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

Molon Labe · 10-29-23, 09:53 PM

15 February 1942

Hawaii
I-2 sustained minor depth charge damage from a destroyer, she's remaining on station.

SouthPAC
Sweep of Efate took care of 3 more P-40s, no losses.

Burma
Dumb mistake on my part. I turned off all the Rangoon strikes...I thought. One squadron of Sallies still had attack orders and flew unescorted. I lost 6 to fighters and another to flak.

Philippines
Landed troops at Tacloban. I could be wrong, but I think this means I have troops on every island the US has troops on.

China
By reinforced army at Wenchow attacked again, and failed again, 286 devices destroyed/disabled to 209 of theirs. I have one more unit on the way. If that doesn't make the difference I may have to spend some political points to move something big here.

My armored stack between Nanyang and Sian suffered a rare Allied attack, but with the defensive bonus now on our side, we held them off, just 28 devices destroyed disabled vs 618 of theirs. That probably ends the threat of this stack being defeated in detail, but I'll continue to try to get the main force up here in a hurry.

Intel and Reinforcements
Previous report of sinking of CV Saratoga incorrect. Intelligence reports ship is still in service -- no ****.
42nd I.F.Chutai arrives at Sapporo

Molon Labe · 10-30-23, 05:27 PM

16 February 1942

SouthPAC
The S-27 tried to penetrate the landing zone but was depth charged by a destroyer, scoring several damaging near misses.

Off the coast of Brisbane, the I-170 torpedoed and sank an Australian destroyer.

A sweep of Noumea downed 7 P-40s with no loss.

Off the coast of Efate, 4 A-24 Banshees tried to attack the Hiei. Zeroes on long-range CAP took out the single P-40 that was escorting them and shot down one of the bombers. Flak took out a second, and all the bombers that made it to the Hiei missed.

B-17s attacked Luganville, shooting down 1 Zero that intercepted. No damage on the ground.

East Java Sea and Banda Sea, etc.
Nell raid on Darwin scored hits on a British destroyer. I think the intel about bigger ships being here it complete junk.

China
We routed the enemy unit passing by Nanchang again, 49 devices destroyed. We failed to dislodge the enemy unit in the mountains of Chengting again.

Sumatra
Yet another failure to dislodge the enemy unit on the coast near Medan. But we destroyed 10 devices this time. The might be breaking.

Philippines
Tacloban captured.

Molon Labe · 10-31-23, 08:09 AM

17 February 1942
Port Blair captured

SouthPAC
Kirishima and Hiei bombarded Efate again. Again, little result. No aircraft disabled, light-moderate facility damage.

There was a light cargo ship he was using as a picket/bait east of Efate. Rather than re-reveal the KB or its covering force, I engaged it with one of the subs guarding the retreat lane north of Fiji, sinking it with gunfire.

Another sweep of Noumea took care of 3 of the 4 P-40s on patrol. No losses.

5 Marauders tried to bomb our 'phibs, but the LRCAP from the KB took care of all 5 of them. 7 A-24s followed that up, the Zeroes got 2 of them, only 1 aircraft made it to the target (the rest turned and ran), and it missed. The S-27 also made multiple attempts to attack this task force but failed each time, sustaining slight depth charge damage in the process.

China
China got two I-15s to patrol above the Nanyang stack, my bombers' escorting Oscars took one down.

Burma and Andaman Sea
The enemy lost 1 Hurricane trying to bomb Moulmein. No damage on the ground.

Port Blair has been captured. Now to turn it into an airbase for us...

Molon Labe · 10-31-23, 08:25 AM

18 February 1942

Philippines
I used the Fuso and Nagato to support my rather small force (2 SNLF companies) in taking Bacolod, allowing them to overcome the shellshocked garrison regiment easily.

I made an attack on Bataan. Forts down to Level 1. Casualties are favoring me with squads destroyed/disabled to 224 of mine to 434, and I already outnumber him 2-to-1 so that's twice as bad as it looks. I did take significant engineer casualties though (42 squads destroyed!), and with his forts reduced so low I don't really need them anymore, so they're pulling out. I'm thinking 2 more attacks should do it.

SouthPAC
Only 2 P-40s on patrol over Noumea today, and they managed to escape my sweep.

China
The enemy force that had blocked my advance in the southeast has retreated toward Kwelin. I'm now advancing again toward Kukong. But, I wouldn't be that surprised if the reason he's pulling back is to consolidate enough troops to make a push here, so my gains may be temporary.

In the mountains near Chenting, we finally dislodged the enemy troop concentration ,201 devices destroyed to 1.

Java and Banda Sea
I'm preparing the ground for an invasion of Java. A sweep of Surabaya took down 2 Buffalos, while 2 Demons escaped.

Burma
I tried something a little different--my frontline Oscars ordered to Naval Attack. They attacked a minesweeper and an HDML near Rangoon with no success...except for shooting down 1 Buffalo that tried to protect them.

Reinforcements
12th Base Force arrives at Saigon - Frees up a "special base force" to go to Singapore to help with port activities.

Molon Labe · 10-31-23, 08:50 AM

19 February 1942

Bay of Bengal and Burma

When my bombers finished off the Columbo and two merchants in Rangoon, I decided my submarine blockade was no longer needed there and sent my subs to patrol off Ceylon and the Indian coast. They arrived today, with one sinking an unescorted cargo ship in a night surface torpedo attack.

The Oscars made their 2nd naval attack attempt, hitting the minesweeper outside Rangoon with 2 30kg bombs, starting a raging fire.

Rangoon's bombers once again tried to attack my invading forces at Moulmein, costing them a Hurricane with no gain.

A Kate from Zuiho claimed a hit on a British sub outside Port Blair.

Java
I swept Batavia from Palembang with Oscars, shooting down 4 of 8 Buffalo on patrol. This was followed by a Betty raid on Kalidjati, which appeared to have a bomber concentration. We destroyed at least 1 L-212 and 1 FK-51 on the ground, while the escorting Zeroes shot down 1 of 3 Buffalo on CAP. Damage to the airbase was moderate. I'm probably not going to follow this up as I'm going to want to take this airbase intact. Surabaya also took a Nell raid from Makassar, resulting in light facility damage, 1 Do-24K destroyed on the ground, and 1 Demon shot down (the only aircraft on CAP).

Sumatra
Yet another rout of the former Madang garrison by my paratroopers.

SouthPAC
Another sweep of Noumea, 2 of 3 P-40s on patrol go down.
B-17s attacked my advancing armies at La Foa instead of going after Luganville. I didn't anticipate this, but fortunately this was close enough to the covering force that the LRCAP was able to help out. Neither side lost aircraft, but the harrassment made the B-17s' bombing inaccurate. Also there were only 3 of them, and flying with a reduced load from too small an airbase. Regardless, La Foa is ours, and that was the last stop before Noumea. Before I ever played WITP, I recall players discussing how the capture of Noumea means the Allies are in a really bad position, so this may be a significant win if (when) I take it.

China
In the east, we routed the enemy force near Nanchang (84th Corps) once again. I'm surprised these guys haven't just surrendered yet.

Molon Labe · 10-31-23, 09:38 AM

20 February 1942

Bay of Bengal
A sub off Colombo picked off another unescorted Allied cargo ship.

Java
No joy in an Oscar sweep over Batavia. Nell raid on Surabaya caused moderate facility damage with several bombers damaged on the ground. Again, no CAP. Does this mean he's running out of fighters, or is he moving them somewhere to keep safe for an attack on my transports?

SouthPAC
The B-17s went back to Luganville, just 5, meeting a wall of Zeroes, which shot down 2, then flak took care of a third. 3 of them survived long enough to drop their bombs, but did no damage. Intel says the enemy lost all five.

Philippines
An artillery bombardment of Bataan caused 23 devices to be destroyed, which is extraordinarily high for this kind of attack. The enemy has to be in dismal shape.

Reinforcements
SS I-27 arrives at Hiroshima/Kure - assigned to Indian Ocean

Industry and Strategic Outlook
I'm really disappointed in myself for not being on Java yet, I didn't realize taking Sumatra first was going to cause this great of a delay. I have two task forces ready to go, but I'm expecting enough resistance on the west side of the island that I want to gather as much as I can from Sumatra, which is probably going to take another 2 days or so. I'd say it was a mistake to make this a 2-pronged operation, I'd have been better off just approaching from Sumatra. I have to give serious thought to my next conquest after Java and be ready to do it with speed and efficiency to give myself a chance at an autovictory at the end of the year. I need 4 to 1 victory points for that. I'm at 1.75 to 1 right now.

I also noticed an error in my industry setup--I'm underproducing aircraft engines. I'd gone through the trouble of setting this all up on spreadsheets to make sure I had enough for my planned aircraft production, itself based on expected losses plus new units arriving that needed to be outfitted, plus building up a 500 engine reserve to get an R&D bonus in the 6-12 month range. It appears that while I remembered to check in frequently to make sure my aircraft production was where it needed to be, I forgot to check the engines at some point and never expanded my factories to the extent I needed to. It's probably been about 2 weeks since the expansion I did order stopped. It's possible this has been to my benefit, because the industrial expansion was causing supply shortages all over the home islands, which was preventing research and development centers from coming online. But my engine production has been high enough to support my aircraft production, just not high enough to get that 500-engine cushion for the R&D bonus--which does me no good if I have supply shortages. Anyway, I'm restarting my engine factory expansion, and since that's the only thing expanding my supply situation will hopefully stay stable.

Molon Labe · 11-02-23, 09:21 AM

21 February 1942

Bay of Bengal and Burma
Our subs took out another AKL off the Columbo coast overnight.

Oscars made a low altitude attack on an HDML outside Rangoon, shooting down one Buffalo sent to intercept them and likely sinking the HDML with a bomb hit.

China
In the southeast, I'm starting to put some pressure on Liuchow just in case there is going to be a counteroffensive down here. That opened with a sweep by Oscars opposed by 4 Hawk 75M fighters. We got 2 of them, no losses. Meanwhile our army is headed northeast toward Kukong, away from the army that had been blocking us that is now retreating west towards Liuchow. A pair of I-15 fighters appeared over the Nanyang stack, but no shootdowns resulted.

We made a deliberate attack on the Nanyang stack, getting the familiar result of relatively even casualties, but with device destruction heavily skewed in our favor. The stack once had 150k troops reported; in this combat they were down to 68k, so those destroyed devices are clearly adding up. Or maybe a few units quietly retreated. In any case, it's a slog, but it's a slog we're winning.

Much further northwest, way up the roads leading away from Sian, we took Kiuchuan away from its meager garrison. There are some minor bases with some oil/resources worth capturing up here, and I'm hoping to accomplish that with a token force--2 cavalry brigades and an armored car company. We'll see how far I get.

SOPAC
Our now-regular sweep of Efate downed 2 of 5 P-40s, no losses. No joy over Noumea.

The allegedly crippled I-172, transiting near Horn Island on its way home for repairs, encountered an AKL and sank her with a torpedo attack.

An Ann light bomber claimed a hit on a Dutch sub outside Port Moresby.

Java
An Oscar sweep of Bandoeng downed a single B-339 of 2 defending. meanwhile a strike on Surabaya was unopposed and destroyed at least one more Buffalo on the ground and damaging several more aircraft.

Reinforcements
15th Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Osaka/Kyoto
41st JNAF AF Unit arrives at Tokyo

10-29-23, 09:53 PM	#1
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	15 February 1942 Hawaii I-2 sustained minor depth charge damage from a destroyer, she's remaining on station. SouthPAC Sweep of Efate took care of 3 more P-40s, no losses. Burma Dumb mistake on my part. I turned off all the Rangoon strikes...I thought. One squadron of Sallies still had attack orders and flew unescorted. I lost 6 to fighters and another to flak. Philippines Landed troops at Tacloban. I could be wrong, but I think this means I have troops on every island the US has troops on. China By reinforced army at Wenchow attacked again, and failed again, 286 devices destroyed/disabled to 209 of theirs. I have one more unit on the way. If that doesn't make the difference I may have to spend some political points to move something big here. My armored stack between Nanyang and Sian suffered a rare Allied attack, but with the defensive bonus now on our side, we held them off, just 28 devices destroyed disabled vs 618 of theirs. That probably ends the threat of this stack being defeated in detail, but I'll continue to try to get the main force up here in a hurry. Intel and Reinforcements Previous report of sinking of CV Saratoga incorrect. Intelligence reports ship is still in service -- no ***. 42nd I.F.Chutai arrives at Sapporo __________________ Last edited by Molon Labe; 10-30-23 at 03:09 PM.*

10-30-23, 05:27 PM	#2
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	16 February 1942 SouthPAC The S-27 tried to penetrate the landing zone but was depth charged by a destroyer, scoring several damaging near misses. Off the coast of Brisbane, the I-170 torpedoed and sank an Australian destroyer. A sweep of Noumea downed 7 P-40s with no loss. Off the coast of Efate, 4 A-24 Banshees tried to attack the Hiei. Zeroes on long-range CAP took out the single P-40 that was escorting them and shot down one of the bombers. Flak took out a second, and all the bombers that made it to the Hiei missed. B-17s attacked Luganville, shooting down 1 Zero that intercepted. No damage on the ground. East Java Sea and Banda Sea, etc. Nell raid on Darwin scored hits on a British destroyer. I think the intel about bigger ships being here it complete junk. China We routed the enemy unit passing by Nanchang again, 49 devices destroyed. We failed to dislodge the enemy unit in the mountains of Chengting again. Sumatra Yet another failure to dislodge the enemy unit on the coast near Medan. But we destroyed 10 devices this time. The might be breaking. Philippines Tacloban captured. __________________

10-31-23, 08:09 AM	#3
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	17 February 1942 Port Blair captured SouthPAC Kirishima and Hiei bombarded Efate again. Again, little result. No aircraft disabled, light-moderate facility damage. There was a light cargo ship he was using as a picket/bait east of Efate. Rather than re-reveal the KB or its covering force, I engaged it with one of the subs guarding the retreat lane north of Fiji, sinking it with gunfire. Another sweep of Noumea took care of 3 of the 4 P-40s on patrol. No losses. 5 Marauders tried to bomb our 'phibs, but the LRCAP from the KB took care of all 5 of them. 7 A-24s followed that up, the Zeroes got 2 of them, only 1 aircraft made it to the target (the rest turned and ran), and it missed. The S-27 also made multiple attempts to attack this task force but failed each time, sustaining slight depth charge damage in the process. China China got two I-15s to patrol above the Nanyang stack, my bombers' escorting Oscars took one down. Burma and Andaman Sea The enemy lost 1 Hurricane trying to bomb Moulmein. No damage on the ground. Port Blair has been captured. Now to turn it into an airbase for us... __________________

10-31-23, 08:25 AM	#4
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	18 February 1942 Philippines I used the Fuso and Nagato to support my rather small force (2 SNLF companies) in taking Bacolod, allowing them to overcome the shellshocked garrison regiment easily. I made an attack on Bataan. Forts down to Level 1. Casualties are favoring me with squads destroyed/disabled to 224 of mine to 434, and I already outnumber him 2-to-1 so that's twice as bad as it looks. I did take significant engineer casualties though (42 squads destroyed!), and with his forts reduced so low I don't really need them anymore, so they're pulling out. I'm thinking 2 more attacks should do it. SouthPAC Only 2 P-40s on patrol over Noumea today, and they managed to escape my sweep. China The enemy force that had blocked my advance in the southeast has retreated toward Kwelin. I'm now advancing again toward Kukong. But, I wouldn't be that surprised if the reason he's pulling back is to consolidate enough troops to make a push here, so my gains may be temporary. In the mountains near Chenting, we finally dislodged the enemy troop concentration ,201 devices destroyed to 1. Java and Banda Sea I'm preparing the ground for an invasion of Java. A sweep of Surabaya took down 2 Buffalos, while 2 Demons escaped. Burma I tried something a little different--my frontline Oscars ordered to Naval Attack. They attacked a minesweeper and an HDML near Rangoon with no success...except for shooting down 1 Buffalo that tried to protect them. Reinforcements 12th Base Force arrives at Saigon - Frees up a "special base force" to go to Singapore to help with port activities. __________________

10-31-23, 08:50 AM	#5
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	19 February 1942 Bay of Bengal and Burma When my bombers finished off the Columbo and two merchants in Rangoon, I decided my submarine blockade was no longer needed there and sent my subs to patrol off Ceylon and the Indian coast. They arrived today, with one sinking an unescorted cargo ship in a night surface torpedo attack. The Oscars made their 2nd naval attack attempt, hitting the minesweeper outside Rangoon with 2 30kg bombs, starting a raging fire. Rangoon's bombers once again tried to attack my invading forces at Moulmein, costing them a Hurricane with no gain. A Kate from Zuiho claimed a hit on a British sub outside Port Blair. Java I swept Batavia from Palembang with Oscars, shooting down 4 of 8 Buffalo on patrol. This was followed by a Betty raid on Kalidjati, which appeared to have a bomber concentration. We destroyed at least 1 L-212 and 1 FK-51 on the ground, while the escorting Zeroes shot down 1 of 3 Buffalo on CAP. Damage to the airbase was moderate. I'm probably not going to follow this up as I'm going to want to take this airbase intact. Surabaya also took a Nell raid from Makassar, resulting in light facility damage, 1 Do-24K destroyed on the ground, and 1 Demon shot down (the only aircraft on CAP). Sumatra Yet another rout of the former Madang garrison by my paratroopers. SouthPAC Another sweep of Noumea, 2 of 3 P-40s on patrol go down. B-17s attacked my advancing armies at La Foa instead of going after Luganville. I didn't anticipate this, but fortunately this was close enough to the covering force that the LRCAP was able to help out. Neither side lost aircraft, but the harrassment made the B-17s' bombing inaccurate. Also there were only 3 of them, and flying with a reduced load from too small an airbase. Regardless, La Foa is ours, and that was the last stop before Noumea. Before I ever played WITP, I recall players discussing how the capture of Noumea means the Allies are in a really bad position, so this may be a significant win if (when) I take it. China In the east, we routed the enemy force near Nanchang (84th Corps) once again. I'm surprised these guys haven't just surrendered yet. __________________

10-31-23, 09:38 AM	#6
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	20 February 1942 Bay of Bengal A sub off Colombo picked off another unescorted Allied cargo ship. Java No joy in an Oscar sweep over Batavia. Nell raid on Surabaya caused moderate facility damage with several bombers damaged on the ground. Again, no CAP. Does this mean he's running out of fighters, or is he moving them somewhere to keep safe for an attack on my transports? SouthPAC The B-17s went back to Luganville, just 5, meeting a wall of Zeroes, which shot down 2, then flak took care of a third. 3 of them survived long enough to drop their bombs, but did no damage. Intel says the enemy lost all five. Philippines An artillery bombardment of Bataan caused 23 devices to be destroyed, which is extraordinarily high for this kind of attack. The enemy has to be in dismal shape. Reinforcements SS I-27 arrives at Hiroshima/Kure - assigned to Indian Ocean Industry and Strategic Outlook I'm really disappointed in myself for not being on Java yet, I didn't realize taking Sumatra first was going to cause this great of a delay. I have two task forces ready to go, but I'm expecting enough resistance on the west side of the island that I want to gather as much as I can from Sumatra, which is probably going to take another 2 days or so. I'd say it was a mistake to make this a 2-pronged operation, I'd have been better off just approaching from Sumatra. I have to give serious thought to my next conquest after Java and be ready to do it with speed and efficiency to give myself a chance at an autovictory at the end of the year. I need 4 to 1 victory points for that. I'm at 1.75 to 1 right now. I also noticed an error in my industry setup--I'm underproducing aircraft engines. I'd gone through the trouble of setting this all up on spreadsheets to make sure I had enough for my planned aircraft production, itself based on expected losses plus new units arriving that needed to be outfitted, plus building up a 500 engine reserve to get an R&D bonus in the 6-12 month range. It appears that while I remembered to check in frequently to make sure my aircraft production was where it needed to be, I forgot to check the engines at some point and never expanded my factories to the extent I needed to. It's probably been about 2 weeks since the expansion I did order stopped. It's possible this has been to my benefit, because the industrial expansion was causing supply shortages all over the home islands, which was preventing research and development centers from coming online. But my engine production has been high enough to support my aircraft production, just not high enough to get that 500-engine cushion for the R&D bonus--which does me no good if I have supply shortages. Anyway, I'm restarting my engine factory expansion, and since that's the only thing expanding my supply situation will hopefully stay stable. __________________

11-02-23, 09:21 AM	#7
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	21 February 1942 Bay of Bengal and Burma Our subs took out another AKL off the Columbo coast overnight. Oscars made a low altitude attack on an HDML outside Rangoon, shooting down one Buffalo sent to intercept them and likely sinking the HDML with a bomb hit. China In the southeast, I'm starting to put some pressure on Liuchow just in case there is going to be a counteroffensive down here. That opened with a sweep by Oscars opposed by 4 Hawk 75M fighters. We got 2 of them, no losses. Meanwhile our army is headed northeast toward Kukong, away from the army that had been blocking us that is now retreating west towards Liuchow. A pair of I-15 fighters appeared over the Nanyang stack, but no shootdowns resulted. We made a deliberate attack on the Nanyang stack, getting the familiar result of relatively even casualties, but with device destruction heavily skewed in our favor. The stack once had 150k troops reported; in this combat they were down to 68k, so those destroyed devices are clearly adding up. Or maybe a few units quietly retreated. In any case, it's a slog, but it's a slog we're winning. Much further northwest, way up the roads leading away from Sian, we took Kiuchuan away from its meager garrison. There are some minor bases with some oil/resources worth capturing up here, and I'm hoping to accomplish that with a token force--2 cavalry brigades and an armored car company. We'll see how far I get. SOPAC Our now-regular sweep of Efate downed 2 of 5 P-40s, no losses. No joy over Noumea. The allegedly crippled I-172, transiting near Horn Island on its way home for repairs, encountered an AKL and sank her with a torpedo attack. An Ann light bomber claimed a hit on a Dutch sub outside Port Moresby. Java An Oscar sweep of Bandoeng downed a single B-339 of 2 defending. meanwhile a strike on Surabaya was unopposed and destroyed at least one more Buffalo on the ground and damaging several more aircraft. Reinforcements 15th Naval Construction Battalion arrives at Osaka/Kyoto 41st JNAF AF Unit arrives at Tokyo __________________