RAF The Battle of Britain 1940 – The GrogHeads AAR, part 3 of 5

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Michael’s fired his first load on England, and time for more ~

Michael Eckenfels, 17 April 2018

WAR DIARY ENTRY 2

RAID DAY 2: AUGUST 12, 1940

The successful bombings of yesterday are tempered with the large number of airframe and pilot losses. As I mentioned in yesterday’s operations diary, we can absorb it…for now.

Indications from Berlin are they are happy with the bombing results but the Fuhrer is not at all happy with the aircraft and pilot losses.

For today, seven viable targets for today’s raids. Only one of them is in LF2’s area of operations, though, which will limit my choices

MINOR RAIDS – all LF3

  • WORTH (Radar Net)

MAJOR RAIDS – all LF2

  • KENLEY (Airfield)
  • TANGMERE (Airfield)
  • HORNCHURCH (Airfield) x2
  • BIGGIN HILL (Airfield)
  • BEACHY HEAD (Radar Net)

I definitely want to have a go at the Radar Net at Worth, since it’s the only target that LF2 can commit to this game turn. As for LF3, Airfields are my priority; my job is to reduce the RAF to nothing, but the Beachy Head radar target is tempting, too. Berlin really wants us to take on Hornchurch again, as you can see.

However, since the weight of today is on LF3, Me-109 coverage is going to be minimal if I go after all these targets, and I want to pile up RAF losses, so I need to focus on just a couple of raids. I choose to go with four total for today, and hope we don’t get huge losses again.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR 12 AUGUST 1940

  • LF3 PATCHY CLOUDS
  • LF2 CLEAR

TARGETS FOR TODAY

  • 0600 KENLEY (Airfield)
  • TANGMERE (Airfield)
  • WORTH (Radar Net)
  • 0800 BIGGIN HILL (Airfield)

We were, for the first time in the game, able to draw three Strategy cards (three, because that’s what we get with where the VP total is right now).

They’ll all come into play in the upcoming raids.

 

0600 TIME SEGMENT

RAID ONE: KENLEY (Airfield)

MAJOR RAID

We have four Me-109 Gruppen screening six Bomber Gruppen (three He-111s and three Do-17s). Two Me-109s have to be assigned to the Channel Patrol box.

The Raid Rendezvous Check roll is a 3, and since the weather is Clear this does not apply, fortunately.

The Detection roll comes up with Early Warning/Limited Intelligence. The Early Warning bit means, as you can see circled on the card, every Tom, Dick, and Bawb will come out of the woodwork to potentially attack our raid.

And they do. A dozen Squadrons go on an intercept course. Luckily, five of them are recalled to their sectors, but that still leaves seven Squadrons going up against four Me-109 Gruppen.

The Interception roll is a 2, so all the Squadrons stay in the Hunt Box and do battle with our German hunters. The result could be better, but it could also be a lot worse, Some enemy fighters go down in flames while most of our Me-109 coverage is forced to abort. Two reduced Squadrons manage to make it into the Bomber Box, engaging two He-111 Gruppen.

Both do damage to each other, though more so on the Gruppen. The other four Bomber Gruppen attack Kenley Airfield unmolested.

The total Bombing Strength comes in on the 15-17 column, and I roll a 6, earning an H result (and another -3 VPs). The follow-on damage roll is a 4, so no significant damage is done other than removing a Hurricane from one Sector and causing the loss of another Hurricane Replacement Point. Every little bit helps the Luftwaffe, though.

The score is now at -17, an admirable point. But that’s only the first raid; there’s three more to go for the day.

RAID LOSSES

  • HURRICANES 4
  • HE-111 11

 

0600 TIME SEGMENT

RAID TWO: TANGMERE (Airfield)

MAJOR RAID

I chose the High Speed Raid card and utilized nothing but Me-110s in this attack on Tangmere. The strafing won’t be as strong as a bombing attack, of course, but the High Speed Raid card means a lower detection chance and no Raid Rendezvous check. Regardless several Squadrons get the jump on our units, Aborting many of them; fortunately there were no Light or Heavy losses, but they did manage to get through the Me-109 screen and Abort several Me-110s, greatly reducing the effectiveness of the raid. I roll a 2, which is just barely a miss. This raid was a bust though we did manage to reduce the VPs by another -1 point.

RAID LOSSES

  • Spitfire 2
  • Hurricane 2
  • Luftwaffe None Reported
  • Tangmere Airfield No Damage

 

0600 TIME SEGMENT

RAID THREE: WORTH (Radar Net)

MINOR RAID

This minor raid managed to draw the attention of one Hurricane Squadron, which ended up getting a Light damage result for its efforts, with no losses to our raid. The lone Bomber Gruppen only gets a 1 damage result on the Worth radar net, which is a Light result and another -1 VP. A Light Damage marker is placed on it, which keeps it out of commission until it is repaired, which will happen at the start of the next Game Turn.

RAID LOSSES

  • Hurricane 2
  • Luftwaffe None Reported
  • Worth Radar Net 1 Damage (Light)

 

0800 TIME SEGMENT

RAID FOUR: BIGGIN HILL (Airfield)

MAJOR RAID

This raid is not intercepted at all by Squadrons. The Me-109 Gruppen return home after a fruitless search and the Bomber Gruppen go in on the far right side of the Bombardment Table, scoring another H result. We don’t get extra damage and there are no Squadrons to deplete in the area, but that H result is yet another -3 VPs.

 

END OF DAY 2 DEBRIEFING

We did well today to bring the VP total from zero to -12, but we suffered some major losses in bombers. We can recoup these losses for the moment, but there will be a point where we cannot sustain such levels of attack. Nevertheless, I feel my aggressive, all-out measures have paid dividends for us.

This particular raid suffered no losses in the air, on either side.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES, 12 AUGUST 1940

RAF

  • SPITFIRE 2
  • HURRICANE 8
  • Total 10

LUFTWAFFE

  • HE-111 11
  • Total 11

TOTAL AIRCRAFT LOSSES, TO DATE   (AFTER TWO RAID DAYS)

RAF

  • SPITFIRE 12
  • HURRICANE 16
  • Total 28

LUFTWAFFE

  • ME-109 10
  • JU-88 21
  • HE-111 19
  • Total 50

So far the Luftwaffe is suffering heavier losses than the RAF, but we’re hitting our targets, and the current VP total is now -22. For reference, Sea Lion preparations start if the score is -25 or less, but only if it is that on September 11. However, if I can get the score to -35, the RAF will be considered to be eliminated as an effective force (in game terms, of course), giving me an automatic victory, since Germany will be able to launch Operation Sea Lion at any time.

 

How goes the campaign?  See you in a week for details!


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