Axis Operations 1946: Ken-GO what's the trick?

[flemfilms]

Last summer/fall I was playing through Axis Operations 1946, was doing great, until Operation Ken-Go. Which I cannot get through.
Every strategy I try, I either get swarmed from the South, Swarmed from the North, Nuked, or a combination of all the above. The AI seems to switch tactics in a really strange way depending on which part of the map I'm doing well on. And it's never consistent.
I hung up the game until this past week, and I'm still stuck after far too many attempts.
IS there a trick to getting through this mission is one (relatively) piece?

[joel_schuster]

I have always dealt with the atomic threat first. Achieve air superiority, then clear everything.

IIRC this is one of the hardest maps. Advance carefully. Work with cover fire alot so the AI does not even bother to attack at least not in numbers. Reduce your number of units, often you do not need that many. Better have some really elite overstrength units, especially the covering fire types like AT, AA and fighter planes.

Make a slow advance to where there is heavy gound combat expected. Setup a bait spearhead by elite tanks covered by elite AT. Keep weaker units out of AI range.

Save that to a separate slot, before moving all your fighter planes. Now move your elite fighter planes to covering positions and let the AI do its turn. If a nuke is dropped, reload and position differently. See if you can prevent the attack. You can do elite fighters that will shoot down the atomic bomber in one go. If the AI has no weak spot in range, sometimes the bomber will not move at all, sometimes it just flies around without attacking.

Elite AA also works. One play through I used a 12.8 cm Flak that had like devastating attack, deadly blow (kills instead of suppression), double support fire, heroes like these work great.. Increasing range by a hero and position on hill can cover big areas. Just make sure you can blow anything from the skies in one bang.