War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

Molon Labe · 07-21-21, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Threadfin

Too bad about the Philippines, but that was always a long shot to hold, wasn't it? You've nearly lasted as long as they did in real life.

Otherwise, some encouraging results from your aircraft and submarines. This should only begin to snowball in to 1943 and then watch out.

Keep it up mate.

I'd like to hold out as long as we did in real life, but I think having my Manila garrison retreat south instead of to Clark/Bataan really hurt my chances of that.

Molon Labe · 07-22-21, 11:42 AM

5 February 1942

Hawaii
Only 2 BB bombarding Pearl today.

China
We had an air battle near Ichang for the right of my bombers to bomb their troops again. They got through. We shot down a Tojo and 3 Oscars at the cost of 2 P-40s. These guys are good pilots.

My army that was attacked overriver in the north yesterday counterattacked, routing the enemy army and causing over 900 casualties with little losses to themselves.

Timor
Unescorted Betties from Kendari tried to hit Koepang but ran into P-40s they probably weren't expecting. 7 of 15 Betties shot down, the got through but did minimal damage. Our bombers from Koepang attempted an airfield attack at Kendari in turn and embarrassed the Claude fighters defending it. None were shot down most planes from both sides were damaged. We failed to cause any damage to the airbase.

Malaya
Massive air raid on Singapore. Our fighters were overwhelmed but managed to pick their spots throughout the day, resulting in 7 Sallies shot down. Once again, their bombers were too high to cause serious damage.

We tried to bomb Johore Bahru again, but with Oscars on CAP in addition to the Nates, the juice isn't worth the squeeze anymore--my fighters are better used protecting Singapore than escorting these raids. The bombers got through and blew up one Nate on the ground.

Coral Sea
Zero-escorted Betties targeted my ships covering landing at Milne. We had some P-40s protecting them, the fight resulted in the loss of 2 P-40s, 2 Zeroes, and 1 Betty. Fortunately, the Betties were only carrying bombs--they missed the cruiser they targeted.

The Louisville got within 1 hex from the port at Townsville when it was attacked by yet another submarine. It took one torpedo hit, but as badly damaged as it already was, that was more than enough.

-------------------
6 February 1942
Enemy CVBG in the Java Sea, Indomitable gets lucky

Hawaii
4 BB bombarding Pearl today. I expect Hickam will be out of operation soon again at this pace.

Philippines
My phased retreat from Clark is now a general retreat.
S-36 torpedoed and sank an Aden-class AK in the South China Sea.

Timor
Rather surprisingly, the Betties came back to Koepang. They had the sense to turn around this time when the P-40s met them, so we only shot down 2.

Java Sea
An enemy CVBG--probaby the Soryu--entered the Java sea on the west side and launched two strikes against the Indomitable CVBG at harbor in Surabaya. The first raid was 13 Zeroes escorting 12 Mabel and 30 Kate torpedo bombers. The battle group was defended by land-based fighters in addition to its own air wing, 24 in total. The Zeroes are flown by elite pilots though, and it showed. We shot down 3 Zeroes, but couldn't get any bombers. A Sea Hurricane and a Fulmar were lost. Fortunately, these bombers weren't carrying torpedoes and mostly attacked from high altitude--nothing hit. Flak claimed 2 TBs.

The second raid was 25 TBs escorted by 5 Zeroes, and did much better. They shot down another Fulmar, and once again, our fighters couldn't get to the bombers. But this time, the bombers were more accurate:

CV Indomitable, Bomb hits 2
CL Dragon, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Exeter, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Java, Bomb hits 1
Fortunately, the Indomitable has a heavily armored deck which the relatively small bombs failed to penetrate, so she is fine.

The enemy attacked from outside my task force's strike range so there were no retaliatory strikes. This might be why the TBs weren't carrying torpedoes. I consider myself lucky that they fixated on the well-defended Indomitable instead of the transports landing two regiments of troops in Sumatra right now. I have significant surface forces that should be able to defeat this task force, but I'm not convinced it's a good idea because the Java Sea is now in Betty range from Miri, which by now has an AirHQ to provide torpedoes. Also, my local repair capacity sucks. So for now, I'll allow my surface forces to attack if they approach Surabaya, but I won't go hunting for them. I've transfered the Hermes' TBs back to Indomitable and moved some planes around, hopefully we'll get a decent strike tomorrow.

Malaya
The enemy continues with massive raids against Singapore, too many bombers for their small number of fighters to protect. We shot down an Oscar, two Nates, 7 Sallies, and 2 light bombers. Our only loss was one Blenhiem bomber destroyed on the ground.

Ostfriese · 07-23-21, 12:53 AM

How long does a typical WiTP game usually take (single player, not PBEM)?

Molon Labe · 07-23-21, 07:46 AM

A few months to play the full campaign.

Ostfriese · 07-23-21, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

A few months to play the full campaign.

Thanks. I'll have to restrict myself to reading your reports then, as much as I'd like to give the game a try.

Molon Labe · 07-25-21, 10:53 AM

7 February 1942
Soryu defeats Indomitable

Hawaii
4 BB bombarded Pearl today.

Malaya
Absolute carnage in the skies over Singapore. Our fighters were in about equal numbers, but half his numbers are obsolete Nates. For the cost of 1 Hurricane we downed three Oscars, 9 Sallies, and 9 light bombers.

Java Sea/Makassar Strait
Dutch bombers attemped a strike on the BB Kongo at Tarakan. The enemy CVBG was in range but the Kongo was within range of escorting fighters, not just the bombers, so this was probably a good call. But, we missed. Enemy Betties tried to hit Balikpapan back but were routed by defending US fighters, with one Betty shot down.

Both CVBGs faced off with competing airstrikes. He sent 22 TBs, 3 Vals and 21 Zeroes against me. I had 21 fighters on CAP. Losses were severe: a P-40, 1 Demon, 3 Fulmars for us, and 4 Zeroes, 9 Kates, 9 Mabels and a Val for him. But that left plenty getting through. Indomitable was hit by another bomb that failed to penetrate its armor, and three torpedoes. The torpedo damage was surprisingly light--this is a really tough ship--but she's listing bad enough to prevent flight operations.

As for my strike, I really screwed this up. After having so many strikes go unescorted, my biggest concern was making sure my fighters and bombers could coordinate, and I though the best way to do that was to let the carrier-based fighters handle escort duty while land-based fighters guarded the ship. But I forgot that the Hurricane has terrible range. So my strike proceeded with only Fulmar fighter-bombers able to defend the Albacore biplanes. Five of seven Fulmars went down. All sixteen Albacores were splashed without shooting a single torpedo at Soryu.

Indomitable has been ordered to retire, I'll try to make it to Sri Lanka for repairs.

Coral Sea
He put a long-range CAP over Port Moresby that we tried to break through to bomb his troops, our P40s shot down a Zero but failed to prevent them from reaching the Banshees--4 were shot down. This is an unaccapable loss due to having so few of them so going forward Banshees will only be used on enemy ships here, bombing the troops will be for the far more replaceable Hudson level bombers. Below, our armies fought, casualties were 344 the to 373 us.

Timor
Boela has been captured.

8 February 1942
Indomitable slinks away from combat area, Soryu does not pursue

Japan
USS Tautog torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship off Okinawa. Been awhile since our subs got any merchant traffic so I'm glad to see this.

Hawaii
4 BB bombarding today, plus fighter sweeps (2 P-40s, 1 Zero lost)

Coral Sea
We found 2 enemy subs lurking off the Horn Island choke point and damaged one of them with depth charges. We are still struggling with ASW proficiency. Off Townsville, despite probably 4 patrol ships on ASW duty, light bombers patrolling overhead, and the convoy itself having destroyers escorting, a tanker from Java was torpedoed by an enemy sub. The fuel-laden tanker made it to port still on fire, so the support crews will help battle the massive blaze. We'll probably know if this ship survived by tomorrow.

Malaya
In a humiliating defeat for the IJAAF, 17 Oscars challenged 15 Hurricanes to battle over Singapore. 10 Oscars didn't make it back, compared to just 1 of ours. A huge formation of Nates would try again later; our Hurricanes just swooped in, shot 3 down, and ran for it.

China
The AVGs fight with Oscars near Ichang was far more balanced: 1 P-40 for 1 Oscar lost today. Our armies have finally made it across the river into swamplands adacent to the enemy army (I didn't cross right into them because my troops would become disorganized). So now we march on the enemy encampment itself, which will take several days.

Dutch East Indies
The Soryu CVBG has apparently retired as our scouts did not find it today and it launched no strikes. The Indomitable CVBG safely transited the southern island chain and is now south of Java heading west. I've detected an enemy ARG on the northwest side of Borneo which could be bound for Malaya, Sumatra, or Java. I've ordered my local surface forces to move towards Sumatra to attempt to intercept.

There is also a surge in enemy ASW activity in the Java Sea area choke points. Soryu might need to leave to replace its losses, but something else is coming.

---

Enemy bomber losses over Singapore are driving a trend of an Allied advantage in air losses:

Molon Labe · 07-26-21, 11:38 AM

9 February 1942
A change in bombing tactics in Malaya increases damage being done

Hawaii
4 BB bombarding again. A Zero sweep resulted in the loss of 2 Zeroes and a P-40. I'm just happy he had to move Zeroes back here.

Borneo
Submarine O20 laid mines at Miri and then decided to go after some cargo ships leaving port. That turned out to be a bad idea, and the submarine suffered a depth charge attack in shallow water. Fortunately it got away with only minor damage.

The Soryu launched a strike from Tarakan against my ASW patrol outside Balikpapan, 12 Zeroes escorting 4 Mabels, intercepted by 8 P-39s and 6 P-40s. We shot down one Zero and 3 of the Mabels, the one that got through missed. The Zeroes took down 1 P-39.

Philippines
USS Perch torpedoed and sank a cargo ship in a night surface attack in the Luzon strait. A bit to the east in the South China Sea, USS Pickerel torpedoed a cargo ship as well, finishing it off with the deck gun.

Malaya
He dropped the bombing altitude for his strikes on Singapore to deadly effect. The air battle itself was the carnage we've come to expect--1 Hurricane down with 2 Nates, 2 Sallies, and 3 light bombers shot down. The reduced altitude resulted in 4 more bombers shot down and many more shot up, but facility damage was significant and we had a bomber and a fighter blown up on the ground.

Burma
The 3rd RTA is retreating now that it sees my armies advancing on it after probably a week of being bombed daily.

China
The enemy army in the Ichang swamplands has already left for Hankow, so my armies have nothing to engage there. That's fine, all I wanted was to get them off my flank. Next stop: Nanchang. The AVG shot down one Oscar while supporting this aborted operation.

07-22-21, 11:42 AM	#2
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	5 February 1942 Hawaii Only 2 BB bombarding Pearl today. China We had an air battle near Ichang for the right of my bombers to bomb their troops again. They got through. We shot down a Tojo and 3 Oscars at the cost of 2 P-40s. These guys are good pilots. My army that was attacked overriver in the north yesterday counterattacked, routing the enemy army and causing over 900 casualties with little losses to themselves. Timor Unescorted Betties from Kendari tried to hit Koepang but ran into P-40s they probably weren't expecting. 7 of 15 Betties shot down, the got through but did minimal damage. Our bombers from Koepang attempted an airfield attack at Kendari in turn and embarrassed the Claude fighters defending it. None were shot down most planes from both sides were damaged. We failed to cause any damage to the airbase. Malaya Massive air raid on Singapore. Our fighters were overwhelmed but managed to pick their spots throughout the day, resulting in 7 Sallies shot down. Once again, their bombers were too high to cause serious damage. We tried to bomb Johore Bahru again, but with Oscars on CAP in addition to the Nates, the juice isn't worth the squeeze anymore--my fighters are better used protecting Singapore than escorting these raids. The bombers got through and blew up one Nate on the ground. Coral Sea Zero-escorted Betties targeted my ships covering landing at Milne. We had some P-40s protecting them, the fight resulted in the loss of 2 P-40s, 2 Zeroes, and 1 Betty. Fortunately, the Betties were only carrying bombs--they missed the cruiser they targeted. The Louisville got within 1 hex from the port at Townsville when it was attacked by yet another submarine. It took one torpedo hit, but as badly damaged as it already was, that was more than enough. ------------------- 6 February 1942 Enemy CVBG in the Java Sea, Indomitable gets lucky Hawaii 4 BB bombarding Pearl today. I expect Hickam will be out of operation soon again at this pace. Philippines My phased retreat from Clark is now a general retreat. S-36 torpedoed and sank an Aden-class AK in the South China Sea. Timor Rather surprisingly, the Betties came back to Koepang. They had the sense to turn around this time when the P-40s met them, so we only shot down 2. Java Sea An enemy CVBG--probaby the Soryu--entered the Java sea on the west side and launched two strikes against the Indomitable CVBG at harbor in Surabaya. The first raid was 13 Zeroes escorting 12 Mabel and 30 Kate torpedo bombers. The battle group was defended by land-based fighters in addition to its own air wing, 24 in total. The Zeroes are flown by elite pilots though, and it showed. We shot down 3 Zeroes, but couldn't get any bombers. A Sea Hurricane and a Fulmar were lost. Fortunately, these bombers weren't carrying torpedoes and mostly attacked from high altitude--nothing hit. Flak claimed 2 TBs. The second raid was 25 TBs escorted by 5 Zeroes, and did much better. They shot down another Fulmar, and once again, our fighters couldn't get to the bombers. But this time, the bombers were more accurate: CV Indomitable, Bomb hits 2 CL Dragon, Bomb hits 1, on fire CA Exeter, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage CL Java, Bomb hits 1 Fortunately, the Indomitable has a heavily armored deck which the relatively small bombs failed to penetrate, so she is fine. The enemy attacked from outside my task force's strike range so there were no retaliatory strikes. This might be why the TBs weren't carrying torpedoes. I consider myself lucky that they fixated on the well-defended Indomitable instead of the transports landing two regiments of troops in Sumatra right now. I have significant surface forces that should be able to defeat this task force, but I'm not convinced it's a good idea because the Java Sea is now in Betty range from Miri, which by now has an AirHQ to provide torpedoes. Also, my local repair capacity sucks. So for now, I'll allow my surface forces to attack if they approach Surabaya, but I won't go hunting for them. I've transfered the Hermes' TBs back to Indomitable and moved some planes around, hopefully we'll get a decent strike tomorrow. Malaya The enemy continues with massive raids against Singapore, too many bombers for their small number of fighters to protect. We shot down an Oscar, two Nates, 7 Sallies, and 2 light bombers. Our only loss was one Blenhiem bomber destroyed on the ground. __________________

07-23-21, 07:46 AM	#4
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	A few months to play the full campaign. __________________

07-25-21, 10:53 AM	#6
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	7 February 1942 Soryu defeats Indomitable Hawaii 4 BB bombarded Pearl today. Malaya Absolute carnage in the skies over Singapore. Our fighters were in about equal numbers, but half his numbers are obsolete Nates. For the cost of 1 Hurricane we downed three Oscars, 9 Sallies, and 9 light bombers. Java Sea/Makassar Strait Dutch bombers attemped a strike on the BB Kongo at Tarakan. The enemy CVBG was in range but the Kongo was within range of escorting fighters, not just the bombers, so this was probably a good call. But, we missed. Enemy Betties tried to hit Balikpapan back but were routed by defending US fighters, with one Betty shot down. Both CVBGs faced off with competing airstrikes. He sent 22 TBs, 3 Vals and 21 Zeroes against me. I had 21 fighters on CAP. Losses were severe: a P-40, 1 Demon, 3 Fulmars for us, and 4 Zeroes, 9 Kates, 9 Mabels and a Val for him. But that left plenty getting through. Indomitable was hit by another bomb that failed to penetrate its armor, and three torpedoes. The torpedo damage was surprisingly light--this is a really tough ship--but she's listing bad enough to prevent flight operations. As for my strike, I really screwed this up. After having so many strikes go unescorted, my biggest concern was making sure my fighters and bombers could coordinate, and I though the best way to do that was to let the carrier-based fighters handle escort duty while land-based fighters guarded the ship. But I forgot that the Hurricane has terrible range. So my strike proceeded with only Fulmar fighter-bombers able to defend the Albacore biplanes. Five of seven Fulmars went down. All sixteen Albacores were splashed without shooting a single torpedo at Soryu. Indomitable has been ordered to retire, I'll try to make it to Sri Lanka for repairs. Coral Sea He put a long-range CAP over Port Moresby that we tried to break through to bomb his troops, our P40s shot down a Zero but failed to prevent them from reaching the Banshees--4 were shot down. This is an unaccapable loss due to having so few of them so going forward Banshees will only be used on enemy ships here, bombing the troops will be for the far more replaceable Hudson level bombers. Below, our armies fought, casualties were 344 the to 373 us. Timor Boela has been captured. 8 February 1942 Indomitable slinks away from combat area, Soryu does not pursue Japan USS Tautog torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship off Okinawa. Been awhile since our subs got any merchant traffic so I'm glad to see this. Hawaii 4 BB bombarding today, plus fighter sweeps (2 P-40s, 1 Zero lost) Coral Sea We found 2 enemy subs lurking off the Horn Island choke point and damaged one of them with depth charges. We are still struggling with ASW proficiency. Off Townsville, despite probably 4 patrol ships on ASW duty, light bombers patrolling overhead, and the convoy itself having destroyers escorting, a tanker from Java was torpedoed by an enemy sub. The fuel-laden tanker made it to port still on fire, so the support crews will help battle the massive blaze. We'll probably know if this ship survived by tomorrow. Malaya In a humiliating defeat for the IJAAF, 17 Oscars challenged 15 Hurricanes to battle over Singapore. 10 Oscars didn't make it back, compared to just 1 of ours. A huge formation of Nates would try again later; our Hurricanes just swooped in, shot 3 down, and ran for it. China The AVGs fight with Oscars near Ichang was far more balanced: 1 P-40 for 1 Oscar lost today. Our armies have finally made it across the river into swamplands adacent to the enemy army (I didn't cross right into them because my troops would become disorganized). So now we march on the enemy encampment itself, which will take several days. Dutch East Indies The Soryu CVBG has apparently retired as our scouts did not find it today and it launched no strikes. The Indomitable CVBG safely transited the southern island chain and is now south of Java heading west. I've detected an enemy ARG on the northwest side of Borneo which could be bound for Malaya, Sumatra, or Java. I've ordered my local surface forces to move towards Sumatra to attempt to intercept. There is also a surge in enemy ASW activity in the Java Sea area choke points. Soryu might need to leave to replace its losses, but something else is coming. --- Enemy bomber losses over Singapore are driving a trend of an Allied advantage in air losses: __________________

07-26-21, 11:38 AM	#7
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	9 February 1942 A change in bombing tactics in Malaya increases damage being done Hawaii 4 BB bombarding again. A Zero sweep resulted in the loss of 2 Zeroes and a P-40. I'm just happy he had to move Zeroes back here. Borneo Submarine O20 laid mines at Miri and then decided to go after some cargo ships leaving port. That turned out to be a bad idea, and the submarine suffered a depth charge attack in shallow water. Fortunately it got away with only minor damage. The Soryu launched a strike from Tarakan against my ASW patrol outside Balikpapan, 12 Zeroes escorting 4 Mabels, intercepted by 8 P-39s and 6 P-40s. We shot down one Zero and 3 of the Mabels, the one that got through missed. The Zeroes took down 1 P-39. Philippines USS Perch torpedoed and sank a cargo ship in a night surface attack in the Luzon strait. A bit to the east in the South China Sea, USS Pickerel torpedoed a cargo ship as well, finishing it off with the deck gun. Malaya He dropped the bombing altitude for his strikes on Singapore to deadly effect. The air battle itself was the carnage we've come to expect--1 Hurricane down with 2 Nates, 2 Sallies, and 3 light bombers shot down. The reduced altitude resulted in 4 more bombers shot down and many more shot up, but facility damage was significant and we had a bomber and a fighter blown up on the ground. Burma The 3rd RTA is retreating now that it sees my armies advancing on it after probably a week of being bombed daily. China The enemy army in the Ichang swamplands has already left for Hankow, so my armies have nothing to engage there. That's fine, all I wanted was to get them off my flank. Next stop: Nanchang. The AVG shot down one Oscar while supporting this aborted operation. __________________

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07-23-21, 12:53 AM	#3
Ostfriese Sea Lord Join Date: May 2004 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 1,902 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	How long does a typical WiTP game usually take (single player, not PBEM)?