War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

Molon Labe · 09-05-21, 12:21 PM

5 April 1942
Another recon failure as a tank regiment greets our Christmas Island landing, carrier battle in New Hebrides fails to materialize

New Hebrides

Wirraways reported two more hits on the subs in the area. I think we're up to 7.

The enemy carriers have fallen back to a defensive position closer to the Solomons. When they were near Luganville to attack Efate, they were beyond the torpedo-carrying range of Guadalcanal's Betties, and beyond the range of the land-based Zeroes to escort them. But picking a fight with that CVBG now would mean a fully-armed and escorted Betty counterattack along with whatever the carriers send out. No thank you.

I have S-boats all over the place here, so I'm going to try to surround the enemy CVBG and see if I get lucky.

Both sides bombed the other's troops on Luganville. The offsetting raids resulted with 7 US fighters down plus 3 Hudson bombers, and 3 Zeroes, 2 Betties, a Nell, and 3 Kates.

My troops at Luganville report they are surrounded, so tomorrow is probably going to be it for them. So that's an infantry regiment plus a base force and USMC aviation support group wasted.

Java
Enemy ground forces attacked mine at Tjepoe, routing my weakened forces. A tender that was ejected from Tjilatjap when it was captured was intercepted and sunk by an enemy submarine.

To the east, a small enemy sub hit two mines at Koepang and sank.

Air battles over Tjepoe throughout the day resulted in 5 Oscars, a Sally, and a Lily down for them, and 3 P-40s, a Hurricane, and 2 P-39s down for us. A Falcon was also shot down by Oscars trying to attack transports offshore. The KB raided Batavia again, shooting down a defending Buffalo and 2 Hurricanes without taking losses, and again hitting the base with its bombers--but that cost him 4+ Vals to AA. I've evacuated most of my planes from there at this point so I'm not too worried about it.

Hawaii and CENTPAC
We landed a marine regiment, an army battalion, plus base forces on what should have been a mostly empty base at Christmas Island, but ran into a regiment of tanks there. We took heavy casualties landing, but I think we can overcome this. We definitely came more prepared than last time, and supporting naval gunfire disrupted the enemy pretty badly. We'll need a day to secure the beachhead after a disruptive landing and then we can try to press and see what happens.

Bismark Sea
USS Grayback torpedoed an enemy cargo ship approaching Rabaul, probably a supply run.

Molon Labe · 09-07-21, 09:50 AM

6 April 1942

CENTPAC
Christmas Island was a midget sub base. Don't ask me why. But he sortied a bunch of them from harbor. I destroyed one with depth charges after it scored a hit on one of my destroyers, detonating a magazine and breaking the ship apart. We damaged at least two others. He's also based 4 Nells there, presumably from Lahaina. They don't have access to torpedoes here and their level bombing attacks were ineffective.

3 BB bombarded Pearl again, so at least for now we haven't pulled them south. Maybe we'll get some cruisers.

Java
A slow turn here today. Air battles near Tjepoe took down an Ann bomber for the enemy and 3 fighters and 3 DB-7B bombers for us. We lost track of the KB but it can't be far.

Djokjakarta has been captured.

Thailand
Our bombers spotted and attacked the 38th Division between Raheng and Bangkok. The 38th was responsible for taking Hong Kong and was redeployed to Manila afterward. So, Kinky Boots isn't just pulling enemy troops out of Malaya, but it's taking up troops from the Philippines that should probably be going to Java or Sumatra right now.

This army looks about as strong as my northern prong that it's approaching, so air support is probably what's going to make the difference. So far I've been very successful with my bombers, but his Oscars have been getting the upper hand on my fighters too often. I'm writing these reports a little late, so this decision is being delayed a few days into the "future", but I think I need to pull this army back to Raheng. It's just not worth trying to face this army down--even if I win, it's doubtful a worn-down army is going to be able to take Bangkok or anything else of value. And if I lose, this operation is over. So, better to pull the 38th further north and dig in to freeze it there.

But for now, my army is chasing the defeated Raheng armies south towards the 38th. We attacked and routed them again, inflicting 1110 casualties to our 135.

Molon Labe · 09-07-21, 10:47 AM

7 April 1942

SouthPAC
Wirraways from Noumea scored another bomb hit on the subs infesting these waters. Truk's going to have a backlog of repairs soon.

CENTPAC
Not just midget subs at Christmas Island, but landing barges too. I detached some cruisers and destroyers from a nearby task force to bombard the enemy here, and they found the barges and wiped them out. Probably a waste of ammunition. We bombarded them with what was left after that. Our troops attacked afterwards, enemy fortifications are down to level 1 and their troops/tanks seem at least a little disrupted. I'll rest up again and make another push in a day or two.

Java
The KB reappeared south of Java to the east side of the island, and launched a major strike on Surabaya. The air battle cost us 7 fighters, and him 4 Zeroes, 4 Kates, and 8 Vals. One of our pilots got 4 of those to himself. Damage to the base was relatively light, the Kates bombed from high altitude and weren't very accurate. They did score 3 bomb hits on 2 damaged cruisers in the shipyard, but it doesn't change much. They were already fated to be caught there when the base is overrun in a week or so.

I'm a little disappointed no one hit any mines today, but that's going to slow down--UK and US submarine-laid mine stocks are exhausted for the moment, and the Dutch have been empty for awhile, so we're not replenishing any minefields. It was mostly 2 UK subs that had been doing the mining recently because their late entry into the theatre allowed them to have a decent mine stockpile built up.

West Coast
The Lexington and all her escorts have reported for maintenance and upgrades. The Lex will have her 8" guns removed and replaced with 1.1" AA guns, and is getting an additional 28 20mm Oerlikons. Most of the escorts are also getting new 20mms installed, several destroyers are also getting radars and/or additional depth charge launchers. Lex's fighters have been "upgraded" to F4F-4 Wildcats--I consider the -3 version to be superior (the -4 adds 2 .50 cals, sacrificing speed, maneuverability, and range), but the -4 is far more numerous right now--it's probably the first aircraft model where we're really starting to see the Allies show off their industrial potential with a build rate of 45 per month. We're getting 25 P-39s and 35 P-40Es per month, for comparison. The -3s will now be available as replacements for the ships still flying them.

Thailand
My opponent decided it was a bad idea to let my bombers hit the 38th division in open terrain, so my bombers were greeted by a CAP over their troops today. They got through my escorting Hurricanes pretty easily, but were mostly ineffective against the bombers-probably due to their relatively poor armament. The Oscars are having trouble catching the B-17s and B-25s in Java but they should have adequate speed to deal with British bombers like the Blenheim. Anyway, we lost 1 Hurricane, and them 3 Oscars, no bomber losses.

New Hebrides
He withdrew his CVBG further northwest towards the Solomons, leaving his Nells and Betties to attack Luganville unescorted. We got 5 of them. Our troops are still fighting, enough that my opponent is complaining about it over email--apparently fighting to the last man is only cool if you're Japanese. They're nearly wiped out, though, won't be much longer.

Ostfriese · 09-08-21, 03:19 PM

I'm still enjoying every new posting, even though the overall situation sounds a bit depressing (a tiny glimpse of what people on the Allied side must have felt during the first half of 1942). Please keep writing your reports. Thank you.

On a side note: I've found some guides to the Japanese industry in WiTP, which, to be honest, make it sound complex enough to be a hardcore sim of its own. There is, however, little information about the Allied industry.

How does the Allied industry work in WiTP?

Molon Labe · 09-08-21, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

I'm still enjoying every new posting, even though the overall situation sounds a bit depressing (a tiny glimpse of what people on the Allied side must have felt during the first half of 1942). Please keep writing your reports. Thank you.

On a side note: I've found some guides to the Japanese industry in WiTP, which, to be honest, make it sound complex enough to be a hardcore sim of its own. There is, however, little information about the Allied industry.

How does the Allied industry work in WiTP?

The Allied economy mostly runs on autopilot. Unlike Japan, we aren't able to expand industrial facilities (supply production, aircraft production, shipyards and repair yards, etc) and we aren't able to tell the factories which aircraft to produce. The most we can do is order a facility to turn on/off production or repairs. We have supply, fuel, aircraft squadrons, and land units that are "delivered" off-map that we have to bring to our bases by ship, which is all subject to interdiction by subs or commerce raiders. But that's about as far as it goes.

Ostfriese · 09-09-21, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

The Allied economy mostly runs on autopilot. Unlike Japan, we aren't able to expand industrial facilities (supply production, aircraft production, shipyards and repair yards, etc) and we aren't able to tell the factories which aircraft to produce. The most we can do is order a facility to turn on/off production or repairs. We have supply, fuel, aircraft squadrons, and land units that are "delivered" off-map that we have to bring to our bases by ship, which is all subject to interdiction by subs or commerce raiders. But that's about as far as it goes.

But the Allies still massively outproduce the Japanese, especially in the long run, don't they?

Molon Labe · 09-09-21, 07:31 AM

Yeah, our production rate is going to get really hard for them to deal with.

Molon Labe · 09-08-21, 09:50 PM

8 April 1942

Java
A heavy cruiser bombarded Batavia, causing heavy casualties to our land forces.

The KB hit Surabaya hard. We lost 2 fighters trying to hold them off with just 1 Zero shot down. Flak got 1 Val. Damage to the ships in port was significant:
1st wave: (A6M2 Zero x 38, B4Y1 Jean x 14, B5N1 Kate x 51, B5N2 Kate x 72)
D3A1 Val x 33
xAP Van Rees, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
CL Enterprise, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CL Dragon, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
CL Capetown, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AVP Orion, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Rochussen, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Woolgar, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
DD Van Ghent, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
xAKL Luzon, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Ming Sang, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Soerabaja, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
2nd wave (49 Vals):
xAK Ming Sang, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
CL Capetown, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
xAKL Lepus, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

Borneo
At least three minesweepers are now based at Miri to deal with my repeated submarine mining of this fuel base. He also had at least one destroyer-minesweeper--had--because HMS Truant put a torpedo into it today.

Solomons
My Catalinas had noticed some tankers idling at an atoll north of the Solomons. Don't ask me why they're there instead of someplace protected, like Rabaul or Truk. But I sent the S-35 over there to go hunting, and it sank one of them. It was a small one, sadly, so this wasn't that big of a deal.

New Hebrides
The CVBG seems to be gone.
Air raids against my troops in Luganville from Guadalcanal resulted in 2 P-39s and 1 Nell shot down.

Our troops are still holding out, well enough that I'm getting angry emails from my opponent. He is killing them, though. Just not all at once, and they aren't giving him the pleasure of a surrender.

Thailand
We're still trying to cause some damage to the 38th Division from the air. We managed to shoot down 3 of the Oscars that defended them, but the Oscars did better than they did yesterday, bringing down 1 Hudson and 3 Blenheims. The replacement pools of the UK bombers are depleted, so my losses in bomber strength here are somewhat permanent, so I am concerned about these losses.

China
We repelled an attack at Chusien, casualties 3700 to 1500 favoring us. There is a unit that is breaking off and approaching a base of ours that is unguarded with level 3 forts. I think he gets to keep those if he takes it, so I'm going to try to beat him there. My units have the better roads so we have a chance.

My plans for a counteroffensive aren't really materializing. Recon is a serious problem for the Chinese; I've tried to mitigate that by training bomber pilots in recon, but they aren't cutting it. I have a British recon squadron being trained in India that I plan to deploy to China when they're ready. Once I can confirm a weak point with some confidence I'll start exploiting it.

CENTPAC
Our Marines on Christmas Island weathered an enemy shock attack by a comfortable margin. The enemy tank regiment here has a glass jaw. I think I'll be able to capture it tomorrow. Still no sign of any reinforcements or naval deployments moving south from Hawaii.

Molon Labe · 09-08-21, 10:22 PM

9 April 1942
Christmas Island liberated; Kido Butai retires from Java

Malaya
3 Destroyers came through the area outside Singapore and sank another pair of light ASW boats. These things are a dime a dozen and I keep getting more so I'm not concerned. I hope these guys are going to Tavoy, I have a welcoming party for the next surface group to do so. Also, I've deployed a 6-aircraft torpedo bomber squadron to Singapore, so by all means, keep sending ships here without fighter cover.

Hawaii and CENTPAC
3 BB bombarding Pearl today--but probably just 2 tomorrow, the Yamashiro took 4 hits from coastal artillery and I don't think the armor stopped it all.

I detached the heavy cruiser USS Vincennes from one of my task forces and bombarded Christmas Island with it in support of a push by my troops. It worked, we overran and wiped out all Japanese on the atoll. The 4th Tank Regiment, 45th Field AA Battalion, and 38th Road Construction Company are no more, and Christmas Island is back in our hands. By tomorrow it will be a fighter base.

My original plan was to take Palmyra at about the same time as Christmas, supported using some of the same forces, but my forces were worn down here by the unexpectedly presence of a whole damn regiment of tanks that managed to hide from my PBYs. So I'm going to hold off just a little. I should be able to get real recon planes here pretty soon to investigate Palmyra better than my PBYs did, and my land forces can use some time to recover.

Java
Surabaya suffered a bombardment from 2 BB and a CA, significantly degrading the airbase. The KB left the area, heading north up the Makassar Strait, but it gave Surabaya a strike as a kiss goodbye. Our meager CAP was only good for getting two fighters shot down, with no kills of our own. They damaged one transport and a destroyer tender, probably because that's all there is left to hit there.

4 Fulmar fighter-bombers attacked an enemy destroyer-transport off their western beachhead at Kalidjati and scored a bomb hit. 26 B-25s that had been rebased from Batavia to Palembang hit the port area at Kalidjati:
PB Heiei Maru #7, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Zenyo Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Okuni Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
AV Sanyo Maru, Bomb hits 1
PB Tatsumiya Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Anzan Maru #2, Bomb hits 1, on fire
About friggin time my planes hit some ships.

Enemy troops have arrived in Batavia.

Thailand
We've now confirmed its two divisions moving north against my "northern prong." Definitely time to retreat to Raheng. My efforts to bomb his troops in the open went poorly this turn; we traded a Hurricane for an Oscar but a lot of Oscars got through and they brought down 5 more Blenheims. I'll be pausing my bombing raids for the time being. Also, a squadron of Wellingtons has arrived in Calcutta, they'll be in Rangoon and ready to join this party in probably 2 more days, so even if I can't give these squadrons more Blenheims to fly at least I'm restoring some strength.

This looks like it means he's ignoring my southern prong. They've rested up, and when he defeated them a week or so ago they didn't have their armor yet (it separated to chase enemy base forces down a coastal road while the infantry trekked through the mountains that armor can't cross efficiently; the armor doubled back and took roads the long way to meet up with the infantry.). I do have proper recon aircraft here, and they're reporting weak perimeter forces in 3 hexes outside Bangkok, and force levels in Bangkok itself consistent with 2 weakened RTA divisions. Also, no bombers in Bangkok. I probably can't beat them with the southern prong alone, but I probably can advance again while their main force is getting pulled away.

09-05-21, 12:21 PM	#1
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	5 April 1942 Another recon failure as a tank regiment greets our Christmas Island landing, carrier battle in New Hebrides fails to materialize New Hebrides Wirraways reported two more hits on the subs in the area. I think we're up to 7. The enemy carriers have fallen back to a defensive position closer to the Solomons. When they were near Luganville to attack Efate, they were beyond the torpedo-carrying range of Guadalcanal's Betties, and beyond the range of the land-based Zeroes to escort them. But picking a fight with that CVBG now would mean a fully-armed and escorted Betty counterattack along with whatever the carriers send out. No thank you. I have S-boats all over the place here, so I'm going to try to surround the enemy CVBG and see if I get lucky. Both sides bombed the other's troops on Luganville. The offsetting raids resulted with 7 US fighters down plus 3 Hudson bombers, and 3 Zeroes, 2 Betties, a Nell, and 3 Kates. My troops at Luganville report they are surrounded, so tomorrow is probably going to be it for them. So that's an infantry regiment plus a base force and USMC aviation support group wasted. Java Enemy ground forces attacked mine at Tjepoe, routing my weakened forces. A tender that was ejected from Tjilatjap when it was captured was intercepted and sunk by an enemy submarine. To the east, a small enemy sub hit two mines at Koepang and sank. Air battles over Tjepoe throughout the day resulted in 5 Oscars, a Sally, and a Lily down for them, and 3 P-40s, a Hurricane, and 2 P-39s down for us. A Falcon was also shot down by Oscars trying to attack transports offshore. The KB raided Batavia again, shooting down a defending Buffalo and 2 Hurricanes without taking losses, and again hitting the base with its bombers--but that cost him 4+ Vals to AA. I've evacuated most of my planes from there at this point so I'm not too worried about it. Hawaii and CENTPAC We landed a marine regiment, an army battalion, plus base forces on what should have been a mostly empty base at Christmas Island, but ran into a regiment of tanks there. We took heavy casualties landing, but I think we can overcome this. We definitely came more prepared than last time, and supporting naval gunfire disrupted the enemy pretty badly. We'll need a day to secure the beachhead after a disruptive landing and then we can try to press and see what happens. Bismark Sea USS Grayback torpedoed an enemy cargo ship approaching Rabaul, probably a supply run. __________________

09-07-21, 10:47 AM	#3
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	7 April 1942 SouthPAC Wirraways from Noumea scored another bomb hit on the subs infesting these waters. Truk's going to have a backlog of repairs soon. CENTPAC Not just midget subs at Christmas Island, but landing barges too. I detached some cruisers and destroyers from a nearby task force to bombard the enemy here, and they found the barges and wiped them out. Probably a waste of ammunition. We bombarded them with what was left after that. Our troops attacked afterwards, enemy fortifications are down to level 1 and their troops/tanks seem at least a little disrupted. I'll rest up again and make another push in a day or two. Java The KB reappeared south of Java to the east side of the island, and launched a major strike on Surabaya. The air battle cost us 7 fighters, and him 4 Zeroes, 4 Kates, and 8 Vals. One of our pilots got 4 of those to himself. Damage to the base was relatively light, the Kates bombed from high altitude and weren't very accurate. They did score 3 bomb hits on 2 damaged cruisers in the shipyard, but it doesn't change much. They were already fated to be caught there when the base is overrun in a week or so. I'm a little disappointed no one hit any mines today, but that's going to slow down--UK and US submarine-laid mine stocks are exhausted for the moment, and the Dutch have been empty for awhile, so we're not replenishing any minefields. It was mostly 2 UK subs that had been doing the mining recently because their late entry into the theatre allowed them to have a decent mine stockpile built up. West Coast The Lexington and all her escorts have reported for maintenance and upgrades. The Lex will have her 8" guns removed and replaced with 1.1" AA guns, and is getting an additional 28 20mm Oerlikons. Most of the escorts are also getting new 20mms installed, several destroyers are also getting radars and/or additional depth charge launchers. Lex's fighters have been "upgraded" to F4F-4 Wildcats--I consider the -3 version to be superior (the -4 adds 2 .50 cals, sacrificing speed, maneuverability, and range), but the -4 is far more numerous right now--it's probably the first aircraft model where we're really starting to see the Allies show off their industrial potential with a build rate of 45 per month. We're getting 25 P-39s and 35 P-40Es per month, for comparison. The -3s will now be available as replacements for the ships still flying them. Thailand My opponent decided it was a bad idea to let my bombers hit the 38th division in open terrain, so my bombers were greeted by a CAP over their troops today. They got through my escorting Hurricanes pretty easily, but were mostly ineffective against the bombers-probably due to their relatively poor armament. The Oscars are having trouble catching the B-17s and B-25s in Java but they should have adequate speed to deal with British bombers like the Blenheim. Anyway, we lost 1 Hurricane, and them 3 Oscars, no bomber losses. New Hebrides He withdrew his CVBG further northwest towards the Solomons, leaving his Nells and Betties to attack Luganville unescorted. We got 5 of them. Our troops are still fighting, enough that my opponent is complaining about it over email--apparently fighting to the last man is only cool if you're Japanese. They're nearly wiped out, though, won't be much longer. __________________

09-08-21, 09:50 PM	#8
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	8 April 1942 Java A heavy cruiser bombarded Batavia, causing heavy casualties to our land forces. The KB hit Surabaya hard. We lost 2 fighters trying to hold them off with just 1 Zero shot down. Flak got 1 Val. Damage to the ships in port was significant: 1st wave: (A6M2 Zero x 38, B4Y1 Jean x 14, B5N1 Kate x 51, B5N2 Kate x 72) D3A1 Val x 33 xAP Van Rees, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk CL Enterprise, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk CL Dragon, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Capetown, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage AVP Orion, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk xAP Rochussen, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Woolgar, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk DD Van Ghent, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk xAKL Luzon, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk xAK Ming Sang, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage xAKL Soerabaja, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage 2nd wave (49 Vals): xAK Ming Sang, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk CL Capetown, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk xAKL Lepus, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage Borneo At least three minesweepers are now based at Miri to deal with my repeated submarine mining of this fuel base. He also had at least one destroyer-minesweeper--had--because HMS Truant put a torpedo into it today. Solomons My Catalinas had noticed some tankers idling at an atoll north of the Solomons. Don't ask me why they're there instead of someplace protected, like Rabaul or Truk. But I sent the S-35 over there to go hunting, and it sank one of them. It was a small one, sadly, so this wasn't that big of a deal. New Hebrides The CVBG seems to be gone. Air raids against my troops in Luganville from Guadalcanal resulted in 2 P-39s and 1 Nell shot down. Our troops are still holding out, well enough that I'm getting angry emails from my opponent. He is killing them, though. Just not all at once, and they aren't giving him the pleasure of a surrender. Thailand We're still trying to cause some damage to the 38th Division from the air. We managed to shoot down 3 of the Oscars that defended them, but the Oscars did better than they did yesterday, bringing down 1 Hudson and 3 Blenheims. The replacement pools of the UK bombers are depleted, so my losses in bomber strength here are somewhat permanent, so I am concerned about these losses. China We repelled an attack at Chusien, casualties 3700 to 1500 favoring us. There is a unit that is breaking off and approaching a base of ours that is unguarded with level 3 forts. I think he gets to keep those if he takes it, so I'm going to try to beat him there. My units have the better roads so we have a chance. My plans for a counteroffensive aren't really materializing. Recon is a serious problem for the Chinese; I've tried to mitigate that by training bomber pilots in recon, but they aren't cutting it. I have a British recon squadron being trained in India that I plan to deploy to China when they're ready. Once I can confirm a weak point with some confidence I'll start exploiting it. CENTPAC Our Marines on Christmas Island weathered an enemy shock attack by a comfortable margin. The enemy tank regiment here has a glass jaw. I think I'll be able to capture it tomorrow. Still no sign of any reinforcements or naval deployments moving south from Hawaii. __________________

09-08-21, 10:22 PM	#9
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	9 April 1942 Christmas Island liberated; Kido Butai retires from Java Malaya 3 Destroyers came through the area outside Singapore and sank another pair of light ASW boats. These things are a dime a dozen and I keep getting more so I'm not concerned. I hope these guys are going to Tavoy, I have a welcoming party for the next surface group to do so. Also, I've deployed a 6-aircraft torpedo bomber squadron to Singapore, so by all means, keep sending ships here without fighter cover. Hawaii and CENTPAC 3 BB bombarding Pearl today--but probably just 2 tomorrow, the Yamashiro took 4 hits from coastal artillery and I don't think the armor stopped it all. I detached the heavy cruiser USS Vincennes from one of my task forces and bombarded Christmas Island with it in support of a push by my troops. It worked, we overran and wiped out all Japanese on the atoll. The 4th Tank Regiment, 45th Field AA Battalion, and 38th Road Construction Company are no more, and Christmas Island is back in our hands. By tomorrow it will be a fighter base. My original plan was to take Palmyra at about the same time as Christmas, supported using some of the same forces, but my forces were worn down here by the unexpectedly presence of a whole damn regiment of tanks that managed to hide from my PBYs. So I'm going to hold off just a little. I should be able to get real recon planes here pretty soon to investigate Palmyra better than my PBYs did, and my land forces can use some time to recover. Java Surabaya suffered a bombardment from 2 BB and a CA, significantly degrading the airbase. The KB left the area, heading north up the Makassar Strait, but it gave Surabaya a strike as a kiss goodbye. Our meager CAP was only good for getting two fighters shot down, with no kills of our own. They damaged one transport and a destroyer tender, probably because that's all there is left to hit there. 4 Fulmar fighter-bombers attacked an enemy destroyer-transport off their western beachhead at Kalidjati and scored a bomb hit. 26 B-25s that had been rebased from Batavia to Palembang hit the port area at Kalidjati: PB Heiei Maru #7, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Zenyo Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage xAK Okuni Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire AV Sanyo Maru, Bomb hits 1 PB Tatsumiya Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire xAK Anzan Maru #2, Bomb hits 1, on fire About friggin time my planes hit some ships. Enemy troops have arrived in Batavia. Thailand We've now confirmed its two divisions moving north against my "northern prong." Definitely time to retreat to Raheng. My efforts to bomb his troops in the open went poorly this turn; we traded a Hurricane for an Oscar but a lot of Oscars got through and they brought down 5 more Blenheims. I'll be pausing my bombing raids for the time being. Also, a squadron of Wellingtons has arrived in Calcutta, they'll be in Rangoon and ready to join this party in probably 2 more days, so even if I can't give these squadrons more Blenheims to fly at least I'm restoring some strength. This looks like it means he's ignoring my southern prong. They've rested up, and when he defeated them a week or so ago they didn't have their armor yet (it separated to chase enemy base forces down a coastal road while the infantry trekked through the mountains that armor can't cross efficiently; the armor doubled back and took roads the long way to meet up with the infantry.). I do have proper recon aircraft here, and they're reporting weak perimeter forces in 3 hexes outside Bangkok, and force levels in Bangkok itself consistent with 2 weakened RTA divisions. Also, no bombers in Bangkok. I probably can't beat them with the southern prong alone, but I probably can advance again while their main force is getting pulled away. __________________

09-07-21, 09:50 AM	#2
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	6 April 1942 CENTPAC Christmas Island was a midget sub base. Don't ask me why. But he sortied a bunch of them from harbor. I destroyed one with depth charges after it scored a hit on one of my destroyers, detonating a magazine and breaking the ship apart. We damaged at least two others. He's also based 4 Nells there, presumably from Lahaina. They don't have access to torpedoes here and their level bombing attacks were ineffective. 3 BB bombarded Pearl again, so at least for now we haven't pulled them south. Maybe we'll get some cruisers. Java A slow turn here today. Air battles near Tjepoe took down an Ann bomber for the enemy and 3 fighters and 3 DB-7B bombers for us. We lost track of the KB but it can't be far. Djokjakarta has been captured. Thailand Our bombers spotted and attacked the 38th Division between Raheng and Bangkok. The 38th was responsible for taking Hong Kong and was redeployed to Manila afterward. So, Kinky Boots isn't just pulling enemy troops out of Malaya, but it's taking up troops from the Philippines that should probably be going to Java or Sumatra right now. This army looks about as strong as my northern prong that it's approaching, so air support is probably what's going to make the difference. So far I've been very successful with my bombers, but his Oscars have been getting the upper hand on my fighters too often. I'm writing these reports a little late, so this decision is being delayed a few days into the "future", but I think I need to pull this army back to Raheng. It's just not worth trying to face this army down--even if I win, it's doubtful a worn-down army is going to be able to take Bangkok or anything else of value. And if I lose, this operation is over. So, better to pull the 38th further north and dig in to freeze it there. But for now, my army is chasing the defeated Raheng armies south towards the 38th. We attacked and routed them again, inflicting 1110 casualties to our 135. __________________

09-08-21, 03:19 PM	#4
Ostfriese Ace of the Deep Join Date: May 2004 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 1,178 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I'm still enjoying every new posting, even though the overall situation sounds a bit depressing (a tiny glimpse of what people on the Allied side must have felt during the first half of 1942). Please keep writing your reports. Thank you. On a side note: I've found some guides to the Japanese industry in WiTP, which, to be honest, make it sound complex enough to be a hardcore sim of its own. There is, however, little information about the Allied industry. How does the Allied industry work in WiTP?

09-09-21, 07:31 AM	#7
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	Yeah, our production rate is going to get really hard for them to deal with. __________________