WARGAMESOSD The Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO) |
The Battles of Coral Sea, Midway and Leyte Gulf |
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The
Pacific Conflict 1941-45 |
 | The
Battles of Coral Sea, Midway and Leyte Gulf are among the most interesting scenarios
of World War Two PTO wargaming. The Battle of Leyte Gulf in particular, was one
of the greatest sea battles of all time. It involved large battle groups that
were protecting the amphibious landings of American troops at an important island
in the Phillippines in 1944, and marked the fulfilment of General MacArthur's
promise at the beginning of hostilities to return one day. The Imperial Japanese Navy were sure that they could destroy the Allied landings by sending a decoy carrier force to divert the American fleet away from the battle zone, and indeed they almost succeeded. However, other battle groups in the area remained and a near disaster was avoided. |
| The war in the Pacific, or PTO (Pacific Theatre of Operations) has been well documented and reproduced in the games industry, with some smaller and the larger monster games featuring specific actions or the whole campaign in the Pacific. The games, of course, cover every aspect of the conflict, from the attack on Pearl Harbour to the island-hopping at the start of 1944 when General MacArthur, with the powerful US Pacific fleets at that time, began to push back the frontiers of the Japanese empire in a two-pronged attack - one via the Solomons and New Guinea, and a further offensive via the Gilbert Islands and the Marianna's, both heading in the direction of the Phillippines, Formosa and Japan itself. Of course, it was the taking of Saipan that would eventually signal to the Japanese that the Pacific war would soon be brought to mainland Japan when long-range bombers could expect fighter escort from the newly established airfields on Saipan. |
It
is proposed to look at PTO in more detail. Below are illustrations of some of
the wargames that are available |
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