Deadly Diversion
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 12:05 am
Hello I'm doing the Deadly Diversion campaign made by Wild Bill. It is about a small diversionary attack on Choiseul Island to confuse the Japanese when the US army and marines were invading New Georgia. There are two attacks: one by Krulak and one by Bigger so the player has to choose which branch at the beginning. I took Krulak and bought a Marine raider platoon to start the jungle adventure with. Sorry I don't have a paint program to take pictures with but there will be a lot of fun gunbattles among the palm trees to write about.
Choiseul Deady Diversion
The first fight started with Krulak's platoon sneaking through the jungle to knock out a supply dump which was expected to only be lightly defended and totally unprepared for an attack.
Three squads of marine raiders, a 30 cal machine gun, 2 engineer teams and a pair of native guides started over a creek into the thick jungle which was both impressively green and abundant while being the most oppressive terrain soldiers could ever expect to conduct a combat mission in.
One objective was to the northeast which was intended as a lookout to prevent any suprises showing up on the left flank. Able company headed there at a brisk pace not expecting random Japanese soldiers to be hanging about in such a thick jungle when no attack was expected on this island. Three more objectives were in a tiny village made up of a few huts which the Japanese had loaded up with boxes of goods and munitions which the engineers were assigned to blow up. The civilians were most likely being pressed into service as forced laborers by the Japanese.
Able company successfully made their way to the northeast lookout post without any drama while Baker company made a wide detour of the village to put in a flanking attack from the east while Krulak led the main attack against the west side of the village. Along with Krulak's HQ squad came Charlie company with the engineers in tow while the natives carefully moved along a parallel course further north because they lacked the firepower and combat skill to do more than send a few rounds along with a prayer through the foilage to help suppress the defenders.
Krulak himself was the first to spot Japanese troops in a grove of palm trees and he ordered his squad to open fire on them to get the action started. He knew they didn't have time for a lengthy approach and a planned suprise attack because they were synchronizing their operation with Bigger's company on the other side of the island so he opted for a ham-fisted hail of fire to get the job done and live up to his nickname 'the Brute'. Their fire missed causing Krulak to roar, "Oh yeah of course we gotta miss!", and the Japanese immediately returned rifle fire which scored a hit on one of Krulak's troopers. Although it seemed like a disappointing start, more Japanese put the other people with Krulak under fire causing the 30 cal to withdraw from the developing battle after taking hits. The engineers gritted their teeth and crept forward along with Charlie company to assault the village proper while Krulak and Baker commanded the attention of the enemy.
Able company, having verified the north held no enemy threat, rushed south towards the sounds of gunfire in the cherished tradition of good soldiers over the centuries. While of course being loyal to their platoon, even more so they were desperate to not miss out on the action. Baker company in the east carefully approached and traded fire at point-black range with a Japanese type A infantry squad and came off the worse with a couple of casualties. Krulak continued firing at the Japanese defending the approaches to the village while the engineers and Charlie company went south and came along the waterfront towards the huts. Every squad traded heavy fire with about 4 squads of Japanese A infantry squads and a couple of native teams who did their best to put rounds into the marines with some success. It seemed all the across the front that whenever someone fired at the Japanese, they returned deadly fire. Despite their marksmanship skills, gradually the enemy were reduced by the heavier and increasingly more accurate fire of the marines. The longer the firefight continued, the more accurate and devastating the marine fire became as they got settled into the drama.
Engineering Echo company lost 2 men when they shot their way into a hut defended by natives armed with rifles. After winning the battle of the hut, Echo then blew it up. The two native guides supporting the marines further north fired a couple shots into the mass of Japanese in the middle of the village with no apparent effect and return fire nailed them both. Krulak was upset by this because he needed them as guides and didn't want to give the marines a bad rep with the locals. There was only so much that gifts of beer, cigarettes and rations could do to sooth this kind of problem. Charlie company was still intact and came through the smoke from the exploding supplies to hose down the defenders with their Thompsons forcing them to retreat eastwards which allowed Alpha and Baker companies to finish them off. But even as they retreated, the Japanese kept up a frustratingly accurate defensive fire which reduced both Baker and Alpha companies by several squadmates each. A couple of snipers tried to cheapshot Charlie and the engineers without success and only added themselves to the bag.
With the hot gunbattle nearing it's conclusion, Delta engineer team managed to make it to the docks to blow up a boat using a couple of satchel charges while Echo detonated the main supply pile which went off with a massive explosion which made visibility difficult for those still in battle. Krulak and Charlie company braved the blinding smoke to charge through and gun down the Japanese HQ team to end the fight.
With the battle over, Krulak felt both exhilarated with the excitement of the excellent fight and appalled at the losses on their side when he had only expected a few to nothing casualties in this little warm-up attack. To his credit, the briefing from the brass noted how much stronger the defenses of the supply depot were than expected.
The final tally for the battle was 14 casualties for the marines and their native allies against Japanese losses of 57 troops, 2 supply piles and one boat. This ratio of losses is quite favorable for the Japanese who have come to normally expect up to 10 to 1 loss ratios when up against marines. Tokyo Rose will likely hail this battle as the swansong of the marines in the Solomons. Hopefully the chaos will mess with the minds of the Japanese command, and some sort of Japanese response to the attack can certainly be expected.
My team was awarded a decisive victory on turn 9 out of 10 which is mostly due to me rushing the attack to meet the strict time limit and that's how we came under such intense fire during the hasty approach. Our next mission is the anvil portion of Bigger's hammer blow against a nest of Japanese at Sangigao. Our job is to eliminate the enemy troops before they can escape by cutting off their line of retreat.
Choiseul Deady Diversion
The first fight started with Krulak's platoon sneaking through the jungle to knock out a supply dump which was expected to only be lightly defended and totally unprepared for an attack.
Three squads of marine raiders, a 30 cal machine gun, 2 engineer teams and a pair of native guides started over a creek into the thick jungle which was both impressively green and abundant while being the most oppressive terrain soldiers could ever expect to conduct a combat mission in.
One objective was to the northeast which was intended as a lookout to prevent any suprises showing up on the left flank. Able company headed there at a brisk pace not expecting random Japanese soldiers to be hanging about in such a thick jungle when no attack was expected on this island. Three more objectives were in a tiny village made up of a few huts which the Japanese had loaded up with boxes of goods and munitions which the engineers were assigned to blow up. The civilians were most likely being pressed into service as forced laborers by the Japanese.
Able company successfully made their way to the northeast lookout post without any drama while Baker company made a wide detour of the village to put in a flanking attack from the east while Krulak led the main attack against the west side of the village. Along with Krulak's HQ squad came Charlie company with the engineers in tow while the natives carefully moved along a parallel course further north because they lacked the firepower and combat skill to do more than send a few rounds along with a prayer through the foilage to help suppress the defenders.
Krulak himself was the first to spot Japanese troops in a grove of palm trees and he ordered his squad to open fire on them to get the action started. He knew they didn't have time for a lengthy approach and a planned suprise attack because they were synchronizing their operation with Bigger's company on the other side of the island so he opted for a ham-fisted hail of fire to get the job done and live up to his nickname 'the Brute'. Their fire missed causing Krulak to roar, "Oh yeah of course we gotta miss!", and the Japanese immediately returned rifle fire which scored a hit on one of Krulak's troopers. Although it seemed like a disappointing start, more Japanese put the other people with Krulak under fire causing the 30 cal to withdraw from the developing battle after taking hits. The engineers gritted their teeth and crept forward along with Charlie company to assault the village proper while Krulak and Baker commanded the attention of the enemy.
Able company, having verified the north held no enemy threat, rushed south towards the sounds of gunfire in the cherished tradition of good soldiers over the centuries. While of course being loyal to their platoon, even more so they were desperate to not miss out on the action. Baker company in the east carefully approached and traded fire at point-black range with a Japanese type A infantry squad and came off the worse with a couple of casualties. Krulak continued firing at the Japanese defending the approaches to the village while the engineers and Charlie company went south and came along the waterfront towards the huts. Every squad traded heavy fire with about 4 squads of Japanese A infantry squads and a couple of native teams who did their best to put rounds into the marines with some success. It seemed all the across the front that whenever someone fired at the Japanese, they returned deadly fire. Despite their marksmanship skills, gradually the enemy were reduced by the heavier and increasingly more accurate fire of the marines. The longer the firefight continued, the more accurate and devastating the marine fire became as they got settled into the drama.
Engineering Echo company lost 2 men when they shot their way into a hut defended by natives armed with rifles. After winning the battle of the hut, Echo then blew it up. The two native guides supporting the marines further north fired a couple shots into the mass of Japanese in the middle of the village with no apparent effect and return fire nailed them both. Krulak was upset by this because he needed them as guides and didn't want to give the marines a bad rep with the locals. There was only so much that gifts of beer, cigarettes and rations could do to sooth this kind of problem. Charlie company was still intact and came through the smoke from the exploding supplies to hose down the defenders with their Thompsons forcing them to retreat eastwards which allowed Alpha and Baker companies to finish them off. But even as they retreated, the Japanese kept up a frustratingly accurate defensive fire which reduced both Baker and Alpha companies by several squadmates each. A couple of snipers tried to cheapshot Charlie and the engineers without success and only added themselves to the bag.
With the hot gunbattle nearing it's conclusion, Delta engineer team managed to make it to the docks to blow up a boat using a couple of satchel charges while Echo detonated the main supply pile which went off with a massive explosion which made visibility difficult for those still in battle. Krulak and Charlie company braved the blinding smoke to charge through and gun down the Japanese HQ team to end the fight.
With the battle over, Krulak felt both exhilarated with the excitement of the excellent fight and appalled at the losses on their side when he had only expected a few to nothing casualties in this little warm-up attack. To his credit, the briefing from the brass noted how much stronger the defenses of the supply depot were than expected.
The final tally for the battle was 14 casualties for the marines and their native allies against Japanese losses of 57 troops, 2 supply piles and one boat. This ratio of losses is quite favorable for the Japanese who have come to normally expect up to 10 to 1 loss ratios when up against marines. Tokyo Rose will likely hail this battle as the swansong of the marines in the Solomons. Hopefully the chaos will mess with the minds of the Japanese command, and some sort of Japanese response to the attack can certainly be expected.
My team was awarded a decisive victory on turn 9 out of 10 which is mostly due to me rushing the attack to meet the strict time limit and that's how we came under such intense fire during the hasty approach. Our next mission is the anvil portion of Bigger's hammer blow against a nest of Japanese at Sangigao. Our job is to eliminate the enemy troops before they can escape by cutting off their line of retreat.