Game Report: The Battle of Mihara Valley, Okinawa, July 9th 1908

0945 July 9th South of the Mihara Valley

Brigadier General Charles Spelthorne was beginning to regret putting himself at the tail of the column as they marched to their objectives. The recent rains had turned the road into quagmire, which the passage of his forces had churned into something more approaching a river. Ahead of his marching men lay a valley that the Expeditionary Force Okinawa was planning to advance up in the next few days, once the logistical mess that had taken hold since the landings were cleared up. 

Intelligence had indicated that the valley was mostly unoccupied, a few patrols or scouts had been sighted, but there was an enemy supply cache in the village and a munitions factory. Destroying these would weaken the enemy island-wide, and critically weaken their ability to supply any forces sent to oppose the eventual advance. His orders were simple, advance, find the targets, destroy them, and get out. 

Wargaming over Video

This game was, to put it mildly, an experiment. To help create a proper fog of war situation, the commanding players were in different rooms to the game table, with a camera on the table where their general's base was, giving them a view over his immediate surroundings. Otherwise they were armed with a map of the area (neither map was accurate, although the Japanese had a better one), an overview of their forces and the personalities of the commanding officers, and any reports they received as the game progressed. 

US Army HQ

Imperial Japanese Army HQ

Fortunately, our office is equipped with some very fancy video phones, which made this somewhat easier than using a laptop screen or similar would have. On the table itself, USB webcams were used (attached to separate laptops), dialed into video conferences, which allowed for people at home to join in or observe the chaos unfolding.

US Army Brigade HQ, apparently oblivious to the giant camera behind them

The models used for this game were based up for Too Fat Lardies' If The Lord Spares Us, which uses signal bases for relaying orders and expanding command radii, which in this setup were used as official messenger bases. Units could also detach bases to carry orders or reports. When these orders and reports arrived at their destinations, the orders would be received by the unit (and an obedience test would be taken to see if they were followed), or a report would be relayed to the players over an Instant Messaging tool. 

In terms of gameplay, at the start of a turn I as the umpire would announce to both teams what the time was (in game), and then take the cameras off table. With the cameras not then being able to see the "Hand of God" moving the armies around, I would carry out all moves. Once this was completed, the cameras would be replaced, any messages or new orders would then be relayed to the players. I would then carry out any combats, actions or tests for behaviour from the various units. This gave the players time to assess the situation and make decisions. Once I was finished, the process would repeat, so the players never knew how much time they would have to get things in order before time advanced again, which nicely added to the pressure and tension. 

Overall, the formula worked, even if it was surprisingly exhausting to run, and everyone enjoyed the ensuing confusion. I'd expect us to have more games like this going forward. I also got the teams to keep track of what they thought was going on live, which I used as the basis for write-ups from the  Japanese and the US perspectives. This write-up will be what was actually happening on the board.

The Forces

US Army, 2nd Brigade, 4th Division

1st and 2nd Battalions (Infantry), each of 4 companies of 3 bases

2nd Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, 3 squadrons of 3 bases

3rd Cavalry Regiment, 3 squadrons of 3 bases

2nd Field Gun Battery, 2 bases

Imperial Japanese Army, 6th Division

2nd and 4th Battalions, 23rd Infantry Regiment, each of 3 companies of 5 bases

13th Cavalry Regiment, 3 squadrons of 3 bases

2nd Battery, 6th Field Gun Regiment, 3 bases

Machine Gun Company, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3 bases

The Game

The Valley of Mihara. The Americans enter from the south (left) and the Japanese from the north (right)

The game opened up with both sides advancing along their respective entry roads towards their objectives. The US commanders set quite ambitious opening orders, aiming to push their infantry up the road to Mihara, while the 2nd Volunteer Cavalry was sent to the east to investigate tracks that had been reported by scouts drawing up their map. Unfortunately for the Americans, the commander of the 2nd Volunteer Cavalry decided his orders were too timid, and instead set off to destroy the factory, which was not far from the reported tracks.

The 2nd Volunteer cavalry depart from the main column, their commander not entirely satisfied with his orders.

Meanwhile, the Japanese forces preferred a much more cautious approach. They aimed to deploy around the village of Kihoran in the far north of the valley, establishing themselves before progressing.

Japanese forces march onto the field

It took several turns for either force to make it fully onto the field, with the American forces generally making better progress up the board, while the Japanese remained more cohesive with their slow approach. It was at this point where the first fog of war incidents started to occur. 

The 1st Battalion for the US arrived at a fork in the road which wasn't on their map, and their Colonel, being the adventurous sort decided to head off down one of the forks while reporting this to Brigade HQ. I rolled for it, and he decided to head down the eastern path. Meanwhile the 2nd Battalion, while encountering the same fork, decided instead to fan out into defensive positions and await instructions. 

1st Battalion's curiosity however, seemed to be rewarded as they spotted a village (the US map only had one on it), and proceeded into the town and started to destroy it in line with their orders. Meanwhile, the US 3rd Cavalry reached the river as ordered and sat awaiting further instructions, while the 2nd Cavalry on the far east of the table began to cross towards the factory. 

US forces advance in a broad front

Meanwhile, the Japanese forces had established themselves in Kihoran, deploying their artillery to cover their advance. They sent their cavalry forward to Mihara to check on the state of the ammunition cache. Their calm work was interrupted by the sounds of rifle fire as 1st Battalion stormed into the village of Nishigama, which led to a sudden leap into forward movement. 

The 13th Cavalry was sent to Nishigama, with the 2nd Battalion ordered to follow on behind them, while the 4th Battalion was ordered to advance south down the road using cover, while the machine guns went to the supply dump to stock up on ammunition. 

The Japanese advance, their cavalry just sighting the burning village of Nishigama

Over the next few turns, the Japanese cavalry crested the rise outside Nishigama, sighting the US 1st Battalion burning the town, and decided to attack. The US 2nd Volunteer Cavalry sighted the factory to the east of Nishigama village and set off to attack it. Meanwhile an officer sent to find 1st Battalion ended up going down the northwards fork of the road. Unfortunately for the officer, he ran into the advancing Japanese infantry and was shot before he could escape. 

Nishigama burns

The US 2nd Battalion and Japanese 4th Battalion ran into each other on the road and began a brisk firefight, initially favouring the Japanese forces. This firefight soon attracted attention from both sides' artillery batteries. 

A firefight breaks out at the fork in the road

Meanwhile, the 13th Cavalry regiment managed to catch the US 1st Battalion in the flank as they went about burning Nishigama, inflicting heavy losses and driving the Battalion up the large hill to the south. 

The Japanese cavalry smash into the disorganised 1st Battalion

From their new position on the hill, the 1st Battalion opened fire on the advancing Japanese 2nd Battalion and the 13th Cavalry, getting the better of both firefights. 

Off to the east, the US 2nd Volunteer Cavalry managed to destroy the factory in very short order. Upon completing this task they sighted the Japanese 13th Cavalry and proceeded to attack, hitting the Japanese very hard and rapidly pushing them back through the burning village.

A confused fight fills Nishigama, with the 2nd Volunteer Cavalry battering apart their Japanese equivalents

Their success, however, was short lived by and large as two squadrons got caught up in close fighting with the infantry of the Japanese 2nd Battalion, which shattered the squadrons. Their remaining squadron, with their Colonel in tow, would batter the Japanese cavalry and push them right back to the fork in the road before the final Japanese squadron shattered. 

The firefight at the fork had continued, with the Americans taking heavy losses and generally getting the worst of things before their artillery began to hammer the Japanese 4th Battalion.

Artillery fire descends upon the 4th Battalion

This made the fight increasingly close, even with the Japanese machine guns firing into the 2nd Battalion, even though the 2nd Battalion was eventually, and very reluctantly on the part of their Colonel, forced to withdraw with two companies effectively shattered. 

To support 2nd Battalion, the US 3rd Cavalry was ordered to redeploy, which they did, moving to positions behind the riverbank and dismounting. The 2nd Battalion fell back through them. 

3rd Cavalry deploys to protect the retreating 2nd Battalion

Once the cavalry fight had moved off to the west, the Japanese 2nd and US 1st Battalions had settled into a firefight. The US forces had taken more of a mauling in the fighting thus far, so decided to withdraw south, having as they saw it, completed their objective. On the western flank, the last remaining 2nd Volunteer Cavalry squadron attempted to charge the Japanese Machine Gun Company, came under heavy fire and swiftly re-thought their strategy, withdrawing south and out of harm's way.

US 1st Battalion withdraws out of sight of the Japanese 2nd Battalion

After receiving a report from the 1st Battalion that they had destroyed Mihara village, and having previously received a report confirming the destruction of the factory, the US forces chose to withdraw. As no Japanese forces were in position to interfere at that moment, we called the game there. 

Results

As things stood at the end of the game, the Americans had destroyed the factory they were sent to destroy (although the identification as a munitions plant was incorrect, it was in fact a textiles factory) and a village that did not contain a supply cache, while the Japanese had their supplies and had held the field so could dig in to face the expected advance. 

In terms of losses, the US 2nd Volunteer Cavalry had taken a severe mauling, with two squadrons shattered and forced to withdraw and a third having taken pretty heavy losses in sustained fighting with the Japanese cavalry and from coming under machine-gun fire. Most of the men who had fled could probably be rounded up, but their morale would likely be shaky. The 1st Battalion had taken light losses, but was otherwise combat effective. 2nd Battalion, however, was entirely spent, having taken over 50% losses by base count. 

On the Japanese side, the 4th Battalion was in a bad state, at least 40% losses, and the 13th Cavalry Regiment was essentially destroyed. Some survivors could probably be rounded up, but probably no more than two under-strength squadrons' worth. The 2nd Battalion had taken some losses too, but not enough to put it out of action. 

While both sides had suffered roughly comparable losses, the Japanese had achieved their objectives, so were declared the victors.

Afterthoughts

It was interesting seeing the different approaches taken in this game by both sides. The Japanese kept their forces very tight during the entire game, only losing contact with and control over the cavalry and 2nd Battalion when they sent them to seize Nishigama. This had the advantage of them having a better handle on their force's location and activities, but at the price of leaving their left flank basically unguarded all game. At one point it looked like the US 2nd Volunteer Cavalry might sweep right around their positions and hit their artillery and command stand. As it was, the 2nd Volunteer Cavalry did end up launching an attack into their flank which nearly cost the Japanese the game.

Meanwhile, the US made full use of the table, giving their forces much more aggressive orders. This nearly paid off with the aforementioned attack of the 2nd Volunteer Cavalry, but did mean that for a high proportion of the game, the US commanders had an at best sketchy view of where their troops were or what they were doing. 

Overall, the experiment went very well, and I can see this becoming an occasional special event in our wargaming calendar. After all, the US forces are expecting to advance through a valley protected, at worst, by some unsupplied troops in the not too distant future...

The rules used for the game were a heavily cut down version of the Too Fat Lardies If the Lord Spares Us, and the miniatures were a mixture of Russo-Japanese War, Boer War and World War One miniatures from Pendraken Miniatures.