War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Is that a problem the game simulates or is this more a problem of (not) giving the perfect orders?

It's the Grisby factor. On my end, all I can do is set a fighter squadron to escort duty and set it to the same altitude as the bombers. Then the code goes to work and considers pilot experience, the presence of an AirHQ, leaders' abilities, the distance between the fighter base, the bomber base, and the target, the number of aircraft attempting to coordinate, probably the weather and a bunch of other stuff.

[Molon Labe]

26 June 1942

Hawaii
We continue to build on the number of submarines patroling near Pearl. USS Sturgeon gunned down a landing barge. The two cargo ships outside Pearl are still holding due to enemy surface traffic.

My sub patrols prompted him to switch is Mary bombers from bombing Pearl to ASW duty. S-31 was hit by one but wasn't seriously damaged--and the repair yard at Pearl is operational thanks to the cargo ships that got through.

N. Australia
Looks like sweeps/raids at Darwin are going to become a regular thing. Each side lost 2 fighters today. I'll have US P-39s backing up the Aussie P-40s (and their inadequately trained pilots) soon.

Sumatra
Unescorted enemy bomber raids got too close to Palembang--the only remaining fighter base I have here. We got 7 Sallies and 3 Anns as the CAP diverted to intercept.

Sabang has been captured.

Thailand
A Blenheim raid got bounced by Oscars, 2 Hurricanes and 1 Blenheim down with no kills of our own.

China
I attacked the enemy army at Chusien again but couldn't budge it. Even casualties.

[Molon Labe]

27 June 1942
Enemy blunder at Chenghow results in mass army casualties

Japan
Our sub patrols near Toyohara spotted a major convoy and a large tanker. We didn't hit anything--but there's clearly an increase in traffic here that will make this convoy route a priority now.

Hawaii
USS Thresher got a landing barge, Sturgeon another. Sturgeon's had troops on board.

The Marys on ASW patrol spotted my large cargo ship convoy. Hopefully it's too late for them to do anything about it, they weren't attacked today and they'll be docked tomorrow. Maybe bombed dockside?

Makassar Strait
The O23 torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship near Balikpapan.

Thailand
He's reinforced Bangkok with a lot of Zeroes. They swept Rahang, claiming 7 of our P-40s while we managed 5 of them. I noticed my pilot quality here isn't what it should be, so I'm sending some of these guys back to training squadrons. One of the replacements assigned was Boyington, who was freed up when I disbanded AVG-1 awhile back (no replacement aircraft available to get them back online). He'll be active in 5 days.

Sumatra
They swept the area near Palembang that they were bombing yesterday, drawing our our CAP and shooting down a Hurricane. Then they did it again, but we had the only kill, a Zero.

Now that I know he's avoiding getting within torpedo bomber range of Singapore, that leaves the only route to Palembang through a very narrow channel between Sumatra proper and a coastal island. I had the O20 drop a full load of 40 mines in the channel. Hopefully that will pay off soon.

China
Despite having originally moved troops across the river at our flanks and entering Chenchow overland, today he sent reinforcements directly across the river at the battlefield. This resulted in a disorganized, desperate shock attack that utterly failed against our fortified base. Casualties were 12,236 to 0. In terms of victory points, his destroyed squads were worth as much as two carriers. This probably marks the end of his counterattack.

[Molon Labe]

28 June 1942
Hickam AFB operational

Luzon Strait
USS Pickerel torpedoed and likely sank a troop-carrying cargo ship in a convoy at appears to only have minelayers as escorts--minelayers that apparently did not have ASW capability.

Thailand
Our US Army squadrons in Thailand are wearing down. 3 Zeroes down to 3 P-40s, but there are a lot more Zeroes (and Oscars) and not many more P-40s here.

N. Australia
Getting the P-39s to Darwin helped. 3 Oscars down to 2 Aussie P-40s.

Sumatra
6 Hurricanes on CAP attempted to interdict a massive enemy air raid--54 bombers and 43 fighters. We got one Zero, losing 5 Hurricanes. This British squadron is just about done for, although we do have a few replacement aircraft of this type and more on the way.

Hawaii
The large cargo ship convoy docked and unloaded overnight, the two solo ships also docked and will unload next. Our resupplied artillery units made a probing bombardment attack, which shows the enemy forces here to be more than 3 divisions worth, but weakened to the approximate power of 1 division. I might be able to push them into the sea with the armies I already have here. I'm not going to take that risk just yet.

The resupply of Oahu means Hickam AFB is now fully operational. I've moved in Wildcat squadrons and even a few spare Buffalos, a Dauntless squadron, PBYs, and 2 B-17 squadrons. I'm going to attempt to control or at least monitor the surrounding seas. I should have the planes online in a day or two. Anticipating the success of the convoy, I already have a battleship group and phibs headed for Lahaina. As long as he doesn't move Betties in, they'll keep going.

USS Thresher got attacked by a pair of Marys, but damaged them both with its AA and forced them to retreat. Not bad for a 20mm and a few .50 cals.

China
The enemy is retreating from Chengchow, at least in part.

I attacked the army near Chusien again, this time forcing the enemy to retreat. Casualties 3089 to 495 favoring me. I'm going to give chase for now--I think I'll turn these guys towards the coast after that.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

Casualties were 12,236 to 0. In terms of victory points, his destroyed squads were worth as much as two carriers. This probably marks the end of his counterattack.

That's one hell of a blunder.

[Molon Labe]

29 Jun 1942

Yellow Sea
USS Salmon picked off a full-size cargo ship in a convoy of mostly AKLs headed for Shanghai and slipped away before the escorting PB could retaliate. A good result, but I'm keeping a close eye on this. It's only the second ship we've sunk in the Yellow Sea despite the enemy's increased supply need in China and this water is shallow enough for non-upgraded enemy depth charges to be very effective. Two cargo ships in a week isn't worth losing a boat for.

Hawaii
An enemy sub picked off one of my singleton cargo ships as it left Pearl. My earlier estimate that the new aircraft at Hickam would be online in 2 days was too optimistic...it'll be more like a week. That's cause for concern, especially with the PBYs not online yet.

I did some maths...assuming the KB only does a gas-n-go at Truk and then heads for Hawaii at cruising speed, it would arrive on July 4. Oh, and SIGINT reports enemy transmissions at a spot in the ocean in near the Marshalls that's on the lane between Truk and Hawaii. If that was the KB, it's arrival would be July 5--that by itself is scary because it looks like it matches. My likely date of arrival at Lahaina is July 6. Setting that aside for a moment, the KB has been running at high speed for a good chunk of its last deployment, so they need maintenance, and they're due for refits. On top of that, if my cargo runs concerned him, the most efficient solution would be to bring the Betties back--he hasn't done that. So, I think a KB deployment to Hawaii right now is unlikely. But not something I can ignore. For now, I'm going to continue, but I'm probably going to stand off instead of going right in.

Thailand
2 more P-40s down at Raheng. But more important, no enemy bomber activity. I'm going to stand my fighters down for a couple days to let them repair planes and just not give the enemy anyone to play with.

Meanwhile, I've been gradually moving in more reinforcements to this region. I can now drive to Bangkok with the equivalent of about 3 divisions while still keeping enough in reserve that they can't bypass me and threaten Rangoon. Recon says I'm stronger than what they have in Bangkok and Tavoy combined. So in a few more days I'll start heading south again, all the more reason to keep my fighters healthy so that I can keep enemy bombers off the troops if they ever show up.

N. Australia
Another bad day at Darwin, 3 of ours down to 1 of his. I'm tempted to move in more fighters, but... I think with the surge of enemy fighters in Thailand and Sumatra, his numbers here are less than they were when I last tried to carpet bomb Koepang airbase. I'm short on fighters, but good on B-17s. And B-17s chew up enemy fighters pretty good. So, Offensive Counter Air is the call to deal with the threat to Darwin.

China
He now has armies leaving Chengchow in two directions, back across the river and to the south, the way the main force came in. I now have reinforcements arriving on the southern route, and he's also got more troops entering that space from the east, so my guys are caught between the two. I don't have good intel on numbers.

[Molon Labe]

30 June 1942

Hawaii
Our subs at Pearl took out another 3 landing barges, a Kingfisher bombed a small minelayer.

Ceram Sea
S-36 torpedoed a troop-carrying cargo ship in the narrow sea lanes here. There was a massive secondary explosion, so we're confident this one went down.

E. Australia
There are enemy subs all over the coast right now. Minesweepers damaged two slightly, Wirraways bombed another. A heavy cruiser from each of the two former CVBG are being escorted through here to Sydney for repairs.

N. Australia
Using B-17s on Koepang isn't going to work, the true fighters have left but the Nick fighter-bombers remain, and they're great bomber interceptors. 3 B-17s lost today, including the ones crashing on the way back. Plus another P-39 at Darwin.

Sumatra
The British Hurricanes at Sumatra got the better of a Zero sweep, shooting down 3 without loss.

Reinforcements
43rd BG/65th BS arrives at Los Angeles
43rd BG/403rd BS arrives at Eastern USA --these are both unrestricted B-17 squadrons, because I sent 16 airframes to Pearl I only have enough aircraft to outfit one of them.
142nd USA Base Force arrives at Fort Ord
5th British Brigade arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

1 July 1942
HMS Revenge torpedoed leaving Columbo

Bay of Bengal
After several days of maintenance, I reassembled a heavy surface task force and a CVBG to provide air cover and ordered them to Tavoy. The heavy task force was immediately attacked by a submarine a few hexes outside of port, scoring 2 hits on HMS Revenge. She's limping back to port and will survive, but will likely be out of action for months.


Hawaii and Line Islands
USS Pollack sank one of the coastal minelayers operating near Pearl. With all the minelayers I'm seeing I'm surprised none of my cargo ships or subs have hit a mine. In the absence of a detected minefield, I have no idea what these guys are doing.

I have enough PBYs online now that my concerns about the KB showing up unannounced are somewhat alleviated. But only a little, because he's penetrated my search areas before.

This is also a good time to mention another collection of task forces is headed to Palmyra to take it back. That is is happening at the same time as the Hawaii op is pure coincidence, it's been in motion for awhile in terms of just moving assets in place over a thousand miles of ocean after several of my key hubs were bombed by the KB. A smaller bombardment force is headed to Johnston as a recon-in-force, looking for a fast-reaction force of aircraft that might be moved to Pearl in a hurry.

Thailand
Even though I'm resting my Raheng CAP, the enemy still got fighters of mine to play with because they diverted from Moulmein. One fighter down on each side.

Sumatra
The Palembang CAP diverted to engage a sweep to the south, shooting down a Zero. But, they wore themselves out on the sweep so that when the raid came we had nothing to throw at it...66 bombers in that group with few fighters. Oh well. These bombers are just attacking a small delaying force at a river crossing adjacent to Palembang. I'm not actually concerned about it.

China
It got a little ugly in the skies over Chengchow as the enemy withdraws. 4 Lancers and 2 SBIII bombers down for us, 7 Zeroes down for him.

Strait of Malacca
The lone surviving cargo ship of the former Palembang-Singapore route was sunk by a sub trying to run supplies from Colombo to Singapore. A long shot mission anyway, but one worth attempting.

Caroline Island
USS Plunger came under attack by a Kate and a Dave floatplane outside Truk. The presence of the Kate suggests to me at at least one carrier stopped at Truk for maintenance/repairs.

Reinforcements
2nd Recce Regiment arrives at Aden - unrestricted armored unit--straight to Burma
We also got a pair of destroyed Dutch squadrons back, but we have no aircraft to outfit them with and I don't think we'll ever get more.

[Molon Labe]

2 July 1942
Air campaign over Singapore resuming? 11 Oscars shot down there...

E. Australia
A corvette engaged an enemy sub near Koggala and scored a single critical hit with a depth charge pattern. The sub might be fatally damaged, but we did confirm that it didn't immediately sink as we briefly regained contact after it gave us the slip.

N. Australia
Things turning around here? One enemy Oscar down with no losses of our own. Our B-17s are on ASUW duty now, staying away from the Nicks at Koepang.


China
A single Zero was shot down in the Chengchow area. For now, we both have armies giving each other leave to retreat in an orderly fashion around the bridge south of Chengchow.

Malaya
There were 4 sweeps of Singapore today, all by Oscars. Our airpower here is somewhat reduced from its peak, but we still have the expert New Zealand squadrons and British Mohawks. We splashed 11 of the Oscars at a cost of 3 Mohawks, strongly suggesting the Japanese have a pilot attrition problem.

Sumatra
We managed to pounce on 2 Sallies that lagged behind their escorts.
There's also a task force detected on the Indian Ocean side of Sumatra that appears to be composed of a seaplane carrier and large surface combattants---that's a commerce raider task force. I currently have one tanker convoy in that area--I'm turning it to pass wide of them. I'm also recalling my task forces headed for Tavoy, my next convoy headed south to Perth is going to have quite an escort.

Speaking of the heavies headed to Tavoy, repairs on the Revenge are estimated to take 6 months. I'm going to reassess every week or so to figure out if its practical to send it to Cape Town instead of repairing at the relatively small Columbo shipyard. At a cruising speed of 6 knots right now, that's not practical.

Hawaii
Enemy forces on Lahaina are significantly greater than they've been the last week or two, there's at least a division there. This is concerning. I'm halting the phibs for now. The bombardment of Lahaina will proceed. I'm also noting that my raid on Johnston is going to arrive too late to hit them before I reach Lahaina. I'm ordering another probing attack on Oahu to try to confirm they've reduced the troop levels there. I'm still waiting for aircraft at Hickam to come online--I have fighters, a reduced-strength dive bomber squadron, a few PBYs, and a few bombers. The PBYs and bombers will be very helpful in the immediate future.

Reinforcements
CL Birmingham arrives at Cape Town
ML No. 246 arrives at Karachi
VMF-214 arrives at Pearl Harbor (2 Buffalos)
No.155 Sqn RAF arrives at Rawalpindi (16 Mohawks, unrestricted--headed to Burma/Thailand)
222nd USN Base Force arrives at San Diego (unrestricted, half strength)

[Molon Labe]

3 July 1942

Bay of Bengal
2 enemy submarines were detected on the track of the CVBG-escorted tanker convoy, one in close enough proxmity to be engaged by destroyers, causing moderate damage. Meanwhile the enemy heavies are moving northwest up the Indian Ocean coast of Sumatra--looking more like a bombardment group than commerce raiders now.

I'm doglegging everyone involved to avoid the subs. The CVBG is going to break off from the tankers to see if they can get a shot at the heavies. The tanker convoy is aborting their transit--no need to push this.

China
Our air forces are getting worn down while the enemy is reinforcing. 50 Zeroes swept Chengchow today, shooting down 1 Lancer. When my bombers came, they broke through and shot down 4 SBIII bombers.

AVG squadrons 2 and 3 are withdrawing as scheduled, and 2 US Army P-40s are taking their place. AVG3's aircraft went to the Chinese Air Force, AVG2's to the U.S.

The enemy death star at Chengchow made another push despite their earlier losses. Casualties 21631 to 6767 favoring us. Forts held.

Burma and Thailand
The 2 P-40 squadrons headed to China are the two that were resting at Raheng. The Mohawks on their way will help balance that out.

Zeroes swept Raheng, kiting P-40s from Moulmein and shooting down 3.

N. Australia
Darwin: 2 P-39s and 1 AUS P-40 down, no kills for us.

Sumatra
This time we got at the unescorted Sallies. 14 shot down.

Malaya
More sweeps at Singapore--4 Oscars down vs 1 Mohawk and 1 Hurricane. Maybe these planes should be escorting those Sallies?

Hawaii
Our probing attack shows one of the divisions in Oahu is a hollow unit, so it looks to me like he hasn't reinforced, he's moved troops from Oahu to Lahaina. Also, he's moved in another fighter squadron to Lahaina, which is concerning. Finally, there is a 4-ship task force approaching from the southwest that includes a destroyer.

The shelling of Lahaina will proceed, I'll try to attack from long enough range that a likely substantial minefield won't be a huge threat--I have 3 DMSs in company to help with that. Fighters from Hickam to provide air cover. I'm also activating my dive bomber squadron to perform some ASUW.

[Molon Labe]

4 July 1942
USMC provides occupied citizens of Lahaina with fireworks; IJN Nagato & transports sunk by Brit torpedo bombers off Sumatra

Sumatra & Singapore
The force I originally classified as commerce raiders and than reassessed as a bombardment group is in fact an amphibious group. They landed at Padang on the Indian Ocean side of Sumatra, transporting a third of the 1st Division, destroying a minesweeper on duty there as they approached.

At sunrise they were spotted and referred to Singapore for a strike package. The Oscar sweeps on Singapore continued, which may have interfered with the strike--it appears fighters ordered to escort my bombers were scrambled to fight the Oscars. 7 Oscars were shot down with a loss of 3 Mohawks and 2 Hurricanes over the course of several sweeps throughout the day.

The Albacore torpedo bombers flew 2 unescorted sorties against the enemy ARG at Sabang. My lack of escorting fighters was mitigated by the weather--he had Zeroes on a high-altitude CAP over the target, but my bombers approached low in a thunderstorm. The CAP did not engage either sortie. The first wave of 16 bombers hit the battleship Nagato twice and a troop-carrying cargo ship twice. The second wave hit the Nagato 4 more times, another cargo ship twice, and another once. Nagato went down while still under observation. Enemy troop casualties were about 900.

Hawaii
The S-47 torpedoed a cargo ship south of Pearl. S-33 followed up the attack,
trading gun hits with it. Thresher followed that up, bouncing a Mk14 dud off its hull.

My bombardment task force has yet to arrive at Lahaina, so the occupied citizens will have to wait until after midnight on July 5 for that fireworks show. But we did give them a preview as my reactivated USMC dive bombers attacked ships at port. Enemy Zeroes and Oscars defended--the Zeroes appear to be from Kaga, more or less confirming she's under repair right now. We flew two sorties, the first resulted in 4 Wildcats shot down for me and 4 Oscars and a Zero for them. The SBDs all missed. The second sortie saw one more F4F and Zero go down, and 2 more Oscars. One SBD hit the light cruiser Kuma, causing severe damage and starting a major fire.

China
My AVG replacements failed to escort my bombers to Chengchoon. 3 SB-IIIs and A-29s were lost, only one Lancer on nearby CAP was available to defend them--it shot down one Zero.

EDIT:
Australia
We have a squadron of Anson light bombers that just came online in Sydney yesterday. These guys are radar-equipped so I expect them to be good ASW assets. Yesterday I moved ASW-qualified Wirraway pilots to this squadron and put them on ASW duty, and today they've already scored a hit on one of the several subs operating here.

Bay of Bengal
Despite doglegging, there is a wolfpack of 6 subs in the path of the Brit CVBG. We prosecuted one that was close with no hits. It would seem that at least a secondary objective of the raid on Sabang was to bait my carriers again, and it more less worked. Time to leave.

EDIT2: The last Zero shot down (or more likely, scrapped at base) today was the 1000th Zero lost in the campaign.

[Molon Labe]

5 July 1942
The real Indendence Day fireworks show was after midnight

Hawaii, Johnston Island, and Line Islands
My heavy surface group--including Pearl Harbor raid survivors Arizona and Nevada--finally hit Lahaina. The small task force our dive bombers hit yesterday (1 CL, 3 DD) was there to greet us:


The already damaged (and still on fire) Kuma was hit 4 times, at least one time by the North Carolina's main battery. I would guess she's done for. An enemy destroyer took a torpedo and is confirmed sunk, a second destroyer was damaged. The enemy withdrew and got out of our way. Troop casualties were reported from this battle, so it appears these ships were acting as fast transports, bringing troops from Oahu to Lahaina. North Carolina took 2 non-penetrating hits.

At Johnston island, our bombardment group of one light cruiser and 3 destroyers intercepted two cargo ships (one that I recognized as one that escaped a submarine attack a few days ago) as they approached, sinking both with gunfire and torpedoes. They then bombarded their objective, damaging 6 Mavis seaplanes and moderately damaging the airbase. Well, at least we probably know there aren't a bunch of Betties hiding here.

My heavies hit Lahaina next, standing off at long range to mitigate the risk of likely minefields here. We destroyed 16 aircraft on the ground and probably disabled the rest, sank a light cargo ship in port, and caused heavy damage to the airbase facilities.

But we weren't done yet, we had 6 operational B-17s and they all hit the port at Lahaina with smashing success:
ACM Shintohoku Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
AS Rio de Janiero Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AG Soya, Bomb hits 1, on fire
ACM Kyo Maru #5, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAKL Tokuwa Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AGP Banshu Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
ACM Toshi Maru #7, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
The three mine tenders going down is huge--minefields gradually dissipate without tenders to maintain them, so that problem is going to solve itself. The enemy CAP shot down two USMC Wildcats escorting the B-17s.

USS Lexington's SBDs bombed Palmyra along with the usual B-26 raid from Christmas Island that's been softening these guys up. We land troops tomorrow.

Another massive supply convoy will arrive at Pearl and unload overnight.

As for invading Lahaina, I'm still standing off for now, but I think in the absence of a KB sighting, I'm going to postpone the op. Just seems like too big a risk when I can just get Pearl/Hickam back online and bomb/shell them as their mines dissipate and supplies dwindle. Hmmm. I'll decide "tomorrow."

Japan
USS Searaven got into a surface battle with an oil-carrying cargo ship near Kobe. The improvised tanker was hit with two detonating torpedoes (and several duds) and a little gunfire; it burned and sank. Searaven was hit twice but damage was minimal.

China
In the Kaifeng/Chengchow area, they swept while we tried to bomb; we lost a Lancer and a Wellington, them 4 Zeroes. Boyington got one of them for his 3rd kill, maybe he'll be an ace before I transfer him to VMF-214 in a month or so.

The enemy's success today came from the army near Chusein, I had run down the routed enemy army and tried to attack again, but it had been reinforced by another division. Casualties 500 to 2000 favoring them. I'm pulling back.

N. Australia
Two of ours, none of theirs.

E. Australia
A Wirraway bombed a sub.

Bay of Bengal
We disengaged from the wolfpack without further incident, disaster averted.

Malaya
Just one Oscar down today, both sides are wearing down.

Reinforcements
BB Valiant arrives at Cape Town
21st Marine Regiment arrives at San Diego (unrestricted, near full strength)

[Ostfriese]

The 200 days of fuel you've mentioned a couple of times (Japan's initial fuel reserves) have passed by now, and he must have burned through his fuel reserves like crazy. Even though he has conquered some oil producing areas (DEI, Borneo, if I remember correctly) his fuel situation must be dramatic by now. He might not (yet) be running on fumes, but the danger of running out of fuel must be a constant threat.
His Hawaiian operation has definitely faltered. You seem to be only a very few steps away from permanently securing Pearl Harbor (it sounds as if it is about to become too dangerous even for the KB).



“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

The 200 days of fuel you've mentioned a couple of times (Japan's initial fuel reserves) have passed by now, and he must have burned through his fuel reserves like crazy. Even though he has conquered some oil producing areas (DEI, Borneo, if I remember correctly) his fuel situation must be dramatic by now. He might not (yet) be running on fumes, but the danger of running out of fuel must be a constant threat.
His Hawaiian operation has definitely faltered. You seem to be only a very few steps away from permanently securing Pearl Harbor (it sounds as if it is about to become too dangerous even for the KB).



“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

We're past the 200 days, but he's captured Borneo and Java, and the last "tanker" I intercepted was in Japanese home waters. How many got through that I didn't see?

Yesterday I mentioned that I had to make a final decision on landing on Lahaina--I'm going to put those troops on Pearl instead. I'm doing that because he has a lot more troops on Lahaina now then when the operation began, probably more than a division. He also had a ton of engineers there, maybe still does, so the fortifications there are probably scary good, which means I need to outnumber him by a lot and I'm still taking heavy casualties. So for now my focus is going to be on eliminating the two divisions or so still on Oahu and rebuilding Pearl/Hickam into a major base.

The KB can still ruin that. If I use the Yorktown's airgroup plus enough Air Corps and USMC squadrons, I might be able to build up Hickam into a base that could defeat the KB, but that's going to take time. I can do what he did in reverse, and battleship the hell out of Lahaina and rearm them at neighboring Pearl, but if the KB shows up my battleships are done for. So he probably gets to have a functioning airbase for now, which means Pearl is probably still subject to an aerial blockade and bombings, depending on his willingness to deploy bombers there.

I do share some of your optimism but the situation is very fluid right now.

--------------
6 July 1942
Amphibious landing on Palmyra

Hawaii and Line Islands
I hate to admit I knew this would happen, but enemy submarines attacked my supply convoy arriving at Pearl, which was unescorted. I wasn't willing to decrease my ASW protection for my battleship group. One submarine torpedoed one of the ships, then surfaced to attack another on the surface--both my ships sank. But the others made it and dropped off about another huge delivery of supply, ensuring that I have the stocks to continue to build up Hickam again, and to sustain my ground forces there.

Our phibs landed at Palmyra, supported by a heavy cruiser, four destroyers, and 13 B-26s from Christmas Island. The constant bombing of the island over the last week or more (and a battleship shelling two days ago) softened them up a bit. Casualties were 90 to 1259 favoring them, but most of my squads were disabled, not destroyed, while his were more destroyed than disabled--also, a lot of his defense are tanks, not infantry.
Japanese ground losses:
90 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 33 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 13 (11 destroyed, 2 disabled)
Vehicles lost 131 (127 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
1259 casualties reported
Squads: 9 destroyed, 84 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 18 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 9 disabled
Guns lost 34 (1 destroyed, 33 disabled)
Forts were reduced from 2 to 1. This is a good result, I expect to have the island secured in 2 days.

Our 6 operational B-17s and 11 SBDs at Hickam hit Lahaina harbor again, sinking an ammunition ship and a light cargo ship, and damaging a general tender and submarine tender. Recon is still reporting tankers and subs here I'd like to get.

The bombardment group arrived at Pearl next, having been delayed by needing to refuel one of the destroyer-minesweepers at sea. They suffered a submarine attack, but the destroyers screened it successfully--the torps were fired at an escort and missed. The sub was lightly to moderately damaged before it got away. The task force then dumped the rest of its ammo into the enemy troops outside Pearl, then docked to rearm.

I've reassigned two stateside unrestricted heavy bomber squadrons from training duty to combat and flew them directly to Hickam, so we should have a much bigger raid on Lahaina in a day or two. I'm also sending a B-26 squadron to Christmas Island, intending to replace the one there which will also move to Hickam as soon as Palmyra is secured. A paratrooper unit is also headed to Pearl, I intend to use them to try to get solid recon on the fortification level on Lahaina. My phibs standing off Lahaina are ordered to Pearl, I'm going to wipe out those troops first, then wear down Lahaina before trying to take it back by force.


Sumatra
Our Fulmar squadron attempted an attack on ships, but the Australian Kittyhawks assigned to escort them did not, so they ended up in a fight against Zeroes. 4 Fulmars and 2 Zeroes were shot down; the Fulmars turned back. 4 more Zeroes were shot down near Palembang.

China
One Zero and one Wellington down.

The same thing that happened at Chusien yesterday happened at Chengchow, I ordered an attack against a weak unit but by the time the order was carried out the unit had been reinforced. Casualties 1310 to 7800 favoring them.

Darwin
One more P-39 down. I'm sitting these guys for awhile, I'm not too worried about bombers showing up, I kind of wish they would since I now have 2 heavy AA units here.

Malaya
Sweeps at Singapore continued, 2 Oscars and 2 Hurricanes down.

[Molon Labe]

7 July 1942
Lahaina airbase wrecked

New Hebrides
I already had two heavy cruisers and two destroyers headed to Luganville to remind the enemy troops there I haven't forgiven them for slaughtering our marines here in the early months of the war. They had the good courtesy to have a cargo ship and a PB escort there when we arrived, so we sank those too. Looks like it was a supply run.

Hawaii
I'm not sure why, but my heavy task force wasn't able to transit 2 hexes--80 miles-- to bombard Lahaina today, so that will happen tomorrow. They're leaving the area after that as I'm expecting KB interference at this point. One of my tripwire submarines in the Marshalls was spotted by an "aircraft" although the report didn't bother to specify what kind of aircraft so it's rather ambiguous. Certainly could be Kates/Vals on patrol from a CVBG moving through.

Our heavy bombers are in business, though, and we hit Lahaina with 14 B-17s and 7 B-24s, splitting them between the port and the airbase. We hit and likely sank a sub tender, a patrol boat tender, and a general tender (probably the same one I thought I sank yesterday). We also destroyed two fighters and a bomber on the ground. Aside from one scoutplane that made a flight today and found my withdrawing cargo convoy, it doesn't appear they have any operational aircraft left, and the airbase itself has severe facility damage. If I can keep it damaged this badly he shouldn't be able to move in more planes without most of them wrecking on the runway.

I had my marines attack the enemy encampment on Oahu in force today instead of just an artillery bombardment. Casualties were 1113 to 283 favoring me, and the enemy was reported to have a supply shortage. Ooo rah!

China
They swept Chengchow, I only managed one Lancer in the air to oppose; it shot down one Zero and bugged out.

Malaya
Oscars are still sweeping Singapore, they got one Hurricane today without loss.

Sumatra
We got another shot at 46 unescorted Sallies just outside of Palembang--we shot down 9.

Reinforcements
AM Katoomba arrives at Sydney
xAK John Page arrives at Alameda
118th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden - full strength, unrestricted -- immediately shipping to Colombo
US 1942 AA Pool arrives at Eastern USA - I think this unit is going to immediately disband, placing a whole bunch of new AA guns in the pool to be distributed to AA units.