The Pacific Empire - A Japan BlackICE AAR

[Macke11]

I'm glad you found it realistic, that's what I aim for after all!

The Chinese Republic is at 61% surrender progress (Before Chengdu fell.). Their NU is surprisingly high at 96%, whereas I only occupy 58% of their VP. Taking Chengdu, Changde, Nanjing and Wuhan, which are just about all on the frontline, will likely bring their surrender progress up quite a bit. However, 96% NU is still a lot. That's something for me to remember next time: Set spies to decrease my enemy's NU.

(Okay, I only need to view this picture briefly to see that I have spent LS on unnecessary diplomacy points...)

 

[Eurasia]

How long do you think the Republic can hold out?

 

[Bullfilter]

I'm glad you found it realistic, that's what I aim for after all!

The Chinese Republic is at 61% surrender progress (Before Chengdu fell.). Their NU is surprisingly high at 96%, whereas I only occupy 58% of their VP. Taking Chengdu, Changde, Nanjing and Wuhan, which are just about all on the frontline, will likely bring their surrender progress up quite a bit. However, 96% NU is still a lot. That's something for me to remember next time: Set spies to decrease my enemy's NU.

(Okay, I only need to view this picture briefly to see that I have spent LS on unnecessary diplomacy points...)

That's very high NU, indeed. A war of complete conquest and unconditional surrender then?

 

[Macke11]

How long do you think the Republic can hold out?

It's hard to say what I thought at the time and I don't want to spoil what really happened with my knowledge of how long it will take at least, but I assume I thought 6-7 months or so. The warlord states down in the south and over in the west will of course take slightly longer than the Republic due to their distance. I think one of my biggest mistake during the coming months was to continue pushing west, whilst there's clearly no VP to conquer there. But perhaps it brought me closer to Yunnan territory, so possibly it wasn't too bad.

That's very high NU, indeed. A war of complete conquest and unconditional surrender then?

The Chinese don't seem to give me any other choice (Not that something else than unconditional surrender was accepted anyway though. Too many fine Japanese men have been lost for that.).

 

[Macke11]

(Okay, @sebas379, I knew about what you’ll see below, but didn’t recall it came so soon. You were right about a certain thing and I was wrong…

And to probably everyone, I haven’t given up on explaining BlackICE, I will try to make those chapters and perhaps a gameplay-overview chapter as well.)

Part 23 – Uniting the Coast
March 1940​

The Shanghai Front and the Special Operation Command​

Operation Venerable would throughout March and April see bravery and skill in combat as it headed to success. During the first-mentioned month Nagata’s troops would join the offensive and put pressure from the west, suddenly making the encirclement of Chinese forces possible along the coast.

Following the initial thrusts by the 25th Homengun from the Shanghai sector Nagata communicated with Hata and informed him of his intentions to support the operation on 8th of March. The 9th “Warrior” Division with its horse transport and lack of major artillery support was hardly an impressive sight and, truth told, neither was it especially stron. But it had a few strengths going for it, most notably the recon cavalry and engineers that were useful in urban terrain, at river crossings and in other harsh terrain. The 4th Marine Division was not much more powerful, but these two units combined posed a threat to the local Chinese 10th Infantry Division, which withdrew 15 hours after the first skirmishes. The frontline now looked wildly different from in mid-February and with the recent victory Nagata called for the 14th and 16th Military Police Regiments to hold taken ground, whilst “the 9th” advanced and the 4th Marine Division covered the southern flank. No more than a few tens of kilometres of space were left between the approaching Japanese armies.

The final blow got delayed by the redeployment of the military police regiments and the Chinese 10th Infantry Division escaped the Japanese trap that was at the verge of closing, but the absolute majority of forces in the area remained at their positions. After a brief exchange of greetings between major general Ikeda Q. and the two regiment commanders the 9th “Warrior” Division went to finish the breakthrough and reach the Shanghai Front. Dohihara’s 56th Division attacked from the other direction to meet up with Ikeda, hopefully within that month.

The victory came the 26th of March and on the 28th Ikeda reported how the last supply connections between Nanjing and the encirclement had been cut, instantly followed by a quickly executed attack by Dohihara’s 56th Infantry Division. The first phase of Operation Venerable was over, but another, perhaps not equally hard, but still complicated phase remained; to deal with the trapped units. Dohihara did the first of several steps to finally put an end to resistance in the region. But everyone took a moment of respite, for after all, they had just united the two army groups that had stood divided for just shy of two years. The 28th of March marked an important day in Japanese military history and though the gains were small in a tactical scope, the strategical and prestigious gains of connecting the two biggest bodies in the Imperial Japanese Army were major.

(At long last the China and Shanghai Fronts were united, following the greetings exchanged by the 9th and 56th Infantry Divisions.)​

The Chengdu Front (Parts of both the 1st and 2nd Kita-Shina Homenguns)​

On 4th of March the offensive southward from Chengdu ignited, when Watana and Abe together unleashed the power of 80 000 men to support the 36th “Snow” Division. This happened as light infantrymen and armoured forces secured the city to the west and reinforcements still arrived from the north, primarily from the 1st Kita-Shina Homengun. Further into the wasteland advanced units from Abe’s army, in a southward thrust that, albeit slow, was to be counted on, particularly since the defenders were of minimal strength. The February offensive had turned into a “February and onwards” offensive after the unexpected progress it resulted in and stepwise the IJA forces made their way through the land of the warlord state Xibei San Ma.

(Abe's hunger for glory was not fed enough after his entry into Chengdu, but instead aimed for more.)​

However, the new offensive southward by the combined contingent encountered strong and ferocious resistance in Neijiang and more and more faith was put in Abe’s own offensive, as commanders started to see it as the only reliable option. Watana wanted to persist his initiative over as well the Chinese as his colleague, for even though the 52nd Division stood at the gates of Changde, the city had turned out to be well defended. Watana could no longer play the triumph card of being closest to the capital city. So he fought to cross the “End of Civilisation” to let his 3rd Armoured Division get somewhat free room to manoeuvre, ironically supported by units from the 1st K-SH. Slightly more than 100 000 Japanese soldiers were assembled in Chengdu for the assault, whilst the main defence of Leshan was a cavalry division of about 15 000 men. Only smaller units added to that and brought the total numbers up to merely 18 000.

(Japanese infantrymen preparing for the massive assault on Leshan. The numerous forces assembled marked one of the biggest troop concentrations achieved by the Imperial High Command thus far in the war.)​

In the middle of the night, at 1:00AM, the headquarters of the 4th Armoured Division received a radio message from its superior Shojiro of the 2nd Tank Corps. Major general Ando S. was annoyed by his commander’s choice of hour to send the message, as he had been brought up from a well needed sleep. Nonetheless, he was content that Shojiro gave these orders: The division would start a long and ambitious march to Dali in northern Yunnan. It was particularly a bold action since the gap to be exploited could be very temporary, but as well because the unit reached an average speed of no more than 1.14KPH. The requirement of better infrastructure was painfully obvious to Ando and his men, but the major general found the risk worth its rewards.

(Ando never expected the orders to be easy to carry out, but neither had the rest of the war been so.)​

The southward offensive from the launch pad that was Chengdu had not begun well, with greater Japanese casualties than Chinese, but at least the defenders started to falter a bit and fell back behind a river in the end of the second week of March. Also the advance into the “uncivilised” territories was crowned with success and the 3rd Armoured Division led the way as the IJA forces followed the routing enemies. By the 20th both spearheads were ready to launch phase two in their operations. The Republic was amassing forces to retain control of Changde, thus dispatched troops from the sector currently targeted by two offensives. The 6th and 7th Armoured Divisions moved east to use Chongqing as a base of operations for a cut through the frontline to stretch the Chinese reinforcement route longer. This move would take cost them seven days to complete, even more accounting the days of reorganisation after pushing back the defenders. The 26th Infantry Division turned west and crushed into the flank of warlord forces to support the 7th Armoured Division, and Terauchi with his 3rd Armoured Division joined after a very brief moment of hesitation. With time the assault would grow to include the 6th Light Division as additional companion. The 3rd “Lucky” Division continued southward, but would be too weak to single-handedly take on the Chinese river defence of 32 000 men.

(Most of the tanks got sent back east to the terrain they were suited for.)​

As Abe’s secretaries and staff members told him of the 7th Armoured Division’s ambitious manoeuvre he began to form an idea of his own, an even bolder experiment. His complete lack of tanks was truly frustrating in that situation, but he had little choice but to turn to the resting 4th Cavalry Division in Chengdu. However, there was possibly a big advantage with such a unit, the fact that horses were not as inflexible on cliffs and in mountain passes. Perhaps the most spectacular aspect of the order was that Arata Natsuki received it, since he was infamous for losing 2 000 cavalrymen in a few days, not only once, but twice. Mind it that this was in the early days of the war, at this point about two years back, however many still remembered.

(An understandable choice of action, but bold nonetheless.)​

Belated by reluctance and hesitation in the 2nd K-SH’s headquarters an attack by four divisions from south of Chengdu started, immediately becoming a success the Japanese wondered why they had not thought of before. Fighting raged during the night between 27th and 28th of March, costing little more than 200 men from both sides in total, ended by a sudden Chinese desertion of their positions. This happened whilst Abe’s and Watana’s forces in the west were penetrating ever further into the wasteland, closing in on Yunnan at impressive speed as long as they avoided combat.

Changde and Wuhan​

The Central section of the frontline was bogged down into rather static encounters and after a third of March had passed the advancing 2nd Kita-Shina Homengun was not much closer to any of the two cities. The most notable progress thus far was the 48th and 51st Divisions’ pincer at Tianmen, in the western outskirts of Wuhan, but they were barely brought any closer to the city centre. Ferocious and demoralising combat dragged out on time and Chinese troops stubbornly held on to their ground, pushed back only at total exhaustion the 21st of March. The attackers could finally prepare for the assault on Wuhan itself.

Masses of troops were filling the streets of Changde for every passing day, flocking to defend the valuable symbol of unity and strength in the Republic and the present forces could already be counted to equal two Japanese armies, hence was it considered impenetrable. Whether that was true on the ground would take longer to reveal, but Imperial generals had learnt from earlier urban combat; They would not go straight in this time, especially not with the minimal numbers of a single infantry division. Kanin Kotohito ordered a patient, systematic approach to the capture of the city and on the 25th he personally called Gunma A., who was with his air wings at the airbase in Yan’an. The exchange of words that followed is known for Kanin’s steadfast stance.

“Major general, prepare your pilots for an important task.”

“What task, sir?”

“You will have the honour to lead the bombing of Changde.”

“It truly is an honour, sir, but I’m afraid that my aircraft are not meant for that. They will only do minimal damage.”

“Minimal damage is better than no damage. And there will be plenty of forces to attack, in case your dive-bombers can’t destroy houses. I have been informed of your operation in Nanchong. If your flyers could hit tanks in that jungle, surely they are up for this task. Most of our bomber aircraft will participate, and since you are responsible it will be your task to delegate them, not mine.

“Understood sir, I believe my men are eager to go on another mission, so count on them.”

“That I do.”

Gunma found his task somewhat easier when he heard that the IJAAF’s light bombers would be dispatched as well, as he regarded them as better for the purpose. 12 air wings, approximately 1 200 individual aircraft, were dispatched to make the operation break the record in scale, which was set back in the air offensive against Communist Yan’an. Ironically that was where Gunma was currently stationed. This time the operation would indeed be bigger than before, but it came with a completely new challenge; a Chinese air force. Fighter ace Chen Ruidian, an American born man of Chinese and Peruvian ethnicity, flew in the lead of 300 recently equipped Soviet Polarikov i-15 aircraft in the skies of Changde. Unsuspecting the Japanese would fly straight into a trap which, though comparably small in scale, was a nightmare to the unescorted attackers. Gunma took his assignment seriously and immediately made sure to organise a redeployment of 300 interceptors from Shanghai to his area of operations, however the range of those failed him. Hamasaki Kan reported that he could not provide protection unless Wuhan and its airbase were captured. Gunma refused to accept this view of the situation and demanded that escort should be sent so far it was possible, as to give the enemies minimal time to intercept the bombers.

(Gunma had received a prestigious assignment, but faced a problem with a difficult solution. He chose not to cancel the operation, not unthinkably because fear of Kanin's wrath.)
​

Local Chinese generals and officers realised how they were halting the Imperial advance on their capital city and a counter-attack was launched, directed at Tianmen to keep the invaders away from the obviously important Wuhan. The purpose of this action was blown up by the next event, the 5th Armoured Division’s arrival in Xianning, which had been delayed countless times by constant attempts to prop up the frontline, however ultimately reaching its destination. It now stood just south of Wuhan, giving it yet another precarious time.

The South Pacific Command​

Rather eventless period, with perhaps some exceptions for air raids and skirmishes.

The Overall Situation​

The impossible in a frontal attack on Changde seemed obvious at that point, yet the offensives west as well as east of the city sparked new hope to the exhausted fighting-tired troops. They demanded a temporary drain of one’s energy reserves, both mentally and physically, but most were cheered up by the knowledge that at the very least the war approached its end at a steady pace. The strategical advantages of a troop concentration in Changde were easy to recognise for as much privates as high-ranked commanders, with the simple mathematics that “more troops there mean fewer troops everywhere else”.

The uniting of the coastline offered a wide array of new possibilities to the High Command and thoughts existed on the matter that troops could be spared from their duty of holding the frontline, to instead prepare for the final strike at Nanjing, or some other prioritised operation. Although, one thing seemed safe to assume: Nagata and Hata were back in action.

(Note the black dots in French Sahara, Australia and the Soviet Union. Those are revolts.)​

 

[sebas379]

I see progress and the end of the war looms on the horizon, excellent. The chinese continue to offer stiff resistance in places but all they can do is delay the inevitable.

What exactly did you mean btw, i dont immediatly remember which post of mine you must be pointing at. Been too bisy to recall it

 

[Macke11]

I see progress and the end of the war looms on the horizon, excellent. The chinese continue to offer stiff resistance in places but all they can do is delay the inevitable.

What exactly did you mean btw, i dont immediatly remember which post of mine you must be pointing at. Been too bisy to recall it

I agree that all they do is delay an impending victory, and they are still good at it, but they seem to become weaker every day. I am worried for the future war in the Pacific due to my knowledge of the American beast in BlackICE, but at least we might end the war on the mainland before Pearl Harbour. An advantage over real life Japan!


No worries that you don't understand what I meant, I expressed myself very vaguely. Here is your post:

It is still a huge slog, but perhaps the Shanghai sector and Nagata's forces can link up and do some good together.

I answered that I didn't believe it was possible yet, but here we are, with the China and Shanghai Fronts connected and Chinese troops encircled. I knew that it would happen, but my memory failed to serve me well, because I thought it would take an additional few months.

 

[sebas379]

I agree that all they do is delay an impending victory, and they are still good at it, but they seem to become weaker every day. I am worried for the future war in the Pacific due to my knowledge of the American beast in BlackICE, but at least we might end the war on the mainland before Pearl Harbour. An advantage over real life Japan!

That would be excellent as it would allow you to really put the pressure on the British in India, amongst other things.

No worries that you don't understand what I meant, I expressed myself very vaguely. Here is your post:
I answered that I didn't believe it was possible yet, but here we are, with the China and Shanghai Fronts connected and Chinese troops encircled. I knew that it would happen, but my memory failed to serve me well, because I thought it would take an additional few months.

Ah yes, that bit. Well its great to see it worked out so quickly then. Time to crush whats left of them!

 

[Bullfilter]

Interesting action on the now united Chinese fronts. A revolt in Australia? Is that some kind of BICE thing? Though it does seem to be in Western Australia, so it might make some sense after all

 

[Macke11]

That would be excellent as it would allow you to really put the pressure on the British in India, amongst other things.

Ah yes, that bit. Well its great to see it worked out so quickly then. Time to crush whats left of them!

That is the theory anyway. I hope the Chinese infrastructure won't let me down too much in case of an invasion of Burma. And don't worry, we'll crush them... some day...

Interesting action on the now united Chinese fronts. A revolt in Australia? Is that some kind of BICE thing? Though it does seem to be in Western Australia, so it might make some sense after all

It shouldn't be a BlackICE thing, as in an event or so, but I have noticed these revolts popping up from time to time and I think I've seen higher revolt risks than normal across the globe. It could be a bug in the mod version.

But I sense that there's perhaps something funny that I don't get. It might be because I, as a Swede, don't know a lot about Australia... I get the feeling that you're Australian, so I assume that it's some inside joke (Or would a Western Australian take it that way, I wonder?).

 

[Bullfilter]

It shouldn't be a BlackICE thing, as in an event or so, but I have noticed these revolts popping up from time to time and I think I've seen higher revolt risks than normal across the globe. It could be a bug in the mod version.

But I sense that there's perhaps something funny that I don't get. It might be because I, as a Swede, don't know a lot about Australia... I get the feeling that you're Australian, so I assume that it's some inside joke (Or would a Western Australian take it that way, I wonder?).

Yes, an inside joke. Western Australia was the most reluctant state to join the federation in 1901 and there have been periodic murmurings (none ever really serious) ever since about secession. Mainly, I was wondering why there would be a revolt in a country that hadn't been conquered by another.

 

[Macke11]

Yes, an inside joke.Western Australia was the most reluctant state to join the federation in 1901 and there have been periodic murmurings (none ever really serious) ever since about secession. Mainly, I was wondering why there would be a revolt in a country that hadn't been conquered by another.

Okay, thanks for the information, one never knows when it might come in useful. But basically, these rebels are people that are a little... discontent with their regime, rather than partisans. Why are they discontent? Unfortunately, I don't know, but I can maybe tag-switch in an old savegame (I don't want to do it in a current, since that would be somewhat cheating in my opinion.)

 

[Bullfilter]

Okay, thanks for the information, one never knows when it might come in useful. But basically, these rebels are people that are a little... discontent with their regime, rather than partisans. Why are they discontent? Unfortunately, I don't know, but I can maybe tag-switch in an old savegame (I don't want to do it in a current, since that would be somewhat cheating in my opinion.)

Just an idle question - don't sweat it. I might get to play the mod and find out for myself. Haven't noticed it in Vanilla

 

[Surt]

If you haven't already cancel Germanys debt with you.

 

[Macke11]

Just an idle question - don't sweat it. I might get to play the mod and find out for myself. Haven't noticed it in Vanilla

If you say so. Neither have I noticed it in vanilla.

If you haven't already cancel Germanys debt with you.

Good to see you again!

That is a very good point, one which I hadn't thought of (Don't ask me why I thought it would be impossible to break it). It is marked down on my very new to-do-list and I will do it at the point of my latest savegame, which is later than April 1940, but definitely soon enough to have an impact!

 

[Macke11]

The End of The Pacific Empire
(Probably)​

This AAR has been troubled in several ways over the course of the last year and a half, lack of time and motivation in particular. To be honest I have forced myself through it most of the time and quite often not enjoyed the writing as much as I would have liked. I have occasionally found this project inspiring and fun to do, and comments have played a significant part in that sense, but in the end I feel that this has dragged on for too long. Perhaps being away from my computer a week was what I needed to realise the inevitable.

Writing about the Sino-Japanese war for 1,5 years ultimately just isn't what I want to do. Sure, there is the option to skip past it entirely and start "the Real War" instead, as this would allow for some naval action and more interesting strategies and tactics, but I question that I would sustain this project with my wanted level of details. Imagine the current amount of text for every front sector in combination with fronts in: India/Burma, Manchuria, French Indochina and Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, the Pacific War against the US etc. Trying to summarise the events would be tough in its own sense, so I find neither option coming out on top.

I won't exclude the kind of continuation where I skip the war with China though, but right now I feel for planning a new project, or doing nothing at all. This time, if I decide to do something new, it is very likely to be more limited in scale. What game I would use is still uncertain since Victoria II, CK II, Stellaris, EU IV and HoI IV all could make for interesting AARs, however HoI III as a smaller nation is still likely. I am also considering more mix between Narrative and History Book. Again though, I won't promise you anything new right now, because in less than a week from now my free time will be greatly limited and I have also left the possibility open for a project in the Scandinavian AARland.

Unless I get it wrong @Rensslaer offered me a place to write a BlackICE overview/comparison/summary in his AAR thread a while ago, so I might head over there to post it if a finally finish it some day.

So, I think I have explained enough. Now to the final part of this post, my wholehearted thanks to all readAARs and commentatAARs! I know I thanked quite a few people when I put The Pacific Empire on hold back in August last year (Wow, how time flies!), but I think it suits the importance of this post well to give you all a shout out again, as well as one to the newer readAARs. It should be noted that the following list is in no specific order than perhaps early or late arrival to the project.

Firstly, I was encouraged by @Guaro90 in the early days of this AAR and without him it might not have reached the present. He hasn't been around in a long time, but his support remains memorable!

@sebas379 and @guillec87 have hung around since an early stage and account for most of the readAAR comments in The Pacific Empire. Few updates have been posted without your comments and I am greatly thankful for that! Despite my slow pace of updates you two have still shown interest! Great thanks!

@Blackoberst has supported me by "agreeing" with my posts since April 2016, which is indeed quite a long time, and the fact that you have remained a readAAR warms me! Thanks a lot!

@Surt will be remembered for his suggestions of strategies last summer, but also his unexpected reappearance recently. Thank you for teaching me a few things and for coming back after so long!

@markkur also arrived early and has returned with comments recently! Thank you!

A great amount of new readers came out in the open or arrived for the first time in Early 2017, actually surprisingly many.

@Nuada Airgetlám caught up with the AAR despite little knowledge of HoI III and chose to vote for it in the current ACAs, an action that is greatly appreciated! Thank you for your support!

@racebear75 popped up to answer my request for advice on fleet composition and even though his words may never be used for the IJA, they might be so in another navy! He has also appeared rather recently with a comment! Thank you!

@Bullfilter has become a reliable commentatAAR in later months and accounts for the third highest amount of comments despite arriving late and they have all been welcome! Thank you!

@roverS3 may not be here with comments very often, but his "agrees" mean a lot and have encouraged a continuation of this project! Thank you!

@Eurasia hangs around and has commented a bit, and his "agrees" show that he is reading when he doesn't comment! Thank you!

And then remain the people who have left a comment or two: @sermokala, @albertismo, @kelestra, @Mkoll13, @Ecgrift, @VonMudra, @foxbal, @Rensslaer and @rebelegy! Thank you all a lot!

The Pacific Empire has reached much further than I could ever have expected when I set out on this journey back on the 20th of February 2016 and this has been achieved only thanks to YOU, the readAARs! I may say that it was a chore to maintain this project, but I believe I will not regret that I continued it for so long. There is no doubt that this has improved my English, but it has to a certain degree also helped me find a supportive community. I hope to still be able to comment on others' AARs here in HoI3 AARland, and even if I don't return with a HoI3 AAR I will no doubt remember your support!

On a final note, feel free to suggest the setting of a new interesting HoI3 project as a small country. Anything from what should be AI controlled or not, to what country I should play and with what overall strategy. I'm out!

 

[Bullfilter]

Well, sad to see you sign off, but thank you for the ride! You introduced me to the Black ICE mod and I liked your AAR style: you wrote very well indeed for a not-English-as-a-first-language writer.

That was a very detailed and respectful send off and a very nice way to say au revoir. I hope you do start something else up when the feeling grabs you. In the meantime, you know you are always very welcome on my story as a commentatAAR

Small-medium countries are good if you like detail and micromanaging but on a smaller scale - probably not much you could afford (or need) to give to the AI. I won't suggest a country, but whichever you might choose, would recommend giving them a bit of an LS and MP buff (if not playing a mod that does that already. In Vanilla the LS seems unrealistically low for minors, and MP not much better.

Good luck in your endeavours!

 

[guillec87]

it is sad when such a great AAR ends... but I understand your reasons, and do count with me when your next AAR is out

 

[sebas379]

Its always a pity when AARs end, but I completely understand, in fact I think this mightve happened to my SU game at some point if I hadnt lost the save. No shame in putting an end to it, it was a great ride. I'm not very busy on the forums these days but do give me a headsup if you start something new and I'll try to drop by every now and then.

As for a new game, thats tough. My SU game was fun, but overtaxing so I dont recommend that, its just too much work to keep track of everything. Something a bit more focused but still reasonably powerful would be Italy. Alternatively you could go smaller with nations like Brazil, Canada, Romania or something of that size. Or go wildly off the beaten track and drag the "wrong" nation into the wrong faction and see where that goes.

 

[Eurasia]

Remember, when things get overwhelming or boring you can always just click that AI button and let your armies and government go on its own path and you can just watch!