Chapter Five, Part Two: Sino-Japanese War / War with the Allies
Oct 1942 - Jan 1943
Previously in the Influence Wars...
The Aleutian Campaign resulted in several naval clashes and despite the fact that the American losses were more severe than the Japanese ones, the operation had to be aborted. The end result was a strategic and operational victory for the USA. Moreover, the USA joined the Allies.
In China, the Japanese forces counter-attacked in the South and the North, destroying several Chinese divisions and pushing the enemy back. However, the Chinese managed to conquer Changde.
And now, the conclusion...
The Pacific Theatre
After the the United Kingdom's declaration of war, the number of potential targets for our submarines increased dramatically. Even though their main role now is to patrol hostile waters and gather intelligence, the Japanese submariners made the most of the beneficial situation they found themselves in and destroyed many Allied merchantmen. However, the Americans are becoming more and more efficient at finding our submarines, which results in more frequent clashes between the US surface ships and the Japanese submarines. In one such engagement our submarines engaged the whole American task force.
When our submariners and pilots reported an increasing enemy naval activity near Hawaii and spotted several transports, our reaction was swift. The 4th Fleet was hastily formed and sent to Honolulu, where it would serve as a deterrent against the invasion of the Hawaiian Islands and engage the enemy fleets when necessary. Soon enough, our fleet encountered a small American task force. During the battle, the USN lost one light cruiser, while the IJN lost no ships. Unfortunately, we did not manage to find the American transports.
In November and December the Japanese land-based aircraft engaged the enemy's CAGs several times, but there were no further clashes between surface ships. Much to our surprise, it appears that the Americans have no intention of attacking the Hawaiian Islands at the moment and that their real goal is to support the Commonwealth forces in the Southern Pacific. Alternatively, the Americans may simply be trying to bring our attention to the Central Pacific in order to force us to station our ships there.
The marines who were stranded on Kiska were rescued by our fleets and the Americans were most likely too weak to intervene. Still, the whole operation took a lot of time because of the reorganisation of our fleets and poor logistical situation on Kiska. Therefore, the attack on the Malaya began only in December. Further delays could be fatal, as the enemy would have been able to bring much more significant forces to the region.
The first phase of the operation went flawlessly - the Japanese marines secured the local ports and airfields in northern Borneo and soon enough the Japanese heavy fighters were patrolling the skies, covering our troops and fleets. The enemy's naval bombers harassed our fleets, but failed to cause significant damage. Our infantry disembarked in ports and started to move deeper inland, but still remained close to the coastline - just as it was planned.
The problems began when our marines landed in the Malayan Peninsula. Two marine divisions secured the northernmost port on the Peninsula and pinned enemy troops there, while three divisions attacked Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, the enemy's resistance was stiffer than expected and despite heavy air support the marines failed to take Kuala Lumpur in a frontal assault. Having only limited supplies, the marines decided to encircle Kuala Lumpur and attack it from several sides and capture the port located west to the city if possible.
On the 31th December the Allied task force appeared out of nowhere and engaged our fleets stationed in the Singapore Strait. The battle lasted several hours and the enemy lost one destroyer flotilla, while we lost no ships. Nevertheless, several of our ships were damaged and it was deemed too risky to remain in place, so a decision was made to withdraw the fleets to Borneo, while most of our CAGs would continue to support the marines fighting on the Peninsula. In an unexpected turn of events, the Allied task force returned with doubled strength. Neither our submarines nor our planes managed to locate the enemy before the battle began, so our fleets were caught by surprise by several British capital ships and hundreds of enemy planes while most of our CAGs were still bombing the enemy in Kuala Lumpur. This was a disaster - the enemy's aircraft swarmed our ships and several British battlecruisers opened fired against our destroyers and cruisers. The crews of our screening ships fought valiantly and it is only their bravery that saved IJN Kaga from certain destruction. When our CAGs were returning to their carriers, they spotted flames from afar and responded by adopting the battle formation. They were soon joined by our heavy fighters and a fierce but short air battle ensued, the shortness being caused by rapidly deteriorating weather conditions. Heavy rain brought the end to the naval battle as well and ships from both sides were consumed by fog. The end result was that we lost several destroyers and cruisers, while the Allies lost 2 cruisers, a destroyer flotilla and 2 transport groups.
Three of our SNLF divisions are now facing an increasingly difficult supply situation and they are still far from port. We do not know how many troops the enemy can bring to the area, but our pilots say that they cannot have many more divisions there. Still, Kuala Lumpur is heavily defended and it is doubtful that the marines will be able to capture the city without additional supplies. What is worse, the Royal Navy now controls the waters around Singapore. Our pilots spotted several heavily damaged ships docked at Singapore's port, but we are certain that it is only a part of the Allied naval strength in the region. Most of our ships that are combat-ready are still docked at various ports in Japan or in Honlulu. Fortunately, our CAGs are in a good condition.
War in China
In South China, our troops moved forward, although the price in bodies and materiel was high. The battles in Lipu and Binyang alone resulted in about 12 thousand casualties and although the supply situation in the South is stable, the terrain is harsh, the enemies - numerous and the air support - now limited. At least the Chinese are no longer on the offensive.
Several additional divisions have been transported to the South, including 4 new mountain divisions. We will see how they will affect the situation there.
Further north, our troops managed to reconquer some of the lost territory and the Chinese are now clearly on the defensive. Our main goal was to recapture Changde and the Japanese soldiers are entering the province as we speak.
The supply situation in Central China has been improved significantly, although it still remains relatively the worst in all of China.
Despite the fact that Hong Kong was defended by a single garrison division, three assaults were needed in order to capture the city. The Japanese forces triumphantly entered Hong Kong's streets on 15th of November and our merchantmen have been transporting cargo to Hong Kong's port since then. It is the biggest victory against the British that we have managed to achieve so far.
Other matters
On 15th of October 1942 the German troops entered Leningrad. It was a major symbolic victory and a morale boost for the Axis, but its real strategic significance is unclear. In Ukraine, the Axis managed to reconquer Odessa, but the Soviets succeeded in forming a local encirclement and trapped several Axis divisions. Their fate is unknown to us. Excluding these events, the general frontline has remained mostly static, with provinces changing hands back-and-forth.
Lack of any authority of the pro-Axis French government resulted in a coup d'etat. The Germans intervened and annexed the French State within a month. In Africa, Spain made a pre-emptive strike against Morocco in order to prevent the newly created state from supporting the Allies at the most inconvenient moment. However, the Axis frontline in Libya collapsed and the Allies were steadily moving forward.
As of 2nd of January 1943, the Allies are approaching Oran and are steadily advancing in Spain. The Axis still controls some regions in Central and Western Africa, but it appears that strategically war in Africa has already been won by the Allies.
Our submariners and spies gathered some intelligence which may be useful. Apparently the Americans are investing heavily in their airforce. Several of the Allied Pacific possessions appear to be lightly guarded, but we know that the Allies have some ships there. Our deep cover agents gave us limited reports from the UK and it looks like the potential of the British economy has been dramatically increased by the American support, although the exact accuracy of the reports is disputed.
The Chinese potential appears to be lower than it once was. The Administration believes that it is the combination of our recent gains, our strategic bombing campaign and increasing war exhaustion among the Chinese.
The government and the intelligence have started a propaganda campaign in order to boost the morale of the Japanese population and the results are already visible. However, the activity of foreign spies is visibly increasing and their actions have a negative effect on our research and production capacity.
Recent army recruitment surge and heavy casualties suffered in China have dramatically decreased the available manpower. Moreover, supply production needs to remain high in order to cover the needs of the ever-increasing Army. The Navy has shrunk in size because of the losses suffered in the Malaya, but the construction of one new light cruiser has been finished and a new cruiser was ordered, which means that we are constructing 4 modern warships (1 battleship and three light cruisers). The budget has been heavily strained, so cuts had to be made. Radars received top priority (we already have two radar sites which we will be able to deploy quickly in Singapore when the city is conquered). Construction of a rocket test site was prioritised over aircraft production after the new fighter wing was formed. Trade agreements with the Americas have been cancelled in order to avoid an increase in merchantmen production. Reinforcements and supply production received a bigger share of the budget than the modernisation of the military. None of this was pleasant, but we cannot just pretend that we can do everything at our leisure.
Secret cooperation between Germany and Japan is showing its first results. German blueprints arrived by submarine and they will greatly aid us in the development of rocketry, where we lag behind the other great powers. It is a long-term project, but a one which we cannot ignore even if it puts us at a short-term disadvantage.
Admiral Yamamoto's idea of a dual specialisation of our CAGs (close air support and naval attacks at the expense of dogfighting capability) has been definitely rejected. We cannot just hope that our CAGs will have the luxury of land-based air cover all the time and they need to put up a fight in the air when faced with serious opposition. Moreover, General Tojo believes that our CAG losses have already been unacceptably high in many cases and such a risky change could increase our aircraft losses to the levels that could be extremely dangerous.
-----
Addendum