General MacArthur returned to the Philippines in October 1944.
By December, as U.S. troops advanced across the island of Leyte,
the Japanese realized that airstrips on the island would allow
the American airforce to dominate Japanese forces in the Philippines
as well as hinder their ability to resupply forces south of the
Philippines.   The first Japanese attacks on airfields were mainly
small raids that were meant to damage them. U.S. intelligence
had warned of the danger, but when these attacks turned out to
be small raids it was assumed that the Japanese Army no longer
had the capability to launch larger scale operations to contest
the American controlled airfields. The Japanese however devised
an ambitious plan, Operation Wa, to seize the 3 airfields near
Burauen Leyte set for the night of December 5/6. The attack would
be conducted by the Takachiho airborne raiding regiment supported
by elements of two divisions infiltrating from the west. History
records that the Operation was a failure. The airborne troops
landing but receiving little help from the army.  Designer Note:
While the airdrop was during daylight hours, much of the initial
fighting was to take place at night before the arrival of foot
soldiers. You have caught the Americans unaware. They are a slumbering
giant, take advantage of your stealth.

After a night of fighting to control the airstrips, the Japanese
"Takachiho" 3rd Raiding Regiment is  now ready for reinforcements
to arrive and help expand the operation. "Operation Wa" called
for elements of the 16th and 26rh Japanese Divisions to infiltrate
east to aid the 3rd Raiding Regiment to clean up resisitance
at the airfields, and if possible, move on to attack further
east to assault American airfields closer to Leyte Gulf. Waiting
for reinforcements to arrive, the Japanese units controlling
the airstrips would need those reinforcements, not to move to
threaten other American airfields, but to beat back a desperate
American counterattack. Can you hold on?  After a night of fighting
the American forces that were holding the airfields have retreated
into Burauen. Commanded by Major General Swing, these men of
the 11th Airborne are another problem that needs to be neutralized
before you can move on chase the Americans back to the sea. 

You have beaten back the American counterattack. Time is now
ripe to advance upon the Dulag Airfield and the beaches there.
We can push the American forces there into the ocean and use
the supplies they have stockpiled there. Carry on and bring honor
to the Japan! Your paratroops will be supported by elements of
the 33rd Infantry Regiment, 16th Division. Units of the 26th
Division who helped capture the airfields have been left to defend
them. You have one further ally. Some light Tanks have been airlifted
to Bayug and are available in this assault. Use them wisely.
Oh, watch out for Filipino guerillas!

Author:Operation Wa
By Joe Sherfy

June 26, 2000

So what is my campaign about? It is essentially a "what if" campaign 
with you in command of the Japanese Takachico paratroops. What if the 
Japanese attack had gone as planned and all forces had arrived on time? 
This makes for an interesting situation. I have also provided for a level of 
reinforcement from the 16th and 26th Imperial Japanese Divisions that 
assumes they suffered no casualties moving over the mountains. In addition, 
the third battle requires one further event which was not possible. The third 
battle assumes a modest reinforcement of tanks by the Japanese via transport 
planes flown into the captured airfields. I have done this to add some spice to 
the scenario. According to one of the contributors (Taki, who has his own w
onderful Japanese military website and Pacific modification to Close Combat II)  
to the original "Rising Sun" game, by 1945 the Japanese were working on a 
glider that would be able to carry tanks, the KU - 7. Only two were built and 
they were to be able to carry 7 tons, which would allow them to carry Type 
98 light tanks. The glider project was apparently scrapped when the bomber 
required to pull the glider was also scrapped. . I hope you enjoy the campaign. 
I call it a mini campaign because it is only, at most, three battles. Note that 
while this campaign was inspired by my initial reading about it in "Crisis," most 
of the information used to develop the campaign came from the official history 
of the invasion, "Leyte: The Return to the Philippines." That book contains 
some very good maps and more detailed information about the forces engaged 
in the battle. 

I would also like to thank Ron Gretz for his bitmap of the Japanese "patch" I 
used for the campaign. Ron informed me that it is called the Buko Sho Ko and 
it an example of a Japanese medal that might be "awarded" to any rank in the 
Japanese Army. Ron has a nice web site showing Japanese medals and he was 
kind enough to suggest my use of his photo of this medal. Apparently the system 
for awarding medals was based in some part on rank of the recipient. The Buko 
Sho Ko was an exception to this procedure. Ron's site was linked from Taki's site.

I would love comments please email me at Jsherfy@compuserve.com