A Day of Infamy - USA 1941

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I have never played the USA before and never writen an AAR before, so please pray for me. I am trying to write a histroy-book style with maybe a hint of a gameplay style. Similar to Myth's style in his amazing Italian AAR - Explorations in Strategy. Hope you don't mind Myth(loving your AAR by the way). So anyway, i'll get to it.



Contents

Introduction
Background
American Foreign Policy
American/Japanese Relations

The Doughboys go to War - 1942
Part 1: Plans and Predicaments
Part 2: Operation Thunderclap I
Part 3: Operation Thunderclap II
Part 4: Operation Thunderclap III
Part 5: The Second Sino-Japanese war - 1937-1942
Part 6: Welcome to the Jungle

 

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Background

Japan was hit hard by the Great Depression of the early 1930s. Japanese disappointment with the moderate government gave way to a militant government. In 1931 Japan occupied Manchuria in northern China. Over the next decade conflicts broke out and war was declared on China in July 1937. As Japanese hostility increased, its relationship with the United States declined. Occupied Manchuria was exploited by Japan with the creation of heavy and light industries. This was essential for Japan because it did not have the necessary natural resources. Japan’s pursuit for other supplies drove foreign and military policy throughout the decade and eventually led to the attack on Pearl Harbor and war in the Pacific during World War II.

Japan’s need for resources increased as relations with the U.S. declined further. In the past, Japan relied on the U.S. to supply many natural and industrial resources. The United States was increasingly alarmed by Japanese aggression and let a commercial treaty dating back to 1911 lapse in January of 1940. In July the U.S. started restricting the sale of scrap iron and aviation fuel to Japan. In reaction, the Japanese signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. This made Japan an official member of the Axis alliance and brought them into World War II. This created major problems for the United States. Officially, the U.S. was neutral, but there was no doubt where American sympathies rested. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had already put his stance of neutrality in jeopardy by supplying Britain with money and arms for the war under the "lend-lease" agreement. The Tripartite Pact meant that any supplies that might be delivered to Japan would be indirectly helping Germany and Italy.

In response President Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the U.S. and ended trade with Japan in July 1941. For Japan, involved in a long war with China, this was devastating. With its survival threatened, Japan widened its search for an alternate supply of resources. Japan focused on Southeast Asia because of its rich supply of minerals and oil. German success in Europe in 1940 had left control of previously French and Dutch colonies up for grabs in Southeast Asia.

Japan realized that a full-blown invasion of Southeast Asia would almost certainly trigger war with America. It needed to find a way to ensure that the United States did not interfere with the invasion of key areas like the Philippines, Burma, and Malaya. The Japanese government decided to attack the American naval base Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. By destroying the United States’ Pacific Fleet, Japan expected to eliminate the American military presence from the Pacific for enough time to allow it to acquire the resources it needed so urgently. Japan also hoped to crush American morale with their attack. Little did they know that they had awakened a “sleeping giant.”

 

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American Foreign Policy

American Foreign Policy

United States foreign policy between 1901 and 1941 can be characterized as generally confident, sometimes aggressive and, occasionally, even cautious. The first twenty years of the century saw the U.S. leadership pursue confidently interventionist strategies in dealing with other countries. The next decade-a-half witnessed a clear modification toward cautious non-entanglement if not outright isolationism. With the election of Franklin Roosevelt to the White House a gap grew between the isolationist American public and an increasingly internationalist policy. This gap temporarily disappeared with Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War II.

Theodore Roosevelt’s arrival as president could not have been less auspicious, coming as it did at the hands of an assassin who ended the life of President William McKinley. While others may have doubted Roosevelt's abilities, the new president gave no indications that such doubts ever troubled his over-sized self-confidence. Roosevelt confidently intervened in world affairs by practicing a unique form of presidential diplomacy. In 1905 he personally led negotiations to end a war between Japan and Russia, resulting in his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. A year later he successfully handled a similarly explosive colonial conflict between France and Germany. Overall, Roosevelt sought to strengthen the U.S. Navy and solidify previous gains in the Pacific.

President Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy was much like his predecessors’ but informed more by paternalism than aggressiveness and opportunism. Much of Wilson’s concerns focused on Asia where the rising Japanese Empire competed with the old European empires for dominance in China. Seeking to maintain an “open door” for American trade with China, Wilson, like both his predecessors and successors in the White House, struggled to balance the dangers of either European or Japanese dominance in that region.In early 1917 Wilson pulled Pershing and his troops out of Mexico for an even greater act of confident intervention to “make the world safe for democracy” with U.S. entry into World War I. Despite Wilson’s hopeful Fourteen Points and his proposed peace-keeping League of Nations, the U.S. Senate chose not to allow American membership in the League by refusing to ratify the Treaty of Versailles. Driven by a variety of motives, the Senate was at least partially responding to a new sense caution among influential Americans.

The international economic collapse of the 1930s helped to create an ever more dangerous world. Beginning in the 1920s, totalitarian fascist parties rose to power throughout Europe promising both economic resurgence and protection from the communists. Benito Mussolini in Italy, Adolf Hitler in Germany and Francisco Franco in Spain each rose to power by exploiting fears of the left. In the case of Germany and Italy, a combination of calculation, ideology and megalomaniacal leadership would drive those nations toward ever more explosive confrontations with nearby states. Meanwhile, a similarly militaristic coterie gained power in Japan and set that increasingly powerful nation down the path of imperialism.

Meantime, facing equally anti-war public sentiment, the governments of Britain and France charted a diplomatic path of appeasement in order to keep peace with Hitler. At first Roosevelt proclaimed U.S. neutrality while doing what he could to assist the French and British. In 1939 the president persuaded the Congress to pass the "cash and carry" amendment to the earlier, tougher neutrality laws preventing the U.S. from getting any material to the Allies. Then, as the rest of the world looked on in shock, the Germans (having already disposed of Poland and Belgium) knocked France completely out of the war in June of 1940. Realizing that Britain stood alone against the Nazis in Europe, under Roosevelt's leadership U. S. "neutrality" became "measures short of war." Just after the fall of France, Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed an agreement to lease British naval bases in the Caribbean to the U.S. in exchange for fifty older American naval destroyers in the so-called "bases for destroyers deal." In June, 1941, the Germans made the unwise decision to attack the Soviet Union, thus bringing the Red Army into the war against Hitler. Thereafter, both the British and Russian war efforts benefited from America's "Lend-lease" assistance. A few weeks after Germany widened the war to include the Russians, Roosevelt and Churchill met and signed the Atlantic Charter, a most remarkable step for a "neutral" nation.

The leaders signed the Charter in August, the same month that a poll showed that less than twenty percent of the American people supported entering the war. Yet, more telling, that same month nearly seventy percent reported being "willing to risk war with Japan" rather than allow the Japanese Pacific expansion continue unchecked. The Japanese High Command would provide the final decisive event with the surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Afterward, President Roosevelt led a determinedly unified people to war.

 

[Myth]

Pretty good overviews of American foreign policy there.

 

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American/Japanese Relations

In the first two decades of the Twentieth Century, the relationship between the United States and Japan was marked by increasing tension and corresponding attempts to use diplomacy to reduce the threat of conflict. Each side had territory and interests in Asia that they were concerned the other might threaten. U.S. treatment of Japanese immigrants, and competition for economic and commercial opportunities in China also heightened tensions. At the same time, each country's territorial claims in the Pacific formed the basis for several agreements between the two nations, as each government sought to protect its own strategic and economic interests.

At the turn of the century, U.S. and Japanese interests appeared to be aligned. Both nations supported the idea of an "open door" for commercial expansion in China. After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt acted as a mediator at Japan's request, and the two sides of the conflict met on neutral territory in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the same year, U.S. Secretary of War William Howard Taft met with Prime Minister Katsura Taro in Japan. The two concluded the secret Taft-Katsura Agreement, in which the United States acknowledged Japanese rule over Korea and condoned the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902. At the same time, Japan recognized U.S. control of the Philippines.

This series of agreements still did not resolve all of the outstanding issues. U.S. treatment of Japanese residents continued to cause tension between the two nations. The Alien Land Act of 1913, for example, barred Japanese from owning or leasing land for longer than three years and adversely affected U.S.-Japanese relations in the years leading up to World War I. Economic competition in China, which the United States feared would result in increasing Japanese control, was another issue that increased tensions between the two nations. In 1915, the Japanese issued its "Twenty-One Demands" of China, in which it asked that China recognize its territorial claims, prevent other powers from obtaining new concessions along its coast, and take a series of actions designed to benefit the Japanese economically. China turned to the United States for assistance, and U.S. officials responded with a declaration that they would not recognize any agreement that threatened the Open Door.

Relations between Japan and the United States became increasingly tense after the Mukden Incident and subsequent Japanese military attempts at colonization, which included such atrocities as the Nanking Massacre in China. The United States had a powerful navy in the Pacific, and it was already friendly with some of the colonial powers based in Europe, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (although not formally allied). The United States, along with Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Dutch government in exile, boycotted Japan via a trade embargo. Japan thus resorted to military force to get the raw materials it needed.

 

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Part I: Plans and Predicaments

Two thousand four hundred and three Americans were dead.Two hundred aircraft were destroyed on the ground.The Japanese torpedo planes and bombers caught all but one of the nine American battleships of the Pacific Fleet in port that morning, and all were left damaged or immobilized by the attack. Arizona, blown in two when her magazine went up, took eleven hundred of her crew with her to oblivion. Oklahoma lay capsized in the mud, never to see action again. The others sank at their moorings, had gaping holes ripped in their sides, or had run aground or were wedged between other crippled ships. Japan's force of ten battleships now had a seemingly insuperable command in the Pacific. If Pearl Harbor had been asleep, the American forces in the Philippines under General Douglas MacArthur had been comatose. The Philippines had been everyone's bet for where the Japanese blow would fall.The suprise attack had crippled the US Pacific fleet but the giant was now awake and hungary for revenge.

The crippled US Pacific Fleet after the Japanese attack.​

The US found itself in a confounding position. It's Fleet at Pearl Harbor was out of action and the Japanese now had freedom to roam the Pacific. The Philippines, America's most valuable base in the Far East was easy prey for the Imperial Forces of Japan. The American Forces in the Philippines were weak and futile. Based mainly around divisions of local militia with small armored and marine contingents, troops were not only in short supply but they also lacked quality and support of larger guns and modern weapons. The small fleet in the port of Manilla, consisted of a few heavy and light Cruisers along with five Submarines and three Destroyers. Commander of the US forces on the islands was MacArthur who was also the new Cheif of Staff, given the position in Roosevelt's cabinet by the president himself. The seas surrounding the Philippines were controlled by the Japanese. The Americans could not yet compete with the Japanese carriers in the pacific.

The USA's pacific assets of Wake and Midway island were also under Japanese threat. The small islands were key to American success as air and naval bases were key to the war effort in the Pacific. The Philippines needed reinforcing and MacArthur pleaded to Roosevelt that troops were needed urgently to avoid losing the islands. Roosevelt set out on a new campaign to recruit and train twenty four new divisions by the end of March. MacArthur needed the troops now. He argued that the Phillipines would have been overrun by the end of March. The Fourth Army was soon on it's way to the Philppines.

Isolationism was now a thing of the past for the US. All resources were now devoted to the war effort. In effect the US government was gearing up for the long slog against the Imperialist Japanese enemy. Several new laws were put into place and the industry was commited to producing weapons, vehicles, planes, ships and munitions. Several ships including six carriers were in the midst of construction. Roosevelt sign many contracts with companies aiming to develope new technology for the forces. Roosevelt looked to develope new carriers, long range bombers, bombs, infantry and armoured weapons, bombing tactics and escort ships. He aimed to attack Jpan by air rather than wait for Japan to attack him.

After a short confrontation with Yamamoto off the coast of Taiwan, Cheif of the Navy, Ernest King, sought to rebase his carriers in the Pacific. USS Saratoga, Lexington and Yorktown were all rebased in the Philippines. Washington now knew what it was up against.

 

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Part 2: Operation Thunderclap I

The outlines for Operation Thunderclap looked strong on paper, invincible in fact. MacArthur’s plan of invading the Japanese holdings in the Pacific aimed to conquer the key islands with naval or air bases. The objective was to secure the key strategic islands which could be used to aid a future invasion of the Japanese home islands. The newly rebased Fourth Army would be the first American unit into combat since fighting the red menace in the Russian civil war in 1918. The invasion of the island of Taiwan would commence as soon as American carriers had cleared the surrounding seas of enemy ships and the Fourth Army were leading it. The objective of the invasion was to secure the port of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. Landing on the very southern tip of the island they would progress north capturing key industrial areas also. The continuation of MacArthur’s plan could not proceed until mid April at the earliest, when reinforcements would arrive on the island of Guam and later attempt the invasion of Micronesia.

After the swift arrival of the US carriers to the pacific frontier, the even swifter hunt for their Japanese counterparts began with the bombing of the Japanese naval base on Taiwan. The bombing forces discovered three Japanese carriers and five destroyers. The attempt to sink the carriers was futile but King, commander of the carriers performing the bombing hoped to draw out the Japanese carriers and fight the battle at sea. Little did he know Yamamoto was commanding the opposing maritime forces. King and Yamamoto were pitched against each other. The two Japanese destroyers accompanying the two carriers were sunk after a few hours of battle leaving the two carriers with no escort protection. After the sinking of another destroyer, three Japanese submarines entered the battle. Yamamoto then retreated after the two Japanese escort carriers took some damage. King was hot in pursuit but Yamamoto evaded the US fleet. More fierce naval battles followed in the South Taiwan Strait. One of the battles forced USS Lexington back into the port of Manila with damages. Many Japanese transports were sunk along with some US Heavy Cruisers and Japanese Destroyers.

On 6 March 1942 an American force of around 60,000 able bodied troops landed on the beaches of P’ingtung in southern Taiwan, beginning the new American offensive in South East Asia. The troops of the Fourth Army, under DeWitt, consisted of six divisions organized into two corps. The soldiers had no real experience in combat and DeWitt was no different. He planned to expand northward, conquering the island and capturing it’s Japanese defenders. Planes bombing the island a month earlier had discovered only a small amount of resistance, around three divisions with small marine and engineer units. MacArthur stressed the importance of Taiwan in any future operations against Japan. He hoped to build an air field in the far north from where he could bomb southern Japan. The attack commenced, opening Operation Thunderclap.

American troops land in southern Taiwan.[\CENTER]

An underestimation of the forces on Taiwan had forced the US troops to fiercely slog it out with the Japanese for the first week of the landings. Although the beachhead was secure and the Japanese had no real manpower to force the US forces off the island, the threat of running out of supplies was fresh in the mind of DeWitt. The only port in the island was being held firmly against the American attack and the battle didn’t look like ending anytime soon. Fighting had also developed inland as the Japanese command post in the island made a last ditch attempt to stop them losing control of it. Fierce fighting in the mountains followed whilst the 24th Division attempted to encircle the enemy forces.

Fierce fighting in the first week of the invasion.​

By 13 March, a week after the landings, the troops fighting in southern Taiwan had gained the upper hand on the defenders. They had begun to inflict heavy losses and push the Japanese back. The casualty count sloped heavily towards the Japanese side, allowing the US troops to gain the upper had in the battle for Kaohsiung, the only port on the island. After their defeat at Hsilo the fate of the Japanese on the island had been decided. The command post had been crushed and heavy losses attained. By 14 March they had been encircled around Kaohsiung. The American units closed in and after three weeks combat, Taiwan was in American hands.

The mass losses at Kaohsiung and Taiwan under American control.​

Three months after the attack at Pearl Harbor, USA had inflicted it's first losses on the Imperialist Japanese. Stiff resistence and harsh weather conditions had caused the invasion to last longer than planned but America had bagged a major strategic victory in securing the air base at Kaohsiung. Roosevelt now wished to step up the bombing of southern Japan. Operation Thunderclap started successfully and MacArthur was keen to carry out the remainder of his plan to it's full potential.​

 

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Part 3: Operation Thunderclap II

By the time April arrived Japan had advanced rapidly in southern China. They annexed Guangxi on the 29 March, threatening the British base at Hong Kong. The small British colony was surrounded by Japanese forces and only had a garrison division defending it. Japan now had a large section of land that curved around southern China and into Indochina. The imperialist enemy had also made small gains in Burma where the British had week lines of defence and the Japanese had deployed armour. The fighting against Nationalist China had not changed much and the frontline was very similar to when the USA joined the war.

Japan's first victory in China.​

After a successful invasion of Taiwan MacArthur was eager to install the second phase of his Pacific offensive. He wanted to strike Okinawa and Palau. He was now not short of manpower. 72 new US brigades would soon arrive in the Philippines to help him carry out his operations. All the brigades were infantry and had trained in the US for three months. MacArthur wanted the invasion of Okinawa to run smoothly and take place before the invasion of Palau. The small island was expected to be heavily guarded but a recon patrol found it out to be otherwise. The 9th Corps were selected by MacArthur as they were experienced in combat and were only stationed on Taiwan, not far away.

On 17 April a battleship fleet heading to the coast of Okinawa was attacked by a larger Japanese fleet. The major guns of the American battleships sent the Japanese fleeing after sinking two heavy cruisers. The sinking of IJN Zuiaku and IJN Shokaku on 22 April was a major success for the US air force. After strategic bomber obliterated the port of Naha on Okinawa, US navl bombers moved in. With the port reduced to rubble the Japanese aircraft carriers had nowhere to go. The US constantly attacked the port using torpedoes and bombs until the carriers had been sunk. IJN Zuiaku was the first to go and later the IJN Shokaku. A major strategic success for the USA and new tactics had now been developed. From now on port bombardments would be based around this technique.

The bombing of the port of Naha.​

The invasion commenced on 28 April, later than MacArthur had expected. The 3rd and 41st Divisions were launched from landing craft onto the beaches of Naha at midday and were surprised to find no resistance.
The island was completely free of military inhabitants. No losses were sustained and the island of Okinawa was captured on 1st May 1942. MacArthur now turned his eye south to Palau, which he knew was guarded.

Okinawa in under America control.​

America had several spies in Japan in 1942. When the May report arrived in Washington Roosevelt was shocked to discover the apparent resources the Japanese war machine was lacking. The Japanese lacked a vital oil supply to create fuel it so desperately needed. It lacked energy to power it’s ever increasing industry and was running low on fuel supplies to power it’s armoured and motorized units. With Japan running low on money, Roosevelt realised how weak Japan actually was. It had no money to trade and hence would not be able to buy it’s desperately needed resources such as fuel, oil or energy. Although Japan had a strong manpower base from which to recruit new brigades, Japan was at the weakest point it had ever been in, in the 20th century.

The Japanese situation according to US spies.​

After securing Okinawa, MacArthur launched an invasion on the island of Palau in Micronesia. Landing in south Palau the 80th and 79th Divisions, who had travelled from Guam, set up a small beachhead on the south of the island. A single Japanese regiment defended the northern sector of the island and a frontline was formed between the two factions. The Americans attacked on 5th May, the day they landed, continuing the fight for two days. The single Japanese regiment was outnumbered six to one and they took heavy casualties. Around 500 Japanese troops died on Palau during the battle in the mountains. The island was under American control by 9 May as MacArthur continued his advance, picking off Japanese holding one by one, a strategy that seemed to be working.

The attacks on Palau were a major success.​

The Japanese had started to crumble. With the majority of their troops tied up in the conflict in China, the Americans could continue their offensive successfully, capturing island after island until the Japanese home islands could be invaded. MacArthur confidently argued that his offensive was succeeding, but in all honesty he had come against no true opposition as of yet. He had simply outnumbered his Japanese enemy and defeated them using superior manpower. With the Japanese deprived of vital resources MacArthur was very confident and eager to progress with the next phase of Operation Thunderclap.

 

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Very good read so far, keep it up!

Interesting what your spies found on the economic situation in Japan, wonder if this is an indicator on the inherent problems seen in other AARs of why the Japanese war machine does not seem to be successful

Subscribed

 

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Part 4: Operation Thunderclap III

Wrapping up Operation Thunderclap would be no easy task. Many of the key Japanese islands remained. Saipan, Iwo Jima and Truk to name just a few. The Japanese annexation of Guangxi proved a thorn in the side of American operations. America would now be forced to fight on the Japanese mainland and possibly in Indochina, something MacArthur didn’t truthfully desire. He thought that Japan could be defeated by capturing it’s Pacific assets, a theory, the longer the war continued the less likely it was becoming. MacArthur new he had to commit soldiers to Indochina but he wished to conclude Operation Thunderclap prior to doing so.

The event following on the 15 May was to spark the leaking gas that was the USA. The Italian embargo had somewhat shocked Roosevelt. USA was not yet at war with the European Axis, but relations were slowly deteriorating and chaos loomed in Europe. The Italians were losing in Africa and the British had almost overrun Libya. Roosevelt needed to make a decision. War with the Axis was not his key priority as of yet. The British seemed to be coping well as of recent. Victory in North Africa was just around the corner and Roosevelt had realized that America was not needed to secure victory in Italy. Britain was very capable of performing an invasion on its own. As for a campaign in France, if there was to be one, the US forces may be needed. A declaration of war at this moment in time seemed shady.

Italy embargos the USA.​

The date of the embargo coincided with the invasion of Saipan by the 80th Division. The small Japanese held island lay north of Guam and was ordered to be invaded as a stepping stone to invade the islands of Iwo Jima. The island was once again undefended. US troops simply landed and seized control. The 80th Division then launched landings south of Saipan on the small islands of Rota and Tinian. Whilst these invasions were taking place the 41st Division had advanced onto the islands of Tokuno-shima and Amani-O-Shima.

The invasion of Micronesia initiated on 18 May. The invasion of Ulithi s was the start. The 79th Division the picked off all the islands in Micronesia one by one until they reached Truk. After getting half way to Truk, Bradshaw, commander of the 79th, discovered a garrison division defending Truk. He was then attacked by the defenders. The attacking Japanese were weak and the battle began with weak assaults against the US troops. The experienced troops of the 79th Division launched a counterattack on 29 May. Bradshaw’s troops faced a difficult uphill struggle against a garrison force in heavy rain. The American soldiers battled hard for ten days until Bradshaw pulled out. 400 American lives had been lost. Operation Thunderclap had taken a unexpected turn.

American forces halted on the island of Truk.​

Meanwhile, in China the Nationalists had surrendered to the Japanese and been made into a puppet state. Roosevelt was shocked when news broke out about the surrender. The USA had backed the Nationalists since 1937 when the Japanese invaded. Roosevelt despised Imperialism and Imperialism was what the Japanese stood for. A long five year struggle against Japan had seized and the Japanese were left to defeat the Communists in the north. Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to act in order to deny Japan a chance to regain it Pacific assets and control the Pacific. Roosevelt demanded a new front.

The former US ally had now alligned with the Imperialists.​

Before MacArthur could open up a new front, he first had to conclude Operation Thunderclap. He ordered the 80th Division, which was now a very experience unit, to secure the island of Iwo Jima, north of Saipan. The small invasion commenced on 12 June once again meeting no organised Japanese resistance. The islands were key to MacArthur as he now had another base from which to manoeuvre his carriers in the waters east of Japan.

The US invasion of Iwo Jima.​

MacArthur believed that Operation Thunderclap, America’s first major participation in the war against Japan, had gone smoothly. A lot less casualties than expected with only around 1,500 American lives lost at the cost of large strategic gains in the Pacific. With Taiwan, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan and half of Micronesia in American hands it is difficult to question MacArthur’s belief. MacArthur was now hit with the task of opening up a second front against Japan. Roosevelt’s request left the US command in the Pacific pondering. Where were they to go next?

 

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Very good read so far, keep it up!

Interesting what your spies found on the economic situation in Japan, wonder if this is an indicator on the inherent problems seen in other AARs of why the Japanese war machine does not seem to be successful

Subscribed

Thats nice to know. Thanks.

 

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Part 5: The Second Sino-Japanese war - 1937-1942

The origin of the Second Sino-Japanese War can be traced to the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, in which China, then under the Qing Dynasty, was defeated by Japan and was forced to cede Taiwan and recognize the independence of Korea.The Qing Dynasty was on the brink of collapse from internal revolts and foreign imperialism, while Japan had emerged as a great power through its effective measures of modernization.

In 1931, the army garrison at Mukden fabricated an attack on the railway and began to attack Chinese troops in Manchuria. Despite the government’s orders to desist, they ignored their orders and soon had much of Manchuria in their grip, exceeding even their own plans. When the war was halted with the influence of the League of Nations, Manchuria was in Japanese hands. The Japanese, who were in the middle of a series of assassinations by right-wing army officers to gain control of the government, would not return the province. This was the "Showa Restoration," when in the name of the Emperor, anyone who spoke out against imperial expansion would be killed.

Manchuria became Manchukuo. Chinese Emperor Pu-Yi was placed has a figurehead, but he had little power to influence the Japanese Army administrators. A series of old and new manufacturing companies, or Zaibatsu, were set up to systematically strip Manchuria of her natural resources. The Army controlled all of the industry setup in Manchuria.

The second Sino-Japanese War had begun. Sporadic fighting lasted on and off throughout the thirties, but large-scale fighting did not begin again until 1937, when Japanese units were attacked at the Marco Polo Bridge outside Peking. Fighting raged throughout Western China. Quickly Japan seized the major coastal cities, and much of the countryside. Nationalist Chinese units, plagued by lack of supplies, corruption, and poor training, fell back on a wide front.

Japan’s initial victories were followed by a period of stagnation. The size of China, the sheer manpower she could field, and the lack of Chinese infrastructure, roads, bridges, and communications, made further advance difficult. By 1938, Chinese and Japanese troops were fighting in stalemate. This stalemate would continue until the Japanese would advance against the Allies in 1941.

By mid 1942 the Guangxi Clique in southern China had surrendered and been annexed by Japan. Not long after, the Nationalists began to crumble and the Japanese advanced across central China. In May the Nationalists finally surrendered to the Japanese, allowing Japan to form a puppet state and a new Axis power in the Pacific. This worried the USA. Roosevelt did not desire fighting against a former ally but it seemed that a war on the Chinese mainland was becoming increasingly needed to gain victory. The Nationalists were no longer friends with America, but now friends of Japan. Roosevelt demanded action. Drastic action. An invasion of Indochina.

Former US allies march toward the new front in Indochina.​

 

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Part 6: Welcome to the Jungle

According to MacArthur, Operation Thunderclap had succeeded to an extent. Although his forces advanced rapidly across the pacific, they failed to achieve all objectives set by MacArthur and his staff. The advance had halted when American forces came stuck in fierce fighting against the Japanese on Truk. Truk was a key objective set by MacArthur, as were Kwajalein and Eniwetok, targets the US also failed to capture. Truk was not yet out of reach. Though the American 80th Division would need to regain manpower if it were to launch another attack on the island.

After relieving his mind of the Pacific islands, MacArthur now turned west, toward the former French territory of Indochina. He planned to invade the Japanese region with up to 72 brigades, landing near Saigon and advancing northward toward the Chinese border. As soon as the American forces reached the Chinese border MacArthur expected stiff resistance. The newest enemy, Nationalist China, would now fight alongside the Japanese, making the conflict a whole lot harder for the USA. By late August the US forces could count on new Airborne troops to arrive from the homeland, aiding MacArthur and his staff.

On 20 June 1942 the largest amphibious invasion force the world had ever witnessed landed on the beaches of Soc Trang, south of Saigon. Around 225,000 soldiers landed on the beaches, 27,000 of them soldiers were Philippine. The 75 allied brigades that participated in the invasion sharply broke out in different direction to capture their objectives. The Americans advanced across the region to the Siamese border, whilst the Philippine divisions held the beachhead.

After landing the US forces raced towards the Siamese border.​

After a week, the invasion forces had gathered momentum and were half way to the Siamese border. The Philippine armoured force had arrived two days after the invasion and captured Saigon on 29 June. No Japanese resistance had attempted to defend southern Indochina and none seemed to be in the region. Not one Japanese soldier had attempted to resist the American landings. By the first the Siamese border had been reached and steady progress allowed the forces to advance north and on towards China.

The expanding Saigon beachhead.​

After the forces had landed in mid June, a new command post had to be estabilised on the continent. MacArthur had selected, newly promoted, Field Marshall Bradley as the leader of, the newly formed, Army Group Pacific. Bradley was one of if not the most talented General in the US armoury. He was a weapon MacArthur believed could triumph over any Japanese mind. He also had the task of reorganising the Divisions into corps and then armies. He could select his staff and would now be in charge of all combat on the continent. As much as he hated it, MacArthur new it was for the best. Firstly Bradley organised his divisions into corps, a gruelling task. He structured his group into two armies of four corps each. Each corps entailed three or four divisions for some. After preparing his forces Bradley rapidly raced his troops northward, although his troops could only march, they advanced rather sharply.

The American advance.​

After reoccurring supply problem for the US forces in Southern Vietnam, the offensive suddenly started to progress once more on 15 July. Philippine armour had travelled up the coastline with no resistance challenging their offensive. The arrival of 14 US dive bombing wing to Indochina was a major boost in morale for the troops. With the knowledge that they had air support, confidence would show in future battles. The first battle of the invasion inaugurated on the 16 July, when the US 83rd and 84th divisions attacked Japanese motorised and armoured divisions in the jungles, near Kracheh. The US forces were crossing the Mekong river before assaulting the Japanese. Under General Barr the troops managed to forces the Japanese back and achieving the first victory of the campaign with 600 American lives lost.

Another battle proceeded near the Siamese border on 22 July. The attack on Rotanak Kiri began in the early hours and proceeded with American domination, until Japanese reinforcements arrived. The battle was another epic slog in the harsh jungle climate. Japan poured experienced troops from Manchuria into the battle whilst the American’s threw everything possible. The fighting continued into August.

The American Beachhead had grown rapidly since 20 June.​

The American landings in mid June had proved a success for Bradley. His forces had advanced, not rapidly but not slowly. His drive northward had been hampered by supply difficulty. When air cover had arrived from the homeland his drive began to pickup pace, with American aerial domination proving the tilting factor in most of the short battles. The Saigon beachhead had expanded as further north than Da Nang by August, the Philippine armoured units contributing significantly to the American cause. After the fall of Hong Kong, the British had been kicked out of China but a strong drive from Burma had pushed the Japanese back. Onward and northward to Hanoi.

 

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Me AAR has defo died. Game keeps crashin.

So sorry.