The Battle of Tarawa: Mini Campaign, Day 2

Battle of Tarawa: Part II
With special guest writer, 
Dr. Michael L. McSwiney, Ph.D.

Day 2 – November 21, 1943 – Assault on Green Beach

On day 2, the Marines who had landed on Beach Red 1 were ordered to take Green Beach.  Given most of the Japanese defenses on Green Beach were set to repel a seaborne invasion; the Marines were able to flank some of the defenses.

The Mission
Play “Hold the Line” with a Marine Rifle Company attacking a Veteran Yosai Hohei Chutai. The board should depict a beach and its defenses in the Japanese deployment zone and can have a few small buildings toward the American edge.  You may want to put a coast line along one of the long edges to simulate a flank attack up the shoreline (note that this will restrict arriving Reserves).  In this particular battle, Marine casualties were light and naval gunfire support was used to great effect against dug-in enemy positions.

USMC Force
As above, the Marine force should have strong naval gunfire support and air support and should not have access to artillery (apart from mortars), self-propelled gun platoons, naval construction platoons, light tank platoons, or amphibian tank platoons.

Japanese Force
The Japanese should have access to the entire list except Air Support, Naval Air and Sea Support, and Armour (as this was concentrated further east).

Day 2 – November 21, 1943 – Advance from Red 2 and 3

The Mission
Play “No Retreat” with a Marine Rifle Company attacking a Veteran Yosai Hohei Chutai or a Veteran Hohei Chutai.

The battlefield should include part of an airstrip crossing the battlefield in roughly the center of the board, and some buildings or defensive works should be near the Japanese board edge.

USMC Force
The Marine force should not include LVT’s at this point, but should include Marine Artillery Batteries with M1A1 75mm pack howitzers, but should still not have access to self-propelled gun platoons, naval construction platoons, light tank platoons, or amphibian tank platoons.

Japanese Force
The Japanese force can field anything available in the list except Air Support, Naval Air and Sea Support.  The only Armour available to the Japanese should be the surviving Ha-Go tanks.

One key facet of this battle was the Japanese set up several additional machine gun posts (which can be represented by Hohei Machine-Gun Platoons, Hohei Weapons Platoons, or HMG Nests) along key lines of advance.  To counter these, the Marines brought up their own heavy machine guns (which can be represented by Marine Machine-Gun Platoons with either M1917 HMG or M2 .50 cal HMG teams).

Move out!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for: Day 3 – November 22, 1943 ...
For Day 1 of the battle, check out: The Battle of Tarawa: Mini Campaign, Day 1...

Be sure to check out Mike's blog: Miniature Ordnance Review for more excellent articles and painting guides!