August 16 Air battle, (Bag the Hun battle report)

2 fighter sections engage 2 sections of CAP

The transports finish unloading and leave the area.

August 16^th air battle, 2 sections of Zeros vs 2 sections of Wild cats

The sections approach each other and the leading planes exchange fire, causing little damage except for the gunsight on one of the zero leaders. The planes fly past each other on one side Blue zero section gets behind US red and on the other US white gets behind zero green.

In the turn to follow zero green, The rookie leader and number 2 of US white section fail to keep up, with number 2 loosing control of his plane. This leaves only white 1 behind the zero section. US red section has zeros approaching from the rear. A hard turn could help, but with one of the wing men a rookie the change of loosing him is high, should he fail, with a full zero section behind, his chances are slim. Thus the red leader tries a daring manoeuvrer, he turns gently towards the other zero section and US green and flies through them. His section dodges all the planes, both US and Japanese. The following Japanese section does the same thing. Both wing men avoid the wing men from the other section. The leaders are not so lucky as they clip each other. It is a disaster, blue leaders plane stats to fall apart as a wing sheers off. Green leaders plane is engulfed in a fireball. Which cause 3 of the 4 wing men to loose control.

Now the tides have turned. Over the next few minutes US red section will shoot down 2 more Zeros.

Meanwhile, of the remaining 2 zeros, one will struggle to regain control, and after taking damage break off.

The other follows US white leader who is now alone, the other rookie having struggled with the controls so much he leaves the area. A burst from the Zero causes critical instrument damage to US white leader who attempts to break off. The zero follows him and puts round after round into his plane. Before his other wingman can arrive to drive off the zero US white leader will take heavy damage to both wings, his cockpit and have his flue lines damaged. However he makes it back to the carrier alive and still in his plane.

The result is 4 downed zeros with 1 more damaged. The US losses are 1 damaged fighter. Group leader C. Powell has also become a junior ace after his great performance. The second ace in the task force and both from the same carrier.

Guadalcanal Campaign August 11- 17 and battle report

 The events of the first part of the campaign are coming to an end. Japanese reinforcements will start to arrive from th 18th onwards.

Turn 8 day (august 11)

Weather is fine

US forces continue to unload

US sub continues to patrol

5 fighter planes sweep over landing zone, intercepted by 4 sections of US fighters and abort mission.

Turn 9 day (August 12)

Weather is fine

2 sections of fighters and a bomber section attack transports, driven off by 5 fighter sections of CAP

Turn 10 day (August 13)

Cloudy and windy

Weather reduces air activity

Turn 11 day (August 14)

Weather is fine

Japanese air attacks are no more than scouts who flee when encountered.

Turn 12 day (August 15)

It is raining

A large air attack of 6 fighter sections and 1 dive bomber section attacks, intercepted by 5 fighter sections of cap. At 20,000 yards.

Part 1 of 2. 2 cap vs 3 zero sections

Turn 1

The planes manoeuvrer and 1 zero section goes past the US sections.

Turn 2

The zero section turns around and attacks green from the side causing a catastrophic structural failure to fighter 1 and damaging the wing of the leader. US red fires at Japanese red section but only does light damage. Japanese green section misses completely and red section does wing damage and cuts a fuel line of US green leader.

US red leader then fires again at Jap green 2 and causes the plane to explode. The damage causes one Japanese plane and US red 1 to lose control. US green 1 bails from his stricken aircraft

Turn 3

US red tails a Japanese section but is almost immediately thrown off. US green leader is shot at by the swarming zeros taking more wing damage and the critical instrument damage and starts breaking off. The rookie of green section is also hit by fire first getting a fuel line cut and then exploding in a fireball which kills the pilot. The shooter, Zero green leader looses control due to the debries.

Turn 4

The planes manoeuvre and fire but all miss.

Turn 6

The zeros continue to fire and another US fighter is crippled and the pilot bails. One of the other US planes, having lost control in turn 2 has now failed 4 times to regain control and bails before he hits the sea. One of the Japanese planes which had also lost control fails for a 5^th time and hits the ocean.

The result is:

2 zeros down, 1 damaged, 5 cap down, 1 damaged. (A. Phelps, rookie, KIA) (B. Kelly POW) (W. Cambell Lost at sea). A dark day for the carrier group.

Part 2 of 2. 3 CAP vs 3 zero sections and 1 bomber

Turn 1

The planes rapidly close with each other. One of the Japanese sections swings around and on the approach causes critical instrument damage to US blue 1. However, a mistake has left them in the sights of US green leader who takes his chance. Yellow leader of the zero section erupts in a fireball and this causes 2 US planes and 1 Zero to loose control in the crowded skies.

Turn 2

Next a swirling and confusing dogfight erupts and the planes begin to separate. Various planes get tailed and then manoeuvrer to loose them and take moderate damage such as wing damage. A lucky shot by Zero blue 2 kills the pilot of US red 2.

Turn 3

The planes continue to manoeuvrer and fire but all miss. 2 planes from US blue section begin to chase the bomber section and are in turn chased by a Zero section. The other planes continue to dogfight.

Turn 4 and onwards

I got confused in my notes and was pretty tired. Basically next many of the planes continue to fight while US blue goes after the bombers. Blue 2 his hit by the pursuing zeros and explodes, but blue leader shots down 1 bomber and damages a second. Before the zeros can get blue leader. One of the US fighters from yellow section catches up and makes the zeros break formation as well as shooting down 1. This lets Blue leader finish off the last bomber. As the planes run out of ammo, 4 fighters apiece remain in the air.

The result

2 zeros down, 2 bombers down 1 damaged. 2 CAP down (Z. Chang KIA) (P. Drummond Section leader KIA). The day has been hard for the carrier fighter force, 5 dead pilots and 7 lost planes is a heavy loss. The only comfort is 4 zeros also went down as did all the bombers. The transports are safe.

Turn 13 day (August 16)

It is raining

2 fighter sections engage 2 sections of CAP (battle report later)

The transports finish unloading and leave the area.

Turn 14 day (August 17)

it is windy

Japanese destroyer transports enter from the north. A large Japanese transport fleet has also left its base and will soon arrive in the area, A carrier group will also depart soon.

first battle report photos

 

Second battle report photos

 

 

Guadalcana campaign August 9 and 10 and air strike battle report

 Note. I didnt record the results of the Tulagi battle as it mostly went as expected and i was eager to be done with these land battles. mostly because i messed up my land board and it is too uneaven for the terrain. needless to say the US forces won with their massive advantage.

Turn 6 day (August 9)

The weather is fine

The US sub continues to patrol.

The Japanese land forces stop withdrawing.

The US task force continues to unload

2 dive bomber sections and a fighter attack the transports but are intercepted by a large number of fighters and abort the mission before reaching their target.

Once again the Japanese submarine spots the task force it has been following.

I-123 fires a spread at the Task Unit from old TF 16, 1 of which strikes the enterprise.

The submarine is then destroyed by depth charges.

The torpedo strikes the Enterprise carrier but at a bad angle and while there is some hull damage the ship escapes mostly intact.

Turn 6 night

The weather is fine.

The US forces continue to unload.

The US sub continues to patrol

The only Japanese forces in the theatre now hunker down and await reinforcements.

Turn 7 day (august 10)

It is cloudy

Once again a large air force attacks the transports They are intercepted by 2 sections at 25000 yards.

So it is 2 sections of CAP vs 3 fighter, 3 dive bomber and 1 torp bomber sections.

The 2 Cap sections are White 1 from the USS Wasp and the Saratoga's 2^nd fighter red section. The Saratoga's section is lead by a vet and has 1 average pilot and a rookie. The wasp's section are all average pilots. They face 3 zero fighter sections all average and lead by veterans. These are

escorting 3 dive bomber sections and 1 torpedo bomber section. It will be a hard fight for the Americans. They start coming head on to the bombers

Turn 1

All the planes move up, some long range fire from the Japanese fails to do any damage.

Turn 2

The planes manover, US white moves over the bombers and directly behind them but is caught and tailed by a zero section. US red moves around to the right in a tight circle pursued by 2 zero sections. The hard manoeuvrer causes the rookie to test to keep formation which he does.

The leader of the Zero section behind US white fires on the leader and the long burst shreds the planes fuselage causing it to begin to spiral down to the sea. US red takes a lot of fire but only minor damaged is caused. In turn a burst of fire from US red leader (H. Jones)causes one of the torpedo bomber pilots to loose control.

Turn 3

The leader of US white (W. bailey) bails successfully from his stricken plane. Fire from the Japanese section behind US red causes engine damage on number 1 (S. Roche) and misses the others. One Japanese pilot jams his guns.

The 2 remaining planes from US white section split up and both turn to follow the torpedo bombers. The get behind them and both fire. White 1 (J. Thompson) causes damage to the fuel line while white 2 (N. Powell) accurate fire causes the bomber to explode causing number 3 to loose control. The leader still struggling from the earlier fire fails to regain control.

US red leader has now moved up behind the bombers a good distance from the escorts, CAP and torpedoes bombers behind him. His accurate fire causes engine damage to one and causes another to explode causing another to loose control.

The green zero section fires on US white 1 but misses with 1 pilot jamming his guns. Another Zero sections on the rookie of US red section (J. O'Rorke) The cockpit is shredded and O'Rorke is KIA.

Turn 4 and Turn 5

Red leader having used all his ammunition leaves the battle field, seeing behind him 2 of the bombers who he caused to loose control and the one whose engine he damaged smash into the sea.

The Zero section behind US white 2 damages the plane enough to force the pilot to bail as it heads towards the sea.

2 sections pursue White 1 (J. Thompson) as he makes his escape and miraculously he dodges all their fire with nothing more than his gun sights and windows damaged. The pursuing zeros, having run out of ammunition break off.

The surviving 6 dive bombers and 1 torpedo bomber make their attack runs on the transports.

The torpedo bomber is shot down almost immediately. The dive bombers make runs on the USS Fuller and the USS Alhena. One dive bomber from each is damaged. The Fuller is struck amid ships by a penetrating bomb which causes extensive damage and sinks the ship after a short while. The Alhena is hit in the stern with the bomb reaching the 2 stern cargo holds. A large fire takes hold but is eventually put out.

The loss of the Fuller take with it 2 weapons platoons and 2 marine platoons. The Alhena fire costs the landing forces a weapons platoon, an artillery platoon and 2 tanks. The losses among troops would have been much greater if they had not already mostly been sent ashore in the landings.

However, the damage to another of the cargo ships of which there are only 5 has cost more heavy equipment. Already 25% of the tanks and a portion of heavy artillery have been lost.

The skill of red leader (H. Jones) has seen him reach the level of a Junior ace, the first one among all the carrier pilots.

Battle of Tanambogo (Blitzkrieg Commander 3 Battle report)

The battle of Tanambogo.

This is a quick report of the battle for the second island, Tanambogo. It takes place the day after the first battle of Gavutu.

The US forces have decided to continue with their swift assaults with another one the next day. Again there will only be light support and this time only 1 tank as the previous losses have not yet been replaced.

The battle was a simple affair with the Americans storming up the beach and across the causeway. The Japanese defenders, out numbered by superior troops were only able to inflict light casualties before being overwhelmed.

This lead to another swift victory and Gavutu-Tanambogo has now been secured, though this outcome was never in doubt.

The next battle will be for Tualgi, which is a slightly bigger affair and takes place at the same time as this.

These two battles cost the Marine parachute regiment 18 of it's 50 or so squads and as such the regiment will be withdrawn from the front line now to recover its strength.

The Japanese forces lost all men on the islands, a construction battalion, an airbase unit and elements from a special landing force.

Here are some photos of the battle.