The Naval Conflict with the UK and the French would not stay as one-sided as I would have liked. Many of my ships were old and had limited range. Almost all my screening units were too short ranged to reach Singapore from the Chinese coast.
I had gone over all my ships and formed what I would call a Transport/Carrier Fleet. This had all the ships who could get to Singapore in one go. But there wasn't enough screenings units. So I decided to take British Borneo. Or at least part of it. IT was within invasion range of Singapore and Malaya.
And it looked like the UK was NOT going to just politely let me take their colonial territories. Their air forces were trying to attack my holdings. Luckily one thing I had a LOT of was air units.
Of course while I waged war with the Fleets of the Allies the AI in China made sure the most important coastal regions were protected while preparing for the next war. Which it seemed to think was with Yunnan. While only placing a few token units on the border of Xibei San Ma and completely ignoring the colonies of the Allies.
The Invasion of Kuala Belait was a mixed bag. I tried to use the Marines by themselves at first but the defenders were putting up a fight. I think they were Gurkha. I was hoping to use the Infantry Divisions in attacking the southern port in British Borneo but I had to toss them into the fight.
By this time there had been multiple naval clashes between me, the Brits, and the French. It turns out the French had ships stationed in Indochina. I was reminded how important it was that ALL my Fleets would need Carriers as the Battle Fleet got its butt defeated TWICE before slapping the French ships down. And the French learned that Submarines should not attack my Fleets.
Luckily, most of my losses at sea were old, outdated, ships. But I still got pissed when I lost the Hyuga. And losing Destroyers, old or new, was also annoying. But the French lost three Submarine Flotillas, two Armoured Cruisers, a Light Cruiser, a Battleship in Asian waters. And the UK lost another Destroyer Flotilla and Light Cruiser while trying to tangle with my Fleets during the invasion - they failed. Add those to the losses they were suffering with Italy and they were not doing too well.
This number would be added to as I tried to keep the enemy ships away from Borneo. I had finally taken Kuala Belait. All I had to do now was let my ships recover, get some more ground units, and I could launch the invasion of Singapore. Of course that would take time. My Battle Fleet was recovering back in the home islands, my Special Forces were still marching towards the Transport/Carrier Fleet, and I was not sure how many enemy ships were still out there. Or how many were being sent from Europe.
So I had a long list of things to do. The Army would have unite China and, then, go after the British Far East. The Navy would have take Singapore and, afterwards, finish occupying Borneo and Malaya (to insure a source of crude oil and rudder for our industry). Then they would have go after the Allied nations in the South Pacific. Australia and New Zealand had joined the Allies. So I would have to take them to keep them from helping the Americans.
The US had NOT yet joined the Allies but they HAD put an embargo on Japan. Our major trading partners are now the USSR and the Axis nations. And I had cancelled a lot the trade with the European and South American nations just to keep my convoys from being destroyed. Taking the European colonies was no longer an option. IT was needed