Chapter Four, Part Five: Sino-Japanese War / Japanese-American War
Nov 1941 - Jan 1942
Previously in the Influence Wars...
Saipan was liberated and the Japanese marines captured the Wake Island. The US Navy lost many ships in the process and the IJN became the dominant force in the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, back-and-forth action continued in China...
And now, the conclusion...
The Pacific Campaign
After Saipan and the Wake Island, the USN was clearly broken and disorganised. We believe that the enemy simply lacked strength to oppose the Japanese advance, which resulted in quick victories at Midway and Johnston. The easiness of these battles were such a stark comparison to the ferocity of the previous engagements that many sailors thought that the war had already been won. In fact, reorganisation of the fleets took much more time than the battles themselves.
A minor but interesting event occurred in early December. One of our patrol groups finally managed to locate and engage the enemy submarines. This was the first time when a Japanese ASW group encountered the American submarines - in all previous cases the engagements involved one of the main Japanese fleets. Unfortunately, the battle was largely inconclusive, as no vessels were sunk on either side.
The biggest success was the conquest of the Hawaiian Islands. The Americans constructed several forts there, but judging from their rather poor state, they were largely unfinished. The Administration believes that the enemy did not expect to be forced to conduct a defensive warfare and that fort construction began after our victory at Saipan. It now seems clear that the Americans greatly underestimated the power of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Yet again, the Japanese losses were quite low.
However, because of the strategic importance of the Hawaiian Islands, a larger force had to be left there as a safeguard against the potential American counter-attack. Since most garrison divisions were still thousands of kilometres away and the Admirals did not want to give the enemy too much time for providing reinforcements for his other Pacific possessions, only 2 naval infantry divisions were available for post-Hawaii operations. Therefore, our losses at Palmyra were relatively high.
Further advance was halted, mostly for logistical reasons. Our victories came so fast that there were simply not enough garrison troops in the region to cover all conquered islands, which meant that marines were forced to perform garrison and occupation duties. Moreover, a direct strike at the Christmas Island was deemed strategically irrelevant. In fact, many officers of the Navy were confused by the strategic implications of the fall of Honolulu. Those who believed that the Americans would sue for peace after losing Pearl Harbour were severely disappointed. The commonly asked question was "And what now?". An invasion of the US mainland cannot really be considered as a realistic goal and even the Panama Canal is outside of our logistical reach. It was only at this point that many young officers finally accepted the prospect of a long, exhausting conflict. The aura of invincibility and overwhelming optimism that had been surrounding the naval staff since the battle of Saipan was replaced by a purely pragmatic approach.
However, since Christmas Island's port was in range of our bombers and our aircraft were not needed elsewhere, it would be a waste of an opportunity to leave the enemy unmolested. Orders were given to bomb the American port and several enemy submarines were damaged.
Much to our surprise, the Americans organised the first counter-attack against our Hawaiian garrisons in January 1942. It was believed that they would not be capable of doing this until May or June. The fleets were recalled from Palmyra as soon as first bombs fell on Hana, so our response was quick. Our patrol bombers spotted a carrier and several cruisers, so it was clear that this was not just a diversionary attack.
The enemy fleet was led by Admiral Nimitz himself and our sailors quickly realised that he was a worthy opponent. Despite being outnumbered in aircraft and leading an invasion, he regularly outmanoeuvred our forces. The enemy's main intention was to actually sink our ships, not just damage them. Even though the Americans were eventually repulsed and lost many ships during the engagement, we lost 2 light cruisers and 1 destroyer flotilla. Additionally, several of our ships were badly damaged, including such mighty vessels as battleships Yamato and Ise. The battlecruiser IJN Haruna barely escaped the battle floating and the AA fire of American cruisers was devastating to our aircraft. Some believe that the American leadership realised that their counter-attack was doomed from the start and conducted it only to provide fuel for their propaganda machine by showing that the war is not yet over. This theory seems validated by the fact that the event received more publicity in the US media than the fall of Honolulu.
Nevertheless, it is hard to be disappointed by the results of the Pacific Campaign. In the matter of months, the Empire of Japan became the dominant force in the Pacific Ocean, scoring victory after victory. Now the main question is how to force the Americans to accept their defeat and win the war.
War in China
In China, there were few reasons to celebrate. The Chinese counter-attack in the South was gaining momentum throughout November and the enemy was capturing territory at a worrying pace. It quickly became apparent that the Chinese were preparing this offensive for months, as it was one of the largest ones they have ever conducted.
The enemy continued to advance in December and was largely successful. It came as a shock to our allies that Gullin itself became threatened. Morale among the pro-Japanese Chinese was clearly at its lowest. The situation looked so grim that General Tojo was forced to transfer another corps to Southern China.
In January the frontline became more static. Many of our troops in the region are exhausted, but the same must be true of the Chinese. The supply situation seems stable, so it may be possible to send even more divisions to the South. The commander of the Canton HQ also requested additional air support. Many Japanese soldiers miss the days when the skies were full of Japanese bombers.
In Northern China, only limited land-grab took place. Harsh terrain and strained supply lines made large-scaled offensives very difficult. In some places the frontline has been static for months now. General Tojo was frustrated by lack of progress in Northern China and personally changed the targets of Japanese heavy bombers. Instead of bombing communist strongholds and villages, our airmen were ordered to bomb Chongqing and Kunming, with some visible results, as apparently the Chongqing's factories were reduced to rubble.
Other matters
In Europe, little progress was made during winter. This is hardly surprising, since neither side managed to gain the upper hand even during spring and summer months. However, in North Africa, the Italians managed to push the Commonwealth forces back a bit, which was unexpected, but welcomed.
In order to alleviate our resource shortages, several trade agreements with Mexico, Peru and Argentina were signed. While not very significant yet, the Japanese businessmen welcomed additional coal, metal and oil with open hands. It is expected that the protection of our trade lines will gradually become more and more important for the Japanese economy.
Construction of several new warships will be finished during 1942. Currently ship construction consumes as much as 38% of the budget reserved for production and remains the top-priority of the Japanese industry, followed by aircraft production.
List of researched techs: Advanced Aircraft Designs, Light AA Armament, Special Forces Training, Light Cruiser Main Armament, Jungle Warfare Equipment, Tank Crew Training.
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*Holy.Death joins the game as the member of the IJA's Strike South faction!