On the night of 28 February, the main Japanese force landed on western Java, while a secondary landing took place at Eretan Wetan in central Java. Colonel Shoji’s Battle Group of 3,000 men landed unopposed. His forces captured the nearby Kalidjati Air Base the next morning, sending shockwaves through the Allied command. As Shoji’s isolated force was outnumbered and highly dependent on air support, Japanese fighters and ground attack aircraft were immediately transferred to Kalidjati. Emboldened, Shoji attacked towards Bandoeng, meeting Dutch troops at the Tjiater Pass on 5 March. The defense barely held on the first day, forcing the Japanese into a flanking move through difficult terrain towards the Tolhek crossroads just south of the Pass. After another day of relentless aerial assault on Dutch (KNIL) forces, the Japanese infantry launched their attack at this key road junction at 1700.
Attacker: Japanese (Shoji Detachment, 230th Regiment, 38th Division)
Defender: Dutch (Reserve Officers Training Corps, 2nd Company, II Infantry Regiment,2nd Mountain Artillery Battalion)
7 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:18.0 D:18.0
AFVs: A:0 D:0
Guns: A:1
Type 89 Heavy Grenade-Launcher
D:4
Misc Rules:
Player Aid below as Misc File. D: Dutch guns are a 20mm Rheinmetall AA, and 75mm M1933 ART
Map Board(s):
8b
58
Overlays:
B2
B3
M4
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
BRUTAL! Fun game but the Dutch managed to keep trading squad for squad in the HtH...one of the guns KIA two Japanese squads and the air support was faily ineffectaual, arriving early on T2 and one A/C recalled before dropping its bomb, called it on T5 as I only controlled one building and the Dutch reinforcements were about to arrive...
2019-04-12
(A) nathan wegener
vs
Bob Brown
Japanese win
Steamrolled the Dutch. Attack blew past the picket defense and located and captured all guns and destroyed all but 2 squads at end of Turn 3. Open2019
2019-01-30
(D) Stephen dedier
vs
Holt, Jim
Dutch win
Like all PTO scenarios I have played this one was brutal. The Japanese swept into the Dutch but exercised a bit of caution before they found the guns and MG's then it was on. Banzai after Banzai brought Jim's Japanese into CC. I kept whittling them down turn by turn but CC is difficult for the weak Dutch when the Japanese get the -1 in H-H CC. They only need an 8 to do damage in 1-1.
Japanese held 3 buildings at the end of their 5. He used a good strategy of holding his air support for turns 5 and 6 to deter my reinforcements. The air support broke 2 squads that would never get back in the game but i got the two leaders, 4 squads and 2 LMG into the victory areas.
Turn 6 was bloody with 5 close combats mostly going the way of the Japanese. They held 7 buildings by the end of Turn 6. Japanese pushed into 9 total buildings by the end of their 7 but i had Col De Veer commanding a squad with an LMG in position. Dutch managed to break the Japanese holding a PB building in prep. Then a brave crew abandoned their disabled gun and ran through the gauntlet into the enemy rear to reclaim one of the lost buildings.
Really enjoyable scenario. We had 8 or 9 killer snipers (they broke and then eliminated my AA gun crew among other things). The Dutch only had 3 squads, the 10-2 and a crew up at the end. Japanese also lost probably 80% of their forces. Really fun well designed scenario.
2018-12-08
(D) Paul Works
vs
Randy Shurtz
Japanese win
My Dutch could not stop the Japanese wave. Randy played a great game.
2018-12-06
(A) Jeff B
vs
Magnus Rimvall
Japanese win
My second DTF scenario and I must say they have both been fantastic. This was one of the best scenarios I have played in some time. Both sides lost 3/4 of their force by game end. It was a bloodbath. I went with mortars and DCs for my SWs, setting the mortars and MMG up on the hill while the rest of my force attacked hard west. My force swept the dummies and light resistance from their path en route to meeting up with my reinforcements. I had debated bringing them on aggressively in the midst of the Dutch south of the road, but decided to play it safe and enter on the north side. It was a good thing I did too because Magnus had a nasty MG trap set for me had I stumbled into it. Priority number one for the Japanese should be locating all Dutch guns. I finally stumbled upon my first on Turn 3, and was in a good enough position that the crew was dead and the gun mine by the end of that turn. My planes entered early and didn't provide much help as many of his units were still concealed. Turn 4 saw all guns revealed as I started my sweep through the village. I paid a heavy toll in men and placed a lot of DCs in the process, but also grabbed my first two buildings. I also started to exert control on the southwest hill, which I think is a key spot in the power balance of this scenario. Turn 5 saw all guns fall and me raise my catch to six buildings, but the substantial Dutch reinforcements arrived while my force was starting to get thinned out and brittle. By the end of Turn 6 I had ten buildings, but my eastern force was weak and in very real danger of losing ground. I had bottled up his reinforcements on the southern hill, but needed to maintain a fairly substantial garrison to keep them at bay. The Dutch managed to knock me back down to the minimum eight buildings, but on my last turn I grabbed two more back again and was sitting fairly comfortably. He would need to win all three CCs to knock me down to seven. I ambushed him in the very first one and sliced and diced his men for the victory. Eight turns was just the perfect length for this one and it has high replay value. Could be one of my favorite scenarios of all time.
