War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

13 January 1943

• An enemy sub hit a mine at Wake. We finally finished emptying one of the phibs there and can use that boat to start taking the frontline Marines off to make room for the base forces.
• USS Sawfish torpedoed and sank a destroyer near Babar
• USS Albacore was severely damaged in a retaliatory depth charge attack after it attacked a cruiser-destroyer group off Legaspi (Philippines). We may lose her.
• Hurricane sweeps over Mandalay resulted in one Hurricane shot down with no enemy fighters (Tojos) shot down. The B-25s all got through to try to interdict ground forces.
• All enemy fighters appear to have vacated Rabaul.
• The KB is hanging out west of Babar. Not sure why.
• USS Amberjack scored two torpedo hits on a troop-carrying cargo ship south of Japan, almost certainly a kill.

[Molon Labe]

14 January 1943

• The Brits splashed one Tojo near Mandalay; this was a 12-to-3 sweep where we had an altitude advantage. The pool of well-trained British fighter pilots has been exhausted thanks to the Burma campaign, and it's showing in terms of poor results like these the last two days.
• It looks like our retreating armies in Burma are far along up the mountain trail that the lead units are back in supply. But there are a lot of units on empty not getting any of that yet.
• There was another attempted Betty raid on our ships at Wake; they missed again but this time the Wildcats got to them on the way out. 3 Betties down.
• Two ships reported as cruisers are approaching Wake from the southwest. I also have 2 cruisers, so unless the report is garbage (and they often are) I can at least go toe-to-toe with them. I'm also flying in some SBDs from Pearl via Midway, but it's going to take another day for them to get here.
• The KB was not spotted this turn.

[Ostfriese]

Good to see that the reports are finally back. I hope you are well

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Good to see that the reports are finally back. I hope you are well

Thanks, I hope you're doing well too.


15 January 1943
Ghost ship Kako reappears, only to be sunk again


That pair of cruisers near Wake was actually just the heavy cruiser Kako, a ship that graced these pages after she tried to get through the Strait of Malacca, out of ammo and alone, eating a torpedo from bombers based out of Singapore around May 1942. Kako originally appeared to have been saved by Aoba and a few destroyers, but intel later reported she sank after all. Intel was wrong.

Kako approached Wake at night and ran into a blocking force consisting of the CA Indianapolis, CL Houston, and two destroyers. We fought two rounds; in round one Kako took a penetrating armor hit early, but otherwise we mostly exchanged shots that weren't getting through each other's armor. Houston eventually took a penetrating hit, nothing too serious. Kako realized she was outgunned eventually and ran off.

But the non-penetrating hits were still starting fires. Kako lost control of those and entered round 2 at a disadvantage. We closed range and got a lot of hits on her. The cost of closing was one of the destroyers took a devestating main battery hit, incapacitating her. And Houston ate enough rounds that she'll be at Pearl for a week or two for repairs. Kako disengaged again, severely damaged. Our ships lost track of her on radar and our scoutplanes never found her in the morning. Pretty sure she's gone this time.

A lot of the phibs that cleared out from Wake when I suspected there was a threat before are now back, hopefully we get the frontline Marines out and the base forces in efficiently now.


Rabaul now has Nicks on CAP. They were no match for the sweeping P-38s, we shot down 5 with no losses.


At Mandalay we got another Tojo, but their CAP stayed strong enough to claim a B-25 later in the day.


Not much else going on. Still no KB.

[Molon Labe]

16 January 1943

• Near Okinawa, USS Kingfish put two fish into the Kamakaru Maru, a 9500-ton troop transport. And yes, it had troops aboard. The Kingfish wisely surfaced to finish her off with one more torpedo and gunfire.
• At Babar, I've resumed medium bomber raids since there are no fighters around anymore. We did spot a single carrier hanging out hear Timor. Maybe that's the KB waiting to see if I re-invade?
• Lost another B-25 to Tojos near Mandalay

[Molon Labe]

17 January 1943

• A pair of light cruisers shelled the airbase at Chittagong, India, but were not effective. One of them took a hit from a coastal battery. I have 3 new attack squadrons coming online near here: Vengeance dive bombers, Beaufighters, and a night-fighter Beaufighter variant. I'm hoping the night fighters in particular might be able to do something about these raids. I had two subs along the expected path and they got nothing.
• USS Runner torpedoed and sank a troop-carrying Std-C class cargo ship (2900 tons) near Naha, Okinawa. Like the Kingfish yesterday, Runner re-engaged the stricken ship to make sure it went down.
• I've resumed Hudson raids on Rabaul due to lack of fighter protection there.
• We lost 2 medium bombers today, a B-25 near Mandalay and a Wellington near Wenchow, China.

[Molon Labe]

18 January 1943

• USS Permit torpedoed the heavy cruiser Kinugasa in the Strait of Makassar. She'll survive, sadly.
• Japanese marines took Saumlaki, just east of Babar.
• Our Hurricane sweeps got 1 Tojo near Mandalay. Their flak picked up the slack, downing one of our B-25s later in the day.
• We lost a B-24 to flak bombing Wenchow, China

19 January 1943

• In Burma, we eliminated a small unit fragment occupying Katha, northeast of the frontlines.
• We have an army at Hong Kong. We attack tomorrow.
• I was also hoping to make a land attack against Wenchow, but I think it's too well defended. Going to have to figure out what to do with all those troops in the area now if they're not going to attack.
• The SBD squadrons at Darwin, having been back at full strength for awhile now, targeted enemy merchant traffic near Babar. My read on this is these ships were going to pull the victorious armies out.

Strike 1 (20 SBDs):
AK Arima Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AKE Kiso Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Cheribon Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage

Strike 2 (16 SBDs)
xAK Hiyoshi Maru, Bomb hits 6, and is sunk
PB Yamabato Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires

Strike 3 (14 Beaufighters)
DD Tsuga, Shell hits 4
DD Yakaze, Shell hits 1
xAK Cheribon Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AK Arima Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

[Ostfriese]

Hitting transports always helps.

About transports: historically Japan was very short on transport ships from the moment the war started, and this was felt long before the US submarines overcame the initial problems.
Does WiTP represent that? Does the Japanese player feel every lost transport ship, or does this only come once the American player can fully implement the unrestricted submarine war?

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Hitting transports always helps.

About transports: historically Japan was very short on transport ships from the moment the war started, and this was felt long before the US submarines overcame the initial problems.
Does WiTP represent that? Does the Japanese player feel every lost transport ship, or does this only come once the American player can fully implement the unrestricted submarine war?

IMO, it depends on the type of transport. Japan has a lot of really crappy, slow transports. You don't feel those. But large, fast transports, the kind you need to get troops to places and deal with supply shortages all over the growing empire... those you never have enough of.

[Molon Labe]

20 January 1943
Hong Kong Liberated!


China
The enemy forces in Hong Kong were all REMFs. Our army easily took the city. The enemy armies just to the north in Canton (which was going to be my original target until I saw how much fewer troops there were in Hong Kong), instead of sallying south to try to take Hong Kong back from me, are headed east, towards consolidated Japanese control. Thus is appears he's conceding Canton to me as well and trying to prevent his armies from being surrounded.


Yesterday I wondered what my army near Wenchow was going to do, now I know. They're going to block the Canton forces' retreat.


This could be a huge turning point in the China campaign. Losing Rangoon was causing massive supply shortages all over China. I have plenty of resources here, but lack the factories to turn that into usable supply. Taking Hong Kong gives me a lot more factories, and so will Canton if I really do get that too. Also, if I really do eliminate the Japanese in the south, that lets me shift forces to the east, essentially letting me work my way north up the coastline to threaten Shanghai.


Burma
Things are looking bad for the units in the rear of the mountain trail. Their supplies are nearly completely exhausted, and their movement has been reduced to nothing or near-nothing by enemy artillery as additional units close in. This is about 17,000 worth of troops, mostly base forces. The rest of the procession appears to be back in supply, so they'll probably be OK, although there's always a chance they'll have to deal with an enemy force on the other end of the trail. Right now there is a large enemy force near there, but they're trying to off-road through mountains, which would work with infantry, but this army is very tank-heavy. So that's a mistake that's helping me.


Zeroes replaced the Tojos near Mandalay, and my Hurricane pilots loved it. We shot down 7 of the 8 that came up to greet us, no losses..

[Ostfriese]

Liberating Hong Kong is no small feat. Congratulations.



What are REMFs?

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Liberating Hong Kong is no small feat. Congratulations.



What are REMFs?

Thanks!

Rear Echelon Mother ......ers


---------

21 January 1943

• USS Stingray had a chance at a pair of tankers near the Marianas but got spotted by an escort. But it's noteworthy that fuel traffic is moving through this area. Maybe Japan trying to resupply Truk?
• Japan resumed a CAP over Babar with a Zero squadron. It looked like this group was made up of a combination of elite pilots and total newbies, as the enemy evaded my P-38 sweep very effectively early in the fight and sent a lot of my planes home full of holes. But then the wheels came off and Zeroes started falling out of the sky everywhere. 10 Zeroes to 1 P-38 in the end.
• The Zeroes also tried to engage the medium bombers that followed up, but the F4Fs escorting drove them off with no shootdowns.
• The F4Fs fueled back up and escorted SBDs in the afternoon for a strike on transports near Babar. A few Zeroes remained; one was shot down but they got 2 Wildcats and 2 SBDs. A single Zero engaged the Beaufighter flight but was shot down.
• The Tojos in Burma came back, this time attacking my base at Lashio instead of flying CAP over Mandalay. They were badly outnumbered, 5 Tojos vs 7 Hurricanes and 19 P-40s. 3 Tojos and 1 P-40 were shot down.
• All enemy troops at Hong Kong have been mopped up

SBD Strike (36 planes, really poor accuracy vs transports):
xAK Unkai Maru #3, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
xAK Oita Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Sanju Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
xAK Zyuyo Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PB Takunan Maru #8, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk

Beaufighter strike (14 planes, including the stragglers)
xAK Sanju Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Zyuyo Maru, Shell hits 8, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
---(2 stragglers: xAK Zyuyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk)
xAK Oita Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires


EDIT: I'm preparing to greenlight the Shortlands operation again and also moving my "major amphibious operation" into a state of readiness that I could initiate it in about 3 days of spotting the KB far away. One slight problem is that I expected to be done with Shortlands awhlie ago, so there are about 6 ships involved in that operation that I need for the other op, part of the reason I want to move on it now. I've got 3 replacements departing Pearl now, so the shortfall shouldn't be so bad that the op fails.

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

Thanks!

Rear Echelon Mother ......ers

And I thought it was something sophisticated

[Molon Labe]

22 January 1943

• Burma: Looking really bad for the base forces at the rear end of the retreat. An enemy unit of unknown strength has passed through the mountains and occupied a river crossing in front of them. Just about every unit that's already made it across that river, though, is fully supplied. I'm actually turning a few units around that are in fighting shape to see if the enemy unit is weak enough to engage and maybe help the rest of my procession get through.
• Sweeps over Mandalay got 8 Zeroes with just 1 Hurricane lost.
• Babar: Attacked the enemy base with a cruiser-destroyer group. They finished off a damaged transport (Sanju Maru) that had been left behind.
• Canton Island: We spotted a cargo ship here, probably a supply run. Diverted a destroyer that was escorting our own cargo ships south of Canton and sank it without any real resistance.

[Molon Labe]

23 January 1943

• A destroyer-minesweeper finally got to work on the rather large minefield I left behind at Babar.
• I lost a P-40 on the ground at Lashio to a night bombing raid.
• Major bombing raid on Guadalcanal: 32 B-17s attacking the airbase and 28 B-25/B-26s attacking the port. The airbase sustained moderate damage, the port not so much.

24 January 1943

• Sweeps by Tojos over Lashio took down another P-40.
• We lost a B-24 to flak over Canton, trying to soften it up from the troops approaching from Hong Kong.
• Raided Guadalcanal again, this time there were 12 Zeroes in the air to greet us. We shot down 2 and lost a B-25 to flak. As with yesterday, the airbase took moderate damage but the port isn't getting hurt much.

25 January 1943

• An enemy army is approaching Lashio in northern Burma, my main remaining base in the country. I don't think we can hold, only delay.
• Canton has been liberated. Thanks to major roads, we got from Hong Kong to Canton fast. I didn't even realize we were already there and I forgot to switch my forces from "move" mode to "combat" mode, and we automatically shocked attacked due to a river crossing. Didn't matter, just a token force here on defense, just like Hong Kong. And only Level 1 Forts.
  • Between capturing Hong Kong and Canton, we've added a ton of industry that is going to significantly improve the supply situation in China.
• I'm preparing to make a move on Canton Island. I've lost there before but any troops there will be suffering supply shortages by now. After that I'll be looking at the Marshalls and Marianas.