Japan '46 Operation Coronet Allied AAR

[ComradeP]

4th of March 1946 14:00 Turn 36



The advance of the 24th ID is more or less stalled at the moment. It doesn't have the strength to remove the 84th Division from its positions, even though the 84th Division has also been fighting since day 1. Very little will change in this sector in the next few days.

31st ID will move to Atsugi together with the Y+5 reinforcements.

Aside from a small push by 6th ID, XIV Corps won't be making much progress in the next 100 turns.



More Japanese reinforcements show up, as the 234th Division arrives from the north-east.

The 93rd Division would arrive later on, even though it can move from turn 1. I'm not sure if my opponent missed that or if he wasn't sure where to send it and kept it near Tokyo as a reserve.

There were so many defenders in Mobara that I more or less "had" to turn it into rubble to capture it.

I decided to move the naval units supporting XXIV Corps to the west, as I hoped they could help clear Fujisawa. Eventually, all naval units aside from the minesweepers would move east again as you'll see later.

[ComradeP]

5th of March 1946 04:00 Normal conditions Turn 41




Some nice targets are spotted along the coast.

31st ID is making good progress towards Atsugi, but it will need help to clear a path.

In the XIV Corps sector, things have settled down to trench warfare with tank stacks shooting up Japanese infantry units and most of my infantry not doing much.



First Army is putting a lot of pressure on the Japanese positions. The 354th Division in particular is taking a beating.

[ComradeP]

5th of March 1946 14:00 Turn 46



The first naval units from the east are arriving, otherwise it's the usual war of attrition.



The Marines are moving in to clear the ridge west of Honno, offering a good view of the surrounding area. The next objective is the hill further west.

The 147th Division is slowly adjusting its positions, though the right flank isn't withdrawing yet. I initially hoped I might be able to isolate it by reaching Tokyo Bay, but not having any regular units to deal with when 7th ID was clearing the Boso Peninsula was helpful. Otherwise, I would've had to commit 1-2 divisions for days, chasing after Japanese units one hex at a time.

[ComradeP]

6th of March 1946 Soft conditions 04:00 Turn 51

A division reinforces each corps on Y+5.



The 31st ID hasn't really been going anywhere for a while, so they eagerly anticipate the arrival of the 37th ID.

In the XIV Corps sector, one regiment of the 38th ID and some divisional units won't be able to land as they would land south of Fujisawa.



The screenshot was taken after the first units of the 6th Marine Division with an orange divisional colour landed on the beach. They arrive one turn before the first units of the other reinforcement divisions.

The first units of the 93rd Division show up at Toke, which will limit any progress in the area as removing an A quality division from -70% firepower reduction terrain is very, very difficult.

[ComradeP]

6th of March 1946 14:00 Turn 56



The 37th ID will start to apply pressure in the center of the X Corps front, to decrease pressure on the 31st ID so both divisions can advance to Atsugi.

On the other side of the river, 38th ID will mostly stay in reserve at the moment. Japanese opposition in the area is so strong that I'm very careful about making any offensive moves.



The 6th Marine Division will advance to Oiwake together with parts of the 1st Marine Division.

27th ID will support that advance by moving west from Mobara. 7th ID will keep stretching its front. I wasn't worried about counterattacks along the coast from the Boso Peninsula, because the primary road would allow me to move reinforcements in quickly.

The newly arrived 96th ID will move through Mobara as well to support 27th ID.

[ComradeP]

7th of March 1946 Mud conditions 04:00 Turn 61



Roughly 60% of my infantry losses have been replaced, which is good. Rotating units keeps divisions in a reasonable shape, but it's clear on both fronts that a lull is in order after this to recover.

I'm curious how serious Japanese losses are. The Japanese have enough units to hold the frontline with a limited number of units per division in the west, but not in the east initially. The carpet bombing losses should also have hurt.



X Corps continues with its frontal attack towards Atsugi. Little room for any operational creativity here.



By now, First Army is really mopping the floor with the 354th Division west of Mobara and is making good progress towards Oiwake and the plateau.

[ComradeP]

7th of March 1946 14:00 Turn 66



More brutal combat. With each hex taken, Atsugi gets closer.

The Japanese have a large number of small units, either AT/MG infantry units and battalion/regimental infantry guns that allow them to dig in on hexrow after hexrow. In the majority of cases, the Japanese move from one trench hex to the next when they retreat.



The 93rd Division is starting to move south to counter my offensive. The 96th Independent Mixed Brigade still puts up a fight against the 6th Marine Division, but the 354th Division is urgently in need of rest.

[ComradeP]

8th of March 1946 Normal conditions 04:00 Turn 71



Another day dawns at Anzio, or Flanders looking further back, on Honshu.



The Normal conditions will make the offensive considerably easier as moving units around doesn't take nearly as much time and more units can move and assault.

As you can see, Japanese units are beginning to break from days of combat. Sometimes they also become Broken in a single turn from serious carpet bombing or naval bombardment hits.

[ComradeP]

8th of March 1946 14:00 Turn 76



The Japanese unit in the hex two hexes north of where it says "Tamura" on the map (or 4 hexes directly south of Atsugi) is in a bunker, which is why I'm making such an elaborate flanking manoeuvre. Strangely, it hasn't used direct fire on my unit adjacent to it.



As you can see, considerable progress has been made. Oiwake has been captured and the plateau is nearly cleared. Most of the settlements along the primary road from Mobara to Chonan and then north to Oiwake are also intact and haven't been turned to rubble. I was careful to avoid that, if possible.

I had some hope that a breakthrough towards Tokyo Bay would be possible, but there were too many high quality Japanese units in the way and it wouldn't have been worth pushing units to their limit. As mentioned earlier, in the end it was a good thing that only coastal guns and observers were left in the Boso Peninsula.

The 147th Division has by now withdrawn from its positions along the coastal road, so 7th ID will start moving both south and west into the Boso Peninsula. It will conduct a wide sweep to make sure I don't miss any units hiding in a forest somewhere. Or to at least decrease that chance considerably.

[ComradeP]

9th of March 1946 Mud conditions 04:00 Turn 81



X Corps has reached the outskirts of Atsugi, but as before Mud will slow operations down to a crawl.



With the plateau captured and a wall of Japanese units between Tokyo Bay and my forces, it was time to give units some rest and start redeploying units for a new operation.

Corps and Army artillery units are relocating to the plateau where engineers are digging trenches for them.