Time to post an update of the Imperial Japanes Armed Forces, it is now August 1941 in my game and the buildup of my forces has continued.
A short overview of the situation in the world:
Germany overran the Low Countries and France in 1940, however it took till September before France was Vichied :wacko: . As a result Japan demanded and got French Indochina. Norway also fell during that summer and Italy joined the Axis. Since then everything appeared to have been relatively quiet on the Western front. The United States still has stayed neutral, which is good for me.
In Africa things have gone rather odd. The Italians have pushed the British into Egypt, and the Brits in return invaded Tripoli taking the western part of Italy's African holdings.
On 29th of May 1941, Germany launched operation Barbarossa in combination which was joined by Finland. The summer appeared to have been rather bad for the Russians, sofar the Germans have pushed very deep into the Ukraine all the way to the Crimea and are now standing for the gates of Sevastopol. In the north and centre progress appeared to have been gone slower and the Germans have only reached as far as Minsk. The Soviets still control the Northern Baltic states. Germany is still 5-6 provinces away from driving to Moscow-Leningrad. A quick overview of their militaries revealed in number of divisions that Germany now has 217 vs 207 Soviet ones. The Soviets have 24 Armored divisions vs Germany's 6 and L.arm are 9-7 in favour of the Soviets. Also the Soviets own 21 Motorized divisions vs. Germany's 10. Germany however has 143 infantry divisions against 124 Soviet ones. I cannot see the positioning of enemy troops, but the Soviets have withdrawn most of their forces guarding my border, even Vladivostok has only about 1 division left. The Central Asian border now appears to be empty and I expect that my withdrawal of my 2 army corps deeper into China have contributed to the Soviet AI's withdrawal of divisions to hold the Western front.
This is my first game in which I see an AI Germany launching Barbarossa, in my previous games the Russians DoWed the Germans. I do not dare to make a guess on who will win. Germany may outnumber the Soviets if the rest of the Axis contribute enough divisions and I expect the German forces a technologically superior. Only with Autumn and Winter approaching, the Soviets stand a good chance of halting the Germans with the aid of General Winter on their side. I wonder how this whole campaign turns out in Europe. Given the current Soviet predicament, my western and northern border appears to be secure.
Checking the US forces revealed some interesting data. The USA's army has only 75 divisions, making them the 5th in total army size. What is even more interesting is their composition. 54 Garrison and 8 HQ divisions! Next to that, they posses 12 infantry and 1 cavalry division
. Based on these data I can asses that a blitzkrieg campaign is going to be of the utmost importance. The biggest problem that I face is that the US Navy outnumbers me 3-1. Though interesting is the compositions, I have 10 carriers vs. 9 US. The US OTOH has 24 BBs vs 7 of mine, although by the end of August I will have 8. The US owns no BCs and I have 4 of those.
The other ships are as follows Japan vs. USA
AC 12 - 41
LC 32 - 45
DD 161 - 10
SS 36 - 37
TP 35 - 74
With respect to the airforce, the US has a lot more TACs and Interceptors than me and will likely give me a hard time with those. However they have no naval bombers vs. the 22 of mine that are ready. If I want to stand a chance in the Pacific Ocean my bombers need to make the difference. As long as I manage to destroy the US capital ships fleet early on the Japanese will have a very good chance at winning. This appears to be the same situation the Japanese faced in real life.
On a side note, in June a power shift took place, with Tojo taking over the Government of Japan. He now is the Head of Government, Chief of the Army and Chief of Staff. I took a 2 dissent hit to get back 2 of my IC ministers. The interesting thing about this change in government is, that I get reduced costs for INF/MOT/Mech and SP art. Looking at the IC costs revealed that the IC cost of a medium armored division builds 3 Motorized divisions. Based on these data I intend to build lots of motorized/mechanized infantry with selfpropelled infantry, should I have more IC available. If I look at what I spend on the 4 armored divisions I have build I do not intend to produce anymore of those. Due to increased need for supplies and upgrades I have little IC left for any new major projects. I followed the DR and PB-DK's advice and build 2 type IV battleships, named Yamato and Musashi, a nice historic touch
.
I need several more months till the last of my forces are in position and I intend to attack in December 1941. Since the timetable is going to be very tight, I was wondering what would be the best time to launch the assault. I need to take the winter season in the USA into account and am not exactly sure how much time it would take to reach the Rocky's? Ideally I want to make optimum use of the PH event, if the December attack goes quicker as planned and I land on the USA mainland before February I might be inclined to wait and or spend more forces securing secondary objectives in the Pacific.
The main strike force is based in Kwajalein and can go straight for Pearl Harbor and then to the USA. This force consists of my best ships all lvl III capital ships and higher, all my type IV LCs and Submarines. I have about 100 divisions available including 20 garrisson units I could spare from China.
The secondary strikeforce is based in Taiwan and is made up of my reserve fleet, 3 marine and 6 cavalry divisions. I intend to use those to conquer the Phillipines, With the primary objective of taking out the 2 US naval bases there. After securing the Phillipines I will move my marines to attack Guam. What I happens next, remains doubtfull, depending on further developments I can use the reserve fleet to Guard the western Pacific, go Island hopping or reinforce the main fleet after the securing of USA bases in the Eastern Pacific. To a large extend this will depend on whether the Allies come to the aid of the USA.
PS... BANZAI!
(These posts always turn out longer than I thought, sorry for that)
