Japanese Long Campaign

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Mission
To Advance through the Map and secure the area of operations within 3 hours (roughly 61 turns)

Enemy
To expect approx. 2x enemy inf battalion and 1x armoured squardron, and up to 2x light/ medium artillery batteries.

Troops
Degawa Battalion will be supported by 1x 105mm Medium Batt (off-board), 1x 10cm Light Batt (on-board), 1x Manchuko Cavalry Squadron, 1x Light Armour Coy (Type 95 Ha-Go), 1x Medium Armour Coy (Type 97 Chi-Ha).

Terrain
This particular AO is not much different from what we had fought through earlier in the Changkufeng AO or the much earlier Delay mission in China Villages. Not too difficult to see it as a continuation of the earlier action, even though the map name is Czechoslovakia.

There is a stream bisecting the map running N-S. Since this stream is close to my deploy line, it doesn't have any significant tactical importance.

Roadswise, there are 2 main roads running E-W, and both are along the north and south extremeties of the AO itself. Both roads run through quite a number of wooded areas and ambushes or road blocks should be anticipated.

While the VLs are themselves in wooded areas, the immediate rear of these VLs are relatively open grasslands.

Battle Plan
A and B Coy will move along the North axis and advance against the north most objective. They will be supported by the Medium Armor Coy.

C Coy will move along the South axis and advance against the south most objective. They will be supported by the Light Armour Coy and the Manchuko Cavalry Squadron.

D Coy (which has the most casualties amongst the inf coy) will be in reserve, and most likely support the Northern force, which is also the force nearest to the centre objectives.

Bn Inf Guns will be pushing up along the North axis in support..

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Situation at Turn 10
First Contact erupted around turn 5. The medium armor along the north axis discovered enemy armour ontop of a knoll that nicely overlooks the road itself. As the first platoon of the armor deploys to engage the armour, it quickly turned out to be an uneven contest. at 900m. These were T26 M1933, and their 45mm guns are real AT weapons compared to my Type 97 Chi-Ha, where the 57mm are more HE than AP.

The first platoon quickly disengaged itself after suffering the first 2 losses. We pushed our infantry up to clear the immediate area and found another infantry platoon screening the armour. Destroyed the enemy infantry pretty quickly and dropped the first of our artillery into the enemy armour and luckily destroyed 1 of them with a direct hit. However, until we clear this knoll, we won't be able to continue along the road unobserved.

To that effect, we deploy B coy into line and order them to sweep the woods south of this knoll. If possible, they will attempt to close and destroy the enemy armour.

As for the road along the south. Our first contact was similarly a poor one. Our point tank was ambushed and destroyed by enemy infantry in the woods, approx. 600 metres after crossing the stream. As we push up our cavalry and infantry to sweep the woods, we suffered further enemy artillery dropping on us, stymieing our advance.

This fight is more challenging than previous encounters so far.

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Situation at Turn 17

On the northern road, we have neutralised the enemy armour and presence around the road. Our force can resume marching and moving along the road towards the north most objectives.

As for the southern road, we have managed to slide around the flank of the enemy infantry and cleared the road blocks, at the expense of 1 armour platoon. Similarly, our forces there will resume the march along the road towards the south most objectives.

The artillery situation has improved somewhat. The enemy mortars around the south VLs will soon find themselves under heavy bombardment by my artillery.

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Situation at Turn 27

The past 6-8 turns were relatively uneventful. We had passed the first line of resistance and there wasn't any further roadblocks to delay us.

On the North road, the point platoon (Pl 1/ A Coy) discovered the enemy armor parked along the main road and are now deployed to attack the enemy tanks. These are the same T26s that caused considerable havoc on my armour earlier on. They don't seem to realise that their front line has been penetrated.

The follow on platoons are from D Coy and they will begin to deploy into line, heading towards the first objectives in the north.

Elsewhere on the South road, our forces are deploying into line as well, and preparing to move towards their first objectives in the south.

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Situation at Turn 32

On the North sector, Pl 1 has destroyed the enemy armour platoon along the road. D Coy is deploying into battle line and B Coy is moving up as reserve. Most of my infantry casualties have been from enemy artillery, in fact, I've lost Pl 3 HQ section to enemy artillery and with that Pl 3 will not follow up into the attack for now.

As for the South sector, things are also relatively quiet, except for a HMG section on the VLs which has been neutralised. The cavalry will cover C Coy's left flank as they push up.

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Situation at Turn 38

Can't help feeling that our movement along the flanks meant that we've bypassed a large number of enemies in reaching the victory locations.

So far, we've only encountered 3 companies worth of enemy infantry. I expect at least another 3 companies worth and more enemy armour as well.

By this turn, we about to capture both the north and south objectives and are proceeding to link up on the central objectives. Noticed a enemy AT platoon covering the centre and I expect at least an infantry platoon screening those guns in the forest.s.

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Situation at Turn 53

We captured all objectives about 3 turns ago and re-organised for all-round defence.

We have just spotted enemy armour heading towards A and D Coy's lines. It's about 8 more turns before end of battle. I believe that the enemy infantry won't be able to reach our lines in time.