Pacific Armor:
Scenario Preview, Chapter Three
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
March 2026

Those who play Panzer Grenadier games know that it centers infantry, just as it was in the actual war. The guys on foot decided battles. But players like to play with tanks, and in the Pacific War, there just were not many tanks on the battlefield. So we haven’t published a great many Panzer Grenadier games set during the Pacific War.

Panzer Grenadier: Pacific Armor brings the tanks to the Pacific. It’s an expansion for Saipan 1944. You’ll also need Elsenborn Ridge, Marianas 1944, and Leyte 1944 to play all of the scenarios. in its scenario set, the Japanese 2nd Tank Division faces the American invasion of Luzon with their Shinhoto Chi-Ha tanks. Which might have done the job in 1940, or possibly 1941. Definitely not in 1945. But the Americans don’t have a great many tanks. And that’s the situation in the first months of 1945 in Luzon’s central valley. Let’s have a look at the third chapter of Pacific Armor.

Chapter Three
Tropic Lightning
The U.S. Army’s 25th “Tropic Lightning” Infantry Division, formed in Hawaii in late 1941, had already seen a great deal of combat against the Japanese by the time it landed in Lingayen Gulf in northern Luzon on 11 January 1945. Two regular infantry regiments (the 27th “Wolfhounds,” one of those supposedly enemy-applied nicknames, and 35th “Cacti”) and one from the Washington National Guard (161st Infantry) provided the striking power. Like most American infantry divisions, it also had attached tank and tank destroyer battalions.

A patrol from 25th Infantry Division follows a Sherman tank. Luzon, 1945.

The veteran division took up its position on the eastern (left) flank of the Sixth Army’s southward advance from Lingayen Gulf, which placed it opposite the Japanese 2nd Tank Division. The division’s regiments had already clashed with Japanese tanks when they commenced their advance into the foothills at the southern end of the Cordillera Central mountain range. Now as they followed the Japanese into the areas where the enemy had hoped to form a defensive redoubt, they would encounter many more tanks dug into defensive positions.

Scenario Eleven
Behind Whose Lines?
29-30 January 1945
The 27th Infantry Regiment set up camp along the road leading from Gonzales toward Pemienta and then on into the mountains. That put them astride the retreat route of a small Japanese force heading eastwards. Both the Americans and Japanese appear to have believed themselves well behind their own lines; this came into question when the Japanese ran into the Americans and tried to push on through.

Conclusion
The small Japanese detachment apparently lost all of its heavy equipment in the breakthrough attempts, which lasted until 0400. That included eight irreplaceable 105mm howitzers, along with eight tanks, and 125 men. The Americans suffered 60 casualties, but their advance had not been slowed.

Notes
It’s a quirky little scenario, with the Japanese trying to sneak past a well-manned American roadblock. The Americans know exactly what the Japanese are up to, and off-roading it won’t go easily n this tough jungle/mountain terrain.

Scenario Twelve
Wading Through Shit at Umingan
1 February 1945
At part of the two-pronged attack aimed at the strategic crossroads town of San Jose, the 25th Infantry Division would force its way south-eastwards down Highway 8. To get to San Jose, they would have to capture several fortified towns, starting with Umingan. The town had a reinforced battalion for its garrison, and when American troops spread out to attack, they found that the rice paddies had recently been fertilized with masses of human waste. Still, on they came.

Conclusion
Japanese fire swept the paddies, forcing the advancing Americans to sprawl in the open sewage. The advance stalled, with well-camouflaged Japanese anti-tank guns driving off the small contingent of American tanks. Umingan held through the day, long enough for the Japanese to withdraw under cover of darkness. The American advance would continue, but this interlude had cost them 170 casualties.

Notes
The U.S. Army encounters the defensive prowess of poop, though in this case it wasn’t deliberately deployed. The Japanese have a strong position, given the otherwise open ground the Americans must cross. But as always, American firepower can erase many other shortcomings.

Scenario Thirteen
First Clash at Lupao
2 February 1945
The next town down Highway 8, Lupao, had been turned into a minor fortress much like Umingan. The town fell into 2nd Tank Division’s sector, and the Japanese had dug in their tanks to compensate for their thin armor and allow them to ambush the American Shermans expected to spearhead the attack. The Japanese had abandoned Umingan after a day’s defense but did not seem so inclined at Lupao.

Conclusion
The Japanese had done little to protect the flanks of their position, and dug in all of their tanks, leaving themselves with no mobile reserve. The Americans matched their lack of subtlety with a frontal assault that stalled under heavy automatic weapons, light artillery, and anti-tank fire. Despite the unimaginative defense, Lupao had held so far.

Notes
The Japanese get the opportunity to set up a better defense than they did in reality, but the Americans likewise get the chance to conduct a smarter attack (there’s room to outflank Lupao if the Japanese cluster around it). So unless both players are unusually inept, the game is unlikely to resemble the actual battle. That’s how it goes sometimes.

Scenario Fourteen
Lupao Again
3 February 1945
The American advance up into the mountains couldn’t go forward without Highway 8 fully secured, and that meant that Lupao had to fall. Twenty-Fifth Infantry Division brought up more artillery (both towed and self-propelled), more tanks and more infantry. Once again, they would go straight at the Japanese. The Japanese, for their part, had picked up a few reinforcements and had no intention of retreating.

Conclusion
This time, the Americans pressed their attack into Lupao itself, engaging the dug-in Japanese tanks with rockets and grenades, and fighting the Japanese infantry house-to-house on the southern outskirts of the town. The Japanese held on and finally ejected the Americans from their foothold. While the rest of the American division slipped past Lupao on secondary roads, the 35th Infantry stuck around to try again.

Notes
The Americans have brought up more tanks, men, and guns. The Japanese still don’t know when to give up. A frontal assault may now be a viable option.

Scenario Fifteen
Escape from Lupao
8 February 1945
On the evening of 4 February, Yamashita had ordered the 2nd Tank Division to withdraw into the nearby foothills. The troops defending Lupao didn’t receive the initial message, nor the increasingly strident repeats of it over the following days. In the early morning hours of the 8th, the defenders finally attempted to abandon the shattered rubble that marked where Lupao had once stood.

Conclusion
Only eleven tanks could be made to run, and they attacked westwards in a tight formation that caught the Americans by surprise. Five of them made it past the American perimeter into the tropical forest beyond, where their crews abandoned them to set out on foot to join the Japanese forces retreating into the mountains. While the Americans chased the tanks, the rest of the garrison slipped away as well. The Japanese had taken terrible casualties, but they had inflicted the desired delay on the American advance.

Notes
Escape! The Japanese are trying to get away, and the Americans are trying to stop them. The Japanese don’t have to go very far, but there are a lot of Americans in their way.

Order Pacific Armor Here.
Please allow an extra six weeks for delivery.

Order Saipan 1944 Here.
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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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