War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

17 September 1943
Yet another large tanker knocked out

Japan
USS Flying Fish torpedoed a Tonan Whaler class tanker near Iwo Jima, setting its cargo on fire and very likely dooming the ship.

Near Kanoya, the Skipjack torpedoed and destroyed a mine tender on ASW duty.

Southeast of Shikoku, USS Tullibee put two fish into a PB on ASW patrol, sinking it.


China
We lost a British B-24 near Nanchang to a new enemy CAP of Tonies. We've switched our bomber priority to this area due to the Hong Kong area threats being mostly dealt with.


DEI
It appears that the KB has withdrawn. Hopefully we won't see the Akagi or Shokaku again for a long time.


Reinforcements
DE William C. Miller arrives at Eastern USA
SS Cero arrives at Eastern USA
SS Flasher arrives at Balboa
158th USA Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

18 September 1943
And another tanker hit...

Marianas
USS Silversides hit a converted Std-A tanker off Guam. Initial damage didn't appear severe, but the ship is on fire.

Burma
USS Barb sustained significant depth charge damage attempting to interdict a troop convoy near Mergui on the Malayan peninsula coast south of Rangoon.

The enemy attempted an airborne assault on Lashio, losing several transport aircraft to fighters and flak. A small contingent of troops made it to the ground and survived initial contact with my garrison.


DEI
B-24 raids on Ambon hit and sank a destroyer in port. Beaufort torpedo bombers attempted attacks on a second destroyer but missed.

China
Land attack in Nanchang, casualties 1443 (J) to 759 (A). Fortifications taken down to Level 5.

Land attack in Tsiaotso (in the northern front line area, small mountain base). Casualties 3033(J) to 373 (A), forts taken down to Level 5.


Reinforcements
22nd Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco
No.194 Sqn RAF arrives at Delhi (16 Dakota transports)

[Molon Labe]

19 September 1943

Japan
USS Whale torpedoed a PB near Aogoshima. Although these are small ships, it's possible this one survived. Unlikely, but possible.

Strait of Malacca
USS Ray torpedoed and sank a Kaibokan while transiting the Strait. These ASW ships are just getting sunk by their prey all over the place. In this instance, it appears to have been a desperation attack by the sub rather than an ambush.

DEI
Beaufighters and B-25s, now based in Dili (Timor), attempted an attack on troop transports near Watampone, Makassar. The KB was nearby and had a CAP up over these ships. We lost 9 Beaufighters and 8 B-25s in this attack; one B-25 shot down a Zero. A few bombers made attack runs but nothing hit.

One B-25D1 raid (5 planes) was smart enough to stay away from those targets, instead going after an ASW group near Kolaka, Makassar:
PC Kaki, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SC CHa-33, Shell hits 11, Bomb hits 2, and is sunk
SC CHa-43, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
These skip-bombers can do pretty good if they can stay away from enemy fighters!


Burma
A large raid of Wellington and Blenhiem bombers attacking the enemy tank regiment near Prome ran into a large CAP flying out of Rangoon. Unfortunately, this portion of the raid did not link up with escorting fighters. We lost 11 Wellingtons and 5 Blenhiems. Subsequent raids did have fighter escorts, allowing us to shoot down one Zero.

We've eliminated the enemy paratroopers at Lashio as well as one of the units that sallied out of Rangoon (the 1st INA Subhas Regiment).

More paratroopers landed in Tuyang Gyi and seized it without resistance. I had a garrison here awhile ago but moved it south once he started trying to break out of Rangoon. The base is pretty far out of the way so it's not critical.


China
As in Burma, the initial raids on Nanchang didn't link up with their escorts, so one B-24 was shot down by Tonies, while later escorted raids (and a sweep) did not encounter enemy fighters.

Nanchang took another ground attack, casualties were 1034 to 523 favoring us and the forts were taken down to Level 4.

We attacked an enemy unit in the jungles near Canton and failed to overrun them, taking 647 casualties vs inflicting 398 in the exchange. We outnumber them 27k to 7k but the terrain bonus is helping them out. I'm sending some B-25s and more troops from Canton to help with this.


SouthPAC
I missed reporting this a few days ago, but S-31 was bombed near Truk and the damage was quite bad. She's trying to make it to Rabaul but today we got several messages that they were losing control of the flooding.


Marshalls and Marianas
A couple days ago I started loading up 'phibs at Pearl to make a move on the Marianas, taking advantage of the fact that his carrier forces have been taking a beating in the DEI and will be unlikely to intervene. Essex, Yorktown, and the CVLs are making their way up through the Marshalls to rendezvous with the phibs (which are themselves covered by CVEs) to provide protection from a likely major group of Betties as well as any new carriers he might have deployed here to fill in for the ones he moved from here to the DEI. There is a small cruiser-led task force we've had intermittent contact with in the Marshalls, we just spotted them again at Roi-Namur--I'd going to try to get my carrier pilots some badly-needed combat experience with that group while they're en route.


Reinforcements and Withdrawals
DE Crouter arrives at Eastern USA
SS Robalo arrives at Balboa
6th Infantry Division arrives at San Francisco (unrestricted and full strength! Old equipment though--their kit is at 1941 standards)
18th Marine Defense Battalion arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

20 September 1943

DEI
I range restricted the B-25s enough to keep them away from Watampone, but not Kendari. So to Kendari they went--and that's where most of the enemy fighters in the area are. We lost 6...5 of them did get through and got a bomb hit on an enemy APD, setting it on fire.


Burma
We're still only getting partial escorts for bombers in Burma. 2 B-24s and 4 Vengeances were shot down near Prome. The escorts that did support the bombers got 2 Zeroes and a Nick.

We've retaken Toungoo and destroyed the enemy paratrooper unit there. Another paratrooper raid hit Magwe; they were immediately wiped out by the garrison.


SouthPAC
The S-31 lost its battle with progressive flooding and is now on eternal patrol.


Reinforcements
DE Seid arrives at Eastern USA
SS Batfish arrives at Balboa
No.38 Sqn RAAF arrives at Sydney (transports)



21 September 1943

Marshalls
The enemy task force hanging out at Roi-Namur moved west to Eniwetok, which kept them safely away from my CVBGs passing through the east side of the Marshalls. But it put them right where a SAG I had deployed here and forgotten all about, so we had a short night battle between my SAG (1 CA, 4 DDs) and theirs (1 CL, 2 DD). Sadly, damage was minor. We managed to disable a gun mount on the cruiser, but beyond that no one sustained any serious hits. If they stick around, the carriers should be able to get them tomorrow.


DEI
P-38 sweeps targeted Kenari to try to reduce the enemy fighter presence, but I'm not sure the juice was worth the squeeze. We lost 5 P-38s, and shot down 4 Zeroes, 2 Nicks, 1 George, and 4 Tonies. I really don't have enough P-38s to keep this up, I'm either going to have to rely on something else in this area or maybe send the P-38s in Burma back into the pool to eventually end up here.

China
We traded a P-40 for a Tony over Nanchang as they tried to intercept our bombers there.

Burma
We lost a B-25 to enemy fighters while attacking ships docking at Rangoon. They got some good hits though:
xAP Ussuri Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
AK Sakura Maru
CL Kashima, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAP Teifu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
AV Sanuki Maru, Shell hits 5
No ground losses reported.

Solomons
The starving enemy garrison at Guadalcanal attacked our approaching troops as they waited for their armor support to make it through the jungle. Casualties 1567 to 145 favoring us. Downright suicidal.

Reinforcements
DE McConnell arrives at Eastern USA
VB-150 arrives at Alameda (just a pair of Ventura bombers)

[Molon Labe]

22 September 1943

Solomons and New Britain
The destroyer USS Jenkins detected an enemy submarine at Rabaul and depth charged it for significant damage. Shortly after, the minesweepers on patrol started finding mines and got straight to work. The minefield laid by the sub was cleared by day's end.

New Mexico and Arizona shelled the enemy garrison at Guadalcanal again as our armor joined our infantry in preparation to begin a decisive assault on the enemy garrison.

Enemy troops at Guadalcanal attempted to shell our troops, but the enemy garrison estimated to be at 20,000 in strength only managed to get 10 artillery guns online for this attack, underscoring just how out of supplies they are.

The enemy ships being hunted by my CVBG appear to have settled in at Ponape for now. The carriers finished the turn in range but didn't launch a strike. Here we go again...


Burma
A few days ago I noticed a sub that had been detected near the landing site our phibs we were using hadn't moved. A quick peek "under the hood" for the reader's benefit--when a unit is detected, it gets a "detection level", the higher the DL the easier it is to attack; DL goes down with movement. So, leaving a detected sub in place was keeping its DL high, creating a target of opportunity. I detached 2 depth-charge-equipped PGs from the phibs that were now returning to Calcutta to go after the sub. I should have picked better ships--the PGs were immediately ambushed when they arrived by a second sub that hadn't been detected; one PG was sunk.

P-47s swept over enemy ground forces near Prome, shooting down 2 Zeroes and a George, but one of the Georges got a P-47 too. Despite the sweeps, there were still enemy fighters around to oppose bomber raids, and escorts were spotty. We lost 3 Vengeances to the enemy CAP, while escorting fighters added 1 Nick to today's air-to-air kills.

An enemy amphibious landing was reported further south down the coast from Pegu. I've ordered a pair of nearby British subs to check it out.

An unforced error on my part--a combat engineer unit I landed on the coast and ordered to Prome arrived at Prome; I forgot to cancel this movement when the enemy retook it. So they made an automatic shock attack crossing the river with no hope of overcoming the enemy garrison. We got away with it, for now. Casualties 33 to 52 favoring them. I'm ordering the engineers to fall back.


China
P-40 sweeps over Nanchang got a Tony and kept the skies clear enough to prevent bomber losses.


Reinforcements
30th BG/819th BS arrives at Eastern USA (full squadron of shiny new B-24Js)
8th Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco (empty unit being reformed)
45th Aviation Base Force arrives at March Field (full strength)
-I'll be moving a large group of troops to Australia soon as many reformed/newly arrived units are nearing full strength.

[Molon Labe]

23 September 1943
Guadalcanal in US hands

Burma
The remaining PG managed to get the drop on one of the enemy subs off the Burmese coast today, dealing significant--but nonfatal--depth charge damage. It briefly picked up the 2nd but wasn't able to track it long enough to make an attack run.

Our subs spotted the enemy phibs south of Pegu and referred that info to the B-25G squadron at Magwe. The enemy had no fighter cover opposing the 9 bombers:
xAP Ussuri Maru, Shell hits 1, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nitti Maru, Shell hits 2
AK Sagami Maru
xAK Anyo Maru
xAP Palau Maru, Shell hits 1
No troop casualties reported, so this strike came a bit late. At least we sank some of their supply.

At Prome, the enemy garrison attacked our retreating combat engineers, forcing the retreat to completion. Casualties 32 to 332 favoring them. Enemy strength appears to be a division at about half-strength.

Just south of Prome, the units we detatched from the main force drove yet more enemy troops off the roads around Rangoon. These guys retreated to Prome. Casualties 716 to 60 favoring us. We've just about cleaned up everyone now. Just Prome itself, that worthless base north of Mandalay, and the tank regiment that took Prome from me that's getting bombed in the jungle as it tries to make it's way from the west road to the east road.



Japan
In a rather frustrating choice by the skipper of USS Grenadier, 6 fish were fired at a PB escorting a tanker convoy southeast of Tokyo. 3 hit, all detonating, and sending the PB straight to the bottom. Meanwhile the tankers went on their merry way. This is further east than I've seen most of their tankers approaching Japan, so I'm adjusting some patrol routes to try to get the next convoy.


China
US P-40s shot down another Tony over Nanchang. The bombers followed unmolested.


DEI
I accidentally left one of my weakened P-38 squadrons with Sweep orders for Kendari. Got away with it--1 Nick shot down, no losses.


Marianas
USS Drum sank a PB that was on ASW patrol. It's been a long time since we've seen anything but ASW ships here--if that tanker convoy out of Tokyo doesn't end up here in a few days I'll probably send these patrols somewhere else.


Solomons
Armor support having arrived yesterday, today we attacked the enemy base at Guadalcanal in force. We immediately pushed the enemy troops off their base, although they didn't actually surrender and I don't expect that they will. Casualties 612 to 62 favoring us.

Recon had been saying 20k troops here, but our troops are saying just 9k. I wonder how much of that was due to casualties or desertions from months of bombing and isolation. Could he have snuck 10k+ soldiers out somehow?


Reinforcements
CV Bunker Hill arrives at Balboa (lots of rookie pilots, and reserves are depleted due to losses in the DEI. It may be awhile before I can really deploy this ship)
DD Murray arrives at Eastern USA
DD Swanson arrives at Balboa
71st RG/17th RS arrives at Eastern USA
71st RG/82nd RS arrives at Eastern USA
418th NFS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

24 September 1943

Burma
The surviving PG I sent to the Burmese coast encountered 2 more enemy subs on the way back to Calcutta. Ran out of depth charges trying to kill the first. Apparently they're hiding all along the coastline and I'm lucky my amphibious task force hasn't had to deal with them. Going to send some better ASW ships up and down the coast to hunt these guys.

The enemy lost 3 Zeroes near Prome trying to stop B-24 raids, one to the bombers themselves, then 2 more to a sweep by P-47s.

Taung Gyi is back in our hands.


China
Lost a P-40 to a Tony while escorting bombers over Nanchang.


Solomons
Several of the weaker units defending Guadalcanal have been reported as wiped out: 3rd Tank Regiment, 82nd Naval Guard Unit, 84th Naval Guard Unit, 7th Naval Construction Battalion, 2nd JNAF AF Unit, 38th JNAF AF Unit, 39th JNAF AF Unit


South China Sea
USS Sargo torpedoed and sank a PB escorting tankers east of Brunei.


Reinforcements
CVL Monterey arrives at Balboa
SS Hackleback arrives at Eastern USA
27th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

25 September 1943

South China Sea
USS Ray got a shot at the same tanker convoy attacked by Sargo yesterday, and actually sank a tanker instead of an escort! Just a small one--2100 tons. Ray took serious depth charge damage from a Kaibokan escort after the attack and is limping to Brisbane for repairs. USS Hake then attacked an escort in the same convoy and missed.


China
More mop-up attacks against the mostly-broken enemy units that were around Hong Kong and now appear to be trying to make it to Vietnam. Attacking in poor terrain, they got the better of us today, 144 to 232 casualties despite us having air support.


Solomons
Add 62nd Naval Guard Unit to the units wiped out at Guadalcanal. Still some holdouts from the 12th Division and some base forces.


A Beaufort flying out of Rennel Island spotted a Japanese sub off the coast of Guadalcanal and bombed it. I wonder what he was up to. Evacuations?


Reinforcements
41st BG/820th BS arrives at Eastern USA
VMF-122 /A arrives at San Francisco
DD Welles arrives at Seattle
AM Vigilance arrives at Seattle


-Replacement aircraft and pilots have brought our air forces in the DEI back to where they were before the massive losses around Kendari and the KB.

[Molon Labe]

26 September 1943

DEI
4 Nick fighter bombers strafed Namlea airbase at night, damaging several aircraft and destroying a Hellcat and a P-40. I don't have night fighters available close by--the closest are those Corsairs that arrived in the US weeks ago which should be dropped off in Townsville Australia in a few days. Until then I'm putting 1/3 of a P-47 squadron on night patrol duty.


Burma
6 B-25Gs attacked a transport task force at Tavoy. We failed to connect with any bombs but did get 75mm cannon hits on an AV and a destroyer. 1 B-25 was shot down by flak.

Our phibs are landing more reinforcements on the Burmese coast.


Sulu Sea
The beleaguered tanker convoy from Brunei was attacked yet again, this time by USS Stringray near Iloilo in the Philippines. She sank a small 2900-ton cargo ship-to-tanker conversion. Makes sense, the docks at Burnei are pretty small, I usually use medium tankers there.


China
Nanchang took another ground attack, which hit hard enough to bring our forts down to Level 3. Not sure how much our air support is helping. Casualties 3493 to 1452 favoring us. The attacking units are well below what their strength should be "on paper."

They also attacked Sinyang (frontline between the central urban area and the northern cluster), casualties 2449 to 221 favoring us. Not sure what they're thinking there.

And finally they attacked the small mountain base of Tsiaotso. They brought the forts down to Level 4, taking 2435 casualties to our 876. They look really short of what they need to get through here.


Reinforcements
DD Kidd arrives at Eastern USA
839/841 Engineer Aviation Battalion arrives at San Francisco

[Molon Labe]

27 September 1943
Prome liberated, again


Sulu Sea
USS Hake torpedoed (2 hits) and sank a 6600-ton (converted) tanker crossing into the Sulu Sea from the northern coast of Borneo.


DEI
Lost a B-24 to flak over Ambon. It's been awhile since that happened.


Burma
Prome is ours again and I think we can hold it this time. Casualties 2693 to 63 favoring us. A division-strong army unit has made it from the landing site down the roads to Prome. Just a question of supply now.


China
Still struggling to mop up enemy forces in the south. Attacked one enemy unit for 123 to 123 casualties. Our units reporting less than full attack strength due to supply shortages.


Japan
USS Whale was bombed by a Japanese patrol aircraft near Okinawa, fortunately damage was minor. I'm adjusting her patrol area to someplace a bit further out but she'll stay on station there.


Solomons
Beauforts reported another hit on a Japanese sub off Guadalcanal.

[Molon Labe]

28 September 1943
Essex-Yorktown CVBGs randomly intercept major tanker convoy and annihilate it
Last enemy soldier on Guadalcanal killed


DEI
Night attacks on 2 bases this turn; Dili and Boela, no damage.


Burma
Another amphibious delivery to the Burmese coast from Calcutta is proceeding. No sign of that horde of subs for a few days.

The enemy tank regiment that had previously taken Prome from me returned and found itself outmatched. Casualties 757 (and 93 vehicle losses) to 59, the enemy retreated east and is pretty much cut off from any convenient return to Japan-held territory at this point.



CENTPAC
My operation against the Marianas is underway, and the scoutplanes from my CVBGs escorting the 'phibs spotted an enemy convoy slightly northwest of Marcus. They launched a massive airstrike (25 SBD-5, 22 SB2C, 13 Avengers) and wiped it out:

TK Manei Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Gyoshin Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Palembang Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
PB Yasushima Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
TK Ayazono Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Otoriyama Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Ogura Maru #2, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
--
PB Sonobe Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
PB Hirotama Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
PB Nagato Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Ayazono Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Gyoshin Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
TK Otoriyama Maru, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
TK Manei Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Ogura Maru #2, and is sunk
--
TK Manei Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
PB Nagato Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
TK Ayazono Maru, and is sunk

That's 6 tankers--4 newly manufactured Type 1 TM class (6400 tons), 1 7150 ton Manzyu class, and 1 converted Std-B cargo (4670 tons). This is much further west than I'd expect to find tanker traffic. My best guess is these guys were headed from Japan to Truk to fill the naval base's bunkers.


Solomons
Our troops have completely secured Guadalcanal. No enemy troops surrendered, of course. Fanatics.

And the Beauforts reported yet another hit on the sub (subs?) off Guadalcanal. Some of these hits may be false claims, especially if it's the same boat each time. I don't see them surviving more than 1 hit.


Reinforcements and Withdrawals
VMF-313 arrives at March Field (2/18 Corsairs)
VP-44 arrives at San Diego (12/12 Catalina)

No.615 Sqn RAF arrives at Aden (16/16 Hurricane)
6th USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
--I'm activating 2 each restricted VMFs and VP squadrons to compensate for my expansion
No.118 Sqn RCAF is withdrawn - 16 Canadian Kittyhawks - yes they took their aircraft with them and I have essentially no RCAF aircraft left.
USS Pike - severely damaged and trying to withdraw to South Africa - is now officially overdue and costing me political points to keep in theatre. It could be 2 months before she completes the trip. Should have scuttled her.

[Molon Labe]

29 September 1943

Solomons
A pair of destroyers I sent to Guadalcanal caught up with that sub (I think it's just one) hanging out there and depth charged it. Judging from the fact that is sustained significant damage without sinking I'd say the bombers' claims to have hit it were false.


China
The enemy gave up on Nanchang and was retreating in an orderly fashion, so I ordered an attack and turned it into a rout. Casualties 8374 to 550.


We routed another broken unit-a mortar battalion-near the Vietnam border. Gonna let them go at this point.


Japan
USS Pargo became the latest sub to get bombed near Okinawa. It's headed back to Midway for a repair assessment, will probably end up at Pearl.

[Molon Labe]

30 September 1943
Amphibious task force detected by enemy approaching Marianas

DEI
We've begun landing on Batjan, between Namlea and Ternate. This is an undeveloped space suitable for a medium-sized airbase. My objective is to build a small fighter base that can provide support to take Ternate. With Ternate (or even Batjan, maybe) taken, the Celebes Sea should be closed to enemy merchant traffic. The Luzon Strait is already so hot they're not sending much through there, so losing Celebes is pretty much just going to leave them with routes through the Philippine Islands which will be easy to mine and/or guard with subs.


Burma
3 Zeroes attempted to intervene with our bombing of enemy units near Prome; all 3 were shot down by escorting fighters with no losses.


I'm backing off on bomber raids a bit for now, including moving a squadron of B-25s back to India. We're consuming too much supply, and I need to use supply to build up Prome. With Prome built up, I should be able to maintain air superiority around Rangoon without the need for supply-sucking drop tanks. Then, hopefully, the supply I have will be enough to support an assault on Rangoon itself. Or at least hold off whoever landed south of Pegu when they arrive.


China
After several failed enemy attacks at Sinyang, I thought it was time for a counterattack, with some help from bombers. Didn't work out. Casualties 216 to 1451 favoring the enemy.


CENTPAC
The task forces approaching the Marianas have finally been detected. We're close enough to hit them with air strikes tomorrow morning and possibly get a naval bombardment in too. But that also means we're at risk of a strike tomorrow. I've been monitoring the large concentration of bombers at Surabaya for any sign the bombers were being rebased here, and so far that hasn't happened. That we got this close before being spotted hopefully means they don't have too many Betties here. But we have hundreds of Hellcats overhead keeping an eye on things, and a bunch of Avengers ready to crater their runways. Landings should commence the day after. We expect significant resistance at Saipan, and I'm planning on setting up an airbase on Tinian fast to provide air support if we get stalled on Saipan.


Reinforcement
421st NFS arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

1 October 1943
More Betties getting through than expected--USS Princeton hit--but the enemy's opening strike has been parried


Japan
USS Grenadier torpedoed and sank a PB escorting a tanker convoy near Chichi-Jima.


Mariannas
We weren't able to hit the airbase in Saipan before the sun rose. The first wave was 15 Zeroes, 10 Georges, 19 Nicks, and 24 Tonies escorting 40 Betties. We had 116 Hellcats waiting for them. That's 116 vs 68 as far as fighters go, you'd think we'd stop them cold, right? The air combat was much in our favor, losing just 6 Hellcats and shooting down 5 Nicks, 4 Zeroes, 1 George, and 8 Tonies. But we barely got to the Betties at all--we shot down 2 before they reached the flak screen. Fortunately the Betties are showing their obsolesence in the face of modern flak. One was shot down, pretty much all the rest damaged, and their accuracy was horrible. USS Princeton took the only hit and is still conducting flight ops.


A second wave of 29 unescorted Betties hit a CAP of 80 Hellcats, we took out 15 of them but they still somehow got through--they all missed. 13 Jills were next--finally we shot every one of them down.


I managed to screw my attack up by ordering my Avengers to attack enemy ground forces instead of the airbase giving us the trouble. Oops.


Afternoon saw more waves of enemy air attacks. The big one was 10 Zeroes, 9 Nicks, and 13 Tonies escorting 21 Betties; our CAP was down to 70 for this. Still overwhelming IMO. We lost 2 Hellcats in the furball but shot down 2 Tonies, 4 Nicks, 3 Zeroes... and all 21 Betties! A followup raid of 8 Georges escotring 12 Betties saw 5 Georges and 3 Hellcats shot down, those Betties got through but managed to miss... well, I'm pretty sure they had two hits that were duds.



After that our bombardment task force reached Saipan--USS North Carolina along with the heavy cruisers Quincy, San Fransisco, and Northhampton shelled the airbase, reportedly destroying a Betty, a Helen, and 2 Nicks and damaging 77 more Betties and 42 Helens (and some fighters). Take those damage numbers with a grain of salt--each instance of damage is reported and the same aircraft can be damaged multiple times. Enemy airbase damage was pretty serious in the low 40% range. For their trouble, the North Carolina took 34 hits in total from the shore batteries, but the guns were too small-caliber to get through her armor and do any real damage. The Northampton was less fortunate, taking 12 hits and sustaining serious system damage. But very little flooding.


I won't say the base is neutralized, but with most of the Betties being damaged by flak or on the ground after their missions, this base's sortie generation should be garbage, while our CAP remains near full strength.


Landings tomorrow. We're detecting a lot of subs hanging out here (Avengers and Kingfishers on patrol) and are reporting 6 hits on them total. Also sending minesweepers out ahead in Tinian. Can't do that at Saipan with all those guns on overwatch though.




ChinaA ground attack by us on enemy units near Kwelin (southern area, a bit inland) caused 211 to 343 casualties favoring the enemy. These guys get the bombers next.





Reinforcements
VB-115 arrives at San Diego (2/16 Liberators)
1st USA Defense Battalion arrives at Pearl Harbor
56th Australian Lt AA Regiment arrives at Sydney

[Molon Labe]

2 October 1943
Yorktown disabled by torpedo hit...overall operation not looking so great


CENTPAC
A DMS looking for mines at Tinian drew some coastal battery fire but nothing hit. It did find one mine to sweep.


Avengers hit Tinian's airbase but didn't find anything to kill there. A costal minelayer got underway at Guam, drawing an airstrike from the Essex's SBCs; it went down after 2 hits.


The enemy's main strike, targeting the main amphibious group, was next: 16 Zeroes, 26 Georges, 8 Nicks, and 9 Tonies escorting just 4 Betties. Our CAP was 99 Hellcats. We lost 1 Hellcat while shooting down 3 Tonies, 2 Zeroes, 3 Georges, and 1 Betty. The other Betties aborted the mission.
Another wave of 2 Zeroes escorting 20 Betties arrived next, targeting the Yorktown CVBG, which had fallen behind the other task forces but had apparently diverted much of its CAP to defend the first wave. We had just 8 Hellcats on CAP!!! We shot down 4 Betties while losing 1 Hellcat. 16 Betties made attacks, scoring a hit on Yorktown. The damage was surprisingly severe--enough to knock out flight operations, while most of its aircraft were aloft. The result was mass ditching, a loss of about 50 aircraft. 4 more Betties tried to sneak in after that, 1 was shot down before they turned around.


The port at Saipan was hit next by 12 Avengers and 27 Dauntlesses. We lost 2 Avengers to flak while sinking a destroyer tender, 3 mine tenders, and 2 cargo ships, and damaging a general tender, a sub tender, and an ammo ship.


Landings proceeded on all 3 targets, but Guam in particular looked bad. We did not anticipate a substantial garrison here or major shore batteries, but both were present. One troop-carrying cargo ship is already doomed from coastal defense hits, another seriously damaged.


The garrisons on Tinian and Saipan also appear substanitally larger than intel had us believing. So this looks like just a bad move on my part. Early in the campaign I lost a USMC regiment because I didn't adequately confirm the enemy troop levels somewhere... was it Canton Island maybe? I really need to start absorbing and integrating these lessons into my game.


Avengers reported 4 hits on submarines throughout the day.



Burma
We routed that tank regiment again, causing a loss of 105 more vehicles. I doubt we'll be able to hit them again before they're safely back in Rangoon.


We've also pushed the enemy paratroopers out of Shwebo (north of Mandalay). Which means the enemy no longer controls any bases north of Rangoon.