Will Japanese soldiers fight to the end?

[Mobhack]

Oppose the Japanese with stuff they cannot easily counter. The US Stuart tank is excellent against them at short ranges - not just for the 37mm HE, but the 3 other MGs. It also deals with their tanks just fine. If Russian, the T-60 with its 20mm that has a 1 hex blast radius and a decent supply of HE is a good choice. Both are cheap. Bren carriers, with a scout team on board to spot that do not get too close or dismount can provide useful armoured MG support and spot better due to the infantry passengers carried (so should scout alongside or just ahead of your tanks). The M3 mediums are not brilliant versus the Germans, but are battlefield queens in the Pacific - if there is a CS version available with more 75mm HE in your OOB, use those. Shermans and T-34 are overkill, they are like far Eastern "Tigers". Just try to keep armour 2-3 hexes away from enemy infantry.

If you have good fields of fire, MMG and HMG sections following up your infantry are good, especially if fired at clusters of Japanese infantry that have bunched up due to the blast circle effect. Snipers are handy as well - especially for counter sniper work, as are the MMG sections, though less so.

Being an infantry-based army they do not like artillery. In a LC, your FOO and core arty will gain experience and become quick-response arty. Have plenty of mortars and 105mm or 25 pounder (smaller shells don't give them craters to hide in). Have ammo supply for your on-map arty. If you like the 60mm mortar - provide half-tracks to move these short ranged tubes up with the advance. Drop bricks on any annoying Japanese, suppress his on-map arty with some counter-battery fires etc. Any infantry advance of yours should be close (3-5 hexes say) behind a belt of fire that you advance a couple of hexes each turn - i.e. a rolling barrage.

[jivemi]

Thanks guys. Forgot to mention this was a delay battle (since corrected) and was already arty overloaded at 17% force value with a 43-point penalty. Still, I'd been overloaded in previous defensive battles at 21% and won handily giving away 150 or so. Since the Japanese are infantry-heavy I should've adjusted to circumstances.

No doubt my biggest mistake was presuming they'd act like other opponents and start routing away at a certain threshold of fleeing units. But since most didn't behave "normally" my attempts to accelerate their flight by premature infantry counterattacks were doomed to failure. Better to keep infantry under cover and let them come to you after they've run the gauntlet of MGs, arty and tanks. They just don't quit.

[DRG]

Originally Posted by jivemi

No doubt my biggest mistake was presuming they'd act like other opponents and start routing away at a certain threshold of fleeing units. .....snip...... They just don't quit.

The battle for Iwo Jima lasted 5 weeks and featured a massive aerial and naval pre-bombardment to the extent that Chester Nimitz is quoted saying "Well, this will be easy. The Japanese will surrender Iwo Jima without a fight."

N O T H I N G was easy about fighting the troops of Imperial Japan for anyone who fought them....including now you

[jivemi]

Originally Posted by DRG

The battle for Iwo Jima lasted 5 weeks and featured a massive aerial and naval pre-bombardment to the extent that Chester Nimitz is quoted saying "Well, this will be easy. The Japanese will surrender Iwo Jima without a fight."

N O T H I N G was easy about fighting the troops of Imperial Japan for anyone who fought them....including now you

Harumph. Well if mostly elite British troops and tanks can't hold 'em off better call in the US Marines. Still don't get how experience and morale ratings between mostly 70 and 80 (as per the battle results screen) give them such phenomenal powers, especially the ability to recover so quickly from retreat or rout. Anyway it was a learning experience .

Here's a save (Turn 31) in case anybody's interested. Shows a lone Valentine holding off the center horde, like Horatius at the bridge, while up north the position crumbles and helpless tanks run for cover: