The Setting Sun - Gotterdammerung, Japan 1944.

[unmerged(59906)]

Sokraates - The British AI does seem to be programmed to attack everywhere and not defend. I already control all but Zhambyl of the non snow covered provinces. There is a map in the update covering that area which shows how far south the snow goes.

safferli - Their research is very advanced

alan_le_cowboy - I don't find the economic map mode much use as it doesn't show much really. I will add some maps to the March 1st update to highlight the more significant areas with the actual province details added to the maps.

Thurak - The monthly report is a critical one You shall have your fleet combat of course.

I chose not to move CA Division 1 for a few reasons. The enemy fleet has no escorts which allows me to close to 1 nm for the battle allowing my superior numbers to tell.

I am invading along the Persian Gulf and I need to prevent enemy fleets entering it (This is probably the main reason the American fleet is even here as the AI knows I have a Transport fleet in this area).

If Edwards attacks CA Division 1 he will be bottled in the Persian Gulf as BB Division 1 would come up behind him. CA Division 1 would either sink or badly damage the CTF which would mean relatively light losses to BB Division 1 if it had to fight it as well. BB Division 1 is far more important than CA Division 1 and I would prefer any damage to be in the CA Division.

I could choose to just bomb the CTF but as it managed to go from Japan to the Arabian Sea undetected the chances of me sinking it that way are not good.

Nathan Madien - Fleet Train Doctrine adds 5% to CV's and DD's so its not that useful. Carrier Warfare, which is next, is a lot more useful as it adds 10% to CV, CA, CL and DD as well as 5% for CV's in bad conditions.

RioBrancoBaron - Thank you and welcome to the boards and this little AAR

Phax, Roman_legion - Correct. BB Division 1 would be my preference to engage first but having CA Division 1 attack first has its own rewards. The problem is night/day combat which I cannot dictate against a fleet as fast as this one. They are building lots of CV's and Air for the US, the Soviets are wasting a lot I think.

midget_roxx - Thanks and welcome This scenario is pretty hard certainly and I had some things go my way which could have gone differently. Energy early on came from conquest of China and its puppets and since then it is from trade with South American Countries. 160 Energy per day is traded for supplies with Venezuela alone. Its not just an oil rich country

zdlugasz - Correct it does halt the gearing bonus. Police are built fast enough that I can stop and start with plenty of spare time between Garrison builds until the Garrison bonus gets very high. Police added to Infantry would help a little but I have too few Infantry divisions to leave them as garrisons. I need to replace them with the proper troops which are much better at partisan control. I don't want any of my Infantry as Garrison forces in the long run. There is also the added headache of getting the Police brigades to my Infantry.

harezmi - A celebration is always welcome Bayan Nur is actually partisan free as it belongs to Mengkukuo. I could continue the advance and redeploy strategy but Spring is actually not far away in the southern provinces and redeploying sucks organisation. I will need a few weeks to restore my organisation before the Spring offensive which is why I have made a line in the sand.

Maj. von Mauser - The Emperor ordered it and so it must be

genbrad - Thank you. I am glad you are still enjoying the ride

Update to follow ...

 

[unmerged(59906)]

Operation Lynchpin​

13​

0000 February 1st 1948.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Irkutsk, Soviet Union.

East Asia Army continued its advances as the monthly meeting convened in Tokyo with little resistance from the Red Army overall. There were some isolated battles.​

Lt. General Sumida encountered another redeployed Soviet division in Barguzin as his exhausted troops marched into the snow covered mountain province. General Okabe was swift to support the advance which allowed it to continue.​

0000 February 1st 1948.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, In Transit.

Ozawa's fleet was steaming at full speed towards Gwatar Bay in an attempt to cut off Admiral Edwards and his Carrier Task Force when he received word of an enemy fleet being spotted by Japanese patrol aircraft.​

Kondo had found a small Mexican fleet to the north of the Hawaiian Islands in the Mendelssohn Seamount. His modern Tactical bombers would inflict some damage as the enemy fleet jeaded west but he would not manage to sink either of the outdated ships.

The news that Ozawa had been waiting for arrived at 0700 hours as contact was made with Admiral Edwards and his fleet.​

Edwards had passed through Gwatar Bay before Ozawa could arrive and he had moved into the Gulf of Oman. Ichimaru and Genda headed for Abadan to provide assistance as Takasu began the task of trying to keep his ships afloat as he attempted to sink Edwards' fleet. Conditions favoured the American Admiral as it was a clear afternoon in the Persian Gulf even though he was outnumbered four to one.​

Within an hour Takasu had closed the range to 1 nm and the battle would stay at point blank range for the duration. This allowed all of the Japanese ships to participate as Edwards had no escorting vessels to screen his larger ships.

The first hour was not a disaster for either side as the two fleets chose their targets. The USS Phillipine Sea targeted Takasu's Flagship IJN Chitose with the Light Carrier USS San Jacinto firing on the second Japanese Light Carrier IJN Chiyoda. The final ship in the American fleet, the Heavy Cruiser USS Pensacola, trained its guns on the former German Light Cruiser IJN Emden. CA Division 1 spread its fire on all three enemy vessels favouring none of them.

By 0900 hours CA Division 1 had lost its Flagship, IJN Chitose, to a second strike from the USS Phillipine Sea which began to chose a second target. All of the American ships had sustained some damage with limited effect on their other targets in the Japanese Cruiser fleet.

Another hour of sustained fire saw IJN Chiyoda begin to suffer minor damage to the USS San Jacinto as IJN Emden suffered more serious damage from the USS Pensacola. The USS Phillipine Sea had altered targets and began to launch Carrier strikes against the Heavy Cruiser IJN Suzuya. The damage to Japanese ships would drop off as both of Edwards supporting ships sustained enough damage to limit their fighting ability.​

At 1100 hours Takasu, who had been badly wounded during the pounding his Flagship had endured, ordered CA Division 1 to withdraw even though it was possible for his fleet to finish off the now badly damaged American fleet.

IJN Suzuya and IJN Emden had received more damage as had the enemy ships but Takasu knew that Edwards was now in a hopeless position. The only casualty would be IJN Chitose which had an experienced crew and would be sorely missed. Edwards had the uneviable task of trying to escape with his battered ships.​

Ichimaru made it clear to the American Admiral that staying in the Persian Gulf was not an option which would leave Edwards with only one choice. He headed for Gwatar Bay where Ozawa and BB Division 1 were waiting for him.​

Lookouts would sight the American fleet at 1800 hours on February 1st which would bring BB Division 1 to Action Stations as it tried to finish off the badly damaged enemy Carrier Task Force. Unlike the previous engagement Ozawa was holding all the aces for the second battle. Night negated Edwards Carrier abilities and Ozawa had also managed to better position his own fleet as he knew exactly where his enemy was.​

By 1900 hours the battle was all but over. A massive salvo by Japanese Battleships had blew the USS San Jacinto out of the water as the two fleets had closed to 1 nm. The badly damaged USS Phillipine Sea was bravely trying to damage IJN Nagato but was making little progress as the USS Pensacola tried in vain to bring its guns to bare.

It would take a further three hours to finally sink the remnants of Edwards fleet as the more modern ships proved capable of staying afloat despite overwhelming numbers and firepower. IJN Nagato was the only damaged Japanese ship and she only suffered superficial damage. All three American ships had been sunk by Japanese Battleships. IJN Ise claimed the prized scalp of the USS Phillipine Sea as IJN Yamato accounted for the Light Carrier USS San Jacinto. IJN Fuso's guns sank the USS Pensacola.​

Ozawa was not totally happy with the results of the two Naval battles as he had lost one of his Light Carriers, but he had managed to sink another American Carrier without suffering too much damage. Admiral Toyoda was given orders to sail to the Gulf of Oman with his smaller Heavy Cruiser fleet to continue to blockade the Persian Gulf. Both CA Division 1 and BB Division 1 sailed back to Ahmadabad to assess the damage to their ships and begin repairs.​

 

[unmerged(59906)]

0700 February 2nd 1948.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Tashkent, Soviet Union.

The Allies were still landing more troops in Haifa which were trying to move towards Iraq and the front line. They were making less and less progress as time passed as Obata found targetting them easy in the wide open deserts.​

The latest attack on Amman provided more up to date information as Obata attacked three Infantry divisions. Two more divisions were in Haifa as well as a Cavalry division in Damascus. The Allied troops were nominally under British command but none of them were from the United Kingdom.​

The Central Asia Army was moving forwards in most areas and they captured more territory on February 2nd. The Rare Material rich Zhambyl province fell to Lt. General Iida as he arrived ahead of the main force from Tashkent. The Red Army would have a very long march if it tried to move troops by land to or from Sinkiang after this latest Japanese advance. Hata did not wish to move any further north until the snows melted as he already controlled most of the provinces without snowfall.​

Ceylon was also part of Hata's operational responsibility and Allied bombers had been scouring the sea looking for Japanese ships to attack. Tanaka's Interceptor wing still patrolled the skies around the south of India and his more modern Interceptors easily shot down the single South African Dive bomber squadron that had tried to penetrate the air cover.​

Obata switched targets on February 3rd as another Lebanese division crossed onto former Iraqi soil. The Infantry division would not survive long in Mosul.​

On February 5th Obata would receive orders to head north once more as another enemy division was encountered in Makhachkala. Yamashita would overcome the minor resistance with support from Honda in Baku.​

0000 February 6th 1948.
Airforce Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

A large part of Japanese production was being used to increase the size of Japan's Tactical bomber forces which had the mammoth task of trying to support land operations as well as sea patrols.​

The latest four squadrons arrived in Tokyo and would spend several weeks organising themselves and conducting training. Jun already knew which sealanes this wing would be sent to patrol as he tried to restore the former massed coverage over the Pacific which had dropped as the Red Army had tried to force Japan from Asia. Allied ships were managing to pass through the Pacific relatively undetected which had to be altered before a Japanese fleet was attacked by surprise.​

0600 February 6th 1948.
The Skies Above Makhachkala.

The arrival of Obata over Makhachkala meant certain death for the retreating enemy division in the province but the Tactical bombers would need to remain in this area for a little while longer.​

A second division had been spotted in Grozny to the north which would also need to be taken care of. Japanese troops were tiring fast as they marched through hostile terrain and any enemy interference could set them back weeks if not months.​

American Strategic bombers would try to bomb Iraq again at 1200 hours on February 6th. Fukudome was waiting for them. Mj. General French was the first to suffer as twelve Japanese Interceptor squadrons pounced on his two squadrons as he tried to pass through Nasiriyah on his way to Abadan. French would lose both of his squadrons.

Five hours later Lt. General Goodwin would also be attacked by the same three Japanese Interceptor wings. Night would allow him to escape without losing any of his three squadrons but they would still suffer badly during the dogfight. Fukudome was not about to allow the enemy to regain control of Middle Eastern airspace after it had taken so long to establish it.​

1800 February 7th 1948.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

The slow methodical advance of the North China Army continued into early February as Higashikuni utilised the single advance and redeployment option open to him.​

Some of his troops were still moving as a force as Lt. General Shimomura showed as he arrived in Muren. Higashikuni now had troops adjacent to his secondary objective even if they were completely exhausted. The Red Army had enough troops to easily force Shimomura backwards but they had their own problems to deal with and would not counter attack. The non stop bombardment of Kyzyl by Nakajima and his Close Air Support wing had rendered the Communist troops in the province almost useless as their command and control structure was deliberately and repeatedly targetted.​

 

[safferli]

Ah, lovely naval action! Personally, I consider losses of CVLs acceptable, if balanced by large losses in enemy shipping. CVLs are just so easy, cheap and quick to replace. The situation for you is of different, as your resources are very much more limited. I can't remember, have you got a long serial of CVLs running? That's what I always have.

 

[Sokraates]

Nice to have you back, Remble.

While your absence was remarkable and unusual, even more remarkable was that on the 10th, not a single post happened in this thread. I don't know if such a thing ever happened in your AARs. In any case this shows how well behaved and disciplined your readers are.

Regarding the update, I'm not sure the loss of the Chitose was worth it, considering that the US can and do replace their carriers with relative ease while you struggle IC- and manpower-wise.

Whatever. One carrier down means one carrier down.

Now go and show the Russians in Kyzyl how a three-pronged attack is done.

 

[unmerged(47302)]

Are you thinking about stopping TAC production before end to upgrade faster your army or to build more GAR / ships?

 

[zdlugasz]

I have thought about adding Police to e.g. Infantry in Australia (when you will replace them with Garrisons). Of course it would be nice to use all infantry for purely offensive actions, but do you have enough non-Japanese-infantry to garrison Siberia and terrains around Ural?

Do you have more TACs in queue? (I forgot). if not what will you spend those freed IC on?

 

[Thurak]

BB Division 1 is far more important than CA Division 1 and I would prefer any damage to be in the CA Division.

Don´t tell that the crewmen in CA Division 1. Especially not the survivors of the light carrier.

I doubt the damage taken by the cruiser fleet was worth it not to abort the landing in the Persian gulf. Optimal carrier conditions make those American carriers really, really deadly, it seems.

But the plan worked, just a bit worse than planned/hoped and that's what I love about naval warfare... it´s a bit more unpredictable than land warfare.

Oh, and as usual: Thank you for feeding us what we need

 

[unmerged(47302)]

Do you have more TACs in queue? (I forgot). if not what will you spend those freed IC on?

Remble has launched 4*4 TAC production and 4*2 are still in queue.

 

[zdlugasz]

Remble has launched 4*4 TAC production and 4*2 are still in queue.

Thanks, I was too lazy to check how many were finished.

Regarding loss of light carrier: for sure it is "gain" comparing IC required to build full carrier.
However I think that I would say it is loss for Empire:
- we should not compare absolute ICs but relative ones. Comparing to IC of allies for sure Remble lost that battle. Comparing to USA's IC and their current production queue IMO it is loss as well: how many carriers will USA produce next half year/next year? And how many light carriers will produce Remble?
- and finally loss of experience

On the other hand it adds realism to game and increase odds.

 

[Sokraates]

Thanks, I was too lazy to check how many were finished.

Regarding loss of light carrier: for sure it is "gain" comparing IC required to build full carrier.
However I think that I would say it is loss for Empire:
- we should not compare absolute ICs but relative ones. Comparing to IC of allies for sure Remble lost that battle. Comparing to USA's IC and their current production queue IMO it is loss as well: how many carriers will USA produce next half year/next year? And how many light carriers will produce Remble?
- and finally loss of experience

On the other hand it adds realism to game and increase odds.

If Remble wouldn't need to micromanage his resources and if even small losses wouldn't hurt him tremendously ... I guess then he would just stop playing and his AARs wouldn't be the great feats they are.

 

[harezmi]

Remble could finish off that fleet with his bombers but we all want to see naval action. we can do it in our games but this game is open to public and people want to see action. you need to satisfy your consumers, customers and consider their demands. that`s why he preferred to use his fleets to take care of that fleet even he predicts the consequences. he also has rules and wants to play as realistic as possible and i believe this is quite realistic including TELEPORTATION to 1 nm considering the famous Philadelphia experiment has occured in October 43.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment

i`m glad that you don`t need to Garrison Bayan-Nur

you already mentioned in the update but i wanna ask, what`s your plan for updating your units? i know garrisons are prioritized but how about the others, what`s your time span for upgrading all units?

 

[unmerged(95506)]

By 0900 hours CA Division 1 had lost its Flagship, IJN Chitose, to a second strike from the USS Phillipine Sea

A severe loss. Although a light carrier is not that much of an investment compared to the other capital ships, the loss of the experienced men must be a blow to the morale of the IJN.

You are over command limit again.

 

[unmerged(87183)]

He needs an Air Marshal.

Either way, good work, you sunk their fleet, even though you did take damage, I think you need to work on more adavenced CVL's when time permits.

 

[Inner Circle]

Remble could finish off that fleet with his bombers but we all want to see naval action. we can do it in our games but this game is open to public and people want to see action. you need to satisfy your consumers, customers and consider their demands. that`s why he preferred to use his fleets to take care of that fleet even he predicts the consequences. he also has rules and wants to play as realistic as possible and i believe this is quite realistic including TELEPORTATION to 1 nm considering the famous Philadelphia experiment has occured in October 43.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment

i`m glad that you don`t need to Garrison Bayan-Nur

you already mentioned in the update but i wanna ask, what`s your plan for updating your units? i know garrisons are prioritized but how about the others, what`s your time span for upgrading all units?

1nm is supposed to be Nautical miles, not Nanometer

1nm = 1.85 km = 1.15625 Miles

 

[unmerged(105596)]

Loss of Chitose does bad for the morale, but I'd say it was necessary sacrifice. Operations on Persian Gulf would have been halted if CA div 1 would've run for cover instead of bravely engaging technologically superior enemies. We just have to be happy that there were no enemy escorts present: they could have turned it into complete victory for the USN. Anyway, the best thing is that CA div 1 is still operational: after all it lost just one CVL and still has one left. In the longer run more CVLs need to be produced though.

 

[unmerged(59906)]

safferli - Losses are ok as long as they are not high as you say. I stopped the CVL production after 3 of the 4 runs completed to allow for other builds. I may have to start them again but not before I research better models.

Sokraates - I was only absent for three days You guys are all well behaved which is why a lot of people write AAR's here as it is not plagued by the behavior of most other places. I have no idea if there have been other days with no posts but it is unusual for this one. I wanted to test the combat ability of my smaller firepower fleet and an unescorted Carrier was a decent enough trial. They didn't do too badly but probably would have lost at least one more ship if the battle had run its course. Your ability to read the future is still pretty good

alan_le_cowboy - No, I will finish the TAC production. I cannot really increase Garrison production as I do not have the manpower to support it. At most I might be able to produce 2 a month. I may build more ships in the future.

zdlugasz - I could put Police on Infantry but then I might end up with too much manpower allocated to them and not enough to support the Garrisons. My manpower is too limited to consider much other than small garrison production for some time. alan_le_cowboy pointed out the TAC position

Thurak - Naval warfare is fun which is why I like to have as much as I can. The IJN has to shoulder some of the responsibility even if it looses a ship here and there.

zdlugasz - You are correct it is a net loss considering the Allies production. I do have a very large problem though. My aircraft failed to even damage that CTF much which means it would have just left the area, probably sinking more of my Subs as it did so. I have to keep the USN Carrier numbers down or it will begin to have enough to consider assaults in the Pacific and I do not want to have to take it back again if that happens. Right now the U.S. is producing at least one Carrier a month which means I have to sink that many as well. I can't afford to let them get away, especially when they have no escort type vessels protecting them.

harezmi - Naval action is certainly good for the AAR but I won't sacrifice my ships willingly. It was a fairly decent odds battle given that the CTF was easy to close with. Upgrades are prioritised Garrisons, Infantry, Aircraft. The process will be very slow until the TAC's are completed then most of that IC will go to upgrades as I won't have much manpower to do anything else with it.

Zvetiki, Maj. von Mauser - I will do without the Air Marshall. I usually only send two wings up at once with Fukudome leading, but as the enemy was in Iraq, which is fairly large, I sent all three as I did not expect them all to attack at once.

If my CVL's had been as advanced as the Americans I might not have lost one. I will be researching more modern ones when time permits. The fact that I have to use inferior ships makes things harder which is a good thing.

Velko - If that CTF had had escorts I would have just did whatever damage I could have with bombers and left it alone. In the waters where it was operating I would probably have only got one bombing run in as it can easily traverse that entire area in one or two days.

Update to follow ...

 

[unmerged(59906)]

Operation Lynchpin

14​

0200 February 8th 1948.
The Skies Above Urumqi.

The North China Army was still looking to secure it's primary objective of Urumqi as Higashikuni waited for reinforcements to arrive.​

The capture of Irkutsk to the north had allowed Japanese Tactical bombers to attack former Sinkiang territory to support any advance towards Urumqi. This support would be needed as the snow was showing no signs of abating in this region.​

Obata was also in action as he tried to remove the Soviet division in Grozny. Three Polish Interceptor squadrons had attacked his own air group during the latest bombing run. The Poles would suffer much higher losses to Obata's veteran pilots who easily brushed them aside and continued with their mission. Should the Soviet Airforce also decide to intervene in this area then things could change but for now Obata was confident of continued success.​

Japanese bombers were not the only ones flying as another attempt was made by American bombers to reduce the airbase in Abadan. Mj. General Brooks would succeed in causing a large amount of damage but his un-escorted squadrons would suffer huge losses to Fukudome's two patrolling air wings based in the province.​

0900 February 9th 1948.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Irkutsk, Soviet Union.

Terauchi was making slow progress with his advances but the enemy was not providing much in the way of opposition so far. The strongpoint of Kyzyl was one such area but plans were already made to deal with that situation. Studying his map and matching it to recent reports did provide some insight into his enemy's counter moves.​

A lot more Soviet troops had arrived in Far Eastern Siberia to reinforce the armies already present. Terauchi thought that these could be late arrivals that had just reached the area after being sent many weeks ago to try and halt Operation Improbable. That operation had been halted of course which left many more Red Army troops in the area than were needed. The new arrivals appeared to be marching west to try and stem the recent advances of the East Asia Army.​

1100 February 9th 1948.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Tashkent, Soviet Union.

Field Marshall Hata remained the busiest Japanese Army Commander as his forces advanced across a wide front in pursuit of its objectives. So far Hata had not achieved either his primary or secondary objectives but he was making good progress.​

He decided to break his defensive line and attempt to capture the valuable Rare Material reserves in Aktyubinsk to the north of Kulsary. Hoshinato would require over a month to advance into the snow covered province but there was little in the way of enemy resistance. Hata's second Armoured division was making its way north to Kulsary to protect Hoshinato's rear.​

The recent losses to the American Strategic and conventional bomber forces had forced the Allies to send in airforces from minor Nations once more. Watanabe was based in Basrah and would easily destroy the Colombian Tactical bomber squadron that tried to bomb his airbase.​

At 1600 hours on February 9th Yamashita arrived in Makhachkala to secure the eastern part of the Kaukasus mountains. Hata now had direct access to the more open terrain to the north but would have to wait for Yamashita to rest and for follow up forces to arrive before advancing.​

An overflight by Obata on the 12th clearly displayed the lack of enemy forces in the area, although troops could always arrive by train or be raised in the provinces of the area to try and halt the advance.​

 

[unmerged(59906)]

0100 February 13th 1948.
The Pacific.

Japanese aircraft were in action again on February 13th as they acquired new targets or continued to pursue older ones.​

Kondo found the two Mexican ships heading back to the east of Midway Island after being tracked on their journey westwards at the beginning of the month. Kondo would have more success on this occasion as he totally destroyed the enemy fleet.​

Obata had moved back to the desert to keep an eye on the Allied advance. For once there were no new arrivals in Haifa but there were still five divisions to be dealt with in the region. The Headquarters division in Damascus would shortly arrive in Karbala but would not live for long after Obata targetted it.​

0000 February 14th 1948.
Intelligence Offices. Tokyo, Japan.

Japanese research had been progressing well in 1948 and Kuniaki was informed of another advance as February reached its mid point.​

Teiji Takagi's valuable Computer research was making other projects progress with increasing speed and the completion of Improved Electronic Computers would hasten further developments. Kuniaki allowed Takagi to continue with his research and improve on his current Computer design.​

1300 February 15th 1948.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

Redeployments had been arriving in most areas to increase the strength of front line forces. The recent arrival of a large part of the East Asia Army in Irkutsk allowed Higashikuni to launch a major assault on the secondary objective of both Army groups in the area.​

General Koiso would command the attack against the six weakened enemy divisions in Kyzyl as Nakajima's bombers continued to target their organisation. A total of eighteen Japanese divisions from both armies participated in the attack with Higashikuni's three divisions in Muren chosen to advance. Support came from both Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk. A large part of Koiso's force was tired but numbers would tell as the battle dragged on for almost twenty four hours. The snow covered mountains meant slow progress for the assault but Koiso would be victorious.​

0500 February 16th 1948.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. Tashkent, Soviet Union.

The range of Japanese Tactical bombers was tested by Hata in the early hours of February 16th as he ordered an attack in the east of his area of advance.​

The bombers based in Irkutsk just had enough range to reach Alma-Ata which would be enough to destroy any opposition remaining in the area and allow Hata's forces to advance without fear of counter attack.​

Hoshinato's advance towards Aktyubinsk would be short lived as a Soviet Armoured division arrived in the province. He might have been able to overcome the defences but a river crossing into a frozen wasteland was not going to be quick or easy so Hata called off the advance.​

Progress in the Kaukasus mountains was more pleasing as General Okamura captured Tblisi. His wishes to rest his tiring troops were ignored as Hata ordered him to advance towards his primary objective of Batum. Soviet bombers were making life a little awkward as they concentrated on bombing the already fragile infrastructure of the region and Hata needed these attacks to stop as soon as possible. Okamura would need a month to complete his advance and his troops would be useless after the march until they had been given several weeks to recover.​

The destruction of all enemy troops in the east allowed Hata to also order advances towards Alma-Ata and Frunze. The linking of Japanese Armies was a requirement that needed to be addressed and these moves would speed up the process.​

Obata would return to Amman on the 18th to monitor the situation and conduct more ground attacks against the open Allied troops. Another division had arrived in Haifa but the reinforcements had slowed to a trickle from what had once been a flood.​

0100 February 18th 1948.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Irkutsk, Soviet Union.

None of the more well known and formidable Soviet Commanders had been seen for some time but one was found as Nakajima altered targets from the fleeing Comintern troops in Kyzyl.​

Field Marshall Zhukov, the most gifted of the Red Army Commanders, had been spotted commanding an Armoured division in Bodaibo. The Armour was yet another more advanced model comprising T-54 tanks. Nakajima would destroy it before returning to Kyzyl to continue the destruction of the enemy troops there.​

 

[unmerged(59906)]

1700 February 18th 1948.
East Asia Army Headquarters. Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union.

The lack of any Red Army forces north of Irkutsk had allowed Terauchi to consider advancing towards the Energy rich provinces to its north west.​

He arrived in Krasnoyarsk with his Headquarters on February 18th and continued his march towards Achinsk which also had a large Energy reserve. Troops from the East Asia Army began the process of redeploying to Krasnoyarsk to defend the province.​

0700 February 20th 1948.
North China Army Headquarters. Lanzhou, China.

The North China Army's secondary target had already been successfully attacked which just left Urumqi to capture to achieve both objectives. Higashikuni had been waiting for reinforcements to arrive and his wait ended on February 20th.​

Lt. General Chandra Bose led four divisions towards the weakened defences of Urumqi. Only the Garrison remained and it had been targetted by Tactical bombers to reduce its organisation. Chandra Bose's troops were tired but they were supporting the main attacking division and did not need to actually advance. Huntrakool's Mountaineers would advance after capturing the Garrison.​

1100 February 20th 1948.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, East Gulf of Aden.

Ozawa had moved back towards the Gulf of Aden to keep an eye on the American land forces in Makalla and to try and intercept any smaller Allied fleets coming from the Suez Canal. He had not expected to find what he did.​

Not only had fifteen American divisions vanished but he also walked into a Transport fleet that could have been carrying some of those troops. Only one Transport Division would be sunk, by IJN Yamato, but it was a serious concern for Ozawa that the Americans had seemingly managed to move all fifteen divisions at once.​

0400 February 21st 1948.
The Skies Above Kashgar.

Lt. General Itabana, Commander of the Tactical bomber group operating from Irkutsk, had run out of easy targets and had no other option but to begin to bomb dug in troops.​

The three Soviet divisions in the mountains of Kashgar would be invunerable to direct ground attack so Itabana targetted their organisation instead. Higashikuni had already ordered some divisions from China to redeploy to Peshawar and once these arrived another avenue of attack could be opened.​

0100 February 22nd 1948.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Fuso, East Gulf of Aden.

The removal of the American forces in Makalla was a concern as Ozawa had no idea where they had gone. There were numerous targets that could be invaded but most had air patrols covering the approaches and were unlikely. There was little else Ozawa could do but wait, but he could do some things while he waited.​

Mj. General Banzai no longer had to worry about a counter attack if he landed in Mascate so he was ordered to invade the province. BB Division 1 would protect the south as CA Division 3 supported the amphibious assault offshore.

Ozawa began to wonder if Admiral Edwards had been in the Arabian Sea to divert attention away from the troop movements or whether that had just been a coincidence.​

1800 February 22nd 1948.
Kwantung Army Headquarters. Qiqihar, Manchukuo.

The front lines had been peaceful all Winter as both sides dug in to wait out the bad weather. Kawabe had his forces where he needed them and merely watched the Soviets moving along the line from east to west as they redeployed. He had inherited the quietest part of the front after it had seen the large offensive completed by Terauchi. Spring would see a change from defence to offence almost certainly and Kawabe was aware of his objectives already. Kill or capture all of the Soviet troops to his north and secure strategically important provinces was the obvious task ahead. He was confident of success when the time came as the Red Army was no longer capable of halting concerted attacks.

Kawabe's thoughts were disturbed by the arrival of a messenger who was quickly admitted by his adjutant, Mj. General Otani.

"Sir, a message has arrived from Mj. General Zhao Qiuhang." the messenger stated as he handed the communication to his commander.

"Thank you." Kawabe replied as he began to read the message. Where is the 1st Fangtien Army based?" he asked his staff. Kawabe was familiar with most of his troop dispositions but some were so remote that he did not know them by heart.

The first person to respond after his staff poured over the maps in the Headquarters was a Manchurian liason officer. "According to the map, Qingdao which is in Shandong province in north eastern China."

"That can't be right." replied Kawabe. "Get this message confirmed." he ordered Otani.

"Right away Sir." came the reply. Fifteen minutes passed before Otani returned. "Confirmed by Mj. General Miyauchi, commander of the Jinan Garrison nearby."

Kawabe read the message again and studied the map of north eastern China. The defence of China was his responsibility and one he had thought to be secondary, he was wrong. "How long would it take us to get additional troops to Qingdao. Three weeks?"

"Approximately, yes Sir." Otani replied.

"Damn. Way too long. I need to send some messages." Kawabe said as he headed for his communications center. He wasn't gone long.

"And?" Otani asked.

"We will be receiving some assistance." was all Kawabe would say for a while.​

"They did what!" Tanigawa said loudly as Satoru read the message he had received from the commander of Kwantung Army.

"I already told you Sir. The Americans landed in Lianyungang province." replied Satoru calmly.

"How did they manage to pull that off undetected?" Tanigawa asked both Jun and Osami who had hastily arrived.

"We don't patrol that area and haven't for some time. Our outer patrols should have caught something but they apparently missed it." Osami replied.

"We can think ourselves lucky they didn't invade the mainland. I would not have liked to explain that to His Majesty."

"They can't do that without our knowledge as we have constant patrols around our coastline." stated Jun.

"Do you Gentlemen have any plans yet?"

"Of course, but we thought we would discuss them with you first." Satoru replied.

"Well let's here them then, I don't think we have all day." stated Tanigawa.​