A Mindanao Sunset
The Fall of Mindanao (1942)
PLAYBILITY NOTES
Several non-historical adaptations have been made to this campaign to make it playable for 500+ players.
1) Obviously the U.S. forces have more planes involved in the battle than were historical available and involved in the battle for Mindanao in 1942.
2) Historically the U.S. had dispatched 52 A-24 Banshees (the army version of the SBD) to reinforce the Philippines but they were diverted to Australia instead. In this setup I am assuming the A-24 actually were delivered to the Philippines.
3) The Japanese invasion of the southern Philippines was not really contested initially with any air assets. the Surviving aircraft were concentrated on Luzon and only redeployed to Mindanao after Bataan fell. In this setup we are assuming the U.S. had sizable forces in place to contest the invasion of the southern Philippines and for the fight for Bataan.
4) We don't have the Japanese Betty bomber for this event so we will substituting the JU88 for the Betty as we have done in previous early Pacific War FSOs.
5) B25Cs will be available in Frame 2 and Frame 3 because historically Australian B-25s staging out of Mindanao conducted attacks on Japanese positions including attacking Cebu on Cebu Island.
6) A very, very limited number of B17s will be available in later frame again because historically B-17s were flown out of Australia to Mindanao and operated for several days in April before returning to Australia.
DESCRIPTION
While the Japanese battle plan put an emphasis on taking the island of Luzon and neutralizing MacArthur's force there they also conduct several advance landing on other Philippine Islands. These landings were of limited scope and size but targeted key positions in a hope of cutting off MacArthur's supply routes to Australia and also preventing him from withdrawing into the Southern Philippines . A position that could be much more easily supported by bases in the Dutch East Indies and Australia.
The attack on Mindanao occurred on 19 December when, after a day of bombing, Japanese troops staged a night landing at Davao that met little resistance as the badly outnumbered 2d Battalion, 101st Infantry, withdrew. A few American planes, including B-17s stationed in Australia, attacked the beachhead on 22 December, but they could do little to delay the Japanese advance. Jolo Island was then invaded on December 24th.
However, as long as the battle raged on Luzon the Japanese did not have the forces available to expand their holdings or conduct extensive operations in the southern Philippines. This all changed in April as the Bataan campaign drew toward a close. Also surviving aircraft started to redeploy from Bataan to Mindanao on April 8th.
April 10th the Japanese invaded Cebu, the same day Bataan finally fell, and most of the island was under Japanese control by April 12.
At the same time the Japanese put into motion their plan for taking subjugating all of Mindanao. While the allies conduct operations with Australian based B25s, staging through Mindanao in conjunction with B17s also temporarily deployed to Mindanao, against Japanese positions in the Southern Philippines for several days until withdrawn to Australia.
PLANESET FOR THE FSO
USAFFE PLANESET
A-24 (Army version of the SBD)
B-17G (not available frame 1, very limited numbers)
B-25C (not available frame 1)
P40B
P40E
JAPANESE PLANESET
A6M2
B5N
D3A1
G4M (JU88 substituting for the Betty, not available frame 1)
COUNTRY PERCENTAGES
The sides will be divided into roughly 50% USAAF and 50% Japanese.
SCORING
AIRCRAFT
05 pts - Single Engine AC with 1 crew
10 pts - Single or double engine AC with 2 crew
15 pts - Double Engine AC with 3+ crew
BASES
288 - Small Airfield
396 - Medium Airfield
572 - Large Airfield
219 - Vehicle Base
SHIPS
CV - 120 points
CA - 60 points
DD - 30 points
NOTE: When a base is attacked the attacker gets the points for objects destroyed at the base while the defender gets the points for all objects not destroyed at the base.
ARENA SETTINGS
- mindan09
- Fuel 1.00
- Icons --> Friendly and Enemy 3K at all altitudes
- .5 Ack
- Radar: none
- Fighter and Bomber warning range 26,000 (about 5 miles)
- Tower range set to 26,000 (for display only to match the above setting)
- Clouds / visibility
Frame 1, 9 miles
Frame 2, 11 miles
Frame 3, 8 miles
- Radar off
- Friendly collisions off
- Enemy collisions on
- Kill shooter off
- Calm winds
- Time: 11 AM
SPECIAL RULES
NOTE: special rules sent out with the objectives trump these special rules.
1. B5Ns get a second life.
2. Bomber formations are disabled for B-17s.
3. Bomber formations are enabled for B25Cs and JU88s.
4. Partial damage is awarded for CV damage. If the a CV suffers 2000 lbs of damage 40 points are awarded. If a CV suffers 4000 lbs of damage another 40 points are awarded for a total of 80. If the CV is sunk the full amount of 120 points is awarded (the last 40 points is added to the previous 80).
5. A minimum and maximum number will be assigned to each aircraft type. The CiC of each side must deploy the designated minimum per aircraft type and can not more than the maximum per aircraft type. Outside of that the CiCs can deploy the aircraft types anyway the want (i.e. can have squads fly 2 aircraft types and in split they wish as long as squads are assigned same objective).
6. If both CiCs agree they may have the setup CM end the frame early. This is usually done if one side wipes out the other side (i.e. 60 versus 5).
7. Dead pilots may gun bombers. They may not man the guns of airfields or ships.
8. Ships can maneuver by the their side during the frame as long as they stay in their containment area. Ships must stay in containment area defined in the objective orders. If they go outside of the containment area a penalty will be assessed.
9. All targets must be attacked within the first hour of the event. Both CiCs should include sending their battle plans to me so that I have proof that they planned to attack their targets by T+60.
10. All attack targets assigned must be attacked by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least 3 x 4-6 squads (so 12-16 planes) or 1 7x10 squad and 1 4x6 squad or 1 11x15 squad. Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad.
11. All defense targets must be defended by a credible force. I define a credible force to be at the very least I define a credible force to be at the very least 3 x 4-6 squads (so 12-16 planes) or 1 7x10 squad and 1 4x6 squad or 1 11x15 squad.Obviously CiCs can deploy a larger force per target as their plan dictates but no defending or attacking with just 1 x 4-6 squad.