Update (December 1st 1944)
0000 December 1st 1944.
Imperial Palace. Tokyo, Japan.
"Good morning your Highness, Gentlemen." Hideki began the meeting. "November appears to have gone fairly well and we will start with an Intelligence round up today."
"Your Highness, Gentlemen. As always these reports are not considered accurate and are merely a rough guide to our enemies strengths and weaknesses." Kuniaki began.
"The Soviet industry has settled down to a firm number and they have more than double our current maximum industrial capacity. Needless to say we would be very hard pressed to win a war with the Russians especially if it becomes a war of attrition.
Their current research is fairly wide spread with improvements in diversified areas.
The numbers indicate a large increase in ground forces totalling some forty infantry divisions and five armoured divisions. If the numbers are correct it merely makes a massive army even larger.
No major changes to their airforce or fleet strengths has been detected."
"The United Kingdom's industry is also unchanged and is larger than ours. They are presumed to be concentrating on increasing the strength of the Royal Navy.
Their ground forces are largely unchanged in strength which is probably correct as we have not been destroying their forces on land.
The Royal Air Force numbers are a long way from being accurate and you can probably double these numbers at the least.
The Royal Navy has increased its numbers by eight smaller ships with their capital ship numbers unchanged. The small ship numbers are not likely to be correct if you tally them against the ships we know have been sunk during the past month."
"The United States industry is the same at its basic level but has seen a small drop in maximum capacity. We do not know what caused this but it is likely to be due to a ministerial change. We do know that Truman replaced Wallace as Head of Government.
Their Army has shrunk by twenty one infantry divisions and three armoured divisions. The number is likely to be far to low for infantry in particular although we know we destroyed several divisions during abortive attempts to take Guam.
As with the British you can at least double the number of aircraft available to the United States.
Their Navy shows a drop of ten Battleships and one Aircraft Carrier. Unless they scuttled several Battleships the number is not accurate and is closer to twenty. We sank two Carriers which means they launched a new one if the number is right. Twenty two smaller ships have also been sunk according to these numbers. As we have no idea what they are producing all we can do is compare these numbers to a list of known ships sunk.
The next month will see the completion of research into an updated Infantry division and improved Naval Doctrines for our surface fleet. I have also started increasing the number of counter espionage agents within Japan to try and capture enemy spies. Nothing further." concluded Kuniaki.
"Industry please."
"Your Highness, Gentlemen. Good morning. The conquest of Communist China has increased our stockpiles to new highs but there are still some major shortfalls in most areas." Ginjiro began.
"Dissent is reducing well and should be totally controlled inside two weeks at which point a large amount of industrial capacity can be used for other things. Transport capacity is still high due to redeployments from China after the conquest of the Communists.
Energy is still a problem but it has turned into a medium range problem rather than a short term problem due to our recent conquests. Metal is also reducing but we have acquired huge stocks of this raw material and it is not likely to be a concern for almost a year if it remains as it is. Our rare materials stockpile is also reducing quite rapidly and will need to be watched closely.
Oil is sufficient for the moment but we do need more especially if we continue to operate both the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air Force at their current levels.
Our supply situation has improved dramatically over the last month and we now have enough stockpiled to allow some extra supplies for offensive use if it is required. I shall continue to increase this stockpile as and when I can.
Manpower reserves are sufficient for now but at their current levels we only have enough to equip a further fifty infantry divisions which may not be enough. I will begin to raise new divisions once our research is complete into the updated version.
Current production is for three Tactical bomber squadrons with further squadrons being constructed in serial for two of three. The first three are due on December 12th. I will order some more convoys after this meeting to ensure our future needs are adequately covered. We are losing some over time to Submarines.
Reinforcements are mostly for damaged ships and aircraft and I will try and maintain a level that will repair all of these units. Required upgrades are large and increasing with very little spare capacity to rectify the situation. This will be a long term project and it could well take most of the coming year to fully upgrade our forces to our current technology level. That is all from me." Ginjiro concluded.
"Anything for Diplomacy?" asked Hideki.
"Your Highness, Gentlemen. Very little to report at all. I am still trying to trade as and when I can mostly with the Soviets and South American countries. Small increases in trade are the best that we can hope for with conquest still our main hope for sustainable resources." said Mamoru.
"On to Military then with the Army first."
"Good morning your Highness, Gentlemen." began Satoru. "The conclusion of the war in China has allowed our forces to strengthen their position in Siam and we have stalled the current British offensive. I will start with the Pacific for my briefing on theaters."
"There has been no territorial change whatsoever in the entire Pacific. Several American attempts were made to capture Guam, all of which failed. The costs to our enemies was large including at least four armoured divisions as well as thier Transport fleets."
"Asia has changed somewhat with the annexation of Communist China. We have two smaller fronts in the region, one of the north west and one around Siam and Burma."
"The north west is totally stable with more than adequate forces to hold this defensive line from a weak British advance so far. We have the added advantage of having just about the only usable air base in this entire region should we need to use it."
"The situation further south is still slightly fluid but a lot more stable than it was a month ago. We have halted British progress in the south by transporting seven divisions to Alor Star but we still consider the center to be inadequately defended once the British forces advance into the mountains in the west. Only time will tell if we need to further strengthen this area. The redeploying troops are nearly all heading for Xiaguan in the north with a few scattering to defend beaches and other priority defensive provinces.
The movement of the Imperial Japanese Air Force to this region is likely to help considerably with our enemies paying for every inch of ground from now on. I have nothing else so over to Minister Osami for a Naval briefing." concluded Satoru.
"Have you finalised your plans Minister Satoru?" asked Hirohito.
"Yes your Majesty, all is in readiness." Satoru replied.
"That is good to know." replied the Emperor.