Utsunimiya's War - HoI3(TFH) Japan AAR

[serutan]

Bomb the varmints into the Stone Age, then brush them aside.

 

[El Pip]

Bomb the varmints into the Stone Age, then brush them aside.

That is one way to deal with the IJA idiots infesting the government. The other is 16" shells.

My preferred solution is of course both, at the same time.

 

[Eurasia]

Utsunimiya's War
(HoI3 TFH - Interactive Japan AAR)
Chapter Fifty-Four: Operation "Pitch-fork" - 8.9.1937

Baron Mineo Ōsumi, Chief of the Navy, looked up from the plan and said, "Not very good."

Field Marshal Kanji Ishiwara blinked in surprise. He had invited the Chief of the Navy to his office to get his opinion on the new plan Operation 'Pitch-Fork'.

He had prepared for a short, simple meeting, more of a social affair. Tea with rice cakes had been delivered and he had even placed some of the maps back on the wall to make the Chief of the Navy feel at home. And now this?

"Maybe the paperwork does not make it clear," he remarked, "Those THREE Ports are important. Xiamen, Fuzhou, and Ningbo are all major urban centers. Fuzhou even has resources. Taking them could hit the Nationalist morale with a deadly blow. They would have to send troops to contain them and weaken their strength in all other fronts."

"But we strip the home islands of all the infantry divisions we have left AND tie up all three Task Groups," replied the Chief of the Navy. "And those divisions would be trapped there. May I suggest another plan? One the Advisers are more likely to vote on because one of them came up with it?"

"I guess there is no reason I can't look at it," commented the Field Marshal.

The Baron took out a map and pushed it across the Field Marshal's desk. It was not as well made as the map the Field Marshal had presented but it go its point across.

"Operation 'Common Sense' has us reinforce the Province of Qingdao with one division while attacking the Port of Weihai with two divisions. And we only use TWO Task Groups. The ground troops would outnumber the enemy units in the region. They could go on the offense and threaten the Nationalist's right flank."

"The enemy would have to call a general retreat," the Chief of the Navy continued, "OR withdraw some of their units to try to contain the new front. Either way they would likely fail to contain either the new front or the main front and we could gain ground. The Carrier planes could even give support."

The Field Marshal frowned. The new plan, which sounded like a version of the old Naval Plan One, did make somewhat more sense and there was less risk of divisions getting trapped. BUT it depended on the Nationalist military responding to the operation by retreating or weakening themselves. The first plan didn't depend on the reactions of the enemy and gave the Japanese instant results.

"I will ask the Chief of Staff to put both plans forward as a choice," he replied with a nod, collecting the new plan and adding it to the copy of his own plan. "We will let the Advisers decide."

"The Chief of Staff is worried, isn't he?" said the Baron. "Worried his promise of us winning the war in three months will backfire on him?"

"Of course not," replied Kanji with a shake of his head. "We're just worried about the cost of an long conflict."

"Of course," stated the Baron with nod of his head. "Well, we have two weeks left. Maybe he will be lucky."

---

Before the day was over the two plans had been handed over to the Chief of Staff, copied, and placed in map tubes. Which were delivered to homes, business, and secret drops by normal, even boring, looking men. Men who carried hidden weapons and moved with a certain ease that suggested hours of training in hand-to-hand.

From: Hajime Sugiyama (Chief of Staff)
To: ______ _______
Date: 8.9.1937

Dear Sir,

Once again gentlemen I come to you with a important choice to be made. The Baron Mineo Ōsumi and Field Marshal Kanji Ishiwara have come up with TWO Naval Invasions plans. Each have their own pros and cons. Both will use the last of our Infantry Divisions stationed on the home islands. We can not fail.

The war on the mainland is starting to slow down and it is felt that something it needed to put the Nationalists on the run. We need to break them. Within this map tube is two plans which you are to examine and decide on which one you think is the best for the Navy to carry out.

1. We Should -

A. Carry Out Operation 'Common Sense'
B. Carry Out Operation 'Pitch-Fork'
C. Carry Out Neither

I don't have to remind you but please reply as soon as possible and do not leak this information to family, friends, or to the public.

Signed,

Hajime Sugiyama

 

[Casko]

Clearly the answer is to do Both at once!
We should call it operation "Pitch Common Fork Sense"

if this is out of question however, we should perchance go with Pitch fork, and open as many fronts as possible against Chinese government, and to take over the coastline completely for the glory of the Emperor!

 

[Bullfilter]

More submarines

More subs and invade all the ports in south China to cut off any trade. A garrison of one divisions of useless army divisions should be enough.

And more well-balanced fast carrier battle groups. To win the next war.

ps: Op Common Sense looks like something George McClellan would have put forward. Seems a bit restrained. How many divisions are available for the push? Is it just the three - none can be diverted from the Chinese mainland? I’d lean towards Pitchfork, but just one div per port seems a bit thin and would not allow for exploitation.

 

[El Pip]

Pitchfork.

If it goes wrong the worst that happens is we lose a few IJA divisions. And as already established they are shamefully useless and should all be scrapped and replaced with Marines, so that would be no big loss.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

If this insanity must be carried on with, Operation Pitchfork is clearly the correct option. We really don't need three full naval task forces for this one, though, and I'd suggest revising the operational plan to consist of simply three transport groups with cruiser/destroyer escorts and a mixed BB/CV group as a QRF.

Although the optimal plan, which of course would never be suggested by the drooling invalids in the IJA head offices, would be to invade each port one at a time, in a staggered invasion, allowing time between each landing for additional home islands defense troops (i.e. SNLF marines) to be trained and deployed. This would be a perfectly fine operational pace, provided one gives up any delusions of conquering the entire country of China in three months (never mind that I'm not sure one could even walk across it in three months under peaceful auspices, never mind while fighting for every inch of ground!).

 

[Surt]

Pitchfork, remember you must also at least take the first Guangxi port (for the strategic effect).

 

[roverS3]

My preferred solution is of course both, at the same time.

Is this @El Pip openly endorsing the idea of a Combined Fleet of both Carriers and Fast Battleships?

I'm glad to see the Navy's bomber doing some more great work in the Shanghai area.

On to the topic at hand: Of course, we need to take all of those Naval bases eventually, and that includes Weihai. That said, Operation Pitchfork leaves Qingdao dangerously exposed, though as @El Pip mentioned, the loss of some IJA troops could even be a positive. If this were to be considered, I would go for a hybrid of the two, landing a single Division to the West of Weihai to take at least one Chinese unit out of the equation, and to then go on to secure Weihai, and the rest of the Shandong peninsula. At the same time, take Fuzhou and it's Air Base, so we can bring the Navy's land-based aeroplanes to bear. We can take Ningbo and Xiamen later on when more forces become available, of course the entire Chinese coast line is priority number one in any peace negotiations, even if we have to trade away some land the IJA conquered in the Western parts of China.

Of course, if we would have left the Chinese Communists alone, we could have pulled a Rifle Corps from the front after the fall of Shanxi and executed both 'pitchfork' and 'common sense' at the same time.

If I had to choose, I'd pick operation pitchfork, as it will create the most confusion for the enemy and lock in our possession of those Naval bases as faits accomplis when the foreign service starts negotiating for a peace settlement.

Captain RobaS3,
Glad the navy's vision on the war in China is now being taken into account in a somewhat serious way. Better late than never.

 

[serutan]

Pitchfork. Not only is "Go big or go home" the only honorable way to go about this, but the incessant Navy yammering about their inherent superiority will force them to support this to the hilt to save face.

 

[Wraith11B]

Pitch Fork! We don't need to worry about keeping troops in the main land for the moment. That's defeatist speak for cowardice.

 

[Eurasia]

Utsunimiya's War
(HoI3 TFH - Interactive Japan AAR)
Chapter Fifty-Five: The Eleventh Week - 9.9.1937 To 15.9.1937

The Land War​

The Imperial Japanese Army started out the eleventh week, on the 9th of September, engaged in one battle in the Province of Huantai. Unfortunately all Theater HQs on mainland Asia were now complaining about a lack of troops. Including 'China' Operations.

But as the industry was tied up building Naval units there was not going to be any reinforcements for the ground troops. Not when the infantry reserves was now tied up in Operation 'Pitch-Fork' (See Navy War).

Shortly after the noon meal the Battle of Huantai came to a halt. There was no official announcement. No lists of the dead and wounded. It just ended when the Nationalists, having reached the end of their capability to keep their divisions together, melted away. The Japanese Bombers had overwhelmed them in the end. The fighting spirit had left them and the men had ran away. The Japanese soldiers found only unburied dead and abandoned equipment (See Air War).

While the Army were able to take Huantai by the 12th of September they couldn't report it as a victory.

On the 13th, after some rest and reorganization, the Imperial Army was back on the move. It launched a attack on the Nationalist infantry in Yucheng with a infantry division.

At the same time it attacked the two Nationalist units in Pingyin with the 7. Mountain Division.

It was as if the Imperial Army was trying to push eastwards as fast as they could to link up with Qingdao. It was noticed by Utsunimiya that the Province of Linqing was empty of enemy defenders. But the Army was smart enough not to try to take it - it would left a hole in their own lines.

The Nationalists reacted with a attack on Puyang. Twenty-five thousand infantry and cavalry against eight thousand Japanese defenders. The Japanese officers had superior training AND the enemy WAS trying to attack over a river. But the odds were in the Nationalist's favor. And the Japanese unit was ALREADY in battle.

Ironically, the mountain division was the one who faltered, and the Battle of Pingyin was a defeat! 27 men and horses were lost while the Nationalists only lost 8 men.

On the morning of the 14th violence exploded along the front. In the west a cavalry division and a infantry division were sent into the Province of Dengkou to clear out the Communist militia stationed there.

A cavalry division and a mountain division was sent into Suide to attack the Communists stationed there. Three enemy militia and two HQ units.

In the east the Army sent in two cavalry divisions and a infantry division into Lunru to take out the Nationalist infantry division defending the province.

Was this a burst of renewed energy on the part of the Army? Or a sign of desperation?

Late on the 15th the Army sent in a mountain division into the Province of Pingyin to try to take the province, again, from the Nationalist Police unit protecting it.

By the end of the eleventh week the map didn't look much different. In the end it all still seemed to hinge on the defeat of the People's Republic of China. The Army announced a defeat at the cost of 27 soldiers while the Nationalist lost 8 men. But the Army promised that once the Communists fell than the Nationalists would fall. But the people of Japan were starting to feel doubts.

The Air War​

On the morning of the 9th one of the Army's Air Groups started another bombing run on Huantai. The Nationalist Infantry Brigades were, from what the pilots said, on their last legs. They were on the verge of breaking.

The next bombing run had both Air Groups combined. Causing even more damage and confusion to the enemy below.

A total of three bombing runs were carried out. Another 486 Nationalists were killed. And then the enemy unit fled and the Army Air Groups withdraw to refuel, reorganize, and await new orders.

It wasn't until around noon on the 13th that the Air Groups once again saw some action. One was ordered to bomb the Nationalist infantry in the Province of Yucheng. It attacked the enemy positions for a total of eight times and killed 601 Nationalist soldiers.

The other started to blast the Province of Pingyin to dislodge the Nationalist Police unit. The Police unit was only bombed once and only lost 41 soldiers.

The Air Group that had bombed Pingyin moved on to the Province of Zhengzhou to blast the Nationalist infantry unit there. No doubt trying to soften it. The Province was bombed six times and the result was the deaths of 637 Nationalist soldiers.

General Shō-ichi Utsunimiya wished that the Imperial Japanese Army had more bombers. The Air Forces of both branches needed to be expanded.

The Navy War​

Operation 'Pitch-Fork' was launched the second the Advisers approved of it. The Task Groups were told to stop their patrols and pick up the three infantry divisions still available.

The 3rd Task Group was sent to the Port of Nagasaki to pick up the 52. Hohei Shidan. The 2nd Task Group was sent to the Port of Nagoya to pick up the 53. Hohei Shidan. The 1st Task Group was sent to Port of Gaoxiong (Taiwan) to pick up the 16. Hohei Shidan.

The 2nd Navy was told to start patrolling the waves again. Still, this left a gap in the patrols of convoy raiders.

The 3rd Task Group was the first to make it to port to pick up its assigned infantry division. On the morning of the 9th it was ordered to move to the North Taiwan Strait. It would be landing its payload in Fuzhou.

Shortly before midnight on the 9th the 1st Task Group made it to Taiwan and loaded up its infantry unit. It was ordered to enter the South Taiwan Strait. It's target would be Xiamen.

Even while this happening the 3rd Task Group, under cover of night, was unloading the 52. into landing craft. Fuzhou was totally undefended and open to invasion.

By midnight the 1st Task Group was in place and started to unload its soldiers into landing craft. Once again Xiamen was undefended and open to invasion.

It was the afternoon of the 10th by the time the 2nd Task Group entered the Port of Nagoya and started to load up the infantry, with all their equipment and supplies. Once ready it was ordered to Hangzhou Bay. Its target would be the Port of Ningbo.

This entire time the Nationalist militia in the Province of Ningbo had been attacked by the Navy’s 1. Hikoutai Tactical Bomber Group. The bombers had carried out only four attacks and killed 291 militia before they stopped.

They stopped because the Nationalist militia started heading south on the 10th. Maybe the Republic’s military had finally noticed something was happening on their southern coast? Whatever the reason it now left the third, and finally, objective of Operation ‘Pitch-Fork’ undefended.

Everything seemed to be looking good. The Navy felt nothing could go wrong at this point. Until the Nationalists launched an all out attack on the Port of Qingdao.

The Province of Qingdao had always had a somewhat rocky history. In 1891 the Qing Empire decided to turn Qingdoa into a coastal defense base against naval attack. The Germans noticed and invaded the port in 1897. The Qing Empire was forced to give the area to Germany in 1898. The Germans outfitted the area with a sewer system and safe drinking water supply and electric power. Schools were funded and even German brewing methods brought in.

During the Great War the Japanese, allied to the British, occupied the region for a short time before it was released back to China. And now they were back.

Of course, now they were being attacked by two Nationalist infantry divisions and two militia divisions. The Japanese had superior leadership, were dug in, and well supplied. As the Chinese attacked the port the Japanese soldiers ambushed them in the streets. They could easily use the urban environment to their advantage as the enemy funneled through certain key intersections of the city.

And by 11 AM on the 11th of September the Navy’s Tactical Bombers had been redirected to bombing the Province of Longkou. In other words dropping bombs on the two enemy Infantry Divisions to the northwest of Qingdao. Ten attacks where carried out by the Tactical Bombers and, it was reported, 912 Nationalist soldiers were killed.

As this was happening the 52. took the Port of Fuzhou without firing a shot.

Then at midnight, on the 12th, the 16. took the Port of Xiamen without a fist lifted in anger.

By 3 AM both the 3rd Task Group and the 1st Task Group were ordered to Haizhou Wan where their carrier based planes could launch bombing runs on the enemy attackers.

Around 4 AM the 2nd Task Group started to unload its load of troops in landing craft just offshore from the Port of Ningbo. Which was now totally unguarded.

At this point General Shō-ichi Utsunimiya reminded the IGH to give the troops in Qingdao a priority for upgrades and reinforcements. It would need every edge it could get in the fight.

A few hours before midnight, on the 12th, the 3rd Task Group weighed anchor in Haizhou Wan and sent its planes to attack the Province of Jiaozhou with its Nationalist militia. They started dropping bombs on the enemy a couple hours before midnight. The CAGs launched ground attacks thirteen times and killed 266 Nationalist militia.

It didn’t help the Nationalists when the warships of the Task Group also started supporting the ground troops with their ‘Big Guns’.

The 1st Task Group joined in the action by the morning of the 13th. It’s planes were directed to focus their attacks on the Province of Laiyang and the other enemy militia. The militia in the province were attacked twelve times and 319 of the enemy were killed.

On the early hours of the 14th the Port of Ningbo was taken by the 53. and the 2nd Task Group was sent north to join the others in bombing the enemy.

While all THAT was happening the Navy decided to send their Naval Bombers, in the 5. Nihon Koukuujieitai, to the newly captured airbase in Fuzhou.

By the time the sun was rising the Naval bombers were landing in Fuzhou and found themselves very disappointed. The airbase had a dirt airfield and the hangers could only shelter HALF the aircraft. And there wasn’t enough fuel or supplies for both Wings. They would need to based someplace else. They were ordered to the Shanghai airbases.

Around noon on the 14th the provinces surrounding Qingdao looked like Hell as the Japanese aircraft dropped bombs around the clock on the Nationalists.

By the late afternoon the 2rd Task Group finally arrived and launched its aircraft at Longkou to help the Navy’s Tactical Bombers. They launched six attacks total before the end of the time period and killed 304 Nationalist infantry.

By the end of the week it was ironic to realize that the Navy had carried out more bombing runs than the Army Air Force had during the same time period. And would likely gain a LOT of experience for having done so.

The Navy announced the success of Operation ‘Pitch-Fork’ and the ‘Heroic’ defense of the Port of Qingdao. Sadly for them the public wasn’t really buying it. Part of this was due to the Army’s own news releases were starting to make them somewhat cynical. But mainly it had to do with the Chief of the Navy angrily denouncing the Operation as worthless and saying that the Navy’s plan, ’Common Sense’, would have been much better. He also stated that the Advisers were all ’Pro-Army Communist Spies’.

Misc. Events​

As the war slowly ground to a halt there were other events during the eleventh week. The Germans, once again, asked the Japanese to join them in a alliance. And once again the Japanese said no.

The capital's newspapers were starting to make fun of the European nation. There were political cartoons showing it as a 'stalker' or a single man with crushed flowers and cheap chocolate asking passing nations in the street for a date.

And when it, somehow, became known that Germany's people felt that Communist China was the greatest threat to their region the jokes became insults. The Germans were seen as Europe's clowns and soon even street performers were making fun of the German's leader and his cronies.

Almost undetected in the newspapers was a report on a Trade Deal made with Siam for the export of supplies to their nation. No doubt a strategy to bring the two nations closer together. Why? Nobody knew.

By the end of the eleventh week the Head of Intelligence announced that the Nationalist Chinese had captured two agents, the Communist Chinese had captured one agent, the US had captured one agent, and Canada had captured one agent.

The Head of Intelligence also tried to defend the Navy's Operation 'Pitch-Fork' against public critics by releasing some information to the press. The information, while somewhat vague, supported the fact that the Nationalist Chinese were much closer to surrendering as over 42 percent of their major ports, industrial centers, and important cities were now occupied by Japanese troops.

It failed to impress the public who were staring at the maps in the newspapers that showed them a front that was barely moving. Recruitment posters, for both the Army and the Navy, were being vandalized. Military men in uniform were no longer being cheered by crowds or given free drinks at bars and restaurants. It seemed the populace was starting to give the military the cold shoulder.

There was not enough good news coming in from the front. Only more bodies of loved ones.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

Author's Notes:

OOC: Behind the scenes images:

Spoiler

 

[nuclearslurpee]

But as the industry was tied up building Naval units there was not going to be any reinforcements for the ground troops. Not when the infantry reserves was now tied up in Operation 'Pitch-Fork' (See Navy War).

Finally, someone in the halls of power makes a good decision.

By the end of the eleventh week the map didn't look much different. In the end it all still seemed to hinge on the defeat of the People's Republic of China. The Army announced a defeat at the cost of 27 soldiers while the Nationalist lost 8 men. But the Army promised that once the Communists fell than the Nationalists would fall. But the people of Japan were starting to feel doubts.

See, this is the problem with Army wars, other than of course the incompetent buffoons in charge, themselves. It takes far too long to achieve a meaningful, resounding victory that the public can really celebrate, so meanwhile you've got good Japanese men off gallivanting around God-knows-where and all the general public knows about it is another 200 mothers received a knock on the door in exchange for some worthless stretch of plains.

Now, a proper Navy war is easy, just sink the enemy battleship and take some pictures. Headline material for weeks right there!

General Shō-ichi Utsunimiya wished that the Imperial Japanese Army had more bombers. The Air Forces of both branches needed to be expanded.

Well, he's half-right...

But mainly it had to do with the Chief of the Navy angrily denouncing the Operation as worthless and that the Navy’s plan, ’Common Sense’, would have been much better. He also stated that the Advisers were all ’Pro-Army Communist Spies’.

Hey, now, some of us are trying our best here. It doesn't help that the department in charge of counting the votes has...questionable loyalties, at best.

OOC: Behind the scenes images:

Expand signature

That's a bit disappointing, to be honest. Seems like we only need to take a handful more cities and China will just fold completely. That NU is abysmal, frankly. Maybe I just haven't played vanilla in too long, but did Paradox really leave China's NU that low and now even think to give them a little boost to make things more interesting? With those numbers, you don't even have to reach historical Japanese expansion in China to make them capitulate!

OT Aside: I generally try not to complain too much about interface redesigns, since blah blah blah I'm really just used to the old one and the new one is probably fine...but, really, did they have to change my smileys? These new ones simply do not have the proper connotations anymore... Ah, well, progress marches on, I suppose.

I'm sure all the other bugs will get worked out once the forums finish caching or whatever...hopefully the login server can speed up a little bit soon!

 

[Eurasia]

OT Aside: I generally try not to complain too much about interface redesigns, since blah blah blah I'm really just used to the old one and the new one is probably fine...but, really, did they have to change my smileys? These new ones simply do not have the proper connotations anymore... Ah, well, progress marches on, I suppose.

I'm sure all the other bugs will get worked out once the forums finish caching or whatever...hopefully the login server can speed up a little bit soon!

You may have missed the lack of threadmarks. Also, this new format hurts my eyes. Its mud.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

You may have missed the lack of threadmarks. Also, this new format hurts my eyes. Its mud.

I noticed that thread links in TOCs don't work either, hopefully they add some redirect script or something on the backend otherwise a lot of classic AARs are going to become a lot more difficult to read. I did like the old format very well, and I'm sick of this modern "change for change's sake" ethos, but I'm willing to give the redesign a chance to settle before I judge it...at least it's a dark theme, if I had to read black-text-on-light I might just go on strike!

 

[roverS3]

Pitchfork went even better than expected. The only downside was the big Chinese attack on Qingdao, but that was easily quashed with overwhelming IJN Air Power and shore bombardment. Once the Army catches up, a follow-up operation to take the Guanxi Clique's naval bases down South should definitely be considered.

He also stated that the Advisers were all ’Pro-Army Communist Spies’.

Now, it's one thing to call us Communists, I understand the man was angry his preferred plan wasn't selected, but to call us 'pro-Army', that's a bridge too far. He should know that calling another navy-man 'pro-army' is pretty much the worst insult in existence.

Now, a proper Navy war is easy, just sink the enemy battleship and take some pictures. Headline material for weeks right there!

Indeed. One wonders why anyone even bothers with fighting on land.

Captain RobaS3,
Wondering whether the Chief of the Navy even wants a unified navy strategy, or whether he just want to throw insults at anyone who slightly disagrees with him.

You may have missed the lack of threadmarks. Also, this new format hurts my eyes. Its mud.

OOC: Having spent a considerable amount of time retroactively thread-marking my own AAR, I do hope they bring them back. I guess we'll get used to the colours, though I have to say, I agree with your initial assessment.

On low Chinese National Unity. I guess they did that to make sure the 'seize the Chinese Coast' gets triggered before Japan goes to war with the Allies, or the Soviets for that matter. I think it might be okay to take this easy victory, as long as only the land from the above-mentioned event is annexed, and as long as a follow-up war is started before war is declared on either Allies or Comintern. (to loud protest by the IJN...). For this follow-up war, Chinese National Unity should be beefed up to something reasonable, like 75%-80%.

 

[Surt]

It was as if the Imperial Army was trying to push eastwards as fast as they could to link up with Qingdao. It was noticed by Utsunimiya that the Province of Linqing was empty of enemy defenders. But the Army was smart enough not to try to take it - it would left a hole in their own lines.

Well that must have been an old school general that said that, a good general would have noted he could cross the river, still hold the to be hole while doing it and then make a spoiling attack on the unit that could have crossed. Even army divisions should not have a problem taking on 1-2 Chinese division in clear terrain.

Now pitchfork is on the way the last of the required cities for the strategic effect is going to be taken also?
The coastal cities should be reinforced by garrisons from the main land. Then the Fuzhou division can advance one province inland binding many more nationalist divisons.

 

[Wraith11B]

Yours is the first thread I opened this morning, and finding out that all the threadmarks are gone and that the whole color has changed... Not going to lie, feel like all that work on my infographics is essentially for naught!

 

[Eurasia]

Yours is the first thread I opened this morning, and finding out that all the threadmarks are gone and that the whole color has changed... Not going to lie, feel like all that work on my infographics is essentially for naught!

Many of the photos I used to start the chapters are in white backgrounds because the postings were black letters on white. Now it's all messed up....

 

[nuclearslurpee]

On low Chinese National Unity. I guess they did that to make sure the 'seize the Chinese Coast' gets triggered before Japan goes to war with the Allies, or the Soviets for that matter. I think it might be okay to take this easy victory, as long as only the land from the above-mentioned event is annexed, and as long as a follow-up war is started before war is declared on either Allies or Comintern. (to loud protest by the IJN...). For this follow-up war, Chinese National Unity should be beefed up to something reasonable, like 75%-80%

Makes sense, however every human player just uses that for an easy conquest-by-Christmas.