Chapter Three, Part Five: Sino-Japanese War
Mar 1940 - Jun 1940
Previously in the Influence Wars...
The Japanese-Soviet Border War ended in a Soviet victory, mostly due to their superior tanks. Yunnan Clique joined the unified front against Japan, which strengthened the Chinese enough to make several effective local counter-attacks and form small encirclements. Nonetheless, Japan made important strategic gains, e.g. it gained control of the Taiwan Strait and captured Chongqing and Changsha.
War erupted in Europe and Germany quickly swallowed Poland and Denmark, while the Soviet Union annexed Estonia and Latvia and attacked Finland and Lithuania.
And now, the conclusion...
Politics
Global politics is very dynamic and the latest months are a testament to this claim.
On 22th of March, the Yugoslavian government proclaimed an alliance with the German Reich, but the alliance was nullified the next day when a coup d'etat happened in Yugoslavia and anti-German regime took power. Germany did not retaliate, as they were not sure of the Italian reaction and did not want to get into the Balkan mess.
In April the United Kingdom attempted to force the Kingdom of Norway to grant the British forces transit rights, but the Norwegian government refused. Due to fear of British intervention, Germany declared war on Norway. However, so far the Germans have not managed to create a beachhead in Norway, which led to speculations about the extent of German naval capability. The Reich demanded transit rights from Sweden, but their government wanted to stay neutral. Another important event is the end of the war between Lithuania and the Soviet Union, which resulted in the annexation of the last minor Baltic state. The Soviets also signed peace with the Finns and gained Karelia.
In May, the Soviets bullied Kingdom of Romania into ceding Bessarabia. Hungary attempted to gain Transylvania by negotiations, but did not manage to gain German support and as a result, Romania did not lose more territory. This event put a strain on Hungarian-German relations and talks about an alliance between the two countries were aborted. This, however, did not have long-lasting repercussions...
On 22th of May Germany declared war on Holland and
less than three weeks later Germany attacked Belgium and Luxembourg. It seems that the fears of another Great War were not unjustified. However, Hungary and Italy were impressed with this bold move and both countries joined the Axis. They are not yet at war with the western powers, though.
A massive conflict is now ongoing in Western Europe with Germany, France and the UK as major participants.
Domestic matters
A lively debate has been taking place among the elites and common folks alike since war erupted in Europe. Recent events have changed the character of the debate into an open war with words.
Abe Nobuyuki's government appealed to nobody besides a small group of generals and admirals and both the fascists and the democrats were demanding the government's resignation. This eventually happened, but
the Emperor wanted to avoid a revolution and backed the candidacy of Mitsumasa Yonai, who became the next Prime Minister.
Yonai's government has adopted a strong anti-German stance and emphasised the importance of neutrality of the Empire in the conflict between the western powers and the German-centred alliance. This caused an outrage among the fascists, who called Yonai's policies "soft".
General Tojo, one of the most prominent generals in the Army, is among the most vocal supporters of an alliance with the German Reich. He has many supporters, as pro-German stance is very popular and the German successes in the recent months make the prospect of an alliance with Germany even more prudent.
However,
at the moment the question is whether to support Yonai or appoint Konoe Fumimaro, the strongest alternative candidate for the position of Prime Minister. The Emperor asked the High Command for advice, as this decision may determine the future of Japan. Yonai is unpopular, but his moderate policies helped Japan in preserving Japanese-American trade agreements. Appointing Konoe would be a popular move and could possibly restore faith in the Japanese government, avoid a potential coup d'etat and allow us to mobilise the economy to unprecedented levels, but it is almost sure that the western powers would find this move very threatening.
Another issue is whether to form an alliance with the Germans or not. Most think that it is only a matter of time before Japan and Germany will become allies, but timing is also very important.
War in China
Many developments have taken place in China since the last report was published. We cherished many victories and cursed several defeats, but all in all it seems that the Chinese have been brought to the brink of collapse.
March Crisis and its resolution
The Central Front
The first half of March was very unfavourable for the Japanese in Central China. Not only our encircled division in Huangchuan was destroyed, but the Chinese also managed to push us back in several places and even threatened Nanjing and Shanghai. The situation looked really grim for a while. This only changed when reinforcements were brought from the North.
Bolstered in numbers, we managed to regain most of lost territory and by April we seemed to have things under control. Obviously, the enemy still outnumbered us greatly, but a Chinese soldier is nothing compared to a battle-hardened Japanese veteran.
The Japanese troops were greatly aided by aircraft. We have been enjoying air superiority since the beginning of war, but this does not mean that our airforce did not suffer losses on its own. This is always a problem, because aircraft production is more costly than small arms production. Also, the Chinese are supported by Soviet volunteers and the enemy's tactics has been improved since the Soviet pilots helped to train Chinese pilots.
The Northern Front
Many divisions were redeployed to Central China from the North during the March Crisis, which meant that our troops had to cope with an ever-increasing number of enemy combatants with smaller numbers on their own for about two weeks. However, when Manchurian divisions were redeployed to Northern China, situation was stabilised quickly, Shanxi was conquered and we advanced into communist-controlled territory. Generally we are doing fine in this region, although communist mountain strongholds can be hard to breach and apparently the Chinese do not need to eat that much in order to survive, since their bodies function semi-normally even when they have little supplies.
The Southern Front
With several exceptions, our soldiers steadily advanced forward throughout most of March in the South. Gaining control over Wuhan, Nanchang and the Dongting Lake are the primary goals in this theatre.
The fact that the 2nd Canton HQ managed to connect Fuzhou with the rest of our controlled area BEFORE reinforcements from Manchuria arrived by sea was a demonstration of particular bravery and skill.
First Battle of Changde
The first battle of Changde (named so for convenience, as it was not the first engagement over Changde, but a first one in 1940) was a major defeat in our otherwise successful March southern campaign. Many brave soldiers gave life for the Empire in that bloody battle. Changde province is like an impenetrable fortress surrounded by rivers and filled with countless enemies. Taking that into account, our nominally high casualties and a poor casualty ratio seem understandable, although we should not try to find excuses for our defeats.
April-June Joint Advance - Target: Wuhan
After the situation in the North was secured, a coordinated offensive could begin. The intention was to encircle the bulk of the Chinese forces by striking at Wuhan from two sides. We were quite successful during April, mostly due to the fact that the available firepower was greatly increased when the Shanghai HQ received reinforcements from Manchuria. We struck with great ferocity in the centre of the frontline and the enemy seemed shocked at this quick turn of events. However, the enemy still had numerical superiority and our troops could not be in all places at once. This meant that the Chinese managed to make a counter-attack in the coastal area and still had enough reserves to attack us with overwhelming numbers near the Dongting Lake.
Much more threatening, however, was the Chinese attack in the Baofeng Region. The Central HQ did not have enough fresh troops to stop the enemy's advance and prevent him from cutting an important regional railway in two. This prompted the Emperor to intervene directly and as a result of His direct order, reserve troops from Japan were shipped to Qingdao and joined the Central HQ (this was the same force that saved the Shanghai HQ months ago, but bolstered with an additional division).
In the end this was not enough to take Baofeng, but enough to potentially save many of our divisions from destruction. However, practice shows that whoever controls Baofeng rarely manages to do that for a long time, so maybe fate will allow us to regain control over the province soon.
Battles of Nanchang
Nanchang is a city which has changed hands so many times that even the veterans of the battles lost count. This city is important because of its location and its airfield, as our short-ranged aircraft (CAGs) cannot reach the Wuhan Region without the Nanchang's airfield. Unfortunately, as of 18th of June, we do not control the city.
Second Battle of Changde
Changde remained impregnable in May, too. The second battle of Changde widowed fewer women than the first, but it was still a defeat. Some soldiers believe that places like Changde, Baofeng and Nanchang are cursed and that fate conspired against them, while others are more concerned with Japanese lives and see these places as symbols of the destruction and loss of life that the war brought.
Southern Guangxi
The pressure put on Guangxi Clique by the enemy has been increasing since April, which forced many of the Japanese divisions stationed in Guangxi to focus their attention on Bose, not on Changde. The most important developments came in May and June and while the enemy managed to take Bose once, the province was recaptured after an offensive involving the Japanese and the pro-Japanese Chinese in late May.
Closing in on Wuhan...
As of June, our forces are closer to Wuhan than they have ever been. We expect that taking the city will not be enough to force the nationalists to surrender, at least not without gaining control over Baofeng and Changde first. However, if we manage to close and hold the encirclement, it is very likely that the Chinese will not be able to rebuild after such defeat, even if conquering all of China will take months more.
Our heavy bombers have been bombing infrastructure and destroying supply stocks inside the potential pocket for more than a month, but it is unclear how effective their efforts are. Night-time bombing certainly proved ineffective, so the missions were quickly restricted to day-time operations only. Some say that the Japanese pilots lack training in conducting logistical bombardments and should refocus their attention on bombing communist strongholds instead.
Overview of the situation in China
Economy and research
The biggest news is that
the construction of IJN Yamato has been finished. The question is what ships to produce next - the shipyards are already waiting for new orders.
Projected cost and construction time of potential new orders for capital ships:
Fleet carrier = ~27 months, ~11 IC
Light carrier = ~18 months, ~6.6 IC
Battleship = ~27 months, ~10 IC
Battlecruiser = ~21 months, ~9 IC
New factory complexes were opened and another set of them will be established in the future. Japanese industry continues to reach new highs and despite that, supply production can remain at low levels, thanks to captured supply stocks. Upgrade costs sky-rocketed when we developed more efficient infantry weapons and more advanced aircraft, though.
What is ironic is that one of the major war goals was to resolve the Japanese resource problems and now we even have storage problems. In that aspect we have already won.
A new air wing of heavy fighters has been formed and another one should be ready by September.
Considerable effort has been put into infrastructure development in Central China. Shanghai-Nanjing railway lines have been greatly improved. In commemoration of the successful intervention of the Emperor which saved the Shanghai HQ once, the upgraded railway line was named the "Hirohito Line".
Many important technologies have been developed, including but not limited to infantry weapons, DD and BB designs, aircraft armaments and engines and modern naval doctrines.
. If anyone needs more time, then PM me.
