fell, strike, attack, punish
伐 centers on forceful action against a target: cutting down, striking, attacking, or punishing. The meanings share the idea of bringing something down with deliberate force.
伐 combines 亻 (person) and 戈 (halberd, a weapon), suggesting a person wielding a weapon to strike or cut down. This is a standard semantic-component explanation.
A person 亻 holding a halberd 戈 is ready to fell a tree, strike an enemy, or attack. The weapon and the person together mean forceful action.
For バツ, imagine a lumberjack swinging an axe to fell a tree with a loud 'bats!' sound: bats -> バツ, and the tree comes crashing down.
subjugation (using military force); suppression; subduing
felling timber; cutting down trees; logging; lumbering
brutal (atmosphere, society, etc.); savage; fierce; violent; bloodthirsty; stark
conquest; subjugation; overcoming
periodic thinning (e.g. forest)
to cut down (e.g. trees)
conquest of the three Koreas (legendary military invasion of the Korean kingdoms; 3rd century CE)
final cutting (of trees); regeneration cutting
reckless deforestation; overcutting of forests
felling
time for harvesting (of trees)
felling; logging
shelterwood forest
narrow partisanship
Northern Expedition (China; 1926-1928)
attacking in all directions
selection cutting (of trees); selective cutting
subjugation; attacking; conquering
Imjin War (1592-1597)
to fell a tree