Japan

Weather – C & Calm, 12 – Mud & Stormy, 13 – C & Calm

Shipping Infantry RPs from Mindanao, the 48/2 For III is rebuilt at Iba where its sister regiments join it along with a fleet of TAs and LCs. MacArthur sweats in his bunker at Corregidor in fear….. The Yok Para Regiment forms up at Bayombomg with transport aircraft joining it. Zeros base at Iba to protect the transports.

Three Light Infantry XXs assault the F 41st XX with attached odds and sods NE of Cabantuan but are rebuffed by the stubborn defenders (2:1 = AS)

In Mindanao, the last supplies are used to execute an attack on remaining US forces in the island. The 38th XX and 16/9 smash the Filipino defenders at Malaypalay (3:1 = HX) before exploiting through to the outskirts of Del Monte airbase. The Mixed Transport unit is overrun on the air strip. West of here the US 41/163 III and 43PS III with Art support are attacked by Japanese forces but hold their ground (1.5:1 = AS) The US forces are cut off from the north by the 16/33 that marched over the mountains to arrive SE of Malabang. Surrounded, the troops wonder what to do…….

US

In an all out effort to sink the transports at Iba and thwart whatever nefarious schemes the Japanese commander is planning, all available US planes attempt to attack the ships. 2 A-24s, 1 B-17, 4 P-40Es, 1 P-40B all attempt to sink the IJN units – no escorts are flown. Amazed at the daring spirit shown, the IJN and IJA air interceptors abort all attack and bomber craft, kill and abort half the fighters while AA aborts another two P-40s at the last moment. Only one lonely looking P-40E is left for its attack run and it is ineffective. It is suggested that if caught in similar circumstances, that a more effective tactic would be the ram the ships with the planes. Supreme Imperial HQ thinks this might be a good idea.

At Del Monte, the B-17s evacuate to Zamboanga while the 2nd F III arrives at Cagayan from Mati by sea. At Malabang, the airbase is destroyed by US construction troops who take to the rougn jungle terrain north of the town. The US 41/163 and 43 PS IIIs with attached artillery head south to Cotablato where Merch 2 and 3 await to transport them to safer areas.

Res Pts are sent by barge to Cebu, IJN forces miss them in the dark. IJN commander orders an increase in floggings to “splice the jib of the swabbies” or some other nautical term. [Note: For some reason the allied player elected to send RPs from Luzon rather than Cagayan where there was a tidy pile of RPs and Merch 2 and 3. This area was under serious threat from IJA units advancing from the south. C’est le guerre de papier, I suppose.]

1 Res Pt is then moved by Transport counter to Dipolog from Cagayan.

[Any reasonable player would have offered his opponent the chance to rethink these moves – unfortunately I thought my opponent had some cunning plan up his sleeve (like relocating several units from Luzon). So I didn’t.]