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Tarakan Island, May 01, 1945, Australian army of 67 units opposed to Japanese army of 24 units for a battle of complexity 0.78 at Company(I) level on a 2.5 Km/Hex map for 42 turns of Full Day each. by Nick Dowling submited on 29-01-2003 Rugged-Defense Playing Statistics
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TARAKAN 45 An Australian Tragedy Note: This scenario is intended to be played only as the Australian side UNIT COLOURS AUSTRALIA Green on Tan: 26 Brigade Tan on Tan: Pioneer/Engineer units Green on Yellow: Dutch East Indies forces Dark Blue on Tan: USAAF Air Squadrons Light Blue on Tan: RAAF Air Squadrons White on Sky Blue: RAAF base units White on Dark Blue: Australian Naval Support Red on Dark Blue: US Naval Support JAPAN Grey on White: 455 Battalion Blue on White: Naval Troops Olive on White: Provisional companies Yellow on White: Japanese Air Force SIGNIFICANT EVENTS THEATRE OPTIONS HOUSE RULES PLAYERS NOTES HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In an effort to keep Australian forces engaged until the end of the war, the Australian government somewhat reluctantly agreed to General MacArthur's proposal that the Australian I Corps liberate the island of Borneo from the Japanese. As the first stage of this operation (code named OBOE), the veteran 26th Brigade Group was assigned the task of securing the oil rich island of Tarakan and repairing it's important airstrip. It was hoped that this airstrip could be brought to operational status within days and could be used to provide air support for the next steps in the liberation of Borneo. However, this task proved harder then expected. While the airstrip was secured in the first days of the invasion, the Japanese forces on Tarakan sucessfully withdrew to prepared positions in the extreamly rugged interior of the Island. In order to secure the Island and safeguard the new airbase, the weary troops of 26 Brigade were sent after them. After much furious fighting, it was found that only strikes from B-24 bombers were sufficant to force the Japanese out of their bunkers. Hence, the progress of the ground campaign was dependant on the quantity of air support available, which in turn was dependent on the weather conditions over Tarakan. Instead of the expected week, the task of securing Tarakan took over a month, and cost 26 Brigade over 1000 casualties, or one in every five members of the Brigade. These high losses were all the more cruel as when Tarakan airstrip was finally repaired a full month after the landing, it was found to be totally unsuitable for supporting the high-intensity air operations for which it was intended. As a result, 26th Brigade's sacrafices were in vain, and achieved little more then taking a worthless island off an already defeated foe as part of a wasteful and ill-concieved campaign. SOURCES by Nick Dowling ('Case' at TDG and WarfareHQ) (nick_dowling@hotmail.com) January 2003 |