Carnage al Dente
Chapter VIII - Japan at War
Human players: Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, Soviet
No Canada and Von Rosen temporarely replaced Gamla Stan at Japan. Maxyboy now on USA.
Recap: France just turned Vichy and after that, Italy and Japan declared war on the remaining Allies. Soviet has beaten Finland and puppeted Turkey. Now, they are at war with Persia and has been for some time. Last chapter focussed on the Eurpean theatre. This chapter will focus on the Pacific during the same time.
March 17, 1940
The Chinese army did not react very quickly when they realized they shared a border with an enemy. About a month after the Japanese declaration of war on United Kingdom and a Chinese army was finally on the way. They would still have to march through Siam but eventually they would reach British Burma and give the tea-drinkers some headache.
March 31, 1940
While the Chinese were marching, Gibraltar was under attack and the Regia Marina were carefully anchored in port with the Royal Navy patrolling the Med, the Imperial Japanese Navy made short work of Indonesia with little opposition. Only in Malaysia and Singapore had the Brits left defenders and the battle became bloody at times. According to the news reaching the Italians, the Royal Navy did not try to aid the infantry and some 5-6 British divisions perished here.
April 12th, 1940
While the Chinese, supported by some Siamese and Japanese troops, attacked a weakly defended Burma, the Japs attacked Ceylon. Ceylon was very weakly defended on land, but it seemed the Royal Navy felt it was time to face the Japanese war ships.
April 16th, 1940
Ceylon is captured and the sound of rifles and artillery fades away. In the oceans, however, the heavy guns are blazing madly. Time and again, the navies of Britain and Japan clashes, resulting in many sunk ships on both sides (list coming later).
It was during this period the Regia Marina sailed out in the Med searching for the Brits who were not there.
May 6th, 1940
Lacking any real opposition in the Pacific, Japan dared an attack on Australia, and Darwin fell after short battle.
Mid May, 1940
In about three months (colors roughly representing these months) the Japanese fleet had transported ground troops around the Pacific and Indian Ocean to quickly seize vast areas. Only in Singapore had they meet resistance on land enough to cause them delay, while in the sea, the worst battle had been fought just south of India’s southern tip. While casualties had been fairly low in the army, the naval losses were significant. At least the Imperial Japanese Navy was not alone in losing ships…
The blue arrow represents the very slow but still forceful Chinese advance. The British defenders in Burma counts to about three divisions and some planes. It is not by far a force that can stop the attackers. Only delay slightly.
It is apparent that the Brits focused their defense to Europe and Africa and there they have managed to stop all significant advances by the Axis after the fall of France. In the Pacific, however, they have failed utterly which will have serious implications for the balance of the war.
Mid May, 1940
Germany lost 4 SS early on. During the spring they had a mighty clash with the Royal Navy in which they only lost the Admiral Hipper while the Brits lost their 2 BCs and several CAs.
Italy had previously lost a TP to the Spanish navy and lost 2 SS during the spring due to British patrolling in the Med.
The remaining losses was due to clashes between UK and Japan which seem to be fairly even, with UK losing more screen and Japan losing more capitals.
All in all, the Royal Navy has taken substantial losses in a short time, but it is far from being significant yet. It is quite clear, however, that they cannot keep up the rate of losses for very long without it having serious implications… and they have not even met the Regia Marina in battle yet…
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Next chapter: The Regia Marina clashes with the Royal Navy
