TOTSUGEKI!*
*
DATE: 10 January 1944*
*
BATTLE TYPE: Japanese advance vs. Chinese delay*
*
Two-Player PBEM Game*
*
Near KANTAU, BURMA:  General Sun Li-jen, commander of the Chinese 38th Division, was charged by Stilwell with the task of clearing the Hukawng Valley as a prelude to breaking the stalemate in northern Burma. General Sun's plan called for a regimental combat team to swing around the flank of the Japanese 18th Division, while the rest of the 38th Division attacked along the front. The enveloping force, the 114th Infantry Regiment with the 6th Field Artillery Battery, was sent circling south to cross the River Tanai at Kantau. Crossing the Tanai in the second week of December, the Chinese regiment collided with the enemy in a series of sharp actions along two small creeks. The jungle made it difficult for the Chinese to organize and coordinate their attacks; the supporting 6th Battery could not even take part until fields of fire were cut. But as this arduous task was underway, infiltrating parties of the Japanese 55th Infantry Regiment surrounded the battery. Nor could the 3/114th, charged with supporting the guns, help for it was split into four fragments, no two of them in contact. The Chinese gunners were forced to fight to save their guns, and themselves, alone.*
*
AFTERMATH: The initial probing attack by the Japanese on the 9th were followed by a major push to overwhelm the isolated battery on the 10th. Every Chinese trooper-officers, gunners, ammo bears, porters, cooks-took up arms to defend their tenuous position around the clearing they had so laboriously hacked from the jungle. Shouting "Totsugeki", the Japanese rushed forward. The southern wing of the concentric attack even neared the gun positions themselves. Swinging the 75s, the Chinese crews fired point-blank into the tangle jungle, even as others fought with whatever was at hand from foxholes dug the previous day. The attack was beaten off, as was another the next day. The regimental commander, Colonel Li Hung, arrived at this point and quickly restored the situation. The scattered portions of the 3/114th began to attack and soon thrust the Japanese back. After the second battalion arrived on 15 January, the Chinese were able to force a crossing of the Sanip Hka with the aid of the artillery. Here the Chinese halted for a week, while supplies were brought up and isolated pockets of Japanese were dug from their holes along the river bank.*
*
NOTES: This scenario is based off of Avalon Hill's Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) annual '93a scenario A60 with some minor modifications.*
*
Sources:  ASL Scenario A60*
*
Design by:  Don Lazov*