ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
Actually the CV fleet has already been decimated, as has the BB fleet. And the submarine fleet is "not happy". I think it's time to go after AO's (that he's using as regular tankers) and DD's. [:)]
Actually, "decimated" is not the correct word, as we've killed far more than 1/10th. Slaughtered? Mangled? Devastated? (yeah, that's the word). [:D]
Which was almost exclusively Steve's doing, btw. I think I accounted for a few BBs.
And flattened his "mini-KB" as well as sinking or gutting BOTH big Zukiaku large CV's entirely with shore based British torpedo and DB planes. You need to take a couple of bows as well! [&o][&o][&o] BTW , did I mention he's pretty much entirely taken back China? [:D]
Moving such a long way on the surface, at top speed, was a serious risk. But the potential reward was even greater.
The S-46 had been on patrol in the Palembang area when the new orders arrived, directing her to move with all possible haste to take up position on the northern approaches to Singapore.
Choosing the most direct path, she risked everything from patrolling aircraft, to ASW sweeps out of Singapore, to rocks and shoals, with which the area was liberally strewn. But she did arrive in time.
As the first rays of dawn warmed the sky, lookouts spotted a target. It was marked by thick columns of black smoke from heavy fires on board, and already seemed to be somewhat by the stern. But the unmistakable pagoda superstructure of a Japanese battleship confirmed that all the risks of the night were well worth this shot.
The approach itself was almost anticlimactic. The S-46 shifted only slightly to the SW to hide in the silhouette of a still darkened nearby island.
Honestly guys, I think that pasting all this combat report text really takes away from what I was looking to do. I'll stop doing it for now, although I may insert certain tidbits for clarity.
I believe that you are right. It clearly changes the flavor of your AAR.
Honestly guys, I think that pasting all this combat report text really takes away from what I was looking to do. I'll stop doing it for now, although I may insert certain tidbits for clarity.
I believe that you are right. It clearly changes the flavor of your AAR.
Yep. As GetAssista very awesomely suggested, I will attach the day's CR file. So anyone that wants to count buttons can do so. I'm in it for the "art". [:D][:D][:D]
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
1/11
The weather over Anking was low and overcast. Somewhere to the north a major rain storm was brewing, creating an angry, gray floor between five and seven thousand feet, against which the lightly colored Japanese planes stood out as white dots. But at 35,000 feet, where the attackers were, the sky was sunny and blue.
Credit must be given where it is due. Some sharp-eyed Japanese pilot spotted the incoming raid and alerted his mates to it early enough that the two groups of silver fighters began their climb to engage well before the attackers arrived. They also shot down one plane whose pilot, despite being warned, threatened and ordered on the radio, attempted to turn out of the dive.
But the overall result of the diving attack were six black smoke trails disappearing into the the puffy gray gloom, only one of which was British.
As His Majesty's 135 squadron departed, other units were arriving at the scene to finish the job.
1/12
A bright moon occasionally peeked out from among the clouds over the quiet town of Singapore. This late at night all activity had ceased and only the occasional partol and night watchman at a dockside warehouse could be sen in the street in the light of a yellow street lamp.
The harbor and port were quiet as well, despite being so unusually full. Singapore was there the battered survivors of the recent Battle of the Strait, as it was coming to be dubbed some, with a flare for the dramatic, had taken refuge.
Although the defeat, massacre, really, that had taken place off central Malaya had shocked may of the Japanese in Singapore, the thick umbrella of fighters that populated the various air fields on and in the vicinity of the island, had restored a sense of comfort. This became especially true after a raid of American planes had been soundly beaten the day after the battle, and was driven off without causing much damage.
So it was that the night was quiet and unassuming.
Not so at 10,000 feet, where a ragged formation of large, two-engined planes lumbered towards the island. It was great that most of the pilots and navigators were reliable, experienced veterans, because the hazards of the job were doubled, if not tripled at night. One had to not only find and attack a target, but also to do it at night, without visual references, while staying in formation in visibility conditions that often precluded one from seeing ones neighbor just a few dozen feet away. And if one managed to tackle that issue, for the entire duration of the flight, which could last for hours, one then had to find the target purely by compass bearing, locate visual clues on the ground, and attempt to somehow identify the target. Then, as if all this was not sufficient to drive a strike leader to distraction, he also had to find some way to confirm what damage had been done. And once all of this was over, he had to get his entire flight back to base safely and land, often still in darkness.
For these reasons, not to mention that it was very seldom successful, night bombing was very rarely practiced. It also had a nasty habit of turning the flight crews surly by wrecking their sleep cycles, and creating resentment due to the perceived futility of trying to catch a black cat in a dark room.
In this case, however, command took the risk. And just this once, the risk paid off. As the raid departed, flight crews could see by the light of a burning dockside structure, the burning silhouette of an already damaged aircraft carrier.
1/13
Japanese bombers from Formosa had been savaging coastal towns for more than a week. They had bombed Foochow into rubble and turned its garrison unit into a column of refugees.
They then turned on Chaochow and began to repeat the process there.
But they would not do so again this day. Although there were still no support troops on the grass fighter strip just outside of town, there were fighters in the air over Chaochow today.
They came from neighboring cities' fields and had to fly a long way to get there. They also did not have a lot fuel to linger over the area. But they were there.
And as if at a previously appointed time, so were the Japanese. Vee after vee of twin-engined bombers, escorted by twin-engined fighters, made their ponderous appearance from the SE, flying in a straight line, obviously expecting no resistance as usual, anticipating another easy bombing run.
Although the Chinese and Dutch defenders did not have a lot of time or fuel, they made the best of what had. Several slashing passes at the front vees accounted for 3 bombers. A twisting fight with a particularly aggressive Japanese pilot accounted for a fighter.
By the third pass the Japanese were ready, and two allied planes fell to escorts and tail gunners. But in order to do so, the Japanese had to shift their formations, throwing off their nice, clean textbook bombing runs, and the damage they would cause would be decidedly minor compared to previous attacks.
A few days earlier, reconnaissance had noticed that major aerial units were gone from Anking. A thorough search of nearby fields had located them to the north, at Sinyang.
Gathering all available planes into a massive punch, Allied planes hit Sinyang.
First came the fighter sweeps or British Hurricanes and American Warhawks, which found no airborne opposition.
Then came wave after wave of bombers, British Blenheims, American Mitchells and their Australian cousins.
They left a burning and wrecked airfield, broken airplanes and panicked ground crews.
This was not yet a full measure of revenge for the raids from Formosa, but it was a good advance payment.
1/15
The Zamboanga peninsula could have easily been called one of the hardest places in the Philippines to conduct military action. Lush vegetation, hilly terrain, ample rainfall, rudimentary infrastructure, where it existed at all, all combined to make it difficult for a modern army to operate, whether on the offense, or defense.
And yet, this was the only place left in the entire archipelago where organized Allied resistance still existed. Several beaten, under-strength units from all over Mindanao had drifted here since the start of hostilities and the disastrous defeats of the first year. Many of those Filipinos who were under arms had been killed, by the enemy, diseases or malnutrition, or had deserted. The threadbare formations that eventually, one by one, marched out of the hills into Dumanquilas town were less military units than desperate groups of men.
The Japanese seemed to be in no hurry to follow the sad remnants. As far as the Imperial administration was concerned, there was nothing in the area worthy of conducting another campaign which would cost the Emperor hundreds of soldiers, dozens of trucks and other equipment and gas, lubricants and spare parts, all of which were a scarce commodity in resource-starved Japan.
But over time, a wonderful transformation began to occur. First, the bedraggled Philippine units began to organize around Dumanquilas and reform into coherent military formations. Their equipment was still rudimentary and their gear threadbare, but the groups of men again became units of soldiers who followed orders, obeyed a command structure, and carried out duties.
Then, the Allied command learned of the continued resistance at Dumanquilas and began to send supplies and aid. At first, it was barely a trickle fought in by 3 converted submarines. Then, small coastal freighters began to arrive. How the little ships continued to survive, skirting along the coast and traveling largely at night, is a whole other tale, but arrive they did, almost once a week, like clockwork, carrying new uniforms and shoes, radios, rifles and machine guns, ammunition and other supplies. Eventually they began to bring in larger equipment. Jeeps, artillery pieces, AA guns and parts and supplies for them began to arrive.
Finally, the local population began to respond. Men and young boys who had not served in the military began to arrive in Dumanquilas town. The stream of arrivals grew to such a size that an entire building was set aside as a recruitment center, and a whole base, albeit small, was created as a training facility or boot camp. Granted, the new arrivals were not yet much of a fighting force, but eventually they would become one, if given time.
Time, however, seemed to have run out. Alerted by reports from scout planes, and perhaps collaborators as well, the Japanese became aware that Dumanquilas was a center of organized resistance. Army patrols began to push deeper into the hills, eventually getting so close that Philippine patrols had to begin engaging them. Several weeks earlier, a column of Japanese infantry occupied Oroquieta town on the north of the peninsula and began to march over the hills towards Dumanquilas.
Fortunately, the time had not been wasted. Several lines of resistance were created in the hills, on approaches to the town. Trenches, traps and wood-covered nests were dug and camouflaged. Discreet paths were made and improved to facilitate the movement of men and supplies.
As the Japanese units moved further south, they began to engage more on more defense points. Patrol after patrol was stopped, engaged and driven back, sometimes destroyed, until eventfully the Japanese discovered that their entire direction of advance was a fortified defense line. It was then that it became apparent what the defenders of Dumanquilas truly faced. Having finished probing, the Japanese regrouped and attacked in force, revealing for the first time that the unit sent to deal with the town was an entire IJA division.
Fearsome as a Japanese division might be, however, they were still human. The prepared defense points and supply arrangements helped, while the Japanese had to cut their paths as they moved.
Eventually, after an entire day's hard fighting, the Japanese began to pull back, leaving the defenders to take a deep breath, and resume digging, chopping and hauling boxes in preparation for the next attack.
1/16
Singyang airfield was well and truly flattened.
On the third day of the bombing, the allied planes could attack at will. Active resistance at the airfield had almost completely ceased, although other units around the town continued to fire at the passing formations with whatever AA means they had at hand, sometimes causing damage.
The field itself resembled nothing so much as a moonscape, covered with craters of various sizes, upturned and blasted earth and columns of smoke rising from burned and burning aircraft, equipment and structures. There were surely still flight capable air craft, but they were becoming nearly impossible to find, even at reduced bombing altitude and with increased reconnaissance sorties.
On the other side of the coin, the Allied crews and aircraft were done as well. Three days of non-stop air operations were a pace not possible to sustain either for the men, or their equipment. A break will have to be called.
1/17
The Wellingtons were coming back yet again. This time the night was even brighter, the route was more familiar and confidence in success was higher.
But there were still no fighters over Singapore that night.
Without opposition, the bombers had time to line up on what targets were found and strike with what precision was possible at night from 10,000 feet.
Although the bombs that hit the two Japanese battleships were too light to penetrate their thick deck armor, they would give the repair crews more headaches, and ensure that the big bastards took a longer time to fix.
1/18
Patrolling along the Indochinese coast had long ago become a boring and mundane task. It was true that earlier in the war the Japanese had sent convoys this way. But the very success that the submarines on this station had against them ensured that the enemy would re-route their ships elsewhere.
Nowadays, the patrol box of Cam Ranh was a milk run, where command would send boats to wind down after a hard patrol or send less experienced crews to work on their skills in an environment closely resembling combat conditions.
The O23 was one of the former. Having been damaged in a running battle in Makassar strait with a heavily escorted convoy, the Dutch boat had spent some time tied up at Darwin and was now back on patrol. To make up for some shredded nerves, this time she drew the boring, safer patrol. Or so it was thought.
As the sub coasted on the surface, lookouts reported a large ship on the horizon to seaward. Although she was moving rather slowly, and seemed to have a slight starboard list, several minutes of intense staring confirmed that she was, indeed, a Japanese carrier.
The single escorting destroyer stood no chance of helping its charge before two torpedoes slammed into her side. Nor was it able to successfully retaliate.
Still, a destroyer was nothing to joke with, and the Dutch commander cleared the area at best submerged speed, leaving the ultimate fate of his target a mystery.
1/19
She was an anachronism even before she became properly old, in temporal terms. A coastal defense battleship with two main battery guns and a sad mix of intermediary and light batteries might have impressed someone at the dawn of the century, but not in 1943.
The Soerabaja, formerly De Zeven Provincien, had spent her entire lackluster career patrolling the islands of the Dutch Indies colonies. During 40 years of service, she had never fired her guns in anger.
This night she patrolled north east of Koepang, the last major base remaining to the Dutch colonial military as she had been doing for several months now, moving leisurely, for that was her way, between Semau and the mainland, waiting for threats that never come.
The three Japanese mine layers did come. From the north west, in line astern column, showing no light. at 11, 000 yards, an almost inhuman feat even for such a bright night, a lookout spotted a shape on the horizon. It was certainly larger than the many native craft that moved in these waters, and its low, warlike silhouette identified her as one of a very few things she could be, the ancient Dutch coast defense vessel.
In the continued silence of night a covered semaphore blinked on the bridge of the leading mine layer. The three ships made a graceful turn to the north and disappeared in the dark. The first shots fired in anger will have to wait until another day.
1/20
Having aborted the prevous night's operation around Koepang, the trio of Japanese mine layers was apparetly looking to try again.
This time they were coming on from the west, to pass into Koepang bay through the channel south of Semau island.
Unfortunately for them, instead of one pre WWI era coastal defense ship, they faced something else entirely.
Even the amazing eyes of the Japanese lookouts could not top the surface search radar on the USS Concord. The recently moderized American scout cruiser detected the Japanese column at 27,000, and the task force comprised of Concord, her sister Trenton and four destroyers, began the approach.
As the range closed to 11,000 yards, the Japanese seemed to finally spot the American column, but by then it was already too late. Emerging from the shaddow of Semau island, the Americans were already directly ahead of the Japanese line. As the leading Japanese ship began to hastily turn away, the lead cruiser opened fire.
The American cruisers were not exactly new construction. Launched in the early 20s, both had been about to complete a fairly long service life when war interfered and saved them from the breakers yard, for the time being. They had spent most of the previous year on escort runs from San Francisco to Hawaii and thence to various pacific islands. But their speed and maneuverability, as well as their initial role of destroyer leaders, made them perfect for today's task.
Both cruisers opened fire with their main 6" batteries and began to score hits almost immediatelty. The destroyers, Bensons and Sims', followed suit with their 5"ers.
As the Japanese column began to turn away to the south, the Americans changed heading to the southwest and contnued to close the range.
At 9,000 yards the lead Japanese caught fire and began to lose headway. The remaining mine layers fell out from astern of her and continued their turn to the west.
In response to this maneuver, the American ships fired torpedoes, and although none hit, it forced the Japanese to turn back to the south to avoid them, straight into the American guns.
Hits continued to go in, and all three mine layers were now engulfed in flames.
The American column approached to within 4,000 yards, continuing to pour fire into the Japanese hulls, then, writing them off as sunk, turned back to the east, leaving the Japanese vessels to burn. None of the three were seen to sink.
1/21
The coastline of Ceylon was already coming into sight when the sonar room sent its warning.
Although the exact bearing was not clear, it was almost certain that a submarine was in the near vicinity.
Without waiting for confirmation the captain of the Nizam ordered both his own ship, and the rest of the convoy, to execute a sharp all-ships turn north.
The decision paid off almost immediately, as the tracks of two torpedoes were seen passing well to starboard of the British Zeal, the large tanker which the Nizam and her mates were ordered to escort.
In response the Nizam swung back to the south and charged the most likely position of the attacker. Unfortunately, sonar had lost the trace and several strings of bombs did not yield much of a result.
The convoy sailed uneventfully behind the protection of Colombo's sub nets.
1/22
The night bombers were back, and this time they brought friends.
Wave after wave of heavy bombers left Sabang just after sunset. But the results were a bit different.
Firstly, the overly cautious Americans insisted on flying at 15,000 feet, as opposed to 10, 000, and no argument about bombing accuracy from the "junior partner" would convince them otherwise.
Secondly, half of the Yanks got lost and never reached the target. In fact, for several of them only the capacity of their fuel tanks allowed them to stay aloft long enough for the sun to provide enough points of reference for a return journey.
Finally, the Japs had finally seemed to have snapped out of their state of lethargic disbelief and manned their AA guns, which resulted i the loss of one American bomber.
All in all, however, the raid resulted in another hit on a carrier and one more on a smaller ship, a light cruiser of destroyer, tied up alongside.
The senior commander looked down upon the junior commander , and sadly shook his head. He pointed to his collar , then to the juniors collar, still shaking his head. The message was clear, "I outrank you , by considerable amount". He then pointed to the door , still shaking his head sadly. The junior, his head slumped forward proceeded to his room , to where he'd been ordered with out his supper. He'd also been grounded for a week with no radio (or TV, whatever that was). The senior commander went back to working on his master piece of a bombing offensive. [:D]
ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo
1/22
The night bombers were back, and this time they brought friends.
Wave after wave of heavy bombers left Sabang just after sunset. But the results were a bit different.
Firstly, the overly cautious Americans insisted on flying at 15,000 feet, as opposed to 10, 000, and no argument about bombing accuracy from the "junior partner" would convince them otherwise.
Secondly, half of the Yanks got lost and never reached the target. In fact, for several of them only the capacity of their fuel tanks allowed them to stay aloft long enough for the sun to provide enough points of reference for a return journey.
Finally, the Japs had finally seemed to have snapped out of their state of lethargic disbelief and manned their AA guns, which resulted i the loss of one American bomber.
All in all, however, the raid resulted in another hit on a carrier and one more on a smaller ship, a light cruiser of destroyer, tied up alongside.
The senior commander looked down upon the junior commander , and sadly shook his head. He pointed to his collar , then to the juniors collar, still shaking his head. The message was clear, "I outrank you , by considerable amount". He then pointed to the door , still shaking his head sadly. The junior, his head slumped forward proceeded to his room , to where he'd been ordered with out his supper. He'd also been grounded for a week with no radio (or TV, whatever that was). The senior commander went back to working on his master piece of a bombing offensive. [:D]
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"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok