Saipan 1944:
Scenario Preview, Part Two
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
February 2025

Panzer Grenadier: Saipan 1944 is all about the American invasion of Saipan in 1944 (the title might give that away). It’s a fierce battle between tough infantry formations, plus armor support. The Americans have firepower on their side, while the Japanese have terrain on theirs to balance it somewhat.

We’ve used the maps and pieces as the basis for repeated expansions: Marianas 1944, Leyte 1944, Atlantic Marines. They also show up in our upcoming Philippines 1941 and Imperial Armor, and we have more planned beyond that. The maps are simply beautiful and cry out for play.

But like any Avalanche Press game, the heart of Saipan 1944 is its scenario set: 41 of them, ranging from beach landings through tank battles to fierce struggles for jungle-covered mountains. Let’s have a look at Chapter Two’s scenarios; you can see all of them here:

Chapter One
Chapter Two

Chapter Two
Holding the Beachhead
The American V Amphibious Corps came ashore on Saipan with overwhelming force: two divisions of Marines, each of the heavily-reinforced, with an Army infantry division in reserve. They had plentiful air and naval support as well. By this point in the war both the troops and the planning staffs had plenty of experience in amphibious landings.

That experience taught them that the most vulnerable moment for the landing force came after they had come ashore, but before their heavy weapons, tanks and other gear had been unloaded. In those hours, they could only defend themselves with small arms and machine guns. The defenders would have the opportunity to throw them back into the sea.

The Japanese knew this as well.

The advance across Saipan. Open in new tab to embiggen the image.

Scenario Seven
Counterattack on Yellow Beach
15 June 1944
The strong Japanese position on Agingan Point allowed them to pour fire into the right flank of the Marines landing on the Yellow beaches. As the Marine reinforcements of the second wave came ashore, the Japanese launched a counter-attack up the beach in an apparent effort to roll up their seaward flank. This would be the strongest such Japanese effort on the invasion’s first day.

Conclusion
After fire control teams made sure that no low-flying aircraft would be knocked down by their heavy shells, the battleship Tennessee went to work. Innovations and experience now allowed warships to effectively support troops ashore, and Tennessee’s 14-inch shells simply obliterated the two leading Japanese infantry companies. With the support of newly-landed Sherman tanks of D Company, 4th Tank Battalion, the Marines drove off the survivors.

Notes
The Japanese have a strong attacking force backed by a good array of artillery, both on- and off-board. And the Marines are right up against the shoreline, where they really can be pushed into the sea. They have their awesome infantry firepower, high morale, and a battleship. Those 70-strength artillery barrages will do some damage to the deepest samurai spirit.

Scenario Eight
Night Action on Red Beach
15-16 June 1944
Despite some local counter-attacks during the first day, the Japanese defense plan for Saipan relied on a large-scale assault on the beaches during the first night following the landings. They targeted the northern end of the American landing zone with tanks and infantry from both the Imperial Army and Special Naval Landing Forces.

Conclusion
The Marines had landed two howitzer battalions during the first day, but with both dedicated to other missions they turned to Tennessee’s sister ship, California. Starshells illuminated the advancing Japanese and rapid fire from the Prune Barge’s 5-inch secondary batteries devastated them, while Sherman tanks from 2nd Marine Tank Battalion provided armored support to the Marine riflemen.

“The counterattack which has been carried out since the afternoon of the 15th,” wrote Maj. Gen. Igetea Keiji, 31st Army’s acting commander, “has failed because of the enemy tanks and firepower. We are reorganizing and will attack again.”

Notes
A tank battle! Not much of a tank battle, but tanks on each side nonetheless. The Marine Sherman tanks might as well be M1A2 Abrams, given the lightweight Japanese tanks flung at them by both the Imperial Army and Navy. The Japanese actually do care about casualties, but they can suffer a lot of them before it triggers the American victory conditions. The Americans, meanwhile, have Marine morale and firepower – and another battleship.

Scenario Nine
Capture of Afetna Point
16 June 1944
Afetna Point loomed large in Marine plans for the invasion’s second day. Direct fire continued to strike the landing beaches, while observers called down accurate artillery fire from batteries placed deeper inland. The 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines, spearheaded by the shotgun-slinging Company G, would have to clear and secure the fortified point.

Conclusion
So many of the Japanese troops stationed on Afetna Point had been killed in counter-attacks that the remainder could barely hold their fortress. The Marines secured the point by mid-morning, despite accurate artillery fire directed by a hidden observer atop one of the Chalan Kanoa sugar refinery’s smokestacks.

Notes
Another small scenario, this time the Marines are hunting down Japanese remnants, who aren’t quite ready to give up the fight. The big Japanese off-board artillery increments are their best asset, as their troops have been worn down by combat, but Japanese infantry in tight terrain is always dangerous.

Scenario Ten
Koshaho
16 June 1944
The Fourth Marine Division had the capture of Aslito Airfield as its first major objective, but to get there, they had to get past the high ground the Marines named O-1 Ridge. Most of the ridge had already been secured, but one segment remained in Japanese hands thanks to four well-served anti-aircraft guns dug in on its reverse slope. Two rifle companies from 1/25 plus Sherman tanks would join the 2/25 Battalion in their frontal assault.

Conclusion
Well-supported by the anti-aircraft guns, which swept the crest of the ridge every time the Marines tried to advance, the Japanese held this small piece of the O-1 Ridge. The Marine advance had been stymied by the anti-aircraft gunners, and Lt. Gen. Holland Smith of V Amphibious Corps released the Army’s 165th Infantry Regiment (the New York National Guard’s legendary “Fighting 69th”) from his reserve to land during the night and assist the Marines fighting for the ridge.

Notes
This is a small scenario, with just one board in play as a battalion of Marines assaults a hilltop position manned by about two companies of Japanese. The Japanese are, by Japanese standards, lavishly equipped with support weapons and are entrenched on their hill. The Marines have a handful of tanks, some flamethrowers and engineers, and their Marine-ness: high morale, extreme initiative and great leadership. This is going to be a tough little fight.

Scenario Eleven
Tank Battle on Saipan
16-17 June 1944
Lt. Gen. Yoshitsugu Saito of the Japanese 43rd Infantry Division knew that his men could no longer hope to throw the invading 2nd Marine Division into the sea. The counter-attack he planned would have to proceed in stages. First, he would deploy the full strength of the 9th Tank Regiment and its new Shinhoto Chi-Ha medium tanks, along with SNLF forces to reinforce his own troops. The attack would take place at night, out of view of the deadly American airplanes and take full advantage of what the Japanese considered their own superior night-combat training.

Conclusion
Dawn found two dozen burning Japanese tanks littering the battlefield, and 300 Japanese infantry lying dead around them; well-plotted Japanese artillery fire inflicted heavy damage on the two howitzer battalions of the 10th Marines. Saito had been unable to bring the tank regiment into position in time to hit the Americans during the first night, needing the darkness to bring them into position when the battleships and aircraft could not spot the move. But that necessary delay also allowed the Marines to bring up their own tanks and self-propelled guns.

Notes
Jay promises tanks in the jungle, and that’s what he delivers. This is a pretty big scenario, with a fair number of tanks involved even by European standards (though it’s no Kursk in the Pacific). It’s going to be a bloody fight: the Japanese can’t win without driving through the American positions, and the Americans might not have as many tanks as the Japanese but they have plenty of weapons that can hurt tanks. Like Marines.

Scenario Twelve
Japanese Landing
17–18 June 1944
Hoping to surprise the Americans, the Japanese 118th Infantry Regiment loaded 35 Daihatsu landing craft with troops and tried to sneak out of Tanapag Harbor to land behind American lines. The Americans, aware of this threat, had stationed LCI gunboats, armed amphibian tractors and even destroyers to guard against it.

Conclusion
The destroyer Phelps, aided by the gunboat LCI(G)-371 and several LTV(A) armed amphibians, ravaged the convoys. The Americans sank thirteen of the landing craft and pursued the rest toward Tanapag, where a Japanese coastal defense battery damaged both the destroyer and the gunboat, forcing the Americans to break off the chase. No Japanese troops made it to their objective.

Notes
This time the Japanese are trying to land on American-held beaches, which is going to be tough since the Americans know they’re coming. It’s going to be even tougher because the Americans have a gunboat prowling around looking for their landing craft. But if they get ashore – and they do have an airplane that can try to neutralize the gunboat – they have the numbers to do some damage. And they don’t need to do much damage to win.

Click here to order Saipan 1944 right now.
Please allow an extra four weeks for delivery.

Pacific Islands Package
      Saipan 1944 (Playbook edition)
      Marianas 1944
      Leyte 1944
Retail Price: $156.97
Package Price: $125
Gold Club Price: $100
You can order the Pacific Package right here.
Please allow an extra four weeks for delivery.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife and three children. He misses his lizard-hunting Iron Dog, Leopold.

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