West Sector, JP Marines and US PT Boats, January 15-30, 1942 (turns 7-22)
After reporting on the events at the East Sector up to essentially the end of the scenario, it is now time to return to the East Sector at a much earlier stage. It is January 15th, 1942 (Turn 7), the Morong line is being evacuated, troops are moving down the road to take positions on the Bagac area and the PT Boats patrolling the coast spot a small convoy of two Troop Transports carrying JP Marines plus one Supply Ship (Figure 1).
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| Figure 1 - JP transports, 1st wave |
The JP ships deployed on the western map edge and advanced three tiles. The PT Boats move to intercept, take positions in front of the Supply Ship and launch torpedoes inflicting five points of damage (green-border inserts).
PT Boats are armed with torpedoes but these have a protracted reload (the torpedo counter is shown on the top left corner of Figure 1) during which they can only use small caliber weapons (machine-guns). The blue-border insert is the combat prediction for torpedoes against the Supply Ship on Turn 7. There's also a greyed-out prediction for torpedoes against one of the Transports and greyed-out predictions for small caliber fire against both the Supply Ship and a Transport. The machine-gun predictions are somewhat misleading as each attack will do damage on the 100-scale, just not enough to register on the displayed 10-scale strength plate. When both PT Boats attack the same target the second attack will usually show as a 1-strength casualty.
The JP ship's AI appears to have blinders and only knows one action: move straight forward. This works nicely when there aren't obstructions as in the case of the southernmost transport which reaches the shore in two turns. Rather than going around, the other transport pushes forward and is delayed by the auxiliary PT Boat's ZoC (truth be told, it would only reach the shore in the same three turns but would have more flexibility on the third). Both of the transports' paths are represented by the black arrows.
On Turn 8 the Supply Ship also pushes through into the auxiliary PT Boat's ZoC (its path is marked by red arrows). This leaves the auxiliary PT Boat with no favorable interception path so it stays in place while the core PT Boat moves into gun range (golden arrows). Both PT Boats fire their guns and inflict a combined single point of damage. They will do so every turn until the Supply Ship is sunk.
On Turn 9 the Supply Ship becomes aware that it does have a rudder and manages to bypass the PT Boat's ZoC. That will be the last time as both PT Boats will skillfully maneuver and place themselves once more in front of the Supply Ship by Turn 11. From then on the Supply Ship gives up and stays in the same place until it is sunk on Turn 15.
The PT Boats' radio sets must have been malfunctioning because HQ only sends a warning of the JP convoy when the first Troop Transport reaches the shore (Figure 2).
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| Figure 2 - HQ warning |
As this is not a blind playthrough I was already quite prepared (Figure 3, Turn 13). PH/E Coy (reinforcement from Turn 6) has been entrenching at Agloloma to deny it as a supply source. PH/C Coy has moved all the way from the Abucay line (it was the one on the left flank) through Bagac. PH/A and X/A Coy retreated from the Morong line. X/D Coy has also moved up from Mariveles. These dispositions weren't just for the benefit of these pesky JP Marines, they are also part of the Paysawan defensive line.
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| Figure 3 - Reception committee |
The JP Marines in Figure 3 have been ashore for 3 and 4 turns (I don't know which is which and I don't care to go check). They have been without supplies for the entire time and have been probing my defenses for minimal casualties on either side but they have been squandering what little efficiency they possess. I have been able to make good on whatever repairs were needed while they couldn't and have been playing a waiting game because I can.
Turn 14 (Figure 4) and the waiting game is over. The JP Marine in the jungle/river takes one casualty while attacking PH/A Coy and inflicting two casualties which will be immediately replenished. When my turn comes X/D Coy hits the Marine on the beach and inflicts 4 casualties. X/A Coy attacks the Marine on the jungle/river for 2 casualties and PH/C Coy follows suit for another 2 casualties. The first wave of JP Marines has exhausted their efficiency and lost half of their strength. Mopping-up will be easy and painless.
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| Figure 4 - Party starts |
There is a second wave of JP Marines (two Marines and one Anti-Tank Gun) that enter the map on Turn 15 and while expected I was slightly surprised. After my core PT Boat delivers the final blow on the (1st) Supply Ship I was exploring alternatives for the auxiliary PT Boat. As the map scrolled I spotted four radar blips on the left side of the screen. The auxiliary PT Boat was moved from the greyed-out location close to where the 1st Supply Ship blows up to the one with the Turn 16 plate and revealed the four ships along the map's edge (Figure 5).
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| Figure 5 - JP transports, 2nd wave |
I tried to keep the image as uncluttered as I could. There's the 1st Supply Ship destruction towards the center-right. There's the torpedo damage on Turn 16 center-left and the final fireball on Turn 22. It helps that the 2nd Supply Ship stayed in the same place throughout. The Troop Transports locations are color-coded, the date plates serve as a legend and are placed where the ship closest to the shore was at the time. If you're curious the first unit to land is the Anti-Tank gun and its path isn't difficult to deduce.
I took the opportunity to add the JP aircraft attacks on the PT Boats onto this image. I feel they are self-explanatory other than that both PT Boats were providing anti-air support to each other in all but the Turn 25 attacks.
I trust this post isn't already too long that I will tax your patience with my reasoning for the choice of target.
Having played this scenario before I'm well aware that there will be two waves of JP ships. I'm also well aware of the long reload time of the PT Boat's torpedoes. It is not a difficult estimation that I can only destroy two ships (or equivalent damage over more ships) in the turns remaining. It is also quite clear that I can't block the path of all (or even most) ships. Thus some ships will eventually reach the shore. If the units that land are able to draw supply they will be able to repair any damage they took while aboard their transport i.e. my attacks would be wasted. If I destroy the Supply Ships and keep the Marines away from a supply source they will eventually run out of efficiency and become easy kills.
This being said and in hindsight it might well pay off to torpedo both of the second wave Marines and nibble away at the second Supply Ship while blocking its path to the shore.
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