War in the Pacific AAR Thread: ML (Japan) vs. Leo (Allies)

Molon Labe · 10-23-23, 02:04 PM

2 February 1942

China
We fought a significant land battle on the road between Sian and Nanyang, getting the better of a stack of about 30k troops with mostly armored units of our own. I expect we'll break the enemy tomorrow. Once that happens, the amount of supply reaching the main stack outside Sinyang should plummet, and we should get our breakthrough.

DEI
We have paratroopers at Tarakan trying to take the base. We shelled the base with battleships and hit them with bombers as well in support of the para's attack this turn. We didn't take the base but didn't take a lot of casualties either.

We're also repairing a captured base at Koepang and building a base at Babar to use to attack Darwin. There may still be a significant fleet based there that's been intimitated from leaving the base between attacks by CARDIV2 and the Nells operating from captured airbases.

Sumatra
We detected a likely sub-laid minefield at Palembang and cleared with with destroyer-minesweepers. We hold contact on just one enemy sub now; the CVLBG is pulling back as most of the ships they were covering are already back in Singapore. I hope to have base forces delivered in 2 days.

Burma
The Hurricane made its combat debut today, holding off a sweep of Tojos and an attack by Oscar escorted Sallies targeting their port. We shot down just 1 Hurricane while losing a Tojo, 2 Oscars, and 4 Sallies. According to recon, there are several transports and cruisers in port at Rangoon; we have subs waiting for them outside the harbor and Betties based in Bangkok ready to torpedo them if they head out to sea, and over the past several weeks we've been working over the fighters at Rangoon to try to clear the way for port strikes. So far enemy fighter casualties have been high but we've had little success delivering bombs on target.

I'm staging to take Port Blair, an island and potential airbase outside Rangoon. Once I take that, delivery of supplies and troops to Rangoon will be nearly impossible for the Allies, accomplishing a major strategic objective.

Solomons/Coral Sea area
IJN Mutsu was torpedoed today, but fortunately took only light damage and is remaining on station protecting a troop convoy near Port Moresby. This convoy, along with another departing Truk, is intended for New Caledonia. The successful enemy sub attack was probably made possible by my decision 2 turns ago to pause loading at Port Moreseby due to a sighting of 4 unidentified ships at Horn Island, which could have been light cruisers escaping from Darwin and were a threat to the troop convoy. The Mutsu along with several other combattants were brought in to counter the threat, and the subs were waiting.

At Luganville, a few SOC-1s attacked an amphibious task force delivering construction engineers. I want a size 2 airbase on Luganville to support the New Caledonia invasion. I don't know if the Seaguls came from Efate or from American cruisers, but Efate seems more likely as I should have sufficient maritime surveillance to detect cruisers that close to Luganville. The KB and a heavy surface task force are standing by in the area, outside anticipated PBY search areas, waiting to see if the Americans attempt another raid on Luganville.

Off the coast of Brisbane, one of our subs picked off a minesweeper.
I have two midget-sub equipped subs and one floatplane-carrying sub on the way to Sydney. The floatplane will hopefully tell me when there are ships in harbor so I time the attack properly.

Reinforcements
40th Ku T-1 arrives at Chiba. Val squadron; they'll be assigned to pilot training for now.

10-23-23, 02:04 PM	#2
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	2 February 1942 China We fought a significant land battle on the road between Sian and Nanyang, getting the better of a stack of about 30k troops with mostly armored units of our own. I expect we'll break the enemy tomorrow. Once that happens, the amount of supply reaching the main stack outside Sinyang should plummet, and we should get our breakthrough. DEI We have paratroopers at Tarakan trying to take the base. We shelled the base with battleships and hit them with bombers as well in support of the para's attack this turn. We didn't take the base but didn't take a lot of casualties either. We're also repairing a captured base at Koepang and building a base at Babar to use to attack Darwin. There may still be a significant fleet based there that's been intimitated from leaving the base between attacks by CARDIV2 and the Nells operating from captured airbases. Sumatra We detected a likely sub-laid minefield at Palembang and cleared with with destroyer-minesweepers. We hold contact on just one enemy sub now; the CVLBG is pulling back as most of the ships they were covering are already back in Singapore. I hope to have base forces delivered in 2 days. Burma The Hurricane made its combat debut today, holding off a sweep of Tojos and an attack by Oscar escorted Sallies targeting their port. We shot down just 1 Hurricane while losing a Tojo, 2 Oscars, and 4 Sallies. According to recon, there are several transports and cruisers in port at Rangoon; we have subs waiting for them outside the harbor and Betties based in Bangkok ready to torpedo them if they head out to sea, and over the past several weeks we've been working over the fighters at Rangoon to try to clear the way for port strikes. So far enemy fighter casualties have been high but we've had little success delivering bombs on target. I'm staging to take Port Blair, an island and potential airbase outside Rangoon. Once I take that, delivery of supplies and troops to Rangoon will be nearly impossible for the Allies, accomplishing a major strategic objective. Solomons/Coral Sea area IJN Mutsu was torpedoed today, but fortunately took only light damage and is remaining on station protecting a troop convoy near Port Moresby. This convoy, along with another departing Truk, is intended for New Caledonia. The successful enemy sub attack was probably made possible by my decision 2 turns ago to pause loading at Port Moreseby due to a sighting of 4 unidentified ships at Horn Island, which could have been light cruisers escaping from Darwin and were a threat to the troop convoy. The Mutsu along with several other combattants were brought in to counter the threat, and the subs were waiting. At Luganville, a few SOC-1s attacked an amphibious task force delivering construction engineers. I want a size 2 airbase on Luganville to support the New Caledonia invasion. I don't know if the Seaguls came from Efate or from American cruisers, but Efate seems more likely as I should have sufficient maritime surveillance to detect cruisers that close to Luganville. The KB and a heavy surface task force are standing by in the area, outside anticipated PBY search areas, waiting to see if the Americans attempt another raid on Luganville. Off the coast of Brisbane, one of our subs picked off a minesweeper. I have two midget-sub equipped subs and one floatplane-carrying sub on the way to Sydney. The floatplane will hopefully tell me when there are ships in harbor so I time the attack properly. Reinforcements 40th Ku T-1 arrives at Chiba. Val squadron; they'll be assigned to pilot training for now. __________________ Last edited by Molon Labe; 10-25-23 at 01:11 PM.