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23 February 1942
Japan USS Grayling torpedoed a cargo ship off Kyushu. I think this one will make it back to port. 480 miles southeast of Japan, USS Thresher attacked another cargo ship on the surface, scoring 2 torpedo hits along with several gun hits for a confirmed kill. This one was on the likely supply route to Midway/Hawaii. South of Tokyo Bay, USS Trigger engaged the same cargo ship 3 times... the first was a relatively routine surface attack, except that Trigger must have fired 10 Mk14s, scoring multiple hits of which only 1 exploded. The sub got too close for comfort trying to get another to explode so it broke off and tried again. The second attack was a submerged torpedo attack, it hit with 1 out of 2 but it was another dud. She broke contact again and finally got another hit the 3rd time that finished the damaged ship off. Hawaii The battleships took today off. Air raids on port and airfield. Malaya Oscar sweeps repeated yesterday's result in Singapore, just one Oscar lost. I've reinforced Singapore with a Hurricane squadron that arrived in Java during the battle last week-it's not at full strength anymore but it should help. I raided Singkawang but it wasn't worth it, patrolling Oscars got 3 of my bombers and I can only confirm 1 plane destroyed on the ground, a Babs recon plane. Java My B-17s from Surabaya targeted Makasar. We pushed past the Oscars on patrol but lost a bomber to flak. Airfield damage was negligible. I need to lengthen the runways at Surabaya a bit to use B-17s at full efficiency, they're flying with a reduced bombload and it shows. Thailand Recon shows Raheng appears to have been reinforced, 2 RTA divisions there instead of 1. That could be a problem. I'm shifting some bombers over to there, let's see if I can wear them down before my troops get there. Maybe the JAAF will finally come out to play with Pappy Boyington. China A land attack on Wenchow knocked forts down to level 2, casualties 800 to 900 in his favor. Overall he outnumbers me 4 to 1 there, he'll have it in a few days. |
24 Feb 1942
Borneo HMS Truant torpedoed a troop-carrying cargo ship off the northern coast. Headed for Singapore? Ceram Sea 2 PBs hit mines in the narrow strait S of Kendari. Which is a little weird because I don't remember putting a minefield here. Did they mine it trying to get my subs but ended up hitting themselves? Celebes Sea A Dutch sub torpedoed and sank a small tanker, probably headed for Balikpapan. Hawaii No BB bombard today, just air raids., which finished off the USS Detroit light cruiser. China Forts at Wenchow are now down to level 1. Won't be long. 25 February 1942 Hawaii The battleships are back, air raids continued. A tanker, tender, and minelayer were finished off. Borneo A fast transport group delivered troops to Bandjermesin, on the south side of Borneo, opposite Surabaya, and left before I could respond. At least the troops are still there for me to bomb tomorrow. China He's moved troops into Sinyang again. He probably brought enough to do the job this time. But this time, I have air support. I've been bombing the army as it advanced from Hangkow, and I'm moving more bombers into the area to keep the pressure on. Carrier update Lex and the HMS Hermes have moved all the flyable Yorktown aircraft to Darwin. I'm giving the ships a day or two to get some maintenance done in port for a bit. The damaged planes should arrive in the next day or two, and then I'll have operational squadrons to use for training or to supplement another carrier. A squadron of Fulmars arrived in Java, these are earmarked for the Hermes. Indomitable made it to Colombo for repairs, she'll be there for over a month. Hornet is set to be transferred to my command in 9 more days but she'll still be on the east coast. |
26 February 1942
Subs turning the tables on ASW groups, enemy troops at Port Moresby wiped out Java Sea and North Australia A enemy sub sank a minesweeper at Banjoewangi, an entrance to the Java Sea east of Java. Another sub sank 2 minesweepers at Darwin that were both on ASW patrol. I was wrong about the fast transport group being gone already. We found them at Bandjermasin and split out bombers between them and the troops ashore. They had Zeroes on LR CAP and we were beyond our own fighter range, so it did not go well. We crippled an APD with a rare hit from the level bombers and caused some damage to the troops, but lost 11 medium bombers. Philippines A subchaser hit a mine at Bataan, almost certainly a kill due to its small size. USS Shark shot up another AKL, likely sinking it at well. Borneo A light cargo ship it a mine at Tarakan. Hawaii 3 BB bombarding today, plus airstrikes. Pearl's minefield has decayed to zero thanks to the tenders being destroyed. Malaya Singapore's bombers made attempts on transports at Kuantan and Mersing but didn't hit anything. Coral Sea Combat at Port Moresby is finally over, the holdouts made their Banzai charge and were wiped out. |
27 February 1942
Submarine battles suddenly going his way, Borneo now under full Japanese control Java Sea Dutch sub KXI, fresh out of port in Surabaya, was intercepted by a group of 3 destroyers south of Makassar. They were armed with deep-reaching depth charges and scored a critical hit. The captain had the nerve to continue with his mission, I had to order him to RTB for repairs. USS Perch arrived in Surabaya for repairs from an earlier bomb hit. The S-36 tried to finish off the APD our bombers damaged yesterday as it retreated up the Makassar Strait, but missed. On the south side of the Island at Tjilatjap, another sub took out a minesweeper. I've been using this port to move land units that were trying to land at Oosthaven, fortunately most of them are already on their way. Bandjermasin was captured. Borneo is now entirely under Japanese control. Philippines S-37 was hit by an aircraft on ASW patrol near Bataan and has been ordered back to Surabaya for repairs. Another AKL hit a mine at Bataan. China Our bombers hitting Sinyang ran into a wall of 40 Nates. We shot down one of them and lost 1 I-16 fighter and 2 SBIII bombers. I'm going to sweep this area next turn and send the bombers somewhere else. The enemy outnumbers us 2 to 1 at Sinyang. Their attack reduced fortifications to nothing, so it doesn't look like we're going to stop them this time. Malaya We attempted to hit transports again, missed again, and lost 2 medium (one 1 AA) bombers and 2 light bombers in the attempt. Yorktown airwing It's not going to work. The "parent" units for these squadrons were destroyed with the ship, and even with all the fragments in one place, the parent unit isn't being recreated. The fragments can't receive replacement aircraft, so these squadrons are essentially dead. I've spent some political points to reform them but the delay is about 2 months. Hopefully they spawn on the west coast and not Pearl. The good news is that these units had planes "in reserve" that couldn't be made ready for whatever reason, they are now back in the replacement pool, which means I finally have enough Wildcats to replace the Lexington's Buffalos. I just need to get it to a port big enough to allow the replacement. They'll leave tomorrow, I need to allow one more day to try to get rid of that sub hanging out here. |
The last several turns have been relatively uneventful, so I'm going to combine a few.
28 February - 2 March 1942 War becomes routine until the reappearance of the KB in the Java Sea Hawaii Air raids only at Pearl on the 28th-March 1. 4 BB's joined in for March 2. Makassar Strait The S-36 was busy. On the 28th, she torpedoed and sank a a cargo ship in a convoy headed for Bandjermasin (probably picking up troops there). On the 1st, the she torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship further north, at the narrowest part of the strait. And on the 2nd, she sank a light cargo ship with her deck gun near Balikpapan. An enemy cargo ship entering or leaving Balikpapan hit a sub-laid mine on the 2nd. Malaya My bombers continued to make attempts on ships at Mersing with no success. Then I remembered that I'd been training the Dutch pilots at naval attacks since the war began, but the Brits had been mostly attacking enemy troops--and sure enough, the naval attack stats of the bomber pilots was poor. I found a few British pilots to move in. The got their chance on March 2, but they still missed. The March 2 raid was countered by Nates and a single Oscar, 5 Nates and a Hurricane were shot down. Philippines I think 2 of my subs are glitched out to the point I'm going to lose them. Both the S-37 and USS Shark were on transport duty to Bataan when Bataan was captured. They are both now just sitting in that space. I've tried changing their mission, ordering them to new patrol areas, ordering them back to port, but they're still here. S-37s been hit by bombers once, Shark 3 times. They even shot down a bomber. They're in shallow water and being pursued by surface units. It's a miracle they've lasted this long. Borneo Apparently nothing good happens when you put non-minesweepers in minesweeping TFs; he lost a Kaibokan to a mine in Borneo just before clearing the last of the mines there. China My sweeps over Sinyang were a day late. We got three Nates on March 1, after it had already been captured. By March 2 the Nates were gone. Wenchow was captured on 2 March. Timor - 2 March The Kongo's SAG appeared outside by base at Koepang without warning, immediately engaging the 2 DD on ASW patrol, sinking one and crippling the other. We fought back with aircraft after sunrise, attacking the enemy task force with Falcon light bombers, B-26s that had just arrived, and a squadron of P-39s set for strafing attacks with their 40mm cannon, all escorted by P-40s. Of course, they had Zeroes on long-range CAP. We ended up losing 2 P-40s, 4 Falcons, 2 B-26s and 3 P-39s. Most of the Falcon and P-39 losses were to flak. We shot down a Zero and scored some strafing hits on a cruiser that didn't appear to hurt very much--I would rather have seen the P-39s strafe transports than armored warships. Large airstrikes (21 Vals, 27 Kates ) by the enemy followed, targeting 3 light cargo ships moving through the area and the crippled destroyer from earlier. The air strikes came from a task force east of Timor rather than any captured airbase nearby, and there were too many planes to be from the Shoho--the KB is here. By the way, intelligence confirms the Shoho did not sink. Here's the strategic map from the 28th: https://i.ibb.co/sghCKXk/1942-Feb-28-strategicmap.png |
3 March 1942
"KB" in Java area is probably just a detachment Philippines Japan lost a subchaser at Bataan to the minefield, probably trying to attack my two stuck boats. But I think I managed to get them unstuck by putting them back on a transport mission and then cancelling unload (not that they could unload at what is now an enemy base anyway). As luck would have it, he lost a minesweeper to a mine too. Ironic, but it's dangerous work. In the south, a large cruiser-destroyer group bombarded Davao, which is empty, but at least we know where he's going next. Timor A detachment of 1 CA and 6 DD bombarded my base at Koepang, deadling significant damage to the airfield and disabling at least 10 planes. We launched airstrikes anyway, but the enemy had enough Zeroes and Oscars on CAP to ruin my day. We got one Oscar but lost 2 P-39s (now on escort duty instead of strafing) and 2 Falcon bombers. No hits on the ships. The carriers didn't do anything, but I don't think there are more than 2. So not the KB proper, but quite possibly a carrier division from the KB. Hawaii Just airstrikes on Pearl today. Malaya I sent my bombers to Mersing again to try to sink transports, got similar results as last time. No hits on ships, but shot down an Oscar and 6 Nates. China As my armies that were victorious at Ichang were working their way southeast, we noticed enemy armies looking to cross the river into their space, so I've stopped my advance to try to catch them on the bridge. |
4 March 1942
Hawaii 4 BB bombarding Pearl, plus airstrikes Malaya HMS Trusty laid mines at Mersing, then surfaced to sink a cargo ship before slinking away. Our airstrikes went to Kuantan instead of Mersing, which was bad news as there were more fighters there. We lost 5 Hudson bombers and a Hurricane with nothing to show for it. Naval attack orders have been cancelled. Java Sea The enemy carrier battle group is departing north through the Makassar strait. 5 March 1942 It's the Kido Butai after all! Coral Sea area Fresh out of upgrading its AA guns at Brisbane, the heavy cruiser USS Northampton was heading north to rejoin the Enterprise/Saratoga CVBG when it was torpedoed by a sub. It's only moderately damaged, but back to the shipyard it goes... Philippines A major operation to sweep my minefield out of Bataan is underway. It's dangerous work--one of the minesweepers hit a mine and was destroyed. Sumatra This had to be a mistake. 20 Betties attacked Palembang, unescorted, at 5000 feet. P-40 and Buffalo fighters cut down 9 of them. Flak probably added another 5. 12 bombers made it to their targets, bombing troops. Malaya Ida light bombers made an attempt on Singapore's ASW patrols. 6 were shot down by Hurricanes, flak added 1 more. The bombers didn't hit anything. Java Sea The retreating carrier division wasn't really retreating, it was just rejoining the KB. And the KB came right back into the Java Sea like it owned the place, but let's face it, it owns everyplace it goes. It launched an airstrike on ships at port in Surabaya, which included the HMS Hermes light carrier and the battleship Royal Sovereign. Our CAP shot down 6 Zeroes and 3 Vals with a loss of a P-40 and 2 Fulmars. They hit the Royal Sovereign with a torpedo and a bomb for moderate damage. 9 Kates split off and sank a minesweeper on ASW patrol outside of Surabaya's protective fighter bubble. Using Surabaya as a bastion was working for this fleet when it was just CVLs or one fleet carrier, it's not going to hold out against 5 fleet carriers. I've ordered a retreat south. Makassar Strait Japan is deploying more ASW ships with deep-reaching depth charges, and this area is a priority for them right now. The KIX was hit in deep water and has been ordered to return for repairs. Coral Sea I had an idea I thought was clever; I deployed a pair of seaplane tenders to an empty atoll north of Luganville and sent some Catalinas there, giving myself a look into the blind spot I had north of the Solomons. The idea was to see if the KB was hiding there. But the KB just revealed itself in the Java Sea, so this was for nothing. Anyway, at least for the time being, carrier ops in this area can proceed. |
6 March 1942
Battle of the Java Sea in progress East Coast USS Hornet is now under my command. It will reach the Panama Canal in a week. Current airwing VF-8 (19 Wildcats), VS-8 (18 SBC-4 Helldivers), VB-8 (18 Helldivers), VT-8 (15 Devastators) Hawaii Air raids on Pearl transitioned to targeting troops. Sigint has also reported that 2 divisions currently on Molokai are being loaded into transports, so the targeting of Pearl's troops tells us where they're going next. Philippines USS Porpoise sank a cargo ship in the Luzon Straight in a gun/torpedo surface attack. Java Sea With some regret in hindsight, I had ordered the evacuation of most undamaged warships from Surabaya to Darwin when I spotted the KB. What I didn't spot until this turn were transports. They're going to land on Java. So there's actually something worth fighting over right now and I got my assets out of the way. At least his attentions on Surabaya were mostly wasted. Two damaged light cruisers and a submarine (the Perch) were caught in harbor. The Perch took a hit from an 800kg monster and was destroyed. The cruisers were damaged badly enough that I'm pretty sure the war is over for them. Nells from Borneo also hit the port, but they were too high and carrying only 60kg bombs due to the distance they had to fly, and did no damage. This was after an air battle of course, the score there was 6 Zeroes vs 3 P-40s, 2 P-39s, and 5 Fulmars. The Hermes and Royal Sovereign managed to evade the KB's scouts. Operation Kinky Boots So far everything going smoothly. We've reached Tavoy airbase and will begin our attack tomorrow. At Raheng, we're crossing the river adjacent to enemy forces so we can attack overland properly. Our bombers have been softening up both targets' ground forces with no opposition by enemy fighters. No enemy bombers are targeting our troops either, but Boyington's 1st AVG and 3 squadrons of Hurricanes are ready if they're needed. 7 March 1942 We are the British army, and we're here to take your land! Operation Kinky Boots Here's where things are going https://i.ibb.co/JKQtk03/1942-March-7-Thailand.png We captured Tavoy easily, casualties 1500 to 150. Their troops were fatigued and broken, probably thanks to the bombing. They also had no fortifications, so this area was far from a priority for him. We'll see if he's still dismissive as we press east. My armor is going to run down the retreating troops while the infantry heads for the road to Bangkok overland. Once we're there we can cut off that rail line that they'd use to move troops out of Malaya to reinforce Bangkok. Same deal with Raheng, we need to go around and cut off that railroad to block reinforcements from the rest of Thailand. If you were curious where the operation's name came from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kINLxNxTMJ0 Java Sea The KB aggressively, perhaps recklessly, pushed south of the Java Sea. Perhaps trying to find the Hermes and Royal Sovereign, or expecting my US fleet carriers to be there to set up an ambush? I'll have to keep this in mind. He didn't find them, though, we was too far west. We had major air battles over Java as we tried to interdict the invasion force. First, Surabaya itself was still under attack, mostly from land bases. Those cost 5 Nells, a Betty, 2 Zeroes, 2 P-39s and a P-40. And it wore down my CAP, a lot of those bombers arrived unescorted but were still getting through in large numbers. They hit the light cruiser Dragon again, and sank another damaged sub (the KXI). And they damaged a pair of valuable tenders, an AD and an AR. But most of what's here are just light cargo ships and some troop transports that are too slow to be useful, these soaked most of the hits. The operational combattants all moved southeast... The landing site was Tjepoe, right in the middle of the northern coast. We attacked with bombers from both sides but didn't do much damage. It was mostly Oscars flying long-range CAP over the transports, but it was enough. We lost 3 P-40s, a Hawk, a P-39, 2 Falcon light bombers, 5 Swordfish torpedo bombers, and 5 139W medium bombers. It was only the Falcons that had any success, scoring 3 hits on two transports, causing 200 troop casualties. It looks like 2 regiments came ashore, which isn't that much for a target the size of Java. There are probably more on the way, but for now I'm going to try to box these guys in before they can isolate either Surabaya or Batavia. B-17s went after the KB. We lost 5 and got no hits, but their gunners shot down 2 Zeroes. East of the KB, I'm reorganizing my naval forces. I'm going to have the damaged Royal Sovereign continue to Darwin along with the Hermes, but I'm going to try to have the cruisers link up and form an offensive task force (including a shiny new anti-aircraft cruiser that just arrived). Hopefully with the KB off to the south they'll get through unmolested, if not, I moved a squadron of P-39s from Koepang to an airbase east of Surabaya to provide some air cover. Further east, there's a small enemy landing force at Dobo, at the eastern end of the Banda Sea. I've had two cruisers headed that way for two days, they better arrive tomorrow. No destroyers in this group, they lost their destroyers when the carrier detachment attacked Timor. Hawaii Just bombers today hitting Pearl, mostly attacking troops. I have to assume the BB are getting ready to support a landing. I've moved 2 subs to try to intercept, but it's a short trip in shallow water. |
8 March 1942
Battle of Java Sea ends in decisive Japanese victory Oahu invaded Banda Sea My two cruisers finally arrived at Dobo to interdict the transports. We sank 'em all, 4 troop-carrying cargo ships and 2 PBs. Estimated troop casualties were 1260, we finally hurt him a little bit. Java Sea I really should have just accepted that I screwed up by pulling the cruisers out too early. The KB was given the same orders as my cruiser fleet: return to the Java Sea. So they had no problem finding me. The evacuating AKLs also failed to provide a meaningful decoy. Yes, he did send strikes on them, but they were proportional to their priority. Strikes on Surabaya were mostly from land-based air, we lost 2 P-40s and 4 P-39s there, while shooting down just 2 Zeroes and a Nell. Fortunately, the raids there were once again too high to do meaningful damage. The KBs strike on Force Y was far more effective. We couldn't even get to the bombers as we traded 4 P-39s for 5 Zeroes. As for the ships: Wave 1: CL Boise CL Tromp, Bomb hits 1 CL Capetown, Bomb hits 1 CL Enterprise CLAA Van Heemskerck, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 1, on fire CL Mauritius, Bomb hits 2, on fire CL Durban, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, on fire CL Java Wave 2: DD Van Ghent, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage CL Enterprise, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage CL Tromp, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage CL Java, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk CL Mauritius, Bomb hits 3, on fire CL Durban, Bomb hits 1 CL Capetown, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 2, on fire CLAA Van Heemskerck, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk DD Walke, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires CL Boise, Bomb hits 1 The anti-aircraft cruiser was the first hit, so that was a very disappointing performance from the unit that I thought was going to help make this task force a difficult target. Some of our bombers tried to attack the KB, but our fighters were all playing defense so they were handled easily. We lost 2 B-17s, 2 139Ws, and 2 Swordfish. Tjepoe, the space where the invasion force landed, has been captured. A small bright spot in all this, the Dutch sub KXIII sank a cargo ship near Makassar. Hawaii As expected, the destination of the ships that were being loaded was Oahu. The subs I positioned to intercept were brushed aside by a robust ASW escort. The enemy invaded with two task forces, a main force and a smaller detachment. The smaller one hit the beaches first and took heavy losses--my coastal defenses ranged from 3" to 12" fixed batteries, 8" guns transported by rail, plus all the artillery that the Marines stationed there have, while this force had no major warships. It looks like we wasted 4 out of 6 transports in this group and killed about 1300 troops. The main force had all 4 battleships we've become quite used to seeing here, plus cruisers and destroyers, so they were able to suppress our shore batteries a bit. We still damaged a few transports and a destroyer, with enemy casualties estimated around 800. Morning brought with it much better accuracy for our shore batteries and a massive ship-shore battle broke out. The enemy warships scrambled to draw fire away from the transports. BB Yamashiro, Shell hits 1 BB Fuso, Shell hits 14 BB Mutsu BB Nagato, Shell hits 22, on fire CA Furutaka, Shell hits 4, on fire CL Kitakami, Shell hits 3, on fire CL Tama, Shell hits 2, on fire CL Abukuma, Shell hits 1 DD Namikaze DD Yuzuki AMC Bankok Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire xAK Melbourne Maru, Shell hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Kinai Maru, Shell hits 12, on fire, heavy damage xAK Manila Maru, Shell hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Seattle Maru, heavy fires AMC Saigon Maru DD Kasumi, on fire DD Ariake Most of those hits on the battleships are being resisted by the armor, but we have some big guns out there and some of those got through. We'd kill about 1800 more enemy troops while they were trying to establish a beachhead; our casualties were around 300. I'd estimate 4 divisions came ashore today. USS Pompano, undeterred from being attacked in the morning, returned for more and ended up being spotted and depth charged before it could get in attack position. It took light damage before it escaped. Operation Kinky Boots With Tavoy secured, I ordered AVG-1 to sweep Bangkok, kind of a recon-in-force to see if it was dangerous to send bombers there. We encountered 8 Nates on patrol and splashed 7 of them with no losses. The bombers that aren't going to Bangkok yet hit the troops retreating from Tavoy--he had 10 Nates protecting them this time. Our 5 escorting Hurricanes shot down 1, but several got through and damaged some of the bombers. Good thing they only have .30 cal machine guns on those planes. At Raheng, recon reports there are troops guarding Pisanouke, the smaller base at Raheng's flank. This means I'm going to have to cross a river under fire no matter which way I attack from. So, I've cancelled my order to cross downriver and ordered a frontal assault on Raheng. Raheng is now my priority bomber target, I'm going to work them over hard to help my troops cross. |
Is invading Oahu a reasonable move in WiTP? Historically it would have been an extreme gamble with an awfully high chance of total defeat for Japan, as there was a strong garrison even on December 7th, 1941.
It's a high reward move if it succeeds, no doubt about that, but how likely is this to succeed, especially against a human opponent? A defeat in this invasion will have wasted Japanese manpower and materiel your opponent should be unable to replace (or at least very unlikely to replace). In general it sounds as if your opponent is playing a very aggressive campaign, even compared to the historical campaign undertaken by Imperial Japan. Historically seen this was something Japan could never have sustained for much more than a few months - does something similar eventually happen in WiTP (unless the Allied player surrenders, that is)? |
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As for sustainability, the scale of his logistic operation was absolutely enormous, that he was able to keep his battleships constantly rearmed proved that. I don't know how long he can keep it up. Not capturing the southern resource area should be putting a strain on his fuel supply. At least for now, the OpTempo of his naval forces is quite high around Pearl and in the Java Sea, so he apparently has fuel for now. |
9 March 1942
Hawaii The enemy ground forces made a major push and got nowhere, apparently too disorganized from their landings. Casualties were 1661 to 32, and critically, our fortifications held. Makassar Strait S-36 tried to attack a major troop convoy but ended up having to settle for sinking an escorting Kaibokan. Java Sea One of my transports and a minelayer evacuating Surabaya were intercepted by an enemy surface detachment and sunk. An enemy destroyer hit a mine near their beachhead at Tjepoe. HMS Trusty and a US sub have been hard at work there. USS Pike was detected here and depth charged for moderate damage. Air raids targeted Surabaya and ships at sea near there. Losses were 6 Zeroes, 3 Nells vs 1 P-39 and a Hurricane. Fleet damage was bad as they worked over the survivors from yesterday: CL Enterprise, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Walke CL Tromp, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk CL Capetown, Bomb hits 5, on fire, heavy damage CL Durban, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Vampire CL Sumatra, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Mauritius, Bomb hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Nizam DD Van Ghent, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage CL Boise, Bomb hits 8, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk DD Barker, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Edsall We also attempted a raid on Tjepoe that did not go well, 4 Dutch medium bombers went down with nothing to show for it. Eastern Australlia The Lexington CVBG was spotted by a sub outside of Sydney. We depth charged the sub and caused minor damage before it got away, but now he knows exactly where the Lex is. New Hebrides The timing of the spotting of the Lex was especially bad, because I also revealed the location of Enterprise's group so its USMC Wildcats could harass ships landing at Uputa (sinking 2 landing barges and damaging a PB). The SBDs would have gone if there was anything bigger there. But now he knows where they all are. |
10 March 1942
New Hebridies I detached a destroyer from the Enterprise CVGB to get the remaining barges at Utupua, but came up empty. Japan USS Tarpon torpedoed and sank an AKL near Torishima island, about 280 miles southeast of the mainland. Java Our fighters started getting on the board in Surabaya as our CAPs are less spread out trying to cover ships at sea, but at a cost. We took out 4 Zeroes, 4 Oscars, 3 Betties, 8 Nells, 7 Kates, and 3 Vals with the cost of 3 P-40s, 7 P-39s, 2 Hurricanes, and a Hawk. Damage to the ships in port: CL Durban, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage CL Enterprise, Bomb hits 3, on fire, heavy damage CL Caledon, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Van Rees, Bomb hits 1, on fire CL Dragon, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage SS KXVII, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk AD Black Hawk, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage AVP Pollux, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk AS Zuiderkruis, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage xAK Bennevis, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk xAP Van Diemen, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage xAP Siberg, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage CL Capetown, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage AMc Merbabo, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk xAP Rochussen, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage Operation Kinky Boots He has Nates defending Bangkok now, which the AVG tore into. 8 were shot down with no losses. It appears 20,000 troops have left Singapore, so we may have had the desired effect. It should take them at least 4 days to pack up and head back north by rail. |
11 March 1942
Hawaii Another attack by ground forces rebuffed, casualties 4363 to 1123, forts holding. Starting to look pretty bad for him. Java HMS Trusty was lightly damaged in a depth charge attack as it mined Tjepoe again. As far as I can tell they still don't have proper minesweepers there and are relying on destroyers and PBs to do the job. The air battle tilted our way for the day. At Surabaya, for just one P-40 shot down, we managed 2 Zeroes, 7 Nells, 9 Betties, and 8 Sallies. But they made up for it a bit at Batavia shooting down 6 Fulmars, a P-400 (what's a P-400? A P-40 with a Zero on its tail! Or maybe just the export version of the P-39), a Buffalo (fortunately nearly completely phased out by arriving Hurricanes and P-40s) and got just 1 Val and 1 Kate. Still, the bombers got the job done. There's not much left to sink at Surabaya anymore. At Batavia, they hit a transport group that was fortunately already disembarked. But they did find a transport loading on the south side of Java (relocated there after Batavia got too hot last week), the damage inflicted on that ship included 300 troop casualties. Timor A fleet of AKLs evacuating Surabaya was slowly massacred. One was picked off by a sub coming through the straits of the Java Sea. Another hit a mine at Koepang. Then a lurking sub wolfpack went to work on them. Had to be at least 6 ships, none survived. |
12 March 1942
Hawaii USS Sealion took some hits trying to intercept battleships on their way to bombard Oahu. Japan USS Sturgeon torpedoed a cargo ship in the East China Sea. Java One of our coastal minesweepers was obliterated by a Japanese sub at Oosthaven. These little guys really have no success as ASW substitutes. In the air, Japan did a poor job protecting its bombers today. At Surabaya we shot down 15 Sallies, 5 Betties, and 4 Zeroes with no losses. At Oosthaven, for the price of 3 fighters we got 7 Vals and 5 Kates. About those...the KB is focusing on interdicting reinforcements right now. Last turn served as a warning to clear them out, but we still had some left at Oosthaven (Sumatra): AMC Manoora, Bomb hits 4, on fire xAP Poelau Bras, Bomb hits 2, on fire xAK Catrine, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage AMc Lawoe, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk AMc MMS A xAK Michael Livanos, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk xAP Chilka, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage xAP Indora, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk KV Nigella xAK Anatina, Bomb hits 1, on fire. Which were mostly empty, but we did lose some vehicles that were still aboard. The IJA has captured Madioen, effectively cutting the island in half. Timor I've put a coastal minesweeper back to work here to deal with the minefield that took out an AKL yesterday. They had been sheltering due to the air threat. It swept a few mines and was then promptly sunk by a lurking enemy sub. South of here, I'm trying to move the Hermes and Royal Sovereign off to the west, but a sub spotted the task force and fired 4 torps at the Hermes (missing). I wonder if the KB comes over here now. Makassar Strait S-36 attacked a convoy of a small number of cargo ships escorted by a ton of cruisers and destroyers, I have to assume this was once the Java invasion force. It missed and suffered depth charge damage for its trouble. |
13 March 1942
Java A lone heavy cruiser bombarded Surabaya, but it was enough to disable 22 planes at the crowded airfield. After his heavy losses yesterday, the bombers took a break and he focused on dealing with my fighters. The change in tactics was effective, especially in combination with the main airfield being shelled; at Surabaya he got 7 fighters for 2 Zeroes; and at Koepang (Timor) he got 6 with no losses (2 of which were Fulmars from the nearby Hermes, which tried to help). We got a little lucky as one of his task forces ran out of fuel in the Java sea, my torpedo bombers scored a hit on the drifting cruiser Yubari (which was carrying troops) and probably sank it. In isolation, I wouldn't read too much into this, but it's possible that he's supporting ops in this area from fuel from Balikpapan and Tarakan, which aren't especially big. I'm fairly sure the production of these bases is insufficient to maintain the level of naval activity here, especially with the KB around, but I'm not sure about the stockpile status or how much fuel is being shipped in. A third of an enemy battalion outpaced the rest of its force and attacked a far superior force in Semarang; we wiped it out. Luzon Strait USS Snapper sank a cargo ship in a surface attack. I'm surprised unescorted merchants still pass through here. Malaya It appearing that troops are abandoning the siege of Singapore to relieve Bangkok, I ordered my Singapore bombers to attack at Johore...it didn't go well, we lost at least 2 bombers to flak and didn't do much damage. |
14 March 1942
Stunning losses for AVG-1 in Thailand Hawaii It looks like they're done landing troops and the 4 BB have gone back to daily bombardments. Fortunately damage was very light today. If they're going to pull this off, it will probably be these 4 ships as the difference-makers. Java The battleships Kirishima and Hiei made and appearance bombarding Surabaya: P-39D Airacobra: 7 damaged P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground P-40E Warhawk: 6 damaged P-40E Warhawk: 3 destroyed on ground B-17E Fortress: 23 damaged B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground PBY-5 Catalina: 2 damaged PBY-4 Catalina: 7 damaged Hurricane IIb Trop: 2 damaged Hurricane IIb Trop: 1 destroyed on ground B-17D Fortress: 1 damaged L-212: 2 damaged SOC-1 Seagull: 1 damaged SOC-1 Seagull: 1 destroyed on ground ...which probably incapacitates the airfield for the next day or two. On the bright side, that limited the amount of damage his fighters could do because I had so few in the air to shoot down. (2 P-40s at Surabaya). Operation Kinky Boots Apparently he's realized that what's going on here is a problem. Major air forces--Oscars, probably piloted by veterans of the Phillipines/Malaya campaigns have reinforced Bangkok and were not only waiting for me, but they swept Tavoy airbase. We lost 5 AVG P-40s at Tavoy with no enemies shot down. At Bangkok we lost 4 AVG P-40s and a Hurricane, leaving our Hudson bombers vulnerable--we lost all 5 we sent. We only got 5 Nates in exchange, the Oscars seemed untouchable. The good news is there is no enemy bomber activity, so the adjustment is simple. My bombers stay north in the Raheng area. To the south, my fighters regroup and focus on defense. I'm calling in another Hurricane squadron from Columbo. At Raheng, our river crossing was a smashing success. The enemy was suppressed by my bombers, the troops got across, and the enemy base was overwhelmed. Casualties were 1388 to 318 favoring me, a great result considering it was a river crossing. Malaya It looks like the enemy presence in Singapore is down to 6,000 from a previous high of probably 40,000. Kinky Boots is working. They'll probably save Bangkok, though, which is fine by me. China The massive offensive army I moved from Ichang to the central area has reached its objective of Nanchang. He apparently spotted me, as a large army that had been threatening my base at Changsha was spotted moving back to Nanchang on a major highway. They became my priority bomber target yesterday, hoping that by forcing them to scramble for cover they'd slow down. They're not here yet. We attack tomorrow, hopefully that army will be too late. |
15 March 1942
Oahu fortifications degraded, 2 divisions land in western Java Hawaii Major push by enemy land forces. The battleships are making a huge difference, my troops are badly disrupted and not fighting all that effectively. We're down to level 2 fortifications, which is pretty bad for a base this size. Casualties were 400 to 7000 favoring me but that's going to tip as the fortifications fail. To the south, I've set up a temporary PBY case with seaplane tenders on a vacant atoll. They snooped Palmyra and Christmas Island, and it appears that they have only token forces remaining there, no aircraft. I wish I had though of this 2 weeks ago. I can take these back, and doing so would compel him to send carriers or his surface fleet to deal with me. I don't think Pearl will last long enough for this to work to pull the BBs away. Java The air battles went better today. At Batavia we traded 2 Fulmars for 3 Oscars (all our kills by P-400s). At Surabaya, 2 P-39s for 2 Zeroes and 8 Sallies. But there's always bad news it seems... 2 divisions (Imperial Guards and the 16th, previously in the Philippines) landed at Kalidjati, near Batavia on the west side of the island. That's probably more than what I can handle on the west side. So, the first landing of 2 regiments was meant to cut off reinforcements to the west, this is the main force. For now, I'm going to try to defeat the eastern forces in detail and see if I can establish something solid after that. Thailand He's now attacking Tavoy with naval bombers. Interesting choice, aren't those needed around Singapore and the Java Sea? We're still struggling to deal with the elite Oscars. We lost 2 Hurricanes and 2 P-40s while taking down 4 Oscars and 6 Nells. As has been a frequent pattern, the Nells bombed from too high to do significant damage to the Tavoy airbase. China Some of those armies did arrive in time to save Nanchang, at least for today. We knocked forts down from level 3 to 2, and casualties were 2000 to 10,000 favoring them, but we still have them outnumbered. I think we'll get it. New Hebrides I sent a small surface task force to Utupua to clear out any remaining landing barges, we found a PB and sank it with a torpedo. |
16 March 1942
Makassar Strait He lost a PB on minesweeper duty off Balikpapan to one of the mines it was trying to clear. Kinda sucks that he sacrificed so many real minesweepers at Pearl. New Hebrides I sent the heavy cruiser Australia to Luganville to bombard them and sink any supply ships/barges. They found nothing and dealt some light port facility damage. It looks to me like there is only a token force here, based on PBY recon sweeps. It may be time to take it. Thailand Oscar sweeps at Tavoy weren't so bad this time, 1 Oscar shot down, no losses even though we were outnumbered 16 to 9. They made up for it at Raheng, shooting down 3 Hurricanes with no losses. My bombers are all getting through to the routed enemy troops from Raheng, though, and they're really effective. Java Oscar sweeps at Batavia got a P-40 and a Fulmar with no losses. At Surabaya, the bombers returned and our forces did well, losing just one Hawk fighter and downing 2 Zeroes and 9 Sallies. The bombers blew up a P-40 on the ground and damaged 2 cruisers under repair. We attempted an airstrike of our own on the 2nd enemy beachhead at Kalidjati with a force of 14 shiny new B-25s, 6 139WH-3s, and 3 DB-7B (the A-20 Havoc in Dutch service). The training in anti-surface warfare these pilots have been getting since the war started finally paid off, a little, with this group scoring one hit each on two transports. That had already disembarked their troops. Oh well. The air battle resulted in one downed Oscar and one 193WH. Kalidjati was captured. Sumatra Enemy paratroops are landing on Banka, the large island adjacent to Palembang. The land here is suitable for airfield construction, so that might be his goal. I don't think he needs it, though, especially if he's able to take Batavia. Palembang is hard to reach with large-ish ships, maybe he wants to base a flotilla of landing barges here? Malaya We counterattacked the remaining enemy forces in Singapore and drove them out. Casualties 2400 to 700 favoring us. China We attacked Nanchang again, casualties 1200 to 5000 favoring them, fortifications held. We outnumber them more than 2 to 1, I think we can still get them. I'll keep working them over with bombers, regroup, and attack again when my troops are ready. Further south, at Chusien, we expelled a smaller Japanese force from the small base there. Casualties 140 to 1300 favoring us. |
17 March 1942
Java Raids at Surabaya cost him a lot of bombers today as my airbase is recovering from the earlier bombardments and we're getting more fighters up--we managed 24 fighters up at our peak. 1 P-39 lost vs 15 Sallies. Our bombers returned to Kalidjati to bomb land forces, now that we know their ships are already empty. He reinforced his CAP so this was a tougher fight than yesterday. We lost 5 P-40s and 1 P-400 without shooting down any enemy fighters, but the bombers got through and hit their troops pretty hard. That's really all that happened today, weather was bad over Thailand so no flights flew, all the ground "battles" were just artillery exchanges, subs fired at cargo ships and missed, etc. 18 March 1942 Java A pair of our destroyers found 2 subs near Batavia and lightly damaged one with depth charges. Day 3 of our strike at Kalidjati resulted in 2 P-40s, a P-400, and 3 139Ws shot down. But once again, we hurt their troops pretty badly. Our 2 surviving Swordfish torpedo bombers flew a rare sortie and hit a cargo ship on the Borneo side of the Java Sea. Timor I've got a pair of minesweepers working on the minefield at Koepang. I'd rather have them on ASW duty but I have reinforcements to land and I'd rather not lose a portion of them to mines. To the south, at Darwin, a pair of seaplane-tender-destroyers on ASW where those minesweepers would otherwise be found a sub and caused some light damage with depth charges. Thailand Strikes resumed on the retreating 7th Royal Thai Army and we caused significant troops casualties. Enemy fighter resistance was stiffer this time as they shot down 3 Hurricanes and 1 Blenhiem bomber at the cost of 1 Oscar. |
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