War in the Pacific AAR Thread - ML vs JFranzen

[Molon Labe]

4 September 1943

Solomons
One of our destroyer task forces prosecuted another sub, but only lightly damaged it before running themselves out of depth charges. They've been busy.

Beaufort bombers flying out of Shortlands reported two hits on submarines in the same hex as the destroyers, good chance that was the same guy.

DEI
24 P-38s swept Ambon with 4 Georges opposing--we got all 4 suffering 1 loss.

South of Makasar, 6 B-25G made a low level attack on an ASW group, failing to connect with any bombs but strafing a subchaser and a kaibokan with .50cal and 75mm cannon fire.

Another ASW group fell pray to its intended target, USS Seadragon destroying a subchaser with a Mk14 hit.


Burma
Beaufighters flying out of Pegu attacked an enemy surface combat task force at Tavoy, scoring one bomb hit on the light cruiser Naka, and strafing the Naka and a destroyer for minor damage.


China
We suffered a ground attack at Kiukang but held them off, casualties about even at 888(J) to 846(A). Good news for us.

Sinyang (northeast of the central Wuchang area) saw combat for the first time in a very long time, the IJA 9th Division attacking what it didn't realize was a superior force. Casualties were 134(J) to 158(A), that it wasn't worse for them showing the superior quality of the Japanese troops.

Meanwhile, our Hong Kong area reinforcements have gotten to work clearing out the enemy troops which had begun to spread out and encircle Canton, which just makes them easier to defeat piecemeal of course. Losses 4463(J) to 1060(A), one hex taken, onto the next.


Reinforcements
DE Bebas arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

5 September 1943
Guadalcanal landings underway, assault on Rangoon begins

Solomons
A minesweeper on ASW duty found a japanese sub and lightly damaged it before it slipped away.

Burma
An enemy bombardment task force (1CA, 1CL, 6DD) made a surprise attack on Pegu. Damage was light thanks to there only being 1 heavy cruiser--several aircraft damaged but not destroyed, light airbase damage. The task force was gone by sunrise. I assume they came from Port Blair. This is not the same task force hit by Beaufighters yesterday.

Deciding I needed more air support with the enemy moving troops out of Rangoon, I got the Vengeance dive bombers involved in ground attack. We ran into Tonies protecting the troops, which shot down 2 escorting Hurricanes and 1 bomber. We didn't get any of them.

Our main force is now at Rangoon and has carried out a preliminary bombardment attack just to try to confirm that we have what we need. The good news is we outmatch them about 4-to-1 in assault strength. The bad news is our supply lines are so attenuated that the bombardment attack actually cost us a substantial amount of supplies. Oops.


China
Somehow I forgot to make sure our Luzon-strait-covering Beaufighters wouldn't attack near Wuchang... so they did their thing again attacking ships that had come upriver. Fortunately we only lost 2 and took 1 Tony with us.


Celebes Sea
B-25Gs flying out of the new-ish base at Beola came all the way up to the eastern edge of the Celebes to attack an ASW group, sinking a PB with a bomb hit and damaging a subchaser with strafing runs.


SouthPAC
USS Scorpion torpedoed and sank a light cargo ship near Truk.

We're landing on troops on the empty western side of Guadalcanal. This avoids a contested amphibious assault and lets us set up a supply base of our own. I expect to find the enemy troops essentially broken after months of being cut off and bombed daily.


DEI
The severely damaged USS Pike is being given one more chance to make it to Darwin. She tried to make the trip there from Saumlaki but suffered additional flooding almost immediately and aborted, automatically docking at Babar. If she needs to abort again, in recognition that this sub needs to be withdrawn soon and is already going to end up costing me political points to keep "in service" long enough to repair her to get her out of theatre, I'm going to need to scuttle her.


Reinforcements
DD Burns arrives at Balboa
VP-62 arrives at Oak Harbor

[Molon Labe]

6 September 1943
Rangoon will have to wait--combat engineers are not optional
But maybe Wuchang?


SouthPAC
USS Herring hit a cargo ship with a Mk14 near Truk. The damage does not appear to be lethal, so it can probably make it to Truk for repairs.


DEI
An enemy midget sub torpedoed and sank an LCI near Namlea. Forturnately it was empty, having already delivered construction engineers to the new base.


Burma
I'm making another landing on the Burma coast, mostly base forces along with badly needed combat engineers...more on that later. I'd originally intended for this task force to go all the way to Pegu, but the massive bomber presence on Port Blair means that's a bad idea. But I also can't wait anymore. So overland on crappy roads these troops will go.

Nick and Tony fighterst attempted to defend Rangoon from our B-24 raid, that battle resulted in 2 Nicks shot down, with us losing a P-40 and 2 B-24s. Bomber targets have switched from airbase/port facilities to the enemy troops themselves to aid in the ground assault.

We attempted a shock attack on Rangoon, encountering level 3 forts. Casualties were 2943 (J) to 4341 (A), and critically, we did not reduce the fortifications. So... even at 4 to 1 assault strength, it's not enough. Those combat engineers already landing up the coast will be needed to break through. So, I'll need to change strategy a bit--move my troops out of Rangoon and encircle it. Maybe take Moulmein first. During that time I'll try to kill off as many enemy troops outside of Rangoon that I can, and continue to build up bases close to Rangoon so I can fly sorties without drop tanks as much, or just needing fewer fighter sorties total. Keeping supplies up is going to be challenging, but I might be willing to risk a delivery to Pegu if the cargo ships have land-based air protection the whole way. Building up Pegu and Prome will be key to that.


China
I swept Wuchang again, but instead of using Chinese AF P-40Es, I attacked with USAAF P-40Ks. The P-40K really is a much better aircraft, and having better pilots helps too...8 enemy Tonies down, no losses.

Having noticed that he pulled a lot of troops out of Wuchang to try to attack the rather low-value space of Kuikiang, and was even moving troops out of here for the Sinyang attack, I decided to just go for it, moving my main force at Changsha to make a play on Wuchang. They've arrived and it looks like our assault power ratio is 5.5 to 1. Looks pretty good, hopefully good enough to overcome likely high-level fortifications.



Marshalls
We detected 3 ships near Roi-Namur, no classification. Probably either evacuating troops or trying to add supplies to maybe bring an airbase online-enough to send searchplanes out. Sending 3 DD from Midway... Essex isn't that far away either.


Celebes Sea
S-27, patrolling the chokepoint between the Celebes and Makassar Strait, was bombed by a Japanese aircraft. Damage is severe--she's trying to make it back to Darwin, but I'm not that hopeful.

[Molon Labe]

7 September 1942
No, not Wuchang either...

Burma
The enemy attempted night bombing raids on Pegu--one of the few places I have night fighters stationed. We shot down 2, no damage on the ground.

There were 11 fighters on CAP opposing bombing raids of Rangoon--sadly, enough to do real damage. 4 B-24s were shot down, they lost 1 Tony.


Japan
USS Trout scored single hit on a Type 1 TL tanker (9975 tons) east of Okinawa. Not enough damage on a ship this size to bring it down. No fires, so probably outbound and empty. Trout received some depth charge damage from its escorts.


South China Sea
USS Sargo sank a PB escorting a tanker convoy along the northern coast of Borneo. Really wish these guys would shoot the tankers instead!


DEI
P-38 sweeps of Kendari broke about even--3 P-38s down but we got 3 Zeroes and 1 Tony.


China
P-40 sweeps shot down 5 of the 7 Tonies on CAP over Wuchang.

Japanese forces attacked Kiukiang over-river, causing an automatic shock attack and heavy losses - 2194(J) to 37(A).

I made my shock attack on Wuchang. Forts were level 4 and we did NOT reduce them, despite combat engineer embedded in most of the main infantry corps. Casualties 354(J) to 2403(A). So I'm not going to get this either. I'm just going to focus on eliminating any enemy troops being used offensively for now. Hopefully I'll be able to muster a proper concentrated counterattack after that.


Marshalls
Our destroyers never found that 3-ship task force reported at Roi-Namur, which was probably a good thing. Catalinas spotted and attacked them at Eniwetok (not far east from the recent hotspot of Ponape)--they're led by a light cruiser.


Celebes Sea
S-27 succumbed to the damage it took yesterday.

[Molon Labe]

8 September 1943
High-value tanker sunk as enemy tanker convoy attacked on consecutive days


DEI
They destroyer-minelayer USS Pruitt was approaching Namlea to lay a minefield there to deter the midget subs infesting the area, when she herself hit a mine. She quickly sank. The other DM aborted the mission.

Another small disaster... the larger of 2 P-38 squardons ordered to sweep Kendari failed to make the trip, and the smaller group--just 7 operational aircraft--went up against 16 Georges. Only 3 made it back, no victories.


Andaman Sea
USS Hake scored a pair of hits on an Aden class cargo ship off Sabang (northwest coast of Sumatra), sinking it. Vehicle losses were reported, so it was carrying some kind of land unit.


Burma
More night raids on Pegu. The enemy lost one bomber to the nightCAP, another to flak. Again, no damage on the ground.

P-40s sweeping Rangoon disposed of 1 enemy Tony. It was enough... no bomber losses today.


Japan
USS Sunfish hit the same tanker convoy hit by Trout yesterday, this time scoring 2 hits on a (brand new) Type 1 TL tanker, starting a massive fire as its oil cargo ignited. So it's an inbound convoy after all. Moving west-northwest which would make it bound for Tokyo. No way that tanker survives.


Reinforcements
CVL Cowpens arrives at Balboa
DD Hazelwood arrives at San Francisco
DE Charles R. Greer arrives at Mare Island
PF Long Beach arrives at Mare Island
Provisionl Tank Brigade arrives at Aden

[Molon Labe]

9 September 1943

DEI
We've got a minesweeper dealing with the minefield that cost us a DM the other day.

Sweep of Kendari went much better this time, as I stood the weak P-38 squadron down and the strong one managed to find the target this time. We lost 2 P-38s but shot down 4 Nicks and 4 Georges. That was out of 31 fighters on patrol total.

Kendari is currently home to an obscene amount of ships, something of a forward naval base. They should be in range from Namlea...and if I can get that CAP strength down below 25 or so I should be able to get some dive bombers in without suffering obscene casualties like I've been. Assuming they fly with their escorts, anyway. I'm building up Namlea and Dili as fast as possible to hopefully catch a break here.


Burma
The enemy CAP was only 1 fighter, enough to shoot down a sweeping P-40 and disappear, though.

Bombing raid hit a transport at dock. Probably the same one as awhile back, the shipyards are keeping it alive.

Our base forces from the first of the 2 coastal landings have reached Prome. So have enemy units breaking out of Rangoon. I'm not sure how many there are but I'm hoping they've been seriously softened up by bomber attacks on the way up.



China
The Wuchang CAP was down to just 3 Tonies, P-40 sweep shot one more down.

I intentionally let the Beaufighters have another crack at the ships here. They had 6 Tonies back on CAP by the time we arrived, which cost us 1 Beaufighter. But we got a solid hit on an AKL, possibly sinking it.

Our land forces cleared out another hex near Canton, casualties 2600 to 500 favoring us.


Reinforcements and Intel
AGC Blue Ridge arrives at Balboa
TK D.G. Scofield arrives at Portland
VF(N)-75 arrives at Eastern USA (nightfigher Corsairs)
VF-17 arrives at Los Angeles
607th Coast AA Regiment arrives at San Francisco
183rd USAAF Base Force arrives at San Francisco


Intel reports Kaga sank 9/6/43 just outside Hiroshima. I'm very skeptical of this report, since if she was really that badly damaged when she approached Japan, our subs should have been able to spot her due to her reduced speed--hard to slip by unnoticed when it takes you a week to get through the danger zone.

[Molon Labe]

10 September 1943
USMC dive bombers wipe out an ASW group near Kendari, British dive bombers hit troop transport convoy docked at Rangoon

DEI
Looks like our minesweeper has already finished clearing the mines at Namlea.

I probably should have adjusted my strike parameters to prevent this, but, that force I've been gathering to strike the enemy naval presence at Kendari attacked the ASW group patrolling just outside Kendari. That set off an air battle between 17 Hellcats and 22 Zeroes, 11 Tojos, and 18 Tonies. But the fighters pretty much just fought to a standstill - just 1 F6F, 1 Tony, and 1 Tojo shot down prior to the SBDs making their attacks:


E Hirashima, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
PB Toko Maru #4, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
SC Ch 6, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
SC CHa-39, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk


Unfortunately, on the way out, the SBDs took 6 losses. And, several damaged Hellcats went down on the way back. The biggest price paid: 2 aces KIA and a third missing. Could have been a lot worse though. Not worth it for 4 ASW ships.

A P-38 sweep came into Kendari later, taking care of 3 Georges but taking 1 loss.

Well, if he didn't know how much danger his fleet is in Kendari, he does now. Gonna try to hit it tomorrow.

Burma
P-40s sweeping Rangoon took out 3 Zeroes on CAP. Total CAP strength had only been 4 Zeroes and a Nick.

The enemy unit at Prome is what's left of the 9th Tank Regiment. It's been getting bombed ever since it left Rangoon, but got an extra helping today to protect our base forces that just moved in--70 Medium and 7 heavy bombers total. The enemy unit was completely combat ineffective when they tried to attack and ended up retreating from the hex. I don't think I've ever seen the attacking side of a land battle retreat before.

The daily B-24 raid on Rangoon hit that transport in the shipyard yet again. Maybe we finally sunk her this time.

At some point in the day, a transport task force was detected in Rangoon's docks, so the Vengeance dive bombers went back to their primary mission. The CAP over the base was only 3 Zeroes and a Nick at this point, nothing 13 escorting Hurricanes and a few P-40s on patrol nearby couldn't keep occupied. So, there were no air losses, and we scored several hits on the ships:


xAK Tsukuba Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
xAK Heian Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires
xAK Chowa Maru
xAK Mansyu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires
AK Awazisan Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
38 casualties reported on the ground, but that will hopefully get much worse as the fires burn and ships sink.


China
P-40 sweep at Wuchang got another 4 Tonies.

[Molon Labe]

11 September 1943
Air raid on Kendari catches transport convoy

DEI
The minesweeper that just finished clearing Namlea found an enemy midget sub and sank it.

The raid on Kendari started with B-24s that had been rebased from Darwin to Saumlaki. These targeted the airbase and port facility--peformance was rather poor. The enemy CAP had been strengthened considerably since the ASW group was hit yesterday: 45 Zeroes, 15 Tojos, 7 Georges. The B-24s arrived in waves instead of all together, helping the CAP out a bit. We ended up losing 14 B-24s, costing them just 2 Tojos and a Zero. Damage inflicted on the base was negligible. The heavy cruiser Suzuya took a single hit dockside.

The P-38s arrived next to sweep the skies--too bad they didn't beat the B-24s--and with just one loss they managed to take down 3 Zeroes, a Tojo and 2 Georges.

When the main raid of 30 Hellcats at 32 SBD-5s arrived, enemy CAP strength was only 17 Zeroes, 2 Tojos, and a George. The enemy fought especially well despite these horrible odds shooting down 6 Hellcats while only taking 2 Zero losses. The SBDs did OK:

xAK Kosin Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CL Oyodo
xAP Koan Maru
xAP Kobe Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Miike Maru, Bomb hits 3, on fire
xAK Yokohama Maru, Bomb hits 1
xAK Zenyo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
634 casualties reported

So that's interesting that these ships were apparently loaded up with troops. Probably evacuating since yesterday's raid probably told them this area was too hot. 14 heavy bombers--and one more Hellcat ace--was a high price to pay, but sinking the ships while they were loaded with troops probably made it worth it. My bombers are a lot more replaceable than the troops.



Burma/Andaman Sea
USS Puffer torpedoed a troop-carrying cargo ship off Port Blair. The damage would be lethal on the open sea, but I can't confirm whether the ship went down before reaching the nearby port.

We attacked the troop convoy at Rangoon again. First up were 6 Beaufighers out of neighboring Pegu. The enemy had re-established their CAP with 22 fighters total while only 1 P-40 on patrol assisted the Beaufigters, so the mission was aborted but not before the P-40 and 2 Beaus were shot down.

P-40 sweeps arrived after, shooting down a George and a Tony.

Mirroring the Kendari raid, the dive bombers arrived next. The 4 enemy fighters on patrol shot down 3 Hurricanes but never got to the bombers. Three more enemy ships went down:
xAK Chihaya Maru, Bomb hits 6, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Rasin Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Ryoyo Maru, Bomb hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
Sadly, these were not loaded with troops; anyone they were dropping off is already part of Rangoon's garrison.

On the ground, troops sallying from Pegu cleared out a small enemy unit that had left Rangoon to block the road north to Magwe, which is needed for supply to come down to keep our troops in action.


China
Having eliminated the CAP over Wuchang, the Beaufighters were free to attack again. I only had 4 available, but it was enough to put 5 bombs into a light cargo ship and sink it.

We suffered another ground assault at Kiukiang, casualties 721 (J) to 1597(A). We're probably not going to hold out too much longer there.


Reinforcements
159th USA Base Force arrives at Eastern USA
229th USN Base Force arrives at San Francisco

[Ostfriese]

War in the Pacific is on sale on matrixgames.com (for 16 Euros instead of 80 during the holiday sale). How difficult is it to get it to work on modern operating systems (Windows 10 / 11)?

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

War in the Pacific is on sale on matrixgames.com (for 16 Euros instead of 80 during the holiday sale). How difficult is it to get it to work on modern operating systems (Windows 10 / 11)?

Not so bad. You may have to add a few flags to the startup code.

[Molon Labe]

12 September 1943
Severe bomber losses in the Dutch East Indies

Solomons
The New Mexico and Arizona are back in action bombarding Guadalcanal in advance of the troops marching on the enemy from the west side of the island.

DEI
Day 2 of my strikes on Kendari began with a P-38 sweep that knocked out 2 Tojos, a Nick, 3 Tonies and 4 Zeroes. 3 P-38s were lost. However, that was out of a whopping 67 aircraft on CAP, so we didn't reduce them by much.

Then came a raid--27 Hellcats escorting 40 SBD-5s. Enemy CAP strength was 45. Only two fighters on each side were shot down but the SBDs took heavy losses--33. And nothing of value was found in the naval base for them to bomb, the enemy had apparently already left.

The next raid targeted the KB which was entering the area south of Makassar. This was 10 P-40s and 17 P-47s escorting 32 SBD-5s out of the new base at Dili. The enemy CAP was 54 fighters and we got massacred. 9 P-47s, 4 P-40s down with only a Rufe and a Zero shot down for us. All 32 SBDs were shot down without reaching the task force.


Burma
B-24 raids over Rangoon ran into substantial fighter resistance. We lost a P-40 and one bomber, with them losing one Zero. A 2nd B-24 was shot down by flak. The Kitano Maru, apparently the toughest ship around, took another hit at the docks but still hasn't sunk yet.

USS Pompon but 2 Mk14s into a cargo ship at Port Blair for a kill.


China
A ground attack at Kiukiang failed to overrun our base but caused 1631(J) to 1540 (A) casualties.


Reinforcements
DD Conner arrives at Eastern USA
DD Nicholson arrives at Balboa
AS Maidstone arrives at Cape Town
No.21 Sqn RAAF arrives at Sydney
9th Marine Regiment arrives at San Francisco
81st (West African) Division arrives at Mombasa

[Molon Labe]

13 September 1943
KB goes to Ambon - evacuation of troops likely underway - Shokaku and Akagi end the day burning


DEI
Well it really sucks that I took such heavy losses attacking an empty port yesterday because the KB is here and went straight to Ambon, and the main objective for all my airbases in the area is to deny the enemy the use of the sea to evacuate their massive troop concentration there. But it's not like I have nothing left...


The first raid was 14 Corsairs and 14 P-47s escorting 16 SBD-5s and 11 Beaufort torpedo bombers out of Babar. Enemy CAP strength opposing this raid was 76! Apparently they moved some fighters to Ambon too to supplement the KBs fighters. This raid never made it to the ships; all 16 SBDs were shot down along with 5 Beauforts, 1 F4U and 2 P-47s.


The raid from Saumlaki was next, 16 Hellcats escorting 35 Helldivers. Enemy CAP strength was still 62 at this point, more than enough to handle this. We lost 7 Hellcats and 21 SB2Cs. 14 SB2Cs actually managed attacks on the enemy task force, going after Zuikaku, Akagi, Musashi, and Ise, but all their bombs missed. 2 Helldivers were lost to flak.


Low level attacks came next with 12 B-25Gs attacking unescorted. 3 were shot down by the CAP and 2 more by flak. They attacked Musashi, Haruna, and Zuikaku with no hits. That was followed by 9 Beaufort torpedo bombers. Enemy CAP strength was down to 28 at this point, between losses (6 Zeroes), damage, maintenance, refueling/rearming. 6 of them got through and fired torpedoes at Akagi and the CA Chikuma--but missed.


The Babar air forces tried again in the afternoon, marshalling just 9 divebombers and 18 fighters against a CAP of 53. The raid was mostly aborted, with 2 bombers shot down. Similarly, a follow up raid of just 3 Beauforts and 15 fighters was routed with all 3 bombers shot down and a P-40 shot down. The fighters at least got a Zero and a Rufe.


Then success finally came with the 2nd B-25G raid of the day. They mostly evaded the CAP and got in low and fast:
CV Shokaku, Bomb hits 6, on fire
CV Akagi, Bomb hits 1, on fire
CS Chiyoda
BB Haruna, Bomb hits 3
DD Tokitsukaze
BB Musashi, Bomb hits 1
DD Amatsukaze
DD Niizuki
BB Ise, Bomb hits 2
DD Susuzuki, Shell hits 1


Shokaku should be disabled and hopefully fighting for her life after that.


China
Kiukiang has finally fallen. Casualties 2004 to 9807 favoring them.


Reinforcements
APD Overton arrives at Balboa
AM Impeccable arrives at Alameda
SS Devilfish arrives at Eastern USA
311th FBG/530th FBS arrives at Aden
211th Coast AA Regiment arrives at Mare Island

[Molon Labe]

14 September 1943

DEI
Submarine S-28 attempted an attack on the enemy fleets at Ambon and ended up getting badly depth charged. It's limping back to Darwin.

O-19 also attempted an attack, striking a destroyer with a torpedo before also being depth charged badly enough to need to abort and RTB.

South of Makassar, USS Seadragon intercepted a convoy of mostly-destroyers but with a few transports included. It torpedoed and sank a Kaibokan and got away nearly undamaged.

1 CL and 4DD bombarded our base at Dili, destroying a P-40 and a Spitfire on the ground and disabling several more aircraft.

A B-25G squadron apparently decided Ambon was too hot, so went all the way west to Kolaka, Makassar to shoot up enemy shipping. They sank a PB and severely damaged a SC, which will probably also go down.

9 SBD-5s showed up at Ambon unescorted somehow. We lost 5 of them before they pulled out. Enemy CAP strength was 60 -- I really thought it would be lower after the Shokaku took that beating yesterday.


China
We cleared out another hex around Canton. I think it's safe to say the enemy forces remaining here aren't a threat. Casualties 5619 to 1604.


Marshalls
I've had intermittent contact with small convoys around the Marshalls for the last week or so, so I'd sent in a few destroyers to try to interdict them. We finally hit pay dirt today, with a task force of 3 DD sinking a cargo ship and subchaser off Tarawa. They then located another cargo ship escorted by PB and another subchaser and sank them too.


Reinforcements
DD Chauncey arrives at Balboa
LST-38 arrives at Balboa
LST-40 arrives at Cristobal
DE Godavari arrives at Aden
No.5 Sqn RAAF arrives at Cloncurry
VMO-251 arrives at San Diego
24th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme

[Molon Labe]

15 September 1943
KB somehow avoids serious damage as constant raids wear down their fighter screen - but PT boats cause serious enemy troop losses on the beach.


DEI
SS KXII took some depth charge damage off Kendari from an ASW patrol. Didn't take them long to get another one there after losing one a few days ago.

I attempted a rare night torpedo attack with 3 Beuforts against shipping at Ambon. They attacked a troop transport and missed, 1 was lost to flak.

The Akagi--still at Ambon (I actually thought they pulled out yesterday)--hit a mine.

Next a PT squadron arrived after heading north from Babar. At the cost of 8 of the 12 PT boats, we scored several hits on transports getting loaded up on the beaches:


CL Katori
DD Urakaze
E Manazuru
E W-16
E Naryu
AK Sasako Maru, Shell hits 2
AK Kaga Maru
AK Kinka Maru
AK Tosan Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
AK Ayatosan Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Tatsuta Maru, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAP Terukuni Maru
xAP Hakone Maru
xAP Hakozaki Maru
xAP Hakusan Maru, Shell hits 4, on fire
xAP Kashima Maru, Shell hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Husimi Maru, Shell hits 3, Torpedo hits 1, on fire
xAP Suwa Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Buenos Aires Maru, Shell hits 4
xAP Horai Maru, Shell hits 1
xAP Yoshino Maru, Shell hits 1
xAP Ukishima Maru, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
Japanese ground losses:
7560 casualties reported

So I guess the PTs did what the dive bombers couldn't, making sure Ambon was a grave for as many Japanese soldiers as possible. I wish it could have been more.

We did follow that up with another air raid, 34 Hellcats and 18 P-40s escorting 35 Avengers, 3 SBDs, and 3 Beauforts. Enemy CAP strength was 80! Despite having the Shokaku pounded and the Akagi now hit twice! Only 8 Avengers got through, firing torpedoes at Ise, Zuikaku, and Akagi--no hits. We lost 4 Hellcats, 5 P-40s, all 3 SBDs, 2 Beauforts, and 28 of the Avengers. Our fighters only shot down 1 Nick during this raid!

B-24 raids on Ambon resumed now that those squadrons have had time to repair their planes from the Kendari strikes. 2 were shot down--and they got two Zeroes. Damage to the port facilities were minimal.

A sweep by 24 P-47s arrived next, finally we got some enemy fighters shot down. No P-47 losses, the enemy lost a Nick, a George, and 5 Zeroes. Enemy CAP strength was down to just 8 planes prior to the fight.

32 SBD-5s arrived next unescorted, but by this point the enemy CAP was worn down to just 1 Zero, which shot down just 1 SBD. These bombers attacked Zuiakaku, Shokaku, Akagi, and Musashi--and all missed. 2 more were lost to flak. 9 Beauforts then attacked at low level, firing torpedoes at the Mushashi, Ise, and Shokaku, and again all missed. 2 were shot down by flak.

Next 15 Hellcats and 19 P-40s arrived with 19 SBD-5s. At this point there was no enemy CAP left. The bombers attacked Haruna, Mushashi, Ise, Shokaku, and Akagi, scoring just 1 hit on Mushashi and 3 hits on Ise (starting a fire). Damage did not appear serious.

In the afternoon, Boela tried to attack again with what was left of its Avengers--just 3--escorted by 11 P-40s and 21 Hellcats. The enemy CAP had recovered at this point and was back up to 37 aircraft. Only 1 Avenger got through, firing a torpedo at Zuikaku, which missed. The raid cost 6 Hellcats, 2 P-40s, and all 3 Avengers. Our fighters brought down a Nick and 2 Zeroes.


Reinforcements
DD Kimberly arrives at Eastern USA

[Molon Labe]

16 September 1943
The end of the Akagi?
Prome captured


Philippine Sea
USS Silversides torpedoed a Tonan Whaler-class tanker near the Palau Islands, setting its cargo on fire. The ship doesn't have much of a chance thanks to the fires.


Burma
The 5th Indian Division is now being landed on the Burmese coast.


Vengeance dive bombers hit more ships docking in Rangoon:
xAK Nako Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Keisyo Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nozima Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 17 (6 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Vehicles lost 83 (42 destroyed, 41 disabled)


And some B-25Gs got in on the fun:
xAK Nissyu Maru, Shell hits 2, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nozima Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires
Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 11 (7 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 24 (4 destroyed, 20 disabled)


2nd Vengeance wave:
xAK Nozima Maru, Bomb hits 4, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nissyu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 3 (3 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 27 (17 destroyed, 10 disabled)


B-25G raid #2:
xAK Nozima Maru, Bomb hits 1, and is sunk
xAK Nitti Maru, Shell hits 4
xAK Nissyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Keisyo Maru, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
Japanese ground losses:
Guns lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Vehicles lost 16 (13 destroyed, 3 disabled)


A Beaufighter was shot down by a Zero trying to get that last stubborn cargo ship.

Weather over Prome was horrible, so despite having many aircraft ordered to target the enemy unit attacking there, we flew no sorties against this unit, which turned out to be tanks... lots of tanks. Prome has been captured, casualties 238 to 4704, our engineers are retreating towards Magwe. Enemy paratroopers also seized Toungoo, north of Pegu along the rail lines, and Meiktila, a base in the central area I chose not to build up or guard. We have local forces adjacent to both these incursions to fight them off with. A third paratrooper assault targeted Magwe, which has a substantial garrison; the enemy troops were immediately wiped out.


DEI
B-24 raids on Ambon pulled some Corsairs from Babar and some Hellcats and P-47s probably from Boela for escorts, so the raids caused some enemy fighter losses--3 Tonies and 1 George. 17 P-40s swept the base later and took out 3 more Tonies and 4 Georges.

We attempted a raid on the KB west of Ambon, but it was too small, just 16 Hellcats and 35 Dauntlesses. We only splashed one Zero while losing 5 Hellcats and 24 Dauntlesses. One of the SBDs managed a hit on the Akagi. Enemy CAP strength was 39 fighters opposing this raid.

A followup raid of 22 Corsairs and 13 Helldivers failed to score any hits. We only lost 2 Helldivers while shooting down 2 Zeroes. 11 Helldivers attempted attacks on the Shokaku, Ise, and Haruna. Enemy CAP strength was down to 14 fighters opposing this raid.

Finally, 6 B-25Gs came in for a low-level attack escorted by 8 P-47s. The P-47s shot down a Nick to clear the way. The B-25s scored one more hit on the Akagi, setting her on fire and seemingly knocking the ship out of action. At this point the Akagi has taken 2 500lb bombs, 1 1000lb bomb, and a Mk6 mine. Enemy CAP strength was down to 7 fighters for this raid.


Reinforcements and withdrawals
DE Osterhaus arrives at Eastern USA
DE Harold C. Thomas arrives at Mare Island
SS Trespasser arrives at Aden
26th USN Naval Construction Regiment arrives at Port Hueneme
VMSB-141 has withdrawn from theatre (training squadron at San Diego)