GUNG HO
USMC RAIDERS, MAKIN ISLAND 1942
Up until August of 1942, The Japanese Empire had seemed
unstoppable as it took Guam, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies and other
significant territories in the south pacific. Something needed to be done to
halt the tide of invasion. While US Marine Corps invaded Guadalcanal, a
secondary much smaller operation would be launched a thousand miles away
against Japanese forces on the Makin Atoll. This operation was undertaken by the
2nd Raider Battalion, of the newly formed Marine Raiders, and was
led by the extremely unorthodox Evans F. Carlson.
On August 17th, 1942 the 2nd Marine
Raiders were secretly delivered to Makin by submarine and landed ashore at
night using rubber rafts. Their mission was to wreak enough havoc that the
Japanese would hesitate before sending reinforcements from the Marshal Islands
to aid IJA forces on Guadalcanal. Without
outside support, these soldiers carried the weapons and equipment they needed
to complete the mission. Despite being scattered by the surf on the way onto
the island, leadership issues during the operation and problems escaping the
island’s strong tide when leaving, the Raider’s hit and run mission was touted
by Allied media as a success and proved that the unbeatable Japanese could indeed
be beaten.
Many Marine Raiders "blackened" their uniforms for this operation (as seen above)
US Forces: Makin Atoll 1942 Reinforced Platoon
1 Lieutenant – First or Second
2 USMC Raider Squads
Plus
Headquarters
0-1 Medic team
0-1 Medic team
0-1 Artillery Observer (to represent limited fire support from the submarines)
Infantry
0-4 Infantry Squads: USMC Raider Squads
0-1 Medium Machine Gun Team
0-1 Mortar Team : Medium
0-1 Sniper Team
0-1 Anti-tank Rifle Team (See applicable entry in
any of the “Armies of…” books)
Artillery
None
Armoured Cars
None
Tanks, Tank Destroyers, Self-propelled Artillery and
Anti-aircraft vehicles
None
Transports and Tows
None
Special Rules
Gung Ho:
Raiders were carefully recruited and highly trained
soldiers. Every unit using this selector must be Veteran.
 |
Marine Raiders made good use of terrain to spring surprise
attacks. During set-up, any USMC Raider Squad using Hidden Set-Up may start the
game already in Ambush. In addition, in the first turn of the game, all USMC
Raider Squads treat all ROUGH Ground and Obstacles as Open Ground for the
purposes of movement.
Trial By Fire:
Because this selector encompasses a force
that saw such a limited deployment over such a limited period of time, a force taken
from this selector should closely resemble the Marine Raider’s order of battle.
Marine Raider units revolved around 3 x 3 man fire teams led by a sergeant
and because of this: Marine Raider units can only buy 1 BAR, 1 pistol, and 1
submachine gun per three men. In
addition to this, the NCO may be armed with a submachine gun as normal. (i.e. a
USMC unit of 7 men could have 2 BAR’s, 2 pistols, and 2 submachine guns as well
as an NCO with a submachine gun.) Shotguns may be taken as an alternative weapon for the NCO.
Note: The USMC Raider unit entry can be found on page 104 of
the Empires in Flames book. For those looking for additional information about this conflict or other battles that the US Marine Raiders were involved in, I HIGHLY recommend the following two books by Osprey Publishing: US Special Warfare Units in the Pacific Theatre 1941-1945 and RAID: Carlson's Marine Raiders; Makin Island 1942.
Please note: You will need the Armies of the United States and Empires in Flames Bolt Action books in order to use this theatre selector.
By: Old Man Morin
