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As the main body of the Nationalist forces continued to push its way into the "weak" pocket at my center, a force of Vickers 6 tons thrust forward on the small ridge just south of the main pocket. It would seem that the cavalry charge served a purpose afterall, aside from target practice for my men. As they were mowed down in droves, each succeeding cavalry group would drop smoke, each building upon the last, until a fairly formidable wall of smoke drifted on the battlefield. Add to that smoke the amount generated by our 150mm mortar fire that contributed to the cavalry rout in that area.

Just after the last cavalry unit was destroyed, a sudden barrage of artillery fire erupted all around the ridge forcing 2Lt. Otuka's men to take cover in their redoubts. At the apex of the artillery attack, the Vickers tanks advanced along a 250 meter front, firing wildly at Otuka's positions. Following on behind that was a platoon of T-26TU M33 tanks that made for a small draw just at the center of Otuka's line, and the one weak spot in his fields of fire. The din of battle from his zone was deafening, even to me, 300 yards away. The artillery barrage subsided and Otuka and his platoon faced several Vickers at less than 50 meters. All of the those tanks were destroyed as soon as Otuka's men manned their positions...crews foolish enough to attempt to run were cut to pieces by HMG fire. But, the T-26 tanks continued up the draw, taking massive amounts of HMG fire that Otuka directed when possible on the front glacis plates of the tanks in an attempt to blind the drivers. As the tank thrust began to falter, a 75mm IG tore open the guts of three of the tanks, but the lead tank was missed, and perhaps due to the slope of the incline, the 37mm ATG rounds directed at it were ineffective.

The remaining T-26 continued to fire directly on Lt. Otuka's position and a shell struck near to him, killing his orderly and wounding Otuka quite severely. As the tank closed in on Otuka and the rest of his pinned HQ squad, Otuka managed to crawl over to the 37mm ATG that was dug in with him and line up a shot. As the tank closed to point blank range, Otuka fired the gun and the round penetrated the turret, detonating the ammo within. About that same moment, a 75mm round tore into the engine compartment of the tank and must have blow the transmission linkage, as the tank, on the incline, began to slowly roll backward down the slope. The burning hulk rolled back about ten meters before stopping.

As this was occuring, the main body continued to push forward to within 200 meters of my position, but once they reached that far, the full force of my kill zone in the pocket was brought to bear upon them. Not less than 6 HMGs were able to create a massive cross fire from the three sides of the pocket, as well as 75mm IG, 25mm AA, and 37mm ATG fire directly from their front. I saw at least 3 platoons of Nationalists pile up upon one another like so much cordwood...but still they pushed forward with great impetus.

(To be continued...)

"The Pocket", main Nationalist attack route, 2 full infantry companies pushed through to here.

Cavalry Attack with smoke route.

Tank Attack route

The battle is over. The Nationalist dogs have all run away, their spirits broken worse than the torn dead bodies piled in heaps within the pocket. When my recon elements saw yet another wave of infantry coming to the pocket, and another platoon of Vickers heading towards 2Lt Otuka's ridge, I ordered Cpt. Mikami and his tank column to turn south behind the Chinese lines and find their HQ units. I had to lop off the head of the Chinese command if this battle was to be won...our ammo was getting dangerously low.

Within 200 meters of his southerly turn, Cpt. Mikami's column ran straight into several Company HQ units, as well as the commander of the Bde. Mikami and his armor rolled right over the units firing, twisting and turning in their murderous maundering. Mikami radioed me that the Chinese command had been eliminated. Within moments, the Chinese attack faltered and broke.

(Editiorial: I was shocked at the amount of units I faced in this battle. The infantry and tanks just kept on coming and coming and coming...wave after wave. Usually, I find this kind of battle boring. But as I starting literally running out of bullets to kill them with, and they kept on coming, it started getting exciting -- especially when the wave attacks got right to the front line of my defenses by raw brute force. If I had not killed their chain of command in one quick thrust, I am not sure what would have happened next, as there were still a good 25 turns to go in this one, and I saw at least another full company of infantry coming to the pocket, another platoon or two heading to Otuka's ridge and yet ANOTHER set of Vickers 6 tons moving up to the base of the hill. Talk about some serious point spending by the AI.)

Sounds like you won by the hair of your chinny chin. It wouldn't be wise to underestimate the Nat. Chinese. [:-] They've got the goods. The only thing which allowed the Japanese to remain in Manchuria as long as they did, was the lack of cooperation among the Chinese. [:)]

Remember that the Japanese had more Chinese collaborator troops than actual troops in Manchuria...hehehe.

On a side note, I scored over 5500 points on this battle to the Chinese 96. DV is an understatement.

ORIGINAL: TokyoBoyTensai


Sounds like you won by the hair of your chinny chin.

Whoa! 5500 to 96 is SOME stubble!

It's Billy Gibbons!

12/41 Salamaua 2000HRS Weather: Clear Vis: 750

After our many victories in China, HQ recognized our superior worth and my entire command was selected for some special operations coming in the winter of 1941. We shipped out of China in late Summer of '41 and made it to our secret staging areas in the South Pacific. We began training on fighting the Americans, which we had long suspected would be our enemy. Since we knew the Americans lack the proper fighting spirit, whatever war we faced with them would be short and would result in them suing for peace, not wanting to face our mighty Nihon Rikugun in open combat.

In December we made a landing at the small isthmus on the shores of Huon Gulf, at Salamaua in New Guinea. We were informed of a small unit of US Army defenders in the area and were given instructions to destroy them. I was given full authority in the landings to request whatever forces I needed to make the American submit to our might instantly, so as to show their commander the lunacy of a protracted fight. I contacted my friend from grade school, now a respected paratroop commander, Cpt. Namiki Nara to join my assault with a daring drop in the enemy rear. While he conducted operations in the enemy rear, seeking out their artillery and mortar support, as well as their field command, my Iron Battalion would advance to the fore and between us, we would crush the Americans in a vice. This will be a glorious battle for the Emperor and our nation. Once the Americans have seen the foolishness of daring to face us, we will be able to dictate terms in the entire Pacific and build an Empire to last the ages, as is our destiny.

Namiki's men began their landing at 2000HRS. I watched through my field glasses as his company of men were dropped, one squad at a time. The Americans were apparently waiting for something like this, because as soon as the first plane appears, 40mm rounds began bursting all around the planes. One of them erupted in a fireball, taking the paratrooper squad with it in a great fiery streak into the jungle. Several planes dropped nothing but debris as they turned away from the drop zone and flew off smoking. Several squads were dropped successfully and I heard the fighting erupt immediately.

I ordered my preplotted 150mm mortars to fire. I could see trees falling and erupting into flames. I ordered the advance of my Iron Battallion. I formed up my men in a simple line with a smaller line behind the center, my IG, AT and AA guns would be useless on the advance, so they remained behind with their trucks. Just in case we encountered a redoubt, I had them advance slowly 250m behind our main line. Cpt. Mikami and his tank company advanced with my troops at a slow walk, with my recon elements 100 meters in advance of my main line.

During our advance, Namiki radioed me that they had dropped directly on top of a cluster of US Army units, 40mm AA guns, 37mm AT guns, .50 HMGs, 60 and 80mm mortars. He and his men, in fury over the loss of their comrades, closed into melee range and slaughtered every man they could find.

After advancing about 500m our center line starting taking some random rifle fire. The foolish Americans gave up their positions too easily and at too great a range. I replotted my 150mm mortars and began a second bombardment.