In defense of Freedom, a USA Kaiserreich AAR

@salidas16: Not happening, at least not now. If the war starts to go very bad for Japan however, there could be a KR version of operation August storm....

@Kasakka: I think you are underestimating the amount of challenge I am facing. I am playing on hard mode, and do not have access to all of the IC i could be on Normal. My military is not the most powerful in the world, with my best divisions, the mechanized and armoured ones, being useless in the Pacific theatre, with only a few exceptions. (like australia) I am facing a numerically superior and technologically advanced IJN that has had almost 5 years to prepare for war, and is now in the process of pummeling the US navy. My airforce is also small and antiquated (with the exception of my jet fighters, but I do not have a huge amount of those.) It will take far more than a year to bring down the Japanese.

@thatguy, son of liberty: To tell you the truth I have no idea how some of the naval battle mechanics work. I have read somewhere that heavy cruisers were good for defending carriers, and have had no problem with using them in the past in my CTF's. I think part of it might have to do with the Japanese superiority in doctrines and carrier tech though.

@serutan: Well, the original plan was to have Japan DOW me while the war against the syndicalists was still raging, then I could have had a proper 2 front war. When their AI failed to do that, even after the syndies were beaten, I decided to import a modified version of the vanilla pearl harbour event, and programmed it to fire around April 7th, 1945, and start a big Pacific war.

@everyone else: thats for the comments!

Authors note: Small update today. I haven't been able to update this AAR very much recently due to RL priorities. I have tons of research to do and papers to write over the next month and a half, so updates will be pretty slow. However, expect things to pick up again around April.

American battleships continue to prowl around the seas near Australasia. On this occasion, they run into a small force of Japanese and ANZAC ships, easily sending most of them to the bottom of the sea.



Meanwhile, Spain installs a constitutional monarchy.


ANZAC naval bombers are intercepted over the central Pacific ocean by the USAAF. The advanced jet fighters rip through the enemy bombers, sending most of them into the ocean before the fighters are forced to withdraw to refuel.


American battleships scout out the coast of Australia, while sinking more enemy vessels. The ANZACS do not have very in depth beach defenses, at least for now. Before an invasion can be mounted however, the US will have to first clear out the multiple island bases that surround the Australia and New Zealand.


Nimitz's carrier task force runs into a Japanese surface fleet under the command of Admiral Yonai, and led by 2 Japanese battlecruisers. The American carriers soon make quick work of the elderly Japanese capital ships, bombarding them with multiple bombs and torpedoes, until both battlecruisers are destroyed and the Japanese retreat.



An aerial skirmish between interceptors of the USAAF and the Imperial Japanese Air Force in the skies near Iwo Jima. The battle is somewhat inconclusive, as both sides take similar casualties before withdrawing.


Chile, which had declared war on Japan, is finally convinced to join the allied powers, a very welcome boost to the alliance in the war against Japan.

@Johnny Canuck: Well I do not think most of the AI mods I made would be in any version of KR. They have mostly been made in the savefiles , and they have been done to account for a game where the USA wins the civil war.

@History_Buff, serutan: I am actually going to hold off on invading Australia for now. I want them to build up their defenses more so that I can have a big land war there. Instead, my efforts will be focused on Indonesia, the Philippines, and all of those island chains in the south and central pacific.

@1against50k: Don't know, but I do not really care enough to make one. I am going to make sure that Japan's home islands are saved for last in the pacific war, so I can have a nice, apocalyptic operation downfall in the home islands.

A massive Japanese carrier task force, commanded by Admiral Yamamoto himself, is spotted by USAAF patrol planes south of Wake Island. Admiral Nimitz is immediately ordered to intercept the Japanese fleet.


Nimitz engages Yamamoto's carriers just north of Midway Island. The battle of midway quickly becomes a bloodbath, as Japanese and American aircraft pound each other's ships with bombs and torpedoes.



The battle finally ends as Nimitz withdraws towards Hawaii. The battle turns out to be one of the darkest days of the US navy. Casualties are huge, with three carriers and four heavy cruisers being lost to the Japanese carrier aircraft. Casualties on the Japanese side are just as devastating, with 5 cruisers, 3 battleships, and 3 aircraft carriers being sent to the bottom by the US navy. Although the US might have sunk more Japanese capital ships, the naval strategic situation in the pacific is leaning heavily in Japan's favour, with yet another USN carrier task force now out of commission.


In response to these heavy losses, the US government orders the construction of 6 brand new carriers of the latest model, to be followed by even more up do date models later on.


Yamamoto is harassed by USAAF bombers as he attempts to withdraw back to Japan. US bombers succeed in sinking a Japanese cruiser, but fail to cause more extensive damage to the 2 surviving carriers.


With the situation desperate, the US government takes military control of the Canadian armed forces, including the powerful Royal Canadian Navy. A large Canadian task force, centered around 6 carriers and a similar number of battleships and battlecruisers, is ordered to move into Vancouver, in preparation for action in the pacific ocean. Some in the US navy question the decision to send the obsolescent Canadian fleet to the pacific, but their objections are overruled by the need for more, combat ready carriers against the Japanese.



The only USN carrier task force left in the pacific now is Admiral Halsey's powerful 3rd fleet, centered around the best carrier's in the United States navy. Until more ships can be repaired and built, and until the Canadian fleet arrives, Halsey will have to hold the line against the IJN on his own.


In the south pacific, American battleships once again intercept a small group of Japanese vessels, this time near guadalcanal. Japanese losses are huge, with all of their cruisers and destroyers being sunk.

@Austria Hungary: I am not sure I will do that. After losing almost all of their battleships to US carriers, and seeing the effectiveness of their own carriers against the US navy, I think Yamamoto and his supporters will get their way, and phase out all BB production for more, and better aircraft carriers.

@Meadow: I am glad to see that my bloody carrier battles are really impressing people. That is one of the coolest things about the KR mod: the huge, and powerful navies that many of the world's powers possess. Sometimes it feels like everyone and their dog has at least a battleship floating around.

@Asalto: Ah yes, I should probably give more details:

Huey long and the AUS main leadership: Huey Long himself committed suicide in the port authority building of Miami harbour as US federal troops stormed the city. (his suicide is documented on page 6 of this thread) Many of the AUS leadership were either captured in Miami, or escaped to Cuba and Mexico, where they were ultimately rounded up after the US interventions in those countries.

John "Jack" Reed and the CSA leadership: Jack Reed was able to flee the country as Federal troops stormed the CSA's last strongholds in Detroit and Chicago. He fled by submarine, along with a handful of supporters, to the Commune of France, where he lobbied for an Internationale invasion of the United States while the US military and government were still somewhat vulnerable in the aftermath of the war. His dream of the Combined Syndicates of America was ended when US troops captured him in Paris during the collapse of the French Commune. He has since been extradited back to the United States, and is awaiting trial for treason, war crimes, and other charges.

Frank Merriam and the PSA's leadership: I think I should have probably dwelled on them a little more, since all I didn't really mention their leaders and their cause very much, mostly because I viewed the PSA and its war for independence as just a sideshow to the much more crucial fighting that took place in the heavily industrialized and populated eastern part of the country. I think its safe to say that due to the less ideological type of struggle in the west, you can assume that Merriam and his top officials would probably not be executed, but probably spend most of the rest of their lives in federal prison. Many of their underlings, including some of their best generals however, got a much greater amount of leeway, and even served the United States in the war against Syndicalism and the current war against Japanese tyranny.

Hope that clears things up.

@Ciryandor: Interesting info. However, I have one question: You mentioned that CL's can fire at enemy ships if they get in range. However, wouldn't CA's be just as good for that situation, if not better?

@everyone else: thanks for your comments!

Currently, the Allies only major land front against the Japanese and their client states is in southeast Asia. There, at least 1 million Indian soldiers, supported by Canadian, French, South African, and some Latin American aircraft, are grinding through the jungles out of Burma and into central Siam, facing bitter resistance from the Royal Siamese army and Japanese reinforcements moving in from China.


The first batch of American combat troops arrives in the south Pacific in American Samoa. From Here, US forces will begin to hove on the southern island bases that form the outer perimeter of Australasia's defenses.


Protected by American battleships, US forces sail to the islands of Tarawa and Vanua Levu, with the goal of seizing these territories as part of the beginning of a large island hopping campaign.


US troops make contact with the enemy in Vanua Levu, one of the Fijian islands which is owned by Australasia. There, US troops face stiff resistance from a division of ANZAC infantry, supported by heavy artillery. With the help of numbers, and fire support from American battleships, the ANZAC's are defeated, and the island falls.


Meanwhile, Tarawa falls without a fight. It seems that the ANZACs don't have enough soldiers or transports to defend all of their island bases.


US infantry clear Fiji of ANZAC presence, securing the last vital strategic point of this island chain.


As the fighting continues to rage in the pacific, in Europe, the transfer of power in France to the French Nationalists is finally completed. Philippe Petain, and the many thousands of French who had been forced to flee for Algeria during the French revolution in the 1920's finally return to their homeland, which now becomes the new French Republic, with its capital in Paris.


A large air battle takes place in the skies near Iwo Jima, with Japanese interceptors taking American jet fighters head on. The battle proves to be highly one sides, with the Japanese fighters being no match for the faster, heavily armed P-80 shooting stars.


US forces now land on Noumea, in the New Hebrides island chain. Surprisingly, defending the island are not Japanese or ANZAC troops, but rather Manchu infantry from the Fengtien Republic! The Manchurians prove to be capable soldiers, offering stiff resistance, but are eventually forced to surrender.


After taking Fiji, US forces decide to pull back to defend the air and naval base on Vanua Levu, believing that the US navy will be able to stop any landing attempts on Fiji. However, the ANZACs prove the US navy wrong, landing on the island during the night and reestablishing their control. US forces are quickly sent to retake the island, which they do successfully, this time making sure that a garrison is left there to prevent another ANZAC landing.