The Marines are closing in on Japan. Next up? Guam! ~

Avery Abernethy, 21 January 2017

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Guam is much larger than Saipan. There are two landing areas that are separated by considerable distance. My initial goals are to link up the two beach areas and then clear South Guam and the landing strip. After doing this I can move north.

The South beach is close to the southern end of the island. The initial objective in the north is Asan which is a little to the south of the north landing zone. So after seizing the initial beachhead in the north I need to shift my troops south and hold on Asan while sending the majority of my forces further south to link up with the troops from the other landing zone.

One of the goals is quite ominous – destroy 100 Japanese units. Really?? 100 units?? Not had anything like this yet as an objective. If Marine Intelligence is right this is going to be a tough fight.

It took me 10 turns to link up the two landing zones. The South LZ first had to secure the rest of South Guam from counter-attack. That was slow moving in the heavy jungle. I kept running into snipers and hidden bunkers. I kept most of my artillery supporting securing the South. The North LZ had to slide to the West to make the early victory point the northern end of the line. The main axis of attack from the North LZ was always towards linking up with the South LZ. The terrain was also more favorable in the north due to smaller amounts of jungle. But the North LZ withstood heavy counter-attacks which slowed progress. The strategy worked, but heavy Japanese resistance made for a slow advance.

I finally captured an airstrip on Guam on Turn 15. It will take another couple of turns to reposition my artillery and forces tasked with taking the airstrip.

The rest of the mission? See you tomorrow –

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