A Day of Infamy, Japan 1941 AAR
January 1942: Imperial Japanese Navy Update
The Imperial Japanese Navy decided that January could not be another December. Progress had to be made or Japan would give up the initiative in the Pacific to the Allies and possibly lose the war.
The Philippines
The first action the IJN took in January was to land more divisions in the Philippines. The plan the Admiralty had devised was to capture the province of Lucena and then advance on San Pablo, a province that bordered Manilla. Once San Pablo was captured the divisions there would assist General Baba's troops in capturing the Philippino Captial city. The province of Lucena was unguarded and IJN soldiers had little difficulty capturing it. San Pablo however was guarded by none other than the arrogant Douglas MacArthur!
MacArthur had only HQs to defend San Pablo, he must have sent San Pablo's regulars to defend Manilla. He apparently under estimated the capabilities of the Imperial Japanese Navy if he was to think that we would only send a single invasion force. General Watanabe was competent enough to deal with MacArthur's trio of HQs and several days later he captured San Pablo and began supporting Baba's attack on Manilla.
Even the addition of Watanabe's divisions were not enough to subdue the defenders of Manilla much to the everlasting shame of the IJN. Hirohito and Tojo at this point were so furious that they directly ordered several IJA divisions from Manchuria(ones that were being sent to China, which was thought to be a much more important front, even by top IJN officials) to be transfered to the IJN and used to assist with the invasion of Manilla. The Army and Navy High Commands complied with the order and soon enough Admiral Koga's Invasion Force shipped the units to the Philippines. There order was to assault Manilla itself:
By the end of January it seemed Manilla was finally going to be taken! In February the Philippino and American troops shall pay for the shame and humiliation they brought upon Japan...
The Greater Pacific
While the Philippines was the central focus of the IJNs operations, the Pacific Islands were still not ignored, althought originally they were going to be until a startling piece of intel from a CAG commanded by General Kondo.
The American fleet was no longer at Pearl Harbor. Godo sent his CAGs to patrol the waters sorrounding Hawaii but nothing was found. This meant that the US fleet was somewhere in Japanese waters. What made the situation even more desperate was a telegram the Japanese High Command recieved that same day from Armaments Minister Kobayashi Ichizo reading only:
Almost the entirety of Japanese naval operations were ordered to stop. Even Godo's carrier fleet was ordered to return to port! Only three fleets were allowed to operate: Yamamoto's fleet of battleships(only as long as they were assisting the capture of Manilla by providing shore bombardment), Koga's Invasion Force responsible for reinforcing the Philippines, and a fleet commanded by Admiral Ozawa.
Admiral Ozawa's fleet was responsible for capturing American naval bases in the Pacific. His fleets mission was crucial because now that Godo's CTF had failed to engage the Americans and could no longer engage them due to the fuel shortage, the only way the American fleet could be kept away from Japanese waters was to control all American naval bases in the Pacific that posed a threat. This task was accomplished in suprisingly short order and with zero casualties. Guam, Wake Island and Johnston Island all fell to Japan in January.
The worst news of January comes from Malaya. The motorised division sent to capture Singapore was ambushed, encircled and destroyed. However in the true spirit of the Bushido code the brave soldiers of the IJN fought to the last man and defended the honor of their Nation. This was the most recent map of IJN operations in Malaya:
Transmissions from Fujii's division stopped on January 30th 1942. He and all of his men are to be commended as heroes. Had the IJN not rushed into Malaya and not needed the extra manpower in the Philippines the Fujii and the Malaya offensive could have been saved, however this was not so. Regardless, Fujii knew the risks and brought honor to his nation. The defenders of Malaya will soon suffer the wrath of the Empire of Japan!
January has been a bitter-sweet month for the IJN. The defenders of Manilla have finally begun to crack and American presence in the Pacific is weak at best. However the fuel situation is concerning. While the twenty day deadline that Minister Ichizo proposed proved to be an exaggeration, fuel is still in short supply not only among Japanese stockpiles, but of the stockpiles of many of the Axis powers.
Provided that Japan can secure its fuel supply, February should be a successful month. The Admiralty predicted the Philippines should fall by the end of February! Also many other American naval bases are projected to fall under Japanese control. Some officials have even suggested an invasion of Hawaii take place in February but that is often dismissed as a rumor. Until then, IJN HQ out.
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Sorry for a short update, not that much really happened on the Naval end because of the whole fuel thing. If the IJA update is not up tonight it'll be up sometime friday/friday night hopefully. Thanks alot for reading and commenting everyone!
