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Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario

 
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Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/24/2007 11:07:52 PM   
John in SoFla

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 6/6/2007
From: Off the Beaten Path
Status: offline 		This is an open request to anyone who has played (and won or lost) this scenario...

I have tried to land on Betio (Tarawa) twice now and been absolutely mauled both times by direct and indirect fire form the dug in Axis AI...so badly in fact that by turn six, I've conceded defeat.

Does anyone have any advice to share, or tell me what has worked and not worked for you in succesfully completing this scenario?

I am trying (again) and have started off by firing smoke non-stop. I am in the start of turn three (Allied) and my next concern is not having done any damage at all to the defenders with naval fire (due to laying down nothing but smoke) that when the "smoke settles" my landing force will (again) be chewed to pieces before I can get them "feet dry".

Thanks, for any, feedback at all!
Post #: 1
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/25/2007 1:27:31 AM   
british exil


Posts: 1686
Joined: 5/4/2006
From: Lower Saxony Germany
Status: offline 		I haven't tried that game as I'm busy fighting on the Eastern Front.
Try blasting the enemy positions with HE and a bit of smoke. Theres no way your going to land on the Island without high losses. Try and create a small bridgehead so that your reinforcements can land.
Keep your units together once you've landed.
By bombarding the enemy you will disrupt a few of them, so that their returning fire will not be so devastating.
If you read the book "Utmost savagery the three days of Tarawa" by Col. Joseph H.Alexander, then you will see how hard fought this battle was.

0959 (Schoettel to Schoup)"Receiving heavy fire all along beach. Unable to land. Issue in doubt."
1007 (Schoettel to Schoup) "Boats held up on reef of right flank Red One. Troops receiving heavy fire in water"
1015 (Schoup to Schoettel) "Land Beach Red Two and work west."
1018 (Schoettel to Schoup)"We have nothing left to land."

The bombardment of this small Island started earlier. The main assault started about 0900.
This is where the scenario starts.Don't forget you've got 26 turns to make, so you do have a little time on your side.

I'll have a go during the next few days and see how I fare. Till then good hunting!!

Mathew


(in reply to John in SoFla)
Post #: 2
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/25/2007 4:21:09 AM   
John in SoFla

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 6/6/2007
From: Off the Beaten Path
Status: offline 		Thanks very much for the input...As an amateur historian, I did recall the landing was particularly brutal in reality. This game just validated that! I had already attempted turn three using pretty much the strategy you described...alternating blasting hardened positions with 6 and 5 inch naval gunnery then obstructing the positions with smoke to minimize the direct\opp fire. So far so good...I think I'll have a beachhead next to the seawall by turn 6 at the latest. That's where my LST's will unload the Sherman support. On another note...when you do take on this scenario; don't even try to call in air support until you've neutralized the AA positions. I lost three SBD's in turn two with "0" damage to the enemy positions.

(in reply to british exil)
Post #: 3
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/26/2007 12:13:00 AM   
british exil


Posts: 1686
Joined: 5/4/2006
From: Lower Saxony Germany
Status: offline 		Thanks for the info about the AA. Keep me informed as to how your landings are going. Hope to start tomorrow evening with the capture of Tarawa.

(in reply to John in SoFla)
Post #: 4
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/26/2007 4:47:07 PM   
John in SoFla

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 6/6/2007
From: Off the Beaten Path
Status: offline 		Wow! all I can say is "How about those interlocking fields of fire?" I managed to to secure a tenuous beachhead by the end of turn 6 right in the middle of the island by the seawall...the Japanese defenders in their hardened positions proved very difficult to dislodge even when my asaults were accompanied by Engineer platoons. I literally had to encircle each pocket of resistance (as if to mimic historical fact in the South Pacific conflict) each hardened position...blast it with HE from the naval guns and then, finally, storm the positions. My casualties (for the size of the scenario) were higher than I would have liked...there was simply nowhere to hide much of the time...especially once I sent my assault squads out from captured positions to "do it all over again". Did manage to secure in that "head-on" manner 90% of the island...ran out of time and was not able to secure the far left or Western side of the island. There were no natural landing areas there and ....well, if you don't want to know what I found out the "hard way"...stop reading now...otherwise please learn from my "unfortunate experience". Good luck to you and let me know how it turns out! Scroll down if you like...
John



The Japanese have powerful coastal guns well positioned on virtually all parts of Betio...two of the largest (140 caliber guns) cover the ONLY two approaches that LCP's and LST's can take all the way to shore and offload...if you try an end around...well...let's just say that decision may have provided me with a courts martial in 1944! My after action thought process was that perhaps if I had thought it through and not retreated all my LTV's out of range (as well as expended all of my available smoke missions), I may have been able to attempt an end run on the Japanese positions there. Your other option, as I see it, is to attack not through the narrow neck (very well mined, and where I ran out of time) but in the shallows utilizing overpowering force on the few remaing Japanese defenders.





(in reply to british exil)
Post #: 5
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/27/2007 9:54:02 PM   
british exil


Posts: 1686
Joined: 5/4/2006
From: Lower Saxony Germany
Status: offline 		Turn 6
Landed my first units on the Island.
Tried bringing my landing craft in as near as possible= costly lost way too many units.
Unloaded my units in the shallows= works way better.

Main problem the Navy Boys are too slow in reloading their guns.

Using my first attempt at this scenario as a test to see what works and what doesn't.
Knocked out 1 of the coastal guns, on the right of the Island.

I reckon when I have finished the landings 2d marine will not exist anymore. And my career as CO will also be over.










Sorry about the quality of the pic was my first successful attempt.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by british exil -- 9/27/2007 9:59:48 PM >

(in reply to John in SoFla)
Post #: 6
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/28/2007 4:39:46 PM   
The Rattler


Posts: 19
Joined: 2/1/2007
Status: offline 		Im ashore with great losses(800pts worse off) to find some big guns in bunkers facing me and lots of axis troops dug in and hard to evict. Pbem game

(in reply to british exil)
Post #: 7
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/28/2007 6:08:47 PM   
John in SoFla

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 6/6/2007
From: Off the Beaten Path
Status: offline 		Yeah...I know the feeling. Looking at the screenshot, it's a mirror image of where I first landed as well.

Mathew; you are 100% correct in your assessment of landing in shallows...worked much better for me as well in my "Third time is a charm" attempt (that included landing armor in the shallows as well). My losses were not nearly as severe and as a result I was able to bring a considerable first wave force on shore and bring the second wave in virtually intact...from that point, it was a matter of using overwhelming numbers on each fortified position (BTW the AI reacts well to the landing and seemed to recogniz when it had lost the beach, retreated units quickly to the bunkers and made for one hell of an assault each time!

_____________________________

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

(in reply to The Rattler)
Post #: 8
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 9/29/2007 11:06:00 PM   
british exil


Posts: 1686
Joined: 5/4/2006
From: Lower Saxony Germany
Status: offline 		Landings going quite well.
Managed to evicte some of the Japs out fo their bunkers and send them looking for a new roof over their heads. Decemating them at the same time as they try to cross over open space.

Will try the unloading of my tanks in the shallows next time.
looks like a nice scenario to play with. John thanks for your posting and telling us about this great scenario.

Looking forward to playing this one for real using everything that we have learned.

Mathew

(in reply to John in SoFla)
Post #: 9
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 10/2/2007 12:36:01 AM   
british exil


Posts: 1686
Joined: 5/4/2006
From: Lower Saxony Germany
Status: offline 		Just finished this scenario.
Thought I had plenty of time left. But did run out of it in the end.

Enough for a major allied victory.

Japs only had two hexes left on the left tip of the Island.

Better plan my landings properly next time, was a bit chaotic. Found out a little too late that my Amtracs could be used as mobile mg-nests. Maybe a bit gamey using them as Arty-observers?? Wasn't quite sure what to do with them at first.
Used them to transport units on the battle field as my time ran out.



(in reply to John in SoFla)
Post #: 10
RE: Line of Departure: Tarawa; scenario - 10/2/2007 5:03:14 PM   
John in SoFla

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 6/6/2007
From: Off the Beaten Path
Status: offline 		Hi Mathew...Yes, it turned out to be an entertaining scenario when all was said and done. I'm not sure the Marines in the reral thing would have said the same! The left side of the island was also my problem...ended up with a major victory any way, but left those Objective Points there...I guess those remaining Japanese units surrender some time in 1955? As a side note, I used the LTV's as well for fire support at first, found it too costly to continue as they made easy targets, IMO, and ended up retreating them en masse, thereby making any additional landings on the left side of the island impossible. Any way I could have done better with those? It sounds like you had some better results using them.

_____________________________

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

(in reply to british exil)
Post #: 11
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