SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - War in the Pacific AAR Thread

Molon Labe · 07-11-22, 12:06 PM

22 February 1943

CENTPAC
Heavy Cruisers Wichita and Indianapolis bombarded Marcus, with marines coming ashore just afterwards via LSTs and LCIs. Marcus is better defended than we realized, they have what appears to be a full marine unit in addition to aviation support. Our USMC Defense Batallion coming ashore probably won't be enough.

Burma, India, and Western China
An Oscar sweep hit Kunming airbase in western China, which I'm now using to try to support my retreat from Burma. 3 Oscars and 1 P-40 were shot down.

We've retaken Cox's Bazar in southeastern India. Casualties 1881 to 264.

Banda Sea
We lost B-26 to flak over Babar.

Bay of Bengal
A heavy-cruiser-led task force is approaching Sri Lanka from the southeast. I started redirecting traffic away from Colombo in response, and started moving my British heavy TF west to hopefully keep them undetected.

Solomons and New Britain
We spotted a battleship-led task force at Rabaul, just as the Seabees at Shortlands expanded the airstrip big enough go support ASUW missions. I ordered VT-6 to Shortlands to try to catch them. We don't have an airHQ for them just yet, so this will be bombs only, no torpedoes.

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23 February 1943
Battle for Sri Lanka (Ceylon) about to kick off, IJN Kongo battered by Avengers of VT-6

Solomons
VT-6 flew 2 sorties against the IJN Kongo, hitting it with (i think) 15 total 500 lb GP bombs. 2 Army Banshees also participated but missed, one of those was scrapped due to damage. None of the bombs got through the armor, but we started enough fires to hopefully deal real damage.

Bay of Bengal

Sorry for the odd shape, I combined screenshots to get all the enemy task forces plus Ceylon at the same time.

We now hold contact on 4 task forces in the Bay of Bengal, plus a sub near Diego Garcia, so it appears that the expected invasion on Sri Lanka is imminent. I've redirected yet more tanker traffic to keep them clear, and moved a few B-24 squadons from Calcutta to right across from Sri Lanka. They'll bomb any troops that make it ashore, while the Vengeance dive bombers and Beaufighters go after the ships.

Banda Sea
Another destroyer task force went to Babar and rang the dinner bell. SBDs and Beaufighters pounced, hitting at least 6, with at least 3 confirmed sunk.

CENTPAC
Marcus isn't looking good. We expected very little resistance here and ended up with a full marine unit on defense. Despite heavy cruiser bombardment, they're holding on pretty well. I'm sending more troops but it's going to take time, neither Midway nor Wake are big enough to act as staging areas so they're coming from Pearl. I might send the Wasp to help... but there's already a task force headed from Truk to Marcus and for all I know, that's the KB finally getting drawn out.

If Marcus doesn't turn into a disaster, PBYs from there can reach the Marianas, hopefully spotting their tanker routes.

07-11-22, 12:06 PM	#590
Molon Labe Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Along the Watchtower Posts: 3,810 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 5	22 February 1943 CENTPAC Heavy Cruisers Wichita and Indianapolis bombarded Marcus, with marines coming ashore just afterwards via LSTs and LCIs. Marcus is better defended than we realized, they have what appears to be a full marine unit in addition to aviation support. Our USMC Defense Batallion coming ashore probably won't be enough. Burma, India, and Western China An Oscar sweep hit Kunming airbase in western China, which I'm now using to try to support my retreat from Burma. 3 Oscars and 1 P-40 were shot down. We've retaken Cox's Bazar in southeastern India. Casualties 1881 to 264. Banda Sea We lost B-26 to flak over Babar. Bay of Bengal A heavy-cruiser-led task force is approaching Sri Lanka from the southeast. I started redirecting traffic away from Colombo in response, and started moving my British heavy TF west to hopefully keep them undetected. Solomons and New Britain We spotted a battleship-led task force at Rabaul, just as the Seabees at Shortlands expanded the airstrip big enough go support ASUW missions. I ordered VT-6 to Shortlands to try to catch them. We don't have an airHQ for them just yet, so this will be bombs only, no torpedoes. ------------------ 23 February 1943 Battle for Sri Lanka (Ceylon) about to kick off, IJN Kongo battered by Avengers of VT-6 Solomons VT-6 flew 2 sorties against the IJN Kongo, hitting it with (i think) 15 total 500 lb GP bombs. 2 Army Banshees also participated but missed, one of those was scrapped due to damage. None of the bombs got through the armor, but we started enough fires to hopefully deal real damage. Bay of Bengal Sorry for the odd shape, I combined screenshots to get all the enemy task forces plus Ceylon at the same time. We now hold contact on 4 task forces in the Bay of Bengal, plus a sub near Diego Garcia, so it appears that the expected invasion on Sri Lanka is imminent. I've redirected yet more tanker traffic to keep them clear, and moved a few B-24 squadons from Calcutta to right across from Sri Lanka. They'll bomb any troops that make it ashore, while the Vengeance dive bombers and Beaufighters go after the ships. Banda Sea Another destroyer task force went to Babar and rang the dinner bell. SBDs and Beaufighters pounced, hitting at least 6, with at least 3 confirmed sunk. CENTPAC Marcus isn't looking good. We expected very little resistance here and ended up with a full marine unit on defense. Despite heavy cruiser bombardment, they're holding on pretty well. I'm sending more troops but it's going to take time, neither Midway nor Wake are big enough to act as staging areas so they're coming from Pearl. I might send the Wasp to help... but there's already a task force headed from Truk to Marcus and for all I know, that's the KB finally getting drawn out. If Marcus doesn't turn into a disaster, PBYs from there can reach the Marianas, hopefully spotting their tanker routes. __________________ Last edited by Molon Labe; 07-11-22 at 05:45 PM.