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Operation Blossom
4





0200 July 21st 1949.
Africa Army Headquarters. Abadan, Persia.

Higashikuni's Army was making slow but steady progress across most of Africa but there were some problem areas where French troops were growing in number.​

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Central Africa had altered enough to give the enemy numerical superiority which led to an attack on El Obeid province which left the Africa Army Commander with no option but to order a withdraw. Itabana was currently flying in the south to cover Japanese advances in the area but he would have to move north fairly soon or the situation could deteriorate further in the center.​





0200 July 21st 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Sevastopol, Soviet Union.

The switch in attack direction by Hata at the beginning of the month was beginning to pay big dividends as his forces began to grow in numbers in the center where the Allied line had crumbled.​

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The capture of Cracow allowed six Infantry divisions to begin to move over the Czech border with more Japanese forces coming up behind them to cover their advance. Several Allied Balkan states were in very real danger of becoming part of the Japanese Empire unless the Allied Commanders could perform some miracles.​

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The northern flank was tested regularly as the Allies had sufficient forces to counter attack. Hoshinato's Armoured corps received orders to withdraw after it came under attack by numerically superior Allied forces in Oppeln. In general the Allies were more content to move troops south to try and cover the growing hole in their lines which left Hata feeling confident of holding along the north of his line in the long run.​

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Nakajima was concentrating his attacks in the center to make sure that the hole in the line in Czechoslovakia remained open for advancing Japanese forces.​

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On the southern flank Shimoyama lent his support to Yokoyama Isa as he led an assault into Chisinev. The Allied southern line had collapsed much like the center which was now allowing a similar advance in this area against very limited opposition.​

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Nakajima was not only tasked with keeping the center open but also with making certain that the Allies did not break through the northern defences. His bombers had already destroyed an enemy Mechanised division further north as they switched their target to Oppeln following the arrival of Allied troops in the province. The Allies could advance into Hata's defences in two provinces now and he was happy for them to do so. Neither province had usable air defences to prevent bombing attacks after Oppeln's anti-aircraft guns had been over run during the switching of control of the province.​

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At 1600 hours on July 24th Hata received word from General Koiso who had captured the Czech capital of Banuka Bystrica. Amongst the resources liberated was a very valuable two thousand tonnes of Oil. Lt. General Kuribayashi had also advanced deep into Romania and captured Arad without any sign of enemy presence.​

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Beltsy was occupied by advancing Japanese troops on July 25th as only one enemy division remained visible to defend Romanian territory.​





0600 July 26th 1949.
The Skies Above the Mediterranean Sea.

Obata had very few ground targets in northern Africa which led to frequent anti-shipping patrols around the Mediterranean in search of Allied merchant and military ships. Unfortunately the Allies had grown angry enough at the raids to respond.​

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Obata's bombers could hold their own against a lot of enemy aircraft as they were very experienced but they found themselves in trouble over the Gulf of Salerno as they patrolled the Italian coast. Two hours later Obata withdrew back to his base but he had sustained enough losses to keep his own air wing grounded for some time. The other half of his air group also found itself restricted to ground support roles only as a Swiss Interceptor wing was also flying air cover over the Mediterranean to support the Norwegian wing that had attacked Obata.​





0600 July 26th 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Sevastopol, Soviet Union.

Good news continued to arrive at the Central Asia Army's Headquarters as more advances were reported in Europe.​

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Another two thousand tonnes of Oil found their way back to Japan after Lt. General Muto captured the Hungarian capital of Miskolc. Debrecen had also fallen which provided a front line air base for Japanese bombers and interceptors which could easily cover all of Yugoslavia. There was still no sign of any response from either the Italian or Yugoslav Armies to the recent Japanese advances.​

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General Koiso was leading the spearhead of the Japanese advance into the Balkans and his target was Vienna. This meant going through Bratislava as it was the most direct route of march. Support from Nakajima made the task of overcoming the defences an easy one with only minimal time lost to gather enough forces to continue the advance.​

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Any hope of a quick response from the Allies to block the Japanese advance towards Austria evaporated at 1500 hours on July 26th as Shimoyama moved his bomber group to Debrecen to support the advance after he had cleared Romania of enemy forces.​

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He conducted an over flight of Romania on the 27th which showed a complete lack of enemy troops anywhere in the Country. He ended up bombing Bulgarian forces in Constanta which also provided Hata with good intelligence on the disposition of Bulgarian troops along the border. No further attacks would be ordered against Constanta as it was bristling with anti-aircraft guns and the troops were heavily entrenched.​

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Having arrived in Bratislava Koiso received new orders to move directly on to the Austrian capital of Vienna which was undefended. Most of the Austrian army had been destroyed in the early fighting along the Western Front and very few new divisions had been raised. Other Japanese troops were marching through Hungary to secure both Pecs and Budapest which would allow for the annexation of the Country.​

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Hata still had some concerns. There was a noticable build up of Allied forces along the northern part of the front which could cause him some trouble if the threat could not be neutralised. Hata was confident that his bombers could contain these forces however. His two more major worries were the enemy Armies from Yugoslavia and Italy which were refusing to be drawn at this time.​

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At 1000 hours on July 29th Budapest was captured placing more resources in the Japanese reserves. Much more important information was relayed to Hata after Shimoyama had been sent on a reconnasiance mission over Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav Commanders appeared to be more concerned with the potential threat from Bulgaria than Japan.​





0800 July 29th 1949.
Africa Army Headquarters. Abadan, Persia.

The time taken to march from one province to the next in Africa nearly always left Higashikuni's troops exhausted when they arrived at their destinations. This made them vunerable to immediate counter attack.​

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Lt. General Sato's month long march into Nova Lisboa had left his force too tired to resist any counter attack which resulted in an immediate withdraw towards Kalubo. Sato would have to try again to advance after he had marched all the way back to where he had started from.​
 
Good to see that you're back! Great update

I hope life will treat you better onwards :)
 
Quite a few nations will become part of the Empire this month.


Not only do you have Norwegian and Swiss fighters in the Med, but there was also an Austrian squadron in Reggio de Calabria. Yugoslavia seems to be making some foolish choices, however, I think Italy will be better prepared.

Glad to see you back!:cool:
 
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Yes, I think that Italy will force Remble back again, but only to about Hungary. :D
 
Welcome back!

It will be interesting to see, when and with what number of forces the Yugoslavian army will react to you. Their numbers could spell trouble for your southern forces, however if they send them towards you piecemeal ...
 
serutan, Beppo, EnglandWarrior - Thank you. There are likely to be some additions to the Imperial Empire shortly :)

Krogzar, Grapp - Thank you :)

Kanil - Italy and Yugoslavia are still a major concern.

Herr Doctor - Welcome aboard :) Yellow is a nice enough colour to paint the World.

Maj. von Mauser - Thanks. A cookie for you for spotting the Austrian airforce as well :)

ColossusCrusher - Italian intervention may be a ways off yet but it should be interesting to see what triggers their eventual response.

Sokraates - Thanks. The Yugoslavs do have a fairly large army and they are likely to cause me some trouble.

KaiserMuffin - Thank you :)

An Allied meeting is a little overdue so that is what the update shall be ...
 
Operation Blossom

5




09Colognecathedral.jpg

Photo by Maureen Stevens 1949





0000 August 1st 1949.
Allied Headquarters. Cologne, Germany.

Those present:

Sir Alan Brooke - Chairman, Chief of Staff United Kingdom
Douglas MacArthur - Chief of Staff United States
Jean-Marie Lattre de Tassigny - Chief of Staff France
Hans Speidel - Chief of Staff West Germany
Petar Kosic - Chief of Staff Yugoslavia
Mario Cingolani - Chief of Staff Italy

"Good morning Gentlemen and thank you all for coming." Sir Alan Brooke began the Allied meeting. "We are here to discuss the current situation with Japan and how we wish to proceed with this little War. You are no doubt aware that our Spring offensive was initially very successful and we managed to force the Emperors' forces back into Russia quite some distance. Unfortunately things have not gone so well since then."

"We were doing just fine until the Americans decided to take charge of the attack so that they could tell their people what wonderful progress the Allies were making under American leadership." stated Jean-Marie Lattre de Tassigny bitterly.

"Now wait just a minute! Whose troops were largely responsible for the advance in the first place?" replied Douglas MacArthur forcefully.

"Mine I believe." answered Hans Speidel evenly.

"I haven't noticed any change in our progress since we gave you control back Jean-Marie. It seems French leadership is not better than American."

"That is because you got most of our Army blown to pieces in one month after we took a year to assemble it!"

"Now, now Gentlemen. Arguing is not going to get us anywhere and we do still have forces available to us. The Emperor is overstretching his forces all over the World and we still have enough divisions in Europe to force his own army back." Sir Alan Brooke interjected to calm proceedings.

"Sorry Gentlemen but West Germany can no longer provide one hundred divisions to the cause unless you can give me a couple of years to rebuild my army." Hans Speidel stated.

"We greatly appreciate your forces sacrifice Hans but we do have other armies to call upon. Petar and Mario have not committed their troops in Europe yet and the Spanish still have more troops heading towards the front lines. My own army is also growing in size."

"I have to defend against Communism. My troops are required to prevent Bulgarian and Soviet aggression along my borders." stated Petar Kosic.

"Petar. Have you bothered looking at the maps we have been sending you? Japanese troops are on your northern border and I can guarantee they are not going to just sit there. You might wish to move some forces north." Jean-Marie Lattre de Tassigny pointed out.

"If or when they cross my Countrys borders we will respond, but not before."

"We are an Alliance Petar, your troops are needed now, not when the Emperor chooses to force your hand." Sir Alan Brooke tried to pursuade Petar Kosic.

"My Countrymen will fight for their Country. Hitler could not handle his supposed conquest of Yugoslavia and neither will Hirohito." Kosic replied forcefully enough to end that topic of discussion.

"Well Mario you do seem to have the largest Army currently in Europe, how about you mobilise it?" asked Brooke.

"My Country has learned its lesson from the previous War. We need to defend our beaches to prevent an invasion behind our lines. Like Petar our forces will not move until our northern borders are directly threatened." replied Mario Cingolani.

"At this rate that will be in about two weeks. I hope your troops are ready to move?"

"Of course."

"Is there any chance at all that the combined Allied Air Forces might show up at the same time in Europe to halt the persistant losses to enemy bombers? You promised that protection when I agreed to hand over control of my Army to Jean-Marie." asked Speidel.

"The World is a big place Hans and our Air Forces are needed in most parts of it." answered MacArthur.

"I will take that as a no then shall I?"

"That is what it sounded like to me." added Cingolani helpfully.

"It appears that we will just have to allow Japan to keep the initiative then Gentlemen and hope that they stretch themselves too far. Jean-Marie, are you happy to maintain control of our European forces as well as African troops?" asked Brooke.

"I would not say happy but I will, yes."

"At least we are managing to keep the Imperial Japanese Navy more or less bottled up with the threat posed by American Carriers." said Kosic.

"Um, that situation may have altered somewhat." replied MacArthur.

"Oh?"

"Our second largest Carrier Task Force ran into some trouble off the east coast of Africa a couple of weeks ago."

"How much trouble?"

"Enough to convert it from a Carrier Task Force to an anti-Submarine fleet." replied MacArthur sheepishly.

"Well that is just wonderful news Douglas. Now we get to worry about invasions again. My coastline is a little vulnerable you know."

"Relax Petar. My airforce still has a large number of Naval bombers that can cause a lot of damage to anyone who tries to invade in the Mediterranean." stated Cingolani.

"How many is large?" asked Kosic.

"Something like sixteen squadrons all fully repaired and ready to fly at a moments notice."

"It looks like you other Gentlemen may need to be a little more concerned about invasions than Mario or me." Kosic stated after being reassured by his Italian counterpart.

"The Imperial Japanese forces do not have the manpower or ability to launch any such invasions." replied MacArthur confidently.

The large metting room door opened to admit Charles Edison, Chief of the United States Navy. Edison headed straight to MacArthurs chair and whispered to his Commander for several minutes. MacArthurs face slowly changed until he could contain himself no longer. The assembled Military leaders of the Allies knew the imminent signs of a MacArthur explosion and they were all showing on the mans face.

"Oh dear." was all that quietly escaped his lips.

"Douglas? Would you care to enlighten us at all?" asked Brooke.

"Tell them Charlie."

"Yes Sir." replied Edison. "I have just received word of this myself Gentlemen so I am sorry for the short notice. Seven hours ago Japanese forces invaded the United States of America."​
 
Yowza!
Couldn't resist this opportunity to make my first comment on your great AAR. Now go get those Yankees!
 
Kick some Yankee Doodle Ass!
 
Holy crap! I did not see that one coming! Was taking on all of Europe not hard enough for you? :D
 
Can't say as I saw that one coming either... It will be interesting to see where the landing took place.
A West Coast landing would definitely create a challenge, since the US could build up enough infantry to crush you
before you could take out enough IC.