Volckmann's Guerillas PTO (id:#57574)

Critical Hit (Total Pacific Theatre Pack 1 ID: PTO1-2)   [next]   [previous]

Cervantes, Luzon, Philippines 1945-06-14 (1 other)

No balance information available

Overview:

With even Okinawa secured by American force of arms, the only viable remaining mission for Yamashita’s isolated garrison, starving in the hills of northern Luzon, was attrition. Yamashita’s aim was to tie down as many divisions of the American 6th Army as they could, as long as possible. From the American viewpoint, the need to prepare the 6th Army for the eventual invasion of the Japanese islands was foremost. That objective justified the decision to rely ever increasingly on Filipino guerillas to engage the enemy. One such group was led by Colonel Russell Volckmann, a former US Army officer who had simply refused to surrender to the Japanese in 1942. Volckmann’s guerillas were in action constantly, pushing the enemy further and further into the mountains of Northern Luzon. The guerillas first utilized captured Japanese ordnance, then later pack howitzers supplied by 6th Army, the 122nd Field Artillery Battalion USAFIP (NL) was able to support guerilla infantry operations. On the morning of June 14, it proved particularly effective, dropping concentrations as close as fifty yards in front of friendly infantry advancing into Bessang Pass.

Defender: Japanese (Elements of 73rd Infantry Regiment, 19th Division)  

Errata (source)