BONZAI!
February through May 1943: Battle of the Coral Sea
Scenario: Stalemate and Counterpunch
Note: Uncommon Valor 1.0 (no patches applied)
Decisive Japanese Victory
Japanese Score 5488
Allied Score 3397
Overall, an early invasion of Dobadua on the north-east coast of North Guinea (threatening a land based approach to Port Moresby) caused clear consternation in the planning of the Allied forces. From this point on it was not clear where the Japanese were to focus. Additional forces landed at Gili Gili (south coast of New Guinea) and Lunga (Guadalcanal), but these proved problematical as the Allies had reinforced these two critical locations ahead of the invasion, and survey data had not unearthed these reinforcements.
Allied naval forces were not as coordinated as they needed to have been. Carrier forces were split up and not massed as they should have to maximize CAP. We expect this improve else a leadership change will be executed.
Land based air was
effective, though weakened towards the end of the period. Port Moresby was left
without CAP in the last 2 weeks. This must not be allowed to happen again –
Allies were lucky the Japanese did not mass an attack on Port Moresby.
Navel Losses
Allied Losses:
Japanese Losses:
Air Losses
Overall Intelligence Analysis
Japanese lost through the campaign 221 aircraft in air-to-air to the allies 58. Despite this 4-1 advantage, the Allies still lost abnormally high naval forces that limited offensive activity for most of the period. Worse, the Allies lost 388 aircraft on the ground! This was a major blow to defensive maneuverability and must be rectified.
Final Point. The lost of this scenario to the Japanese was mainly attributed to the successful invasion:
Clearly the Allies won the naval war, despite critical losses. Additionally despite unacceptably high aircraft losses on the ground, the Allies managed to hold their own in the air. It was the loss of Dobadua that lost the scenario.
BONZAI!!!