Pacific Armor, scenario #16: Roadblock at Munoz

This is one of the larger scenarios in the pack. It was a nail biter until the end. A lot depends on the defender’s setup and the attacker lane of approach. The terrain is mostly flat as you see by the (other) notes on the scenario.

Japanese forces setup in three main areas, one in and around the town hexes on the western side of map 82 another on the in and around the town hexes on the western side of map 83 and about half of my forces setup in or around the town hexes on the eastern side of map 83. The Americans entered in four groups, in four areas as not to bunch up and decided not to tackle all three Japanese battlegroups at once but to concentrate on the two western groups first and regroup for the larger Japanese eastern side defenses.

One mistake the American made early was charging their armor ahead, as the Sherman tanks might be strong but the Japanese have too many anti-tank guns and tanks, and the Americans after losing half their armor early, had to pull the rest back to safety. By the scenario end however, all the American M5s and M4s were eventually lost. The American’s off board artillery and air-strikes help them to take two controlled Japanese areas after very heavy loses but the key to fighting all those entrenchments and city hexes are their 6 Engineer and 1 FLM Engineer units to get those modifiers in assaults. Protect that FLM engineer as long as possible, it comes in very handy and I lost mine towards the end on gameplay.

After taking heavy loses but taking both Japanese western controlled areas, the Americans regrouped to hit the larger Japanese battlegroup defending the eastern side area. The Japanese had a pretty good defensive works here and the battle raged. First time I got to use a Japanese Type 92 armored car, which actually inflicted some damaged. The Americans kept regrouping to assault the last two town hexes and the last two entrenchments that just happened to be on the east-west road on map 83 but these were either contested or held out. Like in actual historical format, the Americans fell short and would have to try another day. They did manage to take 6 out of 8 entrenchments and all the towns but two but fell short of victory and only managed to get one out of three objectives. The Japanese lost 86 steps and 12 leaders and the Americans lost 55 steps and 6 leaders, as this was a very bloody scenario but the Japanese achieved a minor victory and I could see this scenario going either way.

Side notes:

The 20th Infantry attacked make little progress coming just short of Route 99 when Japanese tanks and artillery fire from the southern end of Munoz stalled the attack, the 1st Battalion did manage to clear a cemetery along Route 5 and the southern corner of the town along the railroad. February 2nd was more or the same with only slight gains and General Patrick lost his patience and sacked Colonel Lves over the slow progress, an action he would later regret. On February 3rd again the 20th Infantry made minor gains into tiny sections of Munoz and overran a few strongpoints but General Patrick realized Munoz was going to be a tough nut to crack. The Japanese tanks, artillery and machine gun fire kept the Americans from reaching the main line of defense over the last three days of fighting.