Historical Background:
After the American landing at Leyte, the use by US Air Force of several Japanese built airfields was a menace for the Japanese lines of communication between South Pacific and Japan. Imperial General Headquarters decided to recapture the Burauen airfields and General Yamashita, commander of the 14th Army, ordered an airborne operation jointed with a land offensive to execute the mission. In late evening of 6th of December 1944, paratroopers of the 3rd Airborne Raiding Regiment were dropped on Burauen area in spite of a US hard anti-aircraft fire which shot down several Japanese planes. Once landed, the paratroopers joined infantrymen of the 16th division and captured Buri and San Pablo airfields. US command reacted quickly and sent 149th Infantry Regiment (38th USID) and 382nd Infantry Regiment (96th USID) to reinforce units of the 11th Airborne Division who were already fighting against Japanese paratroopers. The battle lasted until 10th of December, when the Japanese high command ordered to the troops to abandon the airfields and to withdraw in the mountains.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history.

Briefing:
Axis player[Japan] : 4 command cards, you move first.
Allied player [United-States] : 6 command cards.

Conditions of Victory:
6 medals.
Each airfield is a temporary medal objective for the Axis player.

Special Rules:
- Use "Japanese Imperial Army" rules (Nations 3).
- Place badges "Giretsu" on the 6 dropped Japanese infantry units (Troops 2 - Specialized Units).
- Use "Night Attacks" rules (Actions 19).
- Use "Paradrop" rules (Actions 20). On the first turn, the Japanese player drops 6 infantry units in the center of the board, that is the only action of this player in this turn.

Scenario Bibliography:
- Magazine Ligne de Front hors-série n°16 - Les Paras, Tome 2 - l'Axe.
- Historia Magazine 2e Guerre mondiale n°80 - La bataille de Leyte.

Official scenario of FFM44. Played during the tournament at Nantes on the 09th of November 2013.

Warning:
Please note that this scenario was not approved by Richard Borg or Days of Wonder, so you have to check yourself about playability, potential gaming issues, etc.