S3 Series

After the catastrophic loss of Task Force Z, the Allied defenders braced for the onslaught of the Japanese 25th Army. To the west, the airfields at Sungei Patani (SAF26) and Butterworth (GAF11) were under IJA control. To the east, the landing strip at Bertram (LAF32) was also now under IJA control, but Royal Engineers had plowed a trench across the middle of the strip, making it unusable in the near term.

Allied airforces were concentrated at Ipoh airfield (F28), supporting the defensive position at Kuala Kangsar (HQ49). At dawn, four Blenheims and eight Buffalos headed NW to blunt the air attack coming from the north. The Blenheims attacked a truck convoy advancing though Taiping (F100), destroying 7 trucks, two light tanks and fuel stores. One Blenheim was lost to IJA action, but not before shooting down its adversary. The remaining Blenheims escaped to the south-west and eventually landed at Kuantan (GAF29) on the east coast.

Thirteen minutes into the battle a swarm of Ki-43 fighters was over Ipoh, dropping bombs across the airfield. Seconds later IJA bombers struck and the Ki43s descended to maching gun the remaining structures. Sixteen minutes later, the airfield was knocked out of action. In the air, seven Buffalos were shot down for the loss of four IJA fighters and one bomber.

The IJAAS focus rapidly shifted to the defensive positions at Kangsar (HQ49) and the defences at Ipoh. At the same time IJN G4M1s attacked the airfield at Kuantan (F29) on the east coast, narrowly missing RAAF Blenheims taking off to strike the IJA road convoy and bridges at Dungun (F100). Over the next thirty minutes wave of IJA aircraft bombed and strafed Kuantan, knocking it out of action, but over the same period RAAF Blenheims were able to distrupt the IJA advance, destroying several bridges and much motor transport at Dungun before escaping out to sea and south to recover at Endau (LS34).

The air war in the west took a strange turn. RAF defenders escaped to the airfield at Kuala Lampur, at the troops at Army HQ and Impoh expected to be annihilated almost immediately. Instead, the IJA concentrated a great deal of effort attacking the farming village of Enggor (V38), a place bereft of military targets. Scores of villagers were killed after multiple bombing and strafing attacks. This was an atrocity comparable to the bombing of Nanking or Guernica. Unopposed, the IJAAS were eventually able destroy the defensive positions at F49 and F64, but oddly unable to quell the spirit of the villagers at Enggor!

The battle in the air was a dead heat, with both side losing seventeen fighters and five bombers.

While the IJA closed two GAF, a Ville-Base and an Army HQ, Allied aircraft inflicted heavy damage on the axis transportation system.

Scoring for the frame:
Allied: 89.75
Axis: 89.0