War in the Pacific Admiral’s Edition. Game vs Herb

1st March 1943

More detail and intelligence has been gathered on the Japanese ships steaming SE past Kusaie Island. SS Gunard reports spotting two heavy cruisers suspected of being the Chikuma and the Tone. Aerial search has also confirmed the presence of the battleship Hiei, making that at least two enemy battlewagons in the area. The presence of enemy carriers was also confirmed by a B-24 on naval search that was chased off by an A6M carrier variant. The position of the enemy ships has not changed since yesterday. CENPAC HQ believes the enemy suspects an attack on Kwajalein and Roi-Namur and as such is positioning its ships to counter any such move. Submarines around Truk and the Marianas have been ordered to flood the area near Kusaie Island and to engage all and any ships sighted.

Meanwhile in Burma something is definitely up. Four enemy divisions, some of high quality, have been identified on the India-Burma border. A fifth one is possible making its way West from Katha. SEAC HQ is pondering what this may mean. Are the Japs reinforcing their defensive jungle line? Or is something else afoot? Daily recon flights over Imphal and Silchar have increased in frequency and a large number of artillery units have been seen moving into jungle trails after disembarking from river barges. The RAF and the USAAF in the India-Burma area has just bee refitted and is fresh and eager for a fight. Bomber units have been tasked with the mission of harassing enemy movements when possible. Reinforcements are being railed to the area just in case. These movements inland coincide with an increased IJN presence in the Bay of Bengal. Submarines have struck off Diamond Harbour and Colombo in recent days and an outgoing convoy reported the sighting of unfriendly vessels on the horizon. A light cruiser was also spotted at Akyab Island…something is definitely afoot!

Japanese Divisions in the India-Burma Border Area

Sub Warfare Report for February 1943

The Silent Service once again excelled itself during February. There were 40 recorded successful (6 down from January) attacks on enemy ships accounting for the sinking or damaging of 158,941 tons of enemy shipping (7,000 tons more than January). The crowning achievement goes to the SS Trigger that crippled the HIJMS Shokaku on the 22nd February.

Scorers during Feb 1943

Stug 40 pulled from mud in Russia

Amazing condition, just amazing. Unfortunately it has not been cared for properly and is rusting away somewhere in Saratov! Should have been left in the mud!

War in the Pacific Admiral’s Edition. Game vs Herb

27th February 1943

Just to continue their recent form in radio interception and gleaming intelligence from careless enemy radio operators, Commander Rochefort’s unit once again hit the jackpot by establishing the location of the enemy battleship Kirishima yesterday. Her call sign was located to the east of Ponape and her course was set as due East. As such the bases in the Lower Marshalls were alerted and search vectors changed to cover any prospective enemy approach.

As such it was the Catalina’s from Nauru Island that next stumbled upon the Japanese ships. Three different planes were able to fire off sighting and heading reports at three different times on the morning of the 27th February. The Kirishima was now joined by a much larger force of Japanese shipping. 3 carriers, a float plane carrier, several cruisers and destroyers had been sighted roughly on a 25 degree bearing from Nauru Island and steaming roughly in a south easterly direction. It is strongly believed that these ships are the ones engaged by the Trigger off Marcus Island a few days ago. Confirmation of enemy carriers was made by a patrolling submarine reporting that she had damaged a B5N2 that was on patrol near the environs of Kusaie Island. What would the 1st of March bring?

GAME NOTE

Herb and I have updated our game to the latest Beta Patch version that can be found in this thread in the Matrix Forums. Lots of work has gone into this on a voluntary basis by michealm and it makes massive improvements in the game. The search arc seem to have been fixed and there is a plethora of new informative messages that add to the immersion, crucial for me in a game. Most of the in game screens have been amended and a lot of extra info is now placed on the unit and base screens. Some cool graphical bits have also been added, such as getting plumes of smoke and fire in the air bombardment screen when attacking ground targets!!!!

War in the Pacific Admiral’s Edition. Game vs Herb

A lesson in using radio intelligence…

21st February 1943

MAGIC passes on a radio message intercepted the previous day to Eastern command, Royal Navy, Colombo, Ceylon.

9/4th Division is loaded on DD Shinonome moving to Port Blair.

22nd February 1943

SS-KX, patrolling the waters off Rangoon is ordered to make its way to Port Blair to scout out and engage any enemy ships approaching the Island.

23rd February 1943

Task Force G (Cpt Manwaring commanding, CA Cornwall, CA Exeter, CL Dauntless, DD Inconstant, DD Van Galen, DD Tjerk Hiddes, DD Foxound, DD Isaac Sweers) leaves Colombo and steams SE into the Bay of Bengal.

SS-KX spots four enemy destroyers making a nocturnal high speed run into Port Blair. LCDR de Back orders his boat engage as per his orders, Two torpedoes are fired and both miss. His submarine is able to avoid enemy attempts to seek and engage despite the shallow waters. (Notice name of highlighted ship in screenie!!!)

Message sent to Colombo that then resends to Task Force G. Captain Manwaring orders flank speed to reach a position 230 miles due West of the Andaman Islands by sundown 24th February 1943. SS-KX reports more enemy ships approaching and unloading at Port Blair.

Manwaring orders a flank speed approach to Port Blair for the early hours of the 25th February 1943. Inconstant,Foxhound and Tjerk Hiddes lead the vanguard while Dauntless leads in the Exeter and the Cornwall that in turn are flanked by the Isaac Sweers and the Van Galen. As the sun sets the combined Anglo-Dutch force raises steam and heads into battle.

25th February 1943

Initial contact is made by the Foxhound that reports ‘enemy ships straight ahead’ and asks permission to fire torpedoes, Manwaring gives the order to fire and both the Foxhound and the Tjerk Hiddes release their fish, the latter scoring two devasting hits on the Horai Maru that sinks a bare three minutes after being hit. With 75% moonlight the Japanese ships are clearly seen to have been caught in the middle of unloading troops into Port Blair. Two APD’s immediately turn and begin to charge the appraoching Allied ships but the APD Nadakze soon stops three direct hits from the Cornwall’s main 8 inch batteries that leave her ablaze and slow in the water. The Dauntless and the Exeter meanwhile take up the challange of the second APD, the Okikaze, scoring several devastating hits than soon cause the Japanese ship to first stop then gradually list and roll over to sink beneath the waves. The flank destroyers then speed up to bring their guns to bear on a second enemy troop carrier, the Kongo Maru, which is hit numerous times and soon set alight, Enemy soldiers were seen jumping overboard in the glare of the flames. Despite being heavily outgunned and outnumbered the last enemy escort, the Yomogi, charges straight at the light cruiser Dauntless, fire spitting from its forward 12cm gun. Yet in such an unfair contest there can only be one winner as the 6 inchers on the Dauntless soon pound the Yomogi so much that she breaks in two under the pummeling it received. She is recorded as sinking at 02:34, 17 minutes into the action. Fire is now brought upon the remaining two Japanese transports and both are left aflame and lisiting. Wary of retaliation from aircraft once the sun rises, Manwaring reluctantly orders his ships to disengage and to make a course North West into the Bay of Bengal. He is aware that the remaining to enemy ships are still afloat, if only just barely, but he needs to get his ships away from torpedo bombers that can hunt him from Rangoon, Victoria Point or Port Blair itself. Not a single hit was received but any of his ships and intelligence later estimated that over 1,000 casualties were inflicted on the enemy, and if the initial MAGIC intercept was to be believed the 4th Infantry Division in particular!

Night Time Surface Combat, near Port Blair at 46,58, Range 5,000 Yards

Japanese Ships
APD Okikaze, Shell hits 32, and is sunk
APD Nadakaze, Shell hits 13, and is sunk
E Yomogi, Shell hits 8, and is sunk
xAK Syokyu Maru, Shell hits 6,  heavy fires
xAP Horai Maru, Shell hits 4, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
xAP Kongo Maru, Shell hits 13,  heavy fires,  heavy damage

Allied Ships
CA Cornwall
CA Exeter
CL Dauntless
DD Isaac Sweers
DD Van Galen
DD Tjerk Hiddes
DD Foxhound
DD Inconstant

Japanese ground losses:
1278 casualties reported
Squads: 28 destroyed, 33 disabled
Non Combat: 44 destroyed, 28 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled

Manchester City 2 Manchester United 3

Match corresponding to the FA Cup 3rd Round

Wow, Spectacular news before kick off. The Ginger Prince is back answering the clarion call of the club so bereft of centre midfielders! A cracker of a match that saw, in the first half, three goals, a missed penalty and a very undeserved sending off for City. Rooney scored a peach of a header followed by a truly class volley from Welbeck. He then had a penalty saved but scored off the rebound. Things looked rosy for United and a revenge attack for the 1-6 at Old Trafford was on the cards. However this game was truly a game of two halves as Kholarov scored a spectacular free kick past Lindegaard (for the second match in a row the Dane is beaten from a set piece). Sergio Aguero then scored City’s second and we were set for a grand stand finish. Both teams had legitimate penalty appeals turned down. United brought in Scholes for his second debut, and Anderson to boss midfield and keep possession to keep the 10 men running around after the ball. Credit to City for never giving up and the two subs Mancini made at half time helped City to maintain their shape. 93rd minute saw the City goalkeeper get his head to a City corner just after Kholarov once again nearly scored from a free kick. The ref blew his whistle just after that corner and City, defending cup holders, were out of the Cup and United into the fourth round. A great advert for this most exciting of sports.

Manchester United Team

34 Anders Lindegaard

3   Patrice Evra

5   Rio Ferdinand

12 Chris Smalling

4   Phil Jones

17 Nani

16 Micheal Carrick

11 Ryan Giggs

25 Antonio Valencia

10 Wayne Rooney (2 Goals)

19 Danny Welbeck (Goal)

SUSBTITUTES

Paul Scholes for Nani

Anderson for Danny Welbeck

War in the Pacific Admiral’s Edition. Game vs Herb

22nd February 1943

SS Trigger reports in with one of the least expected reports of the war.

She had engaged, and sunk, a troop transport on a SE heading off the Home Islands a couple of days ago. COMSUBPAC had ordered the Trigger to continue to track the convoy south east, assuming the troops were enroute to reinforcing either Marcus Island or the Northern Marshalls. After two days on zero contact, SS Trigger’s sonar comes alive with a mass of contacts just North of Marcus Island. Her skipper assumed that COMSUBPAC had been correct in their assumption that Marcus was being reinforced. Recon of Marcus Island had not suggested anything by the Trigger ploughed on regardless. Reacting to the contacts, her skipper ordered her four forward tubes flooded and the boat settled at periscope depth. The sight the confronted him highlighted just how wrong COMSUBPAC actually was. Smack in the centre of his sights was a heavy fleet carrier of the IJN, the Shokaku.

The order to fire was issued and he could feel the palpable tension in the crew as he named the target! Four torpedoes sped true towards the enemy behemoth. The Trigger had unknowingly and unwittingly found herself within the protective destroyer ring and in an optimum firing position. The seconds on the firing clock ticked away as the torpedoes sped towards the carrier. 2 minutes later a loud rumbling was heard in the water, and the Trigger, now diving deep into the dark depths, had scored one terrific hit amidships on the carrier.

Though she had dived deep, she wasnt deep enough. Destroyers soon zeroed on her position and the depth charges rained vengefully on her. She was attacked for three hours and once the noise and the vibrations subsided the emergency repair teams went to work. She was 30% flooded and several systems had been knocked out. The Chief ensured that a 10 knot submerged speed could be maintained but the nearest friendly port must be made soon if the boat was to be saved. A course was immediately set for Wake Island!

Despite the damage to the boast, Trigger’s crew had delivered two valuable pieces of information. The damaging of another enemy fleet carrier, and the location of a large number of enemy capital ships near Marcus Island.

Newcastle United 3 Manchester United 0

Our run of form continues but unlike the match against Blackburn there are no excuses along the lines of we tinkered with the line up or the keeper messed up. This time we well and truly beaten. Our lineup was balanced and the strongest for a while. Rooney was recalled after his hangover in training. Lindegaard replaced the dropped De Gea. Ferdinand was back in defence. All in all I was very optimistic before kick off. Thats when Newcastle United totally played us off the pitch. They were stronger, faster, more accurate in their passing, hungrier to win. All the things one would associate with United! Yet United had a Ji-Sung Park, whose decline is now plain and obvious to see. A Ryan Giggs that is well past it. A Wayne Rooney that appeared to want to be anywhere but at St James’s Park. Newcastle’s midfield pairing of Tiote and Cabaye, blew Giggs and Carrick totally away. Demba Ba, that free transfer that has scored 15 goals this season, got Newcastle’s first while Cabaye scored a peach of a free kick that left Lindegaard flapping at it! Phil Jones then added salt to the many wounds by knocking in an own goal. Is Fergie’s Empire on the verge of collapse? The times in the past when it seems to have, he has pulled something out of his hat. Be it the ‘you dnt win anything with kids’ team, the team he created around Rooney and Ronaldo or the team the got to two CL finals! This time around the malaise seems to go in deep. The Glazers milking the club and leaving it dry, SAF’s insistance that our midfield is up to scratch.United need to be careful that they do not end up in a fight for fourth as Spurs and a resurgent Arsenal fire above them! A well deserved win for Newcastle and a scoreline that really does not flatter them at all.

Manchester United Team

34 Anders Lindegaard

3   Patrice Evra

5   Rio Ferdinand

4   Phil Jones

13 Ji-Sung Park

11 Ryan Giggs

16 Micheal Carrick

17 Nani

10 Wayne Rooney

9   Dimitar Berbatov

SUSBTITUTES

Danny Welbeck for Dimitar Berbatov

Javier ‘Chicharito Hernandez’ for Ji-Sung Park

Anderson for Wayne Rooney

War in the Pacific Admiral’s Edition. Game vs Herb

19th February 1943

The main theatres of action can be summarised as follows:

Merauke

IJN surface forces, mainly comprised of a cruiser squadron, destroyer divisions and several older type light cruisers, have tried ineffectually to close down Merauke. Several nocturnal bombardment runs have hit the base causing little to no damage to the installations or the forces stationed there. Meruake itself is supported by the heavies of the 5th USAAF based in inland bases in mainland Australia. Having neutralised and forced the Jap to give up on Port Moresby, they have concentrated their bombing runs on the three main Japanese airfields within range of Merauke. Lae, Wewak and Hollandia. The first two have already been closed down while Hollandia is the next on the target list. Nadzab has been reconed and it has been recongised as fighter base, basing A6M3’s carrying out sweep raids over Merauke. Air raids over Merauke have been limited to small night time incursions by G4M2’s and Ki-48 II’s, P-40’s on night fighter duty have done a sterling job shooting several bombers down. Pressure is to be kept up in order to maintain some semblance of aerial superiority over New Guinea.

Burma

Night time raids carried out by the RAF and the Tenth USAAF have inflicted a steady loss rate on the IJAAF stationed on the India Burma border. Ki-43 II’s have replaced the older version of the Oscar at the front and at least one squadron of Ki-45’s is providing a night CAP over his main airfields in the region (RAF Blenheims have been very susceptible to the cannons mounted on the Ki-45s). Our own fighter strength is very healthy and one squadron of P-38s decimated a unit of Sonias over Kaleymo yesterday. Of more worrying concern are the photographs brought back by recon flights over the main front lines. Several division sized units have been spotted in the jungle and radio traffic has identified the Imperial Guards Division and the 8th Infantry Division in the immediate area of the India-Burma border. A strong line of Japanese defences can also be appreciated in the aerial recon gathered so far. SEAC has put moves into place to similarly reinforce our own positions by releasing several Indian Divisions from training in the rear.

Submarines

Another four Japanese vessels were sunk yesterday (three transports and a small escort vessel). The monthly tonnage of damaged/sunk ships now stands at over 113,000 tons while in the past two months over 100 enemy ships have likewise been damaged or sunk by Allied submarines. Radio intelligence is playing a vital role in ascertaining where the main Japanese shipping lanes lie but the ultimate success lies with the aggressive patrolling by the boats, their captains and their crews.

Harding’s Battery Gibraltar

Here are the follow up pictures to my earlier post about Harding’s Battery at Europa Point, Gibraltar. The site has been renovated recently and there are also several pictures of the flanks of the battery and the general field of fire the guns there commanded across the Straits of Gibraltar. I think the gun mounts you see in several of the shots are for 5inch coastal guns. There are also pictures of an AA position, the rectangles cut into the concrete is were the ammo was kept.

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War in the Pacific Admiral’s Edition. Game vs Herb

18th February 1942

The Northern Australian Squadron intercepted an attempt by the Japanese to land troops on a small island to the North of Darwin called Saumlaki. Acting on intelligence passed on by the American cryptic analysts that had detected the movement of an engineer unit to this location three destroyers (2 RAN and 1 USN) were able to engage a large force of fast enemy transports led by a plethora of minesweepers and an old cruiser. The Japanese ships were surprised as they were not expecting any interception during this operation. The initial torpedo strike achieved no hits and most of the initial salvo of shells did not land any hits. The Japanese ships, mainly comprised of APD’s, began to scatter while the CM and DMS  escorts advanced on the Allied DDs. The larger CM received several telling hits setting it on fire, while the vanguard DMS was also set afire as it skewered out of course gushing oily smoke. The RAN Voyager was hit by two shells, its flimsy carapace not enough withstand the impact and it too sprouted several fires along its length. Shortly after the order to disengage was given and the three destroyers sailed southwards away from any potential air attack.

Elsewhere Japanese destroyers bombarded Merauke, a third night of bombardments following on from a visit by cruisers the previous two nights, a mirror to the real life Tokyo Express at Guadalcanal. One Dutch medium bomber was written off but as usual damage was negligible. Merauke has also been sieged by submarines, 6 of them have been spotted during the last 72 hours. These have left several presents behind as enemy minefields have been detected off Merauke. Our submarines seem to have rediscovered their aim after a slow start to February. In the last 3 days 10 enemy ships have been hit including the heavy cruiser Haguro returning to base after hitting Merauke. The following shows the current scorecard for February.