Wake Island

The Battle of Wake Island occurred from December 8 to December 23, 1941, early in World War II. Just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces attempted to capture the small U.S. outpost on Wake Island in the central Pacific. Despite being outnumbered and undersupplied, the U.S. Marine defenders, along with Navy personnel and civilian contractors, initially managed to repel a Japanese invasion on December 11, sinking two Japanese destroyers and damaging other ships.

However, after days of intense Japanese bombing and a second, larger invasion attempt, Japanese forces overwhelmed the defenders on December 23. Wake Island ultimately fell to the Japanese, who held it for the remainder of the war. The battle was notable for the fierce resistance shown by the American defenders and became a symbol of American resilience and determination.

6 VP’s

Card Balance:

5 – 5

Complexity:

Conditions:

Beach

Location:

North Pacific

Year:

1941

Theater:

Pacific

Campaign

Codename

Summary:

The Wake Island scenario has the Japanese attacking Marines who are defending. The beachfront is barricaded with a row of wire. But if they can get past that barrier, every town and fortress hex is a victory medal objective for them.

Objectives:

6 VP’s, plus the Axis have potentially 10 (!) Medal Objectives.

Battlefield:

A flat beach defended with wire and Marines in bunkers and one artillery.

Troops:

Allies – 5 Infantry, 1 Artillery

Axis – 12 Infantry!

Allied Strategy:

1. Historically the Allies were overwhelmed in the second attack when 1500 invaders attacked, so the goal is to get some quick hits before they reach the Medal Objectives.

2. Use your artillery at every opportunity, especially early in the game before they move away from it.

Axis Strategy:

1. As a general rule, avoid the artillery in the center-right. Move your troops to the left and attack the left flank. There are plenty of VP’s available on the left side without even having to go anywhere near the artillery.

2. However if you have the cards for a sustained and rapid attack on the right, do it. The fact that there are two hexes unprotected by wire allows the you to very quickly reach the enemy bunkers.

3. You can use your advance infantry unit to quickly gain control of the field bunker at M6, and its VP. Then three more Objective Medals are available to you in the towns. Then as you quickly bring other infantry forward the advance unit can attack the enemy infantry in the town at K8. That’s a total of 5 VP’s relatively unprotected. If you can survive the artillery attacks while you seek out your 6th VP on the left flank, you could have a win to brag about!

DoW Battle Reports

(percentage of Allied victories):

32%