Leyte 1944, Scenario Thirty-Five: The Ballad of Ova Kelley

Another bloody airfield battle and this one went down to the wire or the last turn as one airfield was in Japanese control, one was in American control and a third was contested until the Japanese tried to recover on the last turn and failed having to exit leaving the second airfield to the Americans and give them a minor victory or else this would have been a draw!

In the beginning the Japanese decided to only defend the two airstrips they occupied and dug-in around them, as their scouts noticed large American reinforcements coming in on the western edge of the map. The Americans that started on map 82 decided to only defend with a small group of units and move the rest to reinforce the assault on the Japanese airstrip on map 83. Without these additional forces, the reinforcements coming on the western edge would not have conquered the airfield and the Japanese would have won a minor victory.

It was a real hollow minor victory for the Americans, as they lost 15 steps and 2 leaders, while the Japanese lost 7 steps and 2 leaders in this bloody battle to dig out Japanese paratroopers and other units of the Japanese Empire. I did have to borrow American Major counter from the Marines as the Army units only have one.