Bring me the head of Diego Garcia...and the Mayor of Addu Atoll too!

[Cap Mandrake]

************************March 23, 1943(c)********************

Approaches to San Jose: Another shot at Chuyo...we miss. Chuyo uses up her second...


Sub attack near Iba at 76,75

Japanese Ships
CVE Chuyo
DD Arare

Allied Ships
SS Trigger

Utoh.....Kirishima? Didn't we sink her?


ASW attack near Iba at 76,73

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
CL Tama
DD Hagikaze
DD Fubuki
DD Suzukaze
DD Yudachi

Allied Ships
SS Drum

Haurna uses up two more lives. This is a good thing.

ASW attack near Iba at 77,73

Japanese Ships
BB Haruna, Torpedo hits 2, heavy damage
DD Katsutade

Allied Ships
SS Drum, hits 1

Well, I guess Drum can be forgiven for mistaking Kirishima for Kongo. I considered release Juneau and Trenton from their guard station at San Jose but I thought it was safe because Haruna had been torpedoed. Oh well, shit happens. To the men of Trenton and Cummins.....we salute you. [:(]

Night Time Surface Combat, near San Jose at 78,84, Range 11,000 Yards

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
SOC-1 Seagull: 1 destroyed

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo, Shell hits 3
CL Naka, Shell hits 1
CL Yubari, Shell hits 3
DD Makinami
DD Natsushio, Shell hits 1
DD Hayashio, Shell hits 1
DD Tanikaze
DD Kisaragi, Shell hits 2, on fire

Allied Ships
CLAA Juneau, Shell hits 3, on fire
CL Trenton, Shell hits 6, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Cummings, Shell hits 9, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Conyngham

[Cap Mandrake]

More abuse of San Jose: The PT boats have a go...

Night Time Surface Combat, near San Jose at 78,84, Range 12,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
CL Naka
CL Yubari, on fire
DD Makinami
DD Natsushio, on fire
DD Tanikaze

Allied Ships
PT-23
PT-26
PT-147
PT-174
PT-219
PT-227, Shell hits 1, and is sunk

And...the payoff....Ritter Yerrow Baahstards break a Corsair. San Jose was 18% of the way to level 2. Not any more. It would have been nice to have a level 2 to support a landing near Lucena..but it won't be San Jose.


Night Naval bombardment of San Jose at 78,84

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 8 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
Spitfire Vc Trop: 1 damaged
Spitfire Vc Trop: 2 destroyed on ground
PBY-5A Catalina: 5 damaged
PBY-5A Catalina: 1 destroyed on ground
SOC-1 Seagull: 1 damaged
SOC-1 Seagull: 1 destroyed on ground
F4U-1 Corsair: 3 damaged
F4U-1 Corsair: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
BB Kongo
CL Yubari
CL Naka


Allied ground losses:
62 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 11 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 6 disabled
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)


Airbase hits 8
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 16

They cannot have been happy with this. The air boys at San Jose are not down for the count.

Afternoon Air attack on San Jose , at 78,84

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 5 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 1 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
A6M3a Zero x 18
B5N2 Kate x 17



Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vc Trop x 5
P-39D Airacobra x 14
F4U-1 Corsair x 4


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 8 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 2 destroyed

No Allied losses



Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1

[Cap Mandrake]

Taytay: B-24's from Sidate (Sualwese)..

Morning Air attack on Taytay , at 75,82

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 11



Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 28
B-24D1 Liberator x 8


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 damaged
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 5 damaged



Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 20

P-38's from Jolo. We don't really need Taytay any more either but this to keep the LYB's from killing our ground boys there.

Morning Air attack on Taytay , at 75,82

Weather in hex: Severe storms

Raid spotted at 14 NM, estimated altitude 33,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 2 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 2



Allied aircraft
P-38G Lightning x 3


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed

No Allied losses

[Cap Mandrake]

Rest of Panay: I had this notion that we could land some tanks at Roxas and drive over to Iloilo. JJ puts some fighters there.

Morning Air attack on 302nd Ind.Infantry Battalion, at 79,84 (Iloilo)

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Raid spotted at 18 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 6



Allied aircraft
Beaufort VIII x 9
B-25C Mitchell x 6


No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Beaufort VIII: 2 destroyed, 1 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged

Japanese ground losses:
15 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled

Bettys are in the house! Illosis was ordered to drop off some suppries to get Roxas airstrip operational. JJ cannot have been happy with this either considering there are about 30,000 troops on AP's with no air cover rounding Leyte. [:)]

Morning Air attack on TF, near Roxas at 79,83

Weather in hex: Overcast

Raid spotted at 20 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 8
G4M1 Betty x 22



Allied aircraft
Spitfire Vc Trop x 5
P-39D Airacobra x 15
F4U-1 Corsair x 4


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 7 destroyed

No Allied losses

Allied Ships
xAK Illisos, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
SC-631

[Cap Mandrake]

Luzon: Arried troops ashore on Luzon. We have returned. [:)]

Ground combat at Legaspi (82,82)

Allied Shock attack

Attacking force 70 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 6

Defending force 0 troops, 0 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 0

Allied adjusted assault: 7

Japanese adjusted defense: 1

Allied assault odds: 7 to 1 (fort level 0)

Allied forces CAPTURE Legaspi !!!

Combat modifiers
Attacker: shock(+), leaders(-)



Assaulting units:
3rd USMC Parachute Bn /2

[Cap Mandrake]

Manado: The former garrison is fading fast. Engineers drive up from Sidate to repair the port and airfield.

Ground combat at Manado (75,99)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 10573 troops, 240 guns, 395 vehicles, Assault Value = 332

Defending force 4120 troops, 41 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 20

Allied adjusted assault: 318

Japanese adjusted defense: 23

Allied assault odds: 13 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-), preparation(-), fatigue(-)
experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
581 casualties reported
Squads: 33 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 12 (8 destroyed, 4 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
45 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled


Assaulting units:
627th Tank Destroyer Battalion
129th Infantry Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
145th Infantry Regiment
131st Combat Engineer Regiment
821st Engineer Aviation Battalion
1st USMC Engineer Aviation Battalion
148th Field Artillery Battalion
43rd Construction Regiment
97th Field Artillery Battalion
1st USMC Field Artillery Battalion
Fifth USAAF /2

Defending units:
17th Garrison Unit
44th Field AA Battalion
9th JNAF Coy
3rd JNAF AF Unit
68th JAAF AF Bn

[Cap Mandrake]

China: JJ are still pusing hard. After cleaning up infiltrators to their LOC they push again for Chungking from the NE...Ouch! Good thing a Chinaman is only worth 1/6th of a European. [:)]

Ground combat at 77,43 (near Chungking)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 57007 troops, 620 guns, 503 vehicles, Assault Value = 1996

Defending force 16916 troops, 163 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 287

Japanese adjusted assault: 1864

Allied adjusted defense: 125

Japanese assault odds: 14 to 1

Combat modifiers
Defender: experience(-), supply(-)
Attacker: shock(+)

Japanese ground losses:
792 casualties reported
Squads: 7 destroyed, 117 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 15 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 11 disabled
Guns lost 14 (1 destroyed, 13 disabled)


Allied ground losses:
7504 casualties reported
Squads: 312 destroyed, 2 disabled
Non Combat: 292 destroyed, 25 disabled
Engineers: 35 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 72 (61 destroyed, 11 disabled)
Units retreated 13


Defeated Allied Units Retreating!

Assaulting units:
6th Ind.Mixed Brigade
3rd Tank Division
35th Division
36th Division
13th Division
9th Ind.Mixed Brigade
13th Ind.Mixed Brigade
32nd Division
12th Army

Defending units:
50th Chinese Corps
91st Chinese Corps
1st New Chinese Corps
9th Chinese Corps
76th Chinese Corps
200th Chinese Division
15th Group Army
55th Chinese Corps
25th Chinese Corps
15th Chinese Base Force
38th Group Army
42nd Chinese Corps
1st Construction Regiment

[Crackaces]

First it's the &*(^%%&& Haruna .. now it's the *&^$#%&^ Kongo !!!!! I would assume eventually JJ will run out of escorting DD's before the Arries run out of platforms ... [:D]

At least the &*(^%%&& Haruna has major damage after taking 4 torps over 3 days .. [8D] The emperor will not be happy about that ..

Just one note the IJN ships on fire are not damaged enough to form an escort TF ... I might expect to see them back in action soon ..

[Cap Mandrake]

22 Bettys that might have been in Burma are now active in the PI. Almost certainly the dozens of transports and LST/LCT groups sweeping around Leyte will have been spotted. The transports inbound for Ramree were likely spotted today (but I haven't watched the replay yet).

JJ will have to do some thinking about where to put their air resources.

Also another IJN carrier had her air group slaughtered today...Haruna may already be an artifical reef...Kongo needs to rearm. Things are looking pretty good although the potential CAP of 40-45 fighters over Legaspi next turn may not be enough to avoid all loss.

[Cap Mandrake]

Still thinking we can get some cheap fighter cover over Ramree for a few days by flying LRCAP from Akyab. I think there is enough supply, even if there is no aviation support. Either we could fly in aviation support from India or just send some P-40K's there and let them fly without ground support for a few days. They hold up pretty well because of their service rating.

Not sure if the RAF fighters have long enough legs but maybe there are some Beaufighters or something. P-38's might even be able to fly LRCAP from Cox Bazaar or whatever that base is called north of Akyab...or from Chittagong with drop tanks. Not sure of airfield size at Cox Bazaar.

[sprior]

The transports inbound for Ramree were likely spotted today

I watched the replay and yes they have. En avant, mes enfants!

[sprior]

Uncle Oscar didn't make it this time...

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: sprior

Uncle Oscar didn't make it this time...

White smoke then?

We're so sorry Uncle Oscar. And Aunt Emily, too.

[sprior]

Scarily given my history of book buying Amazon has decided that I'd be interested in Railway Breakdown Cranes

[Crackaces]

ORIGINAL: sprior

Scarily given my history of book buying Amazon has decided that I'd be interested in Railway Breakdown Cranes

Hmmmm Do you think Amazon analyzed your last WitP AE move and connected the plan to invade Ramree Island with materials needed to support the Rangoon Railway ... Wow that is some G2! I am not sure htat WitP AE has that kind of detail .... [8D]

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: sprior

Scarily given my history of book buying Amazon has decided that I'd be interested in Railway Breakdown Cranes

Maybe it was the order for the "Authentic Train Engineer Hat and Child-safe Oil Can".


It's still better than my ISP posting ads for "Single Men in Your Area"

[Cap Mandrake]

Will it be white smoke or black smoke over Ramree? [:D]

[sprior]

My Pre-Order for French Cruisers 1922-56 was despatched today. Hopefully none of them will be saying "Thank Heavens for Little Girls".

[Cap Mandrake]

Wow! Amazing what you find out when you watch the combat replay. [:D]

USS Drum was on fire (figuratively). She attacked the task force with Kirishima once and was driven off. She attacked Haruna twice putting a total of FOUR torps into her last night (6 torp hits on Haruna in last 2 days). Then she hit a DD with a dud torpedo.

Kisaragi, in the Kongo task force was hit badly enough to have to be detached and Yubari was burning pretty good.

This means on the last two nights we traded Trenton and a DD for Haruna and a badly damaged IJN DD. Not bad, really.

There are also two surface groups inbound toward the PI about 200 mi SW of Okinawa. I'll have to work out if they can reach Legaspi the next night.

Haruna is either a hulk or sunk with 6 torp hits. Kirishima and Kongo BOTH live.

At least part of the Luzon landing group is spotted as our our ships in the Bay of Bengal.

[Cap Mandrake]

No turn...invasion interruptis.

I hate that.

Capt Irwin, in a Corsair, scores a hat trick in the skies over San Jose

CPT Irwin, D. of VMF-441 is credited with kill number 10
CPT Irwin, D. of VMF-441 is credited with kill number 11
CPT Irwin, D. of VMF-441 is credited with kill number 12

2nd Lt Crowly scores a hat trick +1 in a P-39. Nice. If you live throught the night bombardment, San Jose is a fun place for fighter piloits.

2LT Crowley H. of 15th FG/47th FS is credited with kill number 3
2LT Crowley H. of 15th FG/47th FS is credited with kill number 4
2LT Crowley H. of 15th FG/47th FS is credited with kill number 5
2LT Crowley H. of 15th FG/47th FS attains ace status!!
2LT Crowley H. of 15th FG/47th FS is credited with kill number 6