The Setting Sun - Gotterdammerung, Japan 1944.

[Thurak]

When will we hear about Operation Mystery? Who cares about the Bear?

Nah, nice start of the war. I really do hope, you can keep your puppet. How many troops would be lost if you couldn't?

[stnylan]

I wonder what the Soviet build-queue is like. And mp situation. Conceivably they could outbuild their losses for some considerable period of time.

[robou]

Using every man you have. Your bombers are vicious!

[Kanitatlan]

Not matter how careless the AI is with rebuild arrangements current Soviet losses are well below production rate. Eliminating divisions will destroy manpower far more effectively than IC so the Soviet forces may slowly develop a greater percentage of other unit types but basically Remble has a serious problem. Current losses are also partly driven by good weather conditions. For air power to actually defeat the Soviet colossus will require a significant increase in Japanese air power. Actual positive victory, at least in the shorter term, requires something else, I wait with interest. My experience is that even massive air support is rapidly overtaken by a good ground campaign but I cannot see any good opportunity for a really effective ground campaign unless steps are taken to draw the Soviet AI into some foolish strategic manoeuvres.

[Nathan Madien]

Remble, I find your lookout line in the Indian Ocean to be most impressive.

Also, Kanda's command is called "25. Armee"? Does he think he is German or something?

Shh...don't say that too loudly. It might ruin something.

[Remble]

Ruodnane - Not to worry, I was merely pointing out that I do in fact preview all my posts as a final proof read as well as to check for posts during my typing. I actually feel kind of guilty in the way I sank the USN and RN, I much prefer a straight up Naval fight, so I will try not to completely overwhelm the Soviets with bombers, although I could. Besides a semi fair fight is much better reading and does give me the chance to get smashed around a little

Middelkerke - A decent enough start certainly. My CA fleets will hopefully be able to run away if they encounter enemy Carriers. They will probably sink if it happens during daylight hours though. Typo fixed and thanks for pointing it out

germanpeon - I think that sitting on an island for over a year might have addled his brains a little.

alan_le_cowboy - I can manage that I expect. I should probably have already found some secret plans laying around somewhere.

Reado - Some of the released Countries did DoW with FRG being the largest.

Juan_de_Marco - you are correct and it accounts for the missing troops on the intelligence reports. I am fairly certain that my little foray onto Soviet territory also bounced some redeploying troops as that area is far too lightly defended. The troubles for Terauchi become a lot clearer in the next update.

Thurak - Operation Mystery is umm progressing shall we say. Should one of my puppets be threatened with being over run I will try and make sure that all of their troops are on Japanese soil so that I get to keep them all.

stnylan - The Soviet build queue is probably littered with infantry and armour and their manpower is almost certainly very high as their numbers haven't increased too much in the last year of intelligence reports.

robou - My bombers are having their happy time right now but it will get worse once they have to try and bomb enemy troops in mountains and jungles.

Kanitatlan - I dare say you are correct and I might well not have enough bombers. If I mass produce bombers there is only going to be one winner as the AI just can't handle being bombed very well. With some luck the situation in China may well be a fairly accurate reversal of the German attack on the Soviet Union but this time the Soviets are on the receiving end of the space for time approach. Should it not work out that way then I won't need to worry about garrisoning high partisan areas in China as the Soviets will be doing it for me. I don't really know what will happen yet as I have not played far enough ahead.

Nathan Madien - Ozawa managed to find something useful for the Submarines to do that didn't involve them being automatically sunk

Update to follow ...

[Remble]

The Bear

4

0000 May 12th 1946.
Industry Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

Japanese Industry had produced more war goods. The Imperial Japanese Navy would be the beneficiary of the latest labour of the shipyards.

Three new Destroyer Flotillas left Tokyo and headed for the port of Fukuoka where they would patrol close to Japan to prevent enemy Submarine activity. A Soviet fleet had been sighted in the area and they would be likely to see action in the near future.

0100 May 13th 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

Higashikuni was still more or less in control of his borders as no major enemy force had crossed into Japanese territory so far. The bombers operating from Urumqi had been keeping themselves busy, both spotting enemy movements and destroying troops forced to retreat.

The bombers had been attacking an enemy Headquarters when it was joined by two armoured divisions. General Yamada would lead another attack towards Altay to force the latest Red Army troops to retreat. The Headquarters division did not survive the battle.

0200 May 13th 1946.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Harbin, Manchukuo.

Terauchi was becoming more and more aware of the size of the enemy forces along the border he was supposed to protect. He knew there were probably even more Red Army troops in the area that had not been spotted by overflights by Japanese aircraft. The sound of shells landing close by informed him that his defences were about to be tested for a second time.

The enemy was attacking from three directions and had superior numbers. Terauchi had good defensive terrain and his troops were well dug in and waiting for the enemies approach. The battle would be a lot bloodier than Japan could afford. The defence of Harbin was important but the Soviets had not restricted their offensive to just one province.

They had also attacked the mountains of Jilin where General Kawabe was commanding the defence. He would not have to worry overly long about how to hold the enemy forces back as Terauchi ordered him to withdraw towards Liaoyuan to avoid unnecessary casualties.

The battle for Harbin would last well into the night where Japanese troops held the advantage. Despite having part of his force encircled Terauchi would hold the province for the time being. Japan could ill afford too many battles of this nature.

The damage had been made worse by Soviet Close Air Support aircraft bombing Harbin. Mj. General Tanaka's Interceptor wing caught them during their bombing runs and managed to inflict significant losses even though he was outnumbered two to one.

Tanaka continued his flight to the north and discovered the full extent of the Red Army forces decending on Manchuria. Terauchi looked to be in for a very rough time trying to hold this amount of troops at bay. There were simply too many to count.

[Remble]

0400 May 14th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, In Transit.

Ozawa was concentrating on the objectives of Operation Mystery when he received a report of an enemy landing in the Solomon Islands.

The Canadian fleet that had escaped CA Division 3 had indeed decided to make a nuisance of itself and had dropped its cargo off on Kolombangara Island. Two Dive bomber wings left their base on Kwajalein and headed for Bougainville to deal with the intruders while CA Division 3 headed north to try and sink the Canadian Transport fleet.

The Transport fleet did not get far and this time CA Division 3 did manage to sink it. No ship would be able to claim firing the shot that sank the enemy fleet.

1500 May 14th 1946.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Harbin, Manchukuo.

The advance into the Soviet Union to the north east of Mongolia had caused a seemingly large delay for the Soviets who were still trying to recover their position. Terauchi had no wish to push forwards and was content to just hamper any build up along this part of the border.

Six divisions, including some armour, had arrived in Chita. General Koiso saw to it that the Red Army troops received new orders that involved a retreat.

0400 May 15th 1946.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

Soviet troops were appearing almost continuously in Altay province giving the bombers no time to destroy one force before another appeared. So far the concentrations had only been small and easily forced away.

Yamada would attack again and three Soviet divisions would retreat after the fourth disintegrated to the Dive bombers overhead. There was a sizable force of enemy troops moving back into the Soviet Union from Altay.

Lt. General Hirota managed to advance into and capture Khobdo province in Mongolia. A large Soviet army invited him to leave which he promptly did and headed south towards Qumul.

At midnight on May 16th a much larger force arrived in Altay. This time Higashikuni would have no choice but to wait before ordering a counter attack. His troops would probably win with air support but could suffer far too many casualties in doing so. He would wait until the bombers had some time to reduce the enemy numbers. Hopefully no more would arrive in the mean time.

While the troops were waiting in Urumqi they attacked the armoured division that had retaken Khobdo. The battle did not last long and two divisions from Yusun Bulag would try and capture Khobdo again.

2200 May 17th 1946.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, In Transit.

The enemy incursion into the Solomon Islands had not lasted very long. The two Dive bomber wings headed back to Kwajalein after destroying the invading division on Kolombangara island.

An American Transport fleet had been spotted heading north and not towards this island. It would only be a matter of time before the enemy fleet encountered a Japanese fleet as it was heading into patrolled waters.

The Soviet Submarine fleet had decided to leave the safety of Vladivostok. Admiral Triye's field of expertise was as a Submarine Captain so he had little trouble intercepting the enemy fleet with his Destroyers. 24 Kuchikukantai accounted for the single Soviet Flotilla sunk. Triye would pursue the fleeing enemy fleet north.

The American Transport fleet that had been spotted heading north ran into CA Division 2 in the Magellan Rise to the south east of the Marshall Islands. The Heavy Cruiser IJN Ashigara would sink the Dolly Madison Flotilla. The sealanes to the south of the Marshalls were slowly being cleared of all enemy shipping and the south and central Pacific were much safer as a result. The Cruiser fleets were no match for any serious enemy fleet containing Carriers but Ozawa hoped that no such fleet would enter this particular area.

[Sokraates]

Manchuria has prospects of turning into one of the bloodiest battlefields Japan has witnessed yet. If your dug-in troops can't defend a mountain province from an enemy force double their size, you are in real trouble.

Best of luck, for you will need it.

[alan_le_cowboy]

Frightening update...

[Middelkerke]

Manchuria has prospects of turning into one of the bloodiest battlefields Japan has witnessed yet. If your dug-in troops can't defend a mountain province from an enemy force double their size, you are in real trouble.

They can, remble just doesn't want to waste MP if he can trade it for land...

A few questions:

1) What is so important about Khobdo?

2) Will you try and hold Korea? The sovjet forces in the east are far bigger then i expected...

3) There are only 9 divisions in urusqi now? Wheren't there 14?

[Thurak]

to 1) There is an Mongolian victory point.

to 3) I think there are still 14, but he attacks with nine. The last picture shows nine attacking divisions, the one above 14.

[Funkatronica]

wow finally caught up with things, what an epic battle with the Soviets you have!!
it's going to be fascinating seeing how you fallback whilst trying to keep manchuria in the war.

[ColossusCrusher]

But by falling back he opens up the Manchurian capital...this could get messy.

[Phax]

Those destroyers began sinking subs like 3 days after deployment? Thats efficient

[stnylan]

Seem to me like Korea, with all its defensive terrain, could be turned into something of a phyrric victory for the soviets if withdrawal is necessary.

[robou]

While the west is holding, you simply need more troops in Manchuria. Perhaps freeing up troops from Mongolia after making some sort of defensive line might be in order?

[Ritterkreuz]

Great AAR Remble, Good luck with the two bears

[genbrad]

very good fight ahead. INVADE THE US!! J/K. Maybe you should send a spy to kill stalin and then paradrop on moscow and take over as head of state hehehe

[Remble]

Sokraates - I was a little surprised that the battle turned bad almost as soon as it started but it is no major loss as I do have to invite the Soviets forwards a little so that they leave Vladivostok vunerable

alan_le_cowboy - There are a few enemy troops about to be sure.

Middelkerke, Thurak - Thurak answered two of the three questions. I use 9 so as not to be over command but I have used all 14 when needed. They will not be allowed to take anything at all if I can stop them. Korea is a lot longer of a journey than it looks especially when you consider that as soon as they actually enter Korea they are in range of CAS. All of the Red Army forces in Manchuria are out of my CAS range at the moment which is why half are still in the Pacific as they have nothing to bomb. Operation Mystery is still shrouded in secrecy.

Funkatronica - Keeping Manchuria in the War is not going to be easy I think. The saving grace is Changde province which is why I moved north into the Soviet Union to try and buy this province time. I expect to lose all of the eastern provinces at some point but it will become very bloody once I do as again the enemy will enter CAS range.

ColossusCrusher - Xinjing was always vunerable and I do expect to lose it some time. I won't let them keep it if I can throw them out. Soviet troops in Xinjing are in open terrain of course which makes them prime bomber targets.

Phax - The timing was fairly good

robou - Mongolia is actually a trap for the Soviets. I deliberately advanced enough to try and suck troops from both sides of the area giving my own forces less to fight where it actually matters. A lot of the forces in Manchuria are moving north west towards Mongolia and not actively fighting my own troops. While they march through marshes and mountains my bombers kill what is actually engaging my troops.

Ritterkreuz - Thank you

genbrad - The fight is likely to be far too bloody but I like fighting my enemies head on as its more fun than just cutting a hole in their lines and exploiting through it sometimes. The AI is better at this type of trench warfare which makes it a little more challenging.

Update to follow to conclude May ...