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| The battlefield - dense jungle on the left of the road, woods and beach on the right. Australians hunkered down in the village and along the river - with another battalion walking up the road towards the Japs. |
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| Clash on the road. Australians have the blue dots. |
This led to some confused fighting and inconsistent firing (caused by me failing to throw higher than a 3 for most of the evening). I was also dog tired and not really focused on the game much - which never helps.
In hindsight we should have had the aircraft strafe the road (rather than patrol the beaches looking for sneak attacks) but the green Australians managed to hold their own for some time - indeed they survived the night fighting then ran away just as dawn broke. But they did manage to kill off a Japanese division to a man as well as take out the light tank and an anti-tank gun.
We were hampered by a Japanese OP calling in artillery from the destroyers offshore which caused considerable problems for myself and Russ.
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| One division of Japanese head off into the jungle as the other (plus the massed guns) take on the remnants of the Australians. |
The second Japanese division got lost in the jungle but as a consequence they managed to flank our defenders holding the road (grrr) and essentially got in behind us to take on the airstrip unmolested (apart from the 25 pounder which they caused to flee that way).
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| The second Japanese division gets lost in the jungle - which also helps them flank our force. |
On the plus side a US submarine turned up. Thanks to my appalling dice it failed to hit anything but at least attracted the attention of 4 destroyers - leaving less cover for the transports. As it was, the planes sank a destroyer but we lost another flight from AA fire. But we believe another sub is on its way....
On the ground, its a bit of a stalemate. The Japanese guns are all intact but they need their spotter to get within spotting distance to bring fire down - which means they'll get shot at if they get that close. Time though is running out for the Japs - especially if they lose any more ships!
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| The lost Japanese miraculously avoid all our troops and pop up at the side of the road. |
So we left it there for now. The Australians have the best part of two battalions holding the road to the airstrip and polished off 5 bases of Japanese marines, a tanl and an anti-tank gun, as well as a destroyer. The Japanese also knocked off 5 bases of green Australians and forced a 25 pounder to flee.
Next Thursday should see the campaign come to a close - especially with 2 US aircraft carriers and 40 Sherman tanks turning up to help (I wish!)