn't leave with just Shokaku left to stand watch). The surface force was the Yamato, the Hiei, Haruna, and Kirishima, along with 3 heavy cruisers and 5 destroyers.

They approached the port of Columbo in daytime but in a thunderstorm, maximum visibility just 6,000 yards. They unzipped their fly when the ran into and sank the motor launches on ASW patrol. My task force (battleship Ramilies, heavy cruisers Exeter and Devonshire, 2 destroyers) then caught the enemy on radar and closed range, attacking with surprise from just 3,000 yards. They picked the biggest target, the Yamato, and hit her with 4 shells from Ramilies' main batteries and 4 torpedoes...and that was pretty much it for her. What followed was astonishingly accurate fire from Ramillies along with a surprising lack of response from the 2 remaining enemy battleships. Ramilies managed to spread main battery hits around the enemy fleet. The heavy cruiser Kumano was sunk for sure, but the other two also appeared mortally wounded, as was the Hiei. The Ramilies' luck eventually ran out, and although most of the rounds that hit her were secondary battery hits that her armor resisted, she eventually started taking rounds from either the enemy battleships, followed by torpedoes, dooming her. The Exeter also took a pounding and went down. One of our destroyers went down and the other appears mortally wounded. The Devonshire survived with moderate damage, for now. But, the damage sustained by the enemy was enough to get them to turn around, so we did manage to protect the Royal Soverign (in port for repairs), for now.

Although completely outgunned, we inflicted disproportionate losses on the enemy: Very likely 2 BB sunk along with 3 CA, vs 1 BB and 1 CA, and probably 2 DD for me.

To add a little more insult to this USS Hoe approached occupied Diego Garcia and torpedoed a troop-carrying cargo ship twice.

He would get some revenge in the air, though. Our efforts were poorly coordinated, and we were up against greater numbers and their best pilots. By day's end, Colombo's air forces (48 Hurricanes, 16 Sea Hurricanes, 37 Martlets (Wildcats), 32 Beaufighters, 32 Vengeances, 12 Albacores, and 10 Beauforts) were only able to shoot down 4 Zeroes, and score 1 hit on Zuikaku with a little 250-pound bomb (from a Beaufighter). Our losses: 7 Martlets, 12 Hurricanes, 3 Beaufighters, 31 Vengeances, and 10 Albacores. The worst part of this raid was that one of the Vengeance squadrons got separated from the main group. Only one bomber from the main group got through, so I'd expect had that separation not happened, we'd have had 17 dive bombers attacking instead of 1, more than enough to score devastating hits on multiple flattops.

He had over 100 Zeroes on CAP, and didn't launch any airstrikes of his own. It appears that he intentionally baited this strike, confident he could parry it, and now that my offensive power is essentially depleted he can strike at me without much fear of retaliation.

The silver lining for me in this massive aerial defeat is that I now know for sure the KB is committed to this theatre. I backed away from Java when the KB disappeared on me during his Maldives operation. That operation is now going forward, and I'm not turning away this time without more than losing contact.


Solomons and New Britain
We hit Rabaul with B-25s again, and hit another destroyer. This time troop casualties are being reported. So, it looks like he's actually using destroyers to try to get unit fragments out from Rabaul and Guadalcanal now that my new airbases are making these Waters very Dangerous for his ships.


China
I picked a fight with a pair of enemy divisions moving between Chusein and Foochow, thinking I had the upper hand. I outnumbered them 2 to 1. Casualties were 1400 to 900 in their favor. Oops.

[Ostfriese]

So, this means he will probably take Sri Lanka, but he again will have paid a hefty price for it. Did I get that right?

[Molon Labe]

So, this means he will probably take Sri Lanka, but he again will have paid a hefty price for it. Did I get that right?


Assuming he doesn't ragequit over losing 2 BB and 3 CA in a fight he should have won, yes. He should be able to stop me from sinking his transports when they get here.


And hopefully, the price he pays for protecting those transports is Java.

[Molon Labe]

Sorry I've been too busy to do the AARs last week. Will try to get caught up. Lots going on.


21 March 1943

CENTPAC
USS Lapon, already damaged from a mine at Marcus, was essentially run over by an enemy surface action task force headed east towards Midway or Wake. Lapon was spotted and depth charged relentlessly, forced to surface, and gunned down. At least we got a contact report out of it: 2 CA, 2CL, 9 DD.

The Wasp is nearby escorting an amphibious task force to the Marianas. Looks like it has a new job to do...


Burma
We lost 2 P-40s to a sweep by Tojos near Tuang Gy. Our retreating armies near Lashio suffered a land attack, but inflicted 949 casualties while sustaining only 153.


Indian Ocean
The KB launched a strike on Colombo: 47 Zeroes, 48 Kates, 34 Vals. They got 3 hits on the Royal Sovereign in port, damage appears minimal. They also hit the destroyer Van Galen, which is severely damaged. Our CAP took out 2 Zeroes on the way in but never got to the bombers. Fortunately Colombo's flak was impressive, causing at least 10 Vals and 5 Kates to fail to return. Our Beaufort torpedo bombers tried to attack smaller enemy task forces, but failed to score any hits.



--------------
22 March 1943
The surface action group was actually a CVBG--USS Wasp lost


CENTPAC
Remember how I said the enemy sub in the Indian Ocean spotted our British CVBG without actually spotting the carriers? Well... USS Lapon didn't spot theirs..the Junyo, Taiho, and Ryhuo. So I just put my last American flattop into a fight with multiple enemy carriers, and it went like every other carrier vs carrier fight has gone so far...

The enemy strike arrived first: 27 Zeroes with 22 Kates, 9 Jills, 37 Vals, and 27 Judies. We had just 18 Wildcats on defense. The Zeroes splashed 5 of them while losing just 1 Zero and 1 Val. Flak got another 5 Vals and 2 Kates.
CV Wasp, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
BB Massachusetts, Bomb hits 9, Torpedo hits 2, on fire
CA Indianapolis, Bomb hits 1
DD Mugford, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk

Our strike was 18 Wildcats and 27 SBDs; they had 19 Zeroes on CAP, which shot down 5 Wildcats while suffering 2 losses. 1 SBD was lost to flak, leaving 26 SBDs to have a go at their carriers...leading to one single hit on the Taiho, which did not incapacitate it.

The returning aircraft diverted to Wake, as the Wasp was a blazing inferno at this point. And Wake already had too many planes due to a squadron-swapping evolution being delayed by the enemy activity in the area.

An enemy follow-up strike finished off the Massachusetts with 2 bomb and 6 torpedo hits. A pair of Wildcats made it from Wake, enough to shoot down 1 Zero. They also sent a strike to hit ships at Wake itself. A P-40 on CAP shot down 1 of the Vals (out of 57 total attack planes); the strike sank a cargo ship and damaged a destroyer.


Burma
A more even fight when the enemy swept our P-40 CAP: 2 P-40s lost, but they gook 2 Tojos and an Oscar with them.

[Molon Labe]

23 March 1943

CENTPAC
Wasp was abandoned overnight, as the fires could not be brought under control.

The Taiho's CVBG continued to attack the Wasp's battlegroup. I had actually hoped the cruisers could get into a surface battle as the task forces were pretty close, but we failed to find them at night, and once the sun was up, the planes were flying..
CA Pensacola, Bomb hits 2, on fire
--CA Pensacola, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
CA Wichita, Bomb hits 1, on fire
--CA Wichita, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Indianapolis, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
--CA Indianapolis, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Cleveland, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Radford, Bomb hits 1, on fire
...with at least 3 Jills and 4 Vals shot down by flak.

They also attacked Wake, sinking a minesweeper there, while losing 3 Zeroes and 2 Vals to the few Wildcats and P-40s we were able to put up.

Indian Ocean
USS Hoe was depth charged for moderate damage near Diego Garcia and will have to put in for repairs.


Burma
We bagged 3 more Tojos near Tyang Gy.


Japan
USS Halibut was depth charged by a subchaser near Yokohama and severely damaged. It's returning to base.



24 March 1943
D-Day: Java

Java
I've opened a new front. Our primary landing was at Tjilatjap with a secondary at Djokjakarta. Resistance so far is light. What's ashore already or soon will be:

192nd Tank Battalion
194th Tank Battalion
Americal Infantry Division
41st Infantry Division
32nd Infantry Division
147th Infantry Regiment
201st Infantry Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
129th Infantry Regiment
161st Infantry Regiment
Rifles of Canada Battalion
...a whole lot of base forces and engineers

12th Fighter squadron (25 P-40K Warhawks)
15th FG/25th Squadron (25 P-40K Warhawks)
VF-8 (Hornet's Wildcat squadron, 36 F4F-4)
VMF-122 (18 F4F-4)
VMF-213 (18 F4F-4)
VT-5 (18 Avengers; Yorktown's)
VB-5 (36 SBDs; Yorktown's)
VT-8 (18 Avengers, Hornet's)

The Avengers are actually flying in from Australia, the rest of these are being delivered by cargo ships--most of them dedicated aircraft transports.

I have a total of 5 CVEs providing air cover to these landings while we consolidate control over Java's airbases so that the above squadrons can actually start flying. I've pre-placed minefields in the straits on both sides of Java to deal with any surface response, I also have a heavy covering force, plus 3 of the CVEs have Avengers ready for naval strike missions.


CENTPAC
2 enemy subs tried to penetrate the harbor at Wake; 1 hit 3 mines, the other just one.

And of course, the Taiho is just having a field day with my retreating ships.
CA Wichita, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
--CA Wichita, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
CA Pensacola, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Aylwin, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
DD Dewey, Bomb hits 1, on fire

A Zero sweep on Wake resulted in 2 Zeroes and 3 Wildcats downed.

[Molon Labe]

25 March 1943

Java
The enemy assembled a cruiser-destroyer task force at Surabaya and sent them to sea...right into the KXII, waiting for them outside of the harbor. But they spotted it and drove her off with light depth charge damage.

The Avengers from the CVEs took a shot at them next. 25 of them... and they all missed. We lost one to flak.

Amphibious task forces are still unloading. Tjilapjap has been captured, so we can make sure of the port to unload the aircraft tomorrow.

The first counterattack came in the form of Nick fighter-bombers, but they were nothing the CVE's Wildcats couldn't handle. 6 Nicks shot down, no US losses.

CENTPAC
A sweep over Wake cost me 2 Wildcats.


And he's still chasing my retreating ships.
CA Wichita, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
DD Aylwin, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Fortunately, the amphibious group that the Wasp was originally escorting hasn't been spotted yet. They're headed way north to try to avoid the combat area.

Indian Ocean
An error on my part...I left an Albacore squadron with attack orders. So they flew today with little chance of success, targeting the KB. The resulting air raid claimed 1 Zero, but we lost 3 Hurricanes, 6 Marlets, and 4 Albacores.



26 March 1943
Battle of Djokjakarta

The enemy surface task force (3 CL, 15 DD) that so far evaded a submarine, a minefield, and 3 Avenger squadrons was finally intercepted by my heavy covering force (2 BB, 3 CA, 1 CL, 6 DD) before it could reach the transports unloading at Djokjakarta. It was a night battle with a lot of misses. But, my task force simply outweighed his--his guns just weren't enough to deal with my heavies.

Japanese Ships
CL Isuzu, Shell hits 2
CL Kitakami, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
CL Yubari, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
DD Akigumo, Shell hits 2
DD Takanami
DD Kuroshio
DD Oyashio
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 1
DD Yugure
DD Ariake
DD Fubuki, Shell hits 1
DD Asagiri
DD Yugiri
DD Amagiri, Shell hits 1, on fire
DD Sazanami
DD Minekaze
DD Namikaze, Shell hits 1
DD Hasu

Allied Ships
BB Nevada, Shell hits 3
BB Revenge, Shell hits 1
CA Portland, Shell hits 3
CA Northampton
CA Vincennes, Shell hits 1
CL Leander, Shell hits 1
DD Bancroft
DD Cummings, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Preston, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Cassin, Shell hits 1
DD Porter, Shell hits 2, on fire
DD Phelps


Round 2:
Japanese Ships
CL Isuzu, Shell hits 10, heavy fires
DD Akigumo
DD Takanami
DD Kuroshio
DD Oyashio
DD Hayashio
DD Yugure, Shell hits 1
DD Ariake
DD Fubuki, Shell hits 1
DD Asagiri
DD Yugiri
DD Amagiri, heavy fires
DD Sazanami
DD Minekaze
DD Namikaze
DD Hasu

Allied Ships
BB Nevada, Shell hits 4
BB Revenge
CA Portland
CA Northampton, Shell hits 1
CA Vincennes
CL Leander
DD Bancroft, Shell hits 2
DD Cassin, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Porter, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk

So that's 2 enemy CLs sunk with a 3rd crippled, vs 2 DD down for me. And most importantly, they're not getting to the transports.


China
Things are heating up here. Enemy forces are strung out from Chusien to Foochow, and in contrast to what I thought about what would happen when my Hong Kong armies got here, it's actually looking like I'm outnumbered--5 Divisions+ in Foochow itself right now. And he's starting to contribute air power to this. I'd been ready for that--4 Tonies down with no Allied losses.


CENTPAC
Another 2 Wildcats and a P-40 shot down over Wake. The carriers have to leave sometime, right? At least this time we got 3 Vals too..but they sank a minesweeper.

[Molon Labe]

27 March 1943

Java
Chaos is starting to break out around the landing area as the various task forces are reacting to each other. For me, my heavy covering force wants to rearm, and some of the phibs want to run. For the enemy, the CL Isuzu broke off with 2 destroyers to try to make it back for repairs, but trying to avoid combat by going south just made it easier for them to get found by my covering force that started going that way before I turned it around:
CL Isuzu, Shell hits 2, heavy damage
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Amagiri, Shell hits 2, on fire, heavy damage

At daybreak, the main enemy surface force seemed to be trying to reach the phibs without running into my covering force (they only had destroyers at this point, I had 2 battleships). That left them open for airstrikes from the CVEs and from the 2 airbases that had come online.

We flew several sorties which were somewhat disorganized--the Avengers from the furthest airbase flew without escorts. The enemy CAP started strong but tapered off. The first wave was 10 P-40s and 17 Wildcats vs 16 Zeroes, 6 Oscars, and 3 Nicks (27 vs 25), but other waves met only a single Oscar or nothing at all. The aircraft took a bigger beating than the ships. Losses were 9 Wildcats, 2 P-40s, 9 Avengers, 4 SBDs. For that, we got 5 Zeroes, a Nick, 2 bomb hits on different DDs, and three torpedo hits on 2 others, sinking both. This all but completely exhausts the torpedo stores aboard the CVEs.


China
1 Tony splashed over Foochow.
The massive army at Foochow attacked, reducing forts from Level 3 to Level 2, causing 3000 enemy and 1700 friendly casualties. Not good.







28 March 1943
KB finally responding to Java invasion?

Java
As some of my phibs depart, I'm consolidating the task forces and peeling some combattants off to try to reinforce the covering force. Overnight, once such supplemental force of 6 destroyers encountered a pair of enemy destroyers near the landing sites. We severely damaged one of them before the other ran off. They then ran into the main force, were the damaged one took a battleship's main battery hit and went down as the other retreated.

Meanwhile, at least 6 of the enemy destroyers were retreating through the eastern straits to the Java Sea, heading back into the minefield they originally passed through without incident. This time two of them hit mines. The others started working on clearing it.


Indian Ocean
A B-24 strike on Addu caught enemy destroyers in port, probably fast transports trying to load troops. The bombers hit 3 of them, and all three are severely damaged and likely to either sink or sit out the war in that small port. Unless they take Columbo, then they'll have a shipyard close enough for them to limp to.

The KB has moved to the southern edge of my searchplane radius and is reported headed southeast. Maybe they're meeting the phibs to escort them to Sri Lanka, but that also puts them on a direct course for Java. So it's time to get my ships out of there. I got nearly everything ashore that I wanted. One Seabee unit never made it ashore, and I have two task forces that aren't quite empty but should finish overnight.

The British CVBG is headed back south down the western Indian coast. If the enemy carriers are away, whatever ships they have in the Maldives are now targets.


China
Foochow was attacked again and is now down to Level 1 Forts, casualties 1887 to 2281 favoring the enemy this time. I'll be lucky to hold on even another day. They'll probably roll down the coast after that, taking out the airbase I'm using to monitor the Luzon Strait. A small silver lining; it looks like I've outmaneuvered and isolated 2 divisions near Chusein and will defeat them in detail in another day or two.

[Molon Labe]

29 March 1943
Severe aircraft losses could spell enemy reinforcements arriving in Java


Java
The morning started with my surface group of 6 DD disobeying orders to meet by main surface group near Djokjakarta, instead proceeding towards the western strait, where they encountered an enemy force of 2 CA and 4 DD. We got off light, losing just 2 DD before they escaped.

In the eastern straits, an enemy minesweeper hit a mine and sank. You hate to see it.

The enemy started night bombing attacks against our airbase in Tjilatjap. I don't consider these raids a threat yet.

The day was a disaster for us, though. Despite having more than 50 fighters available for escort tasking, our Avengers and SBDs flew (mostly) without escort against shipping near Batavia and Surabaya. At the end of the day's air battles, we'd lost 12 Avengers, 16 SBDs, and 2 of the few Wildcats that actually did make the trip. We had no aerial victories. We managed to hit a troop transport with a torpedo in Batavia (this flight had Wildcats) and another in the central Java Sea (with troops aboard).

We have captured Bandoeng. Base forces are still a few days out, but this will hopefully become a key airbase for us. Our coastal bases are a bit cramped and are too small to support medium bombers.



Indian Ocean
B-24 raids finished off a damaged enemy destroyer at Addu.


China
Foochow is back in enemy hands. Casualties 5311 to 1430 favoring them.

[Molon Labe]

30 March 1943
Major setback in Java Campaign: surface task force sent to interdict reinforcements hit by Betties


Celebes Sea
USS Herring hit a military cargo ship with 2 (detonating) torpedoes off Davao for a confirmed kill.


Luzon Strait
USS Snapper torpedoed an escorted tanker just south of Taiwain. The damage appeared lethal.


Java
I had intended for my heavy surface task force to interdict a task force unloading at Batavia, but they moved slower than I realized. Probably my fault. Sunrise came, they got spotted short of their goal, and really in the worst possible spot because they were as far away from our supporting bases as they'd ever be on their trip. The further away, the less planes we can maintain on CAP. The first raid was 42 Zeroes escorting 28 Betties vs 4 P-40s and 9 Wildcats. One Zero went down along with 2 Wildcats. It wouldn't get any better. By day's end, these were the hits:
Wave 1:

BB Nevada, Torpedo hits 1
Wave 2:
BB Revenge, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Nevada, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
Wave 3:
CA Portland, Torpedo hits 1
Wave 4:
CA Vincennes, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Wave 5:
BB Revenge, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Wave 6:
CA Portland, Torpedo hits 1

A replenishment group was also hit. Our peak CAP was 12 planes while their peak escort was 39 fighters. Our defense was much better here despite the similar numbers. Enemy losses: 12 Zeroes, 1 Oscar, 2 Kates; we lost 2 P-40s.


Wave 1:
AO Cimarron, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AO Platte, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
Wave 2: AE Lassen, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

[Molon Labe]

31 March 1943
Heavy air losses for Japan over Java, our armies advance



Java
My heavy task force, minus its battleships and 2 heavy cruisers, proceeded to Batavia at night. A Japanese covering force came out to challenge them, and unfortunately for me, my task force's morale was apparently broken and they weren't interested in fighting much, so despite outgunning the enemy task force (1 CA, 4 CL, 7 DD vs 1 CA, 1 CL, 5 DD), we retreated. One enemy destroyer was sunk, several other ships on both sides took hits, but nothing serious.

We depth charged an enemy sub lurking off our airbase at Tjilatjap for moderate damage.

The first enemy air raid targeted an amphibious task force that was retreating from the eastern landing site, Djokjakarta. We finally outnumbered them, putting up 28 Wildcats (they had a CVE) and 4 P-40s against 19 Zeroes at 18 Betties. For the price of 1 Wildcat, we got 3 Zeroes and 13 Betties. No hits on the ships.

Next was our main covering force centered around 3 CVEs. Several waves attacked this task force, which had a peak CAP of 50 Wildcats. With only 2 Wildcats down, we took out 6 Zeroes, 11 Betties (and a 12th to flak), and 9 Kates (plus 2 more to flak).

I'd moved some P-38s to Java and used them to sweep Batavia. 10 Zeroes down, no losses.

Later in the day, the enemy air raid focus shifted to my surface group near Batavia, retreating to Tjilatjap. We managed much more air cover over this group because it had gotten closer to our bases. The enemy lost 9 Zeroes and 24 Betties going after them. We lost a single Wildcat, and the heavy cruiser Portland took a torpedo hit.

Our Batavia-bound ground forces took Kalidjati, routing an infantry regiment and 2 marine units.

Timor
We lost 4 Navy Liberators over Koepang to a surprise CAP by Nicks.


China
We captured Kuikiang (central area, near Wuchang). Not a big deal, was lightly defended.


Palau Islands
USS Grunion torpedoed a troop carrying cargo ship near Babeldaob. Would definitely have sunk if not hit near the port. Probably still did sink, but had a chance.


Burma
Thinking so many planes had been moved down to Java that Rangoon probably wasn't well defended, I sent a major B-24 raid there (33 planes). Lost 19 of them, gunners shot down one defending Nick.

[Molon Labe]

1 April 1943
3 CVEs hit by the air forces they were meant to stop; reinforcement of Java by sea probably no longer practical.


Indian Ocean
USS Jack torpedoed and sank a PB near Diego Garcia


Java
An enemy sub finished off the damaged HMS Revenge near Batavia.


Enemy air raids pounded our CVE-centered covering force. We inflicted heavy losses on those raids: 5 Zeroes, 9 Betties, and 23 Vals, while losing 3 Wildcats to the escorts. But bombers got through:
Raid 1:
CVE Suwannee, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Raid 2:
CVE Sangamon, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
CVE Chenango, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk
CVE Suwannee, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
Fuel storage explosion on CVE Sangamon
Ammo storage explosion on CVE Chenango
Raid 3:
CA Chester, Torpedo hits 1
CA Astoria, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk


We managed some damage of our own, hitting a pair of transports near Batavia with 8 SBDs:
xAP Teiko Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Takatiho Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage



Timor
I swept Koepang with P-38s to try to deal with the Nicks. Shot down 2 Nicks and a Tojo, no losses.


China
We defeated the 3rd and 63rd Divisions in the open battlefield near Chusien. Essentially these were reinforcements intended to Foochow that I interdicted. Casualties 3150 to 465 favoring us. We still don't have any chance of retaking Foochow, but we may be able to take Wenchow from them thanks to their armies moving to Foochow. Wenchow has factories and Foochow doesn't, so that will benefit us a great deal if it happens.

[Molon Labe]

2 April 1943
Finishing off the CVEs as they try to shelter near airbases


Java
The CVE group came under attack again. The raids cost the enemy 7 Zeroes, 2 Oscars, 9 Kates and a Val. We lost a Wildcat and a P-40. But the CVEs were already disabled from flight ops, so the number of planes we had on CAP wasn't enough to stop the bombers:
CVE Suwannee, Torpedo hits 1, heavy damage
CVE Sangamon, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
CA Chester, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
----
CVE Suwannee, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
----
DD Warramunga, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires


Our Western army group (1 Division, 2 Tank Battalions) encountered an enemy regiment and 2/3rd of a marine unit on the way to Batavia; probably previously engaged. We routed them 1475 casualties to nothing.

[Ostfriese]

It's been quiet in here for six weeks now. I hope everything is OK with Molon Labe.

[mapuc]

I wonder the same too. Is he alright ? I posted a call for him in our
Roll call for Subsim members MIA.

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2826707&postcount=506

Markus

[Ostfriese]

It's been a full three months now. I miss Molon Labe and his reports.

[Molon Labe]

Sorry guys. I got really overwhelmed with life, and while I did manage to keep the campaign going, my AARs fell off.

We're in August 1943 now, let's see if I can get things caught up...


Java Campaign
I think you can kind of see the writing on the wall for how the Java Campaign was going to turn out. I never recovered from the loss of the dive bomber hordes that flew unescorted to their deaths. The loss of them allowed reinforcements to land, and allowed their cruisers to bombard my airbases. The bombardments ensured that I wouldn't be able to replace those losses, and also caused me to lose fighters in large numbers. Those fighters were needed in part to help me land additional forces and supplies--as you could see before I dropped out for a few months, the CVEs weren't enough, they were only ever intended as a supplement.


We reached Batavia on April 5, finding it already reinforced and beyond our reach. Our land forces headed for Surabaya had to try to establish inland air bases, delaying them from reaching before even more reinforcements had landed. At that point there was truly nothing that could be done. I couldn't reinforce, resupply, or evacuate them. The good news is that I was able to at least dig in and make him suffer a lot of casualties removing my troops from Java. We frequently managed to find small units we could crush before they consolidated. But without supplies and without taking the major cities producing supply, our forces surrendered-- 29 May 1943 at Bandoeng w 16,000 POWs taken, and 12 June 1943 at Madioen with about 20,000 POWs taken.

Approximate losses:
BB Nevada
BB Revenge

CVE Chenango
CVE Sangamon
CVE Suwannee
CVE Altamaha
CVE Nassau
CA Chester
CA Astoria
CA Portland
CA Australia
CL Leander
CL Phoenix
DD Porter
DD Cummings
DD Monssen
DD Gensevoort
DD Isaac Sweers
SS KXIII
SS KXVI
SS Sturgeon
SS Pickerel
AK/AKA: 5
AMC: 2
AO: 1
AE: 1

4+ Divisions of Infantry, plus aviation support and construction crews
5 fighter squadrons, at least 3 attack squadrons, probably 2 recon/patrol squadrons.


Banda Sea Campaign
While I was losing in Java, I tried to grab as many islands in the Eastern DEI, clinging to some hope I could open an air corridor to Java to fly supplies, but also to be able to put the Celebes Sea in Airstrike range. This campaign is still ongoing.


I invaded Ambon 14 May 1943 with 3 regiments of Marines....


EDIT 11/22/22: Oh wow I can't believe I forgot this one! ON 22 May 1943, the "Marianas Detachment" of the KB appeared near Saumlaki, apparently unaware of my air strength that far south. They suffered an initial strike from Darwin of USMC Corsair-escorted B-25s, which wore down the enemy CAP. The second wave was an air strike from VF-3 (17 F4U) and 34 SBDs (probably VB-6); there were only 15 Zeroes defending the second wave. There wasn't much of an air battle, just 1 Zero and 1 F4U shot down. The SBDs hit the Kongo 3 times, the Junyo 5 times, CVL Ryuho times, and the Taiho 3 times. Intel would later report CV Junyo and CVL Ryuho sunk. They got a strike of their own off before they were hit, taking out several of my troop-laden LSTs.

The enemy landed extraordinary number of troops in response on 23 May 1943, with the KB preventing interdiction. Troop levels increased from 20,000 to 56,000, assuring our Marines would not take the island without a similar escalation on our part. The remants of the Marianas Detachment were hit again, though, with an SBD raid scoring 3 hits on CV Taiho and causing an ammunition explosion.

By 5/25/43, the enemy was trying to evacuate troops off of Babar, and our mostly-Darwin based aircraft and submarines were having a field day picking off merchant ships. The damaged Taiho attempted to shelter there as well, only to get finished off by B-25s.

On 23 June, I captured Saumlaki and started building an airbase there. This would bring Ambon within range of fighters other than P-38s, such as F6F Hellcats and the P-47 Thunderbolt.

On 11 July 1943, the KB was returning to Ambon presumably to land even more troops. Again, the CAP was getting worn down by heavy bomber raids and P-38 sweeps on Ambon itself. This time, low level B-25D1s got through, scoring 4 hits on the Hiyo and another on the Zuikaku. The KB hasn't been back since.

On 19 July 1943, we recaptured Babar. Like Saumlaki, this would be another airbase targeting Ambon.

Unfortunately, these bases would not get online with enough time to evacuate Ambon. The Marines on Ambon surrendered 23 July 1943. But, as of now (10 August), those bases are online, and between them we have over 120 fighters and 72 dive bombers ready to contest any Japanese evacuation of Ambon. Plus the P-38s, B-25Gs, and Beaufighters based on Taberfane, and plus the B-24s from Darwin.

In addition to the 3 regiments on Ambon, this campaign has cost me probably over 100 dive bombers in failed attacks on the KB, including the crews, which has depleted my USN pilot reserves. I'm looking for opportunities to let USMC Air take some more missions since they have a separate pilot pool. It's also taken a severe toll on subs, as the approaches to Ambon were heavily patroled by ASW ships and aircraft.

Eternal Patrol: O23, Kingfish, O20, KXI, and Spearfish


Burma Campaign
The reinforcements for Java came from Burma and the fleets about the land in Sri Lanka, which themselves were taken from Burma. Taking advantage of that vacuum, British and Indian forces started streaming in from Lashio starting in early June, and we kept going until we were at the gates of Rangoon. Our current obstacle is that our retaken airbases in the Mandalay area are too far to reliably support fighter cover as far south as Rangoon. We had to retreat from the base that would have cut Rangoon off, Pegu, because the terrain is too open and enemy bombers were hitting our troops quite effectively. However, Vengeance dive bombers were able to get multiple hits on an enemy cruiser, and the British CVBG made an appearance, hitting a troop transport with Avengers and killing over 2,000 enemy soldiers on board.


Solomons and SouthPAC
We're retaken everything on New Britain of any significance, including Rabaul. We were even able to raid Truk with B-24s for a time until he got angry enough to move in a ton of fighters. We're bombing Guadalcanal daily. No rush to take it. I did get myself into a bit of a debacle trying to take Ponapae, an atoll near Truk. Resistance was especialy stiff due to a strong shore battery contingent. They drove away my phibs after landing, until I realized the supplies brought ashore wouldn't be sufficient to allow the Marines to overcome the defenses. So with the help of 3 fast battleships and air cover from USS Essex, the phibs went back into the maw and dropped off the supplies. It appears the enemy has reinforced a bit as well, so the outcome there is in doubt. I'm surprised the KB hasn't showed up to determine the outcome yet. Until then, B-24s from Rabaul are trying to keep the enemy too disorganized to evict me, while my guys get reorganized and ready to push.

The main value of this island is that it will allow me to get recon flights over the Marianas. Not that valuable, but I was not expecting so much resistance that the regiment I sent wouldn't be overkill.






And because I know you'll ask, my US carrier forces as this point are:
Essex
Lexington-II
Yorktown-II
Independence
Princeton
Belleau Wood
9 CVEs


https://i.ibb.co/rwMC5Qm/10-Aug-1943-Strt-Map.png

[Molon Labe]

10 August 1943

Banda Sea
https://i.ibb.co/1dQDXc5/1943-August-11-Banda-Sea-Sitrep.png
An enemy minesweeper is dealing with a sub-laid minefield at Kendari. Our original Mk10 mine stores are depleted, but we have a small number of submarines that are now upgraded to carry Mk12 mines, which we have a couple hundred of. The minefield here has claimed at least one enemy cargo ship.

Aside from a few enemy recon aircraft shot down, there was no air to air combat here--or anywhere else--today. B-24s from Darwin continued to pound Ambon's port and airfield to hamper any future evacuation attempt and to drain their supplies.

We have additional aviation support moving to Boela. Right now there's only enough there to support the 16 fighters protecting that base, the next aircraft to move there will be maritime patrol assets, followed by Beaufighters. This will hopefully allow interdiction of merchant traffic as for north as the Celebes Sea.

That's just a paratroop unit over on Timor. It won't be enough to take that base, and the enemy has reinforcements moving overland. I'm in the process of loading up some tanks from Babar to break that stalemate.


EDIT: I don't know how I forgot this... but the KXVIII had been hit by a Japanese patrol aircraft in the Celebes sea yesterday and was attempting to limp home to port. Today, they lost control of the flooding and the boat went down.



Burma
https://i.ibb.co/SnZDkyB/1943-August-11-Burma-sitrep.png
We're mopping up the last remaining enemy forces northwest of Rangoon by assaulting Tuang Gyi. Additional forces have arrived on our side, we'll probably overrun the enemy base tomorrow.

There is an enemy convoy at Moulmein--I don't know if they're evacuating or reinforcing. For now, I'm having the British CVBG back off because the enemy knows they're there and could have moved in a bunch of Betties by now. I have base forces approaching in phibs, the CVBG will cover them instead.


Japan
USS Guardfish torpedoed and sank a troop-carrying cargo ship near Iwo Jima.


SouthPAC
The 9th Marine Regiment is grateful for the supplies we landed and is recovering its strength. The enemy definitely landed some reinforcements though, and we won't have enough to beat them. So we're going to have to go back, either to pull the 9th our, or maybe to supplement them with some of the tanks that helped take Rabaul. For now, I'm going to let it breathe--the Essex CVBG needs maintenance (and their battleships need repairs from Ponape's shore batteries), and it'll take a little bit of time for our other carriers to arrive in theatre from Pearl. I'm expecting more enemy reinforcements to arrive at some point, although I'm sure he's stretched thin on available mobile ground forces. I have a few subs looking to interdict, but my best hope is that I have sufficient maritime patrol in the area to accurately assess the strength of any carrier escort such forces may have, so I can make an informed choice about whether to contest that reinforcement with my own carriers. He's been keeping a relatively small carrier task force operating near the Marianas--the ones that took out the Wasp--so if that's all he sends I may be able to deal with them with 2 CVs and 3 CVLs. Maybe.

[Ostfriese]

Hey Molon Labe, it's good to see you back :Kaleun_Cheers:

[Molon Labe]

Thanks, Ostfriese!


11 August 1943
Enemy reinforcements landing on Ponape

South China Sea
USS Cisco hit a troop-carrying cargo ship with 2 Mk14--but only one detonated, and it appears the ship will survive.


SouthPAC
Enemy Betties hit Ponape in two waves but seemed mostly ineffective. Recon flights over Truk and Ponape revealed plenty of naval activity--no carriers or strong surface fleets--but at least 6 ships at Ponape itself which would appear to indicate reinforcement. Additionally, we counted a whopping 154 auxiliary aircraft at Truk, which in my mind would have to include large numbers of transports--for flying troops to Ponape. The Essex hasn't gone far, so I'm going to let her take a shot at those 6 ships tomorrow. I can stay out of torpedo-carrying range for the Betties and still do that. The question is whether there are strong carrier forces hiding where my scouts can't reach, so it's not risk-free. I'd estimate Yorktown-II and the CVLs will arrive in 2-3 days to take over, with Lex-II another 2 days behind them.


Reinforcements
CVE Casablanca arrives at Portland

[mapuc]

Forgot to bid you welcome back-Oh manner have I missed your AAR updates. I even send out an MIA in our MIA-thread.

Markus

[Molon Labe]

Hi, mapuc! :Kaleun_Salute:


12 August 1943

South China Sea
I think the ship we hit yesterday went down today.



SouthPAC
Essex wasn't able to launch a strike yet, but she also hasn't been detected. At least 2 enemy subs are searching her general area, though.

Betties are still bombing our Marines at Ponape but they aren't doing too much. Our B-24s are doing about the same. I'm sending more subs to the area to try to interdict reinforcements and search beyond my searchplane radii. The enemy garrison is now about 3 times stronger than our USMC regiment.


Burma
Our phibs and the escorting CVBG have been detected prior to landfall, but no strike occurred. Tomorrow they'll have land-based P-40s overhead to help out if a strike does happen.

30 Zeroes were waiting for our B-24s over Pegu. We shot down 5 Zeroes with no bomber losses and still managed to inflict about 300 enemy casualties on the ground.

[Molon Labe]

Hey guys, you'll want to check the Banda Sea campaign part above as I left some important stuff out that updating this brought to my attention!


Overall CV/CVL strength:
Japan: 129 Fighters/130 Dive Bombers/87 Torpedo Bombers
USA: 144 Fighters/108 Dive Bombers/108 Torpedo Bombers






Where are the Carriers?

Fleet Carriers

Akagi: Torpedoed by S-29 on 23 June 1942. Damage did not appear serious at the time. Intel reported sunk 6/24/42, then reported still in service 9/20/42. Fighter squadron seen operating in Chengchow, China on 4 Sept 42, but appears absent on 20 Sept 42--airwing likely returned to ship after repairs completed. Likely received 7/1942 upgrade while under repair. Believed to be participating in invasion of Sri Lanka operation as of 2 March 1943.Participated in Java Campaign Spring-Summer 1943.

Kaga: 31 October - 1 November 1942 supporting Rangoon landings. 19 September 1942, torpedoed by Albacore in Bay of Bengal operating with Junyo (and probably Hiyo). Continued flight operations after torpedo hit. Confirmed to have NOT yet received 7/1942 upgrade as of 19 September 1942, does not appear to have it as of 31 October 42 either. Prior damage from CVW-8 Devastator on 16 June 42 in Coral Sea, causing aviation gas explosion. Torpedoed twice by S-28 14 February 1943 at Ambon, believed to have survived but expected to require lengthy repairs.

Shokaku: Operational, believed to be operating with Kido Butai. Not believed to have received 7/1942 upgrades prior to 8 Sept 42.
--Multiple carrier fleet deployment to Solomons 1-8 November 1942; likely included Hiryu and Shokaku, retired towards Marshalls
--Unconfirmed carrier sighting approaching Solomons from Marshalls/Gilberts 12 November 1942.
--The KB may have split into two divisions (Hiryu, Shokaku ; Akagi, Zuikaku) to allow for upgrades, appears to be focused on Marshalls and Solomons.
--Shokaku hit by torpedo from USS Porpoise 21 December 1942.
--Participated in Java Campaign Spring-Summer 1943.

Zuikaku: sustained light damage near Ambon 11 July 1943. Believed to be fully operational by now.

Hiyo: Confirmed present supporting Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942. Believed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942 (fighter squadron reported present). Present for battle of Port Blair 20 August 1942. Hit by 2 torpedoes from Albacores on 31 July 1942. Intel reports sunk 8/25/42, report stricken upon sighting near Rangoon. Believed to be present in Sri Lanka operation as of 2 March 1943. Present as part of the KB near Ambon 13 June 1943. Damaged in low-level attack by B-25D1s (4 500lb bomb hits) near Ambon 11 July 1943.

Soryu: Sunk by CVW-2 14 Feb 1942

Hiryu: Paired with Shokaku for much of its career. Sunk by USS Scamp off Male with 3 Mk14 hits, 10 March 1943, at the cost of Scamp.

Taiho: Likely entered service Spring 1943. Believed to be the primary adversary responsible for sinking USS Wasp. Severely damaged by dive bombers near Ambon 22 May and again 24 May 1943. Finished off by B-25s while attempting to shelter in port in Babar 25 May 1943.

Junyo: Believed present for Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November1942.Confirmed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942. Previous deployment as part of the KB, 21 July 1942, supporting the evacuation of ground forces from Lahaina, Hawaii. As of March 2, 1943, NOT spotted supporting Sri Lanka operation and may be present in CENT/SouthPAC. Assigned to Marianas Detachment believed to be responsible for sinking of USS Wasp. Detached from KB after Taiho was damaged 24 May, sunk along with the Ryhuo by SBDs near Saumlaki 22 May 1943.



Light and Escort Carriers:

CVL Ryujo - hit by two heavyweight torpedoes on 1/17, definitely disabled, likely sunk. Intel reports sunk 1/31/42.
CVL Shoho - May have been present in Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942. Damaged by heavyweight torpedo hit 2/3/42. Damaged by CVW-8 Helldiver 16 June 42 in the Coral Sea. Sunk by 3 bomb hits from CVW-2 and -3 in Battle of Arafura Sea, 11 December 1942.
CVL Zuiho - likely sunk 2/14/42 (4 bomb hits, 1 air-dropped torpedo hit). Intel reports sunk same day.
CVE Hosho - sunk by 2 heavyweight torpedo hits 1/19/42
CVE Taiyo - sunk 2/14/42 (6 bomb hits)
CVE Unyo: Hit by torpedo from Albacore 20 August 1942 off Port Blair, damage did not appear severe. Intel originally reported sank same day, but was later reported to still be in service.
CVL Ryuho: Likely entered service Spring 1943. Part of Marianas Detactment CVBG responsible for sinking USS Wasp. Assigned to Marianas Detachment believed to be responsible for sinking of USS Wasp. Detached from KB after Taiho was damaged 24 May, sunk along with the Junyo by SBDs near Saumlaki 22 May 1943.


CS Chiyoda: Coastwatcher report 11/13/42 in port at Guadalcanal. May be operating with KB (or a division thereof).
CS Nisshin:
Rufe float fighters have been spotted with the Kido Butai as well as the CVBG operating in the Bay of Bengal, indicating these ships are operating with the fleet carriers.
CS Chitose: sunk in surface action in Celebes Sea as part of an amphibious task force (USS Marblehead leading formation), 10 December 1941
CS Mizuho: Torpedoed by USS Sargo south of Celebes 10/31/42 with major fires breaking out. Believed to have sunk on 11/3/42 due to intel reports of destroyed floatplanes.




Should be in service, but have yet to appear:
CVE Chuho: 11/22/42
CV Unryu: 4/8/43 (cost: 122)
CV Amagi 4/10/43 (cost: 122)
CV Katsuragi: 5/14/43 (cost: 122)
CV Shinano: 5/31/43 (cost: 314)


Unfinished:
CVE Kaiyo: 12/3/43
CVE Shinyo: 12/19/43
CVE Yamashira Maru: 2/4/45
CVE Shimane Maru: 2/8/45
CVL Ibuki: 4/26/45
CVE Chigusa Maru: 6/22/45
CV Ikoma: 6/20/45
CV Aso: 6/24/45
(cost-adjusted arrival dates represent previously-calculated acceleration)

[Ostfriese]

So, even if your opponent has all the late carriers operational you are on par already - with you having waaaayy more reinforcements on the horizon.

[Molon Labe]

13 August 1943

Burma
Our amphibious landing at the vacant base of Ramree Island is now underway. They'll secure the area tomorrow, then advance to Prome. 19 P-40s from Magwe swept Pegu, shooting down 5 of the 12 Zeroes waiting for our B-24s, which was enough to prevent any bomber losses today.


SouthPAC
Essex again failed to launch a strike despite sitting in range. The Betty raids are getting more numerous and more effective. Yorktown II and the CVLs are getting close so can relieve Essex soon. I'm a little concerned about the relative experience of the Yorktown II CVBG's attack pilots, though. The pilot reserves were badly depleted from wave after wave shot down in the DEI since spring, so I haven't been able to replace rookies in those squadrons to my satisfaction.


Subs have cleared the most dangerous parts of the ocean that might be concealing an enemy CVBG out of searchplane radius.


DEI
We now have tanks landing on Timor, should secure our beachhead tomorrow.

[Molon Labe]

So, even if your opponent has all the late carriers operational you are on par already - with you having waaaayy more reinforcements on the horizon.


I only counted the carriers that have actually appeared in the total aircraft strength. The dates they enter service are just too speculative to count them...I basically assumed they'd all been accelerated so I know the earliest they can show up. Realistically speaking, I don't believe he can accelerate that many of them, especially with how much difficulty he must be having getting oil/fuel back to Japan and how long he went without being able to import any at all.


Here is our carrier reinforcement schedule:
https://i.ibb.co/4dSz3T5/CV-Reinf.png

[Ostfriese]

That are some 30 additional flight decks over the coming seven months. :o
Yes, the majority of them are CVE, but as it happened in reality they can support invasions while your CV/CVL-fleets go for enemy ships.

If I read it right you have already checked your opponent's offensive capabilites. He might be able to go on offensive against single weak points, but he no longer has the ability to pull of a major offensive.

And shouldn't the dreaded Mk 14 finally become a reliable weapon towards autumn 1943, so that your submarine offensive can finally unleash its full potential?

As victory in the game is measured in victory points: does your opponent have realistic chances to win an (early) victory by points?

[Molon Labe]

That are some 30 additional flight decks over the coming seven months. :o
Yes, the majority of them are CVE, but as it happened in reality they can support invasions while your CV/CVL-fleets go for enemy ships.

If I read it right you have already checked your opponent's offensive capabilites. He might be able to go on offensive against single weak points, but he no longer has the ability to pull of a major offensive.

And shouldn't the dreaded Mk 14 finally become a reliable weapon towards autumn 1943, so that your submarine offensive can finally unleash its full potential?

As victory in the game is measured in victory points: does your opponent have realistic chances to win an (early) victory by points?


Ha! I wish the Mk14s problems would go away. We hit a cargo ship twice on the next turn, both duds. The current dud rate should be 20%, which will decrease to 10% in September 1943. But, as frustrating as that is, the Mk14 is still responsible for more ship kills than any other weapon by a wide margin. Since 27 June 1943, we sank these ships:
https://i.ibb.co/0rZGbKT/1943-Aug-11-recent-sunk-ships.png
I've highlighted just about everything not killed by a Mk14--I left the depth charges and the Dutch sub torpedoes alone since it's easy enough to figure out how those kills happened. (In the case of the Tokyo Maru, it was also sunk by a Mk14, I think credit is given to the Mk13 because it was originally hit by an Avenger/Beaufort near Shortlands, but its convoy was harassed by submarines all the way back to Japan, with USS Tunny delivering the killing blow on 3 August.)


Victory points: he leads me by a 1.106:1 ratio right now.
An auto-victory would require 4x victory points in 1943, 3x in 1944, and 2x in 1945. So there's no risk of that happening against me. I expect this ratio is going to hold pretty constant until I start retaking really important territory--failing at Java was a large lost opportunity.

[Molon Labe]

14 August 1943
9th Marine Regiment running out of time

SouthPAC
USS Nautilus approached Ponape and torpedoed a docked cargo ship...which didn't detonate. It turned around and engaged a second time, only to hit with a dud again.

Zeroes on CAP got 2 B-24s trying to help our our Marines, but the B-24s took 2 Zeroes with them.

Essex failed to launch a strike, again. Be more aggressive, Halsey! Yorktown's CVBG is now in position to relieve her, so Essex has been ordered to leave station and proceed to Pearl for maintenance, with the USS North Carolina to leave Essex and join Yorktown.

Enemy marines our now shock-attacking the 9th regiment.. we took 400 casualties today while dishing back only 100. Not sustainable.


Burma
P-40 sweep over Pegu got 5 Zeroes, no losses. B-24s got through after with no resistance.

Enemy units at Taung Gyi are reportedly "surrounded" but appear inclined to fight to the last man.


DEI
The enemy attacked on Timor, apparently not expecting tanks. They've only got light marine infantry. Casualties 440 to 50.

Reinforcements and Withdrawals
-The recently arrived 407th bomber group had to be withdrawn, with their aircraft (30 A-24 Banshees). Very disappointing. Needed in Europe, I guess.
DD Guest arrives at Eastern USA
DD Sigsbee arrives at Eastern USA
DD Spence arrives at Balboa
DD Stevens arrives at Eastern USA
SS Redfin arrives at Balboa
LST 11 arrives at Aden
VMTB-131 arrives at San Diego (Avengers--restricted)
VD-4 arrives at San Diego (recon Liberator variants)
No.211 Sqn RAF arrives at Calcutta (B-24s-insufficient pool numbers to fill out)
V US Amphib Corps arrives at March Field (HQ unit)

[Molon Labe]

15 August 1943
Meet the new CVBG, same as the old CVBG....

SouthPAC
The Yorktown II battlegroup relieved Essex, and did send a sweep I ordered over Ponape (no Zeroes came out to play) but once again did not launch a strike against any of the nearby transports. The thought occurs that maybe selecting drop tanks on the SBD-5 is responsible, but the Essex was using drop-tank-less SBD-3s, and I thought I tested the SBD-5 earlier to make sure its strike mission is compatible with drop tanks. The -5 won't make the trip without drop tanks unless I also bring the battle group within torpedo-carrying range of the Betties on Truk.

Avengers from VT-23 (Princeton) claimed to hit a sub shadowing the Yorktown CVBG, twice, with 500 lb bombs.

USS Gar laid a minefield at Ponape, then surfaced to engage a docked cargo ship, expending all of its reduced Mk14 load to get 1 detonating Mk14 hit along with several gun hits. Safe to say it's going down. Gar received several gun hits in exchange, but mostly from AA guns with no serious damage caused.

9th Marines took another 150+ casualties today as the enemy reinforcements continue to hit us hard.

Lexington-II is probably 2-3 days out. I'll probably reorganize York/Lex into 2 task forces that travel together. A replenishment group that had refueled the Essex group is nearly done refilling their tanks at Noumea and will soon be in position to support the 2 CVBGs.


Burma
An enemy sub attempted to interfere with my nearly-complete amphibious landing. It was engaged by DD Racehorse and DE Arrow, who had no trouble scoring multiple depth charge hits, forcing it to surface, and gunning it down.

Beaufighters attacked a pair of cargo ships at Rangoon, which thanks to the P-38 and P-40 sweeps at adjacent Pegu, had no air cover. Both ships were strafed, but we only scored bomb hits on one--10 250-pounder hits--definitely enough to sink the one.

The surrounded 7th Royal Thai Army division at Tuang Gyi has been eliminated.


DEI
The surface activity at Ambon was a bunch of transport barges; I chased them away with a pair of destroyers. I'm disappointed the destroyers didn't actually engage them as they might have had troops aboard. It appears rain hampered the intercept: visibility was just 2,000 yards.

USS Finback torpedoed and sank (2 hits) a troop-carrying cargo ship in the straits south of Makassar.


Solomons
I think the enemy garrison at Guadalcanal is finally out of supplies, as the enemy airfield doesn't appear to be getting repaired anymore. I imagine their morale sucks, too, after being cut off for months and being bombed almost daily during that time. It may be time to eliminate them. I think my best bet to do this will be to land on the opposite side of the island, set up a small supply base, and attack overland.


Reinforcements
SS Bonefish arrives at Balboa
AO Neshanic arrives at Balboa
APA Calvert arrives at Eastern USA
632nd Tank Destroyer Battalion arrives at San Francisco (probably a unit destroyed on Java being reformed)

[Molon Labe]

16 August 1943
9th Marines surrenders at Ponape; close call for HMS Victorious; USS Mingo lost -- Enemy CVBG approaching Yorktown CVBG

DEI
The barges apparently came back to Ambon. One hit a mine and sank.

Japan
USS Mingo attempted to attack an enemy ASW group but bit off more than it could chew. After missing the kaibokan Wakataka, its sister ship Kuretake detected the Mingo and prosecuted it with deadly accuracy. Mingo was forced to surface and eventually gunned down by PBs operating with the kaibokans. Kuretake took a rather serious hit from Mingo's deck gun in the process, but battle scars build character.

Burma
Another Japanese sub approached the landing area, this time firing a spread of torpedoes at HMS Victorious, which all thankfully missed. The sub was prosecuted and moderately damaged by the destroyers Rotherham and Norman. This was a rather large, durable sub and was able to take quite a bit of punishment without going down.


SouthPAC
USS Nautilus torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship near Ponape.
Nicks attempted to interfere with our B-24 raids, but this time instead of having Hellcats sweep Ponape, I had a few on patrol. They shot down 2 Nicks and prevented the loss of any bombers.

Of course, Yorktown's SBDs stayed on the deck for another day. The air support provided by the B-24 raids proved insufficient, as the reinforced enemy garrison overran the 9th Marine's defensive positions and forced a surrender.

A fleet including a battleship and 3 fleet carriers is was spotted by Catalinas moving east towards Ponape. It appears they're going after what they think is the Essex operating alone, not knowing the Yorktown and 3 CVLs have taken her place.


Assuming the report is accurate and that's the Akagi, Zuikaku, and Shokaku, that would probably be 81 Fighters and 135 dive/torpedo bombers. The Yorktown battle group by herself has 70 Hellcats, 35 SBD-5s, and 72 Avengers. Almost even. But, there's a spot in the Marshalls that's about a day's run for Yorktown-II, Lexington-II, and Essex where they can all meet up. So as long as we can prevent a strike happening too early tomorrow, my matchup would be more like 142 Hellcats, 107 SBDs, and 108 Avengers. Personally, I don't expect him to chase. But if he does, maybe I'll finally get a carrier battle that goes my way.

[Ostfriese]

What's that with the carriers not launching aircraft? Can you influence that, or is that a random chance?

[Molon Labe]

What's that with the carriers not launching aircraft? Can you influence that, or is that a random chance?


Back around the Oahu recovery operation, the problem was that some aircraft like the old Helldiver could carry drop tanks, but those tanks were on the bomb pylon. So when I selected the tanks I accidentally precluded naval attack missions. Essex has SBD-3s, which don't have drop tanks, and Yorktown-II has SBD-5s, which do--but the drop tanks are on wing pylons which leaves the center bomb pylon free so it shouldn't be a problem.


Besides that, whether a mission is flown depends on a number of factors and I probably don't know all of them. But they include finding the target in time with enough daylight left to hit it, the inspiration and administrative stats of the squadron CO and the base/task force commander, and the morale and fatigue stats of the individual pilots.

[Molon Labe]

17 August 1943
Enemy carriers elect not to pursue Yorktown.

DEI
Another barge hit a mine at Ambon and sank. I sent a pair of destroyers and a PT squadron to Ambon to further harrass the barges. The destroyers found a midget sub, depth charged it and sank it. The PTs found the barge group and sank 6 out of the 10.



Burma
A third enemy submarine attempted to attack the landing ships, HMS Racehorse depth charged it for a confirmed kill.


SouthPAC
All 3 of my carrier groups successfully rendezvoused in the Marshalls. We didn't spot the enemy carriers at all today, which strongly suggests they didn't follow--in addition to the SBD scouting from all 3 fleet carriers, the entire Marshalls are under constant Catalina surveillance.


There were still a few of our troops left on Ponape, the fighters escorting raids on them for the first time included the N1K1-J George. I'm not all that familiar with this airplane, but it appears to be a Navy fighter but not carrier capable. Similar in speed and manueverability to the Zero, it is more durable and more heavily armed, so I'd expect it to be a good fighter and superior to the Zero at bomber interception.


Reinforcements
SS Aspro arrives at Eastern USA
LSD Ashland arrives at Los Angeles

[Molon Labe]

18 August 1943
Tonies massacred over Kendari as Boela launches its first P-38 sweep

SouthPAC
USS Raton penetrated the harbor at Ponape and surfaced to engage an AKL there. But it didn't press the attack, only moderately damaging the ship and setting a small fire. USS Skate followed up, firing a pair of Mk14s at the damaged ship, hitting with both and with one detonating, sinking the ship.

B-24s encountered 10 Tonies on CAP, and although we suffered no losses today, I am going to suspend these raids since we no longer have troops there to protect. Maybe I'll get a chance to get some transports if they try to leave. I'd really like to confirm their carrier strength first, though, especially since the Essex really needs its maintenance time.


DEI
20 P-38s from the base being built up at Boela swept Kendari (eastern Makassar), meeting 22 Tonies on CAP. But the Tonies were arriving peacemeal, so at any given time the fight was only 4-6 Tonies vs my 20 P-38s. We shot down 13 of them with no losses.


China
Enemy troops have moved to block the road between Canton and Hong Kong. I've been harassing these troops with bombers as they approached and I'm sending troops from Hong Kong to engage them.

Another group of troops has moved onto our base hex at Kiukang, in the central region near Wuchang (Japanese-held). This area doesn't yet have a lot of stategic importance; it could be part of cutting off Wuchang, but Wuchang has other routes so my controlling this doesn't put Wuchang in immediate danger. I have troops enroute from Changsha to reinforce.

In the northeastern region, enemy troops abandoned their positions staring down my units across the river west of Taiyuan. So we gladly filled in that space and marched on Taiyuan. We took it with minimal resistance today. I plan to also take Chenting, one hex east, before having about half this unit head back south to try to break the stalemate at Keifeng that seems to have existed since the US entered the war. This movement is being mirrored by my troops advancing south of Keifeng, crossing rivers with the intention of engaging enemy forces protecting Keifeng's flank.

I think a lot of the enemy's movements have to do with his taking massive casualties fighting me along the coast near Wenchow. I think he's conceding some territory while reinforcing the Shanghai area.


Burma
Having received reports of multiple ships docked in Rangoon, including a tanker, I attacked the port with Vengeance dive bombers. They found no ships and inflicted light damage on port facilities. Flak claimed 2 bombers, 2 more crashed on the return trip thanks to flak damage, and a fifth was scrapped after landing.


Reinforcements
BB Alabama arrives at Balboa
DD Bradford arrives at Los Angeles
SS Cod arrives at Balboa
SS Corvina arrives at Balboa
15th FG/6th NFS arrives at San Francisco (destroyed on Java, being reformed)
156th USA Base Force arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

19 August 1943

DEI
Two DMs added to the minefield at Ambon. Another 3 destroyers patroled to keep those barges away; a midget sub attacked this group and missed. The sub was then destroyed by a depth charging by USS Lamson.


SouthPAC
USS Raton returned to Ponape's port and found another AKL. This time the captain engaged aggressively, doing enough damage with gunfire to sink it.

After Raton left, recon patrols detected yet more merchant ships at Ponape as well as the 3-CV battlegroup. Looks like they're getting ready to pull out. I'm considering a strike. But my ships need fuel first, so they're headed towards the replenishment group.


CENTPAC
A merchant convoy was spotted southeast of Marcus. Trying to get to the Marshalls? A few PBYs attacked unsuccessfully. It's headed back towards Marcus, I'm sending a few tin cans out to try to catch them, they'll be out of search range soon, though.


Burma
I was trying to move tanks and infantry to Pegu together, but the tanks outpaced. The enemy noticed this at set up an attack to try to defeat my gathering forces in detail, but fortunately the infantry arrived in time which prevented an overrun. 500 casualties on each side. But now, this is open terrain, and I have air superiority, so the enemy units are going to get bombed mercilessly.

Near Taung Gyi, the last enemy troops in the area have surrendered, and I have yet more troops streaming down towards Rangoon.

One of my airfields in the Mandalay area is now big enough to support medium bombers without penalty. I still don't have enough aviation support to fully take advantage of this, but I figured I could move some B-25s down there. The elimination of the last enemy troops in the northern areas means the potential targets are near Rangoon, with the exception of the Wellingtons my medium bombers need to move to the Mandalay area to make that trip without a reduced payload.


Withdrawals and Reinforcements
55th FG/338th FS has withdrawn, taking 25 P-39Ds with it. This was a training squadron based in San Fransisco.
CL Emerald arrives at Aden
DD Thompson arrives at Seattle
VF-33 arrives at Seattle (36 Hellcats)
433rd TCG/68th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (13 transports)
23rd USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

20 August 1943

Solomons and SouthPAC
The freshly-repaired Arizona and New Mexico bombarded Guadalcanal. They'd departed Syndey prior to the appearance of carriers near Ponape, so I didn't intend for them to be bait, but they're totally bait now. If the enemy carriers decide they're worth it, we have plenty of airpower from Rabaul all the way down to the east end of the Solomons.

Recon flights continue to hold the enemy CVBG at Ponape and strength estimates are pretty consistent at 3 CV. There is also a convoy of at least 8 ships there, so it looks like they're already trying to move their troops out.

My carriers and AOs somehow blew past each other without linking up, so I'm having my carriers slow down to let the AOs catch up again. So at least one more day before them attacking is even an option. Not sure I want an "even" fight just to try to get those transports, though.

I'm going to order a rare long-range night attack on Ponape tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

USS Skate was bombed and has been ordered back to Midway for repairs.


DEI
Our PTs found the last of the enemy transport barges at Ambon (for now) and sank them.


Burma
USS Barb and HMS Trident attacked cargo ships at Moulmein; both missed. But the Trident made a second attack, scoring 2 hits on a cargo ship, sinking it.


Reinforcements
LST 73 arrives at Aden
VF-38 arrives at Seattle (36 Hellcats)
VMF-311 arrives at Eastern USA (18 Corsairs)
433rd TCG/69th TCS arrives at Eastern USA (13 Transports)
6th Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco
1st Army Tank Regiment arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

21 August 2022
Enemy carriers pulled back?

SouthPAC
The night B-24 raid was ineffective. Switching to daytime raids for tomorrow.

We did not hold contact on the enemy CVBG today, despite recon flights over Ponape and Truk and Catalina runs everywhere in between.

The Yorktown and Lex battlegroups are traveling together to position themselves for a strike as we still hold merchant contacts at Ponape. The thirstier of the two groups got gassed up by the AOs. Wish it would have been both.

Enemy units that had retreated from Rabaul came back to look for a fight and were soundly routed. II/81st Naval Guard Unit was destroyed along with either another naval guard unit or SNLF (marine) unit.


Burma
HMS Trident attacked a cargo ship on the surface at Tavoy, expending quite a bit of torpedoes and getting 4 total hits for substantial overkill.

Our bombers hit Pegu ridiculously hard, causing 400+ enemy casualties on the ground. They also got some Betties in, which I thought would be intercepted by P-40s, but unfortunately we had none overhead because supplies at our airbases dropped too low to support drop tanks. Going to try to have P-38s overhead tomorrow, supplies look fine for the time being. The enemy land attack cost us 440 casualties, and 730 for them, but with many more of his squads destroyed instead of disabled.

It could still be weeks before we can build a suitable fighter base closer to Rangoon. The forces we landed amphibiously will help with that, but their movement is being hampered by the lack of adequate roads.


DEI
Air raids on Ambon destroyed a Thalia transport on the ground, which is concerning. Apparently they want to try to fly troops out. I'm putting a long-range CAP over Ambon to try to intercept the transports. Eventually they'll run out of supplies to repair the airbase, too.

Our marines on Timor are trying to break through; 340 to 18 casualties in our favor today, but our troops are getting fatigued so they'll get to rest tomorrow. The force levels are rather even, but we have tanks and they have only light naval infantry, also they're being bombed by B-25s daily and we're not, so it's only a matter of time before we wear them down.


China
The situation at Hong Kong is worse than it looked. The enemy force that moved onto the roads between HK and Canton is over 3 divisions strong. Too strong to dislodge with my current force levels, and strong enough to possibly threaten either base. The troops I sallied out have been ordered to return and defend HK. This is now my priority bomber target, and I'm calling in reinforcements from central China.


Reinforcements
DD Harrison arrives at Balboa
DD Roebuck arrives at Cape Town
SS Escolar arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

22 August 1943
Both sides' bombers take a beating

DEI
Catalinas, Beaufighters, and P-38s all made attempts at attacks on merchant traffic west of Ambon, with little success. The P-38s were the only ones to connect, and these G variants didn't carry bombs so it was just strafing runs, lightly damaging two cargo ships.

SouthPAC
Daylight B-24 raids on Ponape turned out to be a bad idea. The carriers weren't gone after all. CAP strength was about 50 aircraft, mostly Zeroes. We lost 5 B-24s to the fighters, and a 6th to flak. The bombers took 4 Zeroes down with them.


Burma
Both of us bombed each other's land forces at Pegu, but only I was maintaining a CAP over the battlefield. 23 enemy Betties arrived unescorted, resulting in 8 being shot down by the P-38s on patrol. Additional Betties arrived with Zero escorts, which kept the few P-38s still on station at bay. Overall we're still getting a lot more iron on target than the enemy is. And we have additional land forces only a few more days out.


Reinforcements etc.
The Essex CVBG is back at Pearl and has been stood down for much needed maintenance. They'll be down about a week. I've also transitioned VB-9 from SBD-3s to SB2C-1C Helldivers. This upgrade adds radar and substantial range, although the SBD-5 can best the SB2C-1C in range with the drop tanks added. I'm hoping the Helldiver's higher top speed will make them a bit more survivable in fights where the enemy fighters get through.
55th FG/38th FS withdraws
55th FG/343rd FS withdraws
AD Yosemite arrives at Eastern USA
SS Dace arrives at Eastern USA
DE Narbada arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

23 August 1943
China becoming very fluid

China

https://i.ibb.co/8NpBDx6/1943-Aug-24-China.png
The enemy has reacted to my penetration into their lines in the north and may be able to stop me from taking Chenting. My attempt to take that base today resulted in 2000 casualties for us and 1200 for them, taking fortification levels from 3 to 1. I might possibly overrun them soon, but more reinforcements will probably arrive first.


The enemy is also sending additional troops to try to break me at Nanchang, has blocked my flanking force from finding an opening south of Keifeng, and he has once again moved troops between Chusien and Wenchow. I can't prevail on all of these fronts... but then again, neither can he. My priority is Hong Kong then Chusien/Wenchow, and I'm sort of indifferent about Nanchang and Chenting.


Celebes Sea
USS Peto attacked an enemy cargo ship on the surface near the southern Philippine coast, scoring 2 detonating torpedo hits along with gunfire, sinking it.


DEI
An enemy minesweeper is making very short work of sub-laid mines at Kendari. USS Snapper tried to attack the minesweeper but was detected by it and depth charged for light damage.


I anticipated the enemy fighter presence at Kendari would resume due to yesterday's lackluster ASUW attacks, and ordered a sweep. Turned out I was right, we had a pretty big furball, 20 P-38s vs 15 Tojos and 11 Tonies. We got 3 Tonies and 2 Tojos with no losses.


B-24 raids on Ambon destroyed a midget sub docked there.


SouthPAC
A Kingfisher from USS North Carolina (Yorktown-II CVBG) claimed to have succesfully bombed a submarine northwest of the task forces.



As much as I'd like to take out those troops on Ponape, it's not a prize worth risking my carriers over. I'm still going to get to slaughter the enemy at Guadalcanal, and if I don't mess it up, at Ambon. I'm going to be OK with that. Yorktown and Lexington, both now having been UNREP'd, are headed to Solomons for now.


Reinforcements and Withdrawals
No.353 Sqn RAF withdraws (Hudson bombers based in India)
DD Trathen arrives at San Francisco
DD Wadsworth arrives at Eastern USA
VMF(N)-531 Det 1 arrives at Eastern USA (3 Ventura night fighters)
612th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco
43rd Aviation Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

24 August 1943
More carriers headed to Ponape?


Phillippine Sea
USS Thresher located and engaged a tanker convoy near Legaspi in the eastern Philippines. This corresponds to a shallow water route that goes through the islands. The Thresher missed, and unfortunately I didn't get a direction this convoy was headed in. But I'll have subs looking for this convoy in both the Sulu Sea and around Okinawa.


DEI
P-38 sweeps at Kendari got another 5 Tojos with no losses.

Our marines have taken Lautem, Timor, inflicting 800 enemy casualties nearly without losses. We will now advance to Dili overland.

Boela's airbase is now large enough to base medium bombers without penalty.



Burma
No enemy air activity at Pegu today. But it looks like they're sending in additional troops from Rangoon. It's a gamble, thinking he can overrun my troops before I can bring in more. The problem with that theory is Pegu is open terrain and I'm causing hundreds of enemy casualties with bombing every day. That said, it could still work, depending on the number of troops.


China
We suffered an enemy attack at Kiukiang, casualties 211 to 345 favoring them. We're badly outnumbered (14k to 3k) and just holding out thanks to terrain defensive bonuses. At least my reinforcements will arrive before his. But who knows how much he's bringing in after that.


SouthPAC
A smaller task force with carriers is moving into the area. Still sketchy on who this might be, best guess is maybe a couple CVEs. The main CVBG moved a little east of Ponape, probably thinking he can attack my carriers after the bombing of the sub yesterday gave him some idea where they might be. But he's looking further north than where they actually were, and they left the area headed south, so he's pretty far off.

3 days until I reform the Essex battle group.

[Molon Labe]

25 August 1943
N1K1-J George as the answer to Japan's P-38 problem?
Land reinforcements arrive just in time in China and Burma
Refocusing on strategy: Time to close the Celebes Sea

SouthPAC
USS Gudgeon attempted to sneak into Truk and lay a minefield, only to hit a mine herself. She aborted her mission and is returning to Brisbane for repairs, thankfully not too seriously damaged.

USS Scorpion gave Gudgeon an assist by destroying a subchaser along its escape route.

We hold no contacts on any enemy carriers today, and it appears the garrison on Ponape is significantly reduced.


Japan
Southeast of Okinawa, USS Trout turned the tables on a Kaibokan trying to sanitize the area, sinking it with a Mk14.


DEI
For the first time in a long time, the P-38 lost an engagement. This was a sweep of Kendari, but instead of Tojos, the enemy CAP was the N1K1-J George. Even though the numbers were 13 to 7 favoring me, I lost 2 airplanes and we shot down nothing. I don't know how many of these planes he can produce, but if he can produce them in large numbers we'll be fighting on pretty even terms again. However, this aircraft has a terrible service rating, which means they're going to be spending a lot more time in the hangars than in the air. The best place to kill them is probably on the ground.

With that in mind, my main objective in sweeping Kendari was just to reduce the number of fighters that might be protecting enemy shipping moving through the area. It can wait. I'm going to focus on making sure the Celebes Sea gets closed, which should force all his tanker traffic into the Luzon Strait where they'll find a wall of submarines, and possibly Beaufighters from China. I'm surging base forces and construction battalions, recently having arrived in Australia, into the Banda Sea area to start taking even more bases and building more airfields. I hope to have bases soon at Dili, Namlea, and Ternate. The first two should lock down enemy troops at Koepang and Ambon, while the third should close the Celebes Sea, or at least the passage through it south of the Philippines.

A repair tender has arrived at Saumlaki to try to make two badly damaged subs sheltering there seaworthy again. It doesn't look like the tender will make that much of a difference.


China
The Beaufighers on the coast are assigned to naval strikes intending to hit targets in the Luzon Strait, but when some small cargo ships were spotted going upriver to Wuchang, they were in range too. One cargo ship was sunk, two more damaged. I think the implication of these ships being here is that even in the central industrial section of China, the enemy's supply situation is poor.

We endured a shock attack in Kiukiang, and just as with the attack in Burma below, our reinforcement arrived just before the attack, causing the enemy to have insufficient numbers. Casualties were 1800 to 250 favoring us. However, the enemy seems to be sending yet more troops here from Wuchang, and I'm not sure I can afford to send more. Might just hold out and let them take disproportionately high casualties due to defensive terrain bonuses.

We made our own attack in Chengting in the northeast. The attack eliminated their rebuild level-1 fortifications, casualties were even at about 650 per side. We only have a slight manpower advantage here, but it appears the enemy troops here are inexperienced. Going to try a shock attack tomorrow and see if that gets us an overrun. If it doesn't, no big deal, I'll just fall back one hex and defend.

Reinforcements for Hong Kong have arrived in the nearby rail-station base of Kukong; they'll now proceed by road to approach the enemy from their eastern flank. The Hong Kong area forces are currently the only front my bombers are hitting. I could move in more bombers from India, but we're already struggling to keep supply levels high enough to keep the bombers we have in the air.



Burma
My main force waiting outside Rangoon moved into Pegu to reinforce the imperiled detachment there. Just in time; we suffered a shock attack from enemy soldiers of division strength. The assault failed thanks to the extra troops, casualties 950 to 730 favoring us, with far more enemy squads "destroyed" instead of "disabled" relative to us. We outnumber them more than 2 to 1 now and we have another division about to arrive, so probably a good time to counterattack. He has yet more troops now sallying from Rangoon, which just seems like throwing them away. We will have a much easier time killing them in open terrain and with lower fortification levels vs if they stayed in Rangoon.


Reinforcements and Intel
Intel confirms the sinking of IJN Kirishima on 6/27/43
DE Wileman arrives at Mare Island
---------
EDIT: Wayback machine!
26 June 1943
Sinking of Kirishima when I wasn't doing mission reports!
USS Narwhal found the Kirishima in a task force in the Makassar Strait and attacked with 6 torpedoes, scoring 3 detonating hits. The Kirishima was apparently abandoned the next day. Narwhal was lightly damaged in retaliatory depth charge attacks, but escaped.

[Molon Labe]

26 August 1943
CVE Unyo torpedoed (and very likely sunk) near Truk
Pegu captured


SouthPAC
https://i.ibb.co/YdW7JLN/1943-Aug-26-Unyo.png

Overnight, Dutch submarine KXIV encountered the CVE Unyo in the company of several oilers near Truk. (This would be the 2nd carrier group I first spotted on the 24th). The KXIV fired 4 torpedoes at the Unyo and connected with three. There were no secondary explosions, but the damage nevertheless was severe and appears lethal. KXIV reported only 2 escorting destroyers, both of which engaged her after the attack, but they inflicted insignificant damage before the sub slipped away.

During the day, the KXIV again encountered the same replenishment task force. Unyo was not with them, and this time KXIV spotted a third escort (a kaibokan). It would be completely normal for the AI to automatically detach a damaged ship from a task force, but it would be given an escort. So if Unyo was detached, it would be weird to see more escorts with the task force instead of less; so her absence along with no escorts being missing would tend to confirm she went down. Even if she somehow made it to Truk, I don't expect her to be seaworthy again before the war ends.

An Avenger from VT-16 on Lexington claimed to have bombed an enemy submarine off the north coast of Rennel Island in the Solomons.


China
Our Beaufighters made a second attempt on the cargo ships traveling upriver to Wuchang, but this time they had Tonies flying CAP. We lost 4 Beaufighters, plus two more that went missing on the return trip, with no victories.

Our assault on Chenting failed, just barely. Casualties 1093 to 2475 favoring them. Might be able to get through if I rest a bit...maybe get some air support.


Burma
With my main force now in Pegu, we naturally attacked the enemy base. The enemy troops, worn down from constant bombing, were in no condition to fight, plus we outnumbered them by 2 to 1 anyway. Casualties 4850 to 750. Can we take Rangoon next?

[Ostfriese]

How are things with his pilots' qualitiy? Even though he might have up to eight CV available, he had already suffered enormous losses back in 1942, and as he continues to throw pilots and aircraft at you he can't have spent much time on training, so how good are his pilots by now?

[Molon Labe]

How are things with his pilots' qualitiy? Even though he might have up to eight CV available, he had already suffered enormous losses back in 1942, and as he continues to throw pilots and aircraft at you he can't have spent much time on training, so how good are his pilots by now?


Whenever we've faced his carrier pilots, they've seemed pretty good. I noticed a bit of a downtick in quality, but nothing he can't come back from. His land-based pilots (including Navy fighters operating from airbases), on the other hand, started getting better awhile ago, but it didn't last. They're the ones taking the heaviest losses and it shows.

[Molon Labe]

27 August 1943
Troop transports sunk by Vengeance dive bombers at Rangoon

SouthPAC
The KXIV torpedoed and destroyed a subchaser patrolling near Truk.


DEI
PT boats patrolling Babar noticed the enemy had laid mines there. I've detached a minesweeper from an amphibious group there to deal with it, and I'm sending another from Darwin to help.

The P-47s providing air cover for our Marines advancing on Timor were swept by George fighters, and once again the George came out ahead. 4 P-47s down, no victories. I guess Thunderbolts and Lightning aren't very frightening after all.


China
Light bombers attacked our troops at Chengting in two waves. We're definitely not going to win that fight if they're getting air support. I've moved a P-66 squadron to the area to try to catch them tomorrow.

I tried to sweep Wuchang to deal with the aircraft protecting the ships there, but I didn't take into account that my pilots had good offensive training but poor defensive training. We lost 2 P-40s while shooting down only 1 Tony.



Burma
A pair of unforced errors on my part resulted in unnecessary losses. First, after we cleared out the enemy from Pegu, I adjusted the bomber missions to attack Rangoon, but didn't adjust the long-range CAP. So the bombers attacked Rangoon without protection and ran into a dozen Zeroes, costing me 5 Wellington bombers. They mostly ignored the B-24s but one of the few that didn't was shot down.

Second, I didn't make sure the Hurricanes assigned to escort the Vengeance dive bombers had their drop tanks enabled. So at some point, the drop tanks were automatically deselected due to low supply levels and stayed that way. We spotted a convoy at Rangoon, so the dive bombers went after them, but the Hurricanes didn't have the range to escort them. There were 9 Zeroes left on CAP, which managed to splash 10 of the 23 dive bombers. But the 13 that got through scored a total of 9 500lb bomb hits spread between 4 transports, possibly sinking as many as 3 of them. 391 enemy troop casualties were reported--not sure if that means they're reinforcing or evacuating. We lost an 11th Vengeance when the damaged aircraft crash landed at base, killing the pilot.

Recon now reports the task force at Rangoon is mostly cruisers. The British CVBG has rearmed its torpedoes and had its maintenance done, so they're sprinting back to see if we can maybe get an Avenger strike on these ****ers before they leave.


Reinforcements, etc.
-Halsey is back at sea with the Essex CVBG, minus the battleships he had before as those are going to take much longer to repair after soaking the coastal battery fire at Ponape.
-I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I've solved our USN fighter problem for the time being. I had only sending trained pilots to the reserves from squadrons assigned to training at Pearl, then I remembered I had 9 CVEs that weren't doing anything but training pilots. There were enough veterans there to shuffle around to bring my CV and CVL pilots all up to my standards. One of those pilots that got moved was none other than CW McKlusky, who now has command of VF-16 aboard Lexington.
-Speaking of famous pilots, I'm not sure when it happened, but Jimmy Thatch and Noel Gayler were killed flying Corsairs with VF-3 out of Babar. They had 2 kills each. AO Vorse is listed MIA as well (3 kills). At least O'Hare is still alive and fighting (3 kills). Going to use a text crawler to see if I can find out when these guys bought it. (Edit: no luck, I think because none of them were aces their deaths didn't get reported)
-DE Levy arrives at Eastern US
-608th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

28 August 1943

DEI
The minefield at Babar wasn't very large. The detached minesweeper took care of it in a day.

5 George fighters tried to defend Ambon from our daily B-24 raid. 6 Aussie Kittyhawk (P-40) fighters defended the bombers; each side lost 1 fighter.


Philippine Sea
USS Seawolf torpedoed and sank a PB off the coast of Legaspi.


Burma
The task force in Rangoon stood off just outside Rangoon, far enough to get out of range of the Vengeances. P-40 sweeps over Rangoon had no joy. But, he did have a CAP over his ships, they just chose not to divert slightly to protect Rangoon. I did have a B-25 squadron on naval attack orders, and they were still in range. So they ran into the CAP--we lost 7 thanks to that.

The Victorious CVBG was detected by Betties on patrol... no strike came, but the presence of many (15) Zeroes on CAP over that task force made me reassess whether it was worth trying to get an Avenger strike on those ships. I'd be within Zero-escorted, torpedo-carrying range for Betties out of Port Victoria. They'd get through. Those ships aren't worth losing a carrier over; I'm sending them back to Columbo.


China
The Vanguards over Chengting got 5 Anna light bombers. Out of about 40 light bombers total. Not good enough.

At Wuchang, the P-40s took on the Tonies again... we lost 3 while only shooting down 1.

There was a river-borne amphibious assault against us at Kiukiang. Between the number of troops they brought in overland and these guys, I don't think I'll be able to hold on. I'd also ordered an attack this turn, thinking I outnumbered the enemy enough to push them out. The defensive terrain bonus had other ideas. Casualties 75 to 1288 favoring them.

We spotted yet more enemy forces on the eastern flank of Canton as our reinforcements are moving overland.


SouthPAC
There are at least 4 enemy subs prowling the Solomons, two of which are very near my CVBGs, currently at Shortlands. One of those CVBGs was spotted by a scout aircraft.

Intel reported 28 Judies destroyed today. The only thing I can think this means is they were aboard the Unyo and it went down today.


Reinforcements
VRF-5F arrives at San Francisco
No.119 Sqn RAAF arrives at Canberra
No.17 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
1st USMC Amphb Tank Battalion arrives at San Diego
5th RNZAF Base Force arrives at Auckland
6th RAF Advanced Base Force arrives at Calcutta
7th RAF Advanced Base Force arrives at Calcutta

[Molon Labe]

29 August 1943
Lexington CV-16 hit by two torpedoes while attempting to withdraw from submarine threat
More enemy transport losses at Rangoon

SouthPAC
I thought I was playing it safe by ordering Lex and Yorktown to leave the Solomons and head back to the Coral Sea area to get away from the surging enemy sub presence. Well, I walked right into one. Lex took two hits. Fortunately, the damage was not severe. I've detached Lex along with a bunch of destroyers and gave the rest of her task force to Yorktown. She's headed back to Pearl. Sydney is closer, but their shipyards suck and it'll probably take them months instead of weeks to patch these holes. The enemy sub got away mostly unscathed, just some minor damage from near misses.


DEI
There was a significant fighter presence (16) waiting for my B-24s at Ambon today. I thought he'd given up on saving these guys. We lost one Australian Kittyhawk trying to protect the bombers, no other losses on either side.

Our attack on Dili, Timor commences tomorrow.



Burma
They brought the task force into Rangoon after all, and it was transports again, not cruisers. The CAP over the task force ended up going after the B-24s hitting Rangoon and got worn down to essentially nothing. 1 Zero actually shot down, along with 2 B-24s lost. But that opened up the skies for my Beaufighters and Vengeances later in the day. Only one Zero intercepted the Beaufighters, and they shot it down. The 15 Beaufighters managed only 3 bomb hits spread between 2 transports--unimpressive--and one was shot down by AA fire.
xAP Teifu Maru, Bomb hits 1
xAP Kitano Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire

The Vengeances did better, 16 aircraft scoring 17 hits between 4 ships--all of which might go down depending on damage control:
xAP Kamo Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
AV Sagara Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAP Dairen Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Kanzyu Maru, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk

No troop casualties reported, so it looks like this was reinforcement rather than evacuation.

We now have base forces in Pegu, so starting tomorrow we'll have P-40s and Beaufighters based right next to Rangoon. We'll see what trying to support that is going to do to our supply lines, though.


Japan
USS Haddo torpedoed and destroyed a mine tender (being used in an ASW role) near Tanegashima. This is a very poor use of mine tenders, IMO. Japan doesn't have enough of them to maintain minefields in all their harbors, and they suck in this role.


South China Sea
USS Capelin torpedoed and sank a PB escorting a tanker convoy off the northwest coast of Borneo. I wish she would have gone after a tanker instead; hopefully this convoy will be more vulnerable to other subs at it nears the Philippines.


China
The enemy has reinforced Chengting sufficiently that I won't be able to take it. I'm falling back to Taiyuan. Hopefully they follow, I'll have a good defensive bonus there and will be able to inflict more casualties if they attack.

[Molon Labe]

30 August 1943

DEI
S-28 torpedoed and sank a PB off the coast of Kendari

A sweep of Ambon by P-38s got rid of 2 Tojos and a Tony with no losses.

We've captured Dili. We'll make an airbase of it soon.


China
The CAF just can't handle the IJA in the air... 4 P-40s lost over Wuchang, no victories.

Burma
Recon flights over Port Victoria report over 100 bombers on the ground there. I wonder what they're waiting for.

Reinforcements
5th BG/394th BS Det arrives at San Francisco (B-24s)
80th FG/459th FS arrives at Karachi (2 P-38s; transitioned them immediately to 25 P-47s)
311th FBG/529th FBS arrives at Aden (14 A-36 (P-51 fighter-bomber variants))
101st Heavy AA Regiment arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

31 August 1943

Burma
The enemy has started night bombing on Pegu. Damage was minor and he lost 2 Sallies to flak. I'm moving in night fighters. The base is already a bit overstacked relative to the amount of aviation support there, though.

He had a decent CAP of Tonies and Nicks over Rangoon today, which cost me 2 B-24s. P-38s swept later and got one of each. P-40s out of Pegu were supposed to be patrolling over Rangoon but did not intervene with the CAP. My guess is supply levels at Pegu were too low throughout the day to maintain my own CAP.

Beaufighters from Pegu (9) attempted to attack troop transports well south near Mergui. There were 2 Zeros on CAP, both sides fought briefly with no shootdowns occuring. Then the Beaus proceeded to completely miss on their low altitude bombing runs on the transports.


Solomons and New Britain
I've got a couple task forces at Rabaul shuffling some troops around for the invasion of Guadalcanal. One of these was approached by a sub. HMAS Nizam spotted the sub and inflicted moderate depth charge damage on it before losing contact.


Sulu Sea
PBs successfully escorted at least 4 tankers past the waiting USS Muskallunge, along the chain of islands and the north end of the Sulu Sea. At least we have confirmation this route is active.


DEI
George fighters attempted to stop the B-24 raids on Ambon. The bombers got one George with no losses. P-38s swept Ambon later, but no one was left in the air to greet them.


Reinforcements
APA Neville arrives at Balboa
311th FBG/528th FBS arrives at Aden (More A-36 Mustangs)
8th RAF Advanced Base Force arrives at Calcutta

[Molon Labe]

1 September 1943
US landings underway at Namlea

Japan
USS Tuna came across a lone minetender, in the open ocean east of Okinawa, on ASW patrol and destroyed it with a torpedo hit.


Burma
George fighters swept Pegu, shooting down 5 P-40s, with 3 losses.

Enemy tanks crossed the river from Rangoon to Bassien. I only have a few paratroopers here so they can probably take it from me. I don't really see the benefit of doing so, though.


DEI
George fighters swept Boela, shooting down 3 P-47s while taking just 1 loss.

I have an amphibious task force unloading at Namlea, which is just west of Ambon. I'll probably go north from here, once I have a good sized airbase set up here.

B-25s and PBYs attempted naval strike missions on what I presume to be ASW task forces, but failed to locate their targets.


SouthPAC
Beaufort bombers flying out of Shortlands reported bombing a Japanese sub.

Dutch sub KXIV was bombed near Truk and is returning to base for repairs.

[Molon Labe]

2 September 1943
Amphibious task forces suffer heavy losses in surface hit-and-run attack
US submarine fleet has an especially productive day


South China Sea
USS Hoe torpedoed and sank a PB near Singapore.

USS Capelin torpedoed and sank a cargo ship off the northeastern coast of Borneo.


DEI
Our landings at Namlea, nearly complete, were interrupted by the appearance of an enemy surface combat task force (2CA, 10DD). Our force was protected by 2CL and 5 DD. It ended up being a complete slaughter. Before sunrise we'd lost both CLs, 2 DD, 1 APA, 1 AKA, 4 LST, 6 LCT, and 9 PT. Damage to the enemy force was insignificant.

We tried to get them back from the air but it didn't work out. 4 PBYs went first, only to find the task force with nearly 50 fighters overhead. One was shot down before they escaped. Beaufighters went next, taking 10 losses without ever reaching the ships. B-25s attempted low level attacks as well, taking 4 losses and also not getting to the ships. I may have screwed up a bit here... There was a dive bomber squadron in Boela that might have been able to get in on this and be far more effective. But due to overstacking I'd stood them down for the day to prioritize giving the phibs fighter cover. I should have stood down the Beaufighters instead. At the time I was thinking more range was better.


B-24 raids on Ambon reportedly destroyed a Tony and a Judy on the ground. 4 Tojos opposed the raid, nowhere near enough to stop it. A P-38 sweep arrived later and shot down 2 of them.



Celebes Sea
USS Peto torpedoed and sank 2 PBs off the southern Philippine coast, in two separate attacks.


Bay of Bengal/Burma
USS Puffer torpedoed and sank a PB off the coast of Port Blair.

Georges swept Bassein (adjacent to Rangoon), shooting down 5 P-40s with no losses.


Reinforcements
SS Archerfish arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

3 September 1943

Solomons
I'm trying pretty hard to reduce the enemy sub presence around Shortlands with air patrols and destroyers. And we did get one...probably at least 3 more to go.


Burma
The enemy took back Bassein with little resistance. The enemy troops appear to be dividing themselves further, one unit moving east to the flank of my main force, the other headed north. North bothers me a little as that's going to interfere with me turning Prome into a new airbase. I still really don't get it--it looks like I have enough troops to retake Rangoon, and he's dividing up his forces as if to make it easier for me. Maybe he really is confident he can hold Rangoon. Maybe there's something I'm not seeing.

He tried to sweep Pegu with just 3 Tonies, we shot down 1 with no losses.

My bombing raids on Rangoon hit a transport I didn't know was there, probably sinking it.


DEI
He seems to be recommitting to defending Ambon--20 Zeroes and 5 Georges on CAP to greet our bombers today. We lost 3 B-24s and they shot down one of the Zeroes. A later P-38 sweep got 2 Georges and 4 Zeroes with no losses.

B-25s attempted a low level attack against a transport convoy at Kendari, but it was well-defended by 4 Zeroes and 20 Tonies. That cost us 7 B-25s, a few made attack runs but no one hit.


Reinforcements
SS Tally Ho arrives at Aden
APA Harry Lee arrives at Cristobal

[Molon Labe]

4 September 1943

Solomons
One of our destroyer task forces prosecuted another sub, but only lightly damaged it before running themselves out of depth charges. They've been busy.

Beaufort bombers flying out of Shortlands reported two hits on submarines in the same hex as the destroyers, good chance that was the same guy.

DEI
24 P-38s swept Ambon with 4 Georges opposing--we got all 4 suffering 1 loss.

South of Makasar, 6 B-25G made a low level attack on an ASW group, failing to connect with any bombs but strafing a subchaser and a kaibokan with .50cal and 75mm cannon fire.

Another ASW group fell pray to its intended target, USS Seadragon destroying a subchaser with a Mk14 hit.


Burma
Beaufighters flying out of Pegu attacked an enemy surface combat task force at Tavoy, scoring one bomb hit on the light cruiser Naka, and strafing the Naka and a destroyer for minor damage.


China
We suffered a ground attack at Kiukang but held them off, casualties about even at 888(J) to 846(A). Good news for us.

Sinyang (northeast of the central Wuchang area) saw combat for the first time in a very long time, the IJA 9th Division attacking what it didn't realize was a superior force. Casualties were 134(J) to 158(A), that it wasn't worse for them showing the superior quality of the Japanese troops.

Meanwhile, our Hong Kong area reinforcements have gotten to work clearing out the enemy troops which had begun to spread out and encircle Canton, which just makes them easier to defeat piecemeal of course. Losses 4463(J) to 1060(A), one hex taken, onto the next.


Reinforcements
DE Bebas arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

5 September 1943
Guadalcanal landings underway, assault on Rangoon begins

Solomons
A minesweeper on ASW duty found a japanese sub and lightly damaged it before it slipped away.

Burma
An enemy bombardment task force (1CA, 1CL, 6DD) made a surprise attack on Pegu. Damage was light thanks to there only being 1 heavy cruiser--several aircraft damaged but not destroyed, light airbase damage. The task force was gone by sunrise. I assume they came from Port Blair. This is not the same task force hit by Beaufighters yesterday.

Deciding I needed more air support with the enemy moving troops out of Rangoon, I got the Vengeance dive bombers involved in ground attack. We ran into Tonies protecting the troops, which shot down 2 escorting Hurricanes and 1 bomber. We didn't get any of them.

Our main force is now at Rangoon and has carried out a preliminary bombardment attack just to try to confirm that we have what we need. The good news is we outmatch them about 4-to-1 in assault strength. The bad news is our supply lines are so attenuated that the bombardment attack actually cost us a substantial amount of supplies. Oops.


China
Somehow I forgot to make sure our Luzon-strait-covering Beaufighters wouldn't attack near Wuchang... so they did their thing again attacking ships that had come upriver. Fortunately we only lost 2 and took 1 Tony with us.


Celebes Sea
B-25Gs flying out of the new-ish base at Beola came all the way up to the eastern edge of the Celebes to attack an ASW group, sinking a PB with a bomb hit and damaging a subchaser with strafing runs.


SouthPAC
USS Scorpion torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship near Truk.

We're landing on troops on the empty western side of Guadalcanal. This avoids a contested amphibious assault and lets us set up a supply base of our own. I expect to find the enemy troops essentially broken after months of being cut off and bombed daily.


DEI
The severely damaged USS Pike is being given one more chance to make it to Darwin. She tried to make the trip there from Saumlaki but suffered additional flooding almost immediately and aborted, automatically docking at Babar. If she needs to abort again, in recognition that this sub needs to be withdrawn soon and is already going to end up costing me political points to keep "in service" long enough to repair her to get her out of theatre, I'm going to need to scuttle her.


Reinforcements
DD Burns arrives at Balboa
VP-62 arrives at Oak Harbor

[Molon Labe]

6 September 1943
Rangoon will have to wait--combat engineers are not optional
But maybe Wuchang?


SouthPAC
USS Herring hit a cargo ship with a Mk14 near Truk. The damage does not appear to be lethal, so it can probably make it to Truk for repairs.


DEI
An enemy midget sub torpedoed and sank an LCI near Namlea. Forturnately it was empty, having already delivered construction engineers to the new base.


Burma
I'm making another landing on the Burma coast, mostly base forces along with badly needed combat engineers...more on that later. I'd originally intended for this task force to go all the way to Pegu, but the massive bomber presence on Port Blair means that's a bad idea. But I also can't wait anymore. So overland on crappy roads these troops will go.

Nick and Tony fighterst attempted to defend Rangoon from our B-24 raid, that battle resulted in 2 Nicks shot down, with us losing a P-40 and 2 B-24s. Bomber targets have switched from airbase/port facilities to the enemy troops themselves to aid in the ground assault.

We attempted a shock attack on Rangoon, encountering level 3 forts. Casualties were 2943 (J) to 4341 (A), and critically, we did not reduce the fortifications. So... even at 4 to 1 assault strength, it's not enough. Those combat engineers already landing up the coast will be needed to break through. So, I'll need to change strategy a bit--move my troops out of Rangoon and encircle it. Maybe take Moulmein first. During that time I'll try to kill off as many enemy troops outside of Rangoon that I can, and continue to build up bases close to Rangoon so I can fly sorties without drop tanks as much, or just needing fewer fighter sorties total. Keeping supplies up is going to be challenging, but I might be willing to risk a delivery to Pegu if the cargo ships have land-based air protection the whole way. Building up Pegu and Prome will be key to that.


China
I swept Wuchang again, but instead of using Chinese AF P-40Es, I attacked with USAAF P-40Ks. The P-40K really is a much better aircraft, and having better pilots helps too...8 enemy Tonies down, no losses.

Having noticed that he pulled a lot of troops out of Wuchang to try to attack the rather low-value space of Kuikiang, and was even moving troops out of here for the Sinyang attack, I decided to just go for it, moving my main force at Changsha to make a play on Wuchang. They've arrived and it looks like our assault power ratio is 5.5 to 1. Looks pretty good, hopefully good enough to overcome likely high-level fortifications.
https://i.ibb.co/ZhnZSmJ/1943-Sept-06-China.png


Marshalls
We detected 3 ships near Roi-Namur, no classification. Probably either evacuating troops or trying to add supplies to maybe bring an airbase online-enough to send searchplanes out. Sending 3 DD from Midway... Essex isn't that far away either.


Celebes Sea
S-27, patrolling the chokepoint between the Celebes and Makassar Strait, was bombed by a Japanese aircraft. Damage is severe--she's trying to make it back to Darwin, but I'm not that hopeful.

[Molon Labe]

7 September 1942
No, not Wuchang either...

Burma
The enemy attempted night bombing raids on Pegu--one of the few places I have night fighters stationed. We shot down 2, no damage on the ground.

There were 11 fighters on CAP opposing bombing raids of Rangoon--sadly, enough to do real damage. 4 B-24s were shot down, they lost 1 Tony.


Japan
USS Trout scored single hit on a Type 1 TL tanker (9975 tons) east of Okinawa. Not enough damage on a ship this size to bring it down. No fires, so probably outbound and empty. Trout received some depth charge damage from its escorts.


South China Sea
USS Sargo sank a PB escorting a tanker convoy along the northern coast of Borneo. Really wish these guys would shoot the tankers instead!


DEI
P-38 sweeps of Kendari broke about even--3 P-38s down but we got 3 Zeroes and 1 Tony.


China
P-40 sweeps shot down 5 of the 7 Tonies on CAP over Wuchang.

Japanese forces attacked Kiukiang over-river, causing an automatic shock attack and heavy losses - 2194(J) to 37(A).

I made my shock attack on Wuchang. Forts were level 4 and we did NOT reduce them, despite combat engineer embedded in most of the main infantry corps. Casualties 354(J) to 2403(A). So I'm not going to get this either. I'm just going to focus on eliminating any enemy troops being used offensively for now. Hopefully I'll be able to muster a proper concentrated counterattack after that.


Marshalls
Our destroyers never found that 3-ship task force reported at Roi-Namur, which was probably a good thing. Catalinas spotted and attacked them at Eniwetok (not far east from the recent hotspot of Ponape)--they're led by a light cruiser.


Celebes Sea
S-27 succumbed to the damage it took yesterday.

[Molon Labe]

8 September 1943
High-value tanker sunk as enemy tanker convoy attacked on consecutive days


DEI
They destroyer-minelayer USS Pruitt was approaching Namlea to lay a minefield there to deter the midget subs infesting the area, when she herself hit a mine. She quickly sank. The other DM aborted the mission.

Another small disaster... the larger of 2 P-38 squardons ordered to sweep Kendari failed to make the trip, and the smaller group--just 7 operational aircraft--went up against 16 Georges. Only 3 made it back, no victories.


Andaman Sea
USS Hake scored a pair of hits on an Aden class cargo ship off Sabang (northwest coast of Sumatra), sinking it. Vehicle losses were reported, so it was carrying some kind of land unit.


Burma
More night raids on Pegu. The enemy lost one bomber to the nightCAP, another to flak. Again, no damage on the ground.

P-40s sweeping Rangoon disposed of 1 enemy Tony. It was enough... no bomber losses today.


Japan
USS Sunfish hit the same tanker convoy hit by Trout yesterday, this time scoring 2 hits on a (brand new) Type 1 TL tanker, starting a massive fire as its oil cargo ignited. So it's an inbound convoy after all. Moving west-northwest which would make it bound for Tokyo. No way that tanker survives.


Reinforcements
CVL Cowpens arrives at Balboa
DD Hazelwood arrives at San Francisco
DE Charles R. Greer arrives at Mare Island
PF Long Beach arrives at Mare Island
Provisionl Tank Brigade arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

9 September 1943

DEI
We've got a minesweeper dealing with the minefield that cost us a DM the other day.

Sweep of Kendari went much better this time, as I stood the weak P-38 squadron down and the strong one managed to find the target this time. We lost 2 P-38s but shot down 4 Nicks and 4 Georges. That was out of 31 fighters on patrol total.

Kendari is currently home to an obscene amount of ships, something of a forward naval base. They should be in range from Namlea...and if I can get that CAP strength down below 25 or so I should be able to get some dive bombers in without suffering obscene casualties like I've been. Assuming they fly with their escorts, anyway. I'm building up Namlea and Dili as fast as possible to hopefully catch a break here.


Burma
The enemy CAP was only 1 fighter, enough to shoot down a sweeping P-40 and disappear, though.

Bombing raid hit a transport at dock. Probably the same one as awhile back, the shipyards are keeping it alive.

Our base forces from the first of the 2 coastal landings have reached Prome. So have enemy units breaking out of Rangoon. I'm not sure how many there are but I'm hoping they've been seriously softened up by bomber attacks on the way up.



China
The Wuchang CAP was down to just 3 Tonies, P-40 sweep shot one more down.

I intentionally let the Beaufighters have another crack at the ships here. They had 6 Tonies back on CAP by the time we arrived, which cost us 1 Beaufighter. But we got a solid hit on an AKL, possibly sinking it.

Our land forces cleared out another hex near Canton, casualties 2600 to 500 favoring us.


Reinforcements and Intel
AGC Blue Ridge arrives at Balboa
TK D.G. Scofield arrives at Portland
VF(N)-75 arrives at Eastern USA (nightfigher Corsairs)
VF-17 arrives at Los Angeles
607th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco
183rd USAAF Base Force arrives at San Francisco


Intel reports Kaga sank 9/6/43 just outside Hiroshima. I'm very skeptical of this report, since if she was really that badly damaged when she approached Japan, our subs should have been able to spot her due to her reduced speed--hard to slip by unnoticed when it takes you a week to get through the danger zone.

[Molon Labe]

10 September 1943
USMC dive bombers wipe out an ASW group near Kendari, British dive bombers hit troop transport convoy docked at Rangoon

DEI
Looks like our minesweeper has already finished clearing the mines at Namlea.

I probably should have adjusted my strike parameters to prevent this, but, that force I've been gathering to strike the enemy naval presence at Kendari attacked the ASW group patrolling just outside Kendari. That set off an air battle between 17 Hellcats and 22 Zeroes, 11 Tojos, and 18 Tonies. But the fighters pretty much just fought to a standstill - just 1 F6F, 1 Tony, and 1 Tojo shot down prior to the SBDs making their attacks:


E Hirashima, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
PB Toko Maru #4, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC Ch 6, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-39, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk


Unfortunately, on the way out, the SBDs took 6 losses. And, several damaged Hellcats went down on the way back. The biggest price paid: 2 aces KIA and a third missing. Could have been a lot worse though. Not worth it for 4 ASW ships.

A P-38 sweep came into Kendari later, taking care of 3 Georges but taking 1 loss.

Well, if he didn't know how much danger his fleet is in Kendari, he does now. Gonna try to hit it tomorrow.

Burma
P-40s sweeping Rangoon took out 3 Zeroes on CAP. Total CAP strength had only been 4 Zeroes and a Nick.

The enemy unit at Prome is what's left of the 9th Tank Regiment. It's been getting bombed ever since it left Rangoon, but got an extra helping today to protect our base forces that just moved in--70 Medium and 7 heavy bombers total. The enemy unit was completely combat ineffective when they tried to attack and ended up retreating from the hex. I don't think I've ever seen the attacking side of a land battle retreat before.

The daily B-24 raid on Rangoon hit that transport in the shipyard yet again. Maybe we finally sunk her this time.

At some point in the day, a transport task force was detected in Rangoon's docks, so the Vengeance dive bombers went back to their primary mission. The CAP over the base was only 3 Zeroes and a Nick at this point, nothing 13 escorting Hurricanes and a few P-40s on patrol nearby couldn't keep occupied. So, there were no air losses, and we scored several hits on the ships:


xAK Tsukuba Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
xAK Heian Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
xAK Chowa Maru
xAK Mansyu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AK Awazisan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
38 casualties reported on the ground, but that will hopefully get much worse as the fires burn and ships sink.


China
P-40 sweep at Wuchang got another 4 Tonies.

[Molon Labe]

11 September 1943
Air raid on Kendari catches transport convoy

DEI
The minesweeper that just finished clearing Namlea found an enemy midget sub and sank it.

The raid on Kendari started with B-24s that had been rebased from Darwin to Saumlaki. These targeted the airbase and port facility--peformance was rather poor. The enemy CAP had been strengthened considerably since the ASW group was hit yesterday: 45 Zeroes, 15 Tojos, 7 Georges. The B-24s arrived in waves instead of all together, helping the CAP out a bit. We ended up losing 14 B-24s, costing them just 2 Tojos and a Zero. Damage inflicted on the base was negligible. The heavy cruiser Suzuya took a single hit dockside.

The P-38s arrived next to sweep the skies--too bad they didn't beat the B-24s--and with just one loss they managed to take down 3 Zeroes, a Tojo and 2 Georges.

When the main raid of 30 Hellcats at 32 SBD-5s arrived, enemy CAP strength was only 17 Zeroes, 2 Tojos, and a George. The enemy fought especially well despite these horrible odds shooting down 6 Hellcats while only taking 2 Zero losses. The SBDs did OK:

xAK Kosin Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Oyodo
xAP Koan Maru
xAP Kobe Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Miike Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Yokohama Maru, Bomb hits 1
xAK Zenyo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
634 casualties reported

So that's interesting that these ships were apparently loaded up with troops. Probably evacuating since yesterday's raid probably told them this area was too hot. 14 heavy bombers--and one more Hellcat ace--was a high price to pay, but sinking the ships while they were loaded with troops probably made it worth it. My bombers are a lot more replaceable than the troops.



Burma/Andaman Sea
USS Puffer torpedoed a troop-carrying cargo ship off Port Blair. The damage would be lethal on the open sea, but I can't confirm whether the ship went down before reaching the nearby port.

We attacked the troop convoy at Rangoon again. First up were 6 Beaufighers out of neighboring Pegu. The enemy had re-established their CAP with 22 fighters total while only 1 P-40 on patrol assisted the Beaufigters, so the mission was aborted but not before the P-40 and 2 Beaus were shot down.

P-40 sweeps arrived after, shooting down a George and a Tony.

Mirroring the Kendari raid, the dive bombers arrived next. The 4 enemy fighters on patrol shot down 3 Hurricanes but never got to the bombers. Three more enemy ships went down:
xAK Chihaya Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Rasin Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Ryoyo Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
Sadly, these were not loaded with troops; anyone they were dropping off is already part of Rangoon's garrison.

On the ground, troops sallying from Pegu cleared out a small enemy unit that had left Rangoon to block the road north to Magwe, which is needed for supply to come down to keep our troops in action.


China
Having eliminated the CAP over Wuchang, the Beaufighters were free to attack again. I only had 4 available, but it was enough to put 5 bombs into a light cargo ship and sink it.

We suffered another ground assault at Kiukiang, casualties 721 (J) to 1597(A). We're probably not going to hold out too much longer there.


Reinforcements
159th USA Base Force arrives at Eastern USA
229th USN Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Ostfriese]

War in the Pacific is on sale on matrixgames.com (for 16 Euros instead of 80 during the holiday sale). How difficult is it to get it to work on modern operating systems (Windows 10 / 11)?

[Molon Labe]

War in the Pacific is on sale on matrixgames.com (for 16 Euros instead of 80 during the holiday sale). How difficult is it to get it to work on modern operating systems (Windows 10 / 11)?


Not so bad. You may have to add a few flags to the startup code.

[Molon Labe]

12 September 1943
Severe bomber losses in the Dutch East Indies

Solomons
The New Mexico and Arizona are back in action bombarding Guadalcanal in advance of the troops marching on the enemy from the west side of the island.

DEI
Day 2 of my strikes on Kendari began with a P-38 sweep that knocked out 2 Tojos, a Nick, 3 Tonies and 4 Zeroes. 3 P-38s were lost. However, that was out of a whopping 67 aircraft on CAP, so we didn't reduce them by much.

Then came a raid--27 Hellcats escorting 40 SBD-5s. Enemy CAP strength was 45. Only two fighters on each side were shot down but the SBDs took heavy losses--33. And nothing of value was found in the naval base for them to bomb, the enemy had apparently already left.

The next raid targeted the KB which was entering the area south of Makassar. This was 10 P-40s and 17 P-47s escorting 32 SBD-5s out of the new base at Dili. The enemy CAP was 54 fighters and we got massacred. 9 P-47s, 4 P-40s down with only a Rufe and a Zero shot down for us. All 32 SBDs were shot down without reaching the task force.


Burma
B-24 raids over Rangoon ran into substantial fighter resistance. We lost a P-40 and one bomber, with them losing one Zero. A 2nd B-24 was shot down by flak. The Kitano Maru, apparently the toughest ship around, took another hit at the docks but still hasn't sunk yet.

USS Pompon but 2 Mk14s into a cargo ship at Port Blair for a kill.


China
A ground attack at Kiukiang failed to overrun our base but caused 1631(J) to 1540 (A) casualties.


Reinforcements
DD Conner arrives at Eastern USA
DD Nicholson arrives at Balboa
AS Maidstone arrives at Cape Town
No.21 Sqn RAAF arrives at Sydney
9th Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco
81st (West African) Division arrives at Mombasa

[Molon Labe]

13 September 1943
KB goes to Ambon - evacuation of troops likely underway - Shokaku and Akagi end the day burning


DEI
Well it really sucks that I took such heavy losses attacking an empty port yesterday because the KB is here and went straight to Ambon, and the main objective for all my airbases in the area is to deny the enemy the use of the sea to evacuate their massive troop concentration there. But it's not like I have nothing left...


The first raid was 14 Corsairs and 14 P-47s escorting 16 SBD-5s and 11 Beaufort torpedo bombers out of Babar. Enemy CAP strength opposing this raid was 76! Apparently they moved some fighters to Ambon too to supplement the KBs fighters. This raid never made it to the ships; all 16 SBDs were shot down along with 5 Beauforts, 1 F4U and 2 P-47s.


The raid from Saumlaki was next, 16 Hellcats escorting 35 Helldivers. Enemy CAP strength was still 62 at this point, more than enough to handle this. We lost 7 Hellcats and 21 SB2Cs. 14 SB2Cs actually managed attacks on the enemy task force, going after Zuikaku, Akagi, Musashi, and Ise, but all their bombs missed. 2 Helldivers were lost to flak.


Low level attacks came next with 12 B-25Gs attacking unescorted. 3 were shot down by the CAP and 2 more by flak. They attacked Musashi, Haruna, and Zuikaku with no hits. That was followed by 9 Beaufort torpedo bombers. Enemy CAP strength was down to 28 at this point, between losses (6 Zeroes), damage, maintenance, refueling/rearming. 6 of them got through and fired torpedoes at Akagi and the CA Chikuma--but missed.


The Babar air forces tried again in the afternoon, marshalling just 9 divebombers and 18 fighters against a CAP of 53. The raid was mostly aborted, with 2 bombers shot down. Similarly, a follow up raid of just 3 Beauforts and 15 fighters was routed with all 3 bombers shot down and a P-40 shot down. The fighters at least got a Zero and a Rufe.


Then success finally came with the 2nd B-25G raid of the day. They mostly evaded the CAP and got in low and fast:
CV Shokaku, Bomb hits 6, on fire
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CS Chiyoda
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 3
DD Tokitsukaze
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 1
DD Amatsukaze
DD Niizuki
BB Ise, Bomb hits 2
DD Susuzuki, Shell hits 1


Shokaku should be disabled and hopefully fighting for her life after that.


China
Kiukiang has finally fallen. Casualties 2004 to 9807 favoring them.


Reinforcements
APD Overton arrives at Balboa
AM Impeccable arrives at Alameda
SS Devilfish arrives at Eastern USA
311th FBG/530th FBS arrives at Aden
211th Coast AA Regiment arrives at Mare Island

[Molon Labe]

14 September 1943

DEI
Submarine S-28 attempted an attack on the enemy fleets at Ambon and ended up getting badly depth charged. It's limping back to Darwin.

O-19 also attempted an attack, striking a destroyer with a torpedo before also being depth charged badly enough to need to abort and RTB.

South of Makassar, USS Seadragon intercepted a convoy of mostly-destroyers but with a few transports included. It torpedoed and sank a Kaibokan and got away nearly undamaged.

1 CL and 4DD bombarded our base at Dili, destroying a P-40 and a Spitfire on the ground and disabling several more aircraft.

A B-25G squadron apparently decided Ambon was too hot, so went all the way west to Kolaka, Makassar to shoot up enemy shipping. They sank a PB and severely damaged a SC, which will probably also go down.

9 SBD-5s showed up at Ambon unescorted somehow. We lost 5 of them before they pulled out. Enemy CAP strength was 60 -- I really thought it would be lower after the Shokaku took that beating yesterday.


China
We cleared out another hex around Canton. I think it's safe to say the enemy forces remaining here aren't a threat. Casualties 5619 to 1604.


Marshalls
I've had intermittent contact with small convoys around the Marshalls for the last week or so, so I'd sent in a few destroyers to try to interdict them. We finally hit pay dirt today, with a task force of 3 DD sinking a cargo ship and subchaser off Tarawa. They then located another cargo ship escorted by PB and another subchaser and sank them too.


Reinforcements
DD Chauncey arrives at Balboa
LST-38 arrives at Balboa
LST-40 arrives at Cristobal
DE Godavari arrives at Aden
No.5 Sqn RAAF arrives at Cloncurry
VMO-251 arrives at San Diego
24th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

15 September 1943
KB somehow avoids serious damage as constant raids wear down their fighter screen - but PT boats cause serious enemy troop losses on the beach.


DEI
SS KXII took some depth charge damage off Kendari from an ASW patrol. Didn't take them long to get another one there after losing one a few days ago.

I attempted a rare night torpedo attack with 3 Beuforts against shipping at Ambon. They attacked a troop transport and missed, 1 was lost to flak.

The Akagi--still at Ambon (I actually thought they pulled out yesterday)--hit a mine.

Next a PT squadron arrived after heading north from Babar. At the cost of 8 of the 12 PT boats, we scored several hits on transports getting loaded up on the beaches:


CL Katori
DD Urakaze
E Manazuru
E W-16
E Naryu
AK Sasako Maru, Shell hits 2
AK Kaga Maru
AK Kinka Maru
AK Tosan Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AK Ayatosan Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Tatsuta Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Terukuni Maru
xAP Hakone Maru
xAP Hakozaki Maru
xAP Hakusan Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire
xAP Kashima Maru, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Husimi Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAP Suwa Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Buenos Aires Maru, Shell hits 4
xAP Horai Maru, Shell hits 1
xAP Yoshino Maru, Shell hits 1
xAP Ukishima Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
Japanese ground losses:
7560 casualties reported

So I guess the PTs did what the dive bombers couldn't, making sure Ambon was a grave for as many Japanese soldiers as possible. I wish it could have been more.

We did follow that up with another air raid, 34 Hellcats and 18 P-40s escorting 35 Avengers, 3 SBDs, and 3 Beauforts. Enemy CAP strength was 80! Despite having the Shokaku pounded and the Akagi now hit twice! Only 8 Avengers got through, firing torpedoes at Ise, Zuikaku, and Akagi--no hits. We lost 4 Hellcats, 5 P-40s, all 3 SBDs, 2 Beauforts, and 28 of the Avengers. Our fighters only shot down 1 Nick during this raid!

B-24 raids on Ambon resumed now that those squadrons have had time to repair their planes from the Kendari strikes. 2 were shot down--and they got two Zeroes. Damage to the port facilities were minimal.

A sweep by 24 P-47s arrived next, finally we got some enemy fighters shot down. No P-47 losses, the enemy lost a Nick, a George, and 5 Zeroes. Enemy CAP strength was down to just 8 planes prior to the fight.

32 SBD-5s arrived next unescorted, but by this point the enemy CAP was worn down to just 1 Zero, which shot down just 1 SBD. These bombers attacked Zuiakaku, Shokaku, Akagi, and Musashi--and all missed. 2 more were lost to flak. 9 Beauforts then attacked at low level, firing torpedoes at the Mushashi, Ise, and Shokaku, and again all missed. 2 were shot down by flak.

Next 15 Hellcats and 19 P-40s arrived with 19 SBD-5s. At this point there was no enemy CAP left. The bombers attacked Haruna, Mushashi, Ise, Shokaku, and Akagi, scoring just 1 hit on Mushashi and 3 hits on Ise (starting a fire). Damage did not appear serious.

In the afternoon, Boela tried to attack again with what was left of its Avengers--just 3--escorted by 11 P-40s and 21 Hellcats. The enemy CAP had recovered at this point and was back up to 37 aircraft. Only 1 Avenger got through, firing a torpedo at Zuikaku, which missed. The raid cost 6 Hellcats, 2 P-40s, and all 3 Avengers. Our fighters brought down a Nick and 2 Zeroes.


Reinforcements
DD Kimberly arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

16 September 1943
The end of the Akagi?
Prome captured


Philippine Sea
USS Silversides torpedoed a Tonan Whaler-class tanker near the Palau Islands, setting its cargo on fire. The ship doesn't have much of a chance thanks to the fires.


Burma
The 5th Indian Division is now being landed on the Burmese coast.


Vengeance dive bombers hit more ships docking in Rangoon:
xAK Nako Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Keisyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nozima Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 17 (6 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 83 (42 destroyed, 41 disabled)


And some B-25Gs got in on the fun:
xAK Nissyu Maru, Shell hits 2, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nozima Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 11 (7 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 24 (4 destroyed, 20 disabled)


2nd Vengeance wave:
xAK Nozima Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nissyu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 27 (17 destroyed, 10 disabled)


B-25G raid #2:
xAK Nozima Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Nitti Maru, Shell hits 4
xAK Nissyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Keisyo Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 16 (13 destroyed, 3 disabled)


A Beaufighter was shot down by a Zero trying to get that last stubborn cargo ship.

Weather over Prome was horrible, so despite having many aircraft ordered to target the enemy unit attacking there, we flew no sorties against this unit, which turned out to be tanks... lots of tanks. Prome has been captured, casualties 238 to 4704, our engineers are retreating towards Magwe. Enemy paratroopers also seized Toungoo, north of Pegu along the rail lines, and Meiktila, a base in the central area I chose not to build up or guard. We have local forces adjacent to both these incursions to fight them off with. A third paratrooper assault targeted Magwe, which has a substantial garrison; the enemy troops were immediately wiped out.


DEI
B-24 raids on Ambon pulled some Corsairs from Babar and some Hellcats and P-47s probably from Boela for escorts, so the raids caused some enemy fighter losses--3 Tonies and 1 George. 17 P-40s swept the base later and took out 3 more Tonies and 4 Georges.

We attempted a raid on the KB west of Ambon, but it was too small, just 16 Hellcats and 35 Dauntlesses. We only splashed one Zero while losing 5 Hellcats and 24 Dauntlesses. One of the SBDs managed a hit on the Akagi. Enemy CAP strength was 39 fighters opposing this raid.

A followup raid of 22 Corsairs and 13 Helldivers failed to score any hits. We only lost 2 Helldivers while shooting down 2 Zeroes. 11 Helldivers attempted attacks on the Shokaku, Ise, and Haruna. Enemy CAP strength was down to 14 fighters opposing this raid.

Finally, 6 B-25Gs came in for a low-level attack escorted by 8 P-47s. The P-47s shot down a Nick to clear the way. The B-25s scored one more hit on the Akagi, setting her on fire and seemingly knocking the ship out of action. At this point the Akagi has taken 2 500lb bombs, 1 1000lb bomb, and a Mk6 mine. Enemy CAP strength was down to 7 fighters for this raid.


Reinforcements and withdrawals
DE Osterhaus arrives at Eastern USA
DE Harold C. Thomas arrives at Mare Island
SS Trespasser arrives at Aden
26th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme
VMSB-141 has withdrawn from theatre (training squadron at San Diego)

[Molon Labe]

17 September 1943
Yet another large tanker knocked out

Japan
USS Flying Fish torpedoed a Tonan Whaler class tanker near Iwo Jima, setting its cargo on fire and very likely dooming the ship.

Near Kanoya, the Skipjack torpedoed and destroyed a mine tender on ASW duty.

Southeast of Shikoku, USS Tullibee put two fish into a PB on ASW patrol, sinking it.


China
We lost a British B-24 near Nanchang to a new enemy CAP of Tonies. We've switched our bomber priority to this area due to the Hong Kong area threats being mostly dealt with.


DEI
It appears that the KB has withdrawn. Hopefully we won't see the Akagi or Shokaku again for a long time.


Reinforcements
DE William C. Miller arrives at Eastern USA
SS Cero arrives at Eastern USA
SS Flasher arrives at Balboa
158th USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

18 September 1943
And another tanker hit...

Marianas
USS Silversides hit a converted Std-A tanker off Guam. Initial damage didn't appear severe, but the ship is on fire.

Burma
USS Barb sustained significant depth charge damage attempting to interdict a troop convoy near Mergui on the Malayan peninsula coast south of Rangoon.

The enemy attempted an airborne assault on Lashio, losing several transport aircraft to fighters and flak. A small contingent of troops made it to the ground and survived initial contact with my garrison.


DEI
B-24 raids on Ambon hit and sank a destroyer in port. Beaufort torpedo bombers attempted attacks on a second destroyer but missed.

China
Land attack in Nanchang, casualties 1443 (J) to 759 (A). Fortifications taken down to Level 5.

Land attack in Tsiaotso (in the northern front line area, small mountain base). Casualties 3033(J) to 373 (A), forts taken down to Level 5.


Reinforcements
22nd Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco
No.194 Sqn RAF arrives at Delhi (16 Dakota transports)

[Molon Labe]

19 September 1943

Japan
USS Whale torpedoed a PB near Aogoshima. Although these are small ships, it's possible this one survived. Unlikely, but possible.

Strait of Malacca
USS Ray torpedoed and sank a Kaibokan while transiting the Strait. These ASW ships are just getting sunk by their prey all over the place. In this instance, it appears to have been a desperation attack by the sub rather than an ambush.

DEI
Beaufighters and B-25s, now based in Dili (Timor), attempted an attack on troop transports near Watampone, Makassar. The KB was nearby and had a CAP up over these ships. We lost 9 Beaufighters and 8 B-25s in this attack; one B-25 shot down a Zero. A few bombers made attack runs but nothing hit.

One B-25D1 raid (5 planes) was smart enough to stay away from those targets, instead going after an ASW group near Kolaka, Makassar:
PC Kaki, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SC CHa-33, Shell hits 11, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SC CHa-43, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
These skip-bombers can do pretty good if they can stay away from enemy fighters!


Burma
A large raid of Wellington and Blenhiem bombers attacking the enemy tank regiment near Prome ran into a large CAP flying out of Rangoon. Unfortunately, this portion of the raid did not link up with escorting fighters. We lost 11 Wellingtons and 5 Blenhiems. Subsequent raids did have fighter escorts, allowing us to shoot down one Zero.

We've eliminated the enemy paratroopers at Lashio as well as one of the units that sallied out of Rangoon (the 1st INA Subhas Regiment).

More paratroopers landed in Tuyang Gyi and seized it without resistance. I had a garrison here awhile ago but moved it south once he started trying to break out of Rangoon. The base is pretty far out of the way so it's not critical.


China
As in Burma, the initial raids on Nanchang didn't link up with their escorts, so one B-24 was shot down by Tonies, while later escorted raids (and a sweep) did not encounter enemy fighters.

Nanchang took another ground attack, casualties were 1034 to 523 favoring us and the forts were taken down to Level 4.

We attacked an enemy unit in the jungles near Canton and failed to overrun them, taking 647 casualties vs inflicting 398 in the exchange. We outnumber them 27k to 7k but the terrain bonus is helping them out. I'm sending some B-25s and more troops from Canton to help with this.


SouthPAC
I missed reporting this a few days ago, but S-31 was bombed near Truk and the damage was quite bad. She's trying to make it to Rabaul but today we got several messages that they were losing control of the flooding.


Marshalls and Marianas
A couple days ago I started loading up 'phibs at Pearl to make a move on the Marianas, taking advantage of the fact that his carrier forces have been taking a beating in the DEI and will be unlikely to intervene. Essex, Yorktown, and the CVLs are making their way up through the Marshalls to rendezvous with the phibs (which are themselves covered by CVEs) to provide protection from a likely major group of Betties as well as any new carriers he might have deployed here to fill in for the ones he moved from here to the DEI. There is a small cruiser-led task force we've had intermittent contact with in the Marshalls, we just spotted them again at Roi-Namur--I'd going to try to get my carrier pilots some badly-needed combat experience with that group while they're en route.


Reinforcements and Withdrawals
DE Crouter arrives at Eastern USA
SS Robalo arrives at Balboa
6th Infantry Division arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted and full strength! Old equipment though--their kit is at 1941 standards)
18th Marine Defense Battalion arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

20 September 1943

DEI
I range restricted the B-25s enough to keep them away from Watampone, but not Kendari. So to Kendari they went--and that's where most of the enemy fighters in the area are. We lost 6...5 of them did get through and got a bomb hit on an enemy APD, setting it on fire.


Burma
We're still only getting partial escorts for bombers in Burma. 2 B-24s and 4 Vengeances were shot down near Prome. The escorts that did support the bombers got 2 Zeroes and a Nick.

We've retaken Toungoo and destroyed the enemy paratrooper unit there. Another paratrooper raid hit Magwe; they were immediately wiped out by the garrison.


SouthPAC
The S-31 lost its battle with progressive flooding and is now on eternal patrol.


Reinforcements
DE Seid arrives at Eastern USA
SS Batfish arrives at Balboa
No.38 Sqn RAAF arrives at Sydney (transports)



21 September 1943

Marshalls
The enemy task force hanging out at Roi-Namur moved west to Eniwetok, which kept them safely away from my CVBGs passing through the east side of the Marshalls. But it put them right where a SAG I had deployed here and forgotten all about, so we had a short night battle between my SAG (1 CA, 4 DDs) and theirs (1 CL, 2 DD). Sadly, damage was minor. We managed to disable a gun mount on the cruiser, but beyond that no one sustained any serious hits. If they stick around, the carriers should be able to get them tomorrow.


DEI
P-38 sweeps targeted Kenari to try to reduce the enemy fighter presence, but I'm not sure the juice was worth the squeeze. We lost 5 P-38s, and shot down 4 Zeroes, 2 Nicks, 1 George, and 4 Tonies. I really don't have enough P-38s to keep this up, I'm either going to have to rely on something else in this area or maybe send the P-38s in Burma back into the pool to eventually end up here.

China
We traded a P-40 for a Tony over Nanchang as they tried to intercept our bombers there.

Burma
We lost a B-25 to enemy fighters while attacking ships docking at Rangoon. They got some good hits though:
xAP Ussuri Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Sakura Maru
CL Kashima, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Teifu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AV Sanuki Maru, Shell hits 5
No ground losses reported.

Solomons
The starving enemy garrison at Guadalcanal attacked our approaching troops as they waited for their armor support to make it through the jungle. Casualties 1567 to 145 favoring us. Downright suicidal.

Reinforcements
DE McConnell arrives at Eastern USA
VB-150 arrives at Alameda (just a pair of Ventura bombers)

[Molon Labe]

22 September 1943

Solomons and New Britain
The destroyer USS Jenkins detected an enemy submarine at Rabaul and depth charged it for significant damage. Shortly after, the minesweepers on patrol started finding mines and got straight to work. The minefield laid by the sub was cleared by day's end.

New Mexico and Arizona shelled the enemy garrison at Guadalcanal again as our armor joined our infantry in preparation to begin a decisive assault on the enemy garrison.

Enemy troops at Guadalcanal attempted to shell our troops, but the enemy garrison estimated to be at 20,000 in strength only managed to get 10 artillery guns online for this attack, underscoring just how out of supplies they are.

The enemy ships being hunted by my CVBG appear to have settled in at Ponape for now. The carriers finished the turn in range but didn't launch a strike. Here we go again...


Burma
A few days ago I noticed a sub that had been detected near the landing site our phibs we were using hadn't moved. A quick peek "under the hood" for the reader's benefit--when a unit is detected, it gets a "detection level", the higher the DL the easier it is to attack; DL goes down with movement. So, leaving a detected sub in place was keeping its DL high, creating a target of opportunity. I detached 2 depth-charge-equipped PGs from the phibs that were now returning to Calcutta to go after the sub. I should have picked better ships--the PGs were immediately ambushed when they arrived by a second sub that hadn't been detected; one PG was sunk.

P-47s swept over enemy ground forces near Prome, shooting down 2 Zeroes and a George, but one of the Georges got a P-47 too. Despite the sweeps, there were still enemy fighters around to oppose bomber raids, and escorts were spotty. We lost 3 Vengeances to the enemy CAP, while escorting fighters added 1 Nick to today's air-to-air kills.

An enemy amphibious landing was reported further south down the coast from Pegu. I've ordered a pair of nearby British subs to check it out.

An unforced error on my part--a combat engineer unit I landed on the coast and ordered to Prome arrived at Prome; I forgot to cancel this movement when the enemy retook it. So they made an automatic shock attack crossing the river with no hope of overcoming the enemy garrison. We got away with it, for now. Casualties 33 to 52 favoring them. I'm ordering the engineers to fall back.


China
P-40 sweeps over Nanchang got a Tony and kept the skies clear enough to prevent bomber losses.


Reinforcements
30th BG/819th BS arrives at Eastern USA (full squadron of shiny new B-24Js)
8th Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco (empty unit being reformed)
45th Aviation Base Force arrives at March Field (full strength)
-I'll be moving a large group of troops to Australia soon as many reformed/newly arrived units are nearing full strength.

[Molon Labe]

23 September 1943
Guadalcanal in US hands

Burma
The remaining PG managed to get the drop on one of the enemy subs off the Burmese coast today, dealing significant--but nonfatal--depth charge damage. It briefly picked up the 2nd but wasn't able to track it long enough to make an attack run.

Our subs spotted the enemy phibs south of Pegu and referred that info to the B-25G squadron at Magwe. The enemy had no fighter cover opposing the 9 bombers:
xAP Ussuri Maru, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nitti Maru, Shell hits 2
AK Sagami Maru
xAK Anyo Maru
xAP Palau Maru, Shell hits 1
No troop casualties reported, so this strike came a bit late. At least we sank some of their supply.

At Prome, the enemy garrison attacked our retreating combat engineers, forcing the retreat to completion. Casualties 32 to 332 favoring them. Enemy strength appears to be a division at about half-strength.

Just south of Prome, the units we detatched from the main force drove yet more enemy troops off the roads around Rangoon. These guys retreated to Prome. Casualties 716 to 60 favoring us. We've just about cleaned up everyone now. Just Prome itself, that worthless base north of Mandalay, and the tank regiment that took Prome from me that's getting bombed in the jungle as it tries to make it's way from the west road to the east road.



Japan
In a rather frustrating choice by the skipper of USS Grenadier, 6 fish were fired at a PB escorting a tanker convoy southeast of Tokyo. 3 hit, all detonating, and sending the PB straight to the bottom. Meanwhile the tankers went on their merry way. This is further east than I've seen most of their tankers approaching Japan, so I'm adjusting some patrol routes to try to get the next convoy.


China
US P-40s shot down another Tony over Nanchang. The bombers followed unmolested.


DEI
I accidentally left one of my weakened P-38 squadrons with Sweep orders for Kendari. Got away with it--1 Nick shot down, no losses.


Marianas
USS Drum sank a PB that was on ASW patrol. It's been a long time since we've seen anything but ASW ships here--if that tanker convoy out of Tokyo doesn't end up here in a few days I'll probably send these patrols somewhere else.


Solomons
Armor support having arrived yesterday, today we attacked the enemy base at Guadalcanal in force. We immediately pushed the enemy troops off their base, although they didn't actually surrender and I don't expect that they will. Casualties 612 to 62 favoring us.

Recon had been saying 20k troops here, but our troops are saying just 9k. I wonder how much of that was due to casualties or desertions from months of bombing and isolation. Could he have snuck 10k+ soldiers out somehow?


Reinforcements
CV Bunker Hill arrives at Balboa (lots of rookie pilots, and reserves are depleted due to losses in the DEI. It may be awhile before I can really deploy this ship)
DD Murray arrives at Eastern USA
DD Swanson arrives at Balboa
71st RG/17th RS arrives at Eastern USA
71st RG/82nd RS arrives at Eastern USA
418th NFS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

24 September 1943

Burma
The surviving PG I sent to the Burmese coast encountered 2 more enemy subs on the way back to Calcutta. Ran out of depth charges trying to kill the first. Apparently they're hiding all along the coastline and I'm lucky my amphibious task force hasn't had to deal with them. Going to send some better ASW ships up and down the coast to hunt these guys.

The enemy lost 3 Zeroes near Prome trying to stop B-24 raids, one to the bombers themselves, then 2 more to a sweep by P-47s.

Taung Gyi is back in our hands.


China
Lost a P-40 to a Tony while escorting bombers over Nanchang.


Solomons
Several of the weaker units defending Guadalcanal have been reported as wiped out: 3rd Tank Regiment, 82nd Naval Guard Unit, 84th Naval Guard Unit, 7th Naval Construction Battalion, 2nd JNAF AF Unit, 38th JNAF AF Unit, 39th JNAF AF Unit


South China Sea
USS Sargo torpedoed and sank a PB escorting tankers east of Brunei.


Reinforcements
CVL Monterey arrives at Balboa
SS Hackleback arrives at Eastern USA
27th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

25 September 1943

South China Sea
USS Ray got a shot at the same tanker convoy attacked by Sargo yesterday, and actually sank a tanker instead of an escort! Just a small one--2100 tons. Ray took serious depth charge damage from a Kaibokan escort after the attack and is limping to Brisbane for repairs. USS Hake then attacked an escort in the same convoy and missed.


China
More mop-up attacks against the mostly-broken enemy units that were around Hong Kong and now appear to be trying to make it to Vietnam. Attacking in poor terrain, they got the better of us today, 144 to 232 casualties despite us having air support.


Solomons
Add 62nd Naval Guard Unit to the units wiped out at Guadalcanal. Still some holdouts from the 12th Division and some base forces.


A Beaufort flying out of Rennel Island spotted a Japanese sub off the coast of Guadalcanal and bombed it. I wonder what he was up to. Evacuations?


Reinforcements
41st BG/820th BS arrives at Eastern USA
VMF-122 /A arrives at San Francisco
DD Welles arrives at Seattle
AM Vigilance arrives at Seattle


-Replacement aircraft and pilots have brought our air forces in the DEI back to where they were before the massive losses around Kendari and the KB.

[Molon Labe]

26 September 1943

DEI
4 Nick fighter bombers strafed Namlea airbase at night, damaging several aircraft and destroying a Hellcat and a P-40. I don't have night fighters available close by--the closest are those Corsairs that arrived in the US weeks ago which should be dropped off in Townsville Australia in a few days. Until then I'm putting 1/3 of a P-47 squadron on night patrol duty.


Burma
6 B-25Gs attacked a transport task force at Tavoy. We failed to connect with any bombs but did get 75mm cannon hits on an AV and a destroyer. 1 B-25 was shot down by flak.

Our phibs are landing more reinforcements on the Burmese coast.


Sulu Sea
The beleaguered tanker convoy from Brunei was attacked yet again, this time by USS Stringray near Iloilo in the Philippines. She sank a small 2900-ton cargo ship-to-tanker conversion. Makes sense, the docks at Burnei are pretty small, I usually use medium tankers there.


China
Nanchang took another ground attack, which hit hard enough to bring our forts down to Level 3. Not sure how much our air support is helping. Casualties 3493 to 1452 favoring us. The attacking units are well below what their strength should be "on paper."

They also attacked Sinyang (frontline between the central urban area and the northern cluster), casualties 2449 to 221 favoring us. Not sure what they're thinking there.

And finally they attacked the small mountain base of Tsiaotso. They brought the forts down to Level 4, taking 2435 casualties to our 876. They look really short of what they need to get through here.


Reinforcements
DD Kidd arrives at Eastern USA
839/841 Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

27 September 1943
Prome liberated, again


Sulu Sea
USS Hake torpedoed (2 hits) and sank a 6600-ton (converted) tanker crossing into the Sulu Sea from the northern coast of Borneo.


DEI
Lost a B-24 to flak over Ambon. It's been awhile since that happened.


Burma
Prome is ours again and I think we can hold it this time. Casualties 2693 to 63 favoring us. A division-strong army unit has made it from the landing site down the roads to Prome. Just a question of supply now.


China
Still struggling to mop up enemy forces in the south. Attacked one enemy unit for 123 to 123 casualties. Our units reporting less than full attack strength due to supply shortages.


Japan
USS Whale was bombed by a Japanese patrol aircraft near Okinawa, fortunately damage was minor. I'm adjusting her patrol area to someplace a bit further out but she'll stay on station there.


Solomons
Beauforts reported another hit on a Japanese sub off Guadalcanal.

[Molon Labe]

28 September 1943
Essex-Yorktown CVBGs randomly intercept major tanker convoy and annihilate it
Last enemy soldier on Guadalcanal killed


DEI
Night attacks on 2 bases this turn; Dili and Boela, no damage.


Burma
Another amphibious delivery to the Burmese coast from Calcutta is proceeding. No sign of that horde of subs for a few days.

The enemy tank regiment that had previously taken Prome from me returned and found itself outmatched. Casualties 757 (and 93 vehicle losses) to 59, the enemy retreated east and is pretty much cut off from any convenient return to Japan-held territory at this point.



CENTPAC
My operation against the Marianas is underway, and the scoutplanes from my CVBGs escorting the 'phibs spotted an enemy convoy slightly northwest of Marcus. They launched a massive airstrike (25 SBD-5, 22 SB2C, 13 Avengers) and wiped it out:

TK Manei Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Gyoshin Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Palembang Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Yasushima Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
TK Ayazono Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Otoriyama Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Ogura Maru #2, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
--
PB Sonobe Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
PB Hirotama Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
PB Nagato Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Ayazono Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Gyoshin Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
TK Otoriyama Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
TK Manei Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Ogura Maru #2, and is sunk
--
TK Manei Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
PB Nagato Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Ayazono Maru, and is sunk

That's 6 tankers--4 newly manufactured Type 1 TM class (6400 tons), 1 7150 ton Manzyu class, and 1 converted Std-B cargo (4670 tons). This is much further west than I'd expect to find tanker traffic. My best guess is these guys were headed from Japan to Truk to fill the naval base's bunkers.


Solomons
Our troops have completely secured Guadalcanal. No enemy troops surrendered, of course. Fanatics.

And the Beauforts reported yet another hit on the sub (subs?) off Guadalcanal. Some of these hits may be false claims, especially if it's the same boat each time. I don't see them surviving more than 1 hit.


Reinforcements and Withdrawals
VMF-313 arrives at March Field (2/18 Corsairs)
VP-44 arrives at San Diego (12/12 Catalina)

No.615 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (16/16 Hurricane)
6th USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
--I'm activating 2 each restricted VMFs and VP squadrons to compensate for my expansion
No.118 Sqn RCAF is withdrawn - 16 Canadian Kittyhawks - yes they took their aircraft with them and I have essentially no RCAF aircraft left.
USS Pike - severely damaged and trying to withdraw to South Africa - is now officially overdue and costing me political points to keep in theatre. It could be 2 months before she completes the trip. Should have scuttled her.

[Molon Labe]

29 September 1943

Solomons
A pair of destroyers I sent to Guadalcanal caught up with that sub (I think it's just one) hanging out there and depth charged it. Judging from the fact that is sustained significant damage without sinking I'd say the bombers' claims to have hit it were false.


China
The enemy gave up on Nanchang and was retreating in an orderly fashion, so I ordered an attack and turned it into a rout. Casualties 8374 to 550.


We routed another broken unit-a mortar battalion-near the Vietnam border. Gonna let them go at this point.


Japan
USS Pargo became the latest sub to get bombed near Okinawa. It's headed back to Midway for a repair assessment, will probably end up at Pearl.

[Molon Labe]

30 September 1943
Amphibious task force detected by enemy approaching Marianas

DEI
We've begun landing on Batjan, between Namlea and Ternate. This is an undeveloped space suitable for a medium-sized airbase. My objective is to build a small fighter base that can provide support to take Ternate. With Ternate (or even Batjan, maybe) taken, the Celebes Sea should be closed to enemy merchant traffic. The Luzon Strait is already so hot they're not sending much through there, so losing Celebes is pretty much just going to leave them with routes through the Philippine Islands which will be easy to mine and/or guard with subs.


Burma
3 Zeroes attempted to intervene with our bombing of enemy units near Prome; all 3 were shot down by escorting fighters with no losses.


I'm backing off on bomber raids a bit for now, including moving a squadron of B-25s back to India. We're consuming too much supply, and I need to use supply to build up Prome. With Prome built up, I should be able to maintain air superiority around Rangoon without the need for supply-sucking drop tanks. Then, hopefully, the supply I have will be enough to support an assault on Rangoon itself. Or at least hold off whoever landed south of Pegu when they arrive.


China
After several failed enemy attacks at Sinyang, I thought it was time for a counterattack, with some help from bombers. Didn't work out. Casualties 216 to 1451 favoring the enemy.


CENTPAC
The task forces approaching the Marianas have finally been detected. We're close enough to hit them with air strikes tomorrow morning and possibly get a naval bombardment in too. But that also means we're at risk of a strike tomorrow. I've been monitoring the large concentration of bombers at Surabaya for any sign the bombers were being rebased here, and so far that hasn't happened. That we got this close before being spotted hopefully means they don't have too many Betties here. But we have hundreds of Hellcats overhead keeping an eye on things, and a bunch of Avengers ready to crater their runways. Landings should commence the day after. We expect significant resistance at Saipan, and I'm planning on setting up an airbase on Tinian fast to provide air support if we get stalled on Saipan.


Reinforcement
421st NFS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

1 October 1943
More Betties getting through than expected--USS Princeton hit--but the enemy's opening strike has been parried


Japan
USS Grenadier torpedoed and sank a PB escorting a tanker convoy near Chichi-Jima.


Mariannas
We weren't able to hit the airbase in Saipan before the sun rose. The first wave was 15 Zeroes, 10 Georges, 19 Nicks, and 24 Tonies escorting 40 Betties. We had 116 Hellcats waiting for them. That's 116 vs 68 as far as fighters go, you'd think we'd stop them cold, right? The air combat was much in our favor, losing just 6 Hellcats and shooting down 5 Nicks, 4 Zeroes, 1 George, and 8 Tonies. But we barely got to the Betties at all--we shot down 2 before they reached the flak screen. Fortunately the Betties are showing their obsolesence in the face of modern flak. One was shot down, pretty much all the rest damaged, and their accuracy was horrible. USS Princeton took the only hit and is still conducting flight ops.


A second wave of 29 unescorted Betties hit a CAP of 80 Hellcats, we took out 15 of them but they still somehow got through--they all missed. 13 Jills were next--finally we shot every one of them down.


I managed to screw my attack up by ordering my Avengers to attack enemy ground forces instead of the airbase giving us the trouble. Oops.


Afternoon saw more waves of enemy air attacks. The big one was 10 Zeroes, 9 Nicks, and 13 Tonies escorting 21 Betties; our CAP was down to 70 for this. Still overwhelming IMO. We lost 2 Hellcats in the furball but shot down 2 Tonies, 4 Nicks, 3 Zeroes... and all 21 Betties! A followup raid of 8 Georges escotring 12 Betties saw 5 Georges and 3 Hellcats shot down, those Betties got through but managed to miss... well, I'm pretty sure they had two hits that were duds.



After that our bombardment task force reached Saipan--USS North Carolina along with the heavy cruisers Quincy, San Fransisco, and Northhampton shelled the airbase, reportedly destroying a Betty, a Helen, and 2 Nicks and damaging 77 more Betties and 42 Helens (and some fighters). Take those damage numbers with a grain of salt--each instance of damage is reported and the same aircraft can be damaged multiple times. Enemy airbase damage was pretty serious in the low 40% range. For their trouble, the North Carolina took 34 hits in total from the shore batteries, but the guns were too small-caliber to get through her armor and do any real damage. The Northampton was less fortunate, taking 12 hits and sustaining serious system damage. But very little flooding.


I won't say the base is neutralized, but with most of the Betties being damaged by flak or on the ground after their missions, this base's sortie generation should be garbage, while our CAP remains near full strength.


Landings tomorrow. We're detecting a lot of subs hanging out here (Avengers and Kingfishers on patrol) and are reporting 6 hits on them total. Also sending minesweepers out ahead in Tinian. Can't do that at Saipan with all those guns on overwatch though.




ChinaA ground attack by us on enemy units near Kwelin (southern area, a bit inland) caused 211 to 343 casualties favoring the enemy. These guys get the bombers next.





Reinforcements
VB-115 arrives at San Diego (2/16 Liberators)
1st USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
56th Australian Lt AA Regiment arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

2 October 1943
Yorktown disabled by torpedo hit...overall operation not looking so great


CENTPAC
A DMS looking for mines at Tinian drew some coastal battery fire but nothing hit. It did find one mine to sweep.


Avengers hit Tinian's airbase but didn't find anything to kill there. A costal minelayer got underway at Guam, drawing an airstrike from the Essex's SBCs; it went down after 2 hits.


The enemy's main strike, targeting the main amphibious group, was next: 16 Zeroes, 26 Georges, 8 Nicks, and 9 Tonies escorting just 4 Betties. Our CAP was 99 Hellcats. We lost 1 Hellcat while shooting down 3 Tonies, 2 Zeroes, 3 Georges, and 1 Betty. The other Betties aborted the mission.
Another wave of 2 Zeroes escorting 20 Betties arrived next, targeting the Yorktown CVBG, which had fallen behind the other task forces but had apparently diverted much of its CAP to defend the first wave. We had just 8 Hellcats on CAP!!! We shot down 4 Betties while losing 1 Hellcat. 16 Betties made attacks, scoring a hit on Yorktown. The damage was surprisingly severe--enough to knock out flight operations, while most of its aircraft were aloft. The result was mass ditching, a loss of about 50 aircraft. 4 more Betties tried to sneak in after that, 1 was shot down before they turned around.


The port at Saipan was hit next by 12 Avengers and 27 Dauntlesses. We lost 2 Avengers to flak while sinking a destroyer tender, 3 mine tenders, and 2 cargo ships, and damaging a general tender, a sub tender, and an ammo ship.


Landings proceeded on all 3 targets, but Guam in particular looked bad. We did not anticipate a substantial garrison here or major shore batteries, but both were present. One troop-carrying cargo ship is already doomed from coastal defense hits, another seriously damaged.


The garrisons on Tinian and Saipan also appear substanitally larger than intel had us believing. So this looks like just a bad move on my part. Early in the campaign I lost a USMC regiment because I didn't adequately confirm the enemy troop levels somewhere... was it Canton Island maybe? I really need to start absorbing and integrating these lessons into my game.


Avengers reported 4 hits on submarines throughout the day.



Burma
We routed that tank regiment again, causing a loss of 105 more vehicles. I doubt we'll be able to hit them again before they're safely back in Rangoon.


We've also pushed the enemy paratroopers out of Shwebo (north of Mandalay). Which means the enemy no longer controls any bases north of Rangoon.

[Molon Labe]

October 3, 1943
Facing reality in the Marianas

CENTPAC
As landings proceeded overnight, the most badly damaged transport at Guam took an additional pounding. Which is sort of OK, they were basically destroying a sunken ship. But they switched to another transport, critically damaging it as well.

A midget sub approached the Saipan landing force but was spotted and driven off.

The main morning air strike targeting the main amphibious body was a shadow of its former self 2 days agao at 17 Zeroes and 3 Tonies escorting 6 Betties. Our CAP was now down to 39 Hellcats thanks to Yorktown being disabled yesterday. We got 7 Zeroes and a Betty with no losses; the remaining Betties turned around. A second raid of 12 Betties and 3 Tonies targeted the Saipan landing; they met 23 Hellcats and lost a Tony and 2 Betties. 9 Betties made attack runs on the BB Alabama and CA Quincy; all missed and 2 were lost to flak.

22 Betties flying in from Truk then targeted the Guam landing. I had assigned them a CAP from one of the CVEs but they were nowhere to be found. A troop transport took 2 torpedoes and a cargo ship took another. The ships are nearly wiped out at this point. 7 Judies followed that up, targeting a destroyer and missing. That same destroyer found a midget sub approaching later in the day and sank it. Late in the day one of the few surviving cargo ships hit a mine; a destroyer was able to clear 2 mines after witnessing that.

Our airstrikes arrived next. Saipan airbase was hit again, destroying 4 Betties, 4 Helens, 3 Zeroes, a Tony, and a George on the ground, along with inflicting moderate base facility damage. The port was also attacked; 2 cargo ships took bomb hits, likely sinking one. The attack cost me 3 SB2Cs. Tinian's ground forces absorbed a raid by 27 SBD-3s from a CVE.

As landing operations proceeded at Tinian, an APD hit a mine, and a DMS trying to clear a path took damage from shore batteries. 7 mines were cleared. One cargo ship each at Tinian and Saipan took substantial fire from coastal defense as well.

Aircraft on ASW patrol reported 11 hits on enemy submarines in the area.

The enemy garrison attacked our landing at Tinian, resulting in 1107 enemy casualties and 568 for us. We benefited substantially from the thick jungle terrain. Our counterattack added 109 enemy casualties and 193 to our count. Overall force strength looks even. Enemy forts are Level 4.

On Saipan the enemy attack was far more even in strength than the other two, which combined with the terrain bonus resulted in lopsided casualties of 1447 for them and 189 for us. Our counterattack resulted in 819 more enemy casualties and 98 for us. But even with these force levels and numbers, it doesn't mean we're going to win--the forts here at Level 5, which is pretty serious.

On Guam, enemy garrison attacked caused 312 to 245 casualties favoring us. Again, terrain helped. But the numbers here look awful; the enemy garrison is about 3 times stronger than our invading Marines.

Based on the force levels on all 3 targets in the Marianas, it's clear that I didn't bring enough to take all 3. Guam is hopeless. Between Saipan and Tinian, the enemy garrison on Tinian is smaller and their forts are 1 level lower. Based on this I'm ordering a retreat from Saipan so I can put as much into Tinian as possible so I can set up my damn airbase there. Hopefully a sustainable airbase will mean second attempts on Guam and Saipan will succeed.



Burma
Wellington bombers attacking the enemy tank regiment got ambushed by a new enemy CAP, and of course, they didn't link up with their escorts. That cost us 5 Wellingtons. A sweep of P-47s arrived in that area later, but by then the enemy fighters were gone.


Reinforcements
AR Ranpura arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

4 October 1943
Massive enemy casualties in China--71st Division nearly wiped out


CENTPAC
The last surviving transport at Guam was heavily shelled overnight and eventually sank. A midget sub approached our forces at Saipan but broke off after it was detected. Judy and Helen bombers from Guam tried to strike our task forces; our own airstrike preempted them, destroying one Judy on the ground, all 5 Judies and 3 Helens that took off were shot down by Hellcats. A light cargo ship and a minelayer were hit by our dive bombers in port at Guam. USS Sculpin, on patrol near Saipan, was hit by an enemy bomber and is returning to base. Our ASW aircraft reported one hit on an enemy sub.

Enemy land attack results:
Tinian: 1683 (J) to 269 (A)
Guam: 78 (J) to 173 (A) (34th aviation base force wiped out)
Saipan: bombardment only, no casualties


DEI
12 P-38s swept Kendari, we lost one and shot down 2 Nicks and a Tojo.


China
At Nanchang, an enemy force 12,323 strong (the 71th Division) made an opposed river crossing to assault our base. We had just under 100k troops there and level 3 forts...it was an absolute massacre. 12,227 enemy casualties reported--the enemy division was nearly wiped out completely.

We attempted a land attack at the enemy units retreating to Vietnam from near Kweilin, casualties 281(J) to 552(A).

[Molon Labe]

5 October 1943
B-25 raid in Burma suffers heavy losses; HMS Trident sunk


CENTPAC
We're starting to get a solid portion of the Saipan troops onto Tinian to give us a shot at taking it. We sank two enemy midget subs that approached an amphibious task force at Saipan. An enemy sub tender tried to escape Saipan harbor but was hit twice by dive bombers.

At Guam, airstrikes destroyed an Emily and a July on the ground and damaged two cargo ships, a minelayer, and a sub tender. The minelayer is almost certainly sunk as it took 3 hits and is relatively small. The enemy garrison overcame our weak invasion force and forced a surrender.

The enemy attempted a similar overrun on Saipan, but our forces still there are mostly tanks and it appears the enemy is short on AT weapons. 685 enemy casualties with no Allied losses there.

Our ASW patrols reported 8 hits on enemy submarines around the Marianas.


Burma
HMS Trident attempted an attack on an enemy transport task force near Tavoy; it missed and was sunk by the counterattack of the escorting destroyers. Their contact report led to an airstirke of B-25Gs coming from Magwe, however they had 17 Zeroes on CAP overhead, resulting in no successful attacks at 8 bombers lost.


Reinforcements
DD Charrette arrives at Eastern USA
PF Glendale arrives at Mare Island
610th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

6 October 1943

Burma
Sally bombers raided Prome overnight, losing one aircraft to flak. They put a pair of craters in the runway, no issue patching those up.


CENTPAC
Tinian's coastal defense guns are perking up and have damaged several ships in the past day or two. Today an LCI was fatally wounded by the 8cm batteries.

We hit Guam's port a little harder today, sinking two mine tenders and hitting 3 cargo ships, a tender, and a submarine. Saipan's port drew a smaller airstrike, sinking a PB.

The enemy made another push to overrun our tanks on Saipan but failed.

Hoping to catch Truk relatively undefended, I sent a raid of 31 B-24s from New Britain. There were 33 Zeroes and a Tony on CAP, so no such luck. We only lost one Liberator, two Zeroes went down. The raid caused light damage on the ground and destroyed 2 Betties.

Our ASW patrols reported 5 hits on enemy subs around the Marianas.

[Molon Labe]

7 October 1943
Shift to Tinian nearly complete; USS Yorktown resumes flight operations

CENTPAC
An enemy sub approached our carrier battle groups and was severely damaged by depth chargings before it broke contact. It's damage caught up to it, though, and it was forced to surface within sight of the swarming destroyers, which finished it off in a barrage of 5", 40mm, and 20mm gunfire. An enemy midget sub was sunk approaching the phibs at Saipan.

At Tinian, an enemy sub had success, torpedoing the destroyer USS Stevens. Remarkably, the Stevens only sustained moderate damage and is still operational. USS Downes retaliated against the sub but only dealt moderate damage before it disappeared.

At Guam, dive bombers hit two cargo ships and a tender, all 3 likely sunk.

ASW patrol aircraft reported 14 hits on enemy subs.

I've formed a CVBG around the Bunker Hill, which recently arrived at Pearl. I'm hoping they can provide some relief for Yorktown's aircraft losses. Speaking of which, Yorktown has dewatered itself enough to resume flight operations, so the aircraft it had that were recovered by other ships flew back today. She's at about 1/3 strength thanks to the mass ditching.


DEI
The enemy lost 1 Nick each raiding the new base at Batjan and Dili. We also finally got supply levels at Namlea high enough to allow the Hellcats there to carry drop tanks and sweep Kendari; that got us 3 more Nicks. The enemy presence at Kendari is a shadow of its former self, apparently a lot of those fighters went to support the Marianas... or went back to their carriers.

We did spot a task force in the Celebes Sea that might be a CVBG. They're going to have to cross a wall of 4-6 subs to get to the Central Pacific. The base at Batjan is already large enough to support offensive operations, so I moved the Beaufighters there for possible airstrikes into the Celebes Sea.

Ambon, still being bombed daily, is finally a complete wreck. Hopefully means they're out of supplies to repair the damage.


Reinforcements
CVE Liscome Bay arrives at Portland
DD Hale arrives at Eastern USA
3rd USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
55th Australian Lt AA Regiment arrives at Sydney
57th Australian Lt AA Regiment arrives at Sydney
3rd Commando Brigade arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

8 October 1943
Task force led by IJN Aoba wiped out off Namlea


Celebes Sea
USS Gudgeon scored two hits on a cargo ship transiting past the southern tip of the Philippines, sinking it.


CENTPAC
USS Scorpion torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship evacuating from the Marianas.

My Avengers are now concentrating on bombing the troops on Tinian to try to turn the tide of the land battle there, while the dive bombers are trying to pick off ships in port. At Guam, we sank a mine tender and damaged a cargo ship.


DEI
An enemy task force of 1 CA and 3 DD approached Namlea and was intercepted by a PT squadron. The resulting combat caused the loss of 6 PT boats, no hits were scored on the warships. But, this combat tied the the enemy up, so they were still present after sunrise when my bombers were active. 35 Helldivers attacked them, scoring 3 hits on the heavy cruiser Aoba. 5 Nicks had been on CAP over the task force; escorting P-40s and Hellcats shot down 3 of them and stopped the rest from reaching the bombers. That attack was followed up by 16 Avengers, which scored a pair of torpedo hits on the Aoba, very likely a fatal blow.

In the afternoon, the Aoba's task force was hit again by 16 SBD-5s. They hit the Aoba 3 more times, sank an escorting destroyer with a single hit, and damaged a second destroyer with one hit. A following raid of 31 Helldivers found only 2 DD, sinking the undamaged one with a single hit, leaving only the damaged destroyer Oboro burning from the prior raid. Aoba would not have broken off without an escort, so it's safe to say she wasn't there because she sank. Oboro wasn't off the hook, 16 Beaufighters arrived next, hitting her with a 250-lb bomb, leaving her with severe cumulative damage and a large fire. There was no sign of the enemy ships after this, so it appears the task force was completely wiped out.


Hellcat sweeps of Kendari shot down 2 of the 9 Tonies on CAP there. B-24 raids on Kendari sank a mine tender in port.

Our ASW aircraft reported 4 hits on enemy submarines. Maybe they're finally running out?


Burma
One British B-24 was lost to flak over Rangoon.
The last of the enemy paratroopers in the Mandalay area have been killed off.


Reinforcements
CVE Battler arrives at Aden
DE Cabana arrives at Eastern USA
LST-41 arrives at Cristobal

[Molon Labe]

9 October 1943

Strait of Malacca
USS Dace spotted and attacked a transport convoy while transiting through the Strait. It missed the target cargo ship, then was prosecuted by the destroyers escorting it... to completion.


CENTPAC
The destroyer Spence sank an enemy midget sub approaching a damaged transport at Tinian.

We traded a Hellcat for a Tojo while attacking Guam's port with dive bombers. Only light facility damage, no ships hit.

We attempted a shock attack on Tinian, casualties 1546 to 374 favoring us, but failing to reduce fortifications.

Our ASW aircraft reported 4 hits on enemy submarines.


Marshall Islands
USS Herring scored 3 hits on a cargo ship near Eniwetok, sinking it, in a daytime surface attack.


DEI
Hellcat sweeps at Kendari encountered substantial resistance--8 Nicks and 5 Tonies. We shot down all 5 Tonies and 4 of the Nicks, no losses. B-24 raids following that up sank a minesweeper and a mine tender.


Burma
We eliminated the 2nd INA Gandhi Regiment, near Prome. At this point, all remaining enemy troops in Burma are either in Rangoon, or in or south of Moulmein (south of our current area of operations).


Reinforcements
SS Sand Lance arrives at Balboa
DE Whitman arrives at Mare Island
7th USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor

[Molon Labe]

10 October 1943

CENTPAC
An enemy sub attempted an attack on a surface action task force that was trying to intercept possible landing barges moving reinforcements to Tinian. The sub missed and sustained light depth charge damage in retaliation. A second sub was spotted approaching but we failed to prosecute it after it dove.

An enemy midget sub approached Tinian trying to pick off a damaged cargo ship but was sunk by the Spence, which apparently has a thing for killing midget subs.

One of my damaged cargo ships succumbed to its damage at Tinian.

My Avengers continued their focus on Tinian's ground forces, and dive bombers on the 3 ports. SBDs hit a cargo ship at Guam, probably killing it.

ASW aircraft reported 3 hits on enemy subs this turn.


DEI
Arizona and New Mexico, previously deployed in the Solomons, shelled Kendari, causing 435 enemy casualties, destroying a Tony, causing 20 instances of damage to aircraft, and causing moderate damage to the airbase. B-24 raids killed yet another mine tender.

Thanks to fighter cover from our new base at Batjan, we were able to send 15 B-25s all the way north to Manado to hit the enemy airbase there, causing moderate base damage and killing a Judy on the ground.


Reinforcements
AS Howard W. Gilmore arrives at Eastern USA
AM Fierce arrives at Cristobal
209th Combat Engineer Battalion arrives at Aden
28th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme
10th RAAF M/W Sqn arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

11 October 1943

Celebes Sea
USS Seadragon took a shot at IJN Oyodo, the lead ship in a SAG of 1 CL 5 DD. All 4 torpedoes missed, and Seadragon ended up taking light damage from the destroyers before evading.


CENTPAC
Raids on Tinian resulted in a general tender damaged and a mine tender sunk. The Avengers hitting the troops were mostly ineffective.

USS Scorpion was bombed by enemy patrol aircraft and is headed to Brisbane for repairs.

Our patrol aircraft reported 2 hits on submarines this turn. Looks like they're thinning out. It'll be interesting to find out just how many enemy subs were lost patrolling the Mariannas coast during this operation.

China
Land combat against retreating enemy units near Kwelin resulted in 1973(J) to 337(A) casualties.

The enemy offensive in China, it's safe to say, as been a complete failure. We only lost one base, Kiukang, but this is an insignificant loss. I could take it back, I'm not not sure it's worth the supply expenditure to do so. One thing he did accomplish was cause me supply shortages all over China, to the point some bases are having trouble maintaining defensive CAPs.


Reinforcements
No.89 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
18th FG/419th NFS arrives at Eastern USA
160th USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

12 October 1943
Enemy attempts to break out of Rangoon and fails


Japan
USS Shad torpedoed and sank a Type-1 TM class tanker (6400 tons) off Torishima.


Makassar Strait
USS Plunger fired 2 torpedoes at a cargo ship and missed, then surfaced to attack the next one (an Aden-class, 4875 tons), scoring 2 torpedo hits on it and sinking it. The cargo ship was carrying troops.


Burma
Enemy troops sallied out of Rangoon to attack our base at adjacent Pegu. We lost 1 Vengeance dive bomber to flak that was targeting enemy tanks. I ordered my forces to counterattack, betting we had the superior number of troops, and it paid off. Casualties were 5201(J) to 986(A) and the enemy scampered back to Rangoon.

Rangoon is in a siege at this point. Surrounded, being bombed daily, supplies hopefully running a bit low.



CENTPAC
Not too much going on here; Avengers are still trying to support the troops on Tinian but we aren't doing a lot of damage. An attempt to push off the beaches resulted in 431(J) to 503(A) casualties.


DEI
I used paratroopers to seize Ternate. I hope to relocate the base at Batjan to Ternate over the next week or so. The Celebes Sea is already 80% cut off, getting Ternate should close it completely to everything on the surface without a carrier escort.


Reinforcements
DD Heermann arrives at San Francisco
2nd USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
4th USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
5th USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor

[Molon Labe]

13 October 1943

Makassar Strait
USS Plunger strikes again! Night surface attack on another Aden-class cargo ship (4875 tons) with troops aboard. 3 hits with detonations, confirmed kill.


Japan
USS Bonefish torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship off Chichi-jima. The ship was carrying artillery.


Sulu Sea
USS Finback connected with 1 of 4 torpedoes targeting the heavy cruiser IJN Maya near the west coast of the Philippines. The ship was not severely damaged.


CENTPAC
Two enemy destroyers were spotted operating near Marcus by the Bunker Hill CVBG; this drew an airstrike by 26 Helldivers, scoring a lethal 3 hits on the Hayanami and one hit on the Shimakaze. I suppose that ruins the surprise that my carrier forces are being reinforced. The surviving destroyer was bombed later in the day by another Helldiver that was performing a scouting mission, so it very well may have been sunk too.

I should mention about two days ago, an amphibious task force left Guadalcanal with most of my offensive units that took that enemy stronghold. They're making their way through the Marshalls to try to break the stalemate on Tinian.


Reinforcements
DD Abner Read arrives at San Francisco
DE Dionne arrives at Eastern USA
SS Darter arrives at San Francisco
LSD Epping Forest arrives at Los Angeles
42nd BG/106th RS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

14 October 1943
The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot


Japan
USS Haddo sustained siginifcant depth charge damage after a failed attack on a cargo convoy near Aogashima and is returning to Adak for a repair assessment.

USS Tautog turned the tables on an ASW task force hear Torishima, sinking a PB with a torpedo hit.


CENTPAC
Major air battle in the Mariannas today as the enemy tried to coordinate a strike against my carriers between Palau, Truk, recent arrivals in the Mariannas themselves, and the KB (or whatever of it is left and operational at the moment). The first strike was against my phibs at Tinian still landing supplies by 15 Betties and 4 Nicks. 10 Hellcats intercepted, shooting down 7 of the Betties after their attack run. The bombers carried only bombs and attacked from high altitude...rather harmless. I think they were from Palau.

Next was 36 Betties and 3 Kates... the Kates carried torpedoes. We failed to get any aircraft to intercept, but again, these aircraft were mostly harmless, the Betties bombing from 15,000 ft. Again...probably from Palau, if they were from Truk they'd have had torpedoes.

Speaking of which, the next raid did have torpedoes; 9 Betties, 3 Nicks. Again, we failed to get any fighters to them. Two Betties were shot down by flak, leaving 7 to attack--all missed.

The next raid targeted our task forces standing off from Tinian a bit, intentionally out of torpedo range from Truk. This group includes phibs standing by to land base forces intended for Tinian and Saipan had our troops taken them as planned. Those phibs have a total of 7 CVEs protecting them (and an 8th arriving as a reinforcement just a little behind). The group also includes 3 CVBGs, comprised of the Essex, Yorktown, the recently-arrived Bunker Hill, and five CVLs. So, this enemy strike of 8 Zeroes and 14 Judies faced a CAP of 181 Hellcats--but clearly not all at once. We got 5 Zeroes and 12 Judies while losing 2 Hellcats... 2 of the Judies made attacks targeting the CVL Princeton, but missed.

Shortly after 27 Zeroes arrived with 26 Judies; my CAP strength was down to 163, but the proverbial hornet's nest had been stirred up at this point. With no friendly losses, we took down 16 Zeroes and 22 of the Judies. 7 Judies made attacks on the Princeton and the light cruiser Montpelier; no hits.

6 Judies arrived at Saipan unescorted, where we had a pair of destroyers patroling for enemy landing barges. 1 Hellcat was able to divert and intercept, shooting down 2 of the bombers. The four survivors picked a destroyer and missed.

Then 12 Judies attacked the task force at Tinian with 3 Nicks escorting. This time, we had 53 Hellcats available to oppose...maybe the commanders figures out what direction the attacks were coming from and cheated a little with the CAP? With no losses, the Hellcats shot down all 3 Nicks and 10 of the Judies. No enemy aircraft made it to our ships. Right behind this group was 19 Kates and 2 Judies...no escorting fighters... our CAP was now at 46 strong. The enemy raid was wiped out completely with no losses. Three straggling Judies entered the fray, none escaped.

The afternoon phase opened with 6 Betties--with torpedoes--attacking our task force at Tinian. The CAP was down to 16 Hellcats--about what's expected. All 6 Betties were shot down...only one of them before they dropped on the heavy cruiser San Fransisco. But again, all missed.

In all this chaos, we managed to make a strikes of our own on Tinian; 33 Hellcats, 33 SBDs and 71 Avengers; they sank a general tender in port and caused some minor casualties to their land forces. Once Nick tried to intervene but was driven off. We also hit Saipan's airbase with 26 Avengers, they caused substantial base damage while blowing up a Judy on the ground. 38 Avengers sortied to Tinian expecting to find enemy ships but found nothing.

Meanwhile over Guam, Japan had one of its few bright spots of the day. Our raid of 6 Hellcats and 12 Avengers was opposed by a single George--who shot down 3 of the Hellcats and GTFO'd. The Avengers caused light airbase damage.

Our ground forces on Tinian attempted an attack but suffered the worst of it, 433 to 1290 with the enemy forts holding at level 4. We're clearly not going to win this fight on the ground without reinforcements... so it's either wait for the troops from Guadalcanal or pull out.

Our aircraft on ASW patrol reported 6 hits on enemy submarines this turn.

Total air to air losses: 5
Total air to air victories: 108
(Opponent's report of actual total losses, including flak and operational, was 130)

Meta: My opponent asked for a replay of this turn due to failed coordination of these strikes with the KB. Apparently he meant to order the KB to move at a higher speed, and that error caused the KB to be just out of range this turn. He doesn't realize it at this point, but that probably saved him. I don't think his carrier strength is currently enough to overcome that 180-strong CAP that I have, and I had fighters and strike aircraft on assignment to strike any ships spotted. When it's "safe" to ask, I'd like to find out just how many operational carriers he had available to see how our forces actually stacked up. I suspect he has badly underestimated my force levels.


Luzon Strait
An enemy tanker convoy made its way up the west coast of Luzon, where it was attacked by 12 Beaufighters from China. Probably 3 sunk tankers (Type-1 TS,1120 tons each) and a sunk PB:
TK Juko Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
TK Amatsu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Zosen Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Nissan Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage

(Yeah, I think the Juko is dead too, they won't control the fires.)

China
We forced another retreat of the 11th Tank Regiment near Nanchang; 65 tanks destroyed at a cost of 417 casualties (but only 1 "destroyed" squad).


Reinforcements
DE Engstrom arrives at Eastern USA
DE Greiner arrives at Seattle
AGC Rocky Mount arrives at Eastern USA
VC-24 arrives at Portland
VMF-121 arrives at Mojave
No.117 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
30th Group Army arrives at Chungking

[Molon Labe]

15 October 1943
Cargo ship convoy devastated by B-25s and Beaufighters flying from recently captured airbases, announcing the end of easy transits through the Celebes Sea


Sulu Sea
USS Finback torpedoed and sank one Std-C class (converted) tanker (2900 tons) in a convoy approaching the north coast of Mindanao.

On the opposite end of the island chain between the Philippines and Borneo, USS Narwhal torpedoed and sank an Aden-class cargo ship (4875 tons) carrying artillery.


Marshall Islands
After intermittent sightings by PBYs, an enemy light cargo ship was hunted down by a pair of my destroyers and sunk at Roi-Namur.


Celebes Sea
We flew a morning and and afternoon strike against a convoy of cargo ships (and at least one troop transport) in the Celebes Sea. Strike 1 was 16 Beaufighters and 15 B-15Gs:
xAKL Mitsu Maru #3, Bomb hits 10, and is sunk
xAK Tosei Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Shinnan Maru, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Hinode Maru, Shell hits 5
xAK Tatsuho Maru, Shell hits 3, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Neikai Maru, Shell hits 3
xAK Sanuki Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Kurohime Maru, Shell hits 4
xAK Peking Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAP Asama Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire

Raid 2: 16 Beaufighters, 6 B-25G
xAKL Hinode Maru, Shell hits 9, Bomb hits 10, and is sunk
xAK Kuroshio Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Uyo Maru, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Kyosei Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kurohime Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Nissho Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Neikai Maru, Shell hits 3

I'd call that 8 ships sunk.


Burma
B-24 strikes on Rangoon hit and damaged a troop transport (Kitano Maru) which I'm pretty sure is the same one that's been getting bombed from weeks ago. A second strike hit it 3 more times--that really should be enough to put it down permanently.


CENTPAC
Avenger raids on Saipan got a George on the ground and caused light facility damage.

The KB has apparently backed off from the Mariannas after the supporting land-based aircraft losses yesterday.


Strategic Picture
Between yesterday and today, the enemy had a tanker convoy hit by aircraft trying to get to Japan sneaking along the coast of Luzon, two ships torpedoed by subs trying to move into or approach routes through the Philippines, and another convoy hit by an airstrike south of the Philippines. It's really looking like there's just not a lot of space left to get ships through, and the more I lock these routes down with aircraft, the denser my submarine coverage gets in the space the aircraft aren't patrolling.


Reinforcements
DE Acree arrives at Eastern USA
DE Doneff arrives at Eastern USA
APD Noa arrives at Balboa
6th PG/26th PRS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

16 October 1943

Celebes Sea
The KIX was depth charged attempting to attack a convoy very near the location of the one hit by bombers yesterday.


Sulu Sea
USS Finback and USS Grouper made attacks against unescorted cargo ships either entering or leaving the sea lane passing north of Mindao. The Finback made a submerged attack and missed; the Grouper attacked on the surface and scored 2 torpedo hits, sinking an Aden-class cargo ship reported to be carrying artillery and vehicles.


CENTPAC
We're trying to beat down the enemy airbases instead of the ground forces since hitting the ground forces was ineffective. The problem is, except for the recent arrivals and the Yorktown (which lost most of its aircraft to mass ditching), we don't have a lot of sorties available, and underway replenishment only works for fuel at this point in history.

Raids on Saipan did light-moderate damage and destroyed a Judy on the ground.

Raids on Tinian did moderate-heavy damage to the airbase and also got a Judy on the ground.

The enemy attempted an attack on our beachhead, suffering 2356 to our 129 casualties. The defensive bonus here is pretty serious.


Reinforcements
DE Dempsey arrives at Mare Island
AGC Appalachian arrives at Cristobal

[Molon Labe]

17 October 1943
Georges' revenge


Philippine Sea
USS Skate torpedoed and destroyed a minesweeper guarding the eastern exit of the north-of-Mindanao sea lane that is becoming critically important with both the Luzon Strait and Celebes Sea essentially closed to surface traffic.


DEI
I had been bombing Manado regularly as there were only bombers based there. The bombers were apparently evacuated and replaced by fighters, so for today I switched to sweeps. 15 P-40s came out to play and were challenged by 4 Zeroes; 1 Zero was shot down.

I've divided up my daily heavy bomber raids between Ambon and Kendari. The Arizona and New Mexico are also doing laps from Ambon to Darwin; shelling, reloading.

I'm making an airborne push along the Flores island chain, extending west from Timor south of Makassar. The objective of this push is to establish air cover over the island of Salajar, slightly south of Makassar. This move should make Makassar untenable to hold (which is now their nearest major airbase with Kendari essentially knocked out by air raids). It would also put merchant traffic in the Makassar Strait at risk and, if I wanted to, I could build up the base enough to operate heavy bombers that could reach Surabaya or Balikpapan--although I'd rather just take Makassar and use that base. Recon flights are showing all targeted bases empty of enemy troops. Today, the 1st USMC Parachute battalion landed on and captured Pantar, Lomblen, and Larantoeka.


CENTPAC
A raid of 47 Hellcats and 27 Avengers targeting Saipan was intercepted by 33 Georges and 15 Tojos. Most of this raid came from the relatively inexperienced air wing of the Bunker Hill and the CVLs it deployed with, and it appears they were up against crack Japanese crews flying their best fighter. We got 3 Georges and 1 Tojo... with a loss of 20 Hellcats and 3 Avengers. At least we dealt serious damage to the airbase, accumulating with prior damage. Those enemy aircraft should be taking operational losses from landing at such badly damaged bases, and the George has a terrible service rating to begin with.

Thinking the enemy would be off balance from their ground defeat yesterday, I ordered an attack today... no luck... 306 (J) to 950(A), forts holding at Level 4.

ASW aircraft reported 2 hits on enemy subs this turn.


Reinforcements
DD Izard arrives at Balboa
APA Monrovia arrives at Cristobal

[Molon Labe]

18 October 1943
Heavy cruiser IJN Nachi torpedoed in Sulu Sea
Hellcats lose to Georges, again


Sulu Sea
USS Grouper scored 2 hits on IJN Nachi on the western side of the north-of-Mindanao sea route. Damage appears to be severe. The nearest shipyard is Manila--I'll have a pair of subs looking for him outside that harbor. Curiously, this appears to be a replenishment task force; the other reported ships are 2 AOs and a kaibokan.


CENTPAC
That apparently-elite George squadron handed our asses to us again. I cancelled the Avenger raids and replaced them with sweeps, mostly from CVEs with more experienced pilots than the newly-arrived Bunker Hill. But, coordination was awful, instead of arriving in a group they mostly arrived 1 squadron-of-9 at a time. We got 1 Zero and 2 Georges, while losing 11 Hellcats.

I've ordered the most depleted carriers (Essex, Yorktown [it's aircraft, not its sorties], Independence, Casablanca, Belleau Wood, and Duncan) to fall back to Wake for replenishment. That leaves Bunker Hill, Princeton, Cowpens, Monterey, and several CVEs.


DEI
USMC paratroopers seized Maurmere, Endeh, and Ruteng.
Of the 6 bases captured, I only intend to build up Maurmere. But he won't know which one it is until there's already a fighter squadron based there. I'll be using landing craft to reconsolidate the Marines, and amphibious ships are moving base forces and engineers over.


Reinforcements
DD Cotten arrives at Eastern USA
DE Parks arrives at Eastern USA
AS Aegir arrives at Balboa
LSD Lindenwald arrives at Los Angeles

[Molon Labe]

19 October 1943

Japan
USS Shad torpedoed and sank a PB near Torishima. A few hexes to the south, USS Corvina scored a non-fatal hit on a Type-1 TL tanker.

Sulu Sea
USS Albacore torpedoed and sank an Aden-class cargo ship off the coast of Borneo


Reinforcements
DE Duffy arrives at Mare Island
71st RG/110th RS arrives at Eastern USA
494th BG/867th BS arrives at Eastern USA
58th FG/310th FS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

20 October 1943
USS Raton forced to surface by depth charging, but survives
CVBG replenishment underway



Palau Islands
Interesting submarine engagement here. USS Raton attacked a convoy, striking a cargo ship with a Mk14. Probably a kill. Two Kaibokans prosecute the Raton, and they quickly score two solid depth charge hits plus a few damaging near misses. Raton forces to surface. It trades fire with the Kaibokans, hitting one of them with its deck gun and taking at 2-4 hits from the various guns aboard the skimmers. Then Raton is able to break contact. I'm not sure how...the top speed of these ships is 19 knots; considering that the Raton was taking on water its top speed was lower than that. So it looks like they got things under control enough to dive again. Current damage report from Raton is that they have significant flooding but have it under control, they're expected to make it back to base.


China
The enemy 11th Tank Regiment has been destroyed near Nanchang.
Enemy troops are advancing from Hangkow to Sinyang, probably trying to break the stalemate there. They have to cross open ground to get there and are now a bomber priority.


The enemy has also quietly increased their forces in the small mountain base hex of Tisatso. I'm thinking the high defensive bonus will help me hold out if he's planning on that hex becoming an active front.



CENTPAC
I've decided it was a bad call to only retreat half my carrier forces--he's not going to fall for it and the KB is lurking. Admiral Halsey is taking all remaining US warships back to Wake for replenishment and to rendezvous with the reinforcements from Guadalcanal. Along the way, the task force spotted a Japanese sub trying to penetrate the screen, and the escorting destroyers drove it off while inflicting serious depth charge damage. That left the sub vulnerable to the next task force coming through, one of the amphibious groups. The destroyers in that task force finished the enemy boat off.


The first carrier task force to retreat has fully replenished their fuel and aircraft fuel/bomb/torpedo supplies. All ships except Yorktown have taken enough replacement aircraft to return to full strength; Yorktown's attack aircraft are mostly replaced but fighter aircraft will take longer; I'll probably have to fly some from Wake to her once she heads back.


Reinforcements
PF San Pedro arrives at Mare Island
6th PG/25th PRS arrives at Eastern USA
58th FG/69th FS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

21 October 1943

Philippine Sea
Enemy PBs prevented an attack by USS Greenling against a tanker convoy of at least 5 tankers on the eastern end of a sea lane passing south of Luzon. Not sure if these guys are inbound or outbound; my guess is outbound.


DEI
24 Sally bombers escorted by 7 Nicks attacked the USMC paratroopers on Ruteng. We had 3 P-40s on a long-range CAP providing cover, which shot down 1 Nick and 1 Sally without loss. The raid destroyed 1 squad and disabled another (17 nominal casualties), which is probably all that's there to begin with.


CENTPAC
The sub killed yesterday appears to be part of a deliberate effort to intercept traffic headed to Wake. At least 4 more subs are lurking along that route according to searchplanes. One hit was claimed on one of those subs.

[Ostfriese]

Quite a lot of reports :)

From those reports it sounds that the strategic initiative already is firmly in your hand, even though you still suffer heavy losses at times.

The KB (or what's left of it) also seems to become less and less of a factor. It still is a thread, no doubt, but it seems it is no longer able to stop you at the center of attack. Except for sinking the KB it sounds that you are ahead of the historic progress.

How are things regarding VP? From your point of view: do you think your opponent still has good chances to win the game?

And once again thanks for your reports, which I still enjoy with the game in it's 20th month.

[Molon Labe]

22 Oct 1943

CENTPAC and Truk

Near Marcus, USS Corvina attacked a Gozan-class cargo ship (tonnage: 2375) from the surface, scoring 3 torpedo hits for substantial overkill.


Halsey's battle group was approached by an enemy sub, which was seriously damaged by depth charges before it eluded us. I doubt this one makes it back to port.


At least 3 more subs are approaching Wake.



The second group of carriers is nearly fully-replenished. It would take another day to finish off a pair of CVLs. No problems issuing replacement aircraft.


Taking advantage of the building enemy fighter presence in the Marianas, I guessed, correctly, that meant fighter coverage at Truk would be weak and hit it with heavy bombers from Rabaul. Damage to the base was rather light, although we did get a mine tender sunk. One enemy Tony was shot down by the bombers, and we lost one bomber to the CAP.


An enemy ground attack on Tinian cost them 1700 casualties to our 70. That defensive bonus again!


Sulu Sea and Philippines
Just a quick screenshot of the two sea lanes he's probably using. The number of subs around these will be increasing in the coming days.

https://i.ibb.co/dP3jMTv/1943-October-23-introphil.png


Reinforcements
DD Franks arrives at Seattle
58th FG/311th FS arrives at Eastern USA
855/868th Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

Quite a lot of reports :)

From those reports it sounds that the strategic initiative already is firmly in your hand, even though you still suffer heavy losses at times.

The KB (or what's left of it) also seems to become less and less of a factor. It still is a thread, no doubt, but it seems it is no longer able to stop you at the center of attack. Except for sinking the KB it sounds that you are ahead of the historic progress.

How are things regarding VP? From your point of view: do you think your opponent still has good chances to win the game?

And once again thanks for your reports, which I still enjoy with the game in it's 20th month.


https://i.ibb.co/sgv9SHD/1943-October-23-VP.png
The VP score is rapidly narrowing, I might overtake him soon. The timing of this makes it look like maybe my sudden territorial expansion had a lot to do with it, but those were really low-value bases for the most part. I think it's mostly ships sunk by subs days/weeks/months ago finally being confirmed and counted, plus land unit losses--including those going down with transports all over the place.


I think any chance he had of pulling off an auto-victory died when he aborted the Burma campaign to save Java. He's playing for a stalemate now by trying to stop my invasions when I make them.

[Molon Labe]

23 October 1943

Philippine Sea
USS Grouper hit an Aden-class cargo ship (4875 tons) with a pair of Mk14s, sending it to the bottom. The ship was transporting artillery and was was passing north of the Palau Islands.

This is interesting, given how many unescorted cargo ships carrying land units have been sunk over the last week or two in the Sulu Sea. This is much further south than I'd expect them to be if they're using the "north-of-Mindanao" route (henceforth known as the Leyte Route as Leyte Gulf is its eastern terminal). So this suggests the merchant traffic may be on a dog-leg course east of the Philppines to try to throw me off. Grouper just happened to be passing through the lane on its way back to port to refuel.


https://i.ibb.co/HnDc5gc/1943-Oct-23-Leyte.png


Japan
USS Shad scored 2 hits on yet another Aden-class cargo ship, this one southeast of Shikoku.


CENTPAC and Truk
The enemy made a large-scale medium bomber attack on my forces still fighting on Tinian. They were as ineffective as my own raids previously.

B-24 raids on Truk met 16 Zeroes this time. Light airfield damage again--4 Zeroes shot down by the bombers though. 1 bomber lost to flak. I'm suspending these attacks for a bit; even though the Zeroes aren't getting kills outright they're still damaging the planes resulting in some operational losses and fewer overall ready aircraft. I'd rather let them repair and attack with a bit more mass and maybe get better results on the ground.

My newly-arrived amphibious group from Guadalcanal was detected as it started to make its way from Wake to Tinian, along with the first group of carriers to be replenished. Rather than let this be an inviting target for the KB while the other carriers are catching up, I'm having these guys double back a bit to make sure we link up ASAP. The marines on Tinian have plenty of supplies to hold out an extra day.



Reinforcements
DD Hoel arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

24 October 1943

Japan
USS Drum was detected and depth charged by a kaibokan near Iwo Jima and is returning to Midway for a repair assessment.


Java Sea
USS Hake was depth charged by a subchaser trying to slip out of the Java Sea between Sumatra and Java. It was going to return to Colombo, I've since redirected it to Brisbane and reviewed all over subs in the area to make sure they'll be resupplying at Darwin instead of Colombo. The Strait of Malacca as well as the smaller straits in the Java Sea are just too hot to cross right now.


CENTPAC
Having my carriers backed off from the Marianas, they are now using medium bombers to attack my Marines on Tinian. Fortunately they're just as ineffective as my Avengers were.


Reinforcements
DD Sigourney arrives at Balboa
AD Denebola arrives at Balboa
VT-8 arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

25 October 1943
Fight for Tinian now unwinnable


Marshall Islands
I had a 3-destroyer task force cruising the Marshalls looking for a fight, and it looked like they might get one. An enemy destroyer briefly engaged them near Roi-Namur, but broke contact before either side landed any hits.


CENTPAC
Now at least 2 enemy task forces have begun to bombard our Marines on Tinian, one of which includes the battleships Ise and Kongo.

An enemy land attack came which was about 4x as strong as the prior one--they've reinforced, big time. Maybe it was a horrible mistake to back my carriers off... Even with my troops from Guadalcanal, we can't beat them on Tinian anymore. That said, they haven't worn us down yet, casualties 3665 (J) to 567 (A) this time. But that's going to get worse fast.


Japan
USS Blackfish scored a torpedo hit on an enemy cargo ship, but it wasn't lethal. This was well southeast of Japan, further east than I'd have expected.


DEI
I sent a B-24 raid to Makassar base as our airfields continue to expand, allowing the heavy bombers to move to more forward bases. Unfortunately the B-24s arrived before a P-38 sweep instead of after as intended. That miscue cost us 5 B-24s. Damage to the airbase was light, but was enough to destroy 2 Topsy transports and 2 Sally medium bombers.


Celebes Sea
An enemy surface combat task force, including the Musashi and Haruna, crossed the Celebes Sea, drawing the attention of 16 Beaufighters and 11 B-25Gs:

CL Naka, Shell hits 12
BB Musashi, Shell hits 2
DD Hatsuzuki, Shell hits 4
DD Niizuki, Shell hits 4
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 1
---
stragglers:
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 1
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 2
E Kiji, Shell hits 2

A second raid in the afternoon on the same task force:
CL Naka, Shell hits 4
----
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 1
DD Hatsuzuki, Shell hits 4
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 5
CL Naka, Shell hits 4
E Kiji, Shell hits 1
No ships were seriously damaged; the bombs hitting the battleships didn't get through the armor.

[Molon Labe]

26 October 1943
Trying to salvage the Mariannas operation

CENTPAC
So, I have all these extra troops from Guadalcanal. I know I can't beat him on Tinian. But maybe these troops can rapidly overwhelm Saipan or Guam? I didn't like this option. He has over 100 fighters on Saipan and Tinian now, with the KB lurking nearby, and Betties flying in from the Palaus and Truk. Evacuate Tinian then? That's problem for the same reason.

My answer to this problem: Take Truk. The Betties from Palau aren't in torpedo range. Recon says there aren't many troops there. Having Truk as an airbase puts the Marianas in B-24 range to support my Marines there. After Truk is neutralized, I can reinforce or evacuate Tinian but with a significantly reduced land-based air threat.

I attacked Truk with B-24s and B-17s from New Britain, causing light damage and destroying a transport on the ground. Disappointing results. The combined task forces approaching Truk reported 2 hits on enemy submarines by ASW aircraft. I hope that doesn't mean he anticipated my move...

The enemy garrison attacked our Marines on Tinian and again it did not go well for them, 707(J) vs 21(A).



DEI
We swept Makassar with P-38s; 2 were shot down while shooting down 4 Tonies. B-24s hit the base later, remaining Tonies got 1 bomber. Damage on the ground was minor.


Burma
Beaufighters made a low-altitude attack on an seaplane tender at Tavoy, causing moderate damage.

Off the coast, HMS Trespasser torpedoed and sunk an Ehime class cargo ship (3425 tons).

Damage at Rangoon is looking fairly accumulative, it may be worth attacking directly in a week or so.


Reinforcements
SS Rock arrives at Eastern USA
SS Burrfish arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

27 October 1943
Light carrier IJN Nisshin makes its first appearance--as a submarine target.


South China Sea
USS Cisco attacked a tanker convoy and missed.


China
We suffered a land attack at Tsiaotso--a confusing target, as this is a flank base for the frontline in the northeastern region, but it's in the mountains, making this a very hard nut to crack. He had significantly reinforced his army presence to make a major push here. Forts reduced from level 4 to 3, casualties 3015(J) to 580(A), and it looks like many of the units that participated in the attack are now going back to wherever they came from.


Burma
I lied yesterday. The cargo ship hit by Trespasser didn't sink. But Trespasser hit her again today and finished her off. The ship's cargo included military vehicles.
3 B-25Gs attacked another cargo ship in the same area, scoring 3 bomb hits as well as strafing it. I believe this was lethal damage. That ship was also carrying vehicles. Finally, a wave of 14 Beaufighters attacked and sank a PB that was escorting the Trespasser's target.


Celebes Sea
USS Albacore connected with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired at the CVL Nisshin along the Borneo coast near the entrance to the Sulu Sea. The damage was severe, although no secondary explosions were reported. Intel believes the ship was sunk. It's certainly disabled. Albacore was depth charged afterwards and is returning home for repairs.


DEI
P-38 sweep of Makasar shot down 1 Zero with no losses. B-24s following destroyed a Tony and 2 Tina transports while dealing moderate airbase damage.

B-25D1s and B-25Gs attacked an enemy task force, also at Makassar base. We lost 3 planes to flak. In exchange:
APD Susuki, Shell hits 12, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
CL Kashima, Bomb hits 3, on fire
---
2nd sortie:
DD Hatsuharu, Shell hits 4
CL Kashima, Bomb hits 7, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Usugumo, Shell hits 1
DD Murasame, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 1, on fire

I'm comfortable calling that--10 500lb bombs hits--a kill on the cruiser.


CENTPAC and Truk
B-24/B-17 raids on Truk destroyed an Emily on the ground. At this point I'm mostly trying to catch combat aircraft rebasing and to make the airstrip cratered enough to cause losses when the rebasing happens. Airbase damage was moderate.


Reinforcements
CA Boston arrives at Eastern USA
DD Hudson arrives at Eastern USA
TK J.A. Moffett arrives at Portland
185th USAAF Base Force arrives at Dacca
123rd RAF Base Force arrives at Aden

--------------------

28 October 1943
Landings begin at Truk, face heavy resistance from coastal artillery


Japan
USS Sealion torpedoed and sank a kaibokan that was on an ASW patrol. You love to see it.


South China Sea
USS Cisco scored two hits on a Yusen-N class cargo ship (6400 tons), sending it to the bottom along with its cargo that included military vehicles.

Sulu Sea
USS Grunion attempted an attack on a tanker convoy near Palawan but was spotted and forced to break off.

Makassar Strait
USS Seal fired torpedoes at tanker convoy passing from the Celebes Sea to Makassar Strait, but missed. (I usually don't report failed attacks but these two were major missed opportunities)

DEI
Another P-38 sweep of Makassar base this turn. This time we shot down 3 Tojos with no losses. No bomber losses for the B-24s after that, but again little damage on the ground.


CENTPAC and Truk
The Truk operation isn't off to a great start. I didn't consider just how powerful their coastal defense batteries are. The battleships Indiana and Alabama opened our attack, both were shot up, the Alabama with moderate damage, Indiana light. An APA in the amphibious group hit a mine, then that task force faced the wrath of the coastal defense guns:
CA Canberra, Shell hits 16, on fire
CA Baltimore, Shell hits 7, on fire
CLAA Oakland, Shell hits 9, on fire
DD Downes, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Anderson, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Barton, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Farenholt, Shell hits 3, on fire
AKA Algorab, Shell hits 1
CVE Casablanca
AKA Titania
AKA Libra, Shell hits 17, heavy fires, heavy damage
AKA Alchiba, Shell hits 5
AKA Almaack, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
---
and more reports like that throughout the day.
The destroyers Land and Anthony hit mines.

Another APA ran aground.

Overall, the damage to the 'phibs was actually bad enough that they stopped, detached several ships for retreats, then resumed the attack. Which was stupid because that just left the attack at partial strength; I ordered the damaged (but still troop-filled) ships to resume the attack. They can retreat once they're empty. I'd rather lose the transports on the beach than land too weak a force to take the base.

The good news in this is we really didn't take all that many casualties to our ground forces...they made it to the beach.

Another enemy shock attack at Tinian; casualties 1743(J) to 149(A). Burning the candle at both ends. Too aggressive in my opinion, but it's going to burn through my supplies fast. And after that happens, my troops will fold. I suppose the question is just whether he can afford to lose that many troops that it's worth it.


Reinforcements
AP Gen. G.O.Squier arrives at San Francisco
ARD AFDB-2 arrives at Seattle
No.79 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

29 October 1943

Sulu Sea
USS Grayback became the latest sub to attempt an attack on a tanker convoy and fail, this one passing south of Palawan. An escorting PB spotted the sub before it could attack and forced it to evade deep.


DEI
Enemy Tonies shot down a P-47 that was escorting B-25s to attack Kendari.


CENTPAC and Truk
Our combined carrier fleet sent a massive raid of 115 Hellcats and 128 Avengers to pound Truk, hopefully covering the landings in progress and disrupting the enemy enough for a counterattack. 9 George fighters opposed the raid; we shot down 4 at the cost of 3 Hellcats. Pathetic, given the overall numbers. Damage on the ground was insignificant despite the size of the raid.

Some of our ships started succumbing to the damage dealt by the coastal batteries/mines:
AKAs: 3

The KB is confirmed to be in the immediate vicinity of Tinian and is supporting ongoing air raids there.


Reinforcements
TK Pueblo arrives at San Francisco
5318th PAU/FS arrives at Karachi

[Molon Labe]

30 October 1943

South China Sea
USS Cisco torpedoed and sank a destroyer-minesweeper off the Jesselton coast. I'd have preferred it if it got some of the tankers that had been passing through, but this is a pretty high-value ship too.


DEI
A minesweeper detected a new minefield at Babar and got to work. We never spotted the sub responsible. That is, unless the submarine that surfaced near Dili was the same boat. That boat shelled and sank a landing craft returning to Dili from our base under construction on Flores island.


CENTPAC and Truk
We lost a B-24 to flak over Truk. I reduced the size of our Avenger raids over Truk due to the lack effectiveness and to preserve sorties with the KB so close. 84 Hellcats and 52 Avengers... little results.

An APA sank near Truk due to damage sustained from the coastal batteries.


Burma
Out of targets at sea, the Beaufighters flew back to Tavoy to attack that seaplane tender and hit it with another bomb and a few cannon bursts. She's still not dead.


Reinforcements
CL Ceylon arrives at Aden
TK Mission Carmel arrives at Alameda
70/100th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

31 October 1943
Kido Butai headed east... objective unclear... possible carrier v carrier battle setup.

Burma
Beaufighters got another bomb hit on that pesky seaplane tender, maybe we finally put her down?


DEI
A second minesweeper arrived at Babar to speed up the clearance operation. The harbor was mine-free by day's end.


All the way to the east near the New Guinea coast, an amphibious task force headed for Manado detected an enemy sub approaching. Escorting destroyers caused a small amount of damage to it before it got away. I'm concerned enough about enemy subs being here because of the traffic that will continue to pass through this area; I've put an ASW task force together to patrol this route and I've ordered fuel to be transported to Taberfane to sustain it.


CENTPAC and Truk
We lost 1 B-24 to George fighters over Truk, and another to flak.


Another damaged AKA went down today.


I still haven't actually attacked Truk with the troops I've landed. Many units were disabled in the landing and I'm hoping the support units can bring them back online. I don't want to make a weak attack.


The enemy continues to raid our marines on Tinian with naval bombardments and air raids. Of significance right now is that a lot of these raids appear to be Judies coming from the KB. The dive bombers are taking significant damage, even some losses, due to them exposing themselves to more and more AA fire the lower they get in their dives. I strongly suspect a significant percentage of the KBs bombers are now down for repairs.


The KB was tracked moving east of the Marianas, in the general direction of Wake. I don't know why. Maybe they're trying to cut off my fleets at Truk from any reinforcements from the east. Maybe they're trying to engage my amphibious ships retiring from Truk. Maybe they believe, correctly, that I have valuable forces standing by at Wake that would make good targets.


If he's looking for a fight, I'll give him one. My non-CVE carrier forces right now are the fleet carriers Essex, Bunker Hill, and Yorktown, plus 5 CVLs. Total air strength: 155 F6Fs, 71 dive bombers, 144 Avengers. I'm really just guessing at his total strength, but he'd need about 5 fleet carriers to match me in fighters. I don't think he has that. Recon flights say 3 carriers, which sounds right: The Zuikakau, Shokaku, and probably the Hiyo. If the Kaga wasn't sunk, she might be back in action by now. If the Akagi survived, I'd be pretty damn surprised if she was back in action this soon. I suppose there could be new ships we haven't seen yet.



To hedge a little, I've ordered a CVE that was intended to provide replacement aircraft to the CVEs still at Truk to cover the withdrawing phibs. That task force already had a CVE with dive bombers aboard; I've flown them to Wake and replaced them with fighters from the CVEs still at Truk. And finally, the Lexington II is nearing the AO; I've thrown a respectable amount of surface combattants from wake into a screen/escort and set them to rendezvous near the retiring phibs. So the actual fighter numbers in any combat might tilt as high as ~245 to 120. I doubt he'd engage my carriers and Wake at the same time, but if he does that's another 50 P-40s and the 27 SBDs from the escort carrier.


https://i.ibb.co/0rN24fY/1943-October-31-CENTPAC.png


Reinforcements
VRF-2F arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

1 November 1943
KB loitering, not pursuing

DEI
That sub that attacked our ARG yesterday tried to attack again, but we spotted it in time. Apparently it's pursuing the task force. We got some solid hits on it this time before it got away.


Japan
Another day, another PB on ASW duty sunk by the subs its supposed to be killing. This one by USS Rasher.


Burma
More Beaufighter attacks on that AV at Tavoy--hit it with another bomb and some cannon fire. It's probably not going down yet. I'm cancelling these attacks just because they've become too regular. Were they to be ambushed, the loss of the Beaufighters wouldn't be worth killing the AV.


CENTPAC and Truk
The KB only moved 4 hexes east, not enough to engage my retiring phibs and nowhere near it's movement capacity. It could have doubled that at cruising speed--and my opponent likes to move his carriers at flank.

Recon reports the Betties are at Saipan right now. Rebasing them to Truk--I failed to disable the airbase with my strikes--could allow them to strike my 2 main CVBGs before they're out of range. His positioning is curious--it's not quite close enough to Saipan/Truk to prevent me from attacking him with my carriers without exposing myself to the Betties.

I'd say the worst case scenario right now is that he's got more than 3 fleet carriers (unlikely) and he attacks me before I get out of Truk's range. The carrier fleets fight an even battle which depletes my CAP and disables some of my carriers from flight ops. Then the Betties arrive--without escorts--but the fleet is slow and relatively unprotected after the battle, allowing the followup strike to administer coup-de-graces to the fleet. This whole scenario is exceedingly unlikely, though, the timing and distances involved make it implausible.

But that does leave me guessing about what the KB's intentions are. It clearly doesn't want the phibs. And if it wanted my carriers, he could have done that last turn. This could be a defensive posture, but I think he's at a disadvantage if he leaves them there for me to attack. This really isn't like him at all--he usually keeps the carriers concealed, attacks, and pulls back. It's land-based airpower he disrespects in this process--never carrier airpower. For now I'm just going to continue to cover the retreat of the phibs and protect Wake. One the Lexington joins "my KB", I'll consider going offensive.

Yorktown's fighter squadron is now at full strength, having received replacement aircraft from the CVE that just joined the retiring phibs.

https://i.ibb.co/jTt1w5q/1943-November-2-CENTPAC.png




South China Sea
A Catalina on a search mission spotted and bombed a PB near Jessleton, Borneo.


Reinforcements
DE Emery arrives at Mare Island
TK Republic arrives at San Francisco
15th FG/45th FS arrives at San Francisco
860/865th Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at San Francisco
111th(Sep) Infantry Regiment arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

2 November 1943

CENTPAC and Truk
Contact report from USS Grunion: 1 DD, 6 AP spotted west of the Mariannas. They're sending more reinforcements. I'm moving 3 subs to intercept. Grunion herself was spotted the depth charged for light damage.


I finally used my Marines to attack Truk...didn't come anywhere near dislodging the enemy garrison. Casualties 426 to 390 favoring them.


---
And that was pretty much all that happened today, other than the routine bombing of Tinian by my opponent and my routine bombing of Rangoon, airbases all over the DEI, and ground forces in China.


Reinforcements
SS Tang arrives at Mare Island
No.203 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
46th Aviation Base Force arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

3 November 1943
Kido Butai moves to Truk, composition confirmed -- 3 fleet carriers
USS Halibut on eternal patrol -- sacrificed sinking enemy reinforcements for Tinian
Amphibious assault on Manado begins


DEI
A relatively small force is coming ashore on Manado. Enemy resistance appears light so far. I'm ordering B-25s in the area to provide some support.


CENTPAC and Truk
The Halibut was one of the three subs I sent to intercept the troop convoy yesterday. It made a successful attack, putting 3 fish into a 7470-ton transport. An escorting Kaibokan was very accurate with its depth charges afterwards... Halibut was forced to surface and gunned down.


At Truk, the minesweepers we left on patrol encountered the KB. Both fleets disengaged, but we got a good contact report out of it. The KB is comprised of the carriers Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiyo, the seaplane carrier Chiyoda, battleships Kongo and Haruna, 4 heavy cruisers, and 12 destroyers. As you might imagine, that rang the dinner bell. Halsey and Mitscher are on their way with my 4 Essex-class CVs and 5 Independence class CVLs. Recon flights of Truk show a light land-based air presence. One battlegroup UNREPed today, the other has orders to tomorrow.


Heavy bomber raids on Truk only encountered 37 fighters on CAP (15 of which were land-based), which suggests the KB just did a splash-and-go but stayed close enough to provide some air support. 7 B-24s and 1 B-17 were shot down, with Japan losing 1 Zero, 2 Georges, and a Rufe.


China
We sustained an attack in Sinyang again. Casualties 6822(J) to 996(A).


Reinforcements
No.152 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

Where are the Carriers?

Fleet Carriers

Akagi: Torpedoed by S-29 on 23 June 1942. Damage did not appear serious at the time. Intel reported sunk 6/24/42, then reported still in service 9/20/42. Fighter squadron seen operating in Chengchow, China on 4 Sept 42, but appears absent on 20 Sept 42--airwing likely returned to ship after repairs completed. Likely received 7/1942 upgrade while under repair. Believed to be participating in invasion of Sri Lanka operation as of 2 March 1943.Participated in Java Campaign Spring-Summer 1943. Present for KB's attempt to cover Ambon evacuation 13-16 August 1943, in which the Akagi was bombed by B-25 attack bombers and SBD-5s flying from several nearby bases; Akagi was hit by two 500lb bombs from the B-25s and 1 1000lb bomb from the SBDs. In addition, the Akagi hit a surface-laid mine. Intel believes Akagi sank afterwards.

Kaga: 31 October - 1 November 1942 supporting Rangoon landings. 19 September 1942, torpedoed by Albacore in Bay of Bengal operating with Junyo (and probably Hiyo). Continued flight operations after torpedo hit. Confirmed to have NOT yet received 7/1942 upgrade as of 19 September 1942, does not appear to have it as of 31 October 42 either. Prior damage from CVW-8 Devastator on 16 June 42 in Coral Sea, causing aviation gas explosion. Torpedoed twice by S-28 14 February 1943 at Ambon, believed to have survived but expected to require lengthy repairs. Intel believes Kaga sank just outside Hiroshima 9/6/43. (If that's correct, it would imply she sheltered for months getting patch-up repairs somewhere close to where she was hit, hoping they could get her seaworthy enough to make it back to Japan... and it wasn't quite enough). 5 November 1943 - intel changes mind, Kaga still in service.

Shokaku: Operational, believed to be operating with Kido Butai. Not believed to have received 7/1942 upgrades prior to 8 Sept 42.
--Multiple carrier fleet deployment to Solomons 1-8 November 1942; likely included Hiryu and Shokaku, retired towards Marshalls
--Unconfirmed carrier sighting approaching Solomons from Marshalls/Gilberts 12 November 1942.
--The KB may have split into two divisions (Hiryu, Shokaku ; Akagi, Zuikaku) to allow for upgrades, appears to be focused on Marshalls and Solomons.
--Shokaku hit by torpedo from USS Porpoise 21 December 1942.
--Participated in Java Campaign Spring-Summer 1943.
--Participated in Ambon evacuation attempt, September 1943. Sustained damage by 6 500-lb bombs from B-25s, but not believed to be seriously damaged
--Present during defense of Marianas and Truk, November 1943


Zuikaku: sustained light damage near Ambon 11 July 1943. Present during defense of Marianas and Truk, November 1943

Hiyo: Confirmed present supporting Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942. Believed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942 (fighter squadron reported present). Present for battle of Port Blair 20 August 1942. Hit by 2 torpedoes from Albacores on 31 July 1942. Intel reports sunk 8/25/42, report stricken upon sighting near Rangoon. Believed to be present in Sri Lanka operation as of 2 March 1943. Present as part of the KB near Ambon 13 June 1943. Damaged in low-level attack by B-25D1s (4 500lb bomb hits) near Ambon 11 July 1943. Present during defense of Marianas and Truk, November 1943

Soryu: Sunk by CVW-2 14 Feb 1942

Hiryu: Paired with Shokaku for much of its career. Sunk by USS Scamp off Male with 3 Mk14 hits, 10 March 1943, at the cost of Scamp.

Taiho: Likely entered service Spring 1943. Believed to be the primary adversary responsible for sinking USS Wasp. Severely damaged by dive bombers near Ambon 22 May and again 24 May 1943. Finished off by B-25s while attempting to shelter in port in Babar 25 May 1943.

Junyo: Believed present for Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November1942.Confirmed present in Bay of Bengal 20 Sept 1942. Previous deployment as part of the KB, 21 July 1942, supporting the evacuation of ground forces from Lahaina, Hawaii. As of March 2, 1943, NOT spotted supporting Sri Lanka operation and may be present in CENT/SouthPAC. Assigned to Marianas Detachment believed to be responsible for sinking of USS Wasp. Detached from KB after Taiho was damaged 24 May, sunk along with the Ryhuo by SBDs near Saumlaki 22 May 1943.



Light and Escort Carriers:
CVL Ryujo - hit by two heavyweight torpedoes on 1/17, definitely disabled, likely sunk. Intel reports sunk 1/31/42.
CVL Shoho - May have been present in Rangoon landings 30 October - 1 November 1942. Damaged by heavyweight torpedo hit 2/3/42. Damaged by CVW-8 Helldiver 16 June 42 in the Coral Sea. Sunk by 3 bomb hits from CVW-2 and -3 in Battle of Arafura Sea, 11 December 1942.
CVL Zuiho - likely sunk 2/14/42 (4 bomb hits, 1 air-dropped torpedo hit). Intel reports sunk same day.
CVE Hosho - sunk by 2 heavyweight torpedo hits 1/19/42
CVE Taiyo - sunk 2/14/42 (6 bomb hits)
CVE Unyo: Hit by torpedo from Albacore 20 August 1942 off Port Blair, damage did not appear severe. Intel originally reported sank same day, but was later reported to still be in service. Hit by 3 torpedoes from KXIV 26 August 1943. Highly probable ship sunk as 28 dive bomber losses were reported by intel days later.
CVL Ryuho: Likely entered service Spring 1943. Part of Marianas Detactment CVBG responsible for sinking USS Wasp. Assigned to Marianas Detachment believed to be responsible for sinking of USS Wasp. Detached from KB after Taiho was damaged 24 May, sunk along with the Junyo by SBDs near Saumlaki 22 May 1943.


Seaplane Carriers

CS Chiyoda: Coastwatcher report 11/13/42 in port at Guadalcanal. May be operating with KB (or a division thereof). Present during defense of Marianas and Truk, November 1943
CVL/CS Nisshin:
Rufe float fighters have been spotted with the Kido Butai as well as the CVBG operating in the Bay of Bengal, indicating these seaplane carriers are operating with the fleet carriers. Appeared as a CVL (converted) 27 Oct 1943 and was hit by one torpedo from USS Albacore. Intel believes sunk.
CS Chitose: sunk in surface action in Celebes Sea as part of an amphibious task force (USS Marblehead leading formation), 10 December 1941
CS Mizuho: Torpedoed by USS Sargo south of Celebes 10/31/42 with major fires breaking out. Believed to have sunk on 11/3/42 due to intel reports of destroyed floatplanes.


Could be in service, but have yet to appear:
CVE Chuho: 11/22/42
CV Unryu: 4/8/43 (cost: 122)
CV Amagi 4/10/43 (cost: 122)
CV Katsuragi: 5/14/43 (cost: 122)
CV Shinano: 5/31/43 (cost: 314)


Unfinished:
CVE Kaiyo: 12/3/43
CVE Shinyo: 12/19/43
CVE Yamashira Maru: 2/4/45
CVE Shimane Maru: 2/8/45
CVL Ibuki: 4/26/45
CVE Chigusa Maru: 6/22/45
CV Ikoma: 6/20/45
CV Aso: 6/24/45
(cost-adjusted arrival dates represent previously-calculated acceleration)

[Molon Labe]

4 November 1943
KB remains at Truk, at least for the morning

CENTPAC and Truk
I forgot to order the two minesweepers at Truk to GTFO. They went back, ran into the KB again, retreated, went back again, and got killed by coastal batteries. A bit glitchy in that the coastal batteries didn't go after them when they were patrolling there previously. But hey, they swept 16 mines before they got killed.

A bombardment task force led by battleship Ise shelled our troops on Truk. Light casualties. I kinda hope they stick around another day...

Our combined carrier task forces (should I call it the Yankee Butai?) didn't make it to strike range today, but got close enough to be counterdetected. I didn't end the turn with a fix on the KB, but I didn't end last turn with one either and that didn't stop them from being at Truk. So maybe tomorrow. Or maybe they see the hammer about to fall and pull back.

By the way, intel now reports Kaga is still in service.


Japan
USS Rasher was spotted and depth charged by a kaibokan on ASW patrol, suffering moderate flooding. I forgot to manually order it back to port, hopefully it's doing that automatically, but I doubt it.

Rasher went on to torpedo a Husimi-class cargo ship (4675 tons) later in the day. The damage didn't appear lethal, but we got the SFX for a sinking ship later in the day and I don't know who else it would have been. Also there were 6 floatplanes reported "destroyed on the ground" and once again, I don't know who that would have been if not for them going down with this ship.


Marshall Islands
My hunter-killer combo of 2 DD and a pair of Catalina squadrons tracked down a singleton destroyer near Kusaie Island, and this time it didn't get away. Our 2 DD shelled it for substantial damage, then torpedoed it to put it down. No damage to us. The enemy DD was carrying artillery--apparently a "fast transport" evacuation effort.


Philippine Sea
USS Nautilus torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship (875 tons) off Legaspi. OK, maybe those floatplanes could have been on this, too.


DEI
Our troops ashore at Manado made a push to take the base but failed to dislodge the enemy troops. We have them badly outnumbered, the have no fortifications, and we have air support. I can reinforce if I need to, but no matter what it's just a matter of time. Ha, on second thought maybe I back off on the air support--our troops report there are 3 enemy units here total, a base force and 2 AA units.


Reinforcement
DE Cloues arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

5 November 1943

South China Sea
USS Billfish was spotted by an ASW patrol near Singapore and depth charged for light damage before it escaped. It found an enemy tanker convoy shortly after and attacked. It missed, then the kaibokan escorts went after her and were quite accurate. Billfish was forced to surface by the damage and gunned down.


DEI
A destroyer-minesweeper escorting landing craft near Dili spotted an enemy sub and scored moderate depth charge damage against it before it got away.


CENTPAC and Truk
We lost 2 B-24s to the CAP over Truk and 2 more to flak. The bombers shot down a single George. The raid caused moderate airbase damage. A raid of 52 Avengers with 84 Hellcats followed that, with SBDs hitting the port. Flak got 2 Avengers and 3 SBDs. We shot down a George and a Nick, blew up an Emily ont he ground, and caused light airbase damage.

An enemy shock attack at Tinian resulted in 5207 enemy casualties and 682 to us.


Reinforcement
SS Angler arrives at Balboa
AP Gen. A.E.Anderson arrives at Eastern USA
No.81 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
No.123 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

6 November 1943
No sign of KB in CENTPAC area... they've disengaged from our Yankee Butai


CENTPAC and Truk
In the Palaus, USS Flasher torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship (1900 tons). Flasher took light damage from a depth charge attack afterwards.

Three light cargo ships approached Truk from the west and were hit by 19 SBD-5s from the combined carrier task force, all were sunk.

We lost a B-17 (to CAP) and an Avenger (to flak) over Truk.

The enemy attacked at Tinian again, casualties 1120 (J) to 556 (A).
The also attacked at Truk, casualties 1130 (J) to 12 (A). We clearly have the superior force there, it's just a matter of overcoming the defensive bonuses to dislodge the enemy.

The enemy has deployed many subs near Truk, we're spotting them with patrols but none have gotten that close to the carriers, yet.


Reinforcements
161st USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco
25th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at San Francisco
109th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden
22nd Indian Brigade arrives at Karachi

[Molon Labe]

7 November 1943

Philippine Sea
USS Flasher tried to engage IJN Maya (apparently she survived her prior torpedo damage) but missed with all 4 torpedoes. Escorting destroyers crippled Flasher, which is now limping to port and might not make it.


CENTPAC and Truk
The enemy CAP at Truk has surged to 94 fighters. That cost us a B-17s and 11 B-24s. Plus two more of each to flak. Airbase damage from the bombers that got through was negligible.

Avengers bombed a mine tender at Truk.

Tinian suffered another land attack - casualties 1220 (J) to 415 (A).


DEI
We attempted to overrun Manado but didn't quite get it. Forts to Level 0, casualties 18 (J) to 56 (A).


Reinforcements
AK Gainsar arrives at Portland
AK Venus arrives at Alameda
18th RAAF Base Force arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

8 November 1943

South China Sea
HMS Truant torpedoed a tanker just north of Palawan Island, near the Sulu Sea. The tanker appears to have survived but the fires caused by the explosion were serious. I'd say it can probably make it to Manila for repairs.


CENTPAC and Truk
I had the carrier task force engage Truk with a few Hellcat sweeps. We lost 4 of them, shooting down 1 Nick, 5 Zeroes, 1 George, and 3 Tonies. We later lost 3 B-24s since I forgot to order one of the squadrons to stand down.

The KB was reacquired at Saipan. I'm a bit concerned that they might be able to use the fighters at Truk to help the KB punch its bombers through for a successful strike on me.

Tinian took yet another ground attack. Casualites 2558 (J) to 567 (A)


DEI
We've taken Manado. It has substantial airbase damage from my bombings but nothing we can't repair after getting some engineers ashore. Should be able to get fighters online in 3 days or so and have a decent base operating in a week.


Reinforcements
CVL Cabot arrives at Balboa
30th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

9 November 1943

Japan
USS Searaven torpedoed and destroyed a PB (215 tons) off Aogoshima.


CENTPAC and Truk
Another ground attack on Tinian, 797(J) to 174(A). The balance is really starting to tip as our supplies are running out and we can't reactivate disabled units.

Both carrier battle groups are holding back, me avoiding Saipan's airpower and him not wanting to leave it. I'm favoring hitting Truk with battleships to try to wear down their fighter support. I have one ready and a second that needs to rearm.


Reinforcements
LSD Gunston Hall arrives at Los Angeles
LST-78 arrives at Cristobal
No.134 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden
243 Wing arrives at Aden

---
Kind of a nothing turn.
All over bases in the Pacific I've got ships removing land units no longer needed there and moving them to Darwin. I'm getting ready to try to eliminate Ambon and Koepang.

[Molon Labe]

10 November 1943
Clowned at Diego Garcia

Indian Ocean
After weeks of naval bombardment, we finally landed troops to try to retake Diego Garcia--over a division strong--only to find the base completely evacuated. I'd been trying to keep an eye on it with submarines as it's too far to observe by aircraft. Well, that didn't work out.


CENTPAC and Truk
The KB is adding its bombers to raids on Tinian, at little cost to themselves because our troops don't have anything left to shoot at the planes. If the haven't made an appearance before--Jill torpedo bombers are included.

USS Snapper was bombed by a Jill on patrol; the Jill was also damaged by the sub's AA guns.

[Molon Labe]

11 November 1943
A very uneventful day. Lots of bomber sorties flown by both sides but no combat losses. Of note, Japan attacked on Tinian again, resulting in 933(J) vs 645(A) casualties, but it's far worse than it looks because we're getting far more squads destroyed than disabled. It's the beginning of the end.


12 November 1943
USS Nautilus was depth charged for moderate damage near Lagaspi on the east coast of Manila. It's headed home for repairs.

We've landed troops on Salajar, a small island south of Celebes. This will become an airbase to provide fighter cover to invade Makassar.

We lost one Avenger to flak bombing Truk.
Another land attack on Tinian: 1000(J) to 114(A) - the enemy troops are clearly fatigued. As are mine.

Reinforcements:
DD Cowell arrives at Los Angeles
DE Canfield arrives at Eastern USA
PF Coronado arrives at Mare Island
186th USAAF Base Force arrives at San Francisco


13 November 1943
Reinforcing the invasion of Truk

CENTPAC
USS Bonefish torpedoed two cargo ships at Saipan. One definitely survived, the second probably did too but only because it was already in port.

The enemy attacked at Tinian, again, 438(J) to 297(A). I think this would have been over already if he's just let his troops rest.

We started landing another division's worth of troops on Truk, and it looks like the carnage wrought by the base's guns were even worse this time. Here's the first round:

BB South Dakota, Shell hits 31, on fire
CA Vincennes, Shell hits 15
CA San Francisco, Shell hits 1
DD Dewey, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Smith
DD Perkins, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Conyngham, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Drayton
DD McCook, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Stanly, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD McKee, Shell hits 6
DD Jenkins, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Hale, Shell hits 4, on fire
DD Foote, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Chevalier, Shell hits 3, on fire
DD Ammen, Shell hits 2, on fire
AKA Betelgeuse, Shell hits 3, heavy fires
CVE Natoma Bay
AKA Bellatrix, Shell hits 2
CVE Long Island
APA W.A. Holbrook
CVE Anzio
Few casualties to the troops though, so hopefully at the cost of a few destroyers and transports we'll get Truk. Maybe even use it to bail our marines out at Tinian.

2 hits on enemy subs reported by patrolling Avengers/Kingfishers.
We shot down 15 transport aircraft at Truk, presumably flying in reinforcements.



DEI
An enemy submarine torpedoed and destroyed a landing craft at Dili

Reinforcements
DD Bell arrives at Balboa
DD Isherwood arrives at Eastern USA
AD Woolwich arrives at Aden
AGP Varuna arrives at Eastern USA
VT-5 arrives at San Francisco
5318th PAU/TS arrives at Karachi
23rd USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

14 November 1943

CENTPAC
Landings continue at Truk. 2 destroyers, 2 AKAs, and an APA have sunk from damage sustained by coastal batteries.

Truk's guns also got a B-24 today. Right now the B-24s are focusing on hitting the airbase to try to disrupt any re-basing of enemy aircraft to mess with my amphibious operation. The Avengers are hitting ground forces to try to disrupt the guns.

A pair of my DMs laid a minefield at Truk just in case they try to reinforce by sea and my carriers have to back off.

We made an initial attack with our reinforced Truk invasion force and dropped the forts down a level to Level 5 (ouch). Casualties surprisingly light at 613(J) to 240(A). It's almost all REMF enemy troops here.

USS Bonefish made an attack on Zuiakaku at Saipan and missed. The sub was severely damaged in a depth charge attack afterwards. Not sure she makes it home. USS Cod was also detected sneaking around Saipan but got away with light damage.


Reinforcements
DD Clarence Bronson arrives at Balboa
DD Stembel arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

15 November 1943
Really uneventful--not even an attack on Tinian.
Bombers everywhere, of course.


A second APA succumbed near Truk.
Avengers/Kingfishers claimed 3 hits on enemy subs near the Yankee Butai.


CVE Manila Bay arrives at Portland
DD Quality arrives at Cape Town
DE Elden arrives at Eastern USA
DE Stadtfeld arrives at Mare Island
AP Gen. J.R.Brooke arrives at San Francisco
VMF-321 arrives at Eastern USA
26th USN Naval Construction Battalion arrives at San Francisco



16 November 1943
About half my forces on Tinian surrendered today.
Anything we accomplish on Truk will be too late to help the rest of them. The engineers are too fatigued to attack right away, and it will take a few days to get the airbase online and staffed.


DD Black arrives at Eastern USA
DE Fleming arrives at Mare Island
DE Wyman arrives at Seattle
SS Picuda arrives at Eastern USA
15th Marine Defense Battalion arrives at San Francisco
230th USN Base Force arrives at San Francisco
27th Australian Brigade arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

17 November 1943
Last US Troops on Tinian surrender

CENTPAC
See the headline. It's over.
At least we'll still get Truk. Probably.


Celebes Sea
We've landed base forces on Talaud-eilanden , a small island south of Mindanao. Just like with Celebes, this base will help provide air cover to get to Mindanao.

The issue with that is that with the Marianas defense concluded, enemy troops, ships, and airpower might start making their way here to contest all this.


DEI
We lost a B-24 bombing Kendari to flak.
I'm rotating bombers through Ambon, Koepang, Kendari, and Makassar right now. Just trying to drain their supplies. Ambon and Koepang already look done for. I'll get some troops there as soon as things settle down around Darwin, the port is extremely busy as a hub for land forces being brought in from the former frontlines of the Pacific, as well as being a supply base for all the little bases we're trying to support here.


Burma
One the same note as DEI, Rangoon looks cooked and ready to take. I'm going to wait a few days to land another division of troops at Pegu, then it's on.


Reinforcements
DD Erben arrives at Balboa
AR Briareus arrives at San Francisco
34th Aviation Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

18 November 1943
Mostly uneventful.

-We attacked at Truk and brought the forts down to Level 4. Casulaties 933(J) to 234(A). We're getting there.
-DD Luce arrives at Eastern USA


19 November 1943
-Sulu Sea: USS Thresher sank a PB patrolling near the southern Luzon route. USS Aspro sank an SC that was part of the same ASW task force.
-USS Bonefish succumbed to damage sustained after her attack on Zuikaku.

SS Parche arrives at Balboa
SS Clyde arrives at Aden
PF Tacoma arrives at Mare Island


20 November 1943
-Philippine Sea: USS Gudgeon torpedoed an oiler just outside of Leyte Gulf. Damage was severe but I think it survived.

-Marianas: USS Cod was depth charged and sustained serious damage, limping back to base.

-I'm in the process of putting a wall of submarines up between the Marianas and the Philippines. That's the logical place for him to send the troops that just defeated me on Tinian.
-China: we've gotten into a skirmish near the Vietnam border as two enemy units are trying to flee. One tried to attack Pakhoi on the way, but my garrison is stronger. Casualties 95 to 9 favoring us.


21 November 1943
-Marianas: USS Scorpion sustained light depth charge damage from patrolling SCs. I'm backing my "wall" out to sea a little bit to avoid these guys and the air patrols.
-Truk: Avengers bombed 2 subs, both confirmed sunk. These were probably those recently damaged by aircraft near the Yankee Butai. A task force of 3 light cargo ships tried to sneak into Truk and got wiped out by SBDs. A 4th AKL was hit by scouts on patrol and may still be out there. On land, our troops attacked again, casualties 836 to 601 favoring us.

-Rangoon is so out of supply I've dropped my bombers down to 10,000ft and no one is shooting at them. Final assault greenlit.
-Same situation with Ambon. Phibs will rendevoux near Babar with the Arizona and New Mexico as we try to get their big guns rearmed (they've been shelling Koepang).
-China: I've attacked Kuikiang in the central region, casualties 320 to 749 favoring the enemy. This is part of an operation to isolate the industrial base of Wuchang/Hangkow. There will be only road left to block after I take this base.
DD Sproston arrives at Eastern USA
DD Walker arrives at Balboa
SS Flier arrives at Eastern USA
AP Gen. W.A.Mann arrives at Cristobal
231st USN Base Force arrives at San Diego



22 November 1943
DEI: one of my new airbases is nearly at level 5, the minimum size needed to operate B-24s without penalty. This base is in B-24 range of Surabaya, and recon consistently says there are ~90 ships in port there, including a large number of destroyers. I've been quietly standing down several B-24 squadrons in the region as B-25s take over a lot of the day-to-day pounding of their airbases and troops. I'm hoping to have as many aircraft as possible ready for a surprise attack soon.
Truk: Our engineers have taken the forts down to Level 3. Casualties 287 to 191. The scout-damaged AKL is still out there; a scout bomber hit it again.

China: We attacked Kiukiang again, casualties 634 to 329 in our favor. The skirmish at Pakhoi continues as well.
DD Caperton arrives at Eastern USA
DE Martin arrives at Mare Island


23 November 1943
Japan: USS Tang torpedoed and destroyed a PB near Torishima.
Truk: We spotted that last AKL again and sent a proper strike out to sink it. It was dead in the water for the SBDs to easily finish off.
China: The border skirmish is over. The enemy unit at Pakhoi (22nd Ind.Mixed Brigade) has been wiped out. The other has escaped into Vietnam.
DE Deede arrives at Eastern USA
SS Pampanito arrives at Balboa
PF El Paso arrives at Mare Island

[Molon Labe]

24 November 1943
It's been awhile since we've had air-to-air combat...Kido Butai intervening at Truk?

Japan
USS Tuna hit a 4875-ton cargo ship with 3 torpedoes in a night surface attack over 500 nautical miles east of Japan. Not sure what they were doing that far out; maybe a radical dogleg course for the Marshalls.


Philippine Sea
USS Seadragon torpedoed and destroyed a PB (215 tons) near Legaspi (port base, southeast Luzon).


Java
Our surprise B-24 raid came in waves. Thunderstorms made the attack somewhat lackluster. We still got a few ships. They had 5 Tojos and 9 Nicks on CAP--enough to get past the P-38s escorting the bombers (who didn't have enough fuel to really mix it up this far west) but not enough to actually shoot any bombers down. The bombers shot down 1 Nick.
E W-25, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
DD Murasame, Bomb hits 1, on fire
DD Yamakaze, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage


Truk
The regular B-24 raid encountered 24 Zeroes on CAP. P-38 escorts, also lacking fuel, took 4 losses while only downing 1 Zero. No bomber losses. No aircraft are being spotted on the ground by recon, so these Zeroes probably came from carriers. He may be trying to extend a protective umbrella to allow cargo ships to deliver supplies.

Speaking of which, Hellcat escorted SBDs bombed two more cargo ships approaching Truk; 4 Zeroes defended them resulting in a furball in which two Zeroes and 1 Hellcat went down. Both cargo ships were sunk by multiple bomb hits.

Avengers attacked Truk's port--mostly to get any cargo ships that might have made it to the docks. 19 Zeroes intervened and fought the 49 Hellcats escorting the package. This was a low-altitude flight, which gave the Zero a maneuvering advantage, so despite the overwhelming nubmers, losses were 9 Zeroes to 5 Hellcats. They never made it to the Avengers, which caused moderate damage to the port but found no ships to bomb.

Aircraft on ASW patrol around the Yankee Butai reported 3 hits on enemy submarines. Maybe they'll end up crippled in Truk to get picked off like the last 2.

Reinforcements
DD Brown arrives at Los Angeles
DD Wickes arrives at Eastern USA
SS Flounder arrives at Balboa
494th BG/865th BS arrives at Wendover Field
854-875-1871 Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at San Francisco


https://i.ibb.co/cNBxMMp/1943-Nov-25-strat.png
Strategic Map. Note the progress in the Dutch East Indies, especially the thrust north up near the Philippines.

[Molon Labe]

25 November 1943

DEI
Sally bombers attempted a night bombing on our new island base of Salajar. They hit the "runway" once, but that runway is basically trampled grass at this point.

Truk
If I haven't mentioned it already, the enemy appears to be Winchester. I'm reducing the altitude of the heavy bombers since they aren't taking flak anymore.

Reinforcements
SS Templar arrives at Aden



26 November 1943
Ambon: Take two

Japan
USS Darter was engaged by an ASW patrol near Chichi-Jima and severely damaged. I'm really surprised she managed to elude the patrol after taking so much damage. Let's see if she makes it to port.

Sulu Sea
I laid a minefield along the northern route here and it was immediately detected and cleared by enemy PBs. But the price they paid for using PBs instead of real minesweepers was one of the PBs.

DEI
Amphibious landings at Ambon are underway. The enemy troops should be beaten down from weeks of continuous bombing and months of supply shortages, so I expect little resistance beyond just the fact that there are about 50,000 of them here.

Truk
We attacked and brought the forts down to Level 3. Didn't we already hit level 3? That's concerning if true, I didn't think they had the supplies left to rebuild. It would seem some of those cargo ships got through and docked after all. Casualties 426(J) to 138(A).

Burma
I used paratroops to seize 3 unprotected bases in the mountains (Chaing Mai, Raheng, Uttaradit). Rangoon's time is up.

[Molon Labe]

27 November 1943

DEI
A night raid on Salajar cost the enemy two Sallies this time, as I had stationed F4U-2 night fighters there.

The enemy garrison at Ambon attacked US!!! It didn't go well...casualties 776 to 226 favoring us.

Somehow, part of my amphibious group turned around instead of merging with the main force, so I'll have to order them back. For now, we're outnumbered, so I'd rather wait a bit even though the enemy is bombed out and starving.

Our airbase on Salajar is now large enough to support offensive operations.


Truk
I'm cycling one CV and one CVL out of the Yankee Butai to replenish aircraft sorties. Meanwhile, a few of those ships that still have plenty remaining are hitting Truk again to try to cause supply-sucking base damage.

USS Narwhal was bombed near Truk, but damage was slight and she's remaining on station. Probably just a floatplane, or one of the baby bombs carried by a Betty.


Burma
I made a probing bombardment attack to reveal the enemy troop strength at Rangoon as my last few units I need for the assault worked their way into position. It's 50k against 28k, and we're the side with supplies and air support. This is going to be a slaughter.




28 November 1943
Rangoon recaptured in a single day of combat

Marianas
West of Guam, USS Bowfin hit a former-minesweeper-turned-Kaibokan with two torpedoes, sinking it.

Truk
My bombers are back to 20k feet... the flak guns are definitely back in business. Which means so are the coastal batteries, so inbound supplies and reinforcements will probably have to wait.

Burma
The enemy resisted as well as they could, but even that plus their fortifications couldn't hold us off. Rangoon is ours. A few enemy units retreated to the river delta swamplands, but most of them are still in the base hex. A few more were destroyed. Casualties 5460 to 3983 favoring us... a great result for taking a fortified major base. And remember those tanks giving me so much trouble? Of 700 defending vehicles, 626 were destroyed! And of course, the enemy is eventually going to lose all 50k troops, so consider that the totals will be 50,000 to a little over 4,000 overall by the time this is over.

The enemy got a small measure of revenge, putting an airborne assault of much greater size than mine together and retaking Raheng.

[Molon Labe]

29 November 1943

Truk
We attempted to take the base again but didn't make much headway, forts holding at Level 3 and casualties 247 to 341 favoring the enemy.

Burma
At Rangoon we continue to hunt down the enemy units that have been pushed out of the base but remain in the hex. Casualties 4473 to 1040 favoring us.

Japan recaptured Uttaradit with paratroopers.



30 November 1943
Light cruiser and destroyer disabled by mines in southern Luzon route chokepoint.

Philippines
The destroyer Fubuki and the light cruiser Yura hit mines near the eastern exit of the shipping route passing south of Luzon. The rest of the task force was able to clear out the minefield. Fubuki was transporting troops. Both ships likely sank.


Java
I attempted a P-38 sweep of Surabaya. Didn't go so well; first wave was 15 P-38s against 57 enemy fighters, and then 5 stragglers showed up after the hornet's nest had already been kicked. We ended up losing 5 P-38s while taking out just 4 Tonies and 3 Nicks--simply not good enough considering how few P-38s we have. And our actual losses were probably double that if you account for damaged planes that didn't make it back to base or got scrapped after they got there.


Burma
We're still hunting down the enemy around Rangoon. We got 2544 of the 16787 they have left. Friendly casualties 625.

Japan tried to retake the 3rd base we took by paratroopers, Chiang Mai, but this time we had enough of our own paratroops there already to fight off the attack. 64 enemy casualties to 0.





1 December 1943

DEI
The enemy attempted a sweep of Manado with Georges from Davao. Just 5 of them... vs 19 Hellcats, 4 Corsairs, and 4 P-40s. We shot down 3 of the Georges with no losses.


Truk
We attacked the base again, bringing the forts down to Level 2. Casualties 614 to 364 favoring us. It's getting close, we should have the base within a week. I've got some more reinforcements standing by, but I'm going to have them hold off until the AA guns fall silent again. I'm spotting subs near the port--it looks like he might be using them to run supplies to keep those guns in action. So I'll have a few destroyers there on patrol with some Hellcats overhead.


Burma
Getting close to finishing the mop up. Casualties 3003 to 226.
We eliminated the enemy paratroops at Chiang Mai. (Correction: no we didn't, still working on it)


Reinforcements
DD Hickox arrives at Balboa
VB-116 arrives at San Diego
No. 681 Sqn RAF arrives at Rangoon
18th FG/12th FS arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

2 December 1943

DEI
Current bombing targets:
Kendari (airfield): 1 B-24 shot down by flak. 35 base hits, 12 casualties.
Koepang (ground forces): ineffective
Ambon (ground forces and airbase): 9 base hits
Makassar (airbase): 19 base hits

Land battles in progress:
Ambon: Allied deliberate attack--forts holding at Level 4, casualties 520 (A) to 236(J); but enemy losses included 39 destroyed vehicles so this isn't as lopsided as it may appear.


China
Current bombing targets:
Sinyang (ground forces - 103 casualties)
Anking (ground forces - 47 casualties)
Kiukiang (ground forces - 11 casualties)


Burma
Current bombing targets:
Rangoon (ground forces): 198 casualties
Pisanuloke (ground forces): 166 casualties

Land battles:
Rangoon: Allied deliberate attack, casualties 166(A) to 3215 (J).
Chaing Mai (paratroopers vs paratroopers): Allied deliberate attack; casualties 17 Japanese to 0 Allied.


Truk
Bombing port, airbase, and ground forces. 2 port hits, 14 airbase hits, 17 casualties
Land combat: enemy bombardment attack--ineffective; Allied deliberate attack--forts reduced to Level 1, 365 to 45 casualties favoring us. Next attack might put us over the top!

I'm rotating carriers out to replenish aircraft fuel/ammo supplies. Essex and Belleau Wood have completed that task today and are headed back to rejoin the Yankee Butai.


Papua New Guinea
For several weeks, I've had an amphibous group picking off empty bases from near Rabaul west along the PNG coast. We've been stopped at Hollandia by a minor force there that we are now engaging. Casualties this turn 73 to 18 favoring us, forts at Level 3.


Palau Islands
USS S-45 was bombed by enemy aircraft yesterday, and sank today. Based on a search of this thread, S-45 doesn't appear to have been lost without any victories in its career.


Reinforcements
CVE Wake Island arrives at Portland
DD Cogswell arrives at Eastern USA
VMB-413 arrives at Eastern USA
18th FG/12th FS arrives at Los Angeles
11th RAAF M/W Sqn arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

3 December 1943
Allied Victory Points overtakes Japan's

Japan
USS Wahoo and USS Sculpin took light depth charge damage from sub chasers near Chichi-jima.
USS Whale torpedoed and destroyed an enemy subchaser near Aogashima.

DEI and Mindanao
Hellcats from Manado swept Davao (the suspected originating base of the George sweep a few days ago)--no joy.

Bombing targets:
Koepang (ground forces): 7 casualties
Ambon (ground forces): 4 casualties
Makassar (ground forces): 14 casualties
Kendari (airbase): 1 hit

Land combat:
Ambon: Japanese bombardment attack--ineffective.


China
Bombing targets:
Sinyang (ground forces): 21 casualties
Anking (ground forces): 23 casualties
Kiukiang (ground forces) 7 casualties


Burma
Bombing targets:
Rangoon (ground forces): 91 casualties
Pisanuloke (ground forces): 50 casualties


Land combat:
Rangoon--Allied deliberate attack: 226 enemy casualties, 0 Allied.
Chiang Mai--Allied deliberate attack, 24 enemy casualties, 0 Allied.


Truk
Bombing port, airbase, and ground forces: 22 casualties, 4 port hits, 5 airbase hits
Land combat: Allied deliberate attack--forts reduced to 0, casualties 536(J) to 151(A).

At least 2 enemy subs are approaching Truk, perhaps to drop off supplies.
ASW patrol aircraft from my carriers claimed 3 hits on enemy submarines.


Reinforcements
DD Charles Badger arrives at Eastern USA
DD McCord arrives at San Francisco
DMS Palmer arrives at Eastern USA
TK K.R. Kingsbury arrives at Portland


https://i.ibb.co/W5JmgpV/1943-Dec-3-VPChart.png

[Ostfriese]

I guess Rangoon caused that spike.

[Molon Labe]

Been busy and on vacation lately... time to get caught up!


4 December 1943

Mariannas
USS Pargo was depth charged by an enemy destroyer near Guam. Damage was light enough that she's remaining on station.

Truk
The minesweeper YMS-138 was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine.

Bombing:
Airbase, port, ground forces: 4 airbase hits, 0 port hits, 15 casualties


China
Bombing targets:
Sinyang (ground forces): 35 casualties
Anking (ground forces): 58 casualties
Kiukiang (ground forces): 9 casualties


DEI
Bombing targets:
Kendari (airbase): 28 hits, 5 casualties
Koepang (ground forces): 11 casualties
Ambon (ground forces+airbase): 9 airbase hits, 0 casualties
Makassar (ground forces): 0 casualties

Land combat:
Ambon: Japanese bombardment attack - 4 guns lost to our counterbattery; Allied deliberate attack - enemy forts holding at Level 4, casualties 674 (J) to 309 (A).


Burma
Bombing targets:
Rangoon (ground forces): 112 casualties
Pisanuloke (ground forces): 67 casualties

Land combat:
Rangoon: Allied deliberate attack - casualties 11 (A) to 3524(J).


Papua New Guinea
Land combat:
Hollandia - Allied Deliberate attack, casualties 89(J) to 44(A)


Reinforcements
SS Stonehenge arrives at Aden
417th BG/673rd BS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

5 December 1943

China
Bombing targets:
Sinyang (ground forces): 5 casualties
Kiukang (ground forces) 27 casualties


DEI
Bombing targets:
Koepang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Makassar (ground forces): 83 casualties
Kendari (airbase): 21 hits

Ground combat:
Ambon: Japanese bombardment attack, casualties 7 (J) to 0 (A)


Burma
Bombing targets:
Chiang Mai (ground forces): 38 casualties
outside Rangoon (ground forces): 4 destroyed vehicles, 28 disabled

Ground combat:
Chiang Mai: We're trying to wipe out the last of the enemy paratroopers here--no breakthrough today.


Truk
Bombing ground forces: 15 casualties

You can probably see I'm taking a different approach to land combat than my opponent here vs his recent successful defense of the Mariannas, resting my forces after attacks vs his attacking on several consecutive days. I'm not sure my approach is faster, but it definitely costs fewer troops.


Reinforcements
AS Anthedon arrives at Cristobal
TK Mission Loreto arrives at Alameda
VF(N)-75 Det 10 arrives at Eastern USA
No.27 Sqn RAF Det arrives at Comilla
417th BG/675th BS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

6 December 1943
Enemy paratrooper unit at Chiang Mai finally wiped out


South China Sea
USS Jack torpedoed and sank a subchaser off the north Borneo coast.


DEI
Bombing targets:
Koepang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Ambon (ground forces, airbase): 31 casualties, 10 airbase hits
Kendari (airbase): 10 hits

Land combat
Ambon: Japanese artillery attack: ineffective


Burma
Bombing targets:
Chiang Mai: (ground forces): 12 casualties
near Rangoon (ground forces): 0 casualties, 7 vehicles lost

Land combat
Chiang Mai: allied deliberate attack - casualties 7 (J) to 11 (A). Japanese shock attack - casualties 91 (J) to 0 (A).
So the enemy holds out against our attack, then counterattacks and gets wiped out!


Truk
Bombing ground forces and port: 19 casualties, 4 port hits
An Avenger claimed a hit on an enemy sub


Papua New Guinea
The transport William Ward Burrows took a hit from a 75mm artillery piece during the amphibious operations at Hollandia. Damage isn't that serious.


Reinforcements
CVE St. Lo arrives at Portland
DD Hailey arrives at Seattle
DD Hunt arrives at Balboa
DD Miller arrives at San Francisco
SS Lancetfish arrives at Balboa
SS Ling arrives at Balboa

[Molon Labe]

7 December 1943
USS Dorado lost, Kido Butai defeats USN/USMC air attack in Celebes Sea


Philippine Sea
USS Greenling torpedoed and likely sank a PB off Legaspi, one of at least 2 escorts for a tanker. The tanker got away.

USS Salmon laid a minefiled on the interior side of Legaspi.

Further south near the Palaus, B-25Gs and Beaufighters attacked 3 enemy cruisers from low altitude, scoring a single bomb hit on the heavy cruiser Kinugasa, setting it on fire. Nothing that can't be repaired. 4 Nicks attempted to intercept but there were no losses on either side.

Also near the Palaus, USS Dorado attacked a replenishment group comprised of at least 3 oilers and 4 destroyers. It missed, only to be sunk by the escorting destroyers' counterattack. It doesn't appear that Dorado ever had any victories in this campaign.



Celebes Sea
The KB made a brief appearance near Jolo, an island separating the Sulu Sea from the Celebes Sea. This drew airstrikes from our bases at Manado and Talaud-elanden, and as you might imagine these strikes went about as well as other relatively small strikes against the KB.

The initial battle was 16 SBD-3s and 16 TBFs escorted by 9 Corsairs and 18 Hellcats, up against a CAP of 78 A6M5 Zeroes and 18 A6M2s. All of our attack aircraft were wiped out, along with 5 Hellcats and 3 Corsairs. We splashed 2 Zeroes.

The second wave was 11 Corsairs escorting 16 more Avengers; the enemy CAP was still overwhelming with 68 fighters in the air. We shot down 1 Zero while losing 1 Corsair and all 16 Avengers.

Wave three was a second attempt from the first group. 4 Avengers escorted by 13 Corsairs and 9 Hellcats vs 92 enemy fighters total. We shot down 3 Zeroes while losing 1 Hellcat, 2 Corsairs, and 1 Avenger. The other 3 Avengers aborted and escaped.

I've trained enough attack pilots to replace these losses... barely. Further losses will result in decreasing pilot quality, I'm stretched pretty thin on qualified Avenger pilots already.


China
bombing targets:
Sinyang (ground forces): 43 casualties
Anking (ground forces): 57 casualties
Kiukiang (ground forces): 23 casualties


Burma
bombing targets:
Moulmein (ground forces): 0 casualties
near Rangoon (ground forces): 10 vehicles lost
Uttaradit (ground forces): 14 casualties


DEI
bombing targets:
Ambon (ground forces, airbase): 0 casualties, 14 base hits
Makassar (ground forces): Raid of 10 B-26s escorted by 12 P-47s intercepted by 9 George fighters. 4 Georges shot down, no friendly losses. 6 enemy casualties on the ground.
Kendari (airbase): 22 hits

ground combat:
Ambon: allied deliberate attack - forts reduced to Level 3, casualties 334(J) to 364(A). Japanese bombardment attack - ineffective.


Truk
bombing ground forces and port: 16 casualties, 2 port hits

land combat:
Allied deliberate attack: no fortifications left. Casualties 1201(J) to 297 (A). We're getting close.

An Avenger reported another hit on an enemy submarine near the Yankee Butai.


Reinforcements
SS Truculent arrives at Aden
No.621 Sqn RAF Det arrives at Socotra
417th BG/672nd BS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

8 December 1943

Philippines and Philippine Sea
An enemy ASW task force got to work on the minefield we started near Legaspi.

A bit east of Leyte Gulf, the S-42 torpedoed an oiler (10,000 tons) in a large replenishment group--the same task force responsible for sinking the Dorado. Intel believes it sank the next day, I'm not so sure.


Burma
A P-47 squadron had been sweeping the enemy force at Chiang Mai but with that force gone the sweep assigment reverted to AI control and they got sent all over the place; 3 P-47s went to Pisanouke, facing 32 enemy George fighters. They were able to escape without taking losses.

Bombing targets:
Moulmein (ground forces): 0 casualties; 1 Blenheim VD lost to AA fire
near Rangoon (ground forces): 15 vehicles lost


China
Bombing targets:
Sinyang (ground forces): 20 casualties
Anking (ground forces): 6 casualties
Kiukiang (ground forces): 18 casualties


DEI
Bombing targets:
Kendari (airbase): 7 hits
Koepang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Makassar (ground forces): 11 B-26 Mauraders attempted intercept by 5 George fighters--intercept failed, likely due to fighters at 40k feet vs bombers down at 20k.
Ambon (airbase and ground forces): 4 hits, 6 casualties

ground combat:
Ambon: Japanese bombardment attack--5 Allied casualties


Truk
Bombing (ground forces and port): 20 casualties

Avengers reported 2 more hits on IJN subs.


Reinforcements
DD Dortch arrives at Balboa
DE Harmon arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

9 December 1943
Port Blair evacuation attempt foiled by air raid? USS Pompon lost.


Burma and Andaman Sea
USS Pompon made contact with a large transport convoy (at least 6 cargo/passenger ships, 7 escorts) outside Port Blair. It doesn't make sense for him to double down here, so that's an evacuation convoy. Pompon was sighted by the escorts and prosecuted successfully by 3 enemy destroyers.

Pompon had only brought down one 4875-ton cargo ship in her career, back in September, in the same area where she was sunk.

We swept Port Blair with 19 P-38s, drawing in 2 Irvings and 2 Nicks on CAP. We shot down 1 of the Nicks with no losses.

Up next, 10 B-25Gs attacked the convoy from low altitude. Thanks to the sweep there were no fighters opposing:
xAK Meiten Maru, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Yoshino Maru, Shell hits 1
xAK Hoeisan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Tamahoko Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kinkasan Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Yudachi, Shell hits 1
DD Usugumo
xAK Kusuyama Maru, Shell hits 2

Between the Pompon's contact report and the report from this raid, this task force has 1 AP and 8 AKs. 4 AKs are now sunk or disabled. Not bad, but that still leaves more than half, including the AP, available for the evacuation. This cost us 1 of the B-25Gs, lost to AA fire.

Other air raids:
Pisanuloke (sweep): 18 P-51 drew 16 Georges; 2 Georges and 3 P-51s shot down.
Raheng (ground forces): 10 casualties
near Rangoon (ground forces): 20 vehicles lost
Uttaradit (ground forces): 12 Wellington BXs and 12 Blenheim VDs nearly intercepted by 11 George fighters on CAP. Intercept failed as the raid was only detected 1 mile out, CAP was at 41,000ft vs bobmers at 10,000 feet. 19 casualties.


DEI
Air raid targets:
Makassar (sweep, ground forces): 13 Corsairs and 22 P-40N5s swept Makassar, pulling 5 enemy George fighters. We shot down 3 with no losses. 12 B-26s attacked with no opposition, 10 casualties.
Kendari (airbase): 12 hits
Ambon (ground forces and airbase): 41 casualties, 9 base hits
Koepang (ground forces): 10 casualties

APA Feland was hit by an artillery shell at Ambon while unloading supplies in support of the ongoing amphibious invasion. Damage was not severe.

Ground combat:
Ambon: Allied deliberate attack--enemy forts reduced to Level 2. Casualties 940 (J) to 149(A). Japanese bombardment attack: ineffective. We're getting really close to cracking this nut.


China
Bombing targets:
Anking (ground forces): 90 casualties
Kuikiang (ground forces): 39 casualties


Truk
Bombing (port, ground forces): Submarine hit in port, believed sunk. 9 casualties


Papua New Guinea
Ground combat in Hollandia--Allied deliberate attack, casualties 81(J) to 19(A), forts holding at Level 3.


Reinforcements
CVL Langley arrives at Balboa
DE Tisdale arrives at Mare Island
SS Bashaw arrives at Eastern USA
No.31 Sqn RNZAF arrives at Gisborne

[Molon Labe]

10 December 1943
USS Ray lost in attack against surface action group, Port Blair evacuation in progress while under air attack

Philippine Sea
USS Ray attempted an attack against a task force of 1 CA, 3 CL, and 5 DD off Legaspi, and missed. Ray was sunk in the counterattack.

The Hoe was in the same area and made a failed attack on a PB. It missed but only took slight damage before it escaped.

Near Leyte, the Flying Fish got a little bit of revenge, sinking a subchaser.


DEI
Air Raids:
Makassar (sweep): 9 Corsairs vs 3 Georges--2 Georges shot down. Followup by 25 P-40N5s--no joy.
Makassar (ground forces): 12 casualties
Ambon (ground forces and airbase): 3 casualties, 2 airbase hits
Kendari (airbase): 3 hits
Surabaya (sweep): 3 P-38s vs 4 Tojos and 5 Nicks: no losses. 22 P-38s vs 4 Tojos and 5 Nicks: 2 Nicks, 3 Tojos shot down.

The sweeps at Surabaya are meant to decrease the risk of a proper port attack by heavy bombers tomorrow.

Land combat:
Ambon: Japanese bombardment attack - 4 allied casualties


Burma
Air Raids:
Rahaeng (ground forces): 0 casualties
near Rangoon (ground forces): 5 vehicles lost

At Port Blair, 7 B-24s attacked the port opposed by a CAP of 20 Georges and 3 Tonies. The fighters were mostly ineffective with no victories and 2 Georges shot down by the bombers. One already heavily damaged cargo ship was hit by a bomb--no other damage. A second wave of 3 bombers came with 7 P-38s escorting. They shot down 4 more Georges but did no damage on the ground.

4 B-25Gs followed that up. 4 Georges attempted to intercept but failed--this was a low-level attack and the fighters were at 41,000 feet.
xAP Yoshino Maru, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Chowa Maru, Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
+140 enemy troop casualties reported

So the evacuation is proceeding but at least I hurt them a little in the process. The British CVBG is currently sprinting here to try to catch them before they finish loading.


Truk
Bombing port and ground forces: Sub in port hit 3 times, confirmed sunk (same sub as yesterday). 2 port hits, 63 casualties

Land combat:
Allied deliberate attack - forts reduced to Level 0, casualties 1415(J) to 175 (A). So close!


China
Air Raids:
Sinyang (ground forces): 10 casualties
Anking (ground forces): 0 casualties
Kiukiang (ground forces): 0 casualties


Papua New Guinea
Deliberate attack at Hollandia, casualties 110 to 8, forts reduced to Level 2.