War in the Pacific AAR Thread: ML (Japan) vs. Leo (Allies)

[Molon Labe]

29 April 1942
I-22 briefly fights a destroyer on the surface--and survives?


Western Indian Coast
The I-162 sank an AKL in a night surface gun/torpedo attack.


CENTPAC
Near Pearl, the destroyer Hull successfully prosecuted the I-22, scoring enough depth charge hits to force it into an emergency blow. While on the surface, the two ships traded gunfire. The Hull was hit for sure--I'm not sure if the 22 was also hit--if it was it wasn't a lot. The I-22 was able to re-submerge and make its escape. Making it the rest of the way back to base, though, that's another story. Her odds are good, but I thought the Katori was completely fine, and we know how that turned out.


SOPAC
We had a few low effort raids on the KB that needed to be turned back... 1 Banshee and 1 Vincent shot down. The KB's Kates claimed a hit on the S-46 and one other sub.

[Molon Labe]

30 April 1942
Suva/Nadi still fighting back


SOPAC
Hiei and Kirishima shelled Suva overnight but did not appear to do much damage. I had some Betties do some night bombing afterwards and lost one to flak.

At the same time as the shelling, I was landing aviation support in the hopes that the base at Nadi would be mine shortly. The enemy took the opportunity to get some airstrikes in, and once again my long-range CAP wasn't really up to the task. Catalinas scored three hits on a cargo ship for a kill, and damaging a second. The sunk cargo ship took an aviation support company with it--the first complete land unit we've lost in the war. We lost 3 Zeroes trying to defend the landing while only splashing 1 P-39. Heavy bomber raids caused a few casualties on the beach as well.

An enemy minesweeper ran from my task force at Nadi, allowing the KB to pick it off with some Vals.


Sumatra
We now have full control of the island with the capture of Sabang at the northwest tip.


Malaya
The CVE Taiyo has received sufficient temporary repairs to safely move it to Japan. The CVLs Zuiho and Shoho, along with the Hiryu, have reported to Singapore for a maintenance stand-down.

[Molon Labe]

1 May 1942

Indian Ocean
Aircraft have been spotting a British sub near Colombo over the last few days; I sent an ASW task force of 3 DMSs to try to sink it. Today, the sub ambushed the ASW task force and sank one of the DMSs. Ugh. The remaining ships only slightly damaged it afterwards.


CENTPAC
The I-8 hit a transport outside of Pearl with a torpedo, causing severe damage. It's close enough to Pearl to have a decent chance to survive.


SOPAC
Mutsu and Yamashiro shelled Suva. Again, not much damage, two days in a row.

A deliberate attack on Nadi went nowhere. Enemy forts holding at level 3. The main defender is a New Zealand brigade. Casualties were pretty even, although we had a small number of squads destroyed while he did not.

We fared better in today's air battles against the unloading amphibious task force, downing 3 P-40s, 1 P-39, 1 SBD, 1 Banshee, and 1 Vicent--without losing any Zeroes.

The KB's Kates claimed a hit on the S-46


Western Australian Coast
I-123 took a shots at the cruisers Glasgow and Sumatra outside Geraldton (north of Perth) and missed. It's just interesting to see them here, especially after the Indomitable was spotted and hit near Perth.


China
We broke even on casualties with a bombardment attack. We've only got about a 50% force advantage now, thanks to constant enemy reinforcement. The combined aerial and artillery bombardment doesn't seem to be wearing them down that much. Although, I got the worst of it last bombardment, so maybe breaking even is actually a good sign?


Upgrades
I've fallen a little behind, with the Atago class cruisers overdue for an upgrade along with the Ashashio class destroyers. With May, the Kagero class is now due as well. The Atago class has been tied up around Ceylon while the Ashashios are mostly escorting carriers on both sides of the theatre. The Ashashio upgrade is pretty important as it increases the depth charge launcher numbers (accuracy by volume matters!) along with a significant AA upgrade. But it's going to be easier to upgrade the Kageros because they're mostly deployed as amphibious escorts, so there are lots of opportunities at base to swap ships. I think a lot of the DD upgrades will end up happening in June-July when my carriers will also be upgrading.

[Molon Labe]

2 May 1942
Roll the dice enough times, and you eventually get a bad result...


Arabian Sea
The I-28 sank an enemy AKL off the coast of Mangalore, India in a night surface gun&torpedo attack.


SOPAC
The Allied submarine infestation finally got a tally, with USS Silversides putting a single torpedo into the Mutsu between Fiji and Noumea. Damage is moderate. She'll retreat to Noumea for now, but actual repairs will probably be done in Japan.

The single division landed in Nadi will not be enough to take it. I was always going to need the second division to get Suva, I just thought I'd have captured a close airbase by now... In any case, I'm pulling the KB and the battleships back for now. We'll be back after I replenish the KB's aircraft. The division may need to hold out against heavy bombers and even an armored rush for a few days.


China
Raids on Sian destroyed a Buffalo on the ground, in addition to the regular-ish base damage and casualties our daily raids are causing.

I've become discouraged at the lack of progress at Sian and to try to shake things up, I've ordered an end-around movement to cut off the road supplying Sian from the west. It's going to be a slow move though.

[Molon Labe]

3 May 1942

SOPAC
Hiei and Kirishima had a successfull bombardment of Nadi, the last before we pull out. I accidentlly left them on 'remain on station' so they actually stayed there instead of making it a third of the way back to Noumea. Looks like we destroyed 5 fighters on the ground.

The enemy took advantage of my error, attacking the battleship task force with dive bombers, and the troops ashore with heavy bombers. But the KB got the job done. The enemy lost 3 P-40s, 4 P-39s, 10 SBDs, and 1 LB-30 Liberator. The bombers didn't get anything done. I got 5 new aces thanks to this little turkey shoot.

I timed a deliberate attack to coincide with this bombardment--it was good enough to reduce the forts to Level 2 but not take the base. Casualties slightly favoring us. Again, we need the other division here too.


Western Australian Coast
I-32 torpedoed and sank a tanker near Perth.


Ceylon
I've caught up with a remnant of the Colombo base force that's been working its way to Trincomalee, trying to find a weak flank. They found an overwhelming force instead. The enemy is mostly tanks, though, and our AT armament is limited. Casualties even this turn.


Burma
My invasion of Burma is about to begin. I have a 4-division main force about to rendevous with another division in Moulmein. Another 2 regiments set to capture Pegu--they departed Port Blair today. Plus about another 2 divisions or so to land at Pegu once it's taken. Overall, Rangoon should be completely overwhelmed, and quickly.

[Molon Labe]

4 May 1942
Ceylon campaign ends in decisive Japanese victory


SOPAC
The enemy has started to fly some fighters at night to intercept my nightime Betty raids. This is a great result for me as it takes these fighters off the table for the main battles, any attrition to the Betties will be very low.

An LB-30/B-17 raid hit our troops, disabling a single squad. Jungle cover is nice.

Enemy units appear to be advancing fro Suva to my landing area at Nadi. The enemy also appears to have moved another 20 or so fighters into Suva. Surprising, since this looks like a battle I should be able to win.

Sound effects for a sinking sub played in the afternoon, so it looks like the KB's Kates are having some effect.


West Australian Coast
I-32 took a depth charge hit off Perth and will need to RTB for repairs.


Ceylon
The armored unit outside Trincomalee has surrendered, and we also overran the last enemy base of Koggala, forcing those troops to surrender too. That was the last of the enemy troops on Ceylon.

Very good campaign here for us. We lost a significant numbers of aircraft and good pilots with them, but the enemy suffered far more. We also took very few army losses. The only significant naval loss was the damaging of the Taiyo, and for that we got an enemy carrier and a battleship.

Enemy Losses
CV Formidable
BB Resolution
CL Enterprise
KV: 1
AS: 1
AM/AMc: 5
AK/xAK: 2
Hurricanes: 86
Martlet: 16
Torpedo bombers: 30
Hudson: 12
Blenheim: 80
Waipiti: 4
Audax: 3

Japanese Losses
CVE Taiyo damaged - will be unavailable for several months
DMS: 1
AK/xAK: 4
AP/xAP: 1
Oscar: 28
Zeroes: 20
Kates: 15
Betties: 23

[Molon Labe]

5 May 1942
Burma campaign begins with invasion of Pegu

SOPAC
My Betty raids overnight on Suva did some damage, but more important is that it's tying up enemy P-39s.

My troops had no problem enduring a few raids by heavy bombers and dive bombers.

The KB has replenished all its aircraft at Noumea. I have insufficient ammunition tenders to fully replenish the carrier's aircraft ammunition stores, and the rearming of heavy cruisers and battleships is also delayed. I'm going to get the KB back out ASAP to escort another division to Nadi, I intend to have cruisers join them en route after they rearm, and have the battleships follow that ready to bombard the troops at Nadi and the airbase at Suva.


Burma
I landed 2 regiments in Pegu to begin the my invasion of Burma. These guys will hopefully clear out the resistance between here and Moulmien so that the troops in Moulmien can cross without having to shock attack over a river. Once Pegu is secure I have about 2 divisions waiting to land right behind them. But, there's a problem with that... Enemy troops in Rangoon are already reported moving to Pegu. If they arrive before I reinforce, I might be overrun, or at the least I'll be facing more resistance bringing them ashore. I'm guessing recon flights noticed I was moving more troops towards Moulmien. So, I'm altering the plan--the relatively unprepared troops offshore will land in Pegu immediately.



China
I think I've overreacted to the situation in Sian. The end-around supply cutoff is a bad move and I'm aborting it. I'm moving over bad terrain without roads, so it will take weeks. And Sian is, in fact, weakening. Today's bombardment destroyed 13 enemy squads, which is a lot for this kind of attack. I'm also going to be able to add light bombers the bombers attacking here in a few more days. They're also trying to maintain an attenuated supply line to a base with 140k troops in it that is constantly being bombed and repaired. And if nothing else, when I take Rangoon in another week or so, the Burma Road will be closed and China's supply situation will go from bad to worse.

Near Kanhsien, I got a little too aggressive and attacked what turned out to be 2 corps with just one brigade. I lost 5 squads for that, they'll be making an orderly retreat back to base.

[Molon Labe]

6 May 1942
Burma: Pegu captured


West Australian Coast
I-32 incinerated a loaded tanker outside Perth in a night surface attack. It was unescorted--despite the numerous destroyers conducting ASW patrols in the area.


Fiji
Our troops ashore sustained attacks from heavy bombers and dive bombers while the KB was away resupplying, but damage was insignificant. Sweeps over Nadi eliminated 1 P-40 and 3 P-39s with no losses.


Burma
We captured Pegu with minimal resistance.





7 May 1942
Heavy enemy air losses over Fiji


SOPAC
The I-20 sustained depth charge damage in two separate attacks near Pago Pago while trying to deliver an SSX to the port. The damage is serious and she's limping back to Noumea for repairs.

At Fiji, the enemy CAP was rejuvenated, with 21 enemy fighters greeting a Zero sweep. We blasted 3 P-40s and 9 P-39s, exploiting the poor high altitude performance of these early Allied fighters with a "stratosweep" from 30k feet. We lost just 2 Zeroes. I guess I should enjoy this while it lasts.




8 May 1942
KB returns to Fiji - incoming enemy bombardment task force?

SOPAC
An enemy night raid of Port Morseby with B-17s destroyed a Zero and a Dinah on the ground. I really don't want to tie up multiple aircraft detachments here but I clearly need to have fighters in the air at night. Sigh.

On the east side of Fiji, the RO-34 engaged an AKL on the surface with gunfire, crippling the ship. This ship is out of position to be a picket--maybe a supply run?

After yesterday's severe losses, the enemy only had 3 fighters on CAP over Nadi--we shot down 1 with a Zero sweep. At this point, our amphibious task force delivering a reinforcing army division--covered by the KB--was close enough to draw an airstrike--just 3 Vincents and 3 B-17s. The Vincents were shot down by our CAP, the B-17s missed. A slightly stronger raid of 5 SBDs escorted by 6-P-40s targeted the KB, but called it a day after 3 of the P-40s were shot down.

The KB's scouts detected an enemy task force approaching from the east and sent a strike after it. With most of my Kates on ASW duty, this raid was heavily weighted with Vals--33 Zeroes, 10 Kates, 35 Vals--which worked against me as it turned out this enemy task force was the HMS Warspite with the American heavy cruisers Vincennes and Chester, with a single APD escort. The enemy had 14 fighters trying to protect this task force, but we brushed them aside rather easily, shooting down 3 P-40s with one Zero lost, and keeping them off the bombers. We hit the Warspite with 7 bombs and the Vincennes with 1, but I don't believe any of the bombs penetrated the ships' armor. System damage to the Warspite is probably pretty decent though. One Val was shot down by flak.

Having most of my Kates on ASW duty wasn't so bad---we claimed 5 hits on enemy subs today, with sound effects for a sub sinking at the end of the turn.


So, this left me in a bit of a bad spot. A battleship and two heavy cruisers is tougher than the surface forces I have immediately available, and they are close enough to attack before the next KB airstrike. The phibs have just one heavy cruiser and several DDs; the KB has 4 heavy cruisers and probably like a dozen DDs. I have a battleship task force to the west but it's going to take another day to get here. With the enemy force detected, it's likely they'll pull back, but if he decides to charge at either the amphibs or the KB, our battleships would be engaging in the aftermath if at all. Detaching a strong force from the phib's or the KB would be a major gamble--they'd need a lot of DDs to protect them from all the subs in the area, which would in turn leave my original TFs vulnerable to the subs. Plus my heavy cruisers would likely take plenty of devastating hits from the Warspite while struggling to penetrate its armor. And I suspect enemy carriers are in the area looking for an opportunity to jump in--pulling the CAs out of the KB would significantly decrease my flak protecting the carriers.

I mentioned my situation in Jochen's discord server, and one very experienced member, Heclapar, noted that the enemy force would be vulnerable to attack by destroyers--they are too slow. And I'd noted that several times this campaign, my enemy had interrupted my bombardment attacks with wear surface forces that nevertheless ate up my ships' ammunition which was needed to hit targets ashore. So, the plan is this: I'm detaching 3 Fubuki-class destroyers from the KB, with the light cruiser Yubari to lead them, right into the path of the enemy task force before they reach us. The Fubukis are the only destroyers in the KB that do not have the deep-reaching depth charges, so their ASW contributions to the KB won't be missed very much. And they have plenty of torpedoes. This force, I hope, will be enough to force the enemy TFs to waste most of their main battery ammunition before they reach their objective, which is worth it even if that means sacrificing these ships--his accuracy will be MUCH better if he's shooting at unloading transports instead of small, quick destroyers. And with a little bit of luck, I might get close enough for a torpedo attack and cause significant damage. The KB will follow that up with an airstrike hopefully first thing in the morning, this time, with more Kates.

As for the transports...they've started unloading and we are taking far more intense shore battery fire this time around, with three transports and two destroyers hit so far. He's clearly moved something over from Suva, and it looks to me like he's probably landed reinforcements despite the almost constant coverage of the KB, land-based maritime air patrol, and submarine patrols. So our troops have their work cut out for them.


CENTPAC
The I-9 made two separate attacks on the AO Guadalupe at Christmas Island with 6 torpedoes each time, and missed every shot. The I-8 did better at Palmyra, hitting an escorted cargo ship with a torpedo, causing potentially lethal damage.

[Molon Labe]

9 May 1942
Best Girl Fubuki trashes the Warspite surface combat task force

Fiji
Overnight our amphibious task force continued to unload while taking fire from the USMC coastal batteries. Two cargo ships succumbed to the damage by the end of the day, I scuttled a third that I considered hopeless. One more cargo ship and an LSD have damage accumulating. A Dutch sub tried to add to the carnage, but was spotted, depth charged, and driven off.



As I had been concerned about, the HMS Warspite's group charged. Honestly, a bad move, because even if they'd been successful, the KB would have wiped them out afterwards. But, my plan worked as good as it possibly could have. The Yubari's light task force ambushed them in a night battle, firing a volley of long lances at them before they had detected us, and pressing the attack to 3,000 yards while continuing to fire torpedoes. Warspite was hit with 5 torpedoes, and Chester with 3--both ships sunk. The Vincennes and the APD Gilmer were peppered with gunfire and withdrew with blazing fires and major damage. As for my task force, all three Fubukis had taken a single hit, all from relatively low caliber guns, causing damage ranging from light to inconsequential. The withdrawing Vincennes was then set upon by the I-3, which administered a coup de grace with 2 torpedo hits. The APD was not seen in company with the Vincennes and was not spotted by the KBs patrol aircraft in the morning, so we can say with some confidence she sank shortly after disengaging.


The KB did spot the AKL that was shot up by our sub yesterday, and finished it off with a Val strike.

The enemy tried for some payback at daybreak with an air strike of 32 dive bombers escorted by 18 P-40s targeting our phibs (arriving in 4 separate waves, which decreased their effectiveness significantly). The KB contributed 11 Zeroes to defending the ships, and with the cost of just one of those Zeroes we shot down 4 P-40s and 8 SBDs. The remaining bombers missed their targets. I attribute the scattering of the enemy airstrike to the significant damage the airbase has sustained from repeated bombardments.



Arabian Sea
The I-28 took out an AKL off the Indian coast with gunfire.


Burma
My plan to move my main force towards Rangoon hit a bit of a snag--the move from Pegu to the enemy force guarding the river crossing from Moulmein was itself also a river crossing. It just didn't display on the WITP map. So I still had to cross a river and shock attack either way, so I just did so with the main force instead of the troops we landed. We easily overwhelmed the defenders--a brigade and a battalion--forcing them to surrender. We lost only 1 combat squad.

[Molon Labe]

10 May 1942

Fiji
I had wanted to bombard the landing area at Nadi, but the size of yesterday's airstrike made the airfield at Suva a priority. The Yamashiro and two heavy cruisers (Mutsu is down for repairs thanks to that torpedo hit) hit them overnight, destroying 5 P-40s and 2 SBDs. We added 3 P-40s later in the day with sweeps over Nadi.



CENTPAC
The I-9 was depth charged by a corvette near Christmas Island, sustaining serious damage and forced to return home for repairs.


Near Lahaina, Hawaii, the I-4 put 2 torpedoes into the USS Mississippi, good enough to sit her out of the war for a few months.

[Molon Labe]

11 May 1942
Paratrooper assault in Burma - mixed results

Fiji

Zero sweeps downed 1 of 4 P-40s on patrol at Nadi.


China
I cleared out some enemy units once again trying to roadblock supplies to Sian. I made the mistake of keeping a tank regiment in reserve for pursuit--it would have been a great plan had they retreated on the road instead of into the mountains--now I have a tank regiment stuck in the mountains and it's going to take weeks to get it out.


Burma
I attempted an airborne assault on several bases north of Rangoon that are part of its rail network. The idea is to let them retreat from Rangoon if they want, but only a little bit into Burma, nowhere near India or China. Success was mixed: we captured the "eastern road" bases of Meiktila and Toungo with no resistance, while taking heavy losses at Magwe and being wiped out at Tuang Gyi. The plan is going to be to try to use the forces landing at Meiktila to get us over the hump in Magwe, or at least consolidate while armor runs up the roads from Rangoon to link up and bail them out.

There are some enemy forces moving up the western roads but I can't tell how many are trying to pull out. The more the better--I expect Rangoon to be heavily fortified. I'd rather fight just about anywhere else.

[Molon Labe]

12 May 1942

Fiji
Hiei and Kirishima shelled Nadi, hoping to cause enough disruption for our troops to finally break out of the beachhead. We didn't quite get through--forts are down to level 1, squad destruction was low and about even, while we had more squads disabled. The bombardments are clearly working, though. It isn't helping that the second division we landed wasn't prepped for this in advance and ended up taking a lot of disablements upon landing, if they'd been at full strength we'd just roll over them.

Sweeps took care of 1 of 2 P-40s still trying to defend Nadi.


Burma
Our paratroopers tried again to take Magwe but failed. Light casualties.

[Molon Labe]

13 May 1942
Mostly uneventful. I made an attack at Nadi, reducing forts to 0, casualties higher on our side but not enough that I'm worried. The crippled I-20 is reporting damage control failure events and might not make it back. Kates reported 2 sub hits off Fiji.


14 May 1942
I-122 hit a mine trying to lay a minefield at Perth and sank. Live by mine, die by the mine. The I-164 sank a cargo ship approaching Socotra with a pair of torpedo hits.


15 May 1942
Yamashiro shelled Nadi, which was enough to get us over the top--it's ours, finally. And we got to blow up 7 P-40s on the ground as a nice bonus. I also attacked in Sian, which held, but with squad destructions twice as high for the enemy, and they are getting a strength deduction for low supply levels. We're so close I can taste it. In Burma, he's begun making unescorted bomber raids on my paratroops in Magwe, which cost him 2 Audax bombers courtesy of Oscars on long-range CAP. The Burmese retook Meiktila as I am trying to concentrate my paras on taking Magwe.

[Molon Labe]

16 May 1942

• India: I-28 sinks an AKL near Goa
• Burma: 3 Blenheims shot down over Magwe trying to bomb my paratroopers. Toungoo captured by tank regiments moving north from Rangoon.

17 May 1942

• Fiji: Enemy minefield cleared at Nadi. Not that it did them any good, I've been landing troops there this whole time. Maybe it was just laid in the last couple days? Also at Nadi, the S-28 torpedoed and sank one of my minelayers being used as a troop transport.
  • The KB has been relieved by the Juno/Hiyo CVBG as far as covering the ongoing amphibious operation and battleship fire support. KB took replenishment at Noumea this turn.
• Palmyra: I-26 sinks an enemy PC on patrol
• Burma: 5 more Blenheims down over Magwe
• Port Moresby: playing a bit of a guessing game with him, switching my Zero detachment from day to night patrols. Today was night and a supply run was arriving--a daylight B-26 raid attacked the convoy without any resistance on my part. Fortunately, they missed

18 May 1942

• IJN Kaga returns to service. Will remain in Yokosuka for a few days resizing navy squadrons, then rejoin KB.
• I've laid a small minefield of my own at Nadi to try to take out any further US submarine infiltration of my beachhead.

19 May 1942

• Port Moresby: USS Triton has a great day, reattacking my supply convoy after a failed attack yesterday. First, it sinks the PB escorting it. Then it attacks the large cargo ship on the surface, using up its remaining torpedoes to sink it. The last ship, an AKL, it attacks with gunfire, leaving it crippled.
• Burma/India: I attack Akyab, India with the Hyuga and Ise, retaliating for the Blenheim strikes on Magwe. We destroy one or two Blenheims on the ground, cause some fires, and destroy some support squads.
• Noumea: 2 LB30s shot down by Zeroes trying to attack the port. The bombers successfully hit a docked PB.

[Molon Labe]

20 May 1942
Burma: Armor advancing towards Magwe wiped out a retreating enemy base force. We attacked Rangoon, knocking forts down to 3 and destroying 82 combat squads to 6 lost, with 4 to 1 assault value ratio. This will go quickly despite the high forts.


21 May 1942

• China: we've routed enemy forces near Nanchang, destroying over 200 enemy devices while losing just 2. The retreat of this unit will allow the forces that we've slowly moved over from Wenchow to consolidate with local forces that ended up in a stalemate. In other words, the front line around the Changsha region is now fluid again.
• Intel: We got a rare, big series of SIGINT hits from Sydney indicating 3 subs are in port there, with only about 15 fighters and 20 bombers defending the base. The subs are probably under repair from damage sustained off Fiji.