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Heavier planes can not outmaneuver our AA guns and have to attack from a much greater distance. This means they will give our ships sufficient time to evade what's coming their way.
 
We've had this discussion before. I just want to mention that battleships are the slowest types of ships and that modern advances in torpedoes mean that much smaller vessels and aircraft (submarines, torpedo bombers etc.) are now dangerous to BBs, hence the need for screening ships and air cover. Unless Admiral Baltasar plans to send the BBs to fight the enemy ships on their own?

The carrier proponents advocate using battlecruisers instead of battleships as the mainstay of our SAGs due to BC's superior mobility and similar firepower to BBs.

Admiral, you also showed little interest in AA development so far. I want to mention the fact that our smallest, most manoeuvrable AA guns (controlled by DD AA tech) are outdated ATM. Ignoring the anti-air defences is suicide in the modern war - times of slow, clunky WWI planes are long gone.
 
Gentlemen and clerks,
While we wait for the Emperors decisions, I'd like to ask each of you to consider when you think your ready for action against our enemies and what the consequences of declaring war at that time is and what forces your faction is going to need to archive that target.

While Strike North has tried to make a long term plan and state what that plan is, then in cooperation with General Yamamoto of strike force south. We have failed to understand what the other factions goals and time plans are, therefore it would be good if we could present our long time goals for the Emperor next time we have a High Council meeting.

A short reminder of Strike force norths plan, needed forces and the consequences of that action.
Declare war on the Soviets the day after Germany to capture the most units possible. We don't expect anyone to mind that we attack the Soviets, except themselves.
In the initial phases we would need 10 Homengun, it might be possible to reduce that after the first phase. Also 6 H.Ftr would be build.
We would need to build some infrastructure to western China and improve a port in Sakahlin and build a total of 2 more Homengun before mid '41.
This would mean we got 14 Homengun and a Mar Homengun, the Cav Homengun will take care of internal security.
So there are 4 later 6 inf + 1 mar for other operations plus all the Gar we can build to secure the rear areas.
 
Influence Levels

1. Industrial Capacity:

IJA - 60%

IJN - 40%


2. Leadership

IJA - 50%

IJN - 50%


3. Manpower

IJA - 70%

IJN - 30%


War with China is still ongoing and I see no need for changes here. However, recently we have been "surprised" by a war with another major country, which may or may not affect our future progress...

General Influence Levels - IJA 60% / IJN 40%

*Note that the General Influence Level doesn't mean much by itself. It's just there to show the average influence levels of both factions.
 
Chapter Three, Part Three: Sino-Japanese War / Japanese-Soviet Border War
Sep 1939 - Dec 1939

Previously in the Influence Wars...

The Japanese troops secured all major Chinese ports and advanced relentlessly in northern China. Two Homegun landed near Shanghai and the Battle of Nanjing has begun.

And now, the conclusion...


Politics





Shoda Kazue was appointed as a new Armament Minister. He is a skilled logistician who will help the Japanese armies with their supply difficulties and make effort to increase supply production.

Our army and airforce both achieved veteran status. The invaluable experience from the war with China will aid us in our future conquests.


Battle of Nanjing





The battle of Nanjing lasted several days. At first, the Chinese defenders outnumbered the Japanese soldiers, but most of the enemy's forces consisted of poorly trained militias. Therefore, the Chinese were eventually dislodged from the city and Nanjing fell.

There are some rumours about a "massacre" that supposedly took place in the former Chinese capital, but such claims are simply Chinese propaganda. Japanese honour would never allow the massacre to take place.

The fall of Nanjing had massive repercussions for both China and Japan. The Japanese soldiers found massive stockpiles of strategic resources and supplies in the city, which aided our war effort greatly. Captured supplies were distributed to places where supplies were needed the most.


The Changkufeng Incident






On 4th of October, the Soviet forces stationed in the Vladivostok Region ambushed the Japanese border patrols and thus started a skirmish known as the Changkufeng Incident. The Empire's forces quickly managed to capture Changkufeng and after several relatively bloodless confrontations, the Soviets conceded defeat.

However, this minor skirmish resulted in the Soviet embargo on the Empire of Japan and relations with Moscow deteriorated rapidly. Later it became clear that this was just a prelude to a much larger border war...


Progress in China





In southern China, the Japanese marines reassembled in Hainan and performed an amphibious invasion in Xiamen. The port was secured quickly and the marines were reassigned to the 2nd Canton Army Group in order to strengthen our defences in the area.






The main objective of the 1st Canton Army Group was to capture as many important Chinese cities as possible. The port of Guangzhou allowed the Imperial logisticians to send more supplies to this theatre and the logistical situation of the Japanese troops has been improving steadily since September. Also, one of our CTFs was moved from the North to support the troops fighting in the South. Thanks to all that, considerable progress has been made.

However, terrain and numbers still favoured the Chinese. As the Japanese forces advanced deeper inland, the Chinese resistance became fiercer. Our casualties are high and casualty ratios are no longer favouring us so greatly.





In northern and central China, the main objective was to capture strategic railways and advance in the direction of Baofeng. In general, our armies have been quite successful in this theatre. The logistical situation was greatly improved when they achieved their first goal and they are advancing steadily.


The Japanese-Soviet Border War





Apparently, the Soviets were not happy with their defeat from October and they engaged the Japanese troops in Manchuria in the last days of November again. This time it was a start of not just a small skirmish, but a full-blown border war.






The Japanese SAGs began regular patrols in the home waters after the Emperor received confirmation that the Soviet ships sunk several Japanese convoys. Most of the CTFs were busy in China, but the Emperor personally ordered one of them to bomb Vladivostok. He believed that it was high time the effectiveness of the torpedo bombers was tested.

The results exceeded all expectations. All Soviet subs docked at Vladivostok were sunk in just two days. The Emperor was very pleased with the results.

The CTF is now supporting the advance of the Japanese troops in the region.






Another decisive Japanese victory was scored in the battles of the Taiwan Strait. It was a prime example of the importance of naval-air cooperation. At 5.00 on 17th of December, two Japanese SAGs sighted the Soviet SAG and the Japanese ships opened fire. The Soviet battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna was sunk and the Soviet light cruiser soon met the same fate. The rest of the Soviet fleet escaped.

However, two Japanese CAGs held in reserve on Taiwan began air patrols and they found the remnants of the Soviet fleet several hours later. The enemy vessels were torpedoed, but most of the torpedoes missed their targets. Especially submarines were hard to hit. The Japanese SAG and several Japanese submarines were informed of the enemy's positions and moved to engage the Soviet vessels.

Two Soviet light cruisers stood no chance against the Japanese battleships supported by torpedo bombers and soon enough, one Soviet light cruiser was sunk while another one was heavily damaged (one of the torpedoes nearly sent it to the bottom of the ocean). Unfortunately, most of the Soviet submarines escaped.

As a result of the engagements, the Emperor ordered the Navy to find effective means of fighting the enemy submarines. He claimed that we could not hope to find and sink all enemy submarines in ports.





Both sides made limited progress on the Mongolian border. There are only several Japanese cavalry divisions in the area and we have no reserves nearby. The sight of Soviet armoured divisions caused some of our soldiers to panic, as they have few means of confronting the enemy tanks.





Generally speaking, the Japanese soldiers, despite limited numbers, performed very well against the Soviets. However, we cannot hope to deal significant losses to the enemy without additional troops. There is also no doubt that the enemy will soon bring more soldiers to this theatre.


Overview of the situation in China





The economy and other matters






The industrial output of Japan is at record-high values and the industrial expansion program is still active. The supply requirements are now rather stable and are no longer increasing at so high rates. Ten new garrison divisions were dispatched to guard the Chinese ports, one new figher air wing was formed and another one will be formed soon. The Japanese shipyards got new orders for a light carrier and a light cruiser and both these vessels are expected to be ready in early 1941.

Our spies reported that both the communists and the nationalists now suffer from significant economic problems. Is it the sign that war in China is coming to an end?
 
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Politics:
The Soviets couldn't have picked a more unconvenient time for their petty attacks. It is surprising that they actually had their sea forces around at all, they must have known that those units would be dealt with quickly by our far more numerous fleets. Do we know what exactly they are after? Ie, do they want Manguko, South Sachalin or a Communits China?

Chinese front:
The war in China is going reasonably well. The capture of the RoC capital means that they'll have to do without the stockpiles they had there plus they have to reroute all their supply routes through worse terrain than before. The SNLF did a fine job by landing behind the Chinese forces. This maneuver should be repeated further up the coast. In Fuahou also has an airport, so this would also alleviate another concern for the army. Questions:
- Where is the current RoC capital? The army might want to know where the Chinese supplies are coming from.
- How fast can the army force a RoC surrender? This might be important because we might consider neglecting the Soviet front for a short while if we can knock out China quickly.

Sea battles:
Again, the enemies of the empire failed to inflict serious damage to the Japanese navy. As it is the emperors wish, we'll invest into ASW technologies. We still consider the worth of planes in sea battles to be over estimated. The Soviets were fleeing after suffering considerable damage at the Battle of Taiwan. We assume that they were trying to make a run for the Indian ocean, realising that they wouldn't stand a chance if they stayed in Vladivostok. Once engaged by our battleships, they were forced to return. The submarines which were sunk in Vladivostok were most likely abandoned already, their crews having realised the uselessness of any attempt to leave port in the face of overwhelming odds arrayed against them. Hence the subs were sunk without much resistance from either of the crews. The same result could have been achieved with a landing operation by the SNLF, forcing the Soviet crews to either surrender or sail outside into the guns of our fleets.

Production:
We need to invest into something to get rid of the Soviet tanks. Specialised AT brigades spring to mind, but we could as well field our own tank units or invest more heavily into land based planes. The army has to come up with ideas here, but we'd be willing to consider this particular demand important enough to postpone more ship construction until the IJN Yamato finishes construction. If the army should not need this offer, we would like two more light cruisers to be started soon. The emperor required ASW capabilites and those are our most advanced ships in this regard.

Research:
It does seem that we're on track here. A lot of doctrines have been finalised lately. Time to invest into AA and ASW techs.
 
The Vladivostok bombing shows the power of modern air force. It also shows that once subs are in ports, they can easily be sunk by aircraft. Otherwise, it might be very hard to find and destroy them. Those subs were not disorganised or abandoned at all - they were probably planning to leave the port soon, so the bombing most likely saved some of our convoys. SNLF was unavailable at the time. In fact, they are still supporting the 2nd Canton AG, which has only 1 Homegun at its disposal.

In my opinion we should try to end hostilities with the Soviets as soon as possible. A two-front land war is simply not in our best interest.

We may try to counter the Soviet armour with our airforce. Of course, more AT guns and more artillery is always nice, but they also consume additional supplies and cost much IC.

It does seem that we're on track here. A lot of doctrines have been finalised lately. Time to invest into AA and ASW techs.
I agree. We can presume that the western powers will have more advanced submarines, so they will be even more dangerous. I also think that we could form small patrol fleets using the ships from our reserve. It is unlikely that the Soviets have more surface ships in Asia, so those patrol fleets would not be in much danger.

My only worry is that we will consume much fuel by dealing with the submarine threat.
 
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In my opinion we should try to end hostilities with the Soviets as soon as possible. A two-front land war is simply not in our best interest.

Agreed.

I also think that we could form small patrol fleets using the ships from our reserve.

It seems that we did that already when at war against China, though these units were meant to hunt merchants themselves. It's prudent to have them hunt submarines, although we should remind ourselves that the Soviets will have few, if any, assets left in the area and what they have has suffered substantial damage in many cases. This in itself will limit the number of targets for these hunter groups, though it might be a good opportunity for our commanders to gain some more experience.
 
It seems that we did that already when at war against China, though these units were meant to hunt merchants themselves.
We still have 22 units in reserve, including 8-9 destroyer flotillas and multiple heavy and light cruisers. Even though outdated, the destroyers are still our best submarine hunters.
 
I believe that now is a perfect opportunity to develop better ASW and AA guns. Most of our naval doctrines are up-to-date (next techs in line are 1941 ones), so we do not have to research them ATM. This gives us more breathing room and there are several important techs which affect ASW and AAs:

1. Destroyer Design Principle (required for Light AA) -> Light AA (affects ALL ship types - it is very useful!)
2. Small Warship ASW (helps CLs and DDs in anti-sub operations and improves escort efficiency - very important)
3. ASW Tactics & Carrier Escort Role (mostly for escort efficiency, only one would be researched at the same time)
4. CL AA (CLs will be present in all our fleets and they can provide covering fire with their superior AA guns)

The neat side-effect of those development is the improvements made to our DDs. Our obsolete destroyers can be upgraded with modern ASW equipment, which will make them much better submarine-hunters. DDs are also cheap, so we can always build more relatively quickly.
 
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Plus the navy as a whole has already agreed that if we could spare the resources, these techs should be researched.

However, I'll have to look and see what Carrier escort role does exactly before agreeing to that one.
 
Congratulations to our dear Admirals for defeating the Soviet far east fleet.

Knowing Russian thinking the Black sea fleet, the Baltic fleet and the Murmansk fleet are on the way to the east just as in 1904-05, it would be prudent to surprise them a bit south of the Tsushima Strait, like in the Singapore Strait.
Among the units the Soviets will be sending is 100+ subs and some pre-dreadnought battleships.

Even if the Soviet subs are not as out dated as their battleships they are not as modern as those who will be fielded by our later enemies so success against them will not automatic mean success against the CW's or USA's submarines.

I would suggest the navy tries different options for our sub hunters, from 1 DD patrols over DD's dedicate to escorting one convoy line to different sub hunter configurations, f.ex. CVL+2DD, CVL+2CL+4DD, 3CL+6DD.
 
Dear Generals and Admirals,

I am deeply worried about the Chinese counter-attack in central China. I think that I do not need to remind you that the railway that stretches from Shanghai and Nanjing to most of northern China is our logistical lifeline. Without it, we will be forced to use poor dirt roads or transfer supplies from far away. I believe that Shanghai AG needs to be strengthened with additional troops - preferably, they should be transferred from northern China, where we adopted a defensive posture.

Also, I think that we have to the possibility that Yunnan may support the nationalists. We have made considerable progress in China and it is doubtful that they will stay neutral forever. Should they join the nationalists, China will probably hold out several months more.

Given our current capabilities, there is absolutely no way of conducting a two-front warfare effectively on both fronts. Unfortunately, we have almost no reserves (only three infantry divisions in Japan), so we need to prioritise one front over the other.
 
Considering this, the army has to decide whether or not to active the divisions currently in Japan for combat duty abroad. Question still being if we should neglect our front with Russia or instead aim to end the border dispite swiftly, so we can concentrate on China.

Furthermore, what is the emperors decision regarding the establishing of puppet regimes in China?
 
Furthermore, what is the emperors decision regarding the establishing of puppet regimes in China?
It seems that most of the High Command senior staff prefers a direct administration over an indirect one, so unless this changes, no puppet state will be created. However, under no circumstances the Emperor will authorise the creation of a puppet before war in China is concluded.
 
In this case we need to reconsider our envisioned construction plans, as the army will need infrastructure programs in the region. Mind you that an improved infrastructure would have to go far into the east-north-east areas of China, so we can use it to supply our forces in a possible war with Russia.
 
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