War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

21 December 1942
KB covers heavy surface task forces back to Koepang, Shokaku hit in sacrifice by USS Porpoise, Babar supplies nearly exhausted

Burma, India, Thailand
Yesterday I noticed that there was a task force near Rangoon along the coast, my guess was they were going to bombard Chittagong, where most of my medium bombers are based. So I pulled them back to Calcutta. My read was correct, they bombarded Chittagong with a force including Hiei and Haruna. They still caused significant troop casualties and some facility damage, but we didn't lose any planes. One of their destroyers also took a pretty bad hit from a coastal defense battery.

A second task force landed a small number of troops at Cox's Bazaar, but I don't know if they're done landing. The rebased medium bombers tried to attack these ships but failed completely--at least 33 bombers participated. The troops are the 65th Brigade, or at least part of it. They were last seen in Tavoy, which probably means they were the garrison we kicked out, so they might only be at partial strength.

I suppose they might be looking into continuing into India after they finish off Burma. But I think it's more likely bait for the British fleet to head into the Bay of Bengal and get trapped between the coast and the KB-West.

In Thailand, we suffered another attack at Uttaradit, which went even worse for the enemy than the last one as they are now also suffering supply shortages. Casualties 149 to 2019.

Babar and surrounding seas
The Yamato and Kongo's task force shelled Babar, disabling about 10 planes, damaging runways, and once again hitting our very limited supply stores. On their way out, we had plenty of subs waiting. Greenling made a run on the Yamato's group but was spotted and driven off. Next was the Porpoise, with the result I reported early: it managed 4 torpedo shots at the Shokaku, getting one hit which appeared to cause serious damage. Three escorts broke off to pursue the Porpoise, at least one of which was armed with the deep-reaching depth charges that Japanese ships often don't have, and it was quite accurate. Porpoise took at least 3 solid pattern hits, plus several damaging near misses, and was forced to surface, where all three prosecuting destroyers opened fire on it. Spearfish and Finback were next, both were spotted and prosecuted by the same 3 destroyers that killed Porpoise. Fortunately they were not as accurate this time, Finback was lightly damaged and Spearfish got away clean.

IJN Hiyo is reported to be with the KB now, so that's a transfer from the Indian Ocean fleet.


Solomons and New Britain
We did P-38 sweeps on Rabaul and Guadalcanal. No one came out to play at Rabaul; at Guadalcanal we shot down 5 Zeroes and 1 Tojo without loss. B-17s followed up the Rabaul sweep and inflicted heavy damage on the airbase.


China
We'd been bombing a unit near the river crossing south of Keifeng daily for probably the last 3 months. For the first time since then, he put a CAP up to defend them, which cost us 3 SB-III bombers and a P-40 escorting them. It'll just be sweeps for awhile.

There's also a convoy in Hong Kong now, not yet sure if he's reinforcing or if he's dropping off supplies and/or loading resources to take back to Japan.

In response to the reinforcement of Wenchow, I'm making a move to engage the army sitting outside Chusein. I'm going to defeat them before they have an opportunity to form a larger force with them. I started making this move 2 days ago I think; today we noticed troop movements from Shanghai headed west towards this location. So probably a good thing I ordered this right away.

Refits and Reinforcements
SS Plunger begins refit while under repair at Brisbane
SS S-23 taken out of commission to begin refit at Brisbane
40th Coast AA Regiment arrives at Anchorage (restricted)
2/9th Field Regiment arrives at Sydney (empty unit, no guns in pool)
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment arrives at Karachi (empty unit, few guns in pool)
111th RAF Base Force arrives at Aden (empty unit, needs to get in line)

[Ostfriese]

It's become quite quiet. Everyting OK with you and your opponent?

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

It's become quite quiet. Everyting OK with you and your opponent?

We both came down with computer issues almost simultaneously. We're both actually running new systems now. I just got mine up and running, and getting WITP back in action was the third thing I did after getting Windows installed (behind installing my antivirus suite and making sure I could still log into work)!


It looks like I'm back in business, he's still having some Windows 10/11 compatibility issues but I think he'll be good in another day or so.

[Ostfriese]

That's good to hear. Can't wait to read more of your reports - war reports which are far less depressing and much more interesting than those we are flooded with these days.

[mapuc]

You had me worried too-and like Ostfriese I'm also looking forward to read your AAR.

Markus

[Molon Labe]

22 December 1942

Just completed our first turn in awhile. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot to report. In retribution for "yesterday's" shootdowns in China, we took down 5 Oscars over Kaifeng without loss. P-38 sweeps also got a Tojo over Rabaul. It looks like the enemy is pulling their fighters out of Rabaul and the Solomons overall, I might step up the bombing soon if that's the case.


Our preemptive land battle near Wenchow was a draw; we outnumber them but they have substantial defensive bonuses. I'm going to try a shock attack tomorrow instead of a deliberate attack to see if that puts us over the top on them. They also have several maluses--supply and disruption among them, so I think the risk of heavy losses in a shock attack is somewhat mitigated.



The KB is hanging out at Koepang, giving me a chance to lick my wounds at Babar. Supply is becoming a problem both at Babar and Darwin.


Landings at Cox's Bazaar continue, and my medium bombers and even Beaufighters are failing to score hits despite numerous runs. I'm adding a dozen torpedo bombers for tomorrow to see if that changes anything. I hope I'm not just getting them out of the way for an attack on Colombo, which I expect to materialize any time now.


USS Dolphin has withdrawn from the theatre.

[Ostfriese]

So, either there are ongoing computer problems, or both Molon Lobe and his opponent are planning major operations and have imposed strict radio silence

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

So, either there are ongoing computer problems, or both Molon Lobe and his opponent are planning major operations and have imposed strict radio silence

The first. Sorry, guys. But yeah, I was successful making the transition to Windows 10, but my opponent hasn't. I was hopeful the solutions that worked for me would work for him since the problems seemed so similar, but it hasn't helped. As it stands he considers WITP unplayable and he's working on reverting an old system to Win7 to continue the campaign.

That said, there has been some progress, so let's get caught up:




23-25 December 1942

Babar Island Campaign: The KB parked between Timor and Babar and drew airstrikes from Darwin on 23 and 24 December. We lost 3 F4Fs and 27 SBDs on the 23rd and 2 F4Fs and 16 SBDs on the 24th with not even a Zero shot down to show for it. We got some payback on Christmas as unescorted Vals attacked cargo ships delivering supplies--we got 19 of them and the ships were not attacked. The situation remains fluid with neither side's army apparently strong enough to attack, just defend, and I'm sure we're both having supply issues. My supply problems extend to Darwin as well, though, the overland routes unable to provide enough support for the current OpTempo and cargo runs having been disrupted by the naval battles in the area.

We lost the S-37 and KXV to the KB's Kates, and several more subs are limping to Darwin or Brisbane for repairs.

Burma and Thailand: All evacuating units have reached our fort at Uttaradit, and the whole group has been ordered north through the mountains towards Burma/China. SIGINT reports a tank regiment rebasing from Singapore to Bangkok that's likely intended to chase us, not along with the 40,000 or so troops already on the other side of the frontline at Uttaradit. Left behind are about a dozen unflyable aircraft at Pisanouke.

The Beaufort torpedo bombers did manage to sink a loaded transport off Cox's Bazaar, and one of the level bombers even managed to get a hit which appeared to cost them a transport as well. The torpedoed transport ship had some kind of support unit aboard. This cost me, though, the squadron is now down from 12 planes to 5, I only have 5 more defending Colombo, and I have no replacements on the way. I pulled the torpedo bombers out on 12/24, and the transports left by 12/25 anyway. He landed enough troops to take Cox's Bazaar, but I really don't see the point. I suppose he could push northwest and take an airbase from me, but after that any further push into India would take a major commitment.

Mandalay is still in my hands, for now--he clearly has enough troops to take it. Right now I'm essentially fighting a delaying action, fighting here because that's where my fortifications are so that's where I can cause the most casualties to him. We'll eventually be forced to retreat to Lashio, near the Chinese border. If Lashio falls, we probably won't have any chance of saving the evacuating armies from Thailand, as this base and the roads near it are at the source of the supply line through those mountains.


CENTPAC
I have Marines on the way to Wake. I don't expect much resistance. Midway is coming along nicely and now has a submarine tender, and its bunkers are being filled with fuel for submarine operations. A pair of PCs are now on patrol to try to prevent enemy subs from setting up a minefield. I have Marines prepping for Tarawa and even Saipan now, but I'll probably give Canton another attempt while those are prepping. Basically, I'm trying to take advantage of the KB being parked off Timor to take back space and threaten to reach the Philippines. My major strategic goal for the moment is to enable multiple options for major amphibious operations somewhere with industry that could make a invasion at least partially self-sustaining. As long as the KB says together, he can only defend one such option, and right now he's essentially denying Java as an option.


SOUTHPAC
We've achieved air superiority over Rabaul and Guadalcanal, as P-38s sweep both bases with only token resistance, our bombers hit both bases unopposed, and few aircraft are being detected at either base by recon sweeps. We haven't actually knocked out either airbase though, so this is far from a permanent state. But, it should mean supplies on both bases are dwindling, and there's another opportunity for me to cause damage while the KB is occupied. I've had my eyes on the Shortlands for awhile, so I'll probably greenlight that operation in the next 2-3 days--I just need to make sure the garrison is still as weak as it used to be and organize the task forces. The purpose will be to set up a strong airbase there that should make it nearly impossible to resupply Guadalcanal or Rabaul.

[Molon Labe]

26 December 1942

I usually like to wait after the replay to get the actual game save file before I do a turn's AAR, but I have no idea how long it's going to be until that happens this time. But I do have the replay, so might as well while the memory is fresh.


Babar Island
The enemy broke off a detachment of destroyers and subchasers to try to deal with my subs. They didn't hit anything this turn. They also sent an amphibious force to land more troops on the island, which drove my amphibious supply run off. The troops are (from) the 56th Division, last known to be in Sumatra. The PT squadron failed to engage as is ended up being baited away by the ASW detachment.

In the air, Babar was swept, then CAPed by the enemy. The sweeps cost us 7 P-39s and 4 P-40s while shooting down only 3 Zeroes and 2 Oscars. Our medium bomber raid took heavy losses to the CAP: 2 P-38s, 5 B-25s, and 9 B-26s, with 5 Zeroes and 2 Rufes shot down.

The bomber losses will hurt, but if the KB is close enough to put a CAP on Babar, maybe I can wear them down with sweeps of my own.


EDIT: Got the save file, info there showed that the transport sub Argonaut had been bombed unloading supplies at Babar. It's limping to Darwin for a patch-up, then to Brisbane for real repairs.

Burma
We lost a B-24 at Mandalay to flak, the bomber formation shot down an Oscar. Damage to the enemy was light (poor weather affecting accuracy), but they didn't attack so Mandalay is still ours for now.

[Ostfriese]

Hopefully you guys get your computer problems sorted out.


On a funnier note: it's been Christmas in your game for five weeks now. Ain't that nothing?

[Molon Labe]

27 December 1942
-really uneventful. We lost 4 Hurricanes and 3 Hudsons to enemy CAP over Cox's Bazar, and traded 2 P-39s for a Zero over Babar. More troops are coming ashore at Babar, and it looks bad... I'm evacuating the aircraft and pilots so I don't lose them if we're overrun.


28 December 1942

• Guadalcanal has an insane amount of flak. We lost 2 B-17s bombing their airbase even though we flew at 15,000 feet.
• We shot down 3 Tojos over Rabaul--they seem to be slowly reinforcing this squadron.
• A Japanese shock attack at Mandalay took our forts all the way from level 3 to 0. It will fall tomorrow.
• It looks like the whole 56th Division is landing on Babar. They're giving us a chance to hold on, though, making an attack while the unit is still unloading and unorganized. Casualties 1642 to 143 and our forts are holding. The KB looks like its headed away to the northwest

29 December 1942
Mandalay and Cox's Bazar fall -- scouts lose track of the KB.

Babar
The S-47 hit a cargo ship headed to Babar with a Mk10, which we believe sank it. The ship was carrying vehicles. We don't have a track on the KB anymore but we're still seeing a lot of Kates patrolling so we don't think it's gone far. Still, setting my medium bombers to hit their troops again and letting my SBDs, Beaufighters, and A-20s attack ships tomorrow if any are spotted in range. The P-38s will try to provide top cover over Babar while Wildcats provide escorts.


Burma
Headline says it all. Mandalay fell as expected and Cox's Bazar was overrun too. My remaining forces in Burma are falling back towards Lashio, on the Chinese border. We'll try to keep that supply line to the troops in Thailand open as long as we can. We lost 2 B-25s to flak and a Hurricane to CAP over Mandalay trying to disrupt their troops; we took an Oscar down in the fight.

I'm probably about 1 week from being able to launch a truly large-scale invasion from Australia. We'll see how long we can keep the enemy land forces busy in Thailand/Burma and were the KB decides to loiter. The Philippines really aren't a feasible option if we can't guarantee a supply lane, which probably means the Marianas are a pre-condition.


CENTPAC
We're close enough to Wake that the CVE tagging along with the marines is making recon sorties and they know we're coming. We'll be on the beach tomorrow or the day after...damn LSTs really are slow.


TWO DAYS UNTIL THE FACTORIES START PRODUCING CORSAIRS!!!!!

[Molon Labe]

31 December 1942
The revenge of CVW-6: Amphibious task force struck in high-low attack by SBDs and supporting Beaufighters. Wake captured.


Babar
The PT squadron that had been displaced from Babar ran out of fuel on its way back to Darwin. I sent another squadron to Babar and had a cargo ship meet up with the others to gas them up. The replacement squadron ran into a massive enemy ARG unloading at Babar: CA Furutaka, 13 DD, 6 PB, and 17 AK. The Furutaka sank one of the PTs and forced them to break off. The appearance of the PTs did manage to disrupt their unloading, which might end up being a big deal.

The rest of the day here consisted of raids from Darwin targeting the ARG. There was a relatively light CAP of Oscars from Koepang supporting them. For whatever reason, our Wildcats failed to fly their escort mission, but I had also assigned P-38s to fly high cover over Babar itself, so those fighters ended up helping the bombers get to their targets, and it was enough. VB-6, VS-6, and the Beaufighter squadron each flew two sorties to hit the task force, and we managed not to take any losses. The P-38s shot down 3 of the Oscars on CAP. As for the ships:
xAK Hankow Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage; (2nd wave: Bomb hits 3, and is sunk)
xAK Chitose Maru #2, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Rakuto Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Akagane Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Osaka Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Kanko Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage; Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Bingo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires; Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage; Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk
xAK Tonan Maru, Shell hits 6, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires; Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Imizu Maru, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 1, on fire; Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Sinsyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CA Furutaka, Bomb hits 1, on fire; Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage (all 4 bomb hits are from the SBDs, so those are 1000lb SAPs and not 250lb-ers from the Beaufighters)
xAK Bunzan Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Akiura Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nanman Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage; Shell hits 4, Bomb hits 7, and is sunk
xAK Seian Maru, Shell hits 10, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage


So I count 14 of the 17 AKs at least damaged. "Heavy fires" or "heavy damage" is usually a death sentence for a civilian ship, so most of these are done for.

We also had 33 medium bombers attacking the troops on the beach.


Solomons
We lost a P-38 in our daily sweep of Rabaul as the enemy Tojo squadron continues to grow. They had 5 planes in the air today. Hopefully some of the ones we're damaging are crashing, or being lost to the craters in the runways.


Burma
We're both trying to get our bombers to the armies in and around Madalay. That cost us 2 Hurricanes, and him 2 Oscars, 3 Zeroes, a Nick, 2 Sallies, and a Helen. The bombers are getting through on both sides and hurting the troops.


CENTPAC
The Marines hit Wake and immediately captured it. There were only two enemy units there, a construction battalion and an aviation support company, little to no combat troops.

[Ostfriese]

1942 is in the books.


Could you give us an overview of the strategic situation and the outlook for the next few months? The American industry should now start to produce real numbers of everything, so the balance should begin to shift.


How much use will Wake Island be? In reality the Allies bypassed it and it never played any major role, but in the game right now it's about the closest area (apart from the Asian mainland) to Japan's home islands you control.

[Molon Labe]

No problem!



Here's a quick look at the strategic map, and I've added the intel I have about the unrestricted divisions that Japan has. You can see just how heavy he is into Burma relative to everything else.

I don't think Wake is important, it's more that it's someplace I can just take at no cost while at the same time decreasing the amount of ocean the KB might be hiding in when I don't have a track on it. The Marshalls seem to be the one place in the Central Pacific he cares about, and I haven't even seen that much activity there since the KB moved to the Java Sea. But the Marshalls do seem to be his "staging ground" for the KB, they're centrally located and in theory would allow him to send it out to respond to my activities. So attacking the Marshalls is a bit lower of a priority for me as that would require more of a commitment, and I really don't think I'll get that much out of it. Midway and Wake--possibly Marcus and the Marianas next--were/should be relatively easy.

My main strategic focus right now is trying to take advantage of all those troops being far, far away in Burma. So the Marines are opening a corridor through the Central Pacific towards the Philippines, while the Army is looking for an opportunity to get into Java or Sumatra. Taking Babar was part of that operation, and that threatened him enough to have the KB do something about it.

The KB still owns the sky wherever it goes, so he has the ability to stall either one of these prongs, but I'll advance along whichever one he's not countering. Losing the Lex and Saratoga badly complicated this, though, because I'm no longer sure I can deter him from splitting his carriers to deal with both. But, he's not sure he got both ships, and he still has doubts he even took down Hornet.



Next, let's look at US reinforcements. Below are the US Army and US Navy fighter production schedules, and the arrival dates for major warships and carriers specifically:




I've highlighted what I think is especially important:


1. Current P-40K production is rather high, combined with P-39 production its allowed me to re-activate some squadrons that were effectively eliminated at Pearl early in the war while still maintaining my frontline units.
2. July 1943 is going to be huge. P-40 production is going to jump from 65/month to 125/month, and I'm going to get Thunderbolts at 56/month. On top of that, July is when I get 2x CV and 2x CVL.
3. Corsair production begins now, but this is not a carrier capable version and it's being produced at a low rate of just 30/month. So the Wildcat is still going to be our mainstay for awhile, while I'll be trying to get the Corsairs to key frontline land bases--perhaps the Shortlands soon enough.
4. Hellcats arrive in 4/1943 and at a whopping 130/month. The carrier fighter squadrons are going to convert very quickly.


EDIT: Not shown on these charts but also noteworthy:
5. My SBD production rate is currently a pitiful 21 per month, not nearly enough to maintain force levels if the squadrons are seeing combat, and further taxed by several new USMC squadrons arriving plus destroyed USN squadrons being reorganized. The recent losses around Babar nearly wiped out my replacement pool. In April 1943, production increases to 67 SBDs/month plus 45 SB2C/month.
6. B-24 production is currently at 15/month, will go to 33/month in February.
7. Avenger production isn't increasing until November, but we currently have over 100 replacement aircraft available and producing 30/month, so there's no issue there.

[Ostfriese]

Great summary, thanks.
The KB still hanging around is annoying, but with all the aircraft and pilot losses they should be quite a bit away from their original strength by now.
I get your point about Wake. Marcus Island should fall in the same category. Losing the Marianas, however, would be a major blow for your opponent, because it all but encircles the Marshalls, and with your increasing air and submarine power the Marshalls will become quite difficult to supply without the Marianas. All the best for that operation. Show him!

And if I remember correctly, your submarine torpedoes will get a boost on Jan 1st, as well.