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I hope you were Japan :)
One more question, what are the relative experience levels of you and your opponent with this game? I'm pulling for the Americans in this one. And I'd watch out, I bet he has designs on invading the west coast of the US. You need your own Midway, a pivotal victory that puts him on the back foot. |
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This is my first campaign against a human opponent. I've played one Allied and two Japanese campaigns against AI. I'm not entirely sure how experienced he is. I just know it's not his first. And he has surprised me a few times already. I'm probably not going to look to take on the KB until after I replace the Wildcats with Corsairs or Hellcats. I still have 1 CV with Buffalos, waiting for Wildcats, as it stands. And his pilots are better. I don't even have USN training squadrons filling out my reserves with trained pilots, so any pilot I lose is replaced with someone right out of basic flight, or not at all. As of tomorrow, the carrier balance will be: Japan: 6 fleet carriers, 2 CVL, 2 CVE US: 4 fleet carriers UK: 1 CVL |
29 December 41
IJN disengaging in DEI Dutch East Indies https://i.ibb.co/g3pWPkd/1941-Dec-29-Banda-Sea.jpg A Dutch sub torpedoed a troop transport off Manado, 50/50 it goes down. The big news is that the CVLBG is leaving--after finishing off my evac task force yesterday, it moved north through the Moluccas and turned east towards Truk. It's due for replenishment and refueling, plus one of those CVLs ate a torpedo awhile back. With how little activity is going on in the DEI, it might not be coming back. If the KB stays tied to Hawaii, it might want to try to disrupt my supply chain and bases in SouthPac. It's not just the CVLBG that's gone, too. The ports at Ambon, Manado, and Ternate are mostly empty. A surface group left with the CVLBG. Except for one surface group still near the Moluccas, it doesn't appear that there are any surface threats east for Borneo, and the only air threats are fragments of Betty squadrons with no torpedo support. West of Borneo, as Force Y pulled back from its raid, a heavy-cruiser escorted group invaded Billiton. One transport hit a mine. These guys have now advanced far south enough that my land based bombers are in range. They've had a few weeks to train--I wouldn't call them proficient just yet, but hopefully they aren't as useless as when the war started and their CVLs just parked off Surabaya and laughed at us. What I presume to be the invasion forces scout planes snooped one of my troop convoys heading north near Palembang. This has the potential to be devastating. In hindsight maybe I should have ordered them to turn around, but I didn't. I split them into two groups based on speed and ordered them to sprint to Singapore. I think if they make it, they could tip the balance and let Singapore hold out until they allocate at least another division. So, they're scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Possibly, while under air attack. The Ceres continues to limp to port from its torpedo damage. I don't think she's going to make it. Oh, that reminds me. It's of little consequence, but the HMS Thanet is about to arrive in Surabaya. This little DD might be the luckiest ship afloat. Part of a group of 3 DD, it survived the air raids in Hong Kong, escaped the surface groups patrolling for Hong Kong evacuees, avoided the covering forces around Luzon, and got caught up in the rout in the Celebes Sea, where it came face to face with the Ise and Hyuga (Ise took a torpedo hit in this fight, so it's possible that if the Ise really did sink, maybe the Thanet was responsible), which sank one of its sister ships, and later the Soryu battlegroup, which sank the other sister ship. After disengaging from Soryu it was attacked by its Kates, evading their bombs in the morning only to take a critical hit in the afternoon, inflicting 88% flooding damage. That sinks most ships--the damage control teams need to get medals. It's been limping to Surabaya ever since at like 5 knots, and somehow, none of the surface groups, subs, or betties prowling the Celebes Sea or Makassar Strait ever found her. DC teams brought the flooding down to 62% enroute. Malaya My one dedicated recon aircraft is earning his paycheck. We've confirmed at least a Division is still up at Kota Baru. But Kuantan has only a few thousand troops, and it looks like mostly engineers. I attacked his forces blocking the road outside Johore, but he got additional forces there in time to prevent me from having local superiority. It probably didn't help that I couldn't keep his bombers away, either. So, the road is theirs. I'm going to have my boys head back north to Malacca and then decide whether these troops are better used to keep him from putting his full force into Singapore or going after a vulnerable-looking Kuantan. The air campaign favored me today, I traded one Buffalo for an Oscar and three Sallies. Philippines He bombed and sank an AKL waiting to take on evacuees from Cagayan. Looks like he's onto me. But, barring unforseen events, the majority of the Cagayan base forces are going to get out. The base force mostly lost yesterday was from Cebu, but trailing elements from them are also still evacuating--which means I might end up with enough to rebuild the unit from. His air forces mostly took the day off with no raids in the north. By B-17s hit some units in the open headed towards Clark and Manila. I also probed his Clark forces and found that he pulled a Napoleon and moved a lot of them to Manila to get local superiority. Right now it appears its just the 65th Brigade in Clark, plus a few engineers. China The AVG suffered its first two losses of the war as Changsha was swept by Tojos. Most of the CAP here was focused on protecting frontline troops instead of the base itself, so we were outnumbered. Fortunately both pilots bailed out without injuries. EDIT: HA! I completely forgot about the Zero raid about a week ago that shot down a handful of AVG fighters! We pursued the routing armies from Sinyang to the gates of Hangkow and dealt them another defeat in the open before they escaped into the city. I had been bombing Hangkow to use the BDA as a kind of recon, and it actually looks like I can take it. But, it's heavy urban terrain and probably well-fortified. I'm going to take my pound of flesh here and go home. Thanks to this small victory, I actually gained VP on my enemy this turn, for the first time in the campaign. In the south, the army that took Chaochow is now closing on on Swatow, and its size 3 airfield and port. Recon shows I have him outnumbered, and most of those troops are the broken troops I defeated a few days ago. My next move would be Amoy, but I expect I'll find more resistance there. SouthPac I think awhile back I mentioned a CL poking around Fiji (at about the same time as the CL at Pago if I didn't). Well, it's still there. And the task force is growing as it sits there, last reported as 2 CL + 3 other ships, also a sub hanging out to his west. If he's looking for a fight I might just give him one. Maybe after we make sure I'm not walking into battleships again like in Celebes, though. That sucked. SigInt reports enemy activity just north of the scouting range of our PBYs at Pago. I wish I could say I have enough troops at Pago to hold it. But with 5 divisions deployed to the north I'm sure he had some to spare. The supply situation here is starting to suck, thanks in no small part to Pearl being surrounded and enemy SAGs hanging out around Pago and Fiji, and of course, the capture of Canton Island. West Coast Yorktown has arrived and is now forming up with escorts. Lexington is about to complete repairs of its engineering casualty ahead of schedule--great timing. I've also got enough DDs available, and enough transports arriving after evacuating from all over the place, that I can start putting more troop convoys to sea to reinforce SouthPac and/or Australia. Arizona and Nevada (the BBs damaged in the original 12/7 attacks that were the most seaworthy) have arrived in Seattle for repairs. Moving them was a bit risky because most Japanese players will try to finish them off with subs, but these guys had a quiet transit. But it takes pressure off the overburdened shipyards at Pearl, and fortuitously, out of the danger zone I had no idea PH was when I ordered these two to move out. Speaking of PH, thunderstorms tomorrow. I'll just leave it at that. |
https://i.ibb.co/rGTYRGC/1941-Dec-13-Thanet-FTW.jpg
About the HMS Thanet, it's confirmed. It's the ship that scored the last torpedo hit on the Ise, which was probably the last significant damage. It was bombed by a B-17 while it was getting patched up, but I don't think the bomb did that much damage due to the ship's armor. I'm going to do something out of character and ask my opponent about the fate of this ship. * * * He says the Ise is safely in Japan for repairs. Damn. |
30 December 1941
PTs strike again, 65th Brigade routed, Singapore reinforced CENTPAC I used the expected thunderstorms to cover the escape of several tenders from Pearl. Surprisingly, it worked, even though they're pretty slow. Night storms are the best. I also tried to evac a key engineer unit. The enemy took notice of this, though, and launched an airstrike while they were loading. I lost an AK and had an AP shot up, a P-40 went down trying to hold them off. Japan lost two Zeroes and 4 Vals. My PTs tried to attack at Lihue again, as all the heavies seem to be east. But they chickened out and turned around. Japan now controls all of Hawaii except for Oahu. SOUTHPAC and Solomons area The feared invasion of Pago has not yet materialized. At this time all surface contacts are at or near captured bases. The enemy SAG remains in position at Fiji, still nothing reported as larger than a CL. Fiji's supply situation is getting bad. Landings have commenced on the northern shores of Papua New Guinea. My bombers apparently don't feel like doing anything about it. Bad weather? I am disappointed. Dutch East Indies Maybe they're not withdrawing everything after all. Two SAGs are in the area, one by Manado and another that looks like it's going to take a run at my bomber base in Kendari. Please, bombard it! There's a new minefield there waiting for you! That's also my PT refueling base for hitting Ambon, though, so hopefully my torpedoless-PTs can refuel and get out of there before the cruisers arrive. Why torpedoless? Because they just raided Ambon and sank two transports filled with troops! Good job guys, now stay alive and do it again. The CVLBG is approaching Palau, it might even be headed for Japan. I've got 2 subs in position at Palau to attempt a night intercept. My bombers didn't attack Billiton. Not sure if it was bad weather or they just needed time to organize after rebasing. Again, disappointed. Philippines I made him pay a price for dividing his forces between Manila and Clark, driving out the 65th Brigade from Clark. Casualties were about 2500 to 900 in our favor, but I'm concerned about the supply situation in terms of not being able to repair/heal disabled units. I'll be assigning some Asiatic fleet boats to transport duty to try to help them hold on. Some portion of the force at Manila is now moving to Clark. My forces that retreated from Manila are now reorganized and resupplied, I'm moving them into the hills to threaten to re-engage Manila or cut off a road and base that's probably supplying them. In the air, it was my turn to take a beating. Oscars took down 6 P-40s and 2 P-35s with only one loss. The absence of Zeroes is noted. The may be confident the Oscars are enough and distributing the Zeroes elsewhere... Rabaul, maybe. He sent nearly 90 bombers after an army unit in the central area that has no hope of being evacuated. Probably softening them up for an invasion. USS Pike torpedoed a troop transport north of Luzon. I expected everyone that's coming ashore to be ashore already, so this is interesting. Who are these mystery reinforcements? https://i.ibb.co/KyP6nfB/1941-Dec-30-Luzon.jpg Malaya An odd choice for my opponent--he raided the airfields and port at Singapore but not the troop transports about to dock there. That raid traded an Oscar and a Sally for a Buffalo, a Blenheim blown up on the ground, and hits on the Repulse and a couple other ships under repair. Now my transports will be unloading while the bombers sleep, who knows maybe they'll even be gone by morning. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but reinforcing Singapore twice now probably means he doesn't have enough there to do the job. Hurricanes have also arrived to start replacing the craptacular Buffalos. The top-performing New Zealand squadron is getting the first batch. Air raids against my forces withdrawing from the Johore road did significant damage at the cost of 1 Oscar. Georgetown was captured. 1 bomber was destroyed on the ground that I was trying to move up to Rangoon to rejoin the rest of its unit. They're trying to aid the retreat of the small unit I allowed to be surrounded. Elsewhere -USS Sargo made a gun attack on an AKL that it abandoned after running low on ammo. Really sad that we can't even sink little guys like this. -My army fighting in the Chinese riverlands has been outmanuevered. It isn't strong enough to take down the army I sent it after (especially because they can get bombers here, but I can't), and another enemy unit appeared behind it. The only retreat is through them. -Most of the Indian Ocean evacuees are safely in off-map bases and are available for forming supply convoys to India, Sri Lanka, and Australia. -I'm starting to get together convoys from the west coast as well, but I'm being hampered by lack of availability of decent-speed ships. I'm absolutely shocked that the only west coast transports interdicted by subs have been those going to PH before it was encircled. This party can't last, so I'm reluctant to get lacksadaisical about moving supplies out here, and especially troops. -I don't know why I was happy that the Lex will be repaired early. I still don't have enough Wildcats to fill out her air wing. It didn't help that the Yorktown arrived about 10 planes short. |
Grim. Hang in there mate.
Is there any offensive action you've been thinking of that could put your opponent off balance? Or is a fighting withdrawal the only real option at this point? You need your subs to start getting in and hurting his ability support all of these far-flung occupations, if that's a thing. But you have neither the numbers or I guess reliable torpedoes to get this done. I'm interested in the submarine side of this. Are you choosing where they patrol? If so where are you sending them? As you surely know (I can tell from your posts you are well-versed in the Pacific war), dull-minded leaders such as Christie and English wasted many patrols by placing them at route terminuses, terminii, err, at the place they dock. lol But experience, hindsight and sharper brains of course showed that there were several chokepoints that could have proved far more profitable in interdicting the merchant traffic of the Japanese while allowing the sea room needed to be effective, and out from under the most intense enemy ASW. It's tempting to put boats outside Rabaul or Truk I would imagine, but they may prove more effective say in Makassar or Luzon straits. Could a concentration of available submarine striking power in very few places make a difference and maybe make him reign in his audacity? :) Maybe if you get the time and want to hit on how you approach the submarine war, I'd be interested in how it works mechanically and from a tactical or strategic point of view. But I know how much work it is just producing the reports, so no obligation of course. Things should hopefully be brighter for 1942, as more boats come to the theatre, and their effectiveness improves due to technical advances (radar, improved torpedoes, depth capability, tubes, capacity, etc). Not sure how deeply this is modeled, but I'd expect that your boats will become more effective, all else being equal. Good AAR, mate. Keep it up. |
I should also ask if he is a member here and reading this AAR? If so I could understand a reluctance to share your plans.
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31 December 1941
Enemy Air Strikes In Singapore Come Too Late Malaya My reinforcements were nearly fully disembarked when the strike came. Japanese bombers flew 60 sorties against Singapore harbor. We lost two Buffalos defending the harbor and claimed three Nell bombers. Three mostly empty transports were torpedoed, but they're big ones and they should survive as long as they don't get hit again. My opponent emailed me to criticize this move, said it was too risky because these transports are too valuable. I mentioned I had second thoughts in my prior post, but I think I made the right move here. Yes, losing the transports would hurt, but I had a chance to turn the balance of the Malaya campaign by landing these guys. And at least for now, on paper, it looks like it worked. My defense at Singapore is truly formidable now, at least two divisions strong with a **** ton of artillery and AA support. Factor in that he needs to attack fortifications over a river, naval bombardment support is chancey because I have a ton of mines and coastal defense artillery, and his bombers can't consistently attack from low altitude because I have a lot of AA, and his (probably) three divisions have their work cut out for them. I needed to make him pay a price for putting 5 divisions in Hawaii, this move might have accomplished that. Dutch East Indies A cruiser-destroyer group went hunting for my PTs in eastern Borneo, but they escaped. The expected strike against Kendari hasn't happened yet, but they're lining up three task forces. Looks like phibs, a covering force, and a bombardment group. We launched an airstrike with level bombers but missed. My strikes against Billiton launched, the ships were gone so the bombers hit the troops they landed, causing light casualties. Falcon light bombers also tried to hit ships at Miri but missed. I have lost track of the CVLBG. If it doesn't show up in a day or two that probably means it went back to Japan. Philippines Major raid on Clark. We lost a P-40 and two P-35s but got 2 Sallies, 3 Lillies, and an Ann. The bombers dropped from too high to be effective. Elsewhere The KB is giving me a little bit of a scare. My recon aircraft around PH are getting thinned out and my coverage is spotty. We actually didn't confirm the continued presence of the KB around Hawaii this turn. There is a whole of of shipping traffic heading south around Hawaii that he might try to interdict. I think it's still at Hawaii, though, he has so many ships there that I don't see him sacrificing fighter coverage for them just to get some transports. All the same, the convoys that are most at risk have been ordered to adjust course. Plan for what he can do, not for what he would do, and all that. |
Yep exactly, command according to capability, not intentions. It's good to see some successes! A redoubt in malaya is a thorn he could do without.
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Right now I'm looking at the potential for limited counteroffensives in the DEI and SouthPac areas. I've appeared to have the stronger fleet in SouthPac for awhile. In DEI, even with three task forces operating near Kendari, it looks like his Optempo has caught up with him and a lot of surface forces have had to pull back for refuel/rearm/maintenance. But, with that reduction in forces, he's being more methodical. I wouldn't attack those three task forces off Kendari with what I have there now, too much strength in a small place. In SouthPAC, the big question is airpower. Rabaul is going to be a problem soon, if it's not already. The KB isn't far from there. The CVLBG might be headed there. And the way he has cruisers just sitting off Fiji waving at our scoutplanes is just weird and unsettling. It really looks like he's trying to bait me. Right now the Dutch sub fleet are focused on choke points in the DEI. US Asiatic fleet boats are mostly tasked to shipping lanes from the Luzon area to the southern/western part of Japan. US West coast boats are mostly sitting off Japan or major hubs like Truk and Rabaul. I think he's figured out most of my patrol areas and has adjusted, I'm starting to open up a little to try to find the traffic. The sub mission is still mostly anti-troop transport at this point, he's conquered so little of the resource areas there isn't going to be a whole lot of fuel/resource convoys to interdict. EDIT: about the sub's capabilities. All torps have a dud rate, but the US torps are especially bad until sometime in 1943. So that is modeled. Also, just about every ship has an upgrade schedule. That includes things like radar, so yes, they're going to get more effective over time. Speaking of which, it's almost January, I should look at the upgrade schedule and see who's due. EDIT 2: here's an example of a scheduled upgrade. This one improves the subs AA guns and puts some radars on it. https://i.ibb.co/hMvDwzy/Tambor-upgrade.jpg |
Thanks a lot for the info. It's all very interesting, in a vicarious sort of way.
It makes me want to play it honestly. I'm deeply interested in the Pacific war, and in these sorts of game. WitE had no naval component at all, which among other things allowed me to bypass and isolate Sevastopol, which I would not have done had it been a naval base. But in the Pacific this is centrally improtant of course, and the notion of controlling it all according to what I think should be done is appealing. Having a human opponent just makes it all the more interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience Molon Labe. |
1 January 1942
Japan lands on Kendari Dutch East Indies The attack on Kendari finally came. 8 transports plowed through the minefield. One took two hits and sank. One of my PT squads ran into their covering force and was driven off. Casualties from losing the AK to a mine were bad, but he still landed at least a regiment. It's enough. Near Surabaya, a damaged cargo ship that had been sheltering at Balikpapan but was moving to Surabaya for "real" repairs was picked off by a sub. He moved some Oscars to protect Billiton from my air raids with a long-range CAP. And Murphy showed up and made sure my escorting fighters got separated from their bombers. I lost two medium bombers and 3 Swordfish torpedo bombers. The CVLBG is still gone. It might be replenishing at Palau, headed for the Solomons, or returning to Japan. If its the Solomons, I'll probably reacquire it in another day, maybe two. Philippines The S-36 sank two cargo ships in the Luzon strait, a Kyushu class and a C-class. Way to show up the more modern boats! It helps that its Mk10 torpedoes work. The Kyushus in particular are valuable, they're 18-knot boats that are great for moving armies around. Air raids on Clark claimed a P-35 but cost him a light bomber and 2 mediums. He's still bombing from too high to hit anything in these hills. His main force has moved from Manila to Clark and is ready to attack. As expected, he left behind enough in Manila to stop my isolated units from retaking it. I mixed things up a bit by sending my B-17s back to Cam Rahn Bay to bomb the port, but the raid was ineffective. I'm sad to report that all of my fighter squadrons here have taken such heavy losses that they're essentially combat ineffective. He's basically won the air campaign and will enjoy air superiority going forward. Malaya He hit the retreating transports again with Nells and did better today. We lost 2 Buffalos and claimed 3 Nells. But the Nells got 3 hits on the transport Leonard Wood, sinking it. They also got a minesweeper on ASW patrol and hit the drydocked Repulse with a pair of bombs. His army (Imperial Guards Division and 18th Division) attacked my units as they withdrew from the Johore road. They didn't cause a rout, but thanks to their air support they inflicted much more severe casualties than they took. I've replaced another Buffalo squadron with Hurricanes. The first conversion should get their first taste of combat tomorrow. SouthPac The enemy SAG sitting south of Suva decided to attack and bombarded the base. The base reports the enemy composition is 2 CL and 1 DD. Yeah, I can take them, just not this turn. The bombardment damaged 2 scout planes and did minor facility damage. Frustratingly, it appears this group has left the area. I had just positioned some cruisers for an attack overnight. Maybe it's still there and my scoutplanes missed it. Or its withdrawing towards the Solomons. It could even be headed to Pago. CENTPAC My patrol aircraft continue to suffer attrition from enemy CAPs. They're pretty badly degraded now. But not so badly degraded that I wasn't able to confirm that the KB was still there. And also not so degraded that I missed this: https://i.ibb.co/QmLY4NK/1942-Jan-1.jpg Is that really a CVE off to the east? Probably not. (EDIT: The CVE Taiyo is NOT known to be part of the CVLBG, so this could be her) But if it's a scoutplane-carrying cruiser, that's not much better. The only thing to the southeast is my shipping lane to SouthPac. Traffic there is a lot thinner than it was a few days ago, but there is at least one convoy there that I'd really rather not get sunk. China My southern army trying to take lightly-guarded bases ran into an unexpected surprise: level 4 forts at Swatow. So even though I outnumber them significantly, and a lot of those troops are broken from a recent defeat, I'd need more troops to take this--combat engineers in particular. Oh well. Guam Added this as an afterthought. He's been bombing Guam pretty consistently with Nells/Betties and Kates from probably the Soryu. Today it was just Nells. Soryu may be on the move. |
When I was posting yesterday I thought about the Mark 10s and wondered if your S-boats had them or if other fleet boats might be sailing with them or mixed loads.
And good to see your S-boats aren't just running aground all over the place haha. Two sinkings is good, and that's the place I'd be sending them too. I hope one of your boats can pick off a CV. We need more good news from the war front :) |
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I can't control loadouts except for torpedo bombers, so the rest of the fleet is stuck with the Mk14. |
2 January 1942
And you thought he was dangerous in a Buffalo... Dutch East Indies One of the PT squadrons trying to get out of Kendari got trapped between land and an approaching landing force, including a heavy cruiser. This squadron was already down to 3 boats, now it's just one. Kendari withstood the enemy's assault, but with reduced fortifications. I have yet to reacquire the CVLBG. Malaya He sent over 100 bombers to hit my army units on the Johore Road. His army would later attack and turn their withdrawal into rout. They're trying to recover at Malacca now. My first ace, G.L. Hesketh of the New Zealand No. 488 Squadron, had the honor of being the first to fly the Hurricane into combat in the Pacific theatre. The enemy showed up to bomb the airfield and port facilities at Singapore. Hesketh claimed two zeroes and two Sally bombers before his plane was damaged too badly to continue fighting. The only other victory was a Sally brought down by AA. Hesketh is now a double-ace with 11 kills. The raid bounced a few more bombs off the Repulse, which is apparently destined to live in drydock for the rest of the war. Philippines A sweep over Clark cost me a pair each of P-40s and P-35s. My B-17s went to Takao this time to bomb the port and once again were ineffective. CENTPAC A change in tactics for the enemy today--they sent in 2 minesweepers to try to clear a path to Pearl, and then bombarded the base with a battleship at long range. The minesweepers were shot to hell by coastal defense guns. But the battleship hurt, sending shrapnel into about two dozen planes all over Hickam Field and causing significant human casualties. No sign yet of the maybe-Taiyo near my shipping lanes. Burma A sub-battalion sized unit took over Mergui, an empty base on the Thai-Burma border and the top of the Malayan peninsula. |
3 January 1942
Joint Defense of Kendari, and an Ace in a Day CENTPAC The morning started with a PT raid on Lihue. This has to be something like 3 in 5 days, but he was unprepared. My PTs found 9 transports loaded with troops (loading to move somewhere else?) defended by only 4 PBs (militarized cargo ships). The PTs found themselves not outgunned at all, so not only did they get close enough for torpedoes, they stuck around to rake the ships with .50cal gunfire. 4 transports were hit with torpedoes, 2 sank while the PTs were still there. The other two will probably sink as well. Enemy casualties were reported as 2854. One PT was lightly damaged by return fire. For some reason, his Kates flew to Pearl today without fighter cover. My CAP probably can't withstand the KBs full force, but it can handle unescorted torpedo bombers. 20 Kates showed up, none went home. P-40 pilot D. Billings got 5 of them by himself, the campaign's first Ace-in-a-day. https://i.ibb.co/822PzfP/1942-Jan-3-Pilots.jpg The weather was supposed to be bad, so I used the opportunity to get some more ships out of Pearl. This time is was seaplane tenders and tankers. The tenders ran into a sub, but the sub missed. They managed to get far enough away by dawn that an airstrike never came. Dutch East Indies I really tried to exploit the fact that my enemy is trying to fight from inside a minefield at Kendari. PT attacks will continue, but today it was time for subs and light bombers to take a crack at the invaders. The sub O19 entered the landing area and found a destroyer already crippled from hitting a mine. She torpedoed and sank it. Another destroyer detected the O19 and tried to get some revenge, but the sub escaped with minor damage. After sunrise, two Falcon bomber squadrons attacked, one dropping from 5000 feet and the other coming in low for strafing and bombing. Just wanted to see if it made a difference. Both squadrons managed two hits each. Sadly their bombs were only 50kg, basically oversized hand grenades, so damage was minor. But they got to watch an AKL sink from damage sustained from hitting a mine earlier in the day. One Falcon was shot down by AA. Near Surabaya, a minesweeper and a pair of destroyers went after the sub that sank the cargo ship two days ago. We actually found two. The minesweeper tracked one down and caused minor damage with depth charges. The light cruiser Ceres got within 1 hex of Batavia, but her luck ran out. Efforts to control the flooding failed, and she went down. A portion of the Cebu base force that was on a different transport convoy than the one that got sunk last week has made it to Surabaya. Philippines I was wondering when he'd actually start bombing Clark--not the hex, the actual airbase. He hit it today, with about 110 bombers. The airfield is now damaged to 33% and almost nothing is flyable anyway. I did manage to get some B-17s off the ground first, they hit an overstacked enemy airfield at San Fernando, destroying at least two bombers on the ground. But flak downed one B-17 and two more had to be scrapped after the lander. Burma The army that I sent into Thailand and got surrounded has surrendered. SouthPAC I believe I've reacquired the small SAG that was sitting outside of Suva, they've merged with a troop convoy on an atoll north of the Solomons. EDIT: Japan USS Cachalot was bombed by an ASW aircraft and is returning for repairs. |
4 January 1941
New activity in the Santa Cruz Islands, Kido Butai detaches a carrier. CENTPAC He sent another minesweeper into Pearl, along with a few barges and PTs. The minesweeper was shot up by coastal defenses, the barges and PTs hit mines. He also had a battleship and cruiser bombard the base again, but this time it was ineffective. He got close enough for coastal defense to return fire, and the battleship took a hit--but not more than its armor could handle. Probably because that sub spotted the seaplane tenders evacuating yesterday, he sent part of the KB north to intercept, and found the evacuating tankers. My scouts still report "6 CV" near Lahaina, so I'm guessing he only sent one (the reports are never 100% accurate as to number and ship type). He bombed both with kates (just 13, tending to confirm only one carrier detached), sinking one and damaging the other. What sucks is they both had fuel onboard. I didn't offload it because based on my experience from when I tried to load troops to evacuate, I expected that moving them into the docks to unload would have triggered an attack. So now that fuel is helping the fires along. One of my Catalinas is claiming that it bombed a CV as a target of opportunity. I have no way to verify this or determine the amount of damage. I decided to do PT attacks on consecutive days instead of giving them a day to rest and repair, hoping to hit that damaged ARG some more. They were ready this time, 3 destroyers screened Lihue and drove the PTs off before they could approach. A task force to the west of Pearl instead of the east is now reported to include a CVE. I still don't know if the Taiyo is really here. So far there's been no sign of enemy ships near the shipping lanes, including scout plane sightings. Philippines While the PTs in Hawaii failed, those in the Philippines succeeded. While he invades central islands in full view of my scoutplanes, I sent a PT squadron in to ruin their day. I found 6 transports escorted by only one PB. Again, the PTs were able to make a sustained attack instead of a hit-and-run. Two transports were on the bottom before the PTs left, two more crippled and likely to sink. Another was set on fire by .50cal hits. These ships had already offloaded their troops, though. The IJA made a proper attack on Clark. We fought back well and gave far worse casualties than we took--5246 to 681, but lost a fortification level. It would probably be a pretty even fight, with favorable terrain balancing out their superior numbers. But factor in air support, and that we're running low on supplies while they can ship in more anytime... it's looking bad. Dutch East Indies More PTs arrived to harass the landing forces at Kendari, but they arrived in broad daylight and met the task force outside of the base rather than onshore. The task force, which included a cruiser and a destroyer, was able to disengage. Bad weather is obscuring the location of the task forces from scout planes. Malaya I had two AKLs trying to get badly needed supplies to Malacca. They were detected and sunk by Nells. Other airstrikes targeted my retreating ground forces in Malacca. Enemy bombers caused significant damage to the severely disrupted units. But bad weather caused their escorts to do a **** job of protecting their bombers. Five Nells and a Val were shot down, they managed one Buffalo. Vals? What are they doing here? I'm not sure. There were only 3, my guess it it's a small unit from Taiwan. I sent bombers to Malacca as well. Oscars on CAP managed to slip past my Hurricanes and shot down a Wirraway. But my bombers hit the enemy tanks chasing my troops and did pretty OK damage. China I've been bombing Ichang pretty much daily, and he's been letting me. Apparently he got tired of that. Nates and Tojos were on CAP there today, shooting down one medium bomber and turning the rest around. Those Tojos have been getting the better of the AVG so far, so I have to take them seriously. Fortunately, he only has a squadron of them. SouthPAC https://i.ibb.co/VmNfT79/1942-Jan-4-Santa-Cruz.jpg Lots of activity here all of a sudden. A fast transport group (reported as 4 ships, including 1 CL and 2 DD) landed troops on Ndeni in the Santa Cruz islands. That I didn't see them until they arrived highlights a blind spot in my search capacity in the eastern solomons. If he thinks Luganville might have been a bridge too far, Ndeni can help give it air cover. Which reminds me, he's already completed a small airstrip at Guadalcanal. We also spotted a 4-ship task force closing on Efate from the east, and a three ship force approaching Guadalcanal (reportedly with 2 CLs). It's now been long enough since we've last seen the Soryu or the CVLBG that it wouldn't be surprising if they showed up here. But there's no sign of enemy scoutplanes this far south, yet. |
5 January 1942
Missed Opportunities at Santa Cruz and Pearl Harbor Hawaii I launched a major attack against the Kido Butai. It was a somewhat complicated plan, which worked against me. I was trying to capitalize on three mistakes by my opponent: first, the KB has been here too long, been flying too many missions, and is low on aircraft, fighters in particular. Second, he just detached one of his carriers to chase after escaping tankers. And third, he's keeping his fleet in a base hex, which reduces the amount of aircraft it can put on CAP. I expected to have an equal number of fighters on the board as him. The strike package had three components: A sweep by 26 P-40Bs, an attack on Lahaina's port and airfield by 11 B-17s and 8 LB-30 Liberators, and an attack against the Kido Butai by 35 SBDs.The heavies would be unescorted so that the SBDs would have maximum protection by 10 Wildcats, 2 P-36s, 15 P-39s and 9 P-40Es. I made sure my not-so-great pilots rode the bench for this one. Murphy showed up right away... the heavies went first, and the escort fighters went with them. The zeroes had them outnumbered and pounced. A rather one-sided battle saw my fighters take heavy losses. The bombers got through, but didn't do a whole lot of damage. My sweep arrived next, and they in turn jumped the Zeroes which had come down below 15,000ft to attack the strike package. We kicked their asses. The enemy CAP over the KB ended up looking like my CAP over Clark. The SBDs got there late and without escort. They only managed to scrape four Zeroes together to attack. They shot a few down, and some chickened out. In the end, 13 SBDs were able to make an attack, targeting the Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and... a heavy cruiser. They got only one hit. On the cruiser. There was no sign of any damage to any of the ships from that Catalina's report a few days ago. Also, there was no sign of the Shokaku or Zuikaku. So he either detached both to chase the tankers, or one or both is getting replacement aircraft in Japan. Total losses in this battle: 19 Zeroes 4 F4F, 5 P-39, 1 P-36, 5 P-40, 2 B-17, 6 SBD Also occurring at Pearl, he's sending more barges and a bunch of midget subs into the base hex. They're all hitting mines---which is probably the point. Apparently these are sweeping mines more cheaply than minesweepers that get sunk by my coastal guns. SouthPAC The task force approaching Efate was a priority target, and I got there just in time. It was two troop transport ships escorted by a light cruiser. I brought 4 heavy cruisers and 3 light cruisers to the party. You'd think I slaughtered them with those numbers, but no. All fire was concentrated on the CL while the transports got away. And that CL fought hard, firing multiple torpedo salvoes as shell hits slowly wrecked her. One torpedo from the last salvo hit the HMAS Canberra, causing serious damage. This is a serious missed opportunity--he knows I have troops on Efate so he wasn't going to bring a small unit. And those were proper troop ships, not cargo ships being used to transport troops. I can't even say with any confidence that the CL is fatally damaged. My scouts failed to find this task force after it disengaged. East China Sea USS Saury found and torpedoed a cargo ship, probably sinking it (I had just adjusted its patrol area this turn, too. Glad it didn't take long!) China Looking for some payback against the Tojo squadron, I stopped bombing Ichang for a day and just sent the AVG there. The Tojos didn't show, but 17 Nates did. Nates have no business in a fight against P-40s. 12 of them didn't make it back. The army I'd used to defeat enemy forces in the open near Singyang easily defeated a force that was guarding the supply road to Ichang. Ichang is now cut off from supplies. Probably still has redonkulous forts though. Near the coast, an enemy force moved into Chusien. I don't know his strength yet, but I am not weak here, so this is a possible opportunity to counterattack. Philippines Another day of Clark AF being absolutely pummelled by over 100 bomber sorties. The airfield is now damaged over 60%. There's essentially nothing airworthy there anymore. But, I did manage to get a few fighters up with very experienced pilots. We got two Zeroes... but that's meaningless right now. The Soryu showed up in the Celebes sea, narrowly avoiding a sub guarding the eastern chokepoint. If found a small task force of mine that was going to try to evac the base forces on Jolo island. They sank a small escort, one transport and badly damaged the other transport. Mission aborted! Malaya Another 100+ sorties targeted my forces trying to regroup in Malacca. They're taking a beating. I also sent my own bombers, which ran into Oscars on CAP. I lost 5 Hudsons and a Blenhiem. Time to stand those guys down again. Raids also targeted Singapore. We lost three Hurricanes but took down 5 Zeroes, 8 medium bombers, and 4 light bombers. They damaged the Repulse again, along with the transport Mount Vernon. Burma I'm embarrassed to say I didn't notice that the unit that took an empty southern base a few days ago moved north to Tavoy, which wasn't empty. They easily defeated my meager defenders (that I should have evacuated). At least those soldiers are now close enough for my bombers to hit them while having a fighter escort. It's close to Saigon, I'm expecting fighters to be defending them. ------- Today marked the greatest one-day loss for Japanese aircraft with 80 planes lost. https://i.ibb.co/QkgC8NF/1942-Jan-5-Air-Losses.jpg |
6 January 1942
The return of the Silent Service Hawaii Operation "any ship can be a minesweeper once" continued. Looks like four barges and a midget sub were sacrificed. Dutch East Indies A Dutch sub finished off a damaged Aden-class cargo passing through the Mollucas. This should be one of the damaged ships from Ternate. Japan USS Porpoise torpedoed a Gozan class cargo off Kobe. It tried to finish it off with guns, but broke off to save ammo. It's only a 2000-tonner, 1 torp should be enough. Philippines The Soryu didn't press any further into the Celebes Sea. The only undamaged escort from the Jolo evac sprinted through the Makassar Strait and is safely off Surabaya now. At Clark, he shifted from bombing the airbase to ground forces again. Between the forts and the terrain, it's not very effective. Malaya He's really got it in for that army that tried to push him off the Johore road. More bombing sorties in Malacca. He hit Singapore too, with Nells going after a pair of AKLs making a brief stop under fighter cover. Defending Hurricanes snuck past enemy escort fighters and bagged two Nells. He missed the AKLs. China The unit entering Chusien is the 15th Division. I have more than a division there, so I'll be the one attacking tomorrow. West Coast For the first time, we have a sub contact off Seattle. I don't have too much surface traffic here (just a mine tender headed to the Aleutians), but plenty of ASW assets. We'll give him a warm welcome. https://i.ibb.co/RPrxNfY/1942-Jan-6-Map.jpg |
7 January 1941
Hickam Airbase bombarded, Soryu CVBG advances towards Makassar Strait Hawaii Operation "any ship can be a minesweeper once" continues, with at least 3 midgets and 2 barges offered as a sacrifice to Neptune. Destroyers also entered the area to assist with mine clearance, although probably not intending to clear them by hitting them. But one did hit one. Three battleships then bombarded Hickam AFB hard, destroying at least 4 aircraft on the ground and damaging 19 more. I'm not going to be able to put another strike together if this keeps happening. He got close enough for coastal defense to shoot back, we got 4 hits on BB Yamashiro, but it wasn't anything the heavily armored ship couldn't handle. An attempted PT raid on Lahaina got caught between covering forces at Lahaina and the battleships attacking Pearl. No losses on either side. SigInt reports elements of the 4th and 55th Divisions are boarding ships at Lahaina. I forgot to mention yesterday, patrol aircraft bombed Palmyra. Probably as a form of recon. So that's a possible destination. But there are others that make more sense... Philippines Air strikes continued to target ground forces instead of the air base. For good reason, my CAP this turn was 1 P-40, which was damaged and returned to base. My only flyable aircraft there are now recon. The enemy army made a deliberate attack on Clark and reduced the forts to level one, at a cost of about 4600 men. I'm not sure they have enough right now--but if the two divisions from Hawaii head over, they'll pull it off. Dutch East Indies https://i.ibb.co/Bw5Jtzr/1942-Jan-7-Map.jpg The Soryu battle group, after pausing for a day, has moved into the Celebes Sea. At the same time, a small 3-ship task force was observed moving north from the Celebes into the Sulu Sea, the carrier may be providing cover for continued landings in the central/southern Philippines. Or this could be a move against eastern Borneo, although I haven't spotted any larger troop convoys approaching from the east (EDIT: But there are cargo ships in Brunei right now. They might be picking up troops there to move here from the north.) The Soryu's Zeros strafed the PTs (that hit an ARG in the Philippines a few days ago)heading south to rearm, causing light damage to one of them. The pilots probably aren't trained for this. The humiliation of the CVLBG sitting off the coast of the biggest bases in the DEI with impunity is still fresh in our minds. Since then, we've upgraded a few fighter squadrons from Buffalo to Demons or Hawks. We've also been training our bomber crews for naval attacks, although they still only have medium and light level bombers to do it with. We've also got enough surface assets to put up a decent fight--but also fresh in our minds is our defeat in the Battle of the Celebes Sea a week into the war, so I'm going to be very careful about identifying what's out there before I commit to a surface battle. ASW operations off Surabaya continue to suck. There are at least two subs there, our planes keep spotting them, but they're always gone by the time our destroyers or minesweepers get there. Malaya Air raids targeted Singapore and Malacca. The Singapore Zeroes on escort did well, taking out 2 Hurricanes and 2 Buffalos while only losing 1. But they let a bunch of Hurricanes through, costing them 5 Sonia light bombers. 2 more Sonias were claimed by AA. In Malacca, enemy fighter coverage was spotty. Hurricanes shot down a Nate and 5 Sallies with no losses. Two light cargo ships arrived in Malacca to deliver badly needed supplies to the armies trying to hold on there. A tank regiment has advanced from Georgetown all the way south to Kuala Lumpur, where I wanted to try to hold off the southern advance originally before we got outflanked by the Mersing landing. The tanks attacked, causing significant damage to personnel and fortifications. The defenders are mostly in Malacca now, so that's not going to hold. EDIT: I forgot to mention when I posted this, we have another Ace-in-a-Day here, FLT J.R. Huchinson of the No 488 Squadron--he got six kills today. China I was wrong about Chusien. We outnumber them significantly, but they have better leaders and the terrain is hampering offense and boosting defense. They've also got trailing units that look like they are going to guard a road that I otherwise might have cut off to block enemy supplies from reaching Chusien. This looks like the beginning of a prolonged battle. SouthPAC Ndeni is officially theirs now, and we spotted two ships approaching it from the east. Probably engineers. I could, in theory, interdict this, but I decided to be cautious. There's a huge blind spot just to the north/northeast of there, for all I know the CVLBG or Shokaku CVBG are in it, waiting for me. Resupply operations are proceeding in Fiji and Pago now that the surface threat has passed. No sign of that sub either. |
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