MALAYA 1942 CAMPAIGN - TURN 8

The Australians had inflicted a reverse on the Japanese, pushing them back from the vital road junction near Yong Peng. Wary of pushing too far north without safe flanks, the Australian platoon of Young Lt. Kenneth Reid halted to prepare for the inevitable Japanese counter-attack.

This was the eighth battle in the enjoyable Malaya 1942 campaign using the Chain of Command rules by TooFatLardies. Leith was looking to reverse the fortunes of the Japanese, while I was hoping the Australians could hold off the Japanese again.

Sgt. Turner directs the Australian 1st and 4th sections

JAPANESE 6th PLATOON

Yet another new Japanese platoon was committed to battle; the sixth one for the campaign so far.

• Rikugun Yukimura led the 6th platoon in the counter-attack. He was a 29-year-old who had been fighting in China for many years.
• Gunsō Aikawa assisted him, 28-year-old cart driver from Yokohama.
• Rifle squad 1 was led by 24-year-old Gocho Naka, the fourth son of a poor family.
• Rifle squad 2 was led by Gocho Minami, a 25-year-old who left religious studies to join the army in support of the Emperor.
• Rifle squad 3 was led by the 22-year-old Gocho Sannai.
• The grenade discharger squad was led by the tall Gocho Noguchi.

AUSTRALIAN 1st PLATOON

Lieutenant Kenneth Reid’s platoon had delayed the Japanese vanguard. They had temporarily halted the Japanese in a few of the battles and now looked to push them back further from Singapore with a limited counter-attack.

The Australians had to carry the one platoon through the campaign. But with some replacements at the start of battle 6 and two recent wins, the Australians were only 1 man short. At the beginning we had not expected the Australians to have almost a full platoon so far into the campaign. A few more losses for the Australians would have seen their numbers dwindle rapidly.

• The CO’s opinion of Lt. Reid was +6. He was becoming a little arrogant. The men's opinion was good at +6, given his frequent successes.
• Sergeant Gary Turner ably assisted him.
• Corporal Brian Evans led the 1st section.
• Corporal Colin Moore led the 2nd section.
• Corporal William Colling led the 3rd section.
• Private Joseph Pentram returned from the aid station to leave the platoon only 1 man short.

MAP

For the fourth time in the campaign we were fighting on map 2. The Japanese had returned to the attack using scenario 2 from the main rule book.

SUPPORT

Leith rolled 5 points of support for the Japanese. With half of this (rounded down), +3 force difference between platoons, and +2 from the CO’s opinion, the Australians had 7 support points.

With the recent poor showing of the Japanese armour, the Australians anticipated an infantry counter-attack. They decided on an extra infantry section and the return of the Lanchester armoured car.

The Japanese chose a Type 92 7.7mm MMG team and a Type 92 70mm infantry gun for additional fire support. Due to their preparedness in the real campaign, some of their support choices are quite low cost.

Again, we kept these choices hidden from each other.


FORCE MORALE

The Japanese had a +1 adjustment to the die roll due to the campaign. The Australians had +2 due to campaign opinions. The result was the Australians starting with 10 and the Japanese with 9.


PATROL PHASE

To win this scenario the Japanese only have to get a unit off the Australian baseline or force the Australians to withdraw. To push their jump-off points as far forward as possible, Leith chose to use 3, rather than 4, patrol markers.

His roll to get 4 extra moves at the start helped with this. The Australians moved up a little and began moving around the Japanese left flank. Seeing this, the Japanese pushed forward to end the Patrol phase quickly before the Australians outflanked them.

The white circles show the position of the Japanese jump-off points and the blue circles the Australian.

BATTLE

The Australians had the first phase due to their higher Force Morale.

Turn 1 Phase 1

• A command roll of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 allowed the Australians to deploy their 1st and 4th sections west of the road. Sergeant Turner arrived to organise them on overwatch.

Australians arrive and immediately go on overwatch

• The Japanese responded with 1, 3, 3, 4, 5. Their 2nd rifle squad deployed just behind the jump-off point west of the road to avoid overwatch fire.
• Their 1st squad arrived just east of the road. Firing across the road allowed them to concentrate shots onto the Australian 4th rifle team for 2 kills and 1 shock. A nasty start.

Turn 1 Phase 2

• The Australians responded with a double phase. Command of 1, 2, 3, 6, 6 allowed return fire, which wounded Gocho Naka of the 1st rifle squad (-1 command point but no force morale effect).
• The 1st section moved forward but found the going slow through the jungle.
• The Australian 2nd section arrived to oppose the Japanese 1st squad, inflicting 4 shock.

Turn 1 Phase 3

• Continuing with 1, 2, 2, 5, 6 the Australians followed up with 3 kills on the Japanese 1st squad. Quite a bloodthirsty battle already.
• A command roll of 2, 2, 3, 3, 4 allowed the Japanese to bring in the 70mm infantry gun, although their opening salvo missed their enemy.
• The 2nd rifle squad moved forward but failed to hurt the Australian 4th rifle team, although the newly arrive MMG inflicted 1 kill. This was added to by the 1st rifle squad killing a Bren loader and adding 2 shock to the rifle team in the Australian 2nd section.
• The 3rd Japanese squad arrived but were not in a position to fire. Leith was taking no chances after his difficulty in deploying last time. The Japanese were arriving thick and fast.

Turn 1 Phase 4

• The Lanchester arrived. Seeing only the MMG allowed the turret machine guns to inflict 1 kill and 1 shock on them. Targeted fire from the 4th section Bren added another shock.
• Using more of the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 gave 2 shock to the infantry gun and 1 shock to the 1st rifle squad.
• The arrival of Corporal Colling’s 3rd Australian section, near the SW corner of the village, added more shots onto the Japanese 1st rifle squad, but for no effect.

The supporting Lanchester armoured car arrives

• The Japanese rolled a 1, 1, 1, 2, 3 which allowed them to respond aggressively. The infantry gun killed a 1st section rifleman. The MMG, aided by the Japanese 2nd rifle squad, swept the ranks of the 4th section with fire. 1 rifleman went down. 3 shock were added to the rifle team and 1 shock to the Bren team. The concentrated fire on the 4th section was taking its toll.
• Worried about the whole Japanese line being outflanked, Gocho Sannai immediately launched an attack. Moving quickly through the primary jungle, the Japanese were almost upon the Australians before they had time to respond. The ensuing melee between the aggressive Japanese and the stubborn Australians was a tough and bloody affair. No quarter was given by either side.

The Japanese 3rd squad infiltrating towards the Australian 3rd section

• For the Japanese attackers: 13 dice from 13 men, +2 dice from Gocho Sannai, +4 dice for being aggressive (1 per 3 men) +2 dice for the Japanese LMG counting as an SMG in attack (see the Japan Island Defence platoon list for details) result in a total of 21 dice.
• For the Australians: 8 dice from 8 men (this is the section that was 1 man short in the campaign), +2 dice from Corporal Colling, +2 dice from the Japanese using 2D6 to move into range, +2 dice from the Thompson SMG, +4 dice for the Bren gave 18 dice so far. Adding 1 dice per 2 for defending heavy cover resulted in a total of 27 dice.

A close fought melee as the Australians fight off the surprise attack of the Japanese

• Both leaders were wounded, losing a command point each, but neither affecting Force Morale.
• 7 Australians lay dead amongst 10 Japanese. The stubborn Australians received no shock, but the Japanese gained 5. They did not like fighting these strapping sons of convicts.

Despite only having 2 men left, the stubborn Australians see off the 4 surviving Japanese

• The wounded Gocho Sannai broke with his 3 remaining men (fleeing 18” in disorder) but satisfied that Corporal Colling with just the Bren gunner were not going to cause any more problems. At great cost he had stopped the Japanese line being outflanked and inflicted severe casualties on the Australians.
• Amazingly, neither side lost any force morale from the other rolls (rifle team wiped out for the Australians and squad breaking for the Japanese). Although the Japanese had to call upon the -1 dice roll adjustment which this campaign gives them when rolling on the “Bad Things Happen” table.

Corporal Colling and a Bren gunner are all that is left of the Australian 3rd section

Turn 1 Phase 5

• Lt. Reid was concerned with the high rate of casualties but feeling arrogant he decided to continue. A command of 1, 4, 5, 5, 6 was not great. The Lanchester could not activate and a chain of command die was close but not quite there.
• The Australian shooting was handy, but not enough to fully discomfort any of the Japanese squads or supports. Casualties continued to mount as they had for both sides so far (1 shock on the MMG, 1 kill on 1st squad, 1 kill and 1 shock on 2nd squad).
• Could the Japanese make the Australians pay for not withdrawing early enough?
• Their command roll of 3, 4, 4, 4, 6 brought on the mortars within direct line of sight of the remnants of the Australian 3rd section. They failed to finish off the duo, adding just 1 shock.
• Fire from the infantry gun inflicted 1 shock on the Bren team from the 1st section.
• The MMG continued to be effective, with a shock on the 4th section rifle team plus a kill and a shock on their Bren team. The 4th section was now pinned.
• Meanwhile, 2 shock were added to the 2nd section’s rifle team.

State of play at the end of phase 5. Japanese (left to right) infantry gun, 2nd squad, road, MMG, broken remnants of 3rd squad, 1st squad. Australians (left to right) 1st section, 4th section, road, 2nd section, , surviving 2 members of 3rd section. The Lanchester is on the road just out of the bottom of the photo.

Turn 1 Phase 6

• Feeling a little lucky after that last phase of the battle, sense returned to Lt. Reid so he decided to withdraw. Although taking a lot of casualties, at least he had again inflicted more on the Japanese.

WRAP UP

Despite ending as a major victory to the Japanese, it was a very close battle. Mounting casualties from the start, even without the close combat. Casualties from fire and close combat in the end totalled 16 for the Japanese and 14 for the Australians. Slightly better command rolls for the Australians and Japanese in the last two phases may have seen an even higher casualty rate.

Interesting that neither side lost any force morale points, despite quite a few rolls. The jungle must have made it difficult to see far, because neither side were concerned when their leaders were injured. The -1 adjustment the Japanese get in this campaign certainly helped them with their “Bad Things Happen” rolls.

The victorious Japanese continue southward

CAMPAIGN IMPACT

The first major victory of the campaign to the Japanese. The Australian counter-attack had run out of steam and they had been again pushed back to defend Latipah’s tea house, near the important road junction, in the next battle.

Due to the higher force morale of the Australians and the keenness of the Japanese to push on, they were unable to recover any additional men from the battlefield. They had to leave that task for following troops.

The Japanese platoon of Rikugun Yukimura would continue the attack next battle. One of the casualties was from the supporting MMG team, so his platoon would be 11 short, including the 4 missing the next battle. All the Japanese leaders continue to fight as none took 2 or more wounds.

With 5 losses being from the supporting 4th section, the Australians would be a total of 8 short (1 previous loss, 4 dead from this battle and 3 missing the next fight).

Looks likely that both sides would be a section/squad short.

Pleased by the victory, the Japanese CO’s opinion of Rikugun Yukimara rose to +2 but the men’s opinion dropped to -2 due to the butcher’s bill. His own outlook remained cheerful.

The CO’s opinion of Lt. Kenneth Reid dropped to +5, but the men’s opinion actually rose to +7. They felt they had acquitted themselves well and no longer believed in the invincibility of the Japanese. Lt. Reid was chastened by the hard fight, losing his arrogance and once again becoming heroic.

How close to Singapore could the Japanese get in the next two battles?

MALAYA 1942 CAMPAIGN - TURN 7

Day 2 in the battle of Yong Peng, otherwise known to the Australian troops as the defence of Latipah’s Tea House. The Australians have fought the Japanese to a temporary standstill and are trying to push them back from shelling range of the critical Y-junction near the town of Yong Peng, just north of the island of Singapore. The Australians will be counter-attacking for the first time in the campaign.

This was the seventh battle in the engrossing Malaya 1942 campaign using Chain of Command. Fought between Leith and John using the pint-sized campaign written by Len Tracey for this great system.

Last minute cup of tea before starting the battle. The Lanchester armoured car was sent to the rear with messages for high command in case the Japanese had tanks. It was not a support for this battle

JAPANESE 5th PLATOON

The Japanese commander was cycling through his platoons to try to break through the Australians and take Singapore. He had not been able to cause enough casualties so far in the campaign and was using the 5th platoon in the second day of this battle to replace the routed troops of the no longer secure Rikugun Yamada.

• Leading the 5th platoon was the 26-year-old Rikugun Sakurai, a cheerful professional who had been in the army for many years and felt he could do much better than Yamada.
• Aided by Gunsō Tashiro, a 24-year-old farm labourer from southern Honshu.
• Rifle squad 1 was led by 22-year-old Gocho Watabe.
• Rifle squad 2 was led by Gocho Sawada, a 23-year-old stable hand.
• Rifle squad 3 was led by the hard drinking Gocho Haneda. He had reached the grand old age of 33 and his men called him sofu (my grandfather).
• The grenade discharger squad was led by the 24-year-old Gocho Rikiishi.

AUSTRALIAN 1st PLATOON
Lieutenant Kenneth Reid’s platoon had delayed the Japanese vanguard. They had temporarily halted the Japanese in a few of the battles and now looked to push them back further from Singapore with a limited counter-attack.
The CO’s opinion of Lt. Reid was +5. He was feeling Heroic. The men's opinion was good at +4.
Sergeant Gary Turner again backed him up.

• Corporal Brian Evans returned from concussion to lead the 1st section. Acting Corporal “Billy” Brewer, who had stood in for him, returned amongst the men.
• Corporal Colin Moore still led the 2nd section
• Corporal William Colling continued to lead the 3rd section.

Scouring the battlefield after the previous day’s victory allowed many men to be patched up and returned to the fray. The Australian platoon was only missing 2 for this battle: Private Bowen dead and Private Joseph Pentram at the aid station.

MAP
This was the second day of the battle on map 3, using scenario 3 from the Chain of Command rulebook. This time the Australians were counter-attacking, a new experience for them.

Malaya 1942 Campaign - Map 7 near Yong Peng

SUPPORT
As the attacker, I rolled a 6 for support. With +3 force difference between platoons and +1 from the CO’s opinion, that gave me 10 support points for the Australians.
Leith got 3 support points from half the roll, not a lot to help his defence.
Given that no medium tanks were possible for the Japanese, I decided against a 2-pdr anti-tank gun. A light tank was unlikely given its poor showing in the previous battle, but just in case I chose a backup Boys anti-tank rifle squad. As the main support I chose 2 infantry sections to aid the counter-attack and hopefully pile the shots onto the Japanese squads.
Leith chose an MMG team with 5 men and a junior leader.
Of course, we kept these choices hidden from each other.

FORCE MORALE
The Japanese had a +1 adjustment to the die roll due to the campaign. The Australians had a +2 due to campaign opinions. The result was the Australians starting with 10 and the Japanese with 9.

PATROL PHASE
The Japanese commander initially deployed his patrol markers from the secondary jungle across to the secondary road just north of the village. Being Scenario 3 Attack & Defend from the Chain of Command rules, the Australians rolled and had 2 free moves from the baseline before the normal Patrol Phase commenced. The photo shows after the two free moves. Ignore the position of the jump-off points as these were the positions from the previous game.

Starting position for the Patrol Markers after the free moves. The jump-off points have not yet been moved from the previous day's battle

The Japanese commander locked down the Australian patrols quickly to stop them outflanking on his right.
Leith did not want to put his jump-off points too far forward. In the unlikely event that the Australians would cross the relatively open ground around the Yong Peng outskirts, he could cover that from his eastern jump-off point. His central one was safeguarded by the secondary jungle and would allow him to deploy just forward of it in the primary jungle.
The white circles show the position of the Japanese jump-off points and the blue circles the Australian.

Patrol phase finished showing the new jump-off points

BATTLE
With the higher Force Morale, the Australians began the counter-attack from the Y-junction. As per the “At the Sharp End” campaign supplement the Japanese chose to begin this scenario with a Chain of Command die and an emplacement. As per the Australians in the last battle, it made no sense to start with 3 emplacements in an area that was mostly hard cover. Starting with a Chain of Command die was a good option.

Turn 1 Phase 1

• An interesting start. A command roll of 3, 5, 6, 6, 6 meant the turn was over at the end of this phase and the Australians would also get the next. They brought in their 4th rifle section (one of the supports allocated to them for this battle). Since the turn was ending there was no point in putting them on overwatch.

Turn 2 Phase 1

• The Australians continued their deployment with a handy 1, 2, 3, 4, 4. Their 2nd section came in on the left of the 4th section, going on overwatch as they deployed. Sergeant Gary Turner arrived to direct the established 4th section to move forward, but only 3” tactically so as to not lose touch with their newly arrived comrades.

Australian 2nd and 4th sections deployed in the centre

• The Australian 1st section assembled just north of Latipah’s tea house, also going on overwatch.

The experienced Australian 1st section covers left of the main road

• The Japanese replied with a 3, 4, 4, 5, 6 which only allowed them to bring in a supporting medium machine gun (MMG) team near the south-east corner of the secondary jungle area. Immediately they opened fire on the Australian 4th section, but they must have been still settling into position as their sole hit had no effect.
• Overwatch fire from the Bren team and 2 riflemen from the 2nd section was on target. 2 kills and 2 shock on the MMG showed the Japanese how it should be done.

Japanese MMG provides support

Turn 2 Phase 2

• Command of 2, 3, 3, 4, 5 gave the Australians plenty of options.
• As the 4th section prepared to shoot, the Japanese interrupted using their Chain of Command die. The MMG fire killed one of the Bren team while adding a shock to the rifle team of the 4th section.
• With a shock removed, the return fire from the 4th section killed another machine gun loader as they protected the careful 5” advance of the 2nd section.
• The Australian 5th section arrived to support the other two Australian sections in the centre.
• 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 was less than the Japanese hoped for. They brought in their 1st rifle squad, in front of the secondary jungle, to supplement the fire from the MMG and spread the return fire of the Australians. Their first fire killed a rifleman from the newly arrived Australian 5th section.

Battle lines are forming with the Australians on the left and Japanese on the right

• Gunsō Tashiro arrived to remove a shock from the MMG. His appearance inspired the crew to give 9 hits out of 10 dice on the Australian 2nd section, killing a rifleman.

Gunsō Tashiro arrives to try and stabilise the situation

Turn 2 Phase 3

• The Japanese were put further on the back foot with the Australian command roll of 1, 2, 4, 6, 6. Another double phase to the Australians.
• Sergeant Turner transferred a rifleman to the dwindling Bren team before ordering the 4th and 2nd sections to open fire. This was solid work, resulting in 2 shock and 1 kill on the Japanese 1st rifle squad, plus the junior leader of the MMG team knocked out. The team was down to 2 active men with 2 shock. No effect on the Japanese Force Morale, though.

View of the battlefield from the Yong Peng water tower

• To bring more guns to bear in the centre, the Australian 5th section moved 8” forward. Now three Australian sections had the Japanese 1st rifle squad in their sights.

Turn 2 Phase 4

• The Japanese situation went from bad to worse with an Australian command roll of 2, 6, 6, 6, 6. Not only would the Australians get this phase and the next, but they got a full Chain of Command die as well as a roll on the random events table.
• Could things get any worse for the Japanese? Unfortunately, they did. A barrage from off-table mortars arrived to support the counter-attack. These landed directly on the only deployed Japanese troops, stopping their movement and plastering them with HE for two phases. Their 1st rifle squad lost 2 killed and took 1 shock, while the MMG ended pinned after losing another man killed and taking 3 shock.
• The event rolled was a random mortar barrage, which could just as easily have landed on top of the Australians or missed both sides altogether. Since it came in on top of the Japanese it made sense that it was a barrage supporting the counter-attack._
• Small arms fire added 1 kill and 1 more shock to the Japanese 1st rifle squad.

Turn 3 Phase 1

• This was the sixth phase to the Australians. The Japanese had only managed two so far.
• A 1, 3, 3, 4, 4 allowed the Australians to do everything they wanted.
• First, the barrage. 1 shock to the MMG was enough to break them. They hunkered into the jungle floor as best they could to find extra cover. They could not run because of being pinned by the barrage. A loss of 2 force morale brought the Japanese to 7.
• The barrage continued its work before lifting by adding 4 shock to the Japanese 1st rifle squad Worse was the wound to their squad leader, which left him with only 1 command point and a further drop in the Japanese force morale.
• Supporting rifle fire from the 4th section killed 2 riflemen from the 1st squad which left the latter with 7 men and 8 shock (counting as 6 shock for the Japanese). Nearly pinned.
• They also wiped out the remaining men on the MMG, causing a further drop by 2 of the Japanese force morale. Now at 4, they would only roll 4 command dice.
• Things balanced a little with the Australian 2nd and 5th sections failing to land a further blow.
• The Australian 1st section dashed across the road to threaten the right flank of the already discomforted Japanese 1st rifle squad. Most of the men made it across, but a few stragglers were still crossing the road.

The Australian 1st section crosses the road, heading for the right flank of the Japanese 1st rifle squad

• The 2” mortar arrived behind the Tea House to fire at the enemy rifle squad, with the faint hope of pinning them, but were off target.
• Finally, a Japanese phase. Lieutenant Kenneth Reid debated whether to interrupt with his Chain of Command die to try to pin the Japanese rifle squad or save it to end the turn after reaching the jump-off points. But the shell-shocked Rikugun Sakurai decided to withdraw before the advancing Australians swamped his rifle squad and his jump-off points. He had had enough.
• With only 4 command dice, his only on-table rifle squad about to get pinned then assaulted, a wounded squad leader, his support gone and the jump-off points beginning to look too close to the Australians, there was not much hope for the Japanese.

Aerial view of the troops just prior to the Japanese withdrawal

WRAP UP
The Australians pursued the Japanese hard to force them back up the road a few miles, then dug in to await the expected counter-attack. Meanwhile, the reserve units combed the battlefield. They collected their wounded and sent them back to Latipah’s Tea House for a strong cuppa.
The Australians were surprised at the ease with which they had sent the Japanese packing. So were the Japanese.
With only 2 phases for the Japanese versus 7 to the Australians they did not stand much chance. But with their large squads, the Japanese could probably still put up a good fight if it were not for the barrage. The Japanese were unlucky in that an Australian quadruple 6, followed by a double 6 followed by a random barrage, which happened to land on the Japanese, was about a 1 in 70,000 chance.
If the barrage had landed on the Australians instead, then the latter would probably have taken enough casualties to force them to withdraw from the field, due to the requirement in the campaign for the Australians to use the same platoon.

The wounded were sent back to Latipah's Tea House and a reserve platoon assembled as Lt. Reid's platoon pursue the Japanese north

CAMPAIGN IMPACT
A major victory to the Australians. The Japanese had been pushed back to map 2. Although regaining the initiative, they have no way to win the campaign as they cannot reach map 6, let alone win a battle there, by turn 10. What they seek now is revenge on the platoon that has caused them so much trouble.
Due to the force morale difference, the Australians were able to recover all 5 men that had been put out of action (“killed”) in the battle. Losing none this battle and with 1 returning for the next battle meant that the Australian platoon was now only 1 man short. Rather unexpected.
Unsurprisingly, the CO’s opinion of Lt. Kenneth Reid rose to +6, as did the men’s opinion. Unfortunately, Lt. Reid’s own outlook became arrogant. Such responsibility and success had taken its toll on the very young Australian leader.
The Australian press were ecstatic. However, due to reverses to the east and west of this successful Australian platoon, the counter-attack had to stop after a few miles. It could not be continued without risking their flanks. The Australians would have to revert to the defensive for the next battle.
The Japanese supplies were beginning to dwindle. Lt. Reid’s platoon was buying valuable time for the improvement of the defences at Singapore. But would Percival make good use of this extra time on the island colony?