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Downfall: The Empire's Last Stand

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Private Hale was looking at the spectacle above, taking cover as much possible. He noticed a Japanese airplane heading for a nearby transport. A moment later it exploded in an enormous fireball. When they passed the transport all he saw was death. It looked like no one inside the launch bay survived the attack and the transport itself was taking water. Suddenly he felt a searing pain and then darkness.
“Private, are you okay?” yelled Sergeant Clayton. All Hale could see was a blur. Slowly his vision returned. His face was covered in blood. Stuttering he asked: “What happened?” “You were hit by a piece of shrapnel. Are you okay?” “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just hurts that all,” Hale replied.

“Clear the ramp, 30 seconds, God be with you,” he heard the driver behind him say. Hale shook his head as if to get the pain out of his head. “Alright, listen up. The beach is lightly defended. Still, be fast and get to cover as quickly as possible. Take care, I’ll see you on the beach,” the sergeant said. A few seconds later the whistle sounded and the ramp dropped. As quickly as possible the soldiers disembarked from the craft and rendezvoused on the beach. There was no initial resistance on the beach, although several scouts had spotted Japanese forces moving in from the other side of the hill. It wouldn’t take them long to get there. With their backs to the ocean they only had one option: stand and fight. Without a beachhead the whole mission would be a failure.

His squad rallied round a lieutenant who was giving orders. He looked at the newcomers and said: “Welcome gentlemen to Ford Beach.” He pointed to the dunes up ahead and continued: “On the other side of those dunes are a shitload of angry Japs and they’re heading our way. We need to set up a defensive perimeter along those dunes if we don’t want to fight ankle-deep in the Pacific. Now go!”

To be continued…
 
No initial resistance, huh? Well that means either the Japanese weren't ready, or they're Iwo Jima-ready.
 
The Japanese arrived within minutes. Hastily dug foxholes were the only defense they had on that barren beach. Between the dunes and the tree line the Japanese had burned down a hundred yards wide strip of forest, creating a deadly no-man’s-land that would be difficult to cross. Private Hale was taking cover behind a wall of sand, along with a lot of other soldiers. The beach was just too small to hold all those men. Artillery shells came raining down on them from further inland. If they didn’t get out of there they’d be dead.
“Clayton, Michelson, Benedict! Get over here!” yelled the lieutenant across the beach. The sergeant’s assembled around the lieutenant. “We’re going to be dead if we don’t get off this beach. Take your squads and go east. Find a hole in their lines. Punch through it and attack from behind. Hopefully we’ll be able to break through. Once were in those forests we’ll be a lot safer. At least we won’t be sitting ducks,” he said while artillery shells were impacting all along the beach.

Sergeant Clayton was running along the lines, looking for his men who got dispersed in the defense. “Hale, Robertson, rally on me!” he shouted when he saw them covering behind the wall of sand. After he got his squad together he briefed them.
As fast as they could they moved along the line. Finally they found an opening. It was an old path, normally used by the local fishermen to get to the beach. But the Japanese were not stupid. There were several machinegun nests positioned near the tree line. But at least they had some cover on the approach.
Clayton went through the plan with his men. “Alright, everyone got it?” His men nodded. They got in position and waited for the signal. As soon as everyone was ready the sergeant gave the signal. Two soldiers threw their smoke grenades. Slowly they enveloped the approach.
“Go, go, go!” Clayton yelled. Hale and three others ran through the smoke and took cover in a depression next to the path. They took out their grenades and threw them in the direction of the machinegun nests. As soon as they heard the explosion they and the rest of the squad who had moved up behind them left their cover and proceeded through the dense smoke, unsure if the machineguns had been taken out or not.

coveralo.jpg

When a machinegun salvo ripped through the smoke they realized that at least one was still in operation. As fast as they could they ran to the tree line. A few soldiers fell under the undirected fire. Then they emerged from the smoke. In a split second Hale assessed the situation: the left nest hadn’t been taken out but the one right in front of him was out of commission. A Japanese soldier popped out in front of him. While maintaining his pace, Hale fired his Garand at the soldier who soon fell to the ground. His first kill. He didn’t have much time to think about it. The other machinegun nest had to be taken out first. The smoke was slowly dissipating and it almost had a clear shot at half of the squad. He emptied the clip in the direction of the shooter but none of the bullets hit. Hale took cover behind some sandbags. He could see that there was a small trench system behind the machinegun nests. Soldiers were rushing through them to reinforce the nests. One of the soldiers spotted Hale and saw that he was reloading. The man unsheathed his katana and while unleashing his katana he unleashed a load battlecry and ran towards him. Hale frantically tried to unholster his pistol but he couldn’t in time. The Japanese soldier threw himself on Hale, but he caught him with his feet. The katana cut his cheek and planted itself into the soil next to his face. Hale pushed away the soldier on top of him with his feet and pulled his pistol from its holster. While the Japanese soldier was still off the ground, Hale’s bullets hit him in the chest.

The machinegun nest! Hale scrambled onto his feet, took the Japanese soldier’s rifle lying on the ground and aimed at the enemy gunner. The man’s head exploded into a cloud of blood. A grenade, thrown by one of the Americans who had been pinned down, took out the rest of the machinegun crew. The three squads moved up and secured the surrounding area. Sergeant Clayton picked up the Garand that Hale had dropped and gave it to him, saying: “Here kid. Now let’s go, this isn’t over yet!”
 
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So much for X-Day. I had a picture for the last update but ImageShack isn't working so I'll add that later. Just looks better with a picture to break up the text doesn't it.

About the Japanese tactics for the defense of Kyushu, they had it (historically) planned like this:

-Take out as much of the landing forces with standard/kamikaze attacks (suicide planes and boats).
-The first substantial line of defenders a few kilometres inward to protect it from naval fire but to still allow them to prevent the landing Allies from quickly creating beachheads. Counteroffensive forces were even further inland.

So the Japanese forces on the beaches were very light. Perhaps two batallions for Ford Beach max. Those men were there to watch the coastline and kill a few Americans before retreating/dying.

The Kyushu battle will be told in a very general way (Wikipedia-like overview). Only have one update planned with storytelling like the previous updates for the Kyushu chapter.

Also have some epic ideas for the (final) chapter after the Kyushu one. A little bit over the top but I know you guys like that.

I was wondering what you guys want for the final battle. Japan will most likely win and it takes place in/near Tokyo as was planned historically (the location not that Japan would probably win).
 
Ford Beach...I see someone has done research. :cool:

CaptRobau said:
I was wondering what you guys want for the final battle. Japan will most likely win and it takes place in/near Tokyo as was planned historically (the location not that Japan would probably win).
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I personally would like to see lots of explosions.
 
A Banzai charge with plenty of katanas and bayonets is a "must-be-in" element.
 
chapter4.jpg


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Almost all of the 35 initial landings of Operation Olympic succeeded on X-Day. At Ford Beach the most progress had been made as the American troops there had managed to move five miles inland. At other landing sites Allied forces were still struggling to get a foothold. A true beachhead had not yet been established at any of the sites and heavy material such as tanks and artillery had trouble being moved ashore. Thus Allied troops only had limited naval and air support.
The Japanese defense tactics had worked pretty well. The landings had been a massacre. Over ten thousand lives had been lost before the first soldier even hit the beach. But the kamikaze techniques were a one-shot weapon and the Japanese had little in reserve in terms of air and naval power. Over 35% of their remaining airpower had been annihilated in one day, a staggering number even if half of those were suicide attacks.

The main objective of Operation Olympic was to conquer two thirds of the southern half of the island. This would then act as a stepping stone for Operation Coronet, the invasion directed at the Kanto Plains, near Tokyo. The road to victory on Kyushu would be long and hard. Facing an extremely hostile population, the Allies would have serious security issues when they moved further inland. Furthermore, intelligence reports proved to be inaccurate as the amount of troops the Japanese could field even on the first day were almost twice as high as expected.

Facing the Allies in South Kyushu were the Empire’s finest remaining soldiers. But if those were beaten, all that stood in the way of victory were soldiers with no ammo and peasants with pitchforks. Allied bombing had taken its toll on the Japanese war economy and weapons production was almost non existent. The Japanese could only hold the Allies off for so long.
 
Heh, by this stage the Empire's finest soldiers aren't particularly fine.
 
Hoes and plows versus pitchforks sounds more appropriate for rice farmers. :rofl:
 
Ciryandor said:
Hoes and plows versus pitchforks sounds more appropriate for rice farmers. :rofl:
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When you are desperate enough, anything can be used as an weapon.
 
I'll look forward to Japanese housewives clonking American soldiers with ceramic and glass sake bottles then. :rofl:
 
With enough sake in your evins, everything can be a mortal weapon.:D
 
Ciryandor said:
Hoes and plows versus pitchforks sounds more appropriate for rice farmers. :rofl:
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You need pitchforks to work hay, to help transform cows into to beef teriyaki :p
Bamboo spears, granddaddy's samurai sword, the list goes on. Basically anything. I read a Wikipedia quote saying that they gave an awl (for scratching wood) to a schoolgirl and said: aim for the guts, even one dead American will help.
 
Idk, I maybe be morbid, but I want Hale to die. I want to hear about the Japanese, not the Americans. That said, a few British, Russian, American and Allied characters are good for an update or two.

Anyways, I like the AAR, will we get any Japanese Naval Characters?
 
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Maj. von Mauser said:
Idk, I maybe be morbid, but I want Hale to die. I want to hear about the Japanese, not the Americans. That said, a few British, Russian, American and Allied characters are good for an update or two.

Anyways, I like the AAR, will we get any Japanese Naval Characters?
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Hale as a character will only appear in one more update anyway. After his final appearance I only had Japanese characters planned so I guess you're in luck.
Operation Coronet will feature the remnants of the IJN, so again you're lucky.

turtledove said:
Will you put my Grandfather in this story? He was in the Navy on an LST. He was scheduled for the followup wave. He died recently, so I would appriciate if you put him in. His name was James F. Tucker.
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It'd be an honor. Could you give me some more info such as his rank and position (was he a rifleman or an officer, etc.)
 
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