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IJNAF elite A6M2 Zero unit Chitose Ku S-1 or its detachments or division(s)

3 (42.9%)

a IJAAF Ki-43 unit in Indochina, to be used in China/East Indies(mostly)

1 (14.3%)

a IJAAF Ki-43 unit in Burma(at least initially)

3 (42.9%)

Total Members Voted: 7

Voting closed: May 04, 2014, 08:49:03 am

[Erkki]

BB Hyuga TF will bombard Efate while the 2 amphibious task forces move in to unload troops. I hope the bombardment will also destroy some aircraft on the ground.

I'm expecting high forts level but few combat troops.

For the 2nd day I think I will detach 2 BBs from the Kido Butai and do a 2nd round of bombardments with them to raise enemy troop disruption and fatigue before the land attack. Tomorrow we will see the enemy land units and can judge if further bombardments are necessary. I can also use KB's strike aircraft or the G4M bombers on Guadalcanal to bomb Efate.

[Erkki]

March 11, 1942


China: IJA storms across the river towards Ankang and finds a large enemy force... Attackers only reach 1:3 odds and the Chinese hold. However there seems to be only 2 Chinese units, 41st and 77th Corps, with any combat power left, so they can likely be overcome with time. Also despite the poor odds, casualties really favored the Japanese, probably because most of the Chinese units were in really poor condition:

Ground combat at 82,43 (near Ankang)
 
Japanese Shock attack
 
Attacking force 35755 troops, 280 guns, 265 vehicles, Assault Value = 1262
 
Defending force 24828 troops, 179 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 626
 
Japanese adjusted assault: 685
 
Allied adjusted defense: 2152
 
Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3
 
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)
 
Japanese ground losses:
      4316 casualties reported
         Squads: 12 destroyed, 197 disabled
         Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 31 disabled
         Engineers: 2 destroyed, 21 disabled
 
Allied ground losses:
      1649 casualties reported
         Squads: 135 destroyed, 43 disabled
         Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 23 disabled
         Engineers: 1 destroyed, 9 disabled
      Guns lost 29 (6 destroyed, 23 disabled)
 
Assaulting units:
    15th Ind.Mixed Brigade
    36th Division
    12th Tank Regiment
    116th Division
    15th Tank Regiment
    58th Infantry Regiment
 
Defending units:
    55th Chinese Corps
    45th Chinese Corps
    75th Chinese Corps
    59th Chinese Corps
    41st Chinese Corps
    77th Chinese Corps
    1st Artillery Regiment
    7th Artillery Regiment

Recovering the disabled squads will take a couple of weeks... And then we'll break through.

Burma: enemy fighters attempted to CAP over the withdrawing 1st Burma Division, but sweeping A6M3s shot down 8 Hurricanes to no loss! A6M3 is much better than M2 at high altitudes. Enemy Blenheim bombers attacked various(safe, for them) targets through the theater but didnt manage to score a single hit.

DEI: Denpasar attack drops forts to 1, theres only a small garrison unit. Enemy patrol planes attacked the invasion fleet but were both shot down by Zeros from Makassar.

South Pacific:

Efate: IJN amphibious and bombardment forces moved in, bombardment caused OK damage and the unloading casualties were light. The enemy garrison was as expected found to be a fairly small one, with US Paratroopers(!) and an NZ rifle unit. One of the unloading cargo ships was hit once by a 155mm coastal gun for light damage.

Night Naval bombardment of Efate at 120,154 - Coastal Guns Fire Back!
 
Allied aircraft
      no flights
 
Allied aircraft losses
      F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 damaged
 
5 Coastal gun shots fired in defense.
 
Japanese Ships
      BB Hyuga
      CA Kako
      DD Hokaze
      DD Kikuzuki
      DD Uzuki
      DD Hamakaze
      DD Teruzuki
      DD Akizuki
 
Allied ground losses:
      157 casualties reported
         Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
         Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 28 disabled
         Engineers: 1 destroyed, 3 disabled
      Guns lost 7 (2 destroyed, 5 disabled)
      Vehicles lost 7 (3 destroyed, 4 disabled)
 
Airbase hits 5
Airbase supply hits 5
Runway hits 18
Port hits 16
Port supply hits 9

Ground combat at Efate (120,154)
 
Allied Bombardment attack
 
Attacking force 1385 troops, 27 guns, 5 vehicles, Assault Value = 93
 
Defending force 6754 troops, 108 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 251
 
Japanese ground losses:
      10 casualties reported
         Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
         Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
 
Assaulting units:
    2nd USMC Parachute Battalion
    29th NZ Battalion
    131st Field Artillery Battalion
    104th USN Base Force
    21st NZ Pioneer Coy
 
Defending units:
    2nd China Assault Division
    84th Naval Guard Unit

I wonder what the Field Artillery Battalion does there... Artillery is typically useful in long battles, and this one wont take long.

Kido Butai: KB attacked enemy shipping at Noumea. Once again KB's aircraft performance was downright horrible when it came to hitting targets...


Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 78
      B5N2 Kate x 38
      D3A1 Val x 48

Allied Ships
      CL Honolulu, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 1,  heavy fires
      AO Ramapo, Torpedo hits 1,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
      DD Gilmer, Bomb hits 1
      DD Brooks
      AO Tippecanoe, Bomb hits 6,  heavy fires,  heavy damage
      AO Patoka

All bombers got through the enemy CAP intact and they failed to sink Honolulu. Pathetic. 38 torpedo attacks managed to score just 2 hits. And once again Allied TF composition makes me wonder... A big, powerful modern CL leading an replenishment task force escorted by Clemson DDs, what? At least the 2 oilers were in fuel load and burned nicely.

Defending CAP consisted of P-40s, P-39s and Wildcats of various types. Zero escorts did fairly well.

Today's air losses for all reasons including ops and flak in the area were:

Japan:
14 A6M2 Zero
2 B5N
2 D3A
= 18 aircraft with 9 pilots KIA and MIA, 1 wounded
 
Allies:
5 P-40E
3 P-39D
3 P-400
3 F4F-3
2 P-40B
1 F4F-3A
1 Hudson
1 B-17E
1 Catalina
1 SBD-2 Dauntless
= 21 aircraft

Scout cruiser CS Mizuho in the Coral Sea sighted a large enemy TF with "AMC"s. She also sighted enemy carrier aircraft... Thats an enemy carrier TF trying to hit the Japanese flank again. I will not let that happen again.

Submarines: Dutch submarine sunk a PB at Denpasar and a USN submarine another PB at Efate. Could have been much worse. All troops made it ashore!

[Erkki]

For tomorrow, Chitose Ku S-1 moves to Lunga, Guadalcanal! The transfer flights go, this time, without accidents.

Chitose's detachment also moves from Port Moresby to Lunga and the groups have now been merged.

A strike group of 2 G4M groups are ordered to attack naval targets within Zero's escort range. Should the enemy get too close, there are 2 squadrons of B5Ns available too(the other one at Tassafaronga).

Kido Butai will move NW to a position West of Efate. This will leave the Eastern flank open again(bar the scout cruiser) but all the TFs in the area have been ordered to withdraw. The TFs now at Efate will stay there, under 3rd Kokutai's fighter cover from Luganville.

[Anvilfolk]

Those aren't amazing numbers for the famed Zeros. What are those AMC's doing though?

It's also funny that I always have looked mostly at the carrier squadrons, which are usually less than 20 planes. Seeing the Chitose groups at 30+ planes was a big surprise, hah! Still prefer my carriers

[Erkki]

Those aren't amazing numbers for the famed Zeros. What are those AMC's doing though?

It's also funny that I always have looked mostly at the carrier squadrons, which are usually less than 20 planes. Seeing the Chitose groups at 30+ planes was a big surprise, hah! Still prefer my carriers

I dont think those are AMCs - my bet is that it is a large surface combat task force and there are CVs nearby, or that is the carrier task force itself. Mizuho was sighted by carrier aircraft today. Ships, subs and TFs in that area have not seen any Allied planes since Luganville fell, so that is almost surely carriers.

I changed my mind after all and the fleet at Efate will move to Luganville, so that the 3rd Ku S-1 can protect it better. I hope the enemy will move between the hammer and anvil of KB and Guadalcanal and gets blasted away. Does someone want to write something on the Chitose group?

Last weekend I started playing WoT again after a long pause, even got some premium time! I guess I've done OK considering the long pause(the last 2weeks) http://www.noobmeter.com/player/eu/IskuP76_Erkki/509821845/  Looks like most of the clan is on its summer holidays or something. Yesterday evening there were only 3 online instead of the usual 40. 

[Anvilfolk]

Hmm, aren't AMCs small minesweepers? I guess those might've been DDs instead, and you didn't sight the bigger ships? That still feels weird! But I hope that's the case anyway! I'm itching for some carrier-on-carrier action!

I'm also surprised that you can play arcade grinding games when you're such a hardcore sim enthusiast!

[Erkki]

Hmm, aren't AMCs small minesweepers? I guess those might've been DDs instead, and you didn't sight the bigger ships? That still feels weird! But I hope that's the case anyway! I'm itching for some carrier-on-carrier action!

I'm also surprised that you can play arcade grinding games when you're such a hardcore sim enthusiast!

ACMs are mine tenders, AMCs are armed merchant cruisers. In my experience when naval search misidentifies ships they tend to confuse the ships to ships of more or less the same tonnage, so multiple AMCs are probably multiple CAs, CLs, perhaps even BBs. It wouldn't make any sense to sail AMCs in large TFs. They are not real warships as they are vulnerable, clumsy and have very low crew experience, and so only work well against unescorted cargo ships and transports.

However I think that poor ID means the enemy may not even know they were sighted... I hope they'll continue to NE and into strike range from Guadalcanal.

Hey, WoT is a fun little game. Great fun, but not a simulator at all.  WT I dont like because it tries to be something between an easy to approach team multiplayer/role/war/something game and a simulator. It lacks the physics accuracy and sandbox of a true sim. 

[Anvilfolk]

Yeah, I just don't like the grinding. Played WT with my wife for a while, but then it was grinding grinding grinding to get access to any new content and... meh. I do like their approach, where they provide several experiences on a spectrum from totally arcade to somewhat simulator. I'm still hoping we'll see people get into the hardcore simulators because they into it through WT.

I'm also excited about their combining air and ground forces, and eventually ships too. We might get the full carrier experience

[Erkki]

March 12, 1942

Another good day!


China: IJA is about to open 2 new fronts as a small army of ~3 divisions starts to flank the Chinese in the northern front towards Sian. The Chinese have pulled their front back and are unlikely to see this opening before too late. Another force is gathering to attack Ichang North of Changsha. IJAAF has been "preparing" the defending Chinese for a week already.

Burma: bad weather grounds attack sorties. Blenheims strike Rangoon but dont hit a thing again.

DEI: Denpasar falls! 2 Dutch patrol planes more shot down by Zeros.

Submarines: I-158's captains' talents may be associated better with peeling potatoes than commanding a submarine.. Her boat attacks a lone small xAK on the coast of NW Australia and expends ALL 12 torpedoes and some gun ammo without scoring a single hit. The boat is ordered to return to Singapore.

South Pacific:

Enemy B-17s strike Port Moresby at 18,000 ft. The damage they do to the runway gets patched quickly. AAA fire claims a B-17E shot down!

The enemy CVTF/SAG withdraws directly South and is out of KB's strike range by dawn. A lot of shipping escapes Noumea towards Brisbane, and IJN submarines' E14 floatplanes keep tracking them well - helped by good weather. East of Sydney an E14 finds another enemy carrier task force.

Submarines RO-66 and RO-63 attack the fleeing shipping and hit medium sized AP and xAP. The xAP takes 3 hits and is sunk for sure! More subs are ordered to attack...

IJN invasion fleet leaves Efate avoiding enemy submarines, and the troops attack. Efate falls! 3(not 2) Wildcats didn't manage to fly away and are destroyed on the ground. Their pilots probably became POWs.

Ground combat at Efate (120,154)
 
Japanese Shock attack
 
Attacking force 6763 troops, 108 guns, 12 vehicles, Assault Value = 250
 
Defending force 5117 troops, 41 guns, 108 vehicles, Assault Value = 84
 
Japanese adjusted assault: 150
 
Allied adjusted defense: 29
 
Japanese assault odds: 5 to 1 (fort level 2)
 
Japanese forces CAPTURE Efate !!!
 
Allied aircraft
      no flights
 
Allied aircraft losses
      F4F-3A Wildcat: 2 destroyed
 
Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(-), disruption(-), preparation(-)
 experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+)
 
Japanese ground losses:
      545 casualties reported
         Squads: 5 destroyed, 35 disabled
         Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 3 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
 
Allied ground losses:
      3802 casualties reported
         Squads: 83 destroyed, 0 disabled
         Non Combat: 494 destroyed, 0 disabled
         Engineers: 28 destroyed, 0 disabled
      Guns lost 37 (37 destroyed, 0 disabled)
      Vehicles lost 90 (90 destroyed, 0 disabled)
      Units destroyed 5
 
Assaulting units:
    2nd China Assault Division
    84th Naval Guard Unit
 
Defending units:
    2nd USMC Parachute Battalion
    29th NZ Battalion
    131st Field Artillery Battalion
    104th USN Base Force
    21st NZ Pioneer Coy

Banzai!!!

[Erkki]

I havent decided what to do with the KB yet... I think I will let things calm now, try to get more submarine intercepts and then go for Horn Island.

[Anvilfolk]

Your subs are horrible underperforming! They've had so many amazing opportunities... and their carriers just seem to be flailing about with no particular objective...

That said, amazing capture of Efate!

Where's Horn Island? Is it one the base without name north of Koumac? Are you going to try taking Noumea, Koumac, etc?

[Erkki]

Your subs are horrible underperforming! They've had so many amazing opportunities... and their carriers just seem to be flailing about with no particular objective...

That said, amazing capture of Efate!

Where's Horn Island? Is it one the base without name north of Koumac? Are you going to try taking Noumea, Koumac, etc?

Thanks!

I'm not sure if Allied carriers have an objective or not - maybe they are there to give naval search to detect submarines, maybe to look for an opportunity to hit back or flank, maybe to escort important convoys just to be sure, we will never know. Myself I would probably have them somewhere else at this point of the war or at least avoid showing them to subs or air search.

Horn Island is in the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea. Allies seem to only have the starting garrison there(which isnt too heavy) and some Catalinas that keep sighting my shipping that brings troops and supplies to Port Moresby and Buna across the island. Taking it would isolate Australia better and deny a lot of situational awareness from the Allies deep into Japanese-held territory(naval air search and photo reconnaissance aircraft). Its a poor bomber base though so no worries about it being used for staging large operations: its an isolated island and can be mined, bombarded etc. and cant pull replacement aircraft from the pools as its too small.

One thing I forgot: CarDiv V arrives to Singapore tomorrow and CarDiv III has just been refueled at Takao, Formosa. The first 45,000 troops start boarding their transports. Destination: Ceylon!

[Erkki]

March 13, 1942


China: -

Burma: IJAAF bombs 1st Burma Div. but doesnt achieve much. RAF didnt fly.

DEI: -

South Pacific: B-17s hit Port Moresby again in the dozens, scoring 1 runway hit. Allied shipping disappears, dont know where. The horde of IJN subs fails to find even the stricken enemy AP. Enemy carrier TF remains sighted, and...

Submarines: ...a submarine I-8 attacks CL Java, part of the enemy CVBG, with 6 torpedoes, and again all torpedoes miss!!! At least I-16 between Sydney and Melbourne finds a semi large tanker without escorts on a return trip back to the States and sinks it.

Kido Butai approached into position to be able to strike nearly to Brisbane and south of the Brisbane-Noumea line, but no targets popped up. All gone, and I dont want to attack Noumea's port either. KB will now withdraw back into the fog of war.

Reinforcements: LOTS of all kinds of land unit reinforcements today! Sorting them out will take a while...

[Erkki]

Chitose Kokutai is finally complete, the whole regiment using the same airfield at Lunga, Guadalcanal.

Chitose Ku S-1's 9-plane detachment had seen more action than the main formation. While others were at Truk and Rabaul, they had first patrolled above Roi-Namur and Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands against an anticipated enemy attack that never came, and had been ready to escort G4M bombers to targets near Wake Island. They had then been transferred to Lunga, from where they escorted B5N bombers that attacked CVL Charlotte TF and hit an Australian light cruiser, Perth. They had destroyed 3 Wildcats without a loss. After that they were moved to Port Moresby where they had shot down 3 B-17s but had also lost one pilot to gunner fire.

Chitose regiment's bomber wing, Chitose Ku K-1 operating G4M1s, had stayed at Roi-Namur flying naval search mission until their recent transfer to Lunga.

Together with Bihoro regiment's G4Ms and the 2 B5N squadrons and patrol planes for finding targets with, Guadalcanal now hosts a powerful long-range anti-shipping force of 39 fighters and over 70 strike planes.

[Erkki]

March 14, 1942


Another good day to the IJN!


China: nothing new

Burma: Blenheims hit for some reason Magwe's refineries... They destroy 1 refinery but lost 8 of their number to Ki-43s.

DEI: IJN moves through Malacca Strait and IJN battleships cross Java sea uninterrupted.

IJNAF bombers strike Darwin's airfield and destroy some Catalinas and Wirraways on the ground.

South Pacific: As I half expected, another enemy carrier TF approached from the East, again not sighted by submarines, H8Ks nor scout cruisers' float planes. Its strike aircraft hit Luganville, and Zero-CAP tangles with the enemy, scoring 4-2 against Wildcats and downing 1 SBD dive bomber. 1 pilot is lost. However there are no transports or cargo ships left for the enemy to attack, and they only manage 2 hits on cruiser CL Kiso. Kiso is hurt but in no danger of sinking.

B-17s hit Port Moresby again but dont achieve much. AAA again claims a B-17E destroyed.

Morning Air attack on TF, near Luganville at 120,150
 
Weather in hex: Heavy rain
 
Raid spotted at 31 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes
 
Japanese aircraft
      A6M2 Zero x 10
 
Allied aircraft
      F4F-3A Wildcat x 11
      F4F-3 Wildcat x 10
      SBD-3 Dauntless x 17
 
Japanese aircraft losses
      A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
 
Allied aircraft losses
      F4F-3A Wildcat: 1 destroyed
      F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed
 
Japanese Ships
      DD Akikaze
      DD Yunagi
      DD Asanagi
      CL Kiso, Bomb hits 2,  heavy fires
      PC PB-52

The enemy carrier TF(screenshot coming later) seems to have 2 large CVs in it. It will now almost surely withdraw.

Submarines: Yesterday IJN laid more mines at Luganville for over 300 in total which paid off today. Enemy submarines visited the place, probably looking for the larger warships such as BB Hyuga and the transports. SS Nautilus' career ends in 3 mine hits.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 377 encounters mine field at Luganville (120,150)
 
Allied Ships
      SS Nautilus, Mine hits 1,  on fire
   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 377 encounters mine field at Luganville (120,150)
 
Allied Ships
      SS Nautilus, Mine hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
 
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 377 encounters mine field at Luganville (120,150)
 
Allied Ships
      SS Nautilus, Mine hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage

Glug glug glug. Thats the 33rd or so destroyed enemy sub and 6th or 7th after Manila.

The dozen-ish IJN submarines keep tracking enemy carrier TF near Sydney. Enemy aerial ASW and surface forces manage to score hit on one of the subs for bad damage, and the sub heads home.

And then I-10 hits the bank:

Sub attack near Lord Howe Island  at 97,167
 
Japanese Ships
      SS I-10
 
Allied Ships
      CVL Charlotte, Torpedo hits 3,  on fire,  heavy damage
      CA Pensacola
      CL De Ruyter
      DD John D. Edwards
      DD King
      DD Sands
      DD John D. Ford
 
SS I-10 launches 6 torpedoes at CVL Charlotte I-10 diving deep ....

reports: "severe flooding", "severe flooding" and "listing, counter flooding"

Banzai!!!! This is why subs operate together - so that they can maximize the number of attacks by all leaving their patrol areas and moving to intercept once 1 of them sights something and detection of the target is still hot.

Charlotte seems to remain afloat for the next 12 hours, but judging by E14 air search only moves 1 hex, so she is down to 7 knots or(most probably) much less(from 15). 3 Type 95 torpedo hits on a ship of that size is a lot. Probably she has very, very high flotation damage level and majority of it major damage. The whole IJN sub armada in the area will be positioning itself between that TF and Sydney.