DAR Rearguard on Mt Butler

[ArmyEsq]

My first attempt at this.

The Japanese vs Canadians. Infantry action on Hong Kong Island. Because of the fog, visibility is low--750 meters (3 hexes). Ground conditions are soft, which means that my Japanese infantry will have difficulty cutting through the tropical terrain and the steep mountainside. Their smoke factor is 10 and they have just about an hour and a half (15 turns) to make it to the top, secure their objectives, and continue their advance. The Canadians have the advantage of some good defensible terrain, but the Japanese enjoy the cover of fog.

I will be trying to post as often as possible here. I hope you enjoy it. My aim is to write it as if through the eyes of the Japanese infantry and officers, and not so much as a tactical study. Hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Here's the map in gif format.

[Jason Petho]

Outstanding!

Looking forward to reading the adventures!

Jason Petho

[ArmyEsq]

Turn 1:
Lt Col Haga (8-3), Commander of the 1/229th Inf Bn mission is to advance through the draw between Mt. Butler and Mt. Parker to Tai Tam Reservoir—no easy task. Although he had 4 companies, each led by very brave, young, and able officers (MAJ Kamishiro 8-1 1st Co; CPT Murkami 8-1 2d Co., CPT Nakatani 8-1 3d Co., CPT Abe 8-1 4th Co.) and supported by a company of BN mortars (90mm and 70mm) and a company of BN field guns, he knew that the Allies would not just roll over. His men would have to prove their bravery yet again. He would again close with the enemy and expect his men to engage them in close combat. Hand to hand in fact.
It was a warm humid day. The fog was thick at this elevation. Haga assigned MAJ Kamishiro to lead the advance. MAJ Kamishiru did not hesitate. He directed 4th Plt to move directly South approximately 500 meters as a reconnaissance element for the entire 1st of 229th Inf Bn…
4th Pl ran south along a dirt road through 250 meters of light jungle. Ahead of them was either a small river or a stream, and beyond that, a field. The road meandered west climbing 50 meters to an 800 meter elevation with tall elephant grass on either side…

[ArmyEsq]

Slow going over the soft ground. The men of 4th Plt were cautious but high spirited, and anxious to make contact...

[ArmyEsq]

Realizing the slow progress that 4th Plt/1st was making, Haga ordered CPT Nakatani of 3d Co to send a platoon to recon. He chose 2d Plt/3rd. With just a quick word to his platoon LDR, 2d Plt/3rd took off south, up the dirt road, approximately 200 meters east of 4th Plt/1st. Staggered, they quick marched 500 meters without incident, through a long expanse of Kunai. Sweating and winded, they stopped immediately before a steep embankment. 2d Plt/3rd Co would reconnoiter the area ahead and east of them…
The whizzing and cracking of bullets exploding all around made 2d Plt/3d drop prone in the tall grass. Rifle fire was coming from a prepared position along a 900 meter high ridgeline about 600+ meters to the platoon’s right flank…
Meanwhile, 4th Plt/1st also came under fire—from a position about 700 meters away, and higher still. 4th/1st was able to exchange fire for a couple of minutes forcing the enemy to withdraw beyond the hilltop. The 4th Plt/1st Co leader wondered if the withdrawal was simply a fallback to a reverse slope defense position.
LTC Haga heard the distant firing. He knew his battle was joined…

[ArmyEsq]

Japanese T2:
Winded, but anxious to fight, 2/3 scrambled up the 50 meter embankment. Virtually running into prepared Canadian defenses, they came under wilting fire from an enemy rifle platoon dug in above them. At least 10 of the platoon’s men dropped. Dead or wounded. The remaining men quickly took cover in the craggy terrain, behind rocks and boulders. They were in disarray, and returned fire that fell impotently around the Canadians. The Japanese wounded groaned as they clenched their wounds. At the same time, 4/1 ran up the dirt road another 200 or so meters while under fire, took positions in 2-meter high elephant grass, and fired up, toward the ridge…
MAJ Kamishiro knew that it was time to move. He quick marched 1st Company to positions just east of where 4/1 had positioned itself; his mortar and machinegun platoons following closely behind…
CPT Abe, meanwhile, led 4th Company across the streams to their west, climbing the steep ground south, toward the enemy. The idea being to flank around them on the west, while MAJ Kamishiru fixed them in the center…
“Let’s go!” ordered CPT Nakatani as he stood from his crouched position in the high tropical grass toward his 2d platoon. He would try to overwhelm the Canadians now firing on 2/3. His 3d Company immediately followed…
CPT Murakami, 2d Company CDR, held his men back. LTC Haga had determined that his would be the reserve to follow. All he and his company could do for now was to direct their mortars at the ridge, or watch as the 90 and 81mm mortars blasted the enemy positions—hopefully softening them…

[ArmyEsq]

Allies T2:
Even as 1/229th advanced, the Canadians rained mortar or other indirect fire on them. But Haga’s artillery succeeded in dislodging the enemy that had been pummeling 2/3! That platoon suffered much before finally withdrawing east…

[ArmyEsq]

Japanese T3:
Staying low, CPT Nakatani and his 1st PLT continued south through the high tropical grass as the enemy shells fell. All around them, the ground exploded throwing fragments, earth and pebbles at them. Drenched in sweat, Nakatani drove his men on; off the road and up the steep embankment. Fifty meters up to the rocky ground now occupied by 2/3. As he scanned the mountain ahead of him, enemy fire began raking his positions. Regrettably, the smoke fired by the BN mortars was not tall enough to provide him with the cover his men needed. Quickly, he yelled to his PLT leaders, directing their attention on the Canadians about 500 meters west of them…

[ArmyEsq]

3/3 also moved fast through the dense tropical grass just east of their company CO. They too came under fire. Bullets from the machineguns and riflemen perched on rocky ground about 100 meters above them chased 3/3 back down the mountain. The men of 3d PLT knew that Nakatani would not be happy, but the machinegun fire was overwhelming…Realizing that they could target the enemy firing on 3/3 be targeted of they moved east just 150 meters, Nakatani’s mortar and machinegun units positioned themselves. The move invited fire from the same enemy positions—fortunately without effect. As soon as those mortars were set and the machineguns placed, the enemy would be swept away, and 3d Company would be able to continue its advance…

[ArmyEsq]

As the young CO of 4th Company advanced up the soft dirt road, he allowed his mind to wander for a moment. The battle was just beginning, and he was not concerned about his death. As far back as he could remember, he had wanted to fight and die on a battlefield. Perhaps today would be that moment. He was well respected—perhaps even feared—by his men. They were disciplined soldiers. Even now, as they stepped with their battle gear, quick marching through the morning fog, he could not hear them. They were well trained. And good fighters. Instinctively. They knew that even though the sound of mortars and field guns were blasting on both sides, and the crack of rifle fire and machineguns was getting nearer, they had to move silently. They would not surrender an advantage if they were able—at least not until they were virtually on top of the enemy. When they would charge. Hard. With one goal in mind: to utterly destroy the opposing army.
As CPT Abe rounded a bend in the road, his reflecting was interrupted. An enemy group fired down on him and his 2 platoon columns, which quickly took what cover they could in the kunai. The enemy platoon was on a ridge more than 400 hundred meters ahead of them. And they fired with accuracy—disrupting Abe’s 2d PLT (4/2) and killing or wounding several…
Having immediately assessed the situation, the 4th PLT Mortar platoon quickly set up its 70mm mortars and plotted fire onto the enemy positions that were nearly a mile away to them, but only 400 or 500 meters ahead of their 4th Company CO…

[ArmyEsq]

Meanwhile, MAJ Kumishiru continued his move directly south, advancing across the stream and into the fields on the other side without opposition; from there, he directed his company’s fire on the prepared Canadian positions just half a kilometer away… and the BN mortar FOs plotted new targets…

[ArmyEsq]

Allies T3
LTC Haga was pleased to learn that the battery of 70mm field guns had finally arrived on their wagons. He had wondered if he had advanced his battalion too far forward for them to make any difference if he happened upon enemy defensive positions such as those he was now engaged in trying to destroy. He would position them on some nearby high ground. They would make a difference…
Meanwhile, the Canadians seemed to suddenly come alive! It was they who forced Nakatani’s 70mm mortars to scramble down from their rocky perch, and rendered one of his machinegun sections non-combat effective. Kamishiru’s company command post—1st PLT—also fell back 250 meters after suffering casualties; CPT Abe’s 1/4 also suffered casualties, but was able to keep 1st and 2d PLTs together and focused under the intense fire…
Japanese T4
CPT Abe was completely focused now. Immersed in his goal to destroy the enemy. He ran up and down the column made up of his 1st and 2d platoons; encouraging, running upright careless of danger, slapping his soldiers on the back or shoulders—some flinching, more afraid of Abe than of what he was about to order them to do—driving them into a frenzy; and then, all at once, the 2-platoon column stood in unison, their rifles at port arms position, their eyes fixed on Abe, who in his possessed state, drew his sword and yelled, “Banzaaaiii!!!” The group stormed ahead across 250 meters of open ground. Sweat beading on foreheads or pouring down faces, shirts caked on backs…stumbling, recovering, oblivious to the intense volley of fire coming at them from the defenders just a few meters from them…It was 1/4 that flinched first—they could just not sustain the charge, suffering at least 10 more men wounded or killed, and dropping prone in a confused state just a short distance from the enemy position, unable to accompany their company CO and their sister platoon up the 50 meter embankment for the hand to hand combat and bayonet dance that CPT Abe so eagerly desired. In the end, CPT Abe and 2/4 had to stop, unsuccessful…The opposing Canadians had lost some men, but the 2 machineguns they had set up, was too much firepower to overcome…3/4 meanwhile, staggered up an escarpment and was only able to provide suppressive fire in support of their fellow 4th Company soldiers. But it came too late…

[ArmyEsq]

MAJ Kamishiro and his NCOs and junior officers also yelled, “Banzaaii!!!” as they drove their men up the steep mountainside to engage the enemy. But fire from further up stopped their charge cold as well. Only Kamishiro continued his charge. Alone. Because he saw that his 4/1st had not cowered even though they had to climb and fight across an escarpment!

[ArmyEsq]

In the end, MAJ Kamishiro met his men at the top of the climb. They scared the half-strength and disrupted Canadian platoon south, further up the slope. The soldiers of 4/1st as well as their company CDR were spent. Winded. They dropped behind the abandoned enemy sandbags for a brief moment, and waited as the rest of their company climbed up to them…

[ArmyEsq]

Nakatani and his 1/3rd continued advancing up the mountain jumping into some foxholes located another 50 meters up as his 7.7mm machineguns provided fire support to the rest of his company…

[ArmyEsq]

The locations targeted by 1/229th’s mortars…

[ArmyEsq]

Kamishiro and his 4th PLT would not have the brief respite they needed—1/4th and their Company CDR were forced by intense volleys of fire to become one with the rocky ground around them; tucking their limbs in tightly under them and their bodies against the sandbags left by the Canadians they had just ousted…a few of the more bold among them jumped up and trained their rifles on the rocky ridge above them, firing but falling dead or wounded before their fire could make a difference…

[ArmyEsq]

LTC Haga focused on the ridgeline on CPT Nakatani’s left flank. There were at least 2 enemy rifle platoons and several machine guns scattered at different elevations, with clear lines of sight to Nakatani’s 3d Company. “Our young CPT is going to need help” said Haga to his BN XO who was kneeling on the grass beside him, looking through his own binoculars. The XO grunted in agreement. Standing abruptly, Haga ran back toward his TOC. “Order 2d Company forward; along the dirt road. Tell CPT Murakami that I want him to form up and mass attack up that road! Straight up. Without slowing! I want that ridgeline overwhelmed. Let him know that he’ll have BN MTR support for his assault. Now! Fast!” directed Haga in his weathered and authoritative voice. “Yes, Sir!” responded the XO…
Murakami was too happy to receive his orders. He immediately turned to his CO SGT and ordered him to “make it so!” as he drew his sword and called out to his men. He would lead the advance. He would bring 2/1/229th up the mountain and force the enemy to fight. “They will know what combat is!”…
1st and 2d Platoons ran forward through a large open field for 250 meters before CPT Murakami led them off the road, south toward the stream across open ground…Meanwhile, 3/2nd, accompanied by the attached 2nd MG PLT, drove hard west for 750 meters through fields and across the stream…

[Jason Petho]

Great AAR! Keep it up!

Jason Petho

[wings7]

Great AAR! [:)]

Patrick