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

[apbarog]

2 Jun 43

Not much action today. West of Nagasaki, sub Snook spots a big tanker task force, fires 2 torpedoes at TK Koho Maru. One hits, but is a dud.

North of Dobo, Beaufighters from Merauke attack an xAKL, probably running supply in and/or troops out. The fighterbombers attack at wave height, bombing and strafing the ship and sinking it. Finally a successful attack for these guys! They are excellent bombers and strafers, as long as the ship target doesn't have CAP.

Brits start loading at Townsville, bound for Darwin, and the next invasion. US carriers arrive at Normanton and will wait there for the Brits to pass by.

Troops unload at Lautem without interference. Lautem is overstacked, but just for today. Tomorrow forces finish marching to Dili.

Yesterday I had SigInt that the 19th Army was prepping for Buna. Today I got intel that 1/19th Army is prepping for Buna, meaning that the unit is now fragmented and probably loading on ships. Could an invasion really be coming? I think not, but I have a big cruiser force at Milne Bay. This unit is probably loading to head elsewhere. I'm just not seeing significant shipping at Rabaul or Truk.

Several towns in India are now under garrisoned, due to units withdrawing. I'm scrambling to send appropriate sized units to cover these towns now.

An A-20 attack squadron appeared at Calcutta. I will ship it to Australia, where it will be put to use sooner.

[apbarog]

3 Jun 43

Near Manado, sub Raton spots a big task force, with many xAKs, and AV, and many small escorts. Raton fires 2 torpedoes at xAK Macassar Maru, hits with one, but it's a dud. Bad run of luck lately.

The only other action was a squadron of B-17s flying to Boela and bombing the port. I've been seeing 2 tankers in port here for a long time. I had hit a number of them a month or so ago, and I suspect that there are a couple of badly damaged ships here. Today the B-17s finds xAK Teiryu Maru, and get one bomb hit.

Ground forces from Lautem made it to Dili and will attack tomorrow. They have a Corp HQ, and they have the SW Pacific HQ right next door at Lautem, with all prepped for Dili.

The Brit Division at Townsville is now loaded and headed for Darwin. CV Essex will arrive at Townsville today, and will then also go to Darwin. Essex will make it there in time for the next phase of operations.

I had battleships Royal Sovereign and Ramilles, and battlecruiser Repulse at Sydney, ready for upgrades. I saw that I only needed a size 10 or 15 shipyard for the upgrade. But I ignored the fact that all of these ships are over 30k tons, too big for Sydney's shipyard. I'm sending them all to Capetown now.

I do see what may be a surface group at Kendari now. Recon was poor so I can't be sure, but that would be consistent with recent sightings. And Kendari has over 120 fighters now. Must be something worth protecting. All of my ships are leaving Lautem now anyhow. The cruiser task force that was guarding will now bombard Dili to aid in the attack, and head for Darwin.

West of Darwin, at Wyndham, I'm unloading some base support and picking up the Australian brigade, which will be used in the next op. I'm also unloading at Port Hedland. So there's just a few enemy bases left in Australia, in the Broome area. The bases are almost, if not completely, empty now.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

I had battleships Royal Sovereign and Ramilles, and battlecruiser Repulse at Sydney, ready for upgrades. I saw that I only needed a size 10 or 15 shipyard for the upgrade. But I ignored the fact that all of these ships are over 30k tons, too big for Sydney's shipyard. I'm sending them all to Capetown now.

If the upgrade does not cause floatation damage, you do not need to send the big ships to a full sized shipyard. If the upgrade calls for only a 10 or 15K shipyard that is because you need the cranes and workshops, not the drydock.

[apbarog]

All 3 ships will incur from 1 to 4 points of flotation damage in the upgrade. I got confused because it listed the size of the shipyard required as 15, so I thought I could manage it at Sydney.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: apbarog

All 3 ships will incur from 1 to 4 points of flotation damage in the upgrade. I got confused because it listed the size of the shipyard required as 15, so I thought I could manage it at Sydney.

A major port can handle up to 5 points of float damage without using the drydock. Give it a try - it only takes a day to find out if they will start the refit vs. a six week round trip to CT.

[apbarog]

I've already tried. The ships were in port set to upgrade, and they didn't.

[jmalter]

ORIGINAL: apbarog
Several towns in India are now under garrisoned, due to units withdrawing. I'm scrambling to send appropriate sized units to cover these towns now.

Those INC riots can be demmed annoying, what?

By chance, I was looking at the Ground Withdrawal screen & discovered 3 towns in India that will lose their required garrisons on 01 Jan 44 - Ambala, Bareilly & Sialkot. It took some scramblin', but I found 3 battalions to replace the withdrawing units. One was an almost-completely filled-out repurchase that was already on the sub-continent, but 2 had to come from my active operations in Thailand, and needed to move to an airbase & air-transported to Rangoon, then shipped to Diamond Harbor. They'll get there in time, but it was an unwanted diversion of assets.

[apbarog]

4 Jun 43

Near Formosa, sub Puffer spots an E boat and a destroyer, fires at E Sanae, but misses. Puffer has been in the area for awhile, and was unspotted until today, when it left due to low fuel.

US cruisers bombard Dili, doing decent damage to the troops, and little damage to the facilities.

Near Guam, sub Peto spots an xAP task force, fired 4 torpedoes at the huge xAP Kamakura Maru, gets one hit, and yes, again, it's a dud.

An xAKL is loading some tanks at Lae, pulling them out for future operations. 7 Lilys from Rabaul attack in 2 attacks, escorted by 3 Zeros the first time, and 16 Nicks the second time. No bombers get through to the ships, as 3 Allied squadrons are on CAP at Lae. Losses are 13 Nicks and 10 Lilys.

Dili's troops are bombed by some B-25s, causing disruption and little else.

Dili is attacked for the first time. It's a good thing I chose to land at Lautem and walk to Dili instead of landing directly. There's a lot more enemy there than I thought.

******************************
Ground combat at Dili (71,115)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 12668 troops, 217 guns, 179 vehicles, Assault Value = 403

Defending force 14208 troops, 110 guns, 26 vehicles, Assault Value = 420

Allied adjusted assault: 564

Japanese adjusted defense: 969

Allied assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), disruption(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
245 casualties reported
Squads: 1 destroyed, 19 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 4 (1 destroyed, 3 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
801 casualties reported
Squads: 8 destroyed, 108 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Guns lost 25 (1 destroyed, 24 disabled)
Vehicles lost 35 (2 destroyed, 33 disabled)

Assaulting units:
32nd Infantry Division
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
XIV US Corps
1st RAA Jungle Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
11th Garrison Unit
14th Garrison Unit
24th Infantry Regiment
9th RF Gun Battalion
56th Construction Battalion
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
86th JAAF AF Bn
***********************************

I decide to send the Brit Division that took Lautem to Dili to join the fun. This will leave Lautem uncomfortably low on combat value, with lots of support there. I will send an Australian Brigade that was to garrison Darwin. Should be enough for any unexpected counter-landing.

Cruisers will cycle from Darwin to bombard Dili occasionally. And bombing will continue. Once I have 2 divisions there, I should start wearing the defenders down. And I don't mind keeping the focus here for a bit. I'll be moving the focus soon enough.

SigInt today was interesting. Lots of "heavy activity", at Manando, Guam, Babeldaop, and Manila. So there's lots of activity out there. I'm just not seeing it. Yet.

[BBfanboy]

Those Garrison Units are usually not very good in morale and experience so the IJA Infantry Regiment is the heart of the defence.
The RF Gun Battalion is what hurt your tanks but the only artillery he has (other than small unit guns) is the Jungle guns, which are likely 75-85 mm.
If your 1st RAA has larger caliber guns or lots of guns in the 85 mm range you might be able to win artillery duels.

But you really need Combat Engineers to deal with those level 3 forts.

[apbarog]

5 Jun 43

I-9 spots sub Seadragon northeast of Timor, fires 2 torpedoes at the sub, but misses.

At Bima, a small enemy base in the chain of islands between Timor and Java, O21 spots lone xAKL Kofuku Maru. The Dutch sub gets one gun hit on the cargo ship, but takes a hit also, and immediately decides to submerge.

2 squadrons of heavy bombers hit Dobo's airfield, doing minor damage.

Bad weather prevents bombers hitting enemy troops at Dili. The Allied artillery attacks today, and it goes better for the enemy than for us, so we won't be attacking this way. We'll wait for reinforcements.

Brit cruisers will sortie from Milne Bay and move quickly to Torokina, in the Solomons. I'm seeing a few small cargo ships there. It would be nice if there are no mines there.

CV Victorious, upgraded on the West Coast, has made it to Luganville, and it will continue to Townsville. It probably won't get to Darwin in time for the next operation.

[apbarog]

6 Jun 43

Not a lot of activity today. The weather cleared somewhat over Dili, and my bombers hit the airfield and the troops. A squadron of B-17s also hit Dobo's airfield.

At night, multiple task forces were spotted east of Tarakan, on Borneo. Ship types unknown.

A big British cruiser task force moved from Milne Bay to Torokina, but the enemy ships had left. Some of the Brit ships will now head to Australia to repair damage from the high speed run.

An enemy sub was spotted at Dili. It could be laying mines, and I want to continue sending in cruisers to bombard, so I postponed the next bombardment a day, and I've sent a DMS on a high speed run from Darwin to Dili to sweep.

US carriers leave Normanton and head for Darwin.

Exemouth, on the northwestern tip of Australia, has built to a size 1 airfield and port. I will build this base big and use it as a sub base.

A small Australian unit has been unloaded at Darwin. It has been prepping for Derby, and it will be loaded ASAP to take this base back.

[Macclan5]

Nice to see you both back at firing control Apbarog....

--

Just a curiosity.. We are Jun 6 1943.

We are very deep in operations in the Timor and Solomon Sea's respectively; since the big carrier battle of Nov 20 1942 (ergo page 25 or so as I recall)

--

What's happening in Burma ? India ?

Looking at operations it appears of course Aussie and Brit forces have been redirected for your ABDA line invasions.

--

No rush but when you have time drop us a screen shot on the other front.

[apbarog]

Correct observations Macclan5. A large number of Brit, Aussie, and even Indian units were sent from India to Australia. I'm using 2 Brit divisions, and a bunch of big Indian para LRP units in the Timor area. Plus many (over 20) other units.

Burma has been absolutely quiet. There's an enemy tank division on the road between Chittagong and Cox Bazar, in the jungle, plus elements of the Imperial Guard Division scattered nearby. I don't have enough unrestricted units there to try an offensive, but have a sufficient supply of restricted Indian units for any kind of defense. The units that are available, such as a huge Chinese corp that I built from purchased components and evacuated to India while I could, are prepping for action, but they would be involved in an amphibious assault, and not anytime soon. I highly recommend buying out the components for this Chinese corp. Building to full size in India works well. For me, the unit serves as an emergency reserve. With over 800 combat value, it's going to be fun dropping this unit somewhere. Right now, I'm planning Pegu. But that's for the future.

I'd rather push to Java and then maybe to Sumatra. I can threaten Singapore from that direction, and threaten to cut off the entire Burma theater. I don't know if I'll go this direction though.

[apbarog]

7 Jun 43

Sub Sculpin spots BB Haruna and friends just outside of Kendari. 4 torpedoes miss the battleship.

Koepang's airfield is bombed. Enemy troops at Dili are bombed. Dobo's airfield is bombed. And for the first time, the airfield at Ternate is bombed. No CAP at Ternate either, as this is well behind the lines as probably wasn't expected. Just 10 or so B-24s flew from Timoeka, doing minor damage to the airfield and hitting a couple of Sallys on the ground. Just want to force more bases to have fighters, so it's easier to hit my objectives when it comes time.

Haruna was one hex southeast of Kendari during the night phase, where Sculpin attacked it. Don't know where it was coming from, but it ended up at Kendari.

I've changed my mind about the 4th Marine Division, which just arrived on the West Coast. I was going to prep for Kusaie Island. Now I'm prepping for Buin, next to Shortlands, in the Solomons. I can do this invasion without carriers. Kusaie would threaten the Marshalls from the west, but I think the Marshalls are practically empty now anyhow. I'll move closer to Rabaul. From Buin, Rabaul will be shut down by my airpower.

I've marked my objectives for the next phase of operations. Denpassar (Bali), is the primary objective. Divisions will land there and at Waingapoe. Smaller units at the other targets. If I'm lucky, and approach unseen, I may open the attack with a port strike on Soerbaja. Denpassar is uncomfortably close to Soerbaja when I invade, but it's also nicely close after I've built up Denpassar. Java will truly be threatened.

I got intel that 3/8 Div/A is at Manando. 8 Div was at Dobo, and parts have been extracted. I suspect that extraction continues there, at least with 2/3 of the division.

Essex will join the other US carriers near Gove today. The Brit division destined for Denpassar is 2 days out of Darwin where it will reload for the invasion.

[apbarog]

8 Jun 43

Little combat but lots of activity.

2 B-24 squadrons bomb Koepang's airfield, doing minor damage.

Just outside of Davao, sub Blackfish spots a couple of subchasers, fires 2 torpedoes at one, and both miss. The subchasers attack but get no depth charge hits.

The enemy task force at Kendari remains there today. Lots of enemy CAP.

Today US carriers, now including Essex, will move through Darwin and stop to the WSW of Darwin. I'm hoping to have them avoid being seen. Darwin sees enemy recon planes every day, so the carriers move west, and a replenishment task force will meet them and top off the tanks. The plan will not change if the carriers are spotted, but it would be nice to move west unseen.

The Brit division will arrive at Darwin and unload.

Preparations are in high gear for the next operation.

Lots of heavy bombers will bomb Taberfane's airfield today.

[apbarog]

9 Jun 43

Today was the day to spot enemy tankers, apparently.

Near Balikpapan, sub Steelhead spots a tanker convoy, fires 2 torpedoes at E Uji, and misses.

Mid-ocean between Borneo and Vietnam, sub Pike is spotted by escorts in a tanker convoy. Pike takes serious damage from 2 solid depth charge hits. Damage is SYS 42/FLOT 70-47/ENG 11. It's a long way home to Darwin. I can hope that the flotation damage will come down some, but the issue is in doubt.

North of Kendari, sub Rasher spots a tanker convoy, fires 2 torpedoes at PB Hakka Maru, and misses.

US cruisers bombarded Dili at night, doing good damage to the troops and minor damage to the facilities. I'm sure that disruption was caused.

Many heavy bombers hit Taberfane's airfield. Good results.

At Dili, the 18th British Division joined the attack. Results were much improved from the one division attack earlier. Odds were 1 to 1, and the forts were reduced to 2. I noticed that my corp HQ here had the South Pacific HQ as its parent HQ. I have the Southwest Pacific HQ just one hex away, hopefully lending support. So before this attack, I changed the parent HQ of the XIV US Corp to the Southwest Pacific HQ. I don't know if this really makes any difference, or if just being in range of the parent HQ helps. Regardless, the attack went better. I'll rest a day and repeat, along with more ship bombardments. No air flew again today to Dili, again due to weather. A bunch of B-25s have a ground attack mission assigned here. It would be helpful if the weather cleared.

*********************************
Ground combat at Dili (71,115)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 25084 troops, 447 guns, 326 vehicles, Assault Value = 697

Defending force 13903 troops, 110 guns, 26 vehicles, Assault Value = 403

Allied adjusted assault: 1171

Japanese adjusted defense: 811

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 3)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 2

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), disruption(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
749 casualties reported
Squads: 2 destroyed, 60 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 16 (1 destroyed, 15 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
641 casualties reported
Squads: 5 destroyed, 37 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 27 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled
Guns lost 11 (2 destroyed, 9 disabled)
Vehicles lost 64 (10 destroyed, 54 disabled)

Assaulting units:
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion (mostly disrupted now)
32nd Infantry Division
18th British Division
XIV US Corps
1st RAA Jungle Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
11th Garrison Unit
14th Garrison Unit
24th Infantry Regiment
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
9th RF Gun Battalion
56th Construction Battalion
86th JAAF AF Bn
*****************************

Today the US carriers moves WSW of Darwin, and were unseen. They'll loiter here in this dead zone until the invasion shipping moves out. The Brits have unloaded at Darwin and start a 3 day transition to combat mode, then loading will occur. Every day is another day closer to the next big and important operation.

[jwolf]

Those landings between Java and Timor will certainly draw Japanese attention. I'm looking forward to some fireworks!

[apbarog]

10 Jun 43

Sub Shad spots a tanker convoy in the straits northeast of Balikpapan. Escorts can't hit the sub.

32 B-25s flew to Dili today and bombed the enemy troops, doing almost no damage. Today our troops rested. They will attack again tomorrow, combined with another cruiser bombardment, and hopefully more bombing. The cruisers that are inbound are at Saumlaki today. Moved them there as a misdirection, showing interest in that area, while remaining in bombardment range of Dili.

I'm fairly sure that Koepang has troops being airlifted out now. I got SigInt of part of an air support unit being there. There's a lot of troops there, far more than can be airlifted out. I'll try to verify my hunch today with some LRCAP from Lautem.

CV Victorious offloaded its fighters and loaded a big F4F group at Townsville. The carrier will now move to the Darwin area.

US carriers remained unseen WSW of Darwin, but a cruiser's floatplane did spot a sub in the area, which means that the sub spotted the floatplane. Here, though, it doesn't matter, as Darwin is so close, this spotting won't raise any suspicions. I'm considering whether to rest all of my search planes when the armada moves out. There is risk and reward to this.

The Brits still have 2 days till loading begins at Darwin. Loading is beginning now at Gove.

As a side note, I did see over 120 ships in Nagasaki's port, from intel. With previous spottings, I can be sure that Walker is using Nagasaki as a big naval base. Something to keep in mind for the future. Maybe I'll sneak some heavy bombers into China and hit the port at long range...

[apbarog]

11 Jun 43

PC issues. Since getting the big Windows 10 update yesterday, I've had graphical issues followed by the game crashing when trying to save. This has resulted in losing 3 hours of work yesterday, then 2 separate times losing 2.5 hours of work each today. Details are in the Tech Support area.

I did finish a turn though, finally. I don't know if my PC issues are resolved or if I just got lucky this time.


Between Japan and the Iwo Jima area, sub Muskallunge spots a transport task force, fires 4 torpedoes at the huge xAP Argentina Maru, and gets one torpedo hit.

US cruisers bombarded Dili, and B-25s attacked the troops. A deliberate attack followed.

*******************************
Ground combat at Dili (71,115)

Allied Deliberate attack

Attacking force 24684 troops, 446 guns, 322 vehicles, Assault Value = 632

Defending force 13058 troops, 108 guns, 25 vehicles, Assault Value = 344

Allied adjusted assault: 517

Japanese adjusted defense: 327

Allied assault odds: 1 to 1 (fort level 2)

Allied Assault reduces fortifications to 1

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

Japanese ground losses:
639 casualties reported
Squads: 4 destroyed, 42 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 7 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Guns lost 6 (3 destroyed, 3 disabled)
Vehicles lost 1 (1 destroyed, 0 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
638 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 65 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 8 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Vehicles lost 12 (1 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Assaulting units:
32nd Infantry Division
640th Tank Destroyer Battalion
18th British Division
XIV US Corps
1st RAA Jungle Field Artillery Regiment

Defending units:
11th Garrison Unit
14th Garrison Unit
24th Infantry Regiment
9th RF Gun Battalion
56th Construction Battalion
20th Ind. Mtn Gun Battalion
86th JAAF AF Bn
**********************

Good progress. I will again rest for a day, then reattack. Dili will be captured soon.

One more day until the invasion troops start loading at Darwin.

With enemy carriers spotted at Kendari, I increased the CAP at Darwin, pulled out most of the planes at Lautem, fearing a bombardment then a KB strike, moved SBDs to Babar, just in case something comes within range, and sent a minelaying sub to drop some presents north of Kendari, along the coast.

On the West Coast, the 4th Marine Division and the 1st Cavalry Divisions have arrived, and are prepping for Buin and Torokina. I'll push a bit closer to Rabaul when they get to the Solomons.

[jwolf]

Are Derby and Broome the last Japanese bases left in Australia? I can't tell from that picture and I can't remember farther back. [:'(]