December 30, 1941
[font="Times New Roman"]“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.” W.C. Fields[/font]
1) Playing the AI I rarely if ever tried to chase down wounded prey. I don't know if it's coded to steer crazy, random courses, but I almost never succeeded in finding and sinking a Japanese ship I knew was retiring from battle. But now, playing a human, I thought to try in the encounter between USS Gudgeon and the mine-damaged I-8, headed on a westerly course. The heavy damage suggested floatation damage, and that meant most likely Truk, or possibly Kwajalein's sub base to fix some system damge before trying for Truk. So I take Gudgeon off her patrol zone, which would have sent her east on this turn and let I-8 saunter away, and put her on a straight 2-point patrol zone splitting the difference between a true course for either Kwaj or Truk. And it works. Breaking up noises are heard.
Sub vs Sub: SS Gudgeon attacking SS I-8 at 172,112
Japanese Ships
SS I-8, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Allied Ships
SS Gudgeon
SS Gudgeon launches 4 torpedoes at 4,000 yards
2) The landings at Tarakan continue, this time with substantial CD hits on the the two landing ships, an xAK and xAP. My choice would be to use more ships to unload in one turn, but Japan does not seem to support this so far. The Dutch have some pretty stiff CD installations which deserve respect.
The Japanese attack and take Tarkan later in the turn. Two defenders retreat, one surrenders. I had flown out a substantial part of the garrison unit, so I didn't expect any real defense. Looking at the bright side Allied Forts now have another Oil target in range of both Batavia and Soerbaja.
Ground combat at Tarakan (67,91)
Japanese Deliberate attack
Attacking force 2386 troops, 19 guns, 142 vehicles, Assault Value = 140
Defending force 1472 troops, 21 guns, 6 vehicles, Assault Value = 28
Japanese adjusted assault: 85
Allied adjusted defense: 19
Japanese assault odds: 4 to 1 (fort level 1)
Japanese forces CAPTURE Tarakan !!!
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), morale(-)
experience(-)
Attacker:
Japanese ground losses:
19 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Allied ground losses:
912 casualties reported
Squads: 15 destroyed, 6 disabled
Non Combat: 46 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 10 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 24 (23 destroyed, 1 disabled)
Vehicles lost 6 (6 destroyed, 0 disabled)
Units retreated 2
Units destroyed 1
Defeated Allied Units Retreating!
Assaulting units:
8th Tank Regiment
Kure 2nd SNLF
Defending units:
VII KNIL Battalion
Tarakan Coastal Gun Battalion
Tarakan Base Force
3) Sub wars: SS KXVII, in shallow water near Singkawang, is attacked twice and suffers several penetrating hits. She may be mortally wounded. Will see next turn. RO-boats in some numbers are working around Pearl now, due I think to the need to retire the first 12/7 wave for reloads. ASW TFs attack several but succeed only in drawing ammo-wasting attacks on themselves.
East of Wotje though, USS Narwhal attacks and misses a PB/xAK TF on a SE course. I suspect this is a relief unit for Palmyra. I need to prepare a reception of some kind, since without this I thnk Palmyra may survive a while longer. It could also be headed to the occupied dot base at Fanning Island.
Air patrols from Soerbaja find a sub in mid-strait, on a SE course. I suspect it is looking to slip through the islands and operate on the IO side of Java. I send out a new ASW TF from Soerbaja, but they do not meet.
And finally, at Hilo, my bane, some good news. Last turn I took some time to intensively study Allied mining, which I had never done. Each platform, each mine, the upgrade paths, locations of the assets, etc. Against the AI my mining has always been an afterthought. Some sub-laid and not much else. Here I found USN minelayers doing ASW and escort work while I had good surface mines sitting in inventory. I formed a couple of TFs last turn and ordered one to sow at Hilo, where I have more LCUs and supply inbound and he has had happy hunting recently. One found a target on the first turn.
TF 32 encounters mine field at Hilo (183,111)
Japanese Ships
SS I-17, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
Later in the turn, right before the Air Phase, I heard the submarine breaking up noises sound effect. I don't know what it was, but perhaps this guy. My suspicions are bolstered by a previous ASW attack this turn on this I-boat which recorded 5 hits prior to the mine strike. I didn't get a notification on the Dutch sub, but I could have missed it or there might be FOW. But something sank.
Scraps of info in PBEM are far more important than they are when playing the AI.
4) My campaign to sneak xAKLs out of Palembang hits a snag when I-164 finds xAKL Sipirok near Oosthaven and sinks her with gunfire. I detailed three more xAKLs last turn to carry fuel to Cocos and then on to Perth. I don't think I have an ASW asset I can send to the channel, but I'll double-check.
5) Oscar and Zero sweeps at SIngers and Rangoon.
Bataan is hit by 80 bombers:
Airbase hits 9
Airbase supply hits 7
Runway hits 58
Supply is the coin of the realm in sieges, and these daily AF strikes are adding up a bit. Ditto at Singers. A later strike costs him 2 Sallys, and 4 Bettys are damaged in the initial. At Rangoon, he collects 7 damaged Sallys and 1 destoyed. Who can keep it up longer? I suspect he can.
6) At Temuloh my three refugee units are about two miles from the rail station with daily Lily harrassment and his LCUs only a few miles behind. I'm torn between continuing down the road in Combat, or trying to strat load two while a sacrificial third tries to hold in Combat. I've never tried such a finessse move, so I may do it just to see. Famous last words?
7) Landings begin at Madang, opening up a new sub-theater on New Guinea. Indications are it is the Maizuru 1st SNLF. Interesting Japan has not come for Rabaul first. Often the time to develop infrastructure there is of critical importance. It may be next up. My initial defenders in northern NG are either at PM or more than half way across the mountains. Collecting all of the bases from Hollandia to Buna would be a matter of sealift and LCU fragments. But Japan is being more methodical than that.
LCU queue arrivals give Oz some heavier arty and armor units and breathing room, as well as welcome new defenders on Ceylon, and a Hussars unit at Aden which is probably headed to Pt. Blair. I have always seen Pt. Blair as a very important hold-on-to for the Allies, and I've been lucky so far that it hasn't been molested while I had absolutely nothing to give it. What would normally have gone there in an AI game I"ve put into Rangoon. The Hussars aren't much, but they're more than nothing.