Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

15k pilot losses?! Ouch. I do everything I can to conserve pilots. But then, you're farther along than I am. Losses mount pretty quickly the longer the game goes, as it should.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

15k pilot losses?! Ouch. I do everything I can to conserve pilots. But then, you're farther along than I am. Losses mount pretty quickly the longer the game goes, as it should.

Nope, I inherited my game in July 42 (late). I had 15 morale pilots slugging it out, well mostly burning up, against anything the Allies flew. Fun days...

[Mike Solli]

That's right. I keep forgetting you inherited that mess. Doing pretty well considering...

[Lowpe]

I went back to my first page, I have a picture of a Rufe Squadron after one day's rest with 44-45 Morale and Fatigue.[X(]

But I have used my planes really hard...at least the Allies have over 10K losses.

[Mike Solli]

25 Mar 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

There’s an Allied fleet tooling around a few hexes to the SW of Dutch Harbor. My intel says it’s 6 BBs and a CV, but it’s only showing 5 auxiliary aircraft. I suspect that’s not accurate, but what is it? It’s pretty large. Bombardment? Invasion? No clue. I have a sub that is one hex to its east and will try to intercept tomorrow. I also have several other subs that are moving to that area, most within a day’s sail. I should get better intel tomorrow. Hopefully, it won’t cost me any subs.

I had one ship unloading supply at Adak. She hauled ass out of there and is now dropping it off at Amchitka (600 supply). Adak has >24k supply so everyone’s fine there.

My Judys are on an AKV 1.5 days west of Amchitka, which is where they will spend most of their time, along with a chutai of Emilies, who fly naval search & recon (Dutch Harbor) from there. The Judies will move to Adak when appropriate.

MKB2 is heading north from Truk but is still 5-6 days out.

My Oscars swept Unmak Island and found more P-400s. In exchange for 3 Oscars (2 KIA, 1 WIA) they shot down 6 (of 14) enemy fighters.

The wait may soon be over up here.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Well, 14 Betties sorties (3 flights) flew night missions and one of them finally struck gold! The LSI(L) Empire Star took one Betty torpedo at Woodlark Island. She didn’t sink and was unloaded. We now know they can hit ships! By the way, I didn’t change anything. The turn was sent before we had the discussion above about night naval search, experience, etc.

Ted’s bombers opted for Talasea again (yay!). 71x 4E bombers came in several waves, some supported by fighters. I lost 5 fighters (+2 op losses) to 2x P-40Ks and a B-24D1. Damage to Talasea is 0-39-50.

Because he’s going after a minor airfield that I couldn’t care less about, Gasmata’s damage is down to 0-83-14!

At Madang, 10x P-38Gs swept the hex and were jumped by 35x Oscars. Five P-38s were lost for no Japanese loss.

Finally, Rabaul had two PBs in port (the remains of the supply TF at Talasea that was hit by Avengers). Those same Avengers hit them, sinking both. Not to worry, they’re only To’sus. What was important in this attack was that they were escorted by 7 Corsairs. The Corsairs were jumped by 11 Tojos. The Corsairs did their job keeping my fighters off the Avengers, but 4 Corsairs were shot down against only 1 Tojo. Nice.

Up at Truk, I see only 1 sub and she is definitely heading east, probably heading home from some other mission. This is nice, because I can safely move KB out of Truk without much concern (or fear of being sighted or shot at) should they be needed somewhere.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

My bombers finally attacked the Chindits, 84 sorties. They were (fortunately) escorted by Tojos and met 2 Martlets, shooting down both. They did minor damage to the Chindits.

I can see the Chindits still marching to the east. My 80% strength infantry regiment arrived in the hex, so when the Chindits eventually get there, they’ll have to shock attack across a river. I’ll continue to move my reinforcements (tank regiment, infantry regiment and 4x artillery units) there. If anything else gets there before the Chindits, it’ll be the tanks.

I still see only 1 Allied unit in Ramree Island. If that is true and the Chindits cross the river, I’ll paradrop the 4 Para Regiment into Ramree the next day.

China

My bombers hit Chengtu and Chungking’s airfield again causing some damage and destroying a couple of planes.

I shock attacked Chihkiang, successfully ousting the Chinese Corps and taking the base. The 6:1 attack caused 2146(123) Chinese to 465(1) Japanese casualties. If the Japanese really lost a squad, it was replaced because the division is still at full strength.

There was a Chinese Corps in Kunming while I owned it for a time. I pushed it out to the east a little while ago. The garrison got some reinforcements so I sent 2x Divisions and about half a dozen artillery units after it. They arrived yesterday and attacked today, pushing the beat up Chinese to the NE. The 3:1 attack caused 2398(242) Chinese to 333(1) Japanese casualties.

Other Stuff

The N1K1-J R&D advanced to 7/43. Five of the 6 factories are repaired to 30 and the 6th is at 28. In 3 days, 3 more factories will be added (currently the Ki-44-IIc R&D factories). They should repair fairly quickly since the current operational date for the George is 7/43. This model of George will become operational in 5/43 and there will be 9x30 factories for future models of George. I estimate the N1K2 to be operational by 8/43 and the N1K5 to be operational by 11/43. I suspect I’ll need them by then.

I have lots of new models coming out in the next few months:

May 43:
Ki-44-IIc Tojo
N1K1-J George
Ki-49-II KAI Helen (transport) – converting to this from the Ki-57-II to free up my Ha-31 engine factory. With the completion of the Tojo R&D line, I have excess Ha-34 engine production capacity.
B6N1 Jill – will convert the Kate factory to this model but won’t build, not building the Ha-44 engine, will be available for instant upgrade to the B6N2 in June.

June 43:
E15K1 Norm
B6N2 Jill

July 43:
Ki-43-IIIa Oscar
A6M5c Zero
D4Y2 Judy
Ki-100-II Tony
N1K1 Rex
H8K2-L Emily – probably won’t use. No excess Ha-32 production at this time. Very little need, at any rate. One unit of size 6 plus a few spares. The Mavis is fine.

Exciting!

[Mike Solli]

I came home from work to find a turn in my inbox and a brief note from Ted:

All those ships at Woodlark and your Betty puts a torpedo into the only amphib ship there. At night. What BS.

[:D]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

At Madang, 10x P-38Gs swept the hex and were jumped by 35x Oscars. Five P-38s were lost for no Japanese loss.

H8K2-L Emily – probably won’t use. No excess Ha-32 production at this time. Very little need, at any rate. One unit of size 6 plus a few spares. The Mavis is fine.

How in the world did you get that result for the lightning sweep? What were your settings, what altitude did the twin tailed devils come in...I am not up to speed on your HR.[&:]

That Emily L can carry a lot! I like them...

PS: Congrats on the night result...keep at it![:)]

[Mike Solli]

Lowpe, I think it's mainly an experience difference. My unit is the 50 Sentai, average experience of 69 and average air skill of 71, flying Ki-43-IIb. Ted had mentioned a while ago that his USA pilots took bad losses and haven't recovered in experience. They were at max height of 36k+ and on 40% CAP and 60% rest. Interestingly, 35 planes flew against 10 Lightnings. The Lightning height was about the same, maybe a bit lower, so my maneuverability is higher than his. So, everything was stacked against the Lightnings: experience, skill, maneuverability and numbers.

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
So, everything was stacked against the Lightnings: experience, skill, maneuverability and numbers.

Except of course the Lightnings' greatest attribute: speed. The critical factors I think is the experience because I have seen very good pilots in Lightnings overcome greater numbers with ease (and obviously maneuverability since that is constant). So to see the P-38 do poorly under any conditions against the Ki-43 means that the Allied player is not doing his job in training USA fighter pilots. If the USA is unable to field experienced pilots for the few P-38 squadrons in March 43 that speaks to much greater problems on the Allied side.

[Lowpe]

Only one Sentai! I don't see how you can get that many planes in the air -- what 35 out of 36 or 42 with a 40 percent rest and at max altitude!

I guess you had plenty of warning.

Great result.[:)]

[MrKane]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Only one Sentai! I don't see how you can get that many planes in the air -- what 35 out of 36 or 42 with a 40 percent rest and at max altitude!

I guess you had plenty of warning.

Great result.[:)]

Rest order is overruled buy CAP when base is under attack. Good pilots with good leader and decent advance warring can give you good such result.

[Mike Solli]

Sangeli, I hadn't even thought of speed. I have been doing really well in the air, especially in Burma. I'm doing better than I had expected around Rabaul too. The best thing he has there are the 4E bombers, but not enough to make it stick yet. They attack for a few days and then have to stand down to rest. Not really sure what it is. Been pretty lucky lately.

[Mike Solli]

The 50 Sentai has 36 planes. You're obviously right, MrKane. One thing I try to do at every airfield is to have at least 1 (and preferably more) radar sets.

[Malagant]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

How much of that is night search?

I'm confused on this...when I switch Groups to Night Ops then Searching is not an option. What am I missing?

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Malagant

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

How much of that is night search?

I'm confused on this...when I switch Groups to Night Ops then Searching is not an option. What am I missing?

Night naval search can be done by float planes like Jake and Glen and Alf. Floats can also sweep at night, but in effect fly nighttime CAP using the sweep -- I have never seen a squadron actually sweep anything at night and I have tried, and tried.

[Malagant]

Gah, I never thought to check the FP! Thanks!!

[Sangeli]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

Sangeli, I hadn't even thought of speed. I have been doing really well in the air, especially in Burma. I'm doing better than I had expected around Rabaul too. The best thing he has there are the 4E bombers, but not enough to make it stick yet. They attack for a few days and then have to stand down to rest. Not really sure what it is. Been pretty lucky lately.

Hmmm...it sounds like perhaps your opponent hasn't quite figured out how to use the allied hammer yet. Perhaps too many half conceived operations leading to heavy casualties has caused this. Its certainly possible to have enough 4E assets to make good use of them by now but they replenish slowly if you aren't careful with them. You are definitely doing a good job if this is the position you are in in spring 43.

[Mike Solli]

Back to the war…

26 Mar 43

Sub War

As I feared, my sub contacted the Allied bombardment Death Star, took a pot shot at a DD and then got pummeled by 2 DCs. She’s limping home with 37-78(41)-3-0 damage. The Death Star was reported to be 4 BB, CA, 3 CLAA & 7 DD. That report was wrong. [:(]

5 Fleet

Other than the contact above, nothing happened around here. MKB2 is still heading north, but is still several days out.

4 Fleet

Noting to report.

SE Fleet

Thirty Betties in 4 separate attacks missed.

Current damage:
Gasmata – 0-72-0
Talasea – 0-39-45

Three more days and Gasmata will resume building its forts which are currently stuck at 5.92.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

My fighters shot down the single Martlet II flying over Ramree Island and 111 Japanese bomber sorties hit the Chindits. The 14 Tank regiment arrived in the hex just east of Ramree, to bolster the 80% strength infantry regiment. The Chindits are still crawling to the east.

China

Nothing to report.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement:
E Sado – Etorofu class – Number 2 of this class of ASW ship.

The lull before the storm…

[Mike Solli]

27 Mar 43

Sub War

Nothing to report.

5 Fleet

The Allied bombardment DS is still hanging around. Wish MKB2 was there. They could have a field day. Still cruising north.

The Judies arrived at Amchitka, but the airfield is at level 1.76. Figures. There are only 12 engineer squads there. I should have sent some more engineers there to speed things up. Bad mistake.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

The Allied subs reappeared at Truk. I see 1-2 of them daily now. They are being prosecuted as before.

At Merauke, a sentai of Helens (based at Hollandia) hit the port today. There were ships there and they hit an AM with a 250kg bomb along with doing some damage to the port itself.

Talasea was the target of a sweep today (no losses on either side), but no bombing.

Rossel Island was the target of Ted’s massive air force today. He hit that tiny island with 53x 4E and 30x 2E bomber sorties. All I have here is an SNLF and engineer company. I built the airfield to level 2 and port to level 1 in case I decided to place some fighters here. I never had the chance. By the time it was ready, the time for fighters here had already passed. Now it is meaningless. I cheer every time he bombs it. That’s bomber sorties that are wasted for him and a net gain for me. He lost a B-24 op loss.

Fighter tangle over Talasea with a Kittyhawk III vs 2x Nicks (no pilots) lost.

Current base damage:

Gasmata – 0-47-0 – 2 days to complete repairs and continue on forts
Talasea – 0-39-39
Rossel Island – 25-23-36 – bomber bait! [:D]

SRA

Babeldaob’s port reached its max level of 5. Babeldaob became the new hub for the southern SRA shipments to Japan since Davao was discovered by Ted and he dumped some subs just outside that port (which are still hanging out there).

Burma

102 Japanese 2E bombers hit the Chindits at Ramree again. There are 3x artillery units that are a hex away from marrying up with the tanks and infantry in the hex where the Chindits are headed.

I have also decided to send the 21 Division overland to attack the Chindits. If you don’t recall, most of the division was erroneously landed 2 hexes to the west of Rangoon and the remainder landed at Rangoon. They are now going to team up and walk to attack Ramree Island (and kill/capture the Chindits) who are in Ramree. With my troops in the hex to the east of Ramree, I suspect that Ted will cancel their movement orders. We’ll see. The Chindits are still the only unit at Ramree. If they do vacate the hex, my 4 Parachute regiment will drop in for a visit, cutting the Chindits off forever.

China

Usual bombing of Chungking and Chengtu, destroying/damaging a few planes on the ground and adding to the damage to the airfields.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement:
E Oki – Etorofu class – 3rd of this class. All three will escort some newly converted smaller TKs to Singapore. Those TKs will replace the xAK(L)s currently shipping fuel from Medan to Singapore. Finally. If there are any extra, they will go to Soerabaja to start a regular shipment of fuel to Babeldaob or Singapore (haven’t decided yet). Right now there is 75k+ fuel (and growing) at Soerabaja.

The Ha-45 engine R&D advanced to 4/43. This is wonderful news. The Ha-45 is used for many mid and late planes I want to build, including the George, Frank, Grace, Myrt (NF) and Peggy. There are currently 3 R&D factories (120, 60, 60) totaling 240 engines a month, which will all become operational in April. I increased each of them by 30 to 330 total when repaired. By the end of April, there will be close to 300 in the pool. In 5/43, The George becomes operational and I will convert the 2x A6M2 factories to size 60 George factories each. It’ll take to the end of June for them to completely repair. Also, I’ll need 300 a month for the 10 R&D factories using this engine (9x George and 1x Francis (Y1)). I’ll need a total of 420 factories just to break even by the end of June. So, I need an additional 90 factories. I have several options:

-Increase the George factories by an additional 30 each, which means they won’t be completely repaired until the end of May.
-I have the Ha-31 factory available now (size 65)
-I have 2x Ha-60 factories that will become available in late Apr 43 (size 40 and 80).

I’m leaning toward converting the Ha-31 factory on 1 Apr. That would give me 4 factories upgrading at the same time:
120 to 150
90 to 120
90 to 120
0 to 65

for a total of 420 by the end of April and around 455 by the end of May. That’s a bit of excess capacity, but they’ll be needed when the late model R&D factories begin to complete and start using additional engines in R&D. It’ll also allow me to reach 500 engines in the pool more quickly, speeding up the George R&D. My goal is to have the George line complete by the end of 1943.

[Mike Solli]

28 Mar 43

Sub War

The I-28 caught and sank the xAK Corinda SW of Victoria.

There was another incident, but it is part of some other incidents and I’ll explain it below in sequence.

5 Fleet

It’s amazing how quickly thing can go to hell. I wish I had sent MKB a few days sooner, but that didn’t happen, so this happened…

The US bombardment DS hit Adak today. It was larger than previously thought: 10 BB, CA, 4 CLAA & 9 DD. Before it hit, it encountered 2x Japanese MTBs. They evaded (the slouches). I guess I would have needed to change my shorts if I was in one of those two boats and saw that fleet coming at me. Anyway, they encountered each other again and one of them was hit by a 16” shell. There weren’t even matchsticks left! The other one hightailed it out of there.

Next the I-20 found the bombardment DS and shot at a DD. She got away without damage to either side.

Then the DS did its thing and plastered the airfield and port causing 14 airfield, 6 airfield supply, 30 runway, 3 port, 1 port fuel and 1 port supply damage, along with fatal damage to an ACM monitoring the minefield. My DP guns fired back but did no damage. Five of the ground units ended up taking 2-10% damage (the other 6 took no damage at all). The Base Force took only 2% damage, losing 1 gun. Overall, not bad at all. I suspect the level 6 forts helped a bit. Oh yeah, about a dozen Oscars were turned into cinders and 1 pilot was KIA and 3 were WIA. I flew the remaining non-damaged planes to Attu.

Then, the I-20 took another shot at a DD and was pummeled, taking 2 direct hits causing 31-47(20)-7(3)-0 damage. Not too bad, considering.

What was the I-20 doing in Adak’s hex? Well, the midget sub that sank an AM couldn’t reload, so the I-20 was bringing a replacement midget sub to Adak and was going to take the other midget sub back to Kwajalein to rearm. She just got there today. So, the I-20 dropped off the new midget sub, picked up the empty midget sub and is headed to Japan for repairs. All is well (sort of).

Ted is definitely headed for Adak. He also had a minesweeping TF in Adak attempting to sweep some mines. That didn’t happen. He said in an email that he’s afraid of my mines. Good! I see a large TF of LCTs at Unmak Island. Invasion fleet? I hope he holds off a few days for MKB2 to arrive. They have only 24 Kates and 42 torpedoes though. Wish I had sent Junyo and Hiyo with them, but I want to keep them for use in the south with KB. I do have a dozen Judies at Amchitka, but that airfield is only level 1.78. Unless Adak’s airfield is repaired, the Judies are useless. I do have 110 engineers and 4 engineer vehicles at Adak, so hopefully the repairs will be quick. What a mess!

Oh yeah, Adak’s damage is currently at 23-75-97. I’m really glad that the airfield damage repairs first. We’ll see how fast those engineers can do the job.

One final worry: The US bombardment DS is still sitting at Adak.

4 Fleet

Nothing to report.

SE Fleet

Twelve Betties went after Woodlark and, you guessed it, missed.

Allied bomber target for today: Rossel Island! Yay!

In several raids, a total of 60x 4E and 27x 2E sorties hit Rossel Island, further battering the base. Supply is gone, so I’m using my 6x Mavis transports to haul a bit of supply there. No matter. They are expendable, but I won’t tell the commander that. I hope he bombs it another week (or more) before invading. I may try airdropping some mines. Can you do that to a friendly port? We’ll see. If I can’t, I’ll drop them on Woodlark.

By the way, I sent a midget sub to Woodlark. We’ll see if anything happens…

Ted sent 32 B-24D sorties to visit Tulagi. I have 2x Chutai of Zeros (18) who managed to shoot down 2 of the beasts. Only minor damage was done to the airfield.

Current damage:

Gasmata – 0-22-0 – Back in business! All damage should be repaired tomorrow, assuming no more bombing here.
Talasea – 0-39-33
Rossel Island – 45-57-94 – I’m surprised it isn't all 99s.

SRA

Nothing to report.

Burma

117 Japanese 2E sorties hit the Chindits at Ramree Island again causing more disruption. They have to have headaches now. They’re still moving east. Yay!

China

Japanese bombers hit Chungking’s airfield today causing minor damage and damaging a handful of planes.

Other Stuff

The E15K1 Norm R&D advanced to 7/43.

The Ki-44-IIc R&D advanced to 5/43. It is now complete. I could advance it to 4/43, but that would happen in April and I’m concerned that the R&D factories would become operational. I’ve had that happen in the past so I’ll wait a month. Anyway, the 3x30 factories were converted to George and increased back to size 30.

The George R&D is now up to a stunning 9 factories (5x30, 1x 29, 3x0). The George N1K1-J is currently at 7/43, but will actually become operational in 5/43. I expect all the R&D factories to be completely repaired by then. Then the remaining models will zoom through R&D (once I get the Ha-45 pool to 500) and the last model will be operational this November/December. The service rating isn’t the best, but I hope they burn through the Allied 4E bombers better than I’m doing now.

My IJN fighter pool is currently at 238. Somewhere between a third and half have 70+ experience. I am pulling 70+ experience out of the line units (doing this with the IJAAF too) and replacing them with 50+ experience pilots to train them up more (trial by fire). I try to keep ~a third of the pilots in the front-line units with 70+ experience, along with a couple of elite pilots too.

In the coming months, I will get more R&D factories available to be converted to other models:

The 2x30 E15K1 Norm R&D factories will become available in late April.

Three of the 6x30 Ki-100-II R&D factories will become available in mid-July.

Three B6N2a R&D factories will become available at the end of July.

I haven’t decided what to do with these 5 factories yet. I’m realizing that only 1 R&D factory really doesn’t do much to advance a model. I have 3 models that have only 1 R&D factory:

P1Y1 Francis (11/43, factory at 30)
Ki-67-Ia Peggy (4/44, factory at 12)
Ki-46-III KAI Dinah NF (10/44, factory at 16)

I’m leaning toward giving 2, 1 and 1 factories to the 3 models above in order. Then I’ll probably give the remaining 3 factories to the Frank. Here is what the Frank currently looks like:

Ki-84a Frank (4/44, 6 R&D factories at 51(of 55), 28, 27, 26, 16, 14)

I still have a little time, so I’ll ponder it a bit more.

The R&D factories are going to start to pile up on not a lot of remaining R&D models over the next 6-12 months. Things will begin to accelerate even more with time. After what has been happening recently, I am going to need these new planes, and soon. [:(]