<S> all allied pilots and well done, I think we actually won the day. The Imperial Japanese Airforce held a CAP along our whole northern border during the frame, keeping the majority of their forces close together.
The 23rd were relentless in sinking the Japanese supply lines. Running out of food and ammunition will lower the morale of the Japanese invasion troops for sure. 16 ships were reported sunk by the P-39D's.
The strike on the northern island was successful thanks to the Nightstalkers and the sacrifice of the American Eagles, finishing one base each and the AE's keeping the infamous 352nd Emperor's Squad off our bombers. The strike on F42 was a gamble and a big <S> to the NS for rolling the dice even though it was a big risk. I'm sorry I couldn't get the timing right for a clean-up strike as planned.
The 475th strike on F40 was flawless. Well done putting that dock out of use without any losses, "The Rising sun's" troops won't get any new rifles from there. I mistakenly called your pilots in to support the AE's, as DAR only showed 3-4 cons in the area. Suddenly 20+ of them popped up all around the 475th, and the 100th who were also called to help, and watching the camera footage from a captured Zero, there was no way to get you guys out of there. It sure looks much easier to disengage watching the map than in action.
The 100th struck F67 and then bored holes in the sky guarding against drones who never came to port Moresby. Apparently their reserve bombers only get directed to support their main strike force from now on. I saw the Haze get some action though at times.
The 4th put a CAP at 5,6 for our strike groups as planned, and are also to be commended for their bravery by striking dock 67 twice with A6M3's rushing at them from all sides. All in all around 16x500 lb bombs hit F67, but alas had to be dropped in a rush as the Zeros came racing with alt. The dock's bridge will take some days for the enemy to rebuild though. Four 4th-men were reported downed by a skilled japanese 20mm crew. I hope the allies will target that port in future operations, and repay that 20mm crew in kind while at it.
5 lessons learned:
* Repeatedly hitting ships puts a big hurt on the japanese.
* Sun Tzu emphasized the matter of using the highest intelligence of the army for scouting and infiltration, and the coastwatchers on New Guinea are sure worth their weight in gold as they enable us to track most of the IJN movements and adapt our plans if keeping vigilant watch.
* Spreading out, avoiding confrontation if possible and hitting several targets simultaneously seems a good way to beat "the big wing".
* Keeping a spread out basing made sure only a part of our force was stuck in TWR at any point.
* A nice fighting spirit among our squads can sure beat the odds.
A big <S> to -jabo- and all pilots and thanks for your determination and co-operation. It was fun to sit in the chair and I hope to see you all in the skies next sunday
!/Robert- 4th FG
http://echoesmarketing.com/4thfg/