War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

25 January 1942
Cautious optimism for Port Moresby, concern about greater logistic picture in SouthPAC

CENTPAC
Yes, that new task force was an ARG for Palmyra. Palmyra is now theirs. Christmas Island will be taken far more easily with the KB around to make sure I don't intercept their transports.

He sent 4 short-range minesweepers into Pearl, and all 4 were shot up, but not before clearing about 90 mines. The minefield has been whittled down to the point it might not be effective when the time comes. Apparently concerned about Honolulu's industry being able to sustain supplies for my troops, he has begun bombing the city.


China
The AVG finally managed to shoot down a pair of elusive Tojos over Ichang. They only had 2 on CAP there, so that probably means that the squadron is combat ineffective now. I think these are our only confirmed kills, but we've been damaging a bunch of them, this was probably all that was left that was airworthy. I think my extra troops should arrive in Ichang tomorrow, triggering a shock attack as they cross the river. I'm expecting relatively light resistance as it really does appear they've evacuated a lot.


Malaya
Their attention is starting to turn back to Singapore. The slight lull allowed me to repair some planes and get a decent CAP up for a decently-sized air battle as we both tried to bomb each other. We lost 2 Hurricanes, a Buffalo, and 2 Wirraways; we shot down 2 Zeroes, 2 Nells, and 3 Sallies. One of our aces went down with a Hurricane. I'm starting to transfer some of the better pilots out--this losing campaign has enough dead heroes.


Burma
Nothing actually happened here, but I realized two mistakes I made affecting my plans. First, when planning Operation Kinky Boots, I forgot to take drop tanks into account when deciding whether to fly Hurricanes in or ship them in. So, instead of shipping them to Rangoon, I'm going to ship them to western India, send them by rail to eastern India, and then fly them the rest of the way. I'm sure that will be quicker, but I don't know by how much. I also completely forgot about some base forces I had sent by rail to Calcutta, which means a base force I was sending here from Aden isn't needed--so it gets to go to Sumatra instead, which desperately needs it.


Dutch East Indies
My bombing of Celebes is now focusing on enemy armies chasing my retreating garrison forces. The task force off the Borneo coast didn't attack, it's just sitting there. I'm not sure what it's waiting for. My best guess is that it's a covering force that just got there way ahead of the transports. There is another task force near Jolo that we haven't identified, so that may be related. Force Y was detected moving to Balikpapan so I'm not going to get to surprise anyone with it. I'm not inclined to challenge the covering force because I don't see any strategic benefit to it at the moment. This feels like a calm before a storm--there still aren't a whole lot of enemy ships here, possibly because he's preparing a surge.


Coral Sea
The Japanese army attempted another shock attack at Port Moresby, but again our troops held, and it wasn't nearly as close this time. Looks like the enemy finally peaked, which is really good news for us. The first reinforcements are arriving and didn't even hit any mines. I should be able to back that up with a USMC regiment in another 2 days or so. The problem I'm facing now, though, is I've been putting off refueling my CVBG to keep them bombing the enemy. It outpaced a replenishment group that had been following it here, and the Aussies only have one AO available locally and it's slow. The next best solution is to transfer fuel from merchant ships, but that's asking for trouble with at least 2 enemy subs lurking. I'm not sure heading to port is any better, I might have a ship run out of gas on the way and the ports appear to be where the subs were headed.


SouthPAC
I've managed to run Sydney out of fuel by transferring so much to my island base chain, and even those bases are barely managing to feed my thirsty convoys. With Palmyra and probably Christmas Island falling into enemy hands, my supply route keeps getting longer and more fuel-consuming. I'm getting very concerned that these long supply routes might not be sustainable. I'm going to try to route some middle-eastern fuel to western australia, but it's going to be awhile before that makes a difference. And if Singapore falls, I would expect it to become an enemy submarine base, with convoys to Australia being target #1.

[Molon Labe]

26 January 1942
Last resistance north of Singapore wiped out

Malaya
He tried to send 4 midget subs into Singapore harbor. There isn't much there to kill... all 4 hit mines.

As the tag above says, my last army unit north of Singapore surrendered today. Singers will soon be facing the full brunt of his armies. With little left elsewhere to bomb, his aerial focus is also on Singapore. The air battle claimed 2 Hurricanes (taking with them a double-ace) and 4 Zeroes, 2 Nells, and 4 Sallies.


Coral Sea
I finally managed to attack one of the subs prowling this area and scored a little bit of depth charge damage. I bombarded enemy troops at PM with 4 cruisers while the transports for the first wave of reinforcements completed offloading and headed back to Townsville. The enemy army did not attack today as they licked their wounds. I feel comfortable enough that we're going to hold PM for at least one more day, so I moved fighters back in. This way he can't turn the tide with a bombing campaign, they'll also provide protection to the next wave of reinforcements. My CVBG is retiring to refuel.


China
All that's left in Ichang is a tank regiment. We attack tomorrow. He moved some Oscars in to help the few Tojos that are left on CAP; they managed to shot down one Hawk fighter escorting my bomber raids.


Thailand
Some very timely SIGINT came in confirming the presence of 1/3rd divisions at 2 bases. Recon flights observed only token forces at Tavoy airbase and they appeared to be leaving to the east. Recon of Raheng shows a large number of troop encampments but not a lot of artillery--probably engineers to build up the base. If anything, this information makes the area look weaker than expected.


Philippines
He's detached a significant portion of his Clark force to go after my displaced Manila garrisons. Once he eliminates them, he won't have to divide his forces to finish off Clark. As for Clark, I had been trying to smuggle in enough supplies to repair some bombers and fly them off, but it's not going to happen. Once that detachment comes back to Clark, it's going to be time to pull back to the Bataan peninsula for the last stand. If I try to hold out, the supply shortage is going to make several units ineffective and lead to an overrun and massive casualties. At least Bataan still has some supplies left for the troops.


CENTPAC
He's still using the KB to bomb Christmas Island into the stone age, along with the battleships Hiei and Kirishima.


Dutch East Indies
I've lost contact with all Japanese ships except for a task force of two (reported) ships in the center of the Celebes Sea heading northwest. We now have 2 US fighter squadrons in theatre. I've got scoutplanes everywhere, submarines clogging up the chokepoints, ships pre-positioned... they're probably coming soon in force, I hope I'm ready.

[Ostfriese]

Please don't stop writing these reports, i really enjoy them even though I've never played WiTP.

[Molon Labe]

27 January 1942
Ichang liberated from IJA occupiers


CENTPAC
Ordered to Pearl to try to evacuate a headquarters fragment, USS Cuttlefish was depth charged by the escorts of the BBs Yamashiro and Nagato as they moved in to bombard the port. Damage to Cuttlefish was light. The reduction of bombarding battleships from 4 to 2 helped the shore batteries be more effective; Yamashiro was hit 9 times. The armor probably handled most of it, but it looks like it hurt a little. The KB hit Christmas Island again, while I presume the 2 BB there are returning to Lahaina to rearm.


Singapore
The air campaign took a dark turn as he sent Zero escorted medium bombers to bomb the city itself, while Nate escorted light bombers targeted our troops. It looks like attrition is catching up on their fighter forces--that Nates are even being thrown in here is a bad sign for them. But numbers wise, for the first time in a long time, we matched numbers with the Zeroes, sometimes outnumbering them (looks like our peak CAP was 8 Hurricanes, peak Zeroes were 9). But, the bombers are quite numerous. Losses were 3 Hurricanes for 3 Zeroes, 2 Nates, 4 Nells, 6 Sallies, and 1 light bomber.


Celebes Sea
The new task force was an ARG headed to Jolo to relieve the pinned down paratroops there. The two P-36 fighters there switched from attacking the paratroops to strafing an incoming destroyer. They hit it (not seriously), but one was shot down.

The troops landing on Jolo have been identified as the 113rd and 148th Regiments of the 56th Division, plus two marine units. This represents a major concentration of troops in an increasingly dangerous part of the sea for him--the whole area is lousy with submarines, I have a large surface fleet nearby, and I have a lot more airpower here than I did in December. I figure they'll take Jolo tomorrow, then load back up in a day or two for their next target. It looks like it's actually two separate ARGs, plus the covering force has reappeared at Jolo as well.




Dutch East Indies
Claude fighters tried to stop my bombers from attacking ships of Kendari and troops chasing my retreating Makassar garrison, but were only able to damage a few bombers. The naval attack missed, but the land attack was rather successful--our troops turned the tables on their pursuers and wiped them out (a rifle battalion and a fragment of a mortar battalion--we actually outnumbered them pretty badly).


China
At the cost of about 500 men and an AVG P-40, we finally liberated Ichang. The defending tank regiment was completely wiped out. But now we have the enemy army that evacuated on our flank, hiding in the swamplands. I'm probably going to have to deal with them before I send my troops to clear out any other occupied cities.

Coral Sea
Quiet at PM for today. My CVBG has been refueled by the slowpoke aussie oiler and by transports moving through the area.

SOUTHPAC
The fuel situation is getting worse thanks to my 2nd CVBG in this area also needing gas. I have some tankers arriving at various bases soon, but it's going to be tight for awhile.

I was dismayed to see that it's going to take about 40 days to repair the two cruisers that have been torpedoed. Each. And the one that hit a mine won't be any better. Making matters worse, I didn't realize that playing as the Allies, I can't build up the repair yards in Australia. I got too used to playing as Japan, which is allowed to expand facilities. The idea of Sydney being a decent substitute for Pearl now looks pretty ridiculous. Japan is going to have a huge logistical advantage if our ships start duking it out.

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Please don't stop writing these reports, i really enjoy them even though I've never played WiTP.

Thanks, it's good to know people are getting something out of this. Years ago, it was AARs like this that got me interested in WitP. It took me years before I worked up the nerve to commit to it, but the AARs definitely sold me on it.

-------------------
28 January 1942
Stage set for another battle in the Celebes Sea?


CENTPAC
The HQ units I want to evac from Pearl weren't ready yet, so the Cuttlefish is still patrolling the harbor. It can't dock because then it's just going to get bombed by planes. So it got depth charged again, and got away again. BB Yamashiro and Nagato bombarded Pearl/Hickam, again, not doing much apparent damage because everything is already a wreck. So then for the new turn, I tried to finally load Cuttlefish and Pamano only be reminded that these subs can carry cargo in a pinch, but not troops, so I'm not evacuating anyone this way. Sigh.


Celebes Sea: Battle of St. Lucia Bay?
The name St. Lucia doesn't appear in the WitP map, but it's the bay that Tarakan sits on. One ARG from Jolo is headed this way. It's intentions were made clear when Sallies from Brunei bombed our troops at Tarakan, powering through resistance from a Buffalo squadron there. That airfield is too small for them, so they have to be flying with a reduced loadout. USS Sailfish made the contact report on the ARG and attempted a torpedo attack before being driven off by the escorts. The two army regiments he started to land in Jolo have apparently been re-embarked for Tarakan, it's just the marines in Jolo now--and they've taken it.

The HMS Indomitable battle group is transiting the Makassar strait and will be in position to attack, hopefully, in the PM phase tomorrow. They will be supported by fighters from Balikpapan and Tarkakan, if I don't lose it first. Force Y will act as a covering force with orders to intercept any enemy task force that approaches the CVBG. I'd prefer to avoid getting into a direct surface battle with their covering force, at least until I soften them up a bit with airstrikes. Betties/Nells are potentially based in Manila and Kendari--the Manila ones will be too far to bring torpedoes to the party, but Kendari is completely in range. Dutch medium bombers and US B-17s that escaped the Philippines will hit the Kendari airfield to try to mitigate that threat. The CVBG was detected today but not attacked, so that's a good sign. I also have medium bombers in range to hit the ships, but after those bombers pulled the fighter escorts away from dive/torpedo bombers at Pearl and Surabaya, I'm just going to have them sit this the first day out. My airfields are overstacked anyway so this will help keep more planes airworthy, and I'll have them when I need to start bombing troops on the ground.

Enemy Order of battle:
ARG1 (Tarakan): 1 CL, 2 DD, 2 DMS, 1 TB, 1 APD, 2 AK, 1 AP.
ARG2 (Jolo): 1 PB, 1 AMC, 3 AKs (very low confidence in this)
Covering force: 2 CA, 3 CL, and 4 DD
Air: At least 28 Sallies in northern Borneo. Unknown number of naval bombers from Manila/Kendari, possibly Menado. Fighter escorts expected to fly from Menado--even Jolo if he brought aviation support with his invaders.
Reinforcements: The CVLBG and 2 BB could be out there somewhere. He can fly Betties in from almost anywhere.

Allied order of Battle:
Indomitable CVBG: 1 CV (6 Hurricane F, 9 Fulmar FB, 26 Albacore TB), 3 CL, 5 DD
Force Y: 1 CA, 8 CL, 5 DD
13 US and Dutch subs (mostly at the entrances to the Celebes rather than in the immediate battle area), not including US subs on transport missions to Bataan.
Air: 9 Buffalo, 24 P-39 Airacobra, 7 P-40E Warhawk, 12 139WH-3 medium bombers. P-40 reinforcements available.




Malaya
Our moment of fighter parity in Singapore is already over. Our fighters were overwhelmed early and most bombing raids went unopposed. Before that happened we shot down 2 Zeroes and a Nate. Most of their raids targeted the airbase, but apparently my flak is intimidating because he kept his bombers high. 1 Hurricane was blown up on the ground and we took some mild facility damage, but the raid wasn't very effective.


Coral Sea
Bettys from Rabaul made their long-anticipated appearance with a night attack on PM's airbase, putting 2 craters in the runway. Nothing my engineers can't handle.

A pair of TBDs attacked submarines (attacked the same submarine twice?) along the PIM of the Enterprise-Saratoga CVBG in the Torres Strait and reported hits. The subs were variously classified as L4, KD4, and KD6A. All of these classes are small boats that would probably not survive a direct 500lb bomb hit. I may have just telegraphed my intentions with this group, though, and I'm not sure there is much point to sending this group west if surprise has been lost.


China
The few remaining Tojos and some Oscars are flying CAP over the former Ichang occupiers. They managed to get past my escorts and shoot down an SB-III bomber. When we took Ichang, it had no supply stockpiles--those troops bogged down in the swamp are probably running on empty, and the swamp is a terrible place to be when low on supplies.


Philippines
He's not waiting for the detachment to return to Clark. He attacked today at about 1.5 division strength. Casualties were 3600 to 1000 favoring us. Still, if he's going to attack now I might be better off beginning my retreat. Bataan has some supplies and fortifications. Clark does have more favorable terrain, though. There's also a new small task force at the north end of the Sulu sea, probably an ARG picking up troops there to bring them to the central or southern Philippine islands.


Papua New Guinea
He's been landing paratroops and other small forces across the north side of PNG and in the Leae area. Nothing too important, they're potential airbases later on.

[Molon Labe]

29 January 1941
Round one of Battle of St. Lucia Bay becomes this timeline's first-ever fight between carrier battle groups

CENTPAC
Christmas Island was invaded and immediately captured. My bombed-out troops offered no real resistance. The only attack on Pearl today was Betties and Nells out of Lahaina. He's already moving scoutplanes in even though the whole base is wrecked--I'm worried my shipping lanes are next.


Coral Sea
Several near disasters here. A minesweeper escorting a reinforcement convoy was attacked by Betties from Rabaul. Somehow, we had no CAP on these guys. The Betties were only carrying bombs, though, and missed the small ships. My other minesweepers at PM would then find and clear 15 mines after going a day or two without finding any--which probably means a sub just laid these. My cruiser group arrived next and bombarded his troops again. The destroyers escorting them detected a sub on the way out but lost track of it before they could attack. I think there are at least 5 enemy subs in this area now--with 2 of them potentially being severely damaged by bombs. More than 20 Oscars swept PM; we managed only 9 P-40s to meet them. Neither side took any losses--we probably averted casualties because these were 2nd rate Oscars, armed with just 1 .30cal and 1 .50 cal machine guns.

We're also landing engineers on Milne. A submarine tried to attack them, but my single destroyer-minelayer escort drove it off. Then he dropped paratroops in--bad call, they're now outnumbered and surrounded. More concerning is a new task force approaching that includes cruisers. They're already close enough that there isn't anything I can do to stop them from getting to my transports. I'll try to hit them with Banshees if they're still there at sunrise.

Battle of St. Lucia Bay
As expected, Tarakan was invaded pre-dawn. Most of the cruisers from the covering force had transferred to the 56th Division's ARG to try to suppress the coastal defenses there. This was a good call--even with the fire support, my batteries managed hits on 4 transports-3 of them probably fatally. But that won't be enough to stop 2+ regiments. 7000+ troops made it ashore, with armor support. Tarakan will be his tomorrow. A Dutch sub tried to penetrate the landing area, it took a shot at a CL but missed.

The enemy began the air battle with a raid of 12 unescorted Vals seemingly coming from Tarakan. They ran into a wall of fighters: 6 Sea Hurricanes, 3 Fulmars, and 7 US Army P-39s flying from Balikpapan. The Vals were wiped out. But this could only mean that the enemy force at Tarakan includes at least one carrier.

Our strike package was 18 Albacores and 6 Fulmars, plus a few Buffalos from Tarakan. The enemy had 36 obsolete Claudes on CAP, plus 5 Zeroes and 2 Oscars. This would have gone very poorly if he had enough Zeroes to replace the Claudes, or if if he hadn't dropped the Soryu's Zeros off at Rabaul to support his attempt at Port Moresby. We can thank our pilots in the Philippines and Singapore for that. Outnumbered, we weren't able to shoot down any enemy fighters, but they only managed to splash one Fulmar and 1 Albacore. The strike package made contact with 3 ships that hadn't been reported here before: CV Soryu, CVE Taiyo, and BB Hyuga. The Fulmars missed, but the Albacores scored one torpedo hit each on Taiyo and Hyuga. Flak claimed one more Albacore.

Afternoon saw both of us launch unescorted strikes (I continue to be frustrated by my commanders' inability to pair fighters on escort duty with dive/torpedo bomber strikes). Our group was attacked by 11 Vals; our CAP got all but two of them. Of those, the CVBG's gunners shot one down before it could attack--and the other right after it dropped its bomb, which missed. Our strike was 12 Albacores. A pair of Buffalos from Tarakan tried to help, but the target is more or less between them and the fighters they're trying to protect, so they didn't even get into the fight this time. We lost 6 to the CAP and another to flak, with no hits. The enemy CAP wasn't any weaker this time around, which leads me to believe the damage to the Taiyo did not incapacitate its flight ops.

The last event here was him landing a paratroop unit fragment at the small base of Tanjoengselor, just south of Tarakan. It was empty, so it's his now.

And that's the end of round 1. Now I have to decide if I want the Indomitable to stick around for round 2. Shooting down 2 waves of Vals probably means the enemy carriers can only play defense, and I can shift my own fighters from CAP to escort to get more TBs through. But, I still have to worry about long-legged Zeroes and Betties flying in from other areas to reinforce here. Actually, now that I'm writing this out, the answer is obvious--with the carriers playing defense, my bombers aren't getting easy targets, which was the reason for this entire operation. It's time to go.


Malaya
I forgot to mention this earlier, but I noticed a day or two ago that there is a large task force at Mersing and troops seem to be leaving Singapore to head there. I'm not sure what to make of this yet. One possibility is he's planning on bypassing Singapore for now and taking Sumatra. If that's the case the Indomitable is in the wrong place right now. Yet another reason to pull out now.

Air raids here were all army--which makes me concerned that the Zeroes and Nells here are reinforcing the battle at Tarakan. But anyway, the Nates were just no match for our Hurricanes, and their bombers too high to bomb accurately. We claimed 7 Nates and 2 Sallies and they had only light damage to my airfield to show for it.


Dutch East Indies
Aside from the the major battle in progress, the enemy is progressing overland in Celebes, and a task force was detected south of Celebes, possibly headed towards Timor. I have Falcons there waiting for him, plus Dutch surface forces held in reserve that can potentially interdict.


Burma
Enemy land units have crossed overland into the road space adjacent to Pegu. The scale of this offensive is not yet known. I'm going to hit them with bombers tomorrow and see if they can tell me how many there are. The enemy picked a great time to show up, Hurricanes and medium bombers for Kinky Boots have been assembling at Rangoon and are ready to get to work. Kinky Boots took the possibility of enemy movement into Burma into account, the plan is to defeat the invaders first and then press on against a hopefully weakened enemy. If the enemy pushes further north to flank our frontline, though, Kinky Boots will have to be postponed.

[Molon Labe]

30 January 1942
Repositioning

Coral Sea Area
His task force (4 CL, 4 DD) bugged out from Milne without engaging my transports. Our aircraft didn't get a shot at them.

USS Narwhal torpedoed a Gozan class cargo ship in the Bismark Sea.


China
His Oscars and Tojos got the better of the AVG over his troops near Ichang, 3 lost 3 P-40s, a Hawk, and 6 bombers with nothing to show for it. I'm going to pull back on bombing missions to try to sort this out a bit. We've also noticed some troop movement east of Hong Kong that we're keeping an eye on.


CENTPAC
Betty/Nell raids on Pearl today appeared ineffective. The KB raided Fanning Island, wiping out a small French garrison there.


Malaya
Another air raid that was just Army, no Zeroes or Nells. One again, the Nates couldn't handle it. With no losses of our own, we shot down 4 Nates and 14 Sallies. He managed to sneak a few light bombers in underneath our cap, strafing an ASW craft. Then he tried it again when my pilots were wise to it and they got 4 light bombers.

Makassar Strait
Both sides appear to be retiring. But his troops have conquered Tarakan. A Dutch sub fired 6 torps at the Soryu but missed. He's also got paratroops into Samarinda--not many but my garrison there is really week. They held on for today, but with the ships leaving, these troops are now my bombing target.

SIGINT reports an AirHQ from Taiwan is headed to Miri. I had moved subs patrolling off Miri to Sumatra, so to deal with this I re-tasked some of the subs trying to mess with the Tarakan landings along with some from the Luzon area.


Dutch East Indies
Enemy troops are landing on the east side of Timor. Unfortunately my scouts lost track of their ARG and airstrikes were not launched.
If the air HQ makes it to Miri, and he builds the airfield there up to level 4, torpedo-armed Betties would essentially have the entire Java Sea in reach. I'm going to try to get more fighters in here before he can build up the airfield.


Burma
The invading unit is the 3rd Royal Thai Army, and at least for now it appears to be alone. We softened them up with bombers and should be ready to engage for real after a few days.

[Molon Labe]

31 January 1941
Siege of Singapore aborted? IJA troops massing on Thai-Burma border.


CENTPAC
We have lost track of the Kido Butai. That's what happens when every base capable of running scoutplanes gets bombed or conquered. I'm temporarily suspending convoys until we know it's not going merchant raiding. But the ships already at sea will proceed for now.

Fighters originally intended for Christmas Island are about to be delivered to Pago Pago. This will allow me to shift squadrons to the west, ultimately letting me move one more squadron into Java.


Malaya
A US sub laid a minefield at Mersing (where ships appear to be waiting to pick up troops leaving Singapore). It was detected already and at least one destroyer-minesweeper is working on clearing it. It appears that most of the troops that crossed the river into Singapore have left. The enemy didn't send bombers to Singapore today, just a sweep of Nate fighters--our Hurricanes shot 5 down with no losses.


Coral Sea
ASW escorts are now actively prosecuting 3 subs at Port Moresby (light damage to one of them) and another off Townsville. There's at least one more near Milne. Oscars swept Port Moresby, the battle claimed 3 fighters on each side. Zeroes followed up, but we weren't able to get a CAP up to meet them--not a good sign if this is turning into an air campaign. USMC reinforcements are now landing at PM. My Milne engineers are landing again after being chased away yesterday.


Makassar Strait
We had dueling sweeps here, his Oscars vs P-39s at Balikpapan and my P-40s vs Zeroes at Tarakan. We lost 2 P-39s and and claimed a Zero. We bombed enemy troops in Samarinda, causing major casualties.


China
I reduced my bombing raids on Ichang down to just Hudsons, which up until now had been too low for his CAP to reach, but today they engaged and shot one down. Our P40s got one Oscar. I'm going to stand all raids down for a day to repair some fighters and then try to work on this enemy CAP some more before sending the bombers back.


Burma
We sent 41 medium bombers after the 3rd RTA but failed to cause significant casualties. Still no enemy fighter presence. Recon detected probably another RTA division at Chaing Mai. This might actually alter the plan here. If we advanced as planned the army here would be on the flank of the advance. For now I'll just worry about the 3rd RTA and see what develops.


Timor
Falcon bombers out of Koepang bombed the enemy ships landing troops at Lautem, scoring 3 hits on an AK and setting it on fire.


Celebes
Our displaced Makassar garrison got behind the advancing armies and retook Watampone. The only enemy unit present was an aviation support company.