Japanese Long Campaign

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Situation at End Battle (Turn 58)

A Coy stuck around till the end and repulsed numerous infantry advances, as well as subjected to constant artillery bombardment. The most upsetting issue has been the lack of accurate counter battery fire.

We managed to achieve a Draw for which I had set out at the start of the mission. And achieving that at the loss of 250+ loss while destroying more than 60 enemy tanks gave me a strong impression of how I should better use my infantry against armour next time.

Next battle, I decided to continue the campaign in Manchuria with the new sector being a Defend mission in Mongolia.

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Thought I'll add a screenshot of A Coy's positions at the end of the battle.

This experience is going to heavily influence my planning in my upcoming Defend mission against the Russians.

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Mission
To Defend in the Monglolia Sector with Degawa Battalion for a period of 3 hours (roughly 65 turns). The visibility is very good (53)

Enemy
To expect Soviet forces of 4x infantry battalions reinforced with 3x armoured squadrons, and up to 5x medium/ heavy artillery batteries.

Troops
Degawa Battalion will be supported by 1x 105mm Medium Artillery Battery (off-board), 1x 10cm Type 91 Field Battery (on-board), 1x Light Armour Coy of Type 95 Ha-Go tanks, 1x Anti-tank Pl of Type 94 37mm ATGs and 8x Bunkers.

Terrain
Our sector is bifurcated by a stream running approx. NW to SE, that evenly distributes the Victory Locations.

We will refer to the near side of the stream as TR sector and the far side as LL sector. TR sector is relatively open in comparison with LL sector which provides ample opportunities for close fighting with wooded areas.

The only axis of interest is a dirt road running W-E along the lower half of the map mostly in LL sector.

The stream can be crossed via a bridge from the dirt road, or numerous fording points.

Battle Plan
To concentrate 2 Coys in both TR and LL sectors.

A and B Coys will defend in TR sector, supported by the 1x Armoured Coy. Both Coys will take a 2 up formation, and harbour in and around forested VLs.

C and D Coys will defend in LL sector, supported by the 1x ATG Pl.. Similarly, both Coys will take a 2 up formation and harbour in and around forested VLs.

Bunkers are placed along both flanks and have their arcs adjusted to provide interlocking fields of fire. Bunkers are denoted by blue triangles, and their arcs of fires are denoted by the yellow lines.

All fording points have been blocked off by both barbwire and dragon's teeth, to reduce enemy mobility across the river.

The bridge is blocked by an anti-tank ditch (denoted by the green bar), it is further mined approx. 400 metres from our front bunkers (also denoted by the green bar)

The only fording point that cannot be blocked off by obstacles will be pre-targeted by our artillery. The pre-target hex is a yellow circle.

The Bn Inf Gun Platoon will be positioned in the middle to provide support.

Based on our earlier experiences, we intend for the enemy armour to bypass our forward bunkers, and penetrate into our layered infantry defenses in close terrain. The bunkers are intended to delay and separate the enemy infantry from the fast armour. Our own armour is intended to launch counter attacks to recapture TR sector once enemy armour is neutralised.

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Situation at Turn7

Our early spotting reports describe a large concentration of both armour and artillery. At least a battalion of armour is visible advancing towards TR sector, against our point platoon.

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It's been awhile since I last updated. I'm still playing the Japanese LC, still stuck in Mongolia/ Manchuria against Soviets. Made the following notes.

a. Soviets early armour is highly dangerous. Their guns are good up to 800 metres against Jap armour
b. Japanese armour is highly fragile. Guns are good up to 400-500 metres against Soviet armour.
1. Try to manevure for approaches which reduce LOS. Reverse Slope armour vs armour defense is especially useful; Hull-down positions with long LOS are not.

a. Soviet experience and morale is poor
b. Japanese inf do not get pinned/ retreat/ rout easily
2. If enough enemy armour is destroyed, the rest will tend to rout when approaching friendly wrecks. Japanese Inf can then get in close and close assault enemy tanks. However, always use infantry against tanks in close terrain.

a. Soviet tanks have good front and side armour but weak top armour (1-2)
b. Japanese arty of 10cm and above have warhead of 5.
3. Use arty to destroy enemy tanks, especially on Advance missions, since the enemy tank are more static than usual.