Correction: we have two corps of mountaineers, since each mountain infantry division has 3 brigades.
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
- Status
The Administration made an error in the report. We have several warships stationed in Manila (IJN Nagato, IJN Yahagi, 13 Kuchikusentai), which were moved there from Borneo after the Allied bombers attacked one of our ports. They are severely damaged, not at full strength.
The error has been corrected.
The error has been corrected.
Regarding the proposed plan of operations by Admiral Baltasar,
Navy operations
The operational plan for the navy operations looks doable, I like the idea to clean the pickings first before moving back to focus on the US.
To avoid the supply disaster from the Aleutian campaign in the new Midway/Hawaii campaign the Administration must seek to make some long ranged fleet that can be supplied from good bases far away, so only the short range fleets needs bases in the immediate vicinity. The most modern BB/CV+escorts might be able to cover our entire area of operations from Truk.
Air
I'd like to propose we station a H-Ftr division of 3 wings in the general area of Kuching/Batavia/Singapore/Oosthaven set to intercept so that the area covered is north Malacca/Singapore Straight to east of Java if possible from any of these bases. They will then function as early warning against enemy CV fleets.
Another H-Ftr division must find a base (Wake?) that is within range of Midway, that can supply them, remember fleets have much further range than the planes so the fleets should be able to station further away so they don't compete for supplies. For the Hawaii campaign it might be that Johnston Island is the only potential base.
Have we remembered to promote airmen to lead the huge air battles?
Promote any skill 5 pilot to 3 stars, any 4 to 2 stars and insure that all CV groups has a leader that can control the groups own planes + at least 3 more.
Officers
The army would want to allocate another 0.5 LS to officers as our rating is not that good.
The army generals could also need a review, promote the best one step if possible and demote the worst of the higher giving their posts to the former, keep a few Gundan commanders unassigned for use in new Gundan's.
To lessen the supply demand by Garrisons and MP(as a group known as Gar) we should organize the Gar in China in reasonable formation so that we can give them an Old guard supply officer to command them, if there are many Gar in an area it might start with a Gundan, else use Homengun which are all lead by an Ichigun. Example make an Ichigun in a province which covers most of China, if there are more Gar than can be controlled by the Ichigun and there is an area where the Gar are close use a Gundan as multiplier else use Homengun.
And before anyone complains, I realise this puts an even greater strain on our officers pool, but it will lessen the supply demand in China. Prefer to use generals with maximised skill for these duties as they wont get any further skill increase.
Army strategy
The shift of troops to the central front is a resounding success, the southern troops are no longer in danger of starving themselves and the central front and especially northern part of the central front can make better advances now that they are strengthened and in better supply. Central front should take over more of the frontage from the north front as it wraps itself around the Com-Chi's, hence the need for reinforcements
To insure we stay supplies the effort to build rail must be concentrated along the row red hatched provinces that goes from Shanghai to just south of the Com-Chis's boarder, then west and west-north-west from there (see map HOI3_2361). Also on the same map you can see that our current buildup just south of this line (where the Theatre HQ is) is not used as the preferred route, so stop building up there (don't start new project on those 2? provinces). The province between Chungking and Changde should also receive one(1) improvement to help with further advances in that direction.
On the south front the only infra project is the province just north of Changsha, the imminent occupation of Guilin will also improve the supply flow in the south.
The southern forces will soon lose Bose again as the province is totally bombed out and it will stay that way as it will change hands every time the defenders gets low on supplies. The other attacks west there are also doomed but the front will be re-invigorated after Guilin and the provinces west of it falls so the overall advance should continue but slowly.
Operation bulge
General Holy proposes that we try to make a pocket of the Chinese front bulge at Changsha, this is an opportunity that must be tried, but we shouldn't stake everything on it as it will likely result in that the Chinese withdraw most of their troops.
Due to the increased forces in China we now must calculate with 2 divisions per province and that one in 4 divisions will still be out of commission or moving all the time, so a Homengun is able to cover just 3 provinces effectively, the forces opposing the Com-Chi might need fewer as they dig in.
Operation as follows the Ichigun responsible for the Bose front will set an attack direction and target directly north of our current northern most extrusion we have in the south, that is just south of Chungking. This Ichigun will need one Homengun to cover the west and 1 to make the attack north.
The other Ichigun in HQ south responsible for the Changsha front, will set to defensive during this operation, target set on all our provinces from Changsha to and including Guillin, this shouldn't need more than 2 Homengun.
Now I count 130 front-line brigades in the south, which is still far too many, 8 mnt and 53 other division, approximately 61(56= 7 Homengun) this is barely fewer than last time! we need to move one or 2 Homengun north, if the Changsha Ichigun has 3 give one to the central armies Ichigun else take it from one of the others.
The central front has 67 frontline brigades or approximately 33 divisions(32=4 Homengun) and North has 38 brigades or 19 divisions (16=2 Homengun). Norths responsibility should be all provinces bordering the Com-Chi for which its forces should be enough, they might even take some weakly defended provinces from them.
Central fronts 4 Homengun is just not enough to advance reasonable, transferring another Homengun from south will help balancing ideally 2 should move up.
Lets see if the supplies should be able to hold up, each division uses around 4 supplies and with 6 Homengun we should have around 50 division for a total need of 200tons per day. HQ Norths needs of 80 tons/day should be supplied by Korean supplies or a very low need from Shanghai any way this need splits off at Nanjing where we have level 10 supply net.
To get the 200 tons of supplies through to central we will need a infra level of around 7 (7*7*4 = 196) should correspond to the lowest of the green colours. This is the case well beyond Nanjing, also the northern most divisions seems to draw supplies off HQ norths net.
This also explains why HQ south has troubles, there are around 40 port levels near the front, supplying around 240 supplies (level*6 in hpp), to supply 61 front line divisions (=244 supplies)+12 Gar+ planes if any, and the current use of nearly all provinces for transportation which costs extra. So removing 1-2 Homengun should see most of the supply troubles go away.
The central front Ichigun responsible for the Changde front will set attack direction and target to Chungking. Estimate 2-3 Homengun needed, should have a frontage of around 4 provinces but Chungking is among the targets so it needs a little extra punch.
The other Ichigun on the central front (we have two right) is responsible for the northern part of advancing into Xibei toward the should just continue, 2-3 Homengun as it will need to cover the north flank too, might give the 3rd to HQ north when we advance further and let them cover the Com-Chi all the way.
Organisation before the battles and after battles
HQ North
Area of responsibility: All provinces bordering the Com-Chi and East Mongolia. (mostly north of the Yellow river).
Forces - 1 Ichigun of 2 Homengun to keep the Com-Chi in check and take lightly defended provinces, those will be in the south and west parts. Reinforced to 3 Homengun after the end of operation Bulge to compensate for increased front.
Targets - all Com-Chi industrial centers.
HQ Central
Area of responsibility: All areas south of the Com-Chi down to Changde including Chungking and west of those. (Mostly from Yellow river down to Yangtze's watershed(is this the correct word?) with Pearl River)
Forces - 4 Homengun + 1 immediately from HQ South (the nearest to avoid unneeded rail movements)
Targets - Chungking for the forces participating, nearest Tibetan boarder for the other Ichigun both with direction.
HQ South
Area of responsibility: South of Changde (up Pearl River)
Forces - Currently 7+ Ichigun, immediately give one to Central at the end of operations give one to north, by moving it to the coast and sail it north.
Targets - The Changsha Ichigun targets all its border provinces including Guilan, the Bose Ichigun targets the province just south of Chungking and next to our province, with direction there.
Research and production
The research and production plans proposed by Admiral Baltasar has many good points, but I must object to the following.
The H-Ftr project must continue, and while it is questionable if more planes can be effectively deployed against China, they have other purposes.
The main purpose of the H.Ftr is to supply long range fighter cover all over the Empire.
Secondly they can act as fighter bombers, in effect replacing our short range cas too.
Among their duties is to supply fighter cover for the BB fleets and to engage enemy CV fleets along side the Navy.
The mountain unit project should stop right now as its too costly.
In the research part, there is a least one fatal error, CAG pilot training must continue until its up to date. This is not just for the CV's but also as we use our CAG's as NAV replacements.
Research finished by 1st July 1943:
Central Air Command Structure <--- replace with Night Mission Training
Mountain Warfare Equipment <--- continue project (it irritates me that General Tojo and Holy forced this project through, its wasting valuable research and cost ing far too much).
Proximity Fuse <--- replace with Armoured Car Armour
Single Engine Aircraft Armament <--- replace with Single Engine Airframe
Research finished by 1st August 1943:
Naval Air Command Structure <--- replace with Capital Ship Crew Training
Tank Crew Training <--- replace with Small Navigation Radar
Officer Training <--- replace with Encryption Machine
Research finished by 1st September 1943:
CAG Pilot Training <--- continue until modern
Aero Engine <--- replace with Small Air Search Radar
Armoured Car Gun <--- replace with Base Operations
ASW Tactics <--- replace with Light Cruiser design principle
Rocket Engine <--- replace with Theoretical Jet Engine if possible.
Carrier Escort Role Doctrine <--- replace with Small Warship ASW (Carrier Escort Role is not at modern yet and will need 2 more upgrades!!!)
Small Fuel Tank <--- replace with Decryption Machine
Anti Aircraft Carriage and Sights <--- replace with AT Ammo
Fire Control System Training <--- replace with Night Mission Training
Light Bomb <--- replace with Central Fighter Command Structure
First Aid <--- replace with agriculture
Commander Decision Making <--- continue as its not modern
Other techs the admiralty would need to be funded:
All other rocket techs as they become available (except artillery)
Any tech I missed that helps Mech (except the doctrines which is not worth it before we got more)
Scout Planes
Large Warship Radar
Carrier Crew Training
Cruiser Crew Training
Cruiser Escort Doctrine
Navy operations
The operational plan for the navy operations looks doable, I like the idea to clean the pickings first before moving back to focus on the US.
To avoid the supply disaster from the Aleutian campaign in the new Midway/Hawaii campaign the Administration must seek to make some long ranged fleet that can be supplied from good bases far away, so only the short range fleets needs bases in the immediate vicinity. The most modern BB/CV+escorts might be able to cover our entire area of operations from Truk.
Air
I'd like to propose we station a H-Ftr division of 3 wings in the general area of Kuching/Batavia/Singapore/Oosthaven set to intercept so that the area covered is north Malacca/Singapore Straight to east of Java if possible from any of these bases. They will then function as early warning against enemy CV fleets.
Another H-Ftr division must find a base (Wake?) that is within range of Midway, that can supply them, remember fleets have much further range than the planes so the fleets should be able to station further away so they don't compete for supplies. For the Hawaii campaign it might be that Johnston Island is the only potential base.
Have we remembered to promote airmen to lead the huge air battles?
Promote any skill 5 pilot to 3 stars, any 4 to 2 stars and insure that all CV groups has a leader that can control the groups own planes + at least 3 more.
Officers
The army would want to allocate another 0.5 LS to officers as our rating is not that good.
The army generals could also need a review, promote the best one step if possible and demote the worst of the higher giving their posts to the former, keep a few Gundan commanders unassigned for use in new Gundan's.
To lessen the supply demand by Garrisons and MP(as a group known as Gar) we should organize the Gar in China in reasonable formation so that we can give them an Old guard supply officer to command them, if there are many Gar in an area it might start with a Gundan, else use Homengun which are all lead by an Ichigun. Example make an Ichigun in a province which covers most of China, if there are more Gar than can be controlled by the Ichigun and there is an area where the Gar are close use a Gundan as multiplier else use Homengun.
And before anyone complains, I realise this puts an even greater strain on our officers pool, but it will lessen the supply demand in China. Prefer to use generals with maximised skill for these duties as they wont get any further skill increase.
Army strategy
The shift of troops to the central front is a resounding success, the southern troops are no longer in danger of starving themselves and the central front and especially northern part of the central front can make better advances now that they are strengthened and in better supply. Central front should take over more of the frontage from the north front as it wraps itself around the Com-Chi's, hence the need for reinforcements
To insure we stay supplies the effort to build rail must be concentrated along the row red hatched provinces that goes from Shanghai to just south of the Com-Chis's boarder, then west and west-north-west from there (see map HOI3_2361). Also on the same map you can see that our current buildup just south of this line (where the Theatre HQ is) is not used as the preferred route, so stop building up there (don't start new project on those 2? provinces). The province between Chungking and Changde should also receive one(1) improvement to help with further advances in that direction.
On the south front the only infra project is the province just north of Changsha, the imminent occupation of Guilin will also improve the supply flow in the south.
The southern forces will soon lose Bose again as the province is totally bombed out and it will stay that way as it will change hands every time the defenders gets low on supplies. The other attacks west there are also doomed but the front will be re-invigorated after Guilin and the provinces west of it falls so the overall advance should continue but slowly.
Operation bulge
General Holy proposes that we try to make a pocket of the Chinese front bulge at Changsha, this is an opportunity that must be tried, but we shouldn't stake everything on it as it will likely result in that the Chinese withdraw most of their troops.
Due to the increased forces in China we now must calculate with 2 divisions per province and that one in 4 divisions will still be out of commission or moving all the time, so a Homengun is able to cover just 3 provinces effectively, the forces opposing the Com-Chi might need fewer as they dig in.
Operation as follows the Ichigun responsible for the Bose front will set an attack direction and target directly north of our current northern most extrusion we have in the south, that is just south of Chungking. This Ichigun will need one Homengun to cover the west and 1 to make the attack north.
The other Ichigun in HQ south responsible for the Changsha front, will set to defensive during this operation, target set on all our provinces from Changsha to and including Guillin, this shouldn't need more than 2 Homengun.
Now I count 130 front-line brigades in the south, which is still far too many, 8 mnt and 53 other division, approximately 61(56= 7 Homengun) this is barely fewer than last time! we need to move one or 2 Homengun north, if the Changsha Ichigun has 3 give one to the central armies Ichigun else take it from one of the others.
The central front has 67 frontline brigades or approximately 33 divisions(32=4 Homengun) and North has 38 brigades or 19 divisions (16=2 Homengun). Norths responsibility should be all provinces bordering the Com-Chi for which its forces should be enough, they might even take some weakly defended provinces from them.
Central fronts 4 Homengun is just not enough to advance reasonable, transferring another Homengun from south will help balancing ideally 2 should move up.
Lets see if the supplies should be able to hold up, each division uses around 4 supplies and with 6 Homengun we should have around 50 division for a total need of 200tons per day. HQ Norths needs of 80 tons/day should be supplied by Korean supplies or a very low need from Shanghai any way this need splits off at Nanjing where we have level 10 supply net.
To get the 200 tons of supplies through to central we will need a infra level of around 7 (7*7*4 = 196) should correspond to the lowest of the green colours. This is the case well beyond Nanjing, also the northern most divisions seems to draw supplies off HQ norths net.
This also explains why HQ south has troubles, there are around 40 port levels near the front, supplying around 240 supplies (level*6 in hpp), to supply 61 front line divisions (=244 supplies)+12 Gar+ planes if any, and the current use of nearly all provinces for transportation which costs extra. So removing 1-2 Homengun should see most of the supply troubles go away.
The central front Ichigun responsible for the Changde front will set attack direction and target to Chungking. Estimate 2-3 Homengun needed, should have a frontage of around 4 provinces but Chungking is among the targets so it needs a little extra punch.
The other Ichigun on the central front (we have two right) is responsible for the northern part of advancing into Xibei toward the should just continue, 2-3 Homengun as it will need to cover the north flank too, might give the 3rd to HQ north when we advance further and let them cover the Com-Chi all the way.
Organisation before the battles and after battles
HQ North
Area of responsibility: All provinces bordering the Com-Chi and East Mongolia. (mostly north of the Yellow river).
Forces - 1 Ichigun of 2 Homengun to keep the Com-Chi in check and take lightly defended provinces, those will be in the south and west parts. Reinforced to 3 Homengun after the end of operation Bulge to compensate for increased front.
Targets - all Com-Chi industrial centers.
HQ Central
Area of responsibility: All areas south of the Com-Chi down to Changde including Chungking and west of those. (Mostly from Yellow river down to Yangtze's watershed(is this the correct word?) with Pearl River)
Forces - 4 Homengun + 1 immediately from HQ South (the nearest to avoid unneeded rail movements)
Targets - Chungking for the forces participating, nearest Tibetan boarder for the other Ichigun both with direction.
HQ South
Area of responsibility: South of Changde (up Pearl River)
Forces - Currently 7+ Ichigun, immediately give one to Central at the end of operations give one to north, by moving it to the coast and sail it north.
Targets - The Changsha Ichigun targets all its border provinces including Guilan, the Bose Ichigun targets the province just south of Chungking and next to our province, with direction there.
Research and production
The research and production plans proposed by Admiral Baltasar has many good points, but I must object to the following.
The H-Ftr project must continue, and while it is questionable if more planes can be effectively deployed against China, they have other purposes.
The main purpose of the H.Ftr is to supply long range fighter cover all over the Empire.
Secondly they can act as fighter bombers, in effect replacing our short range cas too.
Among their duties is to supply fighter cover for the BB fleets and to engage enemy CV fleets along side the Navy.
The mountain unit project should stop right now as its too costly.
In the research part, there is a least one fatal error, CAG pilot training must continue until its up to date. This is not just for the CV's but also as we use our CAG's as NAV replacements.
Research finished by 1st July 1943:
Central Air Command Structure <--- replace with Night Mission Training
Mountain Warfare Equipment <--- continue project (it irritates me that General Tojo and Holy forced this project through, its wasting valuable research and cost ing far too much).
Proximity Fuse <--- replace with Armoured Car Armour
Single Engine Aircraft Armament <--- replace with Single Engine Airframe
Research finished by 1st August 1943:
Naval Air Command Structure <--- replace with Capital Ship Crew Training
Tank Crew Training <--- replace with Small Navigation Radar
Officer Training <--- replace with Encryption Machine
Research finished by 1st September 1943:
CAG Pilot Training <--- continue until modern
Aero Engine <--- replace with Small Air Search Radar
Armoured Car Gun <--- replace with Base Operations
ASW Tactics <--- replace with Light Cruiser design principle
Rocket Engine <--- replace with Theoretical Jet Engine if possible.
Carrier Escort Role Doctrine <--- replace with Small Warship ASW (Carrier Escort Role is not at modern yet and will need 2 more upgrades!!!)
Small Fuel Tank <--- replace with Decryption Machine
Anti Aircraft Carriage and Sights <--- replace with AT Ammo
Fire Control System Training <--- replace with Night Mission Training
Light Bomb <--- replace with Central Fighter Command Structure
First Aid <--- replace with agriculture
Commander Decision Making <--- continue as its not modern
Other techs the admiralty would need to be funded:
All other rocket techs as they become available (except artillery)
Any tech I missed that helps Mech (except the doctrines which is not worth it before we got more)
Scout Planes
Large Warship Radar
Carrier Crew Training
Cruiser Crew Training
Cruiser Escort Doctrine
*You know that the effect will be negligible, right? Most of our GARs are protecting ports and are only 2xGAR formations with relatively small supply consumption, so they hardly contribute to our supply problems. MPs are even easier to supply and we do not have that many of them...
*No, there are two Northern HQs - one is North-East HQ and the other one is North HQ. The latter guards the border with the communists and its force composition hasn't changed for a while, check the older report. I have plenty of experience with AI control, so I know how to minimise troops shuffling and focus the AI's attention on the important stuff. I analyse IJA's orders and use stances and objectives which I think will make our forces most effective, given the directives the IJA gives me.
*I was wondering when you would realise that. It's obvious - MTNs had to go somewhere and Holy wanted to move them to the South, which I thought was a good idea. As you can see, no logistical disaster has come, despite the fact that I only shifted one homegun to the Central HQ and transported MTNs to the South, so the "resounding" success you speak of has almost nothing to do with shifting troops to the Centre - in fact, the Central HQ did not make ANY progress at all, despite additional troops, while the North-Eastern HQ received no reinforcements and still made progress. Funny, huh? The impact of improved infra on our success was much greater. Just saying...
Last edited:
Depends on how many Gar we have total, but it might be marginal
Anyway I like my Gars organized that way, make me feel like a real desktop General!Ah, that's why the extra Theatre HQ was so far south.
Ofcourse the central front hasn't moved anywhere as its grossly undermanned, and the south is still having imminent heart-failure, eh supply collapse, just look at all the red hatched provinces down there.
The south has to lose 2 homengun, any success on our part will strain the supplies still more.
I must object. We do need to strengthen our intelligence branch because the enemy is rooting out our men in our very own realm. We can not allow the enemy to maintain spies in our realm.
Besides, our officer ratio is still satisfyingly high, so this increase can wait.
*We will always have supply problems of some sorts in China. This is inevitable in this theatre, given the forces we have there.
I'd rather pull troops out of the continent and create reserve group in Japan or Midway (Japan is more preferable choice of staging ground) in case the IJN will need more units to deal with the American occupation forces or any other threat will materialize in coming months. Any other infantry units that'll soon be formed should also stay in reserve. Only Mountaineer Divisions should be shifted with regular infantry units which will then be rotated home. Since you claim that the Army Group Center is currently undermanned our Mountain Infantry should be transported there. I am still against increasing presence of our troops in China in general and I am certainly against stopping production of Mountain Infantry. War with China is not over yet and these specialists can still prove vital.
I ask to transfer all commanders from Army Group North into Army Group Center and South where they are more needed (just in case nobody noticed my request before). Our front with the communists is stable and guarded well enough to withstand any possible offensives they might have planned so far. It's much more likely they won't do anything without major support. Support they don't have.
The Chinese might try to attack our spearheads - units trying to cut them off - from multiple directions, it's a risk, but they'll need to weaken their main front thus allowing our original line to gain advantage and progress with less difficulties. In any case it's worth a try. Even if China will manage to withdraw most of its units from the Gullin salient we'll capture vital ground further reducing the capabilities of the Chinese to defend themselves.
To General Holy,
The mnt are already at the front in south China, where there also are lots of mountains, we should move a Homengun from the north part of HQ south to central, else the encirclement wont happen because central can't advance. We might later discuss if we want to withdraw another Homengun from China altogether.
But according to my calculations the number of units at the front is able to be supplied a while yet with the current force levels, when we advance we might have to reduce the amount of troops at the front until the rails are build up again.
The mnt are already at the front in south China, where there also are lots of mountains, we should move a Homengun from the north part of HQ south to central, else the encirclement wont happen because central can't advance. We might later discuss if we want to withdraw another Homengun from China altogether.
But according to my calculations the number of units at the front is able to be supplied a while yet with the current force levels, when we advance we might have to reduce the amount of troops at the front until the rails are build up again.
*The deadline is 10th of July, unless somebody objects and asks for more time.
UPDATE: The deadline is now 12th of July. We will continue at a steady, but slower pace.
UPDATE: The deadline is now 12th of July. We will continue at a steady, but slower pace.
Last edited:
Adm. Yamamoto, Osaka
The cable that came from the High Command was delayed to reaching me since one had somewhat more pressing concerns of attending a wedding celebration of a close friend. Even members of the high command need to attend such events.
The naval plan drawn up by Adm.Baltersar appears good in principle with some key revisions;
Re-conquest of the Pacific Islands:
Critically, it is likely that our fleets will travel by the Makassar straits as they rebase to Truk. Celebes Island is fairly critical to maintaining a southern PDP, since there is an airbase in the north of the island that the Allies can use to cover these waters fairly well. It is a good site for the Allies to ambush our fleets at, given the chance.
Therefore there are two options here. Following the sweeping of Java in an analogus manner to Sumatra we should either;
Rebase round the north of Borneo and the Philippines to get to Saipan and Truk before moving on to recapture operations at Midway, and henceforth.
Or;
Sweep Celebes island too, capture the ports and airfield, and move to Saipan and Truk directly.
Both operations may take as long as each other, hence it will be up to the admirals in the fleet to dictate which set of operations they choose. Critically we should not leave Indonesian waters until the remains of Mountbattens fleet is annihilated. The loss of the pacific Islands is a concern, but it shouldn't be one that we drop all else for and run headlong into liberation actions. After-all, we do not have the garrisons to protect these islands once retaken anyhow.
Therefore our strategic focus for the next few weeks should be to finish up the Sumatra and Java island operations, then rebase or sweep our sea lanes to position fleets for a strike at Midway, conducting that operation with local fleet concentration. This should give our CAGs time enough for repairs and reorganisation, such that we may go into battle fresh.
Strategic Production:
Once the current heavy fighter wing is complete it is paramount that we replace garrisons lost. In particular, to strengthen our key island holdings, we can get about 7 new garrison divisions for the price of a new wing of heavy fighters of which we have fair many of anyhow. This redistribution is born out of a need to insure critical bases like Saipan and Truk do no fall in future, and so that Guam, Honalulu can have larger garrisons such that enemy marine corps will be stunted in future operations.
While the high command may disagree with me, other islands in principle can be sacrificed so long as key bases are maintained. Since with key bases we should be able to redeploy reinvaison forces as and when they are needed.
Of particular note is whether or not we want to concentrate on elastic or static defence methods. The former is more risky as it entails us keeping light garrisons and counter-attacking when attacked. The latter is also risky if we loose naval supremacy by recruiting large numbers of garrison troops for the islands such that it will deter the Americans full stop from invading.
My main concern is that 2xGAR divisions are not terribly good deterrents, but we loose little when we loose them. 4XGAR or more are better deterrents, but they mean we need to keep the seaways open and any losses hurt us more.
Anti-submarrine Warfare:
It is this admirals opinion that we should continue leaving a few lone destroyer flotilla patrolling the South China Seas against convoy raiding against us.
Intelligence and Research:
I cannot condone ending foreign intelligence efforts, it are these very efforts that bleed the enemy of focusing all their might against us, both the Chinese and Americans loose valuable leadership attempting to hunt down our spy hunters and we might even have the edge on the Allied counter-intelligence efforts, so it is well worth continuing in America and China.
Against the communists, it might be worth de prioritising them. We have as much as is useful information on them at the current time.
The nationalists on the other hand are running at something like 230% efficiency in IC, our pilots in China should be on the look out for any Chinese industrial site, bombing any of these will greatly effect the Chinese capacity to wage war and might help them capitulate faster, as with the Euro-axis somewhat on the run, we do not want to incur the wrath of Stalin.
I do not have the time, at this time to look over research proposals in detail. I shall assume they are good enough.
The cable that came from the High Command was delayed to reaching me since one had somewhat more pressing concerns of attending a wedding celebration of a close friend. Even members of the high command need to attend such events.
The naval plan drawn up by Adm.Baltersar appears good in principle with some key revisions;
Re-conquest of the Pacific Islands:
Critically, it is likely that our fleets will travel by the Makassar straits as they rebase to Truk. Celebes Island is fairly critical to maintaining a southern PDP, since there is an airbase in the north of the island that the Allies can use to cover these waters fairly well. It is a good site for the Allies to ambush our fleets at, given the chance.
Therefore there are two options here. Following the sweeping of Java in an analogus manner to Sumatra we should either;
Rebase round the north of Borneo and the Philippines to get to Saipan and Truk before moving on to recapture operations at Midway, and henceforth.
Or;
Sweep Celebes island too, capture the ports and airfield, and move to Saipan and Truk directly.
Both operations may take as long as each other, hence it will be up to the admirals in the fleet to dictate which set of operations they choose. Critically we should not leave Indonesian waters until the remains of Mountbattens fleet is annihilated. The loss of the pacific Islands is a concern, but it shouldn't be one that we drop all else for and run headlong into liberation actions. After-all, we do not have the garrisons to protect these islands once retaken anyhow.
Therefore our strategic focus for the next few weeks should be to finish up the Sumatra and Java island operations, then rebase or sweep our sea lanes to position fleets for a strike at Midway, conducting that operation with local fleet concentration. This should give our CAGs time enough for repairs and reorganisation, such that we may go into battle fresh.
Strategic Production:
Once the current heavy fighter wing is complete it is paramount that we replace garrisons lost. In particular, to strengthen our key island holdings, we can get about 7 new garrison divisions for the price of a new wing of heavy fighters of which we have fair many of anyhow. This redistribution is born out of a need to insure critical bases like Saipan and Truk do no fall in future, and so that Guam, Honalulu can have larger garrisons such that enemy marine corps will be stunted in future operations.
While the high command may disagree with me, other islands in principle can be sacrificed so long as key bases are maintained. Since with key bases we should be able to redeploy reinvaison forces as and when they are needed.
Of particular note is whether or not we want to concentrate on elastic or static defence methods. The former is more risky as it entails us keeping light garrisons and counter-attacking when attacked. The latter is also risky if we loose naval supremacy by recruiting large numbers of garrison troops for the islands such that it will deter the Americans full stop from invading.
My main concern is that 2xGAR divisions are not terribly good deterrents, but we loose little when we loose them. 4XGAR or more are better deterrents, but they mean we need to keep the seaways open and any losses hurt us more.
Anti-submarrine Warfare:
It is this admirals opinion that we should continue leaving a few lone destroyer flotilla patrolling the South China Seas against convoy raiding against us.
Intelligence and Research:
I cannot condone ending foreign intelligence efforts, it are these very efforts that bleed the enemy of focusing all their might against us, both the Chinese and Americans loose valuable leadership attempting to hunt down our spy hunters and we might even have the edge on the Allied counter-intelligence efforts, so it is well worth continuing in America and China.
Against the communists, it might be worth de prioritising them. We have as much as is useful information on them at the current time.
The nationalists on the other hand are running at something like 230% efficiency in IC, our pilots in China should be on the look out for any Chinese industrial site, bombing any of these will greatly effect the Chinese capacity to wage war and might help them capitulate faster, as with the Euro-axis somewhat on the run, we do not want to incur the wrath of Stalin.
I do not have the time, at this time to look over research proposals in detail. I shall assume they are good enough.
Finally. Have no fear, if you need some more time to look at research plans etc., then I can move the deadline to tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Other players may want to comment on your post, too.
BTW you should REALLY respond to PMs...
BTW you should REALLY respond to PMs...
*Plans approved
Several players announced that they will be less active in the following days, so there is no use in waiting.
Several players announced that they will be less active in the following days, so there is no use in waiting.
If you tell me to check the Shanghai's depot one more time, I will give the Chinese 500 divs for free and reduce their supply consumption to 0 and then you will get death =P.
My point is that we already do not have sufficient agents for Japan, let alone maintaining a high presence abroad. Since we are short on people who could reasonably act as agents, we'd better cut our efforts there and shore up our assets in Japan, with an adequate reserve.
Influence Levels
Air assets
IJA
13 H-FTRs
3 LBs
IJN
15 CAGs
1 NAV
1 MB
Common
4 L-FTRs
2 HBs
1 TRAN
One new HFTR was formed.
IJN Land Troops
1 SNLF Corps - 5 MAR divisions (15 brigades) - all are fighting on Java
31 GAR divs
IJA Reserve
We have no troops in the reserve. Newly formed divs were moved to the South and Central Pacific.
Pacific Defence Perimeter
Japan - ten 3xGAR divs (8 have support brigades - either ARTs or AAs)
The Philippines - 5 GAR divs
Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Hana, Wake Island - one 4xGAR div on each
Truk - one 4xGAR div and one 3xGAR div
Phoenix Island - none
Other islands - one 2xGAR div per island
Decision making
I decided to support the idea of a double attack in the Centre and the South with the intention of forming a pocket there. I also shifted one Homegun from the South to the Centre. In the end the attack didn't go that well and the Chinese didn't lose any divs. In fact, they even managed to encircle two of our own divs... The plan was probably overly ambitious, which will at the very least prolong the conflict in China. It also cost us much MP and ICdays. Still, if I didn't accept it, the Generals would be complaining that I wasted the opportunity there, so...
I didn't start the production of any new CLs, because I think that it's better to wait before the new design tech is finished, which will happen soonish. I also decided not to add new HFTRs to the production queue, because we need other stuff more and upgrades aren't free, either.
There was no opportunity to begin the invasion of Midway, because fighting in the South Pacific took longer than predicted. In fact, we still don't control the whole of Java... However, when Batavia and Oosthaven were conquered, I moved our fleets to Singapore for repairs. Don't be misled by the list of sunk ships - constant fighting reduced STR of many of our ships and they were not in ports, so they couldn't be repaired, only replaced by undamaged ships which I kept doing from time to time (same for CAGs).
I increased the budget for espionage at the cost of research - new non-doctrine techs mean more ICdays for upgrades, anyway, so it's not that we benefit from research instantly and we really needed to spend more LP for spies... However, I removed focus from Communist China - there is not much more that we can get from sending spies there.
Other
We lost 16 convoys and 3 convoy escorts. Our subs managed to sink 20 Allied convoys and 2 convoy escorts.
We lost one submarine group.
Air assets
IJA
13 H-FTRs
3 LBs
IJN
15 CAGs
1 NAV
1 MB
Common
4 L-FTRs
2 HBs
1 TRAN
One new HFTR was formed.
IJN Land Troops
1 SNLF Corps - 5 MAR divisions (15 brigades) - all are fighting on Java
31 GAR divs
IJA Reserve
We have no troops in the reserve. Newly formed divs were moved to the South and Central Pacific.
Pacific Defence Perimeter
Japan - ten 3xGAR divs (8 have support brigades - either ARTs or AAs)
The Philippines - 5 GAR divs
Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Hana, Wake Island - one 4xGAR div on each
Truk - one 4xGAR div and one 3xGAR div
Phoenix Island - none
Other islands - one 2xGAR div per island
Decision making
I decided to support the idea of a double attack in the Centre and the South with the intention of forming a pocket there. I also shifted one Homegun from the South to the Centre. In the end the attack didn't go that well and the Chinese didn't lose any divs. In fact, they even managed to encircle two of our own divs... The plan was probably overly ambitious, which will at the very least prolong the conflict in China. It also cost us much MP and ICdays. Still, if I didn't accept it, the Generals would be complaining that I wasted the opportunity there, so...
I didn't start the production of any new CLs, because I think that it's better to wait before the new design tech is finished, which will happen soonish. I also decided not to add new HFTRs to the production queue, because we need other stuff more and upgrades aren't free, either.
There was no opportunity to begin the invasion of Midway, because fighting in the South Pacific took longer than predicted. In fact, we still don't control the whole of Java... However, when Batavia and Oosthaven were conquered, I moved our fleets to Singapore for repairs. Don't be misled by the list of sunk ships - constant fighting reduced STR of many of our ships and they were not in ports, so they couldn't be repaired, only replaced by undamaged ships which I kept doing from time to time (same for CAGs).
I increased the budget for espionage at the cost of research - new non-doctrine techs mean more ICdays for upgrades, anyway, so it's not that we benefit from research instantly and we really needed to spend more LP for spies... However, I removed focus from Communist China - there is not much more that we can get from sending spies there.
Other
We lost 16 convoys and 3 convoy escorts. Our subs managed to sink 20 Allied convoys and 2 convoy escorts.
We lost one submarine group.
Chapter Five, Part Five: Sino-Japanese War / War with the Allies
Jun 1943 - Oct 1943
Previously in the Influence Wars...
The Americans recaptured Honolulu, Midway, Palmyra and Jarvis without much opposition. However, the IJN scored major victories against the Royal Navy and Japanese troops conquered most of Sumatra. In China, progress was made in the South and the North, with the Central Front being a stalemate.
In Europe, the Axis forces are hard pressed everywhere and in Africa, only one pocket of Axis resistance remains.
And now, the conclusion...
War in China
Some of our troops in the South were exposed to counter-attacks in June, which the Chinese took advantage of by striking in the south-western part of the frontline. Still, throughout most of June and July things were mostly going as planned and we advanced northward in order to prepare for a decisive strike in Central China. As usual, advancing troops left piles of bodies of soldiers from both sides behind them. Battle of Wugang was probably the worst - with more than ten thousand men dead, it was almost literally a meat-grinder.
However, the main push began during late July and we came close to destroying several Chinese divisions in two pockets in August. Unfortunately, in the end we were repulsed and no Chinese divisions were destroyed. Since some of the troops from the South were transferred to the Centre, it is possible that lack of reserves in the South affected the outcome, especially considering the fact that the Central HQ failed to push forward despite having roughly 75% of the forces that the Southern HQ had.
Despite being pushed back a bit, our forces were still strong enough to perform offensive actions and it was believed that the Chinese troops were weakened after their counter-strikes, which happened many times before. Unfortunately, the second attempt at delivering the final blow in Central China also failed, with the lost battle of Madiyi being the culminating point of the offensive. In some parts of the Southern Front we gained more ground than during the first offensive, but as of the 2nd of October, many of our troops are exhausted and two of our divisions are trapped in the south-west. It may still be possible to take Madiyi, but the Chinese managed to evacuate most of their troops from the regions east of this province.
The Administration believes that the enemy will now try to perform a strong attack in the weaker parts of our frontline and overrun troops stationed in exposed positions, which is a typical Chinese strategy. It may be prudent to adopt a defensive posture for a month or so in order to blunt the Chinese counter-offensive and give our troops time to reorganise and regroup. We believe that it may also be too late to save the two divisions that were trapped in the south-west.
The performance of the Central HQ was a big disappointment and the Central Front was mostly a stalemate. The Central HQ managed to advance only in places where it was supported by the North-Eastern HQ, i.e. in areas west of Wanxian. Wanxian itself is a place which the soldiers believe to be cursed and its strategic location (north of Chongqing) makes it the most formidable and the most important obstacle on our path.
On the contrary, the North-Eastern HQ made substantial gains pretty much everywhere. We even managed to cut off the bulk of the communist forces from their capital. However, it should be noted that infrastructure in this region is particularly bad and it will be hard to continue offensive actions at this pace.
The North HQ was stripped of its most able officers and left with orders to hold its position. Given the circumstances, it performed reasonably well, but the nationalists captured Yullin.
Overview of our position in China
*Logistical maps are available here.
The Pacific Theatre
Harsh fighting continued on Sumatra throughout June and July. The Allies were entrenched in Oosthaven, but in June they were even able to launch some limited counter-attacks. Also, despite our best efforts, the Allies managed to bring reinforcements to Sumatra by sea, although it should be noted that most of the Allied transport ships were eventually sunk.
The final assault on Oosthaven both began and was concluded in August. The battle involved around 100 thousand troops and the defenders were outnumbered, outgunned and bombarded from the sea, but the city was still a tough nut to crack. They fought bravely, but it was a battle they could not have possibly won and they knew it. Still, stubborn Allied defence confined us for a long time to Sumatra and the invasion of Java could begin only in the middle of August.
We faced a similar situation as on Sumatra on Borneo, but this time the conditions were more favourable for the Allies. With the bulk of our fleet and our land forces in the South Pacific occupied on Sumatra, the Allies were able to easily reinforce their forces on Borneo. This made our advance painfully slow in the region which was declared as conquered a long time ago.
With Oosthaven captured, our forces were able to successfully invade western Java. The Allied forces are disorganised, but Java is a big island and it is possible that the enemy will be able to create a coherent frontline on the eastern tip of the island.
The battles were raging not only on land and in the air, but also at sea - our fleets continued the blockade of the Sunda Strait and destroyed many Allied ships. Those were mostly the vessels which were trapped in Oosthaven and Batavia, but the provided list also includes the ships which came to the rescue of the trapped fleets and many submarines. Unfortunately, one of our destroyer groups was destroyed by friendly fire. After Oosthaven and Batavia were taken, our fleets were moved to Singapore for repairs.
The Allied naval efforts were poorly coordinated, which leads us to believe that they will greatly limit their activity in the region in the near future. In fact, they may be forced to do that even if they do not want to, because during the recent months the Royal Navy has been decimated. However, the enemy still posses the ability to conduct limited engagements in the South Pacific and the high number of naval bases in the South Pacific means that nothing short of the conquest of Australia and the whole of Oceania will ever eliminate the Allied threat fully. The Allied successes at reinforcing their troops mean that we will either need to maintain a sizeable garrison on the conquered islands or keep patrolling the region on a regular basis if we hope to hold the South Pacific islands.
Overview of our position in the South Pacific
Overview of our position in the Central Pacific
The action in the Central Pacific was limited to submarine attacks on convoys and aircraft attacks on submarines. One of our own submarine groups was destroyed by American aircraft while it was gathering intelligence in the Hawaii Region.
Recent lack of activity is probably the result of a new, cautious American strategy - it is clear that they do not want to repeat the same mistakes they made in the previous years. However, this also means that the enemy is most likely strengthening his positions and preparing another strike. Nevertheless, we were able to reinforce some key Central Pacific islands with additional troops and we still control Hana.
Other matters
Much has happened in Europe and on the political front. At first the Axis scored some successes. They managed to stabilise the situation in Yugoslavia and eventually conquered the country. They also destroyed the Allied bridgehead in France and captured thousands of soldiers who were not evacuated in time. However, at the same time the last pocket of Axis resistance in Africa was destroyed and the position in the East was rapidly deteriorating. Therefore, August saw a largely unexpected event - the fall of the German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. On 22th of August, Adolf Hitler was killed by a bomb placed in his bunker in Eastern Prussia. The German political elites were fed up with the hard-liner Nazis who coloured everything in white even when it was black. The German population is also very tired of constant fighting. Nevertheless, war in Europe continues.
In Spain, back-and-forth warfare which characterises this theatre is still ongoing. The Allies are now on the defensive.
The Axis focus on the Western Front (France and Spain) and Yugoslavia allowed the Red Army to gain momentum in the East and it will be now very hard to regain the initiative for the Axis. It is possible that this may never happen, which would mean that the fall of the Axis alliance is now inevitable.
All these events, combined with the events in Asia, had immense political repercussions. Global balance of power is changing, with the influence of the British Empire and the German Reich decreasing and the influence of the United States of America, the Soviet Union and the Japanese Empire increasing. Much of the British public opinion believes that the UK's declaration of war on Japan served only American interests. Considering that the Japanese focus on the South Pacific allowed the Americans to advance in the Central Pacific largely unopposed, this opinion seems somewhat justified. Many nationalists and more radical conservatives are also emphasising the fact that the Royal Navy suffered much bigger losses during the defence of Sumatra and Java than during the defence of Hong Kong and the Malaya. Some politicians are demanding the resignation of Churchill, whose popularity has largely declined. His defenders claim that the unity of effort comes first before nationalistic sentiments. Roosevelt, on the other hand, has regained much of the lost popularity during several recent months - the size and power of the American military is increasing every day, Honolulu and several other Pacific islands are in the American hands again and the US economy is stronger than ever and even for Roosevelt's political enemies, it is hard to defend the claim that the USA is NOT the Arsenal of Democracy. Our intelligence shows that the Americans intend to hold their Pacific possessions and expand their influence by advancing slowly but methodically, without taking unnecessary risks.
The Allies, especially the British, are now heavily pressing Stalin to declare war on the Empire of Japan. They claim that the Soviet successes would not have been possible without the Allied actions in Spain, France and Yugoslavia and that the "Japanese threat" has to be contained while Japan is still engaged in China. Officially the Soviets show no intent of joining the war in Asia, but it is well known that they are not friends of the Empire and would gladly expand their influence in the Asian continent. The real question is how persuasive the Allies can be and how successful the Red Army will be in the Europe.
The peculiar position of Churchill forced him to come up with a new justification for continuing the war effort in Asia. The British and the Americans certainly agree on one thing - they have a higher chance of concluding the war successfully within a reasonable period of time in both Europe and Asia if they stand united. Both Roosevelt and Churchill have to defend de facto failed preventive strikes (in the sense that they did not achieve the results they wanted quickly) and believe that "only a fool would wait for the enemy to become stronger before making his own move". This is an issue which will no doubt be debated for years to come. Still, no matter how one looks at it, the scope of the British-American cooperation is unprecedented and half of the world is a part of the Allied alliance. Therefore, in a joint statement, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and various heads of states and governments of the Allied nations announced that in order to strengthen the position and unity of the Allied alliance and the democratic countries in the global balance of power, all negotiations with all belligerent nations will be conducted by the alliance as a whole and no separate peace treaty with any of the belligerent nations will be signed. The international nature and gravitas of the statement mean that it will be hard to ignore it even if the opposition political parties come to power in the UK, the USA or the other, smaller Allied nations. The declaration is likely supposed to serve as a guarantee of the American involvement in the war in Europe and the Commonwealth involvement in the war in Asia. What this means in practice is that we will have to ensure that our strategic position is strong enough in order to force the whole Allied bloc to come to terms with us. However, the declaration also hints at the fact that a conditional peace is not just our delusion and daydream, but a viable possibility. We no longer have to wonder whether the only peace offer will be the one of unconditional surrender, as it seems certain that if the circumstances are right, the Allies will be willing to sign a conditional peace treaty with us. Obviously, it is far too early to declare what the terms of this potential treaty could be.
The amount of resources flowing in from conquered territories is astonishing - it seems that we have enough resources in order to continue the war for a long time. However, high activity of our merchant marine also means that the Allied submarines have more targets than ever and the submarine threat is bigger than ever, indeed. Oil is now our prime concern - thanks to our conquests significant quantities of this resource arrive at ports in Japan every day and thanks to our modern synthetic fuel plants we can also convert much of our energy into oil.
A new warship - a cruiser IJN Sakwa - has been recently constructed. Hopefully, we will be able to construct enough modern cruisers in order to ensure that our Navy remains a capable fighting force in the following years.
After the new heavy fighter wing was formed, a decision was made to reduce aircraft production to quantities which will be sufficient to cover our losses only, without expanding the size of the airforce, since there are many other projects that require considerable funding.
Japan is one of the world leaders in many technological fields, but this comes at a price - the industrial capabilities of our Nation are insufficient to cover all the needs of the military modernisation program, which means that in many cases it only receives partial funding in order not to disrupt standard production too much.
*The tech screens can be checked here.
Jun 1943 - Oct 1943
Previously in the Influence Wars...
The Americans recaptured Honolulu, Midway, Palmyra and Jarvis without much opposition. However, the IJN scored major victories against the Royal Navy and Japanese troops conquered most of Sumatra. In China, progress was made in the South and the North, with the Central Front being a stalemate.
In Europe, the Axis forces are hard pressed everywhere and in Africa, only one pocket of Axis resistance remains.
And now, the conclusion...
War in China
Some of our troops in the South were exposed to counter-attacks in June, which the Chinese took advantage of by striking in the south-western part of the frontline. Still, throughout most of June and July things were mostly going as planned and we advanced northward in order to prepare for a decisive strike in Central China. As usual, advancing troops left piles of bodies of soldiers from both sides behind them. Battle of Wugang was probably the worst - with more than ten thousand men dead, it was almost literally a meat-grinder.
However, the main push began during late July and we came close to destroying several Chinese divisions in two pockets in August. Unfortunately, in the end we were repulsed and no Chinese divisions were destroyed. Since some of the troops from the South were transferred to the Centre, it is possible that lack of reserves in the South affected the outcome, especially considering the fact that the Central HQ failed to push forward despite having roughly 75% of the forces that the Southern HQ had.
Despite being pushed back a bit, our forces were still strong enough to perform offensive actions and it was believed that the Chinese troops were weakened after their counter-strikes, which happened many times before. Unfortunately, the second attempt at delivering the final blow in Central China also failed, with the lost battle of Madiyi being the culminating point of the offensive. In some parts of the Southern Front we gained more ground than during the first offensive, but as of the 2nd of October, many of our troops are exhausted and two of our divisions are trapped in the south-west. It may still be possible to take Madiyi, but the Chinese managed to evacuate most of their troops from the regions east of this province.
The Administration believes that the enemy will now try to perform a strong attack in the weaker parts of our frontline and overrun troops stationed in exposed positions, which is a typical Chinese strategy. It may be prudent to adopt a defensive posture for a month or so in order to blunt the Chinese counter-offensive and give our troops time to reorganise and regroup. We believe that it may also be too late to save the two divisions that were trapped in the south-west.
The performance of the Central HQ was a big disappointment and the Central Front was mostly a stalemate. The Central HQ managed to advance only in places where it was supported by the North-Eastern HQ, i.e. in areas west of Wanxian. Wanxian itself is a place which the soldiers believe to be cursed and its strategic location (north of Chongqing) makes it the most formidable and the most important obstacle on our path.
On the contrary, the North-Eastern HQ made substantial gains pretty much everywhere. We even managed to cut off the bulk of the communist forces from their capital. However, it should be noted that infrastructure in this region is particularly bad and it will be hard to continue offensive actions at this pace.
The North HQ was stripped of its most able officers and left with orders to hold its position. Given the circumstances, it performed reasonably well, but the nationalists captured Yullin.
Overview of our position in China
*Logistical maps are available here.
The Pacific Theatre
Harsh fighting continued on Sumatra throughout June and July. The Allies were entrenched in Oosthaven, but in June they were even able to launch some limited counter-attacks. Also, despite our best efforts, the Allies managed to bring reinforcements to Sumatra by sea, although it should be noted that most of the Allied transport ships were eventually sunk.
The final assault on Oosthaven both began and was concluded in August. The battle involved around 100 thousand troops and the defenders were outnumbered, outgunned and bombarded from the sea, but the city was still a tough nut to crack. They fought bravely, but it was a battle they could not have possibly won and they knew it. Still, stubborn Allied defence confined us for a long time to Sumatra and the invasion of Java could begin only in the middle of August.
We faced a similar situation as on Sumatra on Borneo, but this time the conditions were more favourable for the Allies. With the bulk of our fleet and our land forces in the South Pacific occupied on Sumatra, the Allies were able to easily reinforce their forces on Borneo. This made our advance painfully slow in the region which was declared as conquered a long time ago.
With Oosthaven captured, our forces were able to successfully invade western Java. The Allied forces are disorganised, but Java is a big island and it is possible that the enemy will be able to create a coherent frontline on the eastern tip of the island.
The battles were raging not only on land and in the air, but also at sea - our fleets continued the blockade of the Sunda Strait and destroyed many Allied ships. Those were mostly the vessels which were trapped in Oosthaven and Batavia, but the provided list also includes the ships which came to the rescue of the trapped fleets and many submarines. Unfortunately, one of our destroyer groups was destroyed by friendly fire. After Oosthaven and Batavia were taken, our fleets were moved to Singapore for repairs.
The Allied naval efforts were poorly coordinated, which leads us to believe that they will greatly limit their activity in the region in the near future. In fact, they may be forced to do that even if they do not want to, because during the recent months the Royal Navy has been decimated. However, the enemy still posses the ability to conduct limited engagements in the South Pacific and the high number of naval bases in the South Pacific means that nothing short of the conquest of Australia and the whole of Oceania will ever eliminate the Allied threat fully. The Allied successes at reinforcing their troops mean that we will either need to maintain a sizeable garrison on the conquered islands or keep patrolling the region on a regular basis if we hope to hold the South Pacific islands.
Overview of our position in the South Pacific
Overview of our position in the Central Pacific
The action in the Central Pacific was limited to submarine attacks on convoys and aircraft attacks on submarines. One of our own submarine groups was destroyed by American aircraft while it was gathering intelligence in the Hawaii Region.
Recent lack of activity is probably the result of a new, cautious American strategy - it is clear that they do not want to repeat the same mistakes they made in the previous years. However, this also means that the enemy is most likely strengthening his positions and preparing another strike. Nevertheless, we were able to reinforce some key Central Pacific islands with additional troops and we still control Hana.
Other matters
Much has happened in Europe and on the political front. At first the Axis scored some successes. They managed to stabilise the situation in Yugoslavia and eventually conquered the country. They also destroyed the Allied bridgehead in France and captured thousands of soldiers who were not evacuated in time. However, at the same time the last pocket of Axis resistance in Africa was destroyed and the position in the East was rapidly deteriorating. Therefore, August saw a largely unexpected event - the fall of the German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. On 22th of August, Adolf Hitler was killed by a bomb placed in his bunker in Eastern Prussia. The German political elites were fed up with the hard-liner Nazis who coloured everything in white even when it was black. The German population is also very tired of constant fighting. Nevertheless, war in Europe continues.
In Spain, back-and-forth warfare which characterises this theatre is still ongoing. The Allies are now on the defensive.
The Axis focus on the Western Front (France and Spain) and Yugoslavia allowed the Red Army to gain momentum in the East and it will be now very hard to regain the initiative for the Axis. It is possible that this may never happen, which would mean that the fall of the Axis alliance is now inevitable.
All these events, combined with the events in Asia, had immense political repercussions. Global balance of power is changing, with the influence of the British Empire and the German Reich decreasing and the influence of the United States of America, the Soviet Union and the Japanese Empire increasing. Much of the British public opinion believes that the UK's declaration of war on Japan served only American interests. Considering that the Japanese focus on the South Pacific allowed the Americans to advance in the Central Pacific largely unopposed, this opinion seems somewhat justified. Many nationalists and more radical conservatives are also emphasising the fact that the Royal Navy suffered much bigger losses during the defence of Sumatra and Java than during the defence of Hong Kong and the Malaya. Some politicians are demanding the resignation of Churchill, whose popularity has largely declined. His defenders claim that the unity of effort comes first before nationalistic sentiments. Roosevelt, on the other hand, has regained much of the lost popularity during several recent months - the size and power of the American military is increasing every day, Honolulu and several other Pacific islands are in the American hands again and the US economy is stronger than ever and even for Roosevelt's political enemies, it is hard to defend the claim that the USA is NOT the Arsenal of Democracy. Our intelligence shows that the Americans intend to hold their Pacific possessions and expand their influence by advancing slowly but methodically, without taking unnecessary risks.
The Allies, especially the British, are now heavily pressing Stalin to declare war on the Empire of Japan. They claim that the Soviet successes would not have been possible without the Allied actions in Spain, France and Yugoslavia and that the "Japanese threat" has to be contained while Japan is still engaged in China. Officially the Soviets show no intent of joining the war in Asia, but it is well known that they are not friends of the Empire and would gladly expand their influence in the Asian continent. The real question is how persuasive the Allies can be and how successful the Red Army will be in the Europe.
The peculiar position of Churchill forced him to come up with a new justification for continuing the war effort in Asia. The British and the Americans certainly agree on one thing - they have a higher chance of concluding the war successfully within a reasonable period of time in both Europe and Asia if they stand united. Both Roosevelt and Churchill have to defend de facto failed preventive strikes (in the sense that they did not achieve the results they wanted quickly) and believe that "only a fool would wait for the enemy to become stronger before making his own move". This is an issue which will no doubt be debated for years to come. Still, no matter how one looks at it, the scope of the British-American cooperation is unprecedented and half of the world is a part of the Allied alliance. Therefore, in a joint statement, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and various heads of states and governments of the Allied nations announced that in order to strengthen the position and unity of the Allied alliance and the democratic countries in the global balance of power, all negotiations with all belligerent nations will be conducted by the alliance as a whole and no separate peace treaty with any of the belligerent nations will be signed. The international nature and gravitas of the statement mean that it will be hard to ignore it even if the opposition political parties come to power in the UK, the USA or the other, smaller Allied nations. The declaration is likely supposed to serve as a guarantee of the American involvement in the war in Europe and the Commonwealth involvement in the war in Asia. What this means in practice is that we will have to ensure that our strategic position is strong enough in order to force the whole Allied bloc to come to terms with us. However, the declaration also hints at the fact that a conditional peace is not just our delusion and daydream, but a viable possibility. We no longer have to wonder whether the only peace offer will be the one of unconditional surrender, as it seems certain that if the circumstances are right, the Allies will be willing to sign a conditional peace treaty with us. Obviously, it is far too early to declare what the terms of this potential treaty could be.
The amount of resources flowing in from conquered territories is astonishing - it seems that we have enough resources in order to continue the war for a long time. However, high activity of our merchant marine also means that the Allied submarines have more targets than ever and the submarine threat is bigger than ever, indeed. Oil is now our prime concern - thanks to our conquests significant quantities of this resource arrive at ports in Japan every day and thanks to our modern synthetic fuel plants we can also convert much of our energy into oil.
A new warship - a cruiser IJN Sakwa - has been recently constructed. Hopefully, we will be able to construct enough modern cruisers in order to ensure that our Navy remains a capable fighting force in the following years.
After the new heavy fighter wing was formed, a decision was made to reduce aircraft production to quantities which will be sufficient to cover our losses only, without expanding the size of the airforce, since there are many other projects that require considerable funding.
Japan is one of the world leaders in many technological fields, but this comes at a price - the industrial capabilities of our Nation are insufficient to cover all the needs of the military modernisation program, which means that in many cases it only receives partial funding in order not to disrupt standard production too much.
*The tech screens can be checked here.
- Status