Influence Wars - Japan 1936 HPP Interactive AAR - GAMEPLAY THREAD

Generals, Admiral,

First of all, I’d like to extend my congratulations to the Generals and the troops involved in the successful maneuver in southern China which resulted in the destruction of a full corps of National Chinese troops. This will hopefully ease the strain the men are currently suffering and enable them to advance deeper into Chinese territory.

The USA apparently boasted about their victory at Kiska island, while in fact it was us who won the battle. We managed yet again to sink more tonnage than the enemy, we managed to take the island and we managed to withdraw our forces in good order under very unfavourable circumstances. While we still have to retrieve the marines from Kiska Island, the enemy has suffered at least equally in the battles, which will enable us to have the marines embark transports soon.

While we did lose another battlecruiser and some escort ships, we managed to sink another two escort carriers and several escorts. Many ships on both sides suffered badly. The IJN Kurama, our latest addition to the fleet, received a direct hit to her B turret and severe damage to her engines while the heavy cruiser IJN Abukuma was a wreck, miraculously still afloat, when it reached safety. She had to be dragged in Tokyo harbor by destroyers from 23. Kuchikusentai, since her own engine rooms were reduced to ashes. It’s more than just professionalism which made the damage control crews keep the ship from sinking, it was their utter refusal to have the enemy claim their ship.

This sort of spirit did make a difference, both during the battle and after. Many ships are damanged but damage to the ships can and will be repaired quickly. We’ll reform our fleets and strike back at the enemy.

With this being said, the fleet will reorganize along these fleets:
1st Fleet: 2x BB, 2x CA, 3x CL, 2x DD

2nd Fleet: 2x CV, 1x CVL, 3x CL, 3x DD

3rd Fleet: 1x CA, 2x CL, 4x DD

This force will sail out and retrieve the marines on Kiska island. 1st fleet will provide close support while 2nd will provide air cover. 2nd fleet will receive the be most intact CAGs to replenish losses and give them sufficient strike power. 3rd fleet will rendezvous with six (6) transport fleets and perform the actual embarkation operation. All fleets are ordered to act carefully. We do not want to engage the enemy on unfavorable terms again. This admiral assumes that the whole operation should not take longer than three weeks, thus should be finished by the end of October ’42.

Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to cover all our fronts at the same time with sufficient sea power, hence we will have to react to what our enemies are up to. In case the USA do not strike at our main holdings, we can afford to dispatch our fleets and marines for operations against Singapore and potentially the Indochina and/or Dutch East Indies while the army should take Hong Kong as fast as they can. Seeing only one weak British garrison division as the only force guarding their precious city, the two regular infantry divisions shouldn’t have much of a problem achieving a resounding victory.

Operation plans:
Merchant losses
Considering that we have to fight that many countries, we can not possibly keep our merchants save. Unless it is really necessary, we should abandon the trade deals abroad. At the same time, we should add another run of escorts to the construction queue. We seem to be short on them. Additionally, the administration will form ASW groups if they can operate near our own lines. This is meant to deter the enemy from raiding right under our noses.


Production
Seeing that we are short on everything, we need short term solutions. Thus I would like to request another run of light cruisers being added to the production queue. On top of this, the afore mentioned escorts for our merchants. Other than that, we’ll have to do with what we have. I am reluctant to ask for more garrisons as we seem to overextend ourselves and simply do not have the fleet to engage the enemy wherever he might strike. If the army can spare garrisons (ie for Indochina or Singapore), that would be good enough for us.

I suggest that we continue to improve infrastructure in China. Eleven (11) projects are currently underway and we do need to extend these lines. Again, I advise that we invest into airfields in China as well.

We will finish training many new divisions soon. Four (4) mountaineer divisions, four (4) infantry divisions and one (1) garrison division. These forces should be formed into corps and transferred to the Chinese theatre as soon as possible.

Our current radar levels need more improvement, though. We do need them fully upgraded as soon as possible and have Radar equipment in spare to deploy at strategic locations, ie Singapore or somewhere in north-west China. The more area we can cover with Radar, the fewer the chances are that we are surprised.

Research
See posting by Adm Yamamoto.

Cybvep said:

Concerning garrisons, if the IJA is willing to risk it, there is an option to transfer some garrison troops from China to other places. We could also reduce aircraft production as a short-term solution in order to form several garrison divisions quickly.

The Administration believes that if the Malayan Peninsula is occupied, we will be able to stop tradining with the nations of the Americas, seeing that we cannot hope to defend our trade lines properly.

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To Administration,
we only have one aircraft wing in production currently, we shouldn't stop producing aircraft altogether. In fact, we will need many more, probably CAGs as well as these seem to suffer greatly in any battle.

Cybvep said:

This was proposed just as a short-term solution. It is true that our aircraft losses are high, but we already have more CAGs than carriers and considering the number of projects that need to be completed, a reduction in aircraft production should be considered.

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Again, seeing the state our CAGs are after each battle, I'd rather have more of them than less. Awfully fragile these flythings. I do hope that we get most of our flight crews back, though.

This Admiral supports Adm Yamamotos plan regarding DEI, Malaya and Singapore. It does seem to be the more efficient way to deal with multiple threats at the same time. Once the SNLF divisions are recovered from Kiska Island, this operation can be started.
It'd also leave out Indochina as a war target. Since most of us agree that Indochina is worth more when independant than occupied by us, this seems to be a sensible approach.


Message to Adm Yamamoto:
I very much prefer to assemble 4th fleet after the liberation of the troops on Kiska, thus giving the repair yards more time to get the ships into working condition. Do you agree on the fleet compositions, especially 2nd fleet?
Could we alter your proposal in such a way as to leave forces on Borneo to commence whole occupation? The intention is not to gab more ground but to give us more of an advance warning in case the enemy should land forces against us.

Intelligence should not be expanded. We're short on qualified personal as it is, we do not need to waste them abroad in futile missions.

To imperial administration:

Since we are now at war with the Allies, relations with the Axis should have improved somewhat, shouldn't they? Can we get another update about their naval progress vis a vis the Allies? It might help us assessing the possible opposition we might face from our new enemies.

Cybvep said:

We will inform the Ambassador at once. We will also require Him to learn whether the Axis powers have other information which may be useful to our cause, but it is doubtful that additional information will be provided for free. The Administration also expects that the Germans will pressure us to attack the Soviets as soon as possible.

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The ambassador should notify the Axis powers that we are still struggling with the Chinese and that we do not have the spare manpower to throw at the Soviets. Furthermore, infrastructure in this part of Soviet Russia is between bad and non-existent. The Soviets could stop us with the forces they still have on our border. May be the army would be interested in buying licenses for German armor to help us out against the Soviets? May be Germany or Italy would be interested in our latest light cruiser designs in exchange? Personally, I'm curious about the German submarine designs.

The ambessador should also point out that thanks to our efforts, the USA will be unable to contribute much in naval terms to the war in Europe. This at least means that the RN still has to bear the brunt of the fighting, if such fighting is taking place at all, and that the USA has to invest a lot of their industry in shipbuilding rather than churning out equipment for army divisions. We could provide the Axis nations a full list of sunken USN ships to pull some more weight in negotiations.

To imperial Administration:
For your convenience a compiled list of US navy ships sunk to this date:

Capital ships
Battleships (BB): 12
Aircraft Carrier (CV): 3
Escort aircraft carrier (CVL): 5
Escorts
Heavy Cruisers (CA): 19
Light Cruisers (CL): 19
Destroyer divisions (DD): 34

Others
Submarine divisions (SS): 19
Transport divisions (TP): 25

Cybvep said:

We will inform the Ambassador at once. We will also require Him to learn whether the Axis powers have other information which may be useful to our cause, but it is doubtful that additional information will be provided for free. The Administration also expects that the Germans will pressure us to attack the Soviets as soon as possible.

EDIT: *Since I have an exam on 11th of June and I absolutely have to pass it, I think that it will also be a reasonable deadline.

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If we should accept this, how is the strength comparison atm. on the border? I expect we are at roughly half the soviet commitment.

Operation against Indochina can be considered after we take Hong Kong and succeed in conquest of Malayan territories (the most optimistic calculation would be the second half of 1943). Our reserves should move into Hong Kong now (with possible air support), before the British will think about reinforcing the city. Then we proceed with the Admiral's plan and enact Operation Pāpurumonkī by fulfilling the first phase of the operation - landing in Borneo. By the time we finish all of this we should be prepared to set into motion second phase of our invasion (I estimate January 1943).

I still didn't receive information from our Foreign Ambassador about Indochinese willingness to cooperate with us. Are they willing to give us the transit rights or not? It'd be wise to set up intelligence network in Indochina as well to estimate strength of their forces as well.

I am against any aggressive moves against the Soviet Union. We are not ready to attack them yet.

Cybvep said:

Our Ambassador made contact with the German representatives and reported what follows:

1. The Axis alliance is now totally dominated by Germany, with Italy and Spain marginalised. Therefore, the Germans will be conducting all negotiations.
2. As expected, the Germans urged us to attack the Soviet Union as soon as possible. They believe that Leningrad will fall soon, but they are too overstretched to keep up the pressure forever.
3. The Germans were surprised by huge number of American ships that were sunk, but the Ambassador got the impression that they thought that we were just boasting in order to improve our position during the negotiations.
4. The Germans would be willing to sign several trade agreements with us, which would provide them with rare materials, oil and/or fuel. Those are the resources they need the most and they are willing to transport them using their own armed and unarmed merchantmen.
5. The Germans claimed that they can send their long-distance submarines and provide us with important blueprints. Their submarines, tanks and bombers are more advanced than the Japanese ones. We will have to pay in cash and in small amounts of rare materials (200-400 for each production licence), which the submarines would carry with them on their return voyages.
6. The Germans are much more advanced in rocketry than we are and they would be willing to send their own specialists to help us improve our knowledge in that area, but only when we open a second front against the Soviet Union. As a sign of good will, they are willing to send some basic blueprints (this would increase our rocket theory by 1) in exchange for 600 rare materials and 500 money.
7. The Germans are willing to provide information about confirmed ship losses on a continuous basis, free of additional charge.

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I think we should immediately agree to all the blue print trades, give them another 1000 rares if they want if we get all the blue prints they offer.
If Italy or Spain are missing rares ask the Germans if they would be willing to transport another 1000 tons of rares to those countries. (Hungary & Romania too if active axis)

If we agree to attack the Soviets we would need to build a lot more infantry, I guess at least 40 more in addition to any that strike force south might desire.

Holy.Death said:

Operation against Indochina can be considered after we take Hong Kong and succeed in conquest of Malayan territories (the most optimistic calculation would be the second half of 1943). Our reserves should move into Hong Kong now (with possible air support), before the British will think about reinforcing the city. Then we proceed with the Admiral's plan and enact Operation Pāpurumonkī by fulfilling the first phase of the operation - landing in Borneo. By the time we finish all of this we should be prepared to set into motion second phase of our invasion (I estimate January 1943).

I still didn't receive information from our Foreign Ambassador about Indochinese willingness to cooperate with us. Are they willing to give us the transit rights or not? It'd be wise to set up intelligence network in Indochina as well to estimate strength of their forces as well.

I am against any aggressive moves against the Soviet Union. We are not ready to attack them yet.

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Gen. holy, I think we should leave Indo-China alone unless they join our enemies.
The reason you give that we can use them to attack China in the flank is a very small advantage as it is only a couple of provinces we would add to the front against China but we would have to live with a large connected supply net where half the map would be red all the time. Just imaging units attacking Vladivostok supplied from Rangoon. They don't really have anything we critically need, rares we got and will get more from Malaya and Singapore, they got very few factories but a lot of partisan areas.

To imperial administration:

Do we have detailed information about the US navy vessels in regard to their total numbers? So far, my office has been able to positively identify:
- three (3) battleships
- three (3) fleet aircraft carriers
- ten (10) escort aircraft carriers
- one (1) light cruiser
- twelve (12) destroyer divisions
- five (5) submarine divisions

These units were spotted during battles and not reported sunk. On another note, we have positively indentified a destroyer division designated "96th Destroyer Division". If we are to assume that the USA are continuously assigning numbers to their fleets and if we furthermore assume that 96th is the latest, the USA would have more than 60 destroyer divisions operational at this moment. Considering that we did identify only one cruiser, we think that the USA, in a rush to replace their losses, built a vast armada of destroyers and escort carriers instead of cruisers and fleet carriers.

Adm. Yamamoto: Tokyo

Indochina shall remain an independent and neutral nation. I shall not support any plans that would threaten to destabilise the Indochine Peninsular*. It would be a great folly to attack or occupy Indochina at this time. They are more favourable as trading partners and future allies in the region, then the limited worth of their ports and almost non-existent industry. If we were to attack them, it would give the British an angle on us to move into the region by land. If we ever end up fighting the British overland, it is best to do this in far western China over a small front where we can dig into the mountains and make them bleed India onto us.

As other parts of foreign policy, perhaps I should visit Her Hitler in person to emphasize we are not boasting on American naval losses! I do not think we should sign any long term trade details, the British control Suez, and its too long a journey for any true trading between our nations, even if they do want to use their own ships. Do we need large sums of gold? No.

Remember we could 'leak' such knowledge to the British of rejecting these German proposals to show in essence we are not supporting the German warmongering. While not improving relations, it should at least prevent them from deteriorating under point of principle.

That said, a production license for a modern bomber wing might be in our favour, and so too some basic blueprints in rocketry. Although our diplomatic office will need to enquire as to 'how advanced' such designs are, since what might be a good aircraft for Europe, might not be for China and keeping weapons standardised is always a good idea. Either way, Japan needs to make sure she doesn't get tied down with that demagogue, since while he may be the undisputed master in Europe currently, its not like the fall of Leningrad will end the war with the Soviets.

However as a sign of understanding. We might make clear that if Germany defeats the Soviets, then Japan will consider certain pacific islands being returned to Germany that were lost during the Great War, and the Co-prosperity Sphere Alliance joining the Axis alliance. Japan will not engage with the Soviets, but we would help enforce a Bitter Peace via continued border presence with the Soviet Union. That should help put Hitler in his place to insure that he focuses on Russia.

At the same time, while we have said this to the Germans, I do not believe we should put our hearts in it. It would be more useful to us to have Stalin with us on 'terms of understanding'. Hence we should also consider opening diplomatic channels with him vis-a-vis us and Germany.

After all, if we start trading with Germany, for blueprints or signs of support, that is a threat if Stalin finds out about it with his intelligence network, and might decide not to wait for us to make up our minds, but attack us while we are still embroiled with the Allies and China. Therefore it might be prudent to ask the Politburo that; if Japan is to keep our current position limited with Germany and the Axis powers, then what assurances can the Soviets give us giving the turn of events with the Allies?

There are two routes we could take, first try and form a détente regarding Manchuria. Or we try brinkmanship, telling Stalin that Hitler wants Japan to attack, and we might unless, we can come to some kind of agreement. Remember in the first instance, if we opt for a 'pally option' with Stalin and leak that, it might infuriate Hitler to offer us better terms.

Alternatively. We aim to keep our 'stand-offish' neutrality with regards to both powers.



*War or transit rights (the latter I doubt they will give us anyway). Although could the administration comment on the political factions in Indochina and their current tendencies. The same as well for Thailand.


Fleets & Merchant Navy:
They look weak in general, the 3rd in particular. But I'm not sure what else we can do on this score, even after the new 4th fleet is reformed. CAG losses will remain high due to the negligence of my predecessor on naval aviation doctrines. Until they are up to scratch we are always going to suffer large losses in org and number. Furthermore it is an uphill struggled with the large numbers of American aircraft.

I'm going to advocate on the Merchant Navy we seek to heavily out build our tonnage sunk. More ships means smaller cargo, meaning less lost when a ship goes down. It also means that if we put in place an attrition strategy here, although we shall bleed, it means that we are allocating for the future. If the Americans and British cannot sink all our supply ships, then no matter how badly we could loose the pacific campaign, we would always last longer. We also need more ships to bring home the ores from Malaya. Thus the following should fill our yards from now until the end of the war;

2x Convoy Production 6IC
1x Escort Production 4IC

Tot. = 10IC

Note: If we find several months from now that we have built too big a large surplus of ships we can cut back to 1x Convoy Production.


Research:
I have not made any plan here. I have only listed current techs under research, those recently completed, and those that could be allocated. Both the Navy and Army need to focus a research strategy here. I have outlined three scenarios. We should choose one of them.

Indochina:
I reiterate I don't think we should attack them. Instead we should praise them from overthrowing their oppressors and try and seek them as allies rather than anything else. We need to retain legitimacy, after all we know we cannot defeat the Americans or British via invasion. We can only fight them to a stalemate here in the Pacific and have them give up the war. Therefore we need to make sure our 'borders' have pro-Asian stances, such that they don't give the Allies any chance to strike at our gains in China.

Indonesia:
In long term thinking, Malaya should be set up as a separate Indonesian state encompassing Java and Sumatra islands. We should/could annex off Borneo ourselves as a semi-autonomous region like the Philippines, and this would be favourable as it is a good source of oil.

However I do not believe that we should consider widespread operations against the DEI unless we have secured and locked down China for us. This is because while we have good cause to march into Malaya and take down the British regime there and in Singapore, we are less well placed to have a good reason to march into the rest of the Indies, plus the confined waters, many garrisons, and lack of land based air cover could be very bad for us.

I don't believe we can sustain any operations there until we have secured China, whenever that may be.