Battle 5 - Be careful what you wish for
May 1932
Chinese Communists
China - City
Mission: defend
Map: A big city. Two VH clusters my side of the centre line about mid-board, one further into my zone and North of the centre line. Three roads run east-west near board centre and one other further south.
Finally not meeting the Chinese - though a defend means I'll be facing even greater hordes than usual.
Only 500 support points and the engineers at this date have no flamethrowers.
So trying to be realistic - I am probably in a rest area when attacked by Chicom guerrillas. VH and map arrangement does not justify fortifications. However I have 3 airstrikes so I purchase a recce ship and 2 strike shotai to represent fast reaction support from an airfield in the city. This uses most of my points. Acutely aware that every point I spend only increases the hordes, I refrain from using repair points and purchase a pair of HMGs.
I setup back of the two central VH clusters hoping to stay clear of any artillery. There are fingers of high ground on the three central roads so I set up a mix of HMG, 37mm and 70mm inf guns to cover the roads in depth. Two platoons are back of the central VHs and the third platoon covers the north flank in between the main position and the northern VH cluster. The northern cluster is left undefended - defend everything and defend nothing.
Turn 1 So-Mo ACs drive out along the south flank road. The main force sits tight - catching a few long rounds but out of the main artillery. Aichis scout overhead finding nothing. Tanks move forward to take up positions supporting the infantry
Chinese send cavalry against my So-Mos supported by a couple of armoured trucks
Turn 2 My tanks change course to support the armoured cars which have routed a Chinese cavalry platoon.
Covering smoke lines appear on the Chinese side so I assign my mortars morts to hit one and 2 Aichi to hit another.
Turn 3 the So-Mos keep working over the cav. The Chinese just armoured trucks sit there doing nothing. My tanks are still moving up – BT’s these ain’t
In the Chinese phase, the armoured trucks decide to push forward – good the sooner they will be under the guns of my 98s.
Turn 4 the eagles come in but with no effect other than to spot a few more trucks.
Somewhere around I have some further notes but I just don't have the heart to look for them.
The Good:
The armoured cars supported by the tanks thoroughly worked over the Chinese rear area eliminating a cavalry company and about 6 75mm guns, 2 Stokes mortars, a pair of infantry guns and once again the Chinese HQ. The armoured trucks gave a bit of trouble since my 57mm tank guns would only fire AP at 0 hex range and the HE just bounced off. One tank was skewered by a 37mm ATG in the end zone - have to have a word with the Germans about their sales policies - but those are the breaks.
The Not So Good:
The Chinese seem to have Russian advisors. Apart from the small stuff mentioned above, I was facing multiple off-board batteries in the 100mm class. Over time the Chinese FOs got on target and started hitting my positions. I had to withdraw a couple of sections - they were so chewed up by the arty that I decided it was safer to let the rest ride it out. The Chinese advanced in what seemed to be a continuous wave.
Pure and simple - I was swamped. For every people's militia squad I routed or pinned, six more seemed to open up with reaction fire. The Aichis and artillery swept over the Chinese advance - about the only good they did was to kill a few more of those damned trucks. My line held for quite a while but began to crumble under the intense artillery fire and mass of infantry. When Chinese started molesting the pack mules well behind my main line of resistance, I lost heart and flipped the game to automatic. As I watched the AI beat itself up, all I could see was hordes of little Chicom flags. At a rough guess I was looking at a couple of battalions of infantry supported by a company of armoured trucks, a couple of companies of cavalry and as mentioned a shedload of medium-heavy artillery. I minimized the game and went for a cup of tea expecting the campaign to be over.
On my return I found that the CO, my tanks and ACs and about a platoon of infantry survived.
Observations:
I won't blame the game but I didn't have a chance. Static positions against that many infantry just don't work. Perhaps if I had spent support points for mines, wire and fortifications, I might have made a better run of it. On reflection, a mobile defence would be more effective - sadly the Japanese are not particularily well equipped for mechanized warfare.
The obvious thing to do is set up a couple of practice defence games to work out where I went wrong and how to fix it.
One final strange point - I saved the end game and resumed the campaign under human control. I was surprised to see I received a "decisive victory" - my propaganda troops must be working overtime.
