Chapter Four, Part Six: Sino-Japanese War / Japanese-American War
Jan 1942 - Apr 1942
Previously in the Influence Wars...
Almost all American Pacific possessions were conquered, but a counterstrike conducted by Admiral Nimitz cost the Japanese several ships. The Chinese started a major counter-offensive in Southern China...
And now, the conclusion...
War in China
Chinese Breakthrough in Southern China
The Chinese counter-attack worried the Imperial General Headquarters, but nobody expected that the enemy would be so successful. As late as February the frontline looked stable, but in March the Chinese managed to create a sizeable breakthrough north of Gullin. We had no reserve in the area, which meant that the enemy advanced more or less unopposed. Changde and Changsha were threatened, but fortunately, we managed to bring reinforcements in time.
The frontline did not collapse completely only because of General Tojo's intervention, as he personally transferred 3 corps from other areas to the South. The Canton HQ now has a total of 90 divisions at its disposal, but not every division is in battle-ready condition.
Additionally, one of our CTFs has been supporting the troops fighting in Southern China for over a month. Although the sight of Japanese bombers was a morale boost for our exhausted soldiers, the effect was largely diluted by the fact that the Chinese were so successful.
The Administration believes that if Gullin falls, the Guangxi Clique will collapse.
Northern Stalemate
The situation in the North remains static. Both sides are focusing on the fighting that is taking place in Southern China and it is unlikely that the northern front will see much action in the near future.
Overview
Despite the fact that we have been bombing the Chinese factories for months (or even years in some cases), our spies report that our enemies have actually managed to
increase their military production recently. The Administration believes that this was caused by several factors. Firstly, our strategic bombers are not incredibly efficient even during daylight operations. While the initial bombardments can be destructive, the enemy can repair the damage relatively quickly as soon as our bombers start attacking other targets and we do not have enough aircraft to attack many targets at once. Secondly, it is believed that our enemies managed to get their resource situation under control and this allowed them to mobilise their economies further. Presumably the Chinese communists are trading with the Soviet Union and the Chinese nationalists - with the Commonwealth. Thirdly, both the nationalists and the communists managed to conquer some land, which probably increased their potential.
The Pacific Theatre
Conquest of the Christmas Island and the Phoenix Island
The remaining US possessions in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean have been conquered relatively easy. The US Navy made no attempt at protecting them. However, the real strategic gain is minimal. In fact, some believe that the Americans actually allowed us to conquer these islands easily, because our "gains" can potentially do us more harm than good by over-stretching our supply lines and forcing us to station troops in relatively unimportant places.
Naval and Air Clashes
Just several days after the Phoenix Island was conquered, our aircraft spotted several American ships near Hawaii. It was believed that it was a patrol group, since all spotted ships were rather small. Surprisingly, when the 3rd Battlefleet encountered the enemy, it turned out that this "patrol group" was, in fact, a massive American carrier task force. Our pilots were fooled by the small size of the US carriers, but there were 10 (this is not a mistake:
TEN) of them. A fierce battle ensued, but it was inconclusive. However, since many of our ships have received heavy damage, the fleet was forced to withdraw to Honolulu.
The enemy was relentless and soon enough, both sides clashed again. This time we managed to bring other battlefleets to the area. The enemy did not have enough screening ships to protect all his carriers properly and suffered as a result of this mistake. IJN Kaga's torpedo bombers passed the AA fire of American destroyers and delivered the fatal blow to one of the US carriers.
The last naval engagement took place near the Johnston Island. The Japanese forces had to spread over a large area and only one of the battlefleets could take part in the battle. Despite the fact that several Japanese ships were damaged and the light cruiser IJN Kitikama was almost sunk, it was the enemy who suffered ship losses. When IJN Yamashiro closed in to the US carrier, it stood no chance against Yamashiro's guns.
Unfortunately, our ships were either too damaged to pursue the enemy or failed to find his task force. However, several air battles took place near Hawaii when the Americans were returning back to the safe heaven of ports on the US West Coast and we managed to destroy some of the enemy's planes, although not without losses of our own.
Ship status and military intelligence
*Status of Japanese ships as of 3rd of April 1942
Our submarines have recently begun the blockade of the US West Coast. Since gathering intelligence about enemy's strength is as much important as sinking American convoys, they have orders to keep a low profile. We received worrying news in March - one of our submarines spotted 17 US carriers docked at one of the American ports. Since most of these vessels were small and some of them were damaged, it is likely that this number includes the carriers that our fleets have previously encountered. It seems that despite their grave losses, the US Navy has more carriers than the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The Administration believes that most of these light carriers were ordered in late 1940 andwere originally intended to protect the US supply lines and provide air cover for American battleships. However, after suffering massive ship losses, the Americans were forced to use these vessels as the primary capital ships of the US Navy.
Other matters
War in Europe and North African Theatre
On 23rd of January 1942, the Kingdom of Spain formally announced that it would support Germany and Italy in their war against the Soviet Union and the Commonwealth. This was a surprising development, because Spain was a country which did not openly express any intention of joining the struggle against the communists and the imperialists. However, the prospect of the Soviet victory in Europe was probably too much to bear for Franco's right-winged state.
Thanks to the increasing influence of the Japanese intelligence, the government of Japan was one of the few institutions in the world which knew beforehand that Spain would join the Axis.
The situation in North Africa is clearly very dynamic. By February the forces of the Commonwealth conquered most of Libya and encircled Tripoli. It looked like their victory was only a matter of time. However, in a daring and surprising move, the Italians managed to encircle several Allied divisions and pushed the enemy back from the suburbs of Tripoli in March. Nobody, not even the Germans, believed that the Italians were capable of conducting a manoeuvre like that.
In Europe, the frontline remained mostly static, with the exception of southern Ukraine. The Axis forces managed to push the Soviets back and took the Sevastopol fortress. It remains unclear whether they will be able to hold it, but the Eastern Front in Europe has not seen developments like that in months.
Japanese Economy
*Ignore the second H-FTR wing, it was a mistake on my part.
Several new infantry divisions and 2 new air wings (one fighter wing and one CAG) have formed recently. Most importantly, however, construction of 2 new ships, a light cruiser and a carrier, has been finished. It is expected that four additional ships will be constructed during 1942, including a battlecruiser. After that, new orders for shipyards will probably include 2 modern battleships.
The question of the potential development and formation of several mountain divisions was a central issue during the last meeting of the Imperial General Headquarters. Ultimately the issue had to be resolved by General Tojo. He did not believe that new mountain infantry formations could be formed quickly enough in order to severely affect the outcome of war in China, but saw potential in them nevertheless. When properly trained, these divisions could increase the array of strategic options at the Army's disposal, especially in supply-constrained areas, which are numerous in Asia. Thanks to the now high efficiency of the Japanese intelligence, part of the budget that had been reserved for funding of the actions of our spies could be shifted to the mountain infantry development project.
Resource shortages continue to plague the Japanese industry. It is only because of our sizeable stockpiles of strategic materials that we do not have to make severe cutbacks in military production. Most of the resources are being shipped from areas outside of Japan itself, so the defence of our trade lines is pivotal to the war effort. Fortunately, thanks to our successes in the Pacific Theatre, the American submarine threat has been greatly reduced.
Cooperation between the Empire of Japan and the Axis powers
The Axis powers were willing to share the information about confirmed ship losses with us, for a price. We had to supply them with 6k supply and 2k money units. The Administration analysed various documents we received and compiled the list that is visible above.