Hakkō ichiu

Chapter one
Hoisting the flag
Jan 1936 - December 1936

Overview:



We will prepare for war for Shanxi at the earliest opportunity in 1937. The objective of the war will be to annex the largest possible amount of Shanxi lands then sue for a peace with her allies.

January 1st

Research



The primary aim of the 1936 research program is to support a war in Shanxi and avoid resource shortages. Initial batch of research projects were allocated as follows

Production



2 Corps of mountain divisions (3xmtn+1art) were ordered to start training serially. Projected to finish by December 1936.

Politics



A prince of terror replaces the Minister of Security. +15% ruling party support, +10% partisan efficiency.

Intel

Support our party: Guangxi Clique, Philipeans, Yunnan, Manchuko

Increase threat : nationalist china, communist china

Counter espionage: USA, SU, UK

January 7th



Three year draft enacted.

January 20th



Widespread anger in Japan at provocative Chinese behaviour.

February 1st



Naval and aerial reorganisation complete.

Air units have been broken down into units of two wings, each unit being homogeneous in its classes of aircraft.

The navy has been divided into an obsolete fleet to guard transports, two carrier-light cruiser fleets, a blue water heavy cruiser-battleship fleet, home water destroyer patrol and several submarine packs.


March 16th



Spanish civil war kicks off

March 23rd



Italy enforced puppet on Ethiopia.

May 11th

Marine infantry tech unlocked, researching. Mountain, artic, desert warfare equipments queued.

June 10th

Rare material stocks passes 1750 on a downward trend, -10 a day. Becoming a cause of concern for high command.

June 13th

First Corps of mountain/art divisions is completed. Deployed to the home islands ready for transport to any front. Organisation has dropped to 89% and falling. Officer share of leadership increased from 0.9 to 2.

July 4th



Republican Spain annexed Nationalist Spain.

December 3rd

Production run finished. Two corps of mountain divisions are joined by a corps of infantry deemed surplus to the defence of mainland Japan to form a new Imperial Army I of 150,000 troops. As part of the North China Army Group, which numbers 350,000 deployed soldiers on the border of Shanxi.

A second production run of mountain divisions ordered. 5 divisions x2 serial. These will complete the Imperial Army I to 250,000 troops. First Corps available in April in time for outbreak of hostilities.

Closing comments
Closed out the year with all resources 1k+ balance and an acceptable army for the Shanxi campaign on track for completion.

Ikarases said:

I always like newbies making a HoI AAR. They usually get their arses kicked

Now go and write!

Click to expand...

This newbie? :glare:

BarrosRodrigues said:

Subbed.
When you say "normal supply" you mean that you removed the -50% supply throughput and -50% naval base efficiency penalties?

Click to expand...

No, ikarases interpretation is correct. I meant it in contrast to arcade supply. The penalties applicable to my situation remain in place, I don't mod or change the game. =)

January 1937 - June 1937

January 19th

Marine infantry technology researched.
Basic small fuel tanks researched, adding 75km to fighter range.

April 4th



Noticed that 2/3rds of voters preferred the blue/allies parties. Changed home intel mission to support ruling party.

Rare materials at 530 and still heading south. Feels like I'm playing North Korea or something. Agriculture research completes, immediately re-prioritised despite being inefficent.

May 26th

250 rare materials left, then scored a great trade deal with the USA. 50 fuel for 25 money. The economy is saved!

June 7th

Military assets now in position and fleets are out patrolling in ancipication of war. Officer allocation of leadership increased again to 2.8 leadership. Officer ratio is currently 85%.

July 1st



Marco Polo Bridge incident available.

War declared on Shanxi.



New laws enacted, total economic mobilisation and service by requirement. The new IC from lower consumer goods is being spent on upgrades. Backlog of 86IC of upgrades.

Order of battle
The war will be conducted by the North China Army Group, consisting of 411,000 men at arms under three armies.

Covering the Northern section of the Shanxi front is Army I - 116,000 men in three corps. 35,000 men are cavalry soldiers. These will sweep through the west of Shanxi to the Xiebi San Ma border.

Covering the central section of the front is Army II - 79,000 men deployed opposite Beijing. Their role is to take Beijing and the lands immediately west of it.

Covering the eastern section of the Shanxi border is the Imperial Army I - 212,000 soldiers in four corps. Three of which consist of mountain divisions. This is the key force that is tasked with pushing down to the Yellow River.

In support is the entire airforce of 11 wings based at Dalian.

Both carrier groups and the blue water navy are patrolling Chinese waters. Submarines are out on anti-convoy duty. Destroyers are patrolling Japanese home waters in case of enemy submarines.

General pathing for the corps and the planned frontier. Aiming to capture all of Shanxi lands before taking their last VP to avoid partial annexation by Nationalists/Communists.

Ikarases said:

Shanxi looks somewhat quirky. What mod are you playing? Maybe it´s TFH, enlighten me though

Click to expand...

No mods, this is for the motherland. The weird lines are from MS paint to show how I want the front lines to end up

1st July

All bomber wings ordered to ground attack into Beijing. Set to daytime only because we do not have a lot of morale/organisation and I would like to get the most killing power for what I have, even if it means spreading it out further. We're not assaulting Beijing straight away so it's not an issue if we do our damage over a period of time.

The fighters were set to clear the skies near the coast of enemy fighters. One wing sent to fly provocative air superiority missions direct over nationalist Chinese terroritary at Jinan in the hope of diverting their fighters away from our bombers.



Carrier wings were set to port strikes to cripple the nationalists and submarines set out to intercept convoy lines.



Each attack on the main Shaanxi border was comitted with just enough divisions to rout our opponents to avoid unncessary supply stress and premature wearing out of our forces.

The nationalists bite the bait from our fighters near Jinan and airbattles break out.

2nd July

Bombing raids bring data on enemy strengths at Beijing and Shanghai.





All our advances north of Beijing are 80%+, south of Beijing our advances are 58 + 65% at the opening shots. This should be quick work.

6th July

Somewhat surprised that Shaanxi gave us a free pocket at Leting where we can eliminate a division for free.



7th July

State of the front after one week. Nothing unusual here.



11th July

First serious resistance, our path into Yongqing just south of Beijing is being blocked by superior numbers. Ordered a corps of mountain infantry I had in reserve near Beijing to go in and clear it out.

12th July

Battle of Yongqing



Surrounded and being defeated at Dagu, 2 divisions of Shaanxi infantry.



15th July

Battle of Wuchuan ends in Japanese Victory.



16th July

Viewed the damage from our bombing campaign at Beijing and decided it was time to strike. 7 divisions of standard infantry committed to the fight from three directions. We have 1 corps of mountain infantry in reserve for the Beijing battle but I would rather keep that powder dry.



18th July

The defenders of Beijing and Yongqing are routed together. Bombing campaign now moved south to begin weakening the nationalist forces blocking our advance towards Yellow River.



20th July

Beijing falls to our forces. A wing of tactical bombers are to be rebased out of Beijing.

21st July

Surprise surrender of Shanxi. Large parts of Shanxi are under Communist and Nationalist occupation. We have no interest in peace until we control the entire of Shanxi.

29th July

Overview of the front by month's end.