Forgotten Hope: FH2 Stuff & BF42 Map

By mid-1944, Allied forces in the Pacific had driven Japanese forces back to the main line of defense for the home islands. If the Marianas fell, the newly introduced B-29 Superfortresses that could base there would be within range to strike directly at Tokyo, making Saipan--the largest Island in the northern Marianas--a position that Japan could not afford to lose.

U.S. Marines began landing on June 15th, gained a thin foothold after a day and a night of bloody fightiing, and were reinforced the next day by Army units from the 27th Infantry Division. An attempt within a few days by Japanese naval forces to counterattack resulted in the Battle of the Phillipines Sea, which ended a disastrous loss for Japan by the 20th. Without hope of reinforcement or resupply, Saipan's defenders held out for almost three more weeks, most of the last remaining forces perishing in a suicidal charge on July 7th.

As a last bit of eye candy we want to highlight a couple of items that were made especially for this map by Rad. Neither have any place on a North Africa map, but they will be returning in FH2 on Pacific maps in the future. First we have a beautiful wood and reed hut.

And, in keeping with Rad's tradition of making extremely slow-moving, unarmed vehicles, we have the Harbor Sampan.