See you in Tokyo Bay - Apbarog(A) vs Walker(J) DBB-B Scen28

[apbarog]

27 Aug 42

Got a rare sub versus sub battle. RO-34 fired on already damaged S-32, and got a hit, but it was a dud. Lucky S-32.

After a long lull, we have an air battle over Calcutta. I think that the enemy wanted to show off their new Tojos. Remember that this is a PDU OFF game, so the Tojos won't be everywhere.

First 30 Oscars sweep Calcutta, finding 40 Hurri IIB Trop and 16 Mohawks. CAP is layered, with the Mohawks low, and does surprisingly well. Many Oscars are downed.

Then 26 Tojos sweep. Allied losses are over twice the enemy's.

Total losses are 20 Oscars and 9 Tojos, while I lose 12 Hurri IIB Trop and 6 Mohawks.

With the spotted enemy planes at Diamond Harbour down in the 40's instead of the 80's, I decide to launch a maximum effort to hit the Diamond Harbour airfield. Some fighters sweep, but more go on bomber escort duty. Heavy bombers fly at 10k as per house rules. All other bombers fly at 6k. If there's really just 40 enemy planes on CAP, I'll be ok. If not, maybe not.

I can't pass up the chance to get some Tojos on the ground.

[apbarog]

28 Aug 42

I had sent CL Adelaide with 2 destroyers towards Tarawa when I saw a transport force there, but recalled them when they were spotted. On the way back to Luganville, Adelaide was attacked by I-176 and sunk by 2 torpedoes. My adventurous raids rarely pay off.

I do see a new enemy task force a couple of days north of Ndeni. Cruisers spotted, and they were moving southeast from Truk. Another task force is 8 or so hexes behind, closer to Truk. May be a reaction to the Adelaide task force.

At Diamond Harbour, I make a maximum effort to hit the airfield. Enemy CAP was heavier than intelligence said. First 25 P40E sweep and find 43 Zeros and 32 Tojos. The P40s take the worst of it.

My plan was to attack with my 2 engine bombers at 6k, and my heavies at 10k. Next the 2 engines come in. 18 B25s and 16 Wellingtons are escorted by 16 Hurris, 25 P39s and 25 P40s. Losses aren't too bad, and the base is hit rather effectively. 26 airbase hits, 4 supply hits, and 58 runway hits.

Next 16 Wellingtons and 30 Blens come in, with no escort. Losses are predictably higher. 12 runway hits and a few others.

Then 24 B17s escorted by 25 P40s come up against 30 Zeros and 24 Tojos. Losses are minimal, but so are the airfield hits. Only 3 runway hits.

Next, 21 B17s against 42 enemy fighters. Damaged bombers and just 2 runway hits.

Then 12 LB-30s against 32 fighters. Ditto on the result.
Same thing for the next 12 B17 attack.

Good bombing results by the 2 engine bombers at 6k, poor for the heavies at 10k.

Losses are 21 P40E, 13 Blen, 5 P39, and 1 Wellington. Enemy losses are 6 Zeros, 5 Tojos, and 4 Oscars.

I'm hitting again with the 2 engine bombers. I hope that the airfield damage has some effect. I'm attacking Cox Bazar with my heavies today. I suspect Diamond Harbour will be getting (if it isn't already) LR CAP from Cox Bazar, and this base may have little or no CAP, since I haven't paid any attention to it so far.

If losses stay high and I can't shut down the airfield, I'll call off this air offensive, just like the previous attempts.

[apbarog]

29 Aug 42

I again strike Diamond Harbour, but find no aircraft flying. All enemy groups were pulled out. My 2 engine bombers hit unopposed. Minor damage is done to the airfield and port. 5 Zeros, 2 Oscars, and 1 Tojo are destroyed on the ground. My 4 engine bombers, planned to strike Cox Bazar, did not fly.

For the next turn, I see fighters at Diamond Harbour again. I see 40, but who knows. I once again will hit with sweepers and 2 engine bombers. This time, I also send in the heavies, with half going for the airfield and half for the port. If I can slowly increase the port damage also, that will hinder any further evacuation of enemy troops.

In the South Pacific, there's no sign of the enemy task force seen well north of Ndeni.

Battleship Washington appears at Balboa. A nice reinforcement.

[apbarog]

30 Aug 42

A good day in the air for the Allies today.

Enemy CAP at Diamond Harbour is not reinforced today. 21 Tojos and 11 Zeros fly CAP in the morning, and get whittled down with multiple sweeps. All of the sweeps come in before the bombers. Nice when it works. The bombers do a good job, and the port takes more damage also.

The enemy launches 12 Bettys out of Port Moresby, targeting a small minesweeper at Townsville. About a dozen Kitthawks fly CAP, and shoot down all of the bombers.

Total losses for the day are 6 Hurris, 5 P40s, 3 P400s, 1 B26, and 1 LB30 for the Allies, and 12 Bettys, 10 Zeros, 8 Tojos, and 5 Oscars for the enemy. Diamond Harbour is showing 99 airfield damage.

I'll continue to sweep and bomb here, and shift more of the bombing to the port.

Elsewhere, 12 hexes south of Ceylon, Pompano spots 2 enemy destroyers, but misses with the attack. I had a cargo task force spotted at Diego Garcia for the past couple of turns. I suspect an enemy raid on the way. They are due east of Diego Garcia. The sub spotting may cause the enemy to abort the raid. The cargo ships have already left port.

[apbarog]

31 Aug 42

Nothing flys to Diamond Harbour today due to weather.

The Burma/India border got a lot more interesting today. The enemy attacked in the contested hex a bit southwest of Ledo, in the jungle. This is the hex that I had isolated by owning all hexsides, but I didn't have enough forces to keep the enemy from reinforcing. Now the 33rd Division entered the contested hex, and joined the attack. This is the first full enemy division committed in the area.

The enemy attack comes off at 1-2. My units were low on supply despite nearby bases. The enemy has a longer supply trail here than I do. Allied losses were about double the enemy, but combat troops lost were about the same. I may lose this hex.

This raises the alarm. I want to keep Ledo, which means keeping the open hex just west of Ledo also. The enemy is adjacent to that hex. I start a big movement of troops to the area, including the Brit division that recently went to Chittagong. I start to LR CAP the hex, as well as sweep the hex, looking for enemy transports dropping supply. I try to drop supply for myself. I'll hold off bombing here for this turn, anyhow.

***************
Ground combat at 63,39 (near Jorhat)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 16954 troops, 140 guns, 4 vehicles, Assault Value = 520

Defending force 7068 troops, 42 guns, 20 vehicles, Assault Value = 244

Japanese adjusted assault: 450

Allied adjusted defense: 796

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2

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

Japanese ground losses:
364 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 71 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled

Allied ground losses:
617 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 62 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 18 disabled
Guns lost 9 (3 destroyed, 6 disabled)
Vehicles lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)

Assaulting units:
33rd Division
144th Infantry Regiment

Defending units:
2/2nd Pioneer Battalion
36th Indian Brigade
3rd Indian Brigade
*************

The other notable event today is that I see 2 enemy task forces approaching Diego Garcia. They each ran over a couple of my subs, and all I spotted in each task force was 2 destroyers. The mouseover on the map shows more ships. The detection levels on my subs are very low, so most likely, there aren't carriers. One task force ended up one hex from Diego. This was odd. I could have hammered these ships if I had divebombers here. The other task force is about 9 hexes east.

I decide that this is probably just a reaction to seeing my big cargo task force here a few days ago. I didn't have divebombers within transfer range, and I don't send any new planes here. I have some fighters and a bomber group that is specialized in searching, not naval bombing. So we'll just sit for a day and see what happens.

Elsewhere, Kwajalein is reported to have heavy activity for 2 days in a row. I had a sub just west of there get a 10/10 detection level yesterday. KB maybe? The enemy could be thinking of striking behind the lines. May be frustrated with the last fishing expedition that netted nothing, despite going almost all the way to Koumac. I considered sending out the carriers from Auckland towards Pago Pago, but decided against it.

Another big transport task force loads on the West Coast. 4 more big base forces and 5 construction units. This batch will go to Australia to beef up the far northeast bases. I need to present a bigger threat to Port Moresby, whether I go there or not in the future.

[apbarog]

1 Sep 42

Brit sub Trusty spots a huge battleship task force just outside of Port Blair. I don't know which way it is headed, but I think that it is inbound to Port Blair. This much of a battleship commitment says something about the enemy's intentions. He doesn't need battleships to defend the Bay of Bengal right now. His Bettys did fine all by themselves awhile back. I still have a fear of an invasion of Chittagong. Recent intel showed the 38th Division prepping for it. The evacuation of Calcutta and Diamond Harbour stopped a few weeks ago. It appears that armor was primarily evacuated, although a big infantry division was also taken out. I just don't know how the enemy can successfully evacuate all of their troops. At some point, I will be attacking.

I once again go on alert at Chittagong. The Brit infantry division that was leaving will now stay. Other units will have to defend inland. I did get intel that the HQ unit 15 Army is in the jungle southwest of Ledo. That makes it more likely that a general offensive is in the works here.

My CAP and sweep of the contested hex near Jorhat was successful, but didn't find transports. It found Nicks, and my P43s and P40Es got the best of the Nicks. 10 Nicks downed for the loss of 1 P40. I rest my fighters today.

I bombed Katha in Burma with some Hudsons just as a distraction.

The enemy destroyers near Diego Garcia disappeared today.

My bombing of Diamond Harbour was again effective. 3 Tojos and 3 Oscars caught on the damaged airfield. No CAP flying. I switch the heavies to bomb ground troops today. That will get my enemy thinking that maybe he needs to be more desparate here. In reality, I can't attack at Calcutta against 2 infantry divisions. Not with the terrain bonus, and not without using all of my Brit divisions, which are elsewhere.

Iloilo in the Philippines is finally cleaned up by the enemy.

[jwolf]

Maybe he's holding that BB TF to ambush you if you attempt another bombardment run at Diamond Harbor or anyplace else up there.

[apbarog]

2 Sep 42

I-32 takes a shot at S-23 near Diego Garcia, and misses.

Rennell Island is the target of multiple enemy fighter sweeps. I had a squadron of P400s and another of P40Es, protecting a tanker unloading fuel for PT boats. 32 Zeros, 27 Zeros, and 24 Oscars sweep, and then some fragments of these units. Losses are 26 Zeros and 1 Oscar versus 11 P40Es and 11 P400s. Fortunately no bombers follow up. I hope that the tanker finishes unloading before daylight of the next turn, as I withdraw my fighters to rebuild.

I bomb Diamond Harbour again, doing minimal damage today. My heavies all hit an enemy infantry division. I rest them today.

In the contested hex near Jorhat and Ledo, the enemy deliberately attacks, but this time they are out of supply and I am in supply. Enemy losses are 3 times mine. This should cause a pause in the attacks here. Oscars did sweep the hex, but I wasn't flying LR CAP. I do so today though. I've also had transport dropping supply in.

I spent some extra time swapping out leaders for some of my ships. Did so for the US carriers and most of the cruisers. I also started planning for expanding my defenses in the Aleutians. I'll have what I need to land on various islands west of Cold Bay in about a month. All islands are still US controlled. Landing on and building up Adak is a priority. The Japanese control only the most western Aleutian island. I want it to become target practice for my bombers.

[apbarog]

You could be right jwolf. He kept battleships hiding in the middle of the Bay of Bengal for months hoping to pounce on my ships that never came. The makeup of this task force, with 4 battleships, looks more like a bombardment force. So far, he's made a couple of nuisance bombardments at Diego Garcia, long ago. He's used battleships at Chittagong. I'm seeing more pieces of the puzzle that suggest more action on the India/Burma border, and maybe a landing at Chittagong combined with a push up the coast. It's the only possibility to ever fully save his units at Calcutta and Diamond Harbour.

[apbarog]

3 Sep 42

Just hints of activity in the Bay of Bengal. My sub detection level is up 6 hexes northwest of Port Blair, probably from that big battleship group. Not specific or high enough detection to guess a destination. I'd be surprised if it wasn't Chittagong. Calcutta would be my second guess. A new invasion at Viz. or on Ceylon would be very surprising without KB around. My guess is that I have another day to spot it, and I'll move my naval bombers to the Chittagong area tomorrow.

A nice result at Diego Garcia, where I-27 hits a mine and is on fire with heavy damage. Hopefully that is the end of that sub.

I LR CAP the contested hex on the India/Burma border, and get the worst of it, to Oscar Ic's no less. I lose 7 P40Es and 1 P43. 2 Oscars are downed. I rest today.

My continued bombing of Diamond Harbour does almost no damage this time. I wasn't using the heavies, and the port attacks were disappointing. I switch all of the 2 engine bombers back to hitting the airfield.

[apbarog]

4 Sep 42

The 4 previously spotted battleships turn out to be a task force of 5 battleships: Hyuga, Ise, Yamashiro, Fuso, and Nagato. They bombard Chittagong, and get a rather weak bombardment. 271 casualties and just a few are destroyed. No damage to base facilities. No sign of an invasion, just a bombardment. No advance up the road from Cox Bazar either. I keep seeing movement from Cox but it's headed east into the jungle. There might be a lot more enemy troops in the jungle than I know about, but it's slow going there, so I welcome that kind of offensive.

More Allied airstrikes hit Diamond Harbour's airfield today. Now showing 100 damage.

2 enemy ships spotted west of Tabituea near Tarawa. Could be small, could be KB. Still high detection level north of this spotting.

[apbarog]

5 Sep 42

Unusual activity still around Kwajalein. Sub detection levels noted. Heavy activity reported at Enewetok.

I bomb Diamond Harbour again. I attack with artillery at Calcutta, same as every turn. I nuisance bomb a couple of the enemy units in the jungle in Burma, finding single fighters on bleedover CAP. Theres an enemy regiment next to Imphal, and the enemy 15th Army HQ near Ledo.

I have lots of reinforcements on the rail lines across India headed towards the Burma border.

I do spot the Imperial Guard division east of Cox Bazar. It had come from Diamond Harbour. There is movement to the east into the jungle noted here. This may or may not be that division. I'm guessing not, and the division is guarding the coastal road. I have a Brit division just to the north, and the enemy knows it.

[apbarog]

6 Sep 42

I'm still trying to determine the extent of the threat on the Indian/Burma border. I've gotten several SigInt messages about units going to Rangoon, including armor. A few weeks ago, I read that the 38th Division was planning to attack Chittagong. I know that the Imperial Guard Division is just east of Cox Bazar. And 5 battleships just recently bombarded Chittagong.

If I were planning a new attack at Chittagong, I'd make a lot of noise inland by Ledo, trying to draw troops that direction. That's what I'm seeing now, and I am sending lots of troops to the Ledo area. However, I am keeping the 2 Brit divisions in the Chittagong area.

My opinion is that taking Chittagong and pushing toward Calcutta is the only way for the enemy to not lose significant troops now stuck at Calcutta and Diamond Harbour. I don't think that this is doable, but maybe enough enemy divisions can be gathered for this.

Anyhow, elsewhere in the war, sub Pike spots a big xAKL task force heading to Rangoon, but misses the one xAK it sees in the task force.

Zamoboanga is again bombed by the enemy. There will be a landing here eventually.

I bomb the airfield at Diamond Harbour again. It remains shut down.

The Japanese artillery bombard Bandoeng on Java, same as every other day.

And I do the same kind of thing at Calcutta. The difference is that I'm doing decent damage at Calcutta. Today the enemy took 194 casualties, with 1 destroyed combat squad, and disablements include 10 combat squads, 2 non combat squads, and 1 engineer squad. I'm happy to just bombard because this increases the experience for a lot of Indian units here.

2 enemy AM's spotted at Tabituea. I think that they are bait with enemy carriers lurking to the northwest. I showed interest in this area a month ago, and didn't come back.

[apbarog]

7 Sep 42

Another rare (maybe not so rare of late) sub versus sub attack. Sailfish fires on I-21 near Rossel Island, but misses.

A US sub had dropped some mines near Palembang, but an SC found them today, and swept a few, and not with its hull. No surprise now, so no tankers hit, which was my hope.

Oscars sweep the contested hex near Jorhat/Ledo, but I had no CAP up this turn. Then Nells bomb my troops in the jungle, escorted by Nicks. No hits achieved. Then a deliberate attack by the enemy goes better for me, with my casualties only 156 and enemy casualties are 797. I start to move an Australian unit into the jungle to reinforce here.

I made a major effort at sweeping and bombing Cox's Bazar's airfield, and it went poorly. First 16 Hurris sweep and most if not all are shot down. 25 Zeros and 19 Oscars are on CAP.

Then P-38s make their first appearance of the war. 24 of them sweep versus 25 Zeros and 17 Oscars. 11 P38s are lost. I move the unit to the rear at Bombay to reinforce, and more importantly, train more. The pilots in this unit are not uniformly trained. Some are great, some just average. I can do better with better pilots.

Then 25 P400's sweep, finding 19 Zeros and 11 Oscars. 4 P400's are lost.

My bombers start to arrive, some without escort. Losses are very light though. Bombing is just ok. The airfield is showing 25 damage. This was my first action at Cox's Bazar, and I thought I'd catch the enemy napping, but I did not.

I did, however, send all of my B-17s to bomb Magwe's airfield. They found no CAP there at all, which was surprising for such a big airfield built (7 I think). 4 Nicks are destroyed on the ground. Combat reports show about 20 airfield damage. I won't concentrate here though. I was moving around my targets to try and make the enemy disperse their CAP some. I go back to hitting Diamond Harbour for the next turn, with heavies hitting the port.

[jwolf]

Maybe the B17s could do a good job on Cox's airfield?

[apbarog]

You have the right idea jwolf. I should have just concentrated my heavies at Cox's Bazar along with my 2 engine bombers. I hadn't hit either Cox's or Magwe until yesterday, so I thought I'd hit both as a surprise. I need to use my heavies as the sledge hammer that they are.

[apbarog]

8 Sep 42

4 Japanese cruisers bombard Calcutta. This was a surprise as I didn't see them coming. Kudos to my opponent. The result is a moderately nuclear bombardment:

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 31 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
Mohawk IV: 20 damaged
Mohawk IV: 1 destroyed on ground
B-25C Mitchell: 15 damaged
Hurricane IIb Trop: 13 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 5 damaged
Hurricane IIc Trop: 1 destroyed on ground
Catalina I: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Mogami
CA Ashigara
CA Takao
CL Yura

Allied ground losses:
325 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 30 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 12 (2 destroyed, 10 disabled)
Vehicles lost 16 (4 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Airbase hits 40
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 52


Not bad for just cruisers. I'll be railing some air units out for repair.

And another sub versus sub attack! Today I-9 fires on Flying Fish, but the torpedo passes harmlessly beneath the sub while it is airborn.

[BBfanboy]

And another sub versus sub attack! Today I-9 fires on Flying Fish, but the torpedo passes harmlessly beneath the sub while it is airborn.

So I guess I can no longer use the expression "When subs fly!"

[bigred]

How many of your indian inf units have upgraded to 42 indian squads?

[apbarog]

Most of my Indian infantry units have upgraded to the 42 standard. I will check my frontline units for that. I do know that I have 1/3 of a division in the contested hex southwest of Ledo, and the other 2/3 is on the way. Not sure if all are upgraded. I suspect that the engaged unit that has been in the jungle is not upgraded.